Genesis 25:19-34

Pentecost +9 – Year A

Genesis 25:19-34

What is the family relationship here? Are either Esau or Jacob any better at being their brother's "keeper" than were Cain and Abel or Jesus and his mother/brothers/sisters?

It is so easy to trick and to give up on one another. I expect that Esau thought he was tricking Jacob, even as Jacob was returning the favor. Family knows all too well the weaknesses of the others. With this power over weakness we manage to take just a little advantage of each other. And, in this case, a little is as good as a mile.

If you were to compare semen with seeds and wombs with soils, what sort of seed did Isaac sow, what kind of soil did Rebekah carry? Lest we get too categorical and deterministic, consider also ovaries and testes. What sort of egg did Rebekah sow, what kind of seminiferous tubules did Isaac carry?

And yourself?