(Genesis) Genesis 25:27-28

The boys grew. Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field, and Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents. Now, this fellow Esau is a cunning hunter.

He's a man of the field. He's the athletic type, the outdoor boy, the one that we'd call him today the all-American boy. He went in for sports.

He went in for everything that was physical, but he had no spiritual ability whatsoever, or understanding, or capacity, or desire. It was always for that which was physical. He represents the flesh.

And Jacob was a plain man, and I think that you can make of that anything you want to, dwelling in tents. He's indoors. He was mama's boy.

He was tied to his mama's apron string. You'll notice that he moved and did what she told him to do. He's really a mama's boy.

And this boy Esau is papa's boy, though. Verse 28, And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Now you have the problem right here in the home.

You would feel that under these circumstances they're going to have trouble, and they are, because when one parent's partial to one child and the other parent's partial to the other child, then you have trouble. And that's exactly what took place here. And Isaac loved him because he ate of his venison.

Esau went out hunting, and he always got something when he went out hunting. He brought home venison. And Isaac liked that, and he liked this boy.

He's the outdoor type. And Rebekah loved Jacob. He's a mama's boy.

And very frankly, at this particular juncture, I must confess that this boy Esau is much more attractive. In fact, he seems to be more of a wholesome boy. This boy Jacob is cunning.

He tries to be clever. In fact, the matter is, he doesn't mind stooping to do things that are absolutely wrong. God will deal with him.

But the interesting thing, though Esau may be very attractive on the outside, down underneath he had really no capacity for God whatsoever. And if there ever was a man of the world, he's that man of the world. He is just the physical man, and that's all.

That's all he lived for. But down underneath, Jacob, there was a desire for the things that are spiritual. And it took a long time for God to rub off all of the debris on top and to remove all the coverings to get down where it was.

But he finally did. And we'll see before we're through with this man Jacob, and he goes almost all the way through the book of Genesis now, that he was God's man all the way along. But he didn't demonstrate it until late in life, and we'll come to that.

Now we are told here an incident that took place in their home there. Now, you can well understand that in a home like this, that things would not be too even. There would be the difficulty.

There would be this matter of conflict, and it would not be called a happy home.