WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT JACOB & ESAU?
Jacob/Esau: A Love/Hate Relationship
“By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. [21] By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.” (Hebrews 11:20-21)
“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (Romans 9:13)
Sarai and Hagar
“dealt harshly with her” (Gen 16:6) and “she looked with contempt” (Genesis 16:4)
Isaac and Ishmael
“the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac” (Genesis 21:10)
“Abraham gave all he had to Issac.” (Genesis 25:5)
“the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts & … sent them away” (Genesis 25:6)
Jacob and Esau
“Two nations are in your womb & two peoples from within you shall be divided” (Genesis 25:23)
“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (Romans 9:13)
Rachel and Leah
Jacob…loved Rachel more than Leah (Genesis 29:30)
Joseph and His Brothers
“Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons” (Genesis 37:3)
1. Grieve for the Lost. Weep. Pray. Never Stop Hurting.
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. (Romans 9:1-2)
2. Reach the Lost. Give. Sacrifice. Surrender. Go.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. (Romans 9:3)
3. Trust God. Rest. Yield. Stop Wrestling, Doubting, Questioning.
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! (Romans 9:14)
4. Rejoice in God’s Mercy. God’s Free Gift.
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (Romans 9:16)
God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” (Exodus 3:15)
Jacob (Israel)
Two Nations
(Genesis 25:22-23 ESV) [22] The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. [23] And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”
The Heel
(Genesis 25:26 ESV) Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
- (Hosea 12:3 ESV) In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God.
The Inheritance
(Genesis 25:29-34 ESV) [29] Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. [30] And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) [31] Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” [32] Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” [33] Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. [34] Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
- (Hebrews 12:15-17 ESV) See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
God’s Choice
(Romans 9:6-13 ESV) [6] But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, [7] and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” [8] This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. [9] For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” [10] And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, [11] though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—[12] she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” [13] As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
- (Romans 9:14-16 ESV)[14] What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! [15] For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” [16] So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Esau’s Rejection of the Inheritance
(Hebrews 6:4-6 ESV) [4] For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
- (1 John 2:19 ESV)[19] They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
One Way of Salvation
(Genesis 28:10-17 ESV) [10] Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. [11] And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. [12] And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! [13] And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. [14] Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. [15] Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” [16] Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” [17] And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
Wrestling with God (Israel = Contender with God)
(Genesis 32:22-32 ESV) [22] The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. [23] He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. [24] And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. [25] When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. [26] Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” [27] And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” [28] Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” [29] Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. [30] So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” [31] The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. [32] Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.