I find it interesting sometimes how I can have read something all my adult life and never have thought of an obvious question.
I was in Sunday School yesterday, as I have been hundreds of times. The unit being studied reflects on family conflict, to this point as experienced by families in the book of Genesis.
Since childhood I have heard the story of Jacob and Esau. They were the twin sons of Issac and Rebekah. Esau was the firstborn, and his brother was born with his hand on Easu’s heel, as if second-born Jacob was trying to pull Esau back inside the womb so Jacob could be the firstborn.
The children grew. Esau became the favorite of his father, Jacob the favorite of his mother.
There came a time when Esau came from the field with a ravenous hunger. He practically demanded that his brother Jacob serve him food. Jacob offered the food exchange of his birthright, “the special honor that Esau possessed as the older son, which gave him the right to a double portion of his father’s inheritance” (Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/Jacob-and-Esau.html Retrieved October 28, 2024). Esau, in this time of extreme weakness, placed his physical needs first and sold his birthright to his brother Jacob.
The time came for Issac to die. He called his eldest son to him and gave him instructions to go hunting to obtain meat to dress so that Issac could eat it and pass his blessing on to Esau, his firstborn son. Issac’s cunning wife Rebekah overheard her husband speak with their oldest son, and contrived with her favorite youngest son Jacob to deceive Issac into passing the blessing onto Jacob, rather than the intended older son Esau.
For the first time in my life, I questioned the difference between a birthright and a blessing.
Simplified, the birthright “was an honor given to the firstborn, bestowing ‘head of household’ status and the right to inherit [the]father’s estate” (Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/blessing-birthright.html Retrieved October 28, 2024). Esau obviously did not appreciate the significance of the birthright, equating it in value to no more than a bowl of soup. A blessing, on the other hand, did not necessarily have to be given to the firstborn son. Interestingly, Esau seemed to value his father’s blessing more than he had the birthright. Esau complained in Genesis 27:36 that not only had Jacob taken his birthright (forgetting that Esau himself was the one who had willingly traded it away), now he had taken his blessing.
In anger, Esau set his mind to kill Jacob. Jacob fled his home to avoid his murder.
The story does have a somewhat happy ending. Though Esau hated Jacob for many years, they were eventually reconciled, and both brothers became the fathers of nations. God later changed Jacob’s name to Israel, and he became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Esau’s descendants were known as Edomites. Sadly, the nations of Edom and Israel were enemies for many years. The Edomites finally received God’s judgement, demonstrating the consequences and ultimate destiny of poor choices made generations in the past.
The theme of the Genesis stories lingers to present generations. Internationally, we find Israel at war with neighboring countries today. More personally, practically every family has at some point endured some type of conflict. Many times, this comes to a boil when parents decease and there is strife among the children concerning division of property or payment of outstanding debt. I have heard tales of fights among family members in the funeral home.
My birthright was to be born Frank Mincey’s youngest child. That has had its joys (which have been many) and its troubles (which have been few). I have been blessed by God with a family who loves each other and gets along extremely well. We know we’re not perfect. I’ve had my feelings hurt by family members, and I’ve hurt other family members in turn. My family doesn’t always approve of other members’ choices, but we tolerate our individual differences and accept ourselves for what we are.
I hope your family life is blessed, especially as we are about to enter another Thanksgiving season. Each person is blessed with only one family—may God help us make the best of it.

ANSWER TO QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 36
A man bought a world map, gave his wife a dart, and said, “Throw this and wherever it lands, I will take you on vacation.” The wife threw the dart at the map. Where will the couple be vacating? (ANSWER: They’ll be spending three weeks behind the refrigerator.)

QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 37
Normally it would have been a good thing when Fred’s wife told him she missed him. Why was it not a good thing in this case? (See next week’s article in historicunioncounty.com for the answer.)

IF IT’S ON INTERNET:
It turns out that when asked who your favorite child is, you're supposed to pick out one of your own. I know that now.

Apparently RSVP'ing to a wedding invitation with "Maybe next time" isn't the correct response.

The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so that he can tell when he's 'really' in trouble.

Tranquillizers work only if you follow the advice on the bottle—keep away from children.
--Phyllis Diller

Son: "Dad, can you tell me what a solar eclipse is?”
Dad: "No sun.”

We all know Albert Einstein was a genius, but his brother Frank was a monster.