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Sibling Squabbles | July 14, 2002 |
As the labor contractions began, the two infants jockey for position. Esau, the stronger, fights his way into the world first, thus winning the status of firstborn son. "Then his brother emerged, holding on to the heel of Esau," as if to pull him back inside–a sign that, from the beginning there would be battles over who would be “first” in life.
Jacob had lost the first round of sibling rivalry, and from that moment forward he would always be playing catch-up, forever chasing the shadow self of his twin brother whom he could never quite catch, and never overcome completely. Jacob's name means the supplanter, or some say "the trickster" or "the go getter."
The twin boys were far from identical. Esau was ruddy and hairy. Some say his name really means "Red," a reference to Edom the red land. Esau was a hunter, an outside type, a man of the field. He was a robust young man who hunted game which his father loved to eat. Perhaps Esau reminded Isaac of his older brother, Ishmael who was master of the bow and the sword. Esau was his father's favorite.
Jacob preferred the indoors, reflection, planning, scheming. He was his mother's favorite. Perhaps she saw in him her intuition, her intelligence, and most importantly, her patience? She taught him the lesson of the disenfranchised: observe your adversary closely, watch for his point of weakness, and wait for the moment to take advantage. In young adulthood or late adolescence the moment came.
Jacob, the gourmet cook, had been brewing up a soup, like a minestrone--a red soup filled with beans, lentils, herbs, maybe a little lamb and spices- all simmered on low heat as his mother had taught him. Perhaps there was the added smell of a loaf of bread, hot and steaming next to a good vintage Merlot. All in all a mouth watering scene.
Enter the scene--Esau the hunter, the man on the go, the aggressive, action kind of guy, the apple of his father's eye. He's been on the hunt for days. He finished off a dried crust of bread early this morning, the last of the short rations. Boy is he hungry! Before he can see the cooking fire he can smell the stew. Oh, is he hungry. Boy does that smell good! Oh, he has to have some. He thrusts his red-maned head over the pot and inhales deeply. Breathlessly he cries to Jacob. "Brother, give me some of that stuff--now--I'm faint with hunger."
Jacob sensing a leverage over his older twin holds out a lopsided exchange. "Trade me your birthright."
Esau thinks, "What good is this birthright thing. What I need now is food--this attractive wonderfully smelling stuff." "Sure," he says, "feed me and it's yours."
Now note what is at stake:
the right of the first born includes:
double portion of inheritance,
social standing, leader of the clan,
successor to his father as the family priest,
the role as father of the nation which assures the place, status and being of his own offspring.
But for Esau that is all abstract stuff in the future. Esau is hungry now; the food--the red stew--smells so good now; his desires are so real, so compelling now!
So Esau traded away the birthright of the first born for the red soup. The Bible says "Thus did Esau spurn his birthright." This was Esau’s gravy train! His golden parachute! This was his entire future, not to mention his sense of identity and security. Why would he even joke about giving it away for a bowl of stew?
Does Esau look familiar? (I certainly know what it is like to ignore the future in the ferocious pursuit of food!)
Don't you know those who are short sighted with impatience? "I want it now!" is the motto of our culture. As Linda Ronstadt was reported to have said, “Instant gratification isn’t quick enough.”
Do you know those who are so absorbed in the activities that give them satisfaction that they care little for anything else? The "don't worry" carelessness. There are those who try to get us more concerned about our planet, try to get us to see that we are spurning, despising our birthright.–but that’s another sermon.
Jacob doesn't win anything tangible in this episode and of course Esau is still the first born, but as a prologue to the future contest for the leadership of the family this scene offers both insight into the brothers' character and a hint at what is coming.
Esau takes his position so much for granted that he lightly makes sport of it. Jacob understands that his brother is the slave, not the master, of his appetites--and he doesn't hesitate to exploit this weakness. He is indeed the "go getter." Jacob knows that if he bides his time, he will find a way to supplant his older sibling.
Of course the parents play favorites. Later in the story Rebekah will take charge of the situation to assure that her favorite, Jacob, will get the official blessing of her husband.
Isaac sends Esau out to get some venison to fix for him and then he will give him the official, deathbed, irrevocable blessing. It turns out that Isaac does not die for a number of years. Is this a neurotic playing one-up-man ship with momma? Rebekah overhears. She tells Jacob to slaughter a goat. She says, "I will prepare a stew for your father that will fool him for he is old and nearly blind. You take it in to him and tell him that you are Esau." Jacob says, "Momma, what if he grabs hold of me? Esau is hairy and I'm smooth!" "Don't worry, my precious," she says, "we'll fix that." She dresses Jacob in Esau's smelly clothes, ties hairy goat skins on his hands, arms and chest so that Isaac will think it is his favorite son Esau.
Isaac asks, "Who is that?" Jacob answers in a voice as low as he can make it, "It is Esau." Isaac thinks, "he doesn't sound like Esau but he smells like Esau." So he says, "Come here so I can hold you." Jacob does and Isaac thinks, "well he feels like Esau." The deception works. When Esau comes in later with the real venison and discovers that his brother Jacob has received the official blessing he can only wail, "Don't you have a blessing for me, Daddy?"
Esau plans to kill Jacob and so Rebekah sends Jacob packing to her brother Laban---but that's another story.
There is considerable irony in this story. Rebekah, while she wins the blessing for her favorite, loses him, for she will never see him again. Jacob who tricks both his brother and father is tricked by his uncle Laban. You remember the story? Laban agrees to give him his younger daughter, Rachel, if he will work for him. But after much wine on the wedding night Laban substitutes his oldest daughter, the strange eyed Leah. (He does get Rachel but he has to work 7 more years.) But even more tragically, Jacob is tricked by his sons about the disappearance of his favorite son, Joseph–that too is another story. Does Isaac let himself be fooled? Does he believe deep down that Esau really doesn't have the qualities to lead? Is Frederick Buechner correct when he says ". . .the reason God bypassed Esau and made Jacob heir to the great promise is that it is easier to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear than out of a dim bulb?"
It is difficult to find a real hero in the story of Jacob and Esau (and Rebekah and Isaac). What an odd addition to the continuing story of the heirs to the legacy of the promises God had made to Abram. Of course we too are heirs to this legacy.
There's an old warning about looking up your ancestry because you may find someone hanging on the family tree. The same is true about looking at our spiritual ancestors. I love these Biblical stories. They are rich in characters who are full bodied persons with weaknesses as well as strengths. They are people like us.
Often the stories seem to be about us.
If we want to make contemporary analogies try this: Our age still seems to believe that you can get ahead with deception and dishonesty–see Enron, WorldCom etc.- but of course there is a day of reckoning. Rebecca is the Arthur Anderson of this story, aiding and abetting the deception. And of course Esau loses his retirement 401K when he loses the paternal blessing. His rage is certainly mirrored in our rage at the modern tricksters.
It is amazing that the Hebrew people when they preserved the stories of their heroes did not sand off the rough edges and present a more idealized picture (like Parson Weems stories about George Washington being unable to tell a lie). But the stories are honest, particularly about the times when the characters are not honest.
Yet God uses these characters to accomplish divine purposes. God's holy purpose for a chosen people cannot be thwarted even by the unholy decisions of the people themselves. God does seem to be able to write straight with crooked lines. If God can use this dysfunctional family and use Jacob the con artist, surely God can use us. The good news of our faith is that God loves us whatever our birth order or behavior. That is our birthright. And no one can take it away.
Amen
Joe Dunham
| Copyright © 2002 by Joe Dunham. All rights reserved. |