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The Esau-Edom Story of Losing the Birthright and
Wanting It Back
Romans 9: 13 says "As its is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
Why did God hate Esau?
In Genesis 25: 31-34 there is the story of Esau giving away his
birthright to Jacob: And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
32. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit
shall this birthright do to me?
33. And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and
he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
34.Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did
eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his
birthright."
But Esau who became Edom on despising and giving up his birthright
wants to get his birthright back. His descendants want again to be
the chosen of God. Malachi 1: 4 says "Whereas Edom saith, We are
impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus
saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and
they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people
against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever."
I Corinthians 10: 11 says: "Now all these things happened
unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon
whom the ends of the world are come."
"Ensamples" are examples.
The Esau-Edom story of losing the birthright and then wanting it back
(Malachi 1: 4) can be seen as an example for our admonition at this
point in time. Physical Israel,
as a house or collective, rejected Jesus Christ, is said in Romans 11:
to be broken off because of unbelief, and in Matthew 23: 38 they are
told "...your house is left unto you desolate." However, a Remnant of
physical Israel, the Jews, did accept Christ and became a part of the
elect (Romans 11: 5) But, partly, physical Israel wants its status
as the chosen people to be given back to it, or it wants to get that
status back on its own, by the workings of the flesh, and not by
God.
And - a big part of evangelical Christianity at present, which is
Christian Zionism, or dispensationalism, honors "all Israel" and
clearly implies they remain the chosen people. In effect, Christian
Zionism is trying to help physical Israel regain its lost status as
the chosen people, or, to convince other Christians and the world that
the physical Israelites are indeed the chosen people of God.
The teaching of the first dispensationalists, John Darby, and C.I. Scofield, that during the tribulation there will be a new dispensation of law for the Jews, and the insistence by later dispensationalists that "All Israel" will be saved then is a big part of this strong interest in helping the physical Israelites regain their chosen status, or to convince people that "All Israel" is really God's chosen for all time.
The Christian Zionists, or dispensationalists, in becoming surrogates
for the "chosen people," the physical Israelites, have given up their
identity as "...a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation..." (I Peter 2: 9) to physical Israel.. But physical Israel as a group, as a house, lost its standing through apostasy and by, as a house or collective, rejecting Jesus Christ. In Romans 11: 20 Paul explains
that "...because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest
by faith..." "They" are the physical Israelites, the Jews, who did
not accept Christ. Physical Israel as a house was left
desolate, which does not indicate they remain the chosen people.
So, following I Corinthians 10: 11 the Christian Zionists as proxies
for "all Israel" have re-enacted the story of Esau-Edom in giving away
their standing with God to another. The dispensationalists have accepted the idea that "All Israel," by which they insist must be the Jews are the chosen of God, and they, the dispensationalists, do not have their identity in Christ as Israel reborn in him. They think they are the "church," as a different Body of Christ.
