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Genesis 28:1-9: Marrying wisely.

“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.’ ⁵ Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau. ⁶ Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, ‘Do not marry a Canaanite woman,’ ⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. ⁸ Esau then realised how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; ⁹ so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.” NIV UK

For believers who do marry, it should be clear to us, that spiritual compatibility matters most of all. Culture emphasises superficial and transient things such as appearance. I’m not saying that physical attraction is unimportant. It clearly matters a lot. But the best looking ‘Canaanite’ in the world should not be considered an option for any Christian. We ought to find a life-partner from among the people of God, or not at all. Christians who violate this principle usually live to regret it. I’m not saying that marriage to an unbeliever will never lead to his/her conversion. It can happen. But it is the exception. Regardless of this, don’t let your mind even consider the possibility of becoming ‘unequally yoked’ with an unbeliever. Think about it too long, and you might start to justify it. It’s the top of a slippery slope.

Genesis 27:42-46: A mother knows.

^“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?’” NIV

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.’

There is much about Rebekah’s behaviour that cannot be admired. She was manipulative, deceitful at times, and favoured one son over the other. None of this is good. But it is true that she knew her boys. She was aware that although Esau was livid, one day his anger would cool. She was so right.

As Christian parents, we should let our knowledge of our children inform our prayers for them, and shape our handling of them. But we don’t have to scheme, and we shouldn’t. WE can trust God.

Genesis 27:41: Smouldering anger.

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.’ NIV UK

Deal with anger before it deals with you! If you want to make progress in the Christian life, you must determine to forgive everyone who hurts you. Smouldering resentment is a form of murder in the heart. Although it may cause someone to injure another, in the mean time you do great damage to yourself. How different is the attitude we see in Jesus, praying for the forgiveness of those who crucified Him, even as He hung on the Cross. If Jesus lives inside you, just think what becomes possible for you. He calls you to forgive, and you find you can.

Genesis 27:30-40: Burning regret.

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?^[a] 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,

Although Esau declared that his brother took his ‘’birthright’’, it must be observed the truth is larger than that. We know that Esau regarded his birthright so lightly that, effectively, he sold it for a bowl of soup. We regularly play the ‘blame game’; seeking to evade responsibility for our own bad decisions, by pointing the finger at others. In this case, if Esau himself had not made a bad decision, he would have had no cause for searing regret. But as someone said, we make our decisions then our decisions turn around and make us.

PRAYER: Lord help me please, so that I do not treat great things lightly.

Genesis 27: 25-29: Aromatic Christians.

^“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,

Years ago, I was in a café in Interlaken, Switzerland. A man, passing through, had so splashed on the after shave, that a strong scent wafted through the room with him. It was not unpleasant, but it was obvious. There was an unmistakeable fragrance emanating from him.

We each give off an aroma. I mean something more than bodily scents. Of course we are aware of these (as are others close to us!), and we, for the most part, try to observe good standards of hygiene. We don’t want to be offensive to others; we want to smell nice.

As a Christian, I want to carry a good scent through this world. I often pray that people coming into our home will be able to smell the fragrance of Jesus in every room, and, particularly, on our lives (see 2 Corinthians 2). There is an almost indefineable something about a godly person, and those coming into contact with him/her know it.

PRAYER: Lord, please may I smell strongly of Christ.

Genesis 27:20-24: Your nose.

^“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.” NIV UK

Some years ago, I was watching an episode of the TV crime drama, ‘A touch of Frost.’ Inspector Jack Frost, brilliantly played by David Jason, was asked how he could possibly know a certain piece of information. He tapped the side of one nostril and said, ‘Your nose!’ That ‘spoke’ to me, because, call it ‘discernment’ or something else, at times I have just known that something wasn’t quite right in a situation. I may not have been able to say precisely what it was, but it usually became clearer afterwards. Something didn’t smell right. It’s important to pay attention to your ‘nose.’ It will tell you things.

Isaac knew something wasn’t quite right here. But he pressed on regardless, and regretted it. Could it be correct to say that his sensual appetite overpowered his faculty for discernment? If so, we surely can learn from him, for we know how easily we can be tempted and led astray.

PRAYER: Lord, please keep me alert to all hidden dangers.

Genesis 27:1-19: Cheat.

“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. 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.’” NIV UK

This story makes for disturbing reading. It is sad to see the active deception in this dysfunctional family. We want to believe better things of these Bible characters. But Bible families are real families. They are flawed. ‘All human life is here’, in this Book.

Rebekah’s actions are breathtakingly bad. She encouraged one of her sons, Jacob, to cheat his brother and deceive her husband, his father. Jacob himself was happy enough to go with the plot. He just didn’t want to appear as a deceiver. It seems to me, as I read this, that he wasn’t bothered about sinning. He just didn’t want the consequences.

Integrity involves the integration of the inner and outer worlds. Lack of integrity leads people to just ‘keep up appearances’. They don’t care what they are like or do, so long as they can hide the truth and get away with stuff. May God keep each one of us from such a cavalier attitude towards truth.

‘The birthright had been already promised to Jacob, and there was no need for him to win it by fraud!’

PRAYER: Lord, keep me honest.

Genesis 26:34-35: Domestic troubles.

Being a believer doesn’t inoculate you against trouble. It certainly doesn’t provide you with a cast iron guarantee that all go smoothly at home. Many Christians carry deep wounds inflicted by their children. The deepest hurts, however, are felt if they betray the faith they were taught from infancy. In marrying ‘’Hittite’’ women, Esau was becoming ‘unequally yoked’. The Hittites were one of the Canaanite tribes (10:15). They were not known for their godliness, and the Lord did not want his covenant people to intermarry with them. When we reject God’s Word, we hurt Him, we hurt ourselves, and we often hurt those closest to us. Esau’s wives, we read: ‘’…were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.’’

A Christian should not marry a non-Christian. When someone does go astray in this area, occasionally, the unconverted spouse does become a Christian. Whilst thanking God for these rare exceptions, it has to be said that it usually works the other way, and the believer is pulled in a wrong direction.

Stay out of ‘Hittite’ territory!

Genesis 26: 26-33: The blessing of God.

^“26 Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal advisor and Phicol the commander of his forces. ²⁷ Isaac asked them, ‘Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?’ ²⁸ They answered, ‘We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, “There ought to be a sworn agreement between us”– between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you ²⁹ that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.’ ³⁰ Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹ Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully. ³² That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, ‘We’ve found water!’ ³³ He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.” NIV UK

As if to confirm God’s word of assurance (24), Abimelech turned up at Isaac’s door seeking to make a peace treaty. When God’s blessing is on a life, it is obvious:

‘’We saw clearly that the LORD was with you…’’ (28).

Tom Hale points out that by seeking a treaty with Isaac, Abimelech sought to share in his blessing. In this way, the promise that Abraham’s offspring would bring blessing to all nations was beginning to be fulfilled (22:18).

You may have people in your world who are opposed to you and your faith; who are difficult with you. Do not under-estimate God’s ability to change their attitude towards you. He can turn enemies into friends. Supremely, He has done this at the Cross, reconciling those who were previously hostile to Him, so that we are now His very own people. Through the Covenant of peace, ratified by Jesus’ blood, all may be saved.

Warren Wiersbe notes that Isaac went the extra mile, and entertained these men at a feast (Romans 12:18-21).