NOTES for Gen 25:1-34

In the story of Jacob and Esau, no positive heroes are to be found. Nor, equally, are there negative ones: each of the two is ambiguous in his own way. Rivalry and the struggle for the birthright are understandable: this is a struggle for power. The elder son of a chief usually inherited power in the tribe after his father's death. In the case of Jacob and Esau, deciding this was not simple: the difference was only a few seconds and was purely formal. In essence, Jacob and Esau were the same age.

But the brothers' characters turned out to be diametrically opposed. Esau unquestionably appealed much more to the male part of the tribe: a hunter, a warrior, he had been in the steppe since childhood. Jacob was different: a typical mama's boy, he was always in the tent, with the women. In those days this was how one could and should raise a girl, but by no means a boy, who had to grow up into a real man, otherwise no worthy place in the tribe would be found for him. In the eyes of the whole tribe, Esau grew up as a real man, and became one. That is why he had no doubt that he, and certainly not his brother, would be chief after his father's death. Esau did not take Jacob seriously: he was sure that power was guaranteed to him, and he most likely considered the sale of his right as firstborn, his "birthright," to Jacob to be only a game that imposed no obligation.

For Jacob, however, everything was serious. He wanted power, strove for it, dreamed of becoming chief after his father's death. Paradoxically, this question did not occupy Esau, perhaps because he was sure: power was already in his hands, and he had no one to struggle against. On the other hand, he did not especially value his right as firstborn. He was hardly being deceitful when he said to Jacob: I go to death, and what is this birthright to me? The corresponding Hebrew expression can be translated both as "I am dying" and as "I go to death." Judging by these words, Esau was, at least in his youth, not one of those who especially valued life. For a hunter and warrior such a self-understanding is natural, but for a future chief it must be considered far too frivolous: to gamble with one's life when responsibility for the tribe rests on you is hardly reasonable.

With age, of course, habits and a view of the world change, but there was something else in Esau: he was sure that he would be a good chief, that he was ready to take his father's place. He was not going to make any special effort for that. Jacob was different: he knew that he would have to expend considerable effort, that power would not fall into his hands by itself. God only had to direct these efforts into the right channel. With a person like Jacob, a person ready for purposeful effort, work is possible. With someone who is sure he is ready already, work is difficult, if possible at all. And yet in reality neither Esau nor Jacob was ready. Esau was ready to become chief of his tribe, but that is not the same as becoming leader of the people of God. Jacob was not ready for anything except any effort he might make in order to become chief. He is ready to change, ready to work, and God chooses him.