Isaac started things in motion to bless Esau, but Rebekah came up with a plan so that Jacob could get the blessing. This devotional reading looks at how the deception was carried out.
Nuggets
- Jacob followed through with Rebekah’s plan.
- Jacob deceived Isaac and received the blessing meant for Esau.
This story looks like it is each parent was battling so that his/her favorite child would receive the blessing. What was termed blessing ended up being the covenant blessing.
So, did the covenant son receive it or not?
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Devotions in the Isaac the Patriarch series
Jacob Executes Rebekah’s Plan
“So Jacob took the food to his father. ‘My father?’ he said. ‘Yes, my son,’ Isaac answered. ‘Who are you — Esau or Jacob?” Jacob replied, ‘It’s Esau, your firstborn son. I’ve done as you told me. Here is the wild game. Now sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing.’ Isaac asked, ‘How did you find it so quickly, my son?’ ‘The LORD your God put it in my path!” Jacob replied. Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Esau.’ So Jacob went closer to his father, and Isaac touched him. ‘The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s,’ Isaac said. But he did not recognize Jacob, because Jacob’s hands felt hairy just like Esau’s. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob. “But are you really my son Esau?” he asked. ‘Yes, I am,’ Jacob replied. Then Isaac said, ‘Now, my son, bring me the wild game. Let me eat it, and then I will give you my blessing.’ So Jacob took the food to his father, and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him” (Gen. 27: 18-25 NLT)
Jacob followed through with Rebekah’s plan.
It has long amazed me how a 77-year-old-man could let his mother talk into perpetuating a lie. But perpetuate he did.
Why?
- Did Jacob think he was saving his father from sin?
- Did he think this was what Sovereign God wanted?
Jacob did everything he could to make himself into Esau. He put on Esau’s favorite clothes. Rebekah put goat skin on his neck and arms. Food was prepared (Gen. 27: 14-17 NLT).
Did this make Jacob a weak and pliable man, as Leale suggested? Hmmm. Maybe. I mean, he was 77 years old, and he doesn’t question Mom. All he was worried about was getting caught.
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Did Jacob see any other way he was going to get what Jehovah had promised him? Probably not. That is usually when we jump right in to get what we know is right.
But two wrongs don’t make a right.
Jacob went to see Isaac with substituted meat in hand. Isaac thought something was fishy – and he didn’t think it was the meat.
Isaac was skeptical that this was his son Esau. We might wonder why he couldn’t definitely distinguish between his sons. It seemed like he could: Esau’s hair but Jacob’s voice.
Why didn’t Isaac stick to his guns? “You aren’t Esau.”
Isaac Blessed Jacob
“Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Please come a little closer and kiss me, my son.’ So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced, and he blessed his son. He said, ‘Ah! The smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which the LORD has blessed! From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine. May many nations become your servants, and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who bless you will be blessed’” (Gen. 27: 26-29 NLT)
Jacob deceived Isaac and received the blessing meant for Esau.
But Isaac gave Jacob the blessing. Yes, that is what God wanted, but He wanted it done His way where it glorified Him.
The b’rakhah is a prayer that is a blessing. Many of the Jewish blessings start with the same six words, according to Adath Shalom. They are Barukh Ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melekh Ha’olam. In English that reads: Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe.
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It starts off with praise, hope, and gratitude — not petition. But what is relevant to this conversation is that the b’rakhah shows finality in a long-settled issue.
The long-settled issue was that Jacob was the covenant son. It was settled that the plenty and power belonged to Jacob, not Esau.
Bradford had a great reminder. While Isaac was blessing Jacob, he was probably thinking Esau. That would mean he wanted for Esau, not Jacob
- Dew
- Fatness of the earth
- Abundance of grain and wine
- Servants
- Nations below him
- Master of his brothers
- Sons
- Curse those who curse you, bless those who bless you.
Wait a minute!
- “… One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son” (Gen. 25: 23 NLT).
- “Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, ‘Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!’” (Gen. 15: 5 NLT).
- “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt …” (Gen. 12: 3 NLT).
Esau was not to be the covenant son! Isaac knew that!!!!
But think about it. Isaac was thinking Esau, blessing Jacob. That definitely would have been included in Jacob’s covenant blessing. It would have been horrible if it was left out.
So, it is perfectly appropriate in this blessing – regardless of who Isaac had in mind.
Bradford told us what Isaac was trying to do. He wrote, “Isaac isn’t trying to say Jacob isn’t the firstborn; he’s just trying to take most of the rights of the firstborn away from Jacob and give them to Esau……just another way to skin a cat.”
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So, Bradford thought Isaac knew exactly what he was doing and did it anyway. He may not have thought of Esau as the covenant son, but he wanted all the good stuff for him.
But the covenant son did get the covenant blessing, despite Isaac’s best efforts. Yes, God’s Will would be done.
Harper said something interesting. The blessings that Isaac was giving were temporary.
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That is true – up until the last three. Dew, fatness of the earth, abundance of grain and wine, servants, and nations below him were all tied to this earthly existence.
Master over Your Brothers
Were you squinting at that, too? Why does it say brothers – plural?
Aren’t Jacob and Esau the only children Isaac and Rebekah had? How can their “… mother’s sons …” (Gen. 27: 29 NLT) bow down to them if there are no other mother’s sons?
We know earlier in Genesis when it was giving death lists, it would say “After the birth of Son, Dad lived another so many years and had other sons and daughters.”
We’ve never heard that about Isaac. Moses listed Abraham’s concubine Keturah and her sons. Why wouldn’t he have done the same with Isaac?
Besides Jewish tradition or ancient writings don’t say anything about other kids. You would have thought somewhere along the line, a descendant this close to Abraham wouldn’t have been left out.
Well, all through God’s Word brothers and sisters mean more than biological siblings. It can mean anywhere from close relatives and clan members to other believers of the faith.
What Isaac could have been meaning was that Jacob’s descendants – with Jacob as the representative head – would rule over Esau’s descendants – with Esau as the representative head.
This does play out in Scripture down the line. Edom is described as Israel’s “brother” nation. “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land” (Deut. 23: 7 ESV).
So, this has to be forward-looking. That is what a covenant blessing would do.
Sons
At first, I didn’t include sons in this breakout. But then I decided I had better.
Yes, sons were very important to any family in that society. They would all be concerned about securing the family line.
But we are talking covenant sons here. “All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah” (Mt. 1: 17 NLT).
Sons were important because they led to Yeshua.
Curse You and Bless You
When we think of bless-those-who-bless-you-and-curse-you-who-curse-you in a spiritual context, blessing is equated with salvation. Cursing is associated with being thrown in the lake of fire (Rev. 20: 15).
That is for eternity.
If Isaac was giving the covenant blessing – which he was because it was Jacob – he would have been blessing the covenant line. The covenant line culminates in Yeshua and salvation.
Making the Connections #1
Jacob got the blessing God wanted him to have. But how did he feel?
Bradford took a stab at that. He wrote,
“But, no doubt Jacob felt none of the inner joy and sense of humility before God that should have been present after being anointed as the bearer of the line of covenant promise that was so important for the future of all mankind. For Jacob had done wrong in making sure to obtain it….his deception was sin against God….and his conscience probably dogged him for the rest of his life.”
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Does that surprise you? Did you think he would be giddy with joy?
By his deception, Jacob tainted that which was pure and good.
Making the Connections #2
“From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine” (Gen. 27: 28 NLT)
Jacob’s blessing talked of Jehovah’s provision. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have a big role to play.
Fertility of the soil and the dew do come from Jehovah. However, it is provided through the answer of prayer.
We should never take Jehovah’s promises for granted. We must never feel like we are entitled.
We must praise Jehovah for what only He can do.
Making the Connections #3
Rebekah did pay the consequences for her deception. She never saw Jacob again.
We don’t know when Rebekah died because it isn’t mentioned in God’s Word. It is, though, in Jewish tradition.
What we do know is that, when Jacob and his family left to return to Canaan (Gen. 31: 3) in 1703 BC, Rebekah was already dead.
Wait a second! I have to process this.
c. 1823–1820 BC – Abraham sent Eliezer to Paddan-Aram to find a wife for Isaac (Gen. 24)
1820 BC – Isaac, at age 40, married Rebekah (Gen. 25: 20)
1723 BC – Jacob flees Canaan to Paddan-aram to Rebekah’s family (Jacob age 77; Isaac age 137).
1703 BC – Jacob and his family left to return to Canaan (Gen. 31: 3)
Tradition says that Rebekah died at age 133. The reason given by Biblical Hermeneutics is that Esau’s attendance to the funeral rather than Jacob carried a great shame. Jacob was supposedly on his way back but hadn’t arrived yet.
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We know tradition gets some things right and some things wrong. So, let’s say she died in 1703 BC. That means she was born in 1836 BC. It would have made her 16 when she married Isaac.
That fits the custom of a marriage age of 15–17 for the bride. That would make Isaac 24 years older than Rebekah.
Making the Connections #4
I liked what Watt said about Jacob craving the blessing. But was he right when he said, “JACOB’S CONDUCT PROVES THAT THERE MAY BE MORE RELIGION ON THE LIPS THAN IN THE LIFE (ver. 20)?
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So, what is verse 20 about? “Isaac asked, ‘How did you find it so quickly, my son?’ ‘The Lord your God put it in my path!’ Jacob replied.” (Gen. 27: 20 emphasis added).
What is lip service? “And so the Lord says, ‘These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote’” (Isa. 29: 13 NLT).
Was Jacob just doing lip service? If he was craving the blessing because for worldly gain, he is just doing lip service.
But look what Jacob said, “… The Lord your God put it in my path …” (Gen. 27: 20 NLT emphasis added). He invoked the Lord’s provision for a lie.
Jehovah had nothing to do with Rebekah’s deception. He didn’t tell her to concoct this scheme.
So, yeah. At this point, we would say Jacob wasn’t a worthy covenant son. He does want it more than Esau, but he wants it on his own terms and in his own way.
God was going to have to get Jacob’s attention.
Making the Connections #5
Do we think we are going to get a get-out-of-jail card for sin? This isn’t the board game Monopoly.
I like what Bradley said. He wrote,
“The instant we look at him [Jacob], we are struck with this fact, that the nearer a man is to God, the more God is displeased with any iniquity He sees in him, and the more openly and severely He punishes it. Of all this family, Jacob was the most beloved by Him, but yet, as far as regards this world, he appears to have suffered from this transaction the most bitterly.”
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No, it isn’t smooth sailing for believers. We are corrected by Jehovah when we sin.
Making the Connections #6
Look what Parker said. He wrote, “Jacob was a destined man; Jacob was destined before he was born; what, then, was his error? Not in feeling, how mysteriously soever, the pressure of his destiny, but in prematurely taking it into his own hands.”
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I guess I am tripping over prematurely. Yes, he and Rebekah didn’t do things on Jehovah’s timetable.
No, Jacob wasn’t ready yet. He needed character building.
But that explains every new disciple. Jehovah meets us where we are and transforms us into who we need to be.
We just can’t let our character be built through deception.
Don’t be Jacob — right thing, wrong way, wrong time.
Let me do some Elaine-speak on what else Parker said.
Right is not simply about a single issue. It is about all of the issues and events that make up our lives.
We can’t make a profession of faith but not transform into a person like Yeshua. We have to do that on our Sanctification Road, not through our own efforts.
Motivation plays a big role in that. Did Rebekah do what she did to ensure the covenant line — or because she didn’t want the man whose wives disrupted the family get the good stuff?
Rebekah’s right thing, wrong way perpetuated right thing, wrong way, wrong time.
Making the Connections #7
Jacob was right in wanting God’s Will. He was wrong in the way he went about staying in it.
Esau was wrong to despise God’s Will. He was right that Jacob went the wrong way about getting it.
Jehovah chose Jacob as the third Patriarch because of several things Mercer listed.
- Esau was too caught up in day-to-day life.
- Jacob accepted that he had to work for good, and he patiently and gladly did so.
- Jacob’s means were never wicked without a good reason.
We aren’t called disciples because of doing the do’s and not doing the don’ts. We are disciples because we submit to God’s Will. We show His grace by our inadequacies.
Look at what Mercer said that meant. He wrote, “He [Jacob] was, even in his weakest points, far better fitted to lay the foundations of a family and kingdom than the impulsive and purposeless Esau.”
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Mercer also pointed out the contrast between pure Abraham and flawed Jacob. Jehovah used both — just as He uses us.
Making the Connections #8
Harper had an interesting take. He wrote,
“The blessing of Isaac, therefore, must have comprised something more than what we have here recorded; otherwise we may be well assured that Jacob would never have risked so much to obtain it, nor would his mother ever have placed him in so hazardous and perilous a situation.”
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I can see that. It was all temporary blessings. However, Jehovah had already said that the older would serve the younger (Gen. 25: 23).
But wouldn’t Moses have recorded the more spiritual aspects rather than the earthly?
Making the Connections #9
Did Jacob think Isaac wasn’t going to bless him as himself? Worse, did he think Isaac was going to curse him?
We’ll never know, will we?
How Do We Apply This?
- Don’t champion a lie or deceitful circumstances.
- Avoid anything evil.
- Don’t undermine moral development.
- Don’t expect Jehovah to justify the sinful means to get to His covenant promises.
- Realize that early sins stick with us long into life.
- Don’t sin because of a feeling of entitlement — reply on divine provision.
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Father God. This is a great example of how we can plan and scheme, but Your Will will always be done. Forgive us when we get impatient and take things into our own hands. Worse, forgive us when we lie and deceive to get our way. Help us to wait on You. Amen.
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