Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #15 of Genesis, chapter 25, and we are going to read Genesis 25:27-28:

And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

I will stop reading there. We have been spending some time in the last few studies looking at the birth of Jacob and Esau, and God indicates that each child represented a particular nation.  As we discussed, the two nations in view are the nations of the world, as typified by Esau, and the nations of them which are saved, as typified by Jacob.  They have been born, and we saw back in verse 23 that one people would be stronger than the other people, and the elder would serve the younger.  We spent a fair amount of time going over that, and we saw how Jacob would, ultimately, get the blessing.  And God says in the Bible, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”  But it was necessary that Esau be born first because Esau, who is called Edom, which basically means “red,” and that word comes from “Adam” or “man.”  So he was a picture of mankind.  When God created Adam, he was the first son of God, but he lost that privileged place due to sin, and God judged him (and all mankind) and they lost their inheritance; they lost the blessing of having been made in the image and likeness of God, and they lost all the abundant blessings that come along with that.  And, yet, God gave it to another people, those that were in Christ, the second Adam, as typified by Jacob who took hold on Esau’s heel.  We looked at that last time, and the necessity of God to show that Jacob was the supplanter.  He did not come out first, but he came right on the heels of his brother and grabbing hold, indicating that he would one day supplant or take the place of his brother Esau concerning the birthright and the blessing that accompanies the right of the firstborn.

At the end of verse 26, we were told that Isaac was “threescore years old when she bare them.”  And we know that Isaac was born in the year 2067 B. C., and sixty years after that would have been 2007 B. C. when Jacob and Esau were born.  And that is a very key year in the overall pattern of things in the scheme of God’s program of times and seasons.  We can see that very clearly because one thousand years from that point in 1007 B. C. was when King David ascended the throne and became king over Israel.  And two thousand years from that point is 7. B. C. and a Jubilee Year.  (And, by the way, 1007 B. C. when David became king was also a Jubilee year.)   And the Jubilee Year of 7 B. C. was when Jesus was born and entered into the human race. 

We can even project further into the future and go to a third Jubilee Year.  From the year 2007 B. C. to  the year 1994 A. D., is four thousand years.  Then we had the Jubilee Year of 1994, which was the Jubilee that began the Latter Rain period wherein God began to save the great multitude outside of the churches and congregations.  It was also the time when God began the final testing program for this world, especially for those that had identification with Him, or those that would say they were His people.  So from 1994 to 2033 is 40 inclusive years.  And that relates to Jacob and Esau because from 2007 B. C., the year of their birth, to 7 B.C. when Christ was born is exactly two thousand years, and from that point to the cross in 33 A. D. would be 2,040 calendar years (2,007 + 33), but 2,039 actual years.  However, God permits calendar years in order to multiply the possibilities in His timeline.  Likewise, going from 2007 B. C. to 1994 A. D. is 4,000 years exactly, and then to the year 2033 A. D., it is 4,040 calendar years.  Of course, you can really see the number “40” in view, both with the number “4,000,” which is “40 x 100,” or “40 x 10 x 10,” or the completeness of testing.  We will discuss that a little later when the Lord tells us in one of the chapters to come that Esau was 40 years old when he married heathen wives.  We will see how that is a very important statement related to God’s timeline for the end of the world.

But, here, we would have 2007 B. C. and the “two nations” are involved, and when we go to 1994 A. D. (4,000 years), it is the point of “complete testing,” and then God begins a final 40-year countdown, if the Biblical evidence we are looking at is correct for 1994 to 2033, wherein it will finally be determined regarding those that will receive the blessing, and those that do not receive the blessing.  The blessing that came on Jacob, historically, will be given to all those that Jacob represents, God’s chosen people.  And the lack of an eternal blessing for Esau, who received an earthly blessing, means that the earthly blessing will have run its course as time will run out, and then comes the end of the world and the end of all those typified by Esau.

Let us go on to Genesis 25:27:

And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field…

So the boys grew.  Of course, that always happens in this world.  Children grow up.  So these twin boys began to physically grow and mature, and they got older.  We are told that Esau, as he grew into a young man, was a cunning hunter.  The word “cunning” is most often translated as “know” or “knowledgeable,” so he was a “knowing hunter.” 

By the way, the name Esau is Strong’s #6215, and it comes from a related word, #6213 in the Hebrew Concordance, which has a wide variety of applications.  But it is especially a Hebrew word that indicates to “do something” or “make something” and also “to work.”  It is translated as “work” twenty-nine times.  Spiritually, I think we can see that Esau is a “doer.”  He was a man that was a cunning and knowing hunter and “a man of the field.”  Of course, historically, this meant he went out in the land and set his traps and patiently waited for an animal to approach, and he was wise in these things.  He knew where to look, and he knew the right weapon to have, and so forth.  So he was a “man of the field,” and he was comfortable out there in the wild.  I think it is apparent that that is what is in view historically.

Spiritually, we know that in the parable in Matthew 13  Jesus defines the “field” as the “world,” so I think it is a telling statement (as we look at this spiritually) that he was a cunning hunter, a “man of the world.”  And that is an expression still used today: “He is a man of the world.”  And we do mean a “knowing person” that is wise in the ways of the world, and that would fit Esau, spiritually,  because we know he was an unsaved man.  God had no plan of any kind to ever save Esau.   From the counsels of eternity past, God planned to save Jacob (and all those Jacob typified), but He simultaneously determined not to save or choose Esau (and all those Esau represented).  This means that Esau would be conceived in sin, born speaking lies, and a “man of the world.”  He would fit right in with this world, this corrupt place that God cursed, and he would fit in with the majority of people around him in the world because most people are unsaved, as we know.  Most people are unsaved, and there is a “way of the world,” a way that unsaved people adapt to and become a part of, and the world love its own, so it is a fitting statement that he was a man of the field.

Also, we should look at the word “hunter,” and it is #6718 in the concordance, and it is the same word translated as “venison” in verse 28: “And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison.”  That is the same Hebrew word translated as “hunter” in the previous verse, which helps us to understand what “venison” is – it is that meat which is taken in hunting.  It could be different types of animals.  When you go hunting, you may come across one kind of animal or another kind of animal, and that helps explain something to me because I always wondered about when Rebekah told Jacob to go and fetch two kids of goats from the flock, why could Isaac not distinguish between two goats from his own flock and a deer, or some more exotic or different type of meat than we usually would have?  But, actually, based on the fact that this word is translated as “hunter” a couple of times, we can know that is what “venison” means.  In other words, we could read verse 28  this way: “And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his hunting,” referring to any meat that he took when hunting, whatever it happened to be.  Now Isaac did love Esau’s venison, and that is definitely pointed out here, as we read of it three times in Genesis 27.  I will read one of them in Genesis 27:3-4:

Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.

That was Isaac speaking to Esau, and Rebekah overheard it, and then she hatched her plan.  But notice, again, that he said, “…take me some venison; And make me savoury meat, such as I love…”  Probably, Isaac loved the venison that was taken in hunting because of the flavor, the gravy and spices that Esau put together when he made the meat.  So it could have been various types of meat, so two kids of the flock would have qualified as long as it had that savoury taste that he loved.  And, of course, Rebekah knew exactly what that would be, and it would not be surprising if Rebekah had taught Esau the recipe for preparing the meat.  He was a hunter.  He was not a chef, so he could have learned that from his mother.  So the combination of an animal freshly hunted and then made with the savoury sauce was something that Isaac loved.  Again, three times in Genesis 27 we are told that Isaac loved that savoury meat.  The reason given for Isaac’s love of Esau is given in Genesis 27:28:

And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison…

Obviously, there is a deeper spiritual meaning here, but I am not sure if we can figure that out, but we can all understand loving a certain food that somebody makes and, apparently, that was the case with Isaac.

Going back, it says in Genesis 25:27:

And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

Esau had an exciting lifestyle.  He probably went away for days at a time on these hunting trips, and he would come back with a catch, and he would make a great stew and savoury meat of the animals, and everyone loved the meal.  But Jacob was not like that.  Jacob did not accompany Esau.  He was a “plain man, dwelling in tents.”  We can understand the part about dwelling in tents, as he actually came from a line of tent dwellers, if we refer back to Genesis 12:7-8:

And JEHOVAH appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto JEHOVAH, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto JEHOVAH, and called upon the name of JEHOVAH.

So Abram also dwelled in tents, and so did Isaac.  Let us go to Hebrews 11:8-10:

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

A “tabernacle” was a tent.  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all dwelt in tents.  They wandered about, strangers and sojourners in a strange land, and the reason God gives is that they “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”  They realized that this world was not their home.  They were not “men of the field” or “men of the world.”  They were outcasts, in a way, and set apart from the inhabitants of the world because they were citizens of the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God.  So we are getting a big clue as God is revealing a major distinction between Esau and Jacob with this quick description of their livelihood.  Esau was a cunning hunter and a man of the field, while Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents.  And, again, the “tents” point to the mindset of God’s people as we live our lives in this world.

(Another clue is) that Jacob is also called a “plain” man, and I do not know what idea pops into your head when you hear that, but we have to remember that we are not to define the words or terms we read, and we must allow the Bible to provide the definition.  This word translated as “plain” is Strong’s #8535, and it is only translated as “plain” in this verse.  It is found thirteen times in the Old Testament, and nine times it is translated as “perfect” and two times as “undefiled,” and one time as “upright,” and one time as “plain.”  It is pretty clear to see how it is used if we go to Job 1:1:

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

Or, we can go to Psalm 37:37:

Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.

Or, it says in Proverbs 29:10:

The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.

Here, it is translated as “upright.” 

We could go to a few more verses.  It is translated as “perfect” a few times in the book of Job, and it clearly identifies with someone who has become saved.  And because they have become saved, their sins are removed, washed away, and cleansed.  The Lord Jesus paid for the sins of Jacob at the foundation of the world.  He bore Jacob’s sins, paid for those sins, and satisfied the Law of God on behalf of those sins at the foundation of the world, and there was only the matter of the application of that atonement in time through the hearing the Word of God.  We do not know exactly when Jacob became saved.  He seemed to have struggled with sin for many years of his life, but we know he was elect, and he did become saved and, therefore, he was a perfect man, dwelling in tents.  We can be very certain of that as we read the description of these two men, even if we did not have the statement by God, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”  We would conclude, based on the spiritual information that we have gleaned from Genesis 25:27, that Esau would be a man of the world and Jacob would be a child of God and a perfect individual whose sins had been washed away.  You see, that helps us to know that we do have the right method of interpreting the Bible, by God’s grace, as He has shown these things to us.