We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
How do you respond to Genesis 25:23?
The Lord told Rebekah, “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.” (cf. Rom. 9:12–16)
Old Testament scholars agree that the author (and later, Paul in Romans 9) has the descendants of Jacob and Esau more in mind than the individuals themselves. The Lord is exercising his sovereign right to choose the lineage of his elect people—viz. a unique nation intended to function as priests to the entire world. When read in the light of Romans 9, it is clear that the Lord doesn’t just “happen” to know that the descendants of Esau will serve the descendants of Jacob. Rather, for providential reasons the sovereign God is ensuring that this will be the case. The passage, then, is not about something which God “happens” to know: it’s about God’s ability to sovereignly shape history according to his will.
We should also note that, as in most biblical prophecies, there is a conditional element in this declaration. Interestingly enough, Esau never actually served Jacob in his lifetime. Nor has it usually been the case that the descendants of Esau have served the descendants of Jacob. This illustrates God’s flexibility in giving prophecies. He can say in very general terms that the descendants of Esau shall serve the descendants of Jacob without specifying how long and to what extent this will be true. In the light of the passages which reflect a partly open future, we might conclude that God chose to leave these matters somewhat open to be decided by free agents.
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism, Responding to Objections
Verse: Genesis 25
Related Reading
Is Free Will compatible with Predestination?
Question: Isn’t “freedom” simply our ability to do what we want? And if this is so there seems to be no incompatibility between saying that a person is “free” on the one hand, but predestined (or at least foreknown) by God, on the other. But why do you say that freedom is not compatible with…
What Does Greg Think About _________________?
Since the launch of the new website yesterday, I’ve been browsing around the various topics to see what I can find. You can click here to join me. This is awesome. If you want to know what Greg has to say about the nature of the future and God’s knowledge of it, you can find…
What is the significance of Ezekiel 22:29–31?
The Lord says he “sought for” someone to stand in the breech for Israel “but I found none.” Hence Israel experienced the wrath of God. If everything that shall ever come to pass is eternally fixed in the divine mind, God would have foreknown that no one would respond to his call for a Moses-like…
If God Can’t Control, How Can I Trust Him?
Question: If God can’t always answer our prayers for healing, for example (and I completely understand why—free will etc), then HOW can he promise to bring good out of the bad things that happen? Surely he is powerless to do that too? And if he can bring good why can’t he therefore heal in the…
Is Open Theism Incompatible With a Chalcedonian Christology?
Question: The Chalcedonian Creed says Jesus was “fully God and fully human” and that these “two natures” remained distinct in the Incarnation, even though Jesus was one united person. I’m told that part of the reasoning behind the concern to keep Jesus’ humanity distinct from his divinity was to protect the “impassibility” of the divine…