Join us as we unravel the gripping narrative of Genesis 27, where Rebekah and Jacob's cunning plot to steal Isaac's blessing unfolds. This episode takes you through Isaac's suspicions and repeated questioning, despite his blindness, and the lengths Jacob goes to mimic his brother Esau. We spotlight Isaac's internal struggle as he senses something is off but ultimately blesses Jacob, believing him to be Esau, bestowing divine favor and authority to Jacob.
Witness the heart-wrenching aftermath as Esau learns of the deceit and confronts his father with a mix of anguish and desperation. Esau's plea for a remaining blessing only yields a grim prophecy, cementing his fate to live away from the earth's richness and serve his brother. Yet, there's a hint that Esau's descendants will eventually break free. This episode delves into emotional turmoil and Isaac's family dynamics as well as sets the stage for our upcoming episodes. Don't miss this compelling chapter of family strife and divine intervention.
Join us as we unravel the gripping narrative of Genesis 27, where Rebekah and Jacob's cunning plot to steal Isaac's blessing unfolds. This episode takes you through Isaac's suspicions and repeated questioning, despite his blindness, and the lengths Jacob goes to mimic his brother Esau. We spotlight Isaac's internal struggle as he senses something is off but ultimately blesses Jacob, believing him to be Esau, bestowing divine favor and authority to Jacob.
Witness the heart-wrenching aftermath as Esau learns of the deceit and confronts his father with a mix of anguish and desperation. Esau's plea for a remaining blessing only yields a grim prophecy, cementing his fate to live away from the earth's richness and serve his brother. Yet, there's a hint that Esau's descendants will eventually break free. This episode delves into emotional turmoil and Isaac's family dynamics as well as sets the stage for our upcoming episodes. Don't miss this compelling chapter of family strife and divine intervention.
Thank you again for joining me for the Mysteries of God's Word. Today we're again in Genesis, chapter 27, where Isaac is blessing his sons. Last week we learned that Jacob had agreed to a plan by Rebekah, his mother, to deceive his father, isaac, for Esau's blessing. And Jacob and Rebekah had prepared a meal to mimic Esau's delicious meals that his father loved, and they had put goat hair on his hands and put the clothing of Esau on Jacob. And then his mother sent him in to obtain the blessing of Isaac. Picking up in verse 18, we read so he went in 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've told me. Now sit up and eat my game. That your soul may bless me me. Now sit up and eat my game, that your soul may bless me. But Isaac said to his son how is it that you've found it so quickly, my son? He answered Because the Lord, your God, granted me success. 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. 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. And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. He said Are you really my son, esau? He answered I am.
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Let's pause here and go over these first six verses. When we read that Jacob went in to see Isaac, isaac immediately asks him who are you, my son? Isaac is not as fooled as we may believe him to be. Throughout this narrative, isaac immediately recognizes this isn't the voice of Esau and he questions Jacob as to his identity Three more times. Isaac will question Jacob as to his identity for a total of four times, emphasizing to us both how Isaac is blind and how he finds this activity very suspicious.
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And we see Jacob, as we mentioned earlier, prompted by his mother, taking on the role of Esau to deceive his father into giving him the blessing. Isaac's first question to Jacob is on the timing of this suspicious behavior. He addresses the timing of this meal and from the question we see that the time in which it took Jacob and his mother to kill the goat and fix the meal would have been significantly shorter than Esau going out into the wilderness hunting the game, bringing the kill home and then preparing it. However, jacob's answer to Esau's question is that the Lord, your God, granted me this success. And while his father's question gave him the opportunity to confess his deceit, jacob instead doubles down and he uses the name of the Lord to justify the speed with which this meal was prepared.
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Isaac, his father, clearly still not convinced, says please come near me that I may feel you. And Jacob comes closer to Isaac and Isaac touches his hands and he feels the goat hair that's been placed on Jacob's hands. And this goat hair is mimicking Esau's hands enough to confuse Isaac. So we see here it's clear that Isaac believed this could be Jacob. He knew this was Jacob's voice, he recognized the voice of Jacob, but the skins of these young goats with hair on them mimicked Esau's hands enough to put some doubt in his mind. It would seem that Isaac's sense of feeling also had faded somewhat in his old age and he was unable to discern the difference between these patches of goat's skin on Jacob's hand and Esau's hairy hands. But with this confusion and feeling the hair on his hands, isaac did not think that this could be Jacob, so he blessed him. In his confusion, isaac chose grace over judgment, even though he was unconvinced and still had doubts.
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Isaac gives a blessing to Jacob and still had doubts, isaac gives a blessing to Jacob and then, after giving this initial blessing to Jacob, isaac again questions the person before him, hoping to bring some clarity on what's happening. And he says are you really my son Esau? Jacob recognizes that his father is not certain about what's happening and he also recognizes that his father recognized his voice. So his answer to his father is but one word, in the Hebrew I am Picking up in verse 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. Then his father, isaac, said to him Come near and kiss me, my son. So he came near and kissed him and Isaac smelt of the smell of his garments and blessed him and said See the smell of my son, as is the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you the dew of the heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. 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 everyone who curses you. And blessed be everyone who blesses you. We see that, despite Isaac's suspicions, he was ready for a meal and Isaac partook of the meal that Rebecca had prepared. That mimicked Esau's game, and Jacob also brought forth wine for his father to drink as he was eating. After Isaac had his fill, he again asked this person in front of him to come near and to give him a kiss, and when Jacob came close, isaac smelled of his garments. This again appears to be another deliberate check on the identity of the person before him. However, once Isaac smelt of Esau's clothing, he was convinced that this must be in fact Esau, and he blessed him.
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The blessing that Isaac gives to Jacob here begins with a desire for his son to be prosperous and have authority on the earth, and it ends with part of the Abrahamic covenant Picking up in verse 30, we read as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of his father, esau, his brother, came in from hunting. He also prepared delicious food and brought it in 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. His father, isaac, said to him who are you? He answered I am your son, your firstborn Esau. Then Isaac trembled very violently and said who was it that hunted game and brought it to me and I ate it before you came and I have blessed him? Yes, he shall be blessed.
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In these four verses we see that the moment Jacob leaves the scene, his brother, esau, enters. Apparently. Esau was indeed blessed by the Lord and he did catch his game quickly, because no longer had Jacob left than Esau arrives and Jacob had simply gone out to the pens to grab a goat and fixed the meal with his mother, rebekah, while Esau had to go get the game in the wild. Esau asks Isaac to bless him. He desires the blessing of his father and is expecting that he will receive it now that he's done what his father has asked him to do. Father has asked him to do. When Isaac asks him who he is and Esau replies that he is the firstborn, isaac trembles very violently.
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Isaac was visibly shaken when he had learned just what happened moments beforehand. His trembling is certainly a result of now realizing how he had been living opposed to the words of God. God had told Rebekah in Genesis 25-23 that there were two nations in her womb and two peoples within her would be divided. The one would be stronger than the other. Within her would be divided, the one would be stronger than the other, and that the older would serve the younger. Isaac now realizes that God's word is taking shape before his eyes and he begins to tremble. Isaac tells Esau yes, he shall be blessed. Isaac is now realizing the work of God through Jacob's faith in the Messiah and God's promise to Rebekah many years earlier. Despite Jacob's deception, god's promise through faith stands firm and Isaac knows that he's been fighting against God many years by showing Esau favoritism. Isaac now repents of his behavior and stands on the word of God, acknowledging that Jacob shall be blessed.
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Picking up in verse 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. But he said your brother came deceitfully and he has taken away your blessing. 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's taken away my blessing. Then he said Isaac answered and said to Esau 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, esau, said to his father have you but one blessing, father. Bless me even me also. Bless me even me also, oh, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept In these five verses.
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We see that the moment Esau heard his father's conviction regarding the blessing of Jacob, he was heartbroken. Esau had worked very hard to earn his father's favor and was fully expecting to receive this blessing. His tears are not tears of repentance, but tears of disappointment, because he had failed to thwart the promise that God gave Jacob years ago. For some time now, esau had turned his father's heart toward him with this delicious game, and now he cries bitterly, realizing that all of his self-effort is coming to nothing. In his despair, he begs his father to bless him with the blessing of God he cries to. Isaac's reply to Esau is that it was Jacob's deceit that took his blessing, as if it were even possible to steal the blessing of God. This is actually a very profound and pointed lesson for Esau, because Esau himself had been working for a very long time to take the blessing from Jacob that God had promised him.
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And Esau attacks Jacob. Is he not rightly named Jacob? Because the name Jacob means grabbing at his heel, and that's how Jacob came out of the womb grabbing at Esau's heel. So Esau is making a reference to how Jacob is grabbing at his heel his whole life. And Esau finally asks have you not reserved a blessing for me? Hoping that his father would have held something back, he asks father, can you give me anything? Can you bless me?
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Isaac's reply at this point is essentially that he's given Jacob the blessing of the firstborn and of God, that Jacob now has authority over him and he has obtained the favor of God.
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Esau again asks have you but one blessing, father?
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Esau continuing to plead with his father for all of the hard work that he did to try and please his father, he again pleads with him to bless him with some blessing and Esau lifts up his voice and wept.
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It would be appropriate to say that Esau is wailing over losing his blessing Verse 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 the heaven on high, by your sword you shall live and you shall serve your brother. The blessing, or perhaps better said, the curse, given to Esau was that he would be away from the goodness of the earth, that he would live by the sword and that he would serve his brother. The final notation that says you shall break his yoke from your neck is a prophecy about how, throughout history, the Edomites, who became the ancestors of Esau, would fight Israel and from time to time they would shake off Israelite control. We're going to pause here, and next week we'll see how Isaac blessing Jacob and Jacob's deception play out in the relationship between Jacob and Esau. God bless you this week.