Genesis 26:34–27:17 (ESV)
When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”
Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”
So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
I want to pause the reading here so we can reflect on this, and then next time we'll continue with this story.
Esau's Marriages: A Turning Point
For you see in this passage we see that Esau's marriages mark a kind of turning point within the story. So at the age of 40 he takes two Hittite wives and they make life bitter for his parents. Now the author wants us to understand that these marriages outside of the covenant family are a problem. They show a disregard for God's promises.
Remember how it came to be that Isaac was married to Rebecca. It was through prayer that these two came together. Abraham's servant had prayed for a wife for Isaac and Abraham had prayed for a wife for his son. And so Abraham's servant brought a bride from among their kin and kept the covenant line kind of pure, I guess. But Esau ignores this pattern. And he shows here a kind of disregard for the spiritual heritage we have in choosing our relationships and those we want to pursue as partners in life.
Because we often, I think, think that our personal happiness overrides God's will for us to marry people that are going to be helpful to us spiritually. Yet marrying someone who does not share our faith can bring deep sorrow. And virtually every church that I've ever been a part of will have had someone who has lost their faith or left the church because they are partnered with someone who does not share their faith and trust in Jesus.
The Deceptive Plan Unfolds
And so the scene shifts to Isaac's household. Now Isaac is old and blind. He intends to give the blessing to Esau, his favorite son. And so he sends him on a hunt to prepare a meal. And Rebecca overhears their plan and she devises a plan of her own. She instructs Jacob to bring two young goats to prepare the meal. The entire plan here is built on deception and favoritism.
So she dresses Jacob in Esau's clothes. She covers his arms and his neck with goatskin. And as some of the commentators point out, if you look at her language, she chooses to align herself completely with Jacob. She calls Isaac and Esau your father and your brother. She promises to take the curse upon herself that would potentially be spoken over Jacob.
John Calvin notes that her zeal is both hasty and misguided. And so Jacob maybe responsibly hesitates here. He fears the curse. He knows that this could go terribly wrong. But Rebekah, his mother, overrides him. Let your curse be on me, my son.
Trusting God vs. Taking Control
Now remember, Rebekah had received a word from God that the older would serve the younger. And so she knows in the back of her mind that there is something wrong with the current situation that Esau was going to receive Jacob's blessing. And yet rather than trusting that God would fulfill her word, again we see the same pattern we've seen over and over throughout Genesis. She takes matters into her own hand. The end result of this will ultimately fracture her family as we will see in the next passage.
So Jacob ends up gaining the blessing because of this deception, but he has to flee for his life. Esau plots his revenge and years of separation will follow. And so when we manipulate situations to get what we think that God has promised us, we can be like these people and cause unnecessary pain in our lives.
God's Unchanging Purpose
But behind this messy story stands this unchanging purpose of God, this promise to make Abraham's offspring into a great nation, to bless all peoples through him and to provide a land for Israel. As we will see, ultimately, none of this scheming will derail God's ultimate plan.
Pointing to Christ
But this passage also points us to Christ. Rebekah tells Jacob, "Let your curse be upon me." In a kind of twisted way, she volunteers to bear the curse that her son fears. But that's exactly what Jesus does for us, although he does it without the deceit that Rebecca is showing here. He becomes the curse for us on the cross so that we might receive the blessing. And unlike Jacob, Jesus didn't have to disguise himself to steal a blessing. In fact, he openly bore our sin and grants us his righteousness as a gift. In Jesus, we receive the Father's favor because of what he's done for us.
How We Should Respond
And that leaves us with a couple of responses that I think we need to think carefully through. Firstly, we are to honor God in our relationship. We need to be very wise about how we seek spouses and friends and business partners. The wrong people can read you in the wrong direction. And marrying someone or finding a spouse that is against your faith is always going to be extremely difficult. That is why the New Testament tells us that we ought not to be unevenly yoked with someone who doesn't trust in Jesus. Esau's choice of wives ultimately made life terrible for his family, but it also revealed his heart. And this passage teaches us, or at least reminds us in our time today, that the flirt to convert thing doesn't actually generally work.
But secondly, this passage calls us to trust in God's promises and to remind us that we don't have to resort to manipulation to bring about what we think God has promised to us. When we try to force outcomes, we often harm ourselves and others. We need to wait upon the Lord. His timing is perfect and He's not going to give us what we think we should have until it is time in His plan.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord, thank you that you do have a perfect and sovereign plan. And we ask for your forgiveness where we have gone astray and tried to hurry up the things that we wanted outside of your timing. Help us to trust in your wisdom, both in choosing our partners, but also in your timing for when we receive the things that you have for us. Help us to trust you in all these ways. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.