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THE CASE OF ESAU.

HEB. xii. 17.

For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

THAT

HAT the text relates to Esau, the elder son of Isaac, will be readily recollected. The case of Esau seems to have been frequently misunderstood; at least, it hath been frequently misapplied. It may, therefore, be of advantage to us, to consider the circumstances which attend it.

In his Epistle to the Romans,* St. Paul quotes the prophet Malachi," Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." From this passage, in conjunction with the text, it hath been hastily concluded, especially by the followers of the celebrated John Calvin, that from the hatred of God, Esau was reprobated to endless destruction; and from the love of God, Jacob was predestinated to present and future happiness; and that, without any regard to their good or evil qualities. So that when Esau, through sorrow for what he had done, carefully sought, even with tears, to have his repentance accepted, he was rejected by God.

A candid attention to the design of the apostle's argument will, I trust, convince us that the future state of Esau and Jacob hath nothing to do in it; but that it relates entirely to the conveyance of the blessing which God promised to Abraham; namely, that in his seed-in one descended of him-all the nations of the earth should be blessed. The wisdom of God saw best to convey this blessing by Jacob the younger, and not by Esau the elder son of

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Isaac. The promise to Abraham proceeded from the free grace of God: With him it remained to convey it by either of his descendants, as he saw proper. According to the good pleasure of God, it descended to Isaac, and not to Ishmael; to Jacob, and not to Esau; to Judah, and not to either of the other sons of Jacob; to David, and not to either of his elder brothers, nor to any other descendants of Judah.

With regard to this blessing it was, that God revealed to Rebecca, that the elder should serve the younger; that is, that the younger should have the right of primogeniture, the privileges of the first-born son. Upon this declaration of God, Rebecca probably acted, when she advised Jacob to endeavour to obtain by fraud, the blessing of the first-born, from Isaac his father. She knew it to be the will of God that Jacob should inherit the blessing: a circumstance to which Isaac had less attended; or which, through the infirmities of age, he had forgotten.

Let us come, then, to what St. Paul hath said on the subject; and if we keep in mind, that the blessing conveyed to Jacob related principally to the promise made to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed," every difficulty, I trust, which the Predestinarians have made, will come to nothing.

St. Paul begins the chapter of the text with exhorting the Hebrew Christians to "run with patience the race that was set before them." He calls their attention to that cloud of witnesses whom he had mentioned; who had, through faith," subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises," &c. particularly to the example of the holy" Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith; who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God: Lest," saith the apostle, 66 ye be weary and faint in your minds"-an expression which, I beg, may be kept in remembrance. He continues the subject down to the fourteenth verse, urging them to bear with steadiness, and without weariness and fainting, the

* Gen. xxy. 23, &c.

troubles and afflictions which God's providence should permit to come on them, however irksome they might be to them.

In the fourteenth verse, he directs them to "follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." A peaceable and quiet conversation being the most likely to ward off and prevent the troubles and persecutions which the perverse dispositions of men might bring on them and holiness of life being the sure way to recommend themselves to the favour and protection of God in this world, and to the enjoyment of his presence, in the world to come.

Continuing his exhortation, he next recommends to them diligent care, "lest any man fail of," that is, fall from" the Grace," or Gospel" of God." "Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;" that is, lest any false doctrine beguile your judgment; or envy, or malice creep in among you, and turn you away in faith and practice from the truth and simplicity of the gospel; and others, being corrupted by your evil example, defile their conscience by sin against God. "Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birth-right. For we know how that," &c.

It is plain that the instance of Esau is no further introduced here, than the sale of his birth-right. Let us then see in what his birth-right consisted.

1. It consisted in a right to a double portion of the father's goods; at least, this was the practice with the descendants of Abraham in after times.*

2. The first-born had dominion over the younger children; because he was the father's successor in the government of the family, while the patriarchal government lasted. This blessing Isaac gave expressly to Jacob. “Be thou a master to thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee."

3. It consisted in the honour of the priesthood, at least in their own family. The father was the priest while he

* Deut. xxi. 17.

lived. Upon his death, the priesthood descended to his eldest son. Speaking of Cain and Abel, Moses does not say they offered, but they brought their offerings unto the Lord; probably to be offered in sacrifice by their father Adam. After the flood, Noah offered sacrifice, and Abraham, and Isaac, &c. but we read not that any of the children officiated as a priest, while their father lived, and they lived with their father: upon his death, the privilege devolved to the eldest son.

In consideration of the preservation of the Israelites when the Egyptian first-born were slain, God claimed to himself, as his own property, the first-born of the Israelites, both of man and of beast.* After the Exodus, he made a more particular designation of the male first-born; "The first-born of thy sons shalt thou give unto me."+ God had, before, given directions about the altar which they were to build for him. Here the persons who were to officiate at the altar are pointed out; even all the firstborn sons of Israel. Accordingly, when Moses was ordered up into the mount, to receive the two tables of stone, and the directions of God concerning the tabernacle; and had built an altar to offer sacrifices of purification for himself and the people; he "sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen to the Lord." The Jewish commentators, the Chaldee, the Arabic, and Persian versions, make these young men the first-born, who had been taken to be the Lord's priests. Thus it seems to have continued, till shortly after God took the whole tribe of Levi to himself, instead of the first-born of Israel; which assumption shows that till then, the first-born had been his Priests.

This is the birth-right which Esau sold. In the whole account there is not a word which relates to his state in the world to come, or that lays any bar to his happiness in this world. The blessing his father gave him included in it all worldly prosperity. From having the dominion over his brother; from the priesthood of his God, except for *Exod. xiii. 2. † xxii. 29.

+ xx. 24.

§ xxiv. 5.

Numb. iii. 40, &c.

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