And God give thee of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of corn and new wine.
Isaac is old and blind, and the son kneeling in front of him is not the son he means to bless. Yet the words he speaks — dew, fatness, grain and wine — land exactly where God meant them to. So whose blessing is this really?
Isaac does not say "I give." He asks God to give. The outcome never rested on the old man's preference.
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.
"The dew of heaven" is not decoration. The image runs right through the Bible.
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."
Jacob and Esau are both promised dew and fatness, but not in the same order. Jacob hears of heaven first. One writer traces the reversal in Esau's line.
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.
Compare this blessing with what God promised Abraham, and something is missing.
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.
One writer sees the three gifts as pictures of what God gives the believer, and of what a parent may ask for a child.
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.
Rebekah and Jacob cared about God's blessing. But they reached for it by deceit, and the result was shame.
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.
- Source — the verse asks God to give. The blessing is His act, not Isaac's. It stood even though Isaac thought he was blessing Esau.
- Sign — dew is the token of God's favour. Without it the land is barren. God withholds it in judgment and promises it again in restoration.
- Order — Jacob hears of heaven first, then earth. Esau's order runs the other way, and his line has had the fat of the earth without noticing the dew.
- Scope — food, drink and rule over nations. The blessing is earthly all through. Jacob's descendants forfeited it, but God will yet make it good to them.
- Shortcut — Rebekah and Jacob used deceit to seize the blessing. They made sorrow and shame for themselves. God's purpose never needed their lie.
Let peoples serve thee, And races bow down to thee. Be lord over thy brethren, And let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be they that curse thee, And blessed be they that bless thee.
Isaac could not see which son knelt before him. Yet his words handed Jacob rule over peoples, nations, and his own brothers. Two questions follow. Can a blessing gained by lies still stand? And what did Isaac promise here?
Isaac blessed in covenant, but the goods he handed over were earthly. One writer notes the two names of God in the blessing, and how it narrows from nations in general to Isaac's own family:
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."
What the blessing leaves out matters as much as what it names:
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.
Isaac meant every word of this for Esau. That it landed on Jacob instead is the point of the whole scene:
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.
When Isaac learned what had happened, he did not take the blessing back:
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."
"Let peoples serve you" has never yet been true of Jacob's descendants. Commentators read it as a prophecy still waiting, with a double reference — to the nation and to the One born from it:
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.
The last line repeats words God spoke to Abraham. Balaam takes it up, and its settling day is a scene of judgment:
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!
The way Jacob got the blessing came back on him:
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.
- Decree. God's purpose ruled the scene. Isaac's intention for Esau could not overturn it.
- Deceit. Jacob took by fraud what God's purpose would have given him, and Laban later paid him back in kind.
- Dominion. The blessing is earthly: food, drink, and peoples in subjection. There is no word of God as shield and reward.
- Direction. Nations bowing points past Jacob to Christ, born of his line, before whom all must bow.
- Day. The full sweep of it waits for Israel's recovery, when the Son of Man settles the blessing and the curse from His throne.