Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/247

Rh The Birthright ferred the quiet

life

of

the

chase, camp, or battlefield.

the inmates of

its

home Israel,

to

229 the wild

life

of

the

has ever cared for

too,

homes, for parents, wives, and children,

provided for their comfort and happiness, and ministered to sufiferings. Israel, too, has at times had and now and then has employed its powers for selfish ends. But under God's guidance, Israel has been purified, generally through bitter sufifering and punishment, and has come to appreciate its real purpose in life and the true meaning of its spiritual birthright. And so God has, we believe, taken Israel to be His people, and confirmed the birthright unto him, and spoken of him lovingly, ''Israel is My son. My first-born" (Exodus IV, 22) and

needs and

their

evil inclinations,



again,

For I am become a And Ephraim is M}' Israel

is

God's firstborn of the

father to Israel, fiTst-born.

spirit.

And

to us, the chil-

dren of Israel, have descended not only the privileges of the birthright of the firstborn, but also bilities,

to

be a blessing unto

all

its duties and responsimankind, likewise God's

children and our brothers.

In rabbinical tradition Esau and

Rome, to

Edom came

to

symbolize

the colossal, temporal, material power, which sought

crush nations, which overran the earth with warfare and

bloodshed,

and

gladiatorial

found

combats.

its

And

highest

pleasure

continued

Jacob

in

to

murderous represent

Israel the spiritual people, the servant of the Lord,

whose

mission was to bind up the bleeding wounds of cruelty and oppression, and to bring law and order, peace and brotherhood, and the knowledge of

has perished



its

God unto

all

mankind.

Rome

temples and palaces are heaps of buried

and the order of things and the standards of life and it championed, are rapidly passing. Israel lives on its law is beginning to ruins



conduct, both individual and national, which
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