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.
Introduction
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.
Background and Context
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
Isaac's Desire and the Blessing
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,
Rebekah's Plan
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.
Jacob's Deception of Isaac
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.
Ambrose's Allegory and Imputed Righteousness
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,
The Blessing: Provision and Promise
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
Esau's Appeal
that brings us thirdly to the appeal by Esau in verses 30 to 40.
God's Providence in the Timing
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.
Election and the Sovereignty of Grace
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.
Jacob's Escape
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.
Conclusion
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.
Closing 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.