Ben Shiller Jacob
The transformation of Jacob’s life and character has been an inspiration to all of us. When we closely examine his life, there are certain things we must adopt in our life as children of God. Our Father God is shedding light upon certain strengths Jacob had that enabled his destiny to be rewritten. His strengths and attitude eventually helped his name and destiny to be revamped. Today, the Holy Spirit is pointing us towards Jacob’s life history to learn, adopt, transform our Christian lives because we, the body of Christ lack what we need to reach our destinies and assignments we are given to be fulfilled.
First Kind: Spiritually Blinded
Esau was born as the first-born of Isaac and Rebecca. However, Jacob, his twin brother yearned to have Esau’s birthright. A huge contention between them occurred at the very womb of Rebecca. Rebecca went through an extremely hard pregnancy period. Due to this great tumultuous state, Rebecca asked of God. This means the pregnancy period she had was unlike any other pregnancy. Pregnancy period is difficult. But in Rebecca’s case, it was extremely difficult. That is why she enquired of the Lord and the Lord answered that Esau and Jacob will be two nations and two kinds of people, and the one people will be stronger than the other people and the elder will serve the younger. We all know what happened to each one of them, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a lentil soup and later he lost his Father’s blessings as well. Jacob earned his brother Esau’s first birthright and all his blessings with deceit and much trickery.
Jacob’s story has always been a fascinating one. I felt sorry for Esau for enduring the loss of his birthright and father’s blessings. I had questions over the years why God rejected Esau, but now it cleared mud. What Jacob did was wrong. There is no doubt about it. I don’t think Jacob’s treachery was accepted before Yahweh because He shows no favoritism to anyone no matter who he is. Our God is a just God. I strongly believe that though Jacob’s actions and intentions were corruptible, his fervency and zeal for the firstborn birthright and father’s blessings were rightful before the Lord. What Jacob desired and longed for, made him rightful before the Lord. That made Jacob so special before the Lord. Jacob desired his father Isaac’s God’s blessings.
The Bible is not elaborative how Esau and Jacob were raised by their parents, Isaac and Rebecca. But we know from Scriptures that Isaac was prayerful man.
Isaac had gone out to pray in the field in the evening. He looked up and saw that camels were coming.
Genesis 24:63
Isaac was raised in God’s fear by his father, Abraham. Indeed, Isaac was a promised son by Yahweh, indeed Isaac was unique, obedient, a peaceful man. The Scripture says, many times Philistines quarreled with his servants. Rather getting into fights with them, he chose to give up what they were fighting for and moved to different locations. Isaac was called the blessed of the Lord by the Philistines and surrounding nations. He obeyed God’s voice in difficult times despite it seemed no sense to his human mind (Genesis 26). So, Isaac raised his both children, Esau and Jacob in the fear of the Lord. Esau was smart, extroverted, talented and able to do whatever he wanted in his strength whereas Jacob was quiet, introvert, preferred to be indoors. The problem of Esau started with his disobedience to his parents. He didn’t honor his parents by listening to their instructions. Even though Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob, Isaac and Rebecca weren’t happy with Esau’s way of life which is evident in Genesis 26:34-35,
34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 And they made life full of sorrow for Isaac and Rebekah.
Genesis 26:34-35
Esau disobeyed his parents by taking wives from the Canaanites (Genesis 28:2). Esau intermingled with other populations thereby corrupting his bloodline. For this reason, in order to disperse the blessings of the Lord to the right hand, Rebecca positioned Jacob to receive father’s blessings. Here we need to understand the perspectives of Esau and Jacob. They were contrary to each other. They were two kinds of people as the Lord answered Rebecca. Esau was fleshly motivated whereas Jacob spiritually. Esau found pleasure in fleshly things. He had not respected what his father Isaac taught him about Yahweh and His Teachings. He didn’t value and honor them at all. Esau was full of himself. Because he was skilled and mighty, he was able to accomplish everything by his own strength, so he needed no God or spiritual things. In other words, he was spiritually blind, thus, he was insensitive towards spiritual matters. He aimed for the physical things. Esau demeaned his father’s spiritual encounters and experiences with Yahweh and how he was blessed when he walked accordingly to His commandments. It made no sense to Esau, surprisingly. About people like Esau, Apostle Paul says in one of his epistles,
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14
Second Kind: Spiritually Focused
On the other side, Jacob was spiritually focused from his mother’s womb. Because of his unquenchable, fervent zeal for the spiritual matters made him to content with his brother for the firstborn birthright. Though he failed to attain firstborn privilege, Jacob didn’t give up his desire from it. He might have even had sleepless nights on how to get the birthright. He waited patiently for an opportunistic time. Jacob knew Esau was stronger than him and no way he would be able to outwit him by force. So, Jacob waited for a time when Esau would be weak. He figured out Esau’s routine by watching him closely. Jacob found out his weakness by which he could allure him to get what he wanted from Esau. Just as Jacob had planned, his trick worked out thereby Jacob bought firstborn birthright from him for bread and lentil stew.
Why Jacob desired so much about the first birthright?
Firstborn birthright has a spiritual significance. It is a privilege only available to the firstborn child in a family. A firstborn child is supposed to get a double portion of the inheritance of his father.
Jacob wasn’t satisfied with just his brother’s birthright. He wanted his father’s blessings too. This time, he stole all his father’s blessings by impersonating his brother Esau. Afterwards, he wrestled with God for a breakthrough and blessings by the ford of Jabbok. Thus, resulted his name to be changed to Israel which means man who struggled with both men and God and have prevailed.
Jacob was a zealous man for the kingdom of God. Though his beginning was crooked, later Yahweh used his passion and desire for the heavenly Kingdom and its shares for good. The transformation in his life we could see in Genesis 28,
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.
Genesis 28:20-21
Here, from Jacob’s vow, we can understand that now he was asking for sustenance only. His craving for physical things subsided after the encounter with God in Bethel.
No Skill is Required to be a Blessing
Jacob’s life was filled with supernatural experiences. Multiple times he had encounters with holy angels. Even he saw the Man face to face. Beside God’s calling on his life, Jacob had a strong desire for the things of Yahweh. Without any doubt, when his parents raised Jacob and Esau, they were instructed and encouraged with the encounters of supernatural kingdom by their parents. However, Jacob was fascinated and fell in love with Yahweh’s blessings and believed they could make him wealthy in every aspect of his life. Jacob was not skilled as his brother, Esau. The Bible says Jacob was a plain man liked tent living. He didn’t even know how to make a savory meat like Esau. Because of this, his mother Rebecca had to make savory meat for him in order to snatch the blessings of his father. On flip side, Esau was a skillful hunter, and his father loved him because of his hard work and talents. Isaac loved his savory meat that means Esau was a chef as well.
Yahweh blessed Esau with many talents, yet they couldn’t help him to get closer to the One Who gave them. As a matter of fact, by his skills, he was puffed up, overconfident in himself, made him to think that he could achieve what he desires in this life without any blessings from Yahweh and his father, Isaac. Esau was short sighted spiritually. He couldn’t discern it. He had no pleasure or desire for spiritual matters unlike Jacob. Esau got bitter when his birthright and father’s blessings were deceitfully taken from him. He got bitter not because he lost his blessings but because his unskilled, good for nothing brother, Jacob outwitted him.
Considering Jacob, unlike his brother, though there were no physical skills he had to be admired even by his parents, one of the qualities he had was his patience, which enabled him to achieve whatever he desired in his heart, even from the strongest. His patience along with determination and perseverance we could see throughout his life to be prevailed with both men and God thus his name, Jacob which means supplanter, got changed to Israel which means prevailed or conqueror.
Zest is all that Father Requires
We may not be talented or skillful as many in our circles. We may find ourselves useless where we are at the moment. Instead of blaming ourselves, the people, and the situations, ponder on the lives of men and women who were mightily used by God. Most of them were like us. They were not the first-class, the clergy, the learned and the wise. Yet, these insignificant people became significant and pioneers in history was because of their positive response to the encounters they had with the Lord God. Jacob had many reasons to blame God why he was born second, losing his firstborn birthright even he fought a good fight in the womb of his mother. Instead of blaming himself for the missed opportunity, he waited patiently for what his heart desires. Yahweh honored Jacob’s longing because he honored the things of Yahweh. Jacob eyed Yahweh. His heart was clung to the heavenly kingdom of Yahweh. Another notable quality of Jacob was his ardent zeal which we, the children of God need in our walk the Lord. Whatever comes in front of him, he yearns for it sincerely with all diligence. He never gave up on his passions, thinking he had no resources, or abilities to earn them. Instead, he worked for them fiercely, pressing forward until he received them in his hands. Consider all the blessings he achieved out of his zeal and intense exertion: birthright, father blessings, getting Rachel as his wife (had to work 14 years because he was deceived many times), deliverance from his brother, Esau by the crossing of Jabbok. Jacob never settled for a little.
Shiller’s Takeaway
Fervency for the Lord and His kingdom is a crucial attitude we should always keep in our Christian walk. An ardent zeal for the shares of the heavenly kingdom. Never settle for little, hunger more for the kingdom of God. Father God can bless us only according to our desire. He will rewrite our destinies according to our yearnings just like He did in Jacob’s life. Father God loves when we hunger and thirst for Him and His kingdom.
Yeshua refers to the people who have Jacob’s kind of zeal in Gospels,
12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.
Matthew 11:12
Jacob became Israel because of his unquenchable zeal. He said to the Man by the crossing of Jabbok,
26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
Genesis 32:26
At this point, Jacob was about to confront his past. This time, he knew he couldn’t outwit Esau, his brother come enemy through deceit. He cannot use those old tricks which helped him to win old battles anymore as he encountered the Lord. So, he prayed diligently and earnestly that night until dawn to change his identity in the spiritual realm and he prevailed. His name was changed that night, which meant his past was erased as it had not existed and given a new identity, that way his enemy would not be able to identify and attack him. The Lord changed him and became a new man spiritually and physically.
As children of God, we should never forget about Jacob’s zeal for spiritual blessings. Though he wasn’t the firstborn child and there was no hope of getting the firstborn blessings, his burning desire for the unseen inheritance kept him on the path of life. When both Esau and Jacob were raised in the fear of the Lord by their parents Isaac and Rebeccaa, only Jacob could understand the weight of blessings in those Teachings. If we are not careful, we Christians could also become Esau, short sighted, living a lukewarm lifestyle, and no pleasure in spiritual shares.
Communion with a Contrite Heart
Our heavenly Father, we thank You for transforming us day and night according to Your image. Today, we pray that You instill within us a fierce, violent, insatiable hunger and thirst for You and the shares of the heavenly kingdom in Yeshua’s name we pray and receive – AMEN!