Thru the Bible

Steve Shwetz: I've said it before: there's really no pain like family pain. Welcome to Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. As the Bible Bus rolls into Genesis 27, we're given a glimpse of life behind the front door of a troubled home. If you're a parent, you already know: this may be one of the hardest roles you'll ever have. Every day brings decisions both big and small, and we need God's wisdom to navigate them, especially if our desire is to help our children walk with the Lord.

In this study, we're going to see one clear lesson from Isaac and Rebecca—not something to follow, but something to avoid because it leads to deep and lasting hurt. As you find your seat and get settled, here's a letter from a listener in Africa: "I am a Muslim woman and a mother. I want to share what I have experienced the first time I listened to your program. I was doing my daily chores at home when I decided to change the radio station. As if guided by divine intervention, I came across a program in Pular."

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Heavenly Father, we come to Your Word ready to hear from You. Would You open our eyes to Your truth and then draw those who don't yet know You to Yourself? In Jesus' name, amen. Open your Bible now to Genesis 27 as we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Today, friends, our study brings us to the 27th chapter of the book of Genesis. And if you have your Bible and will turn there, it'll make it more meaningful to you. And if you use our notes and follow along with them, this chapter has as its theme Jacob and Rebekah conniving to get the blessing of Isaac for Jacob, which blessing old Isaac intended for Esau.

But you see, Jacob wanted the blessing of his father. And he knew God had promised his mother that the elder would serve the younger and the blessing was his already. He did not believe God. Rebekah, his mother, did not believe God. And evidently, Isaac, the father, didn't believe God. He would never have attempted to bypass Jacob and to give the blessing to Esau.

He followed his feelings and appetite in contradiction to the distinct Word of God. The method of Jacob in obtaining this birthright cannot be supported on any grounds whatsoever. He used fraud and deceit. His conduct is despicable. You can't condone him at all anymore than you could condone the conduct of Sarah and Abraham in the matter of Hagar and Ishmael.

God could not use the trickery and cleverness of Jacob. And we're going to see that God deals with this man in a very definite way. He's going to pay Jacob for his sin in the same coin in which he sinned. And you'll note that as we get into this chapter here. That gives us a preliminary that will enable us to understand.

Now last time, we concluded in chapter 26 by seeing that Esau was about 40 years old and he took to wife a Hittite, and it was a great grief to Isaac and Rebekah for him to do that. And now they recognize that if Jacob is not to marry a Hittite or a Philistine, that he must be sent down just as Isaac got a bride from the family of Abraham, that is, from the same stock.

Now will you notice, chapter 27, verse one: "It came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, 'My son': and he said unto him, 'Behold, here am I.' And he said, 'Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; And make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.'"

Now this man Isaac, we've already seen, he was an outstanding man, a great man. He's no weakling by any means because we saw in the last chapter that Abimelech and the Philistines, they wanted to make a treaty with him because they feared him. And he was that type of a man, very prominent. Now he reveals here though, that weakness of the flesh. All during his life, Esau was his favorite. And Jacob was the favorite of Rebekah.

Esau was the outdoor boy and he'd go out and he'd bring in a deer or some animal and he'd fix it, barbecue it for his father. And the old man enjoyed it. And now he's old. And he wants to bless the boy. Now he knows God has said the elder will serve the younger, but he bypasses that because he wants to bless the boy and he says, "Now go out and bring me in something and I'll bless you because of it."

My, what a revelation this is of this family. And if you notice the strife that's in the family since we have come into this last major section of Genesis, there was strife in the family of Abraham because of Hagar. There's strife now in this family of these twins. Now will you notice, Rebekah overheard that.

"And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, 'Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me savory meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.'"

Now this is the plot and plan of Rebekah. And it's deceit. It's absolute trickery. And it cannot be condoned on any basis whatsoever. And God's recording it as history, not that He condones it. He condemns it. And we're going to see that. You remember the things that are being done here and you'll see chickens come home to roost for Jacob.

Now she says to him, "You obey me, you go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savory meat for thy father, such as he loveth: And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, 'Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.'"

Now he was not only an outdoor man, but he was a hairy man. He grew hair everywhere and I am a smooth man. "My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver"—well, not only seem a deceiver, he is a deceiver—"and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. And his mother said unto him, 'Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.'"

And he went and fetched and brought them to his mother. And his mother made savory meat, such as his father loved. And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, put them upon Jacob her younger son. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hand, and upon the smooth of his neck. And she gave the savory meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

And friends, I can't help but comment on this. Now she put the skin of the kid of the goat on the back of his neck and on the back of his hand, so when his father'd feel him, he'd think that it was Esau. Not only did he feel him, friends, he couldn't help but smell him. And I want to say that apparently the deodorant that Esau was using was not very potent at all.

In fact, I think he's like the whimsical story I heard about two men working in a very tight place and one of them finally said to the other, "I think that the deodorant of one of us has quit working." And the other fellow says, "Must be you because I don't use any." Friends, I don't think that Esau used any. And I'm not sure that he had a shower very often.

This man not only felt hairy, but he smelled too, by the way. I must say you can't help but notice that as you go through here. And the thing that happened now, he came unto his father and said, "My father": and he said, "Here am I; who art thou, my son?" The voice was not quite the voice of Esau's. Everything else, it was like Esau.

Jacob said unto his father, "I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me." Isaac said unto his son, "How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the Lord thy God brought it to me." And believe me, this boy at this particular point is a typical pious fraud.

You find many of them today in fundamental circles. They talk about the Lord leading them and sometimes the Lord leads them to do some very unusual things. I find out sometimes that Christian men can do things that if the Mafia did it—and the Mafia does things like that—why the Mafia would be arrested for it. But they very piously pray about it and say it's the Lord's will.

I'm not always sure about that and believe me, this boy Jacob at this point is a pious fraud. "Because the Lord thy God brought it to me." The Lord had nothing to do with this, friends. Verse 21: "And Isaac said unto Jacob, 'Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.'" Isaac suspicioned something.

But you see, Rebekah knew Isaac very well. And she had worked this thing out. And so Jacob went near unto Isaac his father and he felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." And I think also the odor was, too. I don't think there's any question about that. "The hands are the hands of Esau."

And he discerned him not because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands, so he blessed him. And he said, "Art thou my very son Esau?" And he said, "I am." And he said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee." And he brought it near to him, and he did eat. And he brought him wine and he drank.

And his father Isaac said unto him, "Come near now, and kiss me, my son." And he came near and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment—I told you that was there, friends—and blessed him, and said, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed: Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee."

Now he's giving the blessing he had received. He's passing it on, but the interesting thing is, it already was Jacob's. God had said that. God had already blessed. And God is not accepting this at all. You can write that down. Now let me read verse 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."

"And he also had made savory meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, 'Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me.'" And Isaac his father said unto him, "Who art thou?" And he said, "I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau." And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, "Who? Where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed."

And somebody says, "Does venison taste like goat or lamb?" It sure does. I remember several years ago when I was pastor in Pasadena, that one of the officers there, he and I went deer hunting up in Utah. And we got a deer but wasn't enough to feed the congregation. We invited them in for a venison dinner and it was just a time of good wholesome fellowship and we had a lot of fun.

But we didn't have enough to go around. So we got two lamb legs and that was cooked also. And nobody could tell the difference. Everybody said the venison was good. They taste very much alike. Now Isaac really sees he's been taken in. "And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, 'Bless me, even me also, O my father.'"

"And he said, 'Thy brother came with subtlety, and hath taken away thy blessing.' And he said, 'Is not he rightly named Jacob?'" And he was, a usurper. "'For he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing.' And he said, 'Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?' And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, 'Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?'"

And Esau said unto his father, "Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father." And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, "Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck."

And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob." In other words, "My father's old, he won't live very much longer. And just as soon as my father dies, I'll kill Jacob. I'll get rid of him." And that was the thought in the heart of Esau.

Now Rebekah's in the background and these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah and she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said unto him, "Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother in Haran."

You see here again, Rebekah taking things in her own hands. And she tells Jacob now, "You're going to have to leave home." And she's going to send him away from home. Tell the truth, she really paid for her part in this, her sin. She never saw this boy alive again. She just sent him over there for a little while, but she died before he got back. And you must remember that Jacob was her favorite and that Esau was Isaac's favorite.

She wants to send him now over to Laban, her brother. And Jacob will go over there and believe me, that's where he's going to learn his lesson. That's where chickens will come home to roost. Old Uncle Laban is going to put him in school and he's going to teach him a few things. Now Jacob thought he was clever but Uncle Laban was an expert at it and poor Jacob was just an amateur and he's going to cry out in desperation to God before it's all over.

Now notice what she says: "Tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away." A few days? A few days lengthened out to 20 years. And during that interval, why she died. She never saw her boy again, her favorite, her pet, if you please. Now verse 45: "Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?"

After all, Esau's not going to think too much of his mother after this little episode, by the way. Now we read here: "And Rebekah said to Isaac, 'I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?'" Now you see Esau had married these heathen, the godless. And already it was bringing sorrow into the home and even Rebekah was overwhelmed by it.

Now she says if Jacob turns around and does this same thing and he probably will if he stays here. You see she can use this as an excuse to get Jacob away from the home because Esau is seeking for his life. And that moves us now into chapter 28. And she has a little conference with Isaac. And Rebekah and Isaac determine now that the thing to do is to send Jacob back to the family of Laban, back where Rebekah had come from herself, you see.

Abraham's servant had gone and gotten her. Now the point is to send Jacob back there to get a wife. If you get him away from the place of danger, his brother wouldn't try to kill him. Now very frankly, I think if he'd stayed there, that probably that would have happened. However, the fact of the matter is that Rebekah died first and Jacob did get back for his father's funeral.

Now you find in chapter 28, and I'm reading now verse one of chapter 28: "And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, 'Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.'" All the way through the Old Testament, you find that God does not want the godly to marry the ungodly. And that again is my reason for believing that in the sixth of Genesis, all you have when the sons of God looked upon the daughters of men, it's the godly line marrying with the godless line of Cain, which finally brought the judgment of the flood and only one man left.

Now that intermarriage always leads to godlessness. And I'd say this word just of caution: I recognize we're living in a day when young people are not apt to take advice from an old preacher. They say, "My, what does he know?" And if you really want to know the truth, I know a whole lot about this particular matter. I have seen case after case where some little girl or some little boy, they come to counsel, "Well, I've met a fellow, he's not a Christian, I'm going with him and he's proposed to me and I think I'm going to marry him and I can win him for the Lord."

Little girl, if you can't win him before you get married, you'll never win him after you get married. You can be sure of that. Same thing would hold for the young man. And God forbids it. It always entails sorrow. I have seen literally hundreds of cases and I've never yet seen a case where it worked, never yet. You can't beat God. God has put down too indelibly all the way through the Word. When the godly marry the godless, what happens? Look at Ahab and Jezebel.

And in the New Testament, it's strictly told Christians that they are not to be unequally yoked. And that's the way you get unequally yoked, not by just sitting on a platform with somebody, but by intermarrying. That's the way you join up with them, by the way, and that is the thing that is going to happen. Now Isaac sends Jacob away. He says, "Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother."

He sends him back to Laban. And believe me, old Laban is quite a trickster himself. And Jacob is in for it. I can tell him that right now, but he doesn't know it, but he sure is going to find out about it. And we're going to have to wait until next time to find out about it. And I trust that you'll be with us. Let us hear from you, friends. So until next time, my beloved, may God richly bless you.

Steve Shwetz: We'll pick up right here next time as we see how Jacob's schemes bring real consequences. It brings to mind Galatians 6:7: "Don't be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a person sows, that is what he will also reap." May God help us learn these lessons now and then apply His Word to our own lives.

If you want to spend a little more time in Genesis on your own, well, you can get our app or visit TTB.org and download our Genesis Bible Companion. And as Dr. McGee mentioned, you can also follow along with the notes and outlines that he prepared for this study. Just look for the digital book called "Briefing the Bible" to get them all, or call 1-800-65-BIBLE and have an abridged printed copy mailed out to you.

And when you're in touch, let us know how you listen to Through the Bible. Remember, that little bit of information really does help us make decisions about how and where to go next as we take the whole Word to the whole world. Now next time, we're going to continue our journey through Genesis, so if you can, read Genesis 28 a couple of times yourself. It's a great story of God's mercy. I'm Steve Shwetz and I'll see you here next time. Until then, keep walking in the light of His Word.