Read Genesis 25:19-34 at http://bible.oremus.org/.
You don’t have to know what “Edom” means to get what this week’s reading from Genesis is about. Jacob and Esau are fighting from day one, and in a moment of mindless vulnerability, Esau gives something of value to Jacob – from the looks of things, Jacob one-ups him. And if you’ve heard the rest of the story (see Genesis 27), you know that it doesn’t stop here. Big problems are ahead.
As relatable as a story of filial struggle is, let’s look at the context of this story specifically:
Who are Isaac and Rebekah?: Isaac is Abraham’s son – not his only son, but his “promised” son, born to his wife Sarah (Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Sarah’s servant Hagar, was sent away with his mother in Genesis 21). Isaac married Rebekah, whom he loved. We see in this week’s Scripture that the two parents played favorites: Isaac loved Esau because he was a great hunter and Rebekah loved Jacob.
What’s up with the heel?: The Hebrew word for heel is eikov (it also “because of” or “following from,” as in “on the heels of …”), which is like the name Ya’akov (Jacob – James in English). Jacob is so named because he was born right after his brother, and was grabbing Esau’s heel. Eventually, the name came to mean “one who supplants” because of the idea – borne out in the image of one person gripping another’s heel – that the older brother would serve the younger one.
Later on in Genesis 38, there’s a pretty heavy story about Judah (one of Jacob’s sons) and his daughter-in-law Tamar. As Tamar is giving birth to twins, one sticks his arm out and a string is tied around it so that everybody will know who the older son is – but then he pulls his arm back in and the other twin makes his escape. The midwife cries, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” and the son is named Perez, which means “breach” or “breakthrough” (peretz). Perez – who actively seizes the position of elder son – ends up in the line of David, and in the line of Jesus by way of Mary’s husband Joseph.
Okay – what is Edom?: Edom means “red,” and became a nickname for Esau after he sold his birthright for Jacob’s lentil stew (“that red stuff”). There is a tradition that Esau overtook the area south of Judah, which became the kingdom of Edom. Edom was powerful and autonomous until it was seized by the Israelite kings Saul and David. When the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II attacked Judah, the Edomites helped him plunder the land and kill its inhabitants.
The point is this: the two nations referred to in verse 23 are Israel and Edom … and they don’t like each other.
But the point of the story of Jacob is that through him – that is, through Israel – all nations will come to know God: “all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring” (Gen. 28:14). And the way to get there will not be through enmity, but through reconciliation.
(Danielle Thompson)
