Chance or Choice

Twins struggled in Rebecca.

Out popped a cute little red ball of joy and hair. Next to enter the center of attraction was a plain, not-so-cute troublemaker. The very first act on his debut was to grab onto his brother’s tiny heel in a late attempt to be the first to come out of the womb! Was it by chance or choice that the infant Jacob did it like that?

The boys grew up, always at each other’s throat, and that in a Christian home setting forth the character of the true God to the neighbors and community. Esau inherited his father’s stature, physical strength, confidence, and virility. Jacob inherited the traits of his mother’s family, their shrewdness and ambition.

Esau was a homeboy, and faithfully prepared to run the family farm. He loved his father and sought any occasion to work together with him, recreating together. He wanted to please Isaac in every way he could. In the light of his father’s acceptance he exploded with energy. With such a warm environment in which to develop, was it chance that Esau ended up with all the energy he had?

Jacob perceived life differently than did his brother. There was a world out there, bigger than what Esau conceived, all for the taking. Jacob’s natural ability led him away from the outdoor chase, to managerial types of career. He loved to earn a penny. He loved to save and count his money. His dream was not to be comfortable in life, but RICH! And it didn’t matter that Esau might inherit the majority of the family wealth, he planned to build his own empire. His father would never again view him lesser than Esau when he saw his younger son exceeding the elder in prosperity. It appears the siblings were each dealt a different hand and it would be impossible for the boys to remain together for very long.

A storm cloud arose over that Hebrew household, as Esau was seen running around with his machete, throwing back tent curtains, hunting for the carcass of his brother. “Is not his name ‘Cheat?!’ I’m going to kill that worthless low-down worm, that conniving, yellow-bellied, sneaky coward, that lying thief!” Jacob literally laid low and a little later ran for his life. A crisis revealed the true condition of the family. The state of counter attitudes and natures were sure to collide. Every human effort was made by the parents to prevent this, or at least to make it an easy transition. Their unbridled natures, untamed by grace, however, the boys only dealt with on the surface and the confrontation was inevitable. Was it beyond the parents’ control? What more could they have done? What could the sons have done? Is it just chance that we are given the character flaws that we get? Is it fair what we get? Why do some folks naturally possess more favorable abilities than others? In light of the power of God’s grace, does it matter what we get?

Every morning and evening, Abraham and Isaac brought together the family to the altar. Daily they rehearsed the sad stories of Eden, the wickedness of the old world and building of the huge boat that survived the eradication of all life on earth. The boys heard the stories of Enoch and Methuselah and Shem, and of their father Eber, who lived during the building of the big tower at Babel, from whom their Hebrew roots sprang. They heard of the more recent destruction of the awful cities of the plain, where now lay the deep crater of the salty sea. But a notion began to lodge in the mind of Jacob, that the great God of his beloved grandfather Abraham, who could cleanse the world of wickedness, could also remove the impurity of his wicked nature. And a seed of hope came to life. Esau, on the other hand, too distracted by the butterflies and birds and the excitement of the next chase, never gave opportunity for the spiritual principles woven into his father’s and grandfather’s stories to take root. Esau was handsome and talented and strong and popular, anyway. He had no time for spiritual things. Was it by chance that the seed of conviction eventually lodged in Jacob and not in Esau? Or was it by choice?