Introduction: Jacob had already purchased Esau’s birthright (some might say, swindled Esau out of it) some years before this event took place. Now, with his mother Rebekah’s help, he was about to swindle his father, Isaac, out of Esau’s blessing. Jacob got the blessing, but he lost more than ever thought he would gain.
The prologue: Isaac’s desire
Text: Genesis 27:1-4, KJV: 1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: 3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; 4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.
The events in this chapter come after much of Isaac’s life. For his first 40 years, he was single, apparently learning all he could from Abraham and Sarah. The Bible doesn’t give a lot of information about Isaac in that regard. When he was 40, he married Rebekah, whose story of leaving her homeland to marry a man she didn’t know is a classic.
Then for 20 years they tried to have children but nothing happened. In God’s timing, though, Rebekah did conceive and bore twins. Her “what’s going on inside me?” question was a very thoughtful one—she asked the LORD about it and may have received a great surprise! This question, also, should prove conclusively that unborn children are living human beings, not just “tissues” or “clumps of cells”. Rebekah would know better than that!
But now, Isaac is “old”—some estimate him to be over 100 years old at this time—and he’s now afraid he’s going to die without giving Esau, his favorite son of the twins, the “paternal blessing”. There is a difference between a birthright, reserved exclusively for a firstborn, and a blessing which a father could give to any of the children. Isaac loved Esau, and wanted to give him the blessing, but wanted “just one more supper” before this took place.
As an aside, “venison” in the KJV is also translated “wild game” in other versions. Deer and related animals were “clean” under the Law of Moses, enacted many years later (examples: roebucks and harts; see Deut. 12:15, 22). “Savoury meat” seems to mean exactly that, but nothing further is said about it. What is important is that Isaac thought he was going to die soon but wanted some (in his opinion) really tasty food before he departed this life.
But something else was going to happen, and Isaac wouldn’t know anything about it. We’re about to see a side of Rebekah and Jacob we hadn’t noticed before.
1 Rebekah’s determination
Text, Genesis 27:5-17, KJV: 5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, 7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death. 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. 9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: 10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: 12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. 13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. 14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. 15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck: 17 And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
Verse 5 states that Rebekah heard Isaac speak to Esau about finding wild game (“venison”, KJV) before giving Esau the paternal blessing. Again, this “blessing” is not something many of us are familiar with, so if the Lord leads, please feel free to do additional study using a quality book or other helps on Bible customs and manners. One wag suggested this and added, “If you do this, you may find a ‘blessing’ yourself!” That’s all she did at the moment, but more was to come.
By now, Esau had taken his hunting gear and went to find some “savoury meat” for his father. Where he went to go hunting is not specified but apparently it wasn’t too far away, as we’ll see in a moment.
Now Rebekah seems to have waited until Esau left on his hunt. She now came to Jacob and explained the problem (your father wants to give Esau, not you, the paternal blessing) and her plan (I’ll make the food, you bring it to your father, and you’ll get the blessing before your father dies). And she explained her determination to get Jacob the blessing in detail.
Before going any further, I have to give Rebekah credit for being a world class chef. If she could make goat meat (I’ve never knowingly had any) taste like wild game, and not have Isaac complain about it, then she had to have some special kind of talent! I’ve been to a couple of “wild life dinners” where some of the, ah, samples were (allegedly) squirrel, elk, deer, perhaps other kinds of poultry or fowl, plus a “mystery meat”. My wife was there, too, and she laughed, saying that mystery meat might have been giving milk a few days before!
But getting back to the text, Rebekah has already thought of a way to get Jacob something, the paternal blessing, which really wasn’t any of her business. True, she had heard the message many years before, including the part where she was told, “the elder shall serve the younger (Gen.25:23)”; even so, she didn’t have any business getting involved. And this would cost her dearly, as it turned out.
Now, Jacob, to his credit, promptly balked at this plan and told Rebekah a few reasons why he believed her plan wouldn’t work! Immediately, he reminded her that Esau was a hairy man but he, Jacob, was not (“I am a smooth man”) and Isaac wouldn’t be fooled that easily. Just because Isaac’s vision or eyesight was failing, his sense of touch was not, apparently, and Jacob felt he wouldn’t get the blessing, but a curse instead!
“No problem”, said Rebekah, “you let me take care of everything and if there’s a curse, let that curse fall on me and not you. Just get me two good kids of the goats and do it now!” Jacob gave in, found a pair of the “kids”, and Rebekah made “savoury meat” just like Isaac loved. She must have thought her plan was going to succeed. Even so, she must have noticed another detail or two: she found some of Esau’s clothes and had Jacob wear them. And, to further disguise Jacob, she put some of the goatskins on Jacob’s hands and the “smooth of his neck (maybe his throat).” Finally she gave the “savoury meat” she had prepared, and some bread, to Jacob and waited for the next phase of her plan to happen. Provisions? Check. Problem? Solved? Really?
No, not just yet. Jacob still had to fool Isaac and that might not be as easy as Rebekah thought.
2 Jacob’s deception
Text, Genesis 27:18-29, KJV: 18 And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son? 19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. 20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me. 21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. 22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 23 And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him. 24 And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. 25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. 27 And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed: 28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: 29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.
Jacob had the platter, we might say, of bread and the “savoury meat” Rebekah had prepared. Now he walked over to where Isaac was staying, maybe his tent, and began the second part of Rebekah’s plan: food, first; blessing, second. I wonder what Jacob might have been thinking, as he was preparing to cheat his own father and brother out of the paternal blessing.
So, he took his first steps and “came unto his father and said, ‘My father.’” As far as I can tell, this is the first recorded time Jacob ever spoke to Isaac. Surely there were other times as Esau and Jacob grew up that Isaac might have told them about any number of things but these conversations are not recorded. Abraham was still living, by the way, until the boys were 15. But now, Jacob isn’t approaching Isaac as Jacob—but rather, as Esau, Isaac’s favorite son!
Isaac may not have been able to see very well, but he could still hear, and he did hear Jacob’s greeting. He said, “Here am I (but) who are you, my son?” This was in contrast to his request of Esau to go hunting for him (verses 1-4), where he didn’t question who was speaking. Was there an element of doubt when Isaac heard the person in his presence?
Jacob now goes all in with the deception. Isaac basically asked, “Who’s there?” and heard Jacob say, “I’m Esau, your firstborn! I did what you wanted me to do, and here’s some of that wild game or savoury meat you wanted me to find! Now, please, arise and give me your blessing before you die (paraphrased and implied).’ Here, we have Jacob’s first lie and it’s a big one.
Isaac seems to be puzzled about this. He then asked “Then, how did you find it so quickly?” This may imply that Esau would be gone for extended periods at a time, hunting game. Perhaps Isaac was already beginning to be suspicious about what was taking place.
Now Jacob didn’t help his case at all. He brought God into the equation: “Because the LORD thy God brought (the game) to me!” In one sense, that’s true; the only way the household would have had any livestock or much of anything else was because of God’s provision and protection. But that didn’t matter: Jacob had now told his second lie. God hadn’t brought anything to Jacob—Jacob had listened to Rebekah and selected two of the best kids of the goats in the flock.
And Isaac still wasn’t convinced. Now he said, “All right, if you’re Esau, let me feel you (remember. Esau was a hairy man but Jacob was not)”. This would be an easy test or reality check to verify just who was in Isaac’s presence. Perhaps aware of this, and with Rebekah’s prompting, Jacob was wearing some of Esau’s clothes plus some of the goatskins on Jacob’s arms and neck. Sure enough, Isaac did feel the son in his presence—but he was still confused. He said, “That’s Jacob’s voice but Esau’s hands!” It’s anybody’s guess what Isaac may have thought while this was taking place.
We do know one thing that Isaac did have on his mind, and that was to ask one last time, “Are you my very son Esau?” We also have Jacob’s third lie to his father: “I am”, knowing full well he wasn’t anything like Esau except in the DNA! After hearing this, Isaac said, “All right, you’re Esau, so bring me the food so that I can bless you.” Jacob must have breathed a sigh of relief once he heard those words!
Jacob not only brought the food (which Rebekah had prepared) and bread, but also some wine (simply part of a meal in those days). It is not recorded but I wonder if Jacob, pretending to be Esau, stayed standing and watched Isaac eat, much like his grandfather Abraham had done when the Three Visitors came to Abraham’s tent at Mamre (Hebron) in Genesis 18. How long it took Isaac to finish the meal is not stated but I’m sure Jacob couldn’t wait for him to finish!
Finally the meal was over but not the drama. Isaac had one more test for his son: he said, “Come here and kiss me, my son” which was a reasonable request in more ways than one. A kiss between men probably was not on the lips but still was a token of love and approval. Many years later people still gave others a kiss of peace or greeting, and Jesus made notice of this in some of His encounters (see, Luke 7 for one example).
There was another reason Isaac wanted his son to kiss him and it’s not exactly subtle. Isaac had already suspected something was wrong, thinking he heard Jacob’s voice but felt Esau’s hands. By smelling the clothes, Isaac would know if Esau or Jacob had come to him. Esau’s clothing seemed to smell like the open fields; Jacob’s would most likely smell like the nearby household. By wearing Esau’s clothes, Jacob did not verbally lie to Isaac but he performed a lie.
But the deception seemed to work. Isaac blessed Jacob (thinking he was blessing Esau). Of note is that Isaac used some of the same words in this blessing that God had shared with Abraham in the covenant of Genesis 12:1-3. Jacob didn’t seem to wait too long after this blessing—he got it, and he got out of Isaac’s presence as soon as he could.
This was a wise move on Jacob’s part, because guess who was about to come back home with a special meal for his father?
3 Esau’s desperation
Text, Genesis 27:30-41, KJV: 30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me. 32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. 33 And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? Where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed. 34 And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father. 35 And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing. 36 And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? 37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son? 38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. 39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; 40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. 41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
This last passage hardly needs any comment. Jacob left Isaac after (wrongfully) receiving the paternal blessing; Esau comes in with the food Isaac had so wanted; but instead of the blessing, Esau receives word that Jacob had stolen the blessing, too.
Esau’s moods go from disbelief (verse 34), “Bless me too, father! How could Jacob do this to me and to you?” to disgust (verse 36), “Yep, he’s named ‘Jacob (supplanter or trickster), all right. He stole my birthright (full disclosure, brother, you sold it to him!) and now he stole my blessing!” to desperation (Don’t you have another blessing, this time for me?” which he repeated a second time. This time Esau wept, and that may be the only time in Scripture where it’s recorded that Esau did this. Even the writer of Hebrews mentioned this in Hebrews 12:14-17.
Finally Esau’s mood turned deadly. He hated Jacob and began to think of how he was going to kill Jacob after Isaac died (remember, all of them thought he wasn’t going to live much longer).
Conclusion: Isaac had a desire for some special food or “chow” as some call it. He sent Esau, his favorite son, to find it. While Esau was hunting, Rebekah (Isaac’s wife) came up with a plan for Jacob, her favorite son, to get the paternal blessing intended for Esau. Jacob did as Rebekah instructed, played his part to the hilt, and obtained the blessing. When Esau returned from his hunt, he heard the news, and to put it mildly, he wasn’t happy.
Jacob did get the blessing, and all that went with it, but he lost a lot more. Another message will go into more detail, but it seems relations between Jacob and Isaac were never the same. Definitely things soured between Jacob and Esau after this, and Esau was mad enough to kill his brother. Rebekah, as we’ll see, lost Jacob and nearly lost Esau.
The plan was so simple, but the results were more than anybody bargained for. Several people have said something along these lines: “it is never right, to do wrong, to do right.” Had Rebekah and Jacob followed that idea, none of the rest would have had to happen.
May you and I, too, resist what seems to be the easy way, and always strive to do things God’s way. “God’s way, is the best way, in every way (copied).”
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
