Of Blessings and Birthrights

The blessings of the Lord are inextricably tied to right relationship with the Lord. Jacob and Esau were twin brothers—born as twins, but very different. Esau, the firstborn, was a strong, outdoors type. He loved to hunt and fish. Apparently, Esau was also very social. He not only mingled among, but even married into the neighboring Canaanite families. Jacob, on the other hand was a homebody. We're told that he was a peaceful man who stayed among the tents.

Isaac, who had a taste for game loved Esau, and Rebekah loved Jacob. God also had His favorite. In Malachi we’re told that God loved Jacob and He hated Esau. Why would a loving God make such a statement? What was so bad about Esau and so good about Jacob? They were both sons of Isaac the son of Abraham. What was the difference?

Birthright. Esau was unable to obtain the blessing of God’s love because he did not value his birthright. So, what is a birthright? It contains all the rights, privileges and possessions that he was entitled to the first born the son. This was not just an ordinary, birthright; this one held the promise that God had given to Abraham and Isaac. God promised them that He was going to “…greatly multiply their descendants as the stars of the heavens.” Genesis 22:17.

Esau, as the first of the twins to be born was entitled to the birthright. There was a problem. He didn’t care about the promises of God. Jacob on the other hand valued the birthright. In fact, Jacob desired the birthright so much that he figured out a way to get it from Esau. Unfortunately, Esau didn’t understand, that when he gave up the birthright of his father, he also gave up the blessing of his father.

Back in Genesis 15, Abraham received a promise from God that he would become a special nation. Abraham passed this promise along to his firstborn, Isaac, who, in turn would be passing it along to his firstborn son. Esau was fully aware of this when he chose to mingle with the wicked Canaanites. His marriage to a couple of them displayed a form of contempt for the promises that God had given, (Genesis 36:2).

Jacob was also aware of the promise from God. He watched Esau get further and further mixed up with their evil neighbors while showing little regard for the family values and culture. I’m sure that Jacob wished over and over that he had been the first one born. He probably lamented that because of Esau, the great nation that God had promised they would become was going to be a Canaanite nation. The day came when Jacob got the chance to change history, (so to speak).

He was fixing dinner one day when Esau showed back up from a hunting trip in a particularly hungry mood. When Esau asked for some food, Jacob seized this opportunity to get the birthright he had been wanting. Giving up his birthright was not the result of a momentary weakness from hunger. In Hebrews 12:16, we learn that Esau lived an immoral and godless life. This decision was the culmination of all his previous choices. At that point, God surveys Esau’s life and speaks, “…thus Esau despised his birthright.” Genesis 25:34.

Lets see how birthrights and blessings are tied together:
Since Esau did not realize that birthrights and blessings went hand in hand, he thought he was only giving up the birthright. But in Hebrews 12:16&17, we learn, “…Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected…” A birthright indicates family relationship. Blessing flow from relationship. When we give up the birthright and we give up the opportunity for blessing.

Blessing from God flows from a relationship with God. To be eligible for the birthright & blessing from our Heavenly Father, we must have right relationship with Him and His family. Letting our appetites control our choices, puts us in danger of trading our birthright for a pot of lentils. Jacob’s name means ‘deceiver’ and we too have a deceiver that is just biding his time until we are hungry enough to buy what he’s selling.

Esau committed another mistake that we can learn from:
When Esau saw that his parents were displeased with the daughters of Canaan, (of whom he had married two), he tried to make it better by marring a daughter of Ishmael. He still didn’t get it. She was technically related to the family, but Ishmael was the child of the natural not the child of promise, Galatians 4:22 & 23. When we become aware that we have done a practice that is displeasing to our Father, we cannot simply add an Ishmael, (church service, bible reading, prayer meeting, eating fish on Friday), to our lives. Our change must be total. Jacob had to leave the land of Canaan in order to get a wife that was properly related to his family. We cannot continue to have intimate relationships with Canaanites (the world) and still receive the benefits and blessings.

There’s an interesting statement in Hebrews 12:17, “…he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.” Note that the tears that Esau shed came when he was denied the blessing—not when he sold the birthright.
We have another example of substituting an object for relationship in 1 Samuel 4. Israel was in apostasy. Their leaders were in sin. The army was at war. They lost 4,000 men in one day by hands of the Philistines. They decided to take the Ark of the Lord with them into battle. Since they had no relationship with the Lord, so they were just being superstitious. It turned out to be a disaster, they were totally defeated. Even worse, the Philistines captured the Ark.

The cycle goes like this:
1.We live a life that indicates that we despise, or consider of little value, our birthright that we received from God through His firstborn, Jesus.
2.We suffer a defeat;
a.Esau—blessing.
b.Israel—losing 4,000 in battle.
3.Instead of repenting from our unrighteousness, we add something that has the appearance of righteousness to our lives;
a.Esau—daughter of Ishmael.
b.Israel—Ark of God.

What causes this cycle? Improper repentance. We need to repent of the attitudes and actions that brought us to the place of defeat, not try a quick fix for our problem. If we do not repent for our unrighteousness when we suffer a defeat, we enter into presumption. The root of presumption means ‘to seethe’. It is a form of pride. Esau seethed over loosing the blessing to Jacob, Genesis 27:41.

David understood this trap, but he knew that seeking God was the only way out. This is our only way out also. If we are willing to surrender, we can pray with David: “Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me; then I shall be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

By Senia Owensby

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Keep On Striking!!

There is an interesting story in 2 Kings 13 . It’s about Jehoash, king of Israel. He hears that Elisha is sick, and goes to visit him. Before he leaves, Elisha gives the king a couple of strange commands. One of them is to strike the ground with his arrows. So the king grabs his arrows and strikes the ground three times. The prophet then gets mad and tells him that he will only have 3 victories against the Arameans and will not be able to completely defeat them, (which is fulfilled in verse 25). Too bad! Thoses Arameans were horrible people, if King Jehoash had only known, he would have struck with those arrows ‘till he dug a hole to China, (or whatever country is on the other side of the world from Israel).

Wait, let’s give that poor king some slack.
First of all, he did strike the ground instead of arguing with Elisha about the pros and cons of ground-striking and whether left-handed or right-handed striking was more effective.

Secondly, this was the only time (recorded for us) that he was instructed to do this ground-striking thing, so he was kinda new at it.

Thirdly, on top of everything else, he didn’t even know why he was doing it.

Do you see any parallels here?
What happens if we substitute the term “pray about an issue” for “strike the ground”?

How do we compare?

James says“we all stumble in many ways. Could lack of prayer be an area of stumbling? I know that I’m guilty at times, but I’m not alone. Remember the Children of Israel’s defeat at Ai in Joshua 7? If Joshua would of prayed first.......And then threre’s that Gibeonite fiasco in Joshua 9.
Every issue, thing, event, etc... is a prayable issue, thing, event etc....

Secondly, king Jehoash was only told once. How many times has the subject of prayer been addressed in the Bible? Suffice it to say: more that once, (check out concordance if your curious).

The third point is the area where most of us ‘miss the mark,’<~(get it?) This is when it comes to praying long enough. Hebrews tells us ‘we have need of endurance’. Jehoash didn’t know when he was done, and unfortunately, most of us don’t know when we’re done. How many times do you suppose we’ve ‘prayed’ about something and moved on, thinking we’ve been obedient, but really God is saying, “Hey! You’re not done! If you quit now, you will only have partial victory over your enemy! Keep on striking!!”

Until Jesus comes back, we will have to be content with only ‘knowing in part’ and we may not understand all that God tells us to do, but instead of blaming every defeat on ‘God’s will’, maybe a good policy could be: ‘When in doubt, keep on striking.’

By Senia Owensby
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