Exemplary Esau

By Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie

Esau made his mistakes but he rose up to recover to the best of his ability such that in his lifetime, he never lived subject to Jacob as predicted. He proved that set-backs do not always deny one success. He played the card of care for his father to survive. He made his father his hero as long as he lived and it paid-off greatly. He identified the land allotted to him which he claimed Gods help to claim from the original inhabitants. He started life as a hunter and ended as a successful shepherd when he took over his fathers flocks. He was so successful that he started his kingdom long before Jacob who had the divine mandate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jul 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477143278

Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie

Rev Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie can be described as a Paper-pulpit Pastor and Bible Preacher by publication. He is divinely ordained to teach, preach and publish the Gospel of Christ Jesus and has been teaching and preaching since 1994. He began to publish in 2004 and presides over Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie Ministries, that encompasses several arms. He operates Christ Redemption Publications, based in Ibadan, Nigeria. He has been published by other publishers overseas. He makes the working word of God relevant to daily living, to prepare the saints for heaven. He hosts a monthly Bible Seminar every second Sunday at his Nigerian base, Ibadan. His audiences often comment that he gives a realistic interpretation to the word of God in a way they never heard or read previously and that he directs the word of God to where it matters in a man’s life when it matters most. He can be reached on [e-mail] or [e-mail] or 234-7037825522 or 234-8182022262 or 07055989850

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Copyright © 2012 by Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie.

ISBN:                  Softcover                          978-1-4771-4326-1

ISBN:                  Ebook                              978-1-4771-4327-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Unless otherwise indicated, scriptures are taken from Today’s English Version (TEV), New King James Version (NKJV), King James Version (KJV), The Living Bible (TLB), Amplified Bible (AMP), New Living Translation (NLT), New American Standard Bible (NASB), Bible in Basic English (BBE), Contemporary English Version (CEV), New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), English Standard Version (ESV), The Message, New Century Version (NCV), The NET Bible, God’s Word, Easy-to-Read-Version and New International Version (NIV).

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Contents

Dedication

Appreciation

Introduction

1 In the Beginning or Foundationally

2 Personal Survival Streak

3 Responsible Reasoning, Response and Reaction

4 While It Lasts

5 Recommended Smartness

6 God-given Gainful Gifts for Greatness and Gladness

7 Optimizing Acclaimed Obnoxiousness

8 As things are

9 Responsible Revelling

10 Profitable Planning

11 Reaping from Sacrifices

12 Your Glory is not at Home

13 Battling through Life

14 Workplace Wahala

Author’s Other Published Titles

Dedication

Barrister Babatunde R. Fashola, Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria

Dr Segun Mimiko, Governor of Ondo State, Nigeria

Mr Rotimi C Ameachi, Governor of River State, Nigeria

Appreciation

All glory to God that this is available for others to read. Lord, a thousand tongues are not enough for me to express my gratitude for this unique opportunity to be a blessing to my generation and future generations. Surely, everything in this call and commission is your doing and it is marvellous in my eyes.

God bless Ranti Olumoroti and his family. May God swell your heavenly account richly, in Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

Introduction

Among Christians, and particularly Pentecostals, the most famous impression of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, the sons of Isaac, son of Abraham and the three pioneer generations of the Israelites, is that he seemed the most gluttonic idiot (sickening simple-minded person) who ever lived. He is famous for selling his birthright for a morsel of food in what I consider his moment of planlessness. It was planlessness because he returned from the fields terribly hungry and when he saw his favourite food, he opted to do the most bizarre thing to give up his birthright to survive the moment. It is partially difficult to defend him because the Holy Scriptures blamed him rather than his brother who could not afford to share his meal with his only sibling. If Esau had returned from the fields on time to prepare his own meal before he could no longer endure his hunger, he would not have taken Jacob’s meal.

Yet, we cannot deny the fact that Jacob proved that he was not different from Cain who told God that he did not believe he had the duty of being his brother’s keeper. If Jacob believed in the concept of the brotherhood of sharing and caring, he would not have given any condition to share with Esau. But that is an issue we shall not consider in detail right now. Meanwhile, let us take for granted that Esau became a victim of what I call Precarious Planlessness and therefore, punishable planlessness or plausible planlessness and punitive planlessness. Now, whether we should classify it as unforgivable or not is another matter altogether, yet, heaven admits his mistake. Let us consider some other aspect of his life and how he survived in the natural afterwards.

There is no record that after Jacob robbed him of his birthright he reported the incidence to their father who preferred him for obvious reason. If he did not report to his father who we expect would take sides with him naturally, then, we can say that he did not consider it such a horrible offence that he could not over look. Also, someone could say that he had thought that as his only sibling around, he should not quarrel with him over such a misdemeanour. It is like what we read about the story of Herod who took his brother, Philip’s wife named Herodias. There is no record that Philip made any trouble with Herod over the matter, hired anyone, including John the Baptist to help him recover her or that the ridiculed Herod and Herodias. Philip seemed to suggest that it was not worth it, to fighting his brother over a woman when he could always get more to replace her. He did not follow in the footsteps of Solomon who killed his brother, Adonijah, on account of their father’s virgin widow, Abishag. David was another person who killed Uriah to have his wife, Bathsheba.

1

In the Beginning or Foundationally

Genesis 25:33-34, 27:33-40 and Hebrews 12:16-17 say:

³³ Then Jacob said, Swear to me as of this day. So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (NKJV)

³³ Isaac began to tremble and shake all over, and he asked, Who was it, then, who killed an animal and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came. I gave him my final blessing, and so it is his forever. ³⁴ When Esau heard this, he cried out loudly and bitterly and said, Give me your blessing also, father! ³⁵ Isaac answered, Your brother came and deceived me. He has taken away your blessing. ³⁶ Esau said, This is the second time that he has cheated me. No wonder his name is Jacob. He took my rights as the first-born son, and now he has taken away my blessing. Haven’t you saved a blessing for me? ³⁷ Isaac answered, I have already made him master over you, and I have made all his relatives his slaves. I have given him grain and wine. Now there is nothing that I can do for you, son! ³⁸ Esau continued to plead with his father: Do you have only one blessing, father? Bless me too, father! He began to cry. ³⁹ Then Isaac said to him, No dew from heaven for you, no fertile fields for you. ⁴⁰ You will live by your sword, but be your brother’s slave. Yet when you rebel, you will break away from his control. (TEV)

⁴⁰ By your sword will you get your living and you will be your brother’s servant; but when your power is increased his yoke will be broken from off your neck. (BBE)

⁴⁰ You will live by the power of your sword and be your brother’s slave. But when you decide to be free, you will break loose." (CEV)

16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. (NKJV)

This is the summary of the events that nailed Esau for which he is highly vilified by all and sundry. However, much as the door of delightful destiny seemed closed against him, God would not do anything to anyone without leaving a window, no matter how small, to bring him or her the least ray of hope, a glimpse of light of hope in his or her tortuous tunnel. Naturally, Esau was an aggressive individual. We can say that was his nature even before he was born. The famous story in Genesis 25:19-28 confirms that before birth, he and his twin brother, Jacob, struggled against each other. God told their mother that the eldest shall serve the younger. We can interpret it to mean that the first to come out was controlled by the spirit of aggressiveness, who would meet others on a queue but shunt and take the place of those who had arrived before him. Therefore, Jacob should have been born before Esau but because Esau was a ‘hustler’ he pushed Jacob out of the way and came out before him. God knew this and said no matter how Esau shunted and because Jacob was timidly docile, He still ensured that Jacob dominated Esau. However, this same aggressive nature made Esau not to think deep before he did anything, including taking the food from Jacob at the cost of his birthright without thinking about the grave implications. So, it got him into trouble. Esau asked their father for a solution to get him out of the mess he had put himself, albeit when it was too late. Their father said the solution was to use his aggressive nature to rebel against Jacob. It is important to note that it was this same aggressive nature that made him to mount enough pressure on their father to tell him what to do. Now, their father was older and therefore, knew what to do, and how to use the nature to save himself more than Esau who owned the nature. Their father knew from his understanding of both that Jacob who abhorred warfare and crisis was too docile to confront Esau who had an aggressive nature that was a little less than wild nature. This was part of the reason he could not confront his maternal uncle, Laban, as long as he lived with and worked for him. Isaac had been like that when Genesis 26 says he could not stand up to claim his right when the Philistines blocked his inherited wells. Rather, he removed from their place to dig other ones where they would not strive with him. Esau believed in his father and once he was told that if only he added some more force to the level of rebellion