Sibling Rivalry
Sermon
There can be few families where feuding has not played some part at some time. In my own family, I discovered as a teenager that I had a whole new set of cousins, because my father and his elder brother suddenly started to communicate with each other again after years of silence. The silence had apparently been caused because the elder brother took over the family horticultural business which my father dearly loved, made a complete hash of it because he wasn't interested in plants and growing things, and then sold the business. My father meanwhile, despite being passionately green-fingered, had to work in the print trade because there was nothing else open to him.
But that's the way it was in those days. The elder son received the family business and the younger son had to find something else to do. There are still many farming families in England today where there is feuding between brothers because the older brother inevitably inherits the farm while the younger brother has to make do on his own. And when there are sisters involved too, naturally they receive nothing. No wonder there is often anger and resentment in families over the advantages which come to some and the disadvantages which accrue to others purely as an accident of birth.
Put this in the wider context of the human family and it becomes easy to understand why we in the West might be resented by those in the countries of the South. It also becomes quite easy to understand the reaction of terrorism, for we are all relatively wealthy because of an accident of birth, just as many of those in the South are at subsistence level because of an accident of birth.
Life has always been thus unfair, right from the beginning of time. Around 1700 BC, when Isaac's wife Rebekah who had been infertile for years, suddenly produced twins, there must have been terrific rejoicing, especially as Rebekah had had such a difficult pregnancy. The Bible describes it as "the children struggled together within her." Rebekah suffered so much during her pregnancy that she said, "If it is to be this way, why do I live?"
It was, of course, an omen of things to come, for the boys never got on. They weren't identical twins and it seems that they were as different as chalk and cheese. Esau the eldest by a minute or two, was an outdoor type. The description of him as covered all over in red hair makes him sound a bit like an orang-utan. He grew up to be a renowned huntsman so that the family was well supplied with delicious food and since the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, Esau was dearly loved by his father Isaac.
Jacob was quite different. He was a studious lad, who was happier remaining indoors than out in the field. He was a good chef and was highly intelligent and his mother Rebekah loved him more than she loved Esau, perhaps because he was around much more and was therefore good company for her.
When Rebekah had been pregnant with the twins, God had 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." As the boys grew up it seemed that the stronger one was Esau and that the one who served was Jacob. And that was the way it was set to be, for Esau the elder by an accident of birth would inherit a double share of everything, the land, the flocks, the herds, the wealth. He would also be the one in the highest position of honour in the family after Isaac died.
Rebekah was unhappy with this, perhaps because she loved Jacob more, or perhaps because she had the wit to see that brainy Jacob would make a much better leader than Esau. The later story of Isaac's death shows Rebekah's scheming very clearly, so it's likely that she put Jacob up to his manipulative actions in today's story.
When Esau came in from hunting, he was starving. He probably hadn't eaten for several days, while he had been out hunting for game. And he had a very active life-style, so needed a high calorie intake. He was so famished when he reached home that he would have done anything for food. When Jacob offered him food in exchange for his inheritance, Esau didn't need to think twice. As he so logically said, "If I don't eat I shall die and what use is the inheritance if I'm dead and gone?"
That wasn't quite good enough for Jacob, who wanted it all down in writing. Jacob needed a contract, in case his brother later reneged on the transaction. So he made Esau swear on oath that he had passed the inheritance to Jacob, and then Jacob fed Esau. Esau became known from that day to this as the man who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
Again, there is perhaps a corollary with modern life, since the world's most impoverished countries are in a debt crisis. Even though they have already repaid far more than they originally borrowed, they are still forced to pay over £30 million every day to the rich world in debt repayments, rather than spending the money on vital healthcare and education.
The UN estimates that 7 million children die unnecessarily each year, from diseases that can be cured and from unclean water that could be made safe. If money which poor countries pay to the rich world in debt service was spent instead on tackling poverty, the lives of millions of children in poor countries would be saved.
Like Esau, these impoverished countries are forced to sell their inheritance in order to eat. Their inheritance is in the form of their children and human resources, people who are needlessly dying because there is no spare money for medical care. The wealthy countries in the West are like Jacob, who manipulated his brother when his brother was particularly vulnerable.
But all is not lost. God took a hand in the story of Esau and Jacob, and redeemed Jacob's sin and Esau's lack of foresight. God made the great nation of the Jews from Jacob's descendants and Esau's descendants became the Edomites, although as God predicted the two nations were divided.
God can redeem the present situation too, and perhaps is already doing so with the promise of the G8 summit. Perhaps the birthright will be returned, so that the rich West and the impoverished South don't need to be divided as the Israelites and the Edomites were divided. Perhaps, if we allow God to redeem our sin and the lack of foresight of the South, terrorism will cease, the war against terror will die and the money saved can be ploughed into developing nations.
Then, perhaps, like us in the West, all human beings can enjoy God's birthright.
But that's the way it was in those days. The elder son received the family business and the younger son had to find something else to do. There are still many farming families in England today where there is feuding between brothers because the older brother inevitably inherits the farm while the younger brother has to make do on his own. And when there are sisters involved too, naturally they receive nothing. No wonder there is often anger and resentment in families over the advantages which come to some and the disadvantages which accrue to others purely as an accident of birth.
Put this in the wider context of the human family and it becomes easy to understand why we in the West might be resented by those in the countries of the South. It also becomes quite easy to understand the reaction of terrorism, for we are all relatively wealthy because of an accident of birth, just as many of those in the South are at subsistence level because of an accident of birth.
Life has always been thus unfair, right from the beginning of time. Around 1700 BC, when Isaac's wife Rebekah who had been infertile for years, suddenly produced twins, there must have been terrific rejoicing, especially as Rebekah had had such a difficult pregnancy. The Bible describes it as "the children struggled together within her." Rebekah suffered so much during her pregnancy that she said, "If it is to be this way, why do I live?"
It was, of course, an omen of things to come, for the boys never got on. They weren't identical twins and it seems that they were as different as chalk and cheese. Esau the eldest by a minute or two, was an outdoor type. The description of him as covered all over in red hair makes him sound a bit like an orang-utan. He grew up to be a renowned huntsman so that the family was well supplied with delicious food and since the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, Esau was dearly loved by his father Isaac.
Jacob was quite different. He was a studious lad, who was happier remaining indoors than out in the field. He was a good chef and was highly intelligent and his mother Rebekah loved him more than she loved Esau, perhaps because he was around much more and was therefore good company for her.
When Rebekah had been pregnant with the twins, God had 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." As the boys grew up it seemed that the stronger one was Esau and that the one who served was Jacob. And that was the way it was set to be, for Esau the elder by an accident of birth would inherit a double share of everything, the land, the flocks, the herds, the wealth. He would also be the one in the highest position of honour in the family after Isaac died.
Rebekah was unhappy with this, perhaps because she loved Jacob more, or perhaps because she had the wit to see that brainy Jacob would make a much better leader than Esau. The later story of Isaac's death shows Rebekah's scheming very clearly, so it's likely that she put Jacob up to his manipulative actions in today's story.
When Esau came in from hunting, he was starving. He probably hadn't eaten for several days, while he had been out hunting for game. And he had a very active life-style, so needed a high calorie intake. He was so famished when he reached home that he would have done anything for food. When Jacob offered him food in exchange for his inheritance, Esau didn't need to think twice. As he so logically said, "If I don't eat I shall die and what use is the inheritance if I'm dead and gone?"
That wasn't quite good enough for Jacob, who wanted it all down in writing. Jacob needed a contract, in case his brother later reneged on the transaction. So he made Esau swear on oath that he had passed the inheritance to Jacob, and then Jacob fed Esau. Esau became known from that day to this as the man who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
Again, there is perhaps a corollary with modern life, since the world's most impoverished countries are in a debt crisis. Even though they have already repaid far more than they originally borrowed, they are still forced to pay over £30 million every day to the rich world in debt repayments, rather than spending the money on vital healthcare and education.
The UN estimates that 7 million children die unnecessarily each year, from diseases that can be cured and from unclean water that could be made safe. If money which poor countries pay to the rich world in debt service was spent instead on tackling poverty, the lives of millions of children in poor countries would be saved.
Like Esau, these impoverished countries are forced to sell their inheritance in order to eat. Their inheritance is in the form of their children and human resources, people who are needlessly dying because there is no spare money for medical care. The wealthy countries in the West are like Jacob, who manipulated his brother when his brother was particularly vulnerable.
But all is not lost. God took a hand in the story of Esau and Jacob, and redeemed Jacob's sin and Esau's lack of foresight. God made the great nation of the Jews from Jacob's descendants and Esau's descendants became the Edomites, although as God predicted the two nations were divided.
God can redeem the present situation too, and perhaps is already doing so with the promise of the G8 summit. Perhaps the birthright will be returned, so that the rich West and the impoverished South don't need to be divided as the Israelites and the Edomites were divided. Perhaps, if we allow God to redeem our sin and the lack of foresight of the South, terrorism will cease, the war against terror will die and the money saved can be ploughed into developing nations.
Then, perhaps, like us in the West, all human beings can enjoy God's birthright.
