Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.”
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” --Exodus 1:8-2:10 (NRSV)
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As our Genesis reading left off last week, Joseph, son of Jacob (or Israel, as we now know him), grandson of Isaac, great-grandson of Abraham, had, after decades, been reconciled with his brothers in Egypt. All of them, including their father Israel, were now in Egypt. Because of the deep famine in Canaan, Joseph had sought land for them from the pharaoh, who had given his permission for them to live in Goshen. A border province. In Genesis 47, Goshen is described as “the best part of the land.” That certainly still rings true today, doesn’t it?
As time passed, the famine continued and grew even deeper. People from other lands came to Egypt, seeking out Joseph to trade their land for food. Scripture tells us that Joseph bought all of the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. Through his brilliant administrative skills, Joseph made the Pharaoh one of the richest and most powerful rulers in the entire area.
At the same time, Israel became more and more settled in Egypt in that region of Goshen. The family gained possessions there and, our story tells us, they were “fruitful and multiplied exceedingly.”
Seventeen years passed. Israel’s death drew near. On his deathbed, Israel extracted a promise from Joseph--that Joseph would not bury his father in Egypt, but would take his body back to Canaan. That the Cave of Machpelah would be his final resting place. The burial home of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebekah, of Leah.
Joseph also brought his two sons to be blessed by Israel. And, as we have seen so many times before in earlier stories, this blessing was anything but ordinary. Joseph had placed each of his two sons on either side of Israel’s bed, with the oldest and firstborn--Manasseh--on Israel’s right side. And with the youngest--Ephraim--on Israel’s left. As Israel raised his hands to bless his grandsons, he crossed his arms and gave the blessing not to the first born, but instead to Ephraim, the youngest.
Once again, in God's world, tradition and convention or turned upside down. The unexpected happens and things are anything but ordinary.
And, then, it is time for Israel’s generation to end. The last verse of chapter 49 tells us that Jacob breathed his last, and was gathered to his people. Soon, it was time for Joseph’s generation to end. In the very next chapter, we read that Joseph made the Israelites (who had now grown in size)...Joseph made them swear that they would carry his bones back to Canaan. Just like his father. Then, Joseph, too, died.
From generation to generation. Over these weeks and through the centuries, we have followed the ancestral family of Abraham to this point. Abraham and Sarah. And their descendents. Persisting. All of them living into the promise that God would make of them a great nation. And that God would bless them so that they could be a blessing. Trusting. Believing it. And persisting.
And then there are these women in today’s story. Persisting. Beginning with the midwives. Women whose work it is to support life who are told to take it. By a new king, a new regime, a new dynasty who has forgotten. A pharaoh who has forgotten or never known the story of Joseph and Joseph’s God. Forgotten or never known how Joseph helped enrich and empower the previous pharaoh. A leader who seeks to have “power over” the Israelites and who creates a false narrative. A false story about the “enemy within.” Those Israelites, those immigrants who are going to grow and grow and eventually seek to overcome “us.”
It is an old, convenient political narrative that we still hear today. Be afraid of the immigrant. Be afraid of the foreigner. Be afraid of the other. It is a false narrative that is designed to divide people and to keep people apart. And to keep the rich and powerful in power.
But, these women. These midwives. This sister. This mother. This princess. All resist this false narrative in their own ways. All resist this evil.
When Pharaoh comes to the midwives and tells them to kill babies instead of keep them alive, they know. They know that God desires life. And so they refuse. And when he asks why, they play into his own stereotypes and immigrants and their breeding habits. “You know these Hebrew women aren’t like Egyptian women. They are vigorous and they give birth even before we get to them,” they say to the Pharaoh. Even though, they know this isn’t true.
Then, Pharaoh moves onto the people and tells all of them to throw baby boys into the Nile. The resistance doesn’t end with the midwives, but extends into the population. To the mother of Moses and his sister.
The language in these verses is incredible. It is language that is reminiscent of new beginnings. Of new eras. For example, in verse 2 of Exodus 2, when we read that a Levite woman conceived and bore a son, our text says that she saw “that he was a fine baby.” In the original Hebrew, this is the same language used about creation in Genesis 1. That it was “good.”
And, then, in verse 3, we read how this mother could no longer hide this baby, this “good” baby. And so she found a papyrus basket for him. To save him.
Here the original word for “basket” is the same word used for “ark” in Noah’s story.
So, in just two words, the writer of Exodus has connected up the story of the creation of the world into the story of the creation of the Israelites as a people. They are no longer just a family or a clan. But they have become a nation. About to embark upon a new era.
Through it all, the women continue to persist. To persist against evil. Against strategies that are designed to divide people. And to persist against forces that seek death instead of life. That seek division instead of unity. Forces that run contrary to God’s desire for life. And for God’s desire that all people might be unified. Not identical to each other. But unified in their diversity. In the beautifully diverse ways in which God has created us.
We know the rest of the story. How against the odds, God ensured the safety of this young Moses. How God worked through these persistent women to ensure an upbringing for Moses in God’s ways. How God eventually brought Moses up to be that leader who would lead his own people to freedom. In the same way that Christ has led us to freedom.
And, so, like the women in our story, we, too, are called to persist. To push back against those forces that seek to divide people instead of uniting them. To persist against forces that seek death, those forces that are contrary to God’s desire for life. And that are contrary to God’s desire for all creation.
God’s ways. They are not ordinary, are they? We have heard over and over how God upsets the status quo. The powers that be. How God breaks into the false narratives that are used to divide people. God’s ways are not ordinary. In fact, they are anything, but ordinary.
May be remember this as we leave from here and go into the world and into our own lives. As we persist and seek to live out our lives in ways that, like God, bring life. For us and for all those we meet. May God grant it.
Amen.
Preached August 27, 2017, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
12th Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Exodus 1:8-2:10; Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8, Matthew 16:13-20.
These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her,
“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.”
When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.) Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Genesis 19:25-34 (NRSV)
Who of you grew up in a family with more than one child or had more than one of your own children? Then you have, I would suspect, experienced something called sibling rivalry. I can see by your faces that you’re familiar with this!
I am, too. I was the youngest of three children in our family. My older sister and brother were a little over 2 years older than I was. The two of them were born ten (10) months apart. (My mom used to talk about that time and what it was like to have three children in diapers!)
My sister was the oldest. My brother was next. And, because of the way that their birthdays fell, they ended up being placed in the same grade all throughout elementary, middle and high schools. Because he was the only boy in our family and was my dad’s helper on our ranch, he was given responsibility earlier and at much greater levels than my older sister. Even though she was older than he.
He got his driver’s license earlier than she did. He got his own car sooner than she did. And, then, to make things even more challenging, he was incredibly smart and athletic. An “A” student without even really trying. And All-American in football. In contrast, my sister, although she was incredibly smart in her own way, was a “B” student and not nearly as athletic, although she could sprint.
You can imagine the difficulty this caused in our family. The rivalry that existed between them. They always seemed to be at odds with each other over something. And, although, sibling rivalry existed between all three of us, it was at a much higher level between the two of them.
Sibling rivalry. It’s a power struggle. A struggle between sisters and brothers to decide who is better? Who is smarter? Who is stronger? And on and on.
That’s what we have in our story today of Jacob and Esau.
At the opening of our story, Abraham is dead at age 175. We learn in preceding verses that, after Sarah died, he married another wife. A woman named Ketura. He had six more children with her. Before his death, he gave “everything he owned to Isaac.” Everything. And to his sons with Keturah? Well, he gave them gifts and then sent them away to live in the east. Away from Isaac. Does that sound familiar? Remember Ishmael?
As we heard last week, Isaac married Rebekah at age 40. For twenty years, she was barren, unable to conceive. How difficult that must have been for her! And, yet, on her behalf, Isaac prayed to God. And his prayers were immediately answered. Rebekah become pregnant.
This wasn’t an easy pregnancy. Unknown to her, she had twins. The fetuses pushed against each other inside of her, causing her great discomfort. So much discomfort that she regretted getting pregnant and even questioned why she should go on living? How difficult this must have been.
So, she, like Isaac, went to inquire of God. To search out God and to find out what was going on. God responded in an oracle through which she learned she had twins. She also learned that each twin would be the leader of two nations. That two different peoples would emerge from her pregnant body. And, even more, that the younger would be stronger than the older, and that the older would serve the younger.
This is some serious sibling rivalry.
At the end of her pregnancy, Rebekah delivered and discovered she had fraternal twins. The first and oldest was ruddy--a healthy red--and also full of hair. Rebekah called him Esau, which means red. The second-born twin came out immediately and was holding onto Esau’s heel. His mother named him Jacob, which shares the same root as the word that means heel. It can also mean to cheat.
As they become young men, our story tells us that Esau became an outdoorsman, who knew how to hunt. Rough and ready, who loved the open country.
Jacob? Well he was more of a momma’s boy. Our text says he stayed at home, that he liked to cook. It also says he was quiet. A better translation of this, though, is that he was “whole” or “complete.” A person of integrity.
One can only imagine the rivalry between these two, very different, brothers. To make matters worse, our story tells us that Isaac and Rebekah each played favorites. Isaac loved Esau. Rebekah loved Jacob.
Besides the sibling rivalry that added to the family drama, in this time period, having twins introduced another special situation. At the time, the firstborn--the oldest--was eligible for the birthright. This meant that the inheritance Esau would receive would be twice as much as Isaac’s. In addition, in this particular family, there was the blessing of Abraham to consider. This blessing from God (You remember it, don’t you? That Abraham would be a great nation, on his own land, and that he would be blessed so that he could be a blessing to others?). This blessing from God had been passed down to Isaac and would be passed down to Isaac’s oldest son.
So, in this family, not only was Esau up for a double share of the inheritance, it was also expected that he would receive God’s blessing, mediated through the blessing of his father, Isaac.
And yet we know, if nothing else from the stories of Abraham we have already heard over these past weeks, that God operates in a way that is anything but ordinary. It’s almost as if Jacob was so obsessed with obtaining both Esau’s birthright and God’s blessing that he will stop at nothing to obtain it.
In our story today we heard that he essentially bribed Esau to gain his birthright. And in the next few chapters, we learn that Jacob, led by Rebekah, tricks Isaac into giving the blessing to Jacob instead of Esau.
It seems unfair, doesn’t it? That Jacob should gain both the birthright and the blessing from Esau through such trickery and cheating.
And, yet, Esau isn’t as innocent as we’d like to make him out. Esau wasn’t dying of starvation. He’d been out hunting and came home hungry. And, in exchange for a bowl of lentil soup, Esau sold his birthright. For a bowl of soup. Our story reads that he ate, drank, got up, and left. Showing just how little he thought of his birthright.
There is really nothing in the behavior of either one of them that deserves God’s favor, is there? Neither one seems deserving of anything in the midst of their rivalry and dysfunction.
It’s important to remember that this story is not just the story of two brothers. But, it is the story of two nations. Two nations that would be in conflict with each other for over a millenia. Two nations that would be in a power struggle with each other over generations, just as Jacob and Esau struggled with each other. No nation or brother who was really deserving of God’s favor.
Yet, God is generous to both brothers. Both would become ancestors of a multitude. Both would be blessed with abundance to care for the needs of each family. And, in their final reunion, Jacob would recognize the “face of God” in the face of his brother, Esau, because of the gracious way in which Esau would greet him. Eventually, the story of both would end with reconciliation and blessing.
This is a message for us, too. That, in the midst of our family dysfunction. In the midst of our dysfunction in the church. Or in our community. Or our nation. Or the world. In that conflict that just never seems to end, God is there. Right there.
In the midst of our dysfunction in the church, especially as we stand in this 500 anniversary year of the Reformation, an event that tore the universal, catholic (small”c”) church apart and that pitted Roman Catholics and Lutherans against each other until just these last few decades, God has been there.
Just as God broke in and upended the world through the gracious act of our Savior, Jesus Christ, God continues to be present. Right here and right now. In the midst of all of the messiness. In the conflicts between individuals and families and countries and churches. In our struggles with each other and with God, God continues to be present. Working. Involved. Never giving up.
And showering mercy upon mercy and extending blessing upon blessing to us and to all people. Everywhere.
Let the people of God say, “Amen.”
