Genesis 27.1-4-The Conspiracy of Isaac and Esau

Tuesday May 30, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 27:1-4-The Conspiracy of Isaac and Esau

Lesson # 153

Please turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 12:15.

This evening we will begin a study of Genesis 27, which records Jacob under the direction of Rebekah, deceiving Isaac in order to steal the blessing of the birthright from Esau.

This thwarted Isaac’s attempt to bestow upon Esau the blessings of the birthright, which was against the will of the Lord.

Normally the birth¬right belonged to the eldest son.

This entitled him to a double share of the property in addition to the privilege of assuming the father’s position of head¬ship in the family.

For the descendants of Abraham it determined the one through whom the covenant blessings would be given.

With this privileged status came responsibility in that the firstborn was the protector of the family and leader.

Not only did the firstborn have the responsibility of providing leadership and material things in Isaac’s family but also he had the responsibility to provide spiritually for his family, which was paramount in the family of Abraham and Isaac.

Abraham and Isaac were in the line of Christ and the birthright in the family of Isaac included the promises and blessings given in the Abrahamic Covenant.

In the family of Abraham and Isaac, the birthright included the privilege of carrying on the line of Christ that would bring salvation and therefore blessing to the entire world.

The birthright was transferable so under certain circumstances the possessor of this birthright could be dispossessed.

The youngest can displace the eldest as in the cases of Joseph and Judah, Reuben, and Ephraim and Manasseh, Moses and Aaron, David and his six older brothers, Solomon and Adonijah.

In Abraham’s family, the one who possesses the birthright inherits the Abrahamic Covenant.

Since the birthright concerns the future, its value is appropriated by faith.

Jacob desired the birthright because of his faith in the promises and prophecy of the Lord whereas Esau did not have faith in the promises of the Lord.

Esau was rejected because he did not have faith in the Lord and His promises contained in the Abrahamic Covenant as demonstrated by the selling of the birthright.

Now, the “blessing” of the birthright and the birthright itself were inseparable since Hebrews 12:17 records that after Esau sold his birthright he wanted to inherit the blessing but was rejected by God.

Esau wanted the blessing but not the prerequisite lifestyle of faith of the patriarchs.

Therefore, the Lord did not allow Esau to be blessed by Isaac and permitted Rebekah and Jacob’s scheme to deceive Isaac to be successful.

Esau’s lack of faith in the promises of God is demonstrated in that he exchanged his birthright with Jacob for a bowl of lintel soup.

Therefore, by selling his birthright, Esau was demonstrating his unbelief in the promises contained in the Abrahamic Covenant and thereby forfeited the blessings of this covenant (Hebrews 12:16-17).

Hebrews 12:15-16, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.”

Hebrews 12:17, “For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”

The fact that Esau agreed to sell his birthright to Jacob reveals that Esau did not value spiritual things since by selling his birthright he was forfeiting the blessings of the covenant that the Lord made with Abraham and which his father Isaac had inherited.

In eternity past, before Jacob and Esau were born God knew in His omniscience that Esau would possess such a negative attitude towards His plan and that Jacob would have a positive attitude.

As we saw in Genesis 25:23, the Lord’s prophecy to Rebekah was that the birthright and the blessings attached to it belonged to Jacob and not Esau.

Genesis 25:23, “The LORD said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.’”

Therefore, Isaac’s desire to give Esau the blessing of the birthright and not Jacob was against the will of the Lord.

Unfortunately, Rebekah and Jacob erroneously thought they could accomplish the will of the Lord by means of the sin of deception.

In the end, the family was separated for Rebekah never saw Esau again after this episode and Jacob and Esau split and did not reconcile until years later.

What we see was that parental preference destroyed the family of Isaac and Rebekah.

Genesis 27:1 begins a set of dialogues and ends at Genesis 28:5, which give us the record of Jacob under the instruction of his mother Rebekah, deceiving his father Isaac and stealing the blessing of the birthright from his twin brother Esau.

These dialogues contained in Genesis 27:1-28:5 are framed by the marriage of Esau to Hittite women, which is recorded in Genesis 26:34-35 and his marriage to an Ishmaelite woman, which is recorded in Genesis 28:6-9.

Genesis 27:1-28:5 contains seven dialogues: (1) Isaac and Esau (27:1-4) (2) Rebekah and Jacob (27:5-17) (3) Isaac and Jacob under guise of Esau (27:18-29) (4) Isaac and Esau (27:30-40) (5) Rebekah and Jacob (27:41-45) (6) Rebekah and Isaac (27:46) (7) Isaac and Jacob (28:1-5).

The information provided in Genesis 26:34-35 regarding Isaac and Rebekah’s displeasure over Esau’s marriage to Hittite women and the information provided in Genesis 28:6-9 regarding his marriage to an Ishmaelite supply essential data for interpreting developments recorded in Genesis 27:1-28:5.

Genesis 27 gives us a perfect example of the “overruling will of God” in the lives of His people where Isaac’s bad decision to give the blessing to Esau and not Jacob is “overruled” by God.

The sovereign will of God functions three different ways in relation to the will of angels and men: (1) Directive will of God: God directly states what He desires of us. (2) Permissive will of God: God permits us to have our own way. (3) Overruling will of God: God overrules our decisions-not letting them have their intended results-in order to protect us and the rest of mankind from our own negative volition and to preserve and perpetuate His own marvelous plan.

A comparison of Genesis 25:23 with Genesis 27 manifests the function of God’s “directive”, “permissive” and “overruling” will.

The “directive” will of God for the lives of Esau and Jacob is revealed in the Lord’s prophecy to Rebekah prior to the birth of the twins, which is recorded in Genesis 25:23.

The “permissive” will of God is manifested in Genesis 27:1-4 where the Lord “permits” Isaac to attempt to give the blessing to Esau rather than Jacob.

The “overruling” will of God is manifested in Genesis 27:5-46 where Jacob deceives Isaac and receives the blessing rather than Esau.

This evening we will begin our study of Genesis 27 by noting verses one thru four, which records the conspiracy of Isaac and Esau to secretly secure the blessing of the birthright for Esau rather than Jacob, which was against the will of God.

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.’”

Genesis 27:2, “Isaac said, ‘Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.’”

Genesis 27:3-4, “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.”

Isaac was one hundred years of age at this point in the narrative since Genesis 25:26 records that Isaac was sixty years of age when he had Esau and Jacob and Genesis 26:34 records that Esau got married at forty years of age.

He would live to one hundred eighty years of age according to Genesis 35:28.

Genesis 27:1 records that Isaac was already blind as indicated by the phrase “his eyes were too dim to see.”

This blindness is also symbolic of his spiritual blindness that is expressed in his desire to give Esau the blessing of the birthright and not Jacob.

It appears that Isaac’s blindness caused him to erroneously think that he might be dying soon.

Therefore, as was the custom in his day, he desires to give his blessing before he died.

The term “savory dish” is the noun mat`ammim (syM!u^f+m^) (mat-am-meem), which in the plural means, “delicacies, gourmet food” and appears six times in Genesis 27 (4, 7, 9, 14, 17, 31) to emphasize Isaac’s sensuality and not the role the meal played in the blessing ritual (Genesis, A Commentary, Bruce K. Waltke, page 377, Zondervan).

Isaac’s love for fine foods has superseded his love for doing the will of God and has regressed spiritually in that he has in fact become like Esau who exchanged his birthright for a bowl of lintel soup!

This conversation that Isaac had with Esau regarding the blessing of the birthright was private and was in fact a conspiracy on the part of Isaac to see that Esau, who was his “favorite”, would get the blessing of the birthright.

Normally the blessing would have been a public affair, given before the entire family because it was, in reality, an oral will which legally determined the disposition of all that the father possessed (See Genesis 49:1, 28; 50:24-25; Deuteronomy 33:1).

“From excavations at Nuzi in central Mesopotamia we learn that the oral blessing or will had legal validity and would stand up even in the courts. Nuzi tablet P56 mentions a lawsuit between three brothers in which two of them contested the right of a third to marry a certain Zululishtar. The young man won his case by arguing that this marriage was provided for in his father’s deathbed blessing.” (Howard Vos, Genesis and Archaeology; Chicago: Moody Press, 1963, p. 96. The information cited by Vos comes from Cyrus Gordon, “Biblical Customs and the Nuzi Tablets,” The Biblical Archaeologist, February, 1940, p. 8; Quote from Vos cited from The Book of Genesis by Bob Deffinbaugh, pages 194-195, Bible Studies Press).

Distribution of family wealth and headship would best be carried out in the presence of all who were concerned, thus we later find Jacob giving his blessing in the presence of all his sons (Genesis 49).

Neither Jacob nor Rebekah was present, and this was hardly an oversight but rather Isaac conspiring to give the blessing to Esau who was his favorite and not Jacob who was Rebekah’s favorite and more importantly, the Lord’s choice.

If it were not for Rebekah eavesdropping on the conversation, the entire matter would seem¬ingly have been completed with only two parties involved.

Therefore, we have a conspiracy and secrecy where Isaac intended at this clandestine dinner to convey his blessings upon Esau rather than Jacob, which is why Isaac had no blessing left to convey upon Esau, cf. Genesis 27:37 38.

Here was a premeditated plot to thwart the plan and purpose of God for Jacob.

Isaac was not ignorant of the revelation of God to Rebekah, which we saw recorded in Genesis 25:23.

The fact that the Lord’s choice of Jacob over Esau was justified was that Esau exchanged his birthright for a bowl of red lintel soup.

Therefore, God’s purposes for His people could never be achieved through such a person as Esau.

In spite of all these elements, Isaac sought to overrule the verdict of God that the elder serve the younger.

He anticipated doing so by a mis¬use of the pronouncement of the blessing before his death.

Therefore, it appears that Isaac intended to manipulate God by reversing the decree of God and the rightful ownership of the rights of the first born as purchased (although unethically) by Jacob.

This he purposed to do by giving his oral blessing to Esau, which he thought he was doing but in reality, he was giving it to Jacob (See Genesis 27:29).

The fact that Isaac sought to give Esau rather than Jacob the blessing after Esau demonstrated his disdained for the plan of God reveals that at this time in his life, Isaac was putting his personal love and affection for Esau ahead of doing God’s will.

Unlike his father, Isaac put his relationship with his children ahead of obedience to the will of the Lord since Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac in obedience to the will of the Lord.