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To: annalex

"Do you think Enoch needed the status of the firstborn?:

Need has nothing to do with it. The rule of primogeniture gave the eldest the double portion of his father's estate and the blessing that went with it. God had shown Rebecca that regardless, the birthright and the blessing were going to Jacob and He brought it about just like He promised. Esau could do no different. His whole life's experience and education conditioned him to bargain them away. God kept His promise.


1,096 posted on 01/11/2006 6:23:50 PM PST by blue-duncan
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To: blue-duncan
Esau could do no different

This is ultra-determinism that has no support in the Book of Genesis as written. Esau is shown wanting the soup, hesitating, weighing the benefits of it against the primogeniture, and deciding for the soup. Rebecca is shown building up a complex intrigue in order to co-opt Jacob and fool Isaac. Isaac nearly succeeds in discovering the truth. If the inspired author wanted to convey automatic preordainment, he failed utterly in this literary task; but if he wanted to depict a conflict of independent wills striving to their respective goals and priorities, he succeeded brilliantly.

God doesn't speak in riddles.

1,105 posted on 01/11/2006 8:26:14 PM PST by annalex
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