This is one of the saddest chapter in Bible. Here in this chapter all are trying to get things done according to their understanding and in process not trusting God. Isaac by his actions is disobedient to the will of God and Rebekah’s actions speaks of her lack of faith in God’s promise. Let’s look at this chapter where everybody is messing up and I guarantee we will see a lot of ourselves in their behavior. Please keep in mind as you read this chapter, both Esau & Jacob are 77 years of age. Many times we learn these stories in Sunday school and we picture both brothers as teenagers.
When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he answered.2 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”
Isaac was 137 at this stage and perhaps because Ismael died at this age , he thought his death was near. In reality he will not die for another 43 years. Isaac knew God’s will regarding Esau & Jacob before they were born, he knew Jacob’s character was superior and he was aware of Jacob’s spiritual conviction over those of Esau, He knew about Jacob’s purchase of birthright from Esau, Isaac also knew Esau’s disregard for spiritual heritage and will of God, In spite knowing all this , Isaac determined to give the blessing to Esau. And only reason for Isaac’s deliberate disobedience to God was his personal love for Esau.
5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”
Please make a note here, Isaac was doing this on his own without consulting with Rebekah. She over hears the conversation. Perhaps Isaac was ashamed of what he was doing , knowing his wife may not approve it and might even try to stop it. As we know Jacob was to be the heir of blessing ( Genesis 25:23) . Rebekah knew this , when she overheard what Isaac was about to do , she did what so many of us would do. We know God’s word and we do God’s work but not in God’s way. We may have the right INTENTION but God’s work must be done in God’s way and in his time. Rebekah knew God’s will must override her husband’s will but she failed to understand and/or had inadequate faith to realize that God’s will would be done regardless. Her heart was at right place when she conceived a plan to deceive Isaac and have him bless Jacob instead of Esau. Moses heart was at right place when he decide to help his Hebrew brother by killing Egyptian, thinking he would be a hero . But because he did this on his own and not according to will of God , end result was rejection by his people and he had to run. We look at the story of David in 2 Samuel when he wanted to bring Ark of the covenant to Jerusalem but what happened? 2 men died . His heart was at right place but it had to be done God’s way. Remember we must wait for God’s time and must do according to his way and his plan. Don’t try to rush God or help him out to get something done faster. His timing is perfect and he is making you & molding you , getting you ready for blessings he has in stored for you. If you praying for your son or daughter or someone in your family, don’t be Rebekah and try to help God out, his plan will be accomplished in his time.
11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”13 But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” 14 And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
Now it is Jacob’s turn to act totally unfaithful. Jacob does not say , I do not want to deceive my father , rather he is worried about getting caught. Does this sound like so many of us? We like Jacob are worried about our reputation instead of our character. We are more interested in looking like Christians then acting and living our lives like born again Christians. We wear the Jesus tie and we have the Jesus scarf, we have bible in our hand and we do all the religious stuff that makes us look like Christians but inside we have no relationship with Jesus. My dear friends, I hope and pray that you know Jesus personally. He knows our every thought and every desire of our hearts. There is nothing hidden from him and if you are just following a religion , you may be able to fool your family, friends and society but you can not fool God. Here is what Jesus says in Gospel of Matthew 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! Are you doing HIS will?
18 So he went 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 just as you told me; please arise, sit 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?” And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”21 Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he 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.
There are number of lessons in this passage but one I want to share is what Isaac teaches us. Isaac was deceived because he trusted his sense more than what he heard. In our Christian walk , we must trust the word. please don’t make spiritual decision by how you feel. Sometimes we attend a church or support a ministry because it smells right and feels right but deep down in your heart , you have doubts. Many time we look at the success of church ( large membership, financially secure etc) and we trust our sight and we say they must be doing God’s work. As a Christian we are to be careful who we listening to and whose teaching we are following. I don’t care how big the ministry, how knowledgeable the preacher seems, you might even see thousand of people, you might even see healing but if the preaching and teaching does not agree with scripture or is not according to the word of God, DO NOT TRUST IT. Oh, you might say to me but if they are not doing God’s work how are they so successful? remember the parable of wheat & Tares ( Matthew 13: 24). Our loyalty is to God and his word not the church or pastor. So many time we continue to attend the church out of sense of loyalty ( again senses) instead of going somewhere where we can receive true teaching of word. Although Jacob didn’t sound like Esau, he felt & smelled like Esau and Isaac trusted his senses. In so many cases, church , ministry or preacher smell like Christian, feel like one but when you examine it closely, the true teaching of the WORD is missing. what am I saying? In scripture who is the WORD? JESUS. You will not be deceived if you trust the word.
24 Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He said, “I am.”25 He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may 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 now and kiss me, my son.” 27 And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: “Surely, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field Which the Lord has blessed.28 Therefore may God give you
Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine.29 Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren,
And let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be those who bless you!”
After the meal , Isaac called Jacob to come near and kiss him. Isaac must be in spirit and most likely God was present at this moment as he was going to convey God’s covenant promises and blessings to his son who in turn would be responsible for carrying them out until the promised seed would come. This blessing was definitely the same as given to Abraham & Isaac. We see Genesis 12: 3 blessing repeated here once again. Keep in mind, Isaac thought he was blessing Esau so when he says ” Be master over your brethren, And let your mother’s sons bow down to you”. This is in direct opposition to God’s statement : ” the elder shall serve the younger “ ( GEN 25:23). In any case, the blessing which by God’s command should have gone to Jacob was pronounced by his father on Jacob.
30 Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”32 And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”33 Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—and indeed he shall be blessed.”
Esau arrives on scene with meal of venison prepared for Isaac and He was all set to receive the blessings. Esau is trying to buy back the birthright he had sold for bowl of soup with dish of meat. He was totally disregarding the deal he had with Jacob. He had no real interest in the spiritual blessings, but he was very much interested in political & military superiority that came with the blessings. Suddenly it dawned on Isaac what had happened. The truth suddenly came clear to Isaac like slap on his face. Despite his efforts, God had overruled and Jacob was blessed. Isaac also realized that he had been deceived by his wife and his faithful son, in order to prevent him from doing what he knew was against the will of God. Now it was very clear to him that Jacob would receive the blessing and thus he tells Esau “I have blessed him and indeed he shall be blessed”. This is was clearly the will of God and nothing he could do to change it. He had tried but God stopped him. As the realization of the his action came over him “Isaac trembled very exceedingly” He was overwhelmed by implication of his act. Anger with Jacob, concern over Esau, sadness over his wife’s actions, disappoint at having his plan spoiled-all of theses contributed to his trembling. But above all of these , he suddenly realized that God himself had spoken to him in judgement and by ignoring the will of God , he had betrayed the trust of his father and almost destroyed his home, all because of fulfilling the desire of flesh ( he liked Esau’s food )and he believed Esau deserved blessing over Jacob because of his physical attribute and strength.
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”35 But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”36 And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: “ Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, And of the dew of heaven from above.40 By your sword you shall live, And you shall serve your brother; And it shall come to pass, when you become restless, That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”
Esau was stunned by his father’s reaction and outburst of emotions. Then, as he realized what had happened, he also was overwhelmed by emotions and “cried with great & exceeding bitter cry”. Esau so desperately desired the blessing, that even at the age of 77 , he wept over his loss. He thought Isaac can simply retract the words and take back the blessing. This shows Esau’s spiritual immaturity as he still did not realize blessing came from God. Isaac could not change it even if he wanted to. Isaac was lost and not knowing how to explain this to Esau, he simply blamed Jacob creating rift between two brothers. Esau was already bitter about Jacob “taking away ” his birth right ( forgetting that he despised it ) and now, he had likewise taken away his blessing. Like Esau, how many time we blame others when conflict arises and fail to look within and our shortcomings. How many time we try to ignore God’s will and try to have our own way and do things according to our understanding and our benefit. Esau begged his father for a blessing of some kind , hoping that somehow God could be persuaded to change his mind. But the portion of blessing in which Esau was most interested ( political) , had been given to Jacob and nothing was going to change that. Isaac did speak blessing over Esau. Esau and his descendants would dwell in region away from the fertile land. This was fulfilled by the very nature of the rugged region that came to be known as the land of Edom ( present day Jordan ). The Edomites generally lived in violence and under the rule of Israel. Study the book of Obadiah if you want to read about Edomites. They were always at odds with Israelites. Verse 40 is has huge prophetic implication. God’s anger at the Edomites appears throughout the old testament. I will let you explore that on your own but I suggest you look at book of Esther and man named Haman. Also , look at new testament and Herod and what he wanted to do.
The sad story of Esau has been repeated many times in Christian homes. How many time we hear a child born in Christian home and in bible teaching church , who rebels against and instructions and discipline in order to participate in pleasure of the world, selling the birthright. Perhaps it is often the case as parents we sometimes help our kids develop this attitude by our favoritism and lack of discipline as it was case here with Isaac & Esau. We see similar behavior by David and destruction of his sons. As Christian parents we are to bring them up in discipline and in fear of the Lord. Fathers,[b] do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord ( Eph 6:4).
41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”42 And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 And stay with him a few days, 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 bereaved also of you both in one day?”46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
Esau, who had always been stronger than Jacob ( physically) and was admired for his skills could not stand the idea of Jacob having dominion over him. Like Cain he rebelled against the will of God and decided to murder his brother. Instead of accepting the will of God and living a life of repentance and life honoring God, he chose to take matters into his own hands. As soon as Rebekah learned of Esau’s plan, she called Jacob and told him to leave the house and go to visit his uncle Laban. However, ‘few Days” turned out to be over 20 years and she would never see Jacob again. parents stop trying to manipulate , stop trying to control , stop trying to make it happen in your own energy and understanding, you will lose your child. Don’t pry . Pray. Seek the direction from God . Seek the protection from God. When we try to control our kids and their circumstances, we end up making a mess like Rebekah. I know it is hard to admit but we don’t know everything. Don’t force your will on your child. Don’t be too quick to brush aside what they want to do with their life, who they want to marry, which profession they want to pursue. Trust in God . Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct[a] your paths. proverb s 3:5-6.
Next few chapters deals with life of Jacob. In next chapter we will look at the salvation of Jacob. I hope you are blessed by the word as I was writing it. keep your focus on Jesus. Amen.
only savior jesus 