Jacob and Yahweh

“The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.”

Genesis‬ ‭25‬:‭22‬-‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jacob’s story starts when he was in the womb of Rebekah, with his twin brother Esau. Rebekah was dealing with the unborn boys fighting inside of her, so she went to inquire of the Lord Yahweh to ask him why where they fighting. The Lord informed Rebecca that she had two nations in her womb. This is meaning that the brothers were going to be two separate nations, and that the two separate nations were going to be at odds with each other. But even more than that, the Lord informed her about something very special. He informed her that the oldest will serve the youngest and that the youngest will become headship. This is a big deal because this means that the youngest was going to be the one who The Heavenly Father was going to work through, so the Lord already knew ahead of time what was going to happen to make Jacob become head over the household. Now, when the boys were finally born things immediately became interesting. When Esau came out of the womb he was first born, and he was a hairy baby with red hair so they named him Esau, meaning red hair. But Jacob came out of the womb next holding Esau’s heel. This means that Jacob inherited a name that was called a sub-planter. A sub-planter is someone who can elevate over somebody else by taking over their land or by overpowering them. And this is very important for when they grew up. When the boys grew up Esau became a man of the fields, so he loved to plant harvest and hunt for animals. Jacob was a man of literature so he was a man who dwell in the tent, but I do believe that Jacob knew how to take care of sheep at this time also.

“The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home 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.”

Genesis‬ ‭25‬:‭27‬-‭34‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Now Jacob and Esau have grown up and they are now young adults. On one hard-working day Esau comes from the field and he sees that Jacob has prepared himself a red lentil pottage meal. Esau demanded that Jacob gives him the pottage, “for he was so hungry that he was going to die.” This is an extreme way of acting when you come off of the field at work, but this is what Esau felt. That he was so hungry that he was going to pass out. So instead of going to the house and seeing if there was something to eat or instead of just asking for some of the pottage that Jacob fixed, to see if his brother would so kindly prepare something for him too, instead he sold his birthright. Now some people get mad at Jacob and they say,”well how dare Jacob demand Esau‘s birthright for food, if he was a real brother he would have given Esau the pottage of food.” But people forget who really wrote this story, this is the work of the heavenly father not just the work of Jacob and Esau. Although we have free will Jacob and Esau are not only children of their mother and father, but they are also on the heavenly fathers world stage. The Lord needs to honor his promise that he gave to Abraham. Esau was not interested in learning about the heavenly father. How can the heavenly father work with someone who does not want to learn about him? Jacob did want to learn about the heavenly father. There is another book called the book of Jasher that explains how Esau did not want to make a connection with the heavenly father, he did not want to learn about the ways of the Lord. But Jacob did want to learn about the ways of The Heavenly Father, and this made Jacob surpass Esau in headship in the Lords eyes. So you could say, Peter denied his Lord three times in fact, and he was given forgiveness and mercy so why not Esau? The difference between Esau and Peter is that Peter was remorseful and repented after he messed up, but Esau despised his birthright after he sold it, and he never repented.

“But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?” Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him Lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?” Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud. His father Isaac answered him, “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.””

Genesis‬ ‭27‬:‭35‬-‭40‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As you can see it is extremely important to connect with the heavenly father. If you have a blessing that is over your life and this blessing is supposed to elevate you, or help you to go into a particular direction, and you will not make a connection with the Lord. Or get to know the heavenly father or know his ways, how can he work with you? It is important for you to know him so you will be able to recognize if something dose not represent The Heavenly Father or his way of life. For instance as Christians and believers in Christ we do not have idols or worship an image of the heavenly father, we praise and worship him anywhere because he is omnipresent. He has given us dominion over ourselves and our environment and if we are not careful about how we take care of ourselves and listen to our Heavenly Father, we will find ourselves being passed over.