The Sovereign Will of God

Romans 8:31 (New American Standard Bible)

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

Genesis 36:1-8 (New American Standard Bible)

Esau Moves

36 ¹Now these are the records of the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). ² Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the ^[a]granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; ³ also Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. ⁴ Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath gave birth to Reuel, ⁵ and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all ^[b]his household, and his livestock and all his cattle, and all his property which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land away from his brother Jacob. ⁷ For their possessions had become too great for them to live together, and the land where they resided could not support them because of their livestock. ⁸ So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom.

The story here seems like Jacob and Esau have solved their conflict one with another, seems they came together to bury their father in peace.

With the past seemingly behind them, outwardly they look like they have settled the conflict, inwardly Esau was going to kill Jacob because he got the birthright.

Genesis 27:41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

But in Genesis 36: Esau had moved from Canaan before Jacob ever came back. The idea here I’m referring to is Esau wanted nothing to do with the land of his father. Please note Jacob and Esau was extremely wealthy men. Abraham was extremely wealthy; the Hand of God was upon him. Isaac carried the same Hand of God. Isaac is a type of Christ in the Old Testament.

In Genesis 27, we saw Isaac deliberately fighting against the sovereignty of God, deliberately determining with all his might to give the blessing to his favorite son, Esau, in spite of the oracle given to Rebekah.

Genesis 25:19 – 26

The Birth of Esau and Jacob

¹⁹ These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. ²¹ And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. ²² The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?”^b So she went to inquire of the Lord. ²³ And the Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you^c shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,

the older shall serve the younger.”

²⁴ When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. ²⁶ Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob.^d Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

It was a perfect picture of man’s weakness against God’s sovereignty. To see this man who was blind; to see this man who was confused by the signals that he was getting from his touch when he felt the supposedly hairy skin of Jacob. And he smelled the meal, and he smelled the aroma of his son, Esau, on the clothing, and he heard the voice of Jacob, even though everything else was telling him Esau. And all his senses fool him. It’s a picture of man in his weakness attempting to resist the sovereignty of God.

Genesis 25:29–34  

Esau Sells His Birthright

²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. ³⁰ And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.^e) ³¹ Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” ³² Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” ³³ Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

The next time you decide that you’re going to resist the sovereignty of God, you remember that old man, Isaac, with all his five senses failed in front of the majesty and the omnipotence of God. Well, we said that story truly highlights the grace and the sovereignty of God. Everybody in that story comes out looking bad:

• Isaac resists the will of God.
• Esau is an utterly carnal and natural man.
• Rebekah, though she rightly knows that the line of grace is to go through Jacob, resists her husband, usurps his authority, overthrows his dignity, and lies along the way to establish her own agenda.
• And Jacob, well he’s the implementer of the deception.

And we wonder, Lord, how in the world have You chosen this man to be the reception of the covenant headship? But is not the whole story a picture that God’s grace does not triumph because of us, but in spite of us? And His grace is established indeed.

Esau your compromise with the World Eventually will cool your passions for God!

Esau’s three carnal marriages and his drift from God – Esau committed the sin of polygamy by marrying two Hittite women. This brought his parents great grief: “³⁴ When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; ³⁵ and they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.” (Gen. 26:34-35).

“⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac, ‘I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?’” (Gen. 27:46).

Both Isaac and Esau married at age 40 (Gen. 25:20).

Forty symbolizes trials and testing in the Bible.

Isaac passed the test by waiting for the woman that God “appointed” for him (Gen. 24:14). In contrast, Esau followed the path of Lamech, the first polygamist and a murderer (Gen. 4:19). Esau thought he could correct his mistake of marrying two non-believers by marrying a third. While Jacob submitted to his parents’ will in finding a godly spouse, Esau trusted in what felt right to him.

To correct his parents’ disappointment over his prior choices in marriage, he took a third wife by marrying Mahalath, the daughter of his uncle Ishmael:

“⁸ So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac; ⁹ and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.” (Gen. 28:8-9).

Both the Hittite wives and the daughter of Ishmael symbolized the flesh. Their unity through marriages to Esau merely shows that the flesh is united in its war against the Spirit (Gal. 5:17). The names of Esau’s five children showed that his compromises with the world caused him to drift from God. His first two sons reflected a time when he had some relationship with God. Eliphaz means “my God [El] is pure gold”. His second son Reuel means “friend of God [El]”. His last three sons and his grandchildren had names with no connection to God. Korah, his last son, meant “ice, hail, or frost”. His relationship with God had become cold through his compromises. His name also foreshadowed the evil Levite named Korah who led a rebellion in the wilderness against Moses (Num. 16:1-35). When you make compromises with the world, you also run the risk of causing your passions towards God to cool.

When was the last time you spoke to your father Esau? Jacob? He Was the Eldest

Esau was the older twin. Scripture relates their conflict when leaving their mother’s womb. Jacob grasped Esau’s heel, as if to delay his birth.

The Midrash ancient commentaries relate that Jacob was created from the first drop of semen, while Esau was created from the second. Like two spheres in a tube, in which the one inserted last exits first, Esau exited Rebecca’s womb first, and Jacob exited second. From this perspective, Jacob was essentially the firstborn. This is why he tried to delay his brother’s birth, so that he would be born first just as he was created first.

Esau was an opposer, and his descendants would carry the same animosity.

In Numbers 20:14-21 (NIV)

{Esau has been dead for several hundred years}

Edom Denies Israel Passage

¹⁴ Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying:

“This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us. ¹⁵ Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors, ¹⁶ but when we cried out to the Lord, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt.

“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷ Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

¹⁸ But Edom answered:

“You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”

¹⁹ The Israelites replied:

“We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”

²⁰ Again they answered:

“You may not pass through.”

Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. ²¹ Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.

Job 14:7 “For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease.”

This verse is a picture of Abraham, and Sarah, Sarah is cut down “she dies”, but the tree (Abraham) is still alive. Will Abraham bear again? He marries Ketura, the tree smelled water, and bloomed again. 6 Sons to Abraham (plus one maybe).

Genesis 24:62-63

Now Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he dwelt in the South. ⁶³ And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming.

Beersheba was Isaac’s childhood home, Mount Moriah, Beer lai-hai-roi. What does Beer lai-hai-roi mean? “The well of him that lives and sees me”.  Who does this sound like? Hagar (Genesis 16:13): Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, You-are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”

Psalms 1:3

He shall be like a tree,

Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season [this is Ishmael],

Whose leaf also shall not wither [This is Isaac];
And whatever he does shall prosper [These are the six sons of Ketura]

Psalms 16:7

I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;

My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.

Abraham didn’t have a teacher to teach him the Torah, so God taught him. You say there was no Torah to teach. The word has always been with God.

When you don’t have a teacher, the Holy Spirit will teach you the word. You need a teacher. It’s nice to have a member of the 5-fold Ministry, but God also teaches those who meditate on his words night and day.

Psalms 1:1-2

¹Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law, he meditates day and night.