Consider this for a while. Mom and dad both have their favorites. One, by tradition, will get the blessing and become the patriarch when dad kicks. The other takes advantage of his brother's hunger, deceives his father, runs off, marries his cousins and, eventually, comes to grips with the fact that the desert isn't big enough for him and his brother and he'd better go back and make peace.
"Esau holds a blessing; Brother Esau bears a curse.I would say that the blame is mine But I suspect it's something worse.
The more my brother looks like me, The less I understand
The silent war that bloodied both our hands.
Sometimes at night, I think I understand." *
Finally, after getting his head together, Jake starts back home. Worried? No doubt. On the way, he wrestles with God. Now, about 30 years ago I knew a fella who wrestled professionally, Chris Multerer and I can honestly say he'd whup the tar out of anyone. The time he wrestled Jesse Ventura in '79 was a real hoot. But I digress...
Anyways, the notion of wrestling with God is where I was going. God clobbered Jake and let him live, dislocated his hip and sent him on his way. Jake hobbles off with his herds in front of him to make peace with his brother, who welcomes him with open arms and a heart of forgiveness. Esau has plenty and is just happy to see his lying, low-down brother.
But who does God pick? Yup, Jake. Why? Because, that's why. Jacob, now Israel, becomes a mighty nation and Esau is left to wander the world forever.
"It's brother to brother and it's man to man
And it's face to face and it's hand to hand...
We shadowdance the silent war within.
The shadowdance, it never ends...
Never ends, never ends.
Shadowboxing the Apocalypse
And wandering the land."*
*Words by John Perry Barlow
Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission
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