The Family Feud 

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,  ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’  Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you.  Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves.  And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” (Genesis 27: 6 to 10) 

Abraham's family had a conflict between Sarah and Hagar.  Isaac's family also had the conflict.  At first, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob at the price of some lentil stew.  Then their mother Rebekah helped Jacob to steal Isaac's blessing from Esau.  She not only persuaded Jacob to go along with it but also arranged the whole plot.  She knew there were consequences for what she did, but she was willing to take the risk.  How could a mother do such things to cause her own children to go against each other?  It could be that God told Rebekah before the birth of the twins that the older would serve the younger (Genesis 25: 23).  It could be that Esau was not living by the value of the family to sell his birthright.  Or it could also be that Esau married Hittite women as described below. 

When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.  (Genesis 26: 34 35) 

Because of the plot, Esau wanted to kill Jacob and Jacob had to fleet the family. 

In the Bible, Jesus says:  

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.  Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10: 34 to 39) 

Jesus mentioned two kinds of lives.  A worldly life that we all know about and a life that can only be achieved if we forsake the worldly life for the sake of Jesus Christ.  A worldly family is built upon worldly life.  A worldly family can not belong to God.  Only a family that has gone through the loss of worldly life could belong to God.  This could be illustrated by the family of Isaac.  Isaac was a peaceful man who made peace with the world.  He lied about his wife to be his sister when he stayed in Gerar so that he wouldn't have to defend her against the locals (Genesis 26: 1 to 11).  He didn't argue with Philistines about his father's wells by simply giving them those wells (Genesis 26: 15 to 21).  He probably wanted to bless Esau even though that was against God's will and that Esau had already sold his birthright.  Isaac didn't want to cause conflict in the family.  He might just want a peaceful family life so that he could enjoy wild game prepared and brought to him. 

However, to fulfill God's will, Rebekah had to do the unthinkable even though it could mean that Esau would hate his own brother Jacob so much even to kill him.  It could also mean that Jacob had to flee the family, and she would never see him again.  

This kind of family feud is called the way of cross.  No family is perfect.  What we need to do is not to hide the problem to make it look nice but to carry the burden like a cross to follow Jesus Christ.  It may seem against our own wills.  However, since it's God's will, eventually it would lead us to a godly life that is out of this world.  It may seem to be a loss in life but is a big gain in spiritual life.  Emmanuel. 

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