Why look at someone like Esau, a man labelled in the Scriptures as a model of godlessness? Surely we ought to be shunning him instead? If we are to avoid Esau's example, however, we must know what it was about him that was so offensive to the Lord.

In this book, Paul Mackrell examines Esau's self-reliant and passionate character, showing how Esau sums up all that we admire in our heroes today and drawing us humbly to assess our own lives with the aim of identifying the same traits. Esau was an ordinary man just like us. Therefore, the warning his life presents is extremely powerful and highly relevant.