Article April 22, 1933 Issue

Birthright

GEORGE F. TIMPSON

MANY have been sorely puzzled in the effort to reconcile the thought of a just God with the story of Jacob and Esau and their struggle over the birthright and the blessing. The revelations of Christian Science disentangle the threads of this episode and show its relation to our own problems.

The realization of the true nature of God and man, and of the relationship between them, had dawned on the awakening consciousness of Abraham to such a degree that, in obediently following God's direction, he became the founder of the race through whose spiritual enlightenment all nations were to be blessed. In the light of this unfoldment the birthright may be taken to symbolize the ability to perceive the truth, an ability which alone could constitute spiritual leadership; and this true birthright could not be bestowed by primogeniture or by the choice of the father.

Later on, in the history of this race, Esau was willing, in a moment of stress, to accept material food in exchange for his inheritance. In Jacob, despite duplicity and greed, there yet must have been spiritual responsiveness. He had a better appreciation of the birthright than had Esau, and eventually became able truly to receive it, though not in the way he had imagined.

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