Genesis 27:26-36 - May God give you the dew of heaven

27:26-29

Isaac now asks Jacob to come forward to be close to him and he smells the garments. The smell seems to convince Isaac that this is indeed Esau and he then declares the blessing. The first part is for prosperity with his crops. Then, that the nations would serve him and bow down to him. He was to be “lord over his brothers”, and anyone who cursed him would themselves be cursed, and anyone who blesses him would themselves be blessed. This latter part is very similar to God’s words to Abraham (Gen 12:3).

29:30-36

Esau then returned to find out what had happened. He too brought delicious food and thought all was going to go well. Isaac wondered who he was, and then had a fit when he discovered that it was Esau. However, the blessing on Jacob stood and could not be revoked, even though Jacob came deceitfully. Esau asks to be blessed as well, but was told that Jacob had taken away the blessing. Esau seems to consider the birthright and blessing to be two different things. Even if we consider them as two different things, the first was certainly down to Esau’s impetuousness. Esau continues to plead for a blessing, but Isaac seems to think he has nothing more to give.

John 6:51-54 - I will raise them up

6:51

Jesus again claims to be the bread of life, the living bread. The manna was inanimate, Jesus is a living person. Like the manna, He came from heaven. The manna was not natural bread, Jesus is fully human, but He came from heaven. God’s answer to us comes from heaven. In our rebellion we look purely at the earth, if we are in a proper relationship with God then we should also look to heaven. Jesus reiterates that if we eat the true bread of life we will live forever. Then He says that the bread He gives is His flesh. Now the people would immediately interpret this as referring to eating His flesh, an abhorrent thought. What He actually meant was the giving of His life on the cross. The physical death of Jesus on the cross is absolutely central to the fulfilment of God’s plans.

6:52,53

The Jews, the religious leaders, did indeed start arguing about “how can this man give us His flesh to eat”. Now Jesus did not actually say that. He was using metaphorical language in referring to Himself as the bread of life, but He would actually die on the cross. In a sense He makes things “worse” by then talking about drinking His blood! Just to heighten any reaction against what He was saying! However, the mention of blood also clarifies things, and makes it clear that He is talking about His death, not physically eating His flesh. 

6:54

Under the Law it was strictly forbidden to eat meat with blood in it, and eating human flesh was obviously wrong. So it seems that Jesus is being deliberately provocative in the way He is speaking. Perhaps Jesus is speaking like this to emphasise the metaphorical nature. The emphasis should be on what Jesus did on the cross.

Genesis 27:18-25 - Are you really my son Esau?

27:18,19

Jacob went to his father. His father had some doubt as to who this was, the voice would probably have caused some doubt to arise in Isaac. Jacob tells an outright lie, “I am Esau, your firstborn”. It is amazing and puzzling that all this is built on a lie. Esau had no thought for his birthright and deserved the rejection he experienced. However, Jacob most definitely did not deserve the inheritance he received. None of us deserve to be in the kingdom of God. Jacob was no better than Esau. 

27:20-25

Isaac was still puzzled, thinking it was impossible for Esau to have accomplished his task so quickly. Jacob, pretending to be Esau, claimed the speed was because God had granted him success. Isaac then called Jacob to come near him, so he could touch and smell him. The voice was Jacob’s, but because of his disguise, he felt like Esau. Nevertheless, Isaac blessed Jacob. Even then, he began with the words “Are you really my son Esau?” Jacob lies again. I am sure that in a court of law this blessing would prove to be null and void because of the deception involved.

John 6:49,50 - Yet they died

6:49

Jesus contrasts the Old Testament with the New. The people, and the leaders in particular, were so focused on the Law. Now see how Jesus uses common sense here. The Israelites in Exodus did indeed eat the manna, but they also all died. This could be referring to death in general, or to the fact that most of them died in the desert because of their unfaithfulness. The manna did not give eternal life.

6:50

In contrast, the bread from heaven, i.e. Jesus, was sent by God that “that one may eat of it and not die”. A much greater reward was on offer from God. Note that it is God’s purpose that we have eternal life. Yet we will so easily settle for something far less. We will do this through religion, as the religious leaders of the day were doing, and religious leaders ever since have been prone to do. We need to be aware of the greatness of the gift of God.

Genesis 27:5-17 - Only obey my voice

27:5-10

The word about the elder serving the younger had been given to Rebekah, so she did know God’s plans, Jacob was also her favourite. So she was both concerned about the blessing going to Esau, and saw the opportunity that presented itself. So Rebekah hatches a cunning plan, and gets Jacob to go and bring two good young goats. She would make delicious food, and Jacob would take it to his father, pretending to be Esau.

27:11-13

Jacob sees the apparent flaw in the plan, Isaac might not be able to see very well, but Esau was hairy and Jacob was not. So surely Isaac would realise that something was up. Rebekah has a plan to address this, but does not reveal this plan to Jacob at this point. She only says that any curse that Isaac announces on Jacob should fall upon her.

27:14-17

Jacob went to get the goats, and Rebekah did the cooking. She also took some of Esau’s garments and put them on Jacob. She also covered him with the skins of the goats. The garments would lend Jacob the smell of Esau, and goat skins were presumably there to make him feel hairy. The plan does seem rather suspect!

John 6:46-48 - I am the bread of life

6:46

Now no one has seen God. This learning from God does not mean that we have seen God. Only the Son has seen the Father. This is further reason why we need to go to Christ. Jesus knows what He is talking about, the Jewish leaders did not.

6:47,48

We now get another “truly, truly”. “Whoever believes has eternal life.” Note that this is not just future. Eternal life is more than living forever, it is about the whole nature of life. Eternal life is a God dependent life, a God focused life, one where we draw our strength and everything else from God. A life where we do and live the will of God. Jesus is the bread of life, repeating an earlier claim. We need to feed off Jesus, to learn from Him.

Genesis 27:1-4 - Behold I am old

27:1

This is a very important incident, but also one which I guess many of us find somewhat bemusing. It is also the first of two incidents where one of the patriarchs bestows a blessing on his children, the other being Jacob which we will encounter towards the end of Genesis. This event is a continuation of the incident at the end of chapter 25 when Esau “sells” his birthright. He may well have forgotten the time he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew, and it is also worth noting that there is no formal taking of the blessing by Jacob. Jacob does not say “Esau sold me his birthright so the blessing is mine”, that is not what happened. Instead Jacob, with the help of his mother, used subterfuge. It is also a fulfilment of God’s words in 25:23, “the older will serve the younger”. So we see an example of the sovereignty of God at work. The plans of men were very important, but it was God’s will that prevailed.

Isaac is now old and blind. Both these matter, the age because it is time for him to bestow a blessing, and the blindness because this helped with the success of the subterfuge.

27:2-4

Isaac calls Esau and tells him that his days are nearly over. So he asks his son to go out into the field to hunt some game and prepare “delicious food” for his father. Then he would bless his eldest son. In Gen 25:23 the Lord had spoken to Rebekah, one wonders if she had told Isaac this, and if she had whether he took her words seriously.