Two Nations
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Just to name a few words, guess what my topic could be? Drama, manipulation, battle for control, conniving, consequences…well if you guessed OT stories you are right! In our small passage today, we will have all of these descriptors in our verses. In looking at our OT, it can actually be shocking the stories that are told and the eerie similarity to our lives today. I know when I first started reading the Bible that I was amazed at the fallen nature of humans and how low they could stoop - in my mind I wanted the Bible to be positive and uplifting…and it is! But it is also real, real people, real issues and real humanity making mistakes and taking things into their own hands. All summer we have been talking about Genesis - our beginning, and our story of God calling us into community. We have talked about providence with Alex last week - Abraham in the weeks before that and how he made mistakes, but was so faithful to God despite those mistakes, and now we will be heading into knowing more of God’s people and seeing how God works in all things.
We know Abraham and Sarah suffered from infertility, took matters into their own hands and Ishmael was born, but then came Isaac. Isaac is the son of Abraham and Sarah, he is almost sacrificed but God intervened. Isaac later marries Rebekah - Alex preached about this last week - how the servant found her and was trusting in God’s providence all along the way. But Isaac and Rebekah also suffer from infertility - but matters are handled differently than what Sarah did. Let’s read our passage from Genesis.
These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other;
the elder shall serve the younger.”
When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle, so they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he was fond of game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.) Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
The Word of God for the people of God - thanks be to God!
This story starts off with quite a contrast to how Abraham and Sarah handled infertility. Sarah took matters into her own hands and tried to control and make happen what God had promised. Isaac knows the promise - he is the promise actually and he goes straight to the Lord to intervene. We don’t know how long he prayed or intervened, but God listened and granted Rebekah a child. Now that she is pregnant she is feeling like things aren’t quite right - so she inquires of the Lord as well. When we have questions or want help what do we do - go to google? These two show us that going to God first in all things is the right answer. Does our world tell us that? No it doesn’t but our Word does. Rebekah is worried so she goes to God. God answers her! She has twins - two nations inside her, and she gets an insight that they will battle each other constantly. This isn’t regular sibling rivalry - this is more severe. But instead of working to bring the two children together, we see that each parent favors one over the other. Favoritism is never good. We could really delve into how that made the children act and seek acceptance, but we are just going to focus on the actions that happen due to these sons behaviors.
Esau comes in from the hunt, smells good food and dramatically announces he needs food because he is famished. I don’t know about you, but I have been dramatic before and had others be dramatic to me - often times this can be in fun, but Esau is not joking or being dramatic for the fun of it - he is really hungry and so in his dramatic exclamation, he doesn’t consider consequences. He pays more attention to the feelings than the reality at hand. Esau threw away his religious, firstborn privileges for food - he cared little for it and his life will reflect that. Now what he threw away - or as scripture tells us that he despised was his birthright. The birthright gave to the eldest son a double portion of his father’s goods and also made him head of the family upon his father’s death, making him ruler over his brothers and provider for his mother and unmarried sisters if there were any. But according to the laws and customs by which the patriarchs lived, as is evidenced through the discoveries of archaeology, the eldest son could sell his birthright to a younger brother or even to an adopted brother. It was this rule which Jacob and Esau followed. Now we know that God doesn't give best gifts to the oldest child - look at David - youngest of all the brothers, but it was a pagan culture to have primogeniture - favoring oldest - this firstborn privilege was not from God. This was a man made privilege. If God says He is going to do something or use someone, He will. It won’t matter what birth order they have or what they look like. God will get done what He says He will do.
Now we see that Jacob takes advantage and is cunning - we don’t know if he knows the prophecy about the elder serving the younger or that he was the heel grabber, chances are the stories have been passed down as we all talk about past family events. But regardless of what he knows, he quickly acts and takes advantage of the situation. The incident shows that character is not created in a crisis; it is only exhibited. Jacob knew his opportunity had arrived. Blame rests on both brothers for this act. Jacob had already been chosen by God for the most important heritage, we read this from when God spoke to Rebekah, he would be in charge, and God did not need his help in bringing it about. These verses, 27-34, describe Jacob and Esau’s struggle for dominance. This story (and others that follow) show Jacob to be a schemer and manipulator as he gains the birthright of the firstborn from Esau. He will later deprive his own eldest son (Reuben) of his birthright (49:3–4) and prefer Joseph’s younger son over the firstborn in his blessing (48:13). The Mosaic law will later forbid a father with multiple wives from favoring a younger son merely because he comes from a preferred wife (Deut 21:15–17). Actions have consequences.
Hosea 12:3 is interesting because it tells us that in the womb (Jacob) strove (struggled) for power and we know later in his life he struggled with God. We will talk about that in a few weeks! In scripture, there is no immediate censure of Jacob in the text, but he later spends many anxious hours, even years, regretting what he had done, for in many ways his actions returned to haunt him.
Oftentimes, a refusal to wait signifies a lack of faith. Esau couldn’t wait for food, didn’t care about his birthright. Jacob couldn’t wait for God’s truth to happen - he took matters into his own hands. Later on in Numbers, Proverbs and James, we get warnings about waiting and patience, we know patience is a fruit of the spirit…we have talked about the wait - it’s not enjoyable, but it does show how much we trust God by how we act in the wait. We are to trust in God, to know that He's got this. Impatience and manipulation have no place in the Kingdom of God. Impatience and manipulation have no place in the lives of believers either. If we are to exemplify Christ in all we do and say, we have to trust in God, know God and live for God. We have Christ as our example, Jesus spoke truth in love, he was for all the people. We as believers have a choice to follow him or not.
In Hebrews 12, Esau is mentioned by way of example to people. There are two choices for them. On the one hand, they can follow Christ and share the rejection he suffered at the hands of the world. On the other hand they could refuse Christ and all that came with belonging to him. The writer of Hebrews talks about this scripture in Genesis—he urges the readers and us not to be like Esau and sell out. Faced with the difficulty of being God’s people in a world set against him, we must not give up the forever blessing of relationship with Christ for a short term gain, or in Esau’s case a bowl of stew.
In life things are not always as expected - as with the younger being chosen over older, being passed over for a job or a spot on a team, having a relationship end, a health crisis, a path you never would have expected you would be on, we are called to stay faithful, to stay trusting in God. Manipulation always has regrets. Let God be in charge instead taking matters into our own hands. It is not for us to control, but it is for us to trust. To know who God is, to know what His promises are to us, to wait in the hard times for God to work, knowing it will happen. So where are you trying to control the outcome? What can you surrender to God? As we end our message today, ask God to show you what you need to surrender, what you need to let go of, to let God work.