Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The Story of Jacob and Esau

The story of Jacob and Esau was a little leaned on Jacob's side of the balance. After all, he was the one who got the birthright in exchange of lentil porridge, and he tricked his father in giving him a final blessing. It was very unfair to Esau, but it seems God didn't seem to care Jacob was getting all the good luck. He even called to him and blessed him and his future inheritors. God promised:

"I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee..." (Genesis 28:13-15).
Still, God seemed to have everything planned, because he made Jacob work to gain his right as one of God's blessed. Laban made him work for seven years in order to earn Rebecca’s hand in marriage, but Laban forced him to marry his first daughter Leah. To get Rebecca he had to work seven more years, and to get enough animals he had to work six more years. How did he agree to that exploitation? Maybe he new he deserved it for all his past stunts against his brother.
The fight between Leah and Rebecca for being the favorite was impressive. Leah started to have lots of children while Rebecca was barren (God interference). Then Rebecca used her handmaid to have children with Jacob on her name. Leah started doing the same, and then Leah used her own handmaid. Finally, God opened Rebecca’s womb and she too had kids. I wonder how Jacob was feeling about all of this. I guess he was just happy getting more and more inheritors for his new generation. In the end he had four wives and twelve kids! As the Bible clearly stated:
"Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padan-aram." (Genesis 35:22-26).
I'm very glad Jacob and Esau were able to make up in the end. Jacob's actions were cruel, but Esau found it in his heart (helped by the huge amount of animals Jacob sent him) to forgive his younger brother, and there would be no resent between them. It was actually a very happy ending for Isaac's family. Apart that his grandsons destroyed a whole city (to protect their sister's honor), he probably died feeling proud of his family.

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