MASADA WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN

Part 6

A birthright despised In Genesis 36, we read that Amalek was the grandson of the ancient patriarch Esau, born to Esau's firstborn son Eliphaz (vv. 9-12). Why is this important? Esau was the twin brother of Jacob, who would eventually father the twelve tribes of Israel -including the Jews of Judah -and inherit the land promised to Abraham and Isaac. Even within their mother's womb, Esau and Jacob were fighting each other (Genesis 25:21-23)!

God indicated even before their birth that these twins would be the progenitors of two peoples who would struggle against each other throughout the centuries, as we shall see. As the firstborn of the two (Genesis 25:25), Esau originally held the birthright - including the right to possess the Holy Land that God had promised to Abraham and Isaac. That land would have been Esau's and would have been passed down to his descendants - including Amalek. So, how did Jacob and the people of Israel come to inherit the land instead of Esau and his descendants? One day as he returned home from hunting, Esau found his brother Jacob preparing a red stew of lentils. Weary and hungry, Esau asked for a share of the stew, which Jacob agreed to give him - but only if Esau swore to give him the birthright (Genesis 25:29-33). And, rashly, Esau did: "So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright ' (vv. 33-34).

When Esau gave up his birthright, he relinquished the right to inherit the Holy Land, which would now pass to Jacob's descendants instead. In letting go of that birthright - despising it, the Bible says - Esau revealed a serious character flaw. He let his primal, base instincts prevail in his decision-making (Hebrews 12:16). And the effects of his decision were forever, as Psalm 105 declares:  "He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance'" (vv. 7-11).

So, the birthright, including the Holy Land, was given to the sons of Jacob, forever. God changed Jacob's name to "Israel," which means "Overcomer with God" (Genesis 32:28), while Esau's name came to be called "Edom," which means "red" in Hebrew, because he traded away his birthright for a bowl of red stew (Genesis 25:30; 36:8). Esau went on to marry women from among the Hittites, Canaanites, and Ishmaelites, and to establish a people who would be known as Edomites, dwelling initially in the region that came to be called Edom or Idumea, south of the Promised Land. The Edomites' "Perpetual Hatred" and while Esau and Jacob reconciled later in their lives (Genesis 33), the Bible reports a perpetual hatred and resentment that persisted between their descendants, as the Edomites constantly craved the inherited land their ancestor gave away for a bowl of lentils. When Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered Judah and destroyed the Temple, the Edomites to the south stood with the Babylonians. Psalm 137:7 reports that the Edomites cheered the destruction of Jerusalem, saying "Tear it down," they cried, "tear it down to its foundations!"

And Obadiah records God's condemnation of Edom "Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever." (v.10) (To be continued)