Jacob and Esau

Birthright

Posted on by Betsy

I came upon a woman in the hair salon this week who was seated on the couch with her foot propped up. She wore a black orthopedic boot on her injured foot, and I saw crutches waiting along the wall for her. I expressed sympathy for her situation and then heard the whole story of how she slipped on the ice and fell down some stairs last February, Because she was gripping the railing, her entire body twisted, dislocating her ankle and tearing the tendons. The long months between then and now were filled with physical therapy, surgery, more injury to her hip and knee ligaments as her body accommodated the ankle injury, etc. It reminded me of the classic children’s book, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” where each decision resulted in a further consequence that had to be dealt with. I certainly sympathized, as I have been there myself with injuries. The day I saw her was the first day she could drive by herself in six months, and she is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In our lectionary passage today, we see Jacob at a similar junction in his life. He was the younger of two sons of Isaac but had connived and deceived his father into giving him the birthright that was legally Esau’s. The birthright gave the eldest son control of the land and the family’s fortunes. Once that word was spoken, there was no turning back for any of them. Like the mouse’s cookie, the deception led to further consequences. Esau was angry and wanted revenge, and Jacob’s place as birthright-holder meant that he could not take a wife from among the Canaanites were they lived. For both reasons, Isaac sent Jacob away and Jacob found himself without a home or a family around him.

Genesis 28 (Common English Bible)

10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and set out for Haran. 11 He reached a certain place and spent the night there. When the sun had set, he took one of the stones at that place and put it near his head. Then he lay down there. 12 He dreamed and saw a raised staircase, its foundation on earth and its top touching the sky, and God’s messengers were ascending and descending on it. 13 Suddenly the Lord was standing on it and saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will become like the dust of the earth; you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. Every family of earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants. 

The legal implication of the stolen birthright meant that Jacob would now become the patriarch of Israel, and his life was forever changed. But as we read it, we realize that it was God’s plan all along for the younger brother to usurp the older one. The mouse got his cookie, the glass of milk, a napkin, and the land of milk and honey.

15 I am with you now, I will protect you everywhere you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done everything that I have promised you.”

When Jacob was scheming for his father’s inheritance, he never imagined what would happen next. Did God approve of his lie? Nope. Did God use all things for the good of Israel? Always. Remember, Esau sold his priceless birthright for a mere bowl of stew. If we think that little of the enormous blessings God has bestowed upon us, we too will pay the consequences. The continuing damage to our environment comes to mind. We have failed to take good care of God’s creation and the evidence of our grabbing the cookie with disregard to the planet is all around us in the form of unbearable heat waves, polluted air and oceans, toxic spills, out of control wild fires, and other environmental disasters. We have forsaken the birthright of our beautiful earth.

16 When Jacob woke from his sleep, he thought to himself, The Lord is definitely in this place, but I didn’t know it. 

So here’s the good news. Even when we are in a spiral of bad decisions, the consequences of someone else’s actions, or things that are plummeting out of control, the Lord is still with us. Sometimes we are like Jacob when we are dealing with things, and we don’t know that the Lord is there.

Are you in such a place right now? Take heart. The Lord is definitely in that place with you, even if you didn’t know it.

The Lord is in This Place by Michelle Robertson

Twinz

Posted on by Betsy

I will never forget where I was when we found out that my oldest daughter was expecting twins. My husband and I were with our youngest and her husband on a bus that had just broken down at Disney World. (!) We were pulling off to the median when the phone call came in. I knew she was having an ultrasound that afternoon and was I excited to hear about the pregnancy and maybe get a hint of the gender. Then her chin started to quiver and she said, “Mom, we’re expecting twins.”

“Twins!! You’re having twins???” I looked up at the startled passengers around me and yelled, “SHE’S HAVING TWINS!!” Many congratulations followed as we waited for a new bus to arrive, and anyone who had a twin story came over to tell it.

In the book of Genesis, twins are announced with far less fanfare and hopeful expectations. Rebekah discovered that she is carrying twins, but even in the beginning, it is obvious that these twins would not be ordinary babies…

Genesis 25 (The Message)

21-23 Isaac prayed hard to God for his wife because she was barren. God answered his prayer and Rebekah became pregnant. But the children tumbled and kicked inside her so much that she said, “If this is the way it’s going to be, why go on living?” She went to God to find out what was going on. God told her,

Two nations are in your womb,
    two peoples butting heads while still in your body.
One people will overpower the other,
    and the older will serve the younger.

If you are following your Bible history, you will recognize this as the moment the two nations of the Israelites (Jacob) and the Edomites (Esau) were born. Through deceit and trickery, a birthright was manipulated and indeed, the older ended up serving the younger.

24-26 When her time to give birth came, sure enough, there were twins in her womb. The first came out reddish, as if snugly wrapped in a hairy blanket; they named him Esau (Hairy). His brother followed, his fist clutched tight to Esau’s heel; they named him Jacob (Heel). Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

27-28 The boys grew up. Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob was a quiet man preferring life indoors among the tents. Isaac loved Esau because he loved his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29-30 One day Jacob was cooking a stew. Esau came in from the field, starved. Esau said to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stew—I’m starved!” That’s how he came to be called Edom (Red).

31 Jacob said, “Make me a trade: my stew for your rights as the firstborn.”

32 Esau said, “I’m starving! What good is a birthright if I’m dead?”

33-34 Jacob said, “First, swear to me.” And he did it. On oath Esau traded away his rights as the firstborn. Jacob gave him bread and the stew of lentils. He ate and drank, got up and left. That’s how Esau shrugged off his rights as the firstborn.

I read a Jewish commentary on this passage that suggested that the twins also represent the struggle between the flesh/body urges of Esau and the spiritual/soul urges of Jacob. Esau was a boisterous hunter who was out in the field all day involved in physical activity, while Jacob stayed inside reading and studying. It’s an interesting take on the story.

But this passage is a warning about two things.

First, beware of the force of a temptation so strong that it might entice you to sell your birthright as a follower of Christ. When we indulge in our “fleshly” pursuits, we teeter on the precipice of giving up what we have gained in Christ.

And it is also a story about family deceit and preferential treatment. Rebekah’s preference for Jacob leads her to become a co-conspirator against her other son and her husband. Isaac’s preference for Esau was resented very much by Jacob, who retaliated by manipulating Esau into foregoing his birthright. This brother-against-brother conflict led them all to lie and cheat their own family members.

What can you glean from this story? I think it calls us to confront our own battles with physical temptations, and ask God to help us remain strong in pursuing healthy behaviors. And it calls us to address our family relationships and honestly assess our own behavior to see if we, too, might be guilty of emotional preferences, manipulation, lying to get our own way, or cheating others out of their place.

If Genesis 25 were a mirror, how would you look?

Troubled Waters by Michelle Robertson