Isaac Blesses Jacob in the Light

ISAAC BLESSES JACOB IN THE LIGHT

An Exposition of Genesis 27:41-28:9

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: July 16, 2023

Series: The Book of Genesis

Note: Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says:

⁴¹ Now Esau hated 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 approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴² But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. ⁴³ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran ⁴⁴ and stay with him a while, until your brother's fury turns away—⁴⁵ until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶ Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

28 ¹ Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. ² Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. ³ God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴ May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” ⁵ Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

⁶ Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” ⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸ So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, ⁹ Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth. (Genesis 27:41-28:9)

INTRODUCTION

Last week we walked through Genesis 26:34-27:40, and this week we walk through Genesis 27:41-Genesis 28:9. It is helpful to see that this entire passage from Genesis 26:34 to Genesis 28:9 hangs together as a unit. At the beginning of the unit Esau married two Hittite women, and at the end of the unit Esau marries an Ishmaelite woman – so the whole passage is framed by Esau’s marriages. By contrast, Isaac directs Jacob to not take a Canaanite wife as Esau had done, but to instead find a wife from within his extended family. In Genesis 27, Isaac blesses Jacob in the darkness, that is, he blesses Jacob unintentionally and under a cloud of deception. But in Genesis 28:1-4, Isaac blesses Jacob in the light, with Isaac knowing exactly what he is doing. Finally, we continue to see a contrast between Esau and Jacob: Esau is the wayward son who desperately attempts to win his father’s blessing, but he remains cut off from the blessing. Jacob, though flawed, is the blessed son who honors and obeys his father and his mother.

Last week’s sermon concluded with Esau seeking after his father’s blessing with tears, but to no avail, for Jacob had successfully received the blessing. So, in Genesis 27:39-40, Esau heard the sobering news that exile and servitude shall characterize his future. It is not surprising that as Esau comes to grip with the fact that the blessing that had almost seemed within reach is now permanently out of reach, and has instead been given to Jacob who – humanly speaking – seized it through treachery, it is not surprising that Esau begins to seethe with hatred for his brother Jacob. And that is what we see right off the bat as we begin to walk through Genesis 27:41-28:9, which unfolds in five parts.

Esau hates Jacob

First, Esau hates Jacob and plans to kill him (Genesis 27:41). One commentator called attention to the fact that the Esau and Jacob dynamic bears some resemblance to the Cain and Abel dynamic.[1] In both cases, an older wayward brother resents and hates his blessed younger brother. In Cain’s case, he proceeded to actually kill Abel. In Esau’s case, he had enough respect for his father Isaac to not kill Jacob until after his father had died and until after a proper period of mourning had taken place for his father. Remember, Isaac thought that his death was imminent. Isaac had told Esau near the beginning of Chapter 27: “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death…. [Bring delicious food] to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.” (Genesis 27:2, 4) Esau also believed that his father would die in the near future. In point of fact, however, Isaac would go on to live for another few decades, and his death doesn’t happen until Genesis 35:28-29, at the age of 180 years.

Although from a human perspective we can understand Esau’s resentment in response to Jacob’s trickery, nevertheless from a big picture spiritual perspective Esau’s hatred of Jacob is another expression of his refusal to align himself with God’s plan. To hate the brother who has your father’s blessing is an act of dishonor to your father – and this is exactly what Jacob’s ten sons will do to Joseph a few decades into the future. Joseph’s brothers hated Joseph. Cain hated Abel. Esau hated Jacob – and Esau’s hatred of Jacob puts him at odds with the Lord, who loved Jacob (Malachi 1:2, Romans 9:13). If you hate someone that the Lord has set His special covenant love upon, then you show yourself to be an enemy of God. Esau’s hatred of Jacob also puts him outside the scope of blessing that God promises through Jacob. Isaac had declared over Jacob, “Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (Genesis 27:29) Accursedness will remain on Esau as long as Esau is opposed to Jacob. These may come across as harsh words about Esau, a man who had been treated unjustly by his brother. But Esau’s real problem wasn’t that Jacob took away his blessing, for God had intended Jacob to receive the blessing all along. Esau’s real problem is that he wanted outward blessings while being an inward rebel. If only he could be healed of his inward rebellion, then he could be at peace with God and with God’s sovereign decree to do a great and mighty work through Jacob.

Some of you are likely to run into the same problem that Esau had: you’ll be discontent about how God is running the world and how you seem to be getting the short end of the stick, when in reality the problem is that you want outward blessings without inward obedience; you want $10,000 worth of fun without a costly faith; you want riches without taking responsibility for your God-assigned duties; you want success without sacrifice; you want to land benefitswithout laying down your life. If you are like Esau, you will always locate your problem in the wrong place: you point the finger at Jacob, when in reality you should take a good honest look in the mirror and be horrified at the irreverent sinner that you have become. Esau doesn’t have a problem with his brother so much as he has a problem with God – and some of you might be in the same boat. Take to heart the words that Jesus spoke to the Laodiceans, who thought that they were good to go because they possessed outward blessings:

“For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and slave to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.” (Revelation 3:17-18)

Seek first the riches of God’s grace, and hold everything else with an open hand.

Rebekah learns about Esau’s plan

Second, Rebekah learns about Esau’s plan and instructs Jacob to flee (Genesis 27:42-45). Rebekah is a resourceful listener! In Genesis 25:22-23, Rebekah inquired of the Lord, and the Lord spoke to her, and she heard and understood what the Lord had said. Earlier in Genesis 27, “Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau” (Genesis 27:5), and this set in motion her scheming. Now in verse 42: “the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah.” Rebekah didn’t hear directly what Esau had said, but someone had heard Esau’s words and reported them to Rebekah, and this information set in motion her plan to protect Jacob.

So, Rebekah informs Jacob of Esau’s plan, tells Jacob to obey her voice, and instructs him to arise and flee to her hometown Haran – several hundred miles to the north – and stay with her brother Laban (v. 42-44). How long should Jacob stay with Laban? Verse 44 says “a while”. The idea is for Jacob to stay with Laban for a short time – for a few days as some translations accurately put it – but in fact Jacob’s visit to Laban will last for twenty years (see Genesis 31:38). Be careful what you intend to be done for only a few days, because you might blink and realize that two decades have passed. In any case, Rebekah’s purpose for her son’s temporary relocation plan is to allow the passage of time cool down Esau’s hot anger: “until your brother’s fury turns away– until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there.” (v. 44-45) Rebekah assumes a very assertive, protective, and directive role over Jacob: she sends for him, commands him to go, and commands him to stay there until she sends word that it is safe to return home. As it turns out, Rebekah’s plan for Jacob takes on a life of its own, and as far as we know Rebekah never recalls Jacob to come home. Instead, Jacob will only return home after he is basically thrust out of Haran because of the mistreatment that he faces under Uncle Laban.

In all this, keep in mind that Rebekah is not a young mother watching over her 15-year-old son. Rebekah is an old woman, over 100 years old, watching over her 70-year-old son. Even in her old age, Rebekah is earnest to save her son. She is also earnest to minimize her own grief, for after instructing Jacob she says: “Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?” (v. 45) Four of the five commentaries I consulted take Rebekah’s statement about bereavement to mean something like this: if Esau murdered Jacob, then on the day of the murder Jacob would be dead and Esau would be an outlaw-murderer subject to capital punishment – and she would have effectively lost both sons. Since she doesn’t want that to happen, she labors to keep Jacob safe.

As we leave verse 45, Jacob is under orders from his mother to flee to Haran for a short time. However, Rebekah wants Jacob to go forth to Haran not only at her command, but also at Isaac’s command. As we come to the next section, Rebekah influences Isaac toward this end.

Isaac blesses Jacob in the light

Third, Isaac blesses Jacob in the light, instructs him concerning marriage, and sends him away to Rebekah’s extended family (Genesis 27:46-28:5a) in Paddan-aram, where the town of Haran was located.

Rebekah influences Isaac

We’ll get to Isaac’s words to Jacob in just a moment, but first Rebekah speaks to Isaac. It is unfortunate that the folks who assigned to the Bible chapters and verses, put a chapter division after verse 46, for verse 46 of Chapter 27 clearly belongs with the opening verses of Chapter 28. First, Rebekah speaks to Isaac about Jacob not marrying a Hittite woman (v. 46), and then Isaac speaks to Jacob about it (v. 1-4 of the next chapter). Rebekah’s words to Isaac are recorded in verse 46: “Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”” (Genesis 27:46)

Rebekah’s words hearken back to the end of the previous chapter, when we learned that Esau’s Hittite wives “made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah” (Genesis 26:35). Isaac and Rebekah were of the same mind in their disapproval of Esau’s wives, and Rebekah felt so strongly about it that she felt her life would devolve into meaninglessness if Jacob married a Hittite woman. As I mentioned last week, Isaac and Rebekah wanted their sons to follow in the footsteps of Abraham and Isaac, which meant taking a wife from within your extended kinship group. Abraham married Sarah his half-sister, and Isaac married Rebekah his first cousin once removed. Esau hadn’t followed suit, but Rebekah was urgent with Isaac about how important it was to make sure that Jacob got it right.

It is interesting, isn’t it, that the text doesn’t report any words of Rebekah to Isaac about Esau’s plan to kill Jacob? In verses 41-45, Rebekah’s reason for sending Jacob to Haran is to protect Jacob’s life from Esau’s murderous plan. But in verses 1-5 of Chapter 28, Isaac’s reason for sending Jacob to Haran is to find a suitable wife. And what’s in between Rebekah sending Jacob to Haran for one reason and Isaac sending Jacob to Haran for another reason? What’s in between is Rebekah’s comment in verse 46 about how important it is for Jacob to not marry a Hittite woman. What might be going on here is this: Rebekah doesn’t want to bring up Esau’s murderous plan with Isaac, but she wants Isaac to send Jacob to Haran. But Isaac needs a reason to send Jacob to Haran, and so Rebekah supplies the reason: Jacob must not marry a woman from the land of Canaan. There is no dishonesty here: Isaac and Rebekah both want Jacob to find a wife from among their extended family in Haran, and it just so happens that Rebekah also wants Jacob to go to Haran in order to save his life from Esau, but she is remiss to speak with Isaac about such a painful subject. After all, if you had been the initiator behind the plan in which your younger son deceives his father to take away the blessing that the father had intended to give to the older son whom he favored, and now the older son wants to kill the younger son, you wouldn’t want to bring that subject up either. So, Rebekah chooses to influence Isaac with a more agreeable rationale for Jacob’s departure, and it works.

Even as you consider that your family has problems, remember that Isaac and Rebekah’s family had problems – family politics, palace intrigue, messy home life. And yet, God’s grace is upon their family, and this same God pours out His grace upon His imperfect people and their imperfect families today.

Isaac blesses Jacob

Now what follows in the opening verses of Chapter 28 is of great importance. When Isaac blessed Jacob in Chapter 27, the whole thing was done within an atmosphere of deception and misinformation. It would do this father and son, Isaac and Jacob, much good if Isaac could bless Jacob a second time with eyes wide open, without any misinformation, confusion, or deceit. And this is what we get in Chapter 28. First, “Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him”. In Genesis 27:1, Isaac “called Esau” and directed Esau, but he blessed Jacob who was pretending to be Esau. That is now in the past. In this present moment, Isaac calls the right son, Jacob, and blesses the same, and gives practical direction.

Once again, Isaac is walking in the footsteps of his father Abraham. Back in Chapter 24, Abraham gave direction to a household servant to find a wife for Isaac from among his extended family and not from among the Canaanites. It may well be the case, as one commentator suggested[2], that Isaac should have taken initiative many years earlier to facilitate Jacob’s marriage, instead of waiting until Jacob was in his 70s – but Isaac was slow to get on board with Jacob being the covenant son. Even so, now Isaac does well in instructing Jacob: “Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.” (Genesis 28:2) Do you remember the extended family relationships? Abraham had a brother named Nahor. Abraham fathered Isaac, and Nahor fathered Bethuel. So, Isaac and Bethuel were first cousins. Bethuel fathered both Rebekah and Laban. Now Rebekah’s son Jacob was to take one of his cousins, a daughter of Uncle Laban, for a wife. Don’t miss an important piece of Isaac’s instruction: “take as your wife [singular] from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.” (italics added) In due course, Jacob will marry two daughters of Laban, but that represents a deviation from the instruction he received from Isaac.

After instructing Jacob to go and find a wife in the house of his relatives, Isaac blesses Jacob with a blessing that reflects both creational and covenantal blessings. The first words of blessing, “God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you” (Genesis 28:3), remind us of Genesis 1:28, which says, “And God blessed them [the first man and first woman]. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”” (Genesis 1:28). For believers, creational and covenantal blessings are interconnected. God’s covenantal blessing upon Abraham meant blessing upon Abraham’s marriage to Sarah and their offspring. God’s covenant blessing upon Isaac meant blessing upon Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah and their offspring. Now, God’s covenant blessing upon Jacob meant blessing upon Jacob’s marriage and Jacob’s offspring. Believers who live in the good of God’s redeeming grace aren’t helicoptered out of this present world. Even as we live within the spiritual framework of God’s promises, our lives remain anchored in God’s good creation, in marriage and in family life, and God works through these creational realities in order to accomplish His redemptive purposes. Thus the Lord had promised Isaac, “I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 26:4). God works through marriage, through procreation, through parenting, and through offspring – one generation after another – in order to accomplish His redemptive purpose to make His gospel known to the ends of the earth.

After reflecting the creational blessing in the first part of verse 3, Isaac segues into one of God’s big redemptive purposes that He is pursuing through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: to make a great nation! The Lord had told Abraham, “And I will make of you a great nation” (Genesis 12:2). Now Isaac echoes that earlier promise and blesses Jacob, saying, “that you may become a company of peoples.” The result of the fruitfulness and multiplication is becoming a great nation – a company of peoples – that mediates the blessing of God to the whole world. Then in verse 4, Isaac deliberately references Abraham, thus showing very clearly that Jacob is the appointed steward of the Abrahamic Covenant: “May he [God Almighty] give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” (Genesis 28:4) The blessing-filled covenant that God made with Abraham will overtake Jacob and Jacob’s offspring, and in due course they will possess the land that God promised to Abraham and Abraham’s offspring.

Isaac is a man of faith

The very fact that Isaac is blessing Jacob in these verses shows us that Isaac is a man of faith. He almost acted very stupidly in Genesis 27 by blessing the wrong son. “Isaac loved Esau” (Genesis 25:28) and had intended to bless Esau, but after deceit turned his plan on its head and the blessing went to Jacob, Isaac didn’t protest. Isaac didn’t take up Esau’s cause. Isaac didn’t hold a grudge against Jacob. Ironically, it is through Rebekah’s and Jacob’s deceptive scheme in Chapter 27 that Isaac came to see clearly! But once he saw clearly, he didn’t look back! Isaac immediately recognized and embrace the truth that Jacob now possessed God’s blessing, and that Esau didn’t. Thus Isaac walks in faith, even as we read in Hebrews 11: “By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.” Of course, the lion’s share of future blessing was invoked on Jacob, whereas Esau only got limited consolation prizes, namely, that he would live (albeit by the sword) and eventually break free from his brother’s rule (Genesis 27:40). But the point I want to draw attention to is the fact that Isaac pronounced these things by faith, as a man who rightly perceived the future contours of God’s plan.

Isaac’s words of blessing to Jacob are fitting

Isaac’s words of blessing to Jacob in verses 3-4 are so fitting. First, it lifts the cloud of suspicion that hangs over the blessing of Chapter 27 due to the dubious circumstances in which Jacob had received the earlier blessing. Isaac and Jacob have stepped into the light, and the transmission is clean. Second, Isaac is, in effect, blessing Jacob’s anticipated marriage. Isaac will not be present when Jacob marries the daughter of Laban. So don’t miss the fact that Isaac’s blessing, that God Almighty bless him and his offspring, that God Almighty make him fruitful and multiply him, is spoken immediately after the command to go and take a wife. Isaac’s fatherly blessing rests upon his son’s impending marriage. The father’s blessing rests on his son’s marriage. Third, even as Isaac is sending Jacob away from the promised land in order to find a wife, he assures Jacob that Jacob and his offspring will eventually “take possession of the land”. Don’t fail to grasp the lesson: temporary dislocations from the place of promise are only necessary detours that lead back to the place of promise. We tend to not like dislocations, interruptions, detours, zigzags, and delays, but they are a reality for God’s people. In fact, they are a reality for everyone. But here’s the thing: for those who don’t know and trust the Lord, the dislocations, interruptions, detours, zigzags, and delays easily become a source of frustration and resentment. But for those who know and trust the Lord, God’s blessing rests upon us in the midst of all our sufferings and trials. Isaac, for good reason, sent Jacob away, but not away from God’s blessing. Joseph’s brothers, for a bad reason, sent Joseph away, but they couldn’t send Joseph away from God’s blessing. The Lord is with His people, wherever they may be! “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5) says the Lord!

Verse 5 begins: “Thus Isaac sent Jacob away.” Isaac sent Jacob away with his blessing, with the blessing of Abraham, and most importantly with the blessing of God. Isaac blessed Jacob in the light, the cloud of suspicion is lifted, and the future is bright.

Jacob follows his father’s direction

Fourth, Jacob follows his father’s direction (Genesis 28:5b). It is one thing to send, and it is another thing to go. Sometimes, an act of sending can be met with disobedience – as when God sent Jonah to Nineveh the first time, but Jonah didn’t go. Sometimes, an act of going can happen without a proper sending. This is what the false prophets did: they went out to proclaim falsehoods, but they hadn’t been sent. The Lord told Jeremiah, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them.” (Jeremiah 14:14) Happily, there are also times when a proper sending is followed by obedient going. Isaac sent Jacob, and Jacob went: “And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.” (v. 5) In so going, Jacob proves faithful where Esau proves unfaithful: Esau’s whole problem is that he deviates from the family’s faith in the Lord and the family’s mission. By contrast, Jacob proves to be a loyal member of his family, a true son of the covenant.

It should be noted that faithfulness to one’s family is not inherently virtuous. If your family’s legacy is walking away from the Lord and pursuing ungodliness, then it is necessary that you break from your family’s legacy in order to walk with the Lord. But when your family’s legacy is walking with Jesus, blessed are you if you stay in line with that legacy, and cursed are you if you walk away from it.

So, Isaac sent his son to his people in Haran in order to secure a bride and eventually return to the promised land – and Jacob obeyed. One day, the Father in heaven sent His Son to earth in order to secure a bride and bring her into the greater promised land – and Jesus obeyed. At one point Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who went me and to accomplish his work.” (John 4:34) Jesus is the Obedient Son who always lived under His Father’s blessing and instruction.

As we leave verse 5, we observe Jacob living under the blessing and instruction of his father Isaac. Meanwhile, Esau remains an outsider to the blessing, and this brings us to the final section.

Esau continues in vain to seek his father’s blessing

Fifth, Esau continues in vain to seek his father’s blessing (Genesis 28:6-9). These verses give us a tragic picture of a desperate man. In verses 6-7, Esau is observing the grace that is on display between his father and his brother: “Isaac had blessed Jacob”, Isaac had sent Jacob to Paddan-aram to find a wife, Isaac had blessed Jacob as he instructed him to notmarry a Canannite woman, and “Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother”. Esau sees his hated brother Jacob living under the blessing and guidance of his father – and that is the polar opposite of how Esau is living. Esau was a wayward man who had sold and despised his birthright and who had married against the desires of his parents. Esau is not living under the blessing and guidance of his father. Just days earlier he had sought his father’s blessing with tears – “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” (Genesis 27:34, 38) – but he was unable to find it. Isaac told Esau that Esau would dwell “away from the fatness of the earth” and “away from the dew of heaven” (Genesis 27:39).

As Esau is contemplating these things, he attempts to fix his problem by taking a more suitable wife: “So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.” (Genesis 28:8-9) Isaac had instructed Jacob to marry a woman from within his extended family unit. Now Esau reasons that since his Canaanite wives “did not please Isaac his father”, if he married a woman from within the extended family unit, then that would please his father and perhaps put him into a place where he could receive blessing. Ishmael, Abraham’s son, is Esau’s uncle, and Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath is Esau’s first cousin. So, Esau marries Mahalath in an effort to placate his father.

Don’t miss the obvious: Esau’s addition of a third wife doesn’t change the fact that he continues to live apart from his father’s blessing and guidance. Isaac had directed Jacob where to go to obtain a wife, and Jacob had went – but Jacob went from a place of blessing and under his father’s direction. In verses 6-9, there is no indication that Isaac had instructed Esau to add an Ishmaelite wife to his household – and thus “Esau went” on his own, notacting under his father’s direction, and not acting from a place of blessing. External actions never suffice for finding true blessing. There is a hymn in which we sing: “Early let us turn to Thee”; “Early let us seek Thy favor”; “Early let us do Thy will”.[3] Those, like Esau, who refuse to live this way will often resort to pathetic patch-up efforts later in life, to no avail.

LESSONS

By way of practical application, let me mention two important lessons from this passage.

External adjustments are no substitute for heartfelt repentance

First, to draw a lesson from verses 6-9 which we have just pondered: external adjustments are no substitute for heartfelt repentance. What Esau does in verses 6-9 is a common temptation for sinful human beings. Here’s how the temptation works: we perceive that we are outsiders to the dynamic of grace that is evident in another person’s life, and yet we see that this other person is blessed and that this other person is doing things a certain way, and then we figure that if we mimic what the blessed person is doing, then we will be blessed, too.[4] In Esau’s case, what he is mimicking is the act of marrying within your extended family unit. But this common temptation works in dozens of different directions. Those other people that are blessed, they [fill in the blank]: they have a lot of kids, they home-school, they eat organic, they read through the Bible in a year every year, they listen to John Piper sermons, they journal on a regular basis, they read Wendell Berry novels, they don’t listen to legacy media but prefer alternative news sources, they have adopted a classical education model, they have a special family night every week, they are in the church building whenever the doors are open, they listen to The Briefing podcast, and so on. Then, with an Esau-like spirit which desires outward blessings without inward repentance, the graceless heart seeks to obtain blessing by mimicking those external activities. But it doesn’t work: without true blessing already poured out upon you, without God’s grace overwhelming you, without genuine faith present in your heart, without inward repentance, all the external mimicry, all the external actions, all the outward strategies, are like putting a tuxedo on a pig. And you know what pigs do, right? “[And] the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:22) What we need is not rearranging the externals, but actually getting cleansed on the inside. Don’t settle for the mimicry, but get solid grace for yourself at the one place where it flows freely, at the cross, where rebellious sinners are put back together again. Apart from the cross, all of your striving is in vain.

Now if you say, ‘But I’m really messed up, what hope is there for me?’, I reply by saying that God bestows His grace upon flawed people.

God bestows His grace upon flawed people

And that’s the second lesson: God bestows His grace upon flawed people. If your picture of God’s redeemed people is that they live squeaky clean lives from start to finish, you need to understand that such a picture is inaccurate. Should we be diligent to obey the Lord? Yes. Should we be earnest to pursue holiness? Yes. Should we exercise ourselves unto godliness? Yes. We must be clear on the goal of holy living, and set our minds squarely on it as our purpose and aim in life. But we need to come to grips with the fact that we will blow it from time to time – we have blown it, and we will likely blow it again. Peter and Barnabas blew it when they acted hypocritically in their dealing with Gentiles in Antioch. David blew it. In Genesis 27:5-29, Jacob blew it by deceiving his father in order to get the blessing. And yet, the rest of Genesis 27 and Genesis 28 make clear that Jacob has a clear title to the blessing anyway. Someone will say, ‘That’s not fair!’ But that’s just the thing about grace: grace is unmerited favor. And mercy – as another pastor put it – is “demerited favor”.[5] In other words, it’s not just that sinful human beings haven’t done anything to merit salvation, but that we have actually done many things to merit damnation. We have a lot of demerits on our record. But Jacob is blessed, not because Jacob deserves it, but because God is determined to bless him. The Lord loves Jacob, not because Jacob is unflawed in his loveliness, but because the Lord is resolved to love him and extended his promises through him. 

As we consider Genesis 27-28, we get an indirect picture of the Lord covering the guilt and shame of our sin. Think about it: it is manifestly obvious that Jacob sins grievously when he deceives his father. With that in mind, ponder this observation from Arnold Fruchtenbaum: “God Himself never condemns Jacob. When God speaks to Jacob [in upcoming passages], it is always a message of blessing and of promise and never a rebuke, never a word of chastisement.”[4] The Lord is gracious and kind to His undeserving people. The Lord clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skin in Genesis 3:21. Reflecting the Lord’s grace, Noah’s two oldest sons graciously covered their father’s shame in Genesis 9:20-23. Abraham acted foolishly on more than one occasion, but the Lord never condemned him. And now Jacob is the one who had acted sinfully, but the Lord does not condemn him. In His great and steadfast love, God covers the multitude of our sins. Do not despair, you dear and flawed saints. The Lord justifies the ungodly who trust Him, and He blesses them though their feet be unsteady. Lean on Him, and let His grace sustain your weary soul. And also remember that this grace of God must find a harmonious echo in our relationships with one another: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)

ENDNOTES

[1] Andrew E. Steinmann, Genesis (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2019.: p. 271.

[2] Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976.

[3] From the hymn “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us”

[4] Although I draw this point from the example of Esau in Genesis 25-28, in the background I had previously heard and/or read Douglas Wilson discuss this principle, namely, that adopting the method of a blessed person doesn’t secure blessing if the imitation is done merely as an external add-on.  

[5] For example, see Douglas Wilson, “A Chalcedon Christmas #3”. Available online: https://dougwils.com/the-church/s8-expository/sermon-sinless-christ.html

[6] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Book of Genesis (Ariel’s Bible Commentary). Fourth Edition. San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2020.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Assohoto, Barnabe and Samuel Ngewa, “Genesis.” In Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars. Tokunboh Adeyemo, General Editor. Zondervan Edition (first edition published in 2006).

Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. The Book of Genesis (Ariel’s Bible Commentary). Fourth Edition. San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2020.

Henry, Matthew. A Commentary on the Whole Bible: Volume 1: Genesis to Deuteronomy. Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell Company.

Morris, Henry M. The Genesis Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976.

Steinmann, Andrew E. Genesis (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2019.