Two Brothers, Two Nations — The Roots of an Ancient Conflict

A Drama No Hollywood Director Could Capture

The Torah portion of Vayishlach is the meeting, after many years, between Esau and Jacob his brother. I don't think that Francis Ford Coppola, the great Hollywood director, could catch the drama and the dynamics of this meeting between the two brothers — two brothers that struggled from the womb of their mother Rebecca.

This is a dramatic occasion. It is a meeting between two brothers who 21 years earlier hated each other. In fact, Esau wanted to kill Jacob his brother, and that is the reason why Jacob was directed by his mother Rebecca to run to Haran, way up north to her brother Laban, for the fear of Esau's desire to kill his brother Jacob.

These prophetic words spoken by God Himself to Rebecca before she gave birth to Esau and Jacob summarize the whole history of the relationship between these two boys and the nations that came out from them:

This text and this story might have almost made me a Calvinist, believing in predestination. Praise the Lord that it didn't make me a Calvinist. But, it did teach me that children are born and carry with them some of the character of their parents. Jacob is more like his father Isaac, and Esau is more like Rebecca's side of the family.

Esau — A Jock Living for the Moment

Esau is described in the book of Genesis as a person of the outdoors, a hunter, a rough character. Esau is interested in the physical, momentary, instant satisfaction of his appetites and passions. He is what in the 1960's, when I was in college, we would have called a jock, an athlete, a person devoted to a single pursuit or interest. From Esau's own words we learn that he didn't think much of tomorrow and of his future. He was living the moment. He was hungry now and at the top of his priority list was "give me food now!"

Jacob on the other hand is not thinking of the now and this moment. Contrary to Esau, Jacob was thinking of the future, of the promises that God made to Isaac their father, of the inheritance that Isaac received from his father Abraham. There is a principle that the world often uses in business: "The tangible is more secure than the intangible!" Jacob is taking a gamble in this business. Jacob is giving something physical, a real bowl of soup, and receiving a promise — an intangible inheritance that no one knows when or how or if it will actually materialize.

Legal, But Not Fair

The principle that we all need to remember and put to practice is that there are things that might be legal, that you might have a solid ironclad signed and sealed contract in your hand, but they are still not fair or honest. Even though the deal with Esau was fair legally, Esau didn't think so for the following reasons: Esau was experiencing a low and miserable moment in his life, he was hungry. Hunger can make people do some stupid things. This is no way to treat a brother! The seed of discord and the feeling that I have been cheated by my own brother, my own flesh and blood, will not be forgotten or leave you! It is the kind of feeling that will never leave you, even if you have moments of reconciliation — moments like funerals of loved ones, and maybe weddings of your brother's children!

Jacob has not forgotten why he had to flee to Haran. I believe that Jacob has some guilt feelings for what he did to Esau. Jacob is really afraid of his brother Esau, and he prepares a strategic plan to minimize the damage. Jacob is now willing to appease his brother and give him many gifts in order to fix the situation between him and his family, and Esau and his family. Jacob is willing to pay a proper price for Esau's inheritance.

For me this story is both inspirational and depressing. Here you have two brothers from the same father and mother, in fact twins. They inspire fear against each other because there was some wrongdoing between them. The fact that Jacob has to fear and take strategic moves to protect himself and his family and possessions from his brother Esau is depressing to me. The hate that Esau still had for Jacob and the fear and guilt that was in the heart of Jacob after so many years of living in the diaspora is a sad commentary of the two brothers.

The Root of the Conflict — And Its End

What can we learn from this story of two brothers, twin brothers, who started their competition and desire to be first even before they were born and saw the sunlight? We learn that the unrepented sins and an unforgiving spirit can destroy families and create lifetime enemies that last generations upon generations, even thousands of years. The roots of the Arab-Jewish conflict are in hate and hurt and unrighteousness between brothers. The roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict go to Ishmael and Isaac, and their grandchildren Esau and Jacob. However, forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation cannot work only when one side is seeking it — it has to be mutual, by all sides.

This conflict between these two brothers is lasting for more than 3,500 years, and it is not over yet. In the Lord's economy all things are possible, and we pray daily, and more than one time daily, for the Lord to bring peace between the descendants of these two twin brothers.

The prophet Obadiah sees the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict and describes it with the return of the captives in the diaspora back to the land given by God to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob our forefathers:

What is the final scene of the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict? Aliyah and restoration and final judgment of those who hate righteousness by those who love God's righteousness and put their trust in His promises. In the end of this sad story the Kingdom shall be the Lord's. Hallelujah!