Leaving a Legacy

 Read Genesis 25. 

After the death of Sarah, Abraham remarried and fathered six more sons.  Then, "in a good old age" of 175 he died.  Now, the story of Genesis shifts to the next generation with Isaac as the patriarch. 

When Rebekah was pregnant, she became aware that something unusual was taking place inside her body.  She asked, "Why is this happening to me?" (v.22)  God answered that prayer by telling her that she not only was giving birth to twins but these boys would be very different and become two nations.  Further, to continue His covenant with Abraham, God chose the one who would carry on the legacy.  

Esau was the older and in that culture had full birthright privileges of the inheritance.  But in the last line of the chapter his heart is revealed.  "Thus Esau despised his birthright."  Yes, this did fulfill what God had promised, but he was responsible for his own foolish actions.  Some of the saddest words in the Bible are recorded in Hebrews 12:17 concerning Esau: "For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears."  He, like everyone else, leaves that as part of his legacy.  

Esau sold his future in exchange for a temporal desire of immediate gratification.  His descendants were the Edomites, who continued hostility toward Jacob's family for hundreds of years.  Even in the Exodus, the Edomites rejected the Israelites from passing through their land.  The book of Obadiah is a prophecy of God's commitment to wiping out the Edomites as a nation.  It makes one wonder what God's plan for Esau could have been if he had submitted himself to the Lord instead. 

Every day, the decisions we make and how we handle relationships affect our legacy and those who will come behind us.