Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Genesis 27:1) 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 oldest son and said to him, "My son", and he said to him, "Here I am."
Isaac had grown old and his eyes were blind. By this time, Esau had probably been married to the Hittite women for some time, marriages which were grievous to Isaac and Rebekah, so I don't believe they would be living in Isaac's household. They may have lived close by, but regardless, Isaac called for Esau, his oldest son.
(2) And 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 take me venison. (4) And make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die."
Isaac told Esau that he was old and didn't know when he might die. He asked Esau to go hunting and bring back and prepare the meat, as Isaac loved. Isaac had already stated that he didn't know how much longer he would live, so the real purpose in this was to bless his oldest son, but he would enjoy doing it after a meal like he had always enjoyed from his son, the hunter. In Biblical times, the parental blessing bestowed on their children near the parents' time of death was an important one, and godly men often did it under a spirit of prophecy, declaring their children's future.
(5) And Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt venison and to bring it. (6) And Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, (7) 'Bring me venison and make me savory meat that I may eat, and bless you before the LORD before my death.'"
Rebekah overheard when Isaac spoke to Esau. It was more than likely by design, rather than by accident, and she eavesdropped. She may have seen Issac calling for his oldest son and made it a point to hear what he wanted. She called Jacob and told him what she had overheard.
(8) "Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you. (9) Go now to the flock and bring me from there two good kids of the goats, and I will make them savory meat for your father, such as he loves. (10) And you will bring it to your father, that he may eat, and that he may bless you before his death."
After telling Jacob what she overheard his father say to Esau, Rebekah instructed him on what she wanted him to do. She presented it as a command and told him to obey her. She told him to go to the flock and get two kid goats, as that would be faster than Esau could hunt down game. She would then prepare the meat as Isaac loved and Jacob would take it to his father and receive his father's blessing. This cannot be condoned as righteous behavior. It had been prophesied to Rebekah that her oldest son would serve her younger, but once again, we have a case of people feeling they have to help God bring the prophecy to fulfillment. Prophecy of future events tells us what will happen, good or bad. It cannot be said that God willed it to happen by deceit. God saw future events and foretold them. If, as in the case of the birth of a son to Abraham, it was God's will, then God was perfectly able to perform what He had promised.
(11) And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. (12) My father perhaps will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing."
Jacob objected to his mother's commandment. Whether it was out of conscience or fear, he told his mother he didn't think her plan would work. Maybe Isaac couldn't see, but he would certainly be able to tell by feeling that Jacob was not Esau. I thought the wording "I shall seem...as a deceiver" was funny; he IS a deceiver if he follows through with this plan. But the point is that his father would see him as the deceiver he was and, as we'll see written in the laws later, a man who purposely led a blind man astray was to be cursed (Deut. 27:18)
(13) And his mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go fetch them for me."
Rebekah insisted that Jacob obey her and told him she would bear all responsibility and punishment. It may be that she felt very secure in the prophesy that she had received that Esau would serve Jacob, that she did not at all fear a curse, but I am quite sure that God did not instruct her in this deception. This she did of herself.
(14) And he went and fetched and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory meat, such as his father loved. (15) And Rebekah took choice clothes of her oldest 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) And she gave the savory meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
Jacob went and brought the two kids from the flock and his mother prepared them the way Isaac loved. To complete the deception, she took some of Esau's clothes that she had in her possession and the skins of the kids and put them on Jacob to make him feel and perhaps smell like Esau. She gave him the meal she had prepared.
(18) And he came to his father and said, "My father", and he said, "Here I am; who are you, my son?"
Perhaps Isaac was expecting Esau and since it didn't sound like Esau, he asked who it was. I have to believe his sons must have sounded a little alike, or else he surely would have known right away it was his son Jacob.
(19) And Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; I have done accordingly as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me." (20) And 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."
Even though his mother insisted Jacob play in this deception, he can in no way be excused from lying. He didn't merely play the part; he outright lied to his father when he told him he was Esau. When Isaac wondered how he could have found his game so quickly, Jacob even said the Lord brought it to him! How could a righteous man bring the name of the Lord into his deliberate lie? The only way I can resolve that is to think that he must have truly believed, as did his mother, that it was God's will that he become the heir to his father's blessing. That is not to condone his behavior in any way! God did not need his help in this and God certainly would never condone lying, but maybe in Jacob's heart, he did not see it as blatantly evil as it could be interpreted to one reading about the deceptive trickery to a blind man. Thankfully, the Lord judges our hearts in our actions as we humans often screw up! That doesn't mean there won't be consequences to our wrong actions, but God graciously judges our hearts and motives. Of course, that means He judges our motives when we do something good, as well, to see if there was truly good in our hearts, or if we are doing it to bring glory to ourselves.
(21) And Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are my very son Esau or not."
I always found this scripture a bit odd. The way it is worded, it's as if Isaac suspects trickery. I always wondered why he would suspect he was being deceived. He's already asked who it was and received an answer that confirmed something that he had said to Esau, something he would have thought no one else would have heard, but he was still not sure it was really Esau and wanted to feel him to be certain. Was there so much trickery in and around this household that he suspected it now? Maybe there was a constant tension between his sons as Jacob strove to be first. Esau may have felt tricked over selling his birthright and may have made that known. Or maybe it's simply that even though the man said he was Esau, it just didn't sound like him, and being unable to see, Isaac would feel more comfortable having his son close to him so that he might touch him and feel confident.
(22) And 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."
So it seems Isaac did suspect it was Jacob, even though Jacob had said he was Esau. Does that mean he would have suspected Jacob of lying to him? Maybe he didn't give it that much thought. Perhaps he was just confused because the man sounded like Jacob, and he just wanted confirmation that it really was Esau.
(23) And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.
Thus Isaac did not recognize that this was Jacob. If he had been confused, feeling the hairy hands confirmed it for him that this must be Esau. It was more rational to believe that Esau's voice was a bit altered for whatever reason than to believe that Jacob had suddenly grown hair. So he blessed Jacob, as detailed in the next few verses.
(24) And he said, "Are you my very son Esau?" And he said, "I am."
Was Isaac still not 100% sure? You would think he would not bless Jacob if he suspected trickery, but perhaps this was just a sort of rhetorical question meant to be confirmation after he had felt his son.
(25) And he said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, so that my soul may bless you." And he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. (26) And 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, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed."
Isaac ate his son's meal, and then asked his son to come near and kiss him. When he felt him earlier, Jacob apparently did not come close enough for his father to really smell of his clothing; perhaps he had just reached out his hairy hands. But now Isaac smelled the clothes of his son the hunter and began his blessing.
(28) "Therefore God give you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. (29) Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you; be lord over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you; cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be he who blesses you."
Isaac continued his blessing. The dew of heaven would represent blessings from heaven or blessings from God. Jacob would be blessed by God and blessed with plenty from the earth. People and nations of people would serve Jacob. He would have dominion over his brethren, plural, probably meaning Esau and his posterity and his mother's sons being his mother's people, perhaps sons of her brother Laban. More than power to Jacob, this blessing is a prophecy of the coming Messiah before whom all kings will fall down and all nations will serve (Psalm 72:11). Blessing those who bless him, and cursing those who curse him, is a reiteration of the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, "And I will bless them who bless you, and curse him who curses you, and in you will all families of the earth be blessed".
(30) And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of 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) And he also had made savory meat, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat of his son's venison, that your soul may bless me."
Jacob had received his blessing, the blessing Isaac meant for his firstborn, Esau, and he had left. Then the real Esau came in from hunting and presented the meal his father had requested of him.
(32) And Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."
No doubt this greatly surprised Isaac. He had finally been satisfied that he had previously been with Esau, and then here came someone who surely sounded more like him.
(33) And Isaac trembled very exceedingly and said, "Who? Where is he who has taken venison and brought it to me? And I have eaten all of it before you came, and I have blessed him, and indeed he shall be blessed."
Isaac trembled exceedingly, obviously very distraught over what he at that point realized must have happened. He quickly spurted out questions about who and where was the person he had just blessed, although he probably knew that it was Jacob. Isaac obviously knew the blessing he had pronounced upon Jacob had come from the Holy Spirit when he said, "...indeed he shall be blessed". Otherwise, he could have changed his blessing.
(34) And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, me also, O my father!"
The original words for "cried" and "cry" used here literally mean "shriek". Esau screamed in bitter anger upon hearing the words of his father that someone else had received the blessing meant for him. He asked his father to bless him also.
(35) And he said, "Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing."
Isaac undoubtedly was moved by the great disappointment of Esau at having lost his blessing. He explained that it was Jacob's fault, that he had deceived Isaac and had taken away his blessing.
(36) And he 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?"
This scripture shows that Esau indeed still felt some hostility over being robbed of his birthright, although in that case, there was no deceit, and Esau gave up his birthright willingly; but it is true that Jacob used Esau's hunger and weakened state to his advantage. Esau asked if Jacob was not rightly named, as "Jacob" means "supplanter". To "supplant" another is to put a foot under the heel of the other in order to trip him up, or in a figural sense, to trip him up by fraud or trickery. Now Esau felt that Jacob had robbed him twice, and he asked his father if there wasn't any blessing left for him.
(37) And Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Indeed I have made him your lord, and all his brethren I have given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him; and what shall I do now for you, my son?"
The language Isaac used to tell Esau of the blessing he had bestowed on Jacob shows that he had surely been speaking prophetically by the power of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise Isaac's words alone would not have been enough to will anything to happen. But now that these prophetic words have been spoken and bestowed upon Jacob, Isaac can't see anything left for Esau. Jacob will have dominion over others, even nations, and over Esau himself and his posterity; and he will be rich in heavenly and earthly blessings; what else is there, Isaac wondered.
(38) And Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, me also, O my father!" And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
Esau openly wept to his father, and one might think he was genuine in his disappointment over not receiving his father's blessing. Perhaps on one level he was genuinely sorrowful, but not for the right reasons. We must remember that it was Esau who willingly gave up his birthright when things got a little tough. In the New Testament, that episode is recounted in Hebrews 12:16-17:
"Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."
Esau probably cried real tears over losing his father's blessing, but it was probably more for selfish reasons over the loss of something he would have received, rather than repentance for something he had done wrong in rejecting his birthright which led up to this current event.
(39) And Isaac his father answered and said to him: "Behold, your dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. (40) And by your sword you will live, and will serve your brother; and it shall come to pass when you will have the dominion, that you will break his yoke from off your neck."
Isaac did find a blessing for Esau, and once again, we can assume it was given by the Holy Spirit of God, because if it was a spoken wish of a loving father, I'm sure he could have come up with something more pleasant sounding. Isaac told Esau that he would dwell in the plenty of the earth and where blessings come from heaven, but as God would send these blessings of plenty to Jacob, Esau would receive them only because he dwelt in the area of the blessings given to Jacob. Esau would live by the sword, which may mean that he would live in violence and war, but it may have also referred to the fact he was a hunter and lived by killing his prey. And he would serve his brother, but there would come a time when his people would have some dominion and power in the world, and then they would revolt from the posterity of Jacob and would break that yoke of bondage. Albert Barnes wrote succinctly about this in his Notes on the Bible:
"The history of Edom was a perpetual struggle against the supremacy of Israel. Conquered by Saul, subdued by David, repressed by Solomon, restrained after a revolt by Amaziah, they recovered their independence in the time of Ahab."
Actually, the struggles between the descendants of Jacob and the descendants of Esau continue to this day. There are differing opinions about exactly whom each are in our present day, but no one can deny the constant Middle East unrest that always centers around tiny Israel! And just think how the actions of Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebekah (and Jacob), being impatient with God, may have created all the unrest of today!
(41) And 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 slay my brother Jacob."
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessings each had received. Hatred is not the stuff of repentant hearts, so this does show the nature of Esau. It also shows what happens when we seek to do things our own way instead of God's way. Because of the way Jacob did things in deceiving Esau, Esau now wanted to kill him. He wouldn't do it while Isaac was still alive, but he knew his father's days were not long for the world, and he would wait till then.
(42) And these words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah; and she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by purposing to kill you."
The scripture before this one had said that Esau said these things in his heart, but he must have voiced them to someone or at least in earshot of someone who told his intentions to Rebekah. She told Jacob of his brother's plans. If this is a true report of Esau's thoughts and intentions, then we once again see the nature of Esau, in that he would not gain anything in the death of Jacob, but he comforted himself with his thoughts of revenge against him.
(43) "Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and 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 fetch you from there; why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?"
Rebekah told Jacob to obey her again and run to her brother Laban in Haran and stay with him a few days until Esau's anger subsided, until he forgot what "you" have done. Of course, it was Jacob who ultimately deceived his father into giving him the blessing Isaac intended for Esau, but it was Rebekah's idea and she insisted Jacob obey her then, too. And now her son had to flee for his life because of it. It was always a prophetic fact that Jacob would receive the spiritual Abrahamic blessing of the coming Messiah, and Rebekah probably felt that strongly within her heart, but like in the actions of Sarah with Hagar, when we don't wait upon the Lord, we can make matters worse than they had to be. Rebekah would be deprived of both her sons if one killed the other and the first was put to death for murder.
(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, such as these who are of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?"
This is the set-up of Rebekah's plan to get Jacob away from there. She told Isaac she could not take it if Jacob married a daughter of Heth as his brother had done. There was probably some truth to this as the end of the last chapter had said that Isaac and Rebekah were both grieved because Esau had married Hittite women, so now was as good a time as any to get Jacob out of there.
No comments:
Post a Comment