ESAU VS JACOB: The characters
Hello! and Welcome to Message not Mannequin. The vision of this project is to serve as a bible study tool not to replace your bible reading in any way but to aid the method and approach to study the bible.
Today is the 21st of August, 2021 but I have had this burden to help people see the Bible as just a collection of Characters and stories but as A single story about Christ, our need for him, and how he is the only way back to the Father.
If you grew up in a Christian home with a sound Sunday school background you have probably heard this story before, I mean at some point I just wanted to try porridge to see what exactly the fuss was all about. I really didn’t like the story though because I’m the firstborn of my parents and I was really proud of that fact. We seemed to have a lot on our plate already as firstborns, I remember having a conversation with one of my friends as a teenager and we concluded firstborns are the trial and error experiment for most parents. Why was the bible shading us here again? We have enough on our plate.
This story though affected my firstborness and because of this, I somehow struggled to grasp the meaning of this story. Later on! I grew up to understand that these were not just a bunch of storybooks. There was a message being narrated by the characters and every detail was so critical to the message.
So questions began to pop into my head. Why was he called Esau? Was it because (he- saw) the porridge? (I hope you got that). Why was his father called Isaac? Was it because he was eye sick(Isaac) in old age (blind)? Was Rebecca a good ‘baker’?
Let’s start with the information we have about the characters:
ESAU:
- The Older twin
- He came before Jacob
- Described as one of the two Nations according to the prophecy
- The prophecy describes the elder as serving the younger which is against Jewish culture
- He came out a hairy red-haired man meaning, ‘Esau’
- A cunning hunter and man of the fields
- Isaac’s favorite child (because he could eat the meat Esau brought from his hunting trips)
- The pattern of this character shows us he’s vain and very nonchalant.
JACOB:
- The younger twin
- He came after Esau but held on to his heel — Hence the name, ‘Jacob’
- A plain man(quiet temperament) living in tents
- Rebecca’s favorite child
- The pattern of this character shows us that he’s very cunning and a cheat.
- This character is also very ambitions and resilient.
The polar difference between these twin characters makes the obvious tussle from the womb obvious. These are two completely opposite people but they were similar in one thing. One wanted to be greater or better than the other, this is a very obvious flaw in both characters right from conception.
There are important questions to ask yourself here :
- Why was Jacob chosen?
- Is our ambition in line with what God wants for us?
- Are we picking the wrong battles/ enemies?
- Does being liked by people mean you are on the right track?
- Do we have issues with our differences?
We will look at the first three in this episode and the next two in the next episode
- Why was Jacob chosen?
One thing this story tells us is that we should take note of the fact only God, not man, not deeds. We see these other two options being faulted right here in this story in the book of Genesis. Gen 25: 22- 25
22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?”[a] 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[b] shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”
Rebecca did the right thing by first going to inquire from God. It means, even if it was just in this moment, she knew only God can give answers, and it was revealed to her that He had chosen the younger generation which was against Jewish custom at the the time because not even custom decides. Only God. We can see this in Deuteronomy 21: 15- 17.
15 “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved,[a] 16 then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, 17 but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the first-fruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.
We can relate this story to our present reality and comment on the pattern in this story to us now. 1 Peter 2; 9–10. says we are now those that are chosen and our link to that blessing is Christ, not firstborns, not second-born but the chosen-born (Rom 1:16)
So we don’t struggle with this story because firstborn or second-born don’t matter, what matters is being ‘born again’.
2. Is our ambition in line with what God wants for us?
We can see here right from when they were in the womb Jacob wanted to be firstborn. He knew what being the firstborn meant and wanted it for himself, the problem though is that his position as second-born is what qualified him to be ‘chosen’. The prophecy in Genesis 25:23 did not say Jacob will carry the blessing but the younger generation.
23 And the Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you[b] shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”
As the story unfolds which we will go into in subsequent episodes, we can see that Jacob (and even Rebecca) lost sight of the prophecy and began to chase things in their own knowledge and with their own might. Sounds familiar? Yes, God has spoken things he has ‘chosen’ for you but are you more interested in what was said over who said it? I have been guilty of this many times myself.
I have been the Esau and I have been the Jacob even though I am the firstborn son, but I have also been chosen despite displaying both traits in my life. It’s not about being hairy or smooth-skinned, red-haired or brunette. It is also important to note that ambition is not wrong, but we have the patterns in the bible that teach us how to channel this ambition.
3. Are we picking the wrong battles/ enemies?
If we go back a little but we will see where God blesses Abraham in Gen 22: 17- 18.
17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his[a] enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
Just before the story of Jacob and Esau opens, God reiterates the blessing with Isaac. Gen26:24
24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”
In the case of Jacob, God is teaching us here to not prioritize the blessing over him. The first thing we should do as believers is to go to him to learn of Him and that is how we walk in what he has promised. Jacob made an enemy of his brother because he was going to fulfill that promise by himself and was even ready go to any length to get there, like cheating his brother, deceiving his brother and conniving with his Mom, but it was not until he got to the end of himself that he carried the blessing and the new name given to him, Israel became the God’s chosen generation as promised before his birth.
29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
Reiterating what the bible says, when we try to make the promise happen by ourselves, it’s a display of pride and like it is as a pattern in the bible, God only uses those that have humbled themselves to him.
Lack of understanding of this, will have us fighting people we shouldn’t be fighting and making enemies where we shouldn’t. (Prov 3:34, James 4:6–7. 1 Peter 5:5).
In the next episode we will go deeper into why Esau and Jacob both had name changes.
