Genesis 27 - Outline of Genesis (Book Notes menu page)

27:1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old,
and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see,
he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son:
and he said unto him, Behold, [here am] I.
27:2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:
27:3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow,
and go out to the field, and take me [some] venison;
27:4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring [it] to me, that I may eat;
that my soul may bless thee before I die.
27:5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son.
And Esau went to the field to hunt [for] venison, [and] to bring [it].
  In the history of Jacob (ch.25-50), ''the Spirit of God sets before us the deepest instruction--
    -- first, as to God's purpose of infinite grace, and
    -- secondly, as to the utter worthlessness and depravity of human nature.'' [CHM]
    God chose Jacob by His grace apart from any merit in the man. Gen 25:21-23
    As a man, Jacob was despicable. But God's promise rested on Himself alone. cp. Isa 41:14
    God would accomplish His purpose despite man's fleshly attempts to hinder or to help.
    The conflict between the way of flesh and the way of God is illustrated in the characters in ch.27.
  Isaac (to whom the LORD had appeared confirming His Covenant and promising His presence, Gen 26:1-5)...
  1. desired to bless Esau, for fleshly reasons -
     - he preferred Esau, in his manhood. (25:28; 27:27,28)
     - he liked Esau's food- Esau had sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage.
    Isaac would have blessed him for a plate of venison.
  - disregarded (as though his spiritual eyes had also grown dim) -
    - God's revealed will: 'The elder shall serve the younger.' (25:23)
    - Esau's disregard for his birthright, and for the Covenant of God. (25:34)
27:6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying,
Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
27:7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat,
and bless thee before the LORD before my death.
27:8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
27:9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats;
and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:
27:10 And thou shalt bring [it] to thy father, that he may eat,
and that he may bless thee before his death.
27:11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother,
Behold, Esau my brother [is] a hairy man, and I [am] a smooth man:
27:12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver;
and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.
27:13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me [be] thy curse, my son:
only obey my voice, and go fetch me [them].
27:14 And he went, and fetched, and brought [them] to his mother:
and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved.
27:15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau,
which [were] with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son:
27:16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats
upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:
27:17 And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared,
into the hand of her son Jacob.
  Rebekah and Jacob concocted a fleshly and deceitful scheme
  to secure for Jacob the blessing promised to him by God (25:23).
    She was motivated by her fleshly preference for Jacob (25:28).
    He was motivated by obedience to his mother and by the desire for personal advancement.
    While their actions express a desire for what God had promised, they also exhibit:
    1. a lack of faith, that what God has promised He will do.
    2. the failure of flesh, to wait for God to act.
  What a contrast with the walk of faith displayed by the Lord Jesus Christ, who...
    - rejected fleshly appetites & fleshly methods to bring about God's purposes. Mat 4:1-11
    - committed His case totally to the Father's hands & time. cp. Psa 22:10; 110:1; Php 2:5-11; 1Pet 2:22,23
    The Lord Jesus Christ was the only perfect man.
    All the rest of us follow the pattern of Jacob, in our fleshly ways.
    But Jacob's life story shows that God, in His grace and in His time, is able to bring good out of evil, and to transform a deceitful self-directed man into a man whose dependence and confidence is in God alone.
27:18 And he came unto his father, and said, My father:
and he said, Here [am] I; who [art] thou, my son?
27:19 And Jacob said unto his father, I [am] Esau thy firstborn;
I have done according as thou badest {commanded, told} me:
arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
27:20 And Isaac said unto his son,
How [is it] that thou hast found [it] so quickly, my son?
And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought [it] to me.
27:21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee,
that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou [be] my very son Esau or not.
27:22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said,
The voice [is] Jacob's voice, but the hands [are] the hands of Esau.
27:23 And he discerned him not,
because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands:
so he blessed him.
27:24 And he said, [Art] thou my very son Esau?
And he said, I [am].
27:25 And he said, Bring [it] near to me,
and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee.
And he brought [it] near to him,
and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank.
27:26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.
27:27 And he came near, and kissed him:
and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said,
See, the smell of my son [is] as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:
27:28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven,
and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
27:29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee:
be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee:
cursed [be] every one that curseth thee, and blessed [be] he that blesseth thee.
  Jacob not only 'seemed to be a deceiver' (v.12), he was a deceiver.
    Perhaps Isaac was here reaping what he had sowed with a lie of his own (Gen 26:7).
    Isaac, recognizing the voice of Jacob, sought to confirm his son's identity as Esau...
    - by feeling his hands,
    - by smelling his garments,
    - by repeated direct questioning: 'Who art thou, my son?
      ...How is it thou hast found it so quickly, my son?
      ...Art thou my very son Esau?
      Jacob repeatedly lied to his father, even invoking the LORD's name in the process.
  The elements of the blessing (v.28,29) belong to the Abrahamic Covenant. cp. 12:2,3
    The son who should rightly receive this blessing would be the son in the line of promise.
    Yet, Isaac thought he was conferring this blessing upon Esau, who had despised his birthright.
27:30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob,
and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father,
that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
27:31 And he also had made savoury meat,
and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father,
Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me.
27:32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who [art] thou?
And he said, I [am] thy son, thy firstborn Esau.
27:33 And Isaac trembled very exceedingly {lit., trembled with a great trembling greatly},
and said, Who?
where [is] he that hath taken venison, and brought [it] me,
and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him?
yea, [and] he shall be blessed.
27:34 And when Esau heard the words of his father,
he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father,
Bless me, [even] me also, O my father.
27:35 And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.
27:36 And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob {usurper, supplanter, 25:26}?
for he hath supplanted me these two times:
he took away my birthright {25:31-34};
and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing.
And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?
27:37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esau,
Behold, I have made him thy lord,
and all his brethren have I given to him for servants;
and with corn and wine have I sustained him:
and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?
27:38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father?
bless me, [even] me also, O my father.
And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
27:39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold,
thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;
27:40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother;
and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion,
that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. {fulfilled 900 years later, cp. 2Kin 8:20-22}
  Yea, and he shall be blessed (v.33).-
    Isaac 'trembled very exceedingly' when he realized that God had intervened to overrule his fleshly intention to bless Esau. God would indeed apply the blessing to Jacob, according to His Word (Gen 25:23).
  Esau's tears could not reverse the course determined, when he had despised his birthright. Heb 12:16,17
  Isaac's blessing upon Esau established the conflict between the lines of Jacob and Esau (v.39,40).
    Esau determined a fleshly plan to murder Jacob. But God had other plans for him.
27:41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him:
and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand;
then will I slay my brother Jacob.
27:42 And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah:
and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him,
Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, [purposing] to kill thee.
27:43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice;
and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran;
27:44 And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away;
27:45 Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee,
and he forget [that] which thou hast done to him:
then I will send, and fetch thee from thence:
why should I be deprived also of you both in one day? {ie., of both Isaac and Jacob, v.41}
27:46 And Rebekah said to Isaac,
I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: {Gen 26:34-35}
if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, {Heth was the father of the Hittite nation.}
such as these [which are] of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?
  Rebekah developed a fleshly plan to protect Jacob from his brother. v.43-45
    She gave Isaac a different reason for sending Jacob away. v.46
    God would indeed provide a wife (actually, wives) for Jacob in Rebekah's brother's house.
  Rebekah and Jacob would suffer the consequences of their deceitful schemes (cp. Gal 6:7).-
  - Rebekah would never see her favorite son again.
    She intended to send him away for ''a few days,'' but he would not return to Canaan until after her death.
  - Jacob would reap what he had sowed, over the next 20 years, in the service of his deceitful uncle Laban.
      God, in His grace, would use that difficult period (ch.29-32) to confront and transform Jacob's deceitful heart.

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