When we concluded yesterday, Isaac asked Jacob for the third time if he was Esau. For the third time he claimed he was, so now Isaac will eat the food and bestow the blessing.
"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." (Genesis 27:25) I bet Jacob and Rebekah are on pins and needles right now wondering whether Isaac will figure out he's being served goat instead of wild game. But his sense of taste, like his eyesight, is mostly gone. Rebekah simmered the meat in all kinds of savory spices in the same way she would cook wild game. He doesn't know the difference, but I picture Jacob standing nervously by the bed, glancing occasionally to his mother who is lurking in the doorway. I don't know that Rebekah is lurking there, but that's where she was earlier in the day when she eavesdropped on Isaac's conversation with Esau, and it's hard for me to imagine she wouldn't be close by right now while the charade is being carried out.
The food passes the test as far as Isaac can tell. He conducts one more test and then feels satisfied to pronounce the blessing. "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.'" (Genesis 27:26-27) Each person has his or her own individual smell. Those of you who have more than one child, I bet you could tell their laundry items apart just by smell alone. Even each animal has its own particular smell. I've had quite a few dogs in my life and if somebody blindfolded me and had me to sniff them I'd be able to name each dog just by its smell. We aren't really all that conscious of memorizing the smell of our loved ones but that information is stored in our brains. Isaac uses this information to reassure himself that the one who speaks with the voice of Jacob is actually Esau.
He continues, "'May God give you heaven's dew and earth's riches---an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples 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 27:28-29) This is a powerful statement. It confers upon Jacob both spiritual and material blessings. It puts him in position as primary heir and the head of the family.
God intended all along for Jacob to receive the blessing of the firstborn, but this is not how He intended Jacob to receive it. A father could bestow the birthright on a younger son if the eldest son disqualified himself to lead the family, and I think in time Isaac would have realized Esau was not the man to lead the family. I don't know exactly what Esau would have done to displease his father, but he's already displeased him by marrying two pagan women of Canaan. No doubt he would have done more irreverent things until Isaac concluded that he couldn't be trusted to be the leader, priest, and judge over the clan. In the days before the Levitical priesthood was established, the Lord spoke directly to the family leader. It was the family leader who interceded with the Lord on behalf of his people. Esau has no regard for such things. If he did, he would have married a godly wife who would have helped him raise godly children. But that's not a priority for him, and since Isaac will live on for quite some time in spite of his belief in Chapter 27 that death is near, he would have come to see that Jacob was a better choice than Esau.
Jacob doesn't set a good example for us to follow in Chapter 27. He knows the Lord's will for his life but he goes about obtaining it in the wrong way---in his own timing and by his own methods. David of Bethlehem is the one who sets a godly example for us. He was anointed by Samuel the priest as king of Israel about fifteen years before he actually assumed the throne. During those years he was hunted and persecuted by King Saul. David had several opportunities to kill Saul and take the crown but he was willing to wait for the Lord to give him the crown at the right time and in the right way. Instead of taking matters into his own hands, David said, "I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord's anointed." (1 Samuel 24:10) In David's opinion, King Saul was still the anointed king until the Lord deposed him. He left it up to the Lord to choose the time and place to take the throne from Saul and give it to David. Jacob would have been better off if he'd had the same attitude. Because he didn't, the next several years are going to be very rough for him.
Join us tomorrow when Esau returns from the hunt and finds out what has happened. Fearing his wrath, Jacob will have to flee the estate he loves and wants to manage. For a time he will be separated from the very thing he schemed to gain.
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