This week, we are looking at the story of an incredible
dysfunctional family from the book of Genesis. Yesterday, we looked on as Rebekah
and Isaac played favorites when it came to their two children. Instead of
finding common ground and cultivating relationships that united them as a
family; instead of embracing and celebrating the differences of their two children,
Rebekah and Isaac focused on the differences of their children in a way that
divided the family.
Today, we will see how this favoritism and subsequent
division that Rebekah and Isaac fostered in their children that set the stage
for what would happen throughout their life, beginning in verse 29:
When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from
the field and he was famished; and Esau said to Jacob, "Please let me have
a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished." Therefore his name
was called Edom. But Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright."
Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?" And Jacob said,
"First swear to me"; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to
Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and
rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Moses tells us that one day, Esau returned from a failed
hunting trip weary and hungry. And in his exhausted hunger, Esau asks Jacob to "Please
let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished." What is
so interesting here is that the word swallow here literally means to eat
greedily. So Esau basically asked Jacob “hey give me all of that stew that you
have cooked, because I am starving”.
However, while Esau emotionally and greedily asked for a
meal, Jacob responded in a way that was cold and calculating. “First, sell me
your birthright”. This was not a request; this was a demand. Now to understand
the significance of Jacob’s demand here, we first need to understand what the
word birthright refers to. In the Bible, the word birthright refers to the
rights and rank that one had as a result of being the firstborn in a family. In
Jewish culture, the father was obligated to acknowledge the firstborn as the
principle heir and to grant to him as an inheritance twice as much as he gave to
any other son.
So Jacob is basically demanding that Esau give up the
rights and rank, along with the large inheritance that came with being the
firstborn. Jacob saw an opportunity and took advantage of that opportunity by
making Esau take an oath to surrender the rights of the firstborn for a bowl of
stew.
Now a natural question that arises here is “why would
Esau give up the rights and rank that comes with being the firstborn?” Moses
provides the answer for us by explaining that Esau despised his birthright. Now
this word despises literally means to think lightly of. You see, Esau did not
think that being the firstborn was important. And Esau was not dying of
starvation and exhaustion. Esau was simply tired after a long day of hunting
and needed refreshment and rest.
And because Esau despised, or thought lightly of the rank
and rights that had been given to him as the firstborn; and because Esau was
emotionally self-centered, Esau was easily manipulated by Jacob into handing
over his birthright and the larger inheritance that the birthright represented.
Esau allowed Jacob to catch up and pass him up by selling his birthright for a
bowl of stew.
God’s prediction and promises were coming to fruition.
Esau and Jacob were still at war with one another. And as a result of Jacob’s
selfish deception and Esau selfishly despising and taking lightly the rank and
rights that he had been given as the firstborn, Jacob was now in a position to
be stronger and rule over Esau. Nothing like a little sibling rivalry, huh?
Now, if you think that is bad, a chapter later in God’s
story, we see how the favoritism and division that Isaac and Rebekah fostered
with their two children impacted this family and how they responded to God’s
promises. So let’s look at what happens next, beginning in Genesis 27:1:
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 said to him,
"Here I am." Isaac said, "Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my
death. "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."
In these verses, as Isaac nears the end of his life, we
see the dysfunction of this family revealed for all to see. Moses reveals for
us that as Isaac sensed that the end of his life was near, he called his
favorite son Esau into his presence. Isaac then asked Esau to hunt him up his
favorite meal, so that they could have a final meal together. And as part of
that final meal, Isaac would pronounce a blessing upon Esau. As we have seen
throughout this series, this word blessing means to declare a person to be
endowed with power for success, prosperity, and fertility.
To understand the significance of what Isaac is doing, we
first need to understand two things. First, just as it is in our culture today,
normally, when a person is nearing death, the family of the person who is dying
gathers together to say their final goodbyes. Notice, however, that Isaac was
not calling for the entire family to gather to his side. Instead, he was only
calling for his favorite son Esau.
Second, remember that God’s prediction and promise to
Rebekah was that the older son would serve the younger. God’s prediction and
promise was that Jacob would be stronger than Esau. Now, here is a question to
consider: do you really think that Isaac was unaware of God’s prediction and
promise? Do you think that after the Lord proclaimed His prediction and
promises to Rebekah after twenty years of infertility, that she kept that
information to herself, especially after Isaac had been praying for her to
become pregnant? You see Isaac knew about God’s prediction and promises.
But Esau, not Jacob, was Isaac’s favorite, so Isaac here
is ignoring and attempting to bypass God’s promises and prediction to Rebekah
about Jacob and Esau by blessing Esau. And Esau, who, as a result of his
selfishness, had already been deceived into giving up his birthright for a bowl
of stew, was attempting to break the oath that he previously made to Jacob
regarding the birthright by receiving the blessing of Isaac. So Isaac and Esau
had a plan that was driven by favoritism and fueled by deception, to bypass
God’s promises. However, someone else was listening to this conversation, as we
see in verse 5:
Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his
son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, Rebekah said to her son Jacob,
"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.' "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. "Then
you shall bring it to your
father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death."
Rebekah, upon overhearing Isaac and Esau’s plan of
deception, comes up with her own deceptive plan. Rebekah’s plan is to deceive
Isaac by dressing up Jacob in Esau’s clothing so as to steal that blessing the
he was going to give Esau. You see, because Isaac was nearly blind, and because
Isaac’s health had so deteriorated, Rebekah believed that he could be easily
deceived. Instead of placing her confident trust in God’s prediction and
promises, Rebekah decided to come up with her own plan to achieve God’s promises.
And that plan involved deception. While Rebekah was confident about her plan,
Jacob had some concerns, which we see in verse 11:
Jacob answered his mother Rebekah,
"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." But his
mother said to him, "Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and
go, get them for me."
Upon hearing his mother’s plan,
Jacob expressed his concern that the plan would not work, which would result in
him being exposed and cursed as a deceiver who mocked and made fun of his old
and dying father. Notice, however, that his concerns are not about whether or
not the plan was right in God’s sight. Instead Jacob was concerned about the
possible consequences that would come if he got caught. However, after Rebekah
agreed that she would take responsibility and the consequences if the plan went
awry, Jacob agrees to the plan.
Friday, we will see mother and
son put this plan into action…
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