Week 8

11/3/2024

Fall 2024

Central Passage: Genesis 25-32

First, remember the context. Isaac and Rebekah were still wandering shepherds with only a small piece of inconsequential land to pass on to the firstborn son. Second, though many of us are familiar with the story, when reading biblical narratives we need to rightly distinguish between prescriptive and descriptive. Jacob’s behavior is not prescribed, commendable behavior for us to emulate; rather, his behavior describes a trickster and deceiver whom God faithfully blessed with His covenantal promises and humbled along the way. In fact, Jacob’s name means “heel holder,” meaning someone who attacks or circumvents at the heel.

Esau trading his birthright to Jacob was an act of faithlessness. As the firstborn, his inheritance was what God promised to Abraham: an entire nation. Yet, he traded the promise for a bowl of soup to meet his more immediate, concrete needs.¹ On the other hand, Jacob’s conduct was full of mischief and trickery. In Genesis 27, he deceived both Esau and Isaac into giving him the birthright and blessing (note that Hebrews 12:16 reveals that Esau giving up the birthright included forfeiting the blessing). After Rebekah perceived Esau’s anger toward Jacob, she sent Jacob to Laban for refuge and a wife, not wishing to lose both sons over the matter (she likely believed Esau would kill Jacob, and then an avenger of blood would kill Esau as a result).

While in exile, Laban turned Jacob’s trickery back on him (Genesis 29; 31:6-7cf. Psalm 7:16; Proverbs 26:27). Jacob continued his pattern of dishonoring relatives (beginning with Esau) when he asked for Rachel instead of Leah in Genesis 29. Culturally, Laban would have preferred to give Leah, the older sister, in marriage first so that Leah would avoid a life of dishonored singleness with no offspring to receive the blessing and inheritance. Thus, as Jacob asked for Rachel, Laban responded with trickery (Genesis 29:16-26). Jacob continued his unjust preference by choosing the oldest son of Rachel (Joseph) rather than Leah’s oldest son (Reuben) for his heir (Genesis 37:3-4), despite Leah bearing more children.

Jacob was consistently the trickster who fled from danger (Genesis 27:43-44; 31). In the midst of his dishonorable story, God honored him with the covenant inheritance of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 25:23; 28:12-15). But God did not endorse Jacob’s actions—He humbled him. God gave Jacob a limp on his way to meet Esau for the first time since fleeing from him. He physically could no longer flee from the danger of a potentially vengeful brother. Instead, he could only trust that God would protect him by His own means. When Jacob acted dishonorably, as he does later with Joseph and his brothers, trouble followed as a natural consequence. Yet God condescends into messy stories to show His trustworthiness and to humble sinners to repentance and faith. I pray it does not take a crippling wrestling match with God to gain this humility.

1. As we look at how Esau hastily gave the inheritance of God's Promised Land to his younger brother for a bowl of soup, I am reminded of C. S. Lewis' quote from The Weight of Glory: "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."