The Sound of Bitter Weeping

"And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? Where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? Yea, and he shall be blessed. And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father. And he said, thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing. And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son? And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob. " (Genesis 27:30-41)

Perhaps you have discerned by now that Esau is a type of the unbeliever. Esau is the unbeliever, while Jacob is the man of faith, encouraged by his mother Rebekah who remembered the promise of God towards her two children still in the womb. Jacob valued the blessing so much that he sought it in carnal ways, rather than waiting on God to fulfill the blessing (similar to Sarah and Abraham?). Isaac, who knew the prophecy of God towards his two sons, chose to ignore it for he wanted his favorite son Esau to be blessed instead. Esau was Isaac's son according to the flesh (similar to Ishmael) because Isaac's carnal flesh was gratified with the wild game that Esau provided. When the Word said that "Isaac trembled very exceedingly" it was the trembling of a man who realizes instantly that God's will has overridden his own. In a moment he sees his wrong, and in a moment he picks up faith again; for in almost the same sentence where he recognizes that it was Jacob, he also seals or confirms his blessing upon him by saying (through the Holy Spirit) that "Yea, and he shall be blessed." Indeed he shall, for God has willed it so!

We can't condone Jacob and Rebekah's methods in obtaining the birthright and the blessing; the ends NEVER justify the means. They are not condoned by God as we will see shortly. Their game will come back to bite them both. And we can't help but "feel" with what bitterness Esau must have wept for what he recognizes is lost to him forever. There is an utter finality to it. Yes, Isaac gives him a blessing but what a blessing…that he shall be a man of the sword. He knows this is not the blessing he could have had.

But let's look at Esau again for a moment. Esau was a hunter. Who is the only other hunter that has been mentioned yet in the Word? It is Nimrod who was NOT a man of God. Esau is compared to Nimrod in Genesis 10:9. He is a man according to the flesh, not according to the spirit of God. Esau sustained himself by his own hand, and yet he could not satisfy himself from his hunting (from the field), he had to have what Jacob had in order to survive: a pottage of lentils. Esau decided that he could not live on promises; certainly not the promise of what his birthright could give him, not when he was near to dying. He was all for instantaneous self-gratification. He was all about right here and right now only. And his fear of dying led him to do whatever it took to survive; casually giving away his birthrights for his fears of this moment. Many of those with "survivor" mentalities know nothing of trusting in God. They must obtain the means of surviving by their own hand. Their own survival is what is important; if all others around them perish, still they believe the only right thing is to save themselves. And it is as they are saving themselves that they are truly lost ("He who seeks to save his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake shall find it." Matthew 16:25) It is only later when their eyes are opened to the truth that they realize what exactly it is they have lost. And then is heard the sound of bitter weeping.

And are they repentant even at that point? Esau shows us that the answer is: No. His heart is hard, to the point of wanting to murder his brother. Esau did not trust in God, and Esau did not heed the counsel of his parents. At the age of 40 he took for himself two wives of the Canaanites; a practice that was forbidden. And thus he ended up in a place where there was the sound of his own bitter weeping.

One final note about God's prophecy over the twins, looking back at Genesis 25:23 we recall that God says that in Rebekah's womb are two nations, two manner of people, one people stronger than the other, and the elder will serve the younger. We will see that the two nations are Israel (Jacob) and Edom (Esau). King David of Israel was a descendant of Jacob. In 2 Samuel 8:14 he puts garrisons in Edom (remember Edom, meaning red, is the land of the descendants of Esau) and all they of Edom became David's servants. Thus was both the prophecy of God and Isaac's confirming patriarchal blessing fulfilled over Jacob. But then in 2 Chronicles 21:8 there was a revolt in which the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of Judah and made themselves a king; and it was here that Isaac's blessing to Esau was fulfilled in that the day would come where he would break Jacob's yoke off of his neck, fulfilled through their descendants.