The Twins - continued...

She knew her husband preferred his redhaired, hunting son to the quieter twin. It made her bitter. To her, Yakov was much the better child. She remembered when they were about to be born - had not the Almighty Himself told her that the elder one would serve the younger? Esav had been born first, so obviously he would have to serve Yakov. Yitzchak knew this. You would think it would make him behave differently to Yakov. After all, Yitzchak was the God-fearing one. Rivkah smiled to herself as she thought about how the twins had been born, with Yakov’s tiny hand clutching Esav’s little heel.

Well, the time would come, she thought with satisfaction. Then everyone will know that I was right to favour God’s favoured one.

All this passed through her mind as they bowed their heads. While Yitzchak prayed the prayer of blessing on the Name of the LORD, Esav sat with his eyes open. He wished they would stop all this praying business and just get on with eating. He wondered who they thought they were praying to, anyway. God? Where was God? He, Esav, had never heard from Him. Or seen Him, either, in all his wanderings through the fields and hills. He had heard that God had appeared to his grandfather, Avraham. Esav didn't believe that story. If there was a God, why didn't He show Himself to all of them? Why hide away? Did God also have favourites, like his parents did? He’d argued about God with Yakov one day. Yakov said he believed in God. Esav smiled sourly to himself. Believing in God had not made Yakov a nicer person.... He was just a nasty little sneak!

© Emmie Goodenough, 1999