By Rev. Martha Martin
St. Andrew's United Church, Halifax

Exploring our Story

Genesis 25:19-34

If you were to tell me 20 odd years ago, when my sons were 8 and 6, that as adult males they would be sharing an apartment together, have a common set of friends, even, dare I say, enjoying each other's company now and then, I would have said you were crazy … perhaps even delusional. I would have said, "nice try, but I don't think they're going to make it into adulthood, because one of them is going to kill the other."

Siblings … it's been a popular theme throughout history, in literature, story and folk tale. The movies are full of storylines about brothers and sisters … there is even a current TV show called exactly that - Brothers and Sisters, with Sally Field as the matriarch. Pat and I just watched a movie the other night, a new release called The Savages. It's a wonderful story about a brother and sister (whose last name is Savage), estranged from their parents, and each other to some extent, called on to care for their dying father. It's thoughtful, funny, poignant … I highly recommend it.

And, those of us from a certain age can certainly remember Tommy Smothers always getting in his line to his brother Dick - "Mom always liked you best."

Well, that's the story I want to explore today, the story that we heard read from the 25th Chapter of Genesis, the story of Jacob and Esau … the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah.

Now the problem is, we don't hear the whole story of these two, which actually goes until the 36th Chapter of Genesis - we'd be here until this afternoon listening to the whole story, but I think if we're going to hear a part of the story, we need to put it in its context to do it justice.

I have found many folks have a negative reaction to stories from the Old Testament, either because they tell of a vengeful, angry God, or because it's a story of really objectionable people doing really objectionable things. Well, I want to examine the kind of God represented in this story, the story of Jacob and Esau, but to do that, we do have to look at the whole story. The stories in the Old Testament, or the Hebrew Scriptures as we have come to call them, are sweeping epic stories, stories with several parts … just like a movie trilogy. Stories with mystery, comedy, pathos … intrigue, mayhem … you name it - it's all there.

So I hope you can bear with me, and I'll try to give you the Coles Notes, or the "Spark Notes" as I'm told they are called these days.

At St. John's we have been following the story of Abraham and Sarah these past few weeks … Abrahaman and Sarah who were told by God at quite an advanced age to pick up their belongings and relocate to a place yet to be determined. We heard how God made a covenant with Abraham to bless all his descendants, and make a great nation out of them. Which was curious, because at that point Abraham and Sarah didn't have any children … but then three angels came for dinner, and told Sarah she was going to have a baby at the age of ninety, and Sarah did the only thing any woman of that age would do when told something like that … she laughed. But, she did have a baby, he was named Isaac, which means laughter.

In the lectionary passages we skipped over the whole story of Hagar, Sarah's slave, who Sarah "gave" (it's a euphemism here) to Abraham during those childless years … something that was a perfectly acceptable thing to do in those days. And from that liaison, when Abraham was 86, there was a child called Ishmael. After Sarah had Isaac, she was a little uncomfortable with Hagar and Ishmael being around, so she asked Abraham to banish them, which he did. But God heard Hagar crying in the desert, and rescued them, and vowed to make a great nation from him as well. And this, of course, is where the religion of Islam begins.

Anyway, Isaac grows up, despite the fact that Abraham thinks God has asked him to sacrifice him one day when Isaac is a little boy. At the last minute God speaks to Abraham and says "don't do that." It would be entirely understandable if Isaac had "issues" stemming from that incident.

So, Isaac is now an adult, falls in love with Rebekah - that's the whole 24th Chapter of Genesis, a story in itself, which ends "Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her, and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death."

Abraham takes another wife, has more sons (and probably daughters, although they are not named), and lives to be a hundred and seventy-five. When he dies, it says that Isaac and Ishmael bury him together.

And all this brings us to today's reading - the beginning of the story of Jacob and Esau. It's interesting, even in the womb these two are at each other. It says "The babies jostled each other within her, and Rebekah asked 'Why is this happening to me?'" And God answers her that within her womb are two nations, one stronger than the other, and that the older will serve the younger, which would be contrary to the Israelite custom at that time.

Sometimes stories are created to answer questions. There is some speculation that perhaps this story is an attempt to explain the later relationships between Israel and Edom. One commentary says, "… given the long and bitter history of enmity between Israel and Edom, … it must reflect authentic historical experience. These two peoples must have shared memories of an early common ancestry, blood kinship, or treaty associations." 1

To suggest that this bitter relationship has its roots in Rebekah's womb, and that it was ordained by God, somehow explains it, perhaps even legitimizes it. Whatever the case, we are told in the story that even during the birth, Jacob, the second to be born, came out grasping Esau's heel. From the moment he was born, Jacob was determined to get a piece of the action.

They were totally different - Esau, the hunter, the one who roamed the open fields; Jacob, the quiet one, who stayed at home among the tents. We are told that Isaac's favourite was Esau, and Rebekah's was Jacob. Sounds like the prescription for a fairly dysfunctional family - on the other hand, it also sounds pretty normal, doesn't it?

The story we heard today tells how Esau comes home from hunting, ravenous, and there is Jacob cooking up a batch of lentil soup. Jacob convinces Esau to give up his birthright for a bowl of soup. Which Esau does. End of today's story.

But really, it's not the end of the story. We don't hear the story of how Rebekah later convinces Jacob to trick Isaac into giving Jacob Esau's rightful blessing of the older brother, which in those days meant getting the whole inheritance. We hear a bit over the next few weeks about how Jacob then has to flee his brother's wrath, Jacob's subsequent wives and children, and then ultimately his reconciliation with Esau many years later. It's all there, right up to Chapter 36 - but unless there's a sermon series, or a bible study, or you just sit down and read it on your own, you don't get the whole story.

So … now that we have the bare bones of the whole story of Jacob and Esau, what might we take for own own reflection? I suppose that might depend on who you identify with in the story.

Perhaps you are an older sibling, who has always worked hard, set the pace in the family. I'm one of those. Angry when my sister got to do things at an earlier age than I did. I felt that my parents were a little easier on her than I. I felt that she was a nuisance during much of my growing up … five years younger than I, and always hanging around me, copying everything I did. Because of the age difference I was often responsible for looking after her, a lot of times it was just assumed that I would do that without any consultation with me. I thought she got away with a lot.

In today's story, perhaps all Esau can see is that he's out in the fields working hard all day, and then comes home to Jacob, who has just been hanging around the tents, not doing much of anything except stirring a pot of stew. And, clearly he's your mother's favourite, She keeps telling you to quit being so hard on him. You're just hungry, so what's a little promise about a birthright? You don't have to worry, it's the father that makes the final decision, and you know that you are your father's favourite.

And what about the younger sibling? Here's where that one might go. Perhaps the younger one is resentful of the privilege accorded the older one - in those days, the idea that everything passes to the oldest son was a given. What happens to the other son, or the other children? Why, just because he was born a couple of seconds earlier than you, does he get everything? He never takes the time to get to know the folks in the extended family as you do because he's out in the fields all day - a real loner. And he's supposed to be the future leader of the tribe? He comes barging in, demanding food, interrupting good conversation, disrupting everything … what's a little trickery when the system is unfair to begin with? You're the one who has the real leadership qualities - not him.

You are just finding a way to protect your future interests in an unjust system. Besides, your mother always told you about a prophecy she received before you were born, that you would be the stronger brother even though you were the younger one. When you hang around the rest of the women and younger brothers in the community, you realize that this might be God's way of overturning some of the unjust laws of the times. Perhaps this is your destiny - to challenge the rules, especially if they are unjust.

When I look at this story in its entirety, I see a couple of things. First, I see that God doesn't abandon any of the characters in this story - even when they do bad things, or when bad things are done to them. In the big picture, we see how God was active in all of these characters' lives, active in their faithfulness, in their despair, active in their faithlessness and in their doubt, in their joy.

And, I see how God uses these people, in all of their frailties, weaknesses, bad choices and human foibles … to build great nations. I see how God breaks out of order and expectation to do a new thing. And, if I look hard enough, I usually see myself, somewhere in the story. Not always in the same place, because it depends on what's going on in my life at the time. Another time I look at this story, if I'm feeling that one of my kids has been wronged, I may reflect on Rebekah's desperation and determination to ensure that the younger son gets his due. Or, if I'm in an unresolved conflict with someone, I may spend some time reflecting on Esau's eventual forgiveness of Isaac, and their reconciliation many years later. Whatever I think, I think that if God can work with and through this motley crew, God can certainly work through me.

There is a richness to these stories that we owe ourselves, as the inheritors of the tradition, to find and savour. Not to run from these stories, which on the surface may seem ridiculous, violent, full of foolish people. We owe it to ourselves to spend time with these stories ... to see them as doorways into our own story. A world of question, mystery, and reflection.

That's what Jesus did. He knew his story well. And, he told stories well, like the one today about the sower … perhaps this is the good soil that he talks about - the seeds of our faith begin with knowing our story, in all its complexity, and how God works in each and every one of us to make us part of the story too. Thanks be to God.



1 Wiki.fathfutures.org/index.php?Proper_15A