JACOB:
LONGING AFTER GOD; JACOB: MORAL FLAWS; LONGING FOR GOD; COMPLACENCY

If we had been neighbors to the household of Isaac and Rebekah and dependent only on our human judgment, we very probably would have selected Esau above Jacob as the brother more likely to succeed. We would have agreed that Esau was a good and promising young man.

To be sure, he had some rough edges, we would have said, but overall he had what it takes. He was a hunter and he was active and red-blooded. He smelled of the fields and the outdoors. He was kind to his parents. His character was unquestioned. His reputation was good.

On the other hand, everyone seemed to know about Jacob’s moral shortcomings. If we were living in the same tent with Jacob, we would lock up our valuables at night. With scheming, cheating Jacob around, a person could not be too careful.

No, if we had to pick Jacob or Esau to live with, we would have picked Esau at that time in their lives.

But it turned out that Jacob had something Esau never possessed. Jacob had an inner longing for God. Yes, Jacob was deep in sin, but when it came to the time of soul crisis, he felt the tug and the lift of another, better world.

By comparison, Esau’s controlling vice was his continuing and complete self-satisfaction. The thing that damned him was his spiritual complacency, his satisfaction and contentment in being just what he was. He had no desire to change, to be godly, to be God’s man.

Genesis 25:25, 27; Genesis 27:35–36; Genesis 35:14–15

Men Who Met God, 61, 62.