Vayishlach Drash

Complacency

In this weeks Parshat we see a common theme across the the Torah, Haftarah and Besorah Portions. The theme is complacency or simply to do nothing.

As we read in Genesis 33 Jacob encounters Esau as he is returning from Padan-Aram on his way to Shechem and Sukkot. He suspects his brother is still hostile to him and wants to kill him. Jacob sends all of his wealth before him and even splits his family in to 2 groups so that at least 1 group should survive if they are attacked. Upon meeting Esau, Jacob offers gifts and humbles himself and his family. Esau is not immediately hostile to Jacob and even invites him to continue further south to Mount Seir around another 200 miles. At this moment Jacob has a choice. He can either go with the flow offer no resistance and take his wealth and family and go with Esau. This might have been more attractive than it seems to us now. Esau is offering peace, he is telling Jacob he can keep the gifts, he offers him protection, and all Jacob has to do is go with it or essentially do nothing. How different would everything be if Jacob had chosen the easier route here?

Instead we read that Jacob chooses to take the action of obeying HaShem. He makes a difficult decision. It causes conflict as well. Esau is suspicious of Jacob and wants to leave guards to continue the escort. Jacob must convince him otherwise. Jacob also sends the gifts with Esau, costing him a large part of his wealth.

We see a similar choice in Matthew 2:13-18 made by Yosef as he cares for Miriam and Yeshua. The Magi from the remnants of Babylon have arrived with gifts for Yeshua and a great deal of wealth is now in the hands of Yosef. He receives a message from an Angel of HaShem to leave and flee to Egypt as one of the Herods is looking to slay Yeshua. Yosef has a choice to make he can stay still and do nothing or he can flee. They have been safe so far for the past 2 years with Yeshua and they have a good amount of wealth from the gifts. Yosef might have reasoned they could hide or bribe their way to safety and that would be far easier than fleeing to a foreign country. How different would everything be if Yosef had chosen the easier route here?

As we know Yosef chose to obey HaShem and he did flee to Egypt. He probably spent a lot of the wealth they had recieved as gifts to complete the journey to egypt and to live in a foreign land. The emotional and mental toll that would be endured by Yosef as he lived in a foreign land, while watching over Miriam and Yeshua from dangers both from the inhabitants of Egypt and those that could have been sent by Herod to harm them, I am sure was great.

In the Haftarah we are able to read about the results of being complacent and doing nothing. The Book of Obadiah is 21 verses long and the entirety of it is about the ruin and destruction of Edom, the progeny of Esau, for doing nothing when Israel needed help. Edom had the choice at many points in history to help Israel. They could have helped in the desert as the nation came out of Mitsrayim. They could have helped rid the land of the Canaanites. They could have helped when the Philistines would oppress Israel. They could have helped when the Babylonians attacked and enslaved them. In each event they choose to do nothing. They enjoyed the wealth HaShem had allowed them to have and did nothing. They where complacent.

In these passages we read about HaShem giving blessings of wealth and warnings of danger not so those that where blessed could enjoy the wealth and try to figure out a way to maintain their current state, but instead to go to a place HaShem wanted them to go. We read about the result of obedience to HaShem, but more than that we are experiencing the result of their obedience as we are that result. We also read about the result of complacency and how it destroyed Edom.

The question I have is where am I complacent? Have I used the Blessings HaShem has given me to stay idle and comfortable or am I using them to go where he leads? I must be cautious that those things I have been given are not used to simply maintain my present state, but instead are used for the building of HaShem’s Kingdom. Our Ancestors have made great sacrifices that we would be able to participate in HaShem’s great Kingdom. What can I do accept follow their example that those that come after me may also find their way into the Kingdom?