Edom & The Church - Part 1

Oh Brother!

One of the sad things in history is that God will often use a wicked nation to judge his people when they are disobedient.  If the people of God walk in disobedience, and continue in it, hardening their hearts, then God will sometimes use cruel instruments to bring judgment. In fact this is promised in the Torah.

ויקרא כו:כה
וְהֵבֵאתִ֨י עֲלֵיכֶ֜ם חֶ֗רֶב נֹקֶ֙מֶת֙ נְקַמ־בְּרִ֔ית וְנֶאֱסַפְתֶּ֖ם אֶל־עָרֵיכֶ֑ם וְשִׁלַּ֤חְתִּי דֶ֙בֶר֙ בְּתֹ֣וכְכֶ֔ם וְנִתַּתֶּ֖ם בְּיַד־אֹויֵֽב׃

Leviticus 26:25  And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

We see in Israel's history recorded in the bible and during these past 2000 years since then a familiar pattern of harassment and cruelty from the surrounding nations. And we see it today with the unjust Oslo peace process, and wicked United Nations resolutions against Israel. 

It is a cruel thing to be chastised by an unbelieving and vile Godless nation. It hurts even more if that nation is close to you by blood. Indeed the most viscious and insidious enemies of Israel are those most closely related to them. It is a cruel thing indeed to be chastised by an unbeliever, especially when that unbeliever is a brother! And there is such a brother who was rejected by God due to his godlessness and continually plots the downfall of Israel.

We are quite familiar with the antics of the Muslims and I have described briefly the connection between Islam and Ishmael in the Seed of the Serpent. In it I describe the basic controversy of Islam against Israel. Basically like Ishmael who mocked Isaac the son of promise, so Islamists deny the right of Israel to exist. Even worse, just as they deny that Isaac was the true son of promise and the one truly offered for sacrificed, so they also deny Yeshua as the sacrificial Lamb and Son of God. Now Ishmael was Jacob's uncle. He was his father Isaac's brother.

But the contest between the godly son and the wicked son continues in the next generation of Abraham's descendants, Isaac's two sons, Jacob and Esau. And it will come as a shock to most Christians but Esau is no Arab! He is much closer at hand than that! Wherever the Sons of Jacob are, there you will find Esau 'serving him' (Gen 25:23) and seeking to undermine him. If the indians in the american cowboy films say that "white man speaks with forked tongue", then, Esau is that fork tongued white snake. Esau and his crooks are not so far away from Ephraim in the midwest of America as we shall see as we go on.

Getting back to the beginnings of things, Jacob was his mother Rebekah's favorite while Esau was Isaac's favorite. We see here a shadow of the promise in Genesis 3 of the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent. Jacob represents the seed of the Woman, that is, Rebekah's favorite. From Jacob comes the Messiah, Yeshua from the House of David. But the one that is actually born first, Esau is his father Isaac's favorite. Isaac was blind to his son's true nature. Esauwas the seed of the Serpent. (Remember the New Testament states that Esau was a profane fornicator, Hebrews 12:16 and who's repentence was rejected by God v17). Now Esau and Jacob were both biologically Isaac's sons through Rebekah but Jacob was spiritually from above while Esau was from below. Jacob had a heart for the things of God whereas Esau only wanted the things of this world. If he seemed religious it was only a pretense. Esau was as promiscuous as a Goat and bred with the first few Canaanite women he could find. Indeed Esau was born hairy like a goat! He was a real man's man, a hunter. Unfortunately for Esau, he represents that which cannot endure. Love endures, and Jacob is a true child of love, a child from above. Jacob's name means heal, and it is the heal of the seed of the woman that the serpent in Genesis 3 bites. Satan will bite Jacob and he will use Esau to do it, indeed he has been doing it all along.

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בראשית ג:יד-יה
14  וַיֹּאמֶר֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֥ים׀ אֶֽל־הַנָּחָשׁ֮ כִּ֣י עָשִׂ֣יתָ זֹּאת֒ אָר֤וּר אַתָּה֙ מִכָּל־הַבְּהֵמָ֔ה וּמִכֹּ֖ל חַיַּ֣ת הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה עַל־גְּחֹנְךָ֣ תֵלֵ֔ךְ וְעָפָ֥ר תֹּאכַ֖ל כָּל־יְמֵ֥י חַיֶּֽיךָ׃
15  וְאֵיבָ֣ה׀ אָשִׁ֗ית בֵּֽינְךָ֙ וּבֵ֣ין הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה וּבֵ֥ין זַרְעֲךָ֖ וּבֵ֣ין זַרְעָ֑הּ ה֚וּא יְשׁוּפְךָ֣ רֹ֔אשׁ וְאַתָּ֖ה תְּשׁוּפֶ֥נּוּ עָקֵֽב׃

Genesis 3:14-15  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:  15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

So Jacob and Esau are actually in a battle, and no small one, for it is actually a Cosmic Struggle, a struggle between the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman. In any case Jacob sought the blessings of God and strove to get them from the 'rightful' firstborn heir, Esau. Esau didn't value such 'Pie in the Sky' things as birthrights and blessings. Well, not until it was too late anyway. Now Jacob obtained the blessing because he desired the things of God. But he didn't do it in the straightest of ways. He was still young and his relationship to his father in Heaven was still immature. Initially he referred to God as the God of his fathers. It took many years for Jacob to come to an end of himself and walk with God as a true prince. It took years to teach Jacob to trust in God through all the terrible ordeals he went through. Nevertheless Jacob prized what his brother Esau despised for Esau was a profane man. So Jacob took the birthright from his older brother Esau. He supplanted him. So Jacob's brother, Esau, plotted to kill him. Esau’s descendants were known as Edomites and they have had a long history of brutality against Israel. God says in Malachi 1, “Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated.”

My Pet Goat

Remember that Esau and Jacob were not just sons, they were twins! But they were by no means identical twins! Quite the opposite in fact. Where Edom was hairy Jacob was smooth. Where Edom was a goat, Jacob was a tender of Sheep. Where Edom was a hunter, Jacob was a Shepherd. Where Edom despised his birthright, Jacob prized it.

And these sons were not only struggling together in their lives, they also were struggling in their mother, rebekah's womb! They had two very different but entwined destinies. They represented two opposing forces, one evil and one good. One temporary and one Eternal. One strong at first but becoming weaker, one weaker at first but becoming stronger!

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בראשית כה:כג    ויאמר יהוה לה שׁני גיים בבטנך ושׁני לאמים ממעיך יפרדו ולאם מלאם יאמץ ורב יעבד צעיר׃

Genesis 25:23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

So here we have it. The battle. Two opposing forces. Two utterly irreconciliable Regimes, entwined, struggling for supremacy.  Jacob and the New World Order. Rebekahs womb could be likened to the world. Just like in the movies, "There can only be one Highlander"! In the end Esau’s descendants will be destroyed because of their continual hatred of Israel, as is stated in Obediah. But let us read on a little further in the account in Genesis 25.

 בראשית כה:כד-כז
וַיִּמְלְא֥וּ יָמֶ֖יהָ לָלֶ֑דֶת וְהִנֵּ֥ה תֹומִ֖ם בְּבִטְנָֽהּ׃  25  וַיֵּץֵ֤א הָרִאשֹׁון֙ אַדְמֹונִ֔י כֻּלֹּ֖ו כְּאַדֶּ֣רֶת שֵׂעָ֑ר וַיִּקְרְא֥וּ שְׁמֹ֖ו עֵשָֽׂו׃  26  וְאַֽחֲרֵי־כֵ֞ן יָץָ֣א אָחִ֗יו וְיָדֹ֤ו אֹחֶ֙זֶת֙ בַּעֲקֵ֣ב עֵשָׂ֔ו וַיִּקְרָ֥א שְׁמֹ֖ו יַעֲקֹ֑ב וְיִצְחָ֛ק בֶּנ־שִׁשִּׁ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה בְּלֶ֥דֶת אֹתָֽם׃  27  וַֽיִּגְדְּלוּ֙ הַנְּעָרִ֔ים וַיְהִ֣י עֵשָׂ֗ו אִ֛ישׁ יֹדֵ֥עַ צַ֖יִד אִ֣ישׁ שָׂדֶ֑ה וְיַעֲקֹב֙ אִ֣ישׁ תָּ֔ם יֹשֵׁ֖ב אֹהָלִֽים׃

Genesis 25:24-27  And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.  25  And the first came out red, all over like an hairy  garment; and they called his name Esau.  26  And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.  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.

Jacob's name, יעקב, means heal, עקב, as in heal grasper or supplanter.
So Esau was a hunter, a man of the field. Incidentally the term field, שדה, can also mean breast or demon! Perhaps even breasted demon like Baphomet, the Goat demon that Satanists worship. Esau was a hunter in the worst possible way!

Esau was hairy like a goat. Esau was ready made, already hairy like a full grown man. Jacob was smooth, like a woman, being the seed of the woman so to speak. Jacob was not born hairy like a man because Jacob was still in formation. He was not set in his ways. Jacob was molded through the trials he went through, he was formed. Like a potter forms the clay so God formed Jacob through the events of his life, causing him to grow spiritually. Once a pot is formed it is ready to be fired, to be 'made'. You could say Jacob was made, when he became Israel.

And he became Israel when he came face to face with Yeshua, as the angel of YHVH, for as Yeshua said, before Abraham was I am. This is because Yeshua is not just the seed of the woman, Myriam, he is also the Aleph-Tav, the word of God. When the unseen father spoke the world into being, he spoke though the hebrew alphabet from Aleph to Tav. Yeshua is that Word personified. So sometimes the things that are against us are actually here to bring us to the son, and the Son then blesses us and brings us to the father. Indeed the Son is the face of YHVH, the angel of His presence (Literally the angel of His faces!). And the reason Yeshua comes to Jacob at that time is that Jacob is coming to the promised land and greatly fears Esau. And so it is today, the same struggle is continuing both in the land of Israel, fighting the unseen hand of Esau and amongst the lost tribes and the New World Order. What God wants is to get the heart of his sons, and sometimes it takes a lot a hard times to bring us to an end of ourselves, to scatter the power of the holy people (Daniel 12:7).

דניאל יב:ז
וָאֶשְׁמַ֞ע אֶת־הָאִ֣ישׁ לְב֣וּשׁ הַבַּדִּ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר מִמַּעַל֮ לְמֵימֵ֣י הַיְאֹר֒ וַיָּ֨רֶם יְמִינֹ֤ו וּשְׂמֹאלֹו֙ אֶל־הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וַיִּשָּׁבַ֖ע בְּחֵ֣י הָעֹולָ֑ם כִּי֩ לְמֹועֵ֨ד מֹֽועֲדִ֜ים וָחֵ֗צִי וּכְכַלֹּ֛ות נַפֵּ֥ץ יַד־עַמ־קֹ֖דֶשׁ תִּכְלֶ֥ינָה כָל־אֵֽלֶּה׃

Daniel 12:7  And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

The times, time and haf a time refers to the 3.5 years of half of the 7 year tribulation or time of Jacob's trouble. It is also refered to as 42 months and 1260 days.

But when Edom wins, he (Edom) loses and the Kingdom becomes our Lords. All God wants is for us to come to an end of ourselves and rely on Him totally in all our struggles. We still have to do things, we are still manly, but we are doing what needs to be done completely intune with His Holy Spirit instead of merely in our own soulish strength apart from God. We are doing it in Union with God through the Messiah, his Word made flesh, the living Torah, the tree of life. And this is the purpose of Esau, and our struggle with him, it brings us to an end of ourselves and to the Messiah!

The Lord sees Edom and the other nations antics and laughs (Psalm 2). We may be not quite so amused. But what we need to do is keep the Lords commandments. To have a heart truly focussed on pleasing our Saviour and keeping our feet from the path of the destroyer. The only reason judgement comes to God's house is because there is sin in the camp. But we can take comfort from the book of Malachi regarding Edom, for his final outcome shall be a sorry one indeed. We need not gloat, be we can be strengthened to perservere, for the wicked will in the end reap what they sow.

מלאכי  א:א-ה  1  משׂא דבר־יהוה אל־ישׂראל ביד מלאכי׃  2  אהבתי אתכם אמר יהוה ואמרתם במה אהבתנו הלוא־אח עשׂו ליעקב נאם־יהוה ואהב את־יעקב׃  3  ואת־עשׂו שׂנאתי ואשׂים את־הריו שׁממה ואת־נחלתו לתנות מדבר׃  4  כי־תאמר אדום רשׁשׁנו ונשׁוב ונבנה חרבות כה אמר יהוה צבאות המה יבנו ואני אהרוס וקראו להם גבול רשׁעה והעם אשׁר־זעם יהוה עד־עולם׃  5  ועיניכם תראינה ואתם תאמרו יגדל יהוה מעל לגבול ישׂראל׃

Malachi 1:1-5  The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.  2  I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,  3  And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.  4  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.  5  And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.

These are strong words. Ultimately Esau and his descendants will prove to be one of Israel’s greatest enemies as the return of Yeshua draws near. In fact when He returns, the descendants of Edom will be wiped out entirely forever in accordance with the prophecy in the book of Obediah. This is a far worse fate than Ishmael, because there will be some descendants of Ishmael through the Millennial reign of Yeshua here on earth, but Esaus descendants, called the Edomites, will be destroyed. Herod was an Edomite, an Idumean. He tried to kill Yeshua at his birth and his son handed him to the Romans for crucifixion many years later.

But there will be some genuine believers from Esau’s bad line, but in general they will be a godless bunch like their father Esau.  If Edom was a bottle of wine, then it is one that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. There is much about Edom that the ‘House of Israel’ needs to know because his descendants still play the same game, especially as the Lost tribes return to the land of Israel. But this is topic for another article at another time.

So who is Edom today and how does this directly affect the Church, and the ten lost tribes of the House of Israel who are scattered amongst them? And how does Edom affect the Jews of the House of Judah, in the land of Israel? Let us look at that next.

to be continued...

see Edom & The Church - Part 2