It's About The Blessing

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Genesis Chapters 26 to 27

GENESIS 26

Isaac and Abimelek

1 Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”

8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

   Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”

10 Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

11 So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. 13 The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. 14 He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. 15 So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.

16 Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”

17 So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled. 18 Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.

19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20 But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. 21 Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. 22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 That night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

25 Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.

26 Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”

28 They answered, “We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the LORD.”

30 Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.

32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” 33 He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.
Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing
34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

GENESIS 27

1 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, “My son.”

   “Here I am,” he answered.

2 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 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.”

5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 ‘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.’ 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”

11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12 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.”

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

14 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. 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

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

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

19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”

20 Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”

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

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.”

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.” 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. 24 “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.

   “I am,” he replied.

25 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. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”

27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,

   “Ah, the smell of my son
   is like the smell of a field
   that the LORD has blessed.
28 May God give you heaven’s dew
   and earth’s richness—
   an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 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.”

30 After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 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, so that you may give me your blessing.”

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

   “I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”

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!”

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

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

36 Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”

37 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?”

38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.

39 His father Isaac answered him,

   “Your dwelling will be
   away from the earth’s richness,
   away from the dew of heaven above.
40 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.”

41 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.”

42 When Rebekah 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. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. 44 Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. 45 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. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “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.”

Commentary:

Genesis 26
There was a famine in the land and Isaac was instructed by the Lord not to go to Egypt but to live in the chosen land. The time had come for God to begin to bring to pass all the covenants that He had promised to Isaac’s father, Abraham.
In Genesis 12, there was also severe famine in the land in the time of Isaac’s father but the instruction to him was different. He had to go down to Egypt and dwell there.
Isaac moving to Egypt will alter the pre determined plan and his destiny.
Our location is crucial to the manifestation of God’s promises in our lives. The land of growth and prosperity is pre determined, hence the importance of being sure that we are in the right location.
In verses 3-5, Isaac is instructed and reminded of the covenant God swore to his father before he was conceived. This tells us that the plans and purposes for our lives have been pre determined by God (Psalm 139:16).
Isaac stayed in Gerar and he lied about his wife Rebekah just the same way his father had done about his wife Sarah in Genesis 12:10-20. Both lied that their wives were their sisters. Their women must have been extremely beautiful but not worth dying for! Both men lied to avoid death. However Sarah was actually Abraham’s half sister, and Isaac too had married the daughter of his first cousin, so technically they were sisters to these men and what they said was not far from the truth.
Isaac was at the beginning of his years of prosperity as sworn to his father and he prospered (verses 11-14).
With the prosperity came trouble and problems including envy, and sabotage. The Philistines had filled the well that had been dug by Isaac’s father. This should have caused frustration to Isaac but he was not put off. Instead he moved on. He and his men began to dig other wells. Instead of this getting better, it got worse. There were arguments and contentions but Isaac stayed the course (verses 19-21), he had ‘stickability’. He had the plan, the promise firmly fixed on his mind and he was not going to let anything get in the way.
More digging got to the ‘goal’ and the digging now produced water. He had reached the place of fruitfulness (verse 22).
We cannot afford to give up in the midst of trouble; we have to have our eyes fixed on the promise. The arguments and contentions are sent to distract us from the plan and what is important is the development of ‘staying power’ through the digging of further wells till we reach water.
God appeared to Isaac again to reassure him that He was very much in control (verse 24) and this was confirmed by the affirmation of Abimelech during his visit and his subsequent desire to make a covenant (verses 27- 28).

Genesis 27
Here we pick up the story of Isaac planning to bless his son, Esau as he is now well advanced in age.
The blessing was for his first son but things did not go as planned. We read earlier that Rebekah's favourite son was Jacob (Gen 25; 28) so once she got wind of the plan to bless Esau; she schemed for Jacob to receive this blessing over him (Gen 27: 6-17).
The consequence of selling his birthright had began to affect Esau (Gen 25:34) in addition to what the Lord had told Rebekah while the boys were in the womb (Gen 25:23-24).
Jacob connived with his mother and presented himself to his father as Esau. His father definitely had doubts but his eyes failed him. He mentioned the early return of ‘Esau’, the different voice, which he recognised as that of Jacob, also asking him again after blessing him ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ (Verse 24) but the pre determined plan of God had to be fulfilled. Jacob lied and got the blessing of the first-born.
Esau later returned for his blessing but alas it was too late and the blessing could not be reversed. Jacob the supplanter had been able to deceive his father and cheat his brother as revealed to their mother before they were born.
Esau later received the lesser blessing to confirm the word received by Rebekah (verse 39-40)
This reminds us that it is only Gods plan that stands (Psalm 33:11)