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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
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.
Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 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."
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, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, '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.' Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 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. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."
Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. 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."
His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me."
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.
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. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.
He went to his father and said, "My father." "Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?"
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."
Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?"
"The Lord your God gave me success," he replied.
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."
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." He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.
"Are you really my son Esau?" he asked.
"I am," he replied.
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. Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me." 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. May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness— an abundance of grain and new wine. 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."
After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 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."
His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?"
"I am your son," he answered, "your firstborn, Esau."
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!"
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!"
But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing."
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?"
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?"
Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!" Then Esau wept aloud.
His father Isaac answered him, "Your dwelling will be away from the earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven above. 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."
Genesis 26:34-35, 27:1-40
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever experienced deception in your life, a time when someone violated your trust in them?
I think we all have encountered it or will encounter it at some time or another. Speaking from experience, I have gone through it on a rather grand scale and can tell you it is in my top 10 worse memories. Maybe you can relate.
Now, if I’m honest, I have also been guilty of being a deceiver. In my eyes, it wasn’t as blatant as what happened to me but frankly, severity doesn’t have anything to do with it. Wrong is wrong and the Lord sees it as sinful, no matter the degree. When it comes down to it, if we’ve ever told a lie or maybe intentionally withheld the whole truth to someone out of convenience or to profit in some way, then we have been a deceiver.
The reason I want to lead with this is that when we read the story of Rebekah and Jacob conspiring against a vulnerable Isaac so to steal the blessing that was rightfully Esau’s, we can have a tendency to condemn the deceivers as if we are somehow superior to them. Unfortunately, we are more like them than we want to admit.
Going to our scripture passage today, we find an old and nearly blind Isaac ready to pass the formal blessing onto his firstborn son Esau as worldly tradition would have it. It’s important to note that this isn’t just any ordinary blessing. Rather, it is a transfer of rights to the nation of Canaan and an inheriting of the promises of God that were first given to Abraham.
Indeed, there was a lot at stake and much to gain for the one who received the blessing.
Now, what’s interesting about this particular situation is that the Lord had already pronounced who was going to get the blessing and it was in direct contrast to how the world would expect it to happen. For if we go back to the words the Lord spoke to Rebekah as she was carrying the twins during her pregnancy, here’s what we find in the 25th chapter of Genesis:
"Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."
Fast forward now to Genesis, Chapter 27.
Isaac, old and suffering from poor eyesight, fears his death is coming soon and wants to give his blessing to Esau, his oldest son. Perhaps Isaac did not know about God’s message to Rebekah but I doubt it. One would think that she surely shared her experience with him. Nonetheless, God’s words to Rebekah showed that He would be passing on the blessing to Jacob for he was the younger of the two. So no matter how much Isaac wanted to do his own thing and pass the blessing to Esau, in the end, God’s will was going to be done, and it did get done just as He said it would.
We know how this went down. Isaac was tricked into giving the blessing to Jacob, thinking he was really Esau, a clever plan devised by Rebekah and carried out by both her and the son she favored (Genesis 25:28). The irony in all this is that Isaac had played the role of the deceiver before in his dealings with Abimelek, king of the Philistines. You’ll remember how he told the king that Rebekah was really his sister instead of his wife. Now, he was on the receiving end of dishonesty and got to know just what it felt like in a big way. Through his story, we see where God not only ensures His will is done but can teach us a lesson at the same time. In fact, maybe, just maybe, our Lord willfully allows us to be victims of deceit just to show us what it feels for those we have deceived.
Now, others were also at fault here if we delve deeper into the story. One might think that Rebekah and Jacob had to do what they did to make sure Isaac didn’t give his blessing to Esau. In other words, someone might actually start to think their deception was justified.
Think again.
Deceptiveness, lying, cheating, they all are sinful and we know God hates sin. He would never ordain sinful behavior to carry out any plan He devised because sin has NEVER part of God’s divine design. So if anyone is working through a situation and thinks God is leading them while they are entertaining sinful thoughts in their heart and mind, then they are misguided because Satan, the father of lies, is doing the leading. He is the expert in deceiving people to be a deceiver.
In this story, God would have had the blessing transferred to Jacob in His way and in accordance with His will but Rebekah and Jacob trumped Him by doing their own thing. And although the overall result was what God wanted, the steps taken to get there were not of God. Soon we will see that Jacob will become a victim of trickery himself but that is going to be in a different devotional on a different day to come.
Well, we’ve covered Isaac, Rebekah and Jacob so Esau is the only one left. One might see him as being the victim in all this and although he didn’t do anything inappropriate, there is some fault to examine.
You see, after he learns the blessing was given to his younger brother, we find Esau unwilling to accept the outcome which meant that he wasn’t willing to recognize and submit to God’s will. All he sees is his blessing and birthright being stolen away by Jacob and even if he didn’t know that God had already vowed that Jacob would be the heir apparent to Canaan and His covenant promise, he could have accepted the final outcome by faith that either God’s will was done, or if it hadn’t, that He would set things right. After all, God was (and is) a God of perfect justice.
To put this another way, if it were God’s will for Esau to get the blessing, then he would have gotten it, if not at that moment then at a time in the future. But we find Esau showing no trust in God. Instead, he wailed and cried over something he couldn’t change after finding out Jacob had received the blessing he felt he deserved.
Before I close, a quick personal testimony.
In the year 2000, I was a Senior Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy and stationed at COMNAVAIRLANT headquarters in Norfolk VA. I worked in an office with one other Senior Chief and the time had come for us to receive our annual performance fitness reports. And because there were only two of us, only one could get the top promotion recommendation (early promote) and the other would get the secondary recommendation (must promote).
Now, I had worked extremely hard and everyone, including myself, thought I was a shoe-in for the top, early promote recommendation but when the reports were given out, I was given the second place rating while my colleague received the better one.
I’ll be honest. I was livid and remember having an attitude for weeks afterwards. In my heart and mind, no one could convince me that I didn’t deserve the top honor. That is, no one but God and He did send me a message just 8 months after the reports were issued.
So what happened?
Well, the promotion results came out for the next higher rank, Master Chief Petty Office, and guess what? Both of us were selected for promotion.
What was the moral of the story?
As I discovered, the Lord was going to make sure I was promoted whether I finished first or second. As for the other Senior Chief, he wouldn’t have gained promotion without the top assessment. I remember vividly how the Lord convicted my heart that day, teaching me to never feel resentfulness again when things don’t seem to work out the way I think they should. He taught me that His plan is far beyond my meager understanding and showed me that I need to simply trust Him and allow His will to be done.
My prayer is that you’ll learn like I did that God is in control and He has perfect plan for each of us. All we need to do is trust in His plan and have the patience to wait for Him to carry it out. For if we do, we will be blessed in ways we never could imagine as we learn that our plans are nowhere as wonderful as His.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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