A REAL MAN (GEN. 25)
1) Have you ever used the word sissy to describe someone?
2) We may not hear or use that word too often, but sissy is a descriptive term.
3) If someone is a sissy they are a coward; they are very timid.
4) If a young man is called a sissy most are trying to say that he possesses the….
5) Qualities that are generally found in women. A sissy is unmanly; delicate; soft.
6) I may be very wrong but I am under the impression that when people read about Jacob & Esau,
7) Many think that Jacob was a sissy. The real man in the family was Esau.
8) I
can understand why someone might draw this conclusion.
9) Esau was a hunter. He was a man of the field (Gen. 25:27).
10) The text says that Jacob was a plain man who dwelled in tents.
11) Esau was on good terms with his father. Jacob was on good terms with his mother.
12) This information could certainly cause some to conclude that Jacob was a homebody.
13) Some might think of him as a mamma’s boy and not much of a man.
14) While some have drawn these conclusions they are not right.
15) Let’s start with Esau. We know that he was a hunter, but what kind of hunter was he?
16) The writer says that he was a cunning hunter (verse 27)
17) The word cunning is a revealing word.
A) This term tells us that Esau really had to work to find the animals he killed.
B) He and his family were not in a situation where they were endangered by wild beasts.
C) With all the flocks and herds there was no need to be a hunter.
D) There was apparently no need to deal with an overpopulation of animals.
E) Esau wanted to be a sportsman, and because game was a bit limited, he had to be cunning.
F) It appears that hunting was something that occupied more than a little of Esau’s time.
a) In order to get good at it (and apparently Esau was) time was required.
b) In order to be good at something time is normally needed to develop skill.
c) At least one of the hunting trips left Esau exhausted (Gen. 25:29).
d) The additional information about Esau does not present a very good picture.
e) Gen. 36:1-3 tells us that Esau got married.
f) Isaac did
not want his sons to marry any of the girls from
g) Did Esau comply with his father’s wishes? Gen. 36:1-3
h) Esau married not only one girl that was contrary to his father’s wishes,
i) He married 3 ladies from a forbidden nation.
j) Esau also surrounded himself with some companions – Gen. 33:1
k) 400 men were with Esau; this is a large number of people.
18) FROM
WHAT IS INDICATED IN SCIRPTURE ESAU WAS A PERSON OF THE WORLD. LITTLE IF
ANYTHING GOOD IS SAID ABOUT HIM IN SCRIPTURE
19) On the other hand there is Jacob. Jacob was not perfect.
20) One at least one occasion he engaged in deceit. However, this man was not a sissy.
21) Some Bible translators have done a disservice to Jacob.
22) In some versions Jacob is described as a plain man; other versions use the word quiet.
23) The Hebrew word used to describe Jacob means perfect or complete.
24) Some would even use the word mature.
25) Do we remember how Job is described in Job 1:8? Job was a perfect man?
26) The word perfect in Job 1:8 is the same word that is used to describe Jacob.
27) Jacob was not sinless by any means but he was a good man. He loved & feared God.
28) He was a person who cared about spiritual things.
29) Some believe this is why he was especially close to his mother.
30) He and she shared a strong interest in God.
31) On the other hand there was Esau, the mighty hunter.
32) He was he man who had three wives.
33) He was the man who had surrounded himself with 400 other men.
34) While Esau may have looked like a giant of a man in the eyes of the world the Hebrew writer said,
35) He was profane. This means that he was anything but sacred.
36) Esau was a man who was impure and unholy.
37) He was a man who was faithless.
38) A bowl of food was more important than being in the seed line that would bring Christ into the world
39) As we look at what appears to be a contrast between these two boys,
40) There are comparisons to be made with modern times.
41) At different times and at different places in our society,
42) We are supposedly given pictures of a true man.
A) A real man, in some settings, is the one who tries to out drink everyone else.
B) A true man is the fellow who is willing to try every vice under the sun.
C) The more of a man someone is the fouler is language is.
43) If manhood is not defined in these terms, maybe the John Wayne approach is used.
44) The real man stands tall. He knows how to take a punch & how to throw one.
45) A real man can hold his liquor.
46) Many labor under the delusion that a real man is someone who is rough and tough.
47) There is no doubt that Esau was hard, coarse, and brutal.
48) Notice a passage from Gen. 32 which describes the family relationship.
A) Gen. 32:11
B) Was Esau a hard man? Yes.
C) Was he tough and hardened? Yes.
49) THE
LIVES OF THESE TWO BROTHERS MAKE A POINT THAT NEEDS TO BE TAUGHT TO ALL MALES
NO MATTER HOW OLD THEY ARE. TRUE MANHOOD
IS NOT FOUND BY WALKING IN THE STEPS OF ESAU.
A) Being a sportsman doesn’t make one a man.
B) Having the ability to beat other people up isn’t manhood.
C) Being a womanizer (and Esau was, Heb. 12) does not result in masculinity.
D) Being with or in charge of many other men doesn’t make one a man.
E) True manhood comes from another source.
F) See if you don’t agree.
G) Esau was the pleasure seeking godless polygamist who want to have fun.
H) Jacob had an interest in spiritual things.
I) When given the opportunity to obtain the birthright he acted.
J) He later found a woman that he wanted to marry (Gen. 29:17).
K) He worked 7 years to make a woman his wife.
L) He had a good relationship with God (Gen. 28:15).
M) God said that He was with and would be with Jacob.
N) This promise came true.
O) According to Gen. 46:34 God said that a great nation would come from Jacob.
P) Jacob
lived for 17 years in the
Q) On his deathbed Jacob gathered his sons around him.
R) The
names of his sons became the name of
S) Who was the real man?
a) Was it Esau – the carousing, careless, and violent son?
b) Or was it Jacob – the son who has affected millions of lives?
50) As I look at our society I am somehow left with the impression that many believe that if a person is a real man,
51) They surely would not pray.
52) They would not admit that they are dependent upon God.
53) They wouldn’t be found in a Bible class.
54) Teaching a Bible class would be out of the question.
55) They would never talk about spiritual things.
56) Asking someone to pray with or for them would be out of the question.
57) People have some funny ideas about manhood.
A) Many here remember when Jimmy Carter was President.
B) Mr. Carter has publicly said that he has taught Bible classes.
C) There are people who think that that is pretty weird.
D) Why would someone who has held the highest office in the land do that?
E) Our society has seemingly altered the definition of manhood.
F) If we look back in time to some who are considered to be American heroes,
G) Men understood that true manhood starts with Godliness.
H) We have allowed society to tell us who a true man is.
I) The definitions that are put before us in movies, on t.v. & in print are wrong.
58) Jacob may not have been the most visible person in his culture, but he was a man.