Genesis 27

 

Jacob Cheats Esau out of the Blessing

1When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau replied. 

 

Notice the subtitle of the NET Bible for this section of Scripture. It states that Jacob “cheated” Esau out of the blessing. This is the attitude of most Bible commentators. However, this is simply not the case. Jacob did not “cheat” Esau out of the blessing.

 

First of all, Jehovah chose Jacob before his birth to receive the birthright. Second, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of red stew, which was legally allowed according to the Hurrian Law Code. 

 

It is a good thing to desire the birthright. It is a bad thing to despise it. Jacob was the righteous one in this situation. Esau was the godless one. Most Bible commentators reverse the morality of this situation.

 

Isaac was old and he was losing his eyesight. God arranged this blindness so that an important spiritual concept could be taught to both the angelic world and to Bible readers.

 

2Isaac said, “Since I am so old, I could die at any time. 

 

Ishmael died 14 years earlier. Isaac would not die until 43 years later. Therefore, Isaac thought that his life span might be very near.

 

3Therefore, take your weapons – your quiver and your bow – and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game for me. 

 

Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob, because Esau was a skilled hunter who made him tasty dishes. This was the wrong reason to love one son more than another.

 

4Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me. Then I will eat it so that I may bless you before I die.”

 

In Genesis 25:23, God had revealed that Jacob would be the seed-son. Isaac was out of the will of God. Also, Esau had already sold his birthright to Jacob. What was really happening was that Esau was attempting to steal the birthright from Jacob. Another problem was that Esau had intermarried with Hittite women. Isaac was willing to go against God’s direction for one venison meal. 

 

5Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son, Esau. When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back, 

 

Notice that Isaac spoke to “his” son Esau. Esau was the favorite son of Isaac.

 

6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau, 

 

Notice that Rebekah spoke to “her” son Jacob. Jacob was the favorite son of Rebekah.

 

7‘Bring me some wild game and prepare for me some tasty food. Then I will eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ 

 

Isaac was willing to go against the will of God for the sake of tasty food. Many modern Christians want their Sunday pastor to quickly finish his sermon so that they can go out and eat their Sunday lunch.

 

8Now then, my son, do exactly what I tell you! 

 

God directly told Rebekah that Jacob would receive the blessing. Rebekah was not trusting God. She was taking matters into her own hands.

 

9Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I’ll prepare them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them. 

 

Rebekah must have been a good cook.

 

10Then you will take it to your father. Thus he will eat it and bless you before he dies.”

 

The sin was not “stealing” the birthright, because it already belonged to Jacob. The sin was not trusting God and deceiving Isaac.

 

11“But Esau my brother is a hairy man,” Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, “and I have smooth skin! 

 

Jacob had doubts about his mother’s plan to deceive Isaac.

 

12My father may touch me! Then he’ll think I’m mocking him and I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.” 

 

If caught, then Jacob would be accused of mocking his father’s blindness.

 

13So his mother told him, “Any curse against you will fall on me, my son! Just obey me! Go and get them for me!”

 

After this incident, Rebekah will never see Jacob again. He will travel to Haran for 20 years and Rebekah will die before he returns.

 

14So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother. She prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it. 

 

This deception continued in the kitchen.

 

15Then Rebekah took her older son Esau’s best clothes, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 

 

The deception continued in the dressing room. Esau’s clothes were needed so that Jacob would smell like Esau.

 

16She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. 

 

The purpose was to make Jacob’s skin hairy, like that of Esau.

 

17Then she handed the tasty food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.

 

Jacob was ready to deceive his father.

 

18He went to his father and said, “My father!” Isaac replied, “Here I am. Which are you, my son?” 

 

There was a sense of suspicion. Jacob could not deceive Isaac’s sense of hearing.

 

19Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I’ve done as you told me. Now sit up and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me.” 

 

Jacob began the deception. He attempted to make his voice sound like Esau. Jacob’s sin was deception, not stealing the birthright. Isaac and Esau had committed the bigger sin, as they were attempting to disobey God.

 

20But Isaac asked his son, “How in the world did you find it so quickly, my son?” “Because the Lord your God brought it to me,” he replied. 

 

Jacob lied and used the name of God in doing it. Jacob was deceiving Isaac by pretending to be Esau.  Notice that Jacob said "the Lord your God." This would indicate that Esau was not a believer.  Had Jacob said “Because the Lord God brought it to me,” Isaac’s suspicions could have been confirmed.

 

21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you, my son, and know for certain if you really are my son Esau.” 

 

Isaac is still very suspicious. He still has a very good sense of hearing.

 

22So Jacob went over to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s.” 

 

The deception was working, only because Isaac allowed his sense of touch to overcome his sense of hearing.

 

23He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob. 

 

Isaac was deceived into giving Jacob the blessing that God had already promised to Jacob.

 

24Then he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” “I am,” Jacob replied. 

 

Isaac was still suspicious. Jacob lied again.

 

25Isaac said, “Bring some of the wild game for me to eat, my son. Then I will bless you.” So Jacob brought it to him, and he ate it. He also brought him wine, and Isaac drank. 

 

While Esau was still hunting, Isaac and Jacob shared the post-blessing meal together.

 

26Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here and kiss me, my son.” 

 

Isaac was still uncertain. This would give Isaac a chance to use his sense of smell.

 

27So Jacob went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent of his clothing, he blessed him, saying, “Yes, my son smells like the scent of an open field which the Lord has blessed.

 

The smell of Esau’s clothes completed the successful deception.

 

28May God give you the dew of the sky and the richness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine.

 

Isaac prayed for Jacob to be fruitful in agriculture and livestock. Jacob will be blessed when he works with Laban’s livestock.

 

29May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. You will be lord over your brothers, and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.”

 

Laban and the Canaanites will not mess around, threaten, or persecute Jacob. Jacob will be the leader of the Jewish tribe, but not until he returns after his twenty year visit to Haran. The blessing and cursing aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant was passed on to Jacob. Isaac wanted Esau to possess all of these blessings, even though it was against the will of God.

 

30Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. 

 

Isaac blessed Jacob against his own will, just as Balaam will later bless Israel against his own will.

 

31He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau said to him, “My father, get up and eat some of your son’s wild game. Then you can bless me.” 

 

Esau came back from his hunt, ready to steal the blessing from Jacob. However, Esau has no idea what had transpired during his absence.

 

32His father Isaac asked, “Who are you?” “I am your firstborn son,” he replied, “Esau!” 

 

Esau had to be surprised at this question.

 

33Isaac began to shake violently and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. He will indeed be blessed!”

 

Isaac shook not in anger, but in fear, because he recognized that God’s divine will was just accomplished through Jacob's deception.

 

34When Esau heard his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!” 

 

Esau did not care much for the spiritual blessing, but he did desire the wealth and military power that came with the blessing.

 

35But Isaac replied, “Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away your blessing.” 

 

Jacob did deceive his father, but the blessing already belonged to him.

 

36Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! He has tripped me up two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!” Then he asked, “Have you not kept back a blessing for me?”

 

Jacob means “heel grabber” or deceiver.” A heel grabber was one who grabbed the heel of his opponent in order to win in a race. To God, it was a positive name, meaning “heel grabber.” To Esau, it was a negative name, meaning “deceiver.”

 

37Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?” 

 

According to the Nuzi tablets, the blessing was irrevocable.

 

38Esau said to his father, “Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!” Then Esau wept loudly.

 

Esau wept loudly, because he had just lost a fortune to his little brother.

 

39So his father Isaac said to him, “Indeed, your home will be away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of the sky above.

 

Esau will not inherit the land of Canaan. The home of Esau will not be in Canaan with Jacob. He will live in the mountains of Sier. 

 

40You will live by your sword but you will serve your brother. When you grow restless, you will tear off his yoke from your neck.”

 

Esau will make his living by killing and plundering weaker nomadic tribes. He will become a marauder. He will kill and steal from others.

 

Esau will serve Jacob. The Edomites will serve both Saul and David. Esau will tear off the yoke of slavery several times during the divided monarchy. The Edomites will eventually become the house of Herod. Herod will end up mocking Jesus.

 

41So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. Esau said privately, “The time of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill my brother Jacob!”

 

Esau planned to kill Jacob after the death of Isaac. However, Isaac would not die for another 43 years.

 

42When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, she quickly summoned her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. 

 

Jacob was the seed-son. He was immortal until he fathered the next seed-son.

 

43Now then, my son, do what I say. Run away immediately to my brother Laban in Haran. 

 

This was a 450 mile trip. Also, Laban was a materialistic rascal. He was a pagan who believed in many gods. 

 

44Live with him for a little while until your brother’s rage subsides. 

 

This “little while” would turn out to be twenty long years.

 

45Stay there until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I’ll send someone to bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

 

Rebekah never sent for her son because she died. She never saw her favorite son again.

 

If Esau killed Jacob, then Esau would be executed for murder as a result of the Noahic Covenant in Gen 9:6. Rebekah would lose both sons in one day.

 

46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am deeply depressed because of these daughters of Heth. If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!”

 

The Hittite wives of Esau were bad news. Rebekah did not want Isaac to marry a Hiittite wife. She was hoping that her brother Laban could provide a wife for Jacob.

 

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In conclusion, the human viewpoint of the satanic world system teaches that life is nothing but blind chance, so one must make the best of their opportunities.

 

The divine viewpoint of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God teaches that God has planned every single instant and situation of a person’s life. Even evil people exist to fulfill God’s will. God can use all sin and turn it into good. This Bible doctrine will later be emphasized by the Apostle Paul in Roman 8:28-30, " 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose, 8:29 because those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 8:30 And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified."

 

The birthright belonged to Jacob, not Esau. Jacob could not steal what God had given him. Isaac,  Esau, Rebekah, and Jacob were all out of the will of God. Isaac and Esau executed negative volition to God's directed will. Rebekah and Jacob did not trust God to accomplish His divine will. 

 

God does not need man's help. His divine and preordained plan will take place. There is not a liberal, skeptic, or carnal Christian who can stop His plan for the ages.