Scripture Text (NRSV)

Genesis 25:19-34

25:19 These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham was the father of Isaac,

25:20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean.

25:21 Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

25:22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it is to be this way, why do I live?" So she went to inquire of the LORD.

25:23 And the LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger."

25:24 When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb.

25:25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau.

25:26 Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

25:27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.

25:28 Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

25:29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.

25:30 Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!" (Therefore he was called Edom.)

25:31 Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright."

25:32 Esau said, "I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?"

25:33 Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Comments:

Selling out? This could be used today. Have we as the Church, the body of Christ sold out...not for a bowl of soup when famished...What have we sold out for? Lust, money, prestige, progess, the quote unquote american dream.... What have we let another buy from us? Not steal, but given away like it don't matter anyway... I think one thing we have given is our youth and young adults---if the mainline Churches continue this path they will loose another generation the elementary age kids.... What have we as the church sold our young ones out for? Programs, social club... Is your Church a social club? YOu come to be entertained? Or are you being discipled? Just some beginning stirrings right now...Pastor Mary in OH

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The story of the birthright being sold follows the explanation that Jacob was thus named because he is a heel-grabber. I am working around the theme of "Family Values at Jacob's Used Camel Lot." What is evident is that both brothers showed little regard for the value of family. Esau treated a birthright with contempt. Jacob took advantage of his brother's hunger. As a former car salesman, I knew other salespersons who would brag about how much money they had made off a relative. I suppose that's where the "used camel lot" portion ties in. -Dale in Chattanooga

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I'm going to use this Sunday's OT lection (and go include the "swindling" of the blessing, too) to talk about family relationships. I think there's a certain consolation in reading about Isaac's mixed up bunch. The family dynamics present in Isaac's household aren't that different than in our own: favoritism, rivalry, deception, anger, estrangement. If God can be God for these folk, God can be God for us as well. If God can love Jacob the supplanter, than maybe God can love me, too. It would be possible to extrapolate out to the "family" of the church, too. This slice of family life in Gen. 25 isn't too far off from what we find in many churches. The story of Jacob and Esau isn't held up to us as an ideal but as a reality. If this is our reality how do we learn to live together in peace and equity? I wonder what a family counseling session with Isaac and family would look like? Maybe that would make a good sermon!

JGC in MA

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I am also going to center my thoughts around the "Family Feud" theme present in this story. This story isn't all that ancient nor is it irrelevant. Here in Massachusetts there is a huge amount of publicity this week about Ted Williams and his feuding family. There is deception, greed, anger, estrangement and sin. It's bizarre and not all that different than Jacob and Esau....

DB in MA

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How does Jacob's (and, later, Rebekah's) deception relate to the fact that GOD tells Rebekah that the younger will rule the older, in effect, saying that the covenant promise will continue through Jacob? Abraham also struggles with God's promise, and not all his actions are acts of faith in that promise, either. If God had marked Jacob as the one through whom the Covenant would continue, did Jacob even really need to receive the birthright from his father Isaac? Is it a part of our human nature to think that we have to 'help' Almighty God keep his promise to us? What does that question say to the Church today, and some of the things we engage in to 'defend' the Good News? With our own inheritance secure as joint-heirs with Christ, do we steal others' birthright by the way we treat them? Ken in WV

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Okay, laugh if you will (you never plan worship this way, right?): I'm preaching on the OT story this summer, but I have a visiting soloist singing on Sunday, and she's doing a heartbreakingly beautiful and starkly simple arrangement of "Jesus Loves Me". Now I know there is a whole school of thought that finds Jesus references in every particle of the OT, but I have reservations about that. How do I get from Jacob's greed to Jesus' love? (Actually, the refrain of the song may be the key ... "the Bible ... the Bible tells me so." Any help?

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