A
Few Things We Have Gotten Wrong Over the Years
Jacob and Esau…..
The Books of the Bible are
chronological……
The Children of Israel were in Egypt for
400 years……
In
the modern day ‘church’….. The common belief and teaching is that
Jacob ‘tricked’ Esau and cheated him out of his birthright….
Let’s
take a look at some examples of this teaching………
Esau,
you may recall from Jacob’s story a couple of weeks ago, was
betrayed by his brother Jacob. Tricked out of his birthright and
blessing, Esau has surely nurtured his resentment for years. However, when
he
comes face to face with his deceitful brother, he makes the decision
to throw his arms around him in forgiveness and reconciliation. And
Jacob utters what may be the most beautiful line in all of scripture. He
said to the forgiving Esau, “I saw your face and it looked like God.”
To be forgiven enables us to see God in the face of the one we have
harmed. When we forgive we are God’s face to the one who has harmed us.
Jacob
conned his twin brother, Esau, out of the family birthright and then fled
for his life. But he could not escape the fact that we reap what we sow.
Jacob, the deceiver, gets conned by his father-in-law,
and ends up serving for twenty years. Those who will sin with you
will sin against you. If you con, you will be out-conned.
I
am sure you are familiar with the fact that Jacob had deceived his brother
Esau on two occasions: 1) the stealing of Esau's birthright (Gen. 25:19-34);
and 2) the theft of Esau's blessing (Gen. 27:1-40). Esau is absolutely right
when he notes that Jacob is a deceiver because that is what Jacob's name
means (cf. Gen. 27:36). But in light of his own deceptions Jacob must flee
from the presence of Esau because he fears that Esau will kill him.
SCHEMING
JACOB
There
are many who scheme and connive and plot and deceive as they travel down
life’s road. They do this in order to try to benefit and better
themselves. Instead of trusting the Lord for His best they try to work
things out their way. Often they want what is good (happiness, security,
freedom, a bright future, a good marriage, etc.) but they try to obtain what
is good in the wrong way.Are you a schemer? Are you a trickster? Jacob
certainly was, and in this chapter we will look at some of the tricks he
played. We will also see that God allowed Jacob to be tricked, just as he
had tricked others. It does not pay to scheme and Jacob had to learn this
the hard way
So
from these few examples, we see that the commonly held belief is that Jacob
was a crook and Esau a helpless victim….. So lets look at scripture and
see what really happened…….
Gen
25:27 When the boys grew up,
Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful
man, living in tents.
Gen
25:28 Now Isaac loved Esau,
because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Gen
25:29 When Jacob had cooked
stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished;
Gen
25:30 and Esau said to Jacob,
"Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am
famished." Therefore his name was called Edom.
Gen
25:31 But Jacob said,
"First sell me your birthright."
Gen
25:32 Esau said, "Behold,
I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?"
Gen
25:33 And Jacob said,
"First swear to me"; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright
to Jacob.
Gen
25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau
bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way.
Thus Esau despised his birthright.
See,
poor Esau was nearly dead from his hunger
and mean Jacob preyed on his weakness to get something that was not his…..
Right??????
Let’s
take a closer look at Esau and see what we can discover…..
Esau
was a skillful hunter….. So why is he having such a hard time locating a
meal?????? Why did Esau need Jacob to get him a bite to eat?????
Esau
was the eldest son of Isaac. Isaac was a wealthy man who had many servants
and plenty of food, so why did Esau not tell Jacob ‘No Way’ and get a
servant to give him food?????
Another
question….. Why is Jacob, the son of Isaac cooking stew???? Why is one of
the servants not doing this?????
What
about the 1st part
of this chapter…… Has this passage been kept in its proper context????
There’s
many unanswered and confusing questions here….. Lets try to find some
answers………
Maybe
there is more here than what we have been led to believe……
Let’s
use the Book of Jasher to try and get some insight into Esau….
Jasher
26:17
And the boys grew up to their fifteenth year, and they came amongst
the society of men. Esau was a designing and deceitful man, and an expert
hunter in the field, and Jacob was a man perfect and wise, dwelling in
tents, feeding flocks and learning the instructions of the Lord and the
commands of his father and mother.
Wow……
Maybe we haven’t heard the entire story about this poor victim Esau…….
Let’s
look at this passage from a Hebrew perspective…..
Until
the age of 15, the twins were raised in the same environment and exposed to
the same teachings of their father Isaac and grandfather Abraham. On the day
Abraham died, however, Esau went out to the field (according to Rashi, he
abandoned the
Torah
path that day and committed the three cardinal sins—murder, idol worship,
and adultery), and returned famished. He saw Jacob preparing a pot of
lentils (the traditional dish prepared for a mourner—in this case, Isaac,
who was mourning the death of his father) and asked Jacob for some of that
"red, red stuff." For this reason, Esau was also called
Edom
- אדום
- "red." Jacob demanded that Esau sell him his birthright in
exchange. Noting that the birthright was useless to him if he died, Esau
agreed, and the exchange was made. In the words of the Bible, Esau
"despised" his birthright.
We’ve
been taught that Jacob was only interested in money and power but maybe
after looking at it from this angle, Jacob realized that Esau hated his
birthright and truly did not care about their father. Esau would have
destroyed the family and Jacob was not going to let that happen….
Now
let’s deal with the actual issuing of the birthright……
Gen
27:1 Now it came about, when
Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son
Esau and said to him, "My son." And he said to him, "Here I
am."
Gen
27:2 Isaac said, "Behold
now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.
Gen
27:3 "Now then, please
take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt
game for me;
Gen
27:4 and prepare a savory dish
for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul
may bless you before I die."
Gen
27:5 Rebekah was listening
while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt
for game to bring home,
Gen
27:6 Rebekah said to her son
Jacob, "Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,
Gen
27:7 'Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me,
that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.'
Gen
27:8 "Now therefore, my
son, listen to me as I command you.
Gen
27:9 "Go now to the flock
and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.
Gen
27:10 "Then you shall
bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you
before his death."
Gen
27:11 Jacob answered his mother
Rebekah, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.
Gen
27:12 "Perhaps my father
will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring
upon myself a curse and not a blessing."
Gen
27:13 But his mother said to
him, "Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me."
Gen
27:14 So he went and got them,
and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved.
Gen
27:15 Then Rebekah took the
best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and
put them on Jacob her younger son.
Gen
27:16 And she put the skins of
the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
Gen
27:17 She also gave the savory
food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob.
Gen
27:18 Then he came to his
father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who
are you, my son?"
Gen
27:19 Jacob said to his father,
"I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please,
sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me."
Gen
27:20 Isaac said to his son,
"How is it that you have it so quickly,
my son?" And he said, "Because the LORD your God caused it to happen to me."
Gen
27:21 Then Isaac said to Jacob,
"Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really
my son Esau or not."
Gen
27:22 So Jacob came close to
Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, "The voice is the voice of
Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
Gen
27:23 He did not recognize him,
because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed
him.
Gen
27:24 And he said, "Are
you really my son Esau?" And he said, "I am."
Gen
27:25 So he said, "Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son's game, that I may bless
you." And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.
Gen
27:26 Then his father Isaac
said to him, "Please come close and kiss me, my son."
Gen
27:27 So he came close and
kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him
and said, "See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which
the LORD has blessed;
Gen
27:28 Now may God give you of
the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of
grain and new wine;
Gen
27:29 May peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your
mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be
those who bless you."
Gen
27:30 Now it came about, as
soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out
from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from
his hunting.
Gen
27:31 Then he also made savory
food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, "Let my
father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me."
Gen
27:32 Isaac his father said to
him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am your son, your
firstborn, Esau."
Gen
27:33 Then Isaac trembled
violently, and said, "Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of
it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed."
Gen
27:34 When Esau heard the words
of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and
said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!"
Gen
27:35 And he said, "Your
brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing."
Gen
27:36 Then he said, "Is he
not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took
away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." And
he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"
Gen
27:37 But Isaac replied to
Esau, "Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I
have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained
him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?"
Gen
27:38 Esau said to his father,
"Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." So Esau
lifted his voice and wept.
Once
again, we have the poor victim, Esau. Esau has been tricked twice now
hasn’t he?????
No
where does Jacob ‘trick’ Esau into giving him the birthright. Jacob made
an offer to Esau and Esau accepted it. Esau was not forced into this
agreement. He knew the terms and had willfully entered into it.
Esau
should have informed his father about the agreement he and Jacob had.
However, Esau kept quiet and was going to allow his father to give him the
blessing he sold…… Now who is the ‘trickster’???? Who else was
deceiving Isaac???? Maybe Esau isn’t the victim we have been led to
believe he is…..
Now
does all this mean Jacob was in the right for doing as he did??? Of course
not….. Jacob fell into an old family trait…..He
tried to get God’s will done within his own way. Just like Abraham
and Sarah did with Hagar and Ishmael, Jacob tried to get the blessing by his
own devices……
This
‘family trait’ has been passed down for generations and still exists
today. It has transformed into the teaching that salvation can be obtained
by works……. It’s a dangerous teaching that leads to destruction…..
Now
lets deal with another misconception…..
Scripture
is in chronological order………
Let’s
see how well we know the actual order of scripture…….
Which
Book was written 1st……
Job
was written approx 2000 – 1800 BC.
Genesis
was written approx 1446 –1406 BC
Joel
was written approx 830 – 810 BC
Judges
was written approx 1400 – 1050 BC
Let’s
try another one…………
Which
of these books was written 1st……
A:
ISAIAH
B:
JEREMIAH
C:
DANIEL
D:
EZEKIEL
Isaiah
was written 760 – 681 BC
Jeremiah
was written 628- 585 BC
Daniel
was written 607 – 534 BC
Ezekiel
was written 593 – 573 BC
Ok,
lets see how we do with the New Testament…….
Which
of these were written 1st…….
The
correct answer is……..
James
was written in 46 – 49 AD
Philemon
was written in 60 –61 AD
Jude
was written in 66 AD
Titus
was written in 63 AD
This
book was written 1st……
The correct answer
is……..
Galatians
was written in 50 – 60 AD
1
Peter was written in 63 – 64 AD
Ephesians
was written in 60 – 63 AD
Hebrews
was written in 64 - 68 AD
Now
why is this important????? The
belief that scripture is listed in chronological
order leads to the belief that scripture is in chronological order…….
Our
Greek mindset thinks in linear patterns. Scripture was written by Hebrews
using a Hebrew mindset, which is not linear but cycle based…….
One
of the most common ‘chronological order’ beliefs is that of the of
Revelation…… Lets take a closer look…….
Rev
6:1 Then I saw when the Lamb
broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures
saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come."
Rev
6:2 I looked, and behold, a
white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him,
and he went out conquering and to conquer.
Its
none other than the Anti-Messiah….. This is the 1st time he is mentioned
in this book……… It is accepted that this is the time he 1st comes onto the world scene…….
Rev
13:1 And the dragon stood on
the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea,
having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads
were blasphemous names.
Rev
13:2 And the beast which I saw
was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his
mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his
throne and great authority.
Now
who are we looking at here???? Its both the false prophet and the
Anti-Messiah….. This is another vision John had of the Anti-Messiah coming
onto the world scene……..
We
have a problem……. If we are to believe that this book is in
chronological order, we now have 2 Anti-Messiah’s……
Or
perhaps, John is explaining the same vision from a different angle??????
Let’s
move on to another topic……
The
children of Israel were in Egypt for 400 years……
The
basis for this belief comes from Exodus 12:40-41…..
Exo
12:40 Now the time that the
sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
Exo
12:41 And at the end of four
hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the hosts of the LORD went
out from the land of Egypt.
Its
very easy to understand why this passage is misunderstood. Lets do a little
math and see what we discover……..
For
this illustration, we will use the year from creation….. For example, Noah
was born in 1056…… Not 1056 AD but 1,056 years after creation……
If
the belief that Children of Israel were in Egypt for 400 years, then we can
use the age of Jacob and his sons to determine when they left Egypt.
Jacob
was born 2,109 years after creation. He went down into Egypt when he was 130
years old. This is commonly believed that the clock started ticking for the
400 year promise God made to Abraham….. Let’s see if it works……
We
know that Jacob and his family entered into Egypt 215 years after God’s
promise to Abraham in Genesis 12. Furthermore, we know Joseph was 39 at that
time and lived another 71 years after that. If the theory that the 400 years
began at the time they entered Egypt, then they would have left 2,639 years
after creation. However we have a problem….. Amram, the father of Moses
lived to be 137 years old. He was the son of Kohath who’s father was none
other than Levi the son of Jacob. We also know that Kohath was alive when
the descendants 1st entered Egypt and he lived 133 years. So if we were to assume
that Kohath was an infant
when they entered Egypt and was
133 when Amram was born and then we assume that Amram was 137 years old when
Moses was born and we know that Moses was 80 when the exodus occurred, then
we should be able to see 400 years right…… 133+137+80 = 350 years……
Also 2,639 years places us into the time of the Judges of Israel, almost
half way into the Judges….. The theory doesn’t add up……
So
how do we reconcile the time line?????
Genesis
15 contains 2 promises….. It speaks of the promised son, Isaac and the 400
years that Abraham’s descendants will be enslaved and oppressed. The clock
starts counting when Isaac is born. Genesis 21 shows that Abraham lived in
the land of the Philistines for many days….. The following chapters show
that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were constantly oppressed by others.
Its
easy to see how this and the other theories
are widely accepted but we must stay focused and study more now than
ever…..