DECEITFULNESS RULES
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Opening Prayer
Loving Father, I am amazed that you chose to love and redeem me. Help me to stand firm in my faith and give you all that I am.
Read GENESIS 26:34—27:29
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Genesis
Genesis 26
34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.
35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
Genesis 27
1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.Here I am,” he answered.
2 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death.
3 Now then, get your weapons-your quiver and bow-and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me.
4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”
5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back,
6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau,
7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.’
8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you:
9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it.
10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”
11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I’m a man with smooth skin.
12 What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”
13 His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.”
14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it.
15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.
16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins.
17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.
18 He went to his father and said, “My father.Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing.”
20 Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?The LORD your God gave me success,” he replied.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”
22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.
24 “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked. “I am,” he replied.
25 Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.” Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”
27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
28 May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earth’s richness- an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”
Reflect
Think about how disappointments or suspicions in your family are typically resolved.Sadly, the trust between Isaac, Rebekah, and their children has completely broken down. Lies dominate the relationships among family members. Already a source of grief to his parents because of his choice of pagan wives (vv. 34, 35), Esau now becomes the unwitting target of an elaborate plot to deceive him and his father.
Isaac is either unaware of, or chooses to ignore, Esau’s renunciation of his birthright (Genesis 25:32). Eager to bless his oldest son before he dies, he is not blameless. What amounted to a ‘last will and testament’ should not take place secretly, as it required witnesses to make it legally binding.
Meanwhile, having eavesdropped on the conversation between her husband and older son (v. 5), Rebekah hatches a plan with her younger, favored son, Jacob, to trick both Esau and Isaac in his old age. Jacob agrees to the deception, which involves many lies in his conversation with his father (vv. 19, 20, 24).
By taking matters into her own hands, Rebekah ensures—knowingly or unknowingly—that what God had ordained comes to pass, so that Jacob would take priority over Esau (Genesis 25:23 and Romans 9:10—13).
Apply
Family life takes hard work, and Christian families are vulnerable to spiritual attack. How can you offer parents support as they raise their children to follow God’s ways, not the ways of the world?
Closing prayer
Thank you, Father, for your grace and mercy toward us, even when we choose to go our own way. Please lead me to parents you would have me encourage and enable me to help them show their children the wonder of the gospel.
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