Of Esau and Jacob
We all are conversant with the Jacob and Esau story in the Bible. I take it for granted you didn’t sleep off the entirely CRK classes of the Secondary School days. Esau and Jacob were twins. And never has there been a more unidentical twins. Jacob was smooth skinned, Esau was a hairy thing. Esau was an outdoor person, Jacob was a homeboy. Jacob bred his flock at home, Esau goes to the bush to kill as motivated by need. Esau moved on instincts, Jacob moved on strategies. Esau had muscles, Jacob had brains. Esau was given to immediate gratification, Jacob was a master-waiter; a super tactician. The mother loved Jacob, Esau daddy's boy.

The opposing features of these two Biblical guys are evident in our everyday life. We have Esau people and Jacob people. Esau nations and Jacob nations. Esau companies and Jacob companies. The two are always at logger heads, and as predicted at the birth of the two biblical guys, the elder will always serve the younger. Esau will always serve Jacob.

Critical in the history of Esau and Jacob was the trading of the birth right of Esau for a plate of porridge. It was a purely legal exchange. Any stupid lawyer can validate that easily. Esau returned from his hunting and was famished. Jacob had a sizzling pot of porridge to afflict him. Now whether planned or not, Esau exchanged his birthright for a plate of food! At that moment of hunger, his brain had evaporated.

Now the parallels.
At the moment of selling his birthright, be certain there was raw meat in the sling bag of Esau. He just arrived from a hunting trip. At that moment in history, they had no problem with extinction of any specie of fauna. The animals far out-numbered the humans. He was just too hungry to cook it. He traded the future for now. So it is with Esau nations and people like Nigeria. We don't process our raw materials. We sell our raw materials for processed products. Jacob countries buy our cocoa at cheap prices and sells us chocolate for a king’s ransom. They buy our crude oil for pittance and sell us refined petrol for choice dollars. We sell tomorrow to consume today. We consume what we don’t produce, and produce what we can’t consume. Like Esau, we live for today. Jacob puts his brain to task. He says instead of going out to kill animals anytime I have need, can’t I set up an animal production system at home? Jacob has 100 years plan, 50 years plan etc. We live from one yearly budget deficit to the other. We borrow from Jacob on instinct. So, so comparable.

Jacob guy goes to the ghetto and sees hairy Esau beating up all the miserable ghetto kids. He approaches Esau and says, ‘hey man, you are so good! You’re so strong! You beat up everybody so easily. Man I can make you millions in a year boxing even weaker guys. Esau says I want a car. Jacob says I’ll give you a Rolls Royce. Esau says,’ hey I have this drug addiction problem. Jacob says I’ll support your addiction. And the battle begins. Esau beats everybody everywhere, while Jacob is the chief cheerleader. He pays Esau some millions for taking the punches and Esau thinks himself the greatest. A couple of years down the line the punches begin to take a toll on Esau’s health. Jacob is spotlessly clean. In fact Jacob now has a lot of Esau’s slaving for him while he smiles to the bank. And finally like the biblical Esau, our contemporary Esau comes to his senses and confronts Jacob. He even sues him to the court. Guess what? Jacob pulls out the signed contract. You signed man! And Esau loses again. Jacob is a contract guy. He doesn’t believe in the gentleman’s word of agreement. Everything’s got to be in black and white.

There’s so much to learn from the story of Esau and Jacob. And it might surprise you God never chastised Jacob for his schemings as far as Esau was concerned. The deal was perfectly legit. God even says I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Not Esau. And you can’t be holier than God. At a point in the scriptures when the issue was revisited in the New Testament, Esau was referred to as profane. Hebrews 12:16.

We got a choice to make. A national change starts with the individual. We can complain till tomorrow about the Nigerian system but a lot of issues are beyond our immediate scope of physical influence. I can only change myself. I am going to make decisions and set up a lifestyle that negates the prevalent ‘Esauism’ we have around. I’ll think and act like Jacob.

Today, Jacob’s newest idea of comedy is to sell private jets to Esau! And Esau is setting his hairy ass on fire from crash after crash. Jacob is delirious with laughter. 'Haa ha aa, this Esau guy won’t kill me sha!!!

Credit: The nucleus of this write up was gotten from the message 'Esau and Jacob' by Dr. Tayo Adeyemi of Newwine Church, UK, and Published on my Facebook wall by Ayobami Oke

ggademmmmmmmmmm a doctor of theology aka pastor wrote this shyyttt ? *faints*