Centuries after the time of Abraham and Sarah, and even centuries after the time of Moses and Miriam, Hannah went to the Lord to pray. She was barren, unlike her rival wife Peninah, and wanted a child. She prayed silently, moving her lips, and the priest Eli, at first confronting her for this strange behavior, heard her plea and assured her of God’s mercy. Indeed, in due course, a child was on its way.
She, following a vow she had made, presented her child to Eli to be raised as his helper – and as it turned out, his successor.
Here is part of what she prayed as she rejoiced in her expectancy:
And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.
There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.
Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
1 Samuel 2:1-3, 7, 9
Sound familiar? In her praise and exultation, Hannah hearkened back to the joy of barren women made fertile in the past: from Sarah and Rebekah to Rachel, and echoes on through time, to Elizabeth, cousin of the Virgin Mary. (And the song Mary sang after visiting Elizabeth.)
And the prayer of Hannah echoed the song of Miriam, sister of Moses, at the Red Sea:
Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Exodus 15:20-21
All these women, from Sarah to Elizabeth, form a sisterhood that is powerful. God over and over again turns over human expectation. The younger (as we shall see) is preferred to the older; and the weak to the strong. It is all in fulfillment not of human purpose but that of God.
So you see there is more to the story of Isaac and Rebekah than just a sandwich generation, between their parents and their sons. Isaac had prayed, Rebekah had inquired of the Lord, and God answered them.
Because of them, of their pursuance of God’s fruitfulness, the promise and the covenant continued. God would make of their descendants a mighty nation, a nation of priests to serve their God, and all nations would be blessed in them. Them too.
And then there are their sons. Their vexatious children, contending from inside the womb and on into adulthood. Our Scripture portion for this morning only goes so far, in what it gives of their story. Later, spoiler alert! Esau in his anger vowing to kill his brother, is overheard by their mother, and Rebekah persuades Isaac to go away for a while. He goes east of Canaan, east of Edom, and back to ancestral Harran.
God has a purpose in this exile – as in so many other occasions. When he brings back Jacob with his newly acquired household, it is to meet Esau in reconciliation. The brothers embrace when they meet.
That is long after the story of ‘that red stuff’ and the birthright scorn.
Today we see the consequences emerging of his impulsive, brash, brusque, rude as rude can be, disregard of his heritage - and duty.
Esau will not be the one to bear the promise and the mission. It was Abraham and not Lot, Isaac and not Ishmael, so it will be Jacob and not Esau, that God chooses - not of their virtue but of his will.
What will happen when these boys grow up? Will the two nations continue to strive, one east, one west, of the Jordan River? And what in our own day will come of contending nations, and rash brothers?
Will we do better than these, God’s chosen ones, who in their folly and pride and humanness, end up furthering his mysterious purpose.
The peace of God, it is no peace, But strife closed in the sod. Yet, let us pray for but one thing: The marv’lous peace of God, The marv’lous peace of God.
(Hymnal 1982, 661. They cast their nets in Galilee) https://hymnary.org/text/they_cast_their_nets_in_galilee
The joy of Rebekah was a strange joy, unearthly in its origin, and whether or not she saw the fulfillment of her own hopes is an open question. We see, from this distance, hope in the story, but wonder:
Do the people in the midst of the story have hope in the promise, or are they despairing in the desert? Only faith can make the difference.
And the providence of God – sometimes shown by human hand. In our own day, there are people wandering in the desert, or across seas, seeking a future with hope, in a land that God may show them.
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Sundays and Seasons [https://members.sundaysandseasons.com/Home/DayResources] offers some resources on the readings of the day, including this comment on Genesis 25:19-34
The lectionary now cites four episodes in the story of Jacob-Israel. Again, the Lord intervened in nature so that the barren Rebekah conceived and bore Isaac twin sons. Although Esau was first born, the younger son Jacob inherited God’s blessing, and thus once again the cultural expectation of primogeniture was thwarted with the Lord’s blessing. This legend was important for the eighth-century Israelites, whose very survival was threatened by enemy conquest. Christians have enjoyed the details of these folk tales and have seen in them illustrations that God’s promises are kept.
And on the Response (Psalm 119:105-112):
As if we are Rebekah, struggling through childbirth; as if we are Esau, close to starvation; as if we are Jacob, leaping over the law: we sing Psalm 119:105-112. We are severely afflicted, but God gives us life. We join with Jacob to follow the law of the Lord.
