Readings: Genesis 27.1-40; Mark 6.1-6
How fair is that then? This story of Jacob’s supremecy over Esau. Yes, God has told Rebekkah as she carries her twin babies, that the older will serve the younger. Yes, the famished Esau returning from an unsuccessful hunt, and stumbling into Jacob’s sweet smelling meal, Esau is willing to sell his birthright for a ‘mess of pottage’. For as in the story of Cain and Abel – though in reverse, there it is Abel who is the meat-eater, the man of the hunt, and Cain the man of the soil, here too it would appear, God prefers one over the other for no particular reason! Why is the meaty offering of Abel superior to the grain offering of Cain? And just as arbitary, God’s favour of the smooth man Jacob – his mother’s favourite, over the hairy man Esau, their father’s favourite.
There is some attempt in the story to place the blame at Rebekkah’s feet. It is she who incites Jacob into deceiving his father. Indeed, provides all Jacob needs to do so! We might question what sort of man Isaac can be if he really is so easily tricked! But this is serious, very serious. The blessing of his father for his first-born child is binding and once given cannot be changed. The older son shall serve the younger.
In biblical thinking the first born has a special place within the family, and is generally considered to be the leader of all other siblings. An understanding seen in the last plague against the Egyptians: the death of Egypt’s firstborn – and God’s protection of the firstborn of Israel. The first-born boy was considered to belong to God, to be holy. Indeed, before the assignation of the priesthood to the tribe of Levi, the first born held the role of priest in the family. The “firstfruits” of all things from crop to creature, were to be dedicated to the Lord offered in sacrifice. And we have the terrifying near sacrifice of Isaac. In the case of human creatures, the firstborn were “redeemed” by the family within one month of birth, by the offering of a substitute sacrifice.
Thus the first-born is of great significance. His life matters. Yet this reversal of prioity is a repeated theme within the Bible. Moses is younger brother to Aaron and Miriam. The deliverer-judge Gideon, as the boy David destined to be king, are the youngest of the brothers in their families. And indeed, when it comes to the sons of Jacob’s own favourite younger son, it is the younger of Joseph’s sons, Ephraim, upon whom Jacob places his right hand, placing his left on the older boy Manasseh, despite Joseph’s protestation. It is the descendents of Ephraim who shall become the greater tribe.
How strange and unrighteous all this sounds to our ears! So what does happen next? The story of Jacob and Esau does not pan out quite as planned by Rebekkah. It is Jacob who must flee for his life as Esau’s wrath burns against him. Yes, Jacob will be given the name Israel, as he wrestles with the angel at Peneil. He will go on to give his new name to the Hebrew people, yet it is Esau who prospers in the south, can ride out to meet the returning Jacob with four hundred soldiers!
While Jacob escaping to the north, must labour long years for his uncle to earn Laban’s daughters in marriage. Seven years toil for his beloved Rachel – but Laban tricks him into marrying her older sister Leah. For Rachel Jacob must work a further seven years. The Deceiver has himself been deceived. While his descendents will prosper, Jacob himself does not get away scott free, his life is a hard, one of constant flight from oppression or hunger. No record of Esau ever having been his servant.
What are we to learn from these stories of God’s seeming capricious choosing of one son over another? Certainly not that God has favourites! These most ancient of stories were originally tribal sagas told around the camp fire. These sagas hold the stories of the tribe around which each generation may unite. They also tell, explain why things are as they are! Always pointing back to God as primordial mover. They articulate reality, life as it is, life as it is experienced. For life is capricious, the good are not rewarded. Bad things do happen to good people. And the ruthless get away with murder, literal or metaphorical! These stories warn the hearer to be mentally prepared. Do not be surprised when things do not turn out as you had worked for and expected. Gather yourself again quickly before God, seek God’s wisdom and guidance. Speedily let go of resentment. We may make mistakes, or ill may fall upon us. Don’t dwell on it, ruminating on the injustice. Speedily let go of resentment. Every step we take we can bring back to God, and God will enable us to find the blessing and spiritual growth within every difficult circumstance. Entering into these stories we may find courage to let go of rancour at an unfair lot, and instead to grow in grace.
The Book of Genesis is a compilation of several strands of story-telling. Two very early strands combine in the saga of the Patriarchs: That known as E, coming from the north where God is El, a more transcendent God where human approach is more formal, and which includes the Jacob stories; and those coming from the south where God Jahwah is envisaged in anthropomorphic terms walking in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Several hundred years later as the tribes are united under the vicissitudes of a monarchy, there emerges among the religious leaders a new rigorous understanding that we reap what we sow! If life is tough, then look to your own behaviour! These were the Deuteronomists, D, the creators of the ‘Second Book of Law’ who also recorded a theological history of Israel in the Books of Kings.
Understanding of divine purpose is ever on-going. In exile another new, priestly leadership emerged with a more gentle humanist and inclusive approach. A strand of writing known as P. God is no longer tied to a particular land but the God of all creation. We see a stark contrast between the priestly first creation story in Genesis, an orderly and gracious movement of the enactment of life, non-violent rational, blessed by God who completes his work in six days and rests on the seventh. Note man and woman are of an entirely equal status! And most notably, the people of Israel are to love the foreigner, remembering they themselves were once strangers in a foreign land. The new sagas written at this time, the stories of Ruth the Moabite who becomes great grandmother to David, and Jonah sent to the enemy capital Nineveh, to call her citizens to repentance and avoid destruction, in these stories we see that God loves the foreigner, is concerned for their well-being too. A sober thought for us this weekend. Amen.