Article November 25, 1996 Issue

A QUESTIONS & ANSWERS EXCHANGE

This Column is a place to explore questions with other readers and with the editorial staff of the Sentinel. The responses are offered not so much to close the question but to open possibilities for further prayer, exploration, and living of spiritual truth.

Q. A recent article discussed how badly Jacob treated Esau in the book of Genesis. This is true on one level, but on a deeper level, Esau was not fit to be the bearer of the promise. Didn't something have to be done to get the promise into the hands of a man who was better suited to bear it?—from a reader inquiring by e-mail

A. Unquestionably Esau had his own failings. But this story is much more than an account about which of these two brothers deserved the birthright more. Nor does it help to focus only on the historic circumstances that might have made it morally acceptable to transfer the birthright by drastic means.

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