I’m not alone in this.
Like many other Old Testament saints, Jacob’s faith rates a mention in Hebrews 11. But it’s interesting to see the act of
faith for which he is commended, and to consider the many acts for which he is not.
It would, of course,
be foolish to think the Hebrews list of acts of faith is exhaustive: the writer concludes with the words “time would fail me
to tell”, which statement strongly implies numerous acts of faith left unmentioned among which may well be a number of Jacob’s.
Worming His Way Into the Blessings of God
Thus it’s possible, for instance, that the
two acts of calculated deception by which Jacob acquired the birthright and blessing rightly belonging to his brother Esau proceeded from a youthful conviction that
the blessings of God were so desirable as to be worth acquiring by any means
necessary. Perhaps Jacob seized on the Lord’s words to his mother Rebekah
concerning the twin boys struggling in her womb, “the older shall serve the younger,” and acted to make sure God’s promise came true.
That may have been faith of a sort, in that it
demonstrates the belief that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him, or it may just have been Jacob’s natural competitiveness. But the writer to the Hebrews does not say,
“By faith Jacob ran an effective con on his carnal brother and wormed his way
into the blessings of God,” or words to that effect. Not at all.
After all, it would be a shabby little
deity whose purposes are frustrated in the absence of human duplicity and cunning,
wouldn’t it?
Dream a Little Dream
Likewise, it’s certainly possible that when
Jacob spent a night near Luz and dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven upon which the angels of God ascended and descended, his response to his dream
and to the God who revealed himself in that moment was an act of faith. It
would appear so: Jacob renamed Luz “The House of God”, set up the stone on
which he had slept as a pillar and anointed it with oil, and made God a vow on
the spot.
But the writer to the Hebrews passes these
events by without comment. Jacob was, after all, in full negotiation mode here:
“If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and
clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then
the Lord shall be my God.”
You don’t trade horses with God. It doesn’t work that way. Faith accepts God’s word as stated. It is
not usually concerned with spelling out the precise terms of our desired quid pro quo.
Slip Out the Back, Jack
Likewise, it’s possible that Jacob’s speedy
exit from the home of his Uncle Laban in Haran was an act of faith worthy of
being remembered, a response to the appearance of God who assured him, “Return
to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
Could be, couldn’t it?
But if so, why sneak away? A God who says, “I will be with you” is surely able to protect his servant from
attack, intimidation or even a very manipulative and persuasive uncle that one
might be disinclined to tick off.
The writer to the Hebrews has nothing to
say about this in any case.
The Angel Was Overcome
Likewise, it’s possible that when Jacob wrestled a man until daybreak near the ford of Jabbok, he was engaged in a notable act of faith. After all,
he clung to the man begging to be blessed, and he declared afterward, “I have seen God face to face.” Surely Jacob knew something of the
God he served by this time.
Probably. But the writer to the Hebrews is
silent about this too, and we cannot fail to note that Jacob is still
negotiating. He comes to God with conditions: “I will not let you go unless you
bless me.”
Something in that formulation does not
quite compute.
Acts of Faith That Aren’t
All these moments in Jacob’s life, it seems to me, show us a faith not quite fully formed, a nascent conviction about God that in some respects is just not quite there yet. There is just too much of the natural Jacob on display throughout his early life, even in his encounters with God. In just the same way, my life — and yours too,
possibly — may be chock full of purported acts of faith that aren’t, really. They are just me being me. For instance:
- My fellow Christians may assume I am devoted to God because I quietly and nobly put up with what they observe to be a very difficult husband, when I am really the primary author of my own misery.
- My fellow Christians may assume my platform ministry comes from a deep commitment to the service of Christ and my fellow believers, when it actually serves as a poor man’s substitute for my unfulfilled teenage desire for rock stardom. At least people are paying attention now when I take the stage.
- My fellow Christians may assume my constant traveling comes from a willingness to serve my fellow believers in locations where they would never get good Bible teaching, but really I just like the peace and quiet of being on the road alone. It’s easier than settling down in one place, and I prefer being a lone wolf to the complexities of trying to work effectively with other believers in my local church.
All kinds of things that aren’t faith can
look like faith to other people. Only God knows the reality of it.
The Act of Faith
What is the actual act of faith for which
the patriarch Jacob is commended by the writer of Hebrews? Well, here
it is:
“By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.”
Hello? THAT’s a weird one. He’s referring
to Genesis 48, in which Jacob blesses his grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh,
and includes them with his own sons in right of inheritance. At this point,
Jacob is 147 years old and so busted up that, like his own father Isaac,
he can’t see straight to bless Joseph’s children, but he makes doing so his priority
anyway.
Some may interpret Jacob’s insistence on
blessing Ephraim (Joseph’s younger son) over Manasseh (the elder) as evidence
Jacob had not changed a whit from the con artist that stole his own brother’s
birthright and blessing. They see it as a sly nod to his own old nature.
I hope not. I don’t see it that way.
Everything That Matters
At this point, I think, Jacob is out of
gas. He’s not kidding anyone anymore, least of all himself. He knows who he is,
and knows he’s been blessed not because of his nature but in spite of it. “Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of
the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning,” he tells
Pharaoh upon their introduction.
No, Jacob has an actual message from God to pass on, and he’s faithfully doing what he was told. He is speaking
prophetically:
“I know, my son, I know. [Manasseh] also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”
At some point it stops being about what I
can get out of God and finally becomes about what he wants of me. I think Jacob
is at that point here. Ergo, faith. And commendation.
Do Not Bury Me In Egypt
The latter part of the verse comes from the
tail-end of Genesis 47, in which Jacob makes Joseph promise to carry his bones
out of Egypt and bury them with his fathers in Canaan. The final sentence of the
chapter reads, “Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed,” where the word “bed” may legitimately be
translated “staff”, and bowing is interpreted by the writer to the Hebrews as
worship rather than just exhaustion.
Jacob here recognizes that everything that
matters is actually back in Canaan. It is who he is and where he belongs. He completely
and fully identifies with the plans and purposes of God for him and for his
children, rather than trying to rejig them to suit his own desires and goals.
The man who spent his life manipulating to
get where he thought he wanted to be has finally stopped and conceded that God
is God.
Maybe we can do as much.
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