READ THE BIBLE with Amanda Grace--Jacob, Esau and the Shepherds!

The Burden of the Word of the Lord

Burden definition: a load, typically a heavy one.

Vs 2 “I have loved you” because the Lord chastises those He loves

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”

Malachi served God either at the time of Nehemiah or immediately after that book ended.

 We know this because the Jews were under a civil ruler (the governor of Malachi 1:8), and Nehemiah was the last civil ruler over Jerusalem.

 We know this because the sins that Malachi rebuked were the same sins Nehemiah rebuked.

The tithe that should go to the Levites was kept from them (Nehemiah 13:10-11, Malachi 3:8-12).

 Malachi would bring a lot of specific correction for Israel, but before God corrected them, He assured them of His love. This set a foundation for their obedience because if they loved Him, they would keep His commandments (as in John 14:15).

John 14:15 If you love Me, keep My commandments. 

Malachi 1:2-5 2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.

“Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’

Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?”

Says the Lord.

“Yet Jacob I have loved;

3 But Esau I have hated,

And laid waste his mountains and his heritage

For the jackals of the wilderness.”

4 Even though Edom has said,

“We have been impoverished,

But we will return and build the desolate places,”

Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“They may build, but I will throw down;

They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness,

And the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever.

5 Your eyes shall see,

And you shall say,

‘The Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel.’ 

“Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’

Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?”

Says the Lord.

“Yet Jacob I have loved;

3 But Esau I have hated,

Genesis 25:21-23 21 Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

23 And the Lord said to her:

“Two nations are in your womb,

Two peoples shall be separated from your body;

One people shall be stronger than the other,

And the older shall serve the younger.”

So this is a prophecy the Lord gives Rebekah! Now, Isaac, the Lord speaks directly to Rebekah!

Genesis 25:24-25 24 So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name [a]Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called [b]Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

Esau means hair in Hebrew

Esau came out red and the Hebrew word for red is EDOM, like the Edomites! The descendants of Esau! Edom in Hebrew is the word for RED

Esau’s descendants are the Palestinians. So we further understand why the Palestinians have been at war with the Jews for so long for it all goes back to Jacob and Esau and the stealing of the birthright and the blessing. The older shall serve the younger…

The area of Edom is southern Jordan, and it appears to be a wasteland

Esau was in the land of Seir, which means hair

The destiny of the scapegoat has to do with Jacob and Esau, here is how;

Leviticus 16:8 8 Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat.

Once a year on Yom Kippur the holiest day of the year for the Jews, the high priest would bring 2 goats to the temple, and they would cast lots, how interested how Haman from the book of Esther cast lots and attempted to make the Jews a scapegoat of sorts… anyway 1 lot would land for the scapegoat known as the Azazel and the other was Yahweh's goat which was the sacrificial goat. The high priest would samekh, he would lean on that goat, the scapegoat, all of the sins of Israel.

And then they would take that scapegoat out to Mt Seir, Edom, where Esau dwelled, the one who was rejected, and they would leave the goat. They did not want that goat coming back with all the sins of Israel upon it

The sacrificial goat would be just that, the high priest would go behind the veil of the tabernacle and pour the blood on the mercy seat. And if all were done correctly according to the law, God, Yahweh, would forgive the sins of Israel for the entire past year and they would start new.

Interestingly enough the word for goat in Hebrew is sa’iyr which is very similar to sei==r which means hair

 There is also a close tie with Adam, Edom in Hebrew the letters they consist of are very similar

Yet, Jacob, I have loved; but Esau I have hated: God asked Israel to find assurance in His election, His choice of them. He wanted them to understand that they were His chosen, His firstborn, and remained His chosen and favored people. However, to whom much is given much is required. The Lord uses Jacob and Esau as an example

 When the people of Israel compared themselves to their neighbors the Edomites (the descendants of Esau), they saw that God chose to preserve Israel and He punished the Edomites.

Who were the Edomites

The Edomites were the descendants of the biblical Esau(twin brother of Jacob, fraternal), who was the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham.

In Genesis 36:31, the Bible records that the early Edomites had kings long before Israel had a king. The Edomites worshiped a variety of gods, polytheistic (the Jewish historian Josephus mentioned a god served by the Edomites named Koze), and lived in the land south of the Dead Sea that included red sandstone. In Numbers 20 the Israelites requested permission to pass through Edom during its 40-year wilderness journey to the promised land. This request was denied. Deuteronomy 23:7 commanded that the Israelites could not despise or hate the Edomites because of their family connection.

The prophet Obadiah prophesied judgment against Edom and by Malachi’s time that had indeed come to pass, and the Lord assured His love for Israel, which is why it hurt Him so much when they strayed

Understanding our election can bring a wonderful assurance of God’s love, blessed assurance. It means that God chose us before we existed before we were born he knew us, and that the reasons for His choosing and loving us are based in Him, not in us.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

The Lord chooses Jacob, the younger, over Esau to carry the promise that was given to Abraham by God and a covenant was made. Even though they were twins Esau was born first and therefore the more likely candidate to carry on this torch according to the customs of that time, however before their birth the Lord had chosen Jacob. The Lord already knew Esau would sell his birthright for fleshly hunger and a bowl of stew, not valuing the gift God had given him as being firstborn with the birthright

“Yet Jacob I have loved;

3 But Esau I have hated,

The Lord did not hate Esau in the sense of striking and harming him. We can interchange the word hate here for 

The Hebrew word for hate used here is Sanati-hatred for the sin or wickedness of the people but not the people themselves

2 peter 3:9 9The LORD is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

The expression simply means to strongly prefer one person or thing over another.

So Jacob is strongly preferred by the Lord over Esau, one is accepted and one is rejected

Romans 9:12-14 Paul speaks of this passage in Malachi 12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Where else do we see this strong preference of the younger brother and the older gets incensed and tries to kill them, with Cain and Abel in Genesis chapter 4. So This idea of the Lord accepting and loving the one and rejecting the other goes all the way back to the offerings of the younger being accepted by the lord of the younger Abel, therefore God favored him, and the offerings being rejected along with the older Cain, by the Lord.

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Justice

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!

“A woman once said to Mr. Charles Spurgeon, ‘I cannot understand why God should say that He hated Esau.’ ‘That,’ Spurgeon replied, ‘is not my difficulty, madam. My trouble is to understand how God could love Jacob’” (William Newell in his commentary on Romans).

Jacob’s name means supplant which means to supersede or replace which is exactly what he did with Esau, he superseded him in birthright and position BY DECEPTION.

What Malachi is doing is he is contrasting the histories of the two groups of people represented by Jacob and Esau… Both nations sinned; both are punished; but Israel by God’s free mercy was forgiven and restored, while Edom was left in the misery which it had brought upon itself by its own iniquity.” This is the Sovereign Righteous Judgment of the Lord at work in the earth

We may now always fully understand God’s choices at the moment but God’s choices are not crazy, without reason, or capricious. They make perfect sense knowing everything God knows and seeing everything God sees. Because the Lord is looking at things in a certain block of time, a birds-eye views and looking at the picture that way, the Lords choices make perfect sense, many times in hindsight, sometimes it takes time and the plan of God unfolding for us to understand why

You see The prophecy of Malachi is built around seven crucial questions the people of Israel asked God. These questions revealed their doubting, discouraged, and sinful heart at a time the Lord wanted them to trust Him, trust that he Loved them, and that following the Lord and not after the ways of the world or Godless Kings was not what was best for them

· In what way have You loved us? (Malachi 1:2).

· In what way have we despised Your name? (Malachi 1:6).

· In what way have we defiled You? (Malachi 1:7).

· In what way have we wearied Him? (Malachi 2:17).

· In what way shall we return? (Malachi 3:7).

· In what way have we robbed You? (Malachi 3:8).

· In what way have we spoken against You? (Malachi 3:13).

 

In pretty much every question, they are asking in what way have they done this to offend the Lord, it is almost as if Israel is oblivious to the choices they have made and ways they are straying from what the Lord has told them. This is part of the church today if we have something to compare it too

 

You see Some consider God’s election as conditional, in the sense that it is based upon foreknowledge. Others consider God’s election unconditional, based on God’s sovereign choice. Here, it seems that the election of Jacob was unconditional. Though God knew what sort of men Jacob and Esau would become His election was not based on that. It was based on another set of factors that the Lord saw far into the future. Esau’s line ended up coming from Jordan and the Palestinians from that. So if it is land the Palestinians want then they need to return to the line of Esau out of JORDAN and contend for such

For example, Someone might say, “I don’t believe in Jesus; therefore I must not be chosen.” That is fine if that is your statement, but then that person must not ever blame God at all for not choosing them if they have flat out refused to choose Him. The Lord is not going to force you, thus the gift of free will. Free will can end up being a gift, or it can end up being a curse depending on the path that person chooses to take

After the Jews were conquered by the Babylonian empire because of the gravity of their sins, thus opening the door, they were indeed restored by God.

Malachi 1:4 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“They may build, but I will throw down;

They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness,

And the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever.

: God promised that Edom would be permanently ruined and that their status as “unchosen” would not change. This was God’s steadfast commitment to Israel, this was a comfort to God’s people – once He chose Israel they stayed chosen, and God would not forsake them and choose another. Because they had a covenant that happened in the book of genesis between Abraham (Abram) and God, the covenant was sealed with a ceremony common during that time

Malachi 1:6-8 A son honors his father,

And a servant his master.

If then I am the Father,

Where is My honor?

And if I am a Master,

Where is My reverence?

Says the Lord of hosts

To you priests who despise My name.

Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’

7 “You offer defiled food on My altar,

But say,

‘In what way have we defiled You?’

By saying,

‘The table of the Lord is [a]contemptible.’

8 And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice,

Is it not evil?

And when you offer the lame and sick,

Is it not evil?

Offer it then to your governor!

Would he be pleased with you?

Would he accept[b] you favorably?”

 

God asked the priests of Israel a very sobering question: why they showed so little respect and honor to Him in their sacrifices. They called God Father, they called Him Master, yet they did not honor Him and show Him reverence with their sacrifices.

 

This problem started or was gaslighted with Eli the priest's rebellious sons

1 Samuel 2:12-17 The Wicked Sons of Eli

12 Now the sons of Eli were corrupt;[a] they did not know the Lord. 13 And the priests’ custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fleshhook in his hand while the meat was boiling. 14 Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; and the priest would take for himself all that the fleshhook brought up. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15 Also, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but raw.”

16 And if the man said to him, “They should really burn the fat first; then you may take as much as your heart desires,” he would then answer him, “No, but you must give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.”

17 Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred[b] the offering of the Lord.

Eli never corrected them, nor stopped this disrespect for the altar of God, because it appears some pagan or rebellious practices crept in there. All these priests did was abuse the sheep and attack people, and for that, they were at enmity with God. They refused to remove the log out of their own eye so how could they ever remove the speck of dust from their neighbor's eye? If all a shepherd does is attack others, twist scripture, and mock as the sons of Eli and Aaron sons did so their portion shall be.

 

This is why all I call myself is a woman of God and if someone addresses me as a teacher, prophet, that is on them

 

Aarons sons did the same

 

Leviticus 10:1-3 10 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. 3 And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying:

‘By those who come near Me

I must be regarded as holy;

And before all the people

I must be glorified.’ ”

So Aaron held his peace.

So those who draw near to the Lord must regard him as 1. Holy 2 he must be glorified

If one is busy in life, from, a pulpit, or a video doing nothing but attacking others and they call themselves a shepherd, they are bringing no glory to the Lord’s name by setting examples as shepherds to be hostile and mock. Shepherds in the field the only time they got hostile was when a lion or bear came into their territory, into their flock, and tried to by force take their sheep. Otherwise, shepherds were busy assuring the sheep were ok and healthy and they did get a wage for their work.

Matthew 7:4-6 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First, remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

Shepherds who abused the sheep, neglected their needs, allowed the sheep to turn on each other until one was wounded, let the sheep run amuck, had nothing but anger and hostility coming out of their mouths to the sheep which changes the behavior of sheep and those sheep will begin to mock and say sinful profane things that you as the shepherd encouraged. Shepherds who behave that way in this hour will lose their voice. Shepherds need to be disciplinary, however a shepherd or priest did not go to another’s pasture and scream at another flock from someone else’s pasture, you see what I mean.

A Good Shepherd or leader encourages the sheep to look more at the Lord, draw closer to the Lord, be in your word, allow the Lord to change and refine what needs to be changed, they don’t encourage pagan practices they are not constantly stirring up dissension and discord among brethren. If you notice Jesus called out when he was confronted by the Pharisees otherwise he went about His business for the Kingdom. A good shepherd doesn’t make people spend more time on satan than on God, think on those things that are pure and lovely. A good Shepherd leads by example and does not throw and cast more stones to thank Glory to God, if they do that makes them as profane as the national enquirer or CNN. They Glorify God above all and they do not make it their life’s mission to tear others down and put themselves on a high-up pillar. They will tell you they are just a messenger that the Lord is the author and finisher, the potter and the alpha and omega. I am pointing all this out because in the time of Malachi and now there is an issue with this today. God requires reverence and if the majority of mocking and filth is coming out of your mouth it is very hard to reverence God in the same breath. Worry about staying in your lane, because there are those who have veered way out of their lane on this and are about to crash, it was the same in Malachi’s time. And just like then and now there was a remnant, Malachi was part of that remnant

In what way have we despised Your name: The priests weren’t even aware that they despised God with their actions. This meant that it came by degrees; they probably did not know the extent of their offense and simply carried on as before. They slowly slid into despising God’s name. it was a progression over time. That people over time had slid into this, which affects faith level. This is why discipline in the word, with your mouth, and where you point fingers is important. Right now in this country we see this a lot the media and others, including those who claim to be in ministry try to make headlines by attempting to tear others down, in many cases those they have never even privately spoken with. We see the attacks get better ratings and it is a slippery slope towards a stench in the nostrils of God. 

You see being about the father’s business first is the best way to go seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you Matthew 6:33, what are all these things? It means to be about the Lord’s business first if he needs you up during the night, then you are up starting your day off with Him, cheerfully helping whoever needs help, praying for those who need it, spending time in the presence of the Lord, doing what you are called to do.

You see MANY go through very long seasons of trial, testing, having nothing, hardship to prove they will be good stewards, you may see that person ok now but they may have gone through 25 years of testing that you were not willing to go through to get what the Lord has given them, so you must be careful of that as well, the Lord knows and sees the whole heart. We only see in part and speak in part and we must remember this.