Reading: Genesis 25.19-34
Jealousy and selfishness are qualities that often go hand in hand. How hurt we are when something good has happened to someone else or when someone else is picked for a task we had hoped would be ours! It is jealousy and selfishness mixed in well together!
So often the mix betrays us. Aesop, the old writer of fables, told a story about a dog who stole a piece of meat. He held it firmly in his mouth as he ran away. Soon he came to a stream which was bridged by a log. When he was half way across the log, he saw in the clear water below him what he thought was another dog holding a piece of meat in his mouth. Greedily he opened his mouth and lowered his head to grab the other dog's meat. All he managed to do was lose his own piece of meat! The "dog" he had seen was only his own reflection! Sad and hungry he went on his way.
So many people are like that dog. They are never satisfied with what they have. They want what others have, too. They have the motto, "Get all you can and can all you get!"
Mostly, in raising their children, parents find a number of points where jealousy and selfishness raise their heads. In some families there is a continual bitter battle.
Jacob and Esau were twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca. The family was nomadic moving about the land of Canaan to find grass and water for their flocks of sheep.
Isaac believed very much in the promise God had made to Abraham - "I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing" (Gen.12.2b). Abraham had been worried about how that promise could be fulfilled. He was a hundred years old when Isaac had been born. And now Isaac had married Rebecca. But, after twenty years of marriage, no children had been born to inherit the Lord's promise. So Isaac prayed to the Lord and Rebecca had become pregnant. She was going to have twins and they seemed to be fighting before they were born! The Lord said to her,
Their differences were plain from the day they were born. Esau, the first-born twin, was "reddish, and his skin was like a hairy robe". The second, Jacob, was born holding tightly to Esau's heel (vv.25,26). However, their differences were not just in appearance, but in disposition. When the boys grew up, "Esau became a skilled hunter, a man who loved the outdoor life, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home" (v.27).
Unfortunately, these differences led the parents to favour different boys. One writer comments, "For some reason or other, the passive Isaac was attracted to the active Esau, and the more impulsive Rebecca was attracted by the nomadic Jacob, who nevertheless reflected many of his mother's traits." Perhaps Isaac also favoured Esau because the first-born was entitled to the birthright and his father's blessing. In those days, the first boy born in a family became heir to twice as much property on the death of the father as any of the other sons. He also became the head of the family and would inherit the blessings promised to Abraham. But Rebecca had a secret - had she ever shared it with Isaac? She knew that "the older will serve the younger."
Now it was quite true that God had a plan and that according to God's plan, the blessing would pass through the younger twin, Jacob. Just how that would happen we do not know. It must have been something that Rebecca and Jacob discussed on a number of occasions. Esau wasn't greatly concerned about the birthright, didn't care much for the Lord's promise to his family. Rebecca and Jacob felt they had to make sure somewhere along the line that God's promise would come true.
Jacob's first opportunity came one day when Esau returned from hunting tired and hungry. Jacob had been cooking some lentil soup. The smell attracted Esau and he demanded, "I'm starving! Give me some of that red stuff!"
Hmm… Here's a chance to bargain! "I will give it to you if you give me your rights as the first-born son." (Archaeology has found contemporary evidence that the birthright was sometimes regarded as transferable. In one such contract a brother paid three sheep for part of an inheritance.)
"All right! I am about to die; what good will my rights do me then?"
That's not good enough! You have to make a proper promise that you won't be able to go back on! "First make a vow that you will give me your rights."
What can God do about all this mess? Esau's indifference to God's gifts was wrong - he did not value the promises of God. He would not make a good leader. And God allowed him to lose one thing after another - but he still loved Esau and was willing to help him. But Jacob's scheming was wrong too. True, he did value the birthright. If he could be taught to turn from scheming, he would use his time and property in good ways. God saw value in the future life of Jacob and so continued to work with Jacob.
God has a plan for our lives too, but our lives can end up taking a big "detour" when we contrive our own means of helping God's plan along!
Jacob and Esau evidently did not tell their father, Isaac, about the bargain over the birthright. So when Isaac was blind and nearing death, he called Esau and told him he wanted to give him a special blessing.
This blessing, sometimes given on the deathbed, was regarded as having as much legal validity as a written will in our own day. It was more than just fatherly approval, for they trusted God to honour this blessing and give property and riches as well.
First he wanted Esau to take his bow and arrows out into the country, bring in some game and prepare some tasty food for his father to eat. Then, in the enjoyment of all the things he liked best about his son, he would bless him.
But Rebecca was listening. This has to be stopped. Jacob must get that blessing! Rebecca thought she had better do her part in helping God's plan along! With a fat young goat from the flock, some goat skin on his arms and neck and some of Esau's best clothes - the deception was good enough to pass the blind father. The special blessing was given to Jacob. He got the blessing, but he had to run for his life. Esau was breathing murder when he knew Jacob has tricked him. It would be twenty years before Jacob returned home - years in which he would learn some very important lessons because of the deception and trickery of Laban.
God has a best plan for everyone! Our jealousy and selfishness are so wrong and so unnecessary! We never have to grasp at God's plan for us at the expense of someone else! And while we jealously consider the blessing God is giving to some other person, we become unable to receive the blessing he is preparing for us! All we do is create a detour - sometimes years unnecessarily spent in the wilderness!
We cannot re-write the history of what happened between Jacob and Esau. We might get the impression that God's plan could only have happened because of the deception and trickery on the part of Jacob and Rebecca. Not so! The more we think about those events, the more we will be convinced that God's plan came about in spite of all that human scheming! The scheming caused a detour and a delay in the fulfilment of God's promises.
What is God's plan, his promise, his blessing, his inheritance… for us? They are firstly all the blessings he has prepared for us in Jesus Christ. This is the blessing he promised to bring upon the world through the descendants of Abraham. Have you begun to enter into these blessings by receiving Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord? Don't go off on a detour! Come to him today! And become a regular reader of the Word so that you will know more and more about all the riches that are yours in Christ!
They are also the blessings God is waiting to pour out on us as his Spirit comes to fill us, to clean us up inside and to empower us to be what we were always meant to be. As you read the Word, ask the Holy Spirit to translate your riches in Christ into the reality of your experience day by day. Invite the Holy Spirit to fill your life.
But the Holy Spirit came to empower people for witness and service. Don't go off on a detour there, either! Begin each day with a prayer, "Lord, what do you want me to do today?"
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