The Fatherly Love of Esau

The title for this article is likely to pique the attention of those who diligently study The Word of God. Yes, it is not the Fatherly love of Abraham, of Isaac, or of Jacob – the Patriarchs, or the Fatherly love of Job (Job 1:5), or Jehonadab aka Jonadab the Rechabite (2 Kings 10:15, Jeremiah 35:1-10), that I am writing about but the fatherly love of Esau.

From Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament (OT), wherein we read of the birth of Esau, Isaac and Rebekah’s older son, Jacob’s twin brother (Genesis 25:24-26), to Malachi, the last book of the OT, the reference to Esau or his descendants, the Edomites, is made (Malachi 1:2-4). Often you hear about the failure of Esau in homilies. He is touted as an example of one who despised his birthright and as one who gratified the pangs of his flesh, choosing momentary satisfaction over divine blessings (Genesis 25:27-34). Seldom do you hear of Esau in a positive light, despite the fact that one of the greatest accounts of Esau emulating God’s character is recorded in Scripture.

When Jacob is on his journey to return to the land that God had covenanted to give him, and his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, he looks up and sees his brother, Esau, with four hundred men. Jacob had wronged his brother by shrewdly having him sell his birthright to him and had cheated their father to steal the blessings of the firstborn (Esau’s blessings), Not knowing as to whether his brother Esau, whom he had wronged, would retaliate, he distances himself allowing his family to go ahead and follows them. He demonstrates deference by bowing seven times to the ground as he nears his brother. What follows is nothing short of extraordinary. You find Esau, the wronged brother, responds in love instead of hurt and hatred. Esau runs to meet Jacob, embraces him, and falls on his neck, and kissed Jacob and they wept. Following their reconciliatory embrace, Jacob’s family is presented to Esau, who inquires of them and they show the same deference to Esau, as did Jacob.

Esau’s response of love is indicative of a forgiving heart – a heart as of God himself, who forgives and who does not hold on to the wrong of people against him. It is the heart of the father who rejoices when the prodigal returns. Did you realize that the father in the parable of the prodigal son responds in the same manner as did Esau? When the prodigal son is still far away, the compassionate father sees him, runs to him, falls on his neck, and kisses him (Luke 15:20).

Points to ponder:
Esau’s response of love, forgiveness, and acceptance is commendable. It is more than brotherly love. It is the love of a father who accepts, in spite of the wrongs against him. It emulates the love of God the Father, who accepts us when we repent and return to God, humbling ourselves completely (Seven times Jacob bowed to the ground on his way back to his brother and this could imply totality since Seven is symbolically used to refer to perfection). Fear would make us distance ourselves from God, but when we return to him, while we are still far away, God with compassion runs towards us, embraces us neck-to-neck, and kisses us, accepting us, in spite of the wrong we have done against him by our self-centered, self-gratifying, and sinful lives.

If you have drifted away from God, now is your team to remember, repent, return and redo your first works (Revelation 2:5). Furthermore, can we respond unto our fellow brethren and sisters, in fatherly love, as did Esau to his brother? Who do you and I have to forgive? How can we respond as Esau did with fatherly love?

Exodus 33:1-7 (KJV)
¹ And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.
² And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.
³ And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
⁴ And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.
⁵ And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.
⁶ Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.
⁷ And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

Luke 15:18-24 (KJV)
¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
¹⁹ And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
²⁰ And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
²¹ And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
²² But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
²³ And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
²⁴ For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.