Charmed1

of the four characters mentioned, I can most closely relate to Esau. For far too many years I spurned my birthright. I didn't grasp the full value of my inheritance. I didn't treat my body like the holy temple of the Spirit. I didn't guard my thoughts, my words. My actions were totally self-centered, and I lived to please me. Instant gratification was my thing. I had no patience for any sort of delay. I often said: "I want what I want, and I want it NOW." And if I could not for some reason get what I wanted right then and there, then I didn't want it at all! Thank God for His transforming grace. I am not what I used to be. I, like Jacob, have wrestled with God, and God won. Because of Jesus, I can now say I am a new creation. The old has gone. Behold. The new has come. I am not yet perfect but my Esau days are in the past.

This blessing is irrevocable and once given can't be changed, no matter what. Given that fact, and coupled with the fact of Isaac's blindness and old age and infirmity, it seems to me that he would have been more careful to be sure he was blessing the right brother. Surely he had to know how treacherous Jacob was. And he had to know that his wife favored the younger son, and he may have been aware of the words the Lord spoke to Rebekah, either having heard Him directly or Rebekah having told him over the years. Apparently he thought something was up because he questioned Jacob's identity. Maybe he should have had both boys in the room instead of trying to bless Esau "secretly". God is Sovereign. His role is primary. Everything works out for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. This same God who saw Calvary before Creation surely knew that Jacob would become Israel and Esau would be father of the Edomites. He knew them before they were in Rebekah's womb. I don't believe He ordained that Jacob would receive the birthright and the blessing through trickery, but He did use that circumstance to further His plan.

There is no excuse for Rebekah's deception. There is never any excuse for our sin. It is true that God had spoken directly to Rebekah telling her the younger would lead the older. So she was armed with that knowledge and I can understand her confusion--even her panic--when realizing that Isaac is apparently going to bless Esau. But that shows a marked lack of faith. If God says a thing, then that's what it is. He cannot lie, and He does not need any help from any of His created ones to make His word come to pass, no matter what the current situation looks like. With Rebekah being Sarah's daughter-in-law, and stories passed down and told over and over, surely Rebekah knew that. But she had to be sure. So she resorted to trickery to ensure her will would be done, and even if her will was God's will, her methods were not His. But Jacob isn't all innocent here, either. I'm sure he wanted the birthright. I'm sure he wanted to obey his mother and be her "good son." But obedience to God comes before everything. And God never calls us into sin.

If I think of "being spiritual" as "being concerned with things of the spirit, eternal things", then I'd say Rebekah wasn't very spiritual. If being barren bothered her so much, why didn't she pray for herself during those 20 years? I think the fact that Isaac prayed for his wife, and God heard Isaac's prayer and blessed Rebekah with twins is more an indication of Isaac's spirituality. Though to her credit, once she realized she was carrying a set of very active twins, she did "inquire of the Lord." Could it be that having God answer Isaac's prayer by giving her her heart's desire awakened a measure of spirituality within her? or perhaps she was very spiritual, but had been praying to the gods of her people instead of the One and Only God of Israel. As for Jacob and Esau, I'd say Esau was the more spiritually sensitive of the two. The birthright did have value for him--he wept and begged for it later, but he allowed his carnality, his flesh to get in the way of his spirituality---a situation I'm all too familiar with. Jacob, on the other hand, seemed from first to last to be concerned with "what's best for me?" He doesn't appear to want the birthright because of God's blessings but for the power and the wealth that will come with it. He is indeed grasping and greedy, deceptive and duplicitous. At first. Given the fact that Rebekah's their mother, counteracting any influence Isaac would have had, both boys may have been confused about spiritual things. But Jacob even more so because being Rebekah's favorite, he would have spent more time with her.

This is my first time visiting the Forum, and I haven't looked at anyone else's response so I hope this fits within the framework of what you all are used to! I think the New Testament condemns Esau's selling of his birthright because we, too, as believers and children of God, have become heirs. We need to value our birthright, all the blessings that come to the firstborn because we're in Christ and He is in us. Nothing has more value than that. Our Father is a loving and forgiving God but there will come a time when it's essentially "too late". We will have to live with our choices. If we've gone for instant gratification and worldly pleasures thinking one day we'll get right with God and live by the Spirit, we may find it is too late, and all our pleading and all our tears will be of no avail. Our salvation is a serious matter.