May the mumbling commence!
A sibling rivalry is born. Anyone with siblings knows what this is all
about. I have seven siblings, and my
closest sibling (a sister) was near impossible for me to live with while we
were both under our parents’ roof. Now that
we live separately, we get along swell.
Before the separation, things were different. Such a sibling rivalry was born between Esau
and Jacob. Read from Peterson’s The Message:
The boys grew up. Esau
became an expert
hunter, an
outdoorsman. Jacob was a quiet man preferring
life indoors among the tents. Isaac loved Esau
because he loved his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
One day
Jacob was cooking stew. Esau came in
from the field, starved. Esau said
to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stew – I’m
starved!” That’s how he came to be called Edom (Red).
Jacob
said, “Make me a trade: my stew for your rights
as the firstborn.”
Esau
said, “I’m starving! What good is a
birthright if I’m dead?”
Jacob
said, “First swear to me.” And he did it. On oath
Esau traded away his rights as the firstborn. Jacob gave him bread and the stew of
lentils. He ate and drank, got up and
left. That’s how Esau shrugged off his rights
as the firstborn. (Genesis 25:27-34)
Now read the same passage from the NIV translation:
The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying
among the tents.
Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah
loved Jacob.
Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from
the open country, famished.
He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some
of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also
called Edom.)
Jacob replied, "First
sell me your birthright."
"Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What
good is the birthright to me?"
But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave
Esau some bread and
some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised
his birthright. (Genesis 25:27-34)
They were twins, but they could hardly be more
different. That was a beginning of
conflict. Esau was a daddy’s boy, and
Jacob was a momma’s boy.
And it didn’t help that Mom and Dad picked
favorites. Isaac loved Esau. Rebekah loved Jacob. The underlying connotations are that Isaac
loved Esau more than Jacob and that Rebekah loved Jacob more than Esau. That, I’m sure, made matters worse.
Jacob knew what he wanted. So did Esau.
Jacob was jockeying for the greatest share of the inheritance. His view was more long term.
Esau was a man of the moment. He was controlled by his immediate desires
and drives. He was famished…
starving. He was blind to the long term
consequences of his rash oath.
I find it interesting the differences of emphasis on
this oath by the NIV and Peterson. The
NIV seems more antagonistic. Esau knew
what he was doing. He despised his birthright. Peterson lightens the connotations by saying
that Esau shrugged off his rights as
a firstborn. A vast majority of the
translations go with the harder verb – despised.
Of the other differences, I think the NIV is less
ambiguous about the reason for Isaac’s love for Esau. Isaac loved the taste of his wild game…
rather than Isaac loved Esau’s game (that can mean a number of different
things). And the love of eating wild
game will come into play later, as we will see.
The important underlying question in these family
dynamics is: Do we allow our own
prejudices influence or blind us to God’s will for us and our families? We will discover the answer for Isaac and
Rebekah. How is it for us? Though my family unit has only one child, the
question is still important.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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