The God who hovers beneath the story

Click here to read the story of Isaac giving his blessing to the wrong son

Much of the Old Testament is just good literature that far predates the stuff that we consider to be good literature. The story of Jacob and Esau in general, and this story, the story of Isaac’s blessing  in particular, is almost the stuff of Shakespeare. Here we find a father who is tricked in an almost mythological way. He seems to know something is going wrong but doesn’t fully get it…when it should be obvious. I like to think that if my younger brother tried to dress up like me in order to trick my dad into giving away something that’s mine that my father would notice!

It’s hard to know where to find meaning in stories like this. I would guess I’ve said this already in this series. Imagine trying to find a moral in this story for children. “Trick your brother and you’ll find yourself blessed!” When we teach this story to children, it’s often to condemn Rebekah and Jacob for their trickery and to condemn Esau for his anger, and so on and so forth. But what stance does the story take on its characters? Are they good? Are they bad? What does God seem to think?

We don’t get easy answers to these questions. Even so, I’ll make a couple of loose observations:

• There’s something strange about a God who is willing to work through, or work with, or perhaps even use human deception for his own purposes. God doesn’t take the blessing away or punish Jacob or Rebekah for what happens. He seems to just…how should we say this…play along?

• God’s blessing, coming to Jacob through Isaac, is so strong that it seems to just fall on whoever it’s given to. It’s not like the sword of King Arthur- which has to be drawn out by the exact right person. Whichever person receives the blessing is the right person. So, we might say that God’s blessing is the significant factor, not the person who carries it.

• For Esau, we know what eventually happens. His story does not end in Shakespearean Tragedy, thank God. He eventually does release the harness from his neck, as his father predicts. To release the harness is to embrace his brother and to embrace forgiveness. Esau’s life wasn’t fair- but he recognizes that what’s done is done. This is his lot in life.

  Now, I’m still not sure how to synthesize this into a message as those of you who were at NSC on Sunday probably already know. Here’s what I’ve got.

  God entrusted Abraham to make his name known. Abraham passes on the responsibility of leading God’s people to Isaac who, almost by accident, passes it on to Jacob. God, in this story, is remarkably silent given how vocal he has been in earlier stories. He does not admonish Rebekah, does not warn Isaac or Esau. He hovers beneath the surface of the story. Allowing it to play out as it will in spite of the jealousy, deception, anger, and so on and so forth.

  What does this mean? Well, I’m not sure- but we see in this story, again, God’s ability to share responsibility with people and to allow history to unfold. I’m not suggesting he doesn’t care- I’m merely suggesting that he can work with…well…whatever. He can work with whatever. Or whoever.

  For many who come through this community there is the fear and worry that we can never be good enough for God to love us. That we haven’t done enough in life, or that we haven’t properly atoned for the harm we’ve caused, and so on and so forth. And here we have yet another story of humans not living up to God’s values, and God hovers along, a subtle reminder that God is slow to anger, quick to mercy, and full of steadfast love. A God desiring to remain connected to his people, not a God looking for excuses to punish. If he wanted to punish, he had reason enough to do it, I would think.

  And then, at the same time, we see the human ability to overcome what we do to each other. Not in this specific piece of the story, but in the story of Esau as a whole. Perhaps, for God, there is some benefit to just allowing things to play out, see where they go, see what changes might be made.

  As we think about our own lives, then, perhaps there’s nothing wrong with being a work in progress. Perhaps God is simply excited to see what happens next.