LET GO OF
ESAU'S HEEL
By Dr. Stephen Jones:
Jul 02, 2018
Jacob and Esau were twins. They seemed to fight each other
while yet in the womb (Genesis 25:22, 23). Genesis 25:24-26 says,
24 When her days to be delivered were
fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 Now the first
came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. 26
And afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel,
so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth
to them.
The revelation shows that the conflict between Jacob and
Esau centered around the birthright. To whom was the promise given? Esau, being
born first, had a lawful claim on the birthright, but the prophecy gave it to
Jacob. Paul comments on this in Romans 9:10-12, saying,
10 And not only this, but there was
Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; 11
For though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad,
in order that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of
works, but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, “The
older will serve the younger.”
The main point is to show the sovereignty of God, that He
gives callings according to His own will and purpose, and that He has the right
to do so. Nonetheless, the law of God, which is an expression of God’s nature
and character, gave the firstborn the right to receive the inheritance
(Deuteronomy 21:16, 17), unless he disqualified himself by his actions.
Hence, the prophecy could be fulfilled only after Esau had
disqualified himself sufficiently to satisfy the divine law. The problem came
when Jacob deceived his father by stealing Esau’s identity in order to obtain
the blessing from Isaac (Genesis 27:19). He tried to fulfill prophecy in an
unlawful manner and only caused further trouble for himself and for succeeding
generations.
The Heel Holder
When Jacob was born, he came out of the womb holding on to
Esau’s heel—and he would not let go. So they called his name Jacob, or Yakov,
which means “heel holder.” The name comes from the root word (verb) akav,
“to take by the heel, to supplant, overreach, to come from behind, attack at
the heel.”
This act was prophetic, and it characterized the first 98
years of Jacob’s life and character. It is not that he was a heathen or an
unbeliever. He was a believer, it seems, from the beginning. Jacob’s first
major revelation came when stopped for the night at Bethel as he was journeying
to the land of Haran to work for his uncle Laban. That night he dreamed of a
ladder between heaven and earth, with the angels of God ascending and
descending upon it. God spoke to him and confirmed the Abrahamic calling to
him, saying in Genesis 28:13, 14,
13 … The land on which you lie, I will
give it to you and to your descendants. 14 … in you and in your
descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Jacob, however, had never ceased holding on to his brother’s
heel. He had let go physically shortly after his birth, but mentally and
spiritually, he was still competing with Esau, trying to attack his heels, and
supplant him as the birthright holder. In other words, he was still emotionally
and spiritually attaching himself to Esau. Esau was still driving Jacob’s
actions subconsciously. The struggle never really ended.
How Jacob Became Prosperous
For twenty years Jacob competed with Laban and became
wealthy as a result. He again resorted to fleshly means of obtaining wealth. He
made an agreement that his wages for tending Laban’s flocks would be that he
would be given all the black, spotted, or striped sheep and goats (Genesis
30:32, 33). That seemed reasonable to Laban, so he agreed to this. Most of the
sheep, it seems, were white.
But Jacob decided to increase his wages artificially in
order to cheat Laban. Genesis 30:37-43 says,
37 Then Jacob took fresh rods of
poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing
the white which was in the rods. 38 And he set the rods which he had
peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs,
where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. 39
So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped,
speckled, and spotted…. 43 So the man became exceedingly prosperous
and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.
This may sound strange from a scientific viewpoint. I am not
a geneticist, but we know that environment does alter genetics. More important,
however, is the prophetic meaning of Jacob’s actions, especially in view of 2
Corinthians 3:18,
18 But we all, with unveiled face
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the
same image from glory to glory….
We are changed by beholding Christ in the same manner that
Jacob’s sheep were changed by beholding the striped rods. We are able to behold
Christ clearly only when the Old Covenant veil is removed from our eyes and we
see Him face to face. It is the New Covenant unveiling that makes it possible
to be changed into His image.
Both Laban and Jacob were cheaters, operating in the flesh,
but Jacob outwitted Laban. Neither showed much love to each other, even though
they were “family.” Both were selfish.
When Jacob finally left Laban without telling him goodbye,
Laban came after him, believing that Jacob had stolen his idols. When Laban
caught up to Jacob, he was unable to find the idols, because Rachel was sitting
on them. But the outcome of that meeting is that they set up a heap of stone as
a boundary marker, vowing not to cross that line in an aggressive manner, and
Jacob promised not to mistreat his wives (Laban’s daughters).
Then we read in Genesis 31:54,
54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice
on the mountain, and called his kinsmen to the meal; and they ate the meal and
spent the night on the mountain.
What type of sheep or goat did Jacob offer as a sacrifice?
Well, one of his spotted sheep, of course. He had no unspotted sheep. As a
carnal believer, his sacrifice was imperfect and did not fully represent
Christ, who offered His “precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and
spotless” (1 Peter 1:19). Jacob’s imperfect sacrifice was a reflection of
his own heart as he tried to worship God in an imperfect manner. He had not yet
beheld Christ, so he still fell short of being changed into His image.
Our imperfect concept of Christ, His character, His work,
and His plan will always be seen in the kind of lamb that we present as our
sacrifice. That is why Malachi 1:8 rebuked the priests, saying,
8 But when you present the blind for
sacrifice, is it not evil? And you present the lame and sick, is it not evil?
Though the prophet does not specifically mention spotted
lambs, the same principle holds true. In my view a spotted lamb is an Old
Covenant sacrifice, in which we fail to understand the grace of God. A spotted
lamb presents an imperfect view of Christ, testifying that salvation is based
upon the works, vows, oaths, and decisions by the will of men. The church, like
Jacob, has been offering this imperfect sacrifice for a long time, because they
have not yet beheld Him face to face.
The Wrestling
When Jacob was in his 98th year (i.e., the end of
his second Jubilee), he returned to the land of Canaan. After making a covenant
with Laban and offering a spotted lamb in sacrifice, Jacob went to Mahanaim,
where he sent word to his brother Esau that he was returning. Messengers soon
returned and informed him that Esau was coming with 400 men to kill him and
steal whatever wealth he owned.
Esau came to kill Jacob. But he kissed Israel.
By this time Jacob’s family had moved on from Mahanaim to
another place which he later called Peniel. Distressed, he went out into the
night to pray, and suddenly he encountered a man who appeared to be a threat.
The two wrestled the rest of the night.
I believe that Jacob thought he was fighting with Esau (or
perhaps one of his men). The fight was a manifestation of Jacob’s heart, for
Jacob had been fighting Esau all of his life. From his birth he had been
holding on to Esau’s heel, trying to overcome him. The wrestling match was the
culmination of his life’s story.
He thought he was wrestling with Esau, but in fact he was
really fighting God Himself, for he was unable to see the face of God in Esau.
Suddenly, the man (angel) did something supernatural, rendering Jacob’s
strength useless. We read in Genesis 32:24-26,
24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a
man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 And when he saw that he had
not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of
Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. 26 Then he
said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you
go unless you bless me.”
How is it that an angel could not defeat Jacob in a
wrestling match? This signifies the fact that up to that point in time, Jacob’s
carnal mindset was so strong, and he was so sure of himself, that God had been
“unable” to break through to reveal the problem to Jacob. So the angel removed
his fleshly strength, and Jacob suddenly had the revelation that the One he had
been fighting all of his life was not Esau, but God Himself.
That was the point where the dawn broke. Light began to
shine. Jacob let go of Esau’s heel and instead held on to the angel. His life
was changed in a moment. “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” He
then received the blessing and a name change. No longer being the “heel
holder,” he broke through and prevailed. His entire outlook on life was
changed. The dawn broke, and he became Israel, “God rules.”
We cannot hold on to Esau’s heel and to the angel at the
same time. Not until we let go of Esau’s heel do we get the blessing of God and
receive the new name, Israel. That is what makes us overcomers. We are
not Israelites as long as we depend upon the flesh to fulfill the prophecies and
promises of God. We are not Israelites as long as we hold on to Esau’s heel.
Israelites do not offer up spotted lambs, as Jacobites do.
Jacob became an Israelite when he received the revelation of
the sovereignty of God. The next day, when he faced Esau, he said in Genesis
33:10, “I see your face as one sees the face of God.”
Today’s Application
Today we are witnessing a great battle at the climax of the
age. We can fight it as Jacobites or as Israelites. If we are able to see that
God is sovereign, that God has used Esau as an instrument of revelation to us,
that Esau is not really the problem, that our real problem is our own imperfect
understanding of God and our dim perspective of the image of Christ, then and
only then can we say that we are Israelites.
Jacobites fight political battles as if “all is fair in love
and war.” They tend to leave their Christian principles at the doorstep of
their political parties. They fight their “enemies” without seeing the face of
God in them and without understanding God’s purpose for them. Christian
Jacobites blame “God’s enemies,” forgetting that God raised them up for His
glory. Those enemies are there to challenge our fleshly attitudes and to test
our hearts. Evil people test our hearts to see if we will react to the devil or
to God.
The question is this: Who are we fighting? Who are we really
fighting? Why did God raise up Esau (and Pharaoh)? Paul gives the answer in
Romans 9:17. If we lose that perspective, it is because we still function as
Old Covenant believers making spotted sacrifices.
We are not changed by beholding Esau. We are changed by
beholding Jesus in Esau. But we will only see Jesus in Esau by New
Covenant eyes, which alone can pierce the veil that has been “stretched out
over all nations” (Isaiah 25:7). This is the source of blindness. Jesus,
the Mediator of the New Covenant, has come to heal blindness by removing the
Old Covenant veil that has hidden the true character of Christ.
So let us conduct ourselves according to the true nature of
Christ and not by our imperfect idea that God is out to “smite His enemies.” He
is coming to restore all things and to reconcile His enemies by His love, as
Paul explains in Romans 5:10. While it is true that God will indeed bring
judgment upon many, His ultimate purpose is to reconcile them.
So let go of Esau’s heel and take hold of God. Only then can
we truly move into our destiny and calling as Israelite overcomers. Always
remember that your friend will give you comfort, but only your enemies can
drive you to your destiny.
