A Visit With Mrs. G

Guest (Male): Here we are.

Guest (Female): I hope she's home. Can I ring the bell?

Guest (Male): May I ring the bell?

Guest (Female): But I want to.

Guest (Male): Well, somebody better or we'll miss our visit with Mrs. G. Hello, I'm glad to see you. I was listening for you. Come on in. How about some stories?

Mrs. Kitty Griffiths: Stories? Yes, I've got some especially for you. Can you believe it? They were fighting before they were born, those twins. Their poor mother Rebecca was distracted. She was having a terrible time and she couldn't run off to the clinic and complain because there was no one there. There wasn't a clinic. She groused to her husband, of course. But then she'd groused to her husband for about 20 years. Perhaps Isaac had got used to her grouses by now. Just listen to her.

"Look, Isaac, it's 20 years since I left my home in Haran miles and miles away and my loved ones and I've never seen them since. I thought it was the call of God to be your wife. And believe me when I say it, I wouldn't be anybody else's wife for all the world, but I did understand, I did think that I was to be the mother of God's chosen people. And here we are 20 years later with no children. I was very young when I came, but I'm getting on now, you know."

"You're still very young and beautiful, my dear Rebecca," Isaac said. "Yes, but..." "Now, now, don't fret. Wait for God's time, my dear. Mother Princess Sarah was 90 when she had me." "I don't want to be 90 when..." "Oh, you aren't 35 yet, Rebecca, my sweetheart. Plenty of time. God is never in a hurry and He keeps His promises."

"Well, after 20 years, you don't wonder that I'm..." "Now, now, Rebecca, dry your tears. And this very day I will speak to God about it when I sacrifice. I will plead for you to have a son." Rebecca kissed Isaac's cheek, dried her tears, and smiled. And it wasn't long after that that she said, "God heard your prayer, Isaac. At last we shall have a son."

But as time went on, Rebecca didn't feel too good. She didn't feel herself at all. And as I said, she just couldn't run to the clinic and complain. She did tell Deborah, her faithful old nurse whom she'd brought with her years ago from her home in Haran. Deborah knew a lot about babies, but she'd never heard the likes of this before.

Then Rebecca said to herself, "Isaac asked God in the first place. I guess I'll ask God about it now. God," she said, "I feel queer. I know You'll understand. Nobody else seems to, but I can tell You. It seems as if there's a fight going on. People, even Deborah, thinks I'm crazy when I say so. God, I'm rather frightened. I am very frightened."

God's answer came. "Don't be afraid, Rebecca. I'm glad you asked Me about it. Listen, I'll tell you. It's twins you're going to have. And not just twin boys, though they are that. They are two nations and already they've begun to fight."

"Oh, I am glad I asked You, God. When I know what it's all about, I'm not so frightened anymore." "Well, it is rather complicated," God went on, "because the older twin will serve the younger twin. In other words, the younger one will be the one through whom My promises to Abraham are to be fulfilled."

Well, the fighting didn't stop, but Rebecca stopped worrying about it. Well, almost. And sure enough, the twins arrived. It was important to remember which was which because so much depended on who was the oldest, or rather who was the youngest in this case. Well, of course, Nurse Deborah was on hand, and you may depend on it to look after the two little boys.

Esau was born first. What a baby! Covered with red hair as if he was wrapped up in a fur coat, almost. Immediately they called him Esau, "coated." Now, not even two minutes later came Jacob, actually grabbing Esau's heel. They called him Jacob, "grabber."

Nurse Deborah said as she rubbed the babies with salt and wrapped them in swaddling clothes, she said that it meant something, one boy grabbing the other's heel. How it was talked of in the great camp. It was an omen, they said. It meant something. They all decided that it meant that the younger boy would get ahead of the older one, boss him perhaps. Rebecca, their mother, had had God's message about them anyway.

Now, of course, God knew what He was doing as usual and how He'd do it. But how everybody in this family interfered to help God along. Everything would have been all right if they hadn't meddled. Father meddled, mother meddled, the older twin meddled, and the younger meddled, and they all got into a great big muddle.

Even though mother told father what God had said about the younger twin being the one, father didn't take any notice. Those two minutes at birth made all the difference. Esau was the oldest and that was that as far as their father was concerned. After all, one twin had to arrive first. Esau had arrived first and that was that.

Esau was Isaac's eldest son and Isaac treated him as such. Just as in royal and noble families today, the eldest son becomes the next king, the eldest son gets the title, so in olden days the eldest son was the one. And that eldest son, as far as Isaac his father was concerned, and it was quite logical, was Esau.

Rebecca, the twins' mother, knew what God had said. In this case, the younger twin was the son. Instead of leaving the matter in God's hands, she championed Jacob. And you know, that family became like two rival teams: Team Esau with manager Isaac, and Team Jacob with manager Rebecca. Now, that kind of thing may be good fun on the sports field in your games, but get it in the family and you've got misery spelled with capital letters and underlined.

Although the twins were the same size and the same shape, their natures were entirely different. Esau was a merry little chap, rough and tumble, giggling. He had a paddy, a temper, and when he was in a paddy he'd scream. But it didn't last. He didn't sulk either. He was bold and daring, loved to be out with the farmhands, and his dad let him go out with the fellows to shoot.

Esau became a crack shot. He loved to hunt and he'd learned to fix venison. Not that he could really be bothered to cook, but like a friend of mine who's a trout and salmon fisher, I'd never call him a cook. He'd curl up to be called a cook himself, but he has learned to fix salmon and trout into delicious meals. That's what Esau did with the wild goats he shot and his father Isaac just loved this dish.

While Isaac ate it, Esau would tell him the details of the chase. Maybe the hunt had been two or three days long. And as he ate, old Isaac climbed the rocks and stalked the prey. He jumped the rivers and got his clothes torn and his limbs scratched. He had the wind in his face and the rain dripping off his soaking clothes. In fact, Isaac lived through the hunt as he chewed the meat from the bones.

How Isaac would have loved to hunt himself. But you see, he had weak eyes, terribly shortsighted he was. He had become almost blind. He couldn't have walked safely on a hunt, let alone see to shoot with arrows. Isaac and his son Esau were buddies. How they laughed together.

"Dad's quite different when I'm talking with him," Jacob complained to Rebecca his mother. "He doesn't laugh with me. We only discuss business: the herds and the disputes over the wells. He's glad of me for thinking of things, I believe, but he doesn't laugh and joke with me. Doesn't seem to like me very much at all."

"Never mind, son, you're my boy," Rebecca said. Jacob at 16 was an accomplished herdsman and shepherd. He had the pens well organized. Isaac, his father, was vastly rich. He'd inherited all Abraham's wealth to start with. "I do wish that I was the eldest son, mother. Then father would laugh with me and I'd be his special friend," Jacob said.

"Now, don't fret so, Jacob. You're my special friend. I love having you about the house with me." "I wish I liked hunting. I hate it. Spending days and days tramping over the desert, going hungry and sleeping rough, sometimes not getting one bit of game either. But father even enjoys hearing about that. His face goes all eager as he listens to Esau. I was going to say his eyes flash, but they are very dim, poor Dad. I tell him all I can about the flocks and herds, but he doesn't get at all excited about them. We just talk about the money they're worth. But that doesn't turn him on either, doesn't excite him at all. He's got so much money, I guess it doesn't matter."

"I can tell you that he values your help, Jacob. You've organized the flocks and the herds so well and I know your dad is grateful to you. And Jacob, don't forget it will be to you that your father hands over the leadership of the tribe in a day to come. To you, not Esau, to you."

"Esau is rather like your Uncle Ishmael. You saw him last year at your granddad's funeral. He and your dad carried grandfather Abraham to his final resting place beside Princess Sarah in the cave of Machpelah. What a crowd came that day to pay their last respects. A wonderful man, your grandfather Abraham. Now, he knew that you were God's chosen one and treated you as such, you know, since you were a tiny boy. 'The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,' he'd say. You've missed your grandfather, haven't you?"

"As I was saying, obviously Uncle Ishmael was not the person to lead God's people. And just as obviously, Esau is not. It sticks out a mile that you are the one." "Yes, but mother, how are we ever going to get Dad to recognize me as the one? When the time comes, he'll give the blessing to Esau and then it will be too late. Once given, the blessing is gone forever from me."

"Oh, that's not for a long time yet, Jacob. In the meantime, I know and you know that you are the one, God's chosen one, to head up this great tribe." "People can sell their birthrights, can't they mother? The privilege of being the eldest, for money or something?" "Oh, sure they can, Jacob." "But I've got nothing to buy it with. One day I'll, I'll..."

Guest (Male): I see we still have time for just one more short story, Mrs. G. How about it?

Mrs. Kitty Griffiths: Tommy was in trouble. He'd broken a window. Tommy was taken into a room where his grandfather and grandmother and his uncles and aunts were sitting. All these people looked very stern. They didn't look kind and forgiving. Tommy looked from one face to another and then he burst into tears. "Oh, won't somebody please forgive me?"

Sally had been good for a whole week. She asked her aunt for the candies that she'd been promised. "I've been good all the week, Auntie," Sally said. "Yes, I know you've been good all this week, Sally, but you weren't good last week, were you? I don't think you deserve the candies." "Oh, Auntie," Sally cried. "You aren't one bit like God. When He forgives our sins, He forgets. He doesn't keep throwing them up at us afterwards."

In Isaiah chapter 43 and many other places too in the book of Isaiah, God tells us that He will forgive our sins as soon as we tell Him we're sorry. He says He'll blot them out and never remember about them again.

Guest (Male): Thank you for visiting Mrs. G today. God's word, the Bible, has hundreds of stories and you can find many of them retold by Mrs. G. When you visit our website at www.biblestoriesalive.org, you can download audio of these stories and also find them on CDs and in books. You can also read copies of our newsletter or help us send Bible stories to the rest of the world free of charge. That address again is www.biblestoriesalive.org. Mrs. G's Bible stories are also available from Trans World Radio in several languages including Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish. Visit our website for more information at www.biblestoriesalive.org. Until next time.

Mrs. Kitty Griffiths: Goodbye and God bless.