Day 5: Toldot/Genesis 27:30-45

There will be a day when those birthed in the firstborn of the dead, Yeshua, will realize their full blessing, receiving their reward for faith, faithfulness, and obedience. Conversely, the wicked of the earth will wail violently at their demise and gnash their teeth in the realization that they lost the blessing of the Most High. Even as those who have presumed themselves to be good people but did not really believe in YHVH, judgment will cut them off from the living. They will grope for any hope or future with the Creator.

Esau resembles this narrative. A fallen man who lived for the moment and sought only his own desires. His life had been, even to the point of Yacov receiving the firstborn blessing in his stead, very self-serving. He had gone after women who brought only grief to his parents. After making two daughters of Heth (Hittite women) his wives, he thought he could appease the situation by taking a daughter of Ishmael for yet another wife. Moreover, in the midst of all his marriages, he did not regard his place as firstborn to be significant. Taking it for granted, he flippantly sold his birthright for some stew. Thinking himself to be a man’s man by hunting and living off the land, he did not take heed to the same instruction about Elohim as Yacov had. This led him to rely on his own hands, strength, and the earth for provision, prosperity, and life.

After the blessing of Isaac was pronounced on Yacov, it would not be retracted. As much as Esau cried, begged, or wailed, the best he could hope was that his future posterity would break his brother’s yoke from their neck. What he could not see was the blessing hidden in the seemingly tormenting curse. Like Ham and Canaan, who could serve in the tents of Shem, Esau could take solace with the surrounding righteous brothers and sojourn with them. If Canaan and Esau’s seed were destined to walk without a blessing of their own, then their hope lies in the tents of the righteous. Perhaps future generations would hear and see of Elohim and believe in their own deliverance and eventual salvation.

This concept is in line with the mixed multitude that departed Egypt with Israel. Succinctly, Esau’s blessing is in line with the promise made to Abraham and Isaac in that through Isaac, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. This does not mean that those nations or their members would receive or walk in the Father’s favor, but that His blessing would be available to them, nonetheless.

The spiral toward complete corruption happens very quickly. With Esau, the spiral began with a grudge and bitterness held against Yacov. While they may have met later upon Yacov’s return to Canaan and to bury their father, that does not mean Esau’s bitterness had dissipated.

Esau and Ishmael, both, have found ways to overthrow the yoke of Yacov and Isaac. Through the centuries, many of their descendants walked away from Abraham’s faithfulness and His Elohim; yet, many retained the knowledge of Abraham’s beliefs and held close his convictions, as their own. This is illustrated in Yitro, Moshe’s father-in-law, as he was the high priest of Midian and feared Elohim as he was a direct descendant of Abraham through Keturah.

Sadly, the rise of Islam was what won the allegiance of these people. That false religion swayed their ideology and convictions away from the Truth found in and born out of Abraham and led them to a perversion of truth and to worship a false god of the moon, Allah. Through the centuries to the modern era, this has been the bane of Israel’s existence, since that erroneous cult strives to cut Israel from the inherited promises of land and their faith.

The people surrounding us have hope if they would only listen and obey—not to us, but He Who is in us. For many, that hope may only be made manifest through our lives and in observation of our homes and relationships. We cannot make them choose righteousness over sin or belief over unbelief. The blessings they receive have been offered by Yeshua and is free for them to gain for their own. The power we have to be good stewards of the blessings, promises, and hopes of Abraham, Isaac, and Yacov is as real today as it ever has been. It may not come in the form of expensive homes or cars, nor may it be manifest in large sums of money or nice clothes. Our power is to be stewards of grace so that others may realize that YHVH’s grace is sufficient to bring them back as sons and heirs of Abraham and accept the Truth of YHVH’s Word and His Son.

Our belief is what is reckoned as righteousness and what YHVH searches to and fro to find. That grace does not abound for us to continue to sin or to wallow in pity of what we do not have. It is there as YHVH’s favor for faith, obedience, and righteousness.

That same grace exudes to the nations and is available to the Esau’s and Ishmael’s of this world, so that they may repent as they see what truly pleases the Father for His pleasure and not their own fleshly desire. If they do not heed that call to repentance, the wailing and crying out for the blessing of Yacov will be an echo chamber as they live out the judgment befallen Esau.

Dwell upon Psalm 118:14-18, “YHVH is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of YHVH does valiantly. The right hand of YHVH is exalted; the right hand of YHVH does valiantly. I will not die, but live, and tell of the works of YHVH. YHVH has disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.”