Esau’s Plunge to Disaster

“Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.”

Genesis 27:29

The promise God gave to Abraham now belonged to Jacob. Try to imagine the scene a few moments later when Esau arrived with a meal for his father: “Sit up, Dad. I’ve got your stew, and I’m ready to receive your blessing.”

“Who are you?” Isaac asked him.

“I am your son, your firstborn, Esau” (27:32).

Then Isaac realised what had happened, and he began shaking. “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me?” (27:33). And suddenly they both knew who it was.

We are told that when Esau heard this, “he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry” (27:34). Esau realised that he had missed out on the one thing that really mattered. He had no place for God in his life, and in the end, he found himself outside God’s blessing.

Esau’s bitter cry when he discovered that he was shut out from the blessing reminds us of some words of Jesus. He spoke about a day when some would find themselves outside of God’s kingdom, and He said there would be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Luke 13:28).

Try to put yourself in Esau’s shoes. Imagine what it would be like to be shut out from God’s blessing. If you belong to Jesus Christ today, thank God that this will never be true of you.