Christian Family Services Ministry

Focus on the Gifts: (PROPHET TEACHER, GIVER, MERCY, EXHORTER, ORGANIZER, SERVER)

I believe understanding the Gifts helps see hidden things in scripture.  This second section reveals how ones Gift in scripture can reveal new insights into the passages.

Jacob and Esau and their Gifts

Genesis 25 through 33 tells us the stories of Jacob and Esau. Let’s take snapshots of different sections of their story in order to reveal what transpires between the twins and how it makes more sense knowing their Gifts.

First, we are told of their birth and their fighting in the womb. Esau is firstborn and is a Server. Jacob is a second born Giver.

Later, Jacob steals both the birthright (firstborn) and the blessing from his brother. Notice how little emphasis is placed on the birth order by Esau, the Server. Jacob, on the other hand, as a Giver wants possessions. He places emphasis on material things.
Esau is the hunter; instead of possessions, he is physically involved with his environment.  Hunting, fishing, and exploring his world is where his heart is.

Next, we see Jacob the Giver with the dream at Bethel, asking the Lord for possessions (bread to eat, clothing to wear). Shortly thereafter, he gets into a fourteen-year contract with Laban for wives, livestock, and other material possessions.

Knowing Jacob’s Giver Gift with its emphasis on the material as it affects the individual, we will see how the Gifts of each Jacob and Esau influences their meeting later on.

Genesis 33 has the meeting between Jacob and Esau. It has been at least 14 years, and Jacob is concerned about his brother’s anger for stealing the birthright.

So Jacob sends ahead material gifts for Esau as he journeys toward the meeting. He is fearful Esau is still angry with him. So to appease any possible anger, he sends possessions.

Esau, on the other hand, as soon as he meets Jacob, wants to know what all this stuff is for because he neither wants nor needs it. Physical possession are unimportant to the Server. So now we understand the motives involved in both the actions of a Giver and a Server.

As an aside, consider a person’s Gift when buying a gift for them. Different Gifts prize significantly different things.

For example, if perhaps someone wanted to buy me a gift. So thinking about it decided a valuable gift would be a case of Oysters for Christmas. Expensive yes, would I prize the gift? What do you think? I would look for someone to give them too as quickly as possible.

So it is with the Motivational Gifts each one prizes different things.

It should be noted that Laban’s Gift is Giver as well. Laban illustrates the negative attributes often apparent with Givers. He deceives Jacob into taking his firstborn daughter, knowing no one wants her. Then he proceeds to change Jacob’s wages ten times cheating him.

I suppose the Lord put a person with the same Gift as Jacob’s to get his attention about the abuse of the gifts. We may want to keep in mind this form of discipline from the Lord in our relationships.