Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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:

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 :

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.