Stew Are You?

Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am Esau, your son, your first-born.” Then Isaac was so shocked, he trembled. Genesis 27:32,33

Take this family, Isaac and Rebekah, with their twin sons Jacob and Esau, out of the Bible and put them on television and they would be a top-notch daytime soap opera. Or, if they were a family in contemporary society, they might even have had the Department of Children’s Services pay them a visit.

Rebekah loves her refined and bookish boy, Jacob, better, and coddles him. Esau is more an outdoors type, and his father Isaac’s favorite; especially enjoying the stew Esau cooked from his hunting expeditions.

Once, Jacob was boiling his own stew when Esau came in from the fields exhausted. He begs Jacob for some, wanting, in his words to “guzzle…for I am famished.” Seizing the opportunity, Jacob, the second born twin, told Esau to sell his birthright. Surprisingly, Esau goes along with it saying, “What good will my birthright do when I am starving.” Jacob connived to get the first rights to the property and Esau gave in to his stomach rather than take his birthright seriously. This family lacked any semblance of positive parenting techniques.

Later on, when Isaac is nearing death, Rebekah schemes to get Jacob one more blessing from the old man. It is a theme used in literature over and over. One twin disguises himself as the other, and steals something he desires to have; here, further blessing.

Isaac had asked Esau to go bow hunting in the open country and prepare a tasty dish for him. “The kind I am fond of,” he said. “So I may give you my blessing before I die.” Eavesdropping Rebekah sets her plan in motion.

While Esau is gone she tells Jacob to fetch two kid goats from the flock. She will prepare a meal just like Esau’s. Jacob can give it to Isaac to receive the blessing from his father. Jacob reminds his mom that Esau is a “hairy man” and that he is “smooth”. He is concerned that, even though his father’s eyesight has failed, he might touch him, and appear to be a “mocker”. “I’ll bring a curse on myself then, instead of the blessing!”

Mom has an immediate answer, even promising to take the curse upon herself. Jacob fetches the two goats and when he returns, Rebekah gathers some of Esau’s clothing. She dresses Jacob in them and also fits him with the skins of the goats on his wrists, arms, and back of his neck. She then hands the dish over to her son, along with some bread.

To sum up the story, Jacob’s ruse is a success, although Papa Isaac does ask about Jacob’s voice, and wonders how “Esau” had found his game so quickly. Another lie! Jacob: “The Lord, your God brought it direct to me.” Isaac bestows the blessing, actually meant for his first born, even saying, “Be master over your kinsmen (oops, that would include Esau!)”.

Barely upon finishing the blessing and Jacob just leaving Esau enters and Isaac asks, “Who are you?” Who indeed? Esau begs, cries, does everything he can to get Papa to change it all up, but in those days, a word was a word, a blessing was a blessing. There was no going back!

How in the world could God use such a mixed up, messed up, dysfunctional bunch of people? We have “churchified” this story so much that we forget how downright villainous the characters are. We look hard to come up with many redeeming qualities for any of them. Yet God’s choice was to use this family, starting back at Abraham, to bring blessing to the world.

The ancestry of Jesus goes straight through the “Isaac to Jacob” line. In fact, it is Jacob who finally becomes “Israel” when God changes his name. God’s chosen nation, named for a lying, self-interested boy! (Yes, he wrestled with God, but that was a night he was scared to death that Esau was going to give some pretty heavy pay-back!)

My opinion is that we over-complicate these stories. The question I ask myself is, “How does this story help me understand Jesus, or the gospel?” For one, it tells me there is hope. If God, out of all the people on earth at that time, chose to honor a blessing squeezed out by deceit, how much more will He honor the blessing He promises to all who place their faith in His righteous Son. If the sinful, lying Jacob could bring blessing, how much more God’s perfect Son who was without sin?

I am, far too often, related to the Jacob folks. I’m not always fully truthful. I try to work things around to my benefit. Sometimes I even use circumstances to enhance my experience and shortchange someone else’s. Oh, nothing major to speak of, but still, I have some of Jacob’s blood running through my veins.

But, by faith, I have been promised a better family. The blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin, as I put my faith in Him. And, having done so, Jesus becomes my own “Elder Brother”. I don’t have to put up with the Jacob DNA. Father God has adopted me, and all others who will say, “I don’t want to be a ‘Jacob’ anymore. Please adopt me into Your family of grace, headed by Jesus.”

Yes, the “Jacob” in me still wants to run the show from time to time, but I am learning the joy of living under the blessing that I didn’t have to earn, let alone deceive anyone for. And that blessing is open to all!