Genesis 27

Isaac’s request to Esau (vs. 1-5)—Isaac is old and he thinks he might be near death, but actually he’s going to live another 40 years or so. He calls his favorite son, Esau, to him and asks him to “make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die" (v. 4).

What Isaac is doing here is not right. God had made it plain that “the older [son] shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23), which means that Jehovah intended for Jacob to have the superior blessing, not Esau. Remember that a “blessing” from one of the patriarchs was, in effect, prophetic, so whatever Isaac wanted to give Esau would come to pass. But the plot of this story thickens rapidly...

Rebekah’s chichanery (vs. 5-17)—As noted earlier in the story (Genesis 25:28), Jacob was Rebekah’s favorite son. She overheard what Isaac had said to Esau, so while the older son is out hunting, Rebekah has Jacob act quickly in order to procure the blessing. It doesn’t appear that she does this because she overly concerned about what God wants; she’s just trying to aid the son she favors. She told Jacob to kill two goats from the flock (v. 9—Isaac must have been hungry!) and she would prepare them just like Isaac liked, and Jacob could then take the food into his father and get the blessing. Jacob protests that he is a smooth skinned man while Esau is hairy: “’Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing’" (v. 12). Rebekah took care of that by putting some of the goat’s hair on Jacob’s hands and the smooth parts of his neck. Then she also had Jacob wear some of Esau’s garments. It was going to be tricky….

Jacob gets the blessing (vs. 18-29)—Tricky, but it worked. Isaac was suspicious, but he felt Jacob’s hands, and they had hair on them. Still, “’The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau’" (v. 22). Isaac had one more test:  Verse 26 reads, “’Come near now and kiss me, my son.’ And Jacob came near and kissed his father, and Isaac smelled the smell of the clothing, and was convinced: ‘Surely, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field’”—i.e., Esau. So Isaac then gave Jacob quite a prophetic future: “’Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!’" (vs. 28-29). If that was the blessing Isaac intended to give Esau, then that was not God’s plan at all. More on that when Isaac finally does bless the older son.

Esau’s blessing (vs. 30-40)—Not only was Rebekah’s plan tricky (and successful), but it was close, time-wise, too: “Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting” (v. 30). Esau prepared his food and went in to his father. “And his father Isaac said to him, ‘Who are you?’ So he said, ‘I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.’ Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, ‘Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him--and indeed he shall be blessed’" (vs. 32-33). Perhaps Isaac realized now that he had violated God’s will. Jehovah will see His plans through, and not even great and godly men like Isaac can thwart it. Here’s the blessing Esau received, which apparently Isaac intended for Jacob: “Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck" (vs. 39-40). Notice especially: “You shall serve your brother.” Indeed, “the elder shall serve the younger…” Esau was understandably upset, but he had also sold his birthright to Jacob, so he really had nothing of which to complain.

Rebekah strikes again (vs. 41-46)—Esau was angry enough that he wanted to kill his brother: “"The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob" (v. 41). That information got back to Rebekah and so she acted again; Jacob would have to be sent away till Esau’s wrath cooled. But how do it without upsetting Isaac?…another ingenious plan. “And Rebekah said to Isaac, ‘I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth [Esau’s wives]; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?’" (v. 46). That’s the last verse of the chapter, but Isaac will understand and in the next chapter will send Jacob to the relatives at Padan Aram to find a wife, where Rebekah had come from.

As I wrote extensively in my series “Who Can Say To Him, ‘What Are You Doing?” (see my Bible blog), God’s ways and thoughts are far higher than ours. And He can use even sinful actions to accomplish His purposes. As noted, what Isaac was trying to do—give Esau the greater blessing—was contrary to Jehovah’s will. So the Lord uses the deception of Rebekah, and outright lies of Jacob, to get what He intended in the first place. The Lord’s will simply cannot be defeated. And in this case, it had Messianic overtones and had to be implemented. How wonderful, yet mysterious, are the ways of Jehovah.