05.032. Chapter 27
Approximately 37 years have passed since the events of the previous chapter. Isaac is now 137, his sight has failed, and he thinks he is about to die (Genesis 27:1-2), perhaps because his brother Ishmael had died at that age (Genesis 25:17). But he will live 43 more years, although nothing further is recorded about him in Genesis except his death (Genesis 35:27-29). When Isaac craved some venison from Esau, promising a blessing in return, Rebekah plotted to deceive her husband and to get the blessing for Jacob, whom she loved (Genesis 27:1-17). Her trickery was unnecessary because God had already promised the blessing to Jacob (Genesis 25:23 b). She cooked goat’s meat so that it tasted like venison, and put the goat’s skins on Jacob’s arms to impersonate the hairy Esau (Genesis 27:18-29). Isaac made the mistake of trusting his feelings; the hairy arm “felt” like Esau’s. We should not trust our emotional feelings in spiritual matters, for:
Feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. Our warrant is the Word of God; naught else is worth believing.15
Although Rebekah planned the deception, Jacob was equally guilty for carrying it out. And he reaped what he sowed. “It has been observed by another that ‘whoever observes Jacob’s life, after he had surreptitiously obtained his father’s blessing, will perceive that he enjoyed very little worldly felicity. His brother sought to murder him, to avoid which he was forced to flee from his father’s house; his uncle Laban deceived him… He was obliged to leave him in a clandestine manner… He experienced the baseness of his son Reuben … the treachery and cruelty of Simeon and Levi towards the Shechemites; then he had to feel the loss of his beloved wife … the supposed untimely end of Joseph; and to complete all, he was forced by famine to go into Egypt, and there died in a strange land…’”16
Isaac blessed Jacob with prosperity, dominion, and protection (Genesis 27:23-29). It is interesting that the blessings spoken by the patriarchs were prophetic; they came to pass literally because, in a real sense, these men spoke by inspiration. When Esau returned and learned of the deception, he sought the blessing tearfully. But the blessing had been granted to Jacob and it couldn’t be retracted (Hebrews 12:16-17). However, Isaac did have a word for Esau, as follows: “Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you break .loose, you shall break his yoke from your neck” (Genesis 27:39-40 RSV). This suggests that the Edomites would live in desert places, would be warriors, would be subject to the Israelites, but would one day rebel against this rule. This latter prophecy was fulfilled in the reign of Joram, King of Judah (2 Kings 8:20-22).
Esau planned to kill Jacob as soon as his father would die and the period of mourning would end. When Rebekah learned of this, she told Jacob to head for her brother Laban’s home in Haran. She feared not only that Jacob would be killed but that Esau would run away or be killed in a blood feud, and she would lose two sons at once (v. 45). However, to explain Jacob’s departure to Isaac, she said she was afraid Jacob might marry a Hittite, as Esau had done (vv. 41-46). Jacob expected to return soon, but it was not to be for more than 20 years. His father would still be living, but his mother would have passed on.