Bible Study Notes - Genesis Chapters 25-28: Jacob and Esau

How God chooses the unworthy to fulfil His promise

Meeting of Isaac and Rebekah (W.Commons)

When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother, Nahor.

When Rebekah failed to bear any children, Isaac prayed to the Lord, and Rebekah eventually, after 20 years, became pregnant.

In this way, their faith was strengthened as they persisted in prayer.

Although she must have been so pleased to finally be pregnant, Rebekah didn’t have an easy time of it for the children in her womb ‘struggled together within her’, so ‘she went to inquire of the Lord.’ (25:22)

‘And the Lord said to her:
“Two nations are in your womb,
Two peoples shall be separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger.”’ (25:23)

The older serving the younger was contrary to the custom in those days; not only did the elder son become the head of the family, but he also received a double share of the inheritance when the father died.

Some, including me when I first read Genesis, question why God made such a choice as it didn’t seem fair.

Yet even though God chose Jacob, the younger, as the heir of His covenant with Abraham, it didn’t follow that Esau was then cursed to a hard life filled with sorrow, for he seemed to enjoy a more settled life than Jacob.

As usual, Charles Spurgeon provides me with the perfect quote in his reply to a woman who remarked that she could not understand why God said that He hated Esau; he replied, ‘“That… is not my difficulty, madam. My trouble is to understand how God could love Jacob.”’ (‘Romans, Verse By Verse’ by William R. Newell).

What I came to understand is, it’s not for me to fathom the reasons behind God’s choices, only to know that His reasons for choosing as He does are always good, not random.

In time, Rebekah gave birth to twins; the first was ‘like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau’, which means ‘hairy’. (25:25)

As his brother came out, he ‘took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob’ which means ‘supplanter’ or ‘deceitful’, literally ‘one who takes the heel’. (25:26)

As the boys grew into men, Esau, a skilful hunter, was his father’s favourite, while the mild, home-loving Jacob was loved by his mother.

One day, as Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came home tired and hungry, and asked his brother for some stew.

Before giving him any, Jacob said, ‘“Sell me your birthright…”’ for he knew the value and importance of the birthright.

Jacob and Esau (W.Commons)

Esau, on the other hand, was more concerned with his hunger; also, as far as he was concerned, he would die one day, so didn’t see what the big deal was about the birthright, and answered, ‘“… I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”’

But Jacob, living up to his name, took advantage of his hungry brother and wouldn’t relent until Esau ‘swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils… Thus, Esau despised his birthright.’ (25:31-34); the use of ‘despised’ here shows how little Esau valued his birthright.

In 26:34, the forty-year-old Esau ‘took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite’, thus ignoring the model set by Abraham to not marry the women of Canaan, and Esau’s choice grieved his parents.

In chapter 27, as Isaac’s sight grew dim, he seemed to think his death was imminent, so he called Esau to go and hunt game, and ‘“make me savoury food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”’ (27:4)

Strangely, despite God’s words to Rebekah – ‘“… the older shall serve the younger.”’ (25:23) - and Esau himself giving away his birthright, then marrying Canaanite women, Isaac seemed determined to follow the custom of blessing the eldest with his birthright.

Having overheard Isaac’s words to Esau, Rebekah hatched a plan for her favourite, Jacob, to benefit from Isaac’s blessing instead and told him, ‘“Go now… and bring me… two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savoury food from them for your father… Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.”’ (27:9-10)

Instead of having faith that God would fulfil His promise, Rebekah decided to take matters into her own hands to make sure that promise would come to pass, thus falling into trickery.

Jacob could easily have refused to go along with his mother’s plan, especially as Esau had already sold his birthright to him, but his only misgiving was if they would get away with it because his brother ‘“is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”’ (27:11-12), but Rebekah swore to take any curse on herself instead.

Thus assured, Jacob became a willing participant in the deception, and, taking advantage of his father’s poor eyesight, blatantly lied to Isaac when he was asked who he was and he answered, ‘“I am Esau, your firstborn…”’ (27:19)

When Isaac asked how he’d returned so quickly from the hunt, which obviously would take some time, Jacob replied, ‘“Because the Lord your God brought it to me”’ (27:20) apparently having no qualms about including God in his trickery.

Jacob knew that God intended for him to have the birthright, which meant he didn’t have to go through with the sin of deceiving and lying to his father, but it seemed as if he excused the sin because it would lead to his birthright, that his sinful conduct worked to fulfil God’s promise.

After repeated questioning, satisfied that this really was Esau, Isaac ‘smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:
“Surely, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field
Which the Lord has blessed.
Therefore may God give you
Of the dew of heaven,
Of the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of grain and wine.
Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you.
Be master over your brethren,
And let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
And blessed be those who bless you!”’ (27:27-29)

Isaac blessing Jacob by Gustave Dore

Although Isaac, as the spiritual head of the family, had the right to pass on this blessing, it wasn’t Isaac’s words that blessed Jacob, but the fact that God had chosen him before he and Esau had been born.

Also, Isaac’s words of ‘“be master over your brethren”’ didn’t mean Jacob would rule over Esau and his descendants because Isaac’s words were overshadowed by what truly mattered – God’s words: ‘“… the older shall serve the younger.”’

It was only when Esau finally returned with the food he had prepared for Isaac did the latter realise what had actually happened, and he ‘…trembled exceedingly…’ (27:33)

Esau had fully expected to receive the blessing even though he had already sold his birthright to Jacob, yet he reacted with anguish when he learned Isaac had given the blessing to Jacob, accusing Jacob of, first, taking away his birthright and then his blessing.

Esau kept insisting Isaac bless him also – ‘“Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me – me also, O my father!”’ (27:38)

Isaac finally said:
‘“Behold, your dwelling shall be of
the fatness of the earth,
And of the dew of heaven from above.
By your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your brother;
And it shall come to pass, when
you become restless,
That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”’ (27:39-40)

Isaac prayed for prosperity for his firstborn and, significantly, changed the words of his blessing to Jacob – “be master over your brethren” to “you shall serve your brother”, echoing God’s promise.

But Esau’s descendants, the Edomites, would not serve the Israelites – Jacob’s people – forever; they would repeatedly fight and succeed in breaking free of Israelite control numerous times in line with Isaac’s words: ‘“you shall break his yoke from your neck.”’

This deception, however, ignited hate in Esau for his brother, and he said, ‘“The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”’ (27:41)

Esau believed Isaac’s death was imminent and, out of respect for his father, delayed murdering his brother.

Jacob and Rebekah (W.Commons)

When Rebekah learned of Esau’s plan, she told Jacob to run away to her brother’s house and to remain there until Esau’s anger had cooled, after which she’d send word for him to return; ‘“Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”’ (27:45)

Rebekah feared losing both her sons; if Esau did murder Jacob, then the avenger of blood – the next nearest relative – would hunt down and execute Esau.

Instead of explaining to Isaac her real need for sending Jacob away, she couched it in terms of finding a wife for Jacob who were unlike Esau’s wives who only brought her grief.

So, Isaac himself told Jacob to go to his mother’s father’s house to find himself a wife, and blessed him:
‘“May God Almighty bless you,
And make you fruitful and multiply you,
That you may be an assembly of peoples;
And give you the blessing of Abraham,
To you and your descendants with you,
That you may inherit the land
In which you are a stranger,
Which God gave to Abraham.”’ (28:3-4)

This blessing shows that Isaac had come to understand and accept God’s purpose, that the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant would go through Jacob.

This part of the story of Isaac’s family highlights how each of them – Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob – acted in an unspiritual way, yet God still created good out of their actions.

It also highlights how, despite Jacob not being worthy of the blessing of the Abrahamic Covenant, God still chose him to fulfil His promise.