He will prosper me in doing wrong; he will help me to cheat
my father.' But God showed him that that was just not what he would
do for him. He would help and protect him; but only while he was
doing RIGHT. God would not alter his moral laws for him or any man.
God would be just and righteous; and Jacob must be so likewise, till
he learnt to trust not merely in a God who happened to have a
special favour to him, but in the righteous God who loves justice,
and wishes to make men righteous even as he is righteous, and will
make them righteous, if they trust in him.
That was the reward of Jacob's faith--the best reward which any man
can have. He was taught to know God, whom truly to know is
everlasting life. And this, it seems to me, is the great revelation
concerning God which we learn from the history of Jacob and Esau.
That God, how much soever favour he may show to certain persons, is
still, essentially and always, a just God.
And now, my friends, if any of you are tempted to follow Jacob's
example, take warning betimes. You will be tempted. There are men
among you--there are in every congregation--who are, like Jacob,
sober, industrious, careful, prudent men, and fairly religious too;
men who have the good sense to see that Solomon's proverbs are true,
and that the way to wealth and prosperity is to fear God, and keep
his commandments.
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