The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-05-22
WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON .
THE WEAKNESS OF ESAU
By HIGHT {. MOORE

Sunday, May %.
| Read Genesis 25:l9-34; 6:34
IS; 27: Lao. Study Genesis 25
l27-34; 27:4l-45.
Twenty years after Isaac ant
Rebekah were married, Jacob ant
Esau were born at Beersheba. A
they grew up, each developed
traits and habits in marked con
trast with the other. 1t was il
their early manhood that craft!
Jacob bought from impulsiv'
Esau the birthright which on.
coveted and the other despised
The appetite of Esau and the
greed of Jacob were unworthy OF
them.
EsAU DESPIsED HIS
BIRTHRIGHT Genesis 25)
Appetite was evident wher
Esau sold his birthright. There is
q double contrast between the two
brothers: CD A study in develop.
ment is afforded in the growth OF
Jacob and Esau to youth and
manhood. Though twins, they
were very unlike each other. In
physique, Esau was hairy, rudy,
athletic: Jacob was smooth, dark
skinned, and not so lusty. In
habits, Esau was skilled in hunt
ing, q sportsman, a lover of wood
and field; Jacob was attentive to
business, domestic in tastes, a
lover of home. In disposition,
Esau was ardent, impulsive, reck-
less; Jacob was cold, calculating.
cautious. I'm ideals for the future
especially regarding the covenant
blessing. ESau was unconcerned'
improvident, almost or quite de-
fiant; Jacob was far-seeing, APP
preciative, sagacious. In impress
upon other, Esau was the favorlte
of his peace-loving, venison-eat-
ing, unassertive father; Jacob was
the favorite of his strong-wllled,
business-like, discriminating mo-
Their. y A study in degeneracy
is given in the transaction be-
tween hungry Esau and designing
Jacob. The incident shows that
Esau was dominated by appetite
and Jacob by greed, the one being
deficient in self-mastery and the
other lacking in brotherly kind
ness. Returning faint from the
chase, Esau found Jacob seethlng
some savory pottage, and in an
agony Of ovcr-mastcring appetite,
begged some of it to eat. Crafty,
covetous Jacob, seeing his oppor-
tunity offered the delicious dish
to ESau in exchange for his birth
right, which included not only the
firstborn sons financial privil-
eyes, but also in this case the
patriarchal succession, the head
ship of a holy nation, the fulfil
ment of many divine promises
and the transmission of blessing
to all the world. so little did Esau
now care for these things, and so
lightly had he always esteemed
them, that he readily made the re-
ouisite legal oath required by
Jacob and sold his birthright for a
single meal Of bread and lentilSs,
which he voraciously devoured,
rose up in animal safety, and un-
repentant went his way.
ESAU HATED BROTHER
Genesis 27)
Animosity was evident when
Esau failed to secure his fathers
blessings. (D Jacobs deception
was the mistaken program alike
of Isaac and Esau of Rebekah ana
Jacob. Blame Isaac for attempt
ing, forty-three years before his
death, to give Esau the ancestral
benediction and thus nullify the
prophecy awarding primacy to
Jacob. Blame Esau for wanting
all he could get after desplslng ms
birthright. Blame Rebekah Tor
taking in her hands the reins OF
Providence and teaching her son
to deceive. Blame Jacob for out
right lying, paternal disrespect.
and irreverent use of the name OF
God. In the deception scene
Isaac appears in his dotage with
sensibilities duller than his sight
less eyes, presumptuous in MS par
TALLY, suspicious and yet tract
able; and Jacob stands forth as a
deliberate deceiver and supplant-
err, a pretender and falsifier. Inc
whole affair was dark with fraud,
and never would have appeared
upon the sacred page but for the
refracting and reflecting light of
Providence which irradiates it:
(2) Jacobs blessing in spite OF
his sin was the divine program
carried out by an overruling and
merciful Providence. 1t indicated
primacy, for Jacob stood definite
iy and finally ahead of Esau, as
had been predicted at their birth.
It assured prosperity, the gracious
heavens cooperating with the
generous earth. 1t promised pow,
er, for peoples and nations and
brethren would be subordinate. 1t
guaranteed protection, for foes
should be cursed and friends
should be blest. To such sinner
as Jacob could such blessing come
except out of the mercy of God?
(3) Jacobs flight was due to