The Births of Esau and Jacob
19 This is the account of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham. 20 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.
21 Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. 22 But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked.
23 And the Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.”
24 And when the time came to give birth, Rebekah discovered that she did indeed have twins! 25 The first one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau.[a] 26 Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob.[b] Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
Esau Sells His Birthright
27 As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. 30 Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!” (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means “red.”)
31 “All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.”
32 “Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”
33 But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then got up and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn.
So often in scripture we hear of the unborn child's behavior. John jumped in the womb when Mary arrived with Jesus in her womb. Hear we see a set of twins struggling while still in womb. As John continued to get excited about his cousin's arrival even into adulthood, these two babies grow up to struggle with one another, as well. It seems what is in the womb, is a sign of what is to come.
We had twins born this past week. My brother's daughter birthed a set. One is a girl, while the other a boy. Even though Karson is older, we call Kaylee "the big sister". She received that nick name because we found out that Karson hadn't grown the past two weeks in utero. It seems that Kaylee continued to grow and by the time they were born, the first born was just 4 pounds while big sister came in at nearly 5 pounds 5 ounces.
I was amazed when I saw them both. It is hard to imagine them face to face, skin to skin, elbow to elbow in their mommy's belly. How do you get away from each other? How does one not poke the eyes out of the other? For nearly 8 months they lay this way. But then at some moment, for some reason, one was getting nutrition but the other was not. After reading this story, I can just see Kaylee holding the umbilical cord tight so nothing could go through to her older brother. And as she continued to grow, she began to tower over him. And there he lay, with adoration still in his eyes for his beautiful sister.
Yet, when the time came, he was the first to hit the door. "I'm outta here!" I wonder if he'll always be running from her? The hardest thing to deal with is since their birth, they have been separated. Kaylee swallowed some fluids on the way out and she has been in ICU ever since. She's okay, but was a sick puppy for a while there. Little Karson has been getting all of his new family's attention. I wonder if Kaylee will hold that against the little guy. Or if she'll just be glad to lay up against him once again? Even more importantly, I wonder how the two of them will grow into adulthood? As best friends? Or adversaries?
Oh, the trials, joys, and tribulations of two in the womb...
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