After a two-week detour from Genesis to focus on Christmas we return to the exciting story of how God entrusted His plan and promise to Abraham and his descendants.
What is the plan and how does it relate to the promise? Let’s do a quick review because it is easy to lose sight of the big picture when we dig into some of the messy details of the people God chose to execute His plan.
God chose to bring a Savior into the world to bear the penalty for the sins of all who trust Him. As we saw in my Christmas blog, that Savior is Jesus.https://www.cosdavis.com/the-promise/
The plan and promise were announced in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan’s temptation. God has paid a tremendous price to save us from the penalty of our sins.
In Genesis 12, we see God choosing Abram and his posterity as the family to carry out the plan and receive His promise to enable them to bring the promised Messiah into the world. However, as we have already seen, things can get pretty complicated because Abraham and Isaac are slow to trust and have wives who bring more drama into God’s plan. But, God has chosen Abraham and his family and promises that “through them all the world will be blessed.“
After twenty years of marriage, Isaac and Rebekah petition God for an heir to God’s promise to Abraham. They have twins. Jacob, the younger son of Isaac and Rebekah, is the next of Abraham’s kin to receive God’s plan and promise.
What do we know about Jacob at this point in the story? These facts might cause us to think of Jacob as an unlikely, unworthy candidate to carry on God’s plan and promise.
- He wrestles with Esau in their mother’s womb. He was aggressive and striving even before he was born.
- When Esau is born first, he grasps or clutches at Esau’s heel. His name means “one who grasps or clutches.”
- He envies Esau’s position as the firstborn son and takes advantage of his weakness to take the birthright for himself. He can be cruel and selfish. He swindles Esau out of his birthright.
At this point in the story, we see Jacob as a conniving, selfish, and heartless young man. But, there is more he will do to cement his reputation as a “grasper.”
It was common practice in Jewish families for the firstborn male to be favored above the other children. The firstborn son was to receive two important things from the father, the birthright and the father’s blessing.
In the case of Jacob and Esau, these rightly belonged to Esau. This meant that Abraham’s estate was to be divided with Esau receiving two-thirds and Jacob one-third. Genesis 25: 29-34 recounts how Esau sold this birthright to Jacob for some red stew, a pretty bad deal! Verse 34 doesn’t comment on Jacob’s actions but says this about Esau, ” So Esau despised his birthright.”
The birthright incident likely happened when the boys were teenagers. Let’s fast-forward to Genesis 27 when the brothers are about forty. (Can you imagine the unhealthy feelings and actions in the intervening years)? What happens next tells you the animosity and striving remained.
This was not a very healthy family. As you read the biblical text, favoritism jumps off the page. Isaac favored Esau and Rebekah favored Jacob. Sensing his death may be near, Isaac wants to bless the older son, Esau. He tells Esau to kill some wild game, prepare some tasty food, and receive the blessing that rightly belongs to him. In the incident we are about to explore you will notice that Rebekah listened as Isaac spoke to “his son” Esau about his plans. She then told “her son” Jacob about her plan to steal Esau’s blessing.
Why was Isaac’s “blessing” important and what did Rebekah and Jacob do to steal it? A father’s blessing took on a life of its own. It had the power to fulfill the words spoken over the son. The birthright was about inheriting property. The blessing predicted and assured the kind of life that lay before the son. Please read the whole story in Genesis 27.
Isaac’s blindness made this scheme a bit less risky. Jacob was concerned that if Isaac touched his smooth skin, the scheme would unravel and bring down his father’s curse on him.
Rebekah must have been plotting how to pull this off for some time. While Esau was out hunting she dressed Jacob in some of Esau’s clothes and put goat skins on his hands and neck. This way he would have the “smell” of Esau and hairy skin if Isaac should touch him.
The scheme almost fell apart because Isaac was alert enough to ask, ” How did you find it so quickly?” Jacob is quick on his feet, “The Lord your God gave me success.” Isaac touched him and said, ” The voice is that of Jacob but the hands are the hands of Esau.” Still unconvinced, ” Are you really my son Esau?” Jacob, kept his composure, “I am.” Isaac asks for the food so that he can proceed with the blessing. After Isaac ate and drank, Jacob kissed him and Isaac was convinced this was Esau when he smelled his clothes. Then Isaac gave this blessing to Jacob,
“Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field the Lord has blessed. May God give you heaven’s dew and the earth’s richness and abundance of grain and new win. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.” Genesis 27: 27-29.
We will continue with how this drama plays out in the next post. Here are some things to consider:
- Are Rebekah’s and Jacob’s actions justifiable since God will later use Jacob to advance His plan and promise?
- Is God sovereign in this story? Does God sometimes use the evil done by others to accomplish His plan and promises?