Twins

“So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb.” Genesis 25:24 NKJV

Twins. How many of you have twins in your family? Back in the day, the Wrigley Company, came out with a double strength peppermint gum flavor in 1914. How many of you have heard of the Doublemint Twins? I do remember these gum commercials that showed twins representing the brand.

In the bible there are three cases of twins. They include: Perez and Zerah, they can be found in the book of Genesis, chapter 38. There is Thomas Didymus, the Gospel of John notes that Thomas was called Diymus, which is the Greek word meaning twin. And then there were two brother who are considered the best-known set of twins in scripture. Isaac and his wife Rebekah are the first couple mentioned in the bible to have twins. Who are they? Jacob and Esau. Scripture says: So, when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so, they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so, his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.” Genesis 25:24-26 NKJV

The twins grew up very different. Jacob was “a quiet man, staying among the tents” and his mother’s favorite. Esau was “a skillful hunter, a man of the open country” and his father’s favorite. One day, Esau returned from hunting and desired some of the lentil stew that Jacob was cooking. Jacob offered to give his brother some stew in exchange for his birthright—the special honor that Esau possessed as the older son, which gave him the right to a double portion of his father’s inheritance. Esau put his temporary, physical needs over his God-given and sold his birthright to Jacob.

When the time came for Isaac to bestow his blessing on his sons, Jacob and his mother deceived Isaac into blessing Jacob in Esau’s place. When Esau found that his blessing had been given to Jacob, he threatened to kill his brother, and Jacob fled. Years later, Jacob and Esau met and were reconciled.

Both Jacob and Esau were fathers of nations. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, and he became the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. Esau’s descendants were the Edomites. Edom was a nation that plagued Israel in later years and was finally judged by God.

The story of these rival twins reminds us of the importance of resolving conflicts in family relationships. Their story is one of intense feelings and bitter rivalry, however they did reconcile. Which is a reminder for us to evaluate our own family relationships and the importance of resolving conflict through love and understanding.

Remember friends, we are each other’s keeper and the only time we should be looking down on someone is when we are helping them up.