How Jacob Stole Esau's Birthright

INTRO

The Seed, Christ, came from Adam to Noah to Shem to Abraham and Sarah to Isaac and Rebekah to Jacob. And in Genesis 27, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew.

TEACHING

Genesis 27:1–2: The battle that started in Rebekah’s womb continued. Isaac was 100 years old at this point; Scripture said he lived to be 180. Abraham lived to 175. Nobody knows the day of his death. Isaac did not end well. Abraham finished well because he looked for a wife for Isaac to continue the blessing. King David handed off the building of the temple to Solomon. Paul laid the groundwork for Timothy to be successful. But here we have Isaac who just wanted good food. Who else in Scripture didn’t finish well? Judas, Lot, Gideon, Noah, Samson, King Saul, King Solomon, Demas (walked with Paul, then he went back to his old ways). Isaac did not finish strong. How will we finish?

Genesis 27:3–4: Remember Esau was the hunter, so Isaac’s request wasn’t strange. Six times in this chapter, Isaac referenced this tasty food. At this time, most blessings were public, not private. For instance, in Genesis 49:1, Jacob publicly blessed his sons. What did Isaac have to hide? It’s almost like he knew this wasn’t of the Lord but wanted to do it anyway. Isaac was a man who had prayed and pressed in, but now he had started to go the opposite direction. Isaac wasn’t functioning by faith, but instead depended on:

1. His sense of taste (Genesis 27:4, 9, 25).
2. His sense of touch (Genesis 27:21).
3. His hearing (Genesis 27:22).
4. His sense of smell (Genesis 27:27).

Genesis 27:5–8: Isaac functioned in his flesh, not by faith and in the Spirit, and he missed it. Everything he did was focused on his natural senses, not faith, and Rebekah knew how to take advantage of this. Rebekah spoke into her favorite son, Jacob. In verse 6, she never referred to Isaac as her husband or Esau as her son. There was no connection there anymore. Rebekah knew the prophecy, but she was no longer functioning in faith either. She was scheming and lying to walk into the prophecy.

Genesis 27:9–10: Rebekah and Jacob didn’t want to wait for the blessing; they had to get it themselves. This was reminiscent of Sarah and Abraham with Hagar. There was this constant impatience to receive the blessing. Not only did Jacob purchase the birthright, but now he was stealing the blessing. Really the blessing is about the same as the birthright. There’s not much difference. Later, when Esau wanted to inherit the blessing and birthright, he was rejected. According to Hebrews 12:17b: “he was rejected because he didn’t find an opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears.”

Genesis 27:11: Jacob knew he would get caught. He knew doing this in a deceiving way wasn’t right. Warren Wiersbe said, “Faith is living without scheming, and faith means obeying God no matter how we feel, what we think, or what might happen.”¹Were Jacob and Rebekah walking by faith in this moment? No! Why? Because they were lying and scheming. They didn’t have to lie and scheme for the prophecy to be fulfilled. There is a weird tension when there’s a prophecy spoken over you. How much do you let the Lord unfold and how much do you walk out? As humans, we live in this tension. First Thessalonians 5:20 NASB says not to despise prophetic utterances. How do we embrace them in such a way that we walk them out but don’t force them?

What we do know, is that Jacob knew it was wrong to deceive. Satan is known as the deceiver (2 Corinthians 11:3). The opposite of the seed of the serpent is the Seed of truth. Jesus is the truth (John 14:6). If there’s a prophetic word, you don’t have to deceive to make it happen. You can walk into it in truth. But God, to continue the seed, used imperfect people.

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Genesis 27:12–15: Jacob knew he was acting as a deceiver. And he knew the promise of Genesis 12:3: “If you curse me, you’ll be cursed, if you bless me, you’ll be blessed.” When Jacob didn’t want to do this, Rebekah insisted.Everything about this feels off. Rebekah was lying and deceiving. She knew Jacob was going to steal the blessing, and she was OK with that.

Genesis 27:16–19: Rebekah covered everything—Jacob’s neck and hands—and had Jacob wear Esau’s clothes. Rebekah did all this. Go back to Genesis 24:60. This was the godly, beautiful Rebekah who watered all the camels. I believe Rebekah had this in mind the whole time. I believe she knew what she was doing, and she went after the blessing. Perhaps Rebekah believed Isaac was dying, and she feared that Jacob would miss it, so she intervened. When God gives you a blessing and a prophetic word of that magnitude, it just becomes part of who you are. Jacob was after the blessing.

Genesis 27:20–26: How many lies did Jacob tell? (1) His name (v. 19); (2) said he did as Isaac told him (v. 19); (3) “my game” (v. 19); (4) he gave credit to God in his lying (v. 20); (5) he again claimed to be Esau (v. 24); and (6) his kiss was hypocritical (v. 26). Isaac blessed Jacob because of Jacob’s “goat” hands. Jacob continued lying. He again claimed to be Esau (v. 24) This was reminiscent of Judas and Jesus. Lie after lie after lie, ending with a kiss (vv. 25–26) Rebekah knew the blessing was coming (Genesis 24:60) and that it had to come to Jacob, not through Esau. It took six lies to get there (v. 27).

Genesis 27:28–29: This was an awesome picture of what the Promised Land was going to look like. We already know the descendants of Ham were going to serve the descendants of Shem and Japheth. Isaac’s blessing was just like Genesis 12: “Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed.” Don’t miss this– talking about “the nations” even speaks into Matthew 28:19–20 and how the nations will receive the gospel when we go to the ends of the earth.

Genesis 27:30–33: Isaac couldn’t stop trembling. Verse 33 describes Isaac’s trembling as uncontrollable, with great excess of trembling. I believe there are root sins that, if we don’t cut them off, get passed down to our kids. Abraham lied to Abimelech about Sarah, Isaac had lied to Abimelech about Rebekah, and now Isaac and his sons participated in the lies.

Genesis 27:34–35: Human sin can impact everything. The Israelites demanded a king, and they got Saul. Rahab lied to protect the spies in Joshua 2:4–5. Her family was spared because she lied to protect the Israelites. Matthew 1:1–5 contains the historical record of Christ. Rahab was the prostitute in the lineage of Christ. I believe the same thing happened with Jacob and Rebekah. God still used two people who lied to continue the lineage of Christ. I’m not saying it’s right or it’s justified. It happened.

Genesis 27:36–38: When Esau realized that Isaac had blessed Jacob, he begged for Isaac’s blessing. Yet Hebrews 12:16–17 explains that Esau was the immoral and irreverent one. Later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. It’s so strange that we see these six lies Jacob used to steal the blessing, and yet when we get to the faith chapter in Hebrews, it’s Esau who was called the immoral and irreverent one. I think this proves the point that Esau was in the wrong, and Jacob and Rebekah needed to do everything they could to preserve the seed. It was the opposite of the blessing (vv. 39–40).

CLOSING

When all was said and done, God used lies and deception from Rebekah and Jacob because of something Esau did wrong. God knew what He was doing through those two to preserve the lineage of Christ.