August 7, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Proverbs 16

Weekly Memory Verse: Romans 8:1

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

I am seriously considering going through the 40 days of purpose in this study at the same time that my church is going through the study.  I am considering going through the 40 days, then weekly I will set up a time where we can meet face to face at Starbucks or some other local coffee shop where we can discuss the studies.  This will start September 25th.  If you wish to follow along, you will need to purchase the book "The forty days of purpose" by Rick Warren, or you can visit my church on the kick-off day and you will receive a complementary copy free.

Genesis 27:1-17 (NASB95)
¹ Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” ² Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death. ³ “Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; ⁴ and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.” ⁵ Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, ⁷ ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ ⁸ “Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. ⁹ “Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰ “Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” ¹¹ Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. ¹² “Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” ¹³ But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” ¹⁴ So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶ And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob. ^[1]

Esau was commissioned to go into the field to hunt game for his father. 

One thing to consider as you look at this set of verses is that Rebekah told him to kill goats.  I went to Kentucky several years ago and visited my brother.  He offered me some venison, (deer meat), I tasted it, and agreed with him that it was some very good venison.  He got a good laugh out if it, it was goat.  If goat is cooked properly, it has the gamey flavor of venison, and is very hard to distinguish between the two. 

The question in my mind is why the deception?   When you read about all the risk and the involvement that is used in this deception, it goes beyond reason.  Isaac demonstrated earlier in his life that he had faith in God, even to the point of waiting for twenty years for God to bless him with children through Rebekah.  Why would there be a change in his old life?  In an effort to maintain face in front of his father, he is worried about deceiving him, yet later when he is found out, he will still be a deceiver.  I wonder if this is another time when Rebekah felt that God needed a little help by stealing the blessing for Jacob.  At any rate, look at the extreme measures that Rebekah took to make sure that Jacob received the blessing.

Genesis 27:18-29 (NASB95)
¹⁸ Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” ¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me.” ²⁰ Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.” ²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ²² So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. ²⁴ And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” ²⁵ So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank. ²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed; ²⁸ Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine; ²⁹ May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you.”^[2]

Jacob got in on the act of deception.  An interesting point that jumped out to me was out of verse 20.  Jacob referred to God as the "Lord your God", wasn't God Jacob's God as well?  This demonstrates that at this time, Jacob did not feel like that he deserved to be considered as a servant of God.  Remember, Jacob was the child of promise, you can be sure that Jacob knew that. 

Isaac knew something was up, I hardly think that he would have been so mis-trusting as to have pushed the point to the extent that he did.  A guilty conscience often causes a person to be overly cautious, because they are scared of being found out.  Isaac was pulling a fast one by blessing Esau and not both sons at once. 

Genesis 27:30-46 (NASB95)
³⁰ Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.” ³² Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” ³³ Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” ³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” ³⁵ And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” ³⁶ Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” ³⁷ But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?” ³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept. ³⁹ Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, “Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above. ⁴⁰ “By your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck.” ⁴¹ So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴² Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. ⁴³ “Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! ⁴⁴ “Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides, ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?” ⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

Genesis 25:28 (NASB95)
²⁸ Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. ^[3]

Isaac became very angry when he realized that he had been tricked by his son and his wife.  The Hebrew text indicates that both Isaac and Esau were screaming mad.  It has been suggested that Isaac was trying to tamper with God's plan by blessing Esau.  Isaac demonstrated that he loved a good meal, and Esau was his favorite according to Gen 25:28.

The birthright was not important to Esau, he had basically given it to Jacob.  The blessing was very important to him, and that was stolen by deceit.  The question that comes up is does the end justify the means?  Did the deception that was pulled off fit into the will of God?  If Jacob and Rebekah had not entered into this scheme, God would have still brought the promise to pass. 

Rebekah and Jacob appear to come through the story without many consequences for the sin.  One apparent result of the deception was that Jacob stood in danger of his brother, who was very angry at him.  As a result of their actions, major pain and suffering were brought into their lives.  The family was split due to the deception, although it isn't recorded you can imagine the stress that was brought upon Isaac and Rebekah's marriage in Isaac's last days.  Consider also having to lose a son because he moved away to avoid the wrath of his brother.  We can only guess as to the outcome if they had walked by faith and not by sight.  The family would not have been split, and the history of the Jews would have taken an entirely different route. 

This is one of the classic stories that most people are familiar with because it deals with the base instincts and the fleshly desires of man.  One important thing about this passage is that the Bible recorded history.  God insured that the history of the nation was recorded, regardless whether it was good or bad.  We will find out later that Jacob will pay a stiff penalty for this scheme, and will later find out that he will learn to gain blessings from God. 

This story is flawed from the beginning, Isaac jumped the gun in giving his blessing because he was not sure of his time of death.  It is obvious that he wanted to make sure that Esau got the best blessing and he wanted to completely cut Jacob out of the blessing.  The deception of Rebekah and Jacob entered the scene, which aided in continuing to mess up the passing of the blessing.  What should have been a beautiful ritual of passing the baton turned into a cesspool of deception and wrong motives.

Upon looking at the actual blessing, it could be equally applied to both brothers, both of them became great nations of people.  Both of them were blessed in great ways.  Yet Jacob was the one chosen by God to carry the name of His people.  God did not look upon the actions, He looked upon the heart, God hand picked Jacob to continue to be the heir to the faith promise given to Abraham.  Isaac did not have a choice when he gave the blessing, he listened to the Lord and issued the blessing as the Lord put the words in his mouth.  Otherwise, he could have given the same blessing to Esau later with some mild modifications to it. Instead, he was given a blessing which uniquely described his character. So in spite of all of the deception and wrong intentions on both parties, God's will was carried forth in the end.  Sometimes God uses us in spite of ourselves.

One final note concerning the passage, the passage is opened with Esau taking foreign wives, and it ends with him taking a foreign wife.  This is directly in contrast to the way that Abraham had made sure to get a wife from his people because of God's promise to him.  In the next chapter, Isaac sends the child of promise, Jacob back to his fathers land to get his wife. 

I am going to close here, I realize that I covered a lot of ground today, and hope that I didn't miss important points in running through the chapter.  If you see something that I missed, be sure to write in.

Questions for thought:

1. Would God's plan have been changed if Isaac were allowed to carry through with his plan to bless Esau without interference?

2. In light of what we have learned from this passage, mans fleshly actions result in misery and strife, if faith was exercised in this story, would the outcome have been different?

Father, we are deceptive by nature, show each of us through the study of this passage the blessings of being truthful, and living lives of integrity.

In Him,

Joe Turner.