READ: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+27&version=ESV LISTEN: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Gen.27 Isaac Blesses Jacob 27 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, 4 and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.” 5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. 9 Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. 10 And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” 11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” 13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.” 14 So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob 18 So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” 19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” 20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. 24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” 25 Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed! 28 May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. 29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” 30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me.” 32 His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” 33 Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” 34 As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” 35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” 36 Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” 37 Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” 38 Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept 39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him “Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. 40 By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck.” 41 Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42 But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran 44 and stay with him a while, until your brother's fury turns away-- 45 until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?” 46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?” In this passage we see Isaac making preparations for his death (though he's still quite a ways off from dying), probably because his vision and hearing are failing him--notice how he depends on touch and smell to identify his sons in this passage. He asks his son Esau to go out and make dinner for him and maybe with a little drama added to make it sound as if he thought this might possibly be his last meal. He also adds that he plans to bless Esau when he returns. This should be setting off alarm bells for you because we know that it's Jacob, not Esau that the Lord chose to receive the blessing, and it seems that Isaac in full knowledge of this fact is attempting to rebel against the Lord's plan and try and make God do things the way that he wants and in the time that he wants.
Rebekah overhears this and knows this is wrong. While I don't condone the methods she and Jacob will use here, I understand that she is probably partially trying to obey the Lord's will (though I believe she is also playing favorites just as much as Isaac). It appears that Esau was Isaac's favorite and Jacob was Rebekah's favorite. Rebekah tells Jacob to go out to the flock and get two good young goats. She would use the meat to make a meal for Isaac just the way that he liked it and they would use the hair of the goats to put on Jacob's arms and neck since Esau was hairy but Jacob was not. Rebekah even says that she will take any curse that Isaac would put on Jacob if he should discover their deception. Jacob did everything his mother Rebekah had asked and once the food was ready, he want into Isaac saying "my father" while pretending to be Esau. Isaac is a little suspicious at first that Esau could have hunted the animal and field dressed it so quickly and gotten back and cooked the meal in such a short amount of time. Jacob plays this off as the Lord giving him great success in the hunt. Isaac still thinks something is wrong and asks Jacob to come close so that he can tell whether or not he is really speaking to Esau. At this point, I'd be a little worried if I were Jacob. Isaac recognizes the voice as Jacob's though he trusts that he feels like Esau because he is hairy and he smells like Esau because he has put on Esau's clothes that smell like someone who is a hunter and outdoors man ("the smell of the field" as Isaac would say). Jacob and Rebekah seem to have thought of everything that Isaac would say and ask. He eats the food and is satisfied and blesses Jacob with the blessing that he had intended to give Esau. These are all blessings that Issac should have known were meant for Jacob as Jacob had been named by God as the one that the Abrahamic covenant would pass on to and they were told from the beginning that the older would serve the younger, yet Isaac is trying to make the blessing so that Jacob would bow down to and serve Esau. This is not the way that God had designed it and I have to believe that Isaac knew exactly what he was doing. As soon as he left Isaac's presence, Esau returned from his hunt and prepared a meal for his father. Isaac was confused. He recognizes Esau's voice and realizes the deception and that he has blessed Jacob, but he also seems to realize that this was God's plan all along and that the blessing that he gave was truly meant for Jacob. Esau is angry and asks, "Is it not right that he is named Jacob?" which means "he grasps the heel," an idiom for someone that is deceptive or a trickster. This was definitely Jacob's identity at this point in his life and would be for a while longer, but he would one day soon have an encounter with God that would change everything--even his name. Esau hopes that Isaac has held at least one blessing back for him and begs Isaac to also bless him. Isaac seems again to recognize that this is all part of God's plan and gives Esau the curses that God has prepared for him. He would not live in a bountiful land (the "land flowing with milk and honey"), he would serve Jacob, but one day he would break free of serving him and would be a nation until himself (the nation of Edom). The Edomites would seem to forever resent the Israelites because of this choice that God made in Genesis about which of the sons of Isaac the blessing and birthright would pass to and ultimately which son would bring forth the line of the Messiah. Much like Cain and Abel, Esau hates Jacob because Jacob has gained God's blessing and favor that Esau imagines belonged to him. It is "not fair" in his mind, but God's blessing and favor are always unmerited and He gives them to whomever he pleases. Esau had no right to be angry because he never deserved anything to begin with. Why be angry that someone else is being blessed, especially your brother? Shouldn't you be happy for them? I believe that this has a lot to do with Isaac not preparing Esau for this. They've known for years how things were supposed to turn out and Isaac spent all this time trying to change God's mind or making God go along with his plan instead of preparing his sons for God's plan. His seeming failures as a father lead to multiple lifetimes of conflict and war between his sons and their descendants--even to the point of Jesus the future descendant of Jacob and Herod the Great, the future descendant of Esau. We'll see that Esau's descendants are still trying to usurp the role of "The King of the Jews" as this was the title that Herod claimed that only King Jesus deserved. Esau plans to kill his brother Jacob as soon as his father dies and the funeral and time of mourning are over. This is not a crime of passion, but premeditated, and Esau will have plenty of time to stew and let this wound fester. Rebekah hears of this and tells Jacob that he needs to run for his life to his relatives back east--to the house of her brother, Labsn (Jacob's uncle) who lived in Haran. She tells him to stay there until she sends word that it is safe to return. We see again that those who should understand that those who the covenant belongs to would be protected and that the land and the blessings belonged to them and they need not run to foreign powers or lands for protection, but once again, God uses this time to work on Jacob as he meets someone as equally deceitful as he is. We see a little "tag" at the end that shows that Rebekah had another reason for sending him back home and that was to make sure that Jacob did not marry from among the Canaanite women (specifically the Hittites) like Esau did. For She knew this was against God's will and it would break her heart to see both of her sons, but especially to see Jacob, living in open rebellion against God's commandments. She knew nothing good could come out of a marriage to someone that tempt her son to follow after idols and false gods. Unfortuantely, that is exactly what Jacob is going to get, even though he goes back to the land of Haran to find a wife from among his mother's people.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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