We saw in chapter 25 that Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for some food. Esau made this deal willingly, but surely he made it frivilously, thus making it very doubtful that he had any intentions of honoring this after the dust settled.
A new disaster was about to strike. Although I personally like these two people, Isaac and Rebekah were much to blame for this because of their favoritism toward their two sons. By this time the battle has taken place for many decades, festering and growing deeper in the hearts of the twin sons. The only thing that made this rivalry tolerable to the two of them was that they were hardly ever together. Esau was always outdoors, working the fields, tending to the livestock, or going out on hunting trips. Jacob, on the other hand, was always around the house playing a less traditional role of a son, all the while gaining in cunning and wisdom, as he was an acute student of human nature.
Chapter 27 vss 1-4: Isaac is getting old and knew he wasn't going to live much longer. He was also blind and unhealthy in other ways (one of his meals was two young goats. how healthy could he be? even I don't eat that much). Isaac knew that it was his responsibility to pass the torch before he died.
So he summoned Esau and told him to go kill some wild game, cook it up and bring it for Isaac to eat. And then Isaac would give him the blessing of the birthright. Esau forgot about or ignored his deal with Jacob or he would have mentioned it to Isaac long before this.
vss 5-10: Rebekah eavesdrops and hears the timing is now. She plots the interception of the blessing by her favorite son Jacob. She thinks for certain that she can do this mainly because Isaac is blind and she could take advantage of that. Vs 11: Jacob gets cold feet and is worried that if Isaac discovers what's going on that Isaac would curse Jacob. But Rebekah reassures Jacob by saying "You let me worry about that". So Jacob brings Rebekah the two young goats, just as she instructs him. She cooked them just like Isaac likes them. Then she dresses Jacob in Esau's clothes so that he will smell like Esau. She wraps goatskin on the bare parts of Jacob's smooth skin so he will feel like
Esau, then sent him in to Isaac with the food to steal the blessing. {Comment: I believe Rebekah knew that Jacob was God's chosen to be the standard bearer of the nation Israel. I also think she fell into the same trap that gets many of us in trouble: The old WRONG adage: The End Justifies The
Means. Lying is still Lying and Cheating is still Cheating. We cannot expect the ultimate goal having been accomplished to redeem us for such practices. Rebekah should have loved both of her sons equally, treating them equally and allowing God to have Jacob get the blessing HIS way and not Rebekah's way. Now we are deprived of knowing how God, in His perfect genious, would have made that happen.}
vss 18--> Jacob hurries because he knows Esau is due back soon. When Jacob gets there Isaac asks
how he did all this so quickly. Ever the quick thinker, Jacob gave the perfect answer: God blessed me. On through these verses, there's little doubt that Isaac was suspicious. You kind of wish Isaac had not been so passive at this time. Isaac actually asks outright "are you really Esau? Then Jacob lies outright "I am". Then (vs 25b) Isaac ate the two goats then proceeds to give the blessing to Jacob. The important part of this blessing was that "you will be lord over your brothers and they will bow down to you". This is the part that makes Jacob the head of the family, which makes him the decision maker.
vs 30: No sooner than Jacob left, Esau comes in to Isaac with the dish full of the cooked wild game. Esau was ready for the blessing, but Isaac said "Who are you?" Can you imagine what each of them must have been thinking. It says in vs 33 that Isaac trembled violently. Esau was livid, but asked for a blessing anyway, but Isaac was now limited. He could not give lordship over the family to two people. However he did promise Esau victory in battle plus many of the same blessings he gave Jacob, but could not include family leadership. He also said that there would come a time when Esau would break Jacob's yoke from his neck. That seems to me to be an unspoken wish of Isaac. Nobody
likes to be tricked into doing something they don't want to do. And Isaac was tricked by the best "trickster" in recorded History.
vs 41 says this made Esau hate Jacob and swore to kill him out of revenge. vs 42 Rebekah heard about Esau's threat and sent Jacob away to her brother Laben (remember him?) until
Esau cools down. He will end up staying there twenty years.
vs 46 The Hittite women are mentioned again. They have made life miserable for Rebekah.
We'll continue this story in the next post which will begin with chapter 28. But to quickly summarize this sad story: It never turns out well when we take God's work into our own hands. We should never try to make our will God's will, but rather we should always try to make God's will our will. Rebekah interferring and doing things her way resulted in grief and misery for her whole family. Everybody paid a price.
>Esau lost his birthright.
>Isaac ended his life in deep regret and humiliation having made a foolish mistake.
>Rebekah lost both of her sons. ( Esau knew what she did and what little relationship they had was
destroyed and Jacob had moved far away for 20 years)
>Jacob became a fugitive in his homeland and had to live in exile under the lordship of someone
he will come to despise. (Laben)
Rebekah should never have interferred. Agree?
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