2024.07.21. From birthright to blessing. Isaac’s Blessing over Jacob.
William Akehurst, HSWC
BIG IDEA. GOD chose to show HIS Grace and Mercy through an imperfect family to bless those who will put their trust and faith in HIM.
SCRIPTURES: Genesis 27:1-46, Genesis 28:1-5, Romans 8:8, John 8:44, John 14:6, 1Corinthians 10:13, Psalms 36:1, 2 Corinthians 7:1, Hebrews 12:14-17
Everyone messes up.
The bible carries the story of a “The chosen family during an unrighteous season of great disfunction” (McClean)
Highlights GOD’s Grace and Mercy
Characters are relatable to us today. We can see ourselves in this, a connection to see who we are as sinners and who GOD chose to use.
We see warnings, lessons and consequences of bad choices.
We discover God’s will, and how He uses people like us to accomplish it.
This is the family that GOD chose for HIS Purposes and HIS Plan.
Highlight of Isaac’s Spirituality was when he allowed his father Abraham to bind him and place him on the alter.
Rebekah was a trusting woman Gen 24, waiting on a husband, and trusting the LORD
Gen 25, Isaac prayed for Rebekah to have children.
In this chapter, we see “a family that while starting well, finished poorly.” (McClean)
A lesson for all of us.
Isaac’s Blessing of [Esau] Jacob
Genesis 27:1 - 28:5 (NKJV)
1 Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”
And he answered him, “Here I am.”
2 Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 4 And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”
Isaac was 137 years old.
Ishmael died 14 years earlier Gen 25:17 when he was 137 years old.
At the same age, Isaac’s eyes are failing and he feels his death will be soon. But we know the truth is that he will live another 43 years to 180 years old Gen 35:28. Longer than his father Abraham as well as his son Jacob.
Isaac was 60 when he had the twins, Esau and Jacob.
At this time, Esau and Jacob are 77 years old. Not exactly children but living at home.
As Isaac is older, he seeks savory food. Living to satisfy his flesh. To get this food, he offers to give Esau the father’s blessing.
Gen 25:23, God revealed to Rebekah while pregnant that in her, 2 nations were wrestling within her, and that the younger (Jacob) would rule over the older (Esau). So the blessing had to be upon Jacob.
Contrast Isaac’s carnal mindedness to Abraham his father.
In his older years, Abraham was seeking GOD to find a wife for his son Isaac. Abraham was spiritually minded and seeking the LORD for his family.
Isaac in his older years, is not showing signs of spirituality. Rather his desire for food.
And Esau had not valued his birthright, as we learned in Gen 25:29-34, he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil soup.
Esau didn’t value the spiritual calling that GOD revealed that he would be servant to his younger brother. And yet Isaac was ready to bless him, contrary to GOD’s plan.
Isaac had a “fleshly” appetite.
In Romans 8:8, it says that “those who are in the flesh cannot please GOD.”
So when we allow our flesh to drive, then we are not going to do things that please the LORD.
You are a spirit that has a body and a soul.
It is that soul that governs the thought process of either the spirit or the body.
While your spirit connects to your body through your soul, and you can be either a fleshly person who is driven by your body, your flesh, or you can be a spiritual person, who is driven by GOD’s SPIRIT to Your spirit, to your flesh.
Your soul makes the choice. To satisfy the body, or to satisfy the spirit.
If we are following after CHRIST, we should be led by the SPIRIT. And bring our body into obedience with the SPIRIT.
Those who allow your flesh to drive, Romans 8 says they can’t please GOD.
5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. 6 So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son*, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 7 ‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.’
Isaac spoke to “Esau his son”. Rebekah to “Jacob her son”. Favoritism!
8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. 10 Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.”
Rebekah overheard Isaac’s plan and knew it was wrong and not according to GOD’s Plan. So she was going to make it right.
Remember: Isaac and Esau were 77 years old at this time.
Isaac was listening to his mother’s instructions.
11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”
Jacob wasn’t concerned about sinning against GOD or doing the right thing. He wasn’t concerned about deceiving his aging blind father. He was more concerned about getting caught and dealing with the consequences of being seen as a deceiver.
He was approaching this with his own logic.
Had he had the right conscience, what his mother was saying should have caused him to stop and not move forward. But his conscience was seared, and he saw the gain as a better result than the risk.
When we debate in ourselves in the flesh, on something we know is wrong, we may choose wrongly if the gain is higher than the risk.
You cannot defeat the devil or your own flesh with your own logic and thinking.
Scripture tells us that “the weapons of our warfare” cannot be carnal, they must be “mighty in GOD”.
If we lean to our own understanding and not lean on GOD, we will choose unwisely.
GOD’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours, so when we turn ourselves over to HIM, and let HIM lead us, by HIS SPIRIT, we can live the “victorious life”.
It’s a life of love for GOD, an awareness of GOD, a love for GOD and a life focused on GOD that leads us to victory.
Jacob wasn’t even thinking of GOD. He wanted to know if this was safe, or if he would get caught.
13 But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.”
Rebekah encouraged Jacob to obey her to secure the blessing. A blessing promised to him before his birth. A promise surrendered to him when Esau sold his birthright.
Here, Rebekah is encouraging Jacob to obtain the blessing through self effort and sinful means, through deception.
Her philosophy was that “the end justifies the means”.
GOD is just as concerned about the means, the way we get there, as HE is of the end result.
He has an end goal, but is just as concerned about the way we get their
Satan is the deceiver 2Corinthians 11:3.
John 8:44 the devil is a liar and the father of lies.
John 14:6 Jesus is the truth.
Psalm 32:2 Blessed is the man in whom whose spirit is no deceit.
Rebekah was encouraging Jacob to deceive, to lie to his own father.
She would suffer greatly because of this plan. “Let the curse be upon me”.
Her promise didn’t get Jacob off the hook. Jacob was responsible for his own actions.
14 And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
So Rebekah and Jacob worked together to deceive Isaac.
Now Rebekah did see where Isaac had set up a plan other than GOD’s Plan. So she had to set it straight. But instead of confronting her husband directly, she chose a path of deception.
Rebekah was not foreign from the use of deception. She and Isaac in Gen 26, acted like brother and sister instead of husband and wife.
When there was no evidence of confession or repentance when that lie was uncovered, we see that it was never dealt with, and resurfaced again.
Living a life of deception, a false narrative, is not the pathway to right living and blessing.
In similar fashion, Satan tempted JESUS also using deception. Half truths, using GOD’s will to tempt JESUS. Satan was tempting JESUS with shortcuts. Fleshly ideas, suggesting compromise.
His venue is to deceive us to believe that we can sew to the flesh and still reap good things. That’s the way the devil works.
It’s never right to lay aside decency and morality to obtain a good goal or godly end.
“GOD is just as concerned with the means as HE is with the end.” (McClean)
And there are many consequences when compromise is made.
Rebekah devises a plan and helps Jacob to deceive and put it into action.
And Jacob complies. Jacob is of age many times over. So his actions, his choice is his own.
18 So he went to his father and said, “My father.”
And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”
A bold-faced lie to deceive his nearly blind father to get to the goal, the blessing.
20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”
And he said, “Because the LORD your God brought it to me.”
Wow, that came fast. How?...then another lie.
21 Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to 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 did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
Isaac had suspicion, but no discernment.
Isaac felt something was wrong, but he wanted to move forward with it.
24 Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?”
He said, “I am.”
Another lie. Jacob had plenty of times and opportunities to get out of this deception or temptation.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
God always makes a way of escape. But its up to us to decide.
25 He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” 27 And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:
“Surely, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed.
Isaac asked Jacob to come to him to kiss him, so he could smell him.
Isaac reasoned…
He felt like Esau, came back with food from hunting like Esau, but does he smell like Esau?
Interesting…A kiss to accomplish a sinful objective. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Who else was betrayed by a kiss?
Denying his own suspicion because of lack of discernment…
Thinking he’s dealing with Esau, Isaac blesses Jacob.
Isaac was in direct disobedience to GOD. GOD had said that the younger would receive the blessing.
And here’s the blessing Isaac spoke over Jacob.
28 Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!”
ISAAC thinks he is blessing Esau, with a blessing that GOD declared over Abraham.
Here, Isaac is in sin,
Jacob is in sin
Rebekah is in sin.
And THIS is the family that GOD chose to show HIMSELF through?!?
Do they seem like spiritual people?
Not at all.
Esau’s Lost Hope (Heb. 12:17)
30 Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”
Jacob got out just in the nick of time before Esau arrived.
32 And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—and indeed he shall be blessed.”
Isaac trembles. He is visibly and spiritually shaken.
He is now confronted with the fact that in his attempt to go against God’s will, his attempt to overrule God’s will had failed.
Interesting to learn later in Gen 31:42, That Jacob describes GOD as the GOD of my father, the GOD of Abraham, and the “FEAR” of Isaac.
In Gen 31:53, Jacob swears to Laban by the FEAR of Isaac. Again referring to GOD.
Isaac was shaken to a newfound FEAR of GOD.
Psalms 36:1 and Romans 3:18 say …concerning the transgression of the wicked:
“There is no fear of God before his eyes.”
The FEAR of GOD encourages us to be holy.
I’ve often said, we don’t fully understand the meaning of “the FEAR of the LORD”.
2 Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
2 Samuel 23:3 The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over men must be just, Ruling in the fear of God.
But here we see Isaac and his FEAR of the LORD that causes him to tremble.
Isaac learned the hard way of the FEAR of GOD. And he was changed immediately.
He may not have had a clear understanding, but he was not going to go against the LORD from this day forward.
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”
35 But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”
36 And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
Esau said, when you named him Jacob, you named him correctly.
At birth, Jacob had Esau’s heal. A supplanter, a heal catcher. Trying to get ahead, trying to get what he wants.
Jacob did take the blessing that he wanted, but Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob giving up that blessing.
And ultimately it was GOD’s plan for Jacob to receive the blessing.
37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”
38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
Esau didn’t value his birthright, he married 2 pagan women. He put no value on spiritual values, but he wanted the blessing.
Jacob valued spiritual things, valued the birthright, wanting the blessing. But he went about it the wrong way.
Hebrews 12:14-17 (NKJV)
14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
Esau had tears of regret, but no repentance.
He wanted the blessing, but not to be the man that GOD would bless.
He sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.
He never changed his mind about the birthright.
There are people who want the blessing, but not the birthright.
There are people who never repent, but want the blessing. Want the good things. Material things.
But the material, physical is not the goal. It’s the spiritual. We need to value the spiritual things.
Eternal blessings come to those who have the birthright.
To see the kingdom of GOD you must be born again.
You MUST HAVE the BIRTHRIGHT.
Which comes from repentance and believing in GOD’s Will, Plan and Purpose.
And…JESUS IS OUR BIRTHRIGHT.
39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:
“Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth,
And of the dew of heaven from above.
40 By your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your brother;
And it shall come to pass, when you become restless,
That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”
Here Isaac is restating the promise that GOD spoke to Rebekah that the younger would rule the older, and the older would serve the younger.
Jacob Escapes from Esau
41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, 45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”
She didn’t want to see Jacob killed when Isaac died.
OR for Jacob to be killed and Esau killed for killing Jacob.
So she planned for Jacob to leave for a few days. But what she thought would only be a few days, resulted in years. The curse of that deception was upon her, and her son Jacob in that Rebekah would never see Jacob again.
She lost the enjoyment of the relationship with her son by trying to fix things instead of trusting in the LORD.
Sometimes we end up missing out on things in life, because instead of trusting the LORD, we try to do things on our own.
46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
Rebekah didn’t want Jacob to take a wife from the daughters of Heth (Heth = Terror).
Thinking…As a mother, what would I have accomplished if that’s the road taken.
Genesis 28:1-5
1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
Rebekah doesn’t tell Isaac about the concerns of Esau, instead she brings up Jacob’s wife.
Esau had married 2 locals from Heth (Sons of Terror).
And finally, Isaac speaks the blessing over Jacob, knowing he is speaking to Jacob. Accomplishing the LORD’s Will for the blessing.
3 “May God Almighty bless you,
And make you fruitful and multiply you,
That you may be an assembly of peoples;
4 And give you the blessing of Abraham,
To you and your descendants with you,
That you may inherit the land
In which you are a stranger,
Which God gave to Abraham.”
5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Did Jacob deserve this blessing?
Based on the deception and how he went about it, I would say a resounding NO!
But GOD gave the blessing, and it was HIS Plan, regardless of how this family would go about it.
That’s what GRACE is. And this was entirely GOD’s GRACE over Jacob.
GOD giving Jacob what he didn’t deserve.
Isaac finally having the fear of God in his life is acting as the agent to bestow God’s grace upon his son Jacob.
This is the story of a family who was talking about GOD’s blessing. But not living a spiritual life. Rather a life of the flesh.
Rebekah lost the son that she loved. She would never see him again.
And we will see that Jacob who deceived his father Isaac to take what was his brother’s, will also be deceived by Rebekah’s brother Laban and later by his own sons in a very significant way.
Isaac’s plan to bless the wrong son came to nothing.
Isaac was controlled by his appetite, and by his wife.
We will see that it will take a long time for Jacob to surrender to the LORD and stop wrestling with GOD. That wrestling or restlessness that started in the womb.
Rebekah could have waited for GOD to fulfil HIS plan. She should have, but didn’t.
Jacob could have refused his mother and waited on the LORD.
Perhaps we are trying to obtain something and not trusting GOD for it.
And as a result, our lives are a mess.
There is hope. GOD is a GOD of GRACE.
HE paid the price at Calvary.
And HE wants for us to come and rest in HIM. So that HE may fulfill HIS plan and purpose in our lives.
We have opportunity for the BIRTHRIGHT AND THE BLESSING!
All in JESUS.
Closing Prayer,
FATHER, we thank you for a family that has gone through many difficulties, making wrong decisions, all to show YOUR Great Love, Mercy and Grace. We thank YOU that in our own lives, You show that same love, mercy and grace. Help us to trust YOU for all things. Secure in us the Spiritual over the Physical. Secure in us the Birthright and Blessing, through JESUS CHRIST our LORD, Amen.
Be blessed and be a blessing,
Bill
