A Ramble About God's Justice

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.