The Call of Jacob

 

Most of us experience our faith in God and Jesus as struggling. But,struggling faith is not something that we like to have. However, faith that struggles is not only something that we alone go through. Even in the Bible, we find some personalities who struggled in their faith. Jacob appears to be a biblical figure who really struggled in his faith.

 

The author of the Book of Genesis spent ten whole chapters on the life and faith of Jacob. He is one of the three patriarchs of Judaism. Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, was the younger of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah (Gen 25: 19-26). He is referred in the New Testament in association with Abraham and Isaac. Jesus compared Himself to the ladder of the vision of Jacob at Bethel, a mediator between heaven and earth (John 1: 51).

 

Throughout the life story of Jacob there is a pattern, which appears to be not so genuine on his part. It is the pattern of deceiving and tricking others to get the better of them. Even Isaac his father testified to it, as he said to Esau, “Your brother came deceitfully and he had taken away your blessing.” (Gen 27: 35). Then it was Esau who said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob?” In other sense, his name, Jacob meant deceiver (Gen 27: 36).

 

Just as in most ancient cultures, Israel’s culture was that the oldest son in the family expected to inherit father’s property, known as the birthright. At the same time, the oldest son supposed to have the authority, which is the blessing of his father. Here, Jacob deceived and tricked his father Isaac into giving him the birthright and blessing. That way he stole his brother’s birthright and his father’s blessing (Gen 25:29-34; 27:1-29). There is a possibility to assume that Jacob knew that though he was the youngest, he was supposed to have that birthright and the blessing. Probably because his mother would have told him what the Lord had told her; “The older will serve the younger.” (Gen 25: 23) Hence, she planned ways to ensure that Jacob would overshadow her older son Esau. And so, Rebekah deceived Isaac when the time came to bless their two sons and even felt justified in deceiving him probably because what the Lord had told her.

 

And yet, it is hard to understand why the author of the book of Genesis made no comment on the morality of the actions of Rebekah and Jacob. However, the story is about the ways of God. His ways are not our ways. And God is not bound by human expectations. Very often we see in the Old Testament God defies human cultural traditions by choosing little ones for important tasks, such as Jacob, Joseph, David, and so on. God’s purposes in electing persons is not by their works, but because it is He who calls them (Rom 9: 11). And this way of electing shows us that it is the choice of God to save us not by our own merits, but by His mercy. God also chose a nation called Israel who was enslaved under the powers of Egyptians, rather than choosing a nation of great wealth and power. Same way, the story of Jacob and Esau tells us that God’s ways are not our ways and does not bow to human expectations, rules, and traditions.

 

At one point in his life, Jacob also had to leave his home and everything that he knew making a journey to Paddam-Aram. Two reasons are given for this journey; because of the fear of Esau’s vengeance and the desire of Isaac for Jacob to marry one of his kinswomen, not a Canaanite (Gen 27: 42-28: 5). On his journey Jacob had a dream, in which angels went up and down a ladder connecting earth to heaven. God established a persona relationship with him through this dream, in which God and Jacob interacted personally.

 

— Fr. Niranjan Rodrigo, Ph.D.