Genesis 27:18–29 (ESV),
So he went in 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 told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed! May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”
The Deception Unfolds
In this scene, Jacob pretends to be Esau to receive the firstborn blessing. One commentator notes that Jacob's words are minimal in this passage—it's a sign of fear and uncertainty. And so when Isaac asks how he obtained the game so quickly, Jacob says, "It is the Lord your God." So he's using Yahweh's covenant name, but he's distancing himself from it. He says it's his father's God, not his own.
Isaac here senses that something is wrong. He says, "The voice is Jacob's, but the hands feel like Esau's." But nevertheless, he pushes ahead. And then he blesses Jacob, and the blessing he gives him is a really lavish and generous gift. He wants him to have agricultural abundance. He prays for the dew of heaven and for the fatness of the earth. He also asks for political dominance for his son: "May you be lord of your brothers."
Our Willingness to Deceive
This passage reveals to us our willingness to use deceit and deception in order to get what we want. Rebekah and Jacob want to fulfill God's promise through manipulation rather than faith. Calvin, in his commentary on this, says that the means Jacob uses cannot be excused even though God overrules the evil for his own purposes.
Isaac, whose senses are failing, still wants to give a blessing to Esau, even though he knew of God's oracle—his prophecy earlier—that the older shall serve the younger. And so even though Isaac knew of God's promise, he's determined to show favor to his firstborn, even though God had already proclaimed that the older would serve the younger. And so there's this stubborn resistance to God's revealed will in Isaac in this passage.
God's Sovereignty Through Human Schemes
One commentator, Ian Duggett, points out that Jacob's deception really shows our own attempts to gain God's favor through our own schemes. But it is God who works even through crooked means who brings about his plans. Even bad things can ultimately be used by God to bring about his own purposes.
Pointing to Jesus
And really, this story points us directly to Jesus. You see here, Jacob puts on his brother's clothes and he receives the blessing that was intended for another. In the same kind of symbolic way, Jesus, who is the true firstborn, took on our human nature and he wore it. He bore the curse that we deserve and instead we get his blessing.
So unlike Jacob, he didn't deceive. He prayed perfectly. He obeyed perfectly. He lived perfectly. He became our substitute. And nevertheless, he is the one who took the curse so that we could get the blessing. And so through faith in him, we receive every spiritual blessing as scripture teaches us.
How We Are to Live
And so there's a couple of things that this passage teaches us about how we are to live.
Trust in God's Promises
Firstly, I think this passage encourages us to trust in God's promises rather than trying to manipulate the outcomes. Often we can be like Jacob who—you know, whether he believed in the promise or not, I think is unclear—but he schemed to bring it about. He trusted in his mother's advice and ultimately tried to deceive his father to bring about what he really wanted. And I think we can face the same circumstances, the same temptation to manipulate our circumstances instead of waiting on God.
Examine Our Motives for Blessing
Secondly, I think this passage encourages us to examine our motives when we want a blessing from God. So often today, blessing from God is equated with being rich or prosperous in some sort of way—that God's blessing rests only on those who seem to have a good life in this life. Isaac here wanted to bless Esau because he loved the taste of wild game. Sometimes we can try and fit God's blessing into how we like things to be done. But that's not how blessing works.
Biblical blessing—being blessed by God—has nothing to do with material wealth or comfort or those sorts of things. Although, of course, God can grant those things to us if he wants. But blessing, at least in this case, is alignment to God's will and God working through the circumstances that a person finds themselves in. Ultimate blessing comes ultimately, of course, because of the work of Jesus on the cross. And there was no material gain. There was no prosperity in what happened through Jesus. And yet we are blessed through that, through God working out his plan.
And so if we are to seek God's blessing on our lives, we are seeking for God to use us for his purposes.
Rejoice in Our Substitute
And then finally, and very naturally, obviously, this passage points us to Jesus, our substitute, and we are to rejoice in what he's done for us. So Jacob's story shows us the doctrine of substitution. We are clothed in Christ's righteousness, just as Jacob was clothed in Esau's skins. We receive the father's blessing because Esau ultimately didn't receive the blessing. And of course, Jesus didn't receive the blessing. He took the curse for us. And this should really lead us to an act of worship and an attitude of gratitude towards what he's done for us.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we thank you for yet another symbolic story that points us to Jesus. And we are reminded in this story that you took on the dirty rags that we had and took our punishment, took our curse for us, and that we received the blessing that you should have had as a result. We thank you that you have been our substitute and that we can live for you from now on. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.