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The lifespan we are given is relatively short. Throughout our lives, we continue living through the seasons of our lives that seemingly go on forever. Poignantly, we reach the mountain peaks of joy and jubilation that never last long enough and, sorrowfully, we agonize through seemingly never ending valleys of loss, pain and setbacks. Overall, the whole span of life is not very long in the grand scheme of eternity. YHVH, for example, is the very essence of eternity. He was, and is and is to come; with no beginning and no end; He is the Eternal Father;1 the Eternal YHVH.2 He is the Aleph and the Tav; He is the beginning and the end.3
Our measure of time is only what YHVH allows for us to perceive. As a matter of fact, Moshe was recorded to ask in Psalm 90 for YHVH to “teach us to number our days so that we may present to Him a heart of wisdom.” This kind of wisdom occurs as we live each day, each hour and each moment to the fullest as we walk circumspectly in every situation. Moreover, Moshe also states in the same Psalm that the days of our lives contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years. This in itself is a curse and not a blessing, brought upon the children of Israel through disobedience and rebellion.
YHVH declares in B’reisheet 6:3 that the “days of man shall be one hundred and twenty years.” This limit was placed on man because His Spirit was not going to strive with man forever. Psalm 39 humbly submits “that a man’s life is but breath,” a handbreadth of days. Our constant internal strife to be free from the confines of the Law as we attempt to hide from the eyes of YHVH are the very action that causes us to cease living and to die in alienation. It is all futile if not done in the presence of YHVH with His approval.4
Torah brings these principles to life in the ongoing saga of man’s willful rebellion and righteous repentance. Moreover, it does not stop with the pages of Torah, it progresses perpetually as the covenant promises of YHVH are eternal. The destruction of all flesh during the flood was an illustration of retribution and punishment to the future Lawless generations. Consider YHVH’s mercy and His judgment. Think about YHVH’s covenant that He established with the earth’s elements when He spoke His word saying “seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night”5 to maintain their perpetual course. Yet His mercy to every man is an opportunity to embark upon the knowledge of who YHVH is through His Word and Spirit; and then, we are given a choice to enter into His blessings and or reap the consequence of rejection in the curses.
The patriarchs of our faith reflect the faithfulness of YHVH’s covenants in Torah. Yet as we read the accounts of these beloved men and their families we yearn to know what happened between the lines. Their births, lives and deaths are contained in paragraphs and chapters, and then they breathe their last and are gathered to their people. In the short glimpses that we have, Abraham is revealed to us as a friend of YHVH. He has faith that is reckoned to him as righteousness and is chosen to bear the seed of Promise and hope for all the nations of the earth. In this, Abraham produces like fruit in Isaac. He also produces fruit that is not of his kind in Ishmael. While the two are of Abraham’s loins, they are of the same seed of righteousness, however, are not equal heirs of the promise in the span of Abraham’s life. This is a difficult concept to accept. It embodies predestination and the foreknowledge that YHVH accepts or rejects whomever He chooses. The very idea conflicts with the fleshly notion of fairness and justice; yet, the ways of man and his thoughts are very far from YHVH as His ways are altogether righteous. YHVH’s Word permanently marks the path of right and wrong and He knows whether we will accept or deny His righteous path.
YHVH not only has the insight to make these choices, but has the ability to place the seed of righteousness within each person prior to being formed. This is seen in the life of Jeremiah as YHVH revealed Himself to the youth. YHVH states, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you”.6 We do not choose YHVH for salvation, He chooses us to receive Himself so that we will walk in repentance unto eternal life. He places the Seed of Promise within us and causes it to germinate and grow and produce righteous fruit after His kind.
Nothing transpires without accomplishing what YHVH deems for its existence. A man walking in rejection from the promise of Abraham is not the end of that man or his purpose. The rejection is the means to an end so that righteousness is obtained in the seed yet to come.
Our patriarchs had the ability to teach and make decisions for each of their offspring. We see this embodied in the story of Abraham in sending away Ishmael and holding fast to Isaac. We have to accept that Abraham acted upon what YHVH desired for his household and for the Seed of Promise within Isaac. If Ishmael had stayed in his father’s house, the outcome could have been much different for Isaac; moreover, a nation would have been impeded from developing. Albeit, the nation of Ishmael has been used by YHVH to both punish Israel and to chase them back to Himself. That nation commingled its seed with Mizraim, Egypt.7 This union was not the total rejection of Ishmael, but the future salvation of Israel. Remember that “who so ever calls upon the name of YHVH will be saved,”8 and that B’reisheet 21:17-21 says that “Elohim heard the voice of the lad... and that Elohim was with the lad.” The seed of Abraham that was within Ishmael loved his people and sought out their well-being in time of famine. The bondage of Egypt was a crucible for the fledging nation of Israel to grow and learn the ways of survival for 400 years. That journey was for the building of faith in the one true Elohim. Furthermore, that redemption from Egyptian captivity was used to bring redemption to the Egyptians and other seeking solace within Egypt as well. As the children of Israel leave captivity, Torah tells that there was a mixed multitude that went up with them.9 This mixed multitude are made up of the people and nations that YHVH had called out to make them part of the house of Israel. All of this is to fulfill the promise to Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. That blessing is to come and to kneel before YHVH because He knows the person kneeling.
Looking further into Torah, Isaac has two sons; and, just like Abraham, the first born is not the heir of the promise, but the second born. Ya’akov is the chosen heir to be progenitor of the seed of Promise. Neither of the two sons, Esau nor Isaac, seems to take much stock in the Elohim of Isaac. In contrast, their lives do hinge on what their parents tell them by way of command or blessing. The choice is not theirs to undertake, but it is a sanctioned mandate that YHVH has set forth from the beginning of time. They are able to choose to be obedient to what Isaac and/or Rivkah say, but Ya’akov still refers to YHVH as “YHVH your Elohim” when speaking to his father. YHVH is not as real to Ya’akov as He is to Isaac. This will change during Ya’akov’s sojourning, but for now, he is the rightful son of the blessed birthright.
Is this fair? Only YHVH can answer what fair is and how to dole out justice based upon His system of fairness. While the aspect of pre-selection does prevail in this passage of Torah, we do know that man has the ability to call upon the name of YHVH for salvation. This would be true for Esau as well. His status as a spiritual being was marred when he despised his birthright to obtain the firstborn blessing and be the seed bearing son. That does not mean all is lost. Edom still has a portion to live out on the earth. Their inheritance of land is as real as the land of Israel. Their end is not pretty as described in Malachi 1. Yet, their final purpose is for the sake of YHVH’s chosen people to see how they are chosen and what happens to those that do not yield to the will of YHVH.
Remember, man’s heart is bent on wickedness from his youth. It is not a new concept planted in man’s heart by YHVH in order to keep him at bay. It is there from conception as being wrought forth in the likeness of the earth. We are not assured of numerous urges of YHVH’s Ruach HaKodesh to surrender to His Son whom He sent to die for us so that we may live in Him. We must say yes the first time, and after that, it is sheer mercy to keep hearing His voice. To reject that voice and declare a no acceptance of Providence and eternal life is the denial of YHVH as the only Elohim. When the individual places himself on his self-made throne of judgment and righteousness, it is the debasement of Yah’s entity.
Is this the blasphemy of the Ruach haKodesh that Yeshua warns us? I believe so. The rejection of the promise of heirship was to Esau what the rejection of Messiah is to us. It was the promise of a future and a righteous posterity. Esau abandoned the Way of his fathers to establish his own way on the earth. It is no different than Cain leaving the presence of YHVH or the sons of man building a tower to reach into heaven. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.10 Esau chose his own path, his own fate, which led to destruction.
What if the blessing of Isaac for Esau to serve Ya’akov was enacted with immediate forgiveness? Could Esau have walked into the paths of righteousness? Yes and no. He could have, but just as YHVH spoke to the children of Israel saying “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse...”,11 so Isaac speaks to Esau saying, “But it shall come about when you become restless...” It just happens that we see an immediate outcome in Esau and it takes a few hundred years to see the outcomes for Israel.
The call to repentance is knocking on the door of our hearts constantly.12 YHVH hears the cries of the repentant, just as he heard Ishmael’s cry in the wilderness. Each one of us is under the proverbial bush waiting for the sign or hand of YHVH to be shown to us. When we hear His voice, we must be diligent to do all that He says. We must not reject one portion of His Word or His example in Yeshua. We must cooperate together with Him and not against Him if we are to survive into His Kingdom.
The lessons set before us in Esau are not to be only taken as an immediate righteous judgment, but to understand that our seed will be judged according to our actions as well. Our declaration and surrender to YHVH will begin the walk for our seed to continue to choose. Regrettably, our denial of YHVH breeds contempt that will have to be worked out in future generations to come. Sanction your yes as an oath unto Him; and allow His Will to direct and affect the rest of your existence. This is truly the coveted birthright that we must acquire!
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