I think that we spend so much time talking about the Patriarchs, that we forget that there are other people that Scripture talks about. Scripture doesn’t waste its breath with mentioning people wo aren’t important. One example of this is Esau.
Esau has a bad reputation. He is the guy who had his birth right stolen by his younger brother. His younger brother tricked his father into giving him the blessing, and Malachi 1:2-3 has God saying that He loved Jacob and hated Esau.
But do we really ever look at Esau and see the man that he was? Do we see that maybe he had some good points that we can learn from. As we take a look at this big brother with a bad repuation, let’s be open to learning from him. There will be some jumping around in Genesis 25, 26, 27, and over to 33 but I challenge you to discuss Esau with your small group or Sunday school class.
The Birth Right – Genesis 25: 27-34
Let’s take a look at each of the big moments for this older brother. First we see where Esau comes in from the field where, we can guess that he was a hunter (Genesis 25: 27), and he was tired. He sees that Jacob had made some “red stuff” (verse 30), which I would guess that it was some kind of stew. Jacob immediately tells him that Esau can sell him (Jacob) his birth right. Esau sells it for the stew, and verse 34 says that he dispised his birth right.
Here is a deeper dive. Look at the comparisions that are made between these two brothers. Esau is described as a hunter, which is atypical of what we see of the biblical characters who are portrayed as Types. (**A type is a character that is meant to manifest some kind of characteristic of Christ. For example, King David is a shepherd who is meant to care for the people of Israel; likewise Christ is the Good Shepherd).
Esau is also shown to be someone who didn’t care about the birth right. It is important to realize that there is a difference between birth right and inheritance. Here we are talking about the birth right. The birth right would have been the continuation of the covenant that God has with those of the Abrahamic line. In other word, Isaac receiving the birth right and inheritance, not Ishmael. Remember that we aready know that Jacob is going to get this, because Rebekah was told it would happen earlier in Genesis 25:23.
If we look at the from a spiritual viewpoint, Esau didn’t care. He truly didn’t care – he was willing to hand it over for the sake of a meal. Did he realize what he gave up? Was it because he knew he wouldn’t get it anyway? No matter how we look at it, Esau literally didn’t care enough about it to negotiate with Jacob.
A Pour Choice in Spouse(s)
The next big area that we can look at to learn about this eldest son is in his choice of spouse. All of them.
While Abraham had married Sarah who was of the same family line as him – that is Terah’s line – and Isaac had married Rebekah who was also from Terah’s line. In fact, this was such an issue that if you remember back to Genesis 24:3-4, Abraham told his servant to promise before God that he would not let Isaac marry a woman who was from the Canaanites. So naturally, Esau being the man that we have seen to pretty much be a rebel without a cause, marries not one, but two, women who come from the people who dewelt in Canaan: Judith and Basemath.
His choice in a spouse was so bad, that verse 35 of chapter 26 says that “they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.” Now, it is not unusual that there would be stress between in-laws. At the end of the day, it is the son or daughter who has to live with them and. However, if it is so bad that holy scripture says that life was bitter for your parents – you know that is what we would call a stressed relationship. And it wasn’t just with one daughter-in-law, there were two that had to be dalt with.
Here we see a bit of a dycotomy with Esau. One the one hand, he clearly married these women because he wanted to, basically thumbed his nose at how he was raised, and how hehad been taught to understand what God wanted. The other side is that when we get to Genesis 28: 6-9, Esau hears that Isaac commanded Jacob to not marry a Canaanite woman. Esau then marries a daughter of Ishmael, someone who is of Abraham’s line. It’s almost like he tried to make up for his precious poor choice in spouses. Maybe she was better than the others, since scripture doesn’t say that she made life bitter. for her in-laws.
In my opinion, I think that this shows that Esau may have been rebellious, but he also cared about and respected Isaac. Now hear me out: Esau clearly had no interest in spiritual things. He’s gruff, thinks about the moment, had a problem with anger, and was not pursuing God. He also wanted to please Isaac. He wanted to be a good son, and even was willing to marry again because he through that would please his parents. Is he really all that different from anyone else? How often do we do something in our own power because we want to do somethingearn God’s recognition? How often are we greiving the heart of God because of our choices?
Getting Over Past Hurt
Scripturally, we take a break from Esau and focus specifically on Jacob for several chapters of Genesis. Then we make it to Genesis 33, and Esau and Jacob, for the first time in about twenty years see each others. Now remember that this is poisst Jacob decieving Isaac, and stealing the blessing that Isaac was planning to give to Esau. This was the one thing that cauase the most tension between these two brothers. Jacob leaves and has been marrie, here we definitely see that the brothers are more similar than we initially thought, because Jacob has more than one wife like his older brother. But at the opening of chapter 33, “Esau ran to [Jacob], hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed . Then they wept” (33:4).
It may have taken 20 years, but the hurt does heal. Scripture doesn’t shy away from the fact that sibling relationships are hard. Can you say Cain and Able? What about Ishmael and Isaac? And eventually we’re goig to talk about all of Jacob’s children – they put the fun in dysfunctional. But we see that some kind of maturing took place with Esau. Enought that he was happy to see his brother. He cried when he saw him, and hugged him, and he wanted to know abou this wives and children. He even tried to not take the gifts that Jacob tried to give him.
Esau, for all his faults, is not a bad guy. He is a sinner who was in need of a relationship with God. He was flawed the same way we are, the same way his father and grandfather were, and the same way his brother was. When we see people like Esau in scripture, I think that is because God wants us to remember that there are no white hats. That scripture is about people who are real, and they have struggles, sins, and need Christ as much and anyone else.
Discussion Questions
- Create a venn diagram, and compare and contrast the brothers. How are they alike and different?
- What are your thoughts on Esau and his lack of interest in spirutal things? Does this ever play out in your own life?
- Why do you think Esau married Canaanite women, but then married Ishmael’s daughter after hearing Isaac tell Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman?
- How do you see yourself in Esau?
Road Trippin With Rachael 
Leave a comment