LIFE LESSON FOR TODAY, 7/31/14

PAINTING:  ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT 
                     TO JACOB

BY MATTHIAS STOM, 17TH CENTURY




One thing I have learned from reading my Bible
is, evil has always existed.I have read about evil people from Genesis to Revelation.

This week I'll share scriptures that discuss evil behavior.  There will also be scriptures showing
the demise of evildoers in the Bible.

Today I want to share scriptures about twins 
named Esau and Jacob. The twins were not 
identical. The Bible describes Esau as being 
hairy with red skin. Jacob had smooth skin.
Esau was a hunter and Jacob lived in tents.
Their parents were Isaac and Rebeka.



LIFE LESSON:

ESAU SELLS HIS BIRTHRIGHT TO JACOB

GENESIS 25: 29-34


²⁹ Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary.
³⁰ And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.
³¹ But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”
³² And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what
is this birthright to me?”
³³ Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.”
So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
³⁴ And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright



 LIFE LESSON:

ISAAC IS TRICKED BY  REBEKAH AND JACOB. HE GIVES ESAU'S BLESSING TO JACOB

 GENESIS 27: 1, 5-7,15, 17, 19-23, 32-36

1 Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered him, “Here I am.”
 
⁵ Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it.  
⁶ So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
⁷ ‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ 

¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 

¹⁷ Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.


¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”
²⁰ But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”
And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”
²¹ Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
²² So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 
²³ And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
  

   LIFE LESSON:

ESAU HATES HIS BROTHER JACOB BECAUSE HE RECEIVED HIS BIRTHRIGHT AND BLESSING.

GENESIS 27:41

 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”




LIFE LESSON:

ESAU FORGIVES JACOB

GENESIS 33:1, 4


 

1Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.

⁴ But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.