Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav Kolkata event honours four Clergymen
Pope Francis asks businesses to support working women: They’re ‘afraid to get pregnant’
Study: Christianity may lose majority, plurality status in U.S. by 2070
Indian politician declines Magsaysay Award under party pressure
Like John Paul II, Pope Francis heads to Kazakhstan during time of war
Jacob Chanikuzhy
We are all familiar with sibling rivalry. But probably none of us have heard about a sibling rivalry that started in the mother’s womb itself, apart from the story of Esau and Jacob in the Bible (Genesis 25).
Their fight in their mother Rebekah’s womb was so fierce that she had fear for her own life. She thought that it was meaningless to live as the mother of such aggressive children.
Rebekah struggled with her barrenness for twenty years after her marriage with Isaac. One can imagine her frustration every month for twenty years. Nonetheless, her anguish over her childlessness was not so bad as her anguish over the character of her children in the womb. She never thought of dying when she was childless; but she did think seriously about death when she
was pregnant with the quarrelling twins. But, in her trouble she took counsel from the Lord and she was promptly comforted, and illumined about the destiny about her children.
The first appearance of Esau and Jacob in the world was in a “fighting mode.” As they grew older, Esau became a strong and active hunter and Jacob a passive and peace-loving shepherd. Esau became the favourite of his father Isaac probably due to the meat he brought home from hunting and Jacob was his mother’s favourite, perhaps, on account of the divine oracle concerning Jacob.
Once, when Esau returned from the field extremely hungry, he saw the soup cooked by Jacob. But, Jacob was not willing to give him soup unless Esau sells his birth right to Jacob. Caught in between the stew and his birth right Esau laments, “I am about to die; of what use is a birth-right to me?” (Genesis 25, 32). Of course, Esau’s words exaggerated his hunger and thirst. He would not have died even if he did not have that lentil soup. After all, he had just returned after a hunt, which means he was strong and healthy. But when he saw and smelled the soup he could not control his appetite and he had such a craving for that soup that he thought he would die if he did not get a mouthful of the soup. It felt to him that life without that soup was equal to death. Since the lentil soup meant everything for him he was ready to forfeit anything for it. Even his precious birth right appeared to him worthless before the soup that appealed to his taste.
In fact, we can easily understand the situation of Esau. It is possible that people have strong desire for certain things – power, pleasure, position, prestige, prosperity…you name it. If they can’t fulfil these desires they feel as if they are sinking in the abyss of frustration and depression. In the spiritual milieu, the aspirants face the lure of temptations. Succumbing to certain sins is equal to drinking the soup that the devil prepares. It can be enjoyed only at the cost of the inheritance
God has promised. Sometimes, people act like penny-wise and pound foolish. In so many minute details they try to be faithful and upright. But, then all of a sudden, a story breaks out narrating the story of their falling pray to the machinations of some sort of evil. Their whole life turns to be a bad joke.
In the story, Jacob does not look much better than Esau. Who will dare to sell a bowl of soup to one’s own thirsty brother? In the normal course, any one will offer some soup free of cost to one’s siblings. But, it seems that Jacob made a callous calculation about what he can gain in the miserable situation Esau is in. He takes advantage of the weakness of Esau. Whereas Esau’s mistake is the result of a hasty and unthoughtful decision, Jacob’s move seems to be a premeditated one. Jacob appears to have waited for an opportunity to grab his brother’s heel again and go ahead of him.
More than once, the family of Isaac was in the soup. The troubles were caused by a passive and partial father, a manipulative mother, an impetuous elder brother and a cunning younger brother. Still God works in this family. The fact that God chose Jacob in spite of his less than praise worthy character only indicates that God’s choice is not based on our merits.
Leave a Comment