The Blessing Purloined

, well, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Genesis chapter 27, Genesis chapter 27 for our time of study in God's word this morning. We're doing a verse by verse study through the book of Genesis, and as we continue in our series to this book, we come This morning to, actually the very end of Genesis 26. And my goal this morning is to look at Genesis 26:34 through, Genesis 27:29, and the title of the message is the blessing purloined. The blessing purloined.

How many of you don't know what that means? OK. It means stolen. And if you don't know what it means, that tells me you didn't read all the way through the email.

That I sent out to the congregation on Friday because I had a PS at the end. So I'm on to you guys. The blessing stolen is essentially what We're going to be observing in our passage, today. One Jewish resource that I was reading, this week describes Genesis chapter 27 as one of the most crucial and mystifying In the Torah, speaking of the 1st 5 books of the Old Testament.

The destinies of millions of people turn on what happens in our passage today and the events of this chapter, and the chapter leaves us with a handful of surprises as well as we're going to see. And one of the biggest surprises is the contrast between Genesis 26 and 27. In Genesis 26, we see Isaac. Being blessed of God in a wonderful way and we see him doing the right thing with that blessing, being an agent of blessing to people who had mistreated him.

Not surprisingly, we see a form of the word blessed showing up 5 times in Genesis chapter 26. But then we come this morning to Genesis 27. And in the length of the chapter of Genesis 27, we see a form of the word bless showing up 23 times. And if all you knew about Genesis 27 was that it had these 23 mentions of a form of the word bless, I think you would expect Genesis 27 to be an even better chapter than Genesis 26 and perhaps even be a candidate for the most blessed chapter in all of the Bible, right?

Yet, this chapter is one of the saddest chapters. In all of the Bible. A chapter that leaves Isaac's family in shambles looking like a tornado. It just Run through it.

And a huge reason for the wreckage that is going to come to Isaac's family. In this chapter is Isaac himself, who is the spiritual head of his family. Isaac, he was in such a good place for the most part throughout Genesis 26, but he's not in a good place in Genesis 27. He knows coming into this chapter that he carries the torch of the blessing.

of Abraham and his life and in our passage today, he's literally going to try to pass that torch. Of blessing To his firstborn son, Esau, with a secrecy that is most unusual. Back in this day, when a man knows that he is about to die, he would call all of his sons to him and he would bless them publicly. In the presence of each other, and yeah, to some, he would give a greater blessing than others, and maybe even to some he might speak a curse.

But all of them would receive some pronouncement from their father, and it would be a public affair with the whole family and maybe even other people being present. But on this occasion, Isaac, it seems, wants to do this privately, just between Esau and himself. Without Rebecca, and without Jacob, the other members of his family being present, and guys, there's a huge reason he wants it to just be him and Esau. It becomes obvious as the chapter unfolds that Isaac has only one blessing to deliver.

Amongst his two sons, not 2 blessings, not one for Esau and one for Jacob, just one blessing, and it seems that he has no intention of giving to Jacob a blessing at all. Which already makes you wonder what's going on in this family. And astonishingly, part of what Isaac intends to say in his blessing to Esau is diametrically opposed. To what God said regarding Jacob and Esau when they were in the womb of their mother, Rebecca, many decades prior.

You guys will recall back in Genesis 25:23, God had said to Rebecca, the older shall serve the younger. In other words, after Esau and Jacob were born in the order in which they were born, what that meant was that God was saying that Esau's descendants shall serve Jacob's descendants. Yet Esau, or Isaac, is wanting here in this chapter to have a secret ceremony with Esau. In which he tells Esau these words, May people serve you and nations bow down to you, be master of your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you.

This means that Isaac is wanting to deliver a blessing to Esau that is at cross purposes with God's stated plan revealed in Genesis 25. Add to this, what we learned about Esau prior to this chapter, which illustrates how shocking Isaac's action is of wanting to give the blessing of Abraham to Esau. Genesis 25 ends with these words, Thus, Esau despised his birthright. After telling us how he sold his birthright to Jacob for a simple pot of stew.

This is clearly not a man who's going to do the right thing with the blessing of Abraham if it were given to him by Isaac. And if you need more evidence, look at the final two verses of Genesis 26 that we did not look at last week. says when Esau, verse 34, when Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith, the daughter of Biri, the Hittite, and Besamat, the daughter of Elon, the Hittite, and they In other words, the women, the two wives brought grief to Isaac and Rebecca. Literally the Hebrew here reads, they, Esau's wives were bitterness of spirit.

To Isaac and Rebecca. Which means that they were more than just a disappointment. They were an ongoing source of grief and provocation to both Isaac and Rebecca. In Genesis 28:8, these two wives are described as daughters of Canaan.

whom Esau had taken as wives for himself, and how foolish of Esau to get his wives from among the daughters of Canaan, which his grandfather Abraham, had spoken of as an unthinkable idea. Back in Genesis 24:3. So Isaac, we've already seen now has despised and sold his birthright. He's despised the wishes of his parents and married Canaanite wives.

Yet we've also learned from Genesis 25 that Isaac loves Esau and Rebecca loves Jacob. And Isaac here is stubbornly insisting on giving the blessing of Abraham to Esau. All is not well in this household and when the time arrives for the blessing of Abraham to be passed on to one of the children, everything wrong with this family is going to come to the forefront and come into play. And what should have been a joyous occasion turns into an occasion that rips this family apart and leaves this family in shambles as a result of how it's all going to go down.

And I warn you guys in advance that there are no heroes. In this story, no human heroes. As R. Kent Hughes says, Everyone in the family sought the blessings of God without bending the knee to God.

This little family was fraught with ambition, jealousy, envy, lying, deceit, coveting, malice, manipulation, stubbornness, and stupidity. And it all starts when Jacob succeeds. In deceitfully getting from Isaac the blessing that Isaac, his father had intended. To give to Esau And that's our story.

Today The way we'll break down our study of this passage is we'll observe 5 developments. In the story of how Jacob deceitfully obtains the blessing. That Isaac intended to give to his other son. Esau The first of these developments is that Isaac tells Esau to prepare to receive the blessing.

From him. Observe what happens in verse one. The text says 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, Esau, said to him, Here I am Given the fact that Isaac is 60 years old.

When Esau is born. We learned that in chapter 25 and the final verses of chapter 26. Have Esau getting married at the age of 40. We know therefore that Isaac is somewhere.

Over 100 years old when the events of verse 1 of chapter 27 take place. At this age, we learn here that Isaac's eyes are too dim to see, meaning that he is practically blind. Observe what he says to Esau in verse 2. Isaac said, Behold now, I am old, and I do not know the day.

Of my death. Now, normally if, if your father came to you and he's over the age of 100, and he speaks to you this way, that would be something very understandable to all of us that he's preparing for death. But we learned from later in the book of Genesis, Genesis 35:28, that Isaac is going to live. to 180 years of age.

And when you run the math, and we don't have time to get into this this morning, but when you run the math on some things that happened later in the book of Genesis, you realize that Isaac can't be Much older than 130. Here in Genesis 27, which means that he's still got another 50 years. From his death when he is speaking this way to Esau. Here But though he is decades from his death, perhaps as many as 50 years from his death, he's apparently experiencing a sickness that leaves him feeling like he's on the verge.

Of death So this may actually be the first man cold. recorded. In scripture, which is a serious condition that afflicts only men that makes a man feel like he's on the verge of dying, when in fact, he may have another 50 years to live. Next time I get a man cold, I'm gonna call my children to my bedside so I can bless them before I die.

But thinking that he's about to die here, Isaac speaks to Esau and he gives him these instructions. Look at verse 3. Now then, please take your gear, your quiver, and your bow and go out to the field and hunt game for me 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. There's a lot here to notice.

First of all, notice the expression that Isaac uses. Prepare a savory dish for me, such as I love. And we missed this in the English, but the Hebrew word that Isaac uses for love here is the word that is usually reserved for personal relationships. But Isaac uses this strong word to speak of his love for food, a savory dish of food.

By the way, speaking of Isaac's loves, we are told in the Book of Genesis, 33 things that Isaac loved in his life. In Genesis 24:67, we're told that Isaac loved Rebecca. In Genesis 25:28, we're told that he loved Esau. And in verse 4 of our passage today, we're told that Isaac loved a savory dish of food.

The one thing that Isaac has never said to have loved. Is his son Jacob. And by the way, of these 3 loves that you see on the screen behind me, the most frequently mentioned. of Isaac's loves is his love for food.

Which gets 3 mentions in our story today. In verse 4, Isaac speaks of a savory dish such as I love. In verse 9, Rebecca speaks of a savory dish such as he, Isaac loves, and in verse 14, the narrator of Genesis speaks of savory foods such as his father, Isaac loved. And on top of that, we learned back in Genesis 25:28 that the reason that's given.

The reason that Isaac loved Esau was because he had a taste for game. Why do you love me, Dad? Well, I have a taste for game. And you provide that for me.

So something is going on here. With regard to Isaac's excessive love. For food. And this devotion to food actually figures into the narrative.

Here in Genesis 27, we're going to see that it is Isaac's demand for a particular savory dish from Esau before he blesses him. That sends Esau off on a time-consuming mission that leaves just enough time for Jacob to swoop in and steal the blessing. From Esau. The stated intention of Isaac's instructions to Esau is to set things up for a private ceremony.

At the end of verse 4, he says, so that my soul may bless you before I die. Isaac says, Isaac is resolving to bless Esau. Despite God's word to Rebecca that the older would serve the younger, despite the fact that Esau had already sold his birthright to Jacob and despite the fact that Esau had married two Canaanite women, and Isaac is wanting to do this privately. He doesn't want Rebecca.

And Jacob involved and it seems, as we've already mentioned that he has no blessing for Jacob as later verses in this chapter make clear. And his soul is really into this. He says, so that my soul may bless you before I die. In giving this blessing to Esau, Isaac is wanting to pass on to Esau the blessing of Abraham and in blessing him, Isaac knows that he would be making Esau the head of the family, the one who carries the family tradition defining the family's understanding of itself, and he's bequeathing this to this man.

Esau So he says, go hunt some game, make a savory dish for me such as I love, and come back so that my soul may bless you. Well, Rebecca, it turns out, is listening in. And she hears this exchange between Isaac and Esau, and immediately, she jumps into action. And this brings us to the second development in the story of how Jacob gets the blessing that Isaac had intended to give to Esau.

Number 2, Rebecca commands Jacob to follow her plan to get the blessing from Isaac. Observe what happens in verse 5. Rebecca was listening while Isaac spoke to His son Esau. And upon hearing what she hears, Rebecca is almost certainly bothered by how Isaac is wanting to bless Esau only and not include Jacob.

She would also be deeply concerned that Esau is about to get the very thing that she thinks that God said that Jacob is supposed to get. And she would also be bothered at Esau for agreeing to this blessing. And thereby breaking the oath that he had made with Jacob when he had sold his birthright to him. So she's bothered.

And she moves into action. Observe what she does in verse 5. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, verse 6, Rebecca said to her son, behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau saying, 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 Do you notice any difference?

Between what Isaac actually said and what Rebecca says. That Isaac had said to Esau. It's a fairly accurate quote. There's a few changes she makes, but the biggest change is her addition of the words in the presence of the Lord.

To what Isaac had said to Esau. Isaac had just said he was going to bless Esau. Rebecca tells Jacob that Isaac said that he was going to bless Esau in the presence of the Lord. Jehovah And she adds this, no doubt, because she's wanting to highlight for Jacob that this is a, a moment of huge religious significance and to persuade Jacob that the only way that Jacob's going to be blessed of Jehovah.

is if that blessing comes through his father, Isaac. But that's not actually the case. Even if Isaac were to persist and succeed in blessing Esau, Delivering this blessing to Esau, God would have overruled and made his own. Word come to pass that he had spoken in chapter 25 rather than Isaac's word, right?

God's word, God is more powerful than Isaac and anything Isaac could say. But Rebecca's not thinking this way. As one writer says, Rebecca leaves nothing to chance or to Providence. In her mind, if Jacob is going to be truly blessed of the Lord, then he must get his father to speak that blessing to him.

Even if he has to deceive his father in order to make that happen and get that blessing. Well, based on this information and based on this false belief, Rebecca gives Jacob the following instructions in verse 8. She says, now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you, 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. She seems to know that there is a particular recipe that Isaac likes.

She knows how to make the meat exactly the way Esau would have made it to such an extent that Isaac would think that it came. From Esau The commentator Derek Kidner says Rebecca had not the slightest doubt that she could reproduce Esau's gastronomic masterpiece. I had to look that word up. She continues in verse 10.

She says, then you shall bring it to your father. After I prepared the dish, you shall bring it to your father that he may eat so that he may bless you before His death Guys, imagine your mother coming to you with this scheme. With these kinds of commands and instructions. What does a son do in this situation?

Does he submit to the will of his father? Who loves his brother more than him. Or does he obey the commands of his mother who seems to be the only parent who's looking out for his interest in the household? This is a dilemma that no child should ever be in, and Jacob is, he's gonna need some convincing and help to pull this scheme off.

And this brings us to the third development in the story of how Jacob obtains the blessing. That Isaac intended to give to Esau. Number 3, Rebecca steadies and readies Jacob to present himself as Esau. To Isaac Jacob sees a huge problem with his mother's plan.

Listen to his reply to his mother in verse 11 and following. Jacob answered his mother, Rebecca, Behold, Esau, my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 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. Notice, guys, that Jacob does not protest his mother's plan.

On moral grounds. He doesn't say, Mom, this is deception and deception is evil in the sight of God. No, his only concern is getting caught. He's worried that the plan just simply won't work.

He's worried about his father feeling his skin and knowing right away that he is Jacob and not Esau. And he's worried about what his father will do if he catches Jacob in this deception. He says, I will be as a deceiver in his sight. Jacob is not worried here about actually being a deceiver.

But only about being a deceiver in his sight, in the sight of his father, if he gets caught in this deception. Actually, the Hebrew word translated deceiver and some of your translations may bring this out, speaks of something more than someone who deceives, speaks of someone who's a mocker. We can put the two ideas together, a deceptive mocker, as in someone who is not just deceiving, but through their actions, they're mocking their elderly father and taking advantage of his blindness.

In Deuteronomy 27:18.

God actually pronounces a curse on someone who mistreats or makes sport of a blind person. So Jacob is right to be concerned about how Isaac would view him if he were caught trying to exploit his father's blindness through this scheme. If his father catches him, Then Jacob fears he will certainly speak a curse upon him, which is why Jacob says. And I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.

Jacob understands his mom's good intentions here, but he worries that the scheme might only succeed in bringing a curse from his father upon him if he gets caught. But Rebecca is ready with a reply. She's not bothered in the least about this possibility. She doesn't want Jacob to be bothered about this possibility.

Observe how she responds in verse 13. It says, but his mother said to him, Your curse be on me, my son. And her thinking, if Jacob pulls off this deception, he can have all the blessing that comes from that and she'll be satisfied. If Jacob gets caught and gets cursed as a result, Rebecca will take all of that curse onto herself.

This shows how badly She wants Jacob to do what she's telling him to do here in the outside chance that this scheme may succeed and he may get this blessing from his father. The blessing of Abraham. But there's no time to waste. Rebecca is getting impatient.

She says to Jacob at the end of verse 13, only obey my voice and go get them for me. No more talking, just go and do what I say. Verse 14 So he went And got them. And brought them to his mother.

And after this, Rebecca takes over and does the rest of the preparation. Look at the second half of verse 14 and what follows, and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. Then Rebecca took the best garments of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son, and she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. She also gave the savory food and the bread which she had made to her son.

Jacob Guys, imagine how Jacob looked when Rebecca was done disguising. Hi. Wearing Esau's clothes and wearing goatskins on his hands and On the smooth part of his neck. R.

Kent Hughes, the commentator, says how absurd Jacob must have looked and felt as his mother placed the steaming meal. In his hands Nonetheless, now that everything is ready, Jacob is prepared to go to his father and implement this deceptive scheme. Everything is going to have to go just so. If the ruse is to succeed, Jacob will come forth from this encounter with his father with either a blessing or a curse.

And in his mind, everything is writing for the rest of his life. Everything is riding on what his father is going to say to him. And this leads us to the 4th development in the story of how Jacob gets. The blessing that Isaac, his father had intended to give to Esau, and that is that Jacob comes to Isaac, his father, and presents himself.

As Esau Observe what happens in verse 18. Then he came to. His father and said, My father And he's trying to keep his words and syllables to a minimum. In the Hebrew, it's just avi.

Avi, my father. And amazingly, just from that short greeting, Isaac is left unsure of which son just entered the room. Keep in mind he's practically blind here. Verse 18, and he, Isaac said, Here I am, who are you, my son?

Notice the exact wording of the question that he's asking. Who are you, my son? In other words, he knows that the speaker who just entered the room is one of his two sons. He just needs to know which son.

He was expecting Esau, but he thinks he just heard the voice of Jacob. So, who are you, my son? He asks, This is Jacob's last moment to bail out. Of this scheme He could say, I'm Jacob and I just wanted to stop and chat.

He could have, he could have bailed out at this point, but instead of doing that, he gathers his bearings and plunges into the deception. Look at verse 19. Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me.

Jacob is going to lie. At a few different points in the coming moments in his exchange with his father. And there are 3 lies in what he says here. 1, he's basically saying, I am Esau, that's a lie.

2, I am your firstborn, that's a lie. And 3, I have hunted an animal and prepared a dish as you told me to do. And that's a lie. Three lies and just what he says here, Jacob is clearly already in the deep end of the pool of deception in this scheme.

He then says, get up, please sit and eat of my game that you may bless me. Isaac is surprised at the timing of his son's arrival. Seems a little early for his son to be showing up, having captured, killed an animal, and prepared it. So observe what Isaac does in verse 20.

Isaac said to his son, how is it that you have it so quickly? My son So Jacob needs to lie yet a second time. And he said, because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me. Literally, Jacob is saying this because Jehovah your God caused me to encounter it.

In other words, the animal. Jacob is saying here that Jehovah prospered his way and brought an animal across his path very quickly so that he could kill it and prepare it and have it to his father in such a timely manner. And guys, Jacob is not just lying here. He's actually using Jehovah's name in vain here.

Speaking an untruth and saying that Jehovah gave him success in his hunting when in fact that is not true. And this says something awful about the state of Jacob's heart, that he would use the name of Jehovah in his telling of a lie. Guys, it's one thing to lie, it's another thing to invoke the name of Jehovah. In your deception, and that's what Jacob does here.

Clearly, guys, and this is part of the point of the narrator, Jacob does not deserve this blessing from his father any more than Esau does. Isaac is suspicious. So observe What he does in verse 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.

The wording here from Isaac is bone chilling. Because of what it reveals about Isaac's suspicions. Notice that he says, please come close that I may feel you, my son. Whether you are really my son Esau or not.

Isaac refers to the person before him as my son, which means that he knows for sure that one of his sons is talking to him. He's just not sure that it's Esau, even though the son just said he was Esau. This means that it's actually crossing Isaac's mind that Jacob might be playing a trick on me. And exploiting me in my blindness.

Jacob has to be freaking out at this point. But he steadies himself and does what his father asked. Look at verse 22. So Jacob came close to Isaac, his father, and he, Isaac, felt him, Jacob, and said, the voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

He did not recognize him. Because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So, He blessed him. In other words, Isaac thought it might have been Jacob.

But did not end up recognizing him as Jacob because his hands. Felt like the hands of Esau being wrapped in the goatskins. Esau had to have been really hairy. It says, so he blessed him, and commentators struggle with this.

This particular use of the word blessed at the end of verse 23 may just mean that Isaac gave his son a proper greeting. Which is how this word was often used in the common language. Of the day or this expression could be translated. So this is why he, Isaac, ended up being convinced to go ahead and bless Jacob eventually.

Nonetheless, Isaac is still bothered by what one commentator describes as a vague disquiet. Look at verse 24, and he said, Are you really my son, Esau? And he said, I am This is now the 3rd time that Jacob lies to his father. There's something almost pathetic here.

This blind old man being exploited by his son who's persisting in this deception. For the moment, it seems that Isaac is put at ease and he's ready to eat. Verse 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. We know from what happens next, guys. That Isaac still is not 100% convinced that it is Esau, so there's some likelihood that he is asking for the food. In order to test the food and see if it has Esau's signature flavor.

That this is a test that he's further applying. He can't use his sense of sight, but he's got other senses and he can use his sense of taste to maybe discern if this is truly Esau. And evidently as he eats, the food seems to convince him that this is Esau's cooking. Which means that Rebecca did a good job of preparing a savory dish like Esau would have.

So Isaac is really left with only one more available sense that he can employ. To test and see whether this is truly Esau, and that is, we can call it the smell test. Esau had a distinctive smell. And Isaac is going to use his sense of smell, and that will serve as a prelude to the blessing that he delivers, and this leads us to the final development in the story of how Jacob deceitfully gets the blessing that Isaac had intended to give to Esau.

Number 5, convinced it is Esau before him, Isaac blesses. Jacob Observe what Isaac does in verse 26. And following. The text says, then his father Isaac said to him, please come close and kiss me, my son.

So he, Jacob, came close. And kissed him. And as Jacob's face approaches his father's. Isaac takes a deep breath and he inhales the scent.

of Esau's clothes that Jacob was wearing, and the text says, 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 So of the 4 tests that Isaac applies, 3 of the 4. Say that this is Esau before him.

His sense of hearing says it's Jacob. But when he applies the feel test, using his sense of touch, and the taste test and the smell test, those three senses tell him that it is Esau. And he's blind, so he can't use his sense of sight. But 3 of his senses say it's Esau.

And only one says it's Jacob. And that's enough for Isaac to be put at ease, and so he's now ready to deliver the fateful blessing. And what a blessing this is, thinking that he's talking to Esau, Isaac says to Jacob, now may God give you the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and an abundance of grain and new wine. Imagine what this must have been like for Jacob to hear these words of goodwill from his father.

For the first time maybe in Jacob's life, he's being spoken to as if he's the favored son that his father loves and he's hearing these words of goodwill from a father that he's deceiving. This had to be A heartrending, heart stopping moment for Jacob to hear his father speak to him and say with such goodwill and such favoritism and love, now may God give you the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and an abundance of grain. A new wine By the way, dew is so important in the promised land, even during the seasons of the year when it It is not raining.

The humid air from over the Mediterranean Sea wafts across the Promised land creating dew when the temperature cools that saturates the land.

Allowing for vegetation to flourish even when it would not rain for many months. The other lands actually around the land of Canaan, even to this day, are not so blessed with the dew of heaven like the promised land is. Isaac also says to Jacob, May God give you of the fatness of the earth. Which speaks of nourishment and ample provision of food from what the earth provides.

Isaac also says to Jacob, May God give you an abundance of grain and new wine. So he's blessing his son with the dew of heaven, the fatness of the earth and an abundance of grain and new wine, the very best, the very highest quantities of agricultural blessings from God. As for power among the nations, look at what he says in verse 29. He says, may peoples serve you and nations bow down to you and to your descendants.

And as for those who are his son's relatives, Isaac says, be master of your brothers. And may your mother's sons bow down to you. What Isaac is saying here is this, may you be the master to your brother and all of his descendants. And may all of your mother's descendants.

Other than the ones that come through you, bow down to you and to your descendants. And keep in mind that Isaac thinks that he's talking to Esau. And it's now that we can see why Isaac has only one blessing to give. Amongst his two sons because embodied in his blessing intended for Esau was an anti blessing.

Upon Jacob In which Jacob's descendants would be subservient to Esau. That's what Isaac. is saying here. However, Isaac's words are having the exact opposite effect of what he intends for them to have because he thinks he's speaking these words to Esau, but he is saying them to Jacob.

And then Isaac delivers. A closing part of this blessing that's very similar to the blessing that God had spoken to Abraham many years earlier. He says, curse be those who curse you and blessed be those who bless you. This is Isaac's way of saying, may the blessing that God placed upon Abraham.

Be upon you, my son. Isaac is intending in this moment to pass on to Esau, the very blessing that God had given to Abraham. And to himself. Yet he has just unwittingly passed this blessing on to Jacob.

Who will later be named Israel, from whom the 12 tribes of Israel will come, from whom the Messiah will come. And it is for Jacob that these words that Isaac just spoke. are going to come true Well, this story is by no means finished, but we will stop here. For today, do not read ahead.

Just kidding. but let's ponder a few things. That I think we can draw from this story just as it's unfolded up to this point. I love what Alan Ross, the commentator says.

He says, on the surface, it appears at this point that Rebecca and Jacob had won. They got what they went after. But they gained nothing from it that God would not have given to them anyway. Instead, they lost a good deal in the way that they went about things.

By the end of the chapter, Jacob is going to be running for his life. And he and his mother will never see each other again by all indications. And that doesn't even begin to speak of the animosity between the Israelites. And Esau's descendants and the generations to come.

Guys, it is never right to do wrong in order to obtain a right outcome. If you I think that maybe you can do wrong to generate a right outcome. You may get what you wanted in the short term, but you will lose precious things that you already had. And in the end, you will always be left wishing that you had simply trusted the Lord and done things his way.

And by the way, it's no defense of Rebecca to say that, wow, she was so committed to this prophecy that God had spoken to her in Genesis 25 that the older will serve the younger. That she resorted to such a scheme to make it come true. Actually, Rebecca's actions here shows how little she trusted the words of that prophecy. And how little she trusted God to make His own word come true.

Without her having to connive and deceive and scheme to make it happen. Yet sometimes we do exactly what Rebecca and Jacob do in our story today. Maybe you think that God wants you to provide financially for your family, and he does. That's a good thing.

So you lie on your tax return to have some extra income that helps you to achieve that good goal. Maybe God wants your husband to be a godly man, and he does, that's a good thing. So you as a wife resort to sinful and angry schemes to try to manipulate your husband into becoming that better man. Maybe God wants you to do well and get good grades in school, and he does.

That's a good thing. So you cheat on an exam or plagiarize a paper in order to get that good grade. It's easy, guys, to want a good thing that we think that God wants us to have, and then to resort to sinful means. To obtain that good thing.

But trust me when I tell you that God does not need you to sin. if you think you've got to do that for his will to come to pass, you've got a pretty weak view of God. God doesn't need you to sin in order for him to accomplish his good purposes in your life. Trust him and obey him and let God be God.

And you will find that he's just as good of a God without your sinful help as he is without it. And before you do something stupid and hurtful with your life, Always ask yourself, If you would want other people. Doing the same thing. To you.

You should ask that question. Because one day, very likely someone will be doing the same thing to you. Jacob is going to go on from what happens here in Genesis 27 and he's gonna soon learn what it's like to be lied to, to be deceived. He will learn what it's like to have a person disguised and presented to him.

As the woman he loves on his wedding day, and he will find out in the morning that the woman given to him on his wedding day was not the woman that he thought that she was. Jacob will come to know in his own experience the pain that comes from being deceived. This is the just. And even gracious providence of God that works in our lives, allowing us to taste the bitter fruit that we've made others taste through our sin.

And this is going to happen to Jacob in a hugely painful way that probably will serve to take him deeper into an understanding of his sin and a repentance over it. This has happened to me too. And it has or will happen to you when you are on the tasting end. The receiving end of sins that you have visited upon other people.

Think twice before you make sinful choices. Also, guys, as important as Fathers are Jacob, it seems, is placing too much importance on getting these words of blessing from his dad. Right now, he's thinking if I could just get these words of blessing from my father, it'll fix everything wrong in my life. Well, he gets what he wanted.

But this will not leave him satisfied. Jacob is eventually going to learn that the only one he needs blessing from is God and not from any other human being. Right now he thinks that blessing from God and blessing from his dad are one and the same. But he will soon learn that they are not the same.

And after many ups and downs on the road ahead, we're going to see Jacob in Genesis 32 wrestling all night long with God. And he will not let go until God grants his request to bless him. Jacob will reach a point in his life where all he wants is the blessing of God. And he will wrestle for that.

Receiving a blessing from the only one that really matters. Guys, it's nice to have the support and the love of your parents, and many of us enjoy that. But not everyone in this room or in this church enjoys that from their parents. Or from both parents.

What really matters is what God thinks of you and what God says to you. His blessings upon you in Christ outweighs any other blessing or lack thereof from any other person in your life, including One or both of your parents who may have rejected you. So love your parents, obey God's word and honor them, value their opinion of you. But do not ever let your parents' words or lack of words mean more than God's words to you.

And never let your parents assume. The place in your life that only God should fill. Another thought to ponder is, as, as wrong as Rebecca's actions are in this story, there's, there is, there is something remarkable that she says to Jacob in verse 13 that I think points us to Jesus. When Jacob fears that he might get cursed by his father, she says to Jacob, your curse be on me.

She's so desirous of Jacob getting this blessing from Isaac that she's willing to bear. Whatever curse that Jacob might incur if his deception is discovered. It might interest you to know that Rebecca, in this moment is, and I quote from one author, is the first person in scripture to offer herself as the recipient of a curse for someone else. But she won't be the last, nor will she be the greatest.

Jesus is that What Rebecca was willing to bear in her sinful scheme of deception, Jesus actually did bear in his ultimate plan of salvation for those who believe in Him. We deserve God's eternal curse upon us for our sin. Yet what did Jesus do for us? He clothed himself with our sin, he bore our sins in his body, and he who knew no sin became sin for us.

And he came to his father at the cross and actually bore the curse that we deserved for our sins. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, and Jesus hung on that tree. For us, placing Himself under the curse that we deserve to have fall upon us because of our sin. So that we through him might get the blessing that he wants.

Us to receive the blessing of salvation. Which means that Jesus is way better to us. Then Esau was to Jacob. Jacob had to sneak.

And adorn himself with Esau's clothes and emulate his hairy skin in order to get the blessing that was intended for Esau. Had Esau known what Jacob was up to, he would have never allowed Jacob to do this. In fact, we're gonna see he wants to kill Jacob. For doing what he had done.

But Jesus is a better older brother. To us than Esau was to Jacob. He actually comes to us. And gives us his clothes.

He clothes us in his own righteousness, so that we might always be able to come before his Father and be treated as if we were Christ. And be granted the blessings. Of Christ And finally, just a closing thought, as scandalous as it is, we read this story and it's scandalous to think that Isaac wanted to bless. Esau.

It's scandalous that this blessing ended up coming to Jacob, who was a liar, a deceiver. But I'll tell you something even more scandalous than what we've seen in our passage today, and that is that a Holy Father in heaven. would be interested in giving the blessings of salvation to Milton Vincent. Giving to me the blessings of salvation, even greater blessings than what Isaac is talking about.

And speaking his salvation blessings over me and into me. I don't deserve such blessings any more than Jacob or Esau did, but God is a gracious God, and He gives salvation blessings to All those who come to him in faith and in bankruptcy. Dressed And the righteousness of Jesus. And that's my only claim.

I came to God, I was brought by Jesus to his father dressed in Jesus' righteousness, and that's why I have received salvation. From him. If you've never allowed Jesus to dress you. In his own righteousness.

I encourage you, I call upon you to believe in Jesus today. Call upon his name. And he will be delighted to give you his clothes. And bring you to the Father Himself, and God the Father will be pleasured to speak to you with his eyes wide open.

He's not being tricked. He will receive you into his presence and speak words of blessing to you. Words like, your sins, all of them are forgiven. You are now my child for all of eternity.

I now accept you in the beloved. You are now righteous with the very righteousness of my Son Jesus. I pour out my spirit upon you. I give you a home in heaven for all of eternity.

I bless you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. He will be pleasured to speak those words of blessing. To you. Jacob craved particular words from his dad.

God speaks infinitely better words to anyone in this room who will humble themselves before Him. And believe in his son. And come to him. By faith Let's pray together Lord, our hearts are saddened by what we see in the text today.

And part of the sadness is we see ourselves. In this story, we see our families in this story. We see our hearts in this story. And we realized that we We don't deserve.

blessing, salvation blessings from God more than Jacob or Esau do. But we're thankful, Lord, that you through all of this mess, that your will, your decreed plan of redemption is relentlessly moving forward, even using the stumblings and the failures of, of people, even in this situation to lead to an outcome that will one day Produce a Messiah who will die on the cross for sinners just like Isaac and Rebecca and Esau and Jacob and us in this room today. Your providence, your sovereignty is marvelous.

And we thank you.

For working through. The centuries of human history through the failures of mankind to bring about a savior. who so freely gives to us of His righteousness. And volunteers to bring us To God the Father Himself.

We thank you, Lord, for this opportunity at the close of our service to give, of our offerings to you. Receive these funds that we give and may what's given, Lord, serve to Help Team Utah and our other. Mission service teams and also the greater cause of Christ around the world and in this community. May you be glorified through what we give today and through our lives.

Each day of this week. We surrender ourselves to you in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said,