A Tale of Deception || Genesis 26:23-27:29 || Session 44 || Verse by Verse Bible Study

Ever wondered how family dynamics and divine prophecies intertwine to shape destinies? In today's verse by verse Bible study, we'll take you through the gripping narrative of Jacob and Esau, focusing on the moment Jacob deceives his father, Isaac, to receive the blessing intended for Esau. Discover Rebekah's pivotal involvement in the deception and reflect on the complexities of trusting God's promises despite the passage of time. This segment challenges us to ponder whether achieving a good end justifies dishonest means and the faith required to trust in long-standing prophecies.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:19

Welcome back to Reasoning Through the Bible. We're in Genesis, chapter 26, where we're following Isaac as he is in the middle of a famine, but God has appeared to him and given him guidance as far as how to deal with the pagan kings around him. Let's go ahead and jump in. I'll start at chapter 26,. Verse 23, says this Then he went up from there to Beersheba. The Lord appeared to him that same night and said I am the God of your father, abraham. Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant, abraham. So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's servants dug a well. Note that, just like happened several times to Abraham, god takes the initiative to reach out to Isaac and appear to him. God is always the one taking the action here whenever there's an important concept to communicate. And, steve, what is the first thing that God tells them when he appears to them?

Speaker 2 1:25

He says don't fear, for I am with you. That is also something, over and over again, that God assures the people when he comes visit them don't fear, I'm going to be with you.

Speaker 1 1:39

He also reminds them who he is. I am the God of your father Abraham. In case there's any doubt over which God this might be, he says I am the one true God, the God of your father Abraham. I am appearing to you. This is significant. He then repeats the promises of the Abrahamic covenant once again earlier in the same chapter. He gets repeating we said when we started Genesis we're going to mention this every time it comes up. God repeats over and over again the Abrahamic covenant and each time he's saying I will bless you, I am going to do these things. This is why it is so significant is because it is God taking the initiative to reach out to a human being and saying I am going to cause this to happen. It's extremely important. Then, in verse 25, what does Isaac do in response?

Speaker 2 2:34

He builds an altar there to worship God. So it's a natural thing to do is to build an altar when you're going to worship God.

Speaker 1 2:43

When God has blessed us and God has promised to bless us. What should we do then? We should follow suit. We read in the Word of God a great promise that he has given to us. Maybe it's a promise of heaven, maybe it's a promise that's going to happen later, but it's a promise and we can take faith in that and, knowing that God is faithful, he's going to come through with his promises. At that point we should recognize how great God is and thank him for it. We should sacrifice to him, the first thing Isaac does he builds an altar and sacrifices to God. He does that based on no more nor less than God's promise of blessing. I find this to be a tremendous, tremendous thing. What kind of attitude do you think Isaac has? I'm starting to get the idea here that he's a very spiritual man. We saw last time that he was a man of peace. He wanted to back off and not fight. Now we see this.

Speaker 2 3:41

He says he calls on the name of Yahweh. He's definitely worshiping that God that has just appeared to him as opposed to any other God. It says that he pitches his tent there. He's content to settle down there, where God has appeared to him, and worship him. It's something that I think that we should do sometimes. Sometimes we just need to take rest in the Lord. We have this blessing from him and maybe sometimes we get busy in our life when really we just should settle down, realize that he's with us and take comfort and peace in that and worship him, call on his name and settle down for a little while while we worship God.

Speaker 1 4:26

Next we see this king Abimelech that has again the Philistines had some animosity and some envy towards Isaac and his servants. In this next section, king Abimelech approaches Isaac with some of his senior officials. Steve, can you start at verse 26? We'll see what he says. Read down to verse 31.

Speaker 2 4:48

Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his advisor Ahuzoth and Phicol, the commander of his army. Isaac said to them why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you? They said we see plainly that the Lord has been with you.

Speaker 1 5:39

They said In this, king Abimelech comes with his entourage of high officials. This is the government coming to Isaac. This is interesting. They had just run him off not too long before. At least, the people had been envious of him, filled up his wells and kept following him until he was pushed away With this. Now the leaders of the king himself comes and Isaac reminds them that they had filled up his water wells and run him away. Look at verse 28. What did the king say? They had recognized in Isaac.

Speaker 2 6:08

It says there that they saw that the Lord in all caps L-O-R-D. So that means Yahweh. They recognize that Yahweh has been with Isaac and has blessed him.

Speaker 1 6:19

Can non-Christians in our day recognize the Spirit of God in a Christian and recognize, hey, this person's different? Do people today see that in those of us that are Christians? It?

Speaker 2 6:31

happens every day. I think sometimes we might forget about that, that people are watching us and see us as Christians. I've had it come with people and workers in different paths and we're not really telling them that I'm a Christian and later something happens within the business relationship and they say oh I knew that you were a Christian. It always kind of sometimes surprised me at first. How is it that they knew I was a Christian? But there is something sometimes I think that happens that we exude as Christians. Maybe it's peace, maybe it's confidence, maybe it's. They just see us have a different perspective or outlook on life. But somehow, whenever you're close to God, other people can sense that that is something that you have.

Speaker 1 7:23

When I first became a Christian it bothered me for quite a long time that other people would see the Lord in me and I always wanted to reflect well on Him. I knew that I couldn't live a perfect life when people would realize I was a Christian. But I knew I couldn't live to perfection and therefore it bothered me a great deal that I would do something that might reflect negatively on the Lord. It took me years to mature past that to the point where, ok, I repent of my sins, I do my best to follow the Lord, I try my best not to sin. If other people see flaws in me, then that's an issue with them and not on me. I'm much more comfortable telling other people about my faith because of that. But as we just go through life, it's like I've told new Christians before when you become a Christian, people are going to see it, people are going to notice this. It's just going to ooze out, regardless of what you do, the Christianity Christ just shows through you because you're different now. You're a new creation in Christ.

Speaker 1 8:35

It says in 2 Corinthians, then in verse 29,. Look at verse 29. What are they worried that Isaac will do?

Speaker 2 8:41

They're worried that Isaac is going to bring harm to them, and in that there, in verse 29, they say we don't want you to bring harm to us. We want you to treat us like we treated you, just like we sent you away in peace. That's obviously not what they did. They forced him out by filling in his wells and everything else to force Isaac to leave. Either they didn't know what their subordinates had done to force Isaac out, or to them, filling in other people's wells is a way to force people out in a peaceful manner.

Speaker 1 9:17

What I see here is Isaac is one man. Yes, the text had told us he had gotten very wealthy, so he must have had many servants, but he's still one person. He's just one guy. This king, with the head of the king's military, comes and says please don't fight against us. I find this interesting because I would just assume that the king at least had a military that he was confident in. But nevertheless, they saw the hand of God working through Isaac and they were afraid. That's why they came to him. They were saying Isaac, please don't attack us.

Speaker 1 9:55

It is the case sometimes that non-Christians become fearful when they see Christ coming through us, and that fear can manifest itself in different ways. It could be that they have an awe and respect, even though they might not be Christian. It also could be that they want to push us away. Or it could be that they're afraid we're going to hurt them, or afraid that we're going to challenge something, or afraid that God's going to come along and take away some sin that they find valuable. People react in some quite unusual ways sometimes when they find out that we're followers of the one true God.

Speaker 1 10:34

I just wonder what Isaac was thinking at this point. You're the one that filled my wells and ran me off. And now you're coming to me with this request, Isaac. Then what does he do? He feeds them and makes a covenant with them not to harm them. That's what I see here. Is that happens in these next passages? He brings them in, he has a meal and he does. Indeed, they had asked for a promise not to hurt us. He makes this covenant with them. Look down at verse 34. In verse 34, what happens with Esau? What does it say there about Esau?

Speaker 2 11:09

Esau ends up marrying a couple of Hittite women. Now the Hittites were there in the land of Canaan area and in 35, it says that it brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah because he had done this.

Speaker 1 11:23

And so we have here again this idea of marrying godly women or not. Esau, again, is the one who didn't care about godly things. He goes off. There's no indication here of asking God or seeking God's counsel or any way of seeking God's guidance. He goes off and does what feels good to him, which is to marry these foreign women. I'm reminded of Samson. Samson, of anyone, was blessed by God and he was driven to go and marry a woman that was not a follower of God, and because of that, it just snowballs these problems. The issue here is a lesson for us, which is those of us that are Christians should only marry Christians. We should not be unequally yoked with non-believers, and a marriage is indeed a yoke. He doesn't ask who he should marry. He married two of them instead of just one. He's multiplying problems here. It's showing that Esau has no regard for God and God's ways. That's what I take out of this passage.

Speaker 2 12:30

I think that's right, glenn, is that we're seeing a little bit more of Esau's character. First we saw that he was a hunter, going out and not doing the same thing of what Jacob did. He was kind of independent. Then we saw that he despised his birthright. Now we're seeing that he's going off kind of on his own, marrying these Hittite women and it's having an effect on his mother and father to where they're grieved about it.

Speaker 1 12:57

In the next chapter, chapter 27,. We have a passage here where Jacob has a deception that he's going to do to his father to steal a blessing from his brother. He tells a lie to his father. We're going to read this entire section here now. This is Genesis, chapter 27.

Speaker 1 13:17

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 into 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. Rebecca was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, rebecca 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 the 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.

Speaker 1 14:32

Jacob answered his mother, rebecca. Behold, esau, my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. Therefore 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 and not a blessing, 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. Then she also gave the savory food and the bread which she had made to her son, jacob.

Speaker 1 15:22

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.

Speaker 1 15:37

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 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.

Speaker 1 16:23

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 the fatness of the earth and an abundance of grain and new wine. May the people 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. This is a very critical passage here in our story. The family remember the parents had been playing favorites, and this plays out here. We also had some prophecies that God had made about Jacob and Esau. Now we see this passage here. Steve. What happens? What's the summary of what we just read?

Speaker 2 17:19

All of the things that have happened play into what continues to happen here. God has given this prophecy to Rebekah when she was still pregnant with him. God says that the older is going to serve the younger. There's two nations that are there. They have those favorites.

Speaker 2 17:37

We see Esau's character and here is this story. Now Jacob has the blessing, but yet Isaac is still seeing Esau as his favorite. He's getting up in life. He doesn't know exactly when he's going to die. He's nearly blind. So he says, esau, go out just like you used to Give me the game and come back and fix me a bowl of the stew that I like that you fixed for me before, so that I can give you the blessing. Now Esau didn't have the right to the blessing anymore because he had sold his birthright, but yet we see Isaac still wanting to give him the blessing.

Speaker 2 18:18

We're going to talk about it here a little bit further, but this is something of this family dynamics that are going on here. There's a little bit of scheming going on, first by the mother, rebecca. Jacob follows and does what his mother says. But when the direct question comes from Isaac to Jacob are you really Esau? Jacob just outright lies to him and says yep, I am Esau. While Rebekah comes up with the scheme on how to trick Isaac to give him the blessing, jacob does, in the end, outright lie to his father.

Speaker 1 18:53

Earlier in their lives. Remember, rebecca had been pregnant and she said what's going on inside of me? And there was a prophecy that God made at that point. Then there were two sons. They were born twins on the same day, but Esau came out first and, as such, he was technically the older. What were the prophecies that God had made at the time of their birth or just prior to their birth, about these two men? What had God already told that family?

Speaker 2 19:22

He told Rebekah specifically that the older was going to serve the younger and that the younger was going to be greater than the older. Through this, there's this inference that the younger is going to receive the blessing that has been passed from Abraham down to Isaac. It's clear that that is what God has told Rebekah before, and you know that Rebekah has gone and told Isaac that.

Speaker 1 19:49

Isaac must have known this prophecy. He must have because it was so prominent at the time of these two sons' birth. But Isaac is trying to force the blessing of God because he had this favorite. Isaac knew the prophecy but yet he's still wanting to give the land and the Abrahamic covenant promise through his favorite, older son, esau. Here's a question, steve. The prophecies about Jacob and Esau had been given many years earlier. This is before these are grown men by this time had grown beards and things like that. But it's been a long time since God gave that command. How much faith can we still have in that? Because that's what's going on here? The prophecy had been years earlier. Remember when Abraham was first told the prophecy about Sarah having a child? It was what? 24 years later? That's two and a half decades, quite a long time. It's been many years since some of the prophecies were given to us in the Bible. Can we trust God to still come through with those prophecies, even though it's been a very long time ago?

Speaker 2 20:59

At the end of the previous chapter it said Esau was 40 years old when he married the Hittite women. So we know that it has been many decades since that happened. What is also happening here, glenn, is it's not Isaac's role to pass the blessing down, because it's God's role to do that. Yet Isaac is wanting to go kind of circumvent what God has clearly told them is going to happen. I guess really one of the questions is is that can we have confidence that things that God says are going to come true? The answer is yes. I think.

Speaker 2 21:34

Another question that comes out of that is how long should we wait for the things that God has promised for us to do before we take action on our own? The answer to that is we wait until God is the one who makes the decision to move on. Isaac here is trying to give this blessing to Esau. Maybe he knew that Esau had sold the birthright, maybe not. I have to think and believe that he knew that Esau has sold his birthright. With that, then he knows that the blessing now goes to Jacob because he has the birthright. If he did know that the birthright has been sold, he is, on purpose, trying to circumvent in another way what God has said is going to happen, and try to have what he wants to happen be passed down to his son, Esau.

Speaker 1 22:26

You used the word circumvent. I think that's a good term for what's going on here. Both Isaac and his wife Rebecca are trying to circumvent what God had clearly said was going to happen. When we read these passages, you know we can read it in just a minute or two. But these people's lives they lived lives just like us. They get up and had daily activities that went on day after day, week after week, year after year. God doesn't show up every day. It had been decades since he made that promise, so God shouldn't have to show up every day. And oh, remember that promise I gave? It's still in place. No, he told them, and we should believe that Same thing with us. God made promises to us a very long time ago and he may show up and remind us of that in different ways on a daily basis, but he shouldn't have to. We should believe what he said and follow through with it. Even though it has been a very long time, we can take great faith that God is going to follow through with what he says. If we try to, in our just daily activities, try to circumvent what God has said, we're going to pay the price for it, just like these people are going to pay the price for it.

Speaker 1 23:38

Then, rebecca, she plays favorites too. She wanted Jacob to get the blessing. She comes up with this scheme. Esau's out hunting. We're going to go kill a goat. We'll make you look like you've got hairy hands and a beard and we're going to put your brother's clothes on you. Isaac's eyes are dim and can't see. We're going to fool him and you'll get the blessing.

Speaker 1 24:02

Jacob follows through with the lie that his mother tells him. This is the bitter fruit of having favorites in the family. We mentioned that in one of our previous sessions is what happens when a mother and father play favorites. Here you've got one brother fooling the other one lying to his father in order to get something a human perspective. What could be more fundamentally wrong in a family than a son lying to his own father in order to get a material blessing from him? Jacob should have known these prophecies too. He should have realized that God's going to work through him. The whole thing is a big mess, with people lying to each other, stealing from his brother, lying to his father. It's all because of the bitter sin of the parents playing favorites and not teaching them to follow the Word of God.

Deception and Consequences in Family

Speaker 2 25:01

You've mentioned many times, glenn, in our sessions that God works through the free will acts of people to bring about what his plan is, and his plan is to pass this blessing down from Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob. How is it happening, though? It's through the scheming. Rebecca is also circumventing God's plan in the way that she's not allowing for it to come about through God's working. She's scheming on her own so that the blessing will be passed to Jacob. A question comes up. She overheard the conversation. Why didn't she just go into Isaac and said Isaac, you know that the blessing is going to go to Jacob. She doesn't do that. She doesn't go to God. She says I've got this plan, let's trick your father. That's something, a lesson for us too. Even if we're trying to bring about something that God has brought upon our heart to happen, it's certainly. We certainly shouldn't resort to scheming and lying in order to bring something that God has laid upon our heart to do. That's definitely not the way to proceed In the story.

Speaker 1 26:16

Jacob knows it's wrong because we know in one of the verses I think it's verse 12, he says oh, I'm smooth, I don't have a beard. And he does. And father's going to know. And if he finds out then now I'm going to be caught lying. He knows that there's consequences for telling the lie, but he goes about it anyway. It just adds to the deception. In here we're going to see that come true because as we follow the story through the rest of the book, Jacob's going to suffer because of this. He's going to suffer for quite a while.

Speaker 1 26:52

What goes around comes around. What ends up happening is God will not be mocked. If we sin, we're going to suffer the consequences. We don't get away with it and Jacob's not going to get away with it. Steve, here's a question. God had already promised the blessings of the covenant is going to go through Jacob, but yet Jacob uses this deception, this lie, this fraud in order to get it. Can we use a wrong method to get a right thing? If there's a good end, can I use a wrong method to get to the good?

Speaker 2 27:23

end. That's a tough question. Can we yes, we can. Should we no, we shouldn't when I say that, Romans 8, 28,. God works together to the good everything for those who love him. To paraphrase that verse, While we do things that we shouldn't do, God can still turn it in to his purpose. He does that here, in this situation. But the question, Glenn, that comes in my mind from you asking me that is why would we think that we need to bring something that God wants to do through a disingenuous way? That's really something that is kind of boggling to my mind and I'm just kind of contemplating it here as we're talking about it. Why in the world would you come up with a deception to bring about God's plan? Obviously, Rebecca did that, but we shouldn't do it in our day and age. We just shouldn't do that.

Speaker 1 28:26

Even if we try to justify in our own mind that, oh, the end of what I'm trying to achieve is good, but I know that the means I'm trying to get there is a sin, it's still a sin and God does not approve of lying and fraud, any sin. We're going to suffer the consequences and Jacob's going to suffer the consequences in his life. We can be forgiven of God. But if we go in and say knowingly, okay, the end I'm going to try to achieve here is good, but I'm going to use a sinful way to get there, my friend, we're going to suffer for that. God will not be mocked. We will not get away with it. God will deal with Jacob and drive out the wickedness of him. It's going to take a while, but God's going to take him to the woodshed and he's going to deal with this.

Speaker 1 29:12

In this family there's strife, there's jealousy, there's lying, there's deceit that later is going to result in fighting. If we get caught in that not that any of our families would be like this, but somebody might somewhere but if we so happen that we get caught in a family that has all these kind of problems, how can we, as Christians, if we find ourselves in this family full of strife and argumentation and anger and all these things. What can we as Christians, if we find ourselves in this family full of strife and argumentation and anger and all these things, what can we do to try to alleviate it? I mean, there's some of these situations as individuals we can't fix, because we have people around us in our family that there's just chaos going on. But what we can do as Christians is not participate in it.

Speaker 1 29:54

Just because the family's fighting doesn't mean that I have to get in the midst of the fight. We don't have to participate in the strife and the anger and the sin. We can just say I've been wrong. Please forgive me. I'm going to do what I can to make peace here. Steve, any advice for a family that's caught up into all of the lying and the deception and fraud and anger?

Speaker 2 30:22

Be the example and make sure that you state the reason why you're taking the stance that you are is because it's the Christian thing to do and you're doing it because of your love for Jesus Christ, and that we're told, as Christians, to become more Christ-like and not to love the world these arguments and things that happen within families. When it gets to that point, then somebody needs to stand up and say it's got to stop here. No matter what we do, we at least need to be acting as Christians to each other in a Christ-like manner, especially if the family is a Christian family. If there's people that aren't Christians and nonbelievers in the family, then standing up and taking a Christian stance helps show that person that's not a believer. This is something different about this person that's a Christian. Therefore, let's don't argue.

Speaker 2 31:14

You know life is so short. I know that's a statement that's made many times, but it's a true statement. Arguing about petty things that don't matter and people are going to forget about after a few weeks or months, it's just a silly thing to keep on doing. We need to look towards God and let God renew us and for us to stand up and do the Christian thing, become more Christ-like.

Pious Frauds in Church

Speaker 1 31:39

This is a very ugly scene. We have fighting and strife and lying and fraud, and we're going to end this by pointing out what I think is the ugliest thing in the entire section, which is when Jacob goes in to his father, isaac, and presents the lie. Then at one point Isaac asks how he could have found game so quickly and Jacob responds by saying, quote the Lord your God caused the game to come. Jacob is using God in his lie. Notice he said the Lord your God and not the Lord our God or the Lord my God, but nevertheless he used God's name in the lie. Notice he said the Lord your God and not the Lord our God or the Lord my God, but nevertheless he used God's name in the lie. He couched his lie with a spiritual coating. On the outside he was a wolf in sheep's clothing. He was a pious fraud.

Speaker 1 32:32

Steve, I've met a few pious frauds Some of them I've met in church that come across like oh, we're so spiritual. They couch their language in spiritual, godly things, but inside they're really just frauds. To me, that is the worst. It's also the probably most dangerous place to be is to go and commit a fraud, a lie, a sin, and do it in the name of God. That is bad as it can be, it's a very ugly scene and they're not going to get away with it.

Speaker 2 33:06

That is true. Before he had lied directly that, yes, I'm Esau, but now he's brought God into it. That's just not a very smart thing to do.

Speaker 1 33:15

We end with this very ugly scene here, but what we're going to find is that God's hand is in all of this. God is going to bring good out of the evil. If you come back and stay with us, we'll see how God uses this as we go on with the book.

Speaker 2 33:30

Thank you so much for watching and listening, as always. May God bless you.