Oh, no! Isaac hadn’t blessed Esau – he had blessed Jacob. This devotional reading looks at how Isaac blessed Esau and Esau’s response.
Nuggets
- Timing can be everything, but Jacob almost didn’t have enough time.
- There were probably several reasons Isaac trebled uncontrollably.
- As usual, Esau didn’t blame himself.
- Rebekah championed for a daughter-in-law she would never meet.
- Rebekah told the truth when warning Jacob.
- Apparently, Rebekah didn’t want to tell Isaac that Esau was planning murder.
When we’d left our family, Jacob had just deceived his father, Isaac — at the direction of his mother, Rebekah.
Jacob’s deception is about to be found out.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the Isaac the Patriarch series
What’s Left for Esau?
“As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and almost before Jacob had left his father, Esau returned from his hunt. Esau prepared a delicious meal and brought it to his father. Then he said, ‘Sit up, my father, and eat my wild game so you can give me your blessing.’ But Isaac asked him, ‘Who are you?’ Esau replied, ‘It’s your son, your firstborn son, Esau.’ Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably and said, ‘Then who just served me wild game? I have already eaten it, and I blessed him just before you came. And yes, that blessing must stand!’ When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry. ‘Oh my father, what about me? Bless me, too!’ he begged. But Isaac said, ‘Your brother was here, and he tricked me. He has taken away your blessing.’ Esau exclaimed, ‘No wonder his name is Jacob, for now he has cheated me twice. First he took my rights as the firstborn, and now he has stolen my blessing. Oh, haven’t you saved even one blessing for me?’ Isaac said to Esau, ‘I have made Jacob your master and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants. I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain and wine — what is left for me to give you, my son?’ Esau pleaded, ‘But do you have only one blessing? Oh my father, bless me, too!’ Then Esau broke down and wept. Finally, his father, Isaac, said to him, ‘You will live away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of the heaven above. You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you decide to break free, you will shake his yoke from your neck’” (Gen. 27: 30-40 NLT)
As Soon as Isaac Had Finished Blessing Jacob
Timing can be everything, but Jacob almost didn’t have enough time.
ut we still have to deal with Esau.
I read verse 30 to say that Esau almost caught Jacob coming out of Isaac’s tent. Esau was returning to camp, so he wasn’t ready to give Isaac his meal. He had to prepare it first.
Esau got the meal prepared, probably humming as he worked. He was about to get what he wanted — wealth with no responsibility.
Was Esau in for a surprise! Isaac sure was.
Isaac Trembled Uncontrollably
There were probably several reasons Isaac trebled uncontrollably.
We may jump to thinking Isaac was mad when he started to tremble uncontrollably (Gen. 27: 33). He wouldn’t have liked that he was duped.
Part of me thinks Isaac trembled because he realized he did give the covenant blessing – whether that is what he intended in the first place or not. I remember Pastor Steve describing the experience of Jehovah setting him aside and preaching through him one morning. Or should I clarify, blasting through him.
That was an awe-inspiring and humbling experience.
I can also see that Isaac realized just how closely he came to really disobeying Jehovah. He was going to go against what he had been told was His plan.
Esau's Blessing
I can see where Isaac would have wanted to bless Esau, too. But the blessing he gave Jacob was irreversible.
What more did Isaac have to give? He was limited in what he could do.
Several translations including the King James Version, however, have it wrong in the first element of the blessing. Let’s compare Jacob’s blessing to Esau’s blessing. They weren’t the same blessing, though sometimes it reads as if they are.
Both Jacob and Esau can’t have the fatness/richness of the earth and dew from heaven in their blessings!
Does that mean King James Version translator missed the not, or took it out on purpose?
Well, we feel sorry for Esau – sort of. We can’t go against God’s Will. Worse, we can’t lead others against God’s Word.
I think it is more of an issue of mistranslating the Hebrew.
Look how Genesis 27: 28 starts: “From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you …” (NLT). It is all about Jehovah’s abundant provision.
The Hebrew reads almost as the New Living Translation says (as opposed to the King James Version): “From the fatness of the earth shall be your dwelling, and from the dew of heaven above.” “From the fatness of the earth” is a lot different than “… Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth …: (Gen. 27: 39 KJV).
The biggest difference that the Hebrew tells us is that Jacob’s blessing was talking inheritance. Esau’s blessing was talking habitation.
We know from Malachi that Esau did live in a desert. “And the Lord replies, ‘This is how I showed my love for you: I loved your ancestor Jacob, but I rejected his brother, Esau, and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau’s inheritance into a desert for jackals’” (Mal. 1: 2-3 NLT).
I wonder, though, if Isaac was trembling because he knew God wanted Jacob to have the blessing, but he had followed his own will instead of God’s. Was he concerned for his own consequences?
We should tremble when we know we have willingly brought God’s wrath down upon ourselves.
Cheated Me Twice
As usual, Esau didn’t blame himself.
Esau was right and wrong. “Esau exclaimed, ‘No wonder his name is Jacob, for now he has cheated me twice. First he took my rights as the firstborn, and now he has stolen my blessing’” (Gen. 27: 36 NLT).
Esau was right that Jacob cheated him out of the blessing because of the way he did it.
Esau was wrong that Jacob was the reason he wasn’t blessed. That was God’s decision. Isaac got his hopes up when he told him he would bless him anyway.
Also wrong was that Jacob cheated Esau out of his birthright. Esau sold them to Jacob 62 years prior. He could have said no if he thought more of his responsibilities than his stomach.
But Esau didn’t want clan leadership. He wanted the wealth.
Jacob Flees to Paddan-Aram
“From that time on, Esau hated Jacob because their father had given Jacob the blessing. And Esau began to scheme: ‘I will soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I will kill my brother, Jacob.’ But Rebekah heard about Esau’s plans. So she sent for Jacob and told him, “Listen, Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you. So listen carefully, my son. Get ready and flee to my brother, Laban, in Haran. Stay there with him until your brother cools off. When he calms down and forgets what you have done to him, I will send for you to come back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?’ Then Rebekah said to Isaac, ‘I’m sick and tired of these local Hittite women! I would rather die than see Jacob marry one of them’” (Gen. 27: 41-46 NLT)
Rebekah championed for a daughter-in-law she would never meet.
Esau Began to Scheme
Oh, I bet Esau did hate Jacob after this. He didn’t really care about the birthrights because of the responsibility of family leadership that went with it.
Esau didn’t like that Jacob got the money.
So, Esau’s solution was to plan to kill Jacob. Isn’t it true that sin snowballs? We commit a little sin, then slide into a bigger one, then a bigger one. Sounds like Esau cut out some slides, though.
Rebekah stepped in again. She found out that Esau was planning to kill Jacob upon Isaac’s death.
Rebekah Said to Jacob
Rebekah told the truth when warning Jacob.
Rebekah’s first thought would have been of getting Jacob to safety. He was her favorite son.
Besides, Jacob was the covenant son. Nothing could happen to him, or the covenant would be broken.
Again, it seems like Rebekah thought she needed to step in and keep the covenant moving in the right direction. Again, she didn’t wait until Jehovah acted.
Would Esau really have followed through with his threat? We’ll never know.
Why didn’t Jacob have a wife already? If Esau got married at 40 and this was years after, where was Jacob’s wife?
Remember, if Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah, Abraham was 140. Since Abraham died at 175, he secured a wife for Isaac 35 years before he died.
Isaac was securing Jacob’s wife 44 years before he died.
But, no, none of them were spring chickens.
Rebekah Said to Isaac
Apparently, Rebekah didn’t want to tell Isaac that Esau was planning murder.
Isn’t that like mothers? We want to shield everyone involved in the best way possible. Unfortunately, sometimes that means saying our motive is Plan A – which is true – instead of Plan B – equally true but more painful.
Is this another form of deception? Is “hiding” an ulterior motive deceptive when both are true?
Was Rebekah afraid to say that Jacob should go to Paran-Aram for covenant purposes when Isaac had so blatantly ignored the covenant?
Remember, according to the timeline we’ve been using, Isaac was 137 when he gave the blessings. He died when he was 180. That was 43 years later.
Based on Timeline from
Rebekah told Isaac to send Jacob where he was supposed to go to find a wife. But let’s look at different translations of what she said.
- “… ‘I’m sick and tired of these local Hittite women!’ …” (Gen. 27: 46 NLT).
- “… ‘I’m sick of my life because of these Hethite girls’ …” (Gen. 27: 46 CSB).
- “… ‘I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth’ …” (Gen. 27: 46 NASB).
- “… ‘I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth’ …” (Gen. 27: 46 KJV).
It is kind of a progression into darkness, isn’t it? Do we have an idea how she was really feeling?
Let’s go back to the Hebrew. Yes, it is showing the contempt for her life when taken literally.
- “I am disgusted/weary of my life”
- “My life is a burden to me.”
But that is a common Semitic idiom. We would say, “I can’t stand this. I’m miserable.” We might even say, “I’m at the end of my rope.”
Rebekah might be being a bit of a drama queen. But the question she is posing is a rhetorical question, not a call for suicide intervention. She is talking hyperbolically.
Finding a non-Canaanite wife was true as Jehovah would not want a marriage with a Canaanite woman in the covenant line. We know how that turned out with Isaac’s wives (Gen. 26: 35). It wasn’t very complimentary.
Rebekah was talking through her anguish and feeling of urgency, not depression. She was probably overwhelmed and scared stiff.
If she was trying to ensure the correct covenant line, this shows how much was at stake. It’s planning redemption’s’ story in a very human situation.
But let’s focus on securing Jacob a covenant wife.
This time, Isaac wasn’t doing the securing as Abraham did. He wasn’t sending an Eliezer-type to Panan-Aram. He was sending Jacob himself.
That was because the betrothal process had changed. Jacob not only didn’t have a servant making the arrangement, but he also didn’t have the presents to provide the family of the bride he chose.
Yeah, Laban was probably really missing that part of the deal.
But this meant that Jacob didn’t have the formal authority to secure arrangements for a bride. He had to make his own arrangements. Yes, labor was par for the course then.
This absence of the formal rituals, though, didn’t do Jacob any favors. That opened the door to the deception by Laban.
What hadn’t changed was securing a marriage partner who was within the family. What hadn’t changed was Jehovah control over both processes.
Making the Connections #1
One thing we have to recognize here was that Isaac did not do the opposite of bless. He did not curse Esau.
Instead, Isaac describe the man that Esau was/would become.
But it sure does look like a curse if we think anything good is a blessing, anything hard is a curse.
Esau, like his Uncle Ishmael, would have had a hard life. Both were fighting men.
I guess it would be natural that the two bloodlines would commingle. In Genesis 25, we talked about Arabs, many of which — but not all — are descendants of Ishmael according to Got Questions. Bradford reminded us that many of which — but not all — are also descendants of Esau. They make up the majority of the population of Muslims.
Resources
So, this was part character analysis, part prophecy.
Making the Connections #2
Each person in Isaac’s family sinned.
- Isaac ignored Jehovah’s will in favor of rewarding his favorite son.
- Rebekah developed a sinful plan to obtain the right thing and encouraged her child to deceive his father.
- Esau was impulsive and selfish, living only for the day and ignoring his responsibilities to Sovereign God as firstborn.
- Jacob did not trust in Jehovah to provide His promises.
How Do We Apply This?
- Truly love our family, not just have an affection for them.
- Watch our thoughts.
- Remember one sin leads to another.
- Realize that early sins stick with us long into life.
- Don’t play favorites with your kids.
- Recognize that Jehovah as our Creator has to the right to do what He wants.
Resources
Father God. You have made the family a central part of Your call for us. You place us in families here so we can be a family through eternity. But we are flawed. We quarrel. We are self-centered. Unfortunately, we sin in the way we interact with each other. Forgive us, Lord. Help us to have Your character and treat each other as You would. Amen.
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