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Why/Why Not Esau?
Why/Why Not Esau?
A- Why/ Why Not Esau?
As we move on from Jacob, the story of Genesis continues on, surprisingly, with Jacob’s younger son, Joseph. Joseph’s story is one we all know and love, but before we get there, the author of Genesis has one last thing to say about these two brothers, Jacob and Esau. Surprisingly, before the story continues, Genesis comes to a halt and deems it worthy to take the time to tell us Esau’s family history. This isn’t the first time Genesis has done this. In fact, there’s a very clear pattern in Genesis since page 1: God always chooses one family through which to work out his promises. From one generation to the next, we see God make his choice, we see the story of the chosen and the not chosen Cain, Abel, and Seth, Abraham and the rest of the world, Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau. But each time, Genesis feels it necessary to tell us about the not-chosen before carrying on with the story. We have seen that, despite his sin and his unchosen status, God still watched over Cain and his descendants. We’ve seen that, though he was not the child of promise, God blessed the lineage of Ishmael too.
And now we see that, though Esau is not the inheritor of God’s promise through Abraham, his family is not left to die off. In fact, Esau has many sons just as Jacob does. And kings, princes, and tribes are descended from Esau as with Jacob. At first read, we might ask the question, “Why Esau?” In other words, what’s the point of interrupting the story with Esau here? He’s not the chosen one, his lineage is not what god selected to carry on the promise, so what does it matter?
In fact,
If we take the time to think about it, however, a more troubling question might arise: “Why not Esau?” After all, we’ve now heard the story of the two brothers. Esau seems every bit as worthy, if not more worthy, than Jacob. Esau is the eldest son, he is the rightful inheritor of his father’s property and blessing. Esau is the big, strong, hairy man that looks like what we expect a leader to look like. Jacob, on the other hand, is a scrawny deceitful little man who got where he is by cheating and stealing from his own family. So why not Esau? Why would God declare from before birth that the Elder should serve the younger?
Perhaps Esau’s lineage is placed here to raise that daunting question. Perhaps the author of Genesis is inviting us to explore all of the questions that Paul brings up in .
Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated
Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated
So why didn’t God choose Esau? Is it really as simple as “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated?” Does God just hate Esau? Do we worship a God who plays favorites, who picks and chooses arbitrarily who is in and who is out? In other words, is this a God who practices the same kind of favoritism that was displayed between Isaac and Rebecca, or in Jacob, who loved Rachel more than Leah?
The very fact that Genesis takes the time to tell us that Esau’s family flourished seems to suggest that something more complex is happening here. And, in fact, if we track with the logic of , Paul seems to be saying something more complex about God.
Firstly, we should understand that the “love/hate” language used like this should never be read uncritically. Paul is borrowing this line, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated”, from the prophet Malachi. Malachi, likewise, is borrowing language found elsewhere in the Bible, such as Deuteronomy. This kind of “love/hate” language is uniquely set within the context of covenant. It is covenantal language. In covenant, to “love” your partner is to fulfill your promises and duties as prescribed by the covenant. To “hate” someone is to break your promises to them, or to bring about destruction because they broke covenant first.
This is precisely what happens in Malachi. Way down the line, long after Esau was dead and gone, his descendants began to harass and harm Israel. Because of this , God sent destruction on the land of Edom. Israel, on the other hand, was preserved and protected. Thus, God “loved” Jacob and “hated” Esau.
In Malachi, this is precisely what happens.
Paul is using this a little differently, however. His point is simply this: God chose to bless Jacob and carry on his promises through Jacob’s lineage, but he did not work in the same way in Esau’s lineage.
You see, in Romans, Paul is trying to address a tricky issue in the church: through Jesus Christ, God has now chosen both Jews and Gentiles, i.e. the Church, as the people of promise. God is working through all who believe in the Messiah, not just those who follow Jewish laws. We might wonder why this was such an issue for Paul, and why it merited addressing at all. But imagine you were Jewish at this time. You grew up believing that God had made his covenant with Abraham. He chose your people to work through, and no one else. You were elected by God as his special possession. But now, suddenly, God has decided to start working with other people who aren’t Jewish. And so you have to ask, “God, what about your promise? Didn’t you choose Abraham’s people, and not the Gentiles?”
But now, according to Jesus and the teachings of Paul and the apostles, not all of the Jews are chosen anymore. God has decided to work with only this select group of Jews intermingled with Gentiles. This is the problem Paul is concerned with in . And his response, surprisingly, is to point out the ways in which God has always chosen an elect group of people to work with. He chose Abraham’s family, and not any of the many other nations. He chose Isaac over Ishmael, and Jacob over Esau. Just as God said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will harden whom I will harden.”
So God has chosen Jacob. We are the elect, the ones chosen by God.
C- What is Election
But what does that mean, really? What does it mean to be elect, as Jacob was? And what does it mean to be not-elect, as Esau? The theme of divine election in scripture is a troubling concept, and in particular has puzzled and confounded Christians for generations. Paul declares:
The New Revised Standard Version God’s Wrath and Mercy
But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds it, “Why have you made me like this?”
But we might say to Paul that this argument is flawed precisely because man is not clay. So what is he getting at here? What does this mean for election?
Firstly, let’s begin by remembering what issue Paul is addressing here. Paul is particularly interested in which group God has selected to work through. The illustrations Paul uses draw more on the concept of electing a lineage as opposed to an individual, and Paul has in mind that God has elected a group, or “vessel”. This means that there is an “in” group and an “out” group, but says little about whether God decides which individuals get to be inside that group or not.
Secondly, let us understand that even this metaphor of shaping clay is one Paul expects us to notice comes from somewhere else in scripture. Specifically, Paul is drawing on imagery from :
The New Revised Standard Version The Potter and the Clay
Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. 9 And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
Paul has this image in mind: Not a God who decides arbitrarily who is in or who is out, but a God who molds the clay according to the its own choices. God only hardened Pharaoh’s heart after Pharaoh had hardened it himself, and likewise, God only molded the clay for destruction after it had already rejected his work for its own good.
Understanding this potter metaphor might require us to know a little more about how pottery works, afterall. There are two steps in making pottery: molding the clay, and firing the clay. Molding the clay is shaping it for the final process of firing it. At this stage, nothing is set in stone. The potter can still make whatever he wants from the clay, so long as the clay is of good quality and works with the potter. There comes a time, however, when the potter has finished working with the clay, and puts it into the kiln to fire it and glaze it and make things permanent. In Romans, Paul has this first step in mind. God is molding the clay, he’s shaping vessels for mercy and for destruction according to the clay’s own malleability and willingness to cooperate with him, but he hasn’t started the fires yet. He could very well change his mind about what he’s making with the clay if the clay shows its willingness to cooperate with his plans.
This is precisely what has happened with the Jewish people. God did indeed have a plan for Abraham’s family. He shaped Israel for good, as a potter shapes clay. But some of the Israelites were stubborn and hard hearted, and they chose to rebel against God’s vision. They were stubborn clay. So, instead of throwing all of the clay out and starting over, God took the bit of good clay that would cooperate and continued to shape it for good. God chose the Jewish people who followed Christ and who were obedient to him to carry on the promise, and, oddly, he added other clay as well: the Gentiles.
This metaphor only goes so far in helping us understand election, but it at least helps us see three important things about election.
Firstly, being “elect” or “chosen” by God doesn’t mean you’re special. We are still just a lump of clay, with no shape or form. The only thing that sets us apart from other clay is that God’s choice. And, in fact, scripture tells us that in his wisdom, God chooses whom he chooses precisely because they’re not special. God chooses the younger brother for the promise, the scrawny runt of 12 sons to be king, and the tiny, insignificant nation of Israel to be his chosen people. Now, he has chosen the Church, comprised of men and women, Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, rich and poor, the most unlikely group of people to accomplish anything at all, to work through. It’s as if God, looking to build his kingdom here, looked at toolbox full of high quality tools, and chose the rusty great value hammer to work with. Not because we’re special, but precisely because we’re not, so that when the house is built, everyone will know it was from the skill of the builder, and not the quality of the chosen tool.
Secondly, this imagery of the potter shows us that God’s election of one group isn’t necessarily the rejection of the other. Paul prays that his fellow Jews who have rejected Christ will one day be brought back into the promise. Likewise, Genesis makes room to tell us of Esau’s many descendants precisely to drive home the reality that God did not forget Esau. Though Esau was not the person God chose to work through in order to bring about redemption, this did not mean that God did not care about Esau.
Lastly, Paul’s potter imagery is a reminder of the purpose of election.
The New Revised Standard Version The Salvation of the Gentiles
So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their stumbling salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their stumbling means riches for the world, and if their defeat means riches for Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
The New Revised Standard Version All Israel Will Be Saved
Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. 32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.
33 O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him,
to receive a gift in return?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
God desires to save all. His covenant with Abraham was not for Abraham’s sake, but for the sake of all of creation. Likewise, God’s work through his chosen people was not so that they might be glorified, but for the glorification of all people. God is working out salvation for Isaac, but also for Ishmael. For Jacob, but also for Esau. For the Jews, but also for the Gentiles.
To the Elect Lady
To the Elect Lady
Election, then, is not to be equated with salvation. To be elect, after all, means only that God has chosen this particular people to work through, and not for their own good, but for the good of the whole world.
So what does all of this have to do with us, the Church? As the church, we are God’s elect. We are the chosen instrument of his salvation. Not that we bring about salvation, no, but that God works through us to bring about salvation. Esau’s inclusion in the story is a reminder of what it means for us to be elect. It’s a reminder that it is an honor we truly don’t deserve. Jacob was certainly no better then Esau, and neither are we any better than any other people in the world. In fact, I can speak from personal experience and say that some in the Church are a great deal worse than those outside it. Nevertheless, God chose to work through sinners such as we. What an honor.
It is also, however, a responsbility. To be elect means that we were chosen, nor for our sake, but for the sake of everyone. To be the elect Church means that God has called us to go to work. The elect have responsibility. Responsibility to carry on in the ministry of Jesus Christ, responsibility to work with God in redeeming all of creation. Responsibility to all of creation.