SPEAKER_00: And welcome to our service today on the topic of Esau's venison.
SPEAKER_00: And we read the well-known story of Esau and Jacob from Genesis chapter 27.
SPEAKER_00: Hear the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now it came to pass when Isaac was old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son, and said to him, My son, he answered him, Here I am.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to him, Behold, now I am old, and I do not know the day of my death.
SPEAKER_00: Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver, your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.
SPEAKER_00: Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau, his son, and Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it.
SPEAKER_00: So Rebekah spoke to Jacob, her son, saying, Indeed, I heard your father speak to Esau, your brother, saying, Bring me game, and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.
SPEAKER_00: Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice, according to what I command you.
SPEAKER_00: Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves.
SPEAKER_00: And you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.
SPEAKER_00: And Jacob said to Rebecca, his mother, Look, Esau, my brother, is a hairy man.
SPEAKER_00: I am a smooth-skinned man.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him, and I shall bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: But his mother said to him, Let your curse be on me, my son, only obey my voice and go get them for me.
SPEAKER_00: And he went and got them, and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food such as his father loved.
SPEAKER_00: And we read an explanation from Arcana Celestia number 3313, where it says, And Isaac loved Esau because of the venison he had in his mouth, or because he ate of his game, means that divine goodness, in the Lord's divine rational mind, loved the goodness that grows out of truth.
SPEAKER_00: Esau represents goodness in the Lord's divine natural and game or venison symbolizes the good of life resulting from natural truth.
SPEAKER_00: In his mouth means that he responded to it with earthly desire in the word.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever lies deeply within and proceeds from goodness is said to be in the heart, while whatever lies on the surface and proceeds from truth is said to be in the mouth.
SPEAKER_00: Goodness that comes from truth, here represented by Esau and symbolized by game or venison, is relatively shallow.
SPEAKER_00: It is an object of earthly desire, and it grows out of truth.
SPEAKER_00: And so it is said to have been in Isaac's mouth.
SPEAKER_00: And we read from the Divine Providence, number 211, about why it is that the Lord acts so secretly in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: The reason that divine providence acts so secretly that scarcely anyone knows of its existence is to prevent mankind from perishing.
SPEAKER_00: For a person's native character, which is his will, never acts in accord with divine providence.
SPEAKER_00: A person's native character harbors an innate hostility to that providence.
SPEAKER_00: And so if a person were to be conscious of the working of divine providence in his life, he would be angered and he'd be enraged at God and he would perish.
SPEAKER_00: And for this reason, the Lord, by his divine providence, continually leads a person in freedom.
SPEAKER_00: And the freedom appears to a person no otherwise than to be his own.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Here end the lessons.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game.
SPEAKER_00: But Rebekah loved Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: The story of Jacob and Esau does not exactly hinge on Isaac's love of venison.
SPEAKER_00: But understanding that love and understanding why he wanted that venison is a key to understanding what this story is all about.
SPEAKER_00: On our summer vacation travels, maybe especially if we've gone to national parks or mountains or lakes, it's likely that we have been interested to see various animals that we don't normally see around here.
SPEAKER_00: And some of these might be animals like moose or bison or elk or antelopes, animals that are beautiful and graceful and exotic and exciting to see.
SPEAKER_00: And the same used to be true, and in some ways still is true, of white-tailed deer, even though they are around here now so common that they're seen as garden pests by many people.
SPEAKER_00: At the same time, over this summer, we we may also have seen sheep or goats or various types of cattle.
SPEAKER_00: And they don't hold nearly the same kind of interest as those other animals do.
SPEAKER_00: And the difference between these two types of animals, that is, the common domesticated herd animals and the wild animals that are similar to deer, may help us to understand the Jacob and Esau story.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, why was it that Isaac wanted venison?
SPEAKER_00: And why did he prefer Esau?
SPEAKER_00: And why was it so important for Jacob and not Esau to carry on the story?
SPEAKER_00: And why did all the lies and deceit in the story go unpunished?
SPEAKER_00: And key, why was it important that Isaac be prevented from eating the venison that he longed for?
SPEAKER_00: There are spiritual reasons for every one of these questions, and they describe parallels that are true in our own development, in our own regeneration.
SPEAKER_00: Now, deer are mentioned frequently in the word, and they are unique in being the only wild mammal that the children of Israel were allowed to hunt for food.
SPEAKER_00: Because the rule was that mammals that divide the hoof, having cloven hooves, and chew the cud, that you may eat.
SPEAKER_00: That's from Leviticus 11.
SPEAKER_00: And this excluded animals like camels, horses, donkeys, pigs, rabbits, and other small mammals that you would expect the children of Israel to have eaten.
SPEAKER_00: And it basically meant that only domesticated mammals could be eaten.
SPEAKER_00: And only some of those, as well as various birds and fish.
SPEAKER_00: The only exception was deer.
SPEAKER_00: In their different types, there are a lot of different kinds of deer.
SPEAKER_00: But although deer could serve for food, they could not serve for sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't sacrifice deer, they sacrificed other animals.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason that they could not serve for sacrifices is the same reason that Isaac would not be allowed to be served venison before blessing his son.
SPEAKER_00: So what is wrong with venison?
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is that deer are never criticized in the Old or New Testament or in the heavenly doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: They're never compared with anything negative at all.
SPEAKER_00: The references to them are always positive.
SPEAKER_00: And so the issue with them isn't something that is clearly explained.
SPEAKER_00: The word says many good things about deer.
SPEAKER_00: For example, in Genesis 49, in blessing his sons, Israel says, Naphtali is a deer let loose.
SPEAKER_00: He uses beautiful words.
SPEAKER_00: And our lesson in the Arcana, it makes this comment.
SPEAKER_00: A deer let loose means the freedom that natural affection possesses.
SPEAKER_00: A deer is a woodland creature that loves more than all others to be free.
SPEAKER_00: And the natural, too, is like this, for it loves to engage in what delights its affections, and therefore to feel free.
SPEAKER_00: For freedom is the hallmark of affection.
SPEAKER_00: And similarly, in true Christianity, we read when it comes to the spiritual or theological teachings of the church, the nations that have freedom are like majestic deer with great racks of antlers running wherever they wish through fields and forests.
SPEAKER_00: And Isaiah says, Behold, your God will come, and then the lame shall leap like a deer.
SPEAKER_00: And Apocalypse Explained says of this: this is said of the coming of the Lord, the lame signifies those who are in good but not genuine truth.
SPEAKER_00: But not genuine good, because they're in ignorance of truth, through which good comes.
SPEAKER_00: To leap as a deer signifies to have joy from the perception of truth.
SPEAKER_00: And Psalm 42 says, As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God.
SPEAKER_00: That's where our first hymn camp comes from.
SPEAKER_00: So in what way can we be said to thirst for God?
SPEAKER_00: And the answer is that we thirst for answers.
SPEAKER_00: We thirst for the truth.
SPEAKER_00: We thirst for knowledge and enlightenment so that we know what to do.
SPEAKER_00: The image of a deer panting for water is like our natural desire to find answers that are tangible and sensible.
SPEAKER_00: In Psalm 18, it says, God is my strength and power.
SPEAKER_00: And this meaning of placing feet like those of a deer may be seen from the fact that there's nothing spiritual about making a person's feet like those of a deer nimble and fit to run with.
SPEAKER_00: Yet the idea has a spiritual implication, as is evident from the references that immediately follow to being set by Jehovah on high places and caused to walk on them.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning spiritual affection on a level that's above natural affection.
SPEAKER_00: Because deer are sure-footed, and some kinds of deer have this amazing ability to walk on cliffs and rocky, rocky terrain without falling.
SPEAKER_00: And the meaning here, of course, is that if we have feet like a deer, we will be able to negotiate the seemingly difficult terrain taking us to the higher path that the Lord calls us to.
SPEAKER_00: So what is the issue with deer that prevents them from being used in sacrifices?
SPEAKER_00: And what is it that prevented Isaac from having the venison that he loved before blessing his son?
SPEAKER_00: And the answer that, it is the issue that confronts all of us, everyone, as we try to live a good life in this world.
SPEAKER_00: And the issue is that people usually want to become spiritually better people by doing what comes naturally to them, what they're used to doing, what they're familiar with, and that they resist the seemingly unnatural and artificial rules that stifle their more authentic interests and try to redirect their behaviors.
SPEAKER_00: Being like a deer is all about being free to do as we wish.
SPEAKER_00: Because a deer represents what's natural.
SPEAKER_00: It does not represent what is spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: Now, it's interesting that many passages about deer emphasize this idea of freedom, even asserting that a deer is a woodland creature that loves more than all others to be free.
SPEAKER_00: And the modern phenomena that we experience around here of deer wandering around suburban communities, which they do throughout the United States, illustrates this.
SPEAKER_00: Deer simply don't respond well to domestication.
SPEAKER_00: They don't respond well to confinement.
SPEAKER_00: But they're perfectly happy to drift around our neighborhoods in close proximity to people, especially now that they're no longer hunted the way that they used to be.
SPEAKER_00: But imagine cows or sheep in the same situation.
SPEAKER_00: They would be lost, they would be in danger, and they would undoubtedly cause even more trouble than the deer do.
SPEAKER_00: But while cows and sheep do not have the beauty and the grace or the intelligence of deer, they have an essential quality that the deer lacks, which I'll mention in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: So here was Isaac's plan.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac sent Esau off to hunt game and bring him venison.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Take your weapons, your quiver or your bow, go to the field and hunt game for me.
SPEAKER_00: Esau's weapons stand for the doctrines that he already happened to know.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody knows doctrines.
SPEAKER_00: The things that we happen to know already, that we've heard.
SPEAKER_00: We know what's right and wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And his mission in the spiritual sense was to bring Isaac a good life.
SPEAKER_00: To bring Isaac a good life, to bring Isaac's good life down under the natural level, to create for him a good life based on natural truths consistent with natural loves.
SPEAKER_00: Because Isaac stands for the Lord's divine rational at this point in the story, and at this point of the story, he is wishing to know what a life on the natural level, a good life on the natural level is.
SPEAKER_00: So she's interested in what is genuinely true on a spiritual level.
SPEAKER_00: And since she stands for this affection for truth, she immediately sees that hunting around for ideas and behaviors that feel right isn't the answer.
SPEAKER_00: So her plan is to bring Jacob into the picture and to fool Isaac into thinking that he is Esau and believing that the savory food made from kids' goats from the flock is venison.
SPEAKER_00: That is, her plan is to dress up divine truth in the natural so that it appears to be natural good.
SPEAKER_00: And get Isaac to accept the external innocence of spiritual truth, meant by kid goats, as venison.
SPEAKER_00: That is, to lead him in a way so that he believes that what comes from the divine and from religion is actually something that you will really enjoy, even on the natural level.
SPEAKER_00: And her plan is actually brilliant.
SPEAKER_00: Her plan is brilliant.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the plan that the Lord uses with each one of us to bring light to our natural perceptions and to move us away from following our natural inclinations and towards following Him.
SPEAKER_00: That is, the Lord enlightens us in different ways that we might not expect, by interesting and pleasing narratives such as those in the Word, by repeated sayings that convince us that the happiness of others is as important as our own happiness, or by the suggestion that living according to the precepts of spiritual laws will bring us happiness in this world.
SPEAKER_00: And in many other ways, a spiritual life is brought to us as masquerading as if it was a pleasing natural life.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not really a lie, but if our self-centered self was aware of it, it wouldn't like it.
SPEAKER_00: And so we eat the savory food made from kid goats, thinking that it is venison.
SPEAKER_00: And we will bless Jacob thinking that he is Esau.
SPEAKER_00: Now, naturally, Jacob is concerned about this deception.
SPEAKER_00: And he worries that the plan will backfire.
SPEAKER_00: Because with us, what if our self-centered desires caught on to the fact that the stories and explanations that we hear from the Word are actually going to threaten their joy, their joy and happiness?
SPEAKER_00: Our natural affections want to control our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And our natural affections don't quickly catch on to the fact that these ideals and stories that we hear are going to take that control away.
SPEAKER_00: But even though we may worry that living a good life, according to what the word teaches, will ruin all of our fun and lead to a boring and burdensome existence, the truth is really just the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: This is simply the way the divine providence works.
SPEAKER_00: It leads us in ways that we do not see or understand so that we come out the other end, understanding that true things really are true, that we can't just do whatever we feel like and be happy at the end of it.
SPEAKER_00: And so what happens in the story is that even though the way we read it, it's a story of deception, the truth is there is there was no deception at all.
SPEAKER_00: Because Rebecca's plan to promote Jacob and deprive Isaac of his venison is actually giving him what he wanted all along.
SPEAKER_00: He thought venison was the answer.
SPEAKER_00: Venison was not the answer.
SPEAKER_00: He just didn't know it.
SPEAKER_00: And the same is true for us.
SPEAKER_00: The idea that willingly following the Lord and not ourselves in freedom isn't a lie, even though it may seem that way to our unregenerate selves.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the thing that the animals of the flock and herd have, the deer lack, is the willingness to be led that is the hallmark of innocence and spirituality.
SPEAKER_00: The kid goats stand for that innocence on an external level.
SPEAKER_00: A lamb would be even better.
SPEAKER_00: It is that same innocence, but in a deeper, more interior level.
SPEAKER_00: And they represent what comes from the Lord, what really comes from the Lord and what makes up heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is why those animals, the from the flock and herd, could be used for sacrifices, and why Esau's hunt for deer to satisfy his father was to no avail, because deer are natural, but the solution is really spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: And that is why we said in our recitation that my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.
SPEAKER_00: Which is not really to criticize deer.
SPEAKER_00: They're beautiful and they're beloved animals, and they have their place, but they are not the answer that will satisfy our hunger for goodness.
SPEAKER_00: And we close with the words of Psalm 18 where it says, For who is God except the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: And who is a rock except our God?
SPEAKER_00: God is my strength and power, and he makes my way perfect.
SPEAKER_00: He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and he sets me on my high places.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.