Episode 204: The Power of a Blessing: Leadership, Deception & Consequences | Genesis 27 Study

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Today Counts Show Episode 204

Preview

Jim: When I was a kid and I read this, I didn’t really understand the power of a blessing, the difference. I don’t know how much we still believe it has the same power. I don’t think we do. And I think we believe in the spirit of blessing one another. In this day, because of the development of how God was revealing himself and blessing these people, the blessing was irreversible. That’s something that our culture doesn’t know anything about. I think we live in a culture where we think everything’s reversible.

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All right, let’s get to the podcast.

Introduction

Jim: Welcome back, everybody, to The Today Counts Show. I have with me today Pastor Matt Martin and Pastor Winston Harris and yours truly, Jim Piper. We’re in Genesis 27 in the Genesis Project. And we just want to warn you right now, everybody fails in this. Right? But we’re not judging.

Winston: But we are.

Jim: But we are.

Matt: But we are.

Jim: And in a way, we get to sit on our perch and judge. But there is humility that’s going to come in this. But you guys, this is a lot of bad stuff. So hopefully we can learn from it.

Genesis 27: The Irreversible Blessing

Going to read the first four verses. It says Genesis 27:

“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, ‘Son. My son.'”

“Here I am,” he answered.

Isaac said, “I am now an old man, and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your equipment, your quiver and bow, and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 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.”

All right, let’s help the listeners know what is wrong with what we have already read.

Isaac’s Flaw and Rebecca’s Scheme (Genesis 27:1-17)

Winston: Seems like there’s a blessing attached to meat.

Jim: Protein, right? That’s what we’re learning. Protein is good for us.

Matt: Yeah. If you’re a hunter, you can be blessed. So apparently that is… wow.

Winston: Yeah. I think what’s kind of interesting to me here is that if you jump back to Genesis 25, God tells Rebecca who essentially is going to be blessed, which is not Esau, which is going to be his brother Jacob. So I guess it begs the question, did Rebecca not talk to Isaac? As this unfolds, they’re already behind. There was a miscommunication. They’re not following God’s orders, God’s desires, and they’re kind of trying to take it into their own hands. Isaac is going to try to take it into his own hands. We’re going to read a little bit more. Everybody’s trying to do their own thing except following what God had already said.

Matt: And the secrets that are unfolding here. The rest of the chapter has secrets as well. But already, because verse five you’re going to hear it, you’ll see it. You know that Isaac is trying to privately have this conversation with Esau.

Understanding the Patriarchal Blessing

Jim: When I was a kid and I read this, I didn’t really understand the power of a blessing, the difference. I don’t know how much we still believe it has the same power. I don’t think we do. But I think we believe in the spirit of blessing one another. And I do think that we believe that there is something supernaturally powerful about asking God to bless somebody. We believe that.

But in this day, because of the development of how God was revealing himself and blessing these people, the blessing was irreversible. That’s something that our culture doesn’t know anything about. I think we live in a culture where we think everything’s reversible.

Matt: Yeah. Well, it’s setting up the patriarch, and we don’t even understand that full context in our current culture. Because we’ve even lost the idea of kings and princes, especially in Western modern culture. But just understanding that patriarch and the power of the words of the patriarch. This was not just some hard-headed older man. His words carried power to that next generation.

And in this case, the abundant blessings that were in this family. They were not paupers. There was a lot to ne gained here. There was a lot of power as the patriarch of the family.

Jim: The blessing gave authority, family leadership, inheritance, economic power.

Matt: Which really, when you understand that, what you’re saying right there, Jim, is that is a good setup for the rest of this chapter because you understand the weight of it. And now how it will, we’re going to see, run off the rails.

Isaac’s Preference for Esau

Jim: So he wants to give it to Esau, which at this point was how it would traditionally go.

Winston: But also we know from previous chapters this was his favorite son.

Jim: Yeah.

Winston: He’s playing favorites.

Jim: Yeah. Because I think his stomach led his decisions.

The Deception Begins: Jacob Disguised as Esau

Rebekah Overhears Isaac’s Plan

Verse 5 says, “Now Rebecca was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebecca said to her son Jacob, ‘Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, “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.” Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you. Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats.”

Now, our own pastor Matt is a goat rancher?

Winston: Rancher?

Matt: Yeah. All the above.

Jim: So, he’s going to have something to say about this. But I have a big question about it. “So I can prepare some tasty food for your father just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.’”

Jacob’s Concern About the Deception

Jacob said to Rebecca, his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man, while I have smooth skin. 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.”

His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say. Go and get them for me.”

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. Then Rebecca took the best clothes of Esau, her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goat skins.

Okay, that’s the part that Pastor Matt is going to have to explain to me.

Jacob Approaches Isaac

Verse 17. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

He went to his father and said, “My father.”

“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”

Verse 19 says, “Jacob…”

I’ll tell you what, I’m going to stop right where it says she also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goat skins. And then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

All right. So Jacob is clothed with Esau’s clothes. He has in his hands what his mother made as a counterfeit of what Esau would have made. And he’s got goat skin on his body where he knows most likely that Isaac will reach for.

A Goat Rancher Weighs In on Esau’s Hairiness

So Matt, if I reach for a goat skin, that’s going to– I’m going to go, “Oh, that feels just like my son, Esau”

Winston: We have a resident goat expert.

Jim: You guys need to know that Pastor Matt literally-

Winston: Is the resident goat rancher.

Jim: -is the resident goat expert, goat rancher. He is–

Winston: Qualified.

Matt: Pictures and videos to prove. 100%.

Jim: He is totally qualified to answer this part.

Matt: I have a herd of goats, a flock of goats even, as some would say. The Bible would say a flock of goats. So my question though is how hairy is Esau, right? That’s a man.

Jim: That’s what I’m saying.

Matt: A young goat actually has really soft hair. You think of animal hair, whether you’re thinking of cow or deer or whatever, as bristle and hard. As they get older, it is. But when they’re young–

Just yesterday I had two small less-than-a-month old goats I was holding. The hair and the skin were very soft, very smooth. I did not think this is what the hairy arm of some other guy would feel like. I got nothing. But it is soft. I will say that. You don’t think that. You want to think a goat, you know, goat hair is going to be real bristled and it is as they get older. It is soft.

Now how they pulled that off, I’ve read the scripture so many times in my life. Like did you skin it? Did you pluck some of it? Did you patch it on? You didn’t have a glue gun to glue it on him. How are you making this work?

But Jacob is very clear: “I am smooth skinned.” I don’t know. It’s just wild to me. I understand it, I just don’t understand it.

Jim: I think Winston has done some research. Let’s hear it.

Shepherding Practices and a Possible Parallel

Winston: Yeah. I came across something that I want to run by the resident goat expert to see. This is specific to lambs, and I would assume goats as well. If a mother lamb has two baby lambs, twins, there are times when one is rejected and essentially one is accepted.

If the accepted one dies, it’s known that shepherds would take the skin of the deceased lamb and put it on the rejected one, that one that is still alive, so that the mother lamb would accept it.

Jim: Wow.

Winston: That is some background potential content to what’s actually happening.

Jim: Is that ChatGPT? I’m throwing a flag.

Matt: He’s just asking it, straight up.

Jim: I’m throwing a flag at this.

Matt: He’s just straight asking that.

Jim: We will have no chat.

Winston: That is not GPT.

Jim: That’s pretty amazing. I vaguely recall something like that way back.

Winston: Just coming across some narratives around Genesis 27, this was maybe a parallel that Moses was trying to integrate into the story of what happens. I thought that was fascinating that this actually happens between real shepherds and lambs, at least in ancient times. I don’t know if that still happens.

Real-Life Goat Rejection and the Role of Scent

Matt: Well, I have two goats right now whose mother has rejected them. The problem is the mother rejected both of them. I don’t know if taking the hide off of one would–

Jim: They were twins?

Matt: They were twins and the mother rejected both.

Jim: Why?

Matt: I don’t know. Very interesting. She was a young mother and didn’t know what to do.

Jim: She still had her whole life ahead of her and didn’t want to be bogged down with motherhood.

Matt: Exactly right. Now this has nothing to do with our Bible story, but something that is intriguing is that most of the time when a mother rejects a lamb or a young goat, a kid goat, another mother will sometimes supplement for that.

But that’s real. That rejection really happens. I could see taking the skin of one and putting it on the one that was rejected so it would be accepted. That’s a strong parallel. They worked much harder than I do to keep their flocks alive. That was their livelihood.

Winston: And it said it’s because it allows the lamb to identify the baby by scent.

Matt: By scent.

Winston: It would not be by sight. It would be by scent. You see some of the similar parallels here with Isaac by touch and not by sight.

Matt: That’s what they do with goats. The first thing they’re doing is their nose is on them. They’re cleaning them after they’re born. There’s a very distinct scent that goat has, which would again be the reference of the scripture here. It’s interesting but how bad were Isaac’s eyes and how feeble were his hands. That’s a lot of hair.

Returning to the Genesis 27 Story

Jim: I know. Esau must have been one gorilla of a man. That’s the only thing I can think of.

Matt: Yeah.

Jim: And I have seen some men that, oh my goodness. They need to put shampoo on their forearms, add conditioner, and blow-dry their forearms. Blow-dry their back.

Winston: Comb it out.

Matt: Whoa. Come on now.

Jim: Okay, let’s review where we’re at in the story. Isaac is on his deathbed. They’ve got their two sons, Esau the eldest and Jacob the younger. It had already been stated by the Lord that the elder would serve the younger.

The mom, who obviously had her own favorite, felt that she needed to help God out, even though God said this was going to happen anyway. She panics, comes up with a scheme, pulls Jacob in. Jacob doesn’t have enough moral backbone yet to push back. And I say yet because he’s got many battles with his faith upcoming in his life, which we’ll learn about.

So I think now we’re at the point where he enters into the room. So let’s see, verse 10.

The Voice of Jacob and the Stolen Blessing (Genesis 27:18-29)

Matt: Hey, just real quick on this, Jim. I just want to throw this in as we see how quickly Jacob jumps on board with the plan, and Rebecca says, one, “Let the curse fall on me.” And the other is once he felt like there was enough deception there that would feel like truth, he was willing to participate. So he participates willingly. He’s not being forced. He’s manipulated into it. But he is willingly participating.

Jim: Well, and once he thought that the plan has a chance of working, then he–

Matt: He’s on board with it. But it goes to show you the power that we have as parents, as leaders, that manipulating others, even to get what we want. Because this for Rebecca was even about getting the blessing to Jacob. She had her own plan. None of them trusted each other. Worst of all, they didn’t trust that God could accomplish his ultimate plan. That’s the worst thing.

But I just thought that was interesting that we as leaders, as parents, we have a lot of power in our words and even how we are conniving and manipulating things sometimes. We can get others to go along to make it seem like it’s the right thing to do.

Jim: Yeah. I mean, you can make the case that Rebecca, since she had this knowledge, felt that she was doing it for the sake of God, and she rationalized, right? God needs our help.

Matt: Yeah.

Jim: Get the God complex. Verse 18.

Matt: The story unfolds now, though.

The Voice of Jacob and the Stolen Blessing (Genesis 27:18–29)

Jim: Yeah. Verse 18, this is Jacob. He went to his father and said, “My father.”

“Yes, my son,” Isaac answers. “Who is it?”

Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn.”

There’s so much lying going on in here, it’s hard to keep straight who’s who, what’s what because you don’t know–

Matt: And he just keeps on, and lie builds upon lie on it. We don’t stop with one. That’s too easy.

Jim: Well, it’s just like if two kids come up to you and they’re all mad and crying and they’re yelling at each other and they’re trying to give their case, you lose track of who said what, who did what. And that’s kind of where I’m at right now.

So anyway, verse 19, Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn.” Just to be clear, that is not Esau. “I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing.” Isaac.

Lies Piled Upon Lies

Matt: The second lie there is Jacob didn’t even prepare it. Rebecca prepared it. The next thing is a lie again. He did not prepare that.

Jim: Yeah, that’s good.

And then verse 20 says, “Isaac asked his son, how did you find it so quickly, my son?” He’s perplexed, right?

Winston: Because previous chapters it took him a week and he still came back with nothing.

Jim: Yeah. He was hungry. This time he walked out his front porch and there it was. Already in the pot under the fire, above the fire.

“The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied.

Isaac’s Doubt and the Final Deception

Verse 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.”

Man. Isaac doesn’t trust anybody, right? This is a close family. They did a lot of smore time together out by the fire.

Verse 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.”

He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau. So he proceeded to bless him.

“Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.

“I am,” he replied.

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. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.” So he went to him and kissed him.

When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said– Here it goes.

“Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness, an abundance of grain and new wine. 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.”

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The Irreversible Authority and Esau’s Limited Blessing (Genesis 27:30-40)

Questions About God, Free Will, and the Story

Jim: Can I ask you guys a question before we commentate on this? This being such a twisted, wrapped-up story, and though God said that the elder would serve the younger, it just boggles my mind that God sits back and watches it happen in this way. Does it bother you guys?

Matt: I mean, it’s what’s happening at the beginning of the book of Genesis. It allows for the free will of man to take advantage, to mess up the will of God.

Jim: Isn’t it funny how we want our free will until our free will messes us up? And then when the judgment for messing up comes, then we get mad at God. Am I wrong?

Winston: No. I’ve done it.

Matt: Exactly right.

Jim: Well, that’s where I was going with that, guys.

Matt: So true.

Winston: It is very bothersome that clearly Isaac had doubt, yet he still goes forth with it. He literally is like, you sound like Jacob.

Jim: And the speed of how you got that. He himself had to be a hunter.

Winston: He should know, but somehow he still makes a decision against all the facts that were there. He is willingly, to the point he’s using his free will, his emotions. He wants this to be Esau, but it’s clearly not Esau. I think you could even pull something out there briefly about how often does our situation, our circumstance tell us not to move forward, but we move forward because we want that to turn out the way that we want it to turn out.

Jim: He wasn’t wearing a watch either. So he probably said, “Oh, I snoozed a lot longer than I thought.”

Isaac’s Urgency and the Fear of Dying Without Passing the Blessing

Matt: But go back to the beginning of chapter 26. It says he was old, his eyes were weak, and he could no longer see. And he called and he said, “I am an old man, and I don’t know the day of my death.” He does not want to be buried with this blessing. He wants to make sure that it is passed on. And so out of speed and out of trying to help God with his own timeline, he is part of it, I believe, part of his motivation.

And I’m with Winston going, you already can’t see. It doesn’t feel right, doesn’t sound right, and then it kind of smells right. I don’t have any spiritual application here, but outside of that, he had multiple reasons to pump the brakes, and he did not. But I think we have to be careful not to fault him too bad because of verse one and two. He must have felt something that he felt like death was imminent.

God Allowing What He Does Not Approve

Jim: I sometimes wonder what the unseen world, how the unseen world was looking upon this moment, if they even had knowledge, or if this is one of those kinds of things that only a select few know, the Lord and those that were involved in the deception. And obviously, Isaac finds out shortly the tragedy of it in the family.

Winston: I’ve heard this said: just because God allowed it doesn’t mean God approved it. So even if all this is still happening, God is still going to use them, and the blessing is still going to– God is still working through this broken family. But some people might look at this and be like, “Oh, well, God must be okay with all of this.”

Jim: That logic, Winston, don’t you think that sometimes can enter the Christian’s mind too? That as they cross the line, whatever that line is, and there doesn’t seem to be any immediate repercussion, that it’s okay. It’s not that big of a deal, and therefore go deeper into that kind of lifestyle or way of thinking.

I think sometimes we misunderstand God’s patience for his tolerance. And I think there’s a difference between those two.

Esau Returns and the Truth Is Revealed

All right. Well, let’s start with verse 30. I think we’ll go through 40.

Verse 30 says, “After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting.” So it was a pretty quick trip.

Yeah. He too prepared some tasty food.

What is mom doing during this time? My imagination just goes. Does she find a place to hide? Did she come into the–

Winston: I’ve never thought about that until you just said that. Rebecca just disappears. She went to the river and did laundry and all this. Get out of here.

Jim: He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game,” how confused Isaac must have been, “so that you may give me your blessing.”

“Whoa, wait. Did I dream this, or now it’s real?”

His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”

“I’m your son,” he answered. “Your firstborn son, Esau.”

You idiot. It doesn’t say “you idiot,” just to be clear.

Verse 33. Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came, and I blessed him, and indeed he will be blessed.”  Just a thought I had there, real quick. You guys come back on it. Boy, when God does delegate authority, he delegates authority.

Winston: No backsies.

Jim: Yeah. Crazy.

Esau’s Cry and the Limited Blessing

Verse 34: When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, my father.”

But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me.” He’s kind of a victim, but he’s kind of not. “He took my birthright, and now he’s taking my blessing.”

Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”

Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”

Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father.” Then Esau wept aloud. What a horrible moment.

His father Isaac answered him, “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”

Matt: This limited blessing, as some would call it, is nowhere even close. If you read this, you’re like, where’s the blessing part?

Jim: Yeah. It’s like reading somebody’s will and it says 100% goes to so-and-so. And I did write in his 100% that he can’t kill you.

Matt: That’s it.

Winston: So you get to live.

Matt: Man. You’re going to live by the sword. You’re going to serve your brother. There’s just a lot there.

The Painful Consequences of Sin

Jim: There’s times in life like this that you don’t imagine, but it comes. And really for everybody. There are two that might think they’re winners in this, but they’re not. I think it’s amazing that Isaac had no rationalization, nor did he believe he had any ability to do anything. He believed so much in this authority that was given to him and that once he gave it, it was gone. It was out of his control. Absolutely out of his control.

Matt: That he couldn’t take it back. There was no “I remove that from Jacob and now place that on Esau.” He saw no path to removal of it. Once it was given, it was given.

Jim: It was literally a treasure chest that was already given and locked away. Boy, that is so fascinating to me.

This is kind of where you get in parts of the Bible like this where, because we did not live in that time and there’s not enough literature to help us really understand this, we know nothing about this. But if we can bring the gospel into this, God gives to us this incredible treasure that it does take faith to receive that treasure. But the Father has given the Son the way that Isaac gave the blessing to Jacob. It has that kind of power.

It’s just bizarre because we do not live in this time where everything literally transfers to somebody with just a spoken word. Well, heck, even if you put it in writing, you still have recourse to challenge it. If birth order was law and we lived in this day and age, you could challenge this. But apparently this was a done deal.

Sin’s Ripple Effect on Others

Winston: I also think about how much sin causes pain. It says Isaac trembled violently. Obviously Esau is broken. He’s crying out. He’s beside himself. Just the repercussions and the consequences of sin. Rebecca and Jacob seemingly, I don’t know what they thought the consequences of this were going to be. Maybe they thought it was going to be fine. But this deeply hurt their family members.

Jim: Yeah, I agree with you. I know it sounds like a downer. As Christians, we’re supposed to be dealers in hope, not dope—hope. But there are a lot of folks walking around today that somehow live in a state of mind where they don’t really need anything. To your point, Winston, if you’re going to have sins, the Bible teaches us if you could rate a sin from 1 to 10, 10 being the most horrible sin you can think of and 1 being that infraction, we know that the consequences for each of those here on Earth are probably somewhat par to those offenses.

We also know, though, that even the small infractions separate us from a holy and perfect God. I think what we don’t understand is that what we would think is a small infraction, a traffic ticket, a parking ticket if you will, of sin, somehow is benign and doesn’t have more negative impact than that. It saddens me to think about all the sin in my life and the hurt it has probably caused others. Some of that pain I nor they are even aware of. Because we’ve said it before, I don’t believe that we can contain sin, our sin, to ourselves.

I say all that not as a downer, but as something that sets the stage for the gospel. To be sad about this is a normal human and maybe even godly reaction to feeling bad for this family because they’re living in darkness even though God’s hand is on them. How is that possible?

Bitterness, Flight, and the Lessons from Hebrews 12

Matt: This portion of scripture is referenced again in Hebrews chapter 12. It’s interesting because Hebrews 12 starts off as, “We’re surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”

But verse 14 says, “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy. Without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Verse 15: “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral or is godless like Esau.”

I’m in the NIV. Other translations use different language there, but it says “godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.” And afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, which is what we’re talking about right now, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.

The Bitter Root of Esau

And it’s so big. We haven’t read it yet. I’m going to step one verse ahead, Jim, on Genesis 27. The next verse says, “I’ll mourn the days of my father that they’ll be here shortly. Then I will kill my brother.”

That is bitterness. That is a level of bitterness that is almost hard to comprehend. But in Hebrews there are multiple themes right here. That root of bitterness. Because in this case, because of his own decisions, his own actions, yet he still allowed bitterness and this lack of a repentant heart to change his thought process in the moment right there.

So it’s interesting that the depth of the story is being taught again in the New Testament church. So much of scripture was verbal, oral tradition. How had that story stuck, this part of the story stuck throughout the thousands of years that even the writer of Hebrews is coming back around saying, “Hey, you all know this so well, but don’t be like Esau. Don’t be godless like he was.”

In other words, “I will give up all the things God has for me for something as simple as a bowl of stew. And then when I want to come back around and I’m rejected for the decisions I’ve already made of rejecting God.”

It paints such an incredible picture. As I was piecing this together while you were talking, I remembered there’s such an interesting dynamic at play here. But we see bitterness immediately in the life of Esau in that next verse.

Family Division and Jacob’s Flight

Jim: Yeah. And our chapter for today does not end any better. As Matt read, verse 41 says, “Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him.” He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

When Rebecca was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. Stay with him–” We read about Haran and Laman earlier in the story. “Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there.”

Then she says, “Why should I lose both of you in one day?” Interesting.

Then Rebecca said to Isaac— I find this last verse so hypocritical: “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”

Winston: How is that the end of that chapter?

Jim: Well, you’re not going to tell your dad that you’re going to kill his other son. So you have another secret that he’s taken to the grave or hidden from him. And she’s hiding it from her husband by making up this other story. “Hey, he’s going to have to run for his life for a while.” Can’t tell him the truth. Got to tell him something else.

It’s weird. Well, that was not weird. It’s–

Winston: Humanity?

Jim: It’s what we do.

Matt: Humanity. What we do. This is a tragic chapter. This is one of those glimpses into humanity with God’s purpose still being accomplished through broken humanity. You have a chapter where no one trusts each other in the house.

The Long-Term Consequences of the Deception

I think I’m right when I say this. I can be corrected. It wouldn’t be the first time in my life I was wrong for sure about this. But I don’t know that Rebecca would see Jacob again-

Winston: She doesn’t.

Matt: -while she was alive. I don’t think she does. So even him leaving, she basically lost him there. And my last thought on this is just, man, can you imagine being that daughter-in-law? She’s like, “I hate these women around here.”

Anyway, that’s another angle. But I’m reminded again reading this of the family dynamic and the power of it. We see it at play here. And then not trusting God, and God’s timing. God really does know what’s going on, and he really does have a plan. But we can get in the way of it.

Winston: Yeah. I think there’s a translation for verse 44 that says Jacob will go to Laban’s for a few days. I just think it’s interesting how we think our own plans. We have this timeline. And sin will convince you it’s just a little bit. You all know that phrasing off the top of your head probably better than I do. What’s the phrase about sin? Sin will–

Jim: Oh, take you further than you want to go.

Matt: Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay.

Winston: I think that’s what we see here. Especially Rebecca. She didn’t know, to your point, that this was the last time she was going to see him.

Matt: What a chapter.

Jim: What a chapter. I’ll see you guys in Genesis chapter 28.

Outro

Winston: Thanks for spending part of your day with us on The Today Counts Show. If today’s conversation encouraged you, challenged you, or helped you grow, share it with someone in your circle, because we’re better when we grow together. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and stay connected with us on Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

And remember, real change doesn’t happen someday—it happens today. Until next time, keep showing up, keep building, keep making today count.
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