Why Jacob
His name means "he deceives."
And I can't help but wonder: Are you setting your child up for failure in the very beginning by giving him such a name?
Esau, on the other hand, means hairy. Hardly awe inspiring, but certainly not the kind of name that will instigate a life of crime.
So why Jacob? Why did God choose Jacob instead of Esau? Did he choose, or did he simply set up the contest. But why should Jacob win? After all he does deceive.
Jacob seems to understand the importance of The Blessing. He is willing to lie, cheat, steal to get it. In Chapter 25:34, it says, "So Esau despised his birthright." So it seems that Esau exhibits a lackadaisical attitude toward being the first born and the grandchild of Abraham. Maybe God was offended. If I had a precious family heirloom and I gave it to my firstborn child and he shrugged his shoulders, and asked if he could have a Happy Meal toy instead. I'd be offended. And I'd probably take it from him and give it to his bratty little brother, who, even though he gets on everyone's nerves because he just will not stop until he gets his way. Even though he is a mamma's boy, and momma spoils him. He is dying for the gift.
Jacob is given a name that indicates action. Esau, well, his most outstanding characteristic--he had a hairy body.
Another thing: Isaac was comforted after his mother's death by Rebekah. Frankly, Sarah and Rebekah seem very similar. In a time and place where women rank just above sheep in importance, they make decisions that carry weighty consequences. AND they talk to God. They here from him firsthand. God gives a vision to both women and both women single handedly try to bring it about (I think Lady Macbeth and several of the Desperate Housewives are modeled upon Sarah and Rebekah. All get wind of visions and then act in stunning connivance to bring about their plans.) If Sarah had been a bit more patient, the whole sad Ishmael story might not have occurred as it did. I'm not a man, but if my father had me circumcised at 13 with all the medical advances present in @ 1800 B.C. and then sent me away a couple of years later into a desert I might birth a nation "that lived in hostility toward all [my] brother's" as well.
I don't think we will ever be able to know for certain why God chose Jacob. Perhaps it is best we do not know. If we did, many of us would try to make ourselves into something we are not. In effect we would live a second hand life: Trying to fit into someone else's calling instead of taking up our own.
And I can't help but wonder: Are you setting your child up for failure in the very beginning by giving him such a name?
Esau, on the other hand, means hairy. Hardly awe inspiring, but certainly not the kind of name that will instigate a life of crime.
So why Jacob? Why did God choose Jacob instead of Esau? Did he choose, or did he simply set up the contest. But why should Jacob win? After all he does deceive.
Jacob seems to understand the importance of The Blessing. He is willing to lie, cheat, steal to get it. In Chapter 25:34, it says, "So Esau despised his birthright." So it seems that Esau exhibits a lackadaisical attitude toward being the first born and the grandchild of Abraham. Maybe God was offended. If I had a precious family heirloom and I gave it to my firstborn child and he shrugged his shoulders, and asked if he could have a Happy Meal toy instead. I'd be offended. And I'd probably take it from him and give it to his bratty little brother, who, even though he gets on everyone's nerves because he just will not stop until he gets his way. Even though he is a mamma's boy, and momma spoils him. He is dying for the gift.
Jacob is given a name that indicates action. Esau, well, his most outstanding characteristic--he had a hairy body.
Another thing: Isaac was comforted after his mother's death by Rebekah. Frankly, Sarah and Rebekah seem very similar. In a time and place where women rank just above sheep in importance, they make decisions that carry weighty consequences. AND they talk to God. They here from him firsthand. God gives a vision to both women and both women single handedly try to bring it about (I think Lady Macbeth and several of the Desperate Housewives are modeled upon Sarah and Rebekah. All get wind of visions and then act in stunning connivance to bring about their plans.) If Sarah had been a bit more patient, the whole sad Ishmael story might not have occurred as it did. I'm not a man, but if my father had me circumcised at 13 with all the medical advances present in @ 1800 B.C. and then sent me away a couple of years later into a desert I might birth a nation "that lived in hostility toward all [my] brother's" as well.
I don't think we will ever be able to know for certain why God chose Jacob. Perhaps it is best we do not know. If we did, many of us would try to make ourselves into something we are not. In effect we would live a second hand life: Trying to fit into someone else's calling instead of taking up our own.
posted by Leslie at 11:29 AM
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