Is there an additional meaning to the story of Esau and Jacob?
Yes, this section has a great prophetic message as it speaks to us about the Lord Himself and His two sons: the Old Testament people and the New Testament Church – both called Israel. Remember, it was Jacob who was the first to be called “Israel”, meaning one who “sees or perseveres with God”. This was the birthright Jacob had purchased from his brother Esau, and this was the blessing he had received from his father Isaac, “to see and persevere with God”. This foreshadows the two covenants. Old Israel (the Jewish nation, represented by Esau) “despised” its birthright, and by its rejection of the Lord, could not see and persevere with the God who had become Incarnate in the Person of Jesus Christ. New Israel (the Church, represented by Jacob), saw and recognized God in the flesh, and inherited the blessing, which should have belonged to the older son, the Hebrews, had they not rejected their birthright as the nation from which Emmanuel (“God with us”) was to come.
