“I Saw Esau…”
In the above quote we have the promise of the far-reaching effects of two blessings, which bring us forward in time to the present and beyond. For these blessings upon the two sons of Isaac are “concerning things to come”.
We remember that prior to the birth of the twins, Esau and Jacob, “…the children struggled together within her; and said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD, and the LORD said unto her, ‘Two Nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels: And the one people shall be stronger than the other people: And the elder shall serve the younger’”.
Esau was the older of the two, but he sold his birthright to Jacob for a mess of pottage when he returned from hunting one day, faint with hunger. This suggests that Jacob was aware of the prophecy given to his mother before they were born. And indeed, it was Rebecca who later urged Jacob to deceive his father into thinking he was Esau in order to receive the blessing also.
Perhaps she thought she was helping God to fulfil the prophecy, but this is always unwise, and the LORD does not need our help. It was the same with Abraham’s wife, Sarah, who, not realising she would ultimately give Abraham a son, intervened and supplied her handmaid Hagar the Egyptian as the means of a son. The result of this was Ishmael, from whom came the Arabian peoples – and it was not without complications.
No, the LORD can handle His own affairs. We only need to think of Joseph’s two sons Manasseh and Ephraim who Jacob himself blessed. Rather ironic, as the LORD caused him to cross his hands so that the younger son Ephraim received the right-hand blessing instead of the first-born Manasseh, despite Joseph’s protests.
So the blessings given to Jacob and Esau were given in rather unsatisfactory conditions. Isaac being deceived by Jacob, and Esau plainly distraught at the loss of ‘his’ special blessing. Thus Jacob’s blessing was one of great abundance; “…See the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed. Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, And the fatness of the earth, And plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee, And nations bow down to thee: Be Lord over thy brethren, And let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee. Cursed be everyone that curseth thee, And blessed be he that blesseth thee. Gen 27: 27- 29
By contrast, Esau’s blessing was; “…Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother: And it shall come to pass when thou shalt have dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.” Gen 27: 39- 40
The verse which follows states that Esau hated Jacob because of the blessings, and we note here that Esau would live by his sword as well as serving his brother. However, the time would come when he would rise up and have dominion over Jacob – and I suggest that time has indeed arrived.
Esau married two Canaanite wives and left Canaan to live in Seir which was later called Edom. His first wife was Aholibamah and she was a Horite. Adah was the second wife, and she was a Hittite – through this union came the Amalekites.
We now go forward in time when after the captivities of the House of Israel in 741 and 721 BC, and then that of the first main captivity of the House of Judah, only Jerusalem was left of any consequence concerning the remnant of Judah which included some Benjaminite’s and Levites. Meanwhile the lands of the Northern Kingdom had been repopulated with peoples from Cuthal, Hamath and elsewhere to become known as Samaritans.
When in 604 BC King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon subjugated the remainder of the House of Judah and captured Jerusalem (2 Kings 24: 10- 16), this was the second captivity of Judah and the one most referred to. The prophet Ezekiel was said to be amongst these captives. All but a few (left to till the land) were taken to Babylon.
Just as the Israelites would have been somewhat contaminated by the Assyrians, so were those of Judah taken to Babylon. Their Pentateuch – or Torah, became compromised with the Babylonian Hammurabi Code, and when they returned the Torah was largely replaced with the Talmud. St Paul knew the difference between God’s Law and the Talmud. In Titus 1:13-14 he wrote; “Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.”
In 587 BC during the Babylonian Captivity, the Edomites had taken advantage of the desolation of Judah and migrated to the heart of Southern Judah as far as Hebron. This area became Idumea. Thus, the Southern Kingdon of Judah was peopled by the progeny of Esau.
After the return of the Jews from Babylon, there rose up one John Hyrcanus – a high priest and king. In 125 BC he conquered Idumea and forced the then corrupted version of the Jewish religion upon them, proselytizing the whole nation. So, the Idumeans or Edomites became part of the Jewish nation.
Herod the Great was an Idumean – made procurator of Judea by Julius Ceaser in 47 BC and king of the Jews in 4 BC. So, Esau’s line was now prominent in Jewry, and we remember the slaughter of the baby boys when Jesus was born. His son Herod Antipas was the king who beheaded John the Baptist, and who Our Lord referred to as ‘That Fox’.
Caiaphas the High Priest was an Idumean and a Sadducee. He wanted the death of Our Lord – and Judas Iscariot was an Idumean – Iscariot means man of Kerioth which is SE Judea.
So you see a very great portion of ‘Jews’ in Judea in the 1st century AD were not Israelites and that the hierarchy was Idumean. And indeed, the term Jews today embraces an admixture of Judahites, Benjamites, and also Idumeans – and others besides.
Esau is in the ascendancy in today’s world via the bankers, the globalists, the lawyers – and are all ruling our world today and Esau is in effect killing Jacob.
But not forever, for the Bible tells us that; “My Sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of My curse, to judgement ………. for it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance, and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion.” (Is 34:5-8)
In case anyone doubts this Obadiah v 17 and 18 tells us; “But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness: and the House of Jacob shall possess their possessions. And the House of Jacob shall be a fire, and the House of Joseph a flame, and the House of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them, and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.”
Amen
