Genesis 27

Philosopher George Santayana called the human family “one of nature’s masterpieces.” If that’s true, then many of these masterpieces have become nothing but pieces because they forgot the Master. Genesis 27 describes such a family.

Had I been alive during patriarchal times, I probably would have predicted great success for Isaac and Rebekah. After all, Isaac was a dedicated man who had put himself on the altar in obedience to the Lord (chap. 22; Rom. 12:1–2). He trusted God to choose his wife for him (Gen. 24), and the wife God sent, Jacob loved (v. 67). Both Isaac and Rebekah knew how to pray and seek the mind of the Lord for their home (25:19–23). What more could a married couple want?

But in spite of these advantages, the family selfdestructed rather quickly when Isaac became old. Why? Because the members of the family substituted scheming for believing so they could each have their own way. As we look at the scenes in this tragedy, let’s study each of the family members and see what they contributed to the problem or to the answer.

During the twenty-three years he was president of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Dr. William Culbertson frequently asked at the close of his public prayers, “Lord, help us to end well.” God answered his prayer, and Dr. Culbertson did end his race in victory, but that isn’t true of every believer.

A good beginning doesn’t guarantee a good ending. That’s one of the repeated lessons taught in Scripture, and it’s tragically confirmed in the lives of people like Lot, Gideon, Samson, King Saul, King Solomon, Demas, and a host of others. Let’s add Isaac to that list. If ever a man was blessed with a great beginning, it was Isaac. Yet he ended his life under a cloud. Consider some of his sins.

He put himself ahead of the Lord. Isaac was sure he was going to die, and yet his greatest desire was to enjoy a good meal at the hand of his favorite son and cook, Esau (25:28). When Isaac’s father Abraham prepared for death, his concern was to get a bride for his son and maintain the covenant promise. When King David came to the end of his life, he made arrangements for the building of the temple, and Paul’s burden before his martyrdom was that Timothy be faithful to preach the Word and guard the faith.

Someone has well said, “The end of life reveals the ends of life.” When sideshow promoter P.T. Barnum was dying, he asked, “What were today’s receipts?” Napoleon cried out on his death bed, “Army! Head of the army!” Naturalist Henry David Thoreau said only two words: “Moose … Indian.” But Isaac, the man who meditated and prayed in the fields at evening (24:63), and who petitioned God on behalf of his wife (25:21), wanted only one thing: a savory meal of venison. Instead of seeking to heal the family feud that he and his wife had caused by their selfish favoritism, Isaac perpetuated the feud and destroyed his own family.

He disobeyed God’s command. Before the boys were born, God had told Isaac and Rebekah that Jacob, the younger son, was to receive the covenant blessing (vv. 19–23); yet Isaac planned to give the blessing to Esau. Surely Isaac knew that Esau had despised his birthright and sold it to Jacob and that Esau had disqualified himself by marrying heathen women. Had Isaac forgotten that his father had sent a servant five hundred miles to Haran to get him a suitable wife? Did Isaac really think he could fool God and give the blessing to worldly, unbelieving Esau?

He lived by his feelings. Isaac was blind and apparently bedfast (27:19, 31), a condition you would think would make him trust God and seek His help. Instead, Isaac rejected the way of faith and depended on his own senses: taste (vv. 4, 9, 25), touch (v. 21), hearing (v. 22), and smell (v. 27). He took the “scientific approach,” and it failed him. “There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless, the Lord’s counsel—that will stand” (Prov. 19: nkjv).

A character in Ernest Hemingway’s novel Death in the Afternoon is probably expressing Hemingway’s own convictions when he says, “I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.” Most people today would endorse that philosophy and make their decisions solely on the basis of how they feel, not what God says in His Word. “If it feels good, it is good!”

Isaac was a declining believer, living by the natural instead of the supernatural, and trusting his own senses instead of believing and obeying the Word of God. He was blind and bedfast and claimed to be dying, but he still had a good appetite. With a father like that leading the home, is it any wonder that the family fell apart?

Sir Walter Scott wrote in his poem “Marmion”: “O what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice to deceive.” Remember, faith is living without scheming, and faith means obeying God no matter how we feel, what we think, or what might happen. The obedience of faith was the secret of Abraham’s life (Heb. 11:8), but the absence of obedient faith brought trouble to the home of Isaac and Rebekah.

Eavesdropping (v. 5). When Isaac sent for Esau to come to his tent, Rebekah noticed it and stayed close by to learn what was happening. Later, when Esau revealed that he planned to kill his brother, Rebekah also heard that (v. 42), so she must have been adept at eavesdropping and keeping abreast of family affairs.

However, it’s tragic when a husband and wife, once so dedicated to the Lord and each other, have excommunicated each other and no longer discuss God’s Word or pray together.

Scheming (vv. 6–10). Knowing that Jacob was chosen to receive the covenant blessing, Rebekah immediately took matters into her own hands to make sure her favorite son got what the Lord had promised him. Had she and Jacob talked with Isaac while Esau was out hunting, perhaps he would have seen the light and agreed with them. Instead, however, Rebekah chose to control Jacob and deceive her husband.

The New Testament commentary on this scene is James 3:13–18. Isaac was depending on his own physical senses, but Rebekah was depending on the wisdom of the world. However, the world’s wisdom always leads to trouble. “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing will be there” (James 3: nkjv).

So quickly did Rebekah outline her plan that we suspect she must have thought it through well in advance. She knew that Esau was her husband’s favorite son and that her husband was not the spiritual man that he once was. Rebekah even had a recipe ready, and she must have been an excellent cook to be able to make goats taste like venison!

Vowing (vv. 11–17). Jacob’s concern wasn’t “Is it right?” but “Is it safe?” He was worried about the eleventh commandment: “Thou shalt not get caught.” But Rebekah planned to use the skins of the goats as well as the meat and make smooth-skinned Jacob feel like hairy-skinned Esau. She also dressed Jacob in Esau’s garments so he would smell like his outdoorsman brother. “My son, let the curse fall on me” was her word of encouragement to Jacob (v. 13), but little did she know what she was saying. For after Jacob left for Haran, she never saw her favorite son again.

Isaac’s philosophy was “If it feels good, it is good,” but Rebekah’s philosophy was “The end justifies the means.” She couldn’t trust God to fulfill His plan; she had to help God out because it was for a good cause. But there’s no place for deception in the life of the believer, for Satan is the deceiver (2 Cor. 11:3), but Jesus Christ is the truth (John 14:6). “Blessed is the man … in whose spirit is no deceit” (Ps. 32:2).

In cooperating with the scheme, Jacob was only obeying his mother, but he could have refused and suggested that they just face the situation honestly and confront Isaac. But once Jacob donned Esau’s clothes and took the savory meal in his hands, the die was cast and he had to play the part successfully. See how one lie led to another, for deception can be defended only by more deception. Jacob was weaving the tangled web.

He lied about his name (vv. 18–19). Did Isaac ask for identification because he was hard of hearing? Probably not (v. 22); it’s likely he was starting to get suspicious because he didn’t expect Esau to return so quickly from the hunt (v. 20). Furthermore, the voice he heard didn’t sound like the voice of Esau. That’s when Jacob told his first lie: He claimed to be Esau.

He lied about the food and the Lord (vv. 19–20). He claimed to have obeyed his father’s wishes (lie #2), and he called the goat’s meat “my game” (lie #3). He even gave credit to the Lord for helping him find it so quickly (lie #4). He not only lied about himself, but he also lied about the Lord! To use the Lord to cover up sin is a step toward blasphemy.

He lied again about his identity and about his love (vv. 21–27). Unwilling to trust his ears, Isaac felt Jacob’s hands and mistook goatskin for human hair, and Jacob assured him again that he indeed was Esau (lie #5). How tragic it is to see a son so dishonor his father! After Isaac had eaten the meal, he asked Jacob to kiss him, and that kiss was the sixth lie, for it was hypocritical (Luke 22:48). How could Jacob claim to love his father when he was in the act of deceiving him? Since the smell of the garments finally convinced Isaac that Esau was there, the stage was now set for the giving of the blessing.

Isaac blessed Jacob with natural and material wealth, so important to people who belong to the land, but he added political authority with reference to his own people and other nations (Gen. 27:29). Isaac reaffirmed the word God gave about the boys (25:23), and in using plural nouns (“brothers” and “sons”), he looked beyond Jacob’s day to the time when Abraham’s seed would multiply. During the reigns of David and Solomon, other nations were subjected to the rule of Israel. He assured him not only of God’s blessing, but also of God’s protection, and he quoted the Lord’s original promise to Abraham (12:3).

The deed was done. Isaac couldn’t revoke the blessing, and nobody in the family could alter the consequences.

Esau: despair (27:30–40; Heb. 12:16–17) Jacob had a close call and almost met Esau returning from the hunt. What lie would Jacob have told to explain why he was wearing Esau’s clothes? It didn’t take long for Isaac and Esau to discover the conspiracy, but each man responded differently.

Isaac trembled greatly (v. 30–33). One Hebrew scholar translates this verse: “he trembled a trembling, a great, unto excess.” Why was Isaac so agitated? Because he knew that the Lord had overruled his own selfish plan so that his favorite son did not receive the blessing. Isaac had lied to Abimelech in Gerar (chap. 26), and he had tried to lie to God by disobeying the Word (25:23), but now his own lies had caught up with him.

Esau wept and begged for a blessing (vv. 34–40). The man who despised his birthright and married two pagan women now wept and cried out for his father to bless him. It wasn’t his fault, of course; it was his crafty brother’s fault. When in doubt, always blame somebody else.

Hebrews 12:16–17 is God’s commentary on the event. Esau tried to repent, but his own heart was too hard, and he couldn’t change his father’s mind. Esau’s tears were not tears of repentance for being an ungodly man; they were tears of regret because he had lost the covenant blessing. Esau wanted the blessing but he didn’t want to be the kind of man whom God could bless! We may forget our decisions, but our decisions don’t forget us.

Isaac’s “blessing” (Gen. 27:39–40) put Esau “away from” the blessings of land and sky that had been given to Jacob. Instead of ruling, Esau would live by his sword. The Edomites who descended from Esau (Edom) built their nation at Mount Seir (36:5–8) at the southern end of the Dead Sea, and were constant enemies of the Jews. During David’s reign, the Edomites were subject to Israel, but when Joram was king of Judah, the Edomites rebelled and won their freedom (2 Kings 8:20–22).

Finally, the believing family members got together and made some wise decisions. However, there’s still some deception in the air, because Jacob left home for more than one reason.

To protect Jacob’s life (vv. 40–45). “Don’t get mad, get even” is a popular philosophy, especially among politicians, but Esau practiced both: He carried a hateful grudge against his brother and planned to kill him. After all, if Esau couldn’t enjoy the blessing, neither would Jacob. The man who was destined to live by his sword would start by using it first at home.

Always close to the family grapevine, Rebekah heard the threat and moved into action. Her plan was to send Jacob to Haran to live with her brother Laban and then send for him when it was safe for him to return home. Her question “Why should I be deprived of both of you in one day?” (v. 45) implies that she expected somebody, perhaps God, to avenge Jacob’s murder and kill Esau. The “few days” turned out to be twenty years, and she never saw Jacob again on earth.

To secure a suitable wife for Jacob (27:46— 28:9). Since Esau’s two heathen wives (26:34–35) were an aggravation in the home, Rebekah used this as an excuse to discuss Jacob’s future with her husband. Now that Jacob had the covenant blessing, it was important that he marry the right woman and not one of the pagans in Canaan.

Isaac agreed and called Jacob to tell him their decision. When the summons came, Jacob may have expected his father to scold him for what he’d done, but Isaac didn’t do that. The old man had been caught in his own net and knew that God’s plans were better than his. Not only did Isaac speak kindly to his son, but also he gave him an extra blessing as he left to go on his long journey to Haran. This time it was “the blessing of Abraham” that was important, the fulfillment of God’s promise to bless all the earth through Jacob’s descendents (Gal. 3:14).

Esau’s response to this news was further evidence that he despised everything spiritual, for he went out and took another wife. Because Jacob was looking for a wife among his uncle Laban’s children, Esau chose a wife from the family of his uncle Ishmael. Perhaps he thought that this would qualify him to receive some kind of blessing from God, but it only added to the irritation in the home.