Jacob and Esau

Questions for Thought

1. What kinds of problems can come up when a parent has a favorite child?
2. What kinds of problems can come up when children are jealous of each other?
3. Can the person one marries make a difference in his or her life?

In the last blog, we ended with Jacob and Esau being born as twin brothers. Back in Genesis 25:22-23, God had told their mother, Rebekah there were two nations in her womb and two different types of people would come from them. The people coming from the younger son would be stronger than those coming from the older son. When the boys were born, Esau was considered the older because he was born first, but as Jacob was born, he took hold of Esau’s foot.

As the boys grew up, they chose different ways of life. Jacob was a mild person who lived in tents and cared for the fields. Esau, on the other hand, was a skillful hunter who cooked very good wild meat. According to Genesis 25:28, Isaac, their dad, loved Esau because of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Have you ever had experience with a family where the parents had a favorite child? Granted it can be very hard to love all of the children equally because of differences in the children, but to not show them equal love can only lead to disaster in the family as we will see in several events in the lives of Jacob and Esau.

We are not given any information about the boys during their childhood, as the account begins in Genesis 25:29 with Jacob having cooked up a stew when Esau came in from the field so hungry he felt faint. Esau asked Jacob to give him some of the stew he had cooked. I would like to think in any family if one brother asked for food and the other had food, he would share, but that was not the case here. Instead of giving Esau a bowl of stew, Jacob offered to buy Esau’s right to a double portion of the inheritance from his dad with payment being the stew. Esau must have been very hungry because he sold his birthright to Jacob. In Genesis 27:36, Esau accused Jacob of taking his birthright.

Later, we read in Genesis 26, there was a famine in the land just as there had been in the days of Abraham. Remember how Abraham took his family and went to Egypt during that famine and he told his wife to say she was his sister. Well, in this current famine, God told Isaac not to go to Egypt but to dwell in Gerar which archaeologists tell us was a part of the land of Canaan or the Promised Land. Here God continued to Isaac the promise He had earlier made to Isaac’s father Abraham that He would bless him and give to him and his seed the land where he was dwelling. God said He would multiply Isaac’s seed as the stars of heaven and in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Here we have the continuing promise of a Savior to come who we now know as Jesus Christ.

Isaac stayed there in Gerar, but he did just as Abraham had done in the past in telling the people Rebekah was his sister instead of his wife. In this case, King Abimelech looked out a window and saw Isaac holding Rebekah and the king knew Isaac had lied. The king called Isaac in and asked him why he lied. Isaac told the king he was afraid if he had told them she was his wife, they would have killed him so they could have her. The king reprimanded Isaac and told the people to stay away from him and his wife.

Does it seem all too often the old saying “like father like son” or “like mother like daughter” runs true? Have you known of families where stealing or lying seemed to run in the family? Keep in mind, these families were chosen by God to be the ancestors of our Savior Jesus Christ. They were certainly not perfect families.

The account continues with Isaac living in Gerar and prospering much. He planted the land and received an hundredfold and his possessions of herds and servants grew to the point the Philistines who lived near him became envious. The people stopped up the wells Abraham had dug years earlier and the king asked Isaac to leave the area. Isaac moved to the valley of Gerar and dug again the wells which Abraham had dug in that area. He even called them by the same names Abraham had called them. The herdsmen of Gerar kept fussing over these wells until finally Isaac dug one named Rehoboth over which there was no fussing. Finally, Isaac said God had made room for them in the land.

Isaac was getting older and not knowing when he might die, he decided it was time to bless Esau as the older son. He called Esau to him and told him to go kill venison and make Issac a good tasting food and he would bless him with the blessing. Rebekah heard the conversation and she wanted Jacob to have the blessing. Knowing Isaac could not see well, she worked out a plan to trick Isaac into blessing Jacob instead of Esau. Rebekah told Jacob to go to the flock and get two goat kids and bring them to her. She said she would make the dish Isaac loved to eat and Jacob would take it to Isaac. Jacob did not think this to be a good idea because he was a smooth man and Esau was hairy, but Mom had a plan for that too. She told Jacob to go on and do what she said and if there was any problem, she would take the blame and the curse.

Jacob took the goat kids to his mom and she fixed the food. Then she put some of Esau’s clothes on Jacob so he would smell like Esau and she put the skin of the goat kids on his hands and neck so he would feel hairy. She sent him to his dad with the food. Obviously Isaac really could not see because when Jacob took the food in, he asked who he was. Jacob answered that he was Esau and he had done what Isaac had asked in that he was bringing him the good food and he wanted his blessing. Isaac asked how he found the food so quickly and Jacob said God brought it to him. Isaac told him to come near him and he felt him and Isaac was convinced it was Esau. He asked him again if he was Esau and he said he was. Isaac ate the food and then he kissed Jacob and as he kissed him he smelled the smell of Esau so Isaac blessed Jacob thinking he was Esau. In the blessing, Isaac proclaimed Jacob to be over his brethren and for his mother’s sons to bow down to him. He cursed anyone who cursed Jacob and blessed all who blessed him.

As soon as Jacob left Isaac, Esau came in with the food Isaac had asked him to prepare. He told Isaac to arise and eat and bless him. Isaac asked who he was and when Esau said he was the firstborn, Isaac trembled realizing he had the wrong son. He told Esau what had happened and Esau cried bitterly even begging his father to bless him too. Esau surely must have been so sad to know what had happened. But keep in mind, God had told Rebekah the older would serve the younger and this promise from God was being fulfilled. Esau asked Isaac did he not have at least one blessing left for him. Isaac then blessed him and said eventually Esau would break Jacob’s yoke from off his neck.

Esau went out hating Jacob because of the blessing. He planned right then to wait until the days of mourning for his dad were over and then he would kill his brother. When Rebekah learned of Esau’s plans, she called Jacob to her and told him he needed to flee to her brother Laban in Haran and stay with him until Esau’s wrath was gone. She promised to send for him when Esau had forgotten what was done. Rebekah then went to Isaac and asked him to send Jacob away to get a wife. She did not want him taking a wife of the Canaanites. Earlier, Esau had take two wives of the daughters of Heth and both his mom and dad were grieved because of it. So Rebekah told Isaac she did not want Jacob doing the same and taking a wife of the Heth. Isaac agreed and told Jacob he needed to go to his mother’s people and find a wife.

Jacob began his trip to Padanaram to his mother’s family. On the way he made himself a pillow of stones and laid down to sleep. He dreamed about a ladder going from the earth to heaven with angels of God going up and down. The Lord stood above it and told him He was the God of Abraham and Isaac and He would give Jacob and his children the land where he was and Jacob’s seed would be as the dust of the earth. He also promised from Jacob’s seed would come one through whom the whole earth would be blessed. Again, this was a prophecy of Jesus Christ as is made clear in Galatians 3:16: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of may; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.” It was the same promised made to Abraham and was to come through his son Isaac and now God continued that promise through Jacob. God continued His promise by telling Jacob He would bring him back to this land.

Jacob continued his journey to his mother’s birthplace. In the next blog, we will look at what happened to him before he was allowed to return to this the land of Isaac.