True Value

Tomorrow, we continue our in-class discussion of Jacob's life.  We will be studying Genesis 25:27-34:

"The boys grew up and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents.  Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.  Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.  he said to Jacob, 'Quick, let me have some of that red stew!  I'm famished!' (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, 'First sell me your birthright.' 
   "'Look, I am about to die,' Esau said, 'What good is the birthright to me?' But Jacob said, 'Swear to me first.' So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.  Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.  He ate and drank, and then got up and left.  So Esau despised his birthright." (New International Version)

This is very serious stuff.  Jacob used wrong methods to get the right thing.  Esau did not value the right thing enough to even resist Jacob's attempts to manipulate it away from him.  Both men were wrong. But one man went on to become a patriarch and a hero of the faith.  And one man went on to become the father of a nation that opposed God's people and a warning against spiritual indifference.  What made the difference?

Come to the Ocheltree Group tomorrow and we'll talk about it.  See you there!
--Posted by Mama O.