God's displeasure when Brothers war

 Jeremiah 49:7-22

This is about Calamity of Esau and the people who came from him and their name was established by an act of willfully rejecting his birthright.  Esau was the firstborn of Isaac and Rebekah, but his twin brother Jacob came out holding on to his heel.  In Genesis 25:25-26, we are given the account of the birth.  “The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. Afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.”

It is always important when God speaks, and Rebekah had asked the Lord why am I having such a war inside of me?  We find God’s reply in verse 23, “And the Lord said to her: Two nations are in your womb; two people will come from you and be separated.  One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”  Two very different boys, Esau grows up wanting to hunt, an outdoorsman, while Jacob, if it were today, would be called a nerd or geek, he liked to be at home and enjoyed cooking.

Now this is where we get to the calamity of Esau, he comes into Jacob’s tent after being on a hunt, and he is hungry and wants some of the red meat in the stew Jacob is cooking.  So Jacob makes a proposal you can have the stew for your birthright, now that is not close to a good deal, but Esau shows the contempt he holds for his birthright in that he says sure give me the stew.  What did Esau give up as the firstborn son, a double portion of the inheritance for the chance to eat some meat?  It was the red meat where Esau got the alternate name Edom “Red,” which would be carried by the people group coming from him.

Often, to get the story correct, we need to look to other Scripture and in this case the vision of Obadiah.  Obadiah not only tells us Edom will be humbled and punished but also the reason why.  Verses 6-9, “How Esau has been pillaged, his treasures sought out!  All your allies have driven you to your border; those at peace with you have deceived you; they have prevailed against you; those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you—you have no understanding.  Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau?  And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.”

It is Obadiah that gives us a clear understanding of why this judgment is coming on Edom. “ Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.  On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off, his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem; you were like one of them.  But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress.  Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster
in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity.  Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress.”

God is not pleased when a brother takes joy in his brother's disaster, or when the brother works against his brother!

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice