Good Morning.
And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” (Genesis 27:36)
Do you notice what is wrong in the statement? Do you notice what Esau did in this statement to his father? While it is true that Jacob took the blessing that Isaac intended for Esau, it is not true that Jacob took away the birthright. Because Esau was profane and had no regard for the birthright, he gave it away for a bowl of soup. Presumably, Isaac is unaware of this, and so, Esau uses this act of deceit on Jacob’s part to suggest the other act was deceitful. In the words, he mixes the truth with a lie and spins a web of deceit himself. When Esau made the claim that Jacob’s name means “supplanter” he became the accuser of his brother.
This is the age-old tactic of the Adversary — take something that is true and mingle it with a lie, thus setting a snare for those who would fall for it. Furthermore Satan, who is the father of lies, is the “accuser of our brethren” (Rev. 12:10). The Greek term diabolos, most often translated as “the devil,” actually means “accuser” or “slanderer.” Our Adversary never fails to lob accusations at God’s people and especially Israel. In fact, Esau’s accusation against Jacob still resonates today, even among Christians who have fallen for the lie that Israel is a deceiver.
We know that Satan will always be looking to slander and accuse us but there is no reason that we should try and give him more ammunition. In other words, it’s one thing we launches an attack based solely on lies but then there are times those accusations are tinged with reality. Because of bad decisions we have made, he will take those and twist them into something else to diminish our testimony. While there is nothing we can do to undo the past, we can determine that going forward, we will not give the Adversary anything to work with and exploit for our harm. If we pray, discern and think before we act, we will deny the Accuser of any substance with which to harm us with.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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