Letters From Grandpa #507

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 507

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will deal with the familiar story of Esau selling his birthright for a mess of pottage. You know the story! It is found in Genesis 25:29-34. Esau came in from a hunting trip famished. His brother Jacob was cooking some stew and Esau said: “Quick, let me have some of that stew! I’m famished!” Jacob replied: “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said: “Look, I am about to die . . .what good is the birthright to me?” “So Esau despised his birthright.”

The late Professor Woodrow Phillips once offered this tongue in cheek advice to professional counselors. He said to invest in a hammer instead of a couch. He then said to instruct the client to place his or her hand on the table and close their eyes. Then pull out the hammer, and whack them on the finger. Woodrow said you can learn more with a hammer in 3 minutes than 3 hours with a couch.

Esau said he was “about to die”. Really? The Scriptures teach that Esau was a skillful hunter and a rugged man who spent much time in the open country? He was not carried in from this hunting trip on a stretcher, nor was he so weak that he could no longer feed himself. Does any rational person actually believe that he was really “about to die?”

The book of Hebrews presents a clear picture of who Esau really was and warns: “See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.” (Hebrews 12:16-17)

Esau was actually “sexually immoral” and “godless.” He lived in the age of the Patriarchs and the birthright he despised gave him the privilege of being the priest at the family altar. The birthright gave him the right to lead his family in worship. All of the patriarchs built altars and led their family in worship. Take Job, for example. Here is the way that Job led his family in worship. “His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.” (Job 1:5-6) When Job died his oldest son inherited this “birthright” or “privilege.” Since Esau was “godless” he despised his birthright.

Note the contrast! Esau despised his “birthright” but sought the “blessing” with tears (Hebrews 12:17). The two were different! The “birthright” involved “God” and the “blessing” involved “money”. Here is the blessing that Esau sought with tears! “May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness—an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.” (Genesis 27:28-29) The rugged Esau actually wept when he lost his claim to earthly wealth!

Solomon said: “There is a way that seem right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12). The “wicked one” deceives us into rationalizing our sins! Somehow, what Esau did seemed rational to him at the time! We need to beware lest the same thing happen to us.

David, is another example of a man who rationalized his sin. Even though he was a man after God’s own heart he still committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband put to death. Perhaps one rationale David had for committing these egregious crimes was the fact that “Uriah was a Hittite”. The Hittites were victims of discrimination in Hebrew culture. God originally ordered that the Hittites be completely destroyed (Deuteronomy 2:17). They weren’t! To accuse someone that their mother was a Hittite was a racial slur (Ezekiel 16:45). Solomon made slaves of the Hittites, but not of the Israelites (1 Kings 9:20-22). When David saw beautiful Bathsheba bathing he sent someone to find out who she was. He was told “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” (2 Samuel 11:3) The Scriptures tell us six different times that Uriah was a “Hittite”. Perhaps David wondered what a nice girl like Bathsheba was doing marrying a “Hittite”? Since Uriah was only a “Hittite” commander Joab conspired with David to put this loyal soldier in the front line where the fighting was the most fierce and then abandon him to die (2 Samuel 11:14-17). Esau didn’t get away with rationalizing his sin, and neither did David. Obviously, neither will we!

Paul was concerned for the Corinthians that just as Satan deceived Eve they also might be deceived. Just think, Eve was a perfect women in a perfect environment. She had a perfect mind and lived in a paradise! Yet the enemy of her soul swindled her out of it all! Please don’t let this happen to you!

If making money is more important to you than worshiping God, then you are in danger of being like Esau. Jesus said it clearly: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce