Do you like to negotiate? When my brother and I walked in to buy my first car, he said, “I am going to negotiate. You watch. This is not for the faint of heart. We will probably need to walk out to get the deal we want.” As a good younger brother, I nodded in approval. My brother inherited the negotiating gene. Our great grandfather was a legendary mule trader. Our grandfather owned the Brooks Trading Post. We watched our dad in countless negotiations for used cars. My brother would have made them all proud that day. Blood flowed from the turnip.
Negotiation ran in the family among Abraham’s kin. Jacob made deals with his brother and his father-in-law. In both cases, he got the best end of the deal. When the assailant Shechem offered to pay a high bride price for Dinah to atone for his mistake, he gave away his negotiating power. Jacob’s sons insisted that they would not let Dinah marry Shechem unless all the Hivite men were circumcised. Shechem not only agreed, but he convinced the whole tribe to do something none of them had ever done. He was determined to marry Dinah. The bride price to cover his impulsive sin would cost him more than he ever imagined.
Negotiations often took place in the city gate. All the men gathered and heard about the potential deal. What was in it for Hamor and Shechem’s friends? Shechem sold the deal by predicting they would fleece Jacob and his sons of all their flocks and possessions. Negotiating deals is a bit like ping pong. Everybody thinks they can play, until they see a master in action.
Not every problem can be solved by making a good deal. We cannot barter with God to cover our sin debt. God, the greatest negotiator of all, paid the price in full with the blood of his only Son. If we will receive his free gift, we will be saved. To purchase his bride, Jesus literally paid it all. All to him we owe. So the prophet Isaiah gave us God’s words, “Come, let us reason, together says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” This is his final offer. Take the deal and you will never regret it.
