A Biblical Conundrum - Day 14 Through the Bible

Hunting is another sport in Western North Carolina.   This state is one of the original 13 colonies of the United States, and this rite of passage and means of providing for the family has been passed down through the generations.  There is a private hunt club not far from Mt. Celo Church.  While many of you may be opposed to this "sport", we see the importance of this - especially in male bonding -  in the father-son relationship in today's daily Bible study.

This passage is one of the Biblical conundrums that I pray and agonize over each time I read it, and I know from other Bible studies that I am not the only one who does this.  That is probably because we see these family dynamics played out so often in our own lives and generation.  Since we are supposed to write what we feel God is trying to teach us in these lessons, I am first going to write my thoughts and then glean what some of the commentaries say on this.

My Lessons

1) The father and mother should work together in the upbringing of the children, not choosing favorites, not giving one child a "leg up" over the other, not deceiving the other spouse.  These patterns are not only generational, they go back to the beginning of time. (Gen. 25:27-28) (Gen. 27) 

2) Children are born with their own natural inclinations and personalities as much as they are born with their own physical features.  (Gen. 25:27)

3) However, God also chooses one person and not the other.  We will see this all through our year of study.  This is the doctrine of election.  God chose His Son.  God chose Israel.  God chose all believers - from the foundation of the world.  It took years of study and underlining these words for me to grasp this difficult truth.

Malachi 1:2-3 declares, “’I have loved you,’” says the LORD. But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' ‘Was not Esau Jacob's brother?’ the LORD says. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals. Romans 9:10-13, “Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’” 

http://www.gotquestions.org/Jacob-Esau-love-hate.html

4)  Our scheming is often turned on our own heads.  We see this throughout the Bible as well.  Haman's genocidal plot against Mordecai and the Jews in the book of Esther is one example.  In the next chapters we will see how Jacob will receive a heavy dose of his own medicine.  And Rebekah will not see Jacob again after he has been sent away.  She will die before his return.  

5)  Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac and now Esau and Jacob - enmity between brothers - gives us pause to consider whether things might have been different had the parents not schemed to bring about God's Plan but had submitted to waiting for God to work in His timing, in His way.

6) Abraham was faithful to God - without conditions.  Jacob says, "IF God will be with me AND keep me in this way that I am going, AND give me bread to eat AND clothing to put on, SO THAT I come back to my father's house in peace, THEN the LORD shall be my God." (Gen. 28: 20-22 - emphases are mine.)  As Dr. Stanley said, "Jacob knew little peace in his life until he learned not to use God to get a blessing, but to obey God to receive a blessing."   Both the Psalm and Proverbs readings follow along with this today.  The wicked bring forth iniquity, trouble, falsehood, fall into the ditches they made, trouble returns on their own heads, their violent dealings shall come down on their own crowns.  We will see this in the coming days with Jacob as God works in his life.  As in the Proverbs, Jacob will learn not to despise the chastening of the LORD, not to detest His correction.  He will understand and experience that whom the LORD loves He corrects.

7) No health, wealth and prosperity gospel in Matthew 10.  No illusions.  Jesus reminds us again of the high cost of discipleship.  Moving from adolescence (in a calmer time in our society) into adulthood (with the challenges of discipleship becoming more difficult year by year), I quickly took this warning from Jesus to heart:  
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.  Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.  But beware of men, for they will deliver you to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.  You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.  But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak.  For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." Matt. 10: 16-19

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14