Read the Selected Scriptures from Gen. 27-28

·       27:2: It turns out it was still quite a while from Isaac's day of death.  But this was a wise thing to do. And it fit God’s plan for the maturing of Jacob.  We don’t know the day of our death.  It is wise to deal with it’s eventuality, but not to become obsessed with it.  And certainly, not to fear it.

·       27:7: Thus, what Isaac did, was a very spiritual thing.  He wanted to bless Esau “in the presence of the LORD.”  The LORD is the eternal One.  Isaac’s blessing on his sons would depend on the LORD for fulfillment.  Likewise, what we long for and pray for in our children and grandchildren will not be fulfilled at the time of our passing.

Father, help me to leave a blessing for my children and my children’s children.

·       27:20: Jacob used the LORD’s name in vain.  Remember that grandma Sarah had done the some before the LORD became real to her.  Using trhe LORD’s name in vain is not always what we consider a “swear word.”  Sometimes we speak of the “good Lord this” and the “good Lord that,.”  We may think we are acknowledging Him but if it is not from a heart of worship it can be “in vain.”

·       27:33:  Things did not go as Isaac thought.  But he did understand that what happened was the LORD’s doing.  Thus the writer of Hebrews can say, Isaac by faith blessed Jacob and Esau (Heb. 11:20).  Oh that I would remember that God is ALWAYS at work in me to produce the desire and the ability to do His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13).

·       27:36: Esau saw 2 different things: the birthright and the blessing.  But Isaac’s blessing included both.  Here are a few passages that help us get the big picture of what happened here.

o   Mal. 1:2-4/Rom. 9:10-13: God’s choice of Jacob instead of Esau it how God can say “Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated.”  God chose Jacob to be the one through whom Christ would come.  That is not the same as saying that Esau could not be saved, that he could not submit himself to God’s plan.

o   Heb. 12:16-17: Esau was “profane.”  He allowed a “root of bitterness” to exist and to control him.  He was rejected “for” (Greek gar, assigning a reason) “he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.”  He was in tears as he pled with Isaac to bless him.  But afterwards he intentionally dissed his father and mother when he took his third wife from the line of Ishmael, having found out that they preferred a wife from the family.

·       28:1-5: Isaac again, knowingly, blessed Jacob.  This blessing invoked the God of the fathers, El Shaddai, God almighty.  It included the blessing God had promised to Abraham and his descendants.  And it included sending Jacob off to Padan Aram to find a wife from the family.