Genesis 27 "Esau and Jacob" Part 1

Genesis 27:1-4 "And it came to pass that when Issac 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. And he said Behold now I am old. I know not the day of my death: Now therefore take I pray thee thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field and take me some venison, And make me savory meat, such as I love and bring it to me that I may eat, that my sould may bless thee before I die."



In this chapter we learn about Issac blessing one of his sons with the blessing passed down from his father Abraham. It centers around Issac's request of his eldest son to get him some venison to eat so he might bless him.

The story is a difficult one for me. I have looked for some goodness in Jacob but he has not shown much to this point. The name Jacob means supplanter. Supplant means to take the place of usually by stratagem. Stratagem is a wile. Wile means to entice. So to be nice, we can say that Jacob was a crafty person. Esau simply means hairy.

In this story, Rebekah overhead the conversation between Esau and Issac. She went into action for as we learned before she loved Jacob and Issac loved Esau. Honestly, I cannot see how they could seperate twins like that but that is how the story goes. Rebekah sets a plan in motion to get Jacob in to see Issac before Esau can get back from hunting. She has him get two goats and dresses him up like Essau (Issac is blind). Esau is a hairy man and Jacob is smooth so Rebekah fixed him up quiet a costume. Issac idenfified Jacob as Esau by the smell of his clothes which were actually Esau's. Issac is fooled and gave Jacob the blessing.

Genesis 27 v28-29 (Issac to Jacob) "Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee: be lord over thy brethren and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be everyone that curseth thee and blessed be he that blesseth thee."

Jacob now leaves the tent and soon Esau came back with the real venison from his hunting trip. Issac is very disturbed when he finds out he has blessed the wrong son but the blessing still stands as he has spoken. Esau is very upset at this and begs for a blessing if only one. Issac does give him a blessing.

v39 "And Issac 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 v40 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."

Remember that in the last chapter Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage.

Proverbs 20:24 "Man's goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?"