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coming out and and bless his word to us today we’re going to go through if you if you have your Bibles with you or your device turn to Genesis 25 we’ll be spending most of our time right in there and uh we’re going to jump right into Esau sells his birth right um couple verses to to wet our appetites get us going this morning from Genesis 2534 so Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and drank and Rose and went away thus Esau despised his Birthright those words are pregnant with meaning think about something that God give has that been anyone here your your experience will you recognize that God has offered something extremely valuable to you um and you’ve rejected it right and we’re going to talk about that a little more by way of application um at the end and then from Hebrews 12 as we’ve talked about through this series it’s so wonderful of Our Lord to give us narrative in the Old Testament that are later explained in the new and unfold the gospel for us so wonderfully so that we see not just individual scriptures but the Redemptive flow of history in scripture which I just find beautiful so here we have in Hebrews 12 a warning to us that there that also there be no sexually immoral or Godless person like Esau who sold his own Birthright for a single meal for you know that even afterwards when he desired to to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought for it with tears would you pray with me Father help us to see the strength and the beauty of your Sovereign plan to submit to and receive your gracious will and gifts for us and reflect your character and how we speak to you and speak to others about you that we would Al always be receiving and extend in gospel Grace in Jesus name amen amen all right our lesson outline it’s pretty similar as we have throughout this series what we’re really going to be doing is really I think demonstrating good Bible study habits right we’re going to we’re going to give some some historical and scriptural background to our passages we’re going to do some observation we’re going to do some interpretation and correlation with other scriptures and then we’re right into application so because we have so much content today and most every week um we’re not going to have the microphones right now I’m going to try to walk through it and um and we’ll leave some space for that hopefully some generous space for that at the end um so when I ask a question I’m going to answer it and you’ll see it on the slides okay so I’m really not asking you it’s a it’s a bit of a bait and switch so just bear with me okay I appreciate that okay Genesis 177 1-4 give us some background right now it happened that when Abram was 99 years old Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him I am God Almighty walk before me and be blameless so that I may confirm my Covenant between me and you and that I may multiply you exceedingly then Abraham fell on his face and God spoke with him saying as for me behold my Covenant is with you and you will be the father of a multitude UD of Nations so we covered this several weeks ago but we’re we’re seeing how this is playing out and I hope you really see in our lessons that we’re seeing the promises of God being fulfilled um there are two commentaries on the old and the New Testament I think they’re written by Mark de the one in the Old Testament is called promises made and the one in the New Testament is called Promises Kept and we see this what I like to call the the wave of redemption continues to come toward the shore as it culminates in Christ CHR and let’s really keep that in mind as we walk through these pass passages it’s just a beautiful beautiful thing and then uh Isaiah 51 this is interesting to think about um as as our Lord instructs his people and instructs us to really reflect on the life of Abraham which is what we’re doing listen to me you who pursue righteousness who seek Yahweh look to the Rock from which you were heun and to the Quarry from which you were dug look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who brought you forth through labor pains when he was but one I called him then I blessed him and multiplied him right and this is what we’re seeing what’s so interesting is you may recall Jesus interaction with the Pharisees who claimed themselves to be sons of Abraham because of of their genealogy Jesus said you’re not sons of Abraham because you do not have the faith of Abraham so when we talk about the The Rock from which we were heun and the quy from which we were dug that’s a spiritual one right there is there is a genealogy for sure with the Jewish people not denying that but the main thing that God is concerned with for us is the legacy of faith that we both receive and pass on and so um as as we see in the New Testament that these things we’ll get into this a little bit later these things were written for our instruction so it’s very very good for us to reflect on these Patriarchs who very flawed as I’ve said before flawed but faithful and and we with eyes wide open we look at their lives and we learn from them so just thinking about this the promises of multiplication that we just talked about we see that with the birth of Isaac right we’ve covered that the last several weeks what a miracle that was Abraham was 100 Sarah was 90 laughed at the very thought of it right but God had promised some I think 70 years older 70 years earlier we’d seen they’d waited a long time for this promise so we see that fulfilled in the birth of Isaac we’re seeing this here with with Jacob and Esau right we’re seeing we’re seeing again two sons it’s an interesting pattern we’ll talk about what that means with regard to God’s Sovereign will and salvation uh Jacob and the tribes of Israel right we see that had 12 sons right and we see a little bit of uh favoritism in that kind of like we see with Jacob and Esau and some manipulation you know all of that God is still working we see Egypt and The Exodus how did God work his will well he sent as Joseph said later his son to Egypt as a slave and and we’re going to reflect on this in the next coming weeks what what they intended for evil God intended for good I’ll just stop right here as we think about and we we we talked about this a lot in Iron Man with the book of Exodus there’s the horizontal events that you can see you can perceive but there’s a whole Heavenly reality going on there’s a whole there’s something going on in the Heavenly Realms that God is orchestrating and it’s always good for us in faith to keep those things in mind and so would Joseph have chosen to go into slavery no what would is would Israel choose to be in bondage for those many years no but yet that was God’s Sovereign plan to work his will and his salvation um and then they would inherit the land and then lose it through their unfaithfulness of 70 years in Exile and then they would return right and in all of that all of that it’s just so interesting that God is working his will um and one of the things I think about is think about for example um Jacob and Esau and we’ll see this in the passage today that the older will serve the younger right we see this a little bit more with Joseph as the youngest at that time and his brothers all served him a vision that he had that they laughed at we’re not going to serve you and boy did they serve him I’ll give you a little tidbit here this is so interesting I remember um a number of years ago when I was encouraged to read or revive my reading of the Bible in a year um and one of the reasons for that was to see the go the the waves that we were just talking about the gospel unfold from eternity past through the scriptures to now and the first time I can remember seeing this I think in a in a profound way was in the story of Joseph and his brothers Jacob Israel had died and so the brothers thought well now Joseph is going to exact his revenge he’s going to kill us so they appealed to him and they said we know that we cannot justify ourselves does that sound familiar that’s gospel all over it and Joseph was a Christ figure a Redemptive figure to foreshadow for us the gospel so as we go through this I’m going to share some things that unpack that but God’s going to I think open your eyes to see even more there’s so many layers to this as God works his will what’s interesting too is with the older serving the younger we see that with Jacob and Esau we see that with Joseph as I said and we’ll see it later on with Joseph and his sons right you remember when when Jacob blessed his sons he reversed his hands said no the older had the the great the younger had the greater blessing it’s so interesting and Joseph maybe not realizing what had happened to him thought that that was odd no no father don’t do that he said and Jacob had to remind him no I know what I’m doing I’ve experienced this I was the younger and the older served me and this is a pattern and we don’t we see this in the scriptures the first shall be last right um God God reverses not only the curse but he reverses the natural order of things for his glory and so we see hints of that uh throughout Redemptive history and in our series here all right all right that was for free uh so um how do we see the multiplication continue uh if we look at Genesis 25 we see Ishmael multiplied while Isaac did not at least initially right if you look at uh verses 12-8 it goes through uh all of the sons of Ishmael so it it would seem like even though he wasn’t the chosen one he was being blessed right when Isaac apparent L was not so Isaac entreated Yahweh based on the promise right verse 21 and Isaac entreated Yahweh on behalf of his wife because she was Barren and Yahweh was moved by his in treaty and again there were two sons uh to demonstrate God’s choice and his purpose right we see that again uh as a pattern at least so far in the scriptures let me go ahead and uh read for us um and if you’ll turn in your Bibles to Genesis 25 before we go any further I’m just going to read uh Genesis 25 and Hebrews 12 14-17 now Abraham took another wife whose name was coutura and she bore to him zimran and jshen and midan and Midian I’m quite sure I’m mispronouncing these just bear with me at least some of them where am I Midian and ishak and shua now Jam was the father of Sheba and danan and the sons of danan were airam and lusim and L and lumm and the sons of Midian were epha and epher and hanch and Abida and Elda all these were the sons of coutura and Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac but to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had Abraham gave gifts while he was still living and he sent them away from his son Isaac Eastward to the land of the East these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life that he lived 175 years and Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age an old man and full of days and he was gathered to his people then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Mella in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the hittite facing mamry the field which Abraham bought from the sons of Heth there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife now it happened after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac and Isaac lived in beer La High Roy now these are the generations of ishma Abraham’s son whom Hagar the Egyptian Sarah’s servant woman bore to Abraham and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael by their names in the order of their birth neath the firstborn of Ishmael and kedar and abdil and Mam and mishma and Duma and Massa Hadad and teima jur nafish and kadema these are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names by their Villages by their camps 12 princes according to their tribes these are the years of the life of Ishmael 137 years and he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people and they dwelt from havila to Shure which is the east of Egypt as one goes towards Assyria he settled in the face of all his brothers now these are the generations of Isaac Abraham’s son Abraham became the father of Isaac and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca the daughter of bethu the aramean of padanaram the sister of laan the aramean to be his wife and Isaac entreated Yahweh on behalf of his wife because she was Barren and Yahweh was moved by his entreaty so Rebecca his wife conceived but the children struggled together within her and she said if it is so why then am I this way so she went to inquire of Yahweh and Yahweh said to her two nations are in your womb and two peoples will be separated from your body and one people shall be stronger than the other and the older Shall Serve the younger and her days to give birth were fulfilled and behold there were twins in her womb and the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment and they named him Esau afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel so his name was called Jacob and Isaac was 60 years old when she gave birth to them them and the boys grew up Esau became a skillful Hunter a man of the field but Jacob was peaceful man living in tense Isaac loved Esau because he had an appetite for hunted game but Rebecca loved Jacob and Jacob had cooked stew and Esau came in from the field and he was famished then Esau said to Jacob please give me a swallow from the red stuff this red stuff for I am famished therefore his name was called Edom but Jacob said first sell me your Birthright and Esau said behold I’m about to die so of what use then is the birthright to me and Jacob said first swear to me so he swore to him and sold his Birthright to Jacob so Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and drank and Rose and went away thus Esau despised his Birthright let’s fast forward and look at the few verses here in Hebrews 12 verses 14-1 17 pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord see to it that no one falls short of the grace of God that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled that also there be no sexually immoral or Godless person like Esau who sold his own Birthright for a single meal for you know that even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought for it with tears those of you men who have been in our Iron Man series recently know that we just went through a lesson on the discipline of Purity and then the discipline of marriage and we recognize that our faithfulness or lack of faithfulness in these areas has a generational impact doesn’t it it’s it’s soing and we do see that here with Jacob and Esau all right so by way of explanation I thought this was really helpful from the study guide in the times of the biblical Patriarchs the birthright bestowed significant privileges on the firstborn son the firstborn son would assume the leadership and responsibilities of his father when he died he also received a double portion of his father’s inheritance a father could remove the birthright from his first born and give it to a younger son but this was not typical right so we’re seeing here as I mentioned earlier that what God was doing here was against the culture was counter to the culture all right so God had promised that the older would serve the younger uh the word Jacob means heal catcher deceiver or supplanter and he was born that was his s the specific sinful nature that he was born with and we would see this we will see this play out as we examine his life and even knowing God’s promise Isaac and Rebecca chose personal favorites um I try really hard as a dad not to play favorites but we have them don’t we kind of naturally I find that the children are more like me I tend to favor that’s kind of selfish right kind of self-centered and who were less like me uh don’t I was blessed I am very much unlike my dad in in some ways although I get older I’m becoming my dad which is strange um but our temperaments our interests um are just so different you know he and I had a long talk yesterday and we we we talked about that and we just kind of enjoyed that just just very very different um and growing up it was frustrating for both of us the things that my dad wanted to teach me and have me be good at um and just to be like he’s tall I’m not you know my mom was 4′ 11 and I I keep those Nutter was her her maiden name and I keep those jeans you know they just wipe out any height that Betty would give to our kids so everybody’s short Betty is said I just want one child who’s taller than me not happening um and I say you’re welcome but But but so you know having to work through those frustrations growing up my oldest son Luke who some of you know he lives in Virginia very much unlike me and uh but has a heart for God that is Way Beyond where I am I just the Lord has done a great work in his life but growing up I experienced some of that same frustration because I wanted him to be different but he wasn’t God had hardwired certain things into him so um I think it’s really just is kind of for free I think it’s really important for us as parents to not play favorites there’s no partiality the scriptures say with God however we do see a salvific implication of how God chose in this circumstance and we recognize here and we’ll see this play out in future lessons that human favoritism or manipulation right would not thwart God’s purposes you’ll see this here later on uh with with uh uh the blessing right you’ll see this this manipulation everybody is trying to work things out for their desired outcome what comes out of it God’s Eternal plan cannot we cannot thwart it that doesn’t excuse our sin but it does give assurance that God is going to accomplish his purposes really even even in spite of us right so uh this is the part where I ask the questions and give the answers so um not taking any questions today does anyone recognize that from politicians not I’m not taking any questions today what so not not being like that but just for a time let me walk through this and then if you have any questions or comments please write them down or jot them down and we’ll hopefully have some time at the end to work through that so what was unique about Isaac and Rebecca’s marriage right Abraham had sent his servant Eleazar we covered this last week thank you hos um back to haran to find a bride for Isaac from his family not wanting Isaac to marry a pagan wife God’s Providence brought Rebecca to the well at the moment Eleazar arrived she willingly received the offer to marry Isaac and eleazar’s prayer was answered and so we see God’s will unfold there and I love how you open how hos you you unfold it how you know Rebecca had a choice that and if she said no that wouldn’t have been God’s will but God was working in all of it uh to accomplish his purposes um I don’t know how well you can see that but when we walk through this passage um and this really refers to uh verses uh Genesis 2512 through 18 you can kind of see the lineage here um I’m going to kind of go back and forth between these two slides and some of these names might might look familiar to you um as as you as you know Biblical history so let’s just talk through that just a little bit um and these are uh these are the princes of Abraham’s activity through Ishmael isn’t it so interesting that God would give Jacob 12 sons right uh but even though Ishmael was not the son of the promise God blessed him in a different way with 12 princes right and some of these names uh for example Sheba and Midian possibly kear we will see the mid nightes in the account of Joseph being sold into slavery it’s so interesting how this conflict from the earliest times continues to play out you know when I when I look at current events and I see um the conflicts in the Middle East which no one has been able to solve uh for a reason I think well couldn’t these guys have just gotten along right wouldn’t that have been great would have saved a lot of Bloodshed but somehow in God’s Providence he he’s working his will through that even today and I hope that gives us hope why is why is anti-Semitism a thing because God has a chosen people and he’s working his well and people hate God that’s why why what do you notice about the number of sons descended from Ismael compared to Genesis 17:20 we’ll look back at that briefly Genesis 17:20 as for Ishmael I have heard you right uh and I will bless behold I will bless him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly our God is a gracious God right you can see this with with uh Rebecca and Hagar with Isaac and ishmail right even though one was favored both were blessed let’s not lose sight of that and did either of them deserve to be blessed no no not at all so we see that God promised 12 princes from Ishmael so there we have a confirmation of God being faithful to his promises so interesting God’s blessings you know the scriptures say in Psalm 33 that the Earth is full of the loving kindness of the Lord even those who don’t know him in some way experience His blessings and and in that way are without excuse to seek him and by the way if you’re taking pictures of the slides the slides will be sent out so maybe it could save you a little bit of time what is confirmed in these passages about the significance of Isaac and The Inheritance the other Sons were sent away and Isaac was given Abraham’s possessions in Canaan Isaac was the son of the promise and received the fullest part of Abraham’s inheritance interesting even though he was younger and you recall that God had promised a son and they tried to jumpstart that promise you know we’ve waited long enough we need to do something anybody been there anybody do that right um and end of Psalm 27 is so precious to me uh wait for the Lord be strong and Let Your Heart Take courage wait for the Lord the Lord knows that we struggle to believe his promises I’m amazed that in Psalm 9 it talks about that the lives our lives are relatively short and so and and we’re told to redeem the time make the most of the time be active take initiative and yet we have to wait I find this incredibly frustrating incredibly probably and I know Katherine you had asked about this at one point you know this is I think that’s Pro maybe the hardest thing you know about being a Christian is waiting on the Lord and really trusting him when we don’t see what’s happening okay let’s talk about Abraham’s death uh and the generations to continue how long did Abraham and Ishmael live and in some of our lessons you got to go through and do some math here you don’t have to it just tells you um in verse 7 that Abraham lived 175 and uh in verse 17 that ishmail lived 237 and one of the things we’re just seeing as history continues people are living shorter and shorter lifespans right right post post flood as the curse uh continues to have its effect and where did Abraham’s descendants live descendant lived in the Western and Northern parts of Arabia havila and Shure the verse 11 tells us that Isaac dwelt in beer La Hoy and this is the place that Hagar fled from um from Sarah it’s interesting the same exact place is where um Isaac end up and up settling there’s a lot I could say there I’m going to leave that for now we’ll think about that now uh moving a little bit forward uh in the chapter twins are born what do we learn about Rebecca’s condition in this passage well we learn that she was Barren which is a euphemism for not being able to have children right we that there’s the the illustrations of Our Lives being fruitful uh and and of course we know that in the New Testament fruit is primarily character the fruit of the spirit here in an agrarian society that that analogy was was used for bearing children and it was more so then even than now that um uh a woman’s value was measured in this way so God gives it’s so wonderful even though that was true some very Godly women in the scriptures were Barren or had or were delayed in getting giving children had again had to had to wait you know unfruitful from the world’s perspective fruitful from God’s perspective in terms of their faith we saw in Isaiah 51 not only look to Abraham and his faith but look the Sarah in her faith it’s wonderful how did Isaac respond to her bareness he asked the Lord to give his wife a child right and we don’t know all that’s involved with that I’m sure he wrestled with that he knew of the promise that God had given them but again it apparently wasn’t happening it apparently wasn’t happening and how long did they have to wait how long were Isaac and Rebecca married when Isaac was born and uh you look at verses 20 and 26 they were married for 20 years uh Isaac aged from 40 to 60 and uh we had our last child Jackson was born when I was 42 I’m 61 now and that’s kind of seems like kind of a long time right almost 20 20 years to wait um and we don’t know but it’s possible because I think the expectation then is you get married and you just start having kids right that was just kind of the expectation and so he may have been praying this you know after a year it’s like nothing’s happening he may have been praying this for for the good part of 20 years U the scriptures don’t say but we we think that’s really possible and so again this seeking the Lord Lord waiting upon Him is a big theme all right let me just catch up with my notes Here bear with me I should probably have this in paper all right um what prompted Rebecca’s question in verse 22 why why then am I this way she asked uh the babies inside of her were struck struggling with one another she seemed to wonder whether her pregnancy was normal in light of the turmoil in her room how many of your you moms have experienced something in pregnancy that was an indication of how they’d be later in life yeah Noel was really feisty in the womb and she became feisty when she came out and remains so today and so does Ella so that’s that’s fun for us we enjoy that it’s it’s fun to watch as grandparents so it really is um what literary form is used in verse 23 right it talks it’s kind of poetic right you see in your Bible you may have see that separated as as a as a a poem right it’s a poetic form with parallel structure where line one relates to line two and line three relates to line four right so we’ll just read it two nations are in your womb two peoples will be separated from your body one people shall be stronger than the other the older Shall Serve the younger right and so you can kind of see how that that’s separate um so you see of course that’s poetic they’re they’re not literally two countries in her womb but they’re the seeds of those two countries already having conflict in the womb isn’t that so interesting so interesting what did she do to get an answer to her question she want to ask God these are really um and again we don’t know how much time elaps but we do see great examples of these these men and women seeking God based on his promises my normal uh strategy is if I have a dilemma to get myself worked up into a frenzy of anxiety and then when I’m worn out I pray does anybody else do that it never works well at least to the end but I keep trying it so a recommendation to not do that she went to ask God she prayed um some commentaries suggest that she sought out a prophet but that’s not indicated in the text she went she went right to God and what things would be true about these twins we see it they would grow into two Nations or peoples they would be divided from one another uh one would be stronger than the other and the older would serve the younger you know as I read this I think about fast forward when uh Jacob and Esau um after the uh after The Blessing of Abraham and then the deception and all of that they were as strange for a long time and they got reunited in a very sweet way in a way that they you know these two thought they wanted to kill each other and so they they they did some things to to protect themselves but when they met right they hugged put their their heads on each other’s shoulders and they wept because they had the same parents you know and that that that never ends and so I love to see that anybody got conflict in their family maybe an extended family any in estrangement I’m looking at you I know some of you do I know it um and so um may God bring restoration and Reconciliation as only he can is it Psalm 133 he says how good and how pleasant it is yes for brothers to dwell in unity yeah all right we’ll continue who was the first born and how was he described so Esau this is so interesting I don’t know that I’ve heard of any child that looked like this he was red and covered with hair so much so that he appeared to be wearing a cloak interesting that’ll get your attention even that I suppose what was the second born and how was he described well he wasn’t described so much by his physical appearance but by what he did uh Jacob grabbing on to Esau’s heel this would preview his future Behavior as a deceiver right this was a characteristic of Jacob uh the name can mean one who grabs a heel or one who trips up and so we see this uh the we see this happen as his life unfolds he is a deceiver let’s just stop for a minute and think about this these are patriar right these are the these are the the the the foundational the pillars of our faith praise the Lord right uh there there’s hope for us all of this to deflect our attention away from the Perfection or lack of it the perfection of the character to the glory and the purposes of God right and this to me is is I’ve said this before a wonderful apologetic to the veracity the truthfulness of the scriptures if you were making something up you would not write it this way other civilizations did not write it this way The Exodus is not found in the records of the Egyptians right it’s just it’s it’s just not there because you you put you put the good stuff and uh and you ignore the bad stuff so and I’m not talking about the the the modern press because they do that it’s it’s a natural tendency right for us to do just just uh just uh put out what uh what we want to hear I heard someone describe the New York Times as all that fits will print their actual motto is uh all that’s fit to print and people say all that fits will print so we just recognize the bias that that people generally have um all right what do we learn about e es a as he grew up Esau was a skilled Hunter who inhabited the flesh the fields I’m sorry it’s a little small for me who inhabited the fields um and he roamed about we see this later on in life where uh where um Isaac asks his son to go go hunt something for me cook cook a meal that I I really like and you see that that favoritism of Isaac uh with uh I’m sorry with Jacob with uh with Isaac with Esau yeah yeah what do we learn about Jacob as he grew up so as Esau was kind of outdoorsy Jacob was kind of indoorsy right he was quiet and dwelt in tense and he stayed close to home so you can really see in some ways how his mother would favor him his dad would favor would favor Esau that seems kind of natural kind of kind of believable and how did the parents treat the two boys we’ve mentioned this right Isaac favored Esau while Rebecca favored Jacob and so again favoritism in families generally does not does not go well it’s it’s parents it’s really worth your intentionality uh to to treat them equally badly I’m kidding actually that’s how that’s how our kids perceive it you know you’re you’re tough on all of us like well yeah yeah all right what parallels do you see between is and Rebecca’s experience and that of Abraham and Sarah and I’m sure some things are coming to mind both couples knew that the seed had been promised we talked earlier that they had to wait for it right um they experienced a period of barness right um and they prayed to God they intreated to him based on his promise and that’s really something for us to reflect on do you and I bathe our eles in the promises of God and pray on that basis Bo I need I do that some but I need to do that a whole lot more I have a little booklet written by Spurgeon called Faith’s checkbook I’m not advocating the Prosperity Gospel don’t worry but it just goes through in detail and presses in hey this is God’s promise to you do you believe this are you praying along along the lines of those those promises and I and when I read things like that I recognize um how weak my faith is so that’s just a a recommendation for all of us to bathe ourselves to immerse ourselves in the many promises of God and to not be so self-reliant you know I was talking to my son Luke this past week and he and we usually ask ourselves what is the Lord teaching you and I said well the big thing the Lord Lord’s teaching me this week is is impressing upon me my my self-reliance my dependence on self and how sinful that is despite much evidence that that is not a good idea uh I still tend to do it um cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh is strength it says in Jeremiah I think we covered that a couple weeks ago blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord and so these are the lessons we want to learn here okay let’s get into a little bit of interpretation and correlation with some other scriptures we recognize that God continues to be faithful to his promises think about about this we are looking at God’s promises really as we look at the flow of scripture from eternity past into eternity future if you’re saved you recognize from Ephesians that God chose you from before the and blessed you from before the foundation of the world right and then we see all of these things happen in time right um and yet we still doubt so these are good reminders God continues to be faithful to his promises when we are faithless he remains faithful right because he cannot deny himself and so we need to continue to think about that um we see in the Old Testament it’s common for names to have specific and often prophetic meanings right we see uh in particular with Jacob how his um how his uh name meaning deceiver really tended to carry out or or play out in his life um and this from the uh the AIG study guide I just verbatim I thought it was great the prophecy given to Rebecca makes it clear that the older son Esau would serve the younger Jacob the custom of the time was that the oldest son would receive the birth right a claim to inherit the estate and majority of the father’s Goods in land though written much later Deuteronomy 21:17 identifies this as a double portion of the inheritance for the firstborn additionally he would take the role of family patriarch at his father’s death we saw this concept overturned when Isaac received the birthright even though Ishmael had been born first y so again and I I unfolded that a little bit earlier that this continual theme of God going against the culture against uh human Norms to accomplish his purposes okay let’s uh let’s wrap up the chapter and um I’m going to go a little bit quickly here and uh leave you some time for some questions how much time passed between versus 26 and 29 26 was the birth uh 29 was the um Esau coming in from the field right to uh to eat the stew we can’t say for sure we know the boys have grown up um it may even be this event happened foren after what is described in chapter 26 um where Yahweh establishes oath with Isaac and was placed here to provide the clear connections between the birth account and this one and then how does verse 29 um about the cooking of the stew Esau came in and he was famished uh support what we learned about the boys earlier and we learned that Jacob was at home cooking a stew right he hadn’t gone far while Esau had been out in the field apparently working to the point of exhaustion what was Esau’s request of Jacob to eat some of the red stew that Jacob was cooking and what bargain did Jacob strike he saw he saw an opportunity here right he could have just been a good brother and said here you go didn’t do that he asked for Esau’s Birthright in exchange for a bowl of the stew and of course Esau if I die oh what good is that to me you know took advantage of his fleshly cravings and his current circumstances right um and then you know so this caused Esau to think against the promise against you know or against the blessing that was rightfully his he said I’m not I’m not going to think about the future I’m going to think about right now right think about the Exodus and it occurs to me that the Psalms explain that when they were in the wild wilderness it says they craved intensely in the wilderness and that led them to act in a faithless way and so certainly that happened here with Esau when we act according to our natural inclinations or fleshly desires that is almost always I would say always against faith and what did Jacob do to confirm the transaction he asked Esau to swear an oath and he did he sealed it right he he made a deal he made a deal what does Esau’s response reveal about his character it seems that Esau was willing to meet his immediate needs with little consideration for the future I think that’s really the curse of our age right immediate gratification I was talking to a friend of mine a Nigerian friend of mine and uh he said uh what do you I asked him you know what do You observe about American culture uh and particularly about Youth and without hesitation he said impulse control they got no impulse control they they they think if they want it they just just get it um and it’s impossible to be successful that way even even from an Earthly perspective uh it’s not it’s not good what does the text reveal about Esau’s attitude toward his Birthright and as we saw earlier and that’s the tit of our lesson he despised it right this was a precious thing knowing what we know culturally about the birth right that’s an incredibly valuable thing and he just threw it away just threw it away it’s the opposite of Faith how does the behavior of Jacob and Esau compare with the Faith their parents well it’s similar in the sense that the parents had done some manipulation right to achieve an outcome but it’s different in the sense that both parents would later on Express Faith Express Faith so it’s always mixed right uh our parents for us and if we’re parents there’s ways we said set positive and negative examples for our children let’s look once again at Hebrews 12: 14-17 and just examine that just a little bit uh as we bring this in for a landing and I backed up a little bit from what’s in your lesson just to give us some context Pur pursue peace with all men starting in Hebrews 12:14 pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord seeing to it that no one falls short of the grace of God that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled that also there be no sexually immoral or Godless person like Esau who sold his own Birthright for a single meal for you know that even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought for it with tears sounds like it’s being a little harsh on Esau can we get just give Esau a break you know he’ worked hard he was hungry well and I think the Lord’s standards are a little higher than that uh what did the stew have to do with Esau’s name and we saw that before the kind of prophetic nature of the name statement that Esau was also called Edom uh the Hebrew word Edom uh is related to the word red right how does this connect to what we learned about Esau at his birth and so I think that’s pretty obvious I don’t need to read that right he was readed and hary when he was born and this this redness seems to be an interesting an interesting theme and why is Edom important it’s interesting I just finished reading through the Exodus not long ago the nation that descended from Esau will be known as Edom throughout the Old Testament and they really affected the Exodus as you may recall um the Israelites wanted to pass through Edom they said we just want to pass through we’re not going to take any water we’re we’re not going to take any food if you just kind of let us pass through peacefully and they said no um and so that uh would later result in a condemnation for the nation of Edom what is the connection to what we just read and the Fulfillment of the prophecy given to Rebecca as God had promised as we said right that the older would serve the younger while it had not yet been completely fulfilled we can see this was the first first step toward Jacob ruling over Esau we see that kind of culminating at Isaac’s death and the manipulation that happens there how do we see Jacob fulfilling the name given to him as a heal Grabber right he used Esau’s impetuous character to trick him selling his birth right basically for nothing right uh and it was a type of deception he took advantage of his brother’s character character flaw and his physical situation as he said before uh he made a deal essentially really had no regard for God in the situation what’s so interesting is in Hebrews it doesn’t necessarily condemn Jacob for this it condemns Esau which is interesting for falling into the temptation all right I think we got about 10 minutes that’s not bad for me usually I leave like two and I rush through it um I’ve got some specific application questions Keith you’ve got the mic um what comments or questions do you have I know that was really quick M’s right over here hello um is the younger that’s serving the older also a reference to the new and the Old Testament not not that’s not apparent to me but I haven’t thought about that yeah but we do know that the new gives there’s the New Covenant that supersedes the old Covenant um that’s a really new thought to me uh not new to me yeah no that that’s a wonderful thought to think I’m going to have to think about that I I think there’s certainly are some part this part of uh part of that pattern of redemption that seems to be there yeah oh way ah you’ve got it thank you Lyndon yeah in relation to to that question about the the younger servant the the older I heard an interesting um sort of theological explanation refers that we as Believers have two births first our um physical birth and then at some point in our lives our spiritual birth yeah which one is more important in the eyes of God is the second birth is the one that is going to be the most important that’s why the second is more important than the younger is serving the the second birth the new birth is more important than the that that’s beautiful you know I hadn’t thank you brother I hadn’t thought about that John 1 um but as many as received him in verse 12 to them he gave the right to become children of God even to those who believe in his name who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God so much we can say there that’s beautiful thank you did Esau did he um recognize the significance of the blessing why he was so um quick to give it up but then after he turned around and trying to get it when when he realized his brother had deceived the father he cried and want Another Blessing so did you really s understand this significant of that blessing that he gave away we’re going to cover that uh in future lessons but I I recall that um bless me even me now if we look at the Hebrews passage there’s a lot that could be said here said he he did not he did not when me look at he didn’t he didn’t um gain repentance though he sought for it with tears that seems disingenuous I’m just going to go right there um let me just unpack this briefly was Esau actually willing to repent I think the answer is no I think the answer is no uh so um Hebrews uh when it says in verse 17 for you know that even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing I think that’s exactly what you’re talking about Glenda that scene there it’s like oh I’ve missed it can can you do something for me right um he was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought for it with tears and this really brings us to um is it 1 Corinthians 7 which talks about 2 Corinthians 7 thank you brother this is why I do this we need each other um it’s a it’s a repentance a true repentance without regret there’s a repentance according to the will of God which leads to Salvation and then there’s repentance according to the flesh which leads to regret it was the latter that was um Esau had exper so when we’re sorry not for the sin itself but for its consequences right that’s what Esau experienced that’s not the repentance that God grants Believers thank you while we’re in Hebrews why is it that um Esau’s sin is referred to as a sexual immorality great question um and I ran out of time to figure that out I don’t know but but we have a trained profession Prof right here who’s going to explain that to you go ahead Dave I thought about that I thought you know I thought I I need to look that up before this lesson I didn’t yeah I think maybe I think maybe Steve was beginning to answer but it’s not identifying in Hebrews that Esau committed a sexual sin but this is a very striking parallel it’s like if you want to see what sexual sin is like just look at Esau it’s like giving away your Birthright for a single meal it’s it’s um verse 16 says that there be no immoral or Godless person like Esau so Esau in a way is like a figure or a uh an example of these other types of sins yeah I think some of the way the ways um and thank you for that question Magna um I think some of the ways Proverbs describe sexual sin is like that uh for a piece of it says uh one who who goes into a harlot reduces himself to piece of bread right he just throws away his wealth yep Arthur yeah um I just wanted to go back to uh uh their birth where it talks about um where it talks about the condition of Esau that he was heing um there’s a condition what is it l a n G you look there’s a medical condition that yes a medical condition um where uh a person can be born um with with uh hairy skin but this is the important thing to understand is that every baby has hairy skin while they’re in their mother’s womb and that um that the hair um is um typically the hair will will be gone by the time they’re actually born but if a baby is born um hairy it’s considered premature birth interesting yeah so you could tie that into thinking was was Esau actually the first born if you apply the medical condition interesting okay and then the only other thing that I want to mention I’d be cautious about comparing the Old and New Testament to to um I know we we have that tendency yeah yeah uh sometimes to compare but um I I’d be cautious because we have to remember that the labeling of the Old and New Testament was not originally um it’s something that was devised by men to help us yeah to go through the Bible yeah but um one of the things I’ll think about and let me just wrap us up because I want to get to some application questions is while we don’t have that we do have the old Covenant and the New Covenant and so um I would love to have a conversation with you uh about that Leela because that that sounds very rich that it it’s almost like what we see in Jesus the wedding the the it’s the countercultural right the Jesus when he made the water into wine the latter is better than the former that then that just didn’t happen right but in God’s economy it does so uh I’m getting chills thinking about all the patterns um there’s wonderful things for us to to discover and I really hope that as you see us walk through these passages that you will take that pattern and and explore more deeply yourself uh in your time in the word there are so many layers to explore and hopefully we’re giving you some skills to to do that that well um a few application questions to consider I’ll just walk through these um and maybe take a comment or two and we got to wrap up we know that the things written in the Old Testament as we said have been given to us as an example what negative lessons can we learn from Esau and Jacob and we’ve talked about those and I think that’s worth reflection examining our own lives where am I lacking in faith where am I impulsive you know for me um one of my Str strengths is that I can be decisive but the downside of that is to be impulsive to act too quickly so I understand that and and that can be often be sinful how does the character of these two men compare to how Jesus acted when he was on the earth well Jesus denied the flesh he did not succumb to Temptation he was always doing the things the father wanted him to do saying the things the father wanted him to say uh as we’ discovered most recently in our John series that he said my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work always thinking vertically and not horizontally for sure um what do we H what do we have at our disposal to help us when we are tempted to deceive others or to seek out our own immediate satisfaction and I go back to what we said earlier in the promises I think this worth this is worthy uh of your consideration yeah um I think it’s first Peter 4:19 says we entrust ourselves to a faithful Creator in doing what is right this refers to I think you know we we sometimes we want to lie or deceive or manipulate um the Lord says do what is right and let let me honor that let me honor that how should you respond when you fail and find yourself giving in to indulge your flesh in a sinful way or acting deceptively toward others or manipulating them this should be practical for all of us yeah what happens well um first John 1 first of all if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves if we say we have not sinned we lie but if anyone does sin what do we have we have an advocate Jesus Christ the righteous and he grants us repentance I’d really ask us to think about that Steve what’s the reference 2 Corinthians 7 what yes thank you I’m just going to look it up and and I me just end with this thank you brother because I think that’s important for us to think about um one of the things I um you know as I’ve gone through life and and and examined my own life and and and um discipled others you know the question sometimes comes out has this person really repented and my conviction that is is that that if you have to wonder they haven’t repentance is a very obvious thing very very obvious thing verse 9 and second Corinthians 7 um I now Rejoice not that you were made sorrowful this is after a stinging rebuke from the Apostle not that you were made sorrowful but that you were made sorrowful to repentance for you were made to have Godly sorrow so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us for Godly sorrow produces a repentance without regret leading to salvation but the sorrow of the world brings about death I said this before but you know repentance can be a real negative word has that negative connotation but I want you to associate it with something very positive in Proverbs 3 it sayso not be wise in your own eyes fear the lord and turn away from Evil that’s repenting it will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones in Acts it said the the Apostle I think it was Peter commanded the people repent and return the times of refreshing may come to you from the presence of the Lord so always associate repentance with life and returning back to him and so with that we are out of time I’ll Stick Around for any questions thank you so much for your input you’ve given me some us I think some really new thoughts to think about um and just as we see the beauty of God’s word let’s pray father uh I praise you for um the Beauty and the Majesty the Perfection the many layers of the truth of your word and thank you that your Holy Spirit has prompted us today with our comments and our thoughts uh to examine some things um that are true that that we need to consider um thank you that you come that you speak to us personally uh in your word through your spirit and so as you have spoken to each person here as only you can that you would Grant gr us repentance for those who have not fully submitted their lives to you to come to you in in Salvation that you would grant them that repentance and for us as your word says as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him and as we receive you in Repentance and faith help us to continually walk in Repentance and faith and transformation in the life that you have for us and to not be like Esau uh but to be like Jesus amen amen thank you