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Isaac encouraged Esau’s hunting skills to satisfy his own appetite (Gen 25:28), and Rebekah only encouraged and reinforced Jacob to be a deceitful, conniving, and cunning in her attempt to make sure that Esau served Jacob as prophesied by the LORD (Gen 25:23). There never was peace or unity within this home after having kids because neither parent took the high road to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the LORD as a family unit.
Nonetheless, the children are still personally responsible to God for the choices they make to either serve Him or forsake Him. Even though the parents may have contributed to some degree in the rearing years of one of their children or all going to seed, in the final analysis, not one child can point to the parents on judgment day and say, “Mom and Dad are the reason I rejected You in my life!” For any parent carrying the burden that one of their children may step into eternity without God is a horrifying thought!
One day Isaac had a yearning for Esau’s venison; so he told his son to kill a deer and prepare it the way he liked it and afterward he would bestow upon him the blessings of the firstborn (Gen 27:4). Not only does this action by Isaac run contrary to Rebekah’s oracle from God (Gen 25:23), but it smacks of similarity to Esau’s actions when he sold his birthright to Jacob!
Notice the melodrama Esau pulled on Jacob when he traded his birthright for stew: “Feed me … I am about to die” (Gen 25:30-32), and now compare that with Isaac’s theatrics “That I may eat … before I die (Gen 27:4). What lead Isaac to believe that he was going to die soon? Why is this so melodramatic on Isaac’s part? Consider that Isaac was probably 137 (based on Martin Luther’s calculations) at the time. His half-brother Ishmael died at that age (Gen 25:17); so Isaac may have been feeling his mortality and being blind didn’t help matters. He actually kicked the bucket 43 years later (Gen 35:28), living 5 years longer than his daddy Abraham (Gen 25:7)!
Both Esau and Isaac had a strong desire to satisfy their physical appetites and in the process, both were willing to forgo the spiritual ramifications. Esau was willing and did sell his birthright to Jacob, and Isaac was willing to contradict the prophecy made to Rebekah from the Lord – after I have eaten I will bless you before I die.
Rebekah had overheard this conversation and was alarmed by this turn of events and recounted the story to Jacob (Gen 27:5-7). So she outlined her plan to Jacob to prevent Esau from receiving the final blessing. She must have felt somewhat justified by her response due to the prophecy that the older (Esau) will serve the younger (Jacob, Gen 25:23) and even be willing to run the risk of receiving a curse from her husband for doing so (Gen 27:13).
Don't take this wrong, but this deception contains an element of humor. Imagine Jacob dressed up like a goat to simulate Esau’s hairiness (Gen 25:25) and carrying some food into his father wearing that get-up! He really was being a bahhhhhd boy. The taste of the food and the feel and smell of Jacob’s goat costume would fool his blind father into giving Jacob the firstborn blessing and stealing away the blessing from Esau (Gen 27:7-17). Esau must have been one hairy fellow which is all I got to say about that (Gen 27:22)!
Rebekah and Jacob pulled off this caper in mission impossible like style as Esau was just returning from the hunt (Gen 27:30). In his horizontal thinking Esau had killed a deer for his father, and in return he was going to receive the firstborn blessing after all, outdoing his geeky brother; he was pumped! But to his shock and grief, his troublesome brother had already stolen the blessing from him in Jacobian style (Gen 27:36). It is interesting that there is no record of Isaac rebuking Jacob’s or Rebekah’s involvement in the subterfuge. His only reaction was violently trembling from a grave mistake of identity (Gen 27:33).
How deep and wide was the chasm between the twins from all the sibling rivalry culminating on that day Esau discovered the deception of all deceptions through the years? Esau hated his twin brother Jacob for stealing his birthright and planned on killing him once their father passed away (Gen 27:41). Unknown to Esau, he would have to wait another 43 years for Isaac to die! That poor boy couldn't win for losing. When word got back to Rebekah about this murderous plot of Esau’s, Jacob was dispatched to Haran with the blessing of both parents (Gen27:46; 28:1-4).
Isaac did not have the luxury to send an envoy to Haran to find a wife for Jacob like Abraham did with him due to Esau’s evil plans to kill Jacob once he passed away, which he thought was short in coming. The future of Israel was within Jacob's seed; Esau was rejected like his Uncle Ishmael (Gen 28:3-4). God was providentially protecting Jacob from the likes of Esau.
The unchosen Esau married a third wife (Gen 26:34; 28:9) from the rejected line of Ishmael, Abraham’s son from Hagar, the Egyptian concubine (Gen 21:10, 12), in an attempt to please his father (Gen 28:8-9). Esau never understood the spiritual purity and reality of the covenant God made with Abraham. Unlike Jacob, it is very likely that Esau stepped out into eternity never knowing God. Esau’s life was nothing more than the testimony of a man who loved the physical realm more than the spiritual; he was indeed a man of the earth who appreciated the physical qualities it yielded over spiritual blessings. He simply could not grasp the spiritual import of anything!
Isaac attempted to thwart the oracle from the LORD to Rebekah (Gen 25:23 with Gen 27:4, 7) and stay with tradition; there is no doubt his taste buds and favoritism were coloring his judgment, and Rebekah resorted to deceit to fulfill the Word of the LORD given to her (Gen 25:23 with Gen 27:5, 8-10) though contrary to cultural protocols. What Words of the Lord had we compromised because of cultural pressure or some other agenda or resorted to manipulation (got in the flesh) to accomplish something for God? Compromising the Word of the LORD or trying to do God’s will in our own strength is frowned upon. Obedience is always better than sacrifice (1 Sam 15:22) and not by might but my Spirit says the LORD (Zech 4:6).
God’s purposes can never be frustrated or thwarted by any created thing. What God prophesied will come to pass. Neither Isaac nor Rebekah took the high road as parents, and it cost them dearly, losing one son to perdition. Children are still ultimately responsible for their choices to reject the Lord or to follow Him. Our charge as parents is to raise them up in the fear and admonition of the LORD.
If we weren’t too successful once becoming empty nesters, the only remaining options are to (1) continue to pray for them, and (2) be an example of faith until we draw our last breath. We need to be the Jesus we want to see not only in our children but in the world at large until death or rapture do us part. Have you ever wondered why God allowed Esau to be born first? I'll leave those lentils of ponder on the fire for you to taste. <><
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