Esau returns from the hunt and finds out that Jacob stole his blessing.
"After Isaac had finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, 'My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.'" (Genesis 27:30-31) Has anything changed spiritually with Esau since he dismissively sold his birthright for a bowl of stew? I don't think so, but he knows it's the custom for a father to bless his sons before he dies and he believes there's a magical power connected to the blessing. In a sense there is, for in the Bible we find the blessings bestowed by fathers to be prophetic. Jacob, for example, will bless his twelve sons by making prophetic statements about the future of their tribes. But up until now Esau has had little concern for the future and I think the only reason he's concerned with it here in Genesis 27 is because he believes his father will die soon. Isaac's health will improve and he will live on for quite a few more years, but Esau doesn't know that and it's a practical concern that causes him to seek the blessing. He's in his forties with two wives and two families to support. He needs the material blessings that are bestowed by the father. He needs to be financially secure not only for his own sake but for the sake of his children and their descendants.
Isaac is overcome with fear when Esau brings him the food. "His father Isaac asked him, 'Who are you?' 'I am your son,' he answered, 'your firstborn, Esau.' Isaac trembled violently and said, 'Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him---and indeed he will be blessed!'" (Genesis 27:33) In the original language the trembling of Isaac is not the nervous quivering we're picturing in our heads right now. It's the head to toe shaking of a person in abject terror. It's a spasmodic shaking of pretty much every muscle in the body, almost like a seizure. Some commentators believe he shakes so violently because he realizes he's made what is---to him---a grievous mistake. Esau is his favorite son and his intended heir but he has conferred the family fortune and future material and spiritual blessings on the "wrong" son. Other scholars think he shakes like this out of fear of the Lord because the Lord said the elder son would serve the younger, but Isaac tried to impede the will of the Lord by intending to make the eldest son the heir and the family leader anyway. If this is why Isaac shakes in terror, then Isaac knows that the Lord has had the last word and that he has been acting in opposition to a holy and powerful God.
Isaac's blessing cannot be revoked. It is legally binding. Isaac cannot now take it away from Jacob and give it to Esau. The blessing gave Jacob the leadership over the family and it stated that Jacob's brother would bow down to him. What's done is done. Esau knows this but he also knows that his father is able to bless more than one son, so he begs his father to honor him with a blessing as well. "When Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, 'Bless me---me too, my father!' But he said, 'Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.'" (Genesis 27:34-35) Isaac will bless Esau, but he can't give him the same blessing he gave Jacob. Only one man can be head of the family.
Esau now fumes over the character of his brother. "Esau said, 'Isn't he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!' Then he asked, 'Haven't you reserved any blessing for me?'" (Genesis 27:36) Jacob was given his name because he was born grasping the heel of his brother Esau. He was born trying to take the preeminence over his brother and now he has literally done it. But we don't want to miss the fact that Esau is playing the victim here. He sold his birthright for a bowl of stew because that's how little he thought of the spiritual duties that came along with it. He says Jacob "took" his birthright, but that's not the truth. Esau was not actually dying when he came home famished from the hunt and dramatically announced that he was near death from hunger. Jacob's pot of stew wasn't the only available food on the wealthy estate of Isaac. Esau didn't have to promise Jacob anything in order to eat a meal. But he was so carnally minded and so incapable of thinking past the here and now that in his mind nothing but the bowl of stew existed in that moment. All he knew was that he had an immediate physical need that the bowl of stew would fulfill. Nothing else mattered to him right then.
Although Esau has made some bad choices, I feel sorry for him, don't you? His father favored him so obviously and so abundantly above his brother that I wonder whether this contributed to his cavalier attitude about the future. He grew up thinking he'd never have to worry about anything. He knew his father would give him almost everything he had. His every whim was probably catered to by his father, and this in turn may have caused him to become lazy (where estate planning was concerned) and to fail to learn responsibility. Do you know anyone who grew up being so spoiled that they rarely had to experience even the slightest inconvenience? Do you know anyone who grew up completely unfamiliar with being told "no"? Do you know anyone whose parents not only expected little of them, but who also went out of their way to do practically everything for them so that they seldom had to lift a finger? If you do, you've probably observed that when they became adults they lacked the skills to get along very well in college or in the workplace. They are not accustomed to planning ahead or considering consequences. They don't know how to assume responsibility. Someone has always managed things for them while they did as they pleased, and now they are at a loss as to how to obediently take instructions and get along with managers and co-workers. I think part of Esau's problem may be that he grew up as the spoiled favorite son with his every whim satisfied and with no responsibilities given to him. This doesn't mean we can place all of the blame for his shallow character on his father, but I do feel that Isaac contributed to Esau's sense of entitlement and to his lack of care for tomorrow.
I can relate a little bit to how Esau must have grown up. My parents taught me to think for myself and they assigned me some basic chores in the household, but they also behaved as if the sun rose and set on me. I was the baby of the family, born to my parents late in their reproductive lives when their two older children were already grown. Their world basically revolved around me while I was growing up and this put me at a disadvantage when I entered the workforce. Nobody at work thought I was special when I completed the tasks assigned to me. I didn't have any problems with authority and I did what I was told, but to be honest with you I struggled with not being treated as if I were the smartest and most talented person in the place. My parents applauded my every achievement as if I were an absolute genius, but my work managers? Not so much. When I turned in my work they didn't make a fuss over me at all. To them I was just one of the crowd. To them I was just doing my job when I completed a task successfully. And they were right, but it was a difficult adjustment for me, and that's why I wonder if some of the flaws in Esau's character were a result of being fawned over so excessively by his father.
Esau is trying to cope with his new reality. He knows he's lost the blessing that belonged to the elder son. But he also knows that his father is able to materially and spiritually bless more than just one child. "Esau said to his father, 'Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!' Then Esau wept aloud." (Genesis 27:38) Aren't we thankful that our heavenly Father has more than enough blessings to go around? Out of His immeasurable abundance He is able to bless each one of His children. It's not as if He can ever "use up" His blessings before He gets to us. What He blesses you with will be somewhat different than what He blesses me with, and vice versa, but His well of blessing will never run dry. He may not give me the same things He's given you, but I can still go to Him and say, "Bless me too, my Father!"
Esau will receive a blessing from his father. It won't be the blessing he wanted or expected. It won't be the blessing Isaac wanted to give him. But it will be the blessing he needs. God, in His infinite wisdom, chose before their birth which of Isaac's two sons would inherit the blessing of the firstborn. But there is mercy in this choice. By choosing Jacob to lead the family, God chose the man best suited for the job. He chose the man who can provide for and guide the family wisely. But He also shows Esau mercy by not saddling him with responsibilities he can't fulfill.
God doesn't always give us what we want, but He gives us what we need. I've asked Him for things I'm glad He didn't give me, haven't you? Looking back on my life, I can see how disastrous it would have been if He'd said "yes" to my unwise requests. Our Father is capable of blessing each and every one of us, but because He is a wise and loving and merciful Father, He will bless us with what we need and not always with what we want. In many ways He's blessed us above and beyond what we need, and that's because He enjoys bestowing good things on His children, but we have to keep in mind that when God says "no" to a request, it's because He knows what's best for us.
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