Esau

Scripture: Genesis 25:19-34 & 27:1-45

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3xctOjgDbs

Structure:

• Introduction
• Esau is hairy
• Esau despises his birthright
• Jacobs deceives Isaac
• Conclusion – forgiveness

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Today we begin a new sermon series on hair and hairy people in the Bible.

Most people are born with about 100,000 hair follicles on their head, although it can vary from person to person. And that is not say anything about the hair on the rest of your body.

Somewhat ironically, hair is often a symbol for strength, vitality and beauty. So the more hair someone has the more vigorous and healthy they are perceived to be. I say that’s ironic because, in actual fact, once hair reaches the surface of the skin the cells are dead. It’s strange that we mistake that which is dead as a sign of life.

Nevertheless, we do seem to judge people based the appearance of their hair. Consequently, a lot of time and effort is often given to hair, assuming you still have it.

Please turn with me to Genesis 25, on page 28 toward the beginning of your pew Bibles. We come across a number of hairy characters in the Bible. One of the first is Esau, the son of Isaac and Rebekah and the twin brother of Jacob. From Genesis 25, verse 21 we read about the birth of Esau & Jacob…

Esau is hairy:

²¹ Because Rebecca had no children, Isaac prayed to the Lord for her. The Lord answered his prayer, and Rebecca became pregnant. ²² She was going to have twins, and before they were born, they struggled against each other in her womb. She said, “Why should something like this happen to me?” So she went to ask the Lord for an answer.

²³ The Lord said to her, “Two nations are within you; You will give birth to two rival peoples. One will be stronger than the other; The older will serve the younger.”

²⁴ The time came for her to give birth, and she had twin sons. ²⁵ The first one was reddish, and his skin was like a hairy robe, so he was named Esau. ²⁶ The second one was born holding on tightly to the heel of Esau, so he was named Jacob.Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

May the Lord bless the reading of his word.

If we say something was a bit ‘hairy’; for example, ‘the traffic was a bit hairy on the way to work this morning’ or ‘the crowd was a bit hairy at the cricket’, we mean that it was dangerous, scary, unpredictable and risky or a bit out of control. Hairiness, then, can be a metaphor for that which is rough & ready or ill prepared. Hairiness is sort of the opposite of refinement and good quality. It is the opposite of neat & tidy and safe.

Not only was Esau physically hairy, from birth, Esau and Jacob’s relationship as brothers was pretty hairy too. Genesis 25 tells us how they were in conflict with each other even before they were born. They wrestled in the womb.

Throughout most of history the first born male has been given certain privileges. They call it primogeniture. This is where the eldest son becomes first in line to inherit something significant from their parents. For example, Prince Charles is next in line to be king of England because he is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth.

Primogeniture is a random basis for deciding succession. It doesn’t require any special skill or quality. It comes down to luck basically. What’s more, it’s not really God’s idea. It is a human tradition.

Esau was the first born of Rebekah and Isaac. There wasn’t much in it to be fair. Jacob followed quickly after, holding on to the heel of his brother Esau. But Esau crossed the line first and, from a human point of view, that gave him certain privileges, most notably a special birthright. In that culture being born first gave Esau the right to inherit the leadership and authority of his father Isaac. That means Esau would be boss of the family once Isaac died.

However, God does not play by human rules. He is no respecter of man-made traditions. To the Lord, primogeniture is a hairy idea and so God is inclined to shave that particular human tradition. As Jesus said, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.    

While she was still pregnant, Rebekah enquired of the Lord and the Lord said to her: the older will serve the younger. And so it appears that God elected or chose Jacob to become the head of the family and to inherit the promise and blessing of his grandfather Abraham.

We notice in the Bible that God sometimes selects certain individuals for a special purpose. In ways we don’t fully understand God uses the choices those individuals make to serve his plan and purpose. He works it for good.

God did not choose Jacob because Jacob was an especially good or noble person. In fact, as we shall see, Jacob’s behavior toward his brother and father was quite hairy at times. Rather, God’s election of Jacob was all grace. It was entirely unmerited favour, for God chose Jacob before he was born. That is, before Jacob had a chance to do anything good or bad.

Esau despises his birthright:

From verse 27 of Genesis 25, we pick up the story…

²⁷ The boys grew up, and Esau became a skilled hunter, a man who loved the outdoors, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. ²⁸ Isaac preferred Esau, because he enjoyed eating the animals Esau killed, but Rebecca preferred Jacob.

²⁹ One day while Jacob was cooking some bean soup, Esau came in from hunting. He was hungry ³⁰ and said to Jacob, “I’m starving; give me some of that red stuff.” (That is why he was named Edom.)

³¹ Jacob answered, “I will give it to you if you give me your rights as the first-born son.”

³² Esau said, “All right! I am about to die; what good will my rights do me?”

³³ Jacob answered, “First make a vow that you will give me your rights.”

Esau made the vow and gave his rights to Jacob. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave him some bread and some of the soup. He ate and drank and then got up and left. That was all Esau cared about his rights as the first-born son.

May God bless the reading of his word.

What we have in these verses from Genesis 25, is an example of men behaving badly. Esau despises his birthright. He trades his right to become head of the household for a bowl of lentil soup. He treats something sacred as though it were cheap and of little consequence. That’s a hairy thing to do. Esau may have felt famished but he was hardly starving. He could have waited.

Jacob’s behaviour isn’t any better. Basic human decency, not to mention the obligation to provide hospitality in that culture, required Jacob to share the soup with his brother freely. But Jacob sees an opportunity and exploits Esau’s vulnerability.

Although Jacob’s behaviour seems a bit hairy to us, God used it for good. Jacob’s test revealed the truth of the situation. Jacob may have been ruthless but he clearly cared more for the birthright than Esau did, which tends to vindicate God’s choice in electing Jacob.

Someone told me once how they used to have compulsory military training in the country they came from. There was a test for those who wanted to become officers in the army. They took the cadets out into the desert, had them do fatigues during the heat of the day and deprived them of water. Then after some hours, when everyone was really thirsty, they brought out some cold drinks.

Anyone could have a drink but if you did, you forfeited the option to become an officer. Being a leader is not easy. It requires real strength. You need self-discipline and you have to be prepared to make personal sacrifices. Jesus faced an even more demanding test when he was called to public ministry. He fasted in the wilderness for 40 days and was tested by Satan.

Now personally, I don’t think there was anything wrong with those cadets who accepted the drink and choose not to be an officer. That is not the same as selling your birthright for a bowl of stew. Military leadership is not for everyone. In fact, the army is not for everyone.

I guess these days the army has a more refined and careful selection process for their officers. I imagine one would have to be psychologically assessed before being accepted. But the drink test in the desert, that’s something that can’t be replicated by psychometric testing.

The point is, before we can be entrusted with something valuable we have to demonstrate to ourselves (more than anyone else) that we truly value what we are to be entrusted with.    

Esau may have been born first but he wasn’t really called or suited for the role of being head of the family. And that’s okay. Being the leader is not always what it is cracked up to be. For the followers of Jesus, being a leader means following the path of self-sacrifice. The leader knows better than anyone else that the first shall be last and the last shall be first.  

At various stages on your life’s journey, if you pause long enough, you might ask yourself, ‘Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? What do I value? Where do I find meaning for my soul?’

That can be a hairy process, because it usually involves some kind of deprivation or test. Some sort of sacrifice or suffering. And the outcome can be unpredictable. Perhaps, like Esau, you will not get what you want, but you will get what you need.

As Walter Brueggemann observes, we do not live in a world where all possibilities are kept open and we may choose our posture as we please. This does not deny freedom but it requires us to speak of destiny.

Jacob & Esau had freedom but their freedom is bounded by the choices God has already made on their behalf. 

We live in a society which places a high value on personal freedom and self-determination. So the idea that God has the power and the right to channel our choices goes against the grain for us. It feels hairy. But that’s where faith comes in. We have to learn to trust God and to accept ourselves, the way God made us, hairiness and all. 

Jacobs deceives Isaac:

Jacob was not satisfied with Esau’s birthright. Jacob wanted his father’s blessing too. In Genesis 27 we find more hairy behaviour, not just from Jacob but also from Isaac and Rebekah.

We are told that Isaac preferred Esau because he liked Esau’s food. (Not sure how that would have made Rebekah feel?) In any case, Isaac wanted to give his blessing to Esau and not to Jacob. 

There’s a line from the 1986 movie Highlander which says, “There can be only one.” I won’t give you the context. You have to see the film. But it seems that with the blessing Isaac bestowed, there could be only one. It had to be either Esau or Jacob. They couldn’t both receive a blessing.

And, once again, that goes against the grain for us (it feels hairy) because we live in a society that values inclusion and equality. Isaac intended to include Esau and exclude Jacob but his cunning plan failed.

I say it was a cunning plan because something as important as the passing on of a sacred blessing would normally be done in an open way, publicly, with ceremony and celebration. Sort of like a wedding or a baptism or the bestowal of a knighthood. But Isaac thought he would bestow his blessing secretly, on the down low.  

Isaac sent Esau off to hunt some game and make him a tasty meal with it. Then he would give Esau his blessing. But Rebekah overheard Isaac’s plan and came up with a cunning plan of her own. She decided to take advantage of Isaac’s blindness and told Jacob to dress up like Esau and imitate his brother’s hairiness. In this way Isaac would bless Jacob, thinking he was blessing Esau.

Jacob wasn’t sure at first. What if the plan backfired? What if Isaac figured out that Jacob was deceiving him? That might bring a curse on Jacob’s head. But Rebekah said she would take the blame.

So Jacob agreed. Rebekah dressed Jacob in Esau’s clothes and put goat skins on Jacob’s arms and neck. This way Jacob would smell and feel like Esau. Then Jacob took food to Isaac and lied to his father, pretending to be Esau.

Isaac’s instinct, his gut, told him something wasn’t right. But Isaac didn’t trust his gut. Instead he was led by his nose. It smelt like Esau and so blind old Isaac unwittingly gave Jacob the blessing, saying…        

May God give you dew from heaven and make your fields fertile! May he give you plenty of grain and wine! ²⁹ May nations be your servants, and may peoples bow down before you. May you rule over all your relatives, and may your mother’s descendants bow down before you. May those who curse you be cursed, and may those who bless you be blessed.”

Later, Esau turned up with the food Isaac liked, seeking his father’s blessing. But it was too late. Jacob had already stolen the blessing. When Isaac learned he had been deceived he began to tremble and shake all over, and he asked, “Who was it, then, who killed an animal and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came. I gave him my final blessing, and so it is his forever.”

³⁴ When Esau heard this, he cried out loudly and bitterly and said, “Give me your blessing also, father! …Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”

I am reminded of Dylan Thomas’ poem, written for his father who (like Isaac) was going blind near the end of his life…

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light…

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

To his credit, Isaac does not retract his blessing. It was solemnly given and cannot be taken back. This might seem strange to us because we live in an age of advertising and mis-information and fake news, when language is treated cheaply and words are not really trusted.

But Isaac lived at a time when words were potent; they carried power and were efficacious. Words made things happen.

It is not easy for the first when they realise they have come last. Esau was livid with Jacob but he loved his father and thought to postpone his revenge on Jacob until after Isaac had died. Rebekah had the sense to send Jacob away for a while, for his own protection. Oh, how it must have pained her to do so.

Jacob had secured the birth right and the blessing, but at what cost. Life was about to get rather hairy for Jacob. One wonders if things may have gone smoother for everyone if Jacob had waited for God to fulfil the oracle, rather than Jacob forcing the fulfilment of the prophecy himself.        

Conclusion:

You know, you may wish sometimes that your life had gone differently. You may wish that you had made other choices, climbed a different ladder or taken another path. But you can’t change the past and you can’t be something you are not. There is no point in bitterness. Sometimes you just have to get on with it, make the best of the hand you are dealt. And make the best of the choices you have made.

This, it seems, is what Esau did. Twenty years go by before Jacob and Esau meet up again. Jacob is naturally feeling quite anxious (and guilty) about returning home to face his brother and so he sends gifts ahead of him to soften Esau and win his favour, but Jacob didn’t need to do this. As it turned out God had blessed Esau too and so Esau had plenty. In Genesis 33 we read…

Jacob saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. …Jacob went ahead of [his wives and children] and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. ⁴ But Esau ran to meet him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. They were both crying… 

¹⁰ Jacob said, “…please, if I have gained your favour, accept my gift. To see your face is for me like seeing the face of God, now that you have been so friendly to me…”

Esau forgave Jacob and welcomed him with genuine affection.

Jesus taught us to love those who are different from us. Esau and Jacob could not be more different from each other. One was a bit wild & reckless and the other cool & calculating. One hairy and the other smooth. But it was the hairy one, it was Esau, who demonstrated the most grace in the end.

Carl Jung might say that each of us has an Esau and a Jacob personality within ourselves. (We are complex creatures, fearfully and wonderfully made.) Before we can love those who are different from us we must first forgive and accept the parts of ourselves that we don’t like very much. Or, as Jesus put it, we have to take the plank out of our own eye. We have to face the truth about ourselves and allow our inner Esau and Jacob to make peace.

Let us pray…

Gracious God, we thank you for your wisdom in working things for good.

Help each of us as we discover your purpose for our lives and walk in it.

Give us patience to wait for you and your timing.

Help us to be content whether we are first or last.

And give us the grace to forgive ourselves that our own inner Esau and Jacob would be reconciled and we may learn to love those who are different from us.

We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection

What stands out for you in reading these Scriptures and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

• What do we mean by birthright? What was Esau’s birthright? What is your birthright?

• Why do you think God chose Jacob over Esau, to inherit the promise of Abraham?

• What is the purpose of your life? How do you know this is your purpose? How does this fit with God’s purpose? 

• Is there anything in Genesis 25 & 27 that really grates (or annoys) you? Why is that do you think?  In what ways does the undercurrent of Esau & Jacob’s story go against the grain of our society today?

• Of the four main characters in today’s message (Esau & Jacob, Isaac & Rebekah) who do you identify with the most? And who do you think is least like you (your opposite)? Why is that do you think?

• Who is your Esau? Who is your Jacob? Is there anyone you need to make peace with? Give this to God in prayer and ask him how to proceed?