Sermon NL Sept 20, 2025  - Jacob’s blessing and dream

Last week we witnessed the covenant between Abraham and The Lord, as well as meeting and sympathizing with Issac.  We remember the test Abraham needed to pass to ensure that he had the trust and faith that would ensure the covenant would be passed on generation to generation.

Today, we witness the next generations.  Issac has now grown old and has two sons with his wife Rebekah.  These two boys were twins and the two of them fought from the very beginning, even in the womb!  Genesis 25 tells us of Rebekah and how she terrible that pregnancy was and how she struggled, praying to the Lord saying “if it is to be this way, why do I live?”  and the Lord replied;

                “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; 

the one shall be stronger than the other; the one shall serve the other.”

 

Now the Hebrew in this last verse is tricky…many translate it in hindsight, that the Elder shall serve the younger, but it could be the other way round as well.  So, this was really up for Rebekah’s interpretation, and interpret she did!  In due time she birthed her twins and named them in the descriptive and prophetic way that was common in biblical naming.

 The first, the eldest was born all covered with hair…so he was called ‘hairy’ or Esau,  The younger had held fast to his elder brothers ankle as he was born…so he was called ‘grasper’ or Jacob.  A foreshadowing of things to come.

Now unlike all the twins I’ve known, these two boys grew up and grew apart.  Esau being outdoorsy and his father’s favourite and heir.  Jacob was the quiet indoor type and his mother’s pet.   On these twins, so unlike one another hung the future of God’s covenant with Abraham.  Two nations and two peoples…one stronger than the other, one serving the other.   Which boy will inherit the promise I wonder.  Esau is the heir, the eldest and the obvious choice by custom and birth.  Yet, we know that God sees differently than we do, seeing with eyes unclouded by sin and is not swayed by custom or culture; but sees our inner potential. 

So, how do these boys live into that potential? Let us see…

One day while Jacob was cooking, Esau came in from the fields, starving from all his work.  He saw the stew Jacob was tending and there and then we get our first insight into these two children of Isaac.  Esau, stomach growling, tells his brother.  Give me some of that stuff you’re cooking I’m famished.

Jacob apparently knowing his brother and seeing an opportunity before him answers:  Sure. Iin exchange for your inheritance.  Now remember that Isaac was a wealthy man and the heir to God’s eternal covenant, so think that this is like unto asking to trade spots with the heir of Microsoft… a bit bold, but that was Jacob all over.  Grasping from birth.

And Esau, more reactive then thoughtful, thinks with his stomach rather than his head replies.  Sure, whatever.  I’m starved!’ Swear it! Jacob insists…. Yeah, yeah I swear! answers Esau…eating his stew and heading back out…with out a second thought. 

What may seem a frivolous exchange to us, was essentially legally binding at that time.  They have ‘shook on it’; So, Jacob now is in essence the eldest and heir of Isaac’s legacy…the heir of the Abrahamic promises and the oracle given to Rebekah is being interpreted through living, the Elder will now serve the younger.  

So, years pass and we get to today’s reading.

Jacob is still his mother’s pride and joy…and Esau is still doted on by his father, and not much has changed, but the question of who will be the inheritor of the covenant is still on everyone’s mind.   Isaac has remembered the covenant and has passed on to his children it’s import and meaning. 

So, everyone knew what was at stake…after all their father likely told over and again the story where he was tied to the brier for that promise.  But there were no lawyers, no written contract, no wills at that time.  This was an oral culture, and a lot rested on the word of the Father and who he declared to be his heir…this was not changeable.  Like shaking on a deal, A father’s word, sealed with a kiss was the be all and end all.  And since Jacob had slyly bartered for Esau’s assumed inheritance, a father’s blessing was all Esau had left. 

And that Issac was more than prepared to give it to him.  Isaac called his favorite son, Esau to him and told him he would like to give him his blessing….but first Issac says, bring me my favorite dinner!  Wow, this sounds familiar…like father like son! And off Esau goes hunting with joy in his heart.

Rebekah and Jacob though have other plans.  After a bit of persuading Jacob is dressed in his brothers clothes and  tied with goat’s skin to mimic his brother’s, impressively hairy hands and neck…wow, Goat skins eh? Ok!  And then Jacob is sent with Isaac’s favorite meal to steal away Esau’s blessing. 

Is this how God intends for the boy to inherit his covenant?  Jacob doesn’t seem to be a very righteous man, rather he is living up to his name of ‘grasper’ or ‘deceiver’. 

Now, come’s a very interesting exchange.  I don’t care how blind Isaac is or how hairy Esau was…a goat doesn’t feel like a man.  Yet, we get Jacob announcing his presence and Isaac asking directly ‘who are you, my son?’  requiring Jacob to lie to his fathers face.  Isaac is not convinced. 

How have you found, shot, dressed and cooked that game so quickly?  Isaac queries. The Lord your God granted me success, answers the false Esau and that doesn’t sound like Esau.

Come here and let me feel you, says the doubtful and blind Isaac.  The voice is Jacob…but the hands are hairy.  Again Isaac asks ‘are you really my son Esau?’  Jacob answers affirmative and hands his father the food and drink and receives Isaac’s kiss of blessing.

May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth
    and plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

 

After this Jacob runs back to his mother.  And low and behold, up comes Esau ready for his blessing!  The same questions follow…Isaac trembling with emotion…Who are you? Isaac demands.  Esau, confidently replies “I am your firstborn son, Esau” the one who you should appoint as heir Esau implies.  But Isaac has blessed Jacob, and it is Jacob who has inherited the rights of the eldest and the blessing of his father.

Esau, wept over the deception of his grasping brother and uttered ‘have you only one blessing father? Can you not also bless me?  It is a heart wrenching scene and one that will create a division for generations, just as was told to Rebekah…the prophesy fulfilled.  And hatred sprung up in Esau for his grasping and scheming brother Jacob.

It would seem to me that this isn’t the best way to continue the covenant.  A covenant begun and established on the Righteousness of Abraham.  How would we have chosen, which brother will best carry the covenant relationship into the future.  The brother who is willing to use deceptive and lying ways to get what he wants?  Or the brother who cannot think beyond the immediate? 

We do not see with God’s eyes… and God see future’s that we do not yet know.  Jacob the grasper, the schemer, the deceiver…his mothers pet, does not seem on the surface like the one whom God should choose to lead his people unto the next generations.  However, en route to his uncle’s land, Jacob receive a vision that confirmed Isaac’s blessing.  Jacob was to be the inheritor of Abraham’s covenant.  He would be wealthy and powerful as his father blessed him to be, but he would also be blessed by God.

“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring, 14 and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, … 15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

God’s covenant is clearly taking shape in the land and the family of Jacob.  God saw the potential under the surface and once again the assumed order is turned upside down, the younger shall rule the elder.  God looks beyond our sins and sees who we can be with his guidance and forgiveness, and that is good news indeed.

Jacob will continue to have many encounters with God, including my favorite where he wrestles God and receives a limp, a blessing and a new name.   Jacob becomes Israel and in time he too gets deceived by his uncle, working 14 years indebted, to marry his beloved Rachel and they will have 12 sons, who will in their turn establish the twelve tribes of Israel.  They return to the land they were promised and in the end even Esau and Jacob become reconciled. 

                Both of the twins had their part to play in spite of their flaws and foibles, because God knew their potential and saw them with eyes unclouded by sin or human failings. Thank be to God, for that is good news indeed.  For all of us.