Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
What do these words stir up inside you: deceit, deception, dishonesty, lying, falsehood? Few things can damage or destroy a relationship, a family, a business, a reputation, a legacy and leadership more than these words, do you agree?
Yesterday I left us contemplating how the miracle family of Isaac and Rebekah was about to be deeply damaged by the deceptive plan of Rebekah. She was coaching her son Jacob to pretend to be his brother Esau and steal his brothers’ blessing from their father Isaac. Rebekah was developing a plan to deceive her husband Isaac, and aggravate the ‘sibling rivalry’ which had festered since the time her twin boys were born. I can’t imagine what Rebekah was thinking, for surely she must understand neither her husband nor both her sons would ever trust her again? Surely she should anticipate what little relationship existed between Isaac and his son Jacob would be destroyed in this sham. Surely mother Rebekah should anticipate the hatred her son Esau would have for his brother Jacob, it might be enough to try and kill his brother. And what, my friends, do you suppose would happen to Isaac’s relationship with his wife Rebekah when he would discover that she is the architect of this deception to rip their miracle family apart?
This is one of those stories, recorded for us in the Bible, that seems almost too crazy, too bizarre for us to believe! But we hold tightly to the reliability of the Bible, and thus it must have happened as it is recorded for us in Genesis 27! While Esau was out hunting wild game, Jacob did as his mother instructed him. He went into his flocks, selected a prime animal, brought it to his mother Rebekah who prepared it as she knew Isaac liked it. She also selected some of Esau’s clothes to put on her son Jacob, anticipating Isaac would embrace his son and smell the clothes. Because Esau was hairy, the record says Rebekah “covered Jacob’s hands and the smooth part of his neck with goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.” (Gen. 27:16,17) And thus deceiving Jacob went in to see his father Isaac, wearing Esau’s clothes, carrying food prepared by his mother, and trying to make his voice sound like his brother….all for the purpose of deceiving his father and stealing his brother’s blessing. This was a legacy moment. For the rest of his life Jacob would carry the albatross of grief and shame for this act.
The words exchanged between son and ageing father are worth noting here: “Jacob said, ‘I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing.’ Isaac asked his son, ‘How did you find it so quickly my son?’ ‘The LORD your God gave me success.’ Jacob replied. Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.’ Jacob went close to his father Isaac who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. Are you really my son Esau?’ ‘I am’ Jacob replied…” (Gen. 27:19-24) As you and I stand in the corner of Isaac’s tent, so as to not be seen or disturb this deception, I wonder what you are feeling my friends? I’m deeply grieved that a miracle family so blessed of God, with such great potential to be used of God to bless our world, is engaged in such heart wrenching deception! None of their relationships will ever be the same. Nothing will ever be able to repair the damage which is being done in this tent on this day! Oh what a terrible shame! I think it’s safe to say that Satan and his demons were cheering.
Isaac, even though doubting the truthfulness of what was happening, did give Jacob the blessing he had reserved for his favorite son, his eldest son, Esau. The deception had been successful. But the damage was only beginning to be accomplished. Jacob left Isaac’s presence as quickly as possible, for he knew Esau would be returning from his hunt very soon. I wonder what plan Jacob and his mother Rebekah had for dealing with the explosive reaction which was certain to happen as soon as Isaac and Esau discovered the deception?
Genesis 27 tells us Esau prepared the game he had caught carefully, just as he knew his father would like it, then took it in to his dad Isaac, fully expecting a wonderful welcome and joyful meal together. Let’s walk in with Esau and watch what happened. The record says: “Esau said to his father, ‘My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.’ His father Isaac asked him, ‘who are you?’ Esau answered, ‘I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” Look closely at their faces. Esau is weary from the long hunt, the hot fire of cooking, but excited and anticipating a wonderful meal with his father and finally his receiving of the firstborn blessing. But look at Isaac. His blind eyes wide with amazement, his brow furrowed with confusion, in fact look closely… he’s having a hard time breathing! The record says: “Isaac trembled violently and said ‘who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him, and indeed he will be blessed!”
There are times people who have lost their sight hate their blindness and would give anything to see again, if even only for a moment or two. This was one of those times. Isaac could not comprehend what he has just experienced! Somehow he has been deceived… but by whom? Oh Isaac knew his two sons didn’t get along and fought often, but still they were brothers, and surely Jacob would not stoop to this depth of evil and deceive his blind father stealing his brother’s blessing, would he? Oh how desperately Isaac wanted to see… wanted to know the truth of what was happening around him. Look at them… father and son, both in shock, both so confused they can’t find the words to express what they feel!!
“When Esau heard his fathers’ words he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, ‘Bless me too, my father!’ (Genesis 27:34) I imagine Esau is on his knees on the ground, grasping his father’s arms, weeping. Isaac’s head turns from side to side, his blind eyes searching the darkness. What can he say, what can he do with the anger inside of him right now… he has been deceived by his own son! Finally with choked words, Isaac speaks… “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.’ Esau said, ‘isn’t he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright and now he’s taken my blessing!’ Then Esau asked Isaac, ‘Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?’ Oh the heartbreak of family deception, discord, division, dishonesty, dysfunction. Oh the pain, oh the wounds inflicted in such times… wounds that never heal, anger that’s never fully satisfied.
Old, blind, frustrated Isaac responded to his beloved eldest son Esau, ‘I have made him lord over you…so what can I possibly do for you my son?’ Esau cried out to his father, ‘Do you have only one blessing my father? Bless me too, my father!’ Then Esau wept aloud. (Gen. 27:37,38) Oh look at them my friends, embracing each other and weeping together. Oh such a disaster has occurred in this tent in these few moments. In those days, in that culture, there was no undoing, no changing the father’s blessing of his sons. It was a powerful, sacred, family heritage and legacy blessing. Sons would live in their father’s blessing for the rest of their lives. No words can express the hopelessness, the sense of victim that Esau has in this moment.
Finally old Isaac speaks, with tears flowing down his rugged face: “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.” (Gen. 27:39,40) It’s probably good Isaac cannot see Esau’s face… it is contorted now in great pain and anger that is almost indescribable. The record tells us nothing more about what was said between father and favorite son. But this phrase summarizes what was going on deep inside Esau: “Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, ‘the days of mourning for my father’s death are near, then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
Let’s pause right here my friends. It’s not difficult for us to imagine the tension now in the tents of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, his wives, and Jacob. The feelings they each have for each other now are not feelings that should ever be felt in a God honoring family. There is no love… only hatred and anger and bitterness. Each is likely devising a plan of action, of retaliation. There is no going back, this family will never again be what it was. Hatred and deep, deep grief now reign in Isaac’s family. I imaging old, blind Isaac sitting in deep remorse in his tent praying, crying out to God… ‘oh God, this cannot possibly be what You had in mind when You called my father Abraham into a Covenant relationship with You and You promised him a miracle son, from whom would come a miracle nation of God’s people who would bless the world!? Oh God, help me understand… how has this gone so very, very wrong?’
Today let’s remain right there, in this mayhem, and then look at our own families. How is it Satan can find such footholds in our hearts, our attitudes, that families can be turned into battlefields rather than the loving, safe incubator of hope God designed for families? Oh how we desperately need God’s powerful work in our families! And oh my friends, do you see the contrast of this mess, with what God has designed to be HIS family, the family of God…made up of people from all around the world, who have experienced the powerful work of Jesus in their lives? Here’s a song that helps us put this into perspective, especially through the eyes of children… as you contemplate family messes you’ve been part of, and the hope found only in Jesus. . .
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 27:14-41.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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