WE HAVE considered together the bird
symbol Jesus used for humanity—sparrows. We have also
considered the animal symbol for our race—sheep. We have
found with each that Jesus chose the symbol because the bird
or the animal needed His love, not that it deserved His
love.
After sparrows and sheep, there is a
third nature symbol used for humanity in the Bible—goats.
This symbol is used in association with sheep, but in
contrast to sheep. The sheep and the goats are together, but
God separates them. "Jacob have I loved," He once said, "but
Esau have I hated."
We wouldn't have supposed it would have
been that way. We would have loved the goats—and Esau. Goats
have many superior qualities. They are superior in
intelligence. "Silly sheep" is a deserved epithet. A wise
herder, in wolf country, is said to run a few goats with his
sheep; because when the killers appear, the goats will
bunch, the sheep will follow their example and crowd around
them, and the wolves do not succeed in scattering the sheep
and cutting them down one by one.
As far as this world is concerned, Esau
was a far more admirable person than Jacob. He had dash,
virility, adventuresomeness, manliness—give him the open
field, a fiery mount, a band of kindred spirits to ride
behind him, and he'd show a thing or two to that sissified
sneak hanging around his mother's kitchen. Anybody with half
an eye could see that Esau had far more of the qualities of
leadership than Jacob did. And it was a pretty raw deal that
life handed out to Esau, so he and his friends thought.
The difference was that God saw him, not
with the half eye of human admiration, but with the divine
Eye of inward comprehension. Why was it God loved Jacob and
turned away from Esau? It was entirely because Jacob needed
and wanted God's love. Esau needed it, too, but he wanted it
not-till after he had profanely thrown it away. So the
silly, helpless sheep need the shepherd's loving care, and
they return love for love.
God loved Jacob and Jacob loved God. God
loved Esau and Esau loved Esau. So God withdrew His love
from Esau; and He said to the goats on His left hand,
"Depart!"
