Along with a number of other dads, I help with the “Tree Climbers” group at my local church. This is a group of rowdy six and seven-year-old boys, with the typical activities of a craft, some games (usually involving hitting the other boys with a red rubber ball, as in dodge ball), and a short Bible story.
We are covering the stories of Genesis, and my unenviable task last night was to tell the story of Jacob and Esau. You might recall from Genesis 25 that Jacob swindled Esau out of the birthright for a pot of stew, and from Gen. 27 that Jacob conspired with his mother (who didn’t get along with Esau’s wife) to trick his elderly and nearly blind father into giving him a blessing intended for Esau. You might also recall from Genesis 28 that the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant were passed on by God to Jacob through the “Jacob’s Ladder” dream rather than to Esau. And, you might remember Romans 9:13, in which God, explaining His election of Jacob, says “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” How do I explain this to six and seven-year-olds?
The workbook we’re supposed to use for these lessons was utterly useless for this story. It said we should teach that Esau lost the blessing because he disobeyed God, while Jacob was blessed because of his obedience. This is untrue even on a casual reading of the story. True, Esau arrogantly threw away his birthright for a bowl of stew, and later married a Canaanite woman. But Jacob was a liar and a sneak of the worst kind — he stole from his own brother by tricking his elderly and nearly blind dad — not a great lesson for a group of little boys and their dads!
In my frenzied, late afternoon research before having to teach the lesson (of course, as usual, I forgot until the last minute), I came across this old sermon by C.H. Spurgeon. Spurgeon was a cantankerous fellow, but I can’t help but think he’s right about this story. It isn’t a moral lesson about obedience. It’s all about God’s sovereign election, His grace towards Jacob, and His faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant.
Of course, later on, Jacob does respond well to God. After the Jacob’s Ladder” dream (in which God reaffirms the Abrahamic covenant to Jacob), Jacob worships God, keeps his promises to Laban, reconciles with Esau, purifies Bethel of idols, and become progenitor of the twelve tribes of Israel. Yet all of this was because of God’s grace in choosing him.
So how did I teach this story to the boys? Well, I put on a big fur coat, had them shut their eyes like old Isaac, and acted out the theft of the blessing story. And I told them about a God who always keeps His promises, who in His grace calls us even when we are utterly separated from Himself, and who asks us to respond to His merciful blessings in faith. And then we played some wiffle-ball.
2 replies on “Jacob I Loved, But Esau I Hated”
Dave – good job!! I’ve always been told that if you can’t explain it to kids, you can’t communicate it to adults 🙂
I’ve often heard, though, that the Romans 9 passage is not so much about individual election, but instead about election of peoples (interestingly, there are only two passages in Scripture that state that election is of the individual – all others OT/NT include plural peoples). Though it speaks of individuals, it is representing groups of people (Israelites, Ishmaelites, Edomites, Egyptians) much like most of the OT does. This then ties in with the question at the beginning of the chapter as to whether God had stopped blessing the Jewish people (as a group) and had instead begun blessing the Gentiles (as a group) with the rest of Paul’s thoughts on it (no, the Jewish people still have a place in God’s plan) in chapters 10-11.
The implications of all this is that there is no individual election. Instead, based on Ephesians 1 our election is based upon being ‘in Christ’ (who is The Elect One) which the same chapter defines as having believed in Him. This along with other places where Paul uses this phrase (in Christ) gives us not only election in God’s sight, but also blamelessness, riches of glory, etc.
What are your thoughts on this view of election?
Lee — why don’t you ask me something difficult? 🙂 I’ve never quite heard the view you mention about election in Romans 9. It’s interesting, I’ll have to research it a bit.
Presently, I think I lean Calvinist, though “softly” so. I think I agree with J.I. Packer that election (meaning God’s sovereign choosing of those He will save) and human free will (meaning everyone legitimately can choose the free gift of salvation) both co-exist in a humanly unresolveable antinomy.