Two Brothers at War Genesis 25: 19-34, by Marshall Zieman, preached July 16, 2017 at PCOC

Transcription

1 Two Brothers at War Genesis 25: 19-34, by Marshall Zieman, preached July 16, 2017 at PCOC Let s imagine that you re hungry after a hard day s work and you go to your brother s house for dinner. He meets you at the door, and you walk into the kitchen and smell something delicious. But then your brother says, I made something for you to eat and it tastes wonderful, but I m not going to give you any unless you sign over your entire bank account to me, right here, right now. Would you do it? Of course not! In today s lesson, we look at a story in the Bible where something like that happens; not just to two brothers, but to twin brothers. As we dive into this story, the first thing we usually ask ourselves is, What was he thinking? And, how is it that God, over and over again, chooses to work thru such flawed human beings? God-working-through-flawed-human-beings is a main theme in all these early stories of our faith. God, the one who is so holy that he cannot tolerate sin, over and over again, reaches out to imperfect, sinful people, seeking a life-long relationship. If you ve ever thought that you re not perfect enough, or don t have your act together enough, or are just not good enough for God, then these stories in Genesis are for you - including today s story of the two brothers who spend their lives at each other s throats. Ever fight with your sibling? I did. So did you. And so did these two. Genesis 25: These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. [We saw this story last week.] 21 Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, If it is to be this way, why do I live? [She s probably not the last pregnant woman to say this.] So she went to inquire of the LORD. 23 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. 24 When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. [That means red.] 26 Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau s heel; so

2 he was named Jacob. [That means grasp.] 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. 28 Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob. [There is family tension already.] 29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. 30 Esau said to Jacob, Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished! Therefore Esau was called Edom [another word play on red]. 31 Jacob said, First sell me your birthright. 32 Esau said, I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me? 33 Jacob said, Swear to me first. So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 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 the Lord. Thanks be to God. The Bible, unlike other holy books, has no qualms about showing us people behaving rather badly. It begins way back in Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve and then Genesis 4 with Cain and Abel. Now in chapter 25 we ve got Jacob and Esau who don t exactly hit it off together, twins who are very different from each other. They are at each other s throats from Day One. Remember, Isaac didn t get married until he was 40, then he and Rebekah wait 20 years to have a child, 20 long years with no offspring for Isaac, the Son of the God s Promise. Isaac and Rebekah are both talking to God about it (which is good), yet here we are met with another crisis regarding offspring infertility again (first with Sarah and now Rebekah), and then when Rebekah does conceive, problems in her womb develop, so much that she inquires of the Lord about it. In response, she gets a very specific answer from the Lord - congratulations, you re having twins. Plus, this warning - they re not going to get along. Also, things will be a little different with these two - the oldest one won t end up being in charge (as was traditional); in this case, it s the younger one (Jacob) who will end up calling the shots, and, something even bigger is going on - the birth of a nation (or two), is about to begin. So, Rebekah and Isaac become parents. There was probably never a dull moment in their household. Now my brother and I are friends today, but growing up, I remember that we did a lot of pushing and shoving, and nitpicking and griping at each other. Mom must have loved it. (Not really.) These two brothers, though, are headed towards war.

3 3 Things come to a boil one day when the oldest, Esau, the hunter, comes in from hunting and smells Jacob s tasty stew. Now right away we learn something about Jacob that is repeated again and again he is a conniver. I m not saying all younger siblings are, but this one surely is. He will prove it again in a couple chapters when he tricks his brother out of the family blessing, but first, his shrewd craftiness shows up in how he tricks his brother out of something called a birthright. In the Old Testament, a birthright is the right which naturally belonged to the firstborn son. Back then, the oldest son had certain advantages. He received a double portion of the inheritance lands and flocks. After the father died, or in the father s absence, the firstborn son assumed the father s authority and responsibilities. He became head of the family, responsible for the younger sons, the widow or widows, and the unmarried daughters - just by being the oldest. He becomes the boss. But Jacob, the conniver, is only too ready to swindle his older brother. In a fit of frenzy, Esau is just so starving that he sells all these rights to his brother and, of course, the final result is for Esau to end up hating the birthright that he forfeited. It really means he hates his brother. And probably everybody else, too he s not a happy camper. The story of these two mal-adjusted brothers, which we will take four Sundays to work through, is a study in family dynamics, which is a nice way of saying conflict; a family feud. Dirty laundry, right here in the Bible. If last week s story of how Isaac found his wife, Rebekah, was a picture of the way we want things to work out, adversity bringing out the best in people, the story of how their kids turn out is just the opposite you don t want your kids to grow up fighting against each other like these two. But I ll tell you the secret right now, and that is, God is still with them, even in the conflict - just like God is still with our families, with your family, even when you re at odds w each other. Hopefully, your conflicts don t last your whole lives long. For Jacob, though, throughout his entire life, conflict does seem to follow him around. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are known as the Patriarchs of Israel. Jacob is the patriarch who is always in trouble. His whole life is troubled. His grandfather, Abraham, is known for his serene and confident faith. The life of his father, Isaac, is seen as effective and prosperous. In contrast to these two, this child of the third generation lives in conflict and trouble all of his days. (Walter Brueggemann, 211)

4 Jacob s stories are a series of tales of conflict. Since we won t have time to cover all of them, let me just summarize: 1. There are these arguments with his brother, Esau, over who gets the family birthrights and blessings. 2. There will be conflict later on over who Jacob will marry, Leah or Rachel (a 14-yr endeavor). 3. He will argue again w his Uncle Laban over their flocks and land, and pull a fast one. 4. Later on, he will argue with his own sons about how to live in Canaan. 5. In a few weeks we will see him literally wrestling with God. Jacob is someone who contests everything with everybody involved. Putting it nicely, Jacob is a rascal. And yet, God remains right there with him. In the whole book of Genesis, the Jacob stories are by far the most scandalous. That s because Jacob is a hustler, pure and simple. 4 But even in his hustling, he still has encounters with God. These stories of Jacob s life are both about human conflicts and divine confrontations. God won t leave him alone. Do you think you have to be perfect for God to interact with you? Jacob proves that wrong. God proves that wrong, too. Even amidst the extreme human actions we encounter divine intrusions. These Jacob stories tell us as much about God as they do about Jacob. How many times have you let yourself down - you ve slipped up, disappointed someone, or had a moment you re not so proud of and you think, I am not very lovable, or I am far from God, or God is far from me now. You re tempted to think, Now I ve done it, God has surely abandoned me; I m on my own. It s not true. God doesn t walk away from Jacob; God won t walk away from you. In fact, throughout all this, God continues to bless Jacob, brings blessings to his life, although Jacob continually chooses poorly and keeps himself in turmoil with everyone. We probably know people like this. God doesn t write them off. Neither should we. Sometimes you and I can act like this ourselves; we can do self-destructive things and bring trouble on ourselves. God has not written you off. Don t write yourself off. And so, as I ve been describing Jacob and his actions, chances are, this causes someone you know to come to mind. Someone who s probably not at rest with God, or others. Someone who may seem far from God. What Jacob s stories show us, is that God is not far away at all. I don t think

5 5 Jacob knew at the time that he would end up a patriarch. These people you re thinking of probably don t realize how near God is to them, either. Pray for those like Jacob, and never give up on them. God won t either. Let s pray now.