Jacob And Esau
"But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept."
Genesis 33:4
"Two Nations Are In Your Womb"
25:21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer; and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it is thus, why do I live?" So she went to inquire of the Lord.
23 And the Lord said to her "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples, born of you, shall be divided: the one shall be stronger than the other; the elder shall serve die younger."
24 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 The first came forth red, all his body like a hairy mantle: so they called his name Esau.
26 Afterward his brother came forth and his hand had taken hold of Esau's heel; so his name was called. Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27 When the boys grew up. Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
If Cain had loved Abel as God loved Abel, together they could have been received by God. This was what Cain had to do. If that had happened, enough foundation would have been laid within three generations for the Messiah to come, and the perfected dispensation would have materialized. But this did not work out. Cain killed Abel, and the foundation at that level came to naught.
After this, the dispensation became more complicated. Cain and Abel were two brothers born from one mother. To be reborn they must go back to the womb. Since they were born at different times, Cain and Abel were two quite different persons, and their emotions were not close. Thus when God came to attempt the dispensation for a second time, he used twins.
The position of elder brother and younger brother among twins born an hour or two apart cannot be asserted in the same way as brothers who are one year or more apart.
When Rebecca was pregnant and she prayed, "God, within my womb there are two babies and they are fighting each other! What shall I do'" God answered. "There are two nations in your womb, the elder one will serve the younger."
Why did God say that? It is a most crucial point in the Bible, but no theologian knows the answer to this day. It was because. God had to establish the correct heavenly order, to put it right side up. That is why God said the elder would serve the younger.
How We Are Born Again
May 18, 1978
25:28 Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was boiling pottage, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.
30 And Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red pottage, for I am famished!"
(Therefore his name was called Edom.)
31 Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright."
32 Esau said, "1 am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?"
33 Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
According to the Divine Principle, the elder son is the one who must receive the blessing or inheritance. Thus Jacob, in the position of second son, could not receive the blessing without restoring his birthright and taking the position of elder son.
So one day, as you know, Jacob gave some pottage to Esau in exchange for the birthright. Since Esau took his birthright lightly he was willing to sell it in that way.
Thus the condition was already there to give the birthright to Jacob. For that reason, Jacob was entitled to receive the elder son's blessing from Isaac.
The Thirtieth Anniversary of the Unification Church
May 1, 1984
The victorious person must always be aware of the highest point and the center of things, wanting to bring himself closer to them. Let's examine whether this is true, or just a concept.
There are two long phases in the history of restoration, the Old Testament era and the New Testament era. Who are the victorious people in these eras? Was Noah persistent, or did he quit when things became difficult? Although no one understood Noah, he stood on his conviction that he mattered to God.
Who was another person who never gave up but just continued the fight? Jacob. He wanted to in the birthright of the elder son. Though people wondered what he was up to, he just kept going.
Jacob thought that if he was better in every way than his brother Esau, serving God more and being more attentive to his people, then he could have the birthright. Jacob already envisioned the goal when he started his course, seeing a vision of the future and then beginning his fight. On the other hand, Esau didn't care so much about the future but only about the present.
Tomorrow will come even for the person who cares only about today. If a person can envision both the present and the future, which would he place more emphasis on?
Would the person who wants an easy life look to the present or the fume?
The Victorious Day
June 28, 1980
27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, "My .son"; and he answered, "Here I am."
2 He said, "Behold. I am old; I do not know the day of my death.
3 Now then, take you, weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me,
4 and prepare for me savory food, such as 1 love, and bring it to me that I may eat; that I may bless you before I die."
5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it,
6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father speak to your brother Esau.
7 'Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food that I may eat it, and bless you before the Lord before I die.'
If Jacob had not had cooperation from his mother, the history of Israel could not have taken place. What did Jacob's mother do? In order to fulfill the will of God, she went to extreme measures, deceiving her own husband and her eldest son, thus allowing Jacob to be in a position where he could fulfill has mission from God.
Have you ever heard of someone trying to buy the birthright from his elder brother?
From a secular point of view, .Jacob's mother was a liar and Jacob himself was a swindler. The Bible records these things very clearly, as well as the fact that God glorified and blessed them. This has been a puzzle for Bible students.
Satan is the master of this world, so this satanic world is in the elder brother's position of holding sovereignty. If you confront Satan and inform him you have come to take over his world, will he just drop it and leave it to you?
Instead, you say that you will take back the world in the same way that Satan first stole it. It is only logical -- Satan took the world without God's permission, so you don't need Satan's permission to take at back to God.
How slid Satan take the world? First, he lied to his own Father [God] and to Adam, deceiving father and son. Furthermore, through Eve, Satan deceived the husband. In the process of the Fall, God and His daughter were separated when she became a betrayer.
In restoration the reverse way is necessary, so God and His daughter must be united; in other words, women should he united with God. Satan and women united in the Fall and took Adam and all things of creation away from God. In restoration, God and women unite to take the husband and all things of creation back to God.
That was the position of Jacob and his mother, Rebecca. Here mother and son united with God to cut the fallen tie, which in this case was to the husband, and to the son who was on the satanic side.
Now you understand why that process was acceptable in the sight of God. Their first task was restoration of the birthright of the eldest son. Why was this necessary? The elder son's position is always that of master or dominator, which was the right and authority bestowed on the eldest son.
In biblical history the family heritage always passed from elder son to elder son. Since the elder son's position was stolen by Satan, God used Jacob to restore that position by taking it back.
By restoring the elder son's position, Jacob could restore dominion over all things and over men, Since Jacob totally united with God, once he could take the position of elder son he completed God's sovereignty, ending the satanic rule.
By Jacob's cutting off the satanic line, restoring the elder son's position to God and creating a tribe and people God finally had a territory and people He could claim. This is why God gave Jacob the name Israel, which means victor.
The Day of the Victory of Heaven
October 4, 1979
27:8 Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you.
9 Go to the flock, and fetch me two good kids, that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he loves:
10 and you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies."
11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother: "Behold, my brother Esau is it hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
12 Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing."
13 His mother said to him. "Upon me be your curse, my son; only obey my word, and go, fetch them to me."
Several times Jacob used deception to attain some goal. In order to deceive his own father he used a kidskin to imitate his brother Esau, who was a very hairy man. Jacob came in to his father, who was practically blind, and let him touch the hide on his arms, and because he convinced his father he was Esau, Jacob received the blessing in place of his brother.
How could such deception be accepted in the world of God? No one has understood this. According to the principle of creation, only the eldest son can receive the inheritance. Therefore, in order to attain the inheritance of God Jacob had to move into the elder son's position.
Jacob was not practicing outright deception; he had already bought the birthright when Esau was very hungry and carelessly sold his birthright to his younger brother for a pot of lentils. In reality, Esau had already lost his birthright because he didn't care enough about it.
Jacob knew the will of God and God's dispensation, and he wanted to become the heir who could receive the inheritance, The Bible speaks of The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," not the God of Esau, but the God of Jacob.
This is so because Jacob was right there to receive the inheritance. In order to win that position unselfishly for the fulfillment of the will of God, he had to bring himself to the eldest sods position.
In Jacob's family, as long as Esau was not ready to unite with his younger brother, the whole family would continue to have difficulty. Esau and his father were in Satan's position. Nothing will automatically come into unity.
They had to work very hard. Esau and Isaac were in Satan's position, so the mother and Jacob had to work to accomplish God's purpose. Rebecca had to work to bring them under Jacob. How difficult it was for her.
Esau and his father had to be subjugated naturally, not by force or any other means.
They had to say, "Yes, you are right. I will come under you." So Rebecca had to work very hard. Jacob had to work hard, of course, but his mother had to work even harder.
She had to work hundreds of times harder. How much rests upon the mother! Even with Jacob's hard work, the mother's responsibility was necessary to make the restoration possible.
The Completed Testament Era and Me
February 14, 1993
27:15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son;
16 and the skins of the kids she put upon his hands and upon the smooth part of his neck;
17 and she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
18 So he went in to his father and said, "My father," and he said, "Here I am; who are you, my son?"
19 Jacob said to his father; "I am Esau your first-born. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game that you may bless me."
20 But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly; my son?" He answered, "Because the Lord your God granted me success."
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near, that I may feel you my son to know whether you are really my son Esau or not."
22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father; who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.
24 He said. "Are you really my son Esau?" He answered, "I am."
25 Then he said, "Bring it to me that I may eat of my son's game and bless you." So he brought it to him and he ate; and he brought him wine and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son."
27 So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said. "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed!
28 May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be every one who curses you, and blessed be even one who blesses you!"
It has always seemed strange that a mother would deceive her husband and eldest son and side with her younger son. Why would God allow that? Jacob knew what he had to do and was serious enough about God's work that he tried to win the inheritance, but Esau was so casual about his birthright that he let Jacob have it for a bowl of food.
Esau worried about himself first. By assisting Jacob to do something which Isaac wouldn't have agreed to, Rebecca clearly was taking responsibility in the providence as well.
Isaac unknowingly gave his blessing to Jacob, who was pretending to be Esau. When Esau came to Isaac to receive the blessing and discovered what his brother had done, Esau was so angry that he tried to kill Jacob.
But Jacob escaped and worked hard for 21 years in Haran. Even though he had inherited his father's blessing, he couldn't come back home, and once he did return home he couldn't automatically claim to he Abel because he didn't know how Esau would respond.
If Esau had rejected him, then Jacob would have had no place to go. In restoration, Esau had to accept the fact that Isaac had given his blessing to Jacob and to add his own blessing as well. Cain has to approve Abel becoming Abel.
Abel's Right Path from the Providential Point of View
December 30, 1979
Haran
29:20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed."
22 So Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
23 But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her.
24 Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.
25 And in the morning, behold, it was Leah; and Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me"
In Haran, Jacob worked very hard, but his uncle Laban was vicious and took advantage of him, deceiving him more than ten times. While enduring these difficulties Jacob had to create his family Jacob worked very hard to get married; his uncle promised to give him one daughter in exchange for seven years' labor, but then Laban did not give him the girl he wanted.
Because Lahan was on the satanic side, he did not wart to immediately give up the daughter that Jacob wanted. He wanted to delay the heavenly schedule so he made Jamb work another seven year's to marry his second daughter.
Jacob would have come under satanic dominion again if he had decided to just be content with the first marriage, which had been arranged by Laban. Jacob had to go on until his goal was achieved.
After seven years of hard labor, Jacob earned Rachel, the daughter that he originally wanted as his bride. Twelve children were born to the two wives, and their descendants later became the twelve different tribes of Israel. For 21 years Jacob was a sojourner who suffered away from his home.
Children's Day 1976
November 22, 1976
29:26 Laban said, "It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the first-born.
27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years."
28 Jacob did so and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to wife.
29 (Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maid.)
30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.
For the first seven years, Jacob worked hard to gain the hand of Rachel, but whom did he get? He got Leah instead. We see that the intent of God was to reverse the process of the Fall. Therefore, by first going through the process with Leah and then with Rachel, he could restore the Fall.
Do you see that? In the world, there are two types of women. One type is fallen and the other type is in the restored position. Just like God's position, the Lord to come faces the same problem of two women, one in the fallen position and the other restored. How can he restore fallen Eves position and bring her back to the original Eve's position?
Leah stole her younger sister's position. First embracing the satanic side [Leah], later embracing the heavenly side [Rachel], Jacob tried to work this out. We can see how hard he worked, even though it was difficult.
Basically the problem for Jacob was none other than these two women fighting each other. We know that restoration gained by paying restitution is the formula of history -- an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth -- that one-for-one principle. Rebecca, in the woman's position, worked with a clear purpose of bringing oneness centering on Jacob, to subjugate the one in Cain's position [Esau].
She did not know at that time, but we can look back in history and pinpoint that now.
We can now see how difficult it was for her at that time. So it was Rachel's position, not Leah's, which had to be upheld and restored together with her. How difficult it was to achieve that.
In Jewish history, the main history in God's providence of restoration, we see that disharmony between these two women caused the later division between northern and southern Israel.
They became the ten tribes of the northern kingdom and the two tribes of the south.
Leah and Rachel, as I have already stressed, should have come into unity, but they didn't. They fought. Leah and the servants gave birth to ten children, while Rachel had two.
There were divisions within the family, ultimately becoming a divided nation, even fighting a war in the future. So here, the person in the position of fallen Eve, and the two women [Rachel and Leah] must become one and he restored.
They must become one, and then go back to God. Then the brothers [their sons] would follow behind them. The mother Rebecca, together with Rachel, had to pave the road for them to go on. But Leah did not help them; she even opposed them. These three generations should have become one.
The Completed Testament Age and Me
February 14, 1993
31:17 So Jacob rose, and set his sons and his wives on camels:
18 and he drove away all his cattle, all his livestock which he had gained, the cattle in his possession which he had acquired in Padan-Aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.
God's children forsook their original position and went to dwell in Satan's realm. The basic struggle of history has always centered upon the second son's efforts to win the elder son's position. Only when that process is successful can people rise to another level in the providence
This is obvious in the story of Jacob, who first claimed the birthright of his elder brother, Esau, and finally overcame him with love -- not force -- winning his elder brothers love in return. Jacob was the first person to successfully subjugate the elder brother.
Jacob could not merely buy the birthright; he also went to the satanic world (the land of his uncle Laban) and struggled there for 21 years in order to gain the physical victory by becoming prosperous and establishing his family. That physical victory was an absolute requirement for returning home and winning his elder brother over.
Jacob's pattern became the classic one, followed by later providential figures. Jacob started from the individual level; what he accomplished was later expanded to the tribal and national levels. Jesus' mission was to fulfill Jacob's dispensation on the national level.
The descendants of Jacob, the chosen people, were physically removed from their original land and taken into the enemy land, Egypt. Only after a long struggle there could they head back to Canaan. Even then, they had to fight and destroy seven enemy tribes in Canaan before they could settle the land.
Holy Wine Ceremony
August 20. 1985
32:6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saving, We came to your brother Esau, and he is corning to meet you, and four hundred men with him."
7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels into two companies...
32:17 He instructed the foremost, "When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, 'To whom do you belong? Where arc you going? And whose are these before you?
18 Then you shall say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau; and moreover he is behind us.'"
When Jacob returned after 21 years in a foreign country, he had prospered and was a wealthy man. Esau and Jacob weren't completely isolated during those 21 years but were very conscious of each other. The reason that Jacob worked hard to earn his
wives and property was so that he would have enough power to overcome Esau's power, Jacob didn't work hard for his own sake but for the dispensation.
Thus he sent all his servants and possessions to his brother, trying to win his heart.
Jacob asked only that Esau accept him and give his kiss of approval. In this case, material things served perfectly as a sacrifice for Cain in the dispensation.
Esau had sent people to try to kill Jacob but as he received many gifts from Jacob he came to feel that he was wrong to think lightly of God's birthright and sell it so cheaply. He could understand that God loved Jacob more, and since he didn't want to rebel against God, he came to love his brother.
This story has confused many people, but now it makes sense, and we can see that it is most important for our own relationships. This formula applies to every situation and every age.
Abel's Right Path from the Providential Point of View
December 30, 1979
You recall that Esau received a great many gifts when Jacob freely gave of his earnings of 21 years. What is the significance of this act? In doing so, Jacob set the condition by which we also can purchase our birthright through giving our fortune.
Thereafter, all religious people have given up their material wealth to the satanic world, and in doing so could not only win the satanic world but win their birthright.
Jesus also gave up everything, possessing nothing throughout his entire mission. Once you know the Divine Principle, the Bible suddenly becomes very logical.
True Parents' Day from the Historical Point of View
April 18, 1977
What Is Thy Name?
32:23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.
24 And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.
25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob's thigh was put out of joint as he wrested with him.
26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said. "I will not let you go, unless you bless me."
27 And he said to him "What is your name?" And he said, Jacob."
28 Then he said, "Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed."
29 Then Jacob asked him, "Tell me. I pray: your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him.
30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peni'el, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved."
The purpose of the providence is to establish one man as the Messiah who, as the representative of the individual, family, nation and world, can stand in this vertical position, recognized by God and Satan. This person has to wrestle with God as well as Satan. Jacob had to wrestle with the angel at the ford of Jabbok.
If you want to be a sports champion, you have to defeat the previous champions. The Messiah has to be the one who can wrestle the blessing Irons God so that even Satan can agree that this person deserves the blessing.
If you go the way of religion, you will be opposed by the masters of this world. Why?
Who is the master of this world and the spiritual world? The master of this world is not God. Because of the Fall God cannot be the master of this world. Beginning from the individual level, the master is Satan. If we want to establish God as the master, we naturally experience opposition from the existing master of this world.
Unite, The Kingdom Of Heaven Is At Hand
March 5, 1989
Having been triumphant in Haran, Jacob needed to return to his home to face a final showdown with Esau. Unless he could triumph in that situation, no decisive victory could be won.
On the way back to his homeland, Jacob had to cross the ford of Jabbok, and there he struggled all night with an angel. That struggle stemmed from the fact that Jacobs showdown involved two families, When Jacob went to Haran he was single, but he returned co Canaan with his family.
At the same time, Esau also had his family. What was the difference between the two families? God and Jacob's family were on one side as one force, while Satan and Esau's family were another force.
Satan challenged Jacob from both directions, spiritually he had to wrestle very hard with the angel at the brook of Jabbok, all night long. Jacob thought, "You cannot stop me, because I have 21 years of hard work behind me, and now I'm going back to fulfill the final chapter of the dispensation that God has given me. I will win. Now nobody can stop me."
All during his 21 years of suffering, Jacob was with God. He felt the presence of God with him, and in difficult times God guided and comforted him. There were many trials and tests given by Laban, but every time that victory came, Jacob knew that his power came from God. He knew that he was protected by God and that he was chosen by God.
His wrestling with the angel was so vicious that the angel dislocated Jacob's hip, but even then Jacob had no intention of giving up. He hung on, struggling hard, and the angel knew he could not defeat him. At Jacob's demand he blessed Jacob.
For the first time in history, a man fought against an angel and won victory. By winning over the angel, Jacob established two conditions. First, because the defeated angel represented the spirit world, Jacob could now have dominion over the spirit world.
Secondly, because Satan is a fallen angel, Jacob now possessed a condition to win over the satanic world. When the angel gave up, he gave Jacob a blessing, and gave him a new name, Israel, which means "victorious one" Jacob truly established victory and was in a position to inherit the satanic world.
This meant that whatever Jacob's course might be, the entire spirit world would assist him because of the condition he set. He really conquered spirit world by winning over the angel. He also nullified satanic attack, because spirit world had already surrendered to him. Spiritually, the battle was won.
Children's Day 1976
November 22, 1976
Reconciliation
33:1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.
2 And he put the maids with their children in front, them Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.
3 He himself went on after them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.
Centering on Jacob, we know what happened. When Jacob behaved as he did, bowing down before Esau, do you think his mother was very happy, or was she angry, saying, "You are Abel, the blessed one, and you should become more dignified"? No, she applauded what Jacob did.
Her husband, Jacob's father, applauded him also, saying, "You have done right." That was natural subjugation. Of course, Esau, too, felt very good. Otherwise he would have rebelled against Jacob. Esau, in Cain's position, embraced the younger brother in Abel's position. This was a historical embrace. That means the whole world changed its direction 180 degrees, just by Esau embracing Jacob.
The whole direction of history changed. The "whole world" at that time meant the "whole family. The family was the whole world. That family came to bear the name of Israel, which means victor. What did Jacob win over, and how was he victorious?
He won over Cain and he won over Satan.
The Completed Testament Era and Me
February 14, 1993
The restoration of Cain and Abel was completed for the first time through the lives of Jacob and Esau. God won His first victory on earth at the moment the two brothers became one and Esau embraced Jacob. Through his unity with Jacob, Esau and his descendants also received the blessing of God.
Esau was born into Satan's position, but during the process of restoration Esau cooperated with Jacob, however unwillingly, and when Esau welcomed Jacob, the two positions were restored, and God could extend an equal blessing to Esau.
True Parents Day From the Historical Point of View
April 18, 1977
When Esau opened his arms and affectionately welcomed Jacob, they fulfilled the restitutional condition to remove the fallen nature. For the first time, the foundation of substance was laid successfully.
When Jacob and Esau succeeded in making the substantial offering, they restored through restitution the previous failures in making substantial offerings, the failures of Cain and Abet in Adam's family, and offering of Ham and Shem in Noah's family.
Then victory in the providence centered on Abraham also restored through restitution, horizontally in one family, the long vertical course of history in which God had been working to restore the foundation of substance... At last, the foundation for the Messiah was established.
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3
35:10 And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." So his name was called Israel.
11 And God said to him, "I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you.
12 The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you...
13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.
14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.
15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.
God's work to lay the foundation for the Messiah, which He first tried to establish in Adam's family, had to be conducted three times because the central figures of the providence of restoration could not fulfill their portion of responsibility.
The third attempt was in Abraham's time, yet even this was prolonged when he failed in the symbolic offering. Isaac and his family inherited the will and laid the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance. At last, the foundation for the Messiah was established. One would expect that the Messiah would have come on the earth at that time.
However, the foundation for the Messiah also requires a social environment conducive to his coming. The foundation must make it feasible for this satanic world to be restored into God's Kingdom ruled by the Messiah. In the providence in Adam's and Noah's families, there were no other families that could possibly attack or corrupt the central family if either of these families had laid the foundation for the Messiah on the family level, the Messiah could have come without opposition.
However, by Abraham's time, fallen people had already built up satanic nations that could easily overpower Abraham's family hence, even though the foundation for the Messiah was laid at that time, it was a limited foundation, on the family level. The Messiah could not have safely come on that foundation. A foundation of a sovereign state was needed to cope with the nations of the satanic world.
Such support would have been necessary even if Abraham had not failed in the symbolic offering but had succeeded with his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, in making the substantial offering to lay the family foundation for the Messiah. It still would not have been safe for the Messiah to come until Abraham's descendants had multiplied in Canaan and established a national foundation for the Messiah.
As it was, though the descendants of Isaac had established the family foundation for the Messiah, they would leave their homeland and suffer in a foreign land for 400 years as the penalty for Abraham's mistake. Despite their suffering in Egypt, they would flourish and consolidate as a people. They would return to Canaan and build the national foundation for the Messiah as a sovereign nation prepared for the Messiah and his work.
A course of restitution had been placed upon the shoulders of Abraham's descendants due to his mistake in the symbolic offering. Jacob was to begin this course of restitution, not Isaac. Indeed, the one shouldering the major burden to walking the course of restitution is the Abel-type person who serves as the central figure of the substantial offering.
Abel in Adam family, Ham a Noah's family, Isaac in Abraham's family, and Jacob in Isaac's family carried the major burdens in walking the restitutional courses set down for their families.
Among them, Jacob was the only Abel figure who stood upon the foundation for the Messiah. Therefore, he would walk the model course for the separation of Satan, setting the pattern for the Messiah to follow at his coming.
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3
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