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um your being gracious and patient is also appreciated all right it’s officially 9:00 so let’s begin welcome back to the Sunday School series that we have begun we are more than halfway through this is lesson nine in our 16we series of the Patriarchs of the promise our forefathers of the faith who are the record of their lives is very instructive for us especially in just simply learning to trust God trust God through the uncertainty of life he is going to provide you can remain obedient let me open in a word of prayer Lord thank you for this word even for this record of Jacob I pray God that we would pay close attention to this and God that we would benefit as you meant for us to help me to be able to explain this and Lord I pray this would be a really edifying time together in Jesus name amen all right last week we learned about the birth of Jacob and Esau we’re moving on from Abraham and even quickly moving through Isaac’s life we saw last week how these two sons are born but also how God’s prophecy related to their birth about how the older would sered the younger was already beginning to come to pass with Jacob stealing the birthright well today or obtaining the birth right today we’ll see that prophecy fulfilled in a greater way as Jacob steals the blessing that’s the title today’s class Jacob steals the blessing now this is a very well-known section of scripture which means you need to do what in our steady pay extra close attention as they say familiarity breeds contempt there’s also something called the illusion of Mastery when you think you know something well you stop paying close attention to it we think probably we know this story very well so we’re like okay you know what what new things you going to tell me Well we don’t want to do that with the word of God there’s always more to learn and a lot of times we don’t know the Bible as well as we think we do so let’s be extra careful in our study even look at it with fresh eyes purposfully choose to do that one programming note as before we proceed any further the other teachers and I are slightly shifting our approach when it comes to how we go through the lessons and we’re going to do this so that we can teach all the material without rushing but still enjoy your participation so that shift is going to be that from now on during the lessons please continue to answer our questions and ask your own questions but please save comments Until the End please save comments until the end of the lesson this isn’t because we dislike your comments or don’t value them no we enjoy them find them helpful but we do want to be the most effective with our time as we can be and we want to give priority to the lesson itself and to any questions you might have I want you to be able to ask ask questions during the lesson so you’re not like oh I had a question but I forgot what it was or uh I don’t need to ask it now when you have a question please raise your hand let me know I want to answer it the other teachers want to answer it but we’re just saving the comments at the end all right questions during the lesson comments at the end any questions okay all right now let’s proceed please turn your Bibles to Genesis 27 Genesis 27 is where we’re going to be looking today and we’re going to look at the whole chapter that’s a long section so as we go through the inductive Bible study method we’re going to read and observe in parts we ask a few interpretation questions along the way but first and foremost we’re going to read and observe the different sections of Genesis 27 in parts and where our first section that we’re going to look at is verses 1 to 17 so please follow along with me as I read Genesis 271 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 Isaac said behold now I am old and I do not know the day of my death 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 die Rebecca was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau so when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home Rebecca said to her son Jacob behold I heard your father speak to your brother Esau saying bring me some game but prepare a Savory dish for me that I may eat and bless you in the presence of the Lord that is Yahweh before my death now therefore my son listen to me as I command you go now to the flock and bring me two Choice young goats from there that I may prepare them as a dish for your father such as he loves then you shall bring it to your father that he may eat so that he may bless you before his death Jacob answered his mother Rebecca behold Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man perhaps my father will feel me then I will be as a deceiver in his sight and I’ll bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing but his mother said to him your curse be on me my son only obey my voice and go and get them for me then Rebecca took the best garments of Esau her Elder son which were with her in the house I’m sorry skip the verse verse 14 so he went and got them and brought them to his mother and his mother made Savory food such as his father loved then Rebecca took the best garments of Esau her Elder son which were with her in the house and put them on Jacob her younger son and she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck she also gave the Savory food and the bread which she had made to her son Jacob okay first step in our method is to observe that is simply to note what do we see in the text notice that verse one says that Isaac is old and his eyes are too dim to see now have you ever thought about how much time has passed between the sale of the birthright which we were looking at last time and this episode now let’s remind ourselves how old was Isaac when the Twins were born 4 6 60 he was 40 when he got married 60 when the Twins were born and then it says in our last page the boys grew up so that was maybe 15 to 30 years later that’s when Esau sold the birthright to Jacob Genesis 2634 and 35 mentions that Esau was 40 when he married two hittite women so we’re at least 40 years after they were born meaning that Isaac must be how old at least 100 100 cuz he was at least 100 when Isaac or when Esau first got married now living 100 years is quite a milestone even in those days but did turning 100 mean that Isaac was old and close to death we’ll see later on in Genesis 3528 that Isaac dies at the age of 180 so he actually has 80 more years to live that’s pretty impressive he’s at least 100 year but perhaps more time has gone by since Esau’s marriage is there any more biblical data that we might bring to bear to determine Isaac’s exact age in this passage and the surprising answer is there is now I’m going to show you a slide it’s probably too small to read don’t worry about it just check it later when this is posted on the website I’m not going to go through all of this but this is just a record of the calculations you can make based on later data we get in the Bible if we work back from some information we get from Joseph’s life and then correlate that with some information we get from Jacob’s life we can confidently say that Jacob In this passage is 77 years old Jacob is 77 years old when this whole thing takes place which is probably not the way we’ve ever imagine this event we imagine a much younger Jacob and Esau but you can look at the data later and see how I how I got to that number and by the way I’m not the only one answers in Genesis and their curriculum comes to the same conclusion as does in Marthur steady Bible so this is this is actually pretty legitimate so if Jacob is 77 and he was born when Isaac was 60 how old is Isaac In this passage he’s 137 Isaac is 137 and that’s decently old and Genesis 25 17 Genesis 25:17 tells us that ishmail Isaac’s half brother dies at age 137 so this is not just a random year for Isaac this is a a somewhat notable age to reach he reaches 137 and thus precedes the rest of this passage so hopefully that gives you a little bit better of a sense of the situation we’re arriving at in Genesis 27 Isaac is indeed old and even his boys are not young men anymore more Jacob and Esau have lived Decades of Life Esau is married now too probably has several children though intriguingly Jacob is not married and has no children despite God’s prophetic promise years have gone by and it doesn’t look like the older is serving the younger sure Jacob has the official Birthright but this apparently hasn’t changed Isaac’s attitude Isaac as we’ll see still in intends to pass on the abrahamic blessing to Esau so should Jacob make a move should Rebecca make a move or should they keep on waiting now let’s keep observing in verse two Isaac says he does not know the day of his death quick interpretation question what does this detail have to do with his not knowing the day of his death have to do with Isaac attempting to give the blessing to Esau is that just a random remark I don’t know the day of my death okay so let me bless you what’s the connection okay that’s an interesting idea Leela you mentioned maybe he feels like I don’t know what my wife’s going to try and do in the future I might need to do something now especially before I die Glenda what were you going to say I think you feel time is passing and they have to do something I feel that yeah so this is hopefully not not a huge Lo logical leap here Isaac wants to settle the issue of the blessing before it’s too late just in case Isaac dies he wants to make sure the blessing is passed on the special blessing he has from God is passed on in the proper way and to Isaac’s mind that is give it to Esau so Isaac tells Esau to go and hunt and prepare a meal of delicious game game referring to hunted animals and bring it to Isaac so Isaac can give the blessing to Esau now here’s that love of food mentioned again Isaac really has a weakness for game apparently it’s mentioned several times and not only is it caused at least partially Isaac to favor Esau throughout Esau’s life but now it’s going to play a crucial role in this final act at passing on special blessing from God God now note verse 5 verse 5 says that Rebecca just happened to be listening to what was going on so she hatches a plot to have the blessing fall on Jacob instead Jacob will take advantage of Isaac’s blindness pretend to be Esau and bring other meat to Isaac this Isaac will eat and the blessing will come to Jacob and not Esau now note in verses 11 to 12 Jacob’s a clever guy and he realizes there a problem with this plan Jacob and Esau are so different that if Isaac touches Jacob Isaac will realize the ploy and curse Jacob instead Jacob points this out to his mother now do note that this objection this observation is not that oh Mom this would be wrong this would be unloving to deceive my father Isaac or unloving to Esau or evil before God doesn’t say any of those things he just says I’m going to get found out and there’s going to be a curse that’s what he mentions to his mom but Rebecca’s got that issue of Discovery on touch covered as well she puts Esau’s best clothes on Jacob and she puts rough and hairy goat skins on Jacob’s neck and hands so here we go again food is going to be at the center of another effort from Jacob to supplant Esau but will it work now if you you know the ending of the story you might miss the drama of what plays out remember Jacob does not know the end of the story yet he does not know if this plan will work he and Rebecca are taking quite the risk in this subterfuge so as we read this next section note how many times Jacob’s identity is tested by Isaac there’s a lot of tension here uh I think a slide there we go thank you let’s look at verses 18 to 27 now Genesis 2718 to 27 I I have a question yes Arthur question yeah this has always bothered me does that mean that Jacob was going against God’s will or was he being disobedient or was it a show of Li is that all one question good question was Jacob being disobedient was he going against God’s will we’re going to come back to that that’s a good interpretation question we need to think through thanks Arthur all right let’s read the next section verses 18 to 27 then he that’s Jacob came to his father and said my father and he said here I am who are you my son Jacob said to his father I am Esau your firstborn I have done as you have told me I’ve done as you told me get up please sit and eat of my game that you may bless me Isaac said to his son how is it that you have it so quickly my son and he said because Yahweh your God caused it to happen to me then Isaac said to Jacob please come close that I may feel you my son whether you are really my son Esau or not so Jacob came close to Isaac his father 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 like his brother Esau’s hands so he blessed him and he said are you really my son Esau and he said I am so he said bring it to me and I will eat of my son’s game that I may bless you and he brought it to him and he ate and he also brought him wine and he drank and his father Isaac said to him please come close and kiss me my son son so he came close and kissed him and when he smelled the smell of his garments he blessed him and said see the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed right let’s pause there for a second so if you were paying attention how many times is Jacob’s identity tested five times five times verses 18 and 19 who are you I am Esau that reply is a what by the way that’s a lie verse 20 how’d you get the game so quickly Yahweh your God gave it to me interesting that he says your God and not my God though sometimes people use the phrasing um that way in the Bible it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not his God but it’s interesting but is this statement also true from Jacob Yahweh your God gave it to me this game no that’s another lie verses 21 to 22 the touch test let me feel whether you are really Esau my son now Isaac’s response to this test must have really scared Jacob because Isaac says H the voice is the voice of Jacob found out but the hands are the hands of Esau okay verse 24 are you really my son Esau I am another lie and then Isaac eats and drinks and just when Jacob thinks he’s in the clear verse 26 come and kiss me my son quick interpretation question why does Isaac ask for a kiss so he can smell him he’s not really just interested in the kiss he wants to smell his son do you smell like Esau which is why he responds the way that he does m the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed but Isaac’s fooled again because Esau’s garments are on Jacob and thus he smells like Esau does so the deception Works team Rebecca and Jacob have pulled one over on the old man the blessing is going to be given to Jacob so let’s hear The Blessing now verses 28 and 29 Isaac says now may God give you of the Dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and an abund bance of grain and new wine May peoples serve you and Nations bow down to you be master of your brothers and may your mother’s sons bow down to you cursed be those who curse you and blessed be those who bless you all right let’s observe the elements of this blessing notice verse 28 he says may God Prosper you and give you the best of all the land the first part of verse 29 we see him pray or pronounce May others serve you even your brothers wait I thought I only had one brother remember that that’s a term that can include other relatives may your brothers and or even your brother and your other relatives may they serve you and may even whole Nations serve you second part of verse 29 May those who curse you be cursed and may those who bless you be blessed hey what does that phrase remind you of abrahamic Covenant that was a specific blessing that God spoke to Abraham so those are those three parts land Prosperity service from others especially your brothers and cursing of those who curse and blessing of those who bless now Isaac thinks he’s given all of these blessings to Esau despite the fact that God said that Jacob would rule over Esau so again we have to wonder why does Isaac keep trying to go against what God has promised but have you noticed another quick interpretation question here in trying to go against God’s will what in fact has Isaac accomplished yeah Glenda God’s will I have a problem with that first I want to ask you before you go further okay okay why was Rebecca know what God said to her Esau must have known what God Said to Rebecca the younger Shall Serve the older knowing Esau sold his Birthright he married a hittite woman all this thing that was so displeasing to the father and the mother why was she so want to push him to get the blessing and he wanted to push Esau to get the blessing what was the person of both of them knowing what God said why was Esau Jacob so want to give Esau the blessing he must have heard what the blessing’s all about she said um the curse be on me yes the curse was on her she never saw him again so why was both of them was it because they love each this one love this one this one love that one that they wanted to push instead of listening and waiting on God I want to hear what you have yeah yeah so a good question and I I think we’ll touch on it more in the interpretation step but the the only data we’ve gotten so far is that based on the kind of sons they were they just appealed more to one parent or the other the only data we’ve got for why Isaac loves Esau more is that Esau was an outdoors guy and he made food that Isaac loved or he he brought this Haunted Game and that Jacob as a dweller intense it’s not stated explicitly but seems to appeal more to his mother’s side I think Mark shared last week talking about favoritism that this is just so basic to being a basic Temptation for parents you tend to like the kid or you’re tempted to like or show more favor to the one who’s like you now we’ll talk a little bit more about but they had the prophecy they had the promise from God about this why did they respond this way the Bible doesn’t tell us totally but it’s a good question but let me um come back back to the question I just asked in trying to go against God’s will what in fact did Isaac accomplish God’s will he accomplished God’s will in trying to go against it he made sure it happened interesting now that was a tense situation but Jacob pulled it off and not a moment too soon because let’s see what happens next in the text verses 30 to 40 this is Genesis 27: 30- 40 now it came about as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father that Esau his brother came in from his hunting then he also made Savory food and brought it to his father and he said to his father let my father arise and eat of his son’s game that you may bless me Isaac’s father said to him who are you and he said I am your son your firstborn Esau then Isaac trembled violently and said who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me so that I ate of all of it before you came and blessed him yes and he shall be blessed when Esau heard the words of his father he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father bless me even me also oh my father and he said your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing and he said is he not rightly named Jacob for he has supplanted me these two times he took away my Birthright and behold now he has taken away my blessing and he said have you not reserved a blessing for me but Isaac replied to Esau behold I have made him your master and all his relatives I have given to him as servants and with grain and new wine I have sustained him as for you then what can I do my son Esau said to his father do you have only one blessing my father bless me even me also oh my father so Esau lifted his voice and wept and Isaac’s father answered and said to him behold away from the fertility of the Earth shall be your dwelling and away from the DW of Heaven from above by your sword you shall live and your brother You Shall Serve but it shall come about when you become Restless that you will break his yoke from your neck reading that it’s hard not to feel a little bad for Esau right he’s too late and Isaac says there’s no blessing left notice in verse 33 where it says Isaac trembled violently when he heard Esau identify himself clearly Isaac has realized something that is greatly affected him quick interpretation question what has Isaac realized God’s will so Arthur says he realized he fulfilled God’s will I don’t know if he’s he’s gone quite there yet he will get there what were you GNA say Danny he went against God’s I think he realizes that the blessing was supposed to go to his the younger son and he was trying to manipulate the situation instead of I think so that violent shaking was more not doing God’s will like God intended that is possible maybe he is putting a lot of things together at this point even his own going against God’s Will and now seeing God having his will be fulfilled none nevertheless but even before we get there what more basic realization has Isaac come to he’s been deceived who took the blessing Jake Jacob the other brother we see just a few lines down your brother came deceitfully and has stolen your blessing what were we going to say Cheryl always I I just really need help understanding like from a 21st century person to understand the power of the blessing cuz I understand there’s God’s Will and it was going to happen but it seems like from the you know like if I’m there in that moment like there’s this power that the father actually has to convey a blessing at least that’s what they believe and I just can’t wrap my mind around like so you can say something and it’s out of deception and it’s going to happen you know what I mean like I’m just trying to wrap my mind around that’s a very good question and it’s my very next point no I think because a lot of us have that same question or should have that same question because it is so different than what we expect Isaac has realized that Jacob has stolen the blessing but so striking is that statement at the end of verse 33 yes and he shall be blessed so evidently Isaac did not think he uttered mere words over Jacob he believed that what he prayed on Jacob’s behalf would indeed come to pass and isn’t it interesting that Isaac just so happened not to use a personal name in any of his blessings didn’t say let Esau be blessed he says let you you and your you will be blessed this is yours oh actually we’ll come back to the answer to your question Cheryl but that was the observation I want to make we’re going to come back to the the answer to your question but more observations here notice Esau’s great anguish verse 34 he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and throughout verses 34 and 38 Esau speaks desperately and bitterly about Jacob that heel clutcher that’s what his name can be translated to that supplanter and notice evidently Esau does care about the birthright now just a chapter ago or two he said what is my Birthright to me and now he’s like my Birthright verse 38 Esau lifted his voice and wept notice that Isaac does indeed treat the blessing as exclusive he knows that he can’t give both sons the same blessing in fact it may be that Isaac was trying to give all the blessings to Esau there was no directed from God that he he had to give it to only one son but evidently he tried to give it only one son to Esau but and actually he did the opposite notice what Isaac prophesies about Esau in verses 39- 40 is pretty demoralizing verse 39 you will not have the best of the land verse 40 you will live by your sword that is your life is going to be filled with conflict and not peace verse 40 you will serve your brother and isn’t that what God previously promised we’ve already heard that before but then there’s one Ray of comfort potentially for Esau at the end of verse 40 when Isaac says when you become Restless you will break his yoke from your neck that’s a an idiomatic expression that is to say though your brother will dominate you there will be a time or times when you’ll be able to shake off his authority I I have a really question yes Arthur what is your question okay something I I’ve still haven’t understood in all these years of being a Christian is is there a distinction between the birthright and the blessing because Esau acknowledges in his tears that Jacob so his Birthright and then he says but now he’s also taking his taken his Blessing so is there a distinction that Esau is making between the two because I always thought they were the same right that’s a good question Arthur we are going to come back to that but evidently they are different I think a quick answer to part of that is that Birthright is a formal legal designation of inheritance whereas blessing is actually more weighty this is a spiritual theological um reality Covenant promise being passed on to someone so they’re both important but evidently the blessing is even more important we going say more about that in just a second they are tied together but they are different good question though all right so where was I oh yes so we’ve looked at the end of verse 40 you’ve got to wonder what Isaac thinks of Jacob after all of this I mean this is not a not a something that Isaac would ever have seen coming or whatever have welcomed must have some interesting thoughts about his son at this point but we don’t have to wonder what Esau thinks of Jacob because that is brought out in the next part of the text let’s finish the chapter verses 41 to 46 verses 41 so Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him and Esau said to himself the days of mourning for my father are near then I will kill my brother Jacob now when the words of her Elder son Esau were reported to Rebecca she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him behold your brother Esau is consing himself concerning you by planning to kill you now therefore my son obey my voice and arise flee to haran to my brother laan stay with him a few days until your brother’s Fury subsides until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forget what’s what you did to him then I will send and get you there get you from there why should I be bered of you both in one day Rebecca said to Isaac I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these from the daughters of the land what good will my life be to me interesting ending there okay few more observations well Rebecca and Jacob’s little strategem worked they stole the blessing from Esau but they didn’t count on the aftermath now Esau is planning to kill Jacob can I get the slides going again there we go what good is the blessing or Birthright if you were dead they’re just going to go right back to Esau but don’t worry Mama’s got another plan what’s the plan run away Jacob run away stay with mom’s brother Laban until Esau cools down maybe he’ll forget maybe he’ll forget what we did to him once he does mama will send for you by the way yeah Eric it’s not what we did to him yeah it says what you did to him what you did to him yeah which is interesting right and she planned it all yeah it really was both of them though she does stay here what you did so yeah that’s a good point thanks for that specific observation now this ending is very interesting this whole comment about the daughters of Heth quick interpretation question why does the passage end with this seemingly random complaint from Rebecca to Jacob were is okay they were outside of Israelite Clan and she didn’t want him to get a daughter like a wife from there like Esau got a wife from the um outside of the Israelite Clan okay I mean that’s certainly true we hear in the intervening passage when Esau marries these hittite women that they were a grief to both father and mother they were not happy about these marriages but that kind of seems random considering what we just talked about Esau wants to kill Jacob this whole Birthright or blessing thing has just happened why suddenly talk about these marriages yeah Eric I think it’s an excuse to get Jacob adir into her brother exactly she’s just talked about Fleet of laan and now she’s like man sure would be good if Jacob married somebody who wasn’t from the land like at laan’s house which is exactly how chapter 28 opens with Isaac speaking to Jacob saying oh you know what why don’t we get you married go go see laan and get a get a wife from his daughters so that’s not random at all that’s a that’s a convenient excuse for getting Jacob away now considering verses 41 to 46 this final section that we’ve looked at was the outcome of this deception Pleasant for anyone no Isaac probably feels betrayed and is sorry for Esau Esau has murderous hatred for Jacob Jacob must run away and Rebecca must be deprived of her favorite son lest he die and she probably never sees him again we don’t hear her mentioned in the text pretty much after this so was this deception really a good idea after all now that was a lot of text a lot of observations we made a few quick interpretation questions and answers but now let’s officially proceed to that second step and ask more weighty interpretation questions even coming back to some of the ones that you mentioned what is this text mean what is the significance of all that is reported to us so here’s our first question and this comes back to both Arthur and Cheryl’s question what is so special about Isaac’s blessing that it would motivate Brazen deception and murderous Vengeance to obtain or reobtain it well clearly we don’t live in a world where blessings and curses are taken seriously even as Christians we know that ultimately God Can Only God the one who determines a blessing or a curse so we don’t worry that much if someone wishes bad on us and we aren’t overly excited if someone wishes good for us usually but blessings and curses were taken way more seriously back then and remember also the Patriarchs were special among people as recipients of the promises of blessing in Abraham these were serious Promises of prosperity and protection and honor and multiply descendants these promises were no small matter yet these promises were not guaranteed to every descendant already we’ve seen Ishmael was excluded even though he was Abraham’s descendant and either Esau or Jacob could be excluded thus the pronouncement of blessing from Isaac was really a declaration on God’s behalf onto whom the blessing of God from Abraham would pass and this is why even some of the same language of the abrahamic blessing appears in Isaac’s blessing on his son the one that Isaac blessed would receive the abrahamic Covenant and Promises there’s also the factor that many of the righteous persons in earliest times functioned as prophets especially as those person got closer to death you see this pattern through the Torah especially in the Book of Genesis for example Noah as he gets closer to death he prophesies about his descendants shemam and japheth and specifically he announces God’s future plan for Ham’s descendant Canaan Abraham before he dies he tells his servant how God’s angel will secure a bride for Isaac Jacob later as he approaches death he will prophesy about the fate of his 12 sons this actually will extend beyond even the Patriarchs Moses before he dies will prophesy about Israel’s future Jose um Joshua before he dies will prophesy about Israel’s future so it’s not just that people took blessings and curses more seriously in those days is that these are special persons who are pronouncing these things when one of God’s chosen Patriarchs declares something about the future of his children or prays something about the future of children he doesn’t just speak his own wishes he actually speaks for God and so what he says will come to pass thus having or not having the blessing from Isaac is a super big deal the birthright yeah that’s kind of important the blessing that pronouncement from God all the promises to Abraham that is treasure that is something really important and that’s why Rebecca and Jacob make their move and that’s why Esau is so distraught when he loses it but now let’s come back to that very important question was what Rebecca and Jacob did wrong was it sin what do you think yes yes yes yes this is sin this is wrong of course this is sin it doesn’t matter that they were trying to fulfill God’s will if they were trying to fulfill God’s will the ends do not justify the means lying is the opposite of who God is another scripture says No Lie is of the truth these acts not only include multiple instances of lying and unkind deception these acts were extremely unloving toward Isaac and towards Esau and unsurprisingly Rebecca and Jacob experienced sad consequences of their actions when you mistreat people in the way that they do here you shouldn’t be surprised when everybody gets angry though they everyone is accountable for his own sin but one might say well Rebecca and Jacob are simply doing what was necessary to accomplish God’s will God said this was going to happen it hasn’t happened yet they got to make it happen is that true no this sounds a little bit like another situation we’ve already been through right which one Sarah Sarah and Hagar you don’t have to go outside of God’s will to make his will happen he doesn’t need you to do that what could Rebecca and Jacob have done instead of this to help make sure the blessing came to Jacob okay they could have simply waited longer if there were no other options but did they have any options yeah Dwayne yeah uh I I I I can’t understand why actually Rebecca wouldn’t have just said to Jacob I mean said to Isaac um you remember um what God told us or actually the text actually says that uh that the Lord spoke to to to um Rebecca only so I guess we’re assuming that uh which is it possible that uh maybe U Rebecca actually never told Isaac I mean that that’s I guess maybe one possibility but uh if she did tell him before then certainly she could have said something to him like I see that you you’re not doing what God wants you to do this is what God and then and then the responsibility would have been on him yeah yeah absolutely it seems like it almost seems quite obvious that they should have just talked she and maybe Jacob too should have confronted Isaac not only does this go against what God prophesied and promised but look at Esau he’s married Daughters of the land which is a big problem for abrahamic blessing and promise and you could even say look at his character look at his life this is not right what you are doing Isaac now interesting Dwayne that you mentioned that specifically the biblical text says that the prophecy was given to Rebecca so is it possible that Isaac didn’t hear it also or that she never told him it’s hard to imagine that she wouldn’t have told her husband I suppose it’s possible but even if she never told him before she can tell him now you say well maybe he wouldn’t listen to her or maybe he they already did talk and he refused to go along with what she said okay if either of those things are true does that mean that they had to resort to deception no no again no never do you need to sin to bring about God’s will as we’ve already seen with Abraham’s life he’s told to sacrifice his son he doesn’t see how that could possibly work with the promises that God has already given about through Isaac your descendants shall be named your seed shall be named but he said God must have to bring him back from the dead and that’s why he was obedient so even if they had a conversation or even if they they didn’t have a conversation but they’re going to have one now and Isaac doesn’t listen then God’s going to provide something else they didn’t need to do this they didn’t need to lie and deceive what are you going to say Steve well I mean in our life with the Lord he’s gracious and he takes us along I mean we we see the Abraham and Isaac situation but we take it even earlier than that where oh this is my sister yeah so you know I I mean you know so you know it’s wrong but we serve a merciful god and uh you know I I it would be great if we all had that that trust in God’s promises that he will fulfill it in his own time yeah so Steve you’re pointing out two good observations here in connection with answering this question yeah it wasn’t even with and Hagar that’s the only instance where somebody felt like they had to lie or they had to sin in order to bring about God’s will or preserve themselves not only with Abraham twice lying about Sarah being only his sister but actually Isaac did the same we didn’t cover it but in the intervening chapter from where we were for last time he does the same thing in in a certain instance and nearly allows Rebecca to be violated but God was gracious to Abraham God was gracious to Isaac too even though they lied not because they lied God protected them and God actually did good to them by making the people fearful of doing something to Abraham or to Isaac or to either of their wives and God is going to be gracious here too and I think that’s part of the overall message that we’re going to that we’re meant to get from this text is that God is a faithful and merciful god despite our sin nevertheless we are also to look learn from the mistakes the sins of the even these Patriarchs as ISU was meant to learn from we’re going to say more about that in just a second let me proceed with another question here if what Rebecca and Jacob did was wrong and it clearly is it goes against the character of God it was unloving toward those who were involved what did Jacob and Rebecca then gain by trying to obtain God’s Promise This Way and going about obtaining God’s promise in a sinful way did they gain anything say well they got the promise well that was going to come to them anyways so what extra did they gain by by going about it this way just trouble just trouble a whole lot of pain and trouble if God promised you you something but you go outside of God’s will to obtain it you’ll still get what God promised but now you’re just going to go a whole bunch of pain and trouble too this is always the way with sin this is always the way with sin and it’s not just for yourself but for others too and as Mark pointed out last week sometimes with consequences that go far beyond the present moment maybe even to the Next Generation God is perfectly capable of bringing his will to pass without your sin now God though is Sovereign he always is sovereign and apparently because this is how it happened God ordained that the family members would do exactly what they did God did not force Jacob to sin or Rebecca to sin or anybody in this situation to sin they were all responsible for their own actions nevertheless they ultimately accomplished his eternal decree his perfect will but why did God choose to do this way kind of really messy isn’t it why not prevent their sin why not simply change Isaac’s heart why not just make Jacob the firstborn so we could skip all this family conflict only God knows fully why things in one sense had to happen this way whatever his reasons are they are wise just and good as the other scriptures indicate but certain Central to all of this is a message that God would teach Isaac his family Israel and US multiple messages but one is you cannot go against God and win you cannot go against God and win even when you try you only accomplish his will hang on a second Arthur is that a question or a comment we’ll come back all right right God is faithful and Sovereign so what he declares will come to pass you can either get on board with that and be blessed experience blessing through that or you can vainly oppose God’s Will and just bring trouble on yourself and if you continue even Everlasting destruction on yourself God cannot be successfully opposed his will will come to pass thus we already see an application for us and that application is pretty bad basic do not Test the Lord do not Test the Lord you say well God’s will is going to be accomplished anyway so it doesn’t really matter what I do no the Bible explicitly exhorts us not to take that attitude let us not say that good may come of it so let us sin God is Sovereign good will come of it let us sin well God’s will will be done but the good that he may accomplish in that situation and even for you is that he will dis play you as an example of chastening and judgment so that others will learn to fear and that you will eventually learn to fear don’t test God rather trust God and be obedient which would you rather be an example of one who followed God and experienced blessing and salvation or an example of someone who tested God was condemned one of the great lessons that God teaches us through the experience of Israel is that you don’t test God they did again and again and again and again and again and again and what does the psalm say about them God says they will never enter my rest he laid them low in the wilderness and when Jesus was tempted by the devil hey you’re the Son of God he’ll never let anything bad happen to you so why don’t you just throw yourself off the temple it’s not Wise It’s not obedient for you to do that but God’s Sovereign what did Jesus say It is written do not put the Lord to the test we’ll talk about more application in just a second another interpretation question and we’ve seen this one before but it comes up again here how’s this Fair how is what happened in this passage Fair why should Jacob get the abrahamic blessing when he’s a sinful Deceiver and Esau gets nothing when he did nothing wrong well part of the answer is that Esau despite his pitiable tears here he is not innocent as Mark shared last week Hebrews tells us that Esau was a Godless man enslave to his appetites who never found a place for True repentance despite all his weeping I believe that reference in Hebrews is probably to this passage weeping weeping weeping weeping no repentance he was not innocent in this but is Jacob much better from observing Jacob’s Behavior thus far in the Bible I don’t think so rather what we’re are seeing and what we will see again is that Jacob is a recipient of God’s undeserved favor just as Abraham was just as Isaac was and just as we are you see when it comes to issues of Salvation and blessing fairness is the wrong objection fairness is the wrong desire because what would true fairness from God for man mean no one is saved no one is blessed for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God all we’ve done on our owns is earned Everlasting death and Punishment for ourselves fairness means Eternal doom and misery for everyone that would be fair that would be just but in undeserved kindness God had mercy on some even you and me if we are in Jesus and God is willing to show Mercy to more if they will repent and believe in his son Jesus Christ God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and and God will work on Jacob just as he works on all those that he chooses throughout his whole life Jacob will be a grasper just like his name indicates he’s always working scheming fighting to secure for himself blessing and a future and though often Jacob will appear to succeed due to his own efforts over time in many different ways God will show Jacob Jacob you are not ultimately in control I’m in control I’m the one granting you success so stop grasping stop turning to your own wisdom strength and skill to get what you think you need trust me let me give you what you keep striving after do it my way wait on me this will be a hard and long lesson for Jacob to learn and he will be unhappy for much of his life this is what he tells Pharaoh in Genesis 4 79 he says few and miserable have been my days on the earth few and unhappy why because of what you were choosing to do Jacob because you wouldn’t trust God and he kept trying to obtain things by sinful means but Jacob will learn but will we learn so as I was getting at before these things the New Testament says multiple times these things were written for our instruction so we might learn from those who went before and not sin the way that they did Will you and I learn to stop grasping via our own sinful efforts and simply wait in obedience for God to provide what he’s already promised in concluding our interpretation step we see that this account of Jacob stealing the blessing has a three-fold purpose it teaches us on the origin of blessing and conflicts related to Israel this is basically explaining the origin of conflict between Israel and Edom Esau’s descendants it teaches us the foolishness of trying to obtain by fleshly means what God has already promised and it teaches us the sure Sovereign merciful faithfulness of God ultimately the point of this text is that you and I will learn to trust God and not turn to our own sinful efforts to provide what we need this was such an important lesson for Israel to learn as they were going going into the promised land that’s why Moses writes it down that’s why God’s spirit gave it to Moses to write it down but it’s also written for our instruction we are to learn to trust God and not turn to our own sinful efforts to provide what we need we can continue to be obedient as we follow the lord all right only a few minutes left so if you have questions uh you have to ask them afterwards I do want to go through a few application questions our inductive Bible study method is observe interpret and apply so let’s consider application a little bit more specifically number one what are some situations which Christians are tempted to use sinful means to obtain God’s promise there are many lying to obtain a needed job dating or marrying a non-Christian participating in a sinful activity in order to gain friendship or popularity plagiarizing work in order to get an assignment in on time watering down the gospel to get decisions for Christ we acting sinfully to your spouse in order to force him to change and many more this passage teaches us we have no need to do that we must not do that if we we only bring trouble on ourselves but God is gracious and patient he is bringing us along even though we’ve done this many many times just as he brought along the Patriarchs but we want to cooperate with him number two what is the difference between being passive being too passive and waiting on the Lord in faith waiting on the Lord does not mean passivity just sitting around letting everything happen to you waiting on the Lord but it does mean that you will not sin or adjust Godly priorities to obtain something you need or want the Bible commends working hard seeking wisdom and doing what you can to meet your own needs and even it commends the Bible commends the pursuit of good and godly desires you can go after those things that’s good but when your Pursuit becomes idolatrous that is when you will sin to get what you want or need or sin because you haven’t yet gotten what you want or need then you’re no longer trusting God or waiting on him but you are sinfully grasping and God says we don’t need to do that and we must not do that and be aware especially from this passage beware of Simply trusting in how circumstances are lining up seem to be lining up or not lining up as an indicator of God’s will opportunity all by itself is not a reliable indicator of God’s will can say well you know I’m not supposed to date somebody who’s not a Christian but who just seem to click so well I think this is from the Lord how do you know whether something’s really from the Lord ultimately this is the only reliable indicator the word of God his explicit Revelation everything else is ultimately subjective we must view everything through the lens of scripture circumstances opportunity not reliable indicator of God’s will only God’s word is and then this last question is just for you to reflect on where in your life are you tempted to grasp sinfully for what God has already promised you how can you instead wait to receive God’s promised good in faith and obedience I hope that’s a question that you will consider today and even talk about with your family or with your brothers and sisters help think through this question all right that’s the end of today’s lesson I know there are more questions and comments please come share those with me afterwards or send me an email because I do value those I do want to answer those but Jacob now has obtained a blessing yet he’s on the Run next week we look at what God does next for Jacob in providing for Jacob at laan’s house but God will also be reminding Jacob that Jacob is not as clever or in control as he thinks Jacob the grasper is going to meet another grasper all right hope you’d be back for that next week let’s close in prayer Lord thank you for this word ultimately Lord this fundamental truth you are declaring to us it’s so simple but God sometimes so difficult Lord can we really trust you to provide so that we don’t have to sinfully grasp go outside your will to obtain what we need or what we want the answer from this text emphatically is yes we can trust you we must trust you we must honor You by waiting on the Lord and this is what your son Jesus showed us so perfectly you Vindicated him you will vindicate all those who will abide in him abide in Jesus Christ and wait for your Vindication Lord help us to do that thank you for this word and I pray that you would really change us as a result of our hearing it today let us be doers of the word and not