The following is a teaching transcription. It has not been checked for complete transcription accuracy.
The Setting
Well, in Genesis chapter 27 and 28, Moses turns his attention to the story and the line of Jacob. And just as a reminder to the setting that we're in, in chapter 25 and 26, we saw the emergence of Jacob and his older brother by a couple of minutes, Esau. And we saw in chapter 25 God's selection by promising to Rebecca that Jacob would be the chosen heir. Remember, in the book of Genesis, we are chasing the question from the very beginning of the book, who will be the one to come and crush Satan, who will be the serpent crusher that in chapter three of Genesis God promised to Eve?
And of course we learned that it would flow through Seth, that that descendant would come through Seth. Then we learned that the descendant would come through Noah. Then we learned that that the descendant would come through Abraham. And now we've learned through Isaac and also Jacob. Esau has been in a sense disqualified. From even before their birth, God chose Jacob to be the promised line. And of course, Esau is portrayed in chapter 25 as a man of the flesh. So it sort of validates the decision of God. God chooses wisely. God knows. God is making the right decision.
Line Of Jacob
And so really this is what we're chasing out, the line of Jacob. But even though Rebecca has received the promise from God that Jacob would be the chosen line, and even though she likely has shared this promise with her husband, Isaac, there still is a conflict. Esau and Jacob are alive. Isaac is still alive, and the blessing has not really yet gone from Abraham to Isaac into Jacob. We still don't know is Jacob going to be the one, is Isaac going to concede that Jacob is the one.
And really what we're going to see here in chapter 27 and also chapter 28 is failure from every single character in the family. Isaac will fail. Jacob will fail. Rebecca will fail and Esau will continue to fail in this section of scripture. So, as much as I don't want to say it in the negative, today as we go through this passage, I'm going to show you many lessons on how not to pursue the blessing of God. There are just portions of scripture that are held out for us in negative ways, negative examples. That's one major theme of this whole section, chapter 27 and 28, how not to pursue the blessing.
God Is Sovereign
But there's a second major and more significant theme than that. Though the humans in this chapter behave poorly and we'll learn from their example and attempt and desire to do the opposite, we're going to see that God carries out his sovereign gracious plan in spite, despite the people that are in this family. That's the second major theme. He will bless Jacob. He will even have blessings reserved for Esau. And then he will meet Jacob in the wilderness, at Bethel, and pronounce an incredible blessing upon his life that Jacob did not have to deceive for, manipulate for, in the slightest.
So that's really where this whole passage is going to go today. So let's start off reading the first four verses. It says. "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.' He said, 'Behold, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now then take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me and prepare for me delicious foods such as I love and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.'"
1 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.”
Isaac's Health
So this whole movement begins with the deteriorating health of Isaac. He's presented there in verse one as old. And at this point we know that he's at least 100 years old because chapter 26 concluded with Esau being 40 years old and getting married. And Isaac was 60 when Esau was born, so add 40. We know that he's beyond 100 years of age at this point. But here's another thing that we know. We also know that he's going to live at least another 20 years from this episode because Jacob is going to run off to Laban and be gone for a couple of decades and return and see Isaac again. So Isaac believes, "I'm old. It's almost time for me to die." But it's actually not quite the case in his life.
Another major thing about Isaac's health is not just his age, but his eyesight as he's aged. It says in verse one that his eyes were dim. The idea here is that he cannot see, and this is going to be very important to the story, the development that follows. Because he can't see Esau and Jacob, Isaac is going to make a mistake. But even this mistake is going to be governed by the sovereign hand of God. Notice also that when he calls Esau to himself, he says, "My son." Remember, Jacob is supposed to be now the chosen line. He's the one that the serpent crusher will come from. He's the one that will receive the promise, the blessing of Abraham upon his life. But Isaac goes to Esau and says, "No, you are the one. You're my son. You're the one that I think should have the blessing upon his life."
Isaac's Love Of Esau
And so Isaac tells Esau to go out because he's a hunter and he's always loved the game that Esau has hunted. He says, "Go get for me some of that delicious food." It says in verse four. "Hunt game for me," in verse three, "Food that I love," in verse four, "So that I may eat," verse four, "And my soul may bless you before I die." Now, one of the things that's going to be highlighted through this whole chapter has already been highlighted right here in these first four verses. Isaac is very motivated, very driven by this delicious food that Esau is supposed to prepare for him. You're going to see this all throughout the passage, over and over again. This phrase: delicious food, delicious meat, the food that I love. These phrases are going to be repeated throughout this whole episode. It's as if Moses is trying to draw our attention to the motivation of Isaac in making this poor decision.
1. Don't Be Self-Willed
Remember I told you that today, as we went through this passage, I would show you how not to pursue the blessing of God. And Isaac gives us our first lesson. Number one, if you want to pursue God's blessing in the wrong way, then be self-willed and be driven by your passions. That's what Isaac is presented as at this point. Self-willed in the sense that he more than likely knows the choice that God has made, Jacob over Esau. But he loves Esau. We've already learned in a previous episode. He favors Esau. As much as a parent shouldn't do something like that, that's what Isaac has done. And so, because he wants Esau to be the one, he decides to buck against the revealed will of God. He is a self-driven, self-willed individual. Not only that, but he is driven by his passions, this hunger that he has, this desire to eat this meat that Esau will get for him.
But the Bible teaches that we must be a people who put off the old man and put on the new man in Christ Jesus. You see, if Christ has come into your life, then the old you was crucified with him on the cross. The old you was buried with him in the grave so that you might now live Romans 6:4 in the newness of life that Christ has provided. You're no longer bound to live like Isaac lived, dominated by your self-will, self-centeredness, dominated by your passions and fleshly appetites.
In fact, it says in Colossians 3 verse nine and 10, Paul says that we are to put off the old self with its practices. It's a clothing picture, the idea of taking off a garment. "Put off the old self," and then verse 10, "Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." This is the practice of the Christian life. We are continually, because we're new in Christ, trying to live out that newness that is ours in Christ. As Paul said in another place, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You've received it from the Lord. You've received a new nature from the Lord. But you have to go through the process with the spirit of putting off the old self and putting on the new self every single day. Isaac here at this point though was dominated by the old nature, dominated by the old self. So he tells Esau to go out, get some game, bring it back, they'd eat this meal, and Isaac would pronounce the blessing upon Esau.
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.”
Mom Takes Control
Now, this is where the story begins to really get interesting. Rebecca apparently is outside the tent. She's overhearing everything that Isaac has said to Esau. She runs off to Jacob, the son that she favors and also the son that she knows that God has chosen to be the one to receive the Abrahamic covenant and blessing. And Rebecca, man, she takes control. She's mom in it right now. Just going to oversee this whole situation, make sure that things work out. And just as Isaac had looked at Esau and said, "My son," Rebecca looks at Jacob and calls him, "My son."
Now, one question that we would ask is, why didn't she just go to Isaac and talk to him about this whole thing rather than going to Jacob and saying, "Hey, go get a couple of young goats. Let's deceive your father. Let's trick him into thinking that you're Esau." Rather than doing that, why didn't she just go to Isaac and say, "Hey, you know that the promise is for Jacob." Well, the reality is that these two had been operating in favoritism for many years. These were well worn trenches in the habits of their lives at this point.
Rebecca knew that there would be no talking Isaac out of this decision more than likely. This was a family embroiled in dysfunction. And so she takes matters into her own hands and decides, we need to do something about this situation. And she is going to continue the theme of appealing to the appetite of Isaac to get the job done. She believes that she can take two young goats and make them taste just like the wild, fresh game that Esau is going to capture.
2. Don't Act As If You Must Make Things Happen
Here's the second thing you need to see about how not to pursue the blessing of God. If you want to do that incorrectly then, like Rebecca, run with the sense that you must make it happen. Run with the sense that you must make it happen. You see, she said to herself, the promise is in danger. The plan of God is in danger. And so she took matters into her own hands. She felt that it was all on her shoulders that she needed to get the job done. She trusted in the flesh, her own ability.
When Paul wrote to the church in Galicia, the Galician region, he said to them in Galatians 3, chapter three, he said, "How did you begin? Did you not begin in the spirit? And having begun in the spirit, will you be made perfect in the flesh?" In other words, they started out well. They started in the spirit, but they came to a place where they thought they could get the job done. They could sanctify themselves. They could perfect themselves. They could complete the process. Rebecca here has that same Galatian kind of spirit. That same thought that says, "I must take matters into my own hands. I must get the job done."
And a lot of times in the Christian life believers run into this kind of habit or attitude. I must be the one to make things happen. But in the work of the Lord and the plans of God, there are so many times you have to take your hands off of things and say, "I trust that the Lord is going to get things done." God had not asked Rebecca to do this, but she took this step anyways. I've often thought of my life like a clear window of a sliding glass door. And I remember having little children. When they would go up to our sliding glass doors in our various homes or apartments that we had, they would touch them and put their fingers on them. And you could always see their little fingerprints one or two feet up from the floor level.
I've thought about that in my own life and thought, I want to see as few fingerprints from me upon my life as possible. I want to let the Lord do his work. I want to let the Lord accomplish his purposes. But too often people think they have to manipulate or contrive to get the plans of God accomplished. Churches are built this way. Marriages function this way. Families operate this way. Careers operate this way. But we should be a people who trust the Lord rather than running with the sense that we must make things happen.
Now, Jacob heard this plan from his mother, Rebecca, and here's how he replied in verse 11.
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.”
Jacob's Reply
Now, I just want to remind you here that Jacob, like Esau, is over 40 years of age at this point. It would be easy to read this story and see the way that Jacob responds and think that he's 11 years old or something.
I mean, he hears this plan from his mother to deceive his father and his one big objection is, "My brother's hairy and I'm not very hairy. And so I'm worried that dad's going to figure out this whole scheme." He should have objected. He should have responded and said, "Mom, this is not what we need to do. You know the promise of God, I know the promise of God. Whatever dad does, it doesn't matter because God will accomplish his purposes. He accomplished his purposes for dad in the years past. He accomplished his purposes for grandpa Abraham in the years past. And he will accomplish his purposes for me. We don't have to take matters into our own hands. Mom, we have the promise of God. We have the word of God. Let's just trust the Lord." But instead he was worried that the curse of his father would come upon him if he was caught in this ruse.
3. Don't Use Manipulation And Deception
He was going to join her in the deception. This is the third lesson on how not to pursue the blessing of God. If you want to pursue it incorrectly, then lean into deception and manipulation. Lean into deception and manipulation. Now, deception and manipulation. So often people engage in it without even really knowing consciously that they're engaging in it. They'll project a certain air about themselves. Project a certain look, project a certain life, make things look as if they're better than they actually are.
But we must be a people who put off lying. It says in Ephesians 4 verse 25, speaking of things that we must put on and put off, Paul said, "Having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members of one another." We must put off lying and put on speaking the truth. The reason that Paul gave is because we're in a community together in the body of Christ. We are members of one another. And for one member to lie to another, it harms the entire community.
Now, Jacob was part of a community as well, his family, and he should have realized that he was bringing harm into his family circle by getting his way through manipulation and deception. But he gave into it anyways, thinking that this could help produce the plan and the purposes of God. There's no faith here with Isaac. There's no faith with Rebecca. There's no faith here with Jacob. And this is what Abraham modeled for them. A life of faith. But none of them at this point in the story are walking by faith.
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.
Premeditation
Remember I told you delicious food would be mentioned over and over again. And here you see it repeated often in these opening paragraphs.
And doesn't it just feel like this is a plan that Rebecca has been scheming for some time. That this is a premeditated plan. It says that she has the finest garments of Esau in her house or in her tent. It says that she chose the best garments, prepared the delicious food, and that she had skins that were ready to place on Jacob's neck and on Jacob's arm to make him feel a little bit more like Esau to Isaac. It just seems like this was something she had been scheming for awhile.
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.”
An Eagar Answer
Now, Jacob goes into Isaac's tent. Remember Isaac, at this point, his eyes are dim. He can't see well. If not, he's completely blind perhaps.
When Jacob comes in, he speaks and Isaac's shocked, how did you get food so quickly? Who are you. And Jacob, rather than just saying I'm Esau, he's got this whole elaborate answer that he gives to his father. "I'm Esau, your firstborn. I've done as you told me. Sit up and eat of my game that your soul may bless me." This is so often how it is when someone is being deceptive. The answer is fuller than it needs to be. That's what Jacob does. This answer just comes spilling out of his mouth, an overly eager reply.
4. Don't Use Spiritual Jargon To Disguise The True You.
But when Isaac asks Jacob, how have you gotten the game so quickly, notice the terrible reply of Jacob. He said, "Because the Lord, your God, has granted to me success." This is near blasphemy at this point. He conjures up the name of the Lord, the name of God, bringing God into his deceptive plan. He's using spiritual jargon to cover up the evil that he's committing. This is one of the errors that people make when wrongly and in the wrong way trying to pursue the blessing of God. They'll use spiritual jargon to disguise the true evil that they are committing. This is one of the worst sins that can happen.
When a person speaks in spiritual terms or talks with a biblical language but are using those words to disguise great sin that they know that they're committing. This is a great evil. Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter five are an example of this kind of sin. Early on in the days of the church, there was a great revival. People were doing incredible things and many people were selling their properties or homes and taking all of the proceeds and donating them to the community, the new community of the church. It wasn't something that God mandated. It wasn't something that they had to do. But in their fervor, their hope that Christ would return rather soon, and in the joy of this new community, it was something that they wanted to do.
Well, Ananias and Sapphira, a married couple there in the early church, they made the decision to also sell a piece of land, a property. When they received the proceeds, they determined that they didn't want to give all of the proceeds to the church community, to the Lord. That was their prerogative. That was fine for them to do. But when they came to make their donation, what they said was that they were giving everything that they had received to the Lord, knowing full well that they were keeping some back for themselves. Again, it was their prerogative to do so, but the sin that they committed was making it look as if they were giving all, when they only gave part. They used spiritual jargon to cover up the evil within.
And this is a great crime in the body of Christ. I don't know if you think that this is a rarity, but I can tell you as a pastor that I've had to confront this more often than I would like. There are moments where, as a pastor, you just know that you are being played. You just know that someone is using spiritual terminology to try to get you to take their side, to think the way they think, to come against their spouse or something like that. And it's such a great evil. But Jacob gave in and said, "The Lord, he 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.” 27a So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him.
Testing
Now, all through this little movement, Jacob coming into the tent and Isaac asking his questions, Isaac is testing this whole situation. He feels that something is off. And so he offers various tests. First he uses the test of logic when he asks the question that we already saw, how have you gotten this game so quickly? He's just using his mind and he's thinking, "This was too soon." Secondly, he uses the test of his hearing. He hears the voice of Jacob, and that's really the one that Jacob would have had a hard time disguising. He had the ram skin and all these other things to make him look or feel or smell like Esau, but his voice could not be manipulated all that well to sound like Esau. And so he used the test of his hearing.
Isaac also used the test of touch. He said, "Come, that I may feel you." He also used the test of his word or honesty by just simply asking there in verse 24, "Are you really Esau?" He wanted to hear it for himself. And then he used the test of his smell to smell the clothing that Jacob was wearing. But because he was wearing Esau's garments, he smelled like Esau, whatever that smell was like, probably something wild and gaming.
5. Don't Follow Your Natural Senses
But here's the thing. Isaac, though he gave all these tests to try to discern what was actually happening in that moment, he made the wrong decision. He failed. He couldn't discern what was happening because he followed his natural senses. Here's the thing about making the mistake of pursuing the blessing of God incorrectly, how not to pursue the blessing of God. Follow your natural senses. You see, Isaac, he could have followed the leading of the spirit. And doesn't it feel as if the spirit is trying to break through in this moment, show him the truth, speak to his heart. But he can't see any of it, he can't hear any of it, and so he drives things out and he just listens to his natural impulses, which at this point we're not surprised by.
It says in 1st Corinthians chapter two that the natural man cannot know the things of God because they are spiritually discerned. We need to grow as believers in discernment, not just using our natural senses to discern right and wrong. We have to get into perpetually the word of God. It says in Hebrews 5 verse 14 that solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to discern good from evil. To grow in discernment is a constant training activity in our lives.
Now, the second theme that I held out to earlier is that in the midst of all this chaos and bad decision making and flesh upon flesh, God was sovereign and faithful and he would use even the poor discernment from Isaac to accomplish his purposes. So let's see what happens next.
27b 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!”
The Blessing
So again, he pronounces the blessing upon Jacob. He gives the blessing to Jacob, not Esau. And if you look at it, it's broken down in three distinct ways. The first part of the blessing that he gives to Jacob is that Jacob would have lots of produce in his life. That he'd be productive or that the land would be favorable to him. So whether it was crops or livestock, Jacob was going to prosper off of the land. Number two, he said, "Let peoples serve you," in verse 29. This speaks of Jacob and his descendants having political power and sway as they walked with the Lord. They would actually be Lord over their brothers, so he would have dominion over Esau. And then number three, he said, "Cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be everyone who blesses you." This is a hint at the Abrahamic covenant. The sounds like some of the promise that God made to Abraham in years past. So Isaac pronounces this over Jacob. And of course this is reaffirming God's choice and God's sovereign promise.
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.”
Their Birth
Now, pause for a second. Remember when these two boys were born, what happened? They were twins. Esau came out first. Jacob was grabbing his heel and came out right after his brother Esau second. Here it's like the birth story is reversed. Jacob leaves the tent with the blessing. And right after he leaves the tent, Esau comes in hoping for the blessing, with a meal that he prepared for his father.
Now, this is fascinating because we don't live in a culture like this that holds out parental blessing in this way. I mean, I do think that we could learn from the pages of the Old Testament scripture about how to instill certain things into our children better than we do in our modern time to bless our children, so to speak. But they had a different kind of view altogether in that era, and in Isaac's mind, he had pronounced the blessing upon Jacob and that blessing could not be reversed. It was a done deal in his mind, irreversible. And so he says, "He will be blessed and you will serve him."
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?”
Caught By The Heel Catcher
So Esau is furious and he's broken hearted and he says, "It's right that Jacob was named Jacob." It means heel catcher, but came to over time mean cheater or deceiver. The idea being that he has tricked Esau up. And Esau says, "He's done it to me these two times." He took the birthright that belongs to the firstborn. And now he's taken this additional blessing as well that comes from God through his father.
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?”
What's Done Is Done
This is Isaac's way of, again, saying what's done is done. Now, there is a question as to whether at this point Isaac is submitting to the plan of God or whether he's just submitting to the customs of the day in thinking that there's no way he can overturn this blessing that he's given to Jacob. But at this point he at least concedes. He says, "There's nothing I can do. I cannot overturn the blessing pronounced on Jacob."
"Esau said to his father, 'Have you, but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, oh my father,' and Esau lifted up his voice and wept."
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.
Overwhelmed
Now, Esau here is overwhelmed. He's broken up by this whole thing. If you were just dropping into this story without any preexisting knowledge about Esau and without knowing Esau's future like we do here on the book of Genesis, you might be excused for feeling that Esau is a great victim in this whole story. But in this story, everybody's a victim and nobody is without guilt. They're all hurting each other and they're all hurting themselves.
Remember, Esau was the man who had previously sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. He's acting like he was the big victim, but he was in control of that situation. He gave his birthright away for basically nothing. That was on him. But here he's acting like he's the victim.
6. Don't Care Way Too Late
Now, it's true in this story everyone else has been guilty up to this point: Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob. But now Esau, he comes in and he says, "Father, please, you must have a blessing for me." You know what this is? This is caring way too late, just caring way too late. This is how some people pursue the blessing of God. Carry on in life as if God has no jurisdiction upon their lives. Carry on in life as if his word means absolutely nothing. Carry on in life as if every idea they have is a good idea. Carry on in life without searching out the will of their father in heaven at all.
Then disaster comes, partly as a result of their own decision making. And then at that point, they really begin to care about the things of God. It's just a little too late. Here in Esau's life, it's hard for us as the readers to feel that this is Godly sorrow. It feels like the worldly sorrow that Paul spoke of in 1st Corinthians chapter seven. Tragedy has struck, he's sorrowful for himself. There's no repentance. There's no change. It's just him concerned that he has lost out on this blessing. He began to care for this blessing way too late in life. Where was this attitude years earlier with the bowl of soup? So, this is a man who is caring way too late.
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.”
Grace Theme
Now, here again is the theme of God's sovereign grace. There is some blessing reserved for Esau. It comes in three parts. Basically it's predicted that Esau's descendants would not live off the fat of the land, would not live with the dew making their land filled with moisture. Instead, they would live away from all of that. And Esau's descendants, the Edomites, did live in the mountainous, rocky, hilly terrain that was not a very productive place to live produce wise.
He said also, "You'll become a fighter. By the sword you shall live." And the Edomites were a warrior people. They kind of had to be because of where they lived. In the mountains, they had to defend themselves. They had to fight for themselves. They had to fight for their sustenance. This kind of reminds me of the Johnny Cash song, The Boy Named Sue. The story of a father who knew he wouldn't be around for his son so he named him Sue so that he'd get in fights his whole life defending his name. And when his father finally met this boy when he was a grown man, the boy says, "Why did you name me Sue?" He said, "Well, it's because I wouldn't be with you and I knew that you were going to have to fight. And that would make you a tough man in a way that I wouldn't be able to do because I was far from you."
Terrible parenting, but it seems like that's the kind of thing that Isaac is doing here for Esau. He's saying, "Look, you're going to live in a difficult place, but that will make you into a warrior people." And the third part of the promise, you will break the yoke of your brother from your neck. And that would happen, the Edomites people would often be in conflict with the Israelite people, the descendants of Jacob. And there would be moments, especially when the Babylonians came invading, that the Edomites would have great power and really break the yolk from their neck from the Israelite people.
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?”
No Surprise
Now, this is not a surprise development to any of us, is it? After all of this happens, Esau is so furious that he begins to hate Jacob. He says, "I'll kill my brother, Jacob." That was the decision that he made. And as he broods over this, he says, "What I'll do is wait for my father, Isaac, to die. And then I will kill Jacob." And Rebecca hears of all this and she tells Jacob, "Look, I fear for your life. You need to flee to my brother Laban." Remember him from the earlier episode when Eliezer, the servant, went to acquire a bride for Isaac from Abraham's family? Laban was Rebecca's brother.
Laban!
And so now the Laban episodes began. Jacob is going to go flee to uncle Laban's house. Now, Rebecca's whole thought is that this would take a little while. And lest you think that Jacob and Rebecca are getting their way and getting away with things in this passage, you need to understand that after this moment, they would never see each other ever again. Jacob would go to Laban's house for at least 20 years, and Rebecca would die in the interim. They would never see each other ever again. They might have gotten their way, but they paid a great price to get it. They really gained nothing that God wasn't going to give them in the first place, and they lost a lot. They complicated their lives with these decisions.
7. Don't Think About Obvious Consequences.
Here's one of the mistakes that they made. They just didn't think about the obvious consequences. They just didn't think about the obvious consequences. When someone pursues the blessing of God in the wrong way, they just often don't think about the obvious consequences. It's no surprise to us that Esau acts like this. What did they think was going to happen? Did they think that when this whole episode is over, Esau would just extend his hand, shake Jacob's hand and say, "Oh, it was a good fight. We fought to the end. But in the end you got the blessing. Well played, sir." No. Of course, Esau is going to be livid. He's going to hate his brother. And this is an obvious consequence of his actions.
But you see, a lot of times people will make decisions without considering the obvious consequences of those decisions. They'll leave a responsibility, leave a relationship without considering the generations of damage and pain and hurt that are so obviously going to happen. They'll give in to some temptation thinking, for this moment it'll be so worth it, without thinking of the obvious consequences. I think it's a healthy activity and healthy meditation in the Christian life to consider the obvious and potential consequences of sin. When you think about where it could take you, what it could do to you, what it could destroy in your life, it puts the fear of God in you. It's just a healthy meditation for a person to have. But Rebecca, Jacob, they just weren't thinking it through.
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?”
Now, remember at the end of chapter 26, Esau had married two Hittite women, and it was problematic that they were Hittite. But the real problem was that he married two. But Rebecca, she goes to Isaac. She says, "Look, this was not right that Esau married these Hittite women. I don't want Jacob to marry a Hittite woman. So send him away to get a wife someplace else." All she has to do though is really just suggest it's not good for Jacob to be married to one of these local women.
28:1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
A Different Path
Now, this is cool because rather than look back on his own life and remember how his father had sent his servant off to Laban's house to get a wife, here Isaac says, "That's what God did in my life, but God can do something different in my son's life." And so he sends Jacob away to go to the same household to find a suitable bride.
Now, again, this theme is being exhausted by Moses time and time again. He keeps visiting it. Over and over again, the theme is, don't marry the Canaanite women. It's as if Moses has a little bit of insight into what is coming in Israel's future. There they are wandering in the wilderness on their way to the promised land when they received the book of Genesis. And all through Genesis, there is this warning, "Don't marry the Canaanite women." The Canaanite women and the idols that they would bring into Israel would be a great danger to the Israelite population. And so they needed to make sure that they refrained from these tempting relationships.
3 God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 4 May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” 5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
Confirmation
Now, here at this point, what does Isaac do? He's sending his son Jacob away. And it's like almost a by the way moment where he says to him, "Oh yeah. And the blessing of God Almighty be upon you." And he takes the Abrahamic blessing, the full Abrahamic blessing, and he just deposits it onto his son.
It was a confirmation to Jacob, you do have the blessing. It will flow from Abraham to Isaac to you. And this is how the whole story should have gone. What should have happened is that all of the deception, all of the manipulation, all of that should have been deleted and Rebecca should have just gone up to Isaac and said, "I really don't want Isaac to marry one of these local women." And Jacob should have said, "That's true. Let's send him away." And in sending him away should have pronounced this blessing upon his life.
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, 9 Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.
8. Don't Try To Fix Sin With More Sin.
Now here, Esau looks at the whole scene. He's portrayed as a grown man, but a son who is fighting for his father's approval. And he sees how Jacob has been sent away to marry a woman who's not a local. He realizes that he has married two local women and that his parents don't like them. So he decides that he'll also marry someone from within the clan, so to speak. He goes to Ishmael, Isaac's older half brother, and finds Ishmael's daughter, this woman named Mahalath, and he marries her, brings her into his family.
Now, this is fascinating because God has rejected the line of Ishmael and God has rejected the line of Esau. And now these two lines converge together in a sense, these two rejected lines. But here's what Esau is doing. He is trying to fix things with more sin. He's trying to fix things with more sin. He's just looking at the situation and he thinks to himself, "Oh, I know what I'll do. They don't like the way it is here. I'm just going to add a third wife." It would only compound the problem.
Now, Jacob, verse 10, picking up his story and following now him. So now we're leaving Esau and following Jacob. We're even really in a sense leaving Isaac and following Jacob, the promise is now with him.
10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.
That's a journey of about 550 miles. It would take Jacob about a month to take this journey.
11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!
Jacob's Ladder
Now, this occurs, we'll learn later in the text, in a place called Bethel. It was Luz originally, he'll rename it Bethel, which means house of God, house of the Lord. And this is about 60 miles from Beersheba, where he started his journey. He goes at night and he lies down to go to sleep. He takes a little rock and he puts it there at his head. Some scholars think that he just had it near his head, kind of a headboard type of thing. Others think that he actually was using a small rock as a pillow, maybe creating a little bit of elevation and putting a blanket or a material on top of it to soften it up.
But he takes this rock, he lies down. And as he sleeps, he dreams. And in his dream, he sees a ladder, it says. Now, sometimes with the Hebrew, it's difficult to know exactly what word should be used in our English translations. And this word ladder is one of those tricky words. It probably means something like a staircase or a passage way. The angels of God are ascending and descending upon it, which helps us see that it's not just a ladder that is one way at a time, but as both lanes heading in both directions simultaneously. It comes from the earth, it's top reaches to heaven and the angels of God are ascending and descending upon it.
Now, keep this story in mind for the future when we get to the moment when Jacob will come back to his family 20 or so years later. Here he is leaving his family, leaving Beersheba, and at night he has a dream, an encounter with God. When he comes back into the promised land, at night at Penuel, he will wrestle with God, the two monumental visions or dreams or episodes that Jacob had with God. One on the way out at night, one on the way in at night in his life. And so he sees in this dream these angels ascending and descending.
13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
The Abrahamic Promise
Now, this is God giving to Jacob the Abrahamic covenant. It's all there. God promised land to Abraham. He promises land to Jacob. God promised descendants to Abraham, he promises them to Jacob. God promised that through Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed, and he promised that same thing to Jacob. But the big thing that Jacob receives here is the presence of the Lord himself, the presence of the Lord himself. He got all of these promises, but there is God at the top of this ladder, at the top of this staircase, and Jacob is receiving the Lord.
At this point, in Jacob's story, he's really not portrayed as a very Godly person. And really, to be honest, in the chapters to come, we're not going to really see him as a very Godly, sanctified kind of person. That's one of the fascinating things about the patriarchs. You look at Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God worked in their lives in very different ways. So often we want to put God in a box and think that if this is how he worked with Abraham, it's how he'll work with me. If this is how he worked with Isaac, it's how he'll work with me. If this is how he worked with Jacob, it's how he'll work with me.
But he works in different ways with his men. And Jacob seems to be the kind of man who lived a long, slow life of growth with significant breakthroughs later on in his life. And sometimes this frustrates us when it happens to us or when we see it in the lives of others. But I don't know that it frustrates God as much as it often frustrates us. He was patient just working through this man that he chose. And so God pronounces this Abrahamic blessing upon Jacob's life.
By the way, isn't this an amazing moment that we're seeing right here? What have we just read about? This whole manipulative scene where Jacob is conniving to get the blessing. Here, he goes on a journey. He falls asleep. He's doing nothing. In fact, he's running from his problems. He's running from his sin and rebellion, problems that he's caused. And the sovereign Lord, when this man is offering nothing, decides to pour out his blessing upon him. It brings us back to that greater theme of the gracious sovereign blessing of God. He's doing what he is going to do and he cannot be stopped.
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
The Anti-Babel
Now, pause there for a second. Go backward in your mind and recall the moment in Genesis chapter 10 and 11 where the Tower of Babel was built that God struck it and divided the nations and all of that. What had they done in that place? Well, they had built a ziggurat. It was designed to extend into the heavens. They thought that they could build a meeting place where God would come down, where God would speak, where God would interact with them. That they could be the initiators of this stairway to heaven, so to speak, there in Babylon, and God struck it and judged it because they couldn't.
But here Jacob is asleep and he wakes up now after having this dream and he says, "I'm at a portal," so to speak. God has broken in to my experience. The ladder is here. God has initiated. This is a way for us to see that God must be the initiator. You might recall that in the book of John chapter one, Nathaniel went and got one of his friends. No, Phillip went and got Nathaniel and told him about the Lord. And he said, "Well, who is this guy? How can he really be the Messiah?" He went to Jesus and Jesus said to him, "Well, I know who you are. I saw you when you were under the fig tree." And he says, You're the Lord. You're the King. You're the messiah." And Jesus said to him, "You believe because I said I saw you under the fig tree? You'll see something greater than this. You'll see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man."
You see, this ladder that we're seeing here. Jesus is ultimately that ladder. That's the big question. How can the blessing of God come to a broken and fallen world? Well, the blessing of God will ultimately come through and because of the ladder that is Jesus Christ. Do you want God? You have to get Jesus. He is the one who opens up the blessing of God to us.
18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”
Imperfect Worship
Jacob responds to this incredible promise that God has established in his life with worship. He's full of the fear of the Lord. This is the house of God. He's eager. He gets up early in the morning. He wants to establish an alter or a place of worship, so he puts that stone up like a pillar. He wants to commemorate the moment so he names the place Bethel, the house of God. He wants to dedicate himself to God so he makes a vow to the Lord. And then he commits to give God a 10th of all that he ever takes in if God proves to be with him.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that this appears to be imperfect worship. I mean, he does say, "I will do all these things if God does these things for me." But again, as I said, Jacob is the man that God has chosen. And God seems perfectly fine with patiently allowing this man to even worship him in an imperfect kind of way. And I'm sure if we were honest about our own lives, we would realize that so often we worship the Lord in an imperfect kind of way as well, hoping to get certain things from the Lord. But Jacob is just honest with God. If you do these things for me, then I will give a 10th of all that I have to you.
God bless you, church. Have a wonderful week.