Genesis 27 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Genesis 27:1-17

1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for his elder son Esau and said to him, ‘My son.’

‘Here I am,’ he answered.

2 Isaac said, ‘I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your equipment – your quiver and bow – and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 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.’

5 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, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, ‘Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 “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.” 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9 go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.’

11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, ‘But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12 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.’

13 His mother said to him, ‘My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.’

14 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. 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her elder son Esau, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

A. Find Out:

1. What state was Isaac in when he called Esau? v.1
2. Why did he want him to hunt game? v.3,4
3. Who started plotting against them? v.5-8
4. What was she going to do? v.9,10
5. What flaw did Jacob see in the scheme? v.11,12
6. How did she overcome that? v.15,16

B. Think:

1. What was really the purpose of Isaac having his favourite meal?
2. What did Jacob understand about curses & blessings?
3. How would you describe Rebekah as seen here?

C. Comment:

Isaac is an old man who is losing his faculties. He wants to feel good about Esau, so he can give him a “good blessing”, so he plans for his favorite meal, to make it a special “event”, to be obtained by Esau. Is it perhaps true that he needs to make himself feel good about Esau? Perhaps he already senses something about the sort of person Esau is. Sadly Jacob is little better! What a family!

Then comes Rebekah who, hearing what is about to happen, schemes to get her favorite, Jacob, to receive the blessing. Can this be a family that is part of God’s plan to bless the world? Yes, God takes the earthly and makes something of heaven shine in it!

Note their understanding of the power of blessings and curses. They understood that when Isaac, as head of the household, pronounced a blessing or a curse, it would result in good or evil for the person concerned. The Bible indicates quite clearly that this is quite true. That is why Jesus became a curse for us (see Galatians 3:13 ) so that we might not suffer the curses of disobedience (read Deuteronomy 24:14 – 28:68 to sense the gravity of this in the later life of Israel).

D. Application?

1. Thank the Lord Jesus that He has taken the curse of sin for us. (see Galatians 3:14)
2. Thank the Lord that He takes us who are merely earthen vessels (see 2 Corinthians 4:7) and puts His glory in us.

Passage: Genesis 27:18-29

18 He went to his father and said, ‘My father.’

‘Yes, my son,’ he answered. ‘Who is it?’

19 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.’

20 Isaac asked his son, ‘How did you find it so quickly, my son?’

‘The Lord your God gave me success,’ he replied.

21 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.’

22 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.’ 23 He did not recognise him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. 24 ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ he asked.

‘I am,’ he replied.

25 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. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, ‘Come here, my son, and kiss me.’

27 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.
28 May God give you heaven’s dew
    and earth’s richness –
    an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 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.’

A. Find Out:

1. How did Isaac first check if this was Esau? v.21
2. How did he next check? v.27
3. What did he first desire for him? v.28
4. What did he second desire for him? v.29a
5. What was his third desire for him? v.29c

B. Think:

1. In what state was Isaac obviously? see v.19-27
2. How would you describe in your own words the nature of the “blessing” Isaac pronounced?
3. What sort of man will these make Jacob become?

C. Comment:

With this whole episode we tread on strange ground. God had already declared to Rebekah that Jacob will eventually be stronger than Esau (25:23). Esau also has given up his right to his inheritance (25:33) and now by deception Jacob receives the parental blessing to receive the family blessing.

We should not see God making Jacob deceive his father into giving him the blessing, rather God knew that would happen. The wonder is that God chose this man knowing he was a deceiver, a twister, even from birth. This is the wonder of the story of Jacob, that he will become Israel, the chosen of God, despite being what he is. Perhaps more than any other personal history in the Bible, the story of Jacob teaches us the wonder of God who chooses that which is twisted and makes it into something great. Again with a “blessing” we cannot tell how much the blessing is actually “prophetic”, being a foretelling of what will happen, or how much it is a “legal statement” on earth which brings about the following circumstances. Whichever it is, Jacob has a future which is worth watching!

D. Application?

1. Thank the Lord, that as Christians, we now live within the security of a clear plan that God has for us (see Ephesians 2:1 )
2. Ask the Lord to help you work out your salvation in harmony with Him (see Philippians 2:12 ,13).

Passage: Genesis 27:30-40

30 After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 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.’

32 His father Isaac asked him, ‘Who are you?’

‘I am your son,’ he answered, ‘your firstborn, Esau.’

33 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!’

34 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!’

35 But he said, ‘Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.’

36 Esau said, ‘Isn’t he rightly named Jacob [Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives?] 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?’

37 Isaac answered Esau, ‘I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?’

38 Esau said to his father, ‘Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!’ Then Esau wept aloud.

39 His father Isaac answered him,

‘Your dwelling will be
    away from the earth’s richness,
    away from the dew of heaven above.
40 You will live by the sword
    and you will serve your brother.
But when you grow restless,
    you will throw his yoke
    from off your neck.’

A. Find Out:

1. How did Isaac react when he found it was Esau? v.33
2. How did Esau respond? v.34
3. Why did Esau say Jacob was aptly named? v.36
4. How does Isaac feel about Esau’s plea? v.37
5. Where does Isaac say Esau will live? v.39
6. What sort of life does he say he will have? v.40

B. Think:

1. What again, do Esau’s reactions (see v.34,38) tell us about his understanding of Isaac’s blessing?
2. How would you summarize Isaac’s description of what he has given Jacob? see v.37
3. How is Esau’s “blessing” the other side of the coin from Jacob’s?

C. Comment:

This passage reiterates various things. First, the importance of parental blessing. Once it has been given to one it cannot be given to another. Second, Jacob’s character, as a deceiver-twister, is emphasized. When you consider his father and mother and brother as well, it’s not surprising! Isaac, however, does discern that one son will be strong and be much blessed and the other be a man of barren places who is a fighter. In that he is right, it’s just that originally, he had it the opposite way round to what God had said it would be.

The Lord takes man’s foolishness and even sin and uses it for his own purposes (see in Acts 2:23 how God knew how men would react to Jesus and so used that for His purposes). The Lord works good out of everything for those he has called (see Romans 8:28). Humanly speaking we might have given up on this family, but God chooses them and, out of this environment of quarrelling, frustration and bitterness, is going to bring something great out of it.

D. Application?

1. Thank the Lord that He can take our failures and even turn them for good. If you have failed then ask Him to take it and use it to teach you, and to take you on from that point to a place of blessing.
2. Place yourself firmly in His hands today.

Passage: Genesis 27:41- 28:4

41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, ‘The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.’

42 When Rebekah was told what her elder son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, ‘Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say: flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. 44 Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. 45 When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?’

46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, ‘I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.’

1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him: ‘Do not marry a Canaanite woman. 2 Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. 4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.

A. Find Out:

1. What did Esau plan in respect of Jacob? v.41
2. How did Rebekah plan to stop it? v.43
3. How long would that be? v.44,45
4. How did Rebekah put it into Isaac’s mind to send Jacob away? v.46
5. Where did he send him? v.2
6. How did he send him? v.3,4

B. Think:

1. From his point of view, what mistake did Esau obviously make about his grudge?
2. Who was the initiator/peacemaker in this family?
3. What does it say about Isaac that he sent Jacob with his blessing?

C. Comment:

Esau, somewhat understandably, feels bitter about what has happened, and so plans to kill his brother. He obviously shares his feelings openly and when Rebekah hears about it she takes action to stop it by sowing in Isaac’s mind the idea that, like him, his son should have a wife from outside Canaan. Perhaps Isaac also saw this as a way to get rid of a troublesome son, and so he went along with Rebekah’s idea, and Jacob is also, perhaps, glad to get away. As he goes Isaac blesses him, the old man obviously not holding grudges like his older son.

The person who stands out in this family is Rebekah, a schemer who produces a scheming son who is now going into exile. The prime characteristic that comes out again and again in the story of this family is human endeavor, human self centredness, human planning, human scheming – and the disharmony it brings! Despite all this God is still going to take this man Jacob and make his name known world-wide! The lesson here is that we do not need to think we cannot receive God’s blessing because of our family background.

D. Application?

1. How would we be – like Rebekah, a schemer, or like Nathaniel (John 1:45) in whom there is nothing false?
2. Ask the Lord to point out to you any tendency to be a self-centred schemer and confess and forsake it!