Sibling Rivalry

Does Yah have favorites amongst His children? Does He favor one over the other? This week's Torah portion, Toldot תּוֹלְדוֹת (Generations), certainly seems to indicate it. Right from the start, we are introduced to twin brothers, and before they are born it is clear that YHVH has a favorite:

"YHVH said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." Genesis 25:23

If that wasn't enough or in your face, consider these scriptures:

"'I have loved you,' says YHVH. But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' 'Was not Esau Jacob's brother?' declares YHVH. 'Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.'" Malachi 1:2-3

"Not only that, but Rebekah's children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, BEFORE the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that Yah's pupose in election stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, 'The older serve the younger.' Just as it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" Romans 9:11-13

This is somewhat mind-boggling and a reality we must wrestle with. To be quite honest, it isn't something our limited human minds could comprehend. The answer to this dilemma is further explored in this ninth chapter of Romans and I encourage you to read it in its full context.

Since I have wrestled with this myself quite a few times and for many years, please allow me to shed a few of my conclusions with you. If you have a different insight, please feel free to share it with me in the comment section as well.

Here are two topics that seem to overlap in this same paradox: Predestination and Destiny. I'll start with predestination because I feel it is the one easier to comprehend. As we read these passages we feel as if Esau was "predestined" to fail and that he, in turn, had no choice on the matter. After wrestling with this for quite a while, and talking to many people who are wiser than me, I came to understand the word predestination as follows: "A predestination is the destination you will arrive at, based on your path." Let me explain, if I begin to travel towards my sister's home in Florida, a planned trip I started as I left my home in Oklahoma, then I am predestined to eventually arrive at her home. If at any point in my journey, I veer my vehicle in a different direction, then I am no longer predestined to arrive at her house in Florida. Based on my change of direction, I will be predestined to arrive at a different location now. Perhaps New York instead, or if I double back I will be predestined to go back home.

All who enter the path of salvation and daily follow Christ are predestined to arrive in heaven. Because Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and by His own words has declared that "no one can come to the Father except through Him" (based on John 14:6). So, in this sense, I believe in predestination. This leaves me with the second dilemma: Destiny. Was Esau destined to fail? Did Yah create Pharaoh so he could die and allow Adonai a chance to display His power? Was Judah Iscariot put on earth to betray Jesus? If these were indeed their destinies, is God evil?

I'll let Paul begin to answer that one:

"'What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.' Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: 'Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?' But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? 'Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?" Romans 9:14-19

Well... based on that answer, I'd say, "Adonai uses everything to bring about His purpose and for His glory." But that doesn't make Him evil and it is where His sovereignty and infinite nature come in. That is why I say that our minuscule minds could never fully comprehend it. The best illustration I could provide is this: Destiny, in the eyes of a being who is outside of time and space (God), is like watching a movie. The first time we, mortal beings, sit down to watch a movie, everything is a choice and every choice has consequences that play out before our eyes. However, once we watched that movie in its entirety once, we become similar to God for that movie. If we watch that movie 100 times again we cannot change its outcome. We can scream at the television set, "Don't go in there... if you do you will die!" Guess what? That character will make the same choice and walk into his or her slaughter (talking about a Friday the 13th classic horror film here). God has seen the movie. He has seen every event inside creation. That is how and why He can make predictions and speak about future events as if they have already happened because to Him they have. His talking about Esau as He did has nothing to do with Esau's free will to choose, but with the fact that He already knows what Esau has chosen. I know, it is a bit of a mind bend, but it is the truth.

That is why, statements like these, coming from Adonai make perfect sense:

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5

"I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'" Isaiah 46:10

I expect no less from a God who is Sovereign and perfectly just. I know that in the day of judgment, we will stand before Him and no one will be able to utter a single word of contempt. Everyone was given the knowledge, ample time, and opportunity to do the right thing, and all who failed to do them over and over will not have a leg to stand on when attempting to call Him unjust. Everything we do is recorded for all time and will be used to either show all how merciful He is or how just He is in condemning us.

"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:33-37

Was God fair to Esau, Pharaoh, or Judas? That is between them and God. I can only testify of my own life and I praise Him for His mercy over my life. I do my best to live it in a way that would honor Him and His sacrifice, and if we're being honest, I fail more than succeed not because I'm this horrible sinner, but because I know He deserves better than I can ever give. I say, let's not worry about His relationship with others, for it is hard enough to concentrate on our own personal relationship with Him. Have a blessed week beloved bride of Christ. Shavuah Tov Ve'Shalom!