Genesis 35:23-29: a reflection

23The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25The sons of Bilhah (Rachel’s servant): Dan and Naphtali. 26The sons of Zilpah (Leah’s servant): Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram. 27Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners. 28The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years. 29Isaac gave up the spirit and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.

This passage lists the twelve sons of Jacob, and then tells of the death of Isaac. He died old and full of days, and was gathered to his people; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. That last detail is quietly striking. Esau and Jacob, the brothers who had been so bitterly divided, whose rivalry had once driven Jacob into exile in fear for his life, now stand together at their father's grave, burying him side by side.

Notice the two brothers, once estranged, now together at their father's burial. There had been deep division between Esau and Jacob, deception, resentment, a threat to kill; and yet here, at the end, they are reconciled enough to bury their father together. The bitter breach had been healed; and the two who had been divided now stand side by side in their shared grief and their shared duty to their father.

That quiet reconciliation is a hopeful picture for our own divided relationships. There are breaches between people, even between brothers, that seem past mending, wounds too deep to heal. And yet Esau and Jacob, once so bitterly divided, were reconciled enough to stand together at their father's grave. Do not assume your own estrangements are beyond healing. If there is a breach in your life that seems too deep to mend, remember Esau and Jacob, and do not close the door on reconciliation. Time, and the grace of God, can heal what once seemed past mending; work toward reconciliation where you can, and hope for it where you cannot yet see it, for even the bitterest of breaches, as this one was, can be healed enough to stand together in the end.

Lord, this passage lists Jacob's sons and tells of Isaac's death; and quietly it notes that Esau and Jacob, the brothers once so bitterly divided, buried their father together. Give me hope from that for my own divided relationships. There had been deep division between Esau and Jacob, deception, resentment, a threat to kill; and yet at the end they were reconciled enough to bury their father side by side. There are breaches between people, even between brothers, that seem past mending, wounds too deep to heal. But Esau and Jacob, once so bitterly divided, stood together in the end. Keep me from assuming my own estrangements are beyond healing. If there is a breach in my life that seems too deep to mend, help me remember Esau and Jacob, and not close the door on reconciliation. Time, and your grace, can heal what once seemed past mending; help me work toward reconciliation where I can, and hope for it where I cannot yet see it, for even the bitterest of breaches can be healed enough to stand together in the end. Heal what is broken between me and others, Lord.