Genesis
26:34 ¶ And Esau was forty years old
when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath
the daughter of Elon the Hittite: 35
Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
When Isaac was a hundred years old (See
25:26) Esau married two Hittite girls, which upset Isaac and Rebekah terribly.
Notice that I said previously in the comments on the passage that began in
10:15 that a Hittite
was a descendant of Heth.
Genesis
23:10 And Ephron dwelt among the
children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of
the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,
2Samuel
11:3 And David sent and enquired after
the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife
of Uriah the Hittite?
Heth
was a son of Canaan, who had been cursed by his grandfather, Noah, for Canaan’s
father’s, Ham’s, behavior after their family departed the Ark. Canaanites, the
descendants of Canaan, were steeped in the worship that permeated the ancient
world. Esau will eventually take more wives of
the daughters of Canaan (36:2). We have no record of how long his wives lived
or if any of these wives were replacing deceased ones as Judith is not
mentioned again. We also know he took a second daughter to wife of Elon and we
do know he had two wives with the same name; Bashemath, here, the daughter of
Elon the Hittite, and Bashemath, a daughter of Ishmael, later in 36:3. One
would naturally assume that Elon’s Bashemath had died without leaving children
as they are not mentioned but we cannot say with certainty. Just imagine, in a
culture where multiple wives were not unusual, a man marrying during the course
of his life two women with the same first name. Joseph Smith, the founder of
the Mormon cult in the United States, had many wives; with multiple wives named
Sarah.
Esau,
a carnal man, has married from the daughters of the heathen whose religious
views and sympathies would not be in keeping with how he was raised. Many young
Christian men and women in the last fifty years think nothing of marrying
someone outside of their faith because their faith is so weak and their commitment
to God is less than the allure of emotional impulse. But, we are told
specifically;
2Corinthians
6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness?
An
unbelieving husband or wife will poison a Christian’s home and set a terrible
example for children, who are your responsibility to raise with a knowledge of
God.
Many
a Christian parent has been much distressed by their child’s choice of an
unbelieving spouse.
Genesis,
chapter 27
Genesis 27:1 ¶
And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so
that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My
son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not
the day of my death: 3 Now therefore
take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the
field, and take me some venison; 4 And
make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that
my soul may bless thee before I die. 5
And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the
field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
Isaac
was growing blind as he grew old. His eyes
were dim. Later, a prophet’s eyes will be said to be set because of age.
1Kings
14:4 And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and
arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could
not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
Here
is an important point to consider. God’s people, even His chosen patriarchs and
prophets, will suffer the pains of old age and the suffering that comes with
it. They are not exempt from bodily decay and loss. Many conservative
Christians seem to be shocked when they suffer the difficulties of old age, as
if they should be exempt, as if they had made a bargain which wasn’t kept by
the other party. They often live lives of excess with food, in particular,
enjoying the sin of gluttony, no different than the unsaved drunk enjoying the
excesses of alcohol, and when it is time to pay the bill for their incontinent
lifestyle they find themselves flabbergasted at their distress.
Solomon
commented on old age in very poetic terms.
Ecclesiastes
12:1 ¶ Remember now thy Creator in the
days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when
thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; 2
While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened,
nor the clouds return after the rain: 3
In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong
men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and
those that look out of the windows be darkened, 4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets,
when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the
bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; 5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which
is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and
the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to
his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: 6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the
golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel
broken at the cistern. 7 Then shall the
dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who
gave it.
Isaac
feels his death is imminent and tells Esau to bring him some venison and then
he will bless Esau. Esau has already expressed his willingness to give up his
birthright for a bowl of soup. There is no reason to believe that Isaac is even
aware of it or that such a thing would be legal and binding except as a
justification for what Jacob and his mother are about to do. The blessing he
wishes to give Esau is the blessing to the eldest son and the birthright and
continuation of the lineage will flow from that. But, Esau’s surrender of his
birthright to Jacob, even if not a legal and binding contract in that culture,
certainly gave Jacob the justification he needed, along with his mother’s
support and encouragement, to steal Esau’s blessing as well. If it was a legal
and binding statement that guaranteed on its face that Esau lost his birthright
Isaac would have been told. What matters is what the person giving the blessing
wants. You, if you are born again, will have eternal life because of God’s free
gift, His blessing on you, not because of your fidelity and worthiness after
you trust Him and become His child.
Please
read chapters 48 and 49 for Jacob’s blessings to his sons and grandsons. They
took blessings very seriously and once bestowed a blessing could not be
removed.
We
find it odd and perhaps a little crazy that a man of honor would bind himself
to an agreement that he made regardless of the fidelity of the other party or
if he had been deceived in any way.
This
is one aspect of a gentleman that is lost on today’s world. As God made an
agreement with Himself regarding Abraham in chapter 15, so a gentleman honors
any commitment he makes based on the truth of his own word and not the
faithfulness of the other party. No doubt, no one teaches their children that
sense of responsibility any more. But a blessing was very important in this
world as an expression of the giver’s mind towards the receiver and God’s will.
Rebekah
was listening.
Genesis
27:6 ¶ And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her
son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury
meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death. 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice
according to that which I command thee. 9
Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the
goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:
10 And thou shalt bring it to thy
father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold,
Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: 12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I
shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a
blessing. 13 And his mother said unto
him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.
14 And he went, and fetched, and brought
them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved.
15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of
her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob
her younger son: 16 And she put the
skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:
17 And she gave the savoury meat and the
bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
Genesis
27:18 ¶ And he came unto his father, and
said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son? 19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy
firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and
eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. 20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that
thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God
brought it to me. 21 And Isaac said unto
Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my
very son Esau or not. 22 And Jacob went near
unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice,
but the hands are the hands of Esau. 23
And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother
Esau’s hands: so he blessed him. 24 And
he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. 25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will
eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to
him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near
now, and kiss me, my son. 27 And he came
near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him,
and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD
hath blessed: 28 Therefore God give thee
of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and
wine: 29 Let people serve thee, and
nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons
bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that
blesseth thee.
As
God’s plan of reconciling man to Himself unfolds in its particulars, the theme
of the Bible, here we find the deception of a feeble old man by his wife and
son. We have no evidence to say that Isaac knew what we know, that Esau had
given up his birthright to Jacob for a meal. In fact, it is possible that may
not have been legal from a cultural perspective anyway. The fact that Jacob
felt justified, along with his mother who probably did know what Esau had been
willing to do, is what matters here. It is the fulfillment of prophecy given to
Rebekah, not to Isaac.
25:23 And
the LORD said unto her, Two
nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy
bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the
elder shall serve the younger.
Isaac
blesses Jacob, thinking he was blessing Esau, passing on authority over his
siblings. He also repeated God’s blessing on Abraham to Jacob.
Genesis
12:3 And I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the
earth be blessed.
Jacob’s
blessing is bit more earthy and more immediate than Abraham’s though. Rather
than promising that Jacob will be a blessing to all families of the earth, which Jehovah Himself will do later, he is told that nations will bow to him
and he will rule over his own siblings. He is now given the birthright and we
see the foundation laid for the fulfillment of the prophecy and curse against
Canaan from earlier on. The nations of Canaan will bow down and those who curse
his progeny will be cursed.
Genesis
9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a
servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem;
and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 God
shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan
shall be his servant.
To
curse the Hebrews was in the hearts of Balak, king of Moab, and the other kings
of Canaan. It was the commission he wanted to give to Balaam, the heathen
prophet.
Numbers
22:4b …And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.
5 He sent messengers therefore unto
Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the
children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out
from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over
against me: 6 Come now therefore, I pray
thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I
shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the
land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest
is cursed.
Although
Balaam refused to outright curse the Hebrews he was willing to offer counsel to
subvert them and make rotten their culture and standing with God from the
inside.
Numbers
31:16 Behold, these caused the children
of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD
in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the
LORD.
But,
this desire to curse the Hebrews, came back on them.
Numbers
31:8 And they slew the kings of Midian,
beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and
Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with
the sword.
Jacob,
posing as Esau, has deceived his father to gain the blessing that would have
gone to Esau. But, we shall soon see that Jacob is to be sent away. He will not
control his father’s wealth and he will have no opportunity to rule over his
brethren. This prophecy is for future generations about to be revealed. We will
see that Esau is not going to remain as unhappy as we will see him in the next
passage, or as angry. Essentially Esau loses nothing but his place in God’s
ministry of reconciliation, which matters little to a carnal man like himself as
it does not matter to many Christians, who prefer a worldly kingdom to a
heavenly one.
For
centuries many countries in Europe and the United States of America viewed
themselves as God’s chosen vessel. They tried to create in their minds God’s
kingdom out of a temporal physical place. This Replacement Theology where an
organization like the Catholic or Anglican churches or a country like Spain,
Germany, England, France, Russia, or the United States declares that it is
divinely inspired and God’s special country is the work of many carnal men.
They failed and were judged by God and are being judged because man is an
incorrigible sinner and the Christian’s home is in heaven and his capital is
the New Jerusalem, not Madrid, Berlin, London, Paris, Moscow, or Washington
D.C.
Genesis
27:30 ¶ 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. 31 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. 32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art
thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. 33 And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and
said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have
eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be
blessed. 34 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. 35 And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty,
and hath taken away thy blessing. 36 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? 37 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? 38 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. 39 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; 40 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.
It
doesn’t take long for Isaac to realize what has been done to him. He was
suspicious but with Esau’s immediate entry after Jacob’s departure it was
pretty obvious. Verse 33 shows that Isaac, even if deceived, was not going to
revoke his blessing. Indeed, there is no indication that it was even possible
to revoke a blessing already made. God had blessed Ham and Noah’s prophecy,
after Ham’s behavior, was directed at Ham’s son, not Ham.
Genesis
9:1 ¶ And God blessed Noah and his sons,
and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth…24
¶ And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew
what his younger son had done unto him. 25
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto
his brethren.
Esau
begs for a blessing but Isaac acknowledges that Jacob came with subtilty, a trait we learned about Satan
in chapter 3, a trait which will come back to haunt Jacob as he is tricked by
his uncle shortly in a similar manner.
Verse
36 tells us Jacob’s name should mean supplanter, someone who replaces, who
takes someone’s place, and Strong’s dictionary, although not the only authority
and which should never be taken as equal to the Bible itself, agrees. Esau
accuses Jacob of taking away his birthright when he willingly gave it to Jacob
and here, in truth, he accuses Jacob of taking his blessing, which was the
ultimate consequence of his surrendering his birthright.
Esau
pleads for a blessing but Isaac tells him there is none left. He has made Jacob
his heir. So, Isaac does bless him, in a manner of speaking, although Esau will
hate Jacob for that blessing. He will take that blessing and make it his excuse
for wanting to kill Jacob when his father dies.
Isaac
does give Esau a blessing but it is the blessing for a person who must live off
the land, living by the sword, until he frees himself from his brother’s yoke.
This, too, is a prophecy for a future time, as we will see, although Esau takes
it very personally and immediate.
2Kings
8:22 Yet Edom revolted from under the
hand of Judah unto this day.
Genesis
27:41 ¶ 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.
42 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. 43 Now
therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to
Haran; 44 And tarry with him a few days,
until thy brother’s fury turn away; 45
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? 46
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?
At
this point Esau planned on killing Jacob once their father had died. Someone,
perhaps a servant or even Esau himself, told Rebekah who told Jacob. She told
him to run away to his Uncle Laban. A few
days clearly just means a period of time until Esau’s heat of anger dies
down. In fact, Esau will not be full of rage at Jacob when they meet again. God
did not permit Esau’s wrath to fester and turn into a quest for revenge.
Rebekah promises to call Jacob from his exile. And, she tells Isaac that she
wants Jacob to leave lest he, too, take Hittite wives.
Proverbs 16:7 When a man’s
ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment