Is your family perfect? I don’t think I’ve ever known someone who would answer that question with a “yes.”
Is there someone in your family with a less-than-desirable personality or poor character traits, or who just knows how to push your buttons? Like a brash younger brother, a mean uncle, a critical mom, an aloof dad, or a chatty older sister who likes to talk about other people? Everyone can relate to the standout characters in their household, so when reading about a dysfunctional Old Testament family—where everyone is behaving badly—many can relate.
Consequently, in this post, we will take a deeper look at four members of the same family: There’s the dad, Isaac; the mother, Rebekah; the younger twin, Jacob; and the older twin, Esau. You see, in many households, when something goes wrong, family members tend to point the finger and place the blame on one another. Yet, as we shall see, in the drama-filled narrative, everyone is to blame. The only One who is blameless and innocent is the Lord.
What I hope to do is illumine your eyes to the majesty and glory of God. That is, what we will see is God’s goodness and unconquerable sovereignty persisting despite human actions that contradict God’s will. This principle is exemplified perfectly in the family disharmony in Genesis 27. What I would encourage the reader not to do when reading about these characters is to look down on them and cast judgment. The Bible wasn’t written to make us feel good about ourselves in our own strength. What we all ought to do is read about these characters and then say, “I’m broken just like them.” That is why we all need God and His splendid, marvelous grace.
Let us begin with our text.
Genesis 27 says:
Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” Then Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death. Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; and prepare a delicious meal for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”
Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, ‘Bring me some game and prepare a delicious meal for me, so that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ So now, my son, listen to me as I command you. Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, so that I may prepare them as a delicious meal for your father, such as he loves. Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will touch me, then I will be like a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get the goats for me.” So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made a delicious meal such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. She also gave the delicious meal and the bread which she had made to her son Jacob.
Then he came 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. Come now, sit and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.” Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the Lord your God made it [k]come to me.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, and he touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, 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. And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.” So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said,
“See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed; now may God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and an abundance of grain and new wine; may peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you; be master of your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.”
Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of his father Isaac, that his brother Esau came in from his hunting. Then he also made a delicious meal, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.” His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who then was he who hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate from all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, me as well, my father!” And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” Then Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has betrayed me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and I have given to him all his relatives as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me as well, my father.” So Esau raised his voice and wept.
Then his father Isaac answered and said to him,
Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling,
and away from the dew of heaven from above. And by your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but it shall come about when you become restless, that you will break his yoke from your neck.”
So Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent word and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. Now then, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides, until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send word and get you from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”
And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
As far as the historical narrative is concerned, I believe the text is very straightforward: A younger brother tricks his almost-blind, soon-to-be-dead father into giving him the blessing of the firstborn. Jacob not only conspires against Esau, but he also gets help from their mother. The whole ordeal costs everyone, and while Jacob does get what he wants, he also receives something unexpected: exile from home in order to save his own life.
In what follows, I will proceed with a character analysis of all the people in the story. For each, I will talk about the good they do, the bad they do, and the cost of their actions.
Isaac
For Isaac, the good that he does is evidenced in his concern to ensure the covenant inheritance of the Lord is passed down to the next generation. Recall that in Genesis 26:2–5, while Isaac is still sojourning in the Promised Land, the Lord makes a direct promise to him. There, God tells His servant:
Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. Live for a time in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed Me and fulfilled his duty to Me, and kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.
And so, by taking the initiative to ensure a legacy is securely in place before he dies, Isaac reflects responsibility, foresight, and trust in the promises of God. Accordingly, the author of Hebrews commends Isaac for his faith when the text says:
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come. (Hebrews 11:20)
I think it is crucial to note that Isaac is truly acting in faith to bless his son because, at this point in biblical history, he is still a wanderer. He may have settled in the Promised Land but has no claim to it yet. And while God has promised him descendants as numerous “as the stars of heaven,” he only has two sons. And let’s not forget that one of them despises his birthright. Yet, in spite of these things, Isaac trusts God’s promise and acts accordingly.
Now here’s the bad.
Yes, Isaac may trust God, but he also summons Esau to be blessed against God’s promise. That is, let us remember that in Genesis 25:23, the Lord tells Rebekah while still pregnant:
Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body; and one people will be stronger than the other; and the older will serve the younger.
So, while God decreed that the older (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob), Isaac summons Esau to bless him. And while I have no direct evidence to validate this, I detect a sense of secrecy in Isaac’s summoning Esau alone. After all, I would think that if a father was going to pass along an inheritance, it would be a family affair with an audience who could all testify to the validity of the transmission. But that’s not what our text says. It says Isaac acts unilaterally and summons Esau by himself.
Next, Isaac demonstrates to be a sensual man who relies on his fallible senses and not divine guidance. Isaac is old with dim eyes (Genesis 27:1), so he cannot rely on sight for discernment. He summons Esau and then tells him to go and hunt so that he may eat a “delicious meal … such as I love” before he dies (Genesis 27:4). Based on his sense of taste, he intends to eat game that is a delight to the tongue. Isaac is then deceived by his senses of touch and smell when he feels and sniffs Jacob wearing animal skins and Esau’s garments (Genesis 27:22, 27). The one sense that does not fail Isaac is his sense of hearing, as he doubts it is Esau from the start once he hears Jacob’s voice (Genesis 27:18; see also 27:24). Accordingly, Isaac rejects the valid input from his ears while accepting the deceitful inputs from his other senses. Through all of this, he does not seek the Lord’s help to guide him in a confusing situation.
Rejection of hearing is important because in Scripture, hearing is the higher and more reliable sense. You see, there are several gates that serve as portals into our mind, but hearing is the most significant. This is why faith comes from hearing (Romans 10:17), and one response to hearing the Word is bearing spiritual fruit (Matthew 13:23). Additionally, the Greek word for obedience in the New Testament translates literally to hyper-hearing or an intense, focused listening. Hearing is also a special sense because it relies on another mind communicating to you through language. It is also relational. Finally, hearing requires both attention and discernment. You can smell something by accident or happen to glance at something unintentionally, but hearing demands mindfulness.
So, Isaac disbelieves his ears. He is subsequently deceived by the senses he does rely on.
Finally, regarding the bad that Isaac does, there seems to be a lack of spiritual leadership in his household. Everyone—including him—is acting like a rogue agent and doing what is right in their own eyes. At this point, Jacob has no wife, and one has to wonder if Isaac is partly responsible, especially considering the great lengths Abraham went to in order to secure Isaac a bride (see Genesis 24). Esau married two pagan wives, thus scoffing at the Lord’s regulation to marry within the covenant family of Abraham. And then there’s Rebekah (who we’ll discuss next), who devises diabolical schemes to subvert her husband. All of these are evidence that Isaac has lost not only his eyesight but also authority over his own family. It also seems that Isaac has passed on his proclivity for deception to his younger son. Just as he once lied about Rebekah being his wife (Genesis 26:6–7), Jacob (as we shall see) wields the sword of deception very effectively. Likely the best parenting wisdom I ever received was that while your children may not follow everything you say, they will always imitate everything that you do.
Now, what does all of Isaac’s bad cost him? Well, his covert plan is both exposed and proven to be a dismal failure when he realizes he has blessed Jacob instead of Esau. Isaac trembles violently (Genesis 27:33) as a physical manifestation of his extreme, visceral reaction. Although Isaac’s natural eyesight is dim, spiritually he comes to the realization that God’s sovereign plan reigns, in spite of any and all human endeavors to the contrary. Finally, Isaac’s bad causes everyone in the family to turn against one another. Isaac’s summoning of Esau is the first domino to fall that sets off a chain reaction of sin.
The next character is Rebekah.
Rebekah
The positive thing that Rebekah does is express her concern about Jacob marrying a non-Canaanite. In Genesis 27:46, she tells Isaac:
I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?
This concern aligns with the divine promise (that the older shall serve the younger) and Abraham’s direction for his covenantal heir not to be wed to a pagan woman (see Genesis 24:3–4). But, as we shall see, this concern is also tainted.
So, what does Rebekah do that is wrong and immoral? She demonstrates non-submissiveness by both spying on her husband and subverting his authority. In Genesis 27:5–17, the text says Rebekah is secretly listening to the conversation Isaac is having with Esau. After Isaac sends Esau to hunt for game, Rebekah conspires with Jacob to execute her own plan, which involves deceiving her husband. Rebekah’s idolatrous heart is exposed when her favoritism for her son trumps honoring God’s promise and her husband.
Furthermore, Rebekah’s idolatry is evidenced by her telling Jacob in Genesis 27:8, “So now, my son, listen to me as I command you.” The tone of this imperative sounds like the issuance of a divine command.
You see, what Rebekah does is take Satan’s shortcut. Yes, God has promised that Esau will serve Jacob, but in her eyes at the moment, that promise is in jeopardy because Esau is soon to receive a blessing. Jacob’s inheritance seems to be in danger, so what is Rebekah to do? What is right in her eyes is to “help God out” by her own schemes. Satan’s shortcut always seems the most attractive, either when God is taking too long or when we perceive His plan is threatened. The biblical reality is that God can fulfill His promises without our help. Yet, when we worry about tomorrow, fret over uncertainties, or desperately try to control our own futures, we are trying to narrate God out of the story.
Perhaps Rebekah’s most diabolical assertion is when she tells Jacob that even if the plan doesn’t work out, she will take all the blame. In Genesis 27:12, Jacob wonders, “What happens if the plan fails and Dad finds out it’s me?” Rebekah then replies in verse 13, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get the goats for me.” Rebekah does not know the future, so consider how her pride assumes that she can absorb all the unknown damage this plan could create. In other words, a fallen sinner pledges to assume a curse without yet knowing what that curse will cost. Compare this to Christ, who was perfect and holy and assumed the cost for all of His elect on the Cross, knowing before the foundation of the world that the curse of our sins would cost His life.
Rebekah’s assumption of a curse is dangerous because, in many ways, she gets exactly what she asks for: In the aftermath of this scheme, Jacob leaves home, fleeing for his life. Consequently, Rebekah will never see her favorite son again (Genesis 35:8).
At the start of this section, I said Rebekah’s concern for Jacob’s potential wife was tainted. What I meant by that is at the end of Genesis 27, after Jacob tricks Isaac, all that’s left for Esau is a curse. This makes Esau furious with his brother. Genesis 27:41 says, “So Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, ‘The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.’” What happens next? In verses 42–43, it says:
Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent word and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. Now then, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban!”
Notice that the text says Esau’s intent to murder his brother is told to Rebekah, not Isaac. It is then interesting to read in verse 46 that Rebekah tells Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
In other words, the text seems to suggest that Isaac does not know the real reason why Jacob is fleeing home; it is Rebekah who suggests to Isaac that Jacob be sent away to find a non-Canaanite wife. So, while it seems as if Rebekah is exhibiting motherly concern, it also conceals an evil consequence of her trickery: that Jacob is fleeing home to save his life because of her plan! This is deception atop deception. And so, in the next few verses (Genesis 28:1–5), Isaac sends Jacob away to find a wife in the house of his uncle, Laban.
So what does all this cost Rebekah? Much. It causes division within her house—between her and her husband, and between her sons—and drives her favorite child far, far away from home.
The next character is Jacob.
Jacob
I think the one thing Jacob does right is that he values the divine promise and thus, honors God’s Word. Again, while pregnant with her boys, Rebekah received the prophecy that the older brother would serve the younger (Genesis 25:23). Also, recall that Jacob is Rebekah’s favorite son (Genesis 25:8), so I think it is reasonable to infer that Jacob knows about this divine promise. Hence, knowing that one day his older brother will serve him and that he will be the covenantal heir, Jacob believes in God’s Word and acts upon it. This leads us to the sins Jacob commits.
You see, Jacob does not wait and have faith that God will make good on His promise in His time. Jacob—with his mother’s assistance—takes Satan’s shortcut. In short, Jacob tried⎯by his own works⎯to bring God’s promise into fulfillment on his own terms. This is not trusting in God’s promise but using God’s promise as validation for his own sin. I will not expound on this further, since we discussed the shortcut with Rebekah.
Next, Jacob is a liar. He flat out tells his vision-impaired father, “I am Esau your firstborn” (Genesis 27:19). And not only is he a liar, he’s also a deceiver, evidenced by his several steps to fool his father: He pawns his mother’s food off as Esau’s; he uses his brother’s clothing instead of his, and he conceals his smooth skin with the skins of a goat. Just imagine: Jacob uses animal skins to cover his lie, while the Lord first used animal skins to cover Adam and Eve’s guilt (Genesis 3:21). This is the exact opposite of godly behavior.
Furthermore, Jacob’s immorality is demonstrated by the reality that he has no reservations about swindling his older brother. When Rebekah suggests the plan to scam Esau, Jacob doesn’t say, “That’s wrong … I can’t do that to my brother.” Instead, Jacob’s only concern expressed to his mother is, “What if I get caught?” He says in Genesis 27:11–12, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will touch me, then I will be like a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” Rebekah then tells her son, “Don’t worry about a curse, let it all fall on me.” Consequently, once Jacob is assured of the safety of his sin, he then proceeds to deceive quite effectively. Yet, Jacob does not realize what the Bible makes plain to us over and over: We may think sin bears no cost, but that is sin deceiving the sinner.
What else does Jacob do that’s wrong? He takes the Lord’s name in vain by telling his father that the Lord made the food come to him so quickly. Interestingly, in Genesis 27:20, Jacob tells his father that he acquired the game so quickly because “the Lord your God made it come to me.” Do you notice the pronouns? Jacob doesn’t say the Lord my God or the Lord our God. He says to his father, “the Lord your God.” I do not believe this is an insignificant detail in that—at least at the time of the narrative—Jacob doesn’t know God as his.
Jacob also persuades his father with wine. In verse 25, Isaac says, “Bring [the food] to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” In verse 26, Jacob responds not only with game but also with wine. Perhaps Jacob is trying to lower his father’s perceived resistance to giving a blessing. Finally, Jacob deceives his father with a kiss. (Does that sound familiar?) In Genesis 27:26–27, the text says, “Isaac said to [Jacob], ‘Please come close and kiss me, my son.’ So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him.”
Now, what does all of this cost Jacob? Almost everything. Jacob does get his blessing, but at the cost of conspiring against his father with his mother. He also drives a wedge between himself and Esau so much so that Esau plots to kill him (Genesis 27:41). Jacob is a tent-dweller, but he is thus forced to flee far from home to preserve his life. And Jacob will never see his mother again. It’s interesting to note that while Jacob uses a goat to fool his father, in the future, Jacob’s sons will use a goat’s blood to fool him. That is, they will dip Joseph’s coat in the blood of a goat to deceive Jacob about the death of his favorite son, Joseph (Genesis 37:31). What the Bible’s first book is revealing to us time and time again is that sin may seem beneficial now, but its adverse consequences continue through time.
The next and final character is Esau.
Esau
I do not believe there is anything notable to say about Esau in this chapter, cognizant both that he receives a curse from his father and that the Lord makes it clear His adverse disposition toward Him elsewhere in the Scriptures (see Malachi 1:2–5 and Romans 9:13).
That being said, what is evident from the start of Genesis 27 is that Esau is untrustworthy, meaning he breaks his oath after he sells his own birthright. Recall that in Genesis 25:33, Esau sells his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Now, in Genesis 27, Esau violates the oath that he previously made and proceeds as if he is the rightful heir to the inheritance.
After Esau returns from hunting game, it is exposed that Jacob has deceived his father. Esau bursts into tears and begs Isaac for his own blessing, but it is too late. Esau will not only live away from the abundance of the land, but also by the sword and violent raiding. A prophecy of a life of violence is fitting because after hearing his father’s words, Esau resolves to murder his brother (Genesis 27:41). Esau thus envies his brother and knows he can never have what Jacob has received; consequently, he resolves to destroy the person who has what he has already given up.
When talking about what all this costs Esau, I do not think it is proper to narrow our attention to Genesis 27. Because, when we use Esau’s actions in Genesis 25 and 27 as a door into his heart, it is clear that Esau has rejected God’s Word that “the older will serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). Yes, he may grieve over the consequences of his sin, but these are unrepentant tears unconcerned about the sin itself. Esau’s actions cost him eternity.
Conclusion
In closing, I will repeat what I said at the beginning: that in the drama-filled narrative, everyone is to blame. No one walks away with a clean record, and everyone’s sin costs them. What I think is a crucial lesson for all of us to learn is that sin doesn’t pay, even when it delivers what we want, because in the end, we lose far more than we gain. The good news for God’s people is that while we certainly may bear the consequences for our sin in this life, God has removed the eternal penalty for the sins of His elect. As it says in Romans 8:1, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Sin is wrong and evil, yet by grace, our failings soften our hearts and are instructive as they draw us closer to the Lord (see Psalm 51), who sanctifies His children.
There is only one “good guy” in the story, and that is God. Despite all of the human efforts to make a mess, God works through the mess to bring about a good result. For Jacob will eventually have twelve sons and return to the Promised Land. Those twelve sons will be the start of the twelve tribes of Israel, the Old Covenant people of God. Jacob’s fourth son, Judah, will be the first in a tribal bloodline that will lead to Jesus. So, while sin may harm us, it never disrupts God’s plan.
I will end by quoting Iain M. Duguid as he writes in his commentary on Genesis, Living in the Grip of Relentless Grace:
“This is a tremendously important biblical principle: your sin, even when it may have real and lasting earthly consequences, cannot derail God’s gracious purpose for your life. God is not just sovereign over your best deeds; he is sovereign over the darkest, most selfish, and most destructive acts that you will ever commit or that others will commit against you, and he will use these too to accomplish his good and perfect will in your life. This principle of God’s goodness and firm purpose enduring in spite of, and even through, human sinfulness, is evidenced once again in and through the sorry sight of family disharmony that we encounter in Genesis 27.”
Amen and praise God. God’s plan never fails because God cannot fail.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal