With sincere thanks to Peterson Toscano for his inspiring take on the story of Jacob... (www.petersontoscano.com)
Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.” When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.) Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore 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.
When I hear this story from the scripture, something about God creeps back into my consciousness - something that has come to me again and again over the years. And if I had to distil this act of consciousness to a simple phrase it has to be, “God is peculiar and seems drawn to peculiar people.”
Esau is anything but a peculiar person in the Hebrew Scriptures. He is (as the old English translations put it) “an hairy man”. He is the sort of son any Hebrew patriarch would hope for. He is a hunter. He is unfamiliar with the way a household is run – that is strictly women’s work. He is at home in the fields, not in the camp. He’s sort of like the guy on that reality TV show that survives in the wilderness with a knife and his animal wits.
On the other hand, Jacob is the sort of son a Hebrew patriarch might just roll his eyes over. He is not “an hairy man” but is at home in the tents of the camp. And everyone raised in the culture from which this story evolves would know, “living in tents” was a polite way of saying that he was a momma’s boy – a sissy. Tents were for women. Fields were for men. And Jacob picked up all sorts of sissy boy habits in the tents; like cooking a tasty lentil stew.
But above all, Jacob is a negotiator. He knows how to get what he wants without sinking to the level of manly, physical violence. And he know what men like – food – especially if they’ve been out in the fields all day hunting. So Jacob negotiates with his brother to get the family fortune. And all that it costs him is a bowl of his famous lentil stew. Which would be just another episode from that hit series “The Abrahamic Family Feud” except that Jacob seems to negotiate his way into the family fortune on the basis of God’s call – a call based in his mother’s prophetic insight.
Which is a really interesting thing for God to say to a woman about the children growing in her womb. One of these sons of yours will be strong, and it won’t be the hairy one. Instead, the strong one is going to be the momma’s boy, the sissy. The great nation that was promised to old Abraham isn’t going to come from the patriarchally designated he-man. If there is any hope for the human family, any blessing that will come from heaven to earth, it will be through the one whose behavior and actions is a scandal to patriarchy. A momma’s boy will be the blessing.
What kind of God is this? Not the kind that I hear about from Focus on the Family or read about rooting for all kinds of people in the coming presidential election. This isn’t a God who is bound to a culture’s ideal of propriety and gender roles and order and power. This isn’t a God who plays by the rules that run any common sense schoolyard, or corporation, or prison, or political party. This is a God who does peculiar things – at least peculiar to those who prefer the status quo.
This is the kind of God that I’m really interested in, because he takes what is unlikely and unlikeable and turns it to his purpose. God takes us, and in our lives, she works out her purpose. Which at least means that God is not stopped by the kinds of things that stop me. I fall into that trap of believing in scarcity – that there isn’t enough to go around – and so limit myself to what is right in front of my eyes.
More to come...
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