Blessed through Deception

Genesis 27:1 - 28:22


What we see here is deception at its worst!

Rebekah over hears Isaac telling his oldest son Esau that he will give him his blessing soon because he does not know how much longer that he will live. But, first he wants Esau to go hunt wild game and prepare him a meal the way that he likes it. After eating he will give Esau his blessing.

Having  overheard the conversation, she recalls the word of the Lord while her sons were still in her womb... "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." She feels that if Isaac gives Esau his blessing then Jacob must serve Esau... contrary to the word of the Lord.

Let's pause for just a moment and go back to Monday's post...

I described what I see in Rebekah... "I believe Rebekah to be a woman of faith, which will fit in well with Abraham's family. I see her as a woman of much conviction, a woman with little to no hesitation, a strong willed woman (this can be both good and bad). She is a woman that, if she believes something and desires to have it, will go after it with fervor."

Now let's look at this in light of Isaac blessing his son...

Rebekah, heard the word of the Lord, she believed it and she desired that it come to pass. When she saw something about to thwart "God's plan", as she percieved it, she came up with a plan of her own to make sure that "what God wanted " would happen. (Does this sound familiar at all? Hint... Ishmael)

Rebekah comes up with an elaobrate plan to decieve her husband into thinking that Jacob is really Esau so Isaac will give him the blessing. It worked! Isaac fell for it... You sound like Jacob. However, you feel hairy like Esau and you smell like Esau. Therefore, you must be Esau! Isaac gives Jacob the blessing rightfully belonging to his brother, Esau... "May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness— an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."

Very soon after Isaac gave the blessing to Jacob, Esau returned and went in to his father to receive the blessing. When Isaac realized that he had mistakenly blessed Jacob, he trembled violently and told Esau, Your brother came decietfully and took your blessing...
I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!" Esau became angry and begged for his father to bless him as well. Isaac replied, "I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?" (Doesn't this sound like the "word of the Lord being brought to pass by "the hand of man"? Oh, what a dangerous thing!)
Having heard that there was no more blessing to be given, Esau began to cry. Isaac goes on to tell Esau of his future... "Your dwelling will be away from the earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck."

Esau is so angry that he vows to kill his brother, Jacob, after his father dies. Rebekah hears of Esau's plan to kill Jacob. She quickly goes to him, telling him of the plan and that he must leave. She instructs him to go to her brother Laban's home and stay there until it all blows over.

Rebekah realizes that she must have a reason for Jacob to leave. So, she told Isaac that Jacob needs to find a wife. She says, "If Jacob taskes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, her life will not be worth living".

Isaac Called for Jacob and tells him not to marry a Canaanite woman. He tells Jacob to go to the land of his mother's father and take a wife from the house of Laban, Rebekah's brother. He then blesses Jacob and sends him on his way. When Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan Aram, the house of Laban, to find a wife because Isaac did not like the Canaanite women he married the daughter of Ishmael in addition to the other wives that he already had. (Sounds like rebellion to me!)

While on his journey to Laban's house, Jacob stopped for the night to sleep. During the night he had a dream in which he saw a stairway reaching heaven. Angels were going up and down the stairway. At the top stood the Lord! The Lord told Isaac the promise made to Abraham and his father, Isaac. His descendants will be like the dust of the earth... and all people on the earth will be blessed through him and his offspring.  When Jacob woke from his sleep, he knew that surely the Lord was in that place and he did not know it. Jacob then made a vow that if God would keep him safe in his travels he would return to his father's house and give back to God a tenth of everything that God gives him. (This is the beginning of the tithe!!!!)

(Update: I originally posted that this is the beginning of the tithe (See above). The next morning I received an email from a friend, David, stating that the beginning of the tithe was actually with Abraham, in Genesis 14:17-19. I remember that. But, I did not make the association at the time. I told him that, in Genesis 14:17-19, Abraham gave 10% to a man, not God. David pointed out that Melchizedek was a man, he was a man of God, he was the "priest of Most High God. Ok, I am on board, that was the beginning of the tithe.)