Genesis 27
Genesis 27
In our passage, we see Jacob trick his father, Isaac, into giving him his brother’s blessing. This is not the first time Jacob has done something like this. Nick talked about it a couple of days ago, but Esau sold Jacob his birthright because he was hungry. This is one messed up family.
I think the question we all ask after reading this: who was in the wrong, Jacob or Esau?
The correct answer: both of them.
Jacob was deceitful and manipulated his brother into taking his birthright and blessing. Esau was no saint though. He made rash decisions and married two women who “made life bitter” for his parents. The sinfulness of humans is on full display in this family.
What is the point of this passage then?
The point is the fulfillment of God’s plan. In Genesis 25:23, God tells Rebekah that the older will serve the younger. God had chosen Jacob to carry on the lineage. Why? We don’t know, it is just how God decided it. We see this in Romans 9:12-16, “she was told ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”
John Piper explains it this way: God chose Jacob over Esau before they were born or had done anything good or bad. It was not their behavior or their attitude or their faith or their parents that moved God to choose Jacob and not Esau. The choice was unconditional. It was rooted in God alone and not in man.
God is not unjust for choosing Jacob over Esau. Esau did nothing to deserve blessings. If we get mad at God for choosing Jacob over Esau, then we need to examine our own heart. We don’t deserve God’s blessings, yet He gives them to us anyway.
This was God’s plan, and while we might not fully understand it, we must trust it. God is God and we are not.
By: Brice Stockton
In our passage, we see Jacob trick his father, Isaac, into giving him his brother’s blessing. This is not the first time Jacob has done something like this. Nick talked about it a couple of days ago, but Esau sold Jacob his birthright because he was hungry. This is one messed up family.
I think the question we all ask after reading this: who was in the wrong, Jacob or Esau?
The correct answer: both of them.
Jacob was deceitful and manipulated his brother into taking his birthright and blessing. Esau was no saint though. He made rash decisions and married two women who “made life bitter” for his parents. The sinfulness of humans is on full display in this family.
What is the point of this passage then?
The point is the fulfillment of God’s plan. In Genesis 25:23, God tells Rebekah that the older will serve the younger. God had chosen Jacob to carry on the lineage. Why? We don’t know, it is just how God decided it. We see this in Romans 9:12-16, “she was told ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”
John Piper explains it this way: God chose Jacob over Esau before they were born or had done anything good or bad. It was not their behavior or their attitude or their faith or their parents that moved God to choose Jacob and not Esau. The choice was unconditional. It was rooted in God alone and not in man.
God is not unjust for choosing Jacob over Esau. Esau did nothing to deserve blessings. If we get mad at God for choosing Jacob over Esau, then we need to examine our own heart. We don’t deserve God’s blessings, yet He gives them to us anyway.
This was God’s plan, and while we might not fully understand it, we must trust it. God is God and we are not.
By: Brice Stockton
1 Comment
Your points are so well made, Brice. It got me to thinking: God could have just let Jacob be born first, but He didn't. This demonstrates that God will bless whom He will bless and we are deserving of nothing on our own. God works in spite of us.