Genesis 27:18-29 – Deception is never God’s approved method

Jacob’s name meaning conniver or cheater was truly clearly displayed here. Here we find him coming to Isaac fully dressed like Esau, at the mother’s coaxing. He disguised himself with goat skin and his brother’s clothes to deceive his own father. He was the product of his mother and was hungrier for the blessing of God than his brother. Aided by his mother he did what was truly despicable.  He was a gentle, smooth-skin-stay- home guy trying to be Esau, a ruddy hairy hunter. His voice was very different from Esau’s. It must have been hard for him to try to be Esau. And that’s who Jacob was trying to be. How can a trumpet sound like a saxophone? But he tried.

Three times Jacob lied to Isaac. He first lied saying that he was Esau, his firstborn, when he came to him with the meal prepared by his mother. When Isaac wondered how he could hunt the animal so quickly, prepared the meal and brought it to him, he lied again. He had the gut and audacity to even made God his accomplice. He said, “Because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.” Isaac then asked him to come near so that he could feel him to see if he was truly Esau. He was so well disguised that he felt and smelt like Esau. Isaac must have known that something was simply not right. Because he was so much like Esau but his voice was Jacob’s. So he tried to verify again by asking, “Are you really my son, Esau?” Here Jacob lied the third time. He said, “I am.” So Isaac ate what he brought and blessed him.

After he had eaten, Isaac brought Jacob near, thinking he was Esau and blessed him using a poem. The smell of Esau’s garment worn by Jacob made Isaac bless him, by calling forth the promise of a land that God would produce abundantly. Verses 28 speaks of dew which has been a symbol of God’s goodness and provision. Isaac was calling forth bountiful prosperity of God upon his son. In verse 29, Isaac unwittingly tried to reverse God’s plan for the older to serve the younger. So he prayed for worldwide dominion for him. His final blessing was a recollection of God’s word to Abraham. He declared protection over him. So Isaac blessed Jacob disguised as Esau. Jacob was promised abundance, fertile land, a worldwide empire and protection. The words of these blessings stand and cannot be revoked. Jacob had successfully supplanted his brother again. He had displaced Esau yet again.

We surely cannot believe that God would honor deception. Know this however, God's hand on Jacob was not because of his clever scheming but the fact that it was His plan for him right from the start. Jacob’s deceptiveness in part is a revelation of what fallen human nature would do, but it is not an indication that God approved deception. What this episode does tell us is the deceitfulness of man’s heart. A wrong step in life can lead us to great fearful length. No wonder we are called to guard our hearts with all diligence, for out of it flows the issues of life.