A Different World
This account is no doubt the fruit of considerable editing at a later date and a reflection of a subsequent generation (or even generations) re-writing a bit of history, but since little is gained by taking it apart it may be more helpful to reflect on it as we have it.
First, it has the ring of the beginnings of a community. Abraham was a loner with a very subservient family. Now we have a family with diverse authority. It is also more of a secular community than a religious community. Abraham was deeply conscious of his relationship with God at each step of the way. Now God is scarcely mentioned. At the same time, significantly perhaps, communications between people seem more problematical. The situation is not altogether unfamiliar.
Presumably Isaac knew nothing of the deal struck between Jacob and Esau over ‘the red stuff’. For Isaac tradition is still the order of the day, but the next generation has different ideas. The juggernaut may still roll on, but not quite as it did, or at least it would have done had it not been for Rebekah, because Rebekah is not Sarah.
A second factor, therefore, is the changed role of women. It is hard to imagine Sarah doing what Rebekah did and though Jacob is popularly regarded as a trickster and a deceiver (and with some justification) in this instance the instigator is his mother, and though at first he resists he soon becomes very compliant with little difficulty. Why she favoured Jacob can only be left to our imagination.
If you find the story has some contemporary resonance that may be because it is there, but if you are looking to the story to find out what you can (or should) do about it you could be disappointed. What it does is help us to see is how little the human race has changed in 4000 years. Starting from there, we could be on the first rung of the ladder with an incentive to write the story for the next generation and see if we can do better.
