Genesis 27:27–29

Of our five senses, poor Isaac was missing one. His sight was gone, so he had to rely on the other four, and this striking story shows that all four were used. Rebekah's clever cooking served up the flesh of young goats as though it were venison, so his taste was deceived. She brought out Esau's garments and put them on Jacob, and that deceived his sense of smell. She covered Jacob's hands and neck with the hairy skin of the killed goats, and that deceived his sense of touch just as well. One sense remained, hearing, and Isaac recognised the voice as Jacob's. It was three senses against one. Isaac accepted the verdict of the majority and blessed the son he could not see.

In Genesis 27 we read how Jacob deceived his blind father, Isaac, by wearing Esau's garment. Esau's garment was one of his "best garments." Since he was the elder, it may have been something very like Joseph's "robe of many colours." By fine clothing Jacob deceived his father; by fine clothing his sons deceived him. What he gave out came back to him in the same measure. God's government of His people works with great precision.

The Scriptures do not spare us the needed lesson of what man is, even chosen man. It is painful reading, and meant to be, but full of profit. Many believers are slow to admit that the flesh is no better in them than in this family. Isaac was usually blameless. But self-indulgence in his appetite so overcame him that he lost sight of the elder son's godlessness, and of the LORD's will and choice of Jacob. Rebekah was right about the end in view, but she had no scruples about the means. Jacob was not without conscience and fear about the deceit he was to practise on his blind father, and about pretending to be Esau by lying. He dreaded a curse instead of the blessing he valued. But what a God we have to deal with! He is unmoved in His purpose of grace — otherwise it could never stand. He is unchanging in His righteousness too. It disciplined every one of them for their good, and it was painful, because of their sins.

A priest blessed by reason of his office, and there was nothing prophetic or oracular in his words. With the patriarchal blessing it was clearly different. There was a prophecy or an oracle in Isaac's words on Esau and Jacob here in Genesis 27. The same was true later, in Jacob's words on his children in Genesis 49, and in his words on Joseph's children in Genesis 48. It was true earlier too, in Noah's words in Genesis 9 on Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Isaac is next set before us as an example of one who walked in the light of the future, for we read that "By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau." The story of the blessing of his sons is given in Genesis 27, and as we read that sad chapter in which every member of the family breaks down, we can find little evidence of any faith. There Isaac appears ruled by his appetites, seeking to act according to nature. Here, God, who sees behind all outward failure, lets us know that it was by faith that Isaac blessed his sons concerning things to come.

He will come down on the earth once judgment is over, like gentle showers on thirsty ground, and so the righteous will flourish in His days. In that day there will indeed be "the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed." The blessing Isaac gave to the son who supplanted his brother, the son who became Israel, will find a glorious fulfilment.

Is God going to be thwarted? Is He going to be hindered in His purposes? Never! Isaac himself did not realise it at the time, yet he spoke with full authority. He gave the fullest blessing to Jacob, though he thought he was blessing Esau. That was faith. Not faith in his own purpose, for God ruled that. His faith was in giving the blessing, and in seeing, once he had done it, that it stood as the act of God, and that he could not reverse it.

Dew was the familiar sign of God's favour. It was largely what made the land fertile, and without it the land would have been dry and barren. Isaac, in pronouncing the blessing on Jacob, uses this figure (Gen. 27:28). Moses repeats it in his closing blessing on the tribes (Deut. 33:28). Elijah shows God's judgment on the land by declaring that dew should not fall (1 Kings 17:1)... And Hosea describes the restoration of the nation, when God will bless them again. He pictures Him saying, "I will be as the dew to Israel."

Poor Esau was promised these blessings in reverse order. Earthly things would come first for him. Look at his descendants and relatives today. Where are all the oil wells being fought over today? Esau's descendants have had the blessing of the fatness of the earth, but their lot has been miserable, with all their wars and fighting. The dew of heaven has also fallen on them, but they have hardly noticed.

Verses 28 and 29 give the terms of the blessing, and we notice that it was all concerned with earthly things. He was to have plenty to eat and drink, and be served by his brothers and other nations... There was no word about God being his shield and reward, as we find with Abraham. Still, such as it was, it indicated the blessing on earth that was to be his. His descendants have forfeited it, as we know, but it will all be made good to them in the coming millennial day.

His blessing first voices the desire that God would give his son of the dew of heaven. This is typical of the living refreshment of the Spirit of God. Added to this is an abundance of grain and wine. The grain speaks of the Lord Jesus as the food of the believer... The new wine pictures the joy of a new life in Christ based on the value of the shedding of His blood. Every Christian father or mother may well desire such blessing for all of their children.

The sin of Isaac threw everything into confusion, and gross evil followed on the part of Rebekah and Jacob. The situation was so tangled that Esau, ungodly as he was, seemed more an object of pity at this sad and shameful moment than anyone else involved. Meanwhile those who really cared for the Lord's will and blessing brought dishonour on His name by the deceitful means they used to gain it. What sorrows and shame people make for themselves when they forget that God cannot fail to carry out His own purpose! In their haste for a good end, they do not hesitate to use wicked means.

And the blessing was given, both from Jehovah in covenant, and from God in sovereignty. Yet its terms mainly consisted of earthly plenty from the favour of the heavens. They also covered the subjection of peoples and races of mankind in general, and of his brothers and his mother's sons in particular. It closes with a double sentence of larger and deeper meaning: "Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you."

Verses 28 and 29 give the terms of it, and we notice that it was all concerned with earthly things. He was to have plenty to eat and drink. His brothers and other nations would serve him, and their attitude to him would bring them a curse or a blessing. There was no word about God being his shield and reward, as we find with Abraham... His descendants have forfeited it, as we know, but it will all be made good to them in the coming millennial day.

Is God going to be thwarted? Is He going to be hindered in His purposes? Never! Without knowing it at the time, but with the full sense of authority, Isaac gives the fullest blessing to Jacob. He was under the impression that it was Esau. That was faith. Not faith in his own purpose, for God ruled that, but faith in giving the blessing. Once he had done it, he realized it would stand as the act of God, and he could not reverse it. It is a striking illustration of the power of divine purpose.

His eye is opened. He discovers what he had been doing, and how Jacob had got the blessing he had prepared for Esau. He now sees plainly that he had been resisting God and could not prevail, and his soul seems to awaken as from sleep... The flesh he had been feeding could not support him in such a moment, and he does not look for it. It has been exposed to him. In the light and energy of the better life he acts by faith. Speaking now of Jacob, and no longer of Esau, he says, "I have blessed him, yes, and he shall be blessed."

Jacob was to be the father of the nation of Israel, and other nations would eventually bow to them. Above all, Christ would be born of the line of Jacob, and the force of the prophecy is mainly that all must bow to Christ... The ultimate fulfilment of this prophecy has never taken place yet. It will not come until Israel is recovered from her present unbelief and bows to the Lord Jesus, the true Messiah of Israel.

Balaam therefore ends his parable with the words of God to Abraham. "Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you." Matthew 25 shows how this is fulfilled. There the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory. He separates the nations one from another by how they treated one of the least of His brothers, the children of Israel... How fully are the interests of His people bound up with Himself!

No doubt he often had to suffer from Laban's deceit; but was there not a memorial here of the deceit in which he had acted himself? He is deceived about his wife, deceived about his wages, deceived about everything; but how had he dealt with his father, not to speak of his brother? Deceit must meet with deceit under the hands of God, who repays.