The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-04-05
CBY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)


Esau," Gen. 25:27-34; 27:1-45.
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)
Some stories seem to fit all times.
They have their counterpart in every
generation. Such is this tale of two
e young men who lived nearly four
3 thousand years ago and whose names
are familiar to everybody. Jacob
and Esau We're twin brothers and
neither was admirable. The story is
one without a hero. The particular
incident upon which the lesson is
founded is the bargain for the birth
right When gluttony and avarice
traffic, it is always a bad bargain.
Neither young man acted as became
his family name or his standing in
the world. Both did violence to their
honor.
The episode might be labelled,
Business is business" The old fash
ion of putting aside all considerations
of truth and humanity and inherent
right when making bargain pre-
vailed with Esau and Jacob, even as
+ with some modern men. Esau was i'm
pulsive, gullible. easily deceived and
entirely needless of his own high OBJ
legations. His brother Jacob was
crafty, adroit and self-seeking, taking
advantage of his brothers need, hav-
ing an eye only for his own main
chance. As Esau represented the sort
OF man who would sQuander public
rights for private graft, forgetting all
the claims of posterity, SO Jacob is the
other not uncommon type who would
buy in any market where wares are
cheapest, regardless of ethical con-
eiderations. Just as he formed a cor
ner in pottage, SO he would corner
wheat, meat, or any other neces-
sity. To him it would mean nothing
that his profits were wrung out of
the blood and virtue of his employees.
His answer would be, Business is
business: I made him an offer. He
%nTr r. ~
have to buy"
The Story Down to Date.
The incident irresistibly calls to
mind the way in which many of us
barter the priceless possessions, be-
cause of our youthful heedlessness,
our shortsightedness or our sheer
slavery to the moments desire. The
political crisis in America has been
due to the fact that the obligations
of citizenship were bartered for ease
and engrossment in business. Good
men have sold their power to influ-
ence the world because they had not
the initiative, the courage or the vision
to exercise that sovereignty. Youth
has again and again sold it's IRENE
diable innocence for the flash of a
moments gawd, or at the behest of
unbridled passion. Thousands have
sold the opportunity for an education
and for discipline in the higher
things of life because of the spirit of
Sol1 Indulgence Wn1cn preferred pres
emit ease to future power and profit.
Friendships have been bartered on the
altar of indulgence and petty self-will.
Love has been given in exchange for
base limitations, even as the savages
barter real jewels for colored glass.
The story of Esau's tragic betray- |
al of his own manhood and birthright |
is eloquent in every line with an APP
peal to youth to safeguard the price |
less things. If Esau had been gifted |
rrrfk r t..
and modicum of sturdy will, he would /
have looked ahead and called tomorrow |
to the succor of today. 1t is whole
some to view the present from the
standpoint of the future. That habit
of life makes the sagacious man.
The Makeup of a Family.
This is a domestic scene, but not
a lovely one. When we look from the
boys to the parents, we find Isaac, a
weak father who had never set his sons
an example of sturdy maintenance of
principles. He had the passive virtues,
but he had given up his crown of man
hood and fatherhood. The management
seems to have been in the hands of
Rebekah, a shrewd, masterful woman
of the same type as her brother Laban.
Both father and mother were guilty of
that cardinal offense in parents, favor
ttism among their children. Isaac, the
weakling, the stay-at-home, the pot
terer about the tents of the encamp-
ment, loved his lusty, field-ranging,
open-air son Esau. The meditative IA
Their admired the man of action. Re
bekah woman-like, cared not for the
rough and animal ways of this british
follower OF the chase. Esau had no
manners. He was not graced in those
arts of courtesy which often mean more
to a woman than the cardinal virtues.
Jacob. the stay-at-home, was better
broken to social ways He helped his
mother and found himself temperament
tally more in unity with her.
Between the two sons there was
natural antagonism. Jacob, who unused
much on the things that concerned his
own advantage resented the priority of
his older brother. By right of birth
Esau would inherit the headship of the
family. Jacob despised Esau. and. sure
of his own powers, he coveted the birth
right for himself.
Is the Heir Insane?
With rights go obligations. The
crown is his who can wear it. AS first
born of the family, Esau's honor should
have been dear to him. Had he been ;
fit for his post he would have preferred
to die like king rather than to live
like a craven. The Titanic dead are ,
more honored than some of the Titanic !
survivors. Esau had not learned how !
to suffer and endure and deny himself /
like a man. He knew no synonym for
the phrase. NOBLESSE OBLIGE.
Hungry from hunting he burst into
the family tent and with childish i'm
patience demanded something to eat. I
Jacob possessed a savory dish of pot
tage made of lentils. 1 have eaten
that same food down in Sidon, and l
can testify to its savoriness. But no
food on earth should be so attractive
as to call a man from the throne of
his manhood. 1 would put alongside
of the conduct of Esau the behaviour
of starving Chinese whom have seen
81 = fra and 6iQnffQd the
famine field with death staring them
ayes