Genesis 27

The God of your father...

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A couple chapters ago in Genesis 25, we discussed Esau somewhat impulsively selling his birthright. Here in Genesis 27, he is tricked out of his blessing. Beginning in verse 19 we see Jacob steal Esau’s blessing by pretending to be his stronger, hairy, outdoorsman, hunter older brother. You can tell that Isaac senses something is off. “How did you return so quickly?” “Um, come closer so I can make sure it’s really you.” “Hmmm…the voice seems wrong, but the arms feel right.” “Are you really, Esau?” “Um, yes, it's totally me, Esau.” I imagine him saying “Esau” in a Batman-ish voice. When Isaac gets a whiff of the clothing, he takes that as confirmation. Then, he blesses him.

Here we see a continuation of a pattern throughout the Old Testament: God bypasses the firstborn to pass his inheritance and blessing on to the younger, rebellious, and often outright deceptive (as seen here) child. To me, that’s the first thing I noticed here: God is painting a picture that is fulfilled in Christ: cursed firstborn, blessed younger. The other thing that hit me this week was the prevalence of this pattern in the Bible: God chooses to use a long line of messy people to bring blessing to the world. And, “messy” is putting it too lightly. These “heroes of the Bible” are like Jacob, deceivers and con artists, at best. They are prostitutes, murderers, adulterers, idolaters, and swindlers. If you were to Google “heroes of the Bible”, you would find that these people broke every one of the ten commandments. Sometimes in a blaze of unholy glory. I think King David, “the man after God’s own heart,” broke like 5 out of 10 commandments in one fail swoop.

Now, it’s hard for me to step back from my Christian background. It’s hard for me to read the Bible in an unbiased way. I’ve been around it too long. But, wouldn’t it make a lot more sense from a literary perspective to have the line of Jesus to be full of kings, conquerors, and nobility rather than a bunch of sinful, horrendously broken people? I’m thinking David without the affairs and murder. Isaac without the “my wife’s my sister” junk, Judah without the solicitation of a prostitute, etc. But, no. Time and again, God chooses to tell his story through the monumentally poor choices of humanity. Take the entire book of Judges as an example.

Gideon: the self-described weakest member of the weakest tribe.

Samson: man, that guy was a train wreck.

Jephthah: in addition to having far too many “h”s in his name, he’s the son of a prostitute.

Ehud: the left-handed son of the right.

Back to Jacob. Jacob obtains his father’s blessing by pretending to be someone he is not.

“Who is it?” his father asks.

“Esau.” Jacob responds.

Fast forward to Genesis 32:26-27. Jacob is wrestling for another blessing. This blessing is to come from his heavenly father rather than his earthly one. In verse 27, we see a variation of the same question from Genesis 27:18:

“What is your name?”

Surely, Jacob remembered the time his father asked him the same question back here in Genesis 27…the time when he responded with a deceptive alternate identity. No doubt he remembered boldly lying to his father’s face. “I’m Esau. I’m the man you want me to be. I’m not the meek, momma’s boy who hates the outdoors. I’m the outdoorsman adventurer. I’m the burly killer of meats. I’m the Bear Grylls you want me to be.”

I wonder what he thought as this angel posed the same question. “What is your name?” This time though, he answered truthfully: “Jacob.” Deceiver. Trickster. Defrauder. This time, he was not blessed through his deception, but through his honesty—through his admission of who and what he was. Broken.

But, the Genesis 32 story of blessing through confession begins here in Genesis 27 with a blessing through deception. Jacob lies, deceives, and schemes; and, yet, he received the inheritance and God’s blessing. That gives me hope for the future.

This week’s AI rap summary:

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™