Boneheads battle for a blessing!
Genesis 27
Prayer for illumination: please join me in prayer.
Sermon introduction:
I want to poll the church this morning.
“Raise your hand if you have told a lie”
“Raise your hand if you have been lied to”
“Raise your hand if you like being lied to”
No one likes being lied to. When we are lied to we feel used, abused, devalued, disliked, untrustworthy, and unimportant.
(Lying about Rollerblades)
Deception is the cause of millions of broken relationships. Deception sometimes leads to murder.
This brings us to Genesis 27 this morning. This is a story of deception, deception of the worst kind. Deception that takes place within a family! In this family the Mother and her son deceive the father and his son to obtain their father’s blessing.
The result of this deception is the threat of Fratricide (brother killing brother).
Things don’t look good! The leading patriarchal family is a group of boneheads. How in the world is God going to bring good out of this?
Maybe you have wondered something similar. Maybe you’re thinking, “My life seems like such a mess.” “I have made so many foolish decisions.” “I have told so many lies.” “How in the world is God going to bring good out of the mess I have made?”
This brings us to the very heart of this passage this morning.
God uses all things, even family deception, to fulfill his plan! Repeat!!!
God’s plan for his people cannot be thwarted. It cannot be derailed no matter how bad things may seem.
We see this as the five scenes of Genesis 27 unfold.
Scene one, the purpose of the deception!
What was the purpose of the deception? Obtaining the Father’s blessing!
Genesis 27:1–4 (ESV) — 1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, 4 and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love (strong and passionate love, like the love of a man for his wife), and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”
Isaac should have known better than to promise to bless Esau because Esau was not the chosen one. There were several reasons for this-
Esau married two Hittite women, which was forbidden (26:34).
Esau, ruled by his appetites, sold his birthright to his brother proving he was a fool (25:34).
Finally, in Genesis 25:23 God clearly told Isaac and Rebekah that Jacob was the chosen one and not Esau to fulfill all the promises made to Abraham back in Genesis 12:1-3.
Many commentators believe that the reference to his physical blindness is meant to point us to his spiritual blindness.
One commentator makes the point that Isaac’s decision to bless Esau was also a decision to throw a fire inside the family tent. In other words, this was going to cause major conflict because boy boys wanted the blessing.
But why?
The birthright and the blessing always went together. Whoever got the birthright got the blessing and had all the privileges of the eldest son.
One scholar writes- “the elder son becomes the head of the family, the one who carries his family tradition: defining the family’s understanding of itself, speaking for the family and carrying out the family’s direction. Theologically, for this family it also means bearing God’s promises into the next generation.” (Waltke, 377)
Scene one, the purpose of the deception
Scene two, the plan of the deception
Who plans this deception? Rebekah
Genesis 27:5–17 (ESV) — 5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau.
Rebekah was eavesdropping probably hiding behind a thin tent wall! And more than likely the old man’s voice was loud. Older people sometimes talk loud because they can’t hear. This may have been the case since we know that his sight was failing him.
So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. 9 Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. 10 And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” 11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.”
Notice that Jacob’s questioning of the plan was not based on his moral scruples. His conscience does not seem to be bothering him one bit. He was more concerned about his own hide than about deceiving his father.
Have you ever stopped to ponder just how bad this deception is? A disabled person is being taken advantage of. What would you think of someone who walked by a blind beggar playing his guitar and took a dollar bill out of his hat? It is pretty hard to stoop any lower.
13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.” 14 So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved.
Rebekah was very confident in the plan and she quickly and skillfully prepared the food knowing that the path to blessing was through Isaac’s stomach.
15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
Esau must have been one hairy dude. So hairy that his skin felt like the skin of a goat. And Jacob must have looked ridiculous. Surely he was praying that nobody would see him!
The hospitable and gracious Rebekah has become a sly and skillful deceiver!
The purpose of the deception
The plan of the deception
Scene three, the performance of the deception!
Notice all the tests that Isaac puts Jacob through. With each test the tension in the story mounts.
Genesis 27:18–29 (ESV) — 18 So he went in 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; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”
This is the first test.
Isaac is not sure that he is dealing with Esau. Notice Jacob’s quick response. “I am Esau… now sit up and eat of my game and then bless me.” He wants to get in and get out before Isaac figures out his scheme.
20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.”
Here is the second test
Isaac is suspicious. How did you get the food so quickly? You just left me a minute ago…?
Notice Jacob’s response. “The lord your God has granted me success” Jacob does not call God his God until later in chapter 28.
He uses God’s name to cover up his deception, which is the sin of blasphemy. This is the low point of the story. Jacob uses God as an excuse and an accomplice to cover up his deep deception.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him.
This is the third test. He has to pass the tactile test or the hairy test. The Tension continues to mount and Jacob is on the verge of being cursed by his father if his father finds out.
24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.”
This is the fourth test… Isaac is still not convinced.
Jacob realizes that his voice is giving him away so he responds with as few words as possible. “I am”
25 Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed!
The fifth test… the smell test
28 May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. 29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”
his deception is so complete he passes all the test and now receives the blessing of his father.
The first blessing promises fertility in the field v. 28
The second blessing promises political supremacy v. 29a
The third blessing has to do with reciprocal blessings and curses v. 29b
This blessing is similar to the blessing given to Abraham in Gen 12:1-3
The purpose of the deception
The plan of the deception
The performance of the deception
Scene Four, the prey of the deception!
Who is the prey of this deception? Esau
Genesis 27:30–40 (ESV) — 30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
Jacob barely escapes in time!!! One commentator points out that often in Genesis the timing is always very close which is an indicator of God’s providence. He controls all things and he timed this perfectly.
31 He also prepared delicious 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 His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” 33 Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”
Have you ever seen someone so mad that they trembled violently? Verse 33 says that he trembled very violently. It is one thing to tremble, it another thing to tremble violently, some one is really made when they tremble very violently.
The text does not tell us this but I’m sure his face turned bright red, he probably raised his voice, and he may have thrown some things around the room.
Unfortunately for Esau once the blessing is given it cannot be taken back. Blessing were like vows in the sense that they were irrevocable.
34 As soon as 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!”
Now father and son are in extreme anguish. He sounds desperate because he is desperate. He wants his father’s blessing more than anything else and he just found out he can’t have it.
35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” 36 Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
There was nothing good about what Jacob did. He is a deceiver and so is Rebekah. Which is why his name means deceiver!
Grasping for air Esau says isn’t there something left for me? And the answer is a resounding no.
37 Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?”
Isaac has fulfilled what was prophesied over Jacob when he was still in his mother’s womb!
38 Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: “Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. 40 By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck.” (Fulfilled in 2 Kings 8:20, 22)
This is more of an anti blessing than a blessing. He will live away from the fertile lands of Canaan. Instead he will live in the arid lands of Edom and he will serve his brother.
The purpose of the deception
The plan of the deception
The performance of the deception
The prey of the deception
Scene Five, the product of the deception!
What is the product of the deception? Fratricide.
Genesis 27:41–45 (ESV) — 41 Now Esau hated 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 approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”