Grace in Genesis

I'm reading through John Sailhamer's excellent book The Meaning of the Pentateuch. His basic theme is that the meaning of the Pentateuch is the same message that Paul gave to the Galatians, salvation is by faith.

I recall that as I think about Genesis 25.23, this morning. Before Jacob and Esau are born, God tells Rebekah that the older will serve the younger. I take a couple of things from this verse, neither of which I thought up myself. The first is that God had already declared that Esau would serve Jacob before the pair were born. Why then did Jacob go through all the lies and deception and suffering in order to make this happen, when he could have simply been patient and allowed it to happen in God's time. David passed this test. Jacob failed. (Got that from this comment in the NET notes: The oracle reveals that all of Jacob’s scheming was unnecessary in the final analysis. He would have become the dominant nation without using deception to steal his brother’s blessing.

The second thing I take from this verse I got from John Sailhamer who wrote the Expositor's Bible Commentary on Genesis. He points out that one of the themes of Genesis is the stronger serving the weaker, or the older serving the younger.

Another important motif is present in this account: “the older will serve the younger” (v.23). As far back as chapter 4, the narrative has portrayed God choosing and approving the younger and the weaker through whom he would accomplish his purpose and bring about his blessing. The offering of Cain, the older brother, was rejected, whereas the offering of the younger brother, Abel, was accepted. The line of Seth, the still younger brother, was the chosen line (4:26-5:8); Isaac was chosen over his older brother Ishmael (17:18-19); Rachel was chosen over her older sister Leah (29:18); Joseph, the younger brother, was chosen over all the rest (37:3); and Judah was chosen over his older brothers (49:8). The intention behind each of these “reversals” was the recurring theme of God’s sovereign plan of grace. The blessing was not a natural right, as a right of the firstborn son would be. Rather, God’s blessing is extended to those who have no other claim to it. They all received what they did not deserve (cf. Mal 1:1-5; Rom 9:10-13).

Just as Sailhamer points out, the intention of the author of Genesis was to subtly point out God's unfolding plan of salvation by grace, not by birthright, position, or natural right. As he says, they all received what they did not deserve.