Faith.In.Life

The Prince and the Pauper

(Esau and Jacob)

While Mark Twain’s classically known novella, The Prince and the Pauper is not a one to one comparison between Jacob and Esau, I do think there is a play on the title of the play as to which of Isaacs sons are, at any point, the prince or the pauper.  Mark Twain begins his novella in this way:

In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to a poor family of the name of Canty, who did not want him.  On the same day another English child was born to a rich family of the name of Tudor, who did want him. All England wanted him too.  England had so longed for him, and hoped for him, and prayed God for him, that, now that he was really come, the people went nearly mad for joy.

The prince and pauper were born to different families of polarizing circumstance while Esau and Jacob were born twins.  And yet, one could suggest that as the first born, Esau is the prince and Abraham’s blessing would first and for most fall upon the other.  This wouldn’t necessarily suggest that Jacob takes on the role of the pauper, but his inheritance would only be secondary to that of Esau’s.   The contrast could be as polarizing as the prince and the pauper.  

I might hope that you who are reading this are familiar with the Prince and the Pauper in some fashion.  The two might as well have been born as identical twins, for when they run into one another later on in the story they very quickly find that they can switch places where the pauper would become the prince and vice versa without anyone noticing.  As they begin to compare their stories and realize that each wants to live the live of the other we read the prince say to the pauper:

“Oh, prithee, say no more, ’tis glorious!  If that I could but clothe me in raiment like to thine, and strip my feet, and revel in the mud once, just once, with none to rebuke me or forbid, meseemeth I could forego the crown!”

“And if that I could clothe me once, sweet sir, as thou art clad—just once—”

“Oho, would’st like it?  Then so shall it be.  Doff thy rags, and don these splendours, lad!  It is a brief happiness, but will be not less keen for that.  We will have it while we may, and change again before any come to molest.”

A few minutes later the little Prince of Wales was garlanded with Tom’s fluttering odds and ends, and the little Prince of Pauperdom was tricked out in the gaudy plumage of royalty.  The two went and stood side by side before a great mirror, and lo, a miracle: there did not seem to have been any change made!  They stared at each other, then at the glass, then at each other again.  At last the puzzled princeling said—

“What dost thou make of this?”

“Ah, good your worship, require me not to answer.  It is not meet that one of my degree should utter the thing.”

“Then will I utter it.  Thou hast the same hair, the same eyes, the same voice and manner, the same form and stature, the same face and countenance that I bear.  Fared we forth naked, there is none could say which was you, and which the Prince of Wales.  And, now that I am clothed as thou wert clothed, it seemeth I should be able the more nearly to feel as thou didst when the brute soldier—Hark ye, is not this a bruise upon your hand?”

The two switch places as no one will know the better.  One who would have experience the life of a poverty now gets to experience the wonders of a prince.  The other, who was born a prince, instantly experiences the scorn of poverty.   Esau, maybe not even fully understanding the princely standing in being the first born, returns from a hunting excursion and sees what his brother Jacob has and his finite circumstance dictate a much bigger outcome when he sells his birthright to his brother.  We find that their is a much bigger story at play, though, where we read when Rebekah is pregnant with the twins in Genesis 25:23:

23 And the Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.” 

And here begins the greater story of Jacob and Esau as the prince who would become more like the pauper and the pauper experiencing the blessings of a prince.  And this is all the Lord’s doing, were the least become the greatest, and those who lose their lives for His sake will gain it.  It would seem that Esau and Jacob are born equals, twins even, and one might suggest that as God looks at them he does not see two individuals, but sees each brother completely the same.  Yet, what we will come to find is their stores will be vastly different - and what was expected by everyone involved will go the exact opposite way - all based on the Lord’s call, plan, and blessing that was first given to Abraham.

What I think we will find as we continue to read about Jacob and Esau over the next few weeks is that this parallel with The Prince and the Pauper will continue and we will see it play out all the more.  What should stand out to us, though, is this consistent theme:  the compelling nature of who God is belongs to what I like to call the “upside down kingdom.”  In this world we fully expect the prince to experience the pristine life, have everything to lose, and to defend / hold onto his honor for everything it is worth.  There is no reason to expect that Esau (the prince in this case) would give up his birth right or any plausible earthy explanation that the elder will serve the younger.  Its basically an impossible scenario.  But, with God, all things are possible.  With God, one might conceive a story where the pauper, or in this case Jacob, would rule over the elder, and ultimately receive the blessing that didn’t belong to him in the first place.  And where so much of our lives are dictated by who we are born to, where we are located, and the nurture of our environments it ought to blow us away that God can move despite who are parents are, wherever we a located, and work within us despite our nurture.  For, maybe, just maybe, God might call a small town farm boy to a journey he never imagined to deliver him unto a new life he would have never imagined - one that he might call us sons and daughters of the most high - that although we are all born paupers, Christ might call us to be princes and princesses.