JACOB HAVE I LOVED
The
Jewish patriarch, Isaac, had two sons who were twins. Esau was the firstborn and Jacob was
literally born on Esau’s heels because scripture tells us that he took hold of
Esau’s heel as he was being birthed and was delivered immediately after. “And
when her [Isaac’s wife Rebekah’s] days
to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like an
hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
And after that came his
brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called
Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she [Rebekah] bare them.” (Genesis 25:24-26).
The
two boys couldn’t have been any different from one another. It was not just their appearance, but their
personalities and inclinations were also quite different. Scripture says, “…Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain
man, dwelling in tents.” (v. 27). Esau
was that guy that many men aspire to be.
He was a model of rugged individualism.
He was a man’s man. Scripture
calls him a “cunning hunter” and a “man of the field.” Jacob, on the other hand, is described as
“plain.”
He was more of a homebody than a man of the fields like his
brother. He would rather dwell indoors
than sleep under the stars. Esau was an
action figure while Jacob was a schemer.
Jacob’s name in Hebrew means "to
supplant, circumvent, assail, and overreach." He was named so because of his perceived effort to grab
his brother’s heel at birth and supplant the birth order. Isaac loved Esau, his firstborn son, the
best; but Rebekah favored Jacob.
The
Lord had spoken to Rebekah before the children were born and said, “…Two nations are in thy womb, and two
manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall
be stronger than the other people; and
the elder shall serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23). Rebekah therefore knew and believed that
Jacob was destined for greatness despite his place in the natural “pecking
order.” God does not see as man
sees. It is not always the oldest, the
smartest, the best looking, or the strongest that will prevail with God because
God sees the heart and doesn’t judge according to appearances. Jesus said, “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” (Matthew 19:30). That was certainly to be the case with these
two brothers.
Jacob
had many faults as a young man because he had not yet passed under the rod of
God’s discipline, but Jacob definitely had his eye on the prize all along. Whether it was because Rebekah had coached
her youngest son about the promise that God had given to her before the boys
were born (which is reasonable), or whether it was simply a matter of sibling
rivalry, Jacob appears to have been looking for an opportunity to supplant Esau
for real. That opportunity wasn’t long
in coming.
One
day when the boys were older, Esau had been in the fields hunting and was
returning home when he found Jacob preparing a pot of soup or stew. Esau was faint from hunger and begged his
brother to give him a bowl of the soup.
This is when Jacob seized his opportunity. “And
Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall
this birthright do to me? And Jacob
said, Swear to me this day; and he
sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of
lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.” (Genesis 25:29-34). Esau was willing to put immediate, earthly
needs ahead of future honor and glory. This
applies to many Christians who are also willing to indulge themselves in
momentary pleasures and lusts and not treasure their birthright in Christ or
their place in the Kingdom of Heaven. The
Apostle Paul admonished believers in his day that they should be, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of
bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be
any fornicator, or profane person, as
Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would
have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of
repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” (Hebrews
12:15-17).
Jacob
had now obtained Esau’s birthright, but this was not enough; he also would
receive his father Isaac’s best blessings that he had reserved for his eldest
son. Genesis 27 tells of Rebekah’s plot
to cause her son Jacob to deceive Isaac into blessing him in Esau’s stead. Rebekah had overheard Isaac telling Esau to
go out, kill a deer, and prepare it the way Isaac loved best. Isaac would then give his blessings upon Esau
before he died, for he was very old, could not see, and knew his days were
numbered. Rebekah immediately told Jacob
to go and bring her two goat kids from the flock so that she could prepare it
in a similar fashion to how Esau would prepare his venison. She also put one of Esau’s outfits on Jacob
and secured some of the skins of the kids on Jacob’s neck and the back of his
hands so that he would feel like Esau to his father since Esau was hairy and
Jacob was smooth. All of this intrigue
had its desired effect. Isaac thought it
was Esau who brought in savory meat for him, when it was Jacob his youngest son
who did. Though there was a moment or
two when Isaac suspected something was amiss, in the end he was convinced
because Jacob now smelled like Esau and felt like him as well. Isaac spoke many blessings over Jacob and
everything went according to plan until Esau came in bringing his father
venison to eat. Jacob had just made his
exit when Esau arrived. As Esau and his
father talked it became quite evident what had happened. Jacob had been deceived and Esau had been
robbed! Esau pleaded with his father to
pull out one more blessing for him also, and Isaac did indeed speak blessings
over his eldest, but they may not have been everything they could have been if
he had received the first blessing.
Esau’s
heart was now enraged over what his younger brother had done to him, both in
taking his birthright, and now in taking his blessing. “And
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and
Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then
will I slay my brother Jacob.” (Genesis 27:41). Rebekah was soon aware of Esau’s intentions
and warned Jacob to flee to Padanaram to the house of her father where he could
find a wife among her brother Laban’s daughters.
There
is a lesson here that we need to understand about election and
inheritance. The Apostle Paul has much
to say on this subject in his letter to the Galatian churches and in the ninth
chapter of Romans where he says, “For they are not all Israel, which are
of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children:
but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time
will I come, and Sara shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also
had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (for the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not
of works, but of him that calleth;) it was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is
written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated.” (Romans
9:6-13). We must understand that
ultimately the seed of Abraham was never about a man’s lineage, but it was
about a man’s faith. God recognizes the
children of faith as the true Israel of God whether they are Jews, Gentiles,
red, yellow, black, or white. “For he is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly;
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter;
whose praise is not of men, but of God.” (Romans 2:28, 29). “Now to
Abraham and his seed were the promises made.
He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.’’
(Galatians 3: 16). “For ye are all the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are
all one in Christ Jesus. And
if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the
promise.” (Galatians 3: 25-29).
My friends and fellow believers in Jesus Christ: you are the seed of
Abraham, true Jews, and the Israel of God!
Embrace your heritage in Christ!
The
lesson that Paul wants to get across to us concerning divine election and grace
is that it has nothing to do with works.
It is all about God’s calling. It
is about unmerited favor. It is about
the fulfillment of God’s promises to man – not birthright, not will power, and
not the works of the flesh. God
predetermined that the Holy Seed of Christ would descend, not from Isaac’s
oldest son Esau, but from his youngest son Jacob. It would come forth, not from a real man’s
man, but from a plain man. Not from the
strongest, but from the weakest. The same
thing was true of David. When the
Prophet Samuel was sent to anoint a king over Israel, God refused all of the
sons of Jesse who were older, taller, and more handsome. It was David, the youngest, that God had His
eye on. “…the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither
yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour
to men of skill.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11).
We
find in this story a type and a shadow of Israel after the flesh (the Jewish
nation) and Israel after the Spirit (the true believers in Christ). God said He loved Jacob because Jacob
represents those who are learning to trust God in faith and growing in the
knowledge of their Savior Jesus Christ.
As God loved David, who was described as a man after God’s own heart, so
He loves those today who are seeking to know and to please Him. God said that He hated Esau because Esau
represents those who are trusting in everything but Christ for their
salvation. They think that their own
works will save them, but they are building their house on shifting sand. The collapse of that house will be devastating
someday. God hates those who think they
can achieve righteousness by their own efforts.
Jesus’ sharpest criticisms and harshest rebukes were against those who
maintained their own misguided integrity while persecuting and condemning the
innocent. James, the brother of Jesus,
writes, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of
the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4). James directed these words to those who said
they knew and followed God.
God’s
ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. There is a way that seems right to us,
but the end of that way is spiritual death (Proverbs 14:12). So much of what God does is counterintuitive
to us mere mortals. “There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and
which the vulture’s eye hath not seen: the lion’s whelps have not trodden it,
nor the fierce lion passed by it.” (Job 28:7, 8).
“But as it is written, Eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
God, however, reveals His ways to those who love Him and seek to know
His ways. “But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:10).
Rebekah in this story may be seen as the Church, the
Bride of Christ, the Household of Faith.
It is the Church’s job to nurture and guide those who desire to be sons
of God and overcomers. Her methods seem
devious and underhanded in our story, but when applied to the spiritual
application of the Church, we see that her intentions were to secure both the
birthright and the blessings upon her child whom God had already indicated
would have the dominion. Her actions in
that regard could be said to have been in faith. The picture of Rebekah warning her son to
flee from the wrath of Esau is reminiscent of the woman in Revelation. “And
there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the
moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being
with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven;
and behold a great red dragon…and the dragon stood before the woman which was
ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who
was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto
God, and to his throne.” (Revelation
12:1-5).
When
Balaam the prophet was hired to speak a curse over Israel when they had come
out of Egypt and were approaching the Promised Land, the Spirit of God came
upon him, and he spoke some wonderful things which we can claim as our own as
the true Israel of God. He said, “God is not a man, that He should lie;
neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not
do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? Behold,
I have received commandment to bless: and He hath blessed; and I cannot reverse
it. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with
him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it
were the strength of an unicorn. Surely
there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against
Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What
hath God wrought! (Numbers 23:19-23). God has given commandment to bless you, dear
one, and though there be those who would wish to curse you, they cannot reverse
what God has said! Jacob have I
loved! He has not beheld iniquity or
perverseness in you because He only sees you through the finished work of His
Beloved Son. Jesus’ blood has atoned for
our sin and His resurrection has justified us in the Father’s sight! The shout of a King is among us! Bless His holy name! When we look at ourselves, we can never say, “look what I have done.” We can only say, “What hath God wrought!”
Balaam
went on to prophecy, “I shall see Him,
but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out
of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of
Sheth. And Edom [Esau] shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a
possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out
of Jacob shall come He that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that
remaineth of the city.”
(Numbers 24:17-19). Balaam
recognized that he would some day stand before the King of kings and the Lord
of lords. He saw Him Who is the Star of
Jacob and the Sceptre of Israel Who will one day have the dominion over all
things!
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