Welcome to Nassau Church

August 3, 2008
Genesis 32: 22-31

The same night [Jacob] got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking."

But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him.

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved." The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

He comes by his name honestly, this Jacob. Not his new name – Israel, the one who strives with God. His old name. Jacob, a supplanter – in other words, a trickster. He’s got a whole lifetime to show for it. In fact, he’s sort of the Old Testament stereotype of a trickster, leaving us with mixed feelings of admiration on the one hand, discomfort on the other. Is Jacob a hero for his clever manipulations? Or is he somehow just God’s pick from the beginning, so it all works out for him, even if his methodology seems a little underhanded.

Tricksters are not just mischievous characters who get away with funny pranks and little indiscretions. Tricksters play a variety of roles, from fool to hero. (1)We can all name some famous tricksters –

Is Jacob an evil trickster? A buddy-buddy jokester trickster? A model trickster who can’t lose with God and his mother on his side? A hero trickster to brag about hundreds of years later when all signs point to his trickery having paid off – look at us, says the nation of Judah – we are exactly what Jacob bargained for.

What kind of trickster is Jacob? You be the judge. But don’t forget to watch for what God is doing in the story. The story, after all, is about God.

His manipulations get an early start – trickster Jacob. So early in fact, that his mother Rebekah, sick-to-death of all the pregnancy struggling that gives morning sickness a whole new meaning, asks God point blank what’s up! And God lays it on the line from the very beginning:

"Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the elder shall serve the younger." (Genesis 25:23)

Nothing like an early omen of dysfunctional families at work to brighten your day, followed by twins, already locked in a struggle for “Me first!” Esau – all hairy and ruddy and tough, with Jacob hard on his heels – literally – hanging on for dear life to Esau’s heel, and instantly earning his name “Jacob” – AKA “supplanter” – trickster.

Dad Isaac loves the rough and ready outdoorsman-hunter first-born Esau, and Mom Rebekah loves the quiet stay-at-home-boy, Jacob. We don’t have to wait long to see the “elder serve the younger.” In an ironic twist, the younger, supplanter Jacob, serves the elder, Esau, a bowl of lentil stew – in exchange for Esau’s inheritance rights as the firstborn son. Not too swift, as they say.

The last hurdle is the blessing needed from Isaac to seal the deal. It’s one thing for Esau to impulsively disinherit himself; it’s another to gain Isaac’s blessing on that little bit of foolishness. This takes some crafty planning on Rebekah’s part, and active deception by both Rebekah and Jacob. A little overhearing by Rebekah as Isaac sends his eldest son Esau to the fields to hunt the game he is so partial to – in preparation for Isaac’s bestowing of the all-important blessing. Esau neglects to mention he’s already traded that for a little bowl of stew and his dad might as well go ahead and give it to Jacob instead. Esau just heads to the fields and the intrigue begins.

Prefaced by “Obey my word as I command you,” (maybe with a little finger wagging) Rebekah sends Jacob to the flocks for some choice meat, prepares it just the way Isaac likes it, dresses Jacob in Esau’s clothes, covers his hands and neck with goat hair (just in case Isaac checks, thinks Jacob), and sends him in to Isaac. Jacob, quick on his feet if not with a bow and arrow, credits God for granting a successful hunt when asked by Isaac, “How did you get back so fast? “Are you really my son Esau?” I swear, dad, I am Esau, your firstborn. And after the feast and the wine the blessing is Jacob’s.
Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. … (Genesis 27:29a)
Esau’s bitter response says it all. “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times….” (Genesis 27:36a)
Esau’s fury and hatred leads to thoughts of murder and the only thing left for Jacob to do now is run. He goes to his mother’s relatives, but not before Isaac passes on to him God’s covenant promise of children and the land God gave to Abraham, all – don’t miss it – confirmed by God in an appearance on a ladder - Jacob’s “personal conversion story” perhaps. Maybe just his bargain for God’s care and protection.
For a while Jacob meets his trickster match. His uncle Laban gets fourteen long years of labor for the bride of choice – Rachel, and the bride of custom – Leah, much to Jacob’s chagrin – not in that order! But we can’t hear God’s promise and not know that Jacob will succeed somehow and return to the land that awaits him like a destiny. After agreeing with Jacob that all of the spotted and speckled sheep and goats and the black lambs will be Jacob’s wages, tricky Laban removes all of those from his flocks and hides them! But Laban is out-tricked by Jacob, who cleverly breeds new spotted and speckled ones. (Does anyone who knows anything about breeding sheep and goats have any idea how he did this?!)
Now “exceedingly rich,” and twenty years older, Jacob heads back to Canaan, not exactly in Laban’s good graces but with very clear instructions from God to return under God’s protection. When Laban hears of Jacob’s defection, he gives chase and catches him, only to be warned by God in a dream not to make trouble. Jacob continues his journey – on a course to meet the greatest challenge of his life to date – his brother Esau.
Twenty years is a long time, but that is no guarantee Esau feels any differently about his tricky younger brother. But true to his character, Jacob has a plan. He sends messengers to tell Esau that he is rich, and has returned from their mother’s relatives with lots of stuff, clearly implying he intends to share it with Esau. When the messengers come back with the alarming news that Esau is on his way to meet Jacob with 400 men, Jacob thinks, “This can’t be good.” Doing a little panic dance, he divides his whole company into two groups – if Esau destroys one group the second might survive he thinks. Then he prays. At it’s heart it is a “God - you told me to come back, you promised you’d be with me, and now I need you desperately or there will be no offspring” kind of prayer. Followed by Jacob’s preemptive strike – a series of significant bribes – well, in fairness the text calls them “presents” – delivered to Esau with the message that “the presents” are from Jacob. Sending his whole entourage ahead, Jacob intends to spend the night alone. What might have simply been a restless night turns into a wrestling marathon, a preparation for his reunion with Esau and for his role as the ancestor of a great nation.
A “man” wrestles with him all night long – to a draw it seems, until “the man” makes what sounds to me like a totally illegal wrestling move. Jacob ends up with a dislocated hip, but he’s a “never say die” kind of guy and he holds on for dear life. After all this there better be a blessing in it! And indeed, there is: "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed."
What kind of trickster is Jacob? Apparently God’s kind of trickster.

The new Jacob – I mean Israel – limps, but he limps all the way home, family and possessions intact, meeting and reconciliation with Esau accomplished. Jacob is apparently God’s kind of trickster.

(1) Jacob the Trickster and Heir of the Covenant: A Literary Interpretation, Victor H. Matthews and Frances Mims, in Perspectives in Religious Studies, pages 185-195.