Blind Blessings: Jacob's Deception and the Stolen Birthright

We're going to go through chapter 27 to 9, but we need to begin with verse 34 of the previous chapters. So Genesis chapter 26 and verse 34. Let's put it up there on the screen and pick up where we left off last week. Last week, as you may remember, we saw the birth of Jacob and Esau. And then we had the misadventure of Isaac down in the desert in the Jarrah region, where he repeats some of his publishing mistakes. And that's really the only chapter in the book of Genesis that he's featured. His story is told from his point of view. Any other time he's mentioned, he's mentioned with respect to Abraham. Abraham's kind of the center of attention. He doesn't even go and find his own life. His father makes sure that happens. And then we get this one chapter with Isaac doing something. And it involves kind of an ignominious adventure. And then when we get to chapter 27, we're going

to see he's kind of pushed in the background again. And his son, Jacob, and his other son, Esau, take center stage here. But let's begin with verse 34 of chapter 26. When Esau was 40 years old, he took Judith, the daughter of Birai, the Hittite, to be his wife. And Basimith, the daughter of an Elon, the Hittite. And they made life bitter for their parents, Isaac and Medeca, for his parents. All right. So Hittites is kind of like a subgroup of the Canaanites. And the Canaanites have a very low reputation in the first five books of the Bible. If I use the term Pentateuch, that's just shorthand for the first five books of the Bible. Pentateuch is an old Greek word for five books. And so it refers to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Those first five books. Okay. In the Pentateuch, and then we'll see it continuing in the book of Joshua, which is the sixth book of the Bible. The

Canaanites are held in very low regard. And Abraham goes to great lengths to make sure that his son Isaac doesn't marry a Canaanite. And then Isaac has a son named Esau. And Esau does what Abraham would not allow him to do, that is to marry a Canaanite. So he doesn't just marry one, he marries two. And that's a really important setup framing for chapter 27. Okay. So we have this little note on Esau doing something that displeases the family and upsets the family and kind of changes the tradition of the family. And then we're almost going to forget about it. But when it gets to the end of chapter 27, you'll see why it was there in the beginning. Okay. All right. Verse 27, verse 1 says, When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim, I mean, again, I just, it strikes me, we had just a few moments really of Isings younger days. And now he's already about to go to

the grave. And one of the Hebrew scriptures way of referring to somebody who's about to die is to say his eyes are going down. All right. So very, very often, dimness of sight is associated with near death. All right. Isaac's old, his eyes are dim. So he could not see. You had no such thing as cataract surgery. You could develop Guacola. There's nothing really that can be done about these kinds of things. So the world just kind of becomes a haze and grows dimmer and dimmer. And he knows he's about to die probably for among other reasons. One of them is he's virtually blind now. And so he says, he calls Esau his older son and said to him, my son, he answered, here I am. He said, behold, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Okay. I don't know exactly what day I'm going to die, but I'm near there. So we need to take care of

business. Now, what's a little bit unusual about this setting here is typically in the ancient world, when you're about to die and you're going to give a blessing to your offspring and gather all of them together. And then you give the blessing to them in front of each other. And one of the reasons for that is so that there's no, there's complete transparency. Okay. Because if you call in only one child and leave another child out, what do you suppose is going to happen? You're going to have a dispute, right? Aren't you? Aren't you going to have a dispute over? Well, dad said, I didn't hear anything about that. Dad said something, so you get all kinds of problems. Isaac is making a really big mistake right here, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Maybe he's grown so old that he's not sharp enough to remember or think about the implications of what he's doing, but he's trying to settle affairs. But it seems like

Isaac has intentionally drawn or called Esau in alone to exclude Jacob and to make sure there's no involving Jacob's mother in what's about to happen. Why do you suppose that would be? Because Jacob's mother, Rebecca, was told by an oracle when Jacob and Esau were in the womb still and warring with each other. She thought she was having miscarriage. And the oracle, whether that's a prophet, I don't know what it is. But anyway, the oracle, voice of the Lord said, there are two nations within you, and there are war with each other, and they will always be at war with each other. But the older one will serve the younger. Okay. And so she gives birth, and Esau is the firstborn. And then immediately afterwards, Jacob is born, holding on to the heel of Esau. So she knows already the order of the future. She knows the younger one who's grasping at that heel. That was very symbolic for her in a confirmed

what she had just heard in the oracle. And this boy is going to be the one who was the other. He's going to receive the birthright. And so now, they must have surely over the course of 40 years, because Esau is 40 or so many years old now, surely over the course of 40 years, Rebecca and Isaac had that discussion, his husband and wife, don't you think? We're not told explicitly that they had that conversation, but we're also not told that Rebecca hid this, kept it to herself. We're told Mary did that, she kept certain things to herself. Okay, much, you know, 2000 years later, but we're not told that. So presumably Isaac knows, I'll tell you what else Isaac knows. I like Esau. Yeah, I don't like that younger one. He's trouble. He's trouble and, and we're always getting in fights. Rebecca and I over these two boys, and she favors him. That's her son, Esau's my son. And so he seems

to have made this decision to exclude Jacob on purpose. Whatever the case, we know he's made a big mistake right here. So he's called Esau in and he's trying to get this one done without Rebecca knowing about it. I guess what? Rebecca has ears everywhere. Like what was said of Elisha, the prophet later on, and what you so much as whispered in your bed chamber, the prophet Elisha knows. Rebecca, she probably has spies. She has servants who attend to her husband, you know, take care, take care of him and feed him or whatever. And somebody must have overheard or Rebecca was outside the tent when this was all happening, whatever. Or a servant says something big is about to happen. And Rebecca comes running out. She's older too. And she comes running out and she overhears the conversation that's about to happen. Okay, so here it is. I don't know the day of my death, Isaac says. All right, once you imagine he's

lying in his bed and maybe had just the strength to sit up or maybe to be prompt up, but not all the way up. Not enough. He's not sitting up enough to be able to eat anything. That's going to be important here in a few minutes. He's probably just sitting up just enough. And maybe his face is turned towards his son that he's talking to, but you have to imagine his eyes are probably frosted over with some kind of cataract. And so you're looking at a blind man with his mouth open and his only way of sensing reality around him is through his fingers, through his sense of scent or smell and taste. So he's had that chief of all the senses taken away from him site. And there he is, roping, grasping, trying to settle things his way. So he's about to die. Very old voice. When you talk to somebody who's very elderly, what happens? They can't hear very well. And

you would think that would make them talk louder, but they don't have the strength. They don't have the diaphragm anymore. So it's very, very chesty, very throaty, and you're trying to say something. So this isn't a very quiet voice. I don't know the damn like death. Take your weapons, quiver your boat, go out to the field, hunt for me, prepare for me delicious food such as I love. Bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die. I wasn't expecting that first reading. I don't understand the connection between bringing the food and then I can bless you. Other than it's very, you know, it's very, very human. I'm hungry. I don't have much left that I enjoy life. But there's one thing I do have left that meat in the stew that you make. Bring it to me and then I'm going to bless you. Isaac really, he's really taken by his son, Esau. He

was born with this oracle that was against him, but he's seen him become a very strong and powerful young man. And he seems to have gone to war for Esau over the course of the last 40 years. And this is his final attempt to solidify for the future, his preference over against the world. And he hunts. I really like that about it, Isaac seems to say. And he brings food for me. You know, it's very relational. The person who profites you, the person who brings food for you, it's built into childhood. But it doesn't leave us when Laura makes something for me. Oh man, it's way better than eating it at a restaurant. I don't know why that is exactly. I don't know why physically that is, but psychologically I do. Emotionally, I understand that. And it's so much more precious and special. And Esau seems to have developed that relationship. And he's almost a substitute for Rebecca in his later age. He

depends on Esau for his food. I want you to go out and bring this food. And he says, the food I love. I really love that meal right there. Bring it to me. So, first life. Now, Rebecca was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for the game and bring it. Oh, hold on. Hold on. Hang on just a moment. I almost get something. That connection between food and blessing. How many stories are we going to have in the Bible that revolve around food? Big doors swinging on the little hinge of food. Didn't the whole thing? The Pentateuch start that way. Genesis, don't eat that fruit. Food. The first time Jacob deceived Esau, it was over food. I'm starving. I'll give you anything for that bowl of soup. Jacob says, all right. I'm glad you mentioned that. I'd like the birthright. Okay, fine. And then you get over the New Testament. And the

last supper, it's about foodings. This is my body, which is broken for you. And he breaks the bread and gives it to people and gives it to his disciples. And then he does the same thing at the end of the road to Emmaus. They receive revelation after there's food. And Acts chapter 2, the whole miracle of Pentecost ends with they held everything in common. They shared meals with each other. There's so many instances of food, food, food. Everything seems to be revolving around food because relationships are formed around food. What a strange thing to do. When you ask somebody, when you're a teenager or you're a young adult, you ask somebody to go on a date with you. What do you think they think where we're going to go? Is he inviting me to go to the water? Is he inviting me to go to a movie? Awesome. It's your maddened Hannah. It might be. I'm asking you to go on a... What's

that called? What was it called? Hannah? Oh, go wheeling. All right. He told me a great story about the first time they got together. No, it's really, really good. It didn't involve food at first and foremost, which was unusual. But usually when you say, let's go out on a date, let's go somewhere, it's assumed food. Because we know instinctively, relationships are formed and deepened and solidified around food for whatever reason. God made that so fundamentally a part of us. When we want to get together, talk about something important, food's going to be involved. When we have a meeting that's important, food's involved. And at the end, Jesus calls us to the marriage supper of the lamb. It's all going to end with food. It's great. A future's looking bright, but it's good. All right. So Isaac, bring me food. I'll give you a blessing. All right. Where were we? Verse six. No, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Five. Now, Rebecca was listening when

Isaac spoke to his son, Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for gain and bring in, Rebecca said to her son, Jacob, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau. And she quotes, Bring me gain and prepare for me delicious food that I may eat it and blessing the Lord before I die. Now she added the words before the Lord, which Isaac didn't say. She said before the Lord, she added that as speech, probably to convey the significance so that Jacob understands. This is the blessing that you have to have. Okay. It's being done before the Lord. This is going to determine the future. All right. So she says before the Lord. Verse eight. 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. That's interesting. He asked for game, which

would be wild animal. And she's going to prepare a domesticated animal, two domesticated animals. You would think there would be a difference in taste, but it doesn't seem to register as we'll see with Isaac. All right. But she's got a plan. She's very, very quick. She's the quickest person in the story. She's the most intelligent person in the book of Genesis, outside of Jacob in Joseph. Those guys are really, and Rebecca's right there. All right. She says obey my voice. Go to the flock, bring two young goats. I'll prepare them for delicious food for your father, such as he loves. So she knows the exact recipe. Mm-hmm. You shall bring it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies. Now, Jacob has a great big advantage here because Isaac has to go out into the forest or whatever to go hunt. There are two goats sitting out in the goat pen right out here. So he's got

time on his side. I will say though, I was making this distinction between wild animal and goat. I don't, between wild animal and goat, I don't know that there's all that much of a difference. I had a joke once and it was as gamey and as wild and as horrible as you can possibly, as the name goat suggests. It was every bit as bad as that. So maybe there's not much of a distinction between those two. All right. Verse 11, Jacob's got a little bit of a problem. You would think maybe it's his conscience. He's disturbed. What's dad going to think? And is dad going to be upset about this? Am I going to displease dad? That's not quite what Jacob is worried about right here. What is he worried about? Jacob said to Rebecca, his mother, Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man. And I'm a smooth man, smooth operator. That's not what he means. Or is it? Wait a minute.

Proverbs chapter five might be verse one and might be verse three or might be verse 13. I can't remember which. That's not it. But it's in five. If you keep scrolling through there while I'm talking, each verse you'll see will come upon it. But the wise man is teaching his son and he tells his son, Be careful not to go to even the doorstep of the prostitute. Don't go anywhere near her. She's, if you get close, she speaks very smoothly. Her voice is as smooth as oil. All right. So Jacob here is saying something more than he probably wishes to say about himself. Esau is a hairy man. I'm smooth. I'm smooth. Anyone remember Shadei and smooth operator? That song? That's Jacob. He's really good. He just means it though. Yeah, I can't see which is good for me because I don't look like Jacob. But we don't feel the same that dad's probably going to reach out to me and boy, boy,

Esau must have been a, was that me? That's not me. Okay. All right. All right. He must have been Esau must have been absolutely covered in hair. All right. Some such Isaac can identify in that way. All right. Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing. All right. So Jacob, what is he worried about? He's worried about getting caught. And if he's caught, now here's an old feeble man in the bed. Is he going to look down on me? Is he going to think less of me? But he's going to feel betrayed. He's not worried about that. He knows that his father's blessing before the Lord's about to happen. And so what he says, if it's a blessing, good, if it's a curse, bad, and you can't undo these things apparently. Okay. So Jacob's worried about that. This could all backfire blow up in my face and

instead of me getting nothing, I'll get worse than nothing. A curse. Okay. What's Rebecca say? Verse 13. His mother said to him, Let your curse be on me. My son only obey my voice and go bring him to me. All right. I don't know if it would work out that way or not. I have no idea. I don't know if she would be able to take a curse for somebody. I don't know. But you might be thinking, no, all right. What's the big deal about a blessing and a curse? They're just words from a human being. Do they have real substantive? Do they make a substantive difference? Does God hold the world to the blessings and the curses of people who are about to die? Or just people and important moments of their lives? Apparently in the ancient world, once you say something, you can't un-say it. You can't just reverse it. Now, Jacob's going to get the blessing. Esau's going to, he's

going to cry. We're going to see. He's going to cry. Undo it. And Isaac says, I can't undo it. Well, what do you have left for me? I don't have anything left for you. Why, why? He got this on false pretenses. Why can't you just un-say it? You said it a moment ago. It was just, these were words that are made out of air. You can undo it. Can't you? Apparently not. Once you say it, it's said. And it's whatever you bind in heaven is down upon the earth. Whatever you loose in heaven is loose upon the earth. I don't know how that works, but that's the way it is. It worked for, remember for Jethah. He has your number. Jethah, am I getting the name right? Jethah, right? He makes the horrible promise that whatever, first, if you give me victory, whatever comes out to greet me first out of my house, I'll sacrifice to you so you think it's going to

be a, you know, a pet. It's his daughter. All right. Horrible story. Oh, there are others. Ah, I can't remember them, but there are all kinds of these kinds of stories in ancient literature. You can't seem to un-say things that are once they're said. I'm thinking right now, the, this follows all, even into more modern times, with the invention of the story of the sleepy beauty. Right? You have a, all the sisters are invited. To see their nephews or niece's birth and, and, and give her a blessing and, and, and all the aunts go by and they give their blessing. And then the wicked one who didn't get invited, decides she's going to show up anyway. And because she didn't get an invitation, she's going to curse the child. When you turn 16, you're going to touch the spinning wheel and you're going to go, you're going to die. And fortunately, there was one aunt that was left over at the end. She,

she changed, somehow was able to alter it to, instead of dying to sleep. But whatever the case, there seems to be this ancient superstition that, once you say something, it's sad. It's, it's, it's over. And it's probably more than a superstition. All right, as we'll see. All right. Verse 14, you have to hurry. So he went and took them and brought them to his mother. That's the ghost. And his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. And then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau. Her older son, she thinks of everything, which were with her in the house. We're going to see how fortuitous this particular little detail of the charade is. Okay. And she put those best clothes of Esau on Jacob, her younger son. And the skins of the young ghost, she put on his hands. And on the smooth part of boy, Esau must have been hairy. If this is going to fool Isaac, that just seems impossible

to me, but this just speaks to just exactly how covered in hair this man was. And she put the delicious food at the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son, Jacob. All right. So here he is. Here's the boy. He's got this tray of steaming hot food. It smells really good. And she baked bread too. You know how good that smells when it's fresh. All right. And so his appetite is triggered. He went into his father. The smell probably preceded him. He said, my father. Now, the last time those two words were spoken together was when Isaac was young. And he was following his father, Abraham, up the mountain. And he said, my father. And Abraham said, here I am, my son. And Isaac said, I have the wood and you have the coals. That wears the sacrifice. Last time those words, my father, were said, that they were spoken in absolute blind trust. Blind trust. And now his

son, Isaac's son, speaks to him. And he is hearing with blind trust of you. And he said, here I am. See, the role was reversed. It's not Isaac saying, my father. And a father saying, and Abraham saying, here I am. It's now the son saying, my father. And I'm sorry. It's exactly parallel with what we have before. All right, let's go. Here I am. Who are you? Seeing broken, reaching out. You know, the other sense has become much sharper when you lose your sense of sight. Who are you? My son, Jacob said to his father. I am Esau, your firstborn. Oh, that deception. That really hurts. According to Deuteronomy 27, I think it's verse 18. Maybe try it real quick. I could de-off a couple verses, but it's Deuteronomy 27. There's a curse upon anyone who deceives a blind man. There it is, 27, 18. Cursed the anyone who misleads a blind man on the road. And all the people shall say, Amen.

All right. Literally taking advantage of the blind here. All right. So I am Esau, your firstborn. Why didn't he just say I'm Esau or just say Esau? Surely he's worried. I was able to get the hairy arms and I'm wearing clothes that smell like Esau, but my voice is a dead giveaway. I am Esau, your firstborn. Who is this? But he should have, you would take it. He'd keep it really, really short, Esau. But he didn't. He's really wordy here for some reason. And I thought that's a big mistake right there. And it proves to be a little bit of a mistake because Isaac's going to ask for more proof here in a moment. But watch when we get to when Esau comes into the room. Just hold that top right there. I am Esau, your firstborn. He has two sons, only two sons. He knows which one is firstborn. He knows the name of the firstborn, apparently. But he has your firstborn.

All right. I have done as you told me more lies. Now sit up and eat my game. He called a game. That's a word for a wild animal. He got it out of a pasture. Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies. Isaac said to his son, how is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? I just sent you out into the forest. You're getting better and better. How is it so quick? Jacob is really, really fast on his feet too, just like Rebecca. And he has an answer, apparently, prepared for that. Because the Lord your God has granted me success. I wonder if Jacob is distancing himself from God at this point, knowing all the deception that he's pulling. He doesn't want to say the Lord my God because I'm lying. And he says, your God, or does he know Isaac oh so well and understand his relationship to God? I don't know. Whatever the case, he's 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. Remember, the blessing is irrevocable. And take it back. Gotta get it right. So Jacob went near to Esau. I can feel Jacob's heart pounding. I don't think this is going to work. I knew it. I knew it was going to work. Told Mom it was going to work. Here we are. I'm moving closer and closer. And the voice from the grave, basically Isaac says, voice is Jacob's voice. The hands of the hands of Esau did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. All right, I'll get to that in just a moment. This brings me, it made me think earlier today of determining the voice, whether we know. You ever wondered, am I hearing from God or am I hearing from the darkness? How do I know I'm hearing from

God? How do I know? How do I know I'm not hearing from my enemy and mistaking it for God? We walk by faith and not by sight. Faith comes by hearing. Jesus said, my sheep know my voice and they obey. There's an expectation that you would know the difference. I'm learning myself to know when God is talking to me and I've come to some very definite conclusions about when the enemy is talking to me. And it's consistent theme. It's throughout scripture. It's whenever I hear myself being depicted as the victim and God is the villain. That's what I know. Oh, what did Jesus, what did the devil say to Jesus? If you're really the son of God, turn stunted. There's nothing really the enemy would like to do. And when you're at a teachable moment in life and you're ready to listen, you're ready to hear. Now you could go, you could learn or you could go the other way and listen to

what the enemy would like to make you bitter and angry to turn against the friend, turn against the voice of God. And so very, very often you're going to find yourself being encouraged to see yourself as the victim in the circumstance because once you're successfully portrayed in your own mind as the victim, you're now unteachable. Everyone else has to change, not me. Right? That's exactly the position the enemy would like you to be in because you can't change there. You can't improve there. You are inoculated. I'm not, how does God, how does God, how does God help us? Hebrews says, whom God loves, he disciplines. That's how God, that's how God, that's how God helps us through usually some form of discipline that can be sometimes painful, sometimes very, very mild. Lila, whatever the case, it doesn't always mean hurting. It just sometimes means God disciplines you. He trains you who God loves. He trains, but you can't be trained. You can't be

disciplined when you're always seeing the blows as the blows of a villain God upon a weak and innocent victim. You can't learn there. So learn to interrogate that whispering, that voice that you, and I don't mean a literal voice that you're hearing, but the promptings within you, your first instinct whenever you're confronted is to go all victim mode and defensive. Okay, but listen, be careful. Don't allow yourself to be portrayed that way. The best thing to do usually is to say, with the repentant heart, you say, Lord, teach me. Here I am, talk to you. So back to Jacob. Jacob has deceived, even though he has used him, he's used his own voice. He's successfully deceived his father. Oh, one more instance once. In Revelation chapter 13, speaking of the distinguishing between the voices, in Revelation chapter 13, the scripture says that there were two beasts that rose up out of the sea. It's using apocalyptic language and symbolism here. The two beasts

rise up out of the sea and they defy God and they make war on the saints. And one beast, one beast looks like a lamb, has the horns. He's a powerful lamb. And he's able to call fire down from heaven. Again, this is symbolic language. He's able to perform miracles. What does he look like? A lamb. He looks like Jesus. He's masturbating as Jesus. And here's what John says, that you need to see through the deception. He looks like the lamb, but speaks like the dragon. Looks like the lamb, but speaks like the dragon. Listen to the voice. Jesus said, my sheep, you're my voice, you know. Okay, all right, boy, we are getting off track. You've got seven minutes. The blessing falls now upon Jake. Verse 24. And Isaac says, are you really my son, Esau? Which seems a little late. He answered, it's one word in Hebrew, am, am, am, am. Then he said, he's, he's learned. Don't say too much.

Keep it real short. Then he said, bring it near me, that is, bring the food near me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you. So he brought it near to him. And he ate and brought him wine and he drank, which means he probably dulled whatever sentences he did have, have left even further. And then verse 26, there's one more little test. Then his father Isaac said to him, come near me, and, and kiss me my son. That's clever. Coming real close, I have one sense left I haven't used. I've used touch. I don't have eyes. I've used my ear. I've used taste. I tasted the soup. Tastes good. One sense left. Smell. Rebecca thought of this because she put that, the clothing of Esau on it. So he probably, he probably smelled like he'd been hunting. And Isaac was familiar with that smell. Who in here has been hunting before? And, and I know a couple of you

have. I just, I'm actually serious. Any hunters in here? Okay. Only two. All right. Last time I went hunting, I was 19. But before that, I used to go every year with another mom. And he usually had a deer every year. And first time I ever smelled what it was like to go hunting. The first time you, it's not pleasant at all. And if you're not really, really prepared, it can turn you off of hunting or eating whatever comes of hunting forever. I wasn't prepared for it myself. It's a very distinct and you, and you prepare an animal. Esau has lived a lifetime of this kind of life and hunting. So his clothes smelled a certain way. And, and Jacob leans in. There's that smell of the field and deceives him with a kiss. With a kiss. Who else is this reminding you of in the Bible? It's just so scary. And he, he, he, he betrays Jesus with a kiss. We're getting

this little, these little snapshots of the future. All right. Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed in its end. See, so he's checked all four senses now. The smell of my son is the, is as the smell of the field that the Lord has blessed. Man, God give you the do of heaven. What's the do of heaven? That's, that's the rain. God bless you with rain, rain in, especially not in Washington. You might pray for sunny days, but in the Middle East, you pray for rainy days. I went one time to, went one time to the Jordan River out where it's believed that John the Baptist baptized. And it's just this little trickle of God. There's not much there. It's mostly just dirt and some river vegetation. That's it. That's it. Just a little tiny. It's the most disappointing thing you think the Jordan River, you think, but this might break the river and then get there. And it's not even

big enough to be muddy. It's just a trickle. And so our guide who's named as Isaac, he says, he says, you know, one day I went, I, I, I went to the Niagara Falls. Anybody been to the Niagara Falls? Said, I stood there and watched as 400,000 tons of water poured out over, over those cliffs. Every minute, that's how much water. I said, if Israel could just have three minutes of this, three minutes, all our problems would go away. Three minutes. May God give you the due of heaven. It's a prayer or a blessing that you're going to receive prosperity from heaven, the rain, but a cross of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. Let people serve you and nations bow down to you. This is what he's intending for Esau. Remember, let people serve you nations bow down to you. You can have all of the due of heaven or the reign of heaven. Be Lord over

your brothers. And brothers can be translated relatives. Okay, but be Lord over them. And may your mother's sons or relatives bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. And blessed be everyone who blesses you. This is everything. It's everything, everything. It's prosperity. It's prosperity here in the present, prosperity in the future. It's peace on your borders. It's lordship over anybody who would vie with you. What was he intending to get to Jacob? Nothing. This is why Rebecca's not in the room. As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of his father, Isaac, his father, he saw his brother came in from his hunting. He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, let my father arise and eat of his son's game that he may bless you. His father Isaac said to him, who are you? He answered, I'm your son. Your firstborn son,

Esau. Ah, now we know why. Jacob threw in that little line about being firstborn, because he knew his brother's speech patterns. He knew how he talked. He anticipated, oh my goodness, wow, wow. No wonder his name was later changed to Israel. He has wrestled with God in one. That's what the name Israel means. Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came? I have blessed him. Yes, and he shall be blessed. And as soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, bless me, even me also, oh my father. But he said, your brother came deceitfully. That is, no Jacob's name means deceit, right? Your brother came Jacobly, and he is taken away your blessing. Esau said, is he not rightly named Jacob? He's cheated me these two times. This

is, it's almost like blaming his dad right here. You didn't know who our youngest person in this household was? You of all people should know. You should have tested. I did four times. He took away my birthright and behold, now he's taken away my blessing. Then he said, have you not reserved a blessing for me? Isaac answered and said to Esau, behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers, I have given to him first servants. With brain and wine, I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son? Again, this is what Isaac intended for Jacob. What then can I do for you, son? Esau said to his father, how do you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father. Esau lifted up his voice and was. And Isaac, his father, answered and said to him, behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall be your dwelling place. And away from

the dew of heaven on earth. This is an anti-blessing. You're going to go to very dry places, buy your sword, you shall live, and you shall serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you shall break his yell from your neck. That's a prophecy that is accomplished in second kings. So 1,200 years later or so, 200 years later, finally Edom is no longer a part of the nations of Israel. They throw off the yoke and they become an independent nation. And then ever after, they become antagonists against Israel. And in fact, they held Babylon enslaved Israel. And so in the book of Obadiah, the prophet is of first pronounced upon Edom. Okay. I'm going to stop right there. I just want to say this last thing. This is actually the point and I left too little time for this, but we just said it real quickly. In this chapter, chapter 27, there's a little glimpse of the gospel. Here's a wayward son, a

sinful son who comes before his father wearing the first born's clothing and receives the inheritance that belongs to the first born. Who does that sound like? What story am I telling? That's the gospel, isn't it? We are the wayward son. We come before the father. And if we are wearing Christ put on Christ, you receive the inheritance. This is why Romans chapter 13 and verse 14 says, close yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful flesh in 1st Corinthians 15 and 49. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. So there's a piece of the gospel here in Genesis chapter 27. On our own merits, we don't get the inheritance. But when we put on Christ, that's what receives the inheritance.