Genesis 27:1-40: Jacob Receives Blessing
Genesis 27:1-40: Jacob Receives Blessing
Bible Essentials: Set 3, Lesson 19
Opening
Individuals: Take time to think back about your past week. Where have you seen God work in your life or answer prayer? Write down any prayer requests you have.
Group: Open the study by sharing life updates, reviewing highs and lows of your past week, or sharing prayer requests and praises.
Icebreaker: When in your life did you not receive something you thought was rightfully yours, or you did receive something that was not rightfully yours?
All: Begin the study with a word of prayer, asking God to open your heart for today’s study. You can also pray for any prayer requests now, or save that for the end.
Study
Read today’s passage: Genesis 27:1-40.
27 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son 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 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 Esau her older son, 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.”
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 recognize 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.”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? 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.”
What is the context for this passage?
After Isaac and Rebekah had their two sons Jacob and Esau, a famine hit the land, and God instructed Isaac to not go down to Egypt to avoid the famine. God confirmed the promise he made to Abraham, passing that promise along to Isaac. So instead of going to Egypt, Isaac sought solace in the land of the Philistines. While he was there, he made the same mistake Abraham did (twice!)—he told everyone that his wife was his sister in order to keep the people from harming him. Once the king of the Philistines, Abimelek, found out the truth, he was angry with Isaac but still gave orders to his people not to harm Isaac or Rebekah. (Abraham also pulled this trick on Abimelek in Genesis 20, but it was likely a different Abimelek—perhaps the father of the one mentioned in Genesis 26. Abimelek was a title for the Philistine ruler, similar to Pharaoh in Egypt.)
While Isaac lived with the Philistines, he became rich. His crops produced bountifully, and he had many flocks and servants. The Philistines became jealous of him, so Abimelek asked Isaac to move away from them. Isaac did so, and every time he found a well and opened it (the Philistines had stopped up all the wells that Abraham had dug), someone quarreled with him over it. So he kept moving on until he found a well that no one disputed. He settled there.
After he had settled, God again confirmed his blessing on Isaac, and Isaac worshipped God. Shortly after that, Abimelek came to Isaac and asked Isaac to make a treaty with the Philistines that they would always treat each other peacefully. They celebrated together and made the treaty.
At this point, the story shifts back to Jacob and Esau. The last time we looked at Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25), Esau had come in from the field famished, and he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Esau eventually married some Hittite women, who were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah. Now, Isaac is old and ready to pass on the Lord’s blessing to his children.
Read the passage again.
Explore a different version if you have one available. If you are online, here is Genesis 27 in NIV through Bible Gateway. You can change the version by using the dropdown menu at the top right of the page.
Try to summarize the passage in your own words.
Answer these three questions about the passage:
1. What does the passage say about God?
The Lord gives abundant blessings. We don’t see a lot revealed to us about God in this passage, but we do see that Isaac and his family believe that God will bless them. When Jacob tells Isaac that God gave him success in his hunting, even though this was a lie, Isaac didn’t question that God had the power to do this. Isaac also referred to God’s blessing in his blessing to Jacob.
God honors the blessing that Isaac gives. Even though Isaac was deceived when he gave his blessing to Jacob instead of Esau, God honored that blessing. When Isaac realized he had been deceived, he said with confidence that the blessing he gave Jacob would definitely be fulfilled. This can only happen if God fulfills it.
2. What does the passage say about people?
People’s bodies start to deteriorate in their old age. As those of us who have hit a certain age know, the older we get, the more our bodies start to fall apart. One of the ways that Isaac’s body started to fail him was his eyesight. Isaac could no longer see, so it was easy for Jacob and Rebekah to deceive him.
People plan for their death. Isaac knew that he was going to die soon, so he made plans to pass on his blessing to his sons. Death is certain, and we do not take our possessions with us when we die, so we must make a plan for what will happen to our possessions when we die.
People can manipulate situations for their own gain. Rebekah heard Isaac plan to bless Esau, and she wanted that blessing for Jacob instead. Maybe she was remembering what God had told her while she was still pregnant with the twins, or maybe she had other reasons, but she manipulated both Jacob and Isaac to make sure that Jacob received Isaac’s blessing.
People use deception to get what they want. In order for Jacob to receive Isaac’s blessing, he had to deceive Isaac. He had to pretend to be Esau, the one that Isaac was expecting to bless. Jacob used Isaac’s weakness—his poor eyesight—to pull off this deception. He made the food that Isaac was expecting (or, rather, Rebekah made the food), and he wore Esau’s clothes and made his skin hairy like Esau’s. And Isaac was indeed deceived.
People question situations that don’t seem right. In spite of all the work that Jacob and Rebekah went through to deceive Isaac, Isaac still seemed to detect that something wasn’t quite right. He questioned how quickly his son had success with his hunting, and he questioned that Jacob’s voice didn’t match Esau’s. Yet Isaac still went forward with the blessing.
Parents want to pass on blessings to their children. As was the tradition, when Isaac was about to die, he wanted to pass on blessings to his children. He had received God’s blessing passed to him through Abraham, and now he was about to pass that on to Esau—but Jacob and Rebekah had other plans.
Children want to please their parents. Both Jacob and Esau wanted to please Isaac in order to receive the blessing. Esau did exactly what his father asked—he hunted and made some food for him. Jacob also made the tasty food that Isaac preferred in order to trick Isaac into giving him the blessing instead.
People are upset when they don’t get what they expect. When Esau came back from hunting and approached his father with the food that he had prepared, Esau found out that Jacob had received the blessing intended for Esau. As seems human, Esau did not react well to this. He begged for his father’s blessing anyway. Isaac did what he could, but it was not the blessing Esau had hoped for.
3. What does the passage say about God’s plan?
God’s plan was for Jacob to receive Isaac’s blessing rather than Esau. Just as God had told Rebekah while she was pregnant, God’s plan was for Jacob to rule over Esau. This plan was set into motion when Jacob deceived Isaac to receive the blessing that was intended for the firstborn. Not only did Isaac’s primary blessing go to Jacob, but God’s blessing for Abraham and Isaac also passed on to Jacob.
God’s plan was for Esau to live a harder life and serve his brother. The blessing that Isaac had left for Esau did not predict an easy life for Esau. Esau’s life would be away from earth’s richness and away from heaven’s blessing. He would end up serving his brother, just as God had foretold to Rebekah. However, there was hope for Esau. He would be able to eventually rid himself of the burden he felt from Jacob’s dominion over him.
How does the passage fit into the overarching story of the Bible?
Sometimes it’s easier to understand a passage if you have a little outside knowledge from other passages in the Bible. This section will help provide that outside perspective.
In Genesis 12, God first gave his promise to Abraham that he would make Abraham into a great nation and bless him. God also promised Abraham a son through whom this promise and blessing would be carried on. That son was Isaac. At Abraham’s death, the promise that God had with Abraham got passed on to Isaac—not Ishmael, Abraham’s true firstborn, but Isaac, the promised son that Abraham had with Sarah. Now, at Isaac’s death, it’s time for that blessing to be passed on again. And God has determined that the blessing will not flow to Esau, the firstborn, but to Jacob, the younger twin.
In Genesis 28, God confirms his covenant with Jacob through a dream. He promises that Jacob’s descendants will inherit the land he is on and that all peoples will be blessed through him. God promised to be with Jacob and watch over him wherever he goes. We will see through the rest of Genesis and the Old Testament that God keeps this promise. Jacob eventually has 12 sons that become the 12 tribes of Israel (although it’s a little more complicated than that), and God does bring them back into the land as he promised. The Israelites do a pretty poor job of following God consistently, and Israel’s enemies continually try to conquer them. At times, God gets so fed up with their disobedience and pursuing other false gods that he allows them to be defeated, and they eventually get carried off into captivity.
But through all this, God is faithful. God remembers his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he will bless all nations through them. So he preserves a remnant, specifically of the tribe of Judah, and he sends a Messiah through the line of Judah. This isn’t just any Messiah. This is God himself, sent to earth as a man, sent to live a perfect life and to die for our sins. This is the true blessing that was passed down from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. God cared for and preserved this family line so that Jesus could come to earth to be the Savior of the world.
Discussion
Individual: Answer the following questions thoughtfully for yourself.
Group: Pose these questions for discussion.
All: If you are willing to share, I’d love to hear your thoughts to these questions. Feel free to use the comment section to start a discussion about this passage.
What else strikes you about this passage?
How does the passage affect how you view God? How you view yourself?
How does this passage affect how you will live your life?
Additional Study
For additional study related to this topic, read Genesis 27:41-29:14.
Premium Resources
For Bible Essential studies, you can use my thoughts as your devotional, or you can download and use the journaling sheet to work through the passage on your own. If desired, you can then compare your thoughts to mine. Journal sheets can be downloaded and used now or later. They can be printed and filled in by hand or saved and filled out electronically. Journal sheets are available for individual or group use.
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