Read Genesis 36.
This is the final chapter concerning the life of Esau. Even before his birth, he struggled in the womb with his twin brother Jacob (25:22). Physically stronger than Jacob, Esau was a talented hunter. But his legacy is one of bad and sinful choices due to his undisciplined, temporal appetites.
He sold his birthright, as the slightly elder son, for a bowl stew. In this patriarchal culture, such a foolish decision robbed him of the primary blessing of his father and had a direct effect on all his descendants. However, in the plan of God, it fulfilled the prophetic word of the LORD from Genesis 25:23.
He turned to the ungodly Canaanites for his multiple wives. This was a source of bitterness and heartache to his parents (26:35).
He left the land of God's promise for the eastern pastures of Edom. The name Esau and his descendants became synonymous with the land of Edom (36:8).
His descendants continued through the centuries to oppose the descendants of Jacob, even to war against them (Numbers 20:18-21; 1 Samuel 14:47). The Edomites worshiped false gods and not the God of Abraham and Isaac (2 Chronicles 25:20). As a result, the Edomites came to be hated by God (Malachi 1:2-3).
Finally, God announced the end of the Edomites (Jeremiah 49:8-10; Obadiah).
Esau's epitaph is found in Hebrews 12:15-17: "See to it...that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 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."
The story of
one's life and eternity is determined by the choices that are made each day.
One of Dr. John Maxwell's best books is entitled "Today
Matters". And, indeed, it does. "Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day." (Psalm 119:97)
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