Jacob and Esau .. ..Was it the will of God?

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   xixi12posted 13 years ago

   In the bible, Isaac blessed Jacob and he prospered. Is it then right that he stole his brother's blessing (courtesy of  his mother)and went unpunished. Was that how God willed it? Some one please explain.

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      HubCrafterposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Jacob (the trickster) offered the trade to his brother. Esau gave up his birthright for some pottage.
      Jacob and Esau have different mothers. Jacob's mother plots to give her son the better blessing.
      Yes. Jacob prospers materially during his lifetime. But God also allows Jacob's Uncle, Laban, to trick Jacob into working harder and longer for his riches. (What goes around comes around for Jacob...he gets some of his own trickery done to him). So Jacob hardly goes "unpunished". He has to work fourteen years to get the wife he wanted!
      Re: God's will...
      God says he hated Esau (and this before the child is born). But then this "knowing" is how God knows all of us. Because God exists outside of his creation in a place where the eternal is normal. There is no time as we would understand it. God can "see" the future and the past just as well as you or I can see our own reflection in the mirror.
      So God "knows" what Esau's life and character will be..even before he is born. Just as God knows the course of nations he knows the lives of men before they are born.
      Esau will be the forefather of the Edomites...an enemy of the nation of Israel later on. Whether the Edomites become the people who live in Arabia...I don't know.

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         xixi12posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         they can not be from different mothers, they are twins. And the bible went on to reveal that esau also prospered even though it was later

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      kessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Both Jacob and Essau are living out their Faith/ fate so to speak,
      which will in turn fulfills Their purpose and destiny as intended by The Father.
      
      Goes to also show how the actions of those who are of the carnal nature, I.E Jacob mom and Essau, are all part and parcel of the overall Plan and purpose of God.
      
      Even if though the players themselves remain ignorant.
      
      So it is with you, even when you are ignorant.
      God's will, will still be done.
      But it is better for you that you have knowledge,
      for even this will not negate the will of God.
      
      This Knowledge comes by inward knowing of Truth.

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      paarsurreyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Blessings are never stolen by anybody; it is a misunderstanding of the scribes.

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         libby101aposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Paar... no offense but you claim scribes got the Bible all wrong and this and that... yet no scribe got the Qu'ran wrong in your eyes! Yet the Qu'ran says the Torah is the accurate word of God! Therefore I ask you are you disagreeing with the Qu'ran? Because it says the Torah is accurate! If the accurate word of God can be corrupted then your Qu'ran can also have been corrupted...because in your eyes no word of God can be kept throughout the years if the Torah has become corrupt by scribes!
         
         Please answer! Thanks! Peace!

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   mathereseposted 13 years ago

   Hi xixi12
   When you the read book of genesis 26:34,35 It tells us that Esau's mother and father were not happy with him. So when Rebekah heard her husband was going to bless him she immediatly thought her obedient son Jacob should receive the blessings not the one that makes her unhappy.
   
   In gen 28:3,4 Isaac says to Jacob that he was going to be blessed by God.  The bible does not mention anywhere that God got annoyed with Rebekah for what she did, Which shows that he agreed with her decision.
   
   This shows the importance of being obedient.

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      xixi12posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      well i must agree with you there matherese, but even before he was born, it seemed everything was working against him. The bible mentioned that rebecca had liked jacob from the womb or was it?

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   insearchof truthposted 13 years ago

   I actually think it demonstrates the fact that God works with imperfections and our free will.  Considering they had been given no law to indicate what is and is not sin, they were perhaps all ignorant anyway of any sinfullness.  Remember that Esau had given up his birthright to Jacob earlier as well.  Was it God's will?  Or did He foresee the event and planned around it?   Any more thoughts?

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   adeyeraposted 13 years ago

   I think it is the will of God because it was written that  Esau will  serve jacob but not in the way jacob cunningly took his brother blessings. Esau lost his blessings due to carelessness so both of them so be blamed.

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   Paragliderposted 13 years ago

   They should just have shared the mess of potage and gone fishing.

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   habeeposted 13 years ago

   Before the twins were even born:
   
   "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."

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      Jeramiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That verse has always made me think that the personality/persona of who they were, existed before they entered the womb.
      
        How else would God have not liked Esau before he entered the womb?
      
         And as far as the rights of the first born, I remember something about one hand coming out and then back in,  they wrapped a string around one of the hands as it reached out calling it the first born.
      
         Don't know which one was actually born first??
         And there must have been some kind of struggle going on in the womb??
      
         I just don't know?  I think that it probably worked out in the end.

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      xixi12posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      @Habee, but why out of twins God loved one and not the other

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         Ms Deeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         He was referring to Malachi 1:2-3 (which is quoted in  Romans 9:10-13) and the context in Malachi indicates that "Esau" is being used to refer to the Edomites, who were the descendants of Esau. the Edomites, were in many ways blessed by God (Genesis 33:9; Genesis chapter 36). So, in the context, God loving Jacob and hating Esau has nothing to do with the human emotions of love and hate. It has everything to do with God choosing one man and his descendants - who became Israel - and rejecting another man and his descendants. Make sense?

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   Twenty One Daysposted 13 years ago

   Actually, Esau did not lose his blessing.
   He gave up his rights to the firstborn blessing.
   Creator promised to make both great nations.
   Israel & Arabia were and are still great nations.
   
   Esau's issue was his sinful ways with women, men, etc. This is why he was hated --for the sin, not for himself the person.
   
   It is from the birthright under covenant that Messiah was and did come.
   
   A Second example is Abel & Cain.
   Cain and his offering were accepted equally to Abel's yet he chose to believe he was unworthy --as most believe today.

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      Jeramiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      What do you think about the many verses concerning ...
      
        "I knew you since before you were born" , type of verses which there are many.
         These verses make me think that scripture is telling us that our consciousness or persona whatever that is;  was in existence since before the earth existed.
         And when an egg is fertilized our essence transcends into this vehicle that we wear while on this plane of existence.
         
        Rev, 4:11  for thou hast created all things; and for thy pleasure they are and were create."
         I think that we do not read into this verse as much as was intended.  Not JUST the simple pleasure of watching what goes on, but much more.
         
        I do not think that the spirit of man just comes into existence as a product of physical evolution.
          Physical forms may evolve but spirit remains constant.

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      xixi12posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      @twenty one days: But do remember that the story says isaac suspected there was something wrong when he asked ''you have come back from your hunting quickly? (And beside he did not ask let me see your birthright before i bless you). Infact he didnt realise he had blessed the 'wrong' person until Esau came back a few minutes later.

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   lone77starposted 13 years ago

   God doesn't "hate" in the traditional (human or mortal) sense of the word. If someone steps off of a building, God "hates" them at the velocity of impact. You might say that is only "gravity." Yes, but gravity was created by God.
   
   Esau was experiencing karma (one of the laws of God). He was experiencing the sins of the "fathers." He was "dying" by the sword by which he had lived in a prior life. Perhaps he had stolen someone else's birthright, so now needed to balance things out by having his own stolen in this new life.

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      xixi12posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Karma? Exist in the previous life? I dont believe that was referred to anywhere in the bible.

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         brotheryochananposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         it isn't. Karma is a man made notion based on Gods priniciple of reaping what you sow.
         There also are not past lives, old souls or re-incarnation these are also man made ideas, offshoots from the doctrines of God.

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   Jeramiposted 13 years ago

   I agree with this ...  blessings can not be stolen yet they can be discarded;    on purpose   or   by accident.

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    Elisah1957posted 13 years ago

    G-d had already ordained for Jacob to become Israel, although Esau disrespect in the sight of G-d handling his birthright as though it was nothing (such as trading it for a bowl of stew) which was not what he actually meant to do but the words itself showing his lack of respect for such a precious gift. Jacob in turn by rendering such an act of deceit, carried this burden throughout his life such as being deceived by Laban his father-in-law, his oldest son sleeping with one of his concubines (wife), his sons causing him terrible grief by selling his son Joseph (pretending him to have been killed) and his not never seeing his mother again, with whom he and her were so close. Yes, Jacob did not go unpunished. G-d choose His own time when doing things, it is we who decide to take matters into our own hand, therefore bringing about hurtful consequences.

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    Daewalkerposted 13 years ago

    Birthrights cannot be stolen because although men can be manipulated and deceived God cannot and the angel foretold
    of who would get the blessing before their birth. These
    two were ordained to live out a destiny and they did according
    to God's plan just like Judas betraying Christ was also God's
    plan. No one or group has the power to thwart of change God's
    plan we humans just lack understanding from time to time.

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