Sep 28, 2026
Daily Dose of Hope
September 28, 2026
Scripture: Genesis 36
Prayer: Holy God, We start by praising your name. You are a good God, a mighty God, and a wise God. Work in our lives. Speak to us. We need you, Lord. Over and over again, we need you. In these next few moments of silence, Lord, hear our prayers...In Your Name, Amen.
Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope daily Bible reading plan. We are currently doing a deep dive into the book of Genesis, which is both fascinating and challenging at the same time. Today’s reading is Genesis 36.
The text today covers the family of Esau. He has three wives, five sons, one daughter, and ten grandsons. By worldly standards, this seems to be a successful family. And not only does he have many descendants, ultimately his family became a powerful nation and dynasty. Many of his descendants became chiefs. And in verse 31, some were even called kings. So, he became a powerful patriarch! I mean, he had power and influence, his children and his descendants became very influential, wealthy people.
But another important element about Esau and his family is that Esau did not choose to walk with God. While he was deceived about his birthright, he was also careless with it. I mean, he sold it for a bowl of lentil soup. He just seemed to not care about the spiritual things. There is never a mention of Esau and God. And then, he chose to have Canaanite wives. We know this was frowned upon for the Hebrew people. Both Isaac and Jacob traveled far and wide to find non-Canaanite women to marry. The Canaanites were considered a sinful, rebellious, and idolatrous people. You wonder what kind of upbringing his children received. Did they know about the one true God or only about the false gods of the Canaanites?
I have mixed feelings about Esau. He clearly didn’t value the things of God, but did he ever receive the proper teaching from Isaac and Rebekah? Jacob was the chosen one very early on. Did Esau have a chance? I’m not sure what I think about this.
What is very sad is that Esau’s descendants end up being enemies of Isreal in the coming generations. There were frequent wars between the two nations.
Tomorrow, the discussion moves to Jacob’s sons and there is no more mention of Esau in the book of Genesis. What do you think about Esau? I would love to hear from some of you.
Blessings,
Pastor Vicki