A Tale of Two Sons

Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean of Paddan Aram,

! the sister of Laban, the Aramean, to be his wife.

And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren.

And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived.

And the children struggled together within her.

And she said,

If it is thus, why is this happening to me?

So she went to inquire of the Lord, and the Lord said to her,

Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided.

One shall be stronger, and the other.

The older shall serve the younger.

And when her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb.

And the first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak.

So they called his name Esau.

And afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so that his name was called Jacob.

Isaac was six years old when she bore them.

And when the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field,

while Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in the tents.

And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game.

But Rebekah loved Jacob.

Once, when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.

And Esau said to Jacob,

Let me eat some of that red stew, for I'm exhausted.

Therefore his name was called Edom.

And Jacob said, Sell me your birthright right now.

And Esau said, I'm about to die.

Of what use is a birthright to me?

And Jacob said, Swear to me now.

So he swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew.

And he ate and drank and rose and went his way.

Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Let's pray.

Lord, we're thankful even for the failures of technology.

Father, we're thankful for your word, for it shows us that you work through imperfection.

That same gospel message that gives us life to sinners that are in need of grace, that are imperfect,

permeates through all of life.

Even in brothers that fight against each other.

Lord, we ask that you might show us Jesus this morning through the story of Jacob and Esau.

And it's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Full disclosure, this morning is going to be a little bit nerdier than I normally am.

Which probably some of you are like, oh yes, thank goodness.

And some of you are like, oh no.

If you're in the oh no category, you might not recognize where this is from.

But you've heard it before.

It was the best of times.

It was the worst of times.

Now if you never read a single book in high school, not that I commend that, you know that phrase.

But it's from Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities.

It's a book about two men, two countries really, that want the same thing.

One Frenchman, one Englishman.

They couldn't be any more different than each other.

And yet, they want the same thing, the same woman.

It's a paradox really.

They even look like each other.

How could they be so different and yet the same?

So even if you're not a literature person this morning,

you've felt the tension of a paradox like that.

You've walked through difficulty in life and thought to yourself,

how is God working or maybe even seeing God working through the midst of difficulty.

If you've walked on this earth, you've felt sadness and happiness all at the same time.

And those two things are being held together.

And you don't know how they're the same.

In the same instance, they both can be true.

You might have even heard the phrase,

you have to spend money to make money.

How can you spend money and make money at the same time?

Or maybe something like,

he was too smart for his own good.

He was so studied that he had no common sense.

Or maybe on a bigger scale,

how can a sinner be holy?

How can a follower of Christ still struggle with sin?

We've talked about that time and time again in Romans.

But that contrast,

those two things being held together at the same time,

is at the center of this story.

But it's in the form of these two brothers,

Jacob and Esau.

How could they be brothers when they're so, so different?

Almost different in every way.

But even in the midst of all of that,

God is working.

And God is at work even now.

So this morning, we're going to see that God is at work

in the story of Jacob and Esau.

But he's at work in two things that seem kind of silly.

He's at work even in the midst of sin.

And he's at work in the midst of a big stew incident.

Okay?

Sin and stew.

But I want us to remember this morning,

the main point is that God is working

to accomplish his purposes

in spite of sin

and even in spite of stew.

Those are the divisions of this section of Scripture.

Your Bible might even highlight those.

And as we think through this,

I mentioned it earlier,

that we're jumping back from the book of Romans

back to Genesis.

And as we do so,

I want us to keep in mind what we've learned so far

in our earlier time in Genesis.

That God has promised Abraham and his descendants

a great blessing of children

and something that's eternal.

And now we have Abraham's descendants.

Not too far removed,

but forgetting all that was promised to him.

So this morning, let's first look at sin.

Look with me at that first part of the story.

It's a story that doesn't begin

with Jacob and Esau at all.

In fact, it begins,

this is really the story of Isaac.

But in Isaac,

the most important thing that comes from Isaac

is Jacob.

If you remember,

Isaac is that long-promised son of Abraham.

Not simply a promise of blessing,

but descendants and a family

and a kingdom

that would be everlasting.

Except there's one problem, right?

He's got no kids.

And that new family tradition

of great promise of blessing

and fruitfulness

continues with Isaac.

He has that promise,

but he has no children.

Look back with me at verse 19.

These are the generations of Isaac,

Abraham's son.

Abraham fathered Isaac,

and Isaac was 40 years old

when he took Rebekah.

That's important.

We'll come back to that later.

The story is less about Isaac

and more about his children.

Apart from what will be

a little short snippet

about Rebekah

and her family relations,

it immediately goes in verse 21.

Look with me.

Isaac prayed to the Lord

for his wife

because she was barren.

That family tradition

of not having children

now is fulfilled

because it says

the Lord granted

his prayer

and his wife conceived.

There's a lot of information

in this first section,

and this should be

a little bit of a preview

of what's going to happen

in Jacob's life.

Laban is really irrelevant

to this story right now,

but in a couple chapters,

a couple verses later,

Laban is going to figure

very prominently

because he's going to make

Jacob's life miserable.

It's a foreshadowing

of what's in store for Jacob,

but there's this longing

for a family,

and that familiar storyline

for Abraham

is now true in Isaac,

and we might see

those similarities

and think,

hey, what's going on here?

And if you know

a little bit about Scripture,

this is going to happen again.

And sometimes,

that causes us to question

the truthfulness of Scripture.

How could this happen

so often?

And it's caused some

to question the authenticity

of these accounts.

But it's really

a literary technique

where we draw in similarities

to then highlight

the differences

of what's going on.

So it's drawing us back

to the story of Abraham,

and he's trying to highlight

not a difference,

but a similar theme.

That God was at work

in Abraham and Sarah

just like God is at work

in Isaac and Rebecca.

And the means

that he uses to bless them

is their prayer for a child

and their prayer

that he's going to grant

some 20 years later.

God is the one

that's in control

over infertility.

God is the one

that sovereignly grants children.

That fact's unchanged

from Isaac to now.

I know that's difficult

for some of us.

The high hopes

and then falling

each time

the test comes back negative.

Doctors appointments,

endless doctors appointments,

maybe even praying with me,

others in this room.

I don't know why that happens.

And Rebecca's

in the same spot.

She doesn't know why either.

But I do know

it's not just you.

It's also this family.

But even in the midst

of that heartache,

God is still at work.

That fact is unchanged as well.

But Rebecca's story

is happy.

Rebecca conceives a child.

We see that at the end

of verse 21.

What great joy!

But then there's something wrong

that we see.

The children inside of her,

she doesn't know it yet

that they're children,

but there's a great

struggling inside of her.

Literally,

they're smashing each other

together

inside of her womb.

Like demolition derby,

two cars just driving

at each other

with no care

for safety.

And the struggle

that began

with these two brothers

inside the womb

will continue.

It will slip out

into real life.

And it's so much

that she's asking herself,

why is this happening

to me?

If we think

we're the only ones

that struggle

and ask God why,

think again.

Rebecca here

asks the same thing.

Even on the heels

of such a blessing,

there's so much turmoil

inside of her,

she questions

what is going on.

Now,

Rebecca seeks the Lord

and read

the Lord's response

to her.

Look at verse 23

with me.

The Lord said to her,

Two nations

are in your womb

and two peoples

from within you,

you shall be divided.

The one shall be

stronger than the other

and the older

shall serve the younger.

Now,

think about this.

It's the days

before the ultrasound.

She doesn't know

yet for sure

that she has two children.

She just knows

something's going on

inside of her

and she doesn't know

what to do.

But us as the reader

know the pain

that she's experiencing

is because those two

are already fighting

against each other

and that battle

is just more than

sibling rivalry.

It's a division

of God's people.

It's a division

of people

that God promised

that's already begun.

And the most odd thing

about this whole promise

that we see

is a reversal

of the birth order.

First is one of the brothers

is going to be

really stronger,

a lot stronger

than the other.

And the second

is a reversal

of the traditional order.

The younger brother

will prevail

in strength

and the older

will serve the younger.

That's a weird promise

just on its face.

Now,

throughout this passage,

and this is what

I was alluding to earlier,

there's all these

weird connections

between the words

and how they're structured

or how they rhyme,

but we don't get that

when we read in English.

And so I'm going

to help us out.

Now,

the word serfs

is really slave,

but guess what?

It also rhymes

with Jacob.

So the author

is trying to make

this connection

between what's going

to happen with Jacob

and the younger,

it rhymes with the word

for another name

for Esau.

And so in granting

this kind of weird promise,

God is tipping off Rebecca

what will really happen,

except it's a weird reversal.

Esau.

Esau will be the slave

and Jacob

will be the one

that's stronger.

Jacob,

the one that's younger,

will be the one

that is mightier.

Okay,

that's all good and well.

This kind of weird promise.

We have this

God working through

and granting children,

but what about

these two brothers?

Here comes the long

awaited day

of the birth

and Rebecca

has this promise

that she doesn't know

what to do with

and inside of her

they're smashing

against each other

and remember,

she doesn't know yet

for sure

that she's going

to have two.

She believes God's promises,

but she hasn't seen them yet

and then they're twins

and the first one

is Esau.

What do we know

about Esau?

He's red.

We don't know

if he's red-headed

or red-skinned,

but he's red

and he's hairy

all over

and his name,

actually his other name,

Edom,

where we get to Edomites,

the people that will oppose

God's people

for really all of time.

Those people are named

after him

and it's a play

on the word red.

And so the image here

is this wild,

crazy man,

uncivilized,

out in the wilderness.

Verse 27 tells us

that Esau grew up

and all of that

was channeled

into hunting,

a skillful hunter,

a man of the field.

And as he grows,

this wild,

untamed personality

comes to full fruition.

So that's one brother.

The other brother

is Jacob.

And the reason

I'm spending

so much time

on the names

is something

that we've seen

before in Genesis.

The names

are actually prophetic.

They say something

that's either going

to happen to them

or that they will become.

And Jacob

is no exception,

right?

Verse 26 tells us

he comes out of the womb

and he's doing what?

He's grabbing Esau's heel.

It's as if this newborn

kind of bar fight

spills out

not into the street

but out into the real world.

It just continues

from her womb.

And his name

is from that event.

And not only

does his name

look like the word

for heel,

but it also

alludes to him

being a deceiver,

a trickster.

So we have

this deceiver,

trickster

who's grabbing

his brother's heel

who's been fighting

inside the womb

and we get

this impression

from Esau

that he's this

wild kind of

mountain man.

And then we get

this impression

from Jacob

that he's very different.

It says he's quiet,

dwells in tents.

It doesn't mean

that he's like

an inside kind of kid

because he's going

to grow up

and be like a shepherd

like his father,

like a farmer.

But he doesn't live

out in the open field.

He doesn't live

hunting under the stars

like his brother.

And if we think

that Jacob

is the perfect child,

let me remind us,

he is not.

He's tricky,

he's deceptive,

and he fights his brother

even before he's born.

This is a great family,

right?

The parents

are even more awesome.

We see kind of

bubbling up

what's bubbling

underneath the surface

of this contrast.

Esau is this way,

Jacob is that way,

and then the parents,

quite honestly,

might even be worse.

And why do I say that?

Look with me

at verse 28.

Isaac loved Esau

because,

why?

He ate of his game,

but Rebekah

loved Jacob.

This is not a recipe

for anything

but disaster.

One parent loves one,

and the other

loves the other.

it's more than

sibling rivalry.

Here is the first

installment of

clear sin

that Isaac

loves Esau

because he loves

to eat,

and that's why

he loves his son.

It's ironic

that the thing

that he loves him for

is the thing

that's also going to

trap his own son

that he loves

to eat.

this great family

dynamics here.

God's preserving

his line,

he's preserving

his promise

through two children

that can't get along

from the womb

and that continue

to fight

for a really long time.

And then we have

parents

that separate them

and love one

more than the other,

and the parents

are pitted against

each other.

And yet God

preserves his people.

It's kind of like

going to a car lot.

Is anybody

bought a used car?

When you do,

you're kind of thinking,

okay,

where's the play here,

right?

How do I know

this guy

who's selling me

this car

isn't selling me

a lemon?

I have to go

through the smoke

and mirrors,

and despite his

kicking the tires

and doing all

those things,

I have to figure

out if this thing

is good

or if it's a piece

of junk.

He might be

trying to sell me

something that

looks good,

but it has engine

trouble.

It's been in accidents.

And this scene

that we have here

is not dissimilar

to that.

We as the reader

are trying to sort

through,

who's the good guy

here?

Is it Jacob?

Is it Esau?

It's definitely

not the parents.

But this story

is different

than us trying

to find that

one shining

new

new to us

car,

right?

They're all

lemons in this

story.

Jacob is a

lemon.

Esau is a

lemon.

The parents

are lemons.

They're all

junk.

Jacob has

problems just

like everyone

else.

He's a deceiver.

Esau is wild

and the parents

are against

each other.

So what are

we supposed

to do with

this?

How do we

make sense

of God

preserving his

line through

these people

when they're

all bad?

God is at

work.

Not because

Jacob's the

perfect child

or the

likable child

or the

obedient child.

God is at

work just

because there's

doting parents?

No, not even

that.

He's at work

in this mess

of a family

to bring about

his promises.

It's kind of

similar to the

story of Jesus

if we think

about it.

We as

sinners

don't deserve

grace,

but it's

offered to

us.

And this

story should

inform how

we think

about the

good news

of Jesus.

We're not

a gleaming

new car

on the

lot.

We're broken

down,

marked by

sin,

and yet God

plucks us

out, not

because we

look new

and shiny,

not because

we're worth

it,

but because

he loves

us.

Nothing in

ourselves.

And Paul

reminds us of

that in Romans.

for while we

were still

weak at the

right time,

Christ died

for the

ungodly.

We are

sinners and

God has

offered to

work through

us to

give us

eternal life,

not because

of our great

wealth, of

our appearance,

because of

our confidence,

our competence,

our character,

our intellect.

None of that

matters.

God gives us

eternal life

because he's

God.

And he gives

it to each

of us.

So if you're

here this

morning, take

it.

Put your

faith in

Jesus.

Now, our

family this

morning is

messed up.

We know

that.

To the

earlier comment

I made about

the trustworthiness

of the Bible,

it's a more

complicated argument

than that.

But if I'm

simply embellishing

a story and

trying to

convince you

of this,

I'm not

putting this

story of

this family

in there.

In fact,

I'm going to

leave that on

the cutting

room floor.

But even in

the midst of

all of this,

God is still

at work.

And that

should give

us great

confidence in

our own

lives.

So God

is at work

in the midst

of our sin,

in spite of

our sin.

But now we

come to the

great stew

incident of

Jacob and

Esau.

I don't know

how many of

you and your

families have

these things

of lore,

this great

incident.

Maybe it's a

decision you've

made.

Maybe it's a

decision in your

marriage.

Maybe it's

something that's

funny.

I have a

friend that

refuses to

call arguments

arguments or

fights.

He calls them

by the word

Ingalls,

which if you're

from the south,

that's a place.

It's not a thing.

Ingalls is a

grocery store

because for

generations,

his family

always called

fights Ingalls.

Why?

Because they

got into a

fight in the

Ingalls parking

lot.

Now that's

funny, but

some of us

have stories

that are marked

by heartache,

pain,

defining choices

to marry this

person and not

another, a job,

maybe moving to

Colorado,

Colorado Springs,

maybe an

accident.

In all of

those things,

God is at

work.

work.

It might

seem silly

or infamous,

but in our

family, the

thing that we

keep going back

to is the

butter dish

incident.

The butter

dish incident

is not

actually an

incident surrounding

a butter

dish, but a

decision that I

made as a

husband to

go to an

army school

right before I

was going to

leave for a

really long

time.

And it was

a source of

great disagreement

and I

thought I

should go.

Now to be

fair to myself,

I had been

canceled from

this school

many times

over and

over.

And I

went and I

thought the

whole time I

was going to

fail as God's

judgment on me

for going.

But I

passed and I

felt guilty the

whole time.

So what did I

do?

I brought back

my wife some

nice pottery.

pottery.

And this

butter dish.

And what did

it do in my

suitcase?

It broke.

And it's

broke every

time we've

moved since

then.

And it's

still broken

and I keep

gluing it back

together.

That's funny,

right?

But it's

marking a more

serious thing.

Kind of like

this stew.

It's not

really about

the stew.

It's about

something far

greater.

It's about

Jacob and

Esau struggling

over a

birthright.

Birthright,

inheritance,

same thing.

It's not

really about

the stew.

So we have

the stew

pointing to

this much

greater reality

just like the

butter dish is

reminding me

every day of

my own

selfishness.

So what

comes next in

the life of

Jacob and

Esau?

But the

stew incident.

Look with

me at

verse 29.

Once Jacob

was cooking

stew,

Esau came

in from the

field and

he was

exhausted.

And what

does he

say?

Remember,

he's this

wild man,

uncivilized.

He says,

I, and

he's also

obsessed with

food, and

he says,

I'm about

to die.

He's led

by his

stomach just

like his

father.

And Jacob

is deceptive.

So he

comes home

and demands

food.

And how

many of

you parents

have ever

heard your

kids come

in and

say, I'm

about to

die.

It's the

same concept

here.

He's not

really about

to die, but

he's starving

and he's

thinking with

his stomach.

And what

does he

eat?

Well, what

does he

see that

Jacob has?

Verse 30,

Esau said

to Jacob,

let me eat

some of

that red

stew for

I'm

exhausted.

So the

red man

wants the

red stew.

The connotation

is that he

has something

like a

meaty stew.

Maybe Esau

had killed

it the

day before.

The great

stew incident

is Jacob's

time when

he deceives

his brother.

Read verse

31.

The

connotation

is he's

seizing the

opportunity.

So he

says, sell

me your

birthright

right now.

And Esau

responds with

what we'll see

in a second.

It's got no

use to me.

He seizes

the opportunity.

He's been

waiting and

watching and

waiting to

strike at

Esau.

And Esau

overcome with

hunger and

he's about

to die.

He says,

what use

is this

birthright

to me?

Because I'm

about to

die.

You know,

the birthright,

your future

inheritance,

the double

portion,

not food at

the dinner

table,

but of

riches.

He

exchanges his

future blessing

for immediate

gratification.

And Jacob

seizes the

opportunity.

Every time

I read this

story, I

think about

Esau just

so quickly

giving away

that which

is so

important.

And I

think about

the missionary

Jim Elliot.

He was the

missionary to

South America

who lost

his life.

And then by

losing his

life, the

expansion of

the gospel

went out to

this Indian

group, but

he wrote

this in

his journal.

He is no

fool who

gives what he

cannot keep

to gain that

which he

cannot lose.

It's the

exact opposite

of Esau.

Esau gives

away the

thing that's

most important

to him, the

thing that he

should not

lose.

He gave up

eternal

blessing for

a pot of

stew.

But remember,

it's not simply

the inheritance.

If we track all

the way back to

Abraham, it's

this promise,

not of riches,

but of

greatness, a

kingdom of

power, eternal

ruling over one

another.

We get all

that from the

context, but

it's this

promise that

there would be

a people, a

great kingdom

that goes on

forever.

And he traded

this for a

bowl of

soup.

And as if

the trick to

get the

inheritance wasn't

enough, what

does Jacob turn

and then give

him?

Not red stew

with meat in

it, but he

gives him lentil

soup and bread.

So we see that

Esau has just

traded that which

was most precious

to him for a

bowl of vegetable

soup.

He doesn't even

get the red

stew.

He's a wild

man.

And so it's

keeping with his

character that

cements what we

know about Esau,

that he trades

away all of

this in a

moment.

And in

closing, he

says, or the

writer says,

he despised his

birthright.

Esau trades

things that are

eternal for

soup.

He trades the

promises of

God not simply

for the meaty

stew, but for

that vegetable

soup.

And as I think

about that, I

keep saying that

God is at work,

but it's hard to

see in the midst

of this.

It's hard to

see in the midst

of the sin of

favoritism of the

parents, the sin

of the brothers,

the sin of Esau.

And this is why

the writer of

Hebrews calls

him unholy.

Esau has

chosen, but he

didn't choose

God.

He chose his

stomach.

To be fair, this

should serve as a

warning to us,

that we don't

exchange things

that are unfading,

that are eternal,

that are life-giving

for things that are

temporary and

fleeting.

But we do that

every day, even

if we're Christians.

We think about

what we're going to

eat, which is

important.

We think about

what we're going

to wear.

We think about

what we're going

to go and do.

And those things

captivate our minds

and our attention.

But we need to

fix our eyes upon

Christ.

We think about

security and

better jobs and

better homes.

Those are all good

gifts, but those

are not eternal.

If we walk away

from this, though,

and think Jacob

is perfect, we've

missed the story.

I have a friend

that's an Old

Testament guy, and

he calls Jacob

positively obnoxious.

And we'll see why

in the coming

chapters.

But even in this

instant, he is

obnoxious.

And we'll see that

more and more as

Genesis unfolds.

God is at work in

spite of Esau's

sin.

God is at work

even in Jacob's

failing, in his

character flaws,

in his own sin.

And he uses us,

he uses him, he

uses others, because

God is at work in

spite of people.

And God is holding

out this promise that

will come later.

That even in a

family tree full of

tricksters and

cheats and bad

parents, he's

holding forth this

promise that he

will make all things

right.

And that one day he

would bring a

redeemer from this

family.

family, yes, even

this family, to

offer salvation and

to bless the entire

world.

God is at work.

Even in the midst

of sin, God is at

work.

Even in

stew, he's at

work to bring us

to Christ.

To bring Christ

to us.

Let's pray.

Lord, we're

thankful this

morning for the

reminder that you

are at work.

That you're in

work in spite of

sin, our own sin,

the failings of

this world, and you

use very unimpressive

people to make

these grand

promises come

true.

And we pray that

you might remind us

of that through the

person of Jacob and

Esau.

God is at work

and we pray this in

Christ's name.

Amen.

Please stand as we

sing in response to

God.