Isaac was now advanced in age. He was visually impaired
and could not see clearly as his eyes had become dim. He must be aware that
Esau had sold his birthright as the eldest son to Jacob. And he probably remembered that God had said
in Genesis 25:23 that “one people shall be stronger than the
other; the older shall serve the younger.” Earlier we were told that he and
Rebekah were grieved by Esau who married two Hittite women. Yet despite all
these, he was determined to pray the first born blessing over Esau, knowing that
he had sold his birthright to Jacob. So calling Esau, he told him to go and
hunt for an animal and prepare a savory dish for him. And after he had eaten he
would then bless him.
When we grow older, we should grow sharper concerning spiritual
things. It was not so for Isaac. His flesh had gotten a better of him. He knew
God’s choice of Jacob, yet he was willing to ignore that in order to bless Esau,
his favorite. Though he knew how wayward and rebellious Esau was, yet he was going
to bless him, nonetheless. So he sent Esau out to hunt the animal and prepare
his favorite food. Isaac was probably also hard of hearing so that the volume
of his voice must have increased. So what he planned to do for Esau was
overheard by Rebekah, who quickly went into action to make sure that Jacob
would beat Esau to it.
As soon as Esau had departed, Rebekah told Jacob to
get a couple of goats so that she could prepare a meal for him to serve to Isaac
instead of Esau. But Jacob hesitated for he feared the consequence if the father
should discover who he actually was. He was afraid that instead of blessing, he
would receive a curse. But Rebekah told him that she would take his place
should that happen. So in verse 13 she said, “Your
curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for
me.” So with great brilliance, she prepared the meal to
Isaac’s liking, She had Jacob dressed with Esau’s clothes and disguised him with
goat skin to make him feel hairy. So well disguised was Jacob till he felt and
smelled just like Esau, his brother. What’s disturbing is that this pair of
mother and son should believe that they could deploy unrighteous means to
fulfill the righteous work of God. Shouldn’t they have left it to God to bring
what He desired to pass?
From these verses, we learn that desiring to
accomplish God’s will is important, but more important is that we do so with
integrity and truthfulness. We should never resort to deception to accomplish
the plan of God. They left us with an example on what we shouldn’t do. We must never
put aside what is right in order to accomplish what we think is good, whether
at home, at work or in church. To gain absolute trust we must act rightly. We don’t
want to do something questionable and end up discrediting the cause of Jesus,
our Master and Lord.
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