APRIL 24, 2016
THE POINT
Showing humility is critical to restoring relationships.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
• We don’t always get our own way in a relationship.
• A person who feels like he is continually getting “the short end of the stick” can develop ill feelings toward the other person.
• Relationships are damaged when both parties are not looking out for each other.
• The relationship between Jacob and Esau is a prime example of this, but they also offer us an example of what happens when humility becomes a part of the relationship.
THE PASSAGE
Genesis 27:41; 33:1-11
THE SETTING
• Jacob convinced Esau to trade his birthright to Jacob for bread and a bowl of lentil stew.
• The struggle between the brothers climaxed when Jacob, with the aid of his mother, tricked his father into giving him the blessing of the first born son meant for Esau,
• Fearing Esau would murder Jacob, Rebekah arranged for Jacob to live with her brother Laban in her homeland of Haran, where he remain Ed for 20 years.
• After that time, Jacob returned home with his family, uncertain as to the reception he would receive from his brother.
Genesis 27:41
41 So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob." NASB
SELF-CENTEREDNESS CAN DESTROY RELATIONSHIPS.
VERSE 41:
WHAT IS SO APPEALING ABOUT HOLDING A GRUDGE?
• Isaac live for more than Foyt years after this.
• As with Cain, Esau hated Jacob because he had been accepted of God.
• Only the death of Jacob would satisfy Esau.
• The wicked always seem to hate and despise any one whom God blesses.
We may obtain some lower and inferior blessing, as Esau did, acquiring something of the fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven, living by our sword, and finally, after long years, shaking the yoke from our neck, but we can never be what we might have been! We can never undo that moment of sowing to the flesh. F. B. Meyer
KEY WORDS: The blessing (V. 41)
The family patriarch called upon God to grant abundance, health, wealth, wisdom, and descendants to his son. Isaac’s blessing of Jacob passes on God’s blessing of Abraham.
(Genesis 12:2-3)
Transition: Self-centeredness can destroy relationships, but displaying humility can rebuild what was broken.
Genesis 33:1-4
1 Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.
2 He put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.
3 But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. NASB
KEY WORDS: Seven times (V. 3)
In the ancient world, bowing was the established, proper ceremonial approach by subjects to their rulers or superiors. Bowing seven times expressed extreme courtesy and deep respect.
DISPLAYING HUMILITY CAN REBUILD RELATIONSHIPS.
VERSE 1:
Why then should the character of this man be perpetually vilified? Here is the secret. With some people, on the most ungrounded assumption, Esau is a reprobate, and the type and figure of all reprobates, and therefore he must be everything that is bad. This serves a system; but, whether true or false in itself, it has neither countenance nor support from the character or conduct of Esau. Adam Clarke
• Jacob could have returned to his home country without passing through Esau’s territory, so he must have desired to make an honest effort to reconcile with Esau.
• It is likely that Esau did not know the disposition of Jacob on his return; after all, Jacob had his birthright, it could be that Esau thought that Jacob was coming to put him. Out of the way and take the rest of it.
• Splitting up the family as Jacob did was a strategy of safety.
• Jacob would know how it is with Esau with the first encounter.
VERSE2:
• The way that Jacob decided the family and the order that he placed them likely shows the place they occupied in Jacob’s heart.
VERSE 3:
• Jacob approached first ahead of his family bowing to Esau seven times as he approached.
• There is every reason to believe that Jacob was sincere in attitude toward Esau.
VERSE 4:
• One definition of mercy is a person’s foregoing vengeance when he or she has the upper hand and can exact it.
• Esau easily could have taken his revenge but chose to extend mercy.
Transition: In the face of an offender’s humility, how do we respond? With forgiveness of course.
Genesis 33:5-11
5 He lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these with you?" So he said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant."
6 Then the maids came near with their children, and they bowed down.
7 Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down.
8 And he said, "What do you mean by all this company which I have met?" And he said, "To find favor in the sight of my lord."
9 But Esau said, "I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own."
10 Jacob said, "No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.
11 "Please take my gift which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty." Thus he urged him and he took it. NASB
BE WILLING TO FORGIVE AND MOVE FORWARD.
VERSE 5:
• If our ways please the Lord, He will make our enemies to be at peace with us.
• After the two brothers wept on each others’ shoulders, Esau looked up and swag the women and children.
• Jacob’s response focused on his children and stressed they were gifts of God’s favor.
• Jacob expressed humility throughout their exchange.
VERSE 6-7:
• In the order in which Jacob had arranged them, all approached.
• Lastly, Joseph and Rachel came forward.
• Like Jacob, all the women and their children owed to Esau as well.
VERSE 8:
• Possibly Esau bid not accept the explanation of jacob’s servants preferring to hear it from Jacob personally.
• Jacob continues to placate Esau with pleasant words.
VERSE 9:
“…Esau showed himself not only not a covetous man, but that he was truly reconciled to his brother, and needed not anything from him, to make up the difference between them.” John Gill
“It is a very high compliment that he passes upon him: I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, that is, “I have seen thee reconciled to me, and at peace with me, as I desire to see God reconciled.” Or the meaning is that Jacob saw God's favour to him in Esau's: it was a token for good to him that God had accepted his prayers.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible
VERSE10:
• Esau receiving jacob’s gifts would be evidence that he had received Jacob with favor.
• Jacob’s response was likely a mixture of relief and gratitude,
• Jacob saw in Esau’s face forgiveness, acceptance, kindness, an a reflection of God’s favor.
VERSE 11:
• Jacob tactfully urged Esau to accept his present.
• Possibly it could have been a conscience effort to give back part of what he had stolen from Esau.
• Jacob’s gift to Esau was no hardship for him.
• Jacob continued to implore Esau to receive the gifts until he accepted.
Wrap It Up
• Throughout this account, Esau comes across as big-hearted and magnanimous.
• Esau remains as a model of willingness to extend mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
• He forgave and moved on.
Admit your part.
Let go of the grudge.
Be an agent of restoration.
Life can bring us some bad situations. We can feel cheated, as Esau did, but we don't have to remain bitter. We can remove bitterness from our lives by honestly expressing our feelings to God, forgiving those who have wronged us, and being content with what we have. Life Application Notes
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