Parasha Toldot: Day 5

B'reisheet/Genesis 27:30-45

There will be a day when the righteous will be blessed in the Firstborn, Yeshua, as they receive their reward for 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 to be good people, or did not really believe in YHVH, their judgment will cut them off from all living. They will grope for any hope, blessing or future with the Creator.

Esau resembles this aspect of creation. A fallen man who lived for the moment and sought only his own desires. His life had, to the point of Yacov receiving the firstborn blessing in his stead, been 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 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 could 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 his neck. What he could not see was the blessing hidden in the seemingly tormenting curse. Like Ham and Canaan who would serve in the tents of Shem, Esau could take solace with the surrounding righteous brothers. If Canaan and Esau's seed were destined to walk in waywardness, their hope lie in the tents of the righteous. Perhaps future generations would hear and see of Elohim and believe for their own deliverance and eventual salvation. This would be in line with the mixed multitude that would depart Egypt with Israel. Succinctly, Esau's blessings 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 blessing, but that the blessing would be offered, 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 that his bitterness had dissipated. Both Esau and Ishmael have found ways to overthrow the yoke of Yacov and Isaac. Through the centuries, many of their descendants walked away from Abraham's faith and 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. 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. To the modern day, this has been the bane of Israel's existence since that erroneous cult strives to cut Israel from the inherited promises of Life.

The people surrounding us have a hope if they would only listen and obey. 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 real to this day. 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. The power is to realize that YHVH's grace is sufficient to bring us back to the place of Abraham and present us with the Truth of His 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. That same grace exudes to the nations, the Esau's and Ishmael's of this world so that they may repent, seeing what truly pleases the Father for His pleasure and not their own fleshly desire. If they do not heed that call to repentance, or if we do not fight the good fight, the wailing and crying out for the blessing of Yacov could become all to real and close to us.

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."