But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, “If so, why do I exist?” She went to inquire of יהוה,
Genesis 25:23 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS, 2006)
The Hebrew word used to express Rebekah’s distress in Genesis 25:22 is of uncertain meaning. It’s אָנֹכִי (anokhi), and it carries a sense of “why me?” and “it shouldn’t be this way,” but it also carries a meaning of existential crisis: “Why do I exist?”
At this point in the story, she doesn’t know that she’s having twins. She’ll learn about this in the next verse, where she’s told about the two nations that will emerge from her: one that God will love, and one that God will hate.
There are layers to the meaning.
If you believe God loves Jacob and hates Esau, the individuals, you’ll describe a God whose dedication to you is arbitrary: Maybe God will love you, and maybe not.
If Jacob and Esau are viewed as nations, the text describes a God who sees race and bloodlines. This is also abitrary and… racist? Does God love some nations and hate others, regardless of their actions?
But there’s another view.
Jacob/Esau are an echo:
Consider –
Abel/Cain
Isaac/Ishmael
(Perhaps Abraham/Nahor, the idolator?)
These are stories about brothers, one of which walks by the Spirit and trusts God, vs the other who walks by the Flesh and trusts works. But we’ve already learned that the flesh is cursed to die. Works will not work.
This is not merely a story about the people. These are parables.
This parable is about Rebekah’s internal and existential crisis: Why do I exist? Why me? Why is this happening?
This is the struggle in all of us: to walk by the Spirit or to walk by the Flesh. How will it end? Which “child” inside of us wins?
“The older will serve the younger.”
This is our hope.