11/14/2009

Jacob and Esau

It's weird how this sunday school curriculum wants me to teach the kids that Jacob was evil and tricked Isaac when he should have waited and let God give him the birthright in his own way. But God clearly told everyone that Jacob was to be blessed above Isaac. Everyone should have known this. Isaac's unwillingness to follow God's decree on the matter meant that somebody had to force him to do the right thing. In this case, Jacob and his mother cook up a good plan to trick Isaac into doing God's will. Why should I tell the kids that this was a wrong thing to do? Would it have been better for them to tie up Isaac? Coerce him with bribery? One of Joseph's brothers tricks his brothers into selling Joseph rather than killing him by appealing to their greed for the slave price. Was that wrong? Rebekah tricks the spies into going the wrong way. Tamar tricks Judah into fulfilling his promises to her and his duties to God. What does it look like to "wait on God" in Jacob's situation? The early church fathers had a theory about Jesus's death, that it was a kind of trick - Satan takes the bait and ends up caught on his own hook - the way the white witch messes up by killing Aslan. Anyway, whether that theory of atonement holds water or not, the bible is chock full of righteous trickery, and Jacob's whole life is one where he has to trick evil people into doing the right thing - right down to his own father in law who won't keep his promise about Jacbo's marrying the right daughter.

Postscript: So I think I figured out how to present this. The curriculum wants the point to be that God's promises cannot be thwarted, ergo Jacob should have waited on God. My version of this will be: Throughout Jacob’s life, God puts him in situations where people will not follow God’s word, and yet God’s promises cannot be thwarted. He enables Jacob to overcome the will of wicked men by trickery, and his promises are secure.