I had a very happy childhood until I was almost five. Then my mother brought home my baby brother. It wasn’t so bad when he was a baby, but after a while I had to share a bedroom with him.

Whenever I wanted peace and quiet, there he was, chattering at me. Other boys got to bully their little brothers. Not me. He just got me in trouble. The Bible says, “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Not any of my friends. My little brother stuck around no matter how much I wanted to get rid of him.

Does that sound familiar?

Here’s something else that might sound familiar: one day he said something really funny. Almost unwillingly, I began to admire his sense of humor. After a while, I noticed some other good points. After I moved away, I was actually glad to see him when I went back home.

Lots of boys and their brothers squabble and then get along well when they grow up. Unfortunately, not everyone. Perhaps we all know brothers who despise each other into adulthood. And, of course we can read about others in history.

Jacob vs Esau

The Bible records a story of two twins, Jacob and Esau, who fought each other even in the womb (Genesis 25:19-34). Rebekah, their mother, asked God what was going on. He told her that she was bearing two babies. They would be fathers of two different nations, who would never get along. God also said that the older brother would serve the younger.

Middle Eastern society at the time—and for many generations to come—always held the firstborn in highest esteem. Rebekah must have found God’s answer a shock, but isn’t it just like God to subvert human systems?

Rebekah and Isaac named the firstborn twin Esau. The second, who grasped Esau’s heel, was named Jacob.

Jacob and Esau contended in the womb and contended at birth. We can be sure that they constantly squabbled growing up. Esau, who grew up to be a rugged outdoorsman, probably got the best of all the physical fights. Jacob, a homebody, must have found very creative, subtle, and infuriating ways to retaliate.

Isaac and Rebekah made matters worse by playing favorites. Isaac preferred Esau and loved the game he brought back from his hunting trips. Rebekah preferred Jacob, who stayed closer to her side. God had told her that her older son would serve the younger. Scripture doesn’t record if Isaac knew about it.

Jacob cheats Esau

One day, Esau went out to hunt and apparently returned home with nothing. In any case, he was famished. Jacob was cooking lentil stew, and it smelled great. If Esau had loved Jacob, he would have said something like, “That smells wonderful. May I have some?” If Jacob had loved Esau, he would have said something like, “I’m sorry you’re coming back without game. Would you like some of this stew?”

Of course, that’s not what happened. Esau stormed in and told Jacob, “I’m famished. Gimme some of that red stuff.” And Jacob, knowing “the elder shall serve the younger,” saw his chance. He said, “OK, but first, gimme your birthright.”

It seems like an odd exchange, but it’s not without precedent. Historians and archeologists can tell us of other instances when brothers in other families transferred inheritance rights. Usually it involved extensive negotiations. The younger brother usually had to pay a considerable sum.

So perhaps Jacob saw a chance to begin a negotiation when his rival was feeling at a disadvantage. But Esau didn’t make a counteroffer. He said, “OK. I’m starving to death. What good is my birthright.” He swore an oath to Jacob, gobbled down some stew and bread, and left the room. Genesis concludes the story saying, “Thus did Esau despise his birthright.”

Jacob deceives Isaac

So Jacob got Esau’s birthright, but Esau still had expectation of something else Jacob wanted: Isaac’s final blessing. In the meantime, Esau chose to marry two local women who neither knew nor cared about God. According to Genesis 26:35, “They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.”

In chapter 27, Isaac had become nearly blind. He felt like he might die, so he called Esau and told him to go hunting and then prepare some tasty food. Afterward, Isaac would bless him.

Rebekah heard their conversation. She told Jacob to kill two goats. She would use them to make Isaac’s favorite meal. Jacob would put on the goat skins and Esau’s best clothes over them. Isaac would be fooled and bless Jacob instead of Esau. Jacob was a little leery but went along with the ruse. Esau was furious over Jacob getting not only the birthright but the blessing. He vowed to kill Jacob.

Instead, Rebekah complained to Isaac about Esau’s wives one more time. The two decided to send Jacob to her brother Laban and get a wife within the family. In Laban, Jacob met his match as a cheater. Isaac, by the way, lived until Jacob returned with a large family many years later.

Esau despised his birthright, but didn’t Jacob despise it and the blessing, too? He regarded them as commodities to obtain by deceit and trickery. And what did he accomplish? Nothing, actually.

God doesn’t need our help

I want to point out two of several lessons in this story.

First, in Romans 9:11-13, Paul reminds us that God chose Jacob over Esau before the twins were born. God made his choice before either of them did anything good or bad. Then Paul quotes Malachi, who wrote, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Sure enough, the nation of Judah (Jacob’s descendants) ruled the nation of Edom (Esau’s descendants) for generations. When Edom established itself as an independent kingdom, it became a fierce enemy. God intended to bless the world through Judah. Edom stood in implacable opposition.

So why did God choose Jacob over Esau before they were born? He knew what Esau and his descendants would become.

If young Jacob had been a man of faith, he would have realized that, when God told his mother that the elder shall serve the younger, God would give him the birthright and the blessing in his own way and in his own time. Jacob didn’t need to cheat to obtain them.

God doesn’t need human cleverness to help him accomplish his ends. But we certainly like to try to help him out, don’t we?

Judas wanted to help God. He knew Jesus was the anointed Messiah. The Messiah was supposed to ride into Jerusalem on a white horse and chase the Romans out. But Jesus didn’t act much like a Messiah. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Perhaps. Judas may have figured, if he were in personal danger, he’d have a greater sense of urgency.

God didn’t need that kind of help. Instead of the hero, Judas became the villain of villains.

In our own time, for a single example, abortion has become a holocaust. Some men who identify as Christian, apparently seeking to help God out, have targeted and murdered doctors who perform abortions.

God doesn’t need that kind of help, either.

God accomplishes good ends through bad people

When Jacob returned home, he was apprehensive about meeting Esau and prepared an elaborate stratagem to placate him. Esau needed none of it. He proved to be magnanimous and forgiving.

Did God choose wrong?

Of course not. Jacob eventually became a man of faith when he grew old. Esau never did. So we find Jacob enshrined in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11. His descendants include Jesus. Esau’s descendants became symbols of evil.

Still, we can hardly consider Jacob a good man overall. He became a tool in God’s hands, but God had to break him first.

In Romans 3:10-18, Paul quotes five different psalms. The passage begins with these words: “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless.”

God uses bad people to accomplish his purpose because he has no good people to use. Sometimes, as with Jacob, Moses, David, Paul, and many others we can name, bad people cooperate with God by grace and deliberately do his bidding to achieve his ends.

God doesn’t accomplish his purpose because of anything we do for him. He accomplishes it in spite of us.

Like Jacob, we act by unrighteousness by instinct and act by faith only after struggle and repentance. God doesn’t expect anyone to be perfect before he can work through us. He only expects us to turn to him, trust him, and eventually obey him.

When we do, he gives us righteousness by faith that we could never earn by works. For all of Esau’s good points and Jacob’s faults, only Jacob is a fit role model.