The Blessing - Genesis 27:1-45

INTRODUCTION:

            Have you ever known someone who was just a dirty, rotten scoundrel, but in spite of this it seemed that everything went his or her way.  Maybe it is someone you have worked with, maybe it is that kid at school who never gets caught misbehaving.  Their character is arrogant, selfish, and dishonest, yet they seem to get everything they want, a few decades ago we might have said it was if they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

            This morning we move into perhaps one of the saddest chapters in the Bible.  This chapter depicts the whole family of Isaac in a bad way spiritually.  Without doubt many things played into the failures in this chapter, such as the choosing of favorite sons that we saw in chapter 25.  Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, Rebekah loved Jacob possibly because of the promise that God had given her that the older would serve the younger.  Another part that played into what happens to this family is that old family sin of lying and deception and it is Jacob this time that could have said “no, I’m not going to fall into this pattern of sin,” but instead just as Isaac followed Abraham in this sin Jacob follows Isaac and uses it to deceive his own father.

            Jacob is like the character I described at the beginning, he was a conniving, cheating scoundrel, yet everything seemed to go his way.  Jacob’s life is a long series of self-centeredness, deceit and success.  As we go through it and read it and study it we might ask ourselves “why?”  Why is such a rotten character blessed so abundantly?  As we continue to look at the life of Jacob we might learn a little bit about ourselves and about our God. 

            Let’s pray and then get into our Scripture passage for this morning.

--PRAY--

SCRIPTURE:

            Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 27:1-45, it is a long passage and we are going to read it and then look at each of the main characters in this event in the history of Jacob’s life.  Please stand as I read God’s Word.

     Genesis 27:1-45,

            “Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, ‘My son.’ And he said to him, ‘Here I am.’ Isaac said, ‘Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.  Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.’ Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, ‘Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, “Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.”  Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you.  Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.  Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.’  Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, ‘Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.  Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.’ But his mother said to him, ‘Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.’ So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob. Then he came to his father and said, ‘My father.’ And he said, ‘Here I am. Who are you, my son?’ Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me.’ Isaac said to his son, ‘How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?’ And he said, ‘Because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.’ Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.’ So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’ He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. And he said, ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ And he said, ‘I am.’ So he said, ‘Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.’ And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, ‘Please come close and kiss me, my son.’ So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, ‘See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed; Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine; May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you.’ Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. Then he also made savory 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.’ Isaac his father said to him, ‘Who are you?’ And he said, ‘I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.’ Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, ‘Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.’ When 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!’ And he said, ‘Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.’ Then he said, ‘Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.’ And he said, ‘Have you not reserved a blessing for me?’ But Isaac replied to Esau, ‘Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?’ Esau said to his father, ‘Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.’ So Esau lifted his voice and wept. Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, ‘Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above.  By your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck.’ So Esau bore a grudge against 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 near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.’ Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, ‘Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you.  Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban!  Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides, until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?’” (Genesis 27:1–45, NASB95)[1]

ISAAC (Genesis 27:1-4)

            As we come to the opening verse of this chapter we find Isaac in declining health, he has lost his eyesight and begins to believe that his days on this earth are not going to be much longer.  By doing some math it is calculated that Isaac was 137 years old when this event happens and we know that he lived for 43 more years and died at the age of 180.  Because he thinks that his death is near he begins to think about the passing on of the blessing that goes along with the birthright.  Now remember Esau had sold the birthright to Jacob, and surely Isaac knew this and even though Esau had married foreigners that were pulling him away from God and bringing grief to his parents, Esau was still Isaac’s favorite and because of this Isaac in desiring to give Esau the blessing suggests that he was following his own carnal plans, and not God’s will.  It seems that he had forgotten God’s promise to Rebekah about the boys or he was trying to change God’s plan because of his love for his older son.  Note what is missing in these first four verses, prayer and calling on the name of the Lord.  Instead of depending on the Lord we see Isaac depending on the senses he has left, touch, taste, and smell.  Feeding his body because of his love of venison took priority over doing God’s will.  Isaac was at fault in this situation because he did not seek God’s guidance and tried to bless the son that had not been sovereignly chosen by God.

REBEKAH (Genesis 27:5-17)

            Next we find Rebekah whose favorite was Jacob and she was going to do whatever was necessary to make sure that Jacob got the blessing that God had promised her even if it meant scheming and plotting to make sure it did not go to Esau.  Rebekah overheard Isaac’s conversation with Esau and instead of going to the Lord and instead of reminding Isaac of God’s promise, she hatched a plan to deceive Isaac into giving the blessing to Jacob before Esau returned from the hunt.  Instead of depending on God to keep His promises she depended on her own plans which would become a practice that was characteristic of Jacob in later years. Mothers I caution you not to follow Rebekah’s parenting style.  Rebekah’s plan was to take some young goats and make the savory dish that Isaac loved, she must have seasoned it in such a way that he could not tell that it was not venison or wild game, then she was going to dress Jacob in Esau’s clothes and send him in with the food to get the blessing.  Notice that Jacob does not argue about what they are doing is wrong, instead his only worry is getting caught in his deception and being cursed instead of blessed.  But his mother promises to let any curse fall on her and not Jacob.  Like us so often we think we have to help God fulfill His promises and we do not and we often make matters worse when we try to help God.  Rebekah paid dearly for her sin, she had to send her beloved son away and she never saw him again, because when Jacob returns we never hear of his mother again, she had already died.  She thought she would only send him away for a short time, but it ended up being a very long time that Jacob worked for Laban.

JACOB (Genesis 27:18-29)

            The next person in this account is Jacob and his mother had made certain that he knew God’s promise for his life.  Jacob should have waited on God, but instead he listened to his mother.  Jacob will go to great lengths to get the good that he wanted, the blessing that God would have given him without all the deception if he would have just waited.  Look at him in verses 18-25 going to great lengths to make his lies work.  In verse 19 alone he tells his father three lies:  I am Esau (he was Jacob).  I have done as you told me. (He did not do it his mother did). Eat of my game. (It was not game, it was goat meat).  In verse 20 he even uses the name of the Lord God to make his lies seem like truth.  Claiming the Lord gave him quick success in the hunt for game.  When Jacob came close to kiss his father the deception was successful when Isaac caught the scent of Esau’s clothes that Jacob was wearing and Isaac gave the blessing to Jacob.  Isaac called upon God to give Jacob the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and an abundance of grain and new wine.  He gives into his hand servants and evokes the nations to bow down to him.  Finally he makes him the master of the house and puts his brother under his authority.  Isaac declares a curse on those who would curse Jacob and a blessing on those who would bless his son.  It seems that Jacob got all that he wanted, the birthright and the blessing.  Did he ever have to pay for his deception?  O he did as we will see in the weeks ahead of us.  We are told that he had hardly left Isaac’s presence when Esau came in from the hunt.

ESAU (Genesis 27:30-45)

            Esau is the final character in this event in history.  He comes home having been successful in the hunt for wild game.  He prepares the savory dish his father requested, he is all too eager to receive the blessing that he knows should go to Jacob along with the birthright that he sold him, but this is his chance to get back at the underhanded way that Jacob had gotten the birthright from him.  It was not so much the blessing, but how his receiving it would hurt Jacob.  Hebrews 12:15-17 which we have looked at before gives a little insight into Esau’s heart.  The author of Hebrews writes, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.” (Hebrews 12:15–17, NASB95)[2]  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the author of Hebrews describes Esau as an immoral and godless person, which tells me he did not really care about the blessing, he was unconcerned with what God could give him, he was out for revenge.  These verses tell us that he sought the blessing with tears, yet he found no place for real repentance for his sins.  He was remorseful, but not sincerely repentant.  He was sorry for what he lost not sorry for what he had done.

            We read that Isaac trembled violently when he realized that he had been deceived.  There are a couple of reasons that he reacted in this way I believe.  He knew that blessing Esau went against God’s plan that the covenant promises given to Abraham were to be given to Jacob, God had chosen Jacob before the twins were even born.  Isaac realized that his desire to change God’s plan had been thwarted, that he had been overruled by God.  Had Isaac handled this whole situation differently and sought God and followed His guidance I believe it would have been a very different outcome and the family would have been spared a lot of grief.  As it was God spoke through Isaac to his son Esau and told him that he would have a difficult life, that he would live by the sword and would be ruled by the descendants of Jacob, until Esau’s descendants became restless and broke the yoke of authority from their neck.  That did not happen until later on when Edom was paying tribute to Judah and they finally became restless and revolted and broke free from Judah’s rule.

            Since Esau’s plan to get the blessing failed and he was again tripped up, supplanted by his brother he held a grudge against him that developed into hatred which caused Esau to plan to murder Jacob once their father had died.  His hatred for Jacob and his plan was found out by Rebekah and she sought to send Jacob away to her brother Laban until Esau’s anger and hatred subsided and then she would send word to bring Jacob back.  As I already said she never saw her beloved son again.

            Sin in the home always brings heartache and misunderstanding.  Had Isaac and Rebekah not taken sides with their two boys; had they continued to pray about matters as they had done earlier in their marriage; had they allowed God to have His way, this whole event would have been avoided and God would have been glorified.  As it was, all of them suffered because of their unbelief and disobedience.  We never get to old to be tempted—or to fail.

CONCLUSION:

            Throughout this chapter we see that each of these four characters in this event, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau were tempted and each failed and yet our Scripture reading this morning from Romans 6 said that God loved Jacob despite the fact that he failed, despite the fact that he was a sinner.  He did not deserve God’s love, but God loved him to demonstrate for us that God, as God, can love anyone He chooses!  He is sovereign.  In the same way that God chose Jacob before he was ever born, so He chooses everyone who becomes His son or daughter.  This is the way it works for each of us who come to faith in Jesus Christ.  We do not come into the world looking for God.  Isaiah the prophet wrote that we are born like sheep, each one turning to his or her own way.  If God had not sought us before we sought Him, none of us would ever seek Him.  If God had not chosen us before we chose Him, none of us would have ever chosen Him.

            This is the beauty and brilliance of the Gospel, this is how salvation can be absolutely free.  God did not choose us because of anything we have done or will do.  This is the whole lesson of Jacob’s life.  Whether or not an individual belongs to God is ultimately God’s decision.  And thank God that it is, because if we are anything like Jacob, and we know that we all are capable of deception, capable of being tempted and failing, then we do not want to depend on our own works or our own wills, but on God who shows mercy.

            The second reason God chose Jacob was to demonstrate His grace.  When we read what Jacob did, what each family member did, we want to yell, “Unfair!”  It’s unfair that God chose Jacob and not Esau.  It isn’t fair that God allowed Jacob’s deception to work.  And you are completely and absolutely right it is unfair.  What would have been fair would have been for God to have sent Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Jacob’s whole family to hell.  They were all sinners that is what they deserved.  And what would be fair would be for God to send each and every one of us to hell.  Like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob we too are sinners and the wages of sin is death.  So it may seem unfair that God loved Jacob, the deceiver, the heel grabber, the sinner.  But when we are thinking clearly we do not want God to treat us fairly.  Rather we want God to grant us His grace as He did to Jacob.  Thank God that He has given “His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  Have you entrusted yourself to the God whose gives His grace unfairly to us?  If you have, then you realize that you and I are dirty, rotten, undeserving scoundrels with silver spoons in our mouths.  Thank God!

[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995

[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995