Becoming Shrewd

To be shrewd means to be astute or sharp in practical matters but in these biblical examples we will show that being shrewd means to be able to see an end goal and perceive all of the steps necessary (to be accomplished) in order to obtain that goal.

Genesis 3:15 (7KB)

¹⁵ And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Our first example of being shrewd is the evil-genius Satan who took on the form of a serpent in the Garden of Eden. The form of the serpent is significant because a serpent has no arms or legs and is basically helpless other than what comes out of his mouth like venom (or in the example of Satan-the words of deceit with which he speaks).

Genesis 3:1 (7KB)

¹ Now the serpent was more cunning and crafty and shrewd than any other living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

Being in the form of a serpent (without arms or legs) the devil had to overcome and gain his objectives using deceit as his only tool. The devil also targeted the woman because she was much easier to deceive than a man (who operates by masculine logic and systematic reasoning). Women operate using feminine thinking which operates based on emotions and equality for all.

Genesis 3:2-5 (7KB)

² The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,

³ but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"

⁴ The serpent said to the woman, “It is not true that you will surely die;

⁵ "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

The devil started off by sowing doubt concerning the word of God and doubt about what God had said. Then Eve revealed her incomplete knowledge by saying that they were not to eat from it (or even touch it) or they would die. So, the devil said, “You will not surely die!” thus contradicting what God had said. Satan exploited the ignorance of Eve so that when he got her to touch the fruit (and she did not die) then she falsely assumed that she could also eat the fruit and not die.

Satan appealed to Eve's feminine sense of "equality for all" that she possessed as a woman. The devil implied to Eve that it was not right that God was on a higher level than she was and if she would eat the forbidden fruit then she could be like God (or be equal to God)!

Genesis 3:6 (7KB)

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

This was the first case of a woman taking leadership over her husband and it brought disaster and a curse to the entire world.

1 Timothy 2:14 (NKJV)

¹⁴ And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

Women are prone to deception and that is why God requires that women submit to the leadership of their own husbands. Men operate by masculine logic which is completely different than how the feminine mind of women operates.

This scripture also says that Adam was not deceived but the woman was the one who was deceived and fell into transgression. This means that Adam must have loved his wife so much that he did not want to be separated from her by spiritual death. Eve had already eaten the fruit and had died spiritually so Adam willfully chose to eat the fruit (and commit spiritual suicide) only to remain together with his wife. So, Adam ate willfully knowing the consequences of his actions while Eve ate out of deception.

Genesis 3:7-15 (7KB)

⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

⁸ They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

⁹ Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

¹⁰ He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."

¹¹ And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

¹² The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."

¹³ Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

¹⁴ So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

¹⁵ And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

After the fall God pronounced judgement upon the serpent and Satan’s domain would be restricted to the earth. Thus, it was fulfilled in principle that Satan would crawl on his belly (symbolic of being restricted to earth) and eating dust also spoke of being earth-bound where Satan's domain was after he was expelled from heaven.

Satan Bit the Dust

There is a slang-expression that speaks of someone biting the dust, which means they are deceased or finished or who came to complete ruination like a cowboy who fell from his horse and landed faced-down in the dirt. Such a man has bit the dust!

Ezekiel 28:16 (7KB)

¹⁶ "By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire.

And so, Satan had once occupied one of the highest angelic positions in heaven but because of his great sin of pride Satan was cast out as profane from heaven and was thrown down to the earth. In that sense Satan "Bit the Dust" because he was a fallen angel and lost his position in heaven and was now earth-bound in his fallen state!

Genesis 3:14 (7KB)

¹⁴ So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

This expression that Satan would crawl on his belly all of the days of his life and eat dust speaks of his falling from his heavenly position and being earth-bound as a fallen angel. There are no natural species of snakes that eat dust so this is not referring to natural snakes but rather the symbolic “serpent” Satan who has no tools at his disposal except deception used to deceive wicked humans to carry out his evil agenda upon the earth.

Luke 10:18 (7KB)

¹⁸ He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Jesus was present in heaven during the expulsion of Satan from heaven to the earth (which become Satan’s new domain).

Revelation 12:3-4 (7KB)

³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.

⁴ His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.

Satan was depicted as a dragon whose tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. Formerly Satan was a minister of music and worship in heaven and he had one-third of the angels under his command.

Ezekiel 28:13 (7KB)

¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your [musical instruments] timbrels and pipes was prepared [within] you on the day you were created.

When Satan was expelled from heaven then then one-third population of angels under his command were cast out with him. These fallen angels have become demons on the earth and they work to tempt humans to sin and inspire wars and cause human suffering and disorder and all types of misery on earth.

Satan lost his former position of glory in heaven and was regulated to the earth (as his new domain). This was a fulfillment of the curse that he would crawl on his belly on the earth and eat dust all of the days of his existence. This was a huge demotion from his former glory in heaven and the power and influence Satan once welded in the heavenly realms. Such a limitation and demotion was like having no limbs and slithering on his belly in helpless manner like a serpent!

Genesis 3:14 (7KB)

¹⁴ So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

The curse of Satan speaks about him being cursed above all livestock and wild animals because in fact these animals all have a physical body and can operate on the earth better than Satan who was a spirit being without a physical body to express himself. This great limitation is depicted by being a serpent with no limbs whose only tool remaining to him is the venom of deception that comes out of his mouth!

Satan Instigates Wars

John 10:10 (7KB)

¹⁰ "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

War has the signature of Satan written all over it because through war Satan can cause killing and stealing and destruction! Millions of people perish in world wars and nations are thrown into famines with the disruption of agriculture. People weakened by hunger are susceptible to disease so typically plagues follow famine and war. Windows and orphans multiply in great numbers and millions of defenseless women are raped in wars and cities and infrastructure are destroyed. All of this occurs when Satan can influence wicked men and national leaders to start wars which cause great human suffering upon the earth.

Enmity Between Satan and the Jews

Genesis 3:15 (7KB)

¹⁵ And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The hostility between the woman and her offspring and the offspring of Satan speaks of the fact that the Jewish Messiah was born of a woman and the children of Satan (unregenerate unbelievers) have long been used to wage a satanic war against the Jews. Satan holds a grudge against the Jews because through them the Messiah was born who defeated Satan.

Exodus 1:22 (7KB)

²² Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live."

Satan influenced the Pharaoh of Egypt (during the time Moses was born) to kill all of the Hebrew boys in Goshen. This would effectively stop the birth of the future Messiah through the Jewish race because if all the men were killed, then Hebrew women would be taken by Egyptians and give birth to Egyptian offspring (not Hebrews). This was a satanic plan to stop the birth of the Messiah and bring the Jewish race to extinction!

Esther 3:6 (NASB)

⁶ But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Haman was inspired by Satan to formulate a plan to exterminate the entire Jewish race on earth in his day. This was a satanic ploy to stop the birth of the Messiah who would be born of the Jewish race. Satan has long used lies and deceit to influence leaders to implement plans for the destruction of the Jews throughout world history.

Matthew 2:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

Herod sent soldiers to kill every male Hebrew boy in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under. This was Satan's attempt to inspire an earthly ruler to kill the Jewish Messiah as soon as he was born.

Revelation 12:1-5 (7KB)

¹ A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

² She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.

³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.

⁴ His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.

⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child, the one who will rule all the nations with a staff of iron. But her child was snatched up to God and his throne;

The woman in this vision with twelve stars on her head represents the Jewish race and the twelve sons of Israel who become the fathers of the Jewish race. It was promised that through the offspring of this woman (the Jewish race) that the Messiah would be born.

In this vision the dragon represents Satan who was waiting to devour the child of this woman as soon as he was born because the devil knew that this Messiah would defeat him and take back the dominion of earth (which was lost to Satan by the treason of Adam). But this Messianic-Child was snatched away before the devil could destroy him.

Matthew 2:13 (7KB)

¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

God warned Joseph (the foster father of Jesus) in a dream to take the child and mother and flee to Egypt. So, Joseph got up in the middle of the night and left Bethlehem just before the soldiers of Herod arrived to kill every male Hebrew child in Bethlehem and vicinity. Thus, the child Messiah was snatched away from the devil’s attempt to destroy him because God warned Joseph to leave before Herod’s soldiers arrived.

Being with a physical body, the devil must influence political leaders to fulfill his agenda on earth. Satan uses natural human rulers in authority to give orders to fulfill his satanic plans. This however limited Satan because he could not destroy the Messiah himself so by the time the soldiers of Herod were mobilized and arrived in Bethlehem, then Joseph had already escaped with Mary and Jesus and had gone to Egypt!

Being Shrewd and Cause and Effect

Genesis 3:15 (7KB)

¹⁵ And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

This thing about the devil striking the heel speaks of the principle of being shrewd and the principle of cause and effect.

First Deception

Satan targeted the woman who was the weakest link and who was easy to deceive using her own feminine sense of equality for all. Once the woman fell this caused the effect that Adam (a logical man not easy to deceive) would also eat the fruit only to keep from being separated from the woman whom he loved. So, the cause and effect resulted in Adam willfully eating the fruit and committing spiritual suicide!

Genesis 1:26-28 (7KB)

²⁶ Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

²⁷ So God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

The first man Adam was created in the image of God in a higher class than any animal life on earth. Adam was given dominion by God over the entire earth and over all living creatures. But when Adam transgressed willfully in the garden and submitted to Satan, he threw his God-given dominion over the earth to the devil.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (7KB)

⁴ in whose case the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Satan is referred to as being the “god” of this world because Satan received the dominion of Adam when Adam committed high treason in the garden and submitted to the will of Satan.

Luke 4:5-6 (7KB)

⁵ And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

⁶ And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

Satan offered Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world because these things were all delivered to Satan when Adam forfeited his dominion over the whole earth to Satan by his treason in obeying the devil. Thus, Satan become the god of this world’s system and he operates under the earth-lease of Adam ever since the fall.

Revelation 12:12 (7KB)

¹² Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."

The devil knows that his time is short because the earth-lease of Adam will soon expire and the devil will run out of his time of using his usurped authority on earth.

Isaiah 65:17 (7KB)

¹⁷ "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

God will create a new heaven and a new earth so that the old earth-lease (once held by Satan) will be canceled and made null and void because the old earth that was under the curse brought by Adam and Eve will be removed.

2 Peter 3:13 (7KB)

¹³ But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Under the new heavens and the new earth there will be no more curse and thus the old earth-lease of Adam (that was usurped by Satan) will be cancelled. The time is coming and the devil knows his time is short (when his usurped earth-lease will be cancelled).

Principle of Cause and Effect

Genesis 49:17 (7KB)

¹⁷ Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a serpent along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward.

This scripture speaks about the tribe of Dan and the use of the principle of cause and effect. A viper along the path which strikes at the horse’s heels produces the cause and effect of having the horse rear up and this results in the rider tumbling over backward. The serpent along the path is basically helpless without limbs but he was able to cause the effect of having a huge horse rear up and throw the rider off backwards! Thus, a little serpent had the cause and effect of throwing a man to the ground!

This also depicts how Satan (a helpless serpent without limbs) was able to cause mankind to fall to the ground and be defeated and lose their God-giving dominion to the devil. The devil had no tools except the venom of deceit that came out of his mouth but he was able to accomplish the great feat of becoming god of this world’s system even as a helpless spirit-being who had no arms or legs to carry out his will upon the earth. Satan has no other weapons but deceit and if he had no humans to deceive then he would be helpless to carry out his evil agenda upon the earth.

2 Thessalonians 2:7 (7KB)

⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

The lawlessness of the earth is restrained by those who are believers and who live according to the principles of God’s word. Whenever believers resist that which is evil then Satan’s plans are thwarted and he can do nothing but wait until he can find some passive believers (who will do nothing) as he inspires wicked humans to progress toward evil without any restraint or resistance. As long as the godly resist evil then the devil’s plans will be thwarted. Only when godly men do nothing does Satan have free license to progress in bringing all society towards wickedness and godlessness and defilement.

Even the Antichrist will have no progress unless the believers are removed from the earth by the rapture. The believers have authority given to them by Jesus who defeated Satan and restored the authority back to those who are believers. Only if the believers are passive and do nothing does Satan have the power to progress in evil without hindrance.

Being Shrewd for Good

Genesis 49:16-17 (7KB)

¹⁶ "Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷ Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a serpent along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward.

Satan is the best example of being shrewd for evil because he was able to obtain his goals and seize the usurped authority and dominion away from Adam only by using deceit and deceiving a weak-willed woman. The cause and effect of this deception brought a curse to the entire earth and resulted in Satan becoming the god of this world’s system. He rules over the unbelievers (who are children of the devil) to fulfill his satanic agenda using their human bodies and arms and legs to carry out satanic plans on earth.

Righteous Shrewd

Dan was one of the tribes of Israel and it was prophesied that Dan would provide justice for the people. This means that being shrewd (utilizing cause and effect) can be employed by the righteous as well. This same Dan was depicted like the serpent striking the heels of a horse and causing the rider to tumble over backward!

The righteous can also employ being shrewd for the kingdom of God and working justice upon the earth (in contrast to how Satan works evil upon the earth by being evil-shrewd). Believers can therefore become righteous-shrewd and understand and employ the principles of cause and effect for working good in the earth and fulfilling God’s will and righteous agenda on the earth to do good and bring health and peace and prosperity and blessing to mankind.

Matthew 10:16 (7KB)

¹⁶ "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

Jesus said that the believers are to be as shrewd as serpents (understanding how to employ the principles of cause and effect) while being innocent as doves (meaning that they work God’s plan of righteousness on earth not their own human agenda). Doves have a peanut-sized brain and operate by instinct rather than logic so this speaks of believers depending on being moved by the Spirit of God within them rather than depending solely on intellectual reasoning or human logic.

Jacob an Illustration of being Shrewd

Genesis 25:26 (7KB)

²⁶ After this, his twin brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

Again, the principle of grabbing the heel comes into play here just as the serpent Satan would strike at the heel and how the serpent along the path striking at the heels of the horse has the cause and effect of making the rider tumble over backward.

When Jacob was born, he was found to be grasping the heel of his brother Esau who was the first to come out of the womb. Thus, the younger brother was grasping the heel of his older brother Esau and this had spiritual significance as seen later in the lives of these two boys.

The reason that Jacob received his name which means “supplanter” or “deceiver” was because grasping the heel of Esau related to being shrewd just as the evil genius Satan was also depicted as a serpent striking the heel! To be shrewd is to be one who can manipulate circumstances to achieve an end result by causing others to respond in a predicted manner!

God saw that Jacob was shrewd in obtaining the spiritual blessings away from his dull older brother Esau who had no regard whatsoever for these things he possessed.

Romans 9:13-14 (7KB)

¹³ As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.

¹⁴ What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!

The reason that God loved Jacob and hated Esau is illustrated in the attitude of these two boys toward spiritual things. Jacob saw the value of spiritual things like the birthright and the blessing while Esau was completely dull and indifferent about such matters. Jacob risked his life in order to obtain these things while Esau passively let them be taken as if they meant nothing to him!

Genesis 25:29-34 (7KB)

²⁹ When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished;

³⁰ He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.)

³¹ Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."

³² "Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?"

³³ But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

Here Jacob understood the nature of his older brother Esau and perceived the way that Esau would react under certain conditions. If Esau was famished then he would let nothing stand in his way of gratifying his immediate hunger! Jacob only had to wait for the right opportunity and Jacob correctly predicted that when Esau would return from hunting, he would be ravenous in hunger. So, Jacob prepared a big kettle of lentil stew and waited for the opportune time. Sure enough, Esau came back from the field famished from his foray into the forests and hills in search of wild game. Jacob had it all planned out in advance and had the stew prepared and already cooked and waiting when Esau came back famished! Esau asked for the stew as predicted (following his typical behavior after his usual returns from his hunting trips). At this moment when Esau was famished and not in his logical mind, Jacob asked for his birthright in exchange for the ration of bean stew. Typical of his behavior when he was famished Esau was willing to give anything for some food! He said what good is his birthright to him when he was about to die! So, Esau agreed to trade his birthright as eldest son to Jacob in exchange for a single meal!

Hebrews 12:16 (7KB)

¹⁶ that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.

Esau went down in infamy for being someone who despised his birthright and sold it for a single meal! It is for this reason that God hated Esau because of his passive attitude about spiritual things while at the same time God loved Jacob because Jacob esteemed spiritual things and took action and even risked his life to obtain them!

Jacob was a "heel-grabbing" and "shrewd" man and was named Jacob which means “supplanter” or “deceiver” for this reason! Being a heel-grabber means that Jacob was shrewd and knew how to obtain the end goal he desired simply by understanding human nature and predicting how a person will react and then using that knowledge to usurp the blessing away from those who see no value in it.

This is an example of being shrewd in good things like obtaining a blessing from God. Just as Satan was shrewd as a serpent to obtain his goal of seizing the dominion of Adam by trickery so Jacob also obtained the end goal of obtaining the spiritual blessing of birthright from Esau. This was shrewd behavior to predict the reaction of Esau in advance and then use the situation to obtain what Jacob was after.

God loved Jacob because he was shrewd to obtain blessings from God from those who were dull and indifferent about spiritual things and who saw no value in them whatsoever. Esau readily traded his birthright for a single meal while in the passion of craving for food in a famished condition!

Genesis 27:6-12 (7KB)

⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau,

⁷ 'Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.'

⁸ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you:

⁹ Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it.

¹⁰ Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."

¹¹ Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin.

¹² "Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing."

Jacob was told by his mother Rebekah that she overheard the conversation of Isaac and Esau and saw the opportunity for Jacob to obtain the blessing of Esau. Jacob pointed out that Esau was a hairy man while Jacob was a smooth-skinned man. Jacob realized that he was in great danger because if he was discovered to be a deceiver then he would receive a curse instead of a blessing! This shows that Jacob was willing to take a great risk in order to obtain the spiritual blessing.

Genesis 27:14-23 (7KB)

¹⁴ So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it.

¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.

¹⁶ She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins.

¹⁷ Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

¹⁸ He went to his father and said, "My father." "Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?"

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."

²⁰ Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" "The LORD your God gave me success," he replied.

²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."

²² Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

²³ He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.

Apparently, it was God that caused his father Isaac not to perceive the ruse even though Isaac did recognize the voice was that of Jacob (instead of Esau). Since the hands of Jacob felt hairy (because of the goat skins) Isaac did not perceive the deception and so he gave the blessing of Esau to Jacob! It was really a far-fetched attempt to obtain this blessing and if it had not been for God’s help certainly Isaac would have not been deceived and would have pronounced a curse upon Jacob as a deceiver instead of a blessing.

I believe God helped Jacob because Jacob took great risk in trying to execute such a flimsy ruse in order to obtain the spiritual blessing of Esau! Esau was proven to be dull about spiritual things and so God worked the situation for the favor of Jacob and Isaac gave his blessing to Jacob instead of Esau!

Someone who is shrewd will be ready to take advantage of any opportunity that might present itself and using faith in God a man can obtain blessings from God if he is willing to take the risk of obtaining them. Jacob stepped out of faith to pull off that flimsy-ruse even when he was unable to change his voice to sound like Esau! But nevertheless, God helped Jacob because Jacob took the initiative to obtain the blessing for which dull Esau showed little concern for.

Genesis 27:35-36 (7KB)

³⁵ But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing."

³⁶ Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!" Then he asked, "Haven't you reserved any blessing for me?"

Esau lamented that he lost both is birthright and his blessing as eldest son to Jacob (the deceiver) who was shrewd enough to see the value of these spiritual blessings and took the necessary steps to obtain them. Jacob worked the situation for his own favor and was able to obtain that which indifferent Esau had little concern for.

It is interesting that God loved Jacob for his shrewd behavior and this shows that being shrew as a serpent is a good thing when it is applied to obtaining spiritual blessings from God and working the end goal using the principles of cause and effect.

Hosea 12:3-5 (7KB)

³ In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and as an adult he wrestled with God.

⁴ He struggled with the angel and overcame him; the angel wept and begged for his favor saying "Let me go!" (but not unless he first blessed Jacob). He found God at Bethel and talked with him there--

⁵ Jacob found the Lord the God of hosts, the name of Him [Who spoke with Jacob] is the Lord.

The words of Hosea are a poetic form of depicting how Jacob received the blessing of God while he wrestled with him. Normally an angel has much greater power than a human and one angel can even destroy 185,000 soldiers in a single night! (2 Kings 19:35) But the book of Hosea depicts the struggle of Jacob with the angel in poetic terms saying that the angel begged for the favor of Jacob and cried out to let him go but Jacob said he would not let go until he blessed him first!

This is a poetic depiction that Jacob was aggressively struggling to obtain the blessings of God! Jacob would not let go until God blessed him! Of course, both God and angels are more powerful than humans and normally a human could not wrestle with such powerful spiritual beings. But the fact remains that God was pleased with this tenacity in Jacob and God loved him because if this good attitude! It is pleasing to God when a man desires to have God’s blessing and will actively engage in obtaining it (as depicted by Jacob wrestling with the angel).

Genesis 32:24-28 (7KB)

²⁴ Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.

²⁶ Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

²⁷ The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered.

²⁸ And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."

Here God wrestled with Jacob in the form of a man and could not overpower Jacob who was determined to have a blessing. God renamed Jacob as Israel because he had struggled with God and with humans and he prevailed!

Jacob obtained God’s blessings and seized blessings from the indifferent Esau as well. Jacob was shrewd and aggressive about spiritual things and this pleased God and God loved Jacob for this reason. This is enough to teach all believers that if they want to be pleasing to God, they should be aggressive about obtaining spiritual blessings. If they are passive like Esau, they will receive God’s disdain rather than his approval!

Employing Faith and Shrewdness

Genesis 30:32-43 (7KB)

³² Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages.

³³ And I will let my integrity stand as witness against me in the future: when you come to look over the animals constituting my wages, every goat that isn’t speckled or spotted and every sheep that isn’t brown or colored will count as stolen by me.”

³⁴ Laban was thrilled with this proposal and said, "Oh, that it would be according to your word!" [thinking that it would be impossible for all-white animals to give birth to colored offspring]!

³⁵ So on that day, Laban removed all of the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every colored animal with some white in it, and all the black ones and colored among the sheep, and placed all these colored animals into the care of his sons.

³⁶ Then Laban put a three-day journey between these colored flocks and separated these from Jacob, who was left to manage only the remaining all-white colored flocks of Laban.

³⁷ Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.

³⁸ He set the peeled branches in the troughs in front of the sheep—in the water channels where the sheep came to drink. And the sheep bred when they came to drink.

³⁹ The flocks bred in front of the branches and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young.

⁴⁰ Jacob managed the breeding of his flocks by separating the ewes from the flock and permitted them to breed only with animals that were streaked or brown within the flock of Laban which he was tending. Thus, he kept his own colored livestock separate from the rest of Laban’s flock and bred only animals of color together (producing separate flocks for himself as his wages).

⁴¹ Whenever the stronger white-females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches. Thus, using the principle of faith and visualization Jacob caused the white-animals of Laban to give birth to colored offspring. Then breeding these colored offspring together resulted in the multiplication of the flocks of Jacob which were set apart as his wages.

⁴² but if the white-animals were weak, he would not place the peeled rods in the troughs. Thus, the weak white-animals gave birth to white weaker-animals (which went to Laban) and the stronger colored animals (which were born) went to Jacob.

⁴³ In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

Jacob displayed his faith in God by making a proposal that would put himself entirely in the disadvantage. He requested the Laban give him the colored animals as his wages and so Laban was thrilled about the proposal supposing that it would be impossible for all-white animals to give birth to colored offspring. So, Laban separated all colored livestock and left Jacob with only all-white animals to tend. But Jacob used his faith and principles of visualization to imagine the white livestock of Laban giving birth to colored offspring. When this happened by faith then Jacob separated these animals and bred the colored livestock with colored and multiplied these colored animals exceedingly as his wages.

In this manner Jacob used his faith to have colored livestock from all-white animals and he was also shrewd to multiply the colored livestock by breeding them together. Jacob used both faith and being shrewd to obtain great multiplication and wealth of livestock from God!

So, Jacob the (the heel-grabbing shrewd man) saw the long-term goal and implemented his livestock breeding program (combined with his faith) using the peeled rods to bring about great increase for himself! This is how a believer can combine faith together with being shrewd in order to obtain a great blessing from God!

Two Types of Shrewd

2 Samuel 13:3 (7KB)

³ But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother; and Jonadab was a very shrewd man.

Jonadab was a shrewd man but this type of shrewd is evil and he gave counsel to Amnon about how to take advantage of a woman and this resulted in the rape of Tamar! This rape also had other consequences when Absalom killed Amnon for raping his sister Tamar and later Absalom also attempted to seize the throne from his father David because of David's passivity in executing Amnon for the rape he had committed.

All of the resulting consequences and death and war that occurred were because of following the evil advice of a shrewd man named Jonadab.

This is an example of the evil type of shrewd as displayed by Jonadab and also Satan who brought a curse to the whole earth by working his satanic shrewd plans to manipulate humans to fulfill his evil agenda on earth!

Jeremiah 4:22 (7KB)

²² "For My people are foolish, They know Me not; They are stupid children And have no understanding. They are shrewd to do evil, but to do good they do not know."

This scripture says that the children of Israel were being shrewd to do evil just as Jonadab was also shrewd to do evil and counsel others for evil.

Acts 7:19 (7KB)

¹⁹ "It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive.

The ungodly king of Egypt took advantage of the Hebrews and abused them as slaves. This is an example of being evil-shrewd in enslaving people into bondage.

Exodus 1:9-10 (7KB)

⁹ And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we;

¹⁰ come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land."

Pharaoh dealt shrewdly with the children of Israel to oppress them and control them as slaves. Again, this is an example of being evil-shrewd which is something that the devil and the children of the devil typically employ.

Righteous Shrewd

Luke 16:1-13 (7KB)

¹ Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.

² So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.'

³ "The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg.

⁴ "I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.'

⁵ "And he summoned each one of his master's debtors, and he began saying to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'

⁶ "And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'

⁷ "Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'

⁸ "And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.

⁹ And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous wealth, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

¹⁰ "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.

¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?

¹³ "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

This parable speaks of using worldly wealth to invest in the kingdom of God to win souls and advance God’s kingdom on earth. Then when the giving-believer dies they will be received into heaven by those who were won to the Lord by their giving on earth.

In this parable, the unjust steward was going to be put out of his stewardship. In the same way believers are stewards of the possessions and money God gives them on earth but they will end their stewardship when they die and they go to heaven.

So, the unjust steward reduced the debts of those who owed money to his master to something that they could afford. By doing this he would gain favor with them after their debts were cancelled so that they would receive him into their homes.

The spiritual application to this is that when a believer gives to the gospel this will result in souls being saved. The gospel reduces the debts owed by sinners to God to something that everyone can afford. The unbelievers only have to call upon the Lord to be saved and thus receive the free gift of eternal life. When these unbelievers get saved and go to heaven then they will receive or welcome those who gave on earth because their giving resulted in their own salvation.

So, this is another example of being shrewd because a believer can see the end goal of being welcomed in heaven by investing wealth on earth into the gospel. If they support a Fivefold minister on earth then they are supporting the kingdom of God which will result in souls going to heaven and they will receive reward for that. This has a cause and effect of being shrewd about investing money into God’s kingdom which will result in eternal rewards for the giver in heaven.

Luke 16:8 (7KB)

⁸ "And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.

This scripture speaks of the fact that unbelievers are often wiser in relation to using money on earth to get what they want than are the believers. If an unbeliever can be shrewd in use of money (as being evil-shrewd) then so can the believer be wise in the use of money as (a righteous-shrewd).

There are both evil-shrewd and righteous-shrewd behavior and the difference is in the end results. Satan was evil-shrewd to get what he wanted but it resulted in a curse to the whole earth and to all humanity! Jacob was righteous-shrewd in getting what he wanted and he obtained the spiritual blessings of birthright and blessing by being shrewd. This was a blessing because the twelve sons of Jacob become the nation of Israel who brought the knowledge of God and the Jewish Messiah to the whole earth!

God was pleased with Jacob and loved Jacob because if his overcoming attitude in reaching out for God’s blessing and even wrestling with God and saying, “I will not let you go until you bless me!” That was something pleasing to God and Jacob received the blessing and had a name change to "Israel" meaning that he had overcome with both God and humans on earth!

God honors those who are "righteous-shrewd" as Jacob was. It is only those who are evil-shrewd (like Satan) who use being shrewd to cause evil on the earth! If God’s people will be righteous-shrewd they can be pleasing to God as Jacob was and overcome and obtain God’s blessing.

If God’s people will become overcomers and have active faith, they can easily put a stop to the advancement of evil on earth. This evil is being worked by the unbelievers who are children of the devil and work Satan’s plans on earth. Only if God’s people are passive will they allow evil to progress in unhindered manner. If believers put up even the least amount of resistance to evil then it will stop the devil in his tracks!

Only when God’s people are passive is the kingdom of the devil able to progress without hindrance!

All believers should learn how to become righteous-shrewd and utilize the principles of cause and effect in order to fulfill God’s will and God’s plan on the earth! Believers are the light of the world and they can easily dispel all darkness if they only stand up for God and resist evil.

It should be noted that God was pleased with Jacob and loved him because he was shrewd and actively sought the blessings of God. This was in great contrast to Esau who was dull and indifferent about spiritual things.

If a believer wants to be loved by God, they should become an overcomer and have active faith and become "righteous-shrewd" as Jacob was. If they want to be cursed and fall from favor with God then they only have to drift along in aimless manner and behave in dull and indifferent manner toward spiritual things like Esau.

Esau and Jacob are types and examples to teach the believers what behavior and attitude is pleasing to God and what attitude is despised by God. If all believers will become "righteous-shrewd" like Jacob (and actively wrestle for God’s blessing) they will be loved by God. If they are indifferent and passive like Esau and allow the devil to run off with their blessings they will not be pleasing to the Lord.

Shrewd Combined with Faith

Jacob used his faith to produce colored animals from all-white livestock (something that is normally almost impossible). So this was shrewd to depend on God to accomplish something by faith.

My father was a farmer and he had common sense to know how to prosper and saw what was necessary to obtain the end goal. He was shrewd about farming for this reason and before he died his farm was paid off and he owned assets worth over three million USD.

In the case of my father, he had a number of miracles occur that enabled him to pay off the farm. For example he just decided to retire from raising pigs and shortly after his last batch of pigs was run through the hog confinement building they had a huge snowstorm with deep snow that completely crushed the building under the weight of the snow and destroyed it! The insurance company paid him the full-price that it would cost to replace the building as new at that time. But instead of replacing the building he paid the whole amount of insurance money toward his farm debt and a large part of his debt was wiped out. This type of thing happened a number of times and hail storms resulted in him receiving large insurance payments (even when neighbors with worse hail damage received nothing). It was just favor with God that caused the insurance adjuster to grant a big payment and then the damaged corn miraculously recovered. My father again used the insurance payout toward his farm payment. A wind-storm also ripped the doors off his machine shed and the insurance payments again went toward the farm loan and he fixed the doors himself.

The working of God to help my father pay off his farm was much like God working to help Jacob so that he would prosper under any terms given to him by Laban. Using insurance payments to pay off his farm debt was shrewd but at the same time my father could not have planned the snow-storms or hail-storms or wind-storms and had no control over what the insurance companies would pay out. But when he received the insurance payments it was a shrewd use of the money to pay off his farm debt otherwise he would not have been able to pay off the snowballing interest the banks charged during in his entire lifetime.

Shrewd as a Man

Being shrewd is really a quality of being a man because women are not typically able to operate in shrewd manner (even in the example where the girl was born and raised on a farm but had no idea about to manage a farm) as her late father did. So, this woman was looking for direction from her urbanite husband and her urbanite husband was looking for direction his farm wife and they both ended up like a dog chasing his own tail! Nothing progressive was accomplished and they were only existing without accomplishing any clear-cut goals for the prosperity of their farm.

Being shrewd is not based on having a degree in college because there are plenty of shrewd men who have no degrees whatsoever. I even know of a man who had only at 8th grade education but he possessed a great mechanical aptitude to build fire trucks and their pumping systems. This man was a millionaire back when money was still worth something! So again, being shrewd is not related to education but it speaks of men who can see a long-term goal and perceive what has to be done in the present time frame in order to obtain that goal.

I used the example of Satan as the evil genius in this lesson because Satan saw the long-term goal of usurping dominion away from mankind in order to make himself the god of this world's system. He executed that plan by first working his deception upon the woman then the resulting "cause and effect" ensnared the man into the plot.

This speaks of seeing the end goal and then working out the steps needed to attain that goal. This is how someone can be shrewd in business as well and this has application to a farming business or to any type of business that can be imagined.

Believers can pray for common sense and wisdom and they can meditate on the principles of God's word and they can become wise and learn to deal wisely in the affairs of life!

Joseph was a wise ruler and sold the grain during the famine for money and for livestock and for land and in the end, he had the resources to be a blessing for the people. After the famine, Joseph provided the people with seed and they were to pay 20% of their income to Pharaoh and they could live on their 80% share they retained for themselves. The people thanked Joseph for saving their lives from famine.

But Joseph was shrewd in his dealings and knew how to obtain a long-time goal. This wisdom on how to deal wisely in the affairs of life comes from the Jewish Torah and following principles of seedtime and harvest.

See the link to "Jewish topics" for more details.

God's people can become wise by meditating on God's word and by meditating upon the principles of the Jewish Torah.

Deuteronomy 4:5-6 (7KB)

⁵ "See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.

⁶ "So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

Meditation on the word of God will cause God's people to become wise and deal wisely in the affairs of life. This predominantly applies to the men because God deprived women from masculine logic so that women would depend upon a man as a leader and provider. It is only natural for women to submit to their husbands for this reason.

But if godly men will meditate on principles from God's word, they can have wisdom that makes them do wise things and which causes them to prosper more than unbelievers who do not know such things.

Joseph knew these Jewish Torah principles because Abraham received them from God and taught his son Isaac and Isaac taught his son Jacob and Jacob taught his twelve sons (including Joseph) who employed this wisdom to manage the affairs of Egypt as governor!

The purpose of this lesson is to speak about being "shrewd" and this has application to running a business or a farm or any other type of endeavor. God's word is the source of this wisdom and those who meditate on God's word receive common sense. Thus, God's people can behave in a wise manner and will be noted as being people who are a truly wise and understanding people who know how to deal wisely in the affairs of life!