There is nothing more disconcerting than a wormy apple to a hungry eye. Some apples look very good on the outside but when you bite into them you discover it’s full of worms. But others are more obvious in their contents. Sometimes you can look at an apple and see through it’s bruises and punctures that it’s full of worms. Tonight’s text is an obviously wormy apple of a passage bound to create more questions and upset stomachs than it cures. The question it answers is simple enough: “How will God fulfill his reversal of the normal and make Jacob the son of blessing rather than Esau to whom the culture said it was due?” The answer we get tonight however is completely opposite from what we may expect.
In a perfect world we might anticipate that God’s prophetic word is accepted from the start and expected throughout life. But in the cold – hard crucible of human nature the practical outworking becomes twisted and overgrown with the messy incertitude of real life. To read the story of Jacob’s deceptive retrieval of his father’s blessing is to stub your sanctimonious toe in the dark corners of the human heart.
Completely without reason we expect to find super saints in the pages of the bible, but the bible is not merely a spiritual treatise exemplifying the holy life. More often than not it contains a negative example that is far more practical and rough and realistic. Life is messy and as a result the bible is messy with the “memory of how faith moves in the rawness of experience.” (Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis. Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching, Page 229. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982.)
It is the method of transmission here that gives so much heartburn. The promise is transmitted to the younger at the expense of the older. This is in fulfillment of the promises of God (Genesis 25:23) but as we see here is done through distorted and sinful means and questionable motives. So much of what is going on here is unjust that it stands in stark contrast to what we would expect of what is supposed to be a godly family.
But God is not mentioned in this text, he is all but left out of the procedure and that I think is precisely the problem. Because God is left out, the blessing has become a burden. (Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis. Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching, Page 227. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982.) And despite the conniving of the family members involved, the blessing has it’s way. What surprises me more than anything else about this story is that Esau who does nothing innately wrong is deprived of the blessing; while the deceiving, conniving liar Jacob takes the blessing and waltzes away with it; and this at the hand of his Mother who’s promptings towards dishonesty are not fashioned by mere favoritism for the younger son alone but have their root in the prophetic word of God spoken to Rebekah more than forty years prior! (Genesis 25:23).
1) THE POWER OF THE BLESSING.
1a) It is Divine in origin and effect:
The whole story revolves around this verbal declaration of destiny to be given by the patriarch who believes that in pronouncing this blessing he is invoking as it were the blessing as though he spoke the words of God himself. In other words the patriarch Isaac treats this blessing as if it is the sacred, unshakable and declarative word of God: – a declaration which is fully expected by every member of the family to have lasting and real consequences in no small part because it is assumed by all four members of the family to be a sort of divine contract written to to a specific name but “to the bearer” of the document.
The language of the blessing, the origin and expectation of the blessings efficacy point us towards recognizing that the spoken word is more than merely powerful it has extreme effect. This serves to awaken us to the importance of our daily speech as well as our sacred speech as being that through which God does his work.
Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
It also serves to warn us that the lasting effects of our words are as important if not more important than the mere moment they are spoken in.
Matthew 12:36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”
1b) The blessing is a sacred link between generations
The blessing itself is a testimony that the generations are not separated. The younger generations wellbeing depends upon the older generations input. Without it – or if that input is negative the younger generation suffers.
1c) It is power beyond what is seen.
The narrative presumes that symbolic actions have genuine and abiding power. Symbolic actions (like laying on hands) are not empty gestures signifying nothing. This ritual act is a decisive event in which something has been done irrevocably (cf. 48:18–19). More happens than meets the eye.(Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis. Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching, Page 228. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982.)
2) The potency of Lost Blessing.
“There is pathos in this text, for the sons as well as for the father. It lies in the awareness that nobody wants to live a life that is unblessed. Nobody wants a life without the special words and gestures that bind that life to a precious past and a promised future. The narrative becomes aware that somebody is destined to lesser blessing. One son cannot have the full blessing, for there is only one such blessing.” (Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis. Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching, Page 229. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982.)
Without the blessing which the whole family ultimately knows is not only powerful but also comes from God’s own hand, Esau is left out in the cold. While I cannot justify the devious nature of Jacob’s actions – we must also remember that Esau got precisely that which is in accordance with his faith – bupkis!
The writer of Hebrews (Hebrews 12:16-17) lifts up Esau as the preeminent unbeliever who – after Christ has come or death has fallen – would plead for salvation from the Lord. God’s response to such a one is “away from me, I never knew you.” Esau had already rejected the blessing when he sold his inheritance for a bowl of soup. Esau had already rejected goodness when he married not one but two heathen wives. Esau lost the blessing to be certain but he lost it out of unbelief.
On the day of Judgment many will plead for salvation but Jesus will say it has been too late. The application for us is at least twofold.
1) In the words of Hebrews 12:16 “See to it that there be no immoral or Godless person like Esau” among you.
2) We only have this chance to live life faithfully to God. We will not have another life we must take today. Frivolity is not an option to the obedient.
3) The Problem of impurity.
Due only to his own trickery Jacob who loved to dwell in the comfort of the tents is now forced to leave his home and flee into the wilderness. Rebekah who loved Jacob most – pays the highest price, she loses all contact with her son and Jacob loses his mother’s apron strings forever, for she will die while he is gone. He is separated from the tents he loved (Gen. 25:27) and he is enslaved to fear and doubt concerning what Esau will do when he catches him for the next two decades. Before everything is over Esau will learn to forgive and Jacob will learn to trust God; but the going will be hard and the lessons harder.
4) The promise of redemption.
In order to make Jacob God will have to break Jacob. That is very true of us as well. We are not perfect people and we fail. Sometimes to get what we want we also turn to manipulation and moral destitution. The hope we have is certainly not that God condones forsaken behavior if it accomplishes his means – he does not. The hope we have is that God is He who is able to craft the wonderful from the wretched for those that love Him.
Even in the wasteland of intrigue - favoritism – spiritual insensitivity – broken promises and lies – God’s plan will be accomplished.
In 1997 Philip Yancy published a book with a stunning title, “What’s so amazing about grace.” The title has always intrigued me – the answer that Yancy brings is rooted in the triumph of the scriptures – and is exemplified even in this apparently inappropriate section. I continue to be astounded that the scriptural record almost without fail displays God giving grace to the most unworthy. That is what is so amazing about the glory of Grace.
In the case of the Pharisee and the publican – the Publican is accepted.
When the woman caught in adultery is brought to Jesus he doesn’t condemn.
When he is nailed to the cross he cries, “Father forgive them they don’t know what they’re doing.”
And when Jacob heeds his mother’s conniving in order to bring about the fulfillment of God’s word, God grace is there – paying the price, and keeping the record straight. Not condoning, but because of grace in Christ not condemning either.
That is Amazing Grace.
