Gods Call...Jacob, Esau, and God’s Plan

1 Thessalonians 5:24 MEV

Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it.

After God sent a ram to save Isaac from sacrifice, Isaac grew to manhood and took a wife of his own. Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons, whom they named Jacob and Esau. This session is about the struggle between those two sons. Despite the day's customs, God used the younger son to carry out His promise to make Abraham and his descendants a great nation. This is a vivid reminder that each generation, and ultimately each person, must learn to trust God’s plan for themselves.

Early one morning, nine-year-old Thomas encountered an unwelcome sight when he walked out his back door. His next-door neighbor, Sam, was in his backyard playing with a brand-new toy. But it wasn’t just any new toy—it was the coveted action figure both boys had been longing to own. Brokenhearted and not just a little jealous, Thomas went back inside and began to cry. Finding his mother upstairs, he threw a tantrum until she agreed to take him to the store and buy the action figure for him. As you might imagine, Thomas's world was right again after getting the new toy. It’s a silly story, likely one played out in all our lives in one way or another. The problem for Thomas, however, wasn’t in wanting the toy. The problem began with his feeling of jealousy over Sam getting it first. Closer to the heart of the problem is how Thomas successfully manipulated his mother into buying him the toy. But the real problem is not in what Thomas did as much as who he was becoming—someone driven by jealousy and willing to manipulate those he should be trusting. The real problem is that Thomas didn’t trust his parents to decide whether he should have the toy at all. This theme plays out over and over in Scripture. God, who should be trusted, has a plan for our good. But the jealousy of others causes us to fight against God’s plan.

What the Bible Says

Let’s explore what God shows us about trust through the decisions of Jacob and Esau. God chose the younger one to play a more significant part in His plan of salvation for His creation and the human race. The other was not. Only three generations into Abraham’s family became the nation through whom God’s salvation would come to the world, and we are already finding enormous problems because people aren’t trusting God, His plan, and their role in it.

Twins at Last

Genesis 25:19–26 MEV

These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as his wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her, and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. Then the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from your body; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” Now when the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau. After that his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

Like Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah were initially unable to bear children together. Through answered prayer, God blessed them with one son and two. Along with the twins came an exciting word from God that both would birth nations and that the older son, Esau, would serve the younger Jacob. That was quite the change since, in that culture, the firstborn son was typically given advantages that placed him in a stronger position. Yet, God chose to go against the cultural norm for some reason.

The Struggle to Trust God

Genesis 27:1–10 MEV

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called Esau his oldest son and said to him, “My son.” And he answered him, “Here I am.” He said, “I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. And prepare for me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.” Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for wild game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, ‘Bring me wild game, and prepare for me savory food, 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 get me two choice young goats, so that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he loves. Then you will take it to your father, so that he may eat and so that he may bless you before his death.”

Even though God clearly promised Jacob would be greater, Rebekah didn’t trust God to make this happen. She felt that she needed to control the process using deceit and manipulation. Perhaps we can sympathize with Rebekah's difficulty in seeing how God’s salvation would really come through this tiny family. But even though God’s plan seemed impossible, Rebekah should have trusted God.

Jacob Deceives His Father

Genesis 27:18–25 MEV

He came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” And Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done just as you asked me. Please arise, sit and eat of my wild game, so that your soul may bless me.” Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.” Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” Jacob went near to his father Isaac, and he felt him 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, just like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. He asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s wild game, so that my soul may bless you.” And he brought it near to him, and he ate. He also brought him wine, and he drank.

Five different times, Isaac asked Jacob to prove who he was. Isaac was suspicious. Maybe Isaac knew that his wife was capable of deception since they had schemed together to deceive the king of the Philistines some years earlier. Whatever the reason, the facts did not add up in Isaac’s mind. However, with each response, Jacob deceived and lied even more. If he had any doubts about whether to complete this ruse, he was in too far to turn back now.

Genesis 26:1–11 MEV

There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was during the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land of which I will tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you; for I will give to you and all your descendants all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of the heavens and will give your descendants all these lands. By your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” So Isaac lived in Gerar. The men of the place asked him about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful in appearance.” When he had been there a long time, Abimelek the king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah his wife. Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is surely your wife, so how is it you said, ‘she is my sister’?” Then Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’ ” Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might have easily lain with your wife, and you might have brought guilt upon us!” Abimelek charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”

Genesis 27:30–38, 41

Genesis 27:41 MEV

So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

It is important to note that Rebekah and Jacob’s deceit did not thwart God’s plans. God’s sovereign plan will be accomplished. But how much unnecessary pain was caused? It makes us wonder: if they hadn’t tricked Isaac, how would God have caused Jacob to lead Esau? We have no way of knowing. But knowing the character of our loving God, we can safely say it would not have caused the pain Esau felt in this moment. Would it have led him to want to kill Jacob instead of serving him? Almost certainly not. Rebekah and Jacob’s lack of trust in God’s ability to accomplish His plan had a devastating fallout. People were hurt, and a family was destroyed.