In my last post I mentioned that good symbols connect to the very core of the human experience. They identify something that is fundamental to our race, which means they keep showing up in the lives of countless individuals. This means that they will be reenacted by people who have no idea that that is what they are doing. Today I will give a scriptural example of this, and in my next post one that is more personal.

Receiving the Father’s Blessing)

The last time I studied the story of Jacob obtaining Esau’s blessing, I noticed a symbol in it that I had never seen before. In the Genesis account, Jacob dresses in the clothes of his brother Esau, prepares meat in the same manner as Esau, and presents himself under the name of Esau in order to receive the blessing that his father has for his elder brother. In this moment, it doesn’t appear that anyone involved in the charade saw it as anything more than an isolated family drama, but it was actually a sign of something bigger than them all.

Jacob’s presentation in the guise of his elder brother reflects how each of us hope to be presented to the Lord on judgment day. Obviously, we won’t actually be fooling God, but by laying down our own lives and taking up Christ’s, we hope to be introduced under the name, appearance, and deeds of Jesus, our elder brother. He, alone, is worthy of God’s blessing, but because we can be adopted under his name, we can receive his blessing as though we were him.

As I said, I do not think that Jacob, Esau, Isaac, and Rebekah had this in mind when they performed their little drama, but that symbol comes from the very roots of the human soul. It is baked into us, and it is not surprising that it rises to the surface now and again in our lives.

As we look for good symbols to guide our lives, we should take special note of patterns that emerge seemingly at random, but which echo things of a more eternal nature. We should consider if what we see in our typical day is, in fact, a new bud on a plant whose roots extend far, far below.