Two Nations-One Womb
(Rutgers, July 11, 1999; Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A; Holy
Communion)
Matthew 13:1–9, (NT, p.14); Genesis 25:19–34
(OT, pp. 23-24)
The
Bible is a book of laughter and of tears,
of comedy and of tragedy.
The
author of today's Second Lesson
doubtless intended for his story of two nations in one womb
to be a comedy; he certainly intended for it to be a source
of laughter and of good humor for his Israelite audience,
since their own ancestor, that wily, cunning young rogue, Jacob,
is shown making a fool out of his quite unidentical twin Esau,
that hairy animal of an ancestor claimed by the Edomites,
those pesky people on ancient Israel's southeast border
who were one of Israel's most persistent enemies,
wanting always to claim Israel's territory as their own.
Yes,
the author doubtless intended for his story to be comic,
yet whenever I read it, I experience it as tragic,
as an occasion for tears, not laughter.
For
I find this story of Jacob and Esau,
of twin brothers in perpetual conflict,
to be a story in which there is no hero,
a story in which both of the twins, and the storyteller as well,
behave quite badly.
The
storyteller doubtless intended his narrative to offer
a whimsical explanation for how it had come about that Israel,
the nation descended from the younger of Isaac + Rebekah's twins,
should be the one who possessed the better territory,
the more fertile land, "the land of promise."
For according to Middle Eastern laws of inheritance,
the better territory should have passed into the possession
of those descended from the older twin, Esau.
So
Israel and Edom's ongoing rivalry for control
of the more desirable land, the land to the west of the Jordan River
was explained by our author through a metaphoric tale about
the long-running conflict between the two nations' ancestors,
and Israel's eventual victory over Edom in that rivalry
was explained through the story
of Jacob's eventual "victory" over Esau.
Their
conflict had begun in the womb, that is, in time primordial.
Why, back then, hadn't each of the two fetuses
sought to eliminate its rival by crushing it?
And when that had failed,
hadn't each continued the struggle through its time of birth,
wrestling to gain the greater inheritance
that would fall due the one born first?
It
was Esau who succeeded in emerging first from Rebekah's womb,
but Jacob came immediately after,
clinging tenaciously to Esau's heel.
Yet
by no means did birth order put an end to their strong rivalry.
That continued right through childhood to young manhood,
first as they competed for the affection of their parents—
Esau becoming the favorite of his father,
and Jacob, the favorite of his mother—
and second as they competed to extract their livelihood
from that land west of the Jordan,
Esau becoming a hunter, and Jacob, a shepherd.
In
their manhood,
Esau proved himself to be rash, impetuous, impulsive,
while Jacob proved himself to be wily, cunning, opportunistic—
neither of them a model of virtue.
Then,
one fateful day,
Esau returned from his hunting exhausted and hungry,
his belly in control of his destiny,
+ Jacob, whom Rebekah had taught to be a pretty good cook,
took advantage of that + cajoled Esau into impulsively
trading his birthright to the better portion of the land
for a hearty, if quite overpriced, bowl of lentil stew.
Thus
had it come about, our narrator assures us,
that Israel, the descendants of Jacob,
controlled the better land, the land west of the Jordan River,
and Edom, the descendants of Esau, Jacob's elder twin and
sibling rival, had to settle for the worse land,
the land east of the Jordan.
Now,
from my perspective, this nationalistic story
of one people's cunningly besting another in a rivalry over land
would be tragic enough
had its only use been to support a jingoism that was ancient,
a bellicose chauvinism long since dead.
But,
tragically, there are people today
who continue to read this story not as an expression
of some ancient author's all-too-frail human perspectives
but as a God-given rationale for why modern Israel
should continue to hold all land west of the Jordan River,
despite a rival historical claim to that same land
by a neighboring Semitic people, the Palestinians.
This
particular Sunday strikes me as a poignant day for us
to be led by our lectionary into reflecting on this story from
the 25th chapter of Genesis—
this story of intense and ongoing conflict
between the ancestor of Israel
and the ancestor of Israel's neighbor to the east.
For
this past week, in modern Israel,
a new Prime Minister has been installed,
a Prime Minister with a mandate from a majority of his people
to negotiate away to that rival sibling some of Jacob's land,
in exchange for an end to their long-running conflict,
in exchange for peace.
To
help accomplish this,
Prime Minister Barak named this past week a new cabinet,
and this very day he is meeting with Yasir Arafat,
to set in motion a new set of relationships
between the government of Israel
and Israel's neighbors to the east, the Palestinians.
The
land which is so contested,
this land of Abraham and Sarah
and of Isaac and Rebekah,
and of Jacob and Esau—
this land is relatively small.
It
is bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea
and on the east by the Jordan River;
it is bounded on the north by Mt. Hermon
and on the south by the Gulf of Eilat.
It is perhaps 250 miles long and 30 to 60 miles wide.
Is it possible, for 7,000,000 people—
both Jews + their Semitic siblings, the Palestinians—
to share this relatively small land mass in peace
rather than to each demand having it in whole?
One
of the first signs that Prime Minister Barak intends to share the
the land west of the Jordon in peace rather than to demand it in whole
will be given if he decides to fulfill the Wye River agreements
by restoring to Palestinian autonomy the next percentage
of the land from the area of the Palestinians' birthright
that is known as the West Bank.
For
peace to come to the land of Isaac
+ for co-existence to be possible between the children of Rebekah,
I believe the current dominant sibling, the descendants of Jacob,
will need to lay a necessary foundation for reconciliation,
a foundation of justice for those oppressed and dispossessed.
Indeed,
for peace with justice to come about
in the land of Abraham and Sarah, the land of Isaac and Rebekah,
the land of Jacob and Esau,
I believe both siblings will need
to undertake changes—
major political and religious changes.
For
peace with justice to come about,
these are some of the political changes that I believe must happen:
1. both siblings must bring an end to terrorism by extremists;
2. the Palestinians and the Arab states must recognize Israel's
right to
exist within peaceful and secure borders;
3. Israel and the Palestinians must both fully implement
the Wye River agreements;
4. Israel must end its expropriation
of additional Palestinian land,
land that is the birthright of Palestinians;
5. Israel must stop developing new Jewish settlements
in the West Bank, settlements established by persons
unwilling to recognize Palestinian autonomy
and unwilling to live under
majority-Palestinian authority;
6.
Israel must be willing to
negotiate the status of Jerusalem
and to recognize some kind of Palestinian state.
These
are the political changes that I believe must happen
for peace with justice to come about in the land west of the Jordan.
And I believe the following religious changes must also occur
in that land of Isaac and Rebekah:
1. Muslim extremists must end their claim
that God has proclaimed a Holy War against Israel;
and
2.
those Jews who claim,
on the basis of the Bible,
that God has given the descendants of Jacob
sovereignty over all the land west of the Jordan
must relinquish that claim.
Please
do not misunderstand me.
I believe with all my heart in being guided by the Bible.
But I also believe that biblical passages have to be read in context.
The Bible is the word of God as written by humans.
As such, the Bible is a mixture
of divine inspiration and human frailty.
In
order to discern in which passages
human frailty predominates over divine inspiration,
peoples of God need to measure particular verses vs. a standard,
vs. the standard of Scripture's principal overarching themes.
I
believe, as do many others,
that the kind of nationalistic claim found in Genesis 25—
the claim that one people have been destined by God
to supplant and hold power over another people—
I believe that that kind of nationalistic claim
does not meet the test of divine inspiration.
I
believe, as do many others,
that the viewpoints expressed in Genesis 25
are all too human and all too little divine.
And
I hold this belief for at least two reasons.
First, a principal overarching theme of Scripture is
that God sides with the oppressed, and not with the oppressor.
In Genesis 25, it is Jacob, not Esau, who is the oppressor.
Second, a principal overarching theme of Scripture is
that the Earth belongs to God, and
that God does not grant humans unconditional title to a land.
The condition for our retaining stewardship of God's lands,
is that we humans
must practice justice in them.
In Genesis 25, Jacob is no practicer of justice.
He gains Esau's inheritance by cunning
and by playing upon Esau's weakness.
From
Genesis 25 we can learn what we ought not to do,
but we cannot learn what we ought to do.
There are no heroes in this passage.
It offers no proper basis for a claim that God has given Israel
exclusive control of all the lands west of the Jordan.
No,
in direct disagreement with this story from Genesis 25,
but consistent with the principal themes of Scripture,
I believe that the God of Abraham and Sarah,
of Isaac and Rebekah, and of Jacob and Esau
is in truth calling upon the Semitic peoples of our time,
calling upon Jews and Palestinians alike,
to share the land west of the Jordan in peace and equity.
And
I pray that the events of this past week and of today
have set in motion the historical process
by which justice and reconciliation may indeed come to pass
in the land of Jacob and Esau.
Let
us pray:
O God,
grant that in the not-too-distant future,
two nations from one womb,
Jews and Palestinians alike,
may live together in peace
in the land of the ancestors of both.
Amen.
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