turning your Bibles to Genesis
27. Genesis chapter 27. It's a long
chapter but it's... pretty strictly thematic, so
I'll begin reading in verse 1. We'll try to take up the whole
chapter this evening. 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. Then he said, Behold now, I am
old. I do not know the day of my death. Now therefore, please
take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the
field, and hunt game for me, 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.' Now Rebekah was listening when
Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to
hunt game and to bring it. So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her
son, saying, Indeed, I heard your father speak to Esau your
brother, saying, 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. Now therefore my son obey my voice according to what
I command you. 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. Then
you shall take it to your father that he may eat it and that he
may bless you before his death. and Jacob said to Rebekah, his
mother, ''Look, Esau, my brother, is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned
man. 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.'' But his mother said to him, ''Let
your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice and go, get
them for me.'' He went and got them and brought them to his
mother, and his mother made savory food such as his father loved.
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. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his
hands, and on the smooth part of his neck. Then she gave the
savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand
of her son. So he went to his father and
said, My father. And he said, Here I am. Who are
you? My son. 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. 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. Isaac said to Jacob,
Please come near that I may feel you, my son, whether you are
really my son Esau or not. 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. And he did not recognize
him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands,
so he blessed him. Then he said, Are you really
my son Esau? He said, I am. 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. Then his
father Isaac said to him, Come near now and kiss me, my son.
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. Therefore
may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the
earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let people 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. 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. 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. And his father Isaac said to him, Who are you? So
he said, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. 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. 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. But he said, Your brother came
with deceit and has taken away your blessing. 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? 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? And Esau said to his father, Have you only one blessing,
my father? Bless me also, O my father. And
Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 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.
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. 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. 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. Now
therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to my brother Laban
in Haran, and stay with him a few days until your brother's fury
turns away, 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? 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? Amen. Well, I should have read verses
34 and 35 in chapter 26. That's a record concerning the
marriage of Esau. Notice in verse 34, when Esau
was 40 years old, he took his wives, Judith, the daughter of
Beri, the Hittite, and Basimath, the daughter of Elon, the Hittite.
And they were a grief of mine to Isaac and Rebekah." So what
we have in this particular section, of course, the marriage of Esau
there at the end of chapter 26, and then we have the blessing
upon Jacob in verses 1 to 29, and then the appeal made by Esau
in verses 30 to 40, who obviously was upset about the situation
that had occurred, and then finally the escape by Jacob, in verses
41 to 46. Now this section is the story
of Isaac. It's recorded from chapter 2519
to 3529. Remember Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
is now the son of promise as purposed by God. These are the
men from whom Messiah would come. And as we look at this particular
chapter on a bare reading of it, certainly Rebecca and Jacob
do not come off well in terms of this deception, but there's
other things at play also. Neither do Isaac and Esau, and
we'll see that as we move through this. In light of the infirmity
and the sinfulness of man, we see again manifested very clearly
and evidently in this passage, the grace of Almighty God. Now
the background to chapter 27 is, first of all, the favoritism
of the sons by the parents in chapter 25. You go back to chapter
25 in verses 27 and 28, we see the favoritism of the parents
on behalf of their sons. Verse 27 says, So the boys grew,
and Esau was a skillful hunter. a man of the field, but Jacob
was a mild man dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because
he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob." And that favoritism
comes out obviously in the chapter, but very specifically in chapter
27 at verses 5 and 6. Notice in verse 5, now Rebekah
was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau, his son. Now it's certainly
her son as well, but that favoritism is manifested in this report. And then again in verse 6, so
Rebecca spoke to Jacob, her son. So the lines are clearly drawn
in terms of who favors who in this particular instance. As
well, the sale of the birthright is highlighted in chapter 25
in verses 29 to 33. That comes up in Esau's response,
specifically in verse 36, when he says, 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."
Now that's not altogether accurate. Jacob did not take the birthright
from him. Esau willingly sold it for a
bowl of stew. But nevertheless, that's in the
background, and it's a difficult thing to determine the relationship
between the birthright and the blessing. I think there is a
close connection between the two and I think Bruce Waltke
explains it well. He says the relationship of the
blessing to the birthright is unclear. In Esau's mind they
are separate for he expects to receive the blessing even though
he admits he lost the birthright in verse 36. However to the inspired
writer of Hebrews they are inseparable. After noting that Esau sold his
inheritance rights, he adds, 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. So there is a close connection. between that birthright
and between the blessing that obtains in chapter 27. Now, in
terms of the marriage of Esau, we see that he violates the Abrahamic
covenant by marrying outside of the people of Israel. He takes
as wives these two Hittites. Now, if you remember back, Isaac
was about 40 at the time that he married Rebecca. But Isaac
didn't just meet Rebekah in a haphazard way. Abraham initiated that. Abraham sent his servant to his
homeland so that he could indeed find a wife for Isaac. We don't
see anything going on to that effect in this particular section.
Isaac at the same juncture in Esau's life is not actively campaigning
to find wives for Esau. He will do that with Jacob at
the end in chapter 28, but with reference to Esau, Esau marries
these pagan women and they provide or prove to be a great grief
both to Isaac and Rebekah. And now as we move to the blessing
upon Jacob in verses 1 to 29 we see first the desire of Isaac. It tells us that he's old. Now
he's going to live a lot longer after this because he dies at
the age of one hundred and 80. He's probably about 100 to 130
at this particular time, but he's in bad shape. The fact that
he's told to rise indicates that he's not only blind, but he's
also bedridden. So he's not a healthy man at
this particular juncture, but in verse 1 where it tells us
Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see,
that becomes very necessary information for this particular story, because
the whole thing hinges upon Jacob's ability to deceive his father.
And his father, of course, being blind, was more easy to deceive
than if he had clear eyesight. So that's a very important piece
of information in this particular situation. So he's old and he
is blind, and then his specific desire is found there in 1B to
verse 4. And it is intriguing that he
only calls Esau to bless him. As I said, everybody's got problems
in Genesis chapter 27. Jacob and Rebekah is probably
more conspicuous and obvious, but in this particular instance,
okay, I said conspicuous, go ahead, get out. In this particular
instance, though, we have Esau and Isaac engaging in this blessing
to the neglect and disregard of Jacob. That's not cool. That
wasn't good. This little particular meeting
that they had going on was against protocol. What's one thing the
book of Genesis highlights over and over again? At the death
of a patriarch. At the death of a patriarch,
all of his sons are gathered together, and he confers or conveys
blessing upon each one. Well, Isaac favors Esau, so he
overlooks Esau's misdemeanors with reference to marrying these
particular Hittite women, but he also overlooks the oracle
that was given at the birth of Jacob and Esau. Go back to chapter
25. Chapter 25, the children struggled,
verse 22, to gather within her. And she said, if all is well,
why am I like this? So she went to inquire of the
Lord, and the Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb,
two people shall be separated from your body, one people shall
be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. Now some speculate that perhaps
Rebecca didn't tell Isaac. I find that very difficult to
believe. I think that Isaac knew that
piece of information, but because of the favoritism with reference
to Esau, he only calls upon Esau to bless him. And I think the
blessing here is a deathbed blessing. Notice what he says in verse
2. Behold now, I am old, I do not
know the day of my death. So as far as he is concerned,
he's old, he's blind, he's bedridden, he doesn't know if he's going
to be around another day, so he calls Esau to convey upon
him that final sort of specific blessing. Matthew Poole says,
he speaks not here of a common and customary blessing which
parents may bestow upon any of their children as and when they
please, but of the last solemn, extraordinary, and prophetical
benediction, whereby these holy patriarchs did by God's appointment,
and with his concurrence, constitute one of their son's heir, not
only of their inheritance, but of Abraham's covenant. So that's
what he's doing in this instance, he is passing along that blessing
to the wrong son. He's got the oracle in chapter
25, he favors this particular son, he overlooks the fact that
this particular son is married pagans, and nevertheless he is
going to bless him. So Isaac is not an innocent man
being duped in this particular chapter. He is certainly deceived
by Jacob and Rebekah, and I should say that Jacob and Rebekah are
right in terms of their endgame. It's the means they employ to
get there that is not correct. In other words, they knew, and
Rebekah knew, that it was Jacob that was the son of blessing.
He was the one that would inherit the covenant promises. of Abraham,
it was him that God would pass the seed on to. And so, Paul,
I think, is absolutely spot on. This is that last deathbed blessing. He doesn't call for Jacob, he
only calls for Esau. And one of the things that we
see, because he liked the food that Esau made him. Now, some
make a great deal out of, you know, he loved his food, he was
a sensual being. I don't want to get into all
that. He liked the game and the food that Esau made. I mean,
he had an affinity for his son, but he wanted to have that, and
then he wanted to pass that blessing on to Esau at this particular
point. Now, notice in the second place,
under the blessing upon Jacob, you have this plan of Rebekah.
Now, Rebecca is the mover and the shaker. She is the manipulator. She is the one that makes things
happen in this particular family. And this is precisely the case
in this instance. Notice in the first place, she
overhears Isaac speaking to Esau. And then she conspires with Jacob
in verses 6 to 10. John Gill says, to whom she knew
by the divine oracle the blessing belonged. She knew it was Jacob. The older shall serve the younger.
That was 25, 23. That is correct. So Gill says,
to whom she knew by the divine oracle the blessing belonged,
as well as by virtue of the sale of the birthright to him by his
brother and through Esau's forfeiting of it by marrying with the Canaanites. In these her sentiments she was
right, but wrong in the ways and means she took to get it
for him." I think there's a sort of paradoxical thing with reference
to the providence of God in this, not paradoxical in the sense
that it's confusing or it's antithetical, but had Rebecca and Jacob waited
upon the Lord, who knows what would have happened. But through
their subterfuge and through their deception, God comes in
the midst of that and makes known his will in terms of Jacob. It
really is an amazing study. in God's providence here in Genesis
27, I think as is the entirety of the book of Genesis. So she
conspires with Jacob and essentially, we know the story, I will get,
or go get the kids of the goats and then bring them back. I will
prepare savory food, which your father loves. Every time it's
mentioned, it's which he loves. I mean that That's one of the
overarching concerns of the chapter, is to let you know that Isaac
loves this savory food that Esau is able to concoct after hunting
and that sort of thing. So that's her plan. And it is
interesting because these kids of the goats become somewhat
a tool or an instrument of the deception used against Isaac
when she puts the hair on his arms and on his neck, probably
not on his face, he would have been a man and had a beard and
all that sort of thing. But in terms of, not to say that
guys that don't have beards aren't men, so please don't go and cancel
me or whatever the current sort of thing. groupthink stuff is,
but at any rate it's intriguing because these kids of the goats
become an instrument in terms of deception with reference to
Jacob to Isaac and later on in the Jacob narratives it's going
to be the kid of the goat that the sons of Jacob use to deceive
him in terms of Joseph and so it's an interesting sort of juxtaposition
that we find in terms of these kids of the goats. So then when
we look at this conspiracy, look at Jacob's concern in verses
11 and 12. Jacob said to Rebekah his mother,
look Esau my brother is a hairy man and I'm a smooth-skinned
man. 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. It is intriguing that he has
this concern, not of deceiving his father but of being caught.
I mean, that's a big difference, isn't it? It's not the case that,
mother, we shouldn't deceive father, we shouldn't do anything
like this, we should wait on the providence of God, we should
trust in Yahweh, because if Yahweh has purposed that I'm the son
of promise, according to 25.23, then it will come to pass. He doesn't
care one bit about the deception of his father, he cares only
about his own hide. And this is what he says, 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. As
we have seen in several instances in these patriarchal narratives,
there is an abiding of the law that will later come out in the
Pentateuch. In other words, Abraham obeys
laws that will come out in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
It's almost a foreshadowing. Well, the same sort of thing
is here. He's not supposed to dishonor his father because that
will bring a curse. Again, if he can dishonor his
father and not get caught, that's okay as far as Jacob is concerned.
But his concern in 11 and 12 is because Esau's hairy and I'm
smooth, my father will understand that I'm the deceiver and I'll
bring a curse upon myself. Exodus 21.17, he who curses his
father or his mother shall surely be put to death. Leviticus 19
speaks with reference to putting a stumbling block before a blind
man. Leviticus 19.14, you shall not
curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall
fear your God, I am the Lord. I've often thought in the abortion
debate and the euthanasia debate and the handicap debate in terms
of executing people, that are hapless victims, they ought to
reflect upon scripture, and the dignity afforded to all creatures,
all image bearers, are protected by God's holy law. You don't
mock blind men, you don't mock deaf people, but rather you esteem
them and honor them as image bearers of God. In fact, in the
book of Deuteronomy, at the end, in chapter 27 and 8, where you've
got the blessings in 28, and the curses for violating the
covenant when they go to live in the land, 2718 says, Cursed
is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road. So you
see, he has a legitimate concern, it's just misplaced. He doesn't
care about deceiving Jacob or Isaac, he's simply concerned
about if he's caught. Now, of course, mommy gets back
involved in verse 13 and gets the plan going. Jacob uses the
kids of the goats to ultimately deceive Isaac according to his
mother's plan. And then that brings us to the
deception of Jacob. in verses 18 to 29. So he meets
with Isaac, obviously, and Isaac is suspicious. Isaac's got a
bit more on the ball than I think mommy or Jacob had thought. They thought it would be, you
know, a slam dunk. In fact, Rebecca says, let the curse fall upon
me. Don't you worry, baby. Just go
deal with it. Do everything that mommy tells
you. And so he does it dutifully. But when he gets there, In verse
18, he went to his father and said, My father. And he said,
Here I am. Who are you, my son? Jacob said
to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn. Again, this is lying. This is deception. This is not
good. This is a violation of God's
law. You're not supposed to do that.
Just because Isaac and Esau had this sort of special blessing
time doesn't legitimize what is happening here. What it does
do is it magnifies the grace of God that in the midst of this
kind of family dynamic, the promise continues. In the midst of this
kind of messiness that this life affords with reference to sinful
people, God nevertheless is working out His plan to save a great
multitude by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we should
approach this. When we get to Genesis chapter
38, we're going to have that instance of Judah and Tamar.
Judah thinks that Tamar is a whore. And Judah goes into Tamar, turns
out to be his daughter-in-law. Well, that's a horrific scene
to be sure, but you know what's happening there in Genesis 38?
The promise is continuing. God uses Unsterile means to accomplish
his particular plan. It's not the case that God is
like a doctor in a surgery that can use sterilized instruments.
If God is going to accomplish his plan and purpose in this
world, he's going to have to use dirty sinners. That's just
the way it is. This is a messy world, people
deceive, people lie, people do horrific things, people fake
out their own father, but nevertheless, God's promise is sure, and it
will come to fruition in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
So instead of saying, wow, I can't believe these people did this
sort of thing and got away with it, I wonder what I can do, that's
not the way you're supposed to read the narrative. And you're
also not supposed to read the narrative with with an expectation
that the author is going to give you ethical directive every step
of the way. There's some of the times in
these Old Covenant or Old Testament narratives where the author doesn't
do that. He doesn't give you sort of the
verdict on how you should stand with reference to the activities
of these people. He's simply reporting what is
and showing how God, through the midst of the messiness, brings
to pass His promise to save His people from their sins in and
through our Lord Jesus Christ. So we go back to the narrative
and we see that Isaac is hesitant. I am Esau, verse 19, I have done
just as you told me. Please arise, sit and eat of
my game, that your soul may bless me. Now notice the first thing
that tips Isaac off. How is it that you have found
it so quickly, my son? I remember a few years ago There
was a couple of guys in the church at that time and we went hunting.
And we brought Jeff Gilmore. And Jeff Gilmore was a fellow
that had never gone hunting. And we go out and, you know,
you do a lot of waiting when you hunt. It's not catching and
shooting, it's typically waiting. And he said, I thought we'd just
drive into a meadow and there'd be all these animals bouncing
around and we'd just shoot them and take them right out of there.
And we said, no, that's not the way it is. Well, Isaac knew that
too. Esau doesn't just go out into
the bush, bag something, and come back immediately. As far
as Isaac is concerned, there's not enough time that has transpired
for Esau to have been effective in hunting and bringing back
the food, preparing it, making the savory food that I love.
He is tipped off by this. And then notice what Jacob has
the audacity to do in verse 20b. He said, "...because the Lord
your God brought it to me." Now, not only is he deceiving and
not only is he lying, but he's bringing God into it and saying,
God blessed me, I was successful because of the Lord. It is intriguing,
he says, because of the Lord your God. Maybe himself, he himself
couldn't bring himself to say because of the Lord our God when
he was invoking God to bless sort of this lie or to sort of
authenticate this particular lie. And then notice in 21, again,
Isaac is reluctant, Isaac is hesitant. He says to Jacob, please
come near that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really
my son Esau or not. He remembers that Esau is the
hairy one. He remembers that Isaac is the
smooth one. So verse 22, 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. Again,
I don't think they were bargaining for Isaac to be quite this sharp.
This is a bit more difficult than perhaps he had anticipated.
He thought it would be a slam dunk. Verse 23, and he did not
recognize him as Jacob because his hands were hairy like his
brother Esau's hands, so he blessed him. Then he said, ìAre you really
my son Esau?î He said, ìI am.î Now notice this in verses 25
to 27, ìBring it near to me, and I will eat of my sonís game,
so that my soul may bless you.î So he brought it near to him,
and he ate, and he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his
father Isaac said to him, ìCome near now and kiss me, my son.î
He wants to get a smell of him. He wants to sniff him. Does he
smell like a guy who's a domesticated, sort of mama's boy that looks
after the sheep? He's going to have a particular smell, versus
Esau who's out in the bush, hunting game, cooking stew, and that
sort of thing. Isaac is sharp, sharper than
they had anticipated, but nevertheless, this deception works. So at the
end of verse 26, "...come near now and kiss me, my son." 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. Now
I want to share a bit of an allegory. because I liked it and Calvin
liked it, so I'm going to quote Calvin. Calvin mentions the church
father Ambrose. He says, ''The allegory of Ambrose
on this passage is not displeasing to me.'' It's not to me either
and that's why I'm sharing it. This verse 27, ''He came near
and kissed him and he smelled the smell of his clothing and
blessed him and said, He goes on to say, Jacob the younger
brother is blessed under the person of the elder. The garments
which were borrowed from his brother breathe an odor grateful
and pleasant to his father. In the same manner we are blessed,
as Ambrose teaches, when in the name of Christ we enter the presence
of our heavenly Father. We receive from Him the robe
of righteousness, which by its odor procures His favor. In short,
we are thus blessed when we are put in His place. Again, good
allegory, is that exactly what verse 27 means? Probably not,
but it certainly does typify something concerning the reality
that we enter in to the favorable presence of the Father because
we have the odor of Christ. because of the righteousness
of Christ that has been imputed to us and received by faith alone. Now, in terms of the blessing,
verse 28 is the provision of God for life in the land. Remember,
that is one of the promises to Abraham that looms large in the
Abrahamic covenant, is this land promise. If you go into the land,
there will be profuse blessing. That is reiterated in verse 28.
Therefore, may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness
of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine." But it's not just
here that it stops. When we get to Esau, there is
enough blessing left for him, but it's simply temporal. It's
simply earthly. It is only about this world. But this statement in verse 29
transcends Jacob, transcends Joseph, transcends everybody
else in the line, and ultimately is realized in and through the
seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in verse 29, "...let people
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. Similar
to what we have in Genesis 12. In fact, you can turn back there.
Genesis chapter 12, that initial promise of God when God calls
Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans. Abram had gone from Ur of the
Chaldeans to Haran, and now he's coming into the promised land
of Canaan. And in chapter 12, verse 1, God says, Get out of
your country, from your family, and from your father's house,
to a land that I will show you. Remember, we saw something of
discipleship there. We come to the Lord Jesus, we
got to leave our country, we got to leave our family, leave
our father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will
make you a great nation, I will bless you and make your name
great, and you shall be a blessing. Now here verse 3 is what we find
in this promise to Jacob. I will bless those who bless
you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the
families of the earth shall be blessed. So we see in Isaac's
promise to Jacob that this is what is being passed down. It
is that deathbed blessing. It is that conferral of the Abrahamic
covenant to Jacob. And that's the point of the narrative,
is that the promise concerning Jesus, that was first given in
Genesis 3.15, that is then given to Abraham and Isaac, is coming
now through Jacob, not through Esau, and will ultimately result
in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's the emphasis
in terms of the promise, and it was legit. When we get to
the next section, the dialogue between Isaac and Esau, it's
pretty sad. and actually pretty pathetic.
Now Esau is not a great guy in the sense that we should root
for him, but it really, in many ways, the drama or the narrative
is more expansive than you find in some other places. And you
kind of get the human element involved here, but when Isaac
responds to Esau, he tells him he will be blessed. It's not
the case that Isaac can remove this blessing from Jacob and
now give it to Esau. What's done is done, and according
to Paul in Hebrews 11.20, by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and
Esau concerning things to come. So when Isaac does this, it's
real, it is effectual, it cannot be withdrawn. There may be some
temporal benefit left in terms of Esau and his life or tenure
on the earth, but in terms of this promise to come with reference
to mastery over brethren, mother's sons bowing down to you, God
cursing those who curse Him, and God blessing those who bless
Him. That's not for Esau. This is irrevocable. There's
no sort of taking it back at this particular point. And that
brings us thirdly to the appeal by Esau in verses 30 to 40. Note God's providence in verse
30. It's almost like, you know, there's a couple seconds in between,
that they just sort of pass by each other. Verse 30 says, Now
it happened as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob,
and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his
father. Without the providence of God, this whole thing would
collapse. Without the providence of God, there would be no sort
of rhyme or reason, but God has orchestrated every event and
every detail, ultimately for His glory and for the good of
His people. And then we see what Esau does
in terms of obedience. He obeys Isaac. They did have
a good relationship. Verses 30 to 31 tells us that
he brought the savory food. He cooked the food, he did what
he was told to do, and he wants his father now to arise and eat
of his son's game, that your soul may bless me, at the end
of verse 31. And then notice, verse 32, his
father Isaac said to him, Who are you? He doesn't say, Who
are you, my son? He doesn't think that this is
even a son at this particular point. As far as he knows, he's
already had dealings with Esau. As far as he knows, Jacob's not
expected to be there at any time. So he says, who are you? So he
said, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. Now, the reaction of Isaac
here, a lot of names, forgive me if I get mixed up here, but
notice in verse 32, then Isaac trembled exceedingly. Now, when
a commentator on the book of Genesis says, Hebrew can hardly
express Isaac's panic more graphically. In other words, the author couldn't
make his panic more obvious than what he has written here. 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. Now here's the end of verse 33,
and indeed he shall be blessed. You need to know Esau. There's
no turning back at this point. Does Isaac suspect it was Jacob
who deceived him? He doesn't mention that. It's
Esau that offers the information and interpretation of what has
transpired. One suspects that Isaac suspected,
but he wants Esau to sort of formalize it. But again, Wenham
makes the statement. He says, the poignant pathos
of this scene is unsurpassed in Genesis. The dialogue is most
moving, and unlike most Old Testament narrative, The intense emotions
of the actors are described with some fullness. Isaac was gripped
by an uncontrollable trembling. He let out a loud and very anguished
scream. But the purpose of this scene
is more than dramatic. It underlines the fact that however
irregular was Isaac's blessing, it was irrevocable. Yes, he will
be blessed, and Esau or Isaac can do nothing to change it.
So, in some sense, what he says at the end of verse 33 is it.
Esau, I just can't help you, son. And this is a tough one,
because he loves Esau, and Esau loves him. You know, there's
not sort of superfluous information given to us in the Bible. In
chapter 25, at verse 28, when it says, Isaac loved Esau because
he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob, we're supposed to
come to 27 remembering that. There is a dichotomy, there is
a a chasm that exists between Jacob and his mother and his
father and Esau. And that is being highlighted
here, but nevertheless, Jacob is the one that was blessed.
So, of course, the frustration, I wrote that today and I thought,
I can't even begin to describe it as frustration. I mean, imagine
Esau at this moment, verse 34, when Esau heard these words of
his father, and I don't want to have some psychoanalysis and
cryotherapy over Esau, not at all, I don't want to do that,
but we ought not to minimize the reality that this is a tough
scene. 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. Now here it is, Isaac brings
up the information. Your brother came with deceit
and has taken away your blessing. Now here again Esau begins to
you know, cast blame, he understands the other meaning with reference
to the name Jacob, it means supplanter, it means deceitful, and he brings
that to the forefront as he makes his complaint known. But when
he says, 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? Again, he
didn't take the birthright away. He sold it. So I mean, he was
a pretty calloused and pretty cold and pretty calculating.
I mean, his brother comes in and he's starving. And he says,
well, sell me your birthright. But he technically didn't just
take it from him. He did sell it. And it was ultimately
Esau that gave it up for that mess of pottage. And so what
we have here is not particularly accurate. In the New Testament,
the blame is always upon Esau for having given up, having been
more enamored with the immediate gratification than being contended
with that future orientation. And then notice, in verse 37,
Isaac rehearses the blessing that he has conveyed upon Jacob.
Now, if this didn't add salt to the wound, I don't know what
would have, because in verse 37, Isaac answered and said to
Esau, Indeed, I have made him your master. I'm sure that didn't
make Esau thrilled. I'm sure Esau wasn't saying,
boy, what a great blessing you conveyed upon him, dad. No, 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? Of course, Esau
asks for a blessing, he has these tears, and I think that's how
we need to understand the emphasis in Hebrews 12 when it talks about
Esau not having repentance, and then he sought it with tears.
It's not talking about seeking repentance with tears. He was
seeking the blessing. Esau never repented. Esau didn't
believe the gospel. Esau wasn't a good man in terms
of being rightly connected to God through faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now certainly you read this and
say, well, was Jacob? Yeah, he was. I said last week
that Jacob's not the most sympathetic character in all of scripture.
It's not the kind of guy that you look at and say, wow, I want
to be like Jacob. No, we look at him and we say,
that's kind of not cool. That's kind of messed up. But
nevertheless, he is the son of promise. And God's word is determinative,
and again it underscores the principle that Paul uses in Romans
chapter 9. When you see somebody elect,
when you see somebody saved, when you see someone believing
the gospel, is it because they're good people? No, not at all,
because God is sovereign, because God is elected, God is predestined,
all those who saved, it was because it was decreed by God. He never
emphasizes the goodness of man is the reason for the salvation
of sinners. He always emphasizes the goodness
of God and the sovereignty of election as the reason for the
salvation of sinners. Paul starts Ephesians 1 this
way, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame. God doesn't
choose us because we're holy and without blame. God chooses
us so that we'll become holy and without blame. Paul emphasizes
that prior even to their birth, God set His affection or His
love upon Jacob and not upon Esau. It underscores sovereignty
with reference to God's grace, and if anything, chapter 27 ought
to make us appreciate the glory of the cross of Jesus Christ,
that He shed His blood to save sinners like Jacob, and if we
muse on it for just a moment, to save sinners like us. We may
not have deceived our Father the way that Jacob does here,
we may not be the sort of wretch that Esau is in this particular
chapter, but we have sinned against the Holy God. The only way we
stand before that God is clothed in the righteousness of Jesus
Christ, having that odor of the righteousness of Christ, such
that when the Father smells us, He smells the dear Son of His
love. And so Esau asks or invokes this
blessing from Isaac, and then Isaac answers in verses 39 and
40. Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth,
and of the dew of heaven from above. 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." Now this probably does not have immediate impact
upon Esau himself. Remember, Esau is the head of
Edom, and Edom is going to be another nation near Israel that
is going to be subject to Israel, but at times is going to break
out from that yoke of Israel. Again, Wenham makes the sort
of observation. He says, You shall live by your
sword. Throughout the Old Testament, Edom appears as a militant nation.
often hostile to his brother Israel. From the time of David,
Edom was part of the Israelite empire, but later it regained
its independence, and after the fall of Jerusalem, took revenge
on Judah. It is perhaps these events to
which, when you grow restless, you shall tear off his yoke,
refer. Thus the blessing of Esau does end with a glimmer of hope.
Not the same sort of hope that verse 29 affords with reference
to Jacob, but nevertheless there is something there for Esau in
terms of temporal benefit, verse 39, and then some degree of blessing
in terms of military victory, at least getting out from under
the subjugation of Israel, at least for a time, according to
verse 40. And then that brings us finally
to the escape by Jacob. We see again Esau's response. 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. So the idea is that he doesn't
want to dishonor his father while his father is alive. And it is
intriguing because he says this in his heart. He must eventually
speak it to others because the word gets back to Rebekah and
based on this information, Rebekah then sends Jacob to Haran. She sends him to Laban and she
says, I want you to remain there a few days. Well, unbeknownst
to her, he's going to be there for 20 years. As far as we know,
she never sees him again at this particular juncture. It's there
that he goes ultimately to get his wives and then some, as we
will see in the coming weeks when we get to that section in
the Jacob narratives. But notice the way that she sort
of seals the deal with reference to Isaac. Again, you don't get
in terms of Isaac and Rebekah, this sort of close, intimate,
spiritual relationship. You kind of get that with Abraham
and Sarah to a degree, you sort of don't get it with reference
to Isaac and Rebekah. You've got this sort of favoritism,
you've got this dichotomy between the two sons, you've got the
father looking after Esau, you've got the mother looking after
Jacob, but here, to get his sanction, Here to get his approval in verse
46, Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the
daughters of Heth. There's no shortage to the dramatic
language that some of these sort of characters utilize. I mean,
I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. These
are the Hittites that we are told in chapter 26, 34, and 35,
that Esau married. So, 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? So, this becomes the
foil from which Isaac agrees that Jacob should go to Laban's
house, and we know that Laban then has some deception for Isaac
as well. What comes around goes around.
I guess this is another lesson practically that we learn in
the book of Genesis. Well, in conclusion, just a couple
of thoughts and then we'll close. First, the providence of God.
Rebecca knew God's plan for Jacob, but manipulated the situation
to try and bring it about instead of waiting on the Lord. And it
is intriguing. It's not the case that that derails
the providence of God, but it manifests the providence of God. So, it's an interesting study
in terms of should they or they should have waited upon the Lord.
But the fact that they did not wait upon the Lord doesn't derail
the Lord. The Lord has His purpose and
will achieve His particular goal with reference to the sons of
men. And then as well, the fulfillment of the promise to Jacob in verse
29, let people serve you, 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.
Certainly that's realized in the nation of Israel as a geopolitical
entity. They do sort of have a place
of great prestige and position among the nations of the earth,
but that ultimately looks forward to the Lord Jesus. He is the
seed that is given in promise to Abraham. It is moved along
through Isaac and Jacob. So everything in terms of that
sovereignty and dominion and that power and lordship is revealed
in Christ. And then in terms of the demonstration
of the grace of God, there's several issues with the family.
I just outlined a few of them. You've got Abraham, Abraham found
a wife for Isaac, Isaac didn't do that for Esau. Isaac only
wanted to bless Esau, contrary to the promise of 25-23, that
it would be Jacob that would be the son of promise. Both knew
that both sons should be blessed, and then of course Esau misrepresents
the whole idea of the birthright issue. He says, well, he just
took it from me. No, he didn't Esau, you sold it, you gave it
up. Then Rebekah and Jacob, proper
end, they were right. We can't forget that. They were
right. As hard as it might be to admit
that in all of this deception and all of this sort of covert
ops, they were right. They were, but the way they went
about it was really not cool whatsoever. And then in terms
of the demonstration of the grace of God, one more time, I want
to quote Wenham, I think he nails it. He says, by setting this
new step forward in the history of salvation in the context of
such unprincipled behavior by every member of the family. I
think that's right. I hope you see that. Unprincipled
behavior by every member of the family. We don't take these passages
and say, okay, family, we can all live in an unprincipled way
because God will bring good out of it. No, we're supposed to
live our lives based on the revealed will of God. We take the law
of God, that is our pattern for sanctification, that is our pattern
for obedience, and we seek by the grace and the power of the
Holy Spirit to do what God calls us to do. But nevertheless, in
the midst of unprincipled family decisions, God does bring good
out of that. So he says, Each self-centeredly
seeking his or her own interest, the narrator is not simply pointing
out the fallibility of God's chosen, whose virtues often turn
into vices, but reasserting the grace of God. It is His mercy
that is the ultimate ground of salvation. I guess the final
note would be, if you want to learn Reformed theology, read
the Old Testament. If you want to learn about the
sovereignty of God Almighty, read the Old Testament. Not that
you won't get it in the New Testament, but when you see it in the nitty-gritty
details of life, such that God gives a promise in Genesis 3.15,
upon which the salvation of His people hinges, that promise has
to be brought to fruition. We cannot trust men. We cannot
put all of our eggs in the basket of men, because men will always
fail. Men always do fail. You have
a family here that was tasked with some pretty basic functioning,
one with another, that absolutely messed it all up. So if that
promise comes to fruition, it's because of the grace and the
power of Almighty God. So Genesis 27 is a great endorsement
for Reformed theology. Let's close in a word of prayer.
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word, we thank you
for the promise made in Genesis 3, and that promise fulfilled
in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that he
has dominion, that he rules and reigns from the right hand of
the Father, that the nations are being subjugated, not through
military might, but through the preaching of the gospel and the
power of your Holy Spirit. And we pray that preaching would
go forth, that it would run swiftly and be glorified, and that more
and more people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation would
bow to the Lord Jesus Christ, that they would confess Him as
Lord and Savior, that they would know the benefits of being found
in Him, and God in our church. We pray for those who come in
among us that are not saved. We pray that you'd open their
hearts to the preaching of the gospel, that your Holy Spirit
would convict them of their sin and show them the Savior in all
of his glory. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
