All right, I'm gonna ask you
to take your Bibles and turn with me to Genesis 36. Genesis chapter 36. Tonight I
wanna deal with a passage of scripture that lists a lot of names that are hard
to be pronounced. It's the names of the generations
of Esau. The posterity of a man that God
declared that he hated. But while we're looking at this
passage, If you look at that passage, just look at that passage,
chapter 36, and just look at the list of names. I want us to remember something.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness that the man of God may be perfect The scripture
says, throughly furnished unto all good works. So as we look
at this passage of scripture, I want us to look at this passage
with respect and reverence, knowing that these words are God breathed
words. And what these words set forth
is the fulfillment of the promises that God made concerning this
man Esau. Now, Jacob and Esau were two
twin brothers that were born to Isaac and Rebekah. And before these sons were born,
Rebekah, their mama, was perplexed with the struggle that was going
on within her womb. And the Lord was pleased to tell
her why she was struggling. The Lord told her there's two
nations within her womb, two sons that represent the whole
of mankind. You got two kinds of people in
this world. Those that God loves and those that God hates. And those that the Lord loves,
God's going to bless them. He's going to save them. Jacob,
the scripture bears out, was loved of God. Esau was hated. Now, the son that was according
to the general order of families was due the blessing, and that
was according to general practice. That would have been Esau, the
firstborn. But to give the blessing to Esau
was not the will of the Lord. And God revealed his purpose
to give the blessing to the younger, to Jacob. And the reason is God
loved Jacob. Now in time these boys were born
and in time Esau's heart was revealed in that he sold his
birthright to his younger brother Jacob and he sold it for a meal
of bread and pottage of lentils. And the reason the scripture
reveals that he did is found in Genesis 25, 34, he despised
his birthright. And the Lord, who would everlastingly
purpose that the blessing be given to Jacob, moved their daddy,
Isaac, to bestow that blessing upon Jacob. You remember the
story. Now, when Esau found out that
Jacob had received the blessing, he went to his daddy and he wept
and said, do you have but one blessing? Is that the only blessing? And Jacob was moved, Isaac was
moved by the spirit of God after he had bestowed the spiritual
blessing upon Jacob the younger, he gave to Esau a blessing that
told him he was going to receive all this world's temporal good
rather than the spiritual blessing of God. Now I want us to remember, I didn't go back and read all
these passages, we've gone over these scriptures and you know
for the sake of time I want to just rehearse in your mind what
happened. I want you to remember Esau despised
his birthright. He did not want it. He told his younger brother Jacob,
he said, when Jacob said, sell me your birthright, Esau said,
I'm about to die. What does it matter? It doesn't
matter to me. And Esau received from the blessing
given him by his dad, Esau got just exactly what he wanted. He got what he wanted. He had
no love for the things of God because he didn't love God. The
reason I know he didn't love God is because the Lord said
that he hated Esau. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated, and there is no love for God where God does not bestow
His love into a vessel of His mercy. We love Him because He
first loved us. So to say that any and everybody
has the capability of loving God in their heart is not true.
We love the Lord because the Lord loved us. Now in this chapter
right here, we're going to see the result. of those that are
left to their own desire, their own will, their own work. And I pray that the spirit of
God bless this chapter to us that we might learn of his blessing
to show mercy to those to whom he will. I'm not going to read
every name, but there's many of them that I will refer to
as I just go through this book, through this chapter. Now the
scripture says in Genesis 36 verse one, now these are the
generations of Esau. Now I want you to look at this.
Who is Edom? Edom means red. Who is Edom? Now that truth, Esau, who is
Edom? That's referred to in this chapter
four times, verse one, Verse eight, thus dwelt Esau in Mount
Seir. Esau is Edom. Verse 19, these
are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes. And then verse 43, last verse,
Duke Magdiel, Duke Iram, These be the Dukes of Edom, according
to their habitations in the land of their possession. He is Esau,
the father of the Edomites. Now, these four times that that
truth is set forth, Esau, he is Edom, he is Edom, he is Edom. Four times, and that word Edom,
remember, means red. Four times we're reminded of
that foolish bargain that Esau made when he sold his birthright.
Now just hold your place, turn back to Genesis 25. This is what
I made mention of a moment ago. Genesis 25, verse 29 to 34. And Jacob sawed pottage, and
Esau came from the field. He was faint, and Esau said to
Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for
I am faint. Therefore was his name called
Edom, Edom meaning red. And Jacob said, sell me this
day thy birthright. And Esau said, behold, I am at
the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
And Jacob said, swear to me this day. And he swear unto him, and
he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and
pottage of lentils, and he did eat and drink and rose up and
went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. So we've got there the scriptural
significance, the scriptural proof. Esau didn't want it. He didn't want the birthright.
He sold it, he despised it. And now Esau is a type of those
who are taken up with the things of this world. Esau is a type,
I said there's only two kinds of people in this world, Jacob's
and Esau's. Esau is a type of those who are aliens from the
house of God's mercy. He was born into a godly family. His mom and daddy was Isaac and
Rebecca. That was his mama and dad, just
like Jacob. born into a family that was blessed by the Lord.
And being born into that family, Jacob was born to Isaac and Rebekah. Esau was born to Isaac and Rebekah. Two boys out of the same two
parents, born virtually moments apart. But God was pleased to
show mercy to one. and he passed by the other. In
Jacob and Esau, we see the truth of God's distinguishing grace.
And now the spirit of God has been pleased to give us Esau's
lineage. And he's given it to us for God's
glory and for our instruction, for our learning. It's a lineage
of many obscure things. Verses two and three out of Genesis
36. Esau took his wives of the daughters
of Canaan, Ada, the daughter of Elon, the Hittite, and Aholobama,
the daughter of Anna, the daughter of Zibion, the Hivite, and Bashemath,
Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebajoth. Here we see Esau doing
just exactly, turn back to Genesis 24. We see him doing just exactly
that which was forbidden by Abraham when he gave instruction to his
servant to go and find a wife for Isaac. In Genesis 24.3, listen
to what Abraham told his servant. I will make thee swear by the
Lord the God of heaven and the God of earth, that thou shalt
not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites,
among whom I dwell." And then when Isaac was given Jacob's
instruction, turn over now to Genesis 28.1. Isaac, whose daddy told the servant,
he said, you go find a wife for my son. Don't you go, don't you
go to the women of the Canaanites. Here we find Isaac telling his
son Jacob, who's getting ready to leave the house because his
brother's mad at him, wants to kill him. Gives him the same
word of advice, Genesis 28.1, and Isaac called Jacob and blessed
him and charged him and said unto him, thou shalt not take
a wife of the daughters of Canaan. But back in Genesis 33, Whenever
we got to looking at the beginning of the lineage of Esau, verses
two and three, did any of those families jump out at us? Esau, verse two, took his wives
of the daughters of Canaan, Adah. Look down here, daughter of Elon,
the Hittite, and Ahalbama, the daughter of Anab, the daughter
of Zibion the Hibite. Those names, those families jump
out at you. Hittites and Hibites. Turn over
to Exodus 23. Exodus 23. Let me tell you who
they ended up being. Exodus 23, 23. The Lord speaking Moses, for mine angel shall go
before thee and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites,
and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites,
and I will cut them off. Esau's wives bore him children. But the temporal blessing that
was promised him by God through his daddy, Isaac, the temporal
blessing that was given him. You're going to have the dew
of heaven. You're going to have lands you're going to have. That
temporal blessing of many children soon proved to be not a lasting
blessing, but rather a hindrance to Esau and his family. Jacob was a man loved of God. He was there in that presence
with his brother Esau. And I want you to look what happened
back in Genesis 36 verses 6 to 8. Esau took his wives and his
sons and his daughters and all the persons of his house and
his cattle and all his beasts and all his substance which he
had got in the land of Canaan. And he went into the country
from the face of his brother Jacob. For their riches were
more than they might dwell together, and the land wherein they were
strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. Thus
dwelt Esau in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom. Jacob and Esau were together. They were there. There'd been
some reconciliation. Esau had married women of the
Canaanites. that which God had forbidden.
And all of this temporal blessing that he started getting, that
God told him he was going to be able to have, it got to where
there was just so much of it. They just couldn't stay together
anymore. And so Esau said, I'm leaving. I'm going back. I'm going back to seer. Oh, the loss that suffered when
one removes himself from the place are the people of God's
blessing and mercy. God loved Jacob. And he saw for,
had a reason, he had a reason for leaving. He said, I just
got too much stuff. I've just got so much. And this
land's just not gonna bear me and you both. So I'm leaving. The reason for leaving the people
of God is always justified in the mind of the one that's leaving.
They always leave in their mind with a good reason, but it's
never good. He left the place where God was
blessing. God was blessing Jacob and Esau. He married the women of Canaan. started having kids, and I'm
telling you, his family was growing, his stuff was growing, and he
said, I'm not gonna be able to stay here. He just won't bear
it, so I'm leaving. The Lord, through Isaac, promised
Esau a dwelling, temporal prosperity, but it was gonna be constant
trouble. Look back in Genesis 27. Genesis
27, this is where God said what he was gonna have. Now we just
evidenced that he got it. He got it, he had it. He told
Jacob, he said, I'm leaving. It just ain't gonna bear. This
place won't bear me and you. I'm gonna do us both a favor.
I'm going back to seer. Well, this is why he had so much
stuff. Genesis 27, verse 39 to 40. And here's the blessing that
Isaac, his daddy, gave him. And Isaac, his father, answered
and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness
of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above. Oh, you're
gonna have, you're gonna have so much. I mean the fatness of
the earth, you're gonna have the best, the best of it. And
by thy sword shalt thou live. and shalt serve thy brother.
It shall come to pass, when thou shalt have the dominion, that
thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck, which proved to
be so years later, whenever there was a total separation from the
people of Jacob and Esau. Back in Genesis 36, whenever
he told his brother Jacob, he said, I just can't stay here. We just got too much. And the
scripture says, when he left, verse eight, thus dwelt Esau
in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom. Now, the name of
that city that he went to dwell in, Seir, it means hairy, hairy
or shaggy, which is a word of instruction. Whenever he was
born, Genesis 25, 25, Scripture said before he was a hairy man.
And so this city that he's living in, this is what, this is setting
forth, this is Esau. How justly does God deal with
man's rebellion? A man left to himself may be cursed of God and given
a lot of stuff. God may give a man so much in
this world, that man may consider that to be a true blessing. But
if God gives a man what he wants and allows him to dwell, this
man Esau, he didn't want to stay with Jacob. He wanted to go back
to Seir. That's where he wanted to go.
If God allows a man to have and to dwell where he thinks he wants
to be, and leaves him there, God may just make sure he stays
there, gives him what he wants, and then makes him stay in it. I'm telling you, what a curse
if God gives a man what he wants in rebellion against God and
then makes him stay there. You wanted to leave the people
of God? You wanted to do, that's what you wanted to do? You had
a good reason, I know you did. You had so much stuff. You had
so much stuff. I'm not gonna stay, I'm going
up, I'm going over here. God may give him what he wants and
make him stay there and this is what God did to him. I want
you to hold your place and turn to Deuteronomy 2.1. Deuteronomy
2.1. I want you to listen to what
God said to Moses as they were going through the wilderness
after they had come out of Egypt. This is what happened concerning
that city that God made Esau dwell in. That place called Harry. Deuteronomy 2, 1 to 6. Then we
turned and went up the way to Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan
came out against us. He and all his people, I'm sorry,
I'm reading chapter three. Let's start over. How about,
let me start over. You stay where you were, Deuteronomy
2. Now, here we go. Then we turned and took our journey
into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord spake
unto me. And we compassed Mount Seir many
days. And the Lord spake unto me, saying,
you have compassed this mountain long enough, turn you northward. And command thou the people,
saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren, the
children of Esau, which dwell in Seir, and they shall be afraid
of you. Take ye good heed unto yourselves,
therefore meddle not with them, for I will not give you of their
land, no, not so much as a foot breadth, because I have given
Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. You may buy meat of them for
money that you may eat. You shall also buy water of them
for money that you may drink. Now, Mount Seir, as I said, is
a type of this world and all its carnal pursuits, all of its
pleasures and possessions. And this is what Esau desired. That's what he wanted. And that's
what God gave him. And all those of this world that
have this temporal portion now, because that's what they want. I'll leave all this, the presence
of God's people. I got stuff I want to do. I got
things that I want to do. God may give it to you. He may let you have that. Lord,
don't leave me to dwell where my carnal heart would desire
me to dwell. Rather, give me a heart. Turn
to Psalm 27, 4. Give me a heart to dwell as David
was moved by the Spirit of God concerning a dwelling place.
Psalm 27, verse 4. Here's what David said. One thing. If I desire to the Lord, that
will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to
inquire in his temple. Esau dwelt in Seir, and Esau
was Edom, Esau was red, Esau was a rebel. And whenever the
children of Israel was compassing around, He came to Seir. God, just paraphrasing it, told
Moses, He said, don't bother these people. I gave that to
Esau. You leave it alone. I'm not gonna
give it to you. He's gonna have to keep it. Then the Spirit of
God was pleased to record the names of the generations of Esau,
the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir. Now I'm gonna read
a few of these. I'm just gonna read verses nine
to 14. It says, these are the generations of Esau, the father
of the Edomites in Mount Seir. Now when I read these few verses,
I want you to, I want you to just think, how many times have
I ever heard of these people before? These are the names of
Esau's son, Eliphaz, the son of Ada, the wife of Esau, Reuel,
the son of Bashamath, the wife of Esau, and the sons of Eliphaz
were Teman, Oman, Omar, Zepho, Gadam, Kenaz, and Chemna was
concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bared to Eliphaz
Amalek, These were the sons of Ada, Esau's wife, and these are
the sons of Reuel, Nahath, Zerah, Shema, Mizrah. These were the sons of Bashamath,
Esau's wife, and these were the sons of Ahoyabama, the daughter
of Anah, the daughter of Zibion, Esau's wife, and Shibertah, Esau,
Jeush, and Jalem, and Korah. So many names, just names, just
names without any reference to their history. No record like
that which was given of the elders known of God and loved of God
who knew God and obtained a good report and lived by faith. Just names. It was just names. people that were born into the
family of Esau. But there was something that
I noticed in verses 15 to 43 to the end of the chapter, and
I'm not gonna read all these names, but I want you to notice
something. How many dukes are mentioned,
chiefs, and kings were found among the generations of Esau? Just looking at Genesis, between
Genesis 15 and 43, just a couple of verses, 15, 16. These were
dukes of the sons of Esau, the sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn
son of Esau. Duke Timon, Duke Omar, Duke Zepho,
Duke Kenaz, Duke Korah, Duke Gadam, Duke Amalek. These are
the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These were
the sons of Adah, how many dukes, how many chiefs? I'm talking
about people in positions of government. These were highfalutin
people. These were somebody. These people
were the uppities found among the generations of Esau. And
these men, I just kept looking how many dukes, duke, duke, duke,
duke, duke, duke, duke. Kings and kings and dukes and
dukes, and I'm talking about big deals. Big deals. Men that suddenly were exalted,
but their end was as all men, whose preeminence is but for
the grace of God, just for a moment, and they vanish away. I want
you to look what happened to them. Verses 31 to 39. And these are the kings that
reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the
children of Israel. Bela, the son of Beor, reigned
in Edom, and the name of his city was Dahab, and Bela died. And Jobab, the son of Zerah,
of Bozrah, reigned in his stead, and Jobab, died. And Husham of
the land of Temani reigned in his stead, and Husham died. And Hadad, the son of Bedad,
who smoked Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead,
and the name of his city was Avith. And Hadad died. And Shamlah of Masraqah reigned
in his stead, and Shamlah died. And Saul of Rehoboam by the river
reigned in his stead, and Saul died. Beal-henan, the son of
Akbor, reigned in his stead, and Beal-henan, the son of Akbor,
died, and Hador reigned in his stead, and the name of his city
was Pehu, and his wife's name was Methethabel, the daughter
of Matred, the daughter of Mezahad, They died. They all died. And all of their lineage was
summed up in verse 43. Duke Magdiel, Duke Iren, these
be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitation in the land
of their possession. He is Esau, the father of the
Edomites. How short was the record of Esau's
lineage. All of those names. He had stuff. God had given him the fatness
of the earth. He despised his birthright. God
left him to himself to do what he wanted to do. Gave him that
city. gave him so much that he couldn't
even stay in the same land with his brother. Went over there
and dwelt in Seir. And then when the children of
Israel, who had defeated all their enemies by the grace of
God, came to him, God said, you leave them alone. I gave that to Esau. That's what
Esau was gonna have. And all of those dukes, and all
of those preeminent people that were raised up, and it just,
Names that I can't even pronounce. And they died. And they left
this world. Oh, how insignificant is the
memory of this world's races of people that don't know God. Psalm 37, I'm wrapping this up. Psalm 37, verse 35 and 36. Psalm 37, 35, 36. David said, I've seen the wicked
in great power and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away and lo, he
was not. Yea, I sought him, but he could
not be found. For a fleeting moment, Esau's children were great among
the children of this world. But the seed of Jacob was beloved
in the sight of Almighty God. And by the grace of God, while
Esau's generations prospered for just a moment, they left
this world without God. By the grace of God, the Lord's
people have been said to be made unto our God kings and priests,
and we shall reign on the earth. There's not many mighty and not
many noble. God has chosen the foolish things
of this world to confound the wise. By the grace of God, that
suffered all of his adult life, for sure. He was a sojourner
in this world. Esau dwelt in Seir. When the
children of Israel were suffering in Egypt, the children of Israel,
that's Jacob's, Jacob's people. Here they were, slaves in Egypt. Esau was in Seir. But when it was all said and
done, the one that was truly blessed, the lineage of all of
Israel's people. I'm gonna read one verse of scripture
and then I'm gonna be quiet. I read all that language, Lord
willing, we'll start right here next time. All of those names of all of
the lineage of Esau, all those names, I told you I couldn't
pronounce them. The scripture says in chapter
37 of Genesis, and Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father
was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. And look at this, these
are the generations of Jacob. Joseph. That's the generations of Jacob.
Joseph. The rest of this book, Genesis,
we're gonna primarily be dealing with the generations of Joseph.
Joseph was one of the most beautiful pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was Joseph, remember, that was sold out by his brothers,
sold into bondage, lived in Potiphar's house, lied on by Potiphar's
wife, lied on him, said he was trying to abuse me. Joseph. sold by his brothers to a caravan,
put him in Egypt. And God elevated him to the position
that everybody that wanted anything to eat in that part of the world
had to go see Joseph. Joseph, all of the generations
of Esau. I don't know anything about him,
nothing. But by the grace of God, I know
something about Joseph and who he sets forth. I pray God bless
this to our hearts for Christ's sake.