Jacob and Esau: Short Term Gain Over Long Term Loss
9th in a series on how men and women in the Bible deal with waiting, disappointment and unemployment Jacob and Esau: Short Term Gain Over Long Term Loss Reflections on Genesis 25:19-34 My brother, Rob, and his wife had twins for their first children. Rob used to ask parents with only one infant what they did with all their time. Imagine getting ready for your first child and then the news comes…and you have to multiply everything by two. And of course, my friends who had quintuplets….un-imagineable. In the story from Genesis 25, Isaac and Rebekah have waited twenty years for their first child. Rebekah was initially barren…a trait shared by her mother-in-law. This becomes one of the first opportunities for the couple to demonstrate their faith. And, like my brother and his wife, Isaac and Rebekah get a double blessing. But also a blessing with a prophecy. “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated