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Edom is Esau by Fran Regan
11/06/2010
Malachi 1:4
“If Edom says, “We have been beaten down, let us return and build the ruins,” Yah of hosts said thus: “Let them build, but I tear down. And they shall be called ‘Border of Wrongness’, and the people against whom Yah is enraged forever.” ‘Border of Wrongness’ The Scriptures ‘Borders of Lawlessness’ Apostolic Bible ‘Region of Wickedness ‘ Interlinear ‘Border of Wickedness’ King James ‘Land of Guilt’ New American Bible ‘Boundary of Lawlessness’ The Emphasized Bible: A New Translation ‘Realm of Wickedness’ The New English Bible ‘Border of Injustice’ A Translation of the Old Testament Scriptures from the Original Hebrew ‘Land of Wickedness’ Complete Jewish Bible ‘Wicked Territory’ New American Standard ‘Wicked Land’ New International ‘Wicked Country’ Amplified ‘Territory of Wickedness’ Chronological Study Bible ‘Border’ or ‘Region’ is #1366 gebuwl - lamed, vav, beit, gimel – from #1379 – twisted, to twist (as a rope) “The people against whom Yah…”: ‘is enraged forever’ The Scriptures ‘hath indignation forever’ Amplified/King James ‘against whom the Lord deployed unto the eon’ Apostolic Bible ‘is angry forever’ The New American Bible ‘had indignation into time age-abiding’ The Emphasized Bible: A New Translation ‘has cursed forever’ The New English Bible ‘has eternal indignation’ A Translation of the Old Testament Scriptures from the Original Hebrew ‘those whom God does not forgive’ The Living Bible (Paraphrased) ‘a people always under the wrath of the Lord’ New International wicked, lawless, wrong, unjust, guilty – Yah is enraged forever against them; they are cursed forever; have eternal indignation; are not forgiven, always under wrath – a people ‘twisted’ in their doings or who have pushed Yah’s boundaries and ‘twisted’ them to their own understanding It doesn’t sound too good for Edom. Who, in fact, is Edom? Genesis 36:8 ”So Esau dwelt in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom.” Genesis 36:19 “These were the sons of Esau, who is Edom,….” Genesis 36:43 “…..Esau was the father of the Edomites.” And, as we see in this week’s Torah portion, Esau is the twin brother of Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham. In Genesis 25:27, we see that Esau “became a man knowing how to hunt, a man of the field…” ‘hunt’ is Strong’s #6718: tsayid - dalet, yud, tsade – (from a form of 6679 – tsuwd - dalet, vav, tsade) the chase, to lie alongside,(i.e. in wait); by impl to catch an animal or fig. men Esau was a rugged, wild man of the fields, a hunter. (Just as Nimrod, who was also a hunter. “He was a mighty hunter before Yah, therefore it is said, ‘Like Nimrod, the mighty hunter before Yah.” Genesis 10:9) “…while Jacob was a complete (8535 from 8552) man, dwelling in tents.” – tam - mem, tav; tamam – mem, mem, tav – to complete in a good or a bad sense, accomplish, be perfect, sum, whole, pious, gentle, undefiled, upright We know from Genesis 32:24-28, that Jacob’s name was eventually changed to Israel “because you have striven with Elohim and with men, and have overcome.” Jacob was an overcomer, as we are instructed to be. It is the ‘overcomers’ who receive the inheritance from Yah, as it is so clearly stated in the Revelation. It is the ‘overcomers’ who value their birth-right/inheritance – Yah’s blessings. Again, Yah says to Edom through the prophet Obadiah, “Though you rise high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I shall bring you down…” Obadiah 1:4 “Because of your violence against your brother Jacob, let shame cover you. And you shall be cut off forever.” Obadiah 1:10 “For the day of Yah is near upon all the gentiles. As you have done, it shall be done to you, your reward shall come back on your own head. …………..and they shall be as though they had never been.” Obadiah 1:15, 16b And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esau for stubble. And they shall burn among them and they shall consume them, so that no survivor is left of the house of Esau.” For Yah has spoken.” Obadiah 1:18 Why would Yah vow never to forgive Esau and to be forever enraged? That doesn’t sound like a God of love and mercy, does it? There is one thing Yah can never forgive – and that is lawlessness or Torahlessness. To deny Torah would be to deny Himself. He simply cannot. All that is would cease to be, as all things came to be through Him (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16-17). Esau represents all who reject the Torah, who will not follow, who will not obey. The one thing Yah cannot forgive is rejection of Himself, which is rejection of Torah. “In times of ignorance, He winks at it” (Acts 17:30) in His mercy, but there comes a time when “Elohim commands all men everywhere to repent”. The rugged, wild and free life of Esau appeals to most all of us in some sense. We celebrate it by song, and books, and art and long to be able to say it of ourselves. We promote it as something most seek and strive for but never reach - to be our own man, to be free. Outwardly, maybe Esau didn’t appear so bad (by our standards). In fact, his life might have seemed much more exciting and desirable than Jacob’s. But Yah is telling us we must die to ourselves, to our own desires and live for Him, as Jacob, a simple man living in tents. Esau didn’t hear and therefore didn’t obey Yah because he was too absorbed with himself and what he wanted to do. Even Esau, at one time, according to Hebrews 12, sought the blessing with tears but was rejected because he was a ‘profane’ (G952) man. This word is ‘bebelos’ and means a threshold, accessible as by crossing the door-way, wicked, from the base of G939, to walk, a foot. (This was a chosen way of life). Just as his grandfather, Abraham, had to ‘cross over’ to become Hebrew in his walk with Yah, coming under the covenant (Genesis 12); Esau crossed over the threshold into wickedness and chose to walk his own, profane way, rejecting the way of his fathers which was the covenant and so he was rejected – bringing on his own head the result of his ways – just as Yah said. Yah had told Cain that sin was crouching at the door (way) just waiting for him, desiring him – but he should overcome/master it (Genesis 4:7). Esau crossed over the threshold where sin was waiting; where it was lying in wait. The hunter had become the hunted – and he was ensnared. A snare is a trap. He was trapped. According to Matthew 7:21-23, most will do the same. Edom (Esau) was called the Boundary of Lawlessness. (Anything outside the Fence of the Torah is twisted, corrupt.) But Esau sought the blessing even with tears but could/would not repent or change his walk. He was doing it ‘his way’ and saw no reason why Yah shouldn’t bless that. In Matthew, Y’shua is speaking of those who will think they should receive the blessings of Yah, who want the blessings and seek it with tears (just as Esau), but Yah will call them ‘workers of lawlessness’ and reject them, because they, too, chose to ‘cross that threshold’ and by so doing, were trapped by the desire of doing things their own way, rejecting Yah and His ways – caught by the same trap as Esau. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens. (not their own) Many (most, the larger portion) shall say to Me in that day, ‘Master, Master’, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?’ And I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!’”(Boundary of Lawlessness which is wickedness, which is twisted – Yah’s paths are straight paths.) Matthew 7:21-23 Edom or Esau is a system of beliefs and a way of life Yah cannot tolerate. It is rebellion. It is against Yah. It is the same system of rebellion represented by Nimrod: “We have been beaten down, let us return and build the ruins…”. And just as at Babel, Yah of hosts says thus: “Let them build, but I tear down.” (Malachi 1:4) “Come let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens, and make a name for ourselves…” Genesis 11:4 Trapped into the lawlessness of doing things one’s own way rather than listening to Yah – a man-made system of bricks and mortar rather than building with living stones. The hunters became the hunted and then the hunted (and entrapped) take on the characteristics of what they have been overcome by. “….for one is a slave to whatever overcomes him.” 2Peter 2:19 With Isaac and Jacob being dwellers in tents, one wonders where Esau learned to hunt – maybe from Ishmael? The other seed is always trying to infiltrate the good seed. Cain, Nimrod, Ishmael, and Esau, (though they were all men who lived at one time), all represent rebellion against Yah and His ways/His covenant – in whatever form. Yah will rage forever against lawlessness – for it is everything He is not. We can choose which threshold we cross over. We can be overcome or trapped by what is ‘crouching at one threshold’ or we can ‘cross over’ the other and be an overcomer with Yah (and men). Paul again addresses this in Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Be overcomers. Elohim never asks us to do anything impossible for us to do (with His help). Yah still gives us a choice today – His ways (life/Torah/good) or our own ways (lawlessness/wickedness/evil). The choice is still ours.
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