God wants us to prosper...
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God wants us to prosper. So say the prosperity gospel preachers (Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now). In selling his birthright Esau sought prosperity. John Calvin claimed that such an action on his part demonstrates that the elder twin was "addicted to gluttony..." (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. I/2, p. 45). John Wesley says about this what Esau did: "But being of a spiritual nature, his undervaluing it [his birthright] was the greatest profaneness imaginable. It is egregious folly to part with our interest in God and Christ and heaven for the riches, honors, and pleasures of this world" (Commentary on the Bible, p. 46).
The lesson makes clear that all this striving for earthly prosperity is contrary to the word of God. This is why Esau, who sought such prosperity, lost the privilege of what he deserved according to the ways of the world, the birthright. This account demonstrates how it is God's style to work in ways that confound the world. Martin Luther loved to speak of God in this way -- in terms of his hiddenness. God does just the opposite of what the world expects, contradicts the ways of the world (by which standard Esau as the oldest brother should have been ancestor of the Jews and of Jesus). Explaining why this is good for us, the Reformer wrote: "Reason follows only the things that are visible. But in this instance it must be killed, in order that the word and faith may have room" (Luther's Works, Vol. 4, p. 360).
In the same spirit famed modern Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:
One must completely abandon any attempt to make something of oneself... by this worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing we throw ourselves completely in the arms of God, taking seriously not our own sufferings, but those of God and the world -- watching with Christ in Gethsemane.
(A Testament to Freedom, p. 535)
Appreciating God's hidden ways, recognizing how God works against the ways of the world, helps us depend more on God alone.
The lesson makes clear that all this striving for earthly prosperity is contrary to the word of God. This is why Esau, who sought such prosperity, lost the privilege of what he deserved according to the ways of the world, the birthright. This account demonstrates how it is God's style to work in ways that confound the world. Martin Luther loved to speak of God in this way -- in terms of his hiddenness. God does just the opposite of what the world expects, contradicts the ways of the world (by which standard Esau as the oldest brother should have been ancestor of the Jews and of Jesus). Explaining why this is good for us, the Reformer wrote: "Reason follows only the things that are visible. But in this instance it must be killed, in order that the word and faith may have room" (Luther's Works, Vol. 4, p. 360).
In the same spirit famed modern Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:
One must completely abandon any attempt to make something of oneself... by this worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing we throw ourselves completely in the arms of God, taking seriously not our own sufferings, but those of God and the world -- watching with Christ in Gethsemane.
(A Testament to Freedom, p. 535)
Appreciating God's hidden ways, recognizing how God works against the ways of the world, helps us depend more on God alone.
