Modern Esaus by Rev. J. P. Kester

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 28, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 41.

Modern Esaus.

By Rev. J. P. Kester

WE have, in the person of Esau, a representative of a class found in almost every society. The great charm of the patriarchal histories is this: they show us human nature free from the disguises of latter ages. In them we get a complete picture, not only of their world, but Jacob and Esau, of Oriental times, are living characters of to-day. Their type and character is not one that has died out and been replaced by others; they still live in the nineteenth century. Who does not know Esau? The Esau of the nineteenth century is a fac-simile of the Esau of Oriental times, still clad in skins and hunting-traps, with a heavy bow and spear, much more ready to use his strong limbs in the chase than to bend his knee at the altar of prayer and consecration, his highest and only ambition being “to make a good bag.”

Esau, as ever, is a hunter, and his eye is on the game, and he seldom, if ever, looks upward to his God. Business, money and pleasure are the things he hunts; he seeks nothing higher. He has heard, no doubt, of a glorious heritage, a spiritual birthright; but he is altogether absorbed in something more to his taste. He may be considered generous, ready to give alms and show himself a good fellow in general, but his spiritual birthright—ah! that can be had any day for a mess of pottage. Hundreds, and even thousands, are selling their birthright to-day.

What is this spirit of Esau? It is what is condemned in the word of God as worldliness—pursuing the world, its riches, honors, pleasures and applauses, to the entire forgetfulness of that which is to come—sacrificing the future for the present. They say, “Give me the pottage and let him have the birthright—who cares for it?” This is worldliness. This is the Esau spirit against which Christ speaks when he says, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” The great sin and folly of the present age is precisely this: putting the present before the future. Money, luxury, pleasure, financial success, and then, if possible, the birthright. First with them is the world, the present; this must be secured by all means, and then, in odd moments and by side efforts, try to secure that which is to come.—Rev. J. P. Kester.