Something Hidden

But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright”” Genesis 25:31

Sell – There’s something hidden in this verse.  The secret can’t be seen in English.  In fact, it isn’t there in Hebrew either.  And that’s what’s hidden.  There is something missing that should be there and the fact that it isn’t found tells us even more about exchange rates.

The Hebrew language uses prefixes and suffixes to slightly alter the meanings of words.  One of these is the tiny two-letter addition called na.  When it is added to a verb, it changes the meaning from a demand (give me) to a request (please give me).  The usual form of polite solicitation in Hebrew includes this tiny addition (although most of the time the English translations ignore it.  What a shame!).  But in Jacobs’ statement, there is no na.  Jacob doesn’t bother to ask please.  He demands the trade.  The secret in this verse is this:  When the world sets the exchange rate, it doesn’t ask.  It tells.

Esau should have seen a big, red flag.  Something sinister was happening.  But he was oblivious.  Actually, he heard the demand, considered the exchange and decided that his immediate, tangible needs outweighed his eternal, intangible rights.  Does that sound like someone you know?

God asks too.  But God uses the particle na.  Where the world demands¸ God asks please.  It’s ethics upside-down.  If there is anyone who could demand, it is God.  If there is anything that has no intrinsic right to demand, it is the creation.  But the Fall put the world on its head.  God asks but we demand.  How crazy is that?

How do you do your bartering?  Are you holding on to the intangible or giving it away in a trade?  Are you reflecting the heart of the Creator in your solicitations or are you exercising your “rights” and “entitlements”?  Our world has a false but seductive view of investment strategy.  God gives without looking for an exchange and He always asks “please”.  What happened to us that we are so far removed from alignment with the cosmic investment strategy?

Just a note:  If you want to see some other places where na isn’t translated (and it certainly should be), read my article The Hidden Please on the web site.