“A CROWDED WOMB”
Genesis 25:19-34
The Rev. Ms. Laurie A. McNeill
Montclair, New Jersey
July 10, 2005
Confusing – that is what it is to bear the brunt of someone’s anger and not know why. We have
moments that are entirely confusing.
Consider the times when we go to work and, before the day takes shape, a co-worker snaps at
us and we think to ourselves, “What did we do to deserve this?” And the problem is we never find out,
in those kind of situations, who put a bee under the bonnet of the one who was so testy, so abrupt, so
cold. It is confusing!
Consider the times spent with one’s spouse or partner when they are out of sorts and there is no
rhyme or reason as to why they are not in the mood to talk, not in the mood to eat, not in the mood.
And the problem is we never find out, in those kind of situations, why our beloved is so wounded, so
slighted, so distant. It is confusing!
Consider the isolation that accompanies friendship when one’s trusted confidante turns their
attention elsewhere. We cease to be the first to be called with the latest news, the invitation to a movie,
the rehashing of the day. And the problem is we never find out, in those kind of situations, why our
friend has passed us by to forge a new acquaintance, a new alliance, a new bond. It is confusing!
Consider the morning commute when the most ordinary act of stepping on a train or climbing on
a bus becomes the last act of one’s life. A discretely placed bomb commands the attention of the world
when it shatters lives, shakes a nation, fractures trust. And the problem is we never find out, in those
kind of situations, why the destruction of life and limb is deemed a necessary pursuit of one’s ideology,
pathology, power. It is confusing!
Consider Esau and Jacob, twin brothers who seemed to be at odds before they were born.
Their struggle in Rebekah’s womb was so fierce that she complained to the Lord, “If it is to be this way,
why do I live?” (Genesis 25:22b) Rebekah, a woman who had been barren, who should have been
overjoyed by the imminent prospect of motherhood, now was pained by her pregnancy. And the
problem is she never finds out, in her situation, why her womb is crowded with discord, with enmity,
with strife. It is confusing!
God tries to speak to her suffering. God explains:
Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the elder shall serve the younger. (Genesis 25:23)
When the Lord speaks to Rebekah, the Lord knows that when there are two, there is the one
and the other. When there is Jew there is Greek, when there is slave there is free, when there is male
there is female.
When there are two, there is the one and the other: the one is dominant, the other is submissive;
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