Part 12  Book of Genesis

 

 

 

JACOB 27.1-36.43

Jacob deceives his father and acquires Esau’s blessing

27.1-4 Isaac is old and his eyes are dim. He calls Esau to him and tells him to go out and hunt some game and cook it for him before he dies. Isaac tells Esau that after they eat, he will give him his birthright blessing.
Isaac favors Esau and Esau is the first born. Even though God has said the elder shall serve the younger Isaac is prepared to give his blessing to Esau.

27.5-13
Rebekah hears Isaac’s command to Esau and she tells Jacob what she heard and tells him to fetch her two choice kids and she will prepare them the way his father likes them. Then she tells Jacob that he will take it to his father and get the blessing. Jacob answers that his father will know he is not Esau because Esau is a hairy man and he is smooth skinned. He is fearful his father will recognize this deception and curse him, rather than bless him. Rebekah says, “Your curse be upon me, my son! Just do as I say!”

Once again, it is the mother who arranges the fulfillment of the divine plan, to the benefit of the second born son. (Abraham-Sarah-Hagar, 21.9-13) We see the deceitfulness of Rebekah and Jacob in this scene which will be a major theme in Jacob’s future life and family. The Bible never mentions Jacob seeing his mother alive again after this incident.

27.14-17
Jacob brings the kids and Rebekah prepares them in a dish Isaac liked. The she takes the best clothes of her son Esau and has Jacob put them on. She covers his hands and neck with the skins of the kids so that he smells and feels like Esau his brother. Jacob is sent to his father’s tent.

27.18-29
Jacob goes in to his father with the food and Isaac asks him which son he is. Jacob replies that he is, “Esau, your first born; I have done as you asked, come and eat and give me your blessing.” Isaac asks how he got the game so quickly and Jacob answers the Lord has brought it to him. Isaac tells him to come closer so he can feel him to be sure it is Esau. Jacob comes close and as Isaac feels him he wonders out loud why the voice sounds like Jacob, but the hands are like Esau. Isaac asks again if he is Esau and Jacob replies he is and tells his father to eat.

Afterwards Isaac tells his son to kiss him and he smells the clothes of Esau and blesses Jacob saying, “ Surely, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed. Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. 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!”

On the one hand Jacob is lying to his father in verse 20, but on the other he is unwittingly expressing the fact that it is God’s preference, not his father’s that has arranged his unlikely success. Also note the Abrahamic blessing at the end of Isaac’s blessing.

27.30-33 Immediately after Jacob leaves in come Esau with his prepared game! He tells his father to sit up and eat so that he may receive his blessing. Trembling, Isaac asks, “Who are you?” “I am Esau your son,” he replies. Isaac wants to know who was it. He tells Esau he gave the blessing and can’t take it back.

27.33-40
Esau bursts into wild and bitter sobbing, “Bless me too, father!” Isaac tells him his brother came with guile and took away your blessing. Esau asks if that is why Jacob was named “Jacob” since he has supplanted him. He asks his father again for a blessing. Isaac says he has made Jacob his master and given him blessing of wine and grain. Esau again asks for a blessing as he weeps aloud. Isaac blesses him saying, “ Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. 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.”

In rabbinic and medieval Jewish literature, Esau symbolizes the painful experience and persecution at the hands of Rome and later Christendom to the Jewish people!

Esau receives a great blessing, but it is inferior to his brothers. Historically, Edom successfully rebelled from Israel. See 2 Kings 8.20-22; 2 Chron 28.17

27.41-46
Esau is angry and decides to kill Jacob once his father’s mourning period is over. Rebekah hears of this and tells Jacob to go to Haran and stay with her brother Laban until Esau’s fury passes. Rebekah then goes into Isaac and complains about Esau’s Hittite wives saying, “What good is my life if this is what he marries.”

Rebekah’s complaint about the wives of Esau was her way of softening the blow of her deceit as it said earlier that this was of concern to both her and Isaac.

This section shows us how man tries to “help” God bring about His will. Rebekah and Jacob did not wait on the Lord to bring about His word--they decided to make it happen. God would have brought this about in His way if they would have believed (see how David waited for the Lord to make him king of Israel 2 Samuel 5.1-5). By doing it their way many problems were created that exist unto this day!

Isaac blesses Jacob and sends him to find a wife

28.1-4 Isaac now sends for Jacob, blesses him again, and instructs him to go to Rebekah’s family and find a wife from among her brother Laban’s daughters. He is not to intermarry like his brother Esau has done. Isaac asks Almighty God, El Shaddai, to make Jacob a multitude of people and the blessing of Abraham is passed down to Jacob.

Perhaps after Rebekah’s discussion with Isaac about Esau’s intermarrying, Isaac calmed down and decided to sent Jacob off with his blessing.

28.5-9 Isaac sends Jacob off with instructions on marrying and blesses him. Esau sees that his father has blessed Jacob and hears him tell Jacob not to marry Canaanite women. Esau realizes his choice of wives has not pleased his parents and goes and marries one of Ishmael’s daughters in an effort to please them.

Jewish literature (madras) says Esau should have put out the first wives but that he just added another source of pain by taking on another wife!

Jacob’s dream at Bethel

28.10-15 Jacob leaves Beer-sheba for Haran and on the way has a dream. He put one of the stones under his head and dreams he sees a stairway reaching from earth up to heaven with angels going up and down. The Lord is standing beside him and declares to Jacob that this land on which he is laying on will be his and his descendants forever. He is told his descendants will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. God will not leave him and will perform this word which He is promising.

Now God is promising again to Jacob and we will see Jacob being the one who God allows to be deceived and manipulated--a just “reversal” on Jacob’s prior actions of taking the birthright, to bring about the promise.

Note: the promise of Jacob’s descendants going to the west, east, north, and south has interesting end time ramifications.

28.15-22
Jacob awakes shaken and says, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I didn’t know it!” He believes it is the abode of God and the gateway to heaven. He sets up the stone he used as a pillow, anoints it with oil, and renames the place Bethel or “House of God.” Jacob then vows if God protects him and takes care of him and he returns safely to his father’s house the Lord will be his God and he will tithe to Him.

God confirms to Jacob that Isaac’s blessing on him conforms to His will and that Jacob’s exile will be temporary. It is interesting to note that later when the kingdom separates in two that Bethel becomes a hotbed of idolatry. 1 Kings 12.25-13.34


Next: Part 13