Turn to Genesis chapter 36 for our scripture
reading, and in order to make it just
a little easier for you, rather than reading
the series of names that largely make up
this chapter, the best part of the chapter
is probably the first eight or nine verses,
so for our scripture reading I'll read verse
1 through verse 8, and then in the
brief treatment of the sections of it in
the message, we'll read the rest of the
chapter, and I want to conclude with some
lessons from the generations of Esau.
But for our scripture reading let's turn to
Genesis chapter 36, and we will begin with
verse 1 and read through verse 8.
Now these are the records of the generation
of Esau, that is, Edom.
Remember that Edom is another name for Esau.
Esau took his wives from the daughters of
Canaan, Ada the daughter of Elon the Hittite,
and Aholobama the daughter of Anna the granddaughter
of Zibion the Hittite.
Also Bassamath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth,
and Ada bare Eliphaz to Esau, and Bassamath
bore Ruel.
And Aholobama bore Jeush and Jalom and Korah.
These are the sons of Esau who were
born to him in the land of Canaan.
Then Esau took his wives and his sons
and his daughters and all his household and
his livestock and all his cattle and all
his goods which he had acquired in the
land of Canaan and went to another land
away from his brother Jacob.
For their property had become too great for
them to live together, and the land where
they sojourned could not sustain them because of
their livestock.
So Esau lived in the hill country of
Seir.
Esau is Edom.
Five times in this chapter reference will be
made to the fact that Esau is Edom.
These are the records of the generations of
Esau, the father of the Edomites.
Now if you notice you have a Bible
with them.
If you have a Bible with marginal notes,
literally it is the father of Edom in
the hill country of Seir.
May the Lord bless this reading of his
word.
The subject for this morning in the exposition
of the book of Genesis is lessons from
the generations of Esau.
Mr. Pryor as you know likes to stand
up every Sunday morning or so and tell
us that what we do in Believers Chapel
is try to expound the Bible chapter by
chapter in a systematic way.
Well that sounds very good and of course
it is something with which we are in
harmony.
That is what we try to do.
But there are certain chapters in the Bible
that are rather difficult to expound in a
systematic way.
And there are some of them that do
not seem to have a great deal of
spiritual, spiritually significant material and we are faced
with one today.
In fact I think if I were seeking
to prove that the Bible should not be
expounded systematically chapter by chapter I would on
one unsuspecting young man who affirmed the opposite
like to ask him what he would do
with Genesis chapter 36 and the generations of
Esau or 1 Chronicles and the chapters there
and a few of the other chapters in
which genealogies appear in the Bible.
It reminds me of a story told by
Jimmy Konzelman the well-known football coach.
He said that there was an act about
the name of Frank McGlynn who like some
football coaches wanted to be a perfectionist.
He spent his life doing Lincoln because he
looked a great deal like President Lincoln.
And so he acted and played the part
of Lincoln on the legitimate stage and in
the movies.
In his living room Mr. Konzelman said he
dressed like Lincoln.
He assumed Lincoln postures.
He walked like Lincoln.
And on one particular day he walked out
of his house dressed in the habiliment of
Lincoln.
He had on a top hat, a frock
coat, striped trousers.
He walked down slowly to the sidewalk, surveyed
one end of the block, turned, surveyed the
other, and then started walking with deliberately long
strides as Mr. Lincoln was supposed to do
toward the corner.
And as he was walking a fellow across
the street who knew him had another fellow
by his side looking at him said look
that guy will never be satisfied until he's
assassinated.
So I think about that when I come
to Genesis chapter 36.
These these fellows who say that you can
expound the Bible chapter by chapter.
Well they're going to be assassinated when they
come to Genesis chapter 36 and chapters like
that.
Perhaps that's my destiny to be assassinated trying
to expound a chapter such as this.
I noticed that even my Lutheran friend Professor
H.C. Lupo, he doesn't even bother to
have any homiletical suggestions at all following this
particular chapter in his commentary.
He doesn't say it's bad to preach on
this chapter or good.
He just assumes, I presume, that anybody with
any perception at all would not dare to
attempt to expound Genesis chapter 36.
In the first place and perhaps the greatest
difficulty is that by the time you learn
how to pronounce all of the names there
wouldn't be any other time to prepare the
message thereafter.
But there is one thing that we can
say we are interested in genealogies.
All of us are interested in genealogies.
Of course we're interested only in our own,
but nevertheless we're all interested in genealogies.
Have you noticed the look on the faces
of others as you speak of your genealogy?
And then have you noticed the feeling that
you have when they begin to speak of
theirs?
Are they anxious to know, for example, that
you have all of the necessary papers in
hand to be a member of the Sons
of the Revolution?
Or of the Sons of the American Revolution?
Or of the Society of the Cincinnati?
Or perhaps even have papers that would enable
you to become a member of that supposedly
exclusive Boston Society, the ancient and honorable Artillery
Society?
This past week I was rearranging some papers
because after I've sold my house the only
office that I have is the office here
at the church.
And I have a little filing cabinet and
I had some letters from my father.
In fact I had a pamphlet or rather
a manila envelope from my father which he
had sent me some years ago, some genealogical
information.
And since I was preaching on the genealogies
I opened it up and thought well perhaps
there's some comment in there that might be
applicable to the message that I'm going to
give.
And one of my ancestors is a German
by the name of Daniel Strobel.
He came from Germany and he came over
on the same boat with George Whitefield.
In fact in the genealogical information is the
statement that Mr. Whitefield paid his passage over,
quote, for services rendered.
What the services were I do not know.
I'm presumed it's prepare messages on the genealogies
for George Whitefield or something like that.
And then I remembered that I also, you
see there are things you can get out
of a genealogical chapter after all.
I have in my library a book entitled
Our Heritage and it is a book on
one of my own family descendants.
Unfortunately the name has always been an embarrassment
to me.
My grandmother's name was Boozer.
I tell all of my friends that I've
often wondered now, I'd like to have time
to do research perhaps when I retire I'll
be able to do research and find out
if people are called Boozer because they acted
like the Boozer family or if the Boozer
family got their name because they acted like
Boozers.
I don't know.
But anyway this chapter is a chapter on
the genealogies and interestingly enough and this is
to the point, interestingly enough this information in
Genesis chapter 36 must be important because it's
repeated again, almost all of it, in the
first chapter of First Chronicles.
And so if, I know what you're thinking,
suppose you had to preach on First Chronicles
next week what would you say then on
the genealogy?
But it must be important because the Holy
Spirit has included this information not once but
twice, twice in the word of God.
The brotherhood of Jacob and Esau living on
in the relationship between Israel and Edom is
never forgotten in the Old Testament.
The painstaking detail of Genesis chapter 36 of
First Chronicles chapter 1 is a witness to
the importance of the kinship that existed between
Israel and Edom.
The usual pattern in the book of Genesis
is when a new stage in the story
is to be begun there will be a
chapter or a section in which the collateral
branch of the family is completed and then
dropped and then the main branch story is
picked up again.
So in Genesis chapter 37 we will pick
up the story of Joseph and the remainder
of the book of Genesis will be largely
the story of Joseph the son of Jacob.
But in the meantime we must dispose of
the collateral branch of Esau.
Jacob's family will contain, will be the story
of the remainder of the book.
Now the last chapter, chapter 35 closed with
the words verse 28 and 29.
Now the days of Isaac were 180 years
and Isaac breathed his last and died and
was gathered to his people an old man
of ripe age and his sons Esau and
Jacob buried him.
So Esau and Jacob joined hands once more
over the corpse of their father and then
their ways separated without, so far as we
know, their paths ever crossing again.
When we turn to Genesis chapter 36 we
have the records of the generations of Esau.
Now Esau is Edom.
Remember back in the beginning that was one
of the names that was given to Esau.
We read for example in verse 25 of
chapter 25.
Now the first came out red all over
like a hairy garment and they named him
Esau or red.
And so Edom and Esau are the same.
Five times in this chapter that point will
be made.
Now let me just for a few moments
go through the chapter pointing out the significant
sections of it, making just a comment or
two, reading from verses 9 on.
But let me first just say a word
about verses 1 through 5 because in these
first five verses we have the record of
Esau's wives.
If you had time to study the references
to Esau's wives in the preceding chapters and
this chapter you would notice that there are
some differences.
These differences have puzzled some of the students
of the book of Genesis.
They are probably due to either some transmissional
problems in textual criticism or and probably preferably
to alternative names that were given.
It was not uncommon at all for individuals
to be given more than one name.
Esau himself is testimony to that.
His name was not only Esau but also
Edom.
And so it's not common, it would not
have been uncommon for alternate names to be
to be given to these individuals, particularly since
it was the custom for wives to have
more than one name.
And then while only three wives of Esau
are mentioned previously, it's possible that he really
did have four.
So that should not concern us.
We do not have enough information to be
absolutely certain about the solution of that difficulty.
His choice of the hill country, which is
the second section of the chapter in verses
six through eight, is an interesting one in
this respect.
It shows us what was the clinching factor,
as someone has put it, in the separation
of Esau from Jacob.
He chose Mount Seir and he chose to
go there because he and Jacob both had
become so wealthy that the land could not
maintain all of their flocks.
We read in the seventh verse, for their
property had become too great for them to
live together, and the land where they sojourned
could not sustain them because of their livestock.
Now the remaining, the preceding ten chapters have
given us various details of why it was
necessary for them to separate, but this was
the clinching factor.
This was the occasion.
They had so many animals in their flocks
and herds that they could not maintain themselves
on the same general land, and so Esau
chose the hill country of the south.
He's not the only person who loves hill
country.
Texans have loved a certain part of the
country as hill country as well.
Well, that's Esau kind of land, at least.
Now then, let's turn to verses nine through
fourteen, where we have Esau's sons and grandsons
referred to.
It is by these individuals, Esau's sons and
by his grandsons, that Esau has become the
father of the Edomitish nation.
So beginning now with verse nine through verse
fourteen, we read, these are the records of
the generations of Esau, the father of the
Edomites, or the father of Edom, in the
hill country of Seir.
These are the names of Esau's sons.
Eliphaz, the son of Esau's wife, Ada.
Reuel, the son of Esau's wife, Bassamath.
And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar,
Zepho, and Gatham, and Kenaz.
And Temna was a concubine of Esau's son,
Eliphaz, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.
These are the sons of Esau's wife, Ada.
And these are the sons of Reuel, Nahath
and Zerah, Shammah and Mizah.
These are the sons of Esau's wife, Bassamath.
And these were the sons of Esau's wife,
Aholabama, the daughter of Anna, the daughter of
Zibion.
She bore to Esau, Jeush, and Jalom, and
Korah.
The most interesting name in this list is
the name Amalek, of course.
In verse twelve we read, she bore Amalek
to Eliphaz, because Amalek became one of Israel's
bitterest enemies and attacked the nation when they
came out of Egypt in the time of
the Exodus.
Defeated finally by Saul, chastised often by David,
finally the remnant of the Amalekites or Amalekites
were, was exterminated by the Simeonites under Hezekiah.
But the striking thing about this, and it
will bear on a point that I would
like to make later on, is that Esau's
descendants in Amalek posed serious problems for the
nation Israel down through the years.
The fourth section of the chapter is a
description of Esau's chiefs, and it's found in
verses fifteen through nineteen, which we will now
read.
If you have an authorized version, you will
notice that instead of chiefs, the term dukes
is used.
It is the rendering of the Hebrew word
alufim.
An elif or an alufim, these words, elif
refers to a thousand, alufim evidently is a
reference to individuals who had authority over thousands
or over large numbers.
So chiefs is probably better than dukes as
a rendering.
Verse fifteen now reads, these are the chiefs
of the sons of Esau.
The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau,
are chief Timon, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief
Kenaz, chief Korah, chief Gatham, chief Amalek.
These are the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in
the land of Edom.
These are the sons of Adam.
These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son,
chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizar.
These are the chiefs descended from Reuel in
the land of Edom.
These are the sons of Esau's wife, Basimath.
And these are the sons of Esau's wife,
Ahol-Ibama, chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah.
These are the chiefs descended from Esau's wife,
Ahol-Ibama, the daughter of Anna.
These are the sons of Esau, and again
notice the reference, that is Edom.
And these are their chiefs.
The next section has to do with the
chiefs of the Horites.
Esau evidently married into the leading family, and
the term Hivite and Horite probably overlap.
And so in this way he is related
to the Horites.
These are the sons of Seir the Horite,
the inhabitants of the land, Lotan and Shobal
and Zibion and Anna, and Dishan and Ezer
and Dishan.
These are the chiefs descended from the Horites,
the sons of Seir in the land of
Edom.
And the sons of Lotan were Hori and
Himam, and Lotan's sister was Timnah.
And these are the sons of Shobal, Alvin
and Manaheth and Ebal, Shefo and Onam.
And these are the sons of Zibion, Aya
and Anna.
He is the Anna who found the hot
springs in the wilderness when he was pasturing
the donkeys of his father Zibion.
It's a rather intriguing note with the ring,
as one commentator has put it, of a
true family tradition.
If you have the authorized version, I believe
that instead of hot springs you have found
the mules.
But the word is found only here in
Hebrew, and consequently it's impossible to be absolutely
certain of its meaning.
Hot springs is more likely the rendering.
It's the rendering of some of the versions
at this point.
Verse twenty-five, And these are the children
of Anna, Dishan, and Aholibamah, the daughter of
Anna.
And these are the sons of Dishan, Himdan
and Eshban and Ithran and Hiran.
These are the sons of Ezer, Bilhan and
Zahavan and Akhan.
And these are the sons of Dishan, Uz
and Aran.
These are the chiefs descended from the Horites,
Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibion, Chief Anna,
Chief Dishan, Chief Ezer, Chief Dishan.
These are the chiefs descended from the Horites,
according to their various chiefs in the land
of Seir.
In the next section, verses thirty-one through
thirty-nine, we have the kings of Edom.
And let me read them now.
Now these are the kings who reigned in
the land of Edom before any king reigned
over the sons of Israel.
That's rather interesting.
If you are reading through the Word of
God and thinking about these things as you
read in the genealogies, perhaps you don't read
like I do.
I must confess that when I read genealogies,
it's very difficult to keep concentrating.
Perhaps that's my weakness, but I find it
very difficult.
And I must confess this had escaped me
until I read it with a little thought.
Now these are the kings who reigned in
the land of Edom before any king reigned
over the sons of Israel.
Now if Moses wrote this, Moses wrote this
before Israel had any king.
How did Moses know that Israel was to
have kings?
He says, before any king reigned over the
sons of Israel.
Now that is a puzzle, and many have
therefore concluded that this material does not come
from the hand of Moses, but from some
later individual who knew about kings.
But it's not so easy as that.
That's the easy way out.
That's to say, Moses didn't know about any
kings and therefore must not have been written
by Moses.
However, Moses has written about kings.
He has said, for example, when he penned
the words that God spoke to Abraham, he
put down kings shall come from thee.
And then later in the reaffirmation of these
promises to Jacob in just one of the
preceding chapters, chapter 35, we had read concerning
Jacob that kings were going to come out
of him.
In the preceding chapter, chapter 35 and verse
11, we read, God also said to him,
I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply
a nation, and a company of nations shall
come from you, and kings shall come forth
from you.
Now Moses was a man of faith.
We surely would grant that.
And if he were a man of faith,
and particularly if he wrote this when he
was in Egypt, serving under Pharaoh, it would
be natural for him to long for the
time when Israel might be delivered.
If he wrote it just after he had
been delivered from the hand of Pharaoh, he
would have been especially appreciative of being out
of the control of a Pharaoh kind of
king, and looking forward to a kind of
king that God might give.
And so I find it no difficulty at
all in believing that when Moses wrote, these
are the kings who reigned in the land
of Edom before any king reigned over the
sons of Israel, that he was simply writing
in faith, believing the word of God that
Israel would in time have a king.
It would have been natural for him to
write that.
And then when we turn over to Deuteronomy
chapter 17, verses 14 through 20, we read
these words.
God had said to Moses, when you enter
the land which the Lord your God gives
you, and you possess it and live in
it, and you say, I will set a
king over me like all the nations who
are around me, you shall surely set a
king over you whom the Lord your God
chooses.
And so even Moses knew from direct word
of God that there would come a time
when kings would be set over the nation.
Even though it was not God's will that
Israel have his, what shall we say, it
was not his preceptive will that Israel should
have an earthly king.
He knew that in the decretive will of
God there would be kings ultimately over the
nation Israel.
So verse 31 then is no real insurmountable
difficulty after all.
Let me read now beginning with verse 32.
Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom,
and the name of his city was Denhabah.
Then Bela died, and Jobab the son of
Zerah of Bozrah became king in his place.
Then Jobab died, and Hosham of the land
of the Temanites became king in his place.
Then Hosham died, and Hadad the son of
Bedad, who defeated Midian in the field of
Moab, became king in his place, and the
name of his city was Aveth.
Then Hadad died, and Samlah of Mazrechah became
king in his place.
Then Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on
the Euphrates River became king in his place.
Then Shaul died, and Baal-Hanan the son
of Achbor became king in his place.
Then Baal-Hanan the son of Achbor died,
and Hadar became king in his place, and
the name of his city was Pow.
And his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter
of Matred, daughter of Mizahab.
And finally, the final list in verse 40
through 43 is the final list of the
chiefs, in which the emphasis rests not on
the relations to one another, so much as
on the sphere of ownership and influence.
Now these are the names of the chiefs
descended from Esau according to their families and
their localities.
By their names, Chief Timnah, Chief Alvah, Chief
Jetheth, Chief Ahol-Ebamah, Chief Elah, Chief Penan,
Chief Kinez, Chief Timan, Chief Mibzar, Chief Magdiel,
Chief Eram.
These are the chiefs of Edom.
That is Esau the father of Edom according
to their habitations in the land of their
possession.
Now what are the lessons that we may
learn from this rather tedious chapter of the
generations of Esau?
Carolyn Custis, as I said earlier, said that
one of the greatest of the lessons, no
doubt, was that here is a chapter designed
to test the perseverance of Bible readers.
And I thought that was a rather perceptive
comment, because it certainly does test the perception
of the perseverance of Bible readers.
There are also some other lessons, and I
think the first and most obvious one is
that there is a generous breadth of interest
on God's part in the whole of the
human race, even in the non-elect.
And while we talk about the elect and
the non-elect and the distinction that is
made between them by God, because it is
he after all who said, Jacob have I
loved, Esau have I hated, distinguishing grace is
taught in the word of God, that does
not mean that God is not interested in
the destiny, the history, and the destiny of
the non-elect.
The great emphasis that is laid even upon
the identity of Esau, five times being called
Edom, drawing attention to Edom and the descendants
of Esau, stresses the fact that God's interest
does stretch out to all of the individuals
for which he is ultimately responsible.
That's one lesson, and I think it's an
important lesson.
There is another lesson, and it is the
certainty and individuality of divine judgment.
If as is true from the study of
Holy Scripture that Edom, one of Israel's bitter
enemies, was a nation composed largely of those
who were opposed to the plan and program
of God, it's nevertheless true that Esau's family
names are given here, name after name, to
remind us of the fact that God does
keep books.
And the name of every single individual who
has ever been born is found in the
books of heaven.
We read in the twentieth chapter of the
book of Revelation, the great vision of the
white throne.
And in the twelfth verse of Revelation 20,
the apostle John writes, And I saw the
dead, the great and the small, standing before
the throne.
And the books were opened, and another book
was opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged from the things
which were written in the books according to
their deeds.
All of the dead, all of the non
-elect, they were judged from the things they
are to find their way to the great
white throne judgment, and there in the books
will be their names and all of the
details of their life from the time that
they drew their first breath until the time
of their end.
And it will all pass before men who
are to be judged, and according to that
particular passage, not one single individual shall escape
that great white throne judgment who appears there
as one of the spiritual dead.
And so the tedious thirty-sixth chapter of
the book of Genesis reminds us of the
fact that God does keep books on his
creatures.
And the time is coming when, if we
have not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we shall have to stand before that great
white throne judgment and have our own life
unfolded as it is found in those books
that shall be opened.
There's another lesson, and it's the importance of
the inward reality versus the outward appearance.
Perhaps there's no greater contrast in all of
the Bible than the contrast between Esau and
Jacob.
Esau, the man of the field, the man's
man.
Most men love a man's man.
And Esau was a man's man, kind of
man.
And consequently, in that respect, he's a lovable
kind of man, an attractive kind of man.
In addition, he was a man who was
generous.
It's true he had certain other characteristics that
were different, but there were some positive things
about his character that made him outwardly attractive.
Jacob, on the other hand, was not, so
far as we can tell, outwardly attractive.
He was a man who would have repelled
us, probably.
And no doubt the first impression that we
get is that God is somewhat unfair, that
Jacob is not a very lovable character, and
why should he have been chosen and not
Esau in the first place?
So there is probably no greater contrast in
the Bible than between these two twin brothers
who came from the same womb.
And yet, as you study the Bible and
look at it a little more closely, you
see some things that are quite different.
You notice, for example, in Genesis 25 and
verse 34, that it is stated by the
Holy Spirit that Esau despised his birthright.
Now Jacob, with all of his unattractiveness, wanted
the birthright.
For the birthright gave spiritual privilege.
Esau despised his birthright.
Furthermore, when Esau did not inherit the blessing,
his first thought was, when the opportunity comes,
I'll murder Jacob.
Now that revealed a great deal of his
character.
That, too, is specifically stated in Genesis chapter
27 and verse 41.
Later on, he married the Hittite wives, which
were such a trouble for the whole of
the family, in disobedience to the apparent will
of God.
And finally, when he discovered that it was
pleasing to Isaac for Jacob to marry someone
within the covenant group of people, he went
out and sought to please by marrying someone
within the covenant group of people.
Like the person who looks around and sees
that some of his friends like to go
to church, and so to please them, he
will go to church.
Or, engage in some other religious activity in
order to please, when there is no real
inner spiritual response at all.
The New Testament puts the finger upon Esau
very plainly and says, Esau was a profane
man.
Now that does not mean he used profanity.
That word is a word that means simply
he was secular.
He was sensual.
He was a man in whose mind and
heart there were no thoughts about God.
A very attractive, man's kind of man, who
acknowledged the existence of God, might well have
sat around where, in the family worship, and
appeared to at least be happy with what
was going on, but inside there was no
response to the things of the Lord.
He was a profane man.
Do you remember the incident in Samuel's experience?
And Samuel was a prophet, mind you.
The Lord said, I want you to go
to the house of Jesse, and I want
you to anoint a new king.
And so he went there.
And David, the young boy, was out on
the field with the flocks.
And the other sons passed before Samuel, and
the first one came before him, and his
name was Elah.
And Samuel, the prophet of God, says, ah,
he must be the man, because he looked
so imposing.
And God said to Samuel, Samuel, that's not
the man.
God doesn't look on the outward as man
does.
He looks on the inward.
And finally, of course, Samuel anointed David.
For you see, in the final analysis, it's
not so much the outward appearance in spiritual
things as it is the inward reality.
And consequently, in the choice of Jacob, as
over against Esau, we see illustrated this extremely
important principle.
It is the inward reality that is the
important thing in spiritual things.
That's a very important illustration of truth that
we find in the lives of these two.
Now I think another thing that we see
here is the issues of irreligion, or of
the kind of profane existence that Esau had.
Because as you look at Esau's descendants, what
do you see?
Well, you see degeneration in the line.
And finally, you see men like Amalek emerging
from Esau's descendants, because there is always degeneration
in the line of those who turn away
from the truth of God.
In the case of the line of Esau,
you will soon note that there are individuals
who arise who are bitter enemies of the
truth.
If you trace the Old Testament history of
these individuals out, you will find that some
of them became worshipers of the devil.
And finally, God, in judgment upon Edom, left
it a desolation.
So the issues of irreligion are the devil
worship, degeneration, bitterness toward the plan and program
of God.
One thing that we've learned is that the
things that we believe should influence the way
that we live.
And surprisingly, it is the Muslim people who
have given us the illustration.
Because if there is one thing that we've
learned from Iran, it is that one's religion
affects our daily lives.
But one thing that the Muslim people should
have reminded us of is this, that a
person's faith permeates the whole of his cultural
and personal life.
And in our own country, we have forgotten
that.
And because we have tended to so separate
the truth from the application of the truth,
that even we believers have failed to realize
the application of the truth that we hold.
In American evangelicalism, politics has dominated religion far
more than religion has dominated politics.
We have gotten real excited over little things
like prayers in our schools instead of being
particularly disturbed over the humanistic assumptions of our
society and challenging them in their presuppositions.
We've forgotten about that.
And we have forgotten that biblical Christianity is
to pervade every aspect of our life.
And what we do believe will pervade it,
even if we seek to avoid it.
And I say to you who are sitting
in this audience, you fathers and you mothers,
what you believe today will have its issues
in the lives of your children.
The greatest thing that you could ever do
for your child is to lead them to
Christ.
And the greatest thing that you could ever
do for your family is to give them
an illustration of obedience and submission, so far
as you are enabled by the Holy Spirit
of God to the principles of the Word
of God.
Because the inevitable issue of your faith will
be seen in your children.
And you can see in Esau the issues
of the kind of life that Esau lived.
One of the most remarkable pieces of research
that was ever done on a popular level
was the research in the descendants of Jonathan
Edwards.
It's amazing to see how many college presidents,
how many outstanding professional men, how many outstanding
statesmen have been related to Jonathan Edwards, a
man who sought by the grace of God
to carry out in his life the principles
of the Word of God and suffered for
it.
There's another thing that is important here, and
that is the lasting and often crucial importance
of the apparently insignificant details.
That seems a rather insignificant detail, does it
not, that Esau should be separated from Jacob?
And yet that very fact, recorded here in
verses six through eight, is the touchstone of
Near Eastern politics today.
In fact, it is the touchstone of world
politics today.
That simple little fact that Esau separated himself
from Jacob.
In fact, when we have Edom versus Israel,
we have simply another way of saying Arab
versus Jew, or to put it theologically, sin
and human responsibility versus divine electing grace.
It's all found in that simple little separation
of those two people.
And we are today living in the resultant
strife and struggle of the separation of these
two men, Jacob and Esau.
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.
Finds its application down through the centuries.
Of course, we have illustration of the faithfulness
of God to his promises.
Well, of course, we would say, yes, he's
faithful to Jacob because Esau left the land,
and Jacob finally got the land.
Isn't it interesting he got the land because
Esau left it?
In other words, he received the land and
the birthright in God's time, apart from all
his scheming and intrigue by which he had
sought to obtain the birthright and the blessing
previously.
But God was not only faithful to Jacob,
he was faithful to Esau.
He had given him certain promises.
He had told him, for example, that nations
would come from him.
Later on, he had said that he would
bless him.
He told him he would deliver him from
the authority and dominion of Jacob, too.
And he was delivered from the authority and
dominion of Jacob.
And in addition, he poured out on him
lavish personal wealth.
Esau was a wealthy man.
He had so much that he was forced
to leave Jacob.
He was blessed that much.
We Americans would say, after all, what do
you need if you have wealth?
And Esau had wealth.
Of course, he lacked the one fundamental thing
that so many of us Americans lack, and
that's the relationship with the law of God,
which means everything.
And then in addition, he was prominent.
Look at all of the chiefs that have
come from him.
Look at the important families that have come
from his family.
But it's a family of profane men, a
family of men who really do not care
about spiritual things.
Many of them attend our churches today.
They even attend Believer's Chapel.
They have no real desire to grow in
grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but they attend our services because
it's nice to attend services.
Maybe their wife wants them to attend, or
their husband wants them to attend, or their
children do.
But really, in the final analysis, we belong
more with the family of Esau than we
do with Jacob.
And the last lesson, and I guess the
most important of all, is the lesson of
the necessity of divine grace.
Because when you come right down to it,
Jacob was just as lost as Esau was,
naturally.
He was just as big a sinner.
Jacob was depraved just as Esau was depraved.
But Jacob was the object of divine electing
grace.
And so the result is that Jacob's genealogy
is like a garden in bloom while Edom's
is like a desert waste where he went
to live.
Jacob's leads on to the Lord Jesus Christ
and Esau's to the black hole of the
lake of fire.
And the story is told most plainly and
clearly by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter
9 and verse 6 through verse 13 where
he outlines the history of Israel as he
sees it.
And he sees it as the story of
divine electing grace.
This is what Paul writes, and with this
I shall close.
He says, it's not as though the word
of God has failed, for they are not
all Israel who are descended from Israel.
Neither are they all children because they are
Abraham's descendants.
But through Isaac your descendants will be named.
Not all who attend the church or who
are members of a local church are truly
the church, to put it in our language.
That is, it is not the children of
the flesh who are children of God, but
the children of the promise are regarded as
descendants.
For this is a word of promise, at
this time I will come and Sarah shall
have a son.
And not only this, but there was Rebekah
also when she had conceived twins by one
man, our father Isaac.
For though the twins were not yet born
and had not done anything good or bad,
isn't that interesting, had not done anything good
or bad, in order that God's purpose according
to his choice might stand?
Not because of works, but because of him
who calls.
It was said to her, the older Esau
will serve the younger Jacob.
Just as it is written, Jacob I loved,
but Esau I have hated.
And the final analysis, Jacob is what he
is because of divine grace.
Esau is what he is because he was
a sinner.
And he did not come to the one
who dispenses the grace of God.
I say to you this morning, there is
a way of salvation through the Lord Jesus
Christ.
We are lost when we fail to come.
We're saved only by the grace of God
the Holy Spirit who in efficacious activity through
the Spirit brings us to the knowledge of
ourselves and to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
And I appeal to you as an ambassador
of the Lord Jesus Christ to ask yourself
the question, just really, to what family do
I belong?
The family of Esau or the family of
the faithful?
May God give you grace to come to
the Lord Jesus Christ through whom there is
life.
Let's stand for the benediction.
We are thankful to the Lord for the
generations of Esau and the things that are
brought to our minds as we think upon
the rejection of Esau and the reception of
Jacob.
And oh, Father, we do pray that the
solemnity of just such a chapter as this
may grip us.
And if the decision has not yet been
made, that by the power and enablement of
the Holy Spirit, those who do not know
the Lord Jesus may flee to him who
is able to save to the uttermost those
that come unto God by him.
May grace, may mercy, may peace go with
us for Jesus' sake.
Amen.