Family Feud - Genesis 27

Good morning from the Panhandle. Here we are it is mid-week and after a missed post or two we are looking at Genesis 27. No parent is suppose to have a favorite child, but we have all heard of a “Momma's Boy” or “Daddy's Girl.” Favorites do happen sometimes and it happens in this chapter. Jacob “Momma's Boy” and Rebekah connive to get the blessing of Isaac for Jacob which was intended for Esau “Dad's favorite.” Jacob wanted the blessing of his father. He knew God had promised his mother that the elder would serve the younger. The blessing was his. Yet he did not believe God, nor did his mother or father. If they had then this deception would not have been required.


The method of Jacob in obtaining the birthright cannot be supported on any grounds whatsoever. He used fraud and deceit. His conduct was just wrong. God didn’t condone the conduct of Jacob and as we see later he would pay for his sins.


CHAPTER 27 AT A GLANCE:
I. Isaac's purpose to entail the blessing upon Esau v. 1-5.
II. Rebekah's plot to procure it for Jacob v. 6-17.
III. Jacob's successful management of the plot, and his obtaining the blessing v. 18-29.
IV. Esau's resentment of this, in which,
1. His great importunity with his father to obtain a blessing v. 30-40.


2. His great enmity to his brother for defrauding him of the first blessing v. 41, etc..
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Genesis 27:1-17

27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son."

"Here I am," he answered.

2 Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your weapons--your quiver and bow--and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die."

5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7`Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.' 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."

11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. 12 What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing."

13 His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me."

14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. 

 

WHEN ISACC WAS OLD … HE CALLED ESAU (vv. 1-17)

It is difficult to imagine all the sorrow, agony, and cruel disappointment wrapped up in this colorful narrative. The old patriarch, with blinded eyes and a tottering frame, now made plans to give the sacred blessing to his first-born son.

But the crafty Rebekah, who listened to his directions to Esau, immediately set about deceive her husband. Her favorite son, Jacob, already had the birthright; she was determined that he should receive the blessing, too, from the lips of the Lord's representative, so that all would be well with the divine inheritance.

Like Sara, Rebekah could not risk waiting for God to work out His plans in His own way. So she resorted to underhanded means to secure the blessing for her younger son.

Genesis 27:18-29

18 He went to his father and said, "My father."

"Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?"

19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."

20 Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?"

"The LORD your God gave me success," he replied.

21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."

22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. 24 "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked.

"I am," he replied.

25 Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing."

Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."

27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,

"Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed. 28 May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness--an abundance of grain and new wine. 29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you.Be lord over your brothers,and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."

AND JACOB SAID … I AM ESAU THY FIRSTBORN (vv.18-29)

Coached by his mother, Jacob came to his old father with deception and lies. He even declared that Jehovah had helped him make his preparations with speed. After lying to his father, he planted a false kiss upon the old man's upturned face. It was all or nothing with Jacob and his mother.

Genesis 27:30-40

30 After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, "My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing."

32 His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?"

"I am your son," he answered, "your firstborn, Esau."

33 Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him--and indeed he will be blessed!"

34 When Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me--me too, my father!"

35 But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing."

36 Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!" Then he asked, "Haven't you reserved any blessing for me?"

37 Isaac answered Esau, "I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?"

38 Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!" Then Esau wept aloud.

39 His father Isaac answered him,

"Your dwelling will be away from the earth's richness,away from the dew of heaven above. 40 You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless,you will throw his yoke from off your neck."

AND ESAU LIFTED UP HIS VOICE, AND WEPT (vv. 30-40)

The sight of Esau weeping in moving, you can almost hear the anguish in his voice. But did Esau realize the sacredness of the blessing, or did he only desired the advantages it would give.

His deep hurt that Jacob had outwitted him in securing the birthright, his bitter disappointment, quickly turned into intense hatred and desire for revenge.

Genenis 27:41-46

41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

42 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 Stay with him for a while until your brother's fury subsides. 45 When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I'll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"

46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living."

JACOB FLEES FOR HIS LIFE (vv. 41-46)

To save Jacob from his brother's revenge, Rebekah found a pretense for sending Jacob away. Sure Jacob had his brother's birthright and now his blessing, but now his family life was destroyed, Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau each had to bear lonely hours of separation, disillusionment, and regret. Rebekah would never see her favorite son again, and Jacob would have to face life without father, mother, or brother.

And what about God's plans for the kingdom? How could they be worked out in the face of such selfishness, intrigue, and deceit? The Lord of hosts is not to be thwarted by men's opposition, failure, or lack of faith. He is able to make His will prevail in spite of all that we do to interfere with it.

While Isaac moved a little closer to the hour of his death, and Rebekah mourned because of the distressing situation she had precipitated, and Esau thought of revenge, Jacob made his lonely way from Beer-sheba to Padan-aram.

(from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)

While we are not just to sit on our hands and say what ever will be is God's will, sometimes trying to help God's plans along can cause more trouble than good.