Jacob’s Ladder

"And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee." (Genesis 28:10-22)

Isaac prayed over Jacob just before he departed to go to Haran, prophesying that he would receive the blessing of Abraham. And here Jacob has received that blessing: "thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth" and "in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." That seed in which all the families of the earth will be blessed is none other than Jesus Christ.

God's promise that says "I am with thee" is the same promise that God will give to Moses as he crosses over the Jordan; to Joshua as he enters into the battle; to Solomon as he builds the temple. And it is a promise to us still today, who are of the spiritual seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through the One who is of their seed and of the seed of the Holy Spirit: Jesus Christ. For me, this promise is the one that causes me to endure by faith. For I am never alone: either in time of battle or in times of peace.

What shall we make of the dream that Jacob dreamed? Jesus gave us some insight into this dream when he met Nathaniel who was to be one of the twelve disciples.

John 1:51 –
"and He saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of god ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

Jacob's dream was prophetic. It prophesied of Jesus Christ who was to come to earth as God incarnate in order to save all who were lost.

The ladder was what Jacob called the "gate of heaven." And Jesus is that gate. The temple that Solomon built had within it a gate that led into the inner court of the temple which was the Lord's house; and there was a curtain made of various colored cloths and linen that were prophetic of Jesus Christ:

Exodus 27:16 – "the gate of the court shall be a hanging of twenty cubits of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen"

Blue for the heavens which was the former dwelling place of Jesus before he became man, purple to signify his kingship over heaven and earth, scarlet that signifies His blood that was shed for us by his death on the cross, and fine linen that signifies the burial clothes He was wrapped in when placed in the tomb, and which were left behind when He was resurrected by the power of God.

Just as Jesus was prophetically the gate through which men walked in order to get closer to God who dwelled at that time in the temple; He is absolutely the gate through which men still must pass in order to enter into the courts and the very throne room of God, which was, in the temple, known as the "Holy of Holies." Whether in the temple (which no longer stands) or without the temple, unless we pass through the gate which is Jesus Christ, we cannot enter into God's presence. All men must pass through that gate.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:14)

A gate is also a door.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers…..Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I AM THE DOOR: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (John 10:1-11)

After Jacob woke he became fearful for he believed that he was standing on holy ground, in the very house of God, in fact. The place where he stood had been called Luz – which means "separation." He renamed it Bethel – which means "house of God." Interestingly prophetic of the fact that God calls out – or separates from the world – those whom He chooses and calls to be His own….those whom He brings into His courts and into His presence.

Jacob was one of these. He had not yet become the man of God that he was destined to be. We see that by his vow. God makes a promise to him, and Jacob vows a list of "works" to keep that promise. He offers to God what is God's in the first place. The firstfruits of all that we are and all that we have belong to God…that tenth has by divine principle always belonged to God. It is when we do not give back that tenth to God that we rob Him. But a sacrifice, such as what Jacob is trying to offer, begins past that tenth. For it is already God's.

Jacob does not yet understand that he can neither earn, nor keep of his own will, the blessings of God. God alone will fullfill His promises; and it is by God's power (through the Holy Spirit) that Jacob will be kept in God's promises, not by Jacob's own will or strength.

It is by God's grace that Jacob received the blessing of God. And it is by God's grace that Jacob will be kept in that promise.

Divine Retribution

"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 to Haran; and tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away; 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? 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? 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. Arise, go to Padanaram, 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. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram; and Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife." (Genesis 27:42 – 28:9)

Rebekah is worried now that Esau will kill Jacob; and then as was the custom someone in the family would have to kill Esau to make retribution for Jacob's murder (Remember God put on curse on anyone who came to harm Cain after he killed Abel? Without that he would have been killed as well). This is why Rebekah says "why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?" Then Rebekah pulls another ploy out of her handbag and mourns to Isaac about her daughters-in-law, Esau's wives, who are Canaanite women, expressing her fear that unless they do something Jacob will marry a Canaanite also. Yes, Esau's wives grieve her, and Isaac also, but this is more manipulation on Rebekah's part to get Isaac to send Jacob to her brother Laban. And he does, blessing Jacob a second time as well. Thus, the schemes of Rebekah and Jacob have gained them in almost every way what they wanted… ALMOST.

The author of Hebrews 2:2 says: "For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgressions and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation…"

This "recompense of reward" is what is known as divine retribution. We see many examples of it in the Word of God. And as the author of Hebrews states, if EVERY transgression and disobedience received divine retribution then who do we think we are to escape the same if we reject the gift of salvation in that we have been given through Jesus Christ? Let's look at some of the examples of divine retribution that we can look forward to if we continue WITHOUT Christ:

In Exodus 1:22 Pharaoh caused every child of Israel to drown. In Exodus 14:28 all the soldiers of Pharaoh die by drowning.

In Numbers 16:1 Korah tries to "divide" the children of Israel murmuring against the authority of Moses. In Numbers 16:32 God shows that His own authority is backing Moses by causing the earth to be "divided" under Korah, swallowing up Korah and his families and his goods.

In Judges 1:6-7 Adonibezek recognizes that God has caused his thumbs and great toes to be cut off because he had cut off the thumbs and great toes of 70 kings who once sat at his table with him.

In 1 Kings 21:19 when Naboth is falsely accused and killed so that his land can go to Ahab, God sends his prophet Elijah to Ahab with this proclamation: "Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine." In 1 Kings 22:35-38 we see that Ahab is killed in battle in such a way that his blood ran out of his wound into his chariot; and as the chariot was being washed the dogs licked up his blood "according to the word of the LORD." (Perhaps these were the same dogs that ate the body of Jezebel, the one who instigated the entire affair against Naboth.)

In the book of Esther, Haman prepares the gallows for Mordecai, but Haman himself gets hung on those gallows.

Perhaps even our beloved Paul felt the somewhat mitigated effects (mitigated because of the blood of Jesus) of divine retribution. In Acts 7:58 Saul of Tarsus is present at and consenting to the stoning of Stephen by which Stephen dies. Paul himself confirms his part in Stephen's stoning in Acts 22:19. And in Acts 14:19 Paul himself gets stoned and left for dead, but does NOT die; while Barnabas who was with him somehow escapes being stoned and is not hurt at all.

So now we come back to Rebekah for a moment. Isaac sends Jacob off, and Rebekah believes that Jacob will return in a few days. But the Lord has other plans. It will turn out that Rebekah will never lay her eyes on Jacob again. He will be gone for 20 years, during which time Rebekah will pass away. Imagine never again seeing her favorite son…

Jacob, who manipulated Esau's birthright from him, will be manipulated himself because of the birthrights of another: a woman named Leah who will become his first wife and whom Jacob does not love. He schemed for the promises, and he will be the subject of broken promises regarding his second wife, Rachel, whom he does love. Jacob was mercenary regarding his pottage; Laban, Rebekah's brother for whom Jacob will work more than 14 years, will change his salary ten times.

And there will be divine retribution even late in Jacob's life. Jacob deceived Isaac by using the skin of a kid goat on his hands and neck, meaning that the blood of a kid goat was spilled for his deception. In Genesis 37:31, Jacob's sons will deceive Jacob concerning his favorite son Joseph by dipping the coat of Joseph into the blood of a kid goat, as false "proof" that he was destroyed by an animal.

The divine retribution does not mean that Jacob never finds favor with God. He has that favor before he is even born. It just means that we can wait on God to do what He has promised to do and have things go well with us, or we can take matters into our own hands (which means we are usurping the authority of God in our lives and acting as 'god' in His place), and suffer the consequences of NOT waiting on God. The promises are still ours, but we suffer the consequences of our impatience or doubt.

Besides the lesson about living honestly in the sight of God and trusting in God to fulfill His promises to us, there is another slightly more hidden message for us to hear in the deception of Isaac by Jacob. First we must remember that Jacob didn't earn the blessing of Isaac. Nor did he merit it. But Jacob found the acceptance of his father and received the blessing because he "hid" himself, in a sense, behind the name and the clothing of the firstborn son. He was clothed in garments which gave off an "excellent" odor to the father. If you are a Christian reading this then you already see the hidden meaning, which is this:

We have not earned nor do we merit the blessings of our Heavenly Father God. We stand before Him "hidden" in the name of His firstborn, Jesus Christ. We have put on the "righteousness" of Christ as our garment, and to the Father, because of Jesus, we have become a sweet smelling savor (I2 Corinthians 2:15).

If you are reading this and you are NOT a believer in Jesus Christ (a Christian) then you have a choice before you now: look forward to full and complete divine retribution for every act of disobedience and for every transgression (sin) that you have ever committed…

…OR be spared the fullness of divine retribution by hiding yourself in Jesus Christ; this is easily done by simply believing that He is the Son of God, who was crucified for and took the punishment of our sins, and was raised from the dead by the power of God, at whose right hand He sits even now. Receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, repent (turn away from evil) and make Jesus your LORD, and receive the everlasting blessings of our Father: GOD.

AMEN

 

 

The Sound of Bitter Weeping

"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 savoury 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 to me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? Yea, and he shall be blessed. 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 subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing. And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? 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. " (Genesis 27:30-41)

Perhaps you have discerned by now that Esau is a type of the unbeliever. Esau is the unbeliever, while Jacob is the man of faith, encouraged by his mother Rebekah who remembered the promise of God towards her two children still in the womb. Jacob valued the blessing so much that he sought it in carnal ways, rather than waiting on God to fulfill the blessing (similar to Sarah and Abraham?). Isaac, who knew the prophecy of God towards his two sons, chose to ignore it for he wanted his favorite son Esau to be blessed instead. Esau was Isaac's son according to the flesh (similar to Ishmael) because Isaac's carnal flesh was gratified with the wild game that Esau provided. When the Word said that "Isaac trembled very exceedingly" it was the trembling of a man who realizes instantly that God's will has overridden his own. In a moment he sees his wrong, and in a moment he picks up faith again; for in almost the same sentence where he recognizes that it was Jacob, he also seals or confirms his blessing upon him by saying (through the Holy Spirit) that "Yea, and he shall be blessed." Indeed he shall, for God has willed it so!

We can't condone Jacob and Rebekah's methods in obtaining the birthright and the blessing; the ends NEVER justify the means. They are not condoned by God as we will see shortly. Their game will come back to bite them both. And we can't help but "feel" with what bitterness Esau must have wept for what he recognizes is lost to him forever. There is an utter finality to it. Yes, Isaac gives him a blessing but what a blessing…that he shall be a man of the sword. He knows this is not the blessing he could have had.

But let's look at Esau again for a moment. Esau was a hunter. Who is the only other hunter that has been mentioned yet in the Word? It is Nimrod who was NOT a man of God. Esau is compared to Nimrod in Genesis 10:9. He is a man according to the flesh, not according to the spirit of God. Esau sustained himself by his own hand, and yet he could not satisfy himself from his hunting (from the field), he had to have what Jacob had in order to survive: a pottage of lentils. Esau decided that he could not live on promises; certainly not the promise of what his birthright could give him, not when he was near to dying. He was all for instantaneous self-gratification. He was all about right here and right now only. And his fear of dying led him to do whatever it took to survive; casually giving away his birthrights for his fears of this moment. Many of those with "survivor" mentalities know nothing of trusting in God. They must obtain the means of surviving by their own hand. Their own survival is what is important; if all others around them perish, still they believe the only right thing is to save themselves. And it is as they are saving themselves that they are truly lost ("He who seeks to save his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake shall find it." Matthew 16:25) It is only later when their eyes are opened to the truth that they realize what exactly it is they have lost. And then is heard the sound of bitter weeping.

And are they repentant even at that point? Esau shows us that the answer is: No. His heart is hard, to the point of wanting to murder his brother. Esau did not trust in God, and Esau did not heed the counsel of his parents. At the age of 40 he took for himself two wives of the Canaanites; a practice that was forbidden. And thus he ended up in a place where there was the sound of his own bitter weeping.

One final note about God's prophecy over the twins, looking back at Genesis 25:23 we recall that God says that in Rebekah's womb are two nations, two manner of people, one people stronger than the other, and the elder will serve the younger. We will see that the two nations are Israel (Jacob) and Edom (Esau). King David of Israel was a descendant of Jacob. In 2 Samuel 8:14 he puts garrisons in Edom (remember Edom, meaning red, is the land of the descendants of Esau) and all they of Edom became David's servants. Thus was both the prophecy of God and Isaac's confirming patriarchal blessing fulfilled over Jacob. But then in 2 Chronicles 21:8 there was a revolt in which the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of Judah and made themselves a king; and it was here that Isaac's blessing to Esau was fulfilled in that the day would come where he would break Jacob's yoke off of his neck, fulfilled through their descendants.

Isaac’s Blessing

"So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. He went to his father and said, "My father." "Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?" Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing." Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" "The LORD your God gave me success," he replied. Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not." Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked. "I am," he replied. Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing." Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me." So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed. May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness – an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and people bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."
(Genesis 27:14-29)

The game succeeded. Jacob received the blessing that normally would have gone to the firstborn, Esau. Yet, in actuality, that blessing had long ago been transferred to Jacob by divine order.

Recall the LORD's words to Rebekah as recorded in Genesis 25:23 in which He tells her that "the older will serve the younger."

The prophecy had already been spoken directly by the LORD to Rebekah. AND Esau had signed over his birthright to his younger brother. Thus the firstborn's blessing no longer belonged legally to Esau anyway.

Was Isaac ignorant that Esau gave his birthright to Jacob for a pot of beans? Had this somehow been hidden from him by the rest of the family? Was he ignorant of the prophecy spoken to Rebekah by the LORD while the twins were still in her womb? Or did his great love for his elder son, and perhaps the frailty of his faculties at 137 years of age, prompt him to attempt to give that blessing anyway to one who no longer had the right to it?

As to Isaac's faculties, in addition to his blindness, the senses of taste and smell often alters considerably in the elderly. Such must have been the case with Isaac, who though he loved the flavors of the wild game that Esau typically brought to him, believed the goat he was served to be wild game. I have eaten wild game (such as deer, elk and boar) and I have eaten goat…they are not similar. It is hard to imagine that in normal circumstances, even all the spices Rebekah used could distort the flavors enough to deceive one used to the taste of wild game.

But, in this case, it did deceive. Although all was almost lost since Isaac's hearing was still in good shape and he recognized immediately that the voice was that of Jacob and not Esau.

Nevertheless, were the methods of Rebekah and Jacob sanctioned by the LORD? Certainly there would be a price to pay by both of them before it was done.

Or did the LORD actually use Rebekah to thwart Isaac's plan, in order that His Word would be fulfilled instead? Certainly, Rebekah never forgot the words the LORD spoke over her twins. And so she set about to bring those words to pass in her own efforts. Would the LORD have found another way to fulfill His own word without Rebekah's deception? I think so.

The blessing itself spoke of prosperity: the dew of heaven (critical to farming in such arid regions as Isaac's family lived in) and a bounty of harvest provided by the richness of the earth (both grains and wine as vineyards were prevalent in the area as well). And prominence among the nations.

Although Esau himself never comes under Jacob's rule, Jacob's descendants in the generations to come will have prominence over Esau's descendants. And eventually, Jacob's descendants will form their own state, known as Israel.

A Passionate Deception

"When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah. When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son." "Here I am," he answered. Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons – your quiver and bow – and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die." Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, 'Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 'Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.' Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies." Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing." His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me." (Genesis 26:34-27:13)

The scripture passage above describes Rebekah's plan for her son Jacob to steal Isaac's patriarchal blessing from Esau. There is something subtle in this passage that we don't want to miss. And that is that this trickery is motivated by passion...Rebekah's passion to get the best for the son she believes deserves it the most, and Jacob's passion in that he is willing to risk a curse in order to get this blessing.

What is it about this blessing anyway?

The patriarchal blessing was prophetic in nature. It is not just a "wish" or a "hope" that good things will come to the one over whom the blessing is spoken…it is actually calling down heaven upon someone here on earth. When we proceed a bit further and see the type of blessing spoken over the two sons of Isaac, we will see that by pronouncing specific blessings on his sons, Isaac will be "hearing" from the Lord and speaking that which he hears (or sees); and the things he pronounces will take place in the future. So, really, the blessing is a great thing as it actually takes place in heaven before it reaches earth, in the sense that God has ordained it to be so. That is what prophecy is all about: God's will spoken from heaven to and through men on earth.

The opposite of a patriarchal blessing, would of course, be a curse. We have already seen an example of a curse being pronounced over Ham's son Canaan…not because of what Canaan did, but because of what Ham did. This isn't about unfairness; it's about how our actions can set a divine precept into motion. When a father sins, his sins are visited on his descendants as well. We see that today…a father who is violent towards his own children, often breeds that same violence in his children…so that his sin continues on in them.

Thus, the blessing that Rebekah was passionately procuring through deception for her son was not only for Jacob, but for the generations to come after him. Rebekah had passion; and she had vision. It was these things that caused her to go with Abraham's servant, so many years before, to become the wife of a man she had never seen. Had she been fearful rather than visionary and passionate, she would have missed the life God had ordained for her. But God knew Rebekah; He knew her passionate nature and He chose her as Isaac's bride.

If Rebekah could see the eternal things of God; then Jacob, who spent all of his time at home near his mother, had to have been inspired and taught, by example at the least, to be the same. Thus, while Jacob recognizes the danger of the curse falling on him if he is found out, still, he also recognizes that the value of the blessing far outweighs the risk of the curse. And so he does as his mother tells him to do.

Esau has neither passion nor vision for the things of God. It is the lack of these two things that causes him to so easily give up his birthright and to marry two Hittite women bringing the influence of their false gods into his life. And he is about to lose his patriarchal blessing as well…for he has only apathy for the things of God. His only passion is for hunting and Hittite women.

We must ask ourselves this question: Do I have a passion to have ALL that I can get of God? Do I value the eternal things of heaven, or are my eyes set only upon the things of earth? How much am I willing to risk in order to get a blessing from God?

And, if you are passionate, are your passions focused on the things of God…or on earthly things?

In other words: are you a Jacob or an Esau?

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things say the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, an neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth." (Revelation 3:13-16)

When Persecution Follows Blessing

"So Isaac stayed in Gerar. When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful." When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. So Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us." So Abimelech gave orders to all the people: "Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall surely be put to death." Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. So all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us." So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them. Isaac's servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying "Now the LORD had given us room and we will flourish in the land." From there he went up to Beersheba. That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham." Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well. Meanwhile, Abimelech and come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?" They answered, "We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, 'There ought to be a sworn agreement between us' – between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD." Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and the left him in peace. That day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, "We've found water!" He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba." (Genesis 26:6-33)

In the previous posting we saw the Lord telling Isaac that if he will "stay in this land for awhile" He would be with Isaac, bless him, and "confirm the oath" that the LORD swore to his father Abraham. So Isaac stayed. And the LORD did bless him…so much so that the Philistines became envious of him to the point of persecuting him for his wealth.

The first persecution from the Philistines toward Isaac was to fill up all the wells that had been dug in his father's time. Water has always been (and will always be) a precious commodity; for with water there is life and without it there is death. The Philistines knew this and their act of stopping up the wells was beyond petty jealousy; it had become a deadly jealousy.

But that wasn't enough to satisfy the jealousies of the Philistines. Abimelech now tells Isaac that he must "move away from us." If they couldn't stop the blessing upon Isaac, at least they wouldn't have to witness it day after day if he were out of sight. And besides fear had begun to set in that Isaac would become much more powerful than even Abimelech himself. Best to get him out of town altogether.

So Isaac went to live in the "valley" of Gerar…he moved out from the more populated area surrounding the town into the less populated countryside. He began to re-dig the wells that the Philistines had stopped up. But he continued digging more wells even than his father had; and as new wells were dug and new water found, the Philistine herdsmen would get wind of it and run out to falsely claim it as their own. And so the persecution continued.

The first fresh water well found, Isaac named Esek which means "contention." The next well of fresh water found was named Sitnah which means "strife."

The third well was named Rehoboth which means "wide places" as this was the first well without contention or strife; and Isaac believed that the persecution had been stopped by the LORD and was a sort of confirmation that he would be allowed to remain here and flourish.

Isaac then goes to Beersheba. You will recall that Beersheba means" the well of the seven oaths" and was the place where his father Abraham before him had dug a well after he had sworn an oath with this same Abimelech, king of the Philistines, using seven ewe lambs as confirmation of his oath. Obviously that well has since been filled in by the Philistines.

That same night that Isaac arrives in Beersheba, the LORD appears to him (possibly in a dream) and confirms the oath He had made with Abraham, telling Isaac not to fear for He is with him…this is obviously a prophetic word to Isaac for only the Lord knows who is on his way to visit Isaac.

After the appearance of the Lord, Isaac builds an altar, has his servants begin to dig a new well, and then Abimelech arrives on the scene with his two main men, one of which is Phicol, commander of the Philistine army…the same man who had accompanied Abimelech when an agreement of peace had been struck between Abraham and Abimelech so many years before.

At the arrival of Abimelech with his two powerful cohorts, Isaac is naturally braced and awaiting further persecution; but then Abimelech states that he wants there to be a treaty of peace between them. Surely at that point, Isaac remembers the word of the LORD and now understands why the LORD spoke that word to him. And so he relaxes and becomes cordial to Abimelech even though Abimelech was never anything but hostile to Isaac (although Abimelech's memory seems a bit fuzzy about the particulars of his own treatment of Isaac in the past.) It is very clear that Abimelech is more fearful of Isaac than Isaac is of him. After all, the LORD had just confirmed that He was on Isaac's side. Isaac knew he had nothing to fear.

Isaac strikes an accord with Abimelech, and that same day his servants come to him saying they found fresh water in the well they had been digging….the LORD's way of confirming his pleasure of Isaac's actions towards the man who had been Isaac's enemy for so long. Isaac names the well Shibah meaning "an oath" in memorial to the LORD's oath to him.

Isaac trusted in the word of the LORD and did not give way to fear; and was blessed as a result. That is a WORD to us all.

Isaac’s Faith

"Now there was a famine in the land – besides the previous famine in Abraham's time – and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for awhile, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions." So Isaac stayed in Gerar. (Genesis 26:1-6)

There is a famine in the land; perhaps caused by drought or pestilence. God tells Isaac NOT to go to Egypt, which apparently is untouched by this famine. And Isaac obeys.

We think that if God spoke to us we would obey just as easily as Isaac, but then we aren't facing such hard times in life as Isaac was facing. Disasters hit our country, yes, but there is almost always someone in some country who can airflight supplies to disaster areas…water can be trucked in…food as well. But in Isaac's time, disaster of any kind was how many times worse than what we face in modern times? When the food was gone, you had to go find it elsewhere; it wasn't coming to you by the Red Cross or The Salvation Army or any other charitable organization. If you didn't find food elsewhere, and find it in time, you and your entire family could die. The faith required to trust God in our disasters is nothing small, there is no doubt. But I think it required a bit more faith to trust God in Isaac's time, especially in the midst of a famine.

Then again, Isaac had already witnessed God's provision for his father, Abraham. In fact, Isaac had first-hand knowledge of God's provision since God provided a ram caught in the thicket to replace Isaac himself who as a young man found himself lying on an altar about to be sacrificed by his own father Abraham in obedience to God's command. Yes, Isaac knew of God's ability to provide; and of His goodness in doing so.

Many folks these days don't see God as being good. They see the evil that is done in the world and they count it either as God's doing or God's fault for allowing it to happen in the first place. But the truth is that mankind has an enemy:

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour." (I Peter 5:8)

God's Word tells us that we have an enemy, an adversary, who wants to destroy us.

Isn't it interesting that folks can so easily blame God for evil; while at the same time not even believing that Satan (the devil) is real? Who do you think got them to start thinking that way? Whose voice might they be listening to?

And yet, we have examples all throughout the Bible, like this one above involving Isaac, where God promises to keep His promises…and where all of those promises are GOOD.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

Okay, so on the one hand we have the devil who wants to "devour" us and on the other hand we have the LORD who has plans to "prosper" and "not to harm" us. So, is it just possible that folks are blaming the wrong guy for all the evil that is in the world? Is it possible that they are playing right into the devil's hands by believing evil of God, rather than believing that the devil himself is the author of all of that evil? Is it possible that the same devil (serpent), who deceived Eve in the garden, is still out there deceiving folks today?

Is that perhaps why so few people have the faith of Isaac, when it is needed, like right now in these hard economic times? Because they believe the deceptive lies of the devil (the one they have determined is not real!) while they distrust God (who apparently is real enough to blame for everything bad that happens in the world!)

How would their faith change if they began to see God as good?

"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." (Psalm 34:8)

Isaac took refuge in the Word of God and was protected from a famine in the land. That same Word of God can be trusted still today.

Taste and see for yourself…if you are one of those who haven't done so already!

 

A Birthright Forsaken

"The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country famished. He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of the red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright." "Look, I am about to die, "Esau said. What good is the birthright to me?" But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright." (Genesis 25:27-34)

Red stew…such as the lentils of the Middle East would produce. Basically, bean soup. That's what Esau exchanged for his birthright. Said differently: that is the value that Esau put on his birthright; the value of a pot of beans.

Isn't it interesting that a major event that will change the course of nations is about to unfold…and it all takes place over a pot of beans. It reminds me of the major event that happened over a piece of fruit in a garden. One might begin to think of food as a very evil thing in and of itself. But it isn't so. The evil is in us, not the food.

Deceitful as Jacob is (after all that is basically what his name means), he did not trick Esau into selling his birthright. Jacob just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and was clever enough to take quick advantage of the situation. Could Esau have found food elsewhere? Most likely. Were there not servants nearby who could have helped? Or other family members? The point is that the birthright didn't mean enough to him to search for an alternative solution, especially when he was so overcome with weakness that he felt as though he was dying.

And, of course, it's easy for us to look at Esau and say "How could anyone be so stupid?" Then we look at Adam and Eve and say the same thing about them.

But the truth is this: how often do we exchange our birthright for something of the flesh?

What is our birthright? It is similar to what Esau's was. He would have been a heir to his father's kingdom. We have been made joint-heirs with Christ. All the authority of God given to Jesus Christ, is shared with us when we believe in Him and accept Him as our Savior and our Lord. What do we do with that inheritance? What do we do with that authority? Do we use it to further our Father's kingdom? How often do we even think about our birthright, much less value it properly?

Are we distracted by the things of the world so much that we forgot what our birthright entails and why we were given it? I think so.

One part of our birthright is that we now (by virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ shed for us) have access to the throne room of God, the Father. That means we can go into His private quarters, in a sense, and talk to Him at anytime about anything. It's called prayer. How much time do we spend with that one aspect of our birthright? What value do we put on the restoration of that relationship; restoration that was purchased by One's life blood being shed for us? Do we value it that highly? Do we value it enough to sacrifice time out of our busy day? I think the amount of time we spend in prayer says all that we need to know about the value we put on Jesus' sacrifice for us.

We seem to remember only that Jesus saved us from an eternity in hell. We recall what He saved us FROM; but not what He has called us TO.

We might be smarter than Esau and not sell our birthright for a pot of beans. Maybe we'll sell it for a really nice car instead. Or a bigger house. Or more electronics to better occupy our time such as a bigger and better flat-screen TV.

But a pot of beans…never!