In this Come Follow Me we are talking about Jacob starting in Genesis 28. But before we go over that I want to briefly go over the story of Esau losing his birthright and blessings because that is important to know about, what exactly is going on there? So we are going over Genesis 25 and 27 in this post.
Esau is the older of twin boys, the second born is Jacob. Esau is a big, burly, hairy man. He likes to hunt and is good at it. Jacob is more of a home body, not nearly as hairy and big. And to go even further back when Rebekah was pregnant with them she was told in her loins there are 2 great nations, and that the younger will lead the older. So in this whole story, in the defense of Rebekah she probably felt the need to make sure the Lord’s work is fulfilled. She didn’t know why, but she did as she saw fit to ensure Jacob was to lead.
In Genesis 25 Esau had returned home from hunting and was starving so much that he felt he was going to perish right then and there. Jacob offered him a sod of pottage for his birthright. Let’s pause for a second, Esau had just came home, like as if he just passed the threshold and stepped into the house. He was so starving and Jacob offered him food, Esau could just as easily found any other ready made food to cure his starvation but instead Esau says in verse 32 “…Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” Basically he said, “what good is this birthright to me now if I am starving?”
Now back then a birthright wasn’t simply just money and property, as well as it should be today. A birthright is more about who takes care of the family once Dad passes away? What about business dealings? And in the case of Isaac’s family it is also about the covenants, who is to lead the family spiritually? A birthright comes with responsibilities and Esau isn’t quite the right guy for it. Jacob is.
Jacob didn’t ask for something Esau was clinging tightly too. There is a saying, “what is one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” in this though Esau neglected to see the value of his birthright in the moment because to his eyes- a man who I assume finds more value to tangible things and a birthright isn’t tangible- didn’t think about what he was trading. It’s like when someone trades a highly valuable baseball card for gum, only to find out he could have gotten way more.
As for Jacob, he tricked his brother for the birthright, not quite a Christlike trait I know. But let’s look at the evidence at hand, Esau is a strong hunter but probably doesn’t have the brains of Jacob. Brute strength isn’t the guy you are looking for to lead your covenant people. Heavenly Father knew this, he told Rebekah that the second born will lead the first born. Jacob did what he had to have the birthright. Isn’t it better than what Cain did to Able because he was jealous? Jacob tricked, Cain killed.
I think the lesson to here is that Jacob isn’t perfect, nor is anyone on this earth. Our church leaders aren’t perfect, but if we repent and and ask for forgiveness then we can be lead in righteous directions. I am not saying what Jacob did was good, but I also wouldn’t say it was bad. Let’s break away from scripture and look at the relationship between Thor and Loki in the marvel universe. Thor, like Esau is the brother with more brute, was the rightful heir to the throne (actually it was Hella, but she was the queen of death- not someone you want to lead your kingdom), but Loki who is like Jacob in that he has more brains than Thor, believed he was the one meant to be king. Though the similarities between Esau and Thor and Jacob and Loki are very similar, that is where the similarities end. Thor is the rightful king because Odin saw great potential in Thor, Loki is the God of mischief and knew better than to put him as king.
I guess what I am trying to say is recognizing your potential and does your potential fit in with what you are meant to do? Clearly Esau’s potential lies somewhere else and Jacob’s was to follow in their Father’s footsteps and to spread the gospel.
In Genesis 27 Jacob had tricked Isaac in giving all of the blessings that Esau was supposed to receive. How? Well Isaac was close to death and he was nearly blind, if not completely blind. He told Esau to go hunt and to bring back some venison to eat, then he will bless him. Rebekah overheard this and told Jacob to go to Isaac and pretend he was Esau so he could receive the blessing, she would prepare the meat and put goat fur on him to make him appear to be Esau. When Jacob had come to Isaac, Isaac was amazed by how quickly he got the venison. And Jacob had responded with the fact that he was blessed in hunting down his prey so quickly. Isaac questioned if this was truly Esau because his hands felt hairy like Esau but his voice sounded like that of Jacob’s. But he gave the blessing to Jacob still believing it was Esau. Then Jacob had departed from Isaac and Esau had arrived with the venison and had came to be blessed, but Isaac trembled. He blessed the wrong person and said that person shall be blessed instead of Esau himself. Esau felt he was wronged for the second time, first his birthright and now his blessing both by his brother. There wasn’t even but one blessing left for Esau. Esau sought to kill his brother for stealing from him, and because of this Rebekah sent Jacob away to save him from being killed.
Now a few things to go over here, I would believe Isaac has the discernment to recognize what was going on. I don’t think he could have been that easily dooped, or what very well may have happened is that his discernment was blocked for this exact reason- to give the blessing to Jacob. On top of that Isaac could have very easily took the blessing away from Jacob and given it to Esau. But he didn’t because I believe Isaac saw that Jacob was the better man for the birthright and for the blessing to lead in following the gospel.
That’s all I have for now. Next post(s) will be going into Chapters 28–33.
