29 JACOB’S DECEPTION

In this narrative Isaac intends to declare Esau his heir and give him the blessing. The promise of a great posterity, the Messiah and the land of Canaan was a the great trust first committed to Abraham which included spiritual, eternal—and material and earth-related—dimensions. Abraham had transmitted these to Isaac. Surely Rebekah had told Isaac about God’s revelation regarding the two sons who wrestled in her womb, but neverthelesss, Isaac, now old, and either not remembering, understanding, or duly considering, the divine word concerning his two sons, that the elder should serve the younger, resolves to give the honor and power of his inheritance to Esau, his eldest son. He was governed more by natural affection, and the common method of settlements, than he ought if he had remembered what God had revealed. We are sometimes inclined to make decisions from our own reason rather than from divine revelation, and miss our way because we think the wise, learned, mighty and noble should inherit the promise. But God sees things differently and He, not we, is God. “Samuel saw Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord”” (1 Samuel 16:6). Can Christian leaders learn how to evaluate a person the way God does? It would help.

Even though Isaac and Rebekah were grieved by Judith and Basemath, both daughters of Hittites, still Isaac gave Esau directions to prepare him to receive the blessing. “. . . he called for Esau his older son.” (1). Esau, though married, had not moved away and, though he had greatly grieved his parents by his marriages, yet they had not expelled him. Evidently they were reconciled to him, and made the best of it. Parents are sometimes offended at choices of their adult children yet they should learn from Isaac and Rebekah to not remain at odds with them no matter what disagreement had occurred.

Isaac tells Esau what he resolved to do. “I am old, and therefore must die shortly, but I don’t know when I will die. I will therefore do now something which must be done some time.” Old people should be reminded by the growing infirmities of age to do quickly, and with all the little might they have, what their hand finds to do. Thinking about the uncertainty of the time of our departure out of the world that God has wisely kept from us should stimulate us to do the work of the day in its day. The heart and the house should both be set, and kept, in order, because at such an hour as we think not the Son of man comes. Because we know not the day of our death, we are concerned to mind the business of life. “Do your givin’ while you’re living so you’re knowing where its goin’.”

Isaac tells Esau to get things ready for the solemnity of executing his last will and testament, by which he designed to make him his heir. Esau must go hunting, and bring some venison, which his father will eat and then bless him. We do not know if he designed the refreshment of a favorite meal, that he might give the blessing in a lively manner or that he might receive another act of his son’s affection for him as his father, before he bestowed this favor upon him. We could guess that possibly Esau, since he had married, had brought his venison to his wives, and less often to his father, as Genesis 25:28 indicates happened earlier. “Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” Could this be why Isaac would have Esau show this piece of respect to him before he would bless him? If the lesser is usually blessed by the greater, should not the greater be served and honored by the lesser? In any case, Isaac makes his request to Esau, “so that I may give you my blessing before I die.” Esau, had he been honest, should have told his father, “I sold that birthright. It belongs to Jacob. Bless him.” But Esau was not honest.

Let us all learn here to do while we are alive what cannot be done after we are dead. The work of life must be done before we die, for it cannot be done afterwards “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). We must do the good we will do before we die. It is good that, when we come to die, we have nothing else to do but to die. Isaac lived more than forty years after this, yet this was not too early to prepare to die. Let none of us think that they will die sooner just for making their wills and preparing for death.

Rebekah maneuvers to obtain the blessing for Jacob which Isaac designed for Esau. She knew what God had said about the elder serving the younger. The end of her efforts was good though her method was devious. She was directed in this intention by what God had said and by which she herself had been motivated to do in placing her affections on Jacob. God had said it should be and therefore Rebekah resolves it will be and cannot bear to see her husband going against what God had told her.

The means were bad, and in no way justifiable. It was not a wrong to Esau to deprive him of the blessing he himself forfeited by selling the birthright to Jacob. Jacob had probably told her about this. Yet it was wrong to Isaac for her to take advantage of his weakness. It was also wrong to even Jacob whom she taught to deceive by putting a lie in his mouth and hand. It would also expose him to endless wrong practices should he obtain this blessing fraudulently. She did not know but that it might bring a curse rather than a blessing if his father should revoke the blessing upon the discovery of the cheat. Plead as he might, this mistake could have had reverse results. Jacob himself also was aware of the danger and said so. He says, “I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing” (12). If he would miss the blessing, as he quite possibly might have experienced, he would bring on himself his father’s curse, which he dreaded above anything. More importantly, he laid himself open to a divine curse which God could have pronounced on him.

If Rebekah, when she heard Isaac promise the blessing to Esau, had gone, at his return from hunting, to Isaac, and, with humility and seriousness reminded him of what God had said about their sons,—if she further had shown him how Esau had forfeited the blessing both by selling his birthright and by marrying strange wives, it is possible that Isaac might have changed his mind and given the blessing to Jacob. Neither she nor Jacob needed to cheat. This line of thinking and action would have been honorable and and noble, and would have looked good in the history. But as the God who created mankind with a free-will usually does, He left her to herself to exercise that free-will and to take her own course, that He might have the glory of bringing good out of evil and serving His own high purposes even by the sins and follies of men. You and I, through this narrative, may have the satisfaction of knowing that, even though there is so much wickedness and deceit in the world, God governs it according to His will, to his own praise even as, at the same time, that He holds free-will empowered men and women responsible for their thoughts and actions. In Job 12:16 Job says, “. . . both deceived and deceiver are his.”

Isaac had lost the sense of seeing. I am inclined to think that Isaac, though at a younger age in his life was a noble example of obedience to his father, love for his mother, prayer, yielding and not fighting, patience with neighbors, yet in this case in his old age is not a good example. He was blind and could not see well enough to recognize Esau or Jacob. This was not morally wrong; it was a physical reality. However, he was blind spiritually which is a moral and spiritual problem. He did not see to whom he should give the blessing of becoming a part of the messianic line. I have known of people who could not see natural and temporary things, but they could see very well the important eternal things. I have heard their songs and poetry. They could see very well. 

Rebekah runs to Jacob’s rescue in her own strength and plans to deceive, she designs to take advantage of Isaac’s poor sense of tasting, by dressing some choice pieces of kid, seasoning them, serving them so as to make him believe they were venison. This seems to be no hard matter for her to do. See the folly of those that are nice and curious in their appetite, and take a pride in humoring it. I think I see here an illustration of the foolishness of serving one’s appetite.

Isaac’s sense of feeling and smelling are also part of this drama. Rebekah puts Esau’s clothes on Jacob, his best clothes, which, it might be supposed, Esau himself would put on when he went to his father with his dish of venison when he was to receive the blessing. Isaac knew these, by the stuff, shape, and smell, to be Esau’s. If we use our imagination, we could see the similarity between Jacob receiving a blessing by wearing Esau’s clothes and ourselves receiving our Heavenly Father’s blessing by our being clothed in the righteousness of our older brother, Jesus. If we want to obtain a blessing from our heavenly Father, we must come for it in the garments of our elder brother, clothed with His righteousness, who is the first-born among many brethren.

Jacob had raised the issue of receiving a curse if Isaac were to discover his trickery. Rebekah had responded by saying, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say . . .” (13). These were very rash words which Rebekah spoke, when Jacob objected about the possible danger of a curse. Is it possible to lift these exact words from Rebekah’s much and put them in the mouth of our Lord Jesus? “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say . . .”  Christ indeed, who is mighty to save, because He is mighty to bear, has said these very words, He has borne the burden of the curse, the curse of the law, for all those that will take upon them the yoke of His command, the command of the gospel. Jesus alone can say those words. Neither Rebekah nor any human could say them. It is too daring for any creature to say, ““My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say . . .”

The means was wrong, very wrong, but some are skillful in doing evil. Notice the skill with which Jacob managed this intrigue. Who would have thought that this plain man could have played his part so well in a design of this nature? His mother having put him up to it, and encouraged him in it, he cleverly applied himself to those methods which we may assume to which he was not accustomed. Lying is soon learned.

I wonder how honest Jacob could so easily say “I am Esau your first-born.” “I have done as you told me.” “Eat of my venison.” But especially how could he have the falsely applied courage to project these deceitful words even on God, and to use His name in the deceit saying, “The Lord your God gave me success” (20). This is certainly written, not for our imitation, but for our instruction.

The only redeeming quality I can see in Jacob in this story is that he valued spiritual things, his heritage. In this regard his sense of values was correct. He valued the birthright. Esau had not.