There is so much that is complicated and even contradictory about families. The book of Obadiah is about one of those families – Jacob and Esau or as we know them later – Israel and Edom. It begins with Esau mocking his own birthright in exchange for a bowl of soup. Later, he loses the blessing to Jacob who dresses in Esau’s robe to fool their father. Esau is so enraged and vindictive that he not only vows to kill Jacob but in a childish gesture of spite for his parents he goes to Ishmael, the outcast son of Abraham, and marries his daughter.

But like many stories in the Bible, this one does not close there. It goes on for hundreds of years. In some ways, Esau is redeemed by the way he forgives Jacob when Jacob flees from Laban.

“Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.”

Esau was a changed man and offered his protection and friendship.  If only the story had ended there but it doesn’t.

The descendants of Jacob and Esau meet generations later when Israel is passing through the wilderness and they come to the land of Esau’s descendants – the Edomites.  They ask permission to pass through safely and are denied.  Memories are long and resentments last forever.  It’s in Numbers 20.  “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.” So, Moses finds another way around them but it costs him time and many lives.

And then a third conflict but this time it is a far deeper betrayal. The Edomites stand by and watch the Babylonians capture Jerusalem, take the people into exile and then raze the Temple. At that moment, they rush into the city and plunder whatever valuables are left in the Temple. They do not join the Babylonians but they do nothing to hold them back. They do not tear down the Temple but they take what they can from the ruins. They even mock and rejoice over the Jews who are defeated.

“On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.

You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster,nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble.”

Six hundred years later they meet again.  In Matthew 2, the descendant of Esau, Herod the Great, is obsessed with finding a child who has been called the King of the Jews – the descendant of Jacob.  We know he doesn’t find him because he is fooled by the Magi but all the boys in Bethlehem younger than two years old are killed in vengeance and spite.  It’s a theme, isn’t it?

Finally, the two lines of Jacob and Esau converge for the last time.  One, the descendant of Esau, is Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great.  The descendant of Jacob, Jesus, is brought to him for judgment.

“Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him.  Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.”

Did you catch that?  Herod allows the soldiers to mock Jesus and even joins in himself. As well, he stands by doing nothing while handing him over to Pilate. It’s all there in the family pattern, isn’t it? Treachery, betrayal, mockery, treason, cowardice and gloating. Once again, Jacob is dressed in Esau’s best robes and, again, he fools and displaces Esau.  But not only Esau and Herod. He fools sin and death for eternity, for once and for all…and like all good Jewish stories the villains will not realize it until too late. It is the fulfillment of the long-ago prophecy to Obadiah. “As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head..The house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors.”

And that’s the rest of the tragic story of two brothers.  It’s still true that the spirit of Esau – the spirit in a foolish, mocking, false, treacherous and godless world – is desiring to overthrow Jacob but the promise is real and the blessing is sure.

Art by George Bellows