Please Read Gen 27
Vs 30, And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob,
and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that
Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
Esau had a priority problem. Now, don't get me wrong, I love to hunt. I
am sure I have done like Esau and went hunting when I should or could have been
seeing to something more important.
But Esau was born to hunt. He was good at it! (27:27a). Hunting can be
therapeutic. Nature and skill, contemplation and competition, patience and
thrill - all converge on the hunt. Those who don’t go, don’t know. It was
Esau's passion.
But hunting proved to be Esau's downfall on two very important
occasions.
The first time is noted in Gen. 25:27-34. Esau came home from the hunt
absolutely famished. I can see him in his dusty camo, dropping a carcass from
his shoulders, laying his bow carefully against a post and saying to his twin,
"I am starving to death, you got anything cooking, O King of the Crockpot?"
Jacob's conniving mind had already shifted into high gear. "Yeah
bro, just happen to have some killer chili fixed, you want some? I'll ladle a
bowl for ya if you'll sell me your birthright!"
Esau's response: "Whatever!" Now, no one ever called Esau an
Einstein, but can you imagine, Isaac was coming up in the world and Esau had
plenty to inherit, but he blew it all off for a bowl of chili! Wow! McCormick's
Seasonings would have been proud.
Esau didn't know how Hurricane Jacob had hit him until later. After he
thought about it, he shrugged it all off and decided he hated his birthright
anyhow. (25:34)
Fast forward several years and we find the mighty hunter flummoxed as a
fawn on the freeway once again by his stay-at-home homeboy twin.
Jacob (supplanter) hears from mom, who hears from dad, that Isaac is
hankerin' for some mutton before handing out his final blessings.
Mommy tells her boy that he needs to pull off the Houdini of the century
by fooling dad into thinking he's Esau. No small feat! But he did it.
Have you ever wondered how Jacob pulled this off?
1. Though twins, Esau was rough as a cob and Jacob was slick as a
whistle.
2. Isaac was nearly blind and half deaf in his advanced years. I would
imagine he was feeling a bit melancholy as the end neared, and therefore
somewhat gullible.
3. Rebekah must have been an efficient seamstress. She was able to take
sheepskin and sew it into sleeves, gloves and a collar, worn by baby-skinned
Jacob, which would fool Isaac into thinking he was the rough-skinned, hairy,
hunter brother. That was some doing when you consider the wool had to have the
authentic feel and hair length of Esau's hands, forearms and neck. Amazing!
4. Jacob tried to impersonate the voice of Esau. Imagine as he tried to
drop his tone a half an octave and project a gravelly, earthy voice. Isaac
didn't buy it. He ended up trusting his sense of smell and touch over his sight
and hearing. Old age, it ain't for sissies!
It worked! I am thinking there had to be some Divine intervention to
pull this ruse off, but it worked and Jacob ended up with Esau's birthright AND
his blessing.
This is a coup that must have embarrassed Jacob's prodigy all the way
from Joseph to David to Jesus.
But, praise God for the transforming power of His touch. A subsequent
dream of a very long ladder and an all-night battle royal wrestling match with
a Theophany transformed Jacob into Israel, causing the birthright to progress
to a manger in Bethlehem and the blessing to catapult the Jews to most favored
nation status with heaven.
What a story!
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