I was recently
reading back through the story between Jacob and Esau which covers
Genesis 25:27 to all of chapter 33. When I was a kid, I think I had
heard almost every Sunday School teacher and preacher who covered
these twin brothers portray Jacob as the hero, and Esau was always
the delinquent. After all, it was Jacob, later named Israel, through
whom the promise came, right? Also, doesn’t the Scripture say,
“Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated”?
But as I was going
back through it, I saw something I hadn’t seen before. It became
less about a tale of Jacob’s dubious heroics and Esau’s
carelessness, and more about how God metes out justice to those who
have been wronged. As we look through the text, we see Jacob
extorting Esau’s birthright as the oldest brother, double what
Jacob shuld have gotten, for a bowl of soup. Later, we see Jacob
willfully committing fraud against his father and brother in order to
receive the blessing meant for the eldest. In other words, Jacob was
a cheat and a liar, and intended to steal what was rightfully his
brother’s.
Now, the thing about
Esau which stood out during this reading of these passages is that he
wasn’t a bad son. He might have been more concerned about matters
in the moment rather than the future, but he was dutiful towards his
father, and actively sought to please his parents. His brother
willfully intruded on that special relationship he had with his
father and stomped on it. When he becomes enraged with Jacob to the
point that he wants to kill him, its not like he doesn’t have
reason.
Now, what’s
interesting about this is what actually happens as opposed to what
Jacob intended by his fraud and cheating.
Who actually
inherits Isaac’s property? Esau. Because of Esau’s rage, Jacob
runs east to go live with relatives for twenty years. Who do you
think inherited Isaac’s property? Esau. And not just his own
birthright double portion, but he also assumes control over Jacob’s
portion as well because he’s not there to claim it. Not only did
Jacob not succeed in making off with Esau’s birthright, but he lost
his own inheritance from his father as well. Furthermore, Jacob
himself is defrauded and cheated by his uncle for those twenty years,
and only has any kind of property because God chose to give it to him
through miraculous means.
Who actually bows
down to whom? In Isaac’s blessing that was meant for Esau, he tells
Jacob that his brothers would bow down before him. But in the text,
what we see is Jacob bowing low before Esau seven times out of fear
of him. If we are to take this blessing literally and in the moment,
it went to the person Isaac intended it to go to, and not to the
person who intended to steal it.
God may have chosen
the line of Jacob for His promise, but He did not allow Esau to be
defrauded in order to do it. Instead, he restored to Esau what was
rightfully his, kept Esau’s hands free of his brother’s blood,
and disciplined Jacob for twenty years because of it.
In this story, we
also have a parallel with the prodigal son. But in this case, Esau
plays the role of both wronged older brother, and the father in the
parable just waiting to receive the prodigal Jacob back with open
arms as family. He falls on his neck and weeps openly for joy that
his brother has come home, and tries to refuse Jacob’s gifts meant
to appease him because there’s nothing to appease any longer. Esau,
after twenty years, has completely forgiven his brother who wronged
him and is just happy to see him again.
In this story, God
has both Jacob’s and Esau’s best interests at heart. He looks out
for both of them, and while He does not choose Esau for His future
purposes, He doesn’t abandon him either or let him suffer from his
brother’s injustice towards him. And in the end, His purpose is
reconciliation and restoration of relationship between them.
