Genesis Roots: Jacob and Esau, Sibling Rivalry that Began in the Womb

This week we continue my summer lectionary series called "Genesis Roots."  The word genesis means origin, beginning, or birth.  Root, in the context in which I'm writing, means essential core or source of life. In a way, the roots of the story of monotheistic faith rest in the stories we find in Genesis. 

This week is all about sibling rivalry.  While the bible is full of siblings fighting about something,  Genesis, and this lectionary cycle through the story of the Hebrew ancestors, has more than its fair share of sibling war stories!  Let's go, it's me or you!  Some of these battles end tragically and some not so much.  The story of Jacob and Esau begins with what Rebekah refers to as "civil war" before her twin sons are even born.  Read Genesis 25:19-23 (NET) to get a sense of how she was feeling and how God responded to her questions.

This is the account of Isaac, the son of Abraham.  Abraham became the father of Isaac. When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.  Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. But the children struggled inside her, and she said, “If it is going to be like this, I’m not so sure I want to be pregnant!” So she asked the Lord, and the Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples will be separated from within you.
One people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”

Once again we see 2 brothers, 2 nations, the younger one becomes the "chosen" one and the eldest becomes the leader of a nation outside of the family.  Family issues, need I say more!  And God in the middles of the mess.  Sometimes, especially as we move through these stories of the patriarchs, I feel like God is being shaped into a caricature to make a compelling story.  Sometimes I lose sight of the mystery of God.  Haven't these kinds of stories always been told by the camp fire or the water cooler by the "winners?"  And don't the winners always tell the stories so the "losers" look bad?

This propensity we have to label winners and losers is the heart of sibling rivalry and dualistic thinking!  Dualistic thinking can be defined, perhaps overly-simplified, as thinking in dualities ... either/or thinking.  Remember a couple of weeks ago when Sarah had Abraham send his son Ishmael and Hagar into the desert to die.  It was either her son or Hagar's son.  She could not see how they could co-exist with one another.  God had another plan.  Dualistic thinking is not itself always a bad thing.  There are times, especially in formative years, when it is imperative for safety and well-being to know whether something is "good" or "bad."  However, one hopes that a tremendous amount of mystery can flourish alongside.

For me, it is Jesus himself who invites us beyond dualistic thinking when he says, "you have heard it said ... but I say to you ..." and you can fill in the blanks with the many times he asked people to consider things from a different perspective.    As we grow and encounter more and more things we cannot understand, our perspectives are challenged.  As you consider those mysterious things of life calling you to new perspectives, hear these words from Richard Rohr in his book Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life,

“You no longer need to divide the field of every moment between up and down, totally right or totally wrong, with me or against me.  It just IS.  This calm allows you to confront what must be confronted in life with even greater clarity and incisiveness.” 

I invite you to spend a few moments preparing your heart to seek God with openness as you engage the text via Lectio Divina.   Breathe deeply and envision God’s Spirit filling you with the ability to see with clarity!  Settle into yourself with a simple  breath prayer.  Use this one or create your own.

Breathing in    ... Birthing God
Breathing out  ... Bring me vision anew

and when you are ready to move deeper into the text, pray ... Birthing God, I am often at war, sometimes with others but often with myself.  Help me to see myself as I really am.  As I read and pray with your holy word, help me to find a word to illuminate my life and invite me to grow closer to you.   In Christ, Amen. 

Step 1: Lectio … Reading
Read  Genesis 25:24-34 (NET) slowly, taking in the story that is unfolding.
Listen for a word or phrase that catches your attention.
Silently focus on that word or phrase or perhaps an image that is forming.
Sit with your word or phrase or image for as long as seems good to you.
Allow it to sift through your heart and mind.
Let the story come alive in your soul through that word, phrase, image.

Click here to read in original Lectio Version: The VOICE Bible

When the time came for Rebekah to give birth, there were twins in her womb. The first came out reddish all over, like a hairy garment, so they named him Esau. When his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau’s heel, they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled hunter, a man of the open fields, but Jacob was an even-tempered man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for fresh game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Now Jacob cooked some stew, and when Esau came in from the open fields, he was famished. So Esau said to Jacob, “Feed me some of the red stuff—yes, this red stuff—because I’m starving!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

But Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die! What use is the birthright to me?” But Jacob said, “Swear an oath to me now.” So Esau swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew; Esau ate and drank, then got up and went out. So Esau despised his birthright.

Step 2: Meditatio … Receiving
Continue to focus on your word or phrase or image.
Pay attention to the thoughts and feelings it evokes.
What memories come to your mind?
Ask God to continue to speak to you and reveal you to yourself.
Listen and watch for God’s mysterious presence as you move through your day

Step 3: Oratio … Responding
Consider any desires that have been awakened by your prayer
Perhaps you have found an area of your life that needs attention
Do not rush ... wait and listen as God forms your prayers and desires

Step 4: Contempatio … Resting
Allow your word, phrase or image to fall away ...
Allow yourself to rest in the silence ...   

If images are a pathway to God for you, you may want to come back and pray while "gazing" upon this photo of a stain-glass window, called "Esau gives up his Birthright."

“Esau Gives up his Birthright” By Rensig, Everhard (maker, Details of artist on Google Art Project) [Public domain], photo via Wikimedia Commons.  Original stain-glass (c 1521 at the Cloisters of Mariawald, Germany) is now located at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

ok, isn't is fascinating to have a stain-glass depiction in which these 2 biblical characters look like musketeers, but I suppose that is how the story was contextualized for persons of the times, especially for persons who could not read but could only tell the stories through images.  If this disturbs you or makes you irritated, or if it makes you smile and wonder ... allow those emotions to carry you as you engage in Visio Divina, praying with an image.

Visio divina (sacred seeing) is a companion discipline of lectio divina (sacred reading)

Read the Image ... Allow your eyes to seek softly what you are attracted to in the image.  Simply receive the gift of seeing.  What "image within the image" is drawing you in ... Allow yourself a few moments simply to sit with this gift.

Receive the Image ... Take a deep breath and gaze with soft eyes and a receptive spirit.  After receiving, close your eyes and reflect by allowing your imagination to form that image in your consciousness ... what are you receiving from God through the image?  How does this illuminate your life right now?

Respond to God ... Now take a deep breath and gaze with soft eyes and a grateful spirit.  How do you sense yourself desiring to respond to God through the image you have received?  What would you say to God about what you are hearing, seeing, feeling?  Allow yourself to pray with gratitude ...

Rest in God ... Now take a deep breath and rest ... notice how your body feels.  Is there something more here?  Then go back and repeat your "gazing" prayer.   If you feel that you have received all you need in this moment, simply rest in the silence and come to a place of shalom, peace, wholeness ...

Amen.