Gaining Your Father's Approval

Esau's Plan and the Resurrection Man

(Genesis 28:6-9, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 5, 2015)

[6] Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” [7] and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

Esau was the favorite son of Isaac, but he was not a Jew. This beloved son was forever a Gentile. Jacob, his fraternal twin, was the child of promise. God had told Rebekah before these boys were born that the older would serve the younger. When they had grown up some, Esau himself had sold his birthright to Jacob. Finally, Jacob, at his mother's instruction, had deceived Isaac, and received from him the blessing that Isaac had wanted to give to Esau. Then Isaac knew and accepted that Jacob was the child of promise. He called Jacob to himself one more time and sent him away with his blessing, this time knowing what he was doing.

Esau had observed all of this. Esau, the man who would never be a Jew, wanted his father's approval. He made some conclusions based on his father's parting instructions to Jacob. “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.” Esau had taken two wives from the Canaanite women.

[8] So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, [9] Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.

In his great desire to gain his father's joy, he entered into a third marriage. This time he married a daughter of Abraham's son, Ishmael. The Lord's word concerning Ishmael's line had long been established. “He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” After many years had passed, the words of Genesis confirmed the conflict that would follow the descendants of Ishmael with this brief sentence: “He settled over against all his kinsmen.” This was the family into which Esau married.

Put the Word to Work: True hope for Jew and Gentile can only come from gaining the approval of our Father in heaven. As Jesus said to Mary Magdelene in the garden, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” When the mother of James and John wanted to talk to Jesus, He asked her, “What do you want?” The plans of man will never win us lasting favor with God. Jesus, the Resurrection Man, has done this for us. Our future and our eternally secure approval and honor, can only be found in Him. His death was a “ransom for many.” Through His resurrection, He is the firstfruits of a glorious kingdom. All else is eternal loss.

Memory Verse from the Songs of Ascents—Psalm 129:5-8

[5] May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward!
[6] Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
which withers before it grows up,
[7] with which the reaper does not fill his hand
nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
[8] nor do those who pass by say,
“The blessing of the LORD be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the LORD!”

Gospel Reading—Matthew 20:20-28 – A ransom for many