Tag Archives: Genesis

A Tale of Two Brothers: the fate of Esau

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When Abraham’s son Isaac becomes a father, it is over twin boys. The older boy is named Esau, who was a skilled hunter and outdoorsman. Jacob, the younger boy, was a herdsman. 1 These two sons would not only be very different in their temperaments and skillsets but also in the roles they would play within the story of the nation of Israel. A story that is told throughout the books of the Old Testament.

Jacob, who will later be given the name Israel, is the one through whom God often identifies Himself.

The Lord [is] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob2

It is through the line of Jacob that the nation of Israel would be established and the physical lineage of the Messiah would be traced.3

But what happened to Esau? Did the man who traded away his birthright, was cheated out of his blessing and founded the nation of Edom also end up unrepentant and eternally lost as many suppose? After all we find God telling us it was “Jacob I loved but Esau I hated.” 4

To answer that question we must start at the beginning. Isaac’s wife Rebekah is pregnant. And before the twins were born God tells her that:

Giovanni Maria Bottala: Meeting between Esau and Jacob

Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples will be separated from within you.
One people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger5

This is widely understood as God informing Rebekah about the larger destinies of her two children and the nations that they will found.

Part of this prophetic word encompasses the promise God made to Abraham telling him that he would be “the father of a multitude of nations.” 6 This promise would primarily be centered on the nation of Israel though the line of Jacob 7. But it also includes the nation(s) founded by Ishmael, his older son through Hagar, and the nation of Edom founded by Esau, the older son of Isaac.8

Not only is God telling Rebekah that each of her sons will found a separate nation. It is also commonly understood that the Lord is also disclosing to her that it is through Jacob, not Esau, that He will fulfill the promises made to Abraham.9 It is the nation of Israel that will be the “apple of his eye” and His special possession. 10 Paul reminds us that this decision was made “before they were born or had done anything good or bad.”11

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Blogging thru On the Incarnation: Was Adam created as an immortal being?

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This is part 7 of the series blogging through the book On the Incarnation by Athanasius. You might want to start with part 1 and work your way through the series.

When we read passages in 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 5 we find that death entered the world when Adam sinned. That gives us an interesting question to ponder. Was mankind created in an immortal body before the Fall?

For Athanasius the answer is no. But before you throw the heretic card down, let’s look at what his view entailed.

The Ladder of Divine Ascent

After alluding to his prior work, Athanasius is ready to “relate also the things concerning the Incarnation of the Word and expound his divine manifestation to us.” In order to understand why the Word, who by nature is without a body, chose to appear to us in a body, one, Athanasius argues, must go back to the beginning.

Perhaps you are wondering for what reason, having proposed to talk about the Incarnation of the Word, we are now expounding the origin of human beings. Yet this too is not distinct from the aim of our exposition. For speaking of the manifestation of the Savior to us, it is necessary also to speak of the origin of human beings, in order that you might know that our own cause was the occasion of his descent and that our own transgression evoked the Word’s love for human beings, so that the Lord both came to us and appeared among human beings. (On the Incarnation ch 4) 1

Athanasius treated the topic of creation in much more detail in his earlier work. We have already explored that in this series. We will pick up Athanasius’ description of the Fall in broad strokes, a topic that spans several early chapters.

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Twas a Tale of Two Falls

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A theological poem using the rhyme scheme known as anapaestic tetrameter found in Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Illustration for John Milton’s “Paradise Lost“ by Gustave Doré

Twas before the beginning when God formed a plan
to create heavens and earth and even a man.
Before earth’s big debut, there was a prior start.
The angels were created and given a part.
Praising the Ancient One in His glorious light. 
The winged creatures serve Him all day, there’s never night.

But wait. How can we know the order of these things?
Can angels rejoice before they’re made by the King?
For eternity has no before or after.
It’s one endless now without former or latter.
Now, if time is the space that’s between two events, 
then to order them ask: when did the clock commence?
Before earth and sky are spoken into being,
what else can give things chronological meaning?

Let’s go back to the start before our inception 
when angels were pure and were without deception.

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