#47: Goat Skins, Silver Coins, And A Whole Lot Of Bad Decisions

This week on Beyond the Pulpit we trace the breakdown of Isaac’s family in Genesis 27 and follow its ripple effects into Genesis 37, showing how deceit, favoritism, and envy repeat across generations. The thread points beyond human failure to the one hero of Scripture and the new life he gives.

• Genesis 27 as mirror and warning
• One hero theme: Christ at the center
• Types and symbols that point to Jesus
• Repeating patterns of sin in families
• Favoritism as a seed of division
• Goat imagery linking both deceptions
• Joseph sold for silver as a foreshadow
• Freedom from generational cycles in Christ
• Practical steps toward a new pattern

Transcript

Welcome And Big Theme

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Beyond the Pulpit, exploring the life and ministry of Walnut Creek Church downtown. Walnut Creek Church exists to glorify God by making authentic disciples of Jesus Christ who love and worship him in all they do. All right, welcome to Beyond the Pulpit. My name is Derek Wadley, and I'm joined by Lou Cookie. Hey everybody. And Dan Rude.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Good morning, everyone.

Genesis 27: A Family Unravels

SPEAKER_00 0:24

And uh two weeks ago we looked at some of Isaac's greatest hits in Genesis 26. That's right. They were like more like number twos on the charts, not quite Beyonce level hits. But they were pretty good. He was pretty good. He was pretty good. But uh more like Maroon 5. Like, you know, I'll listen to it, but like I'm not gonna go out of my way. But uh this week we looked at Genesis 27 at church, uh, and the whole thing fell apart.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

That's correct. The wheels fell off. The wheels fell off, and uh it is the disintegration of uh the family. You know, it's it is everybody at their very worst. And um as I was studying um the the chapter going through the story, there are moments where I could feel my uh my heart uh judging them, you know, judging Isaac, you idiot, Jacob, you idiot, you idiot, Rebecca. How dare you do that? Who who are you people? You know, there there's I could feel that starting to bubble in my soul a few times. But the more I studied it, it the more it's like a mirror. You know, you're like, oh no. Oh no, oh no. Oh no. Or a stark warning. Oh yeah. It's a warning. It is a warning and it is a mirror. And um and you think about the things that we've lied about over the course of our lives. And we've lied over we've lied for worse things. And um, I mean this.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Worse things than like like the covenant of God. Exactly.

Scripture As Mirror And Warning

SPEAKER_01 1:51

I know, exactly. And so yeah, it's a mirror and it shows uh humanity at its at our worst. Yeah. You know, fighting, division, uh people going after each other. And uh this is one of the reasons I love the Bible, uh, is that it does not hide uh it does not hide our failure. Yeah, the the goal of the Bible is not to uh make human beings look outstanding, to make humans look like they're the greatest thing ever. It's not it's not to to to show us the way to God is through human achievement. In many ways, it is exactly the opposite.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Totally.

One Hero: Christ At The Center

Types And Patterns In Genesis

SPEAKER_01 2:28

It is to show that uh in reality there's one hero, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Uh there's one perfect um um God, there's one holy God, uh, and we're not God, uh, and we need a savior. Uh you reach the conclusion at the end of the story, and that they all need a savior. They all need to be saved. Yep. And and that that detail about Jacob, I loved Esau, I hated as you read the story, it's like you look at Jacob and it's like you think to yourself, This is Jacob, you are terrible. Like you're just terrible. Yeah, what a fool. I mean, you almost feel worse for Esau. You know, you know, we shouldn't feel bad for Esau. He he made his bed. He did. Um, but Jacob, you're like, man, Jacob, you get the covenant blessing of God. Yeah. It it is a gift. It is a gift. And uh one uh one lesson I I wanted to get into this week, but I just didn't have time to get into it, is that the Bible is teaching us how to read the Bible. This is this is important. That as you work through the stories of the Bible, the Bible's actually teaching us how to think about the Bible. And one one way to think about the Bible, when we're reading the Bible, is that there the Bible is filled with types. Uh there they are pictures, symbols. Like these are real stories. This really happened. If you go back in time, whatever it is, 4,000 years ago, you would have you could have gone into the tent and watched Jacob, you know, dress up like a goat. Like a goat. You could have seen him do that. Smelly. Smelly. It's a real story. Just think about that for a moment. Yep. Killed a goat and then he put on the goat. The goat skin. The goat skin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Raw flesh. I know. It's wild. It's a it's a wild story. And so it's a real story, it really happened, and uh there are symbols, there are types pointing ahead to the Lord, uh, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this is important if you want to understand the Old Testament. Yeah, we should just start with the principle that everything in the Old Testament is pointing to Christ. Everything in the Old Testament is pointing to Christ. And the stories in the book of Genesis, in many ways, they are repeating themselves. There's this because human beings, we re we sin and we fall and we rebel against God, and there's often a lot of continuity between our rebellion today in 2025 and the rebellion of the generation before us, and the rebellion of the generation before them, and the rebellion of the generation before them. It's just human nature is is the same. And so uh what we see with with Jacob is that Jacob acts uh in an evil way. He he he does not fear God. He's not concerned about righteousness, holiness, he's not worried about his relationships, he's seeking his own interest. And um and what's gonna happen is that the sins that are committed in the family are going to be repeated in in uh Jacob's family. So the the sins in Isaac's family, they're gonna be repeated. Just like the sins of Abraham, they're repeated with with Isaac. You know, they he tells the same lie about his about his wife being his sister. You know that commercial? Do you remember that commercial? It's they're very funny. Uh uh progressive cannot keep you from becoming your parents. Yep. They're they're like they're they're the best. They are the best commercials. And part of the reason it's funny is just because the concept of people becoming their parents. And it's just uh it's a it's it's really good. It's funny because it's true. There's some truth. Exactly. And what's happening with Isaac, what happens with Isaac is he became like his dad in some ways. And what's gonna happen with Jacob is that he's he's going to become like his dad. He's gonna make some similar mistakes. So there are two two big mistakes that we could uh that Jacob makes. Um, or I shouldn't say two mistakes, I should say there are two events in the life of Isaac and his family that are gonna get played out in Jacob. Now there are more, but there are there are two. Uh I just want to highlight. We're gonna highlight. So uh Luke, I think you have the first one. Yeah, yeah. Genesis chapter 37.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

Genesis chapter 37. Yeah, so this is where we're fast forwarding, and Jacob now has the the his twelve sons, the twelve tribes of Israel. Uh, and Joseph, the youngest son, is sold into slavery. So we're gonna pick it up here in in uh in verse twelve um of chapter thirty-seven. So his brothers had gone to pasture their flocks at Shechem. Israel said to Joseph, so Israel being uh Jacob, your brothers you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem, get ready, I'm sending you to them. I'm ready, Joseph replied. Then Israel said to him, Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring your bring word back to me. So he sent them from the Hebron Valley and he went to Shekem. A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, What are you looking for? I'm looking for my brothers, Joseph said. Can you tell me where they're pasturing their flocks? They've moved on from here, the man said. I heard them say, Let's go uh to Dothan. So Joe Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another, Oh, look, here comes that dream expert, the dreamer. The dreamer the dreamer. And the technicolor dream coat. The technicolor dream coat. If you remember, Joseph has had these dreams about his brothers basically bowing down to him in the brothers. They resent resent Joseph for this.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

And so they're Who plots who plots to kill his brother in the story? In this story. Well, in Isaac's family. Yeah, it's Esau. Esau. Esau says, it says in Esau determined in his heart, verse 41, 27, 41. And Esau determined in his heart. The days of mourning for my father are approaching, then I will kill my brother Jacob. So now you see here, fast forward. Same thing. Same thing. Now the brothers, uh Joseph's brothers, are plotting to kill their brothers. Plotting to kill their own brother, Joseph. But it gets thicker.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

It gets thicker and thicker. Yeah, verse 20. So now, come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a very a ri or a vicious animal ate him. Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams. So they're they're uh I mean that's like they start laughing at that point.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Ha ha ha ha.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Yeah, it's like in the movie, you know, like where they have the you have the the laugh of uh pure evil and what a I mean, what a thought. You're like the idea of like killing your own sibling, your own brother, over the fact that he had dreams that were putting you under his authority. And so your response to that is like, we're gonna kill you. That's a that's just a wild thing to think through. Verse 21, when Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, Let's not take his life. Reuben also said to them, Don't shed blood, throw him into this pit in the wilderness, and don't lay a hand on him, intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father. So Ruben's not really uh fully in the plan here. He doesn't want to like actually out.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

He's not all the way out. He's not all the way out.

Sins Repeated Across Generations

SPEAKER_01 9:56

He knows he knows he's over he's overwhelmed by his brothers. He can't he can't overcome them.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

Yep. So verse 23 when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his off Joseph's robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. The hippie robe. Mm-hmm. The hippie robe, but the robe that was given by what?

SPEAKER_00 10:14

His dad. And the coat's valuable, like the many colors matters because it's like uh that's an expensive garment. Yeah, what's that? That's a very valuable garment.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

And uh and this highlights what we uh uh end up learning about or we know about Jacob or Israel with Joseph is that there's this favoritism towards his son Joseph. Um and that same type of favoritism existed with his father, Isaac, toward his brother, Esau.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Yep. And it's favoritism for the younger over the older.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

The younger over the older, exactly. The baby of the family. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

And so when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph's robe, the robe many colors had on, then they took him and threw him into a pit, and the pit was empty without water. Then they sat down to eat a meal, and when they looked up, there's a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, uh, balsam, and resin going down to Egypt. Another detail going down to Egypt. Going to Egypt, their Ishmaelites.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

And they're Ishmaelites. So their uncle. Yes. Their great uncle. Their great uncle, the descendants of their great uncle, whom their uncle Esau married into.

unknown 11:28

Right.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

Esau marries into the family. That's great. Later we learn. Verse 26. Judah said to his brothers, What can uh what do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come on, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh. And his brothers agreed. I mean, how kind.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Thanks for mercy.

SPEAKER_03 11:47

Yeah, well mercy.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Things go super well for Judah later.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Yeah. Oh no. Oh no. His brothers agreed. Okay, so when the Mini Knight traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites who took Joseph to Egypt.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

I can't think of anyone who was sold for silver in the Bible. Yeah. I'm not sure. Was that Jesus? The Lord Jesus. Twenty twenty pieces of silver here. Judas. Yes. Here. And then Judas is going to betray Jesus for silver.

Jacob’s Deceit And Its Echoes

SPEAKER_03 12:16

Yeah. Wild. And when Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, The boy is gone. What am I going to do? So they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in his blood. They sent the robe of many colours to their father and said, We found this. Examine it. It is your son's is it your son's robe or not?

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Now they knew. They knew. They knew that this is the this is Joseph's robe. But they're trying to pretend like Yeah, there are just a lot of multicolored robes out there. We just found this one.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

They sent it back.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

They sent it back to the road.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

They didn't have to look dad in the eye. Exactly. And say, hey. I know. I know. This is just like Jacob didn't have to look uh his dad in the eye because his dad couldn't see.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

He couldn't see. So his father recognized it's my son's robe, and he said, A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph's been torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son, his son for many days. All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but they but he refused to be comforted. Noah said, I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning, and his father wept for him. Now it's interesting because you see what was happening to between Jacob's father, Isaac, and Esau now taking place towards Jacob by his own sons. Exactly. And the same sin of favoritism that Jacob uh Isaac rather had towards his son Esau was part of the problem. A major part of it. A major part of the problem. And a major part of the problem as to why Joseph's brothers wanted to kill him. So Jacob experienced his father having I mean the favoritism of his parents, which created massive division in the family. And the same thing is being repeated here with uh Joseph and uh or Jacob's sons in his own family.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Favoritism. He repeats the same mistake of favoritism. Yes. He favors he favors one of his children, and that causes immense, immense pain and confusion in the family. And and just like J Jacob lied to his dad. So Jacob lies to his dad, Isaac. Now his sons are lying to him. And this is where it gets really wild. If if you look at how Jacob lied to Isaac, the way he did it was by uh dressing up like a goat. He dresses up like a goat to imitate, trying to imitate Esau. And so he goes, he goes in. Uh and but you know, one one little detail that I didn't have time to get into is that uh this last week in Genesis 27, the image is that Rebecca says to Jacob, go take two young goats, sacrifice them. I will cook the goats. I'm gonna make it and I'm gonna make it taste like wild game. But then the the skin or the hide, like the fresh hide, then that's what is used. And so we're supposed to envision Jacob dressed up like a goat, but it's like the skin is raw, like it's bloody.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Right. It's not like uh if you get like a hide somewhere else, it's like got that leathery bottom, it's not dried or anything.

Joseph Sold: Parallels To Jesus

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yeah, it takes time. And so so it's like this drip, it's like this it's fresh, this fresh goat skin. Now, what's so wild is that now Jacob is an older man, his sons are lying to him over the favoritism uh that he had he had shown for Joseph. And so it's like the same stories playing out, and the way that his sons lie to him is that they take they take Joseph's robe. And then and then they take what kind of animal? Goat. Goat. Male goat. A male goat, the blood of a male goat, and they cover his garments with the blood. And so they use goat, goat blood to deceive their dad. Like, oh my goodness. It's like the same exact story uh playing out. And uh when you when you read this, you're like, oh my goodness gracious, this is so dysfunctional. It is dysfunctional, but it's also teaching us just about human human depravity, human nature. And it's ultimately looking ahead uh to the Lord to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's ultimately all of these stories are are building and they're move they're moving us to understand the person and the work of the Lord of the Lord Jesus Christ. And uh one you know, one of the the great benefits of reading the Bible, just like working through the text, is that you begin to you begin to see all of these details. Like if you just pop into pop into a text every once in a while without the background of the story, you can pull some very good, helpful right lessons from the story, but you miss some of the the depth of what's happening. And that that's one of the reasons uh we as a church, we just teach through the Bible. Um because it the story is building on on itself, and we're supposed to connect, connect that story. And and ultimately it it ends uh with the Lord, with the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, one one other uh uh little little detail that I was thinking about as I'm as I was studying this week is is the question uh are we just destined to make the same mistakes as our fathers, as our parents? Are we just like is that just what happens? Is that what what we're supposed to learn that Abraham he fails, and then Isaac fails like Abraham, and then Jacob fails like Isaac, karma. Karma. Yeah, is that is that what we're saying?

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Like, are we trapped in cycles of like generational sin?

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Yes, yep. Yeah, yeah. And it because you see it repeated, you see the sins of the fathers, they do get passed down to their sons, to their sons and to their daughters. There's there's no doubt about that. Like and and I've I've thought about that a lot. I that's probably um a different sermon to try to trace that through the Bible. Yeah. But but one of the reasons why Jesus came into the world um is to give us a new life. Yeah. You br you break the stronghold of sin. You break it. Yeah. Yes. And it it there you can't really live a new life, you know, apart from from the Lord Jesus Christ. It it's like you can try to be different than your dad, than your mom. You can do that and say, I'm not gonna be that way, but still you're being defined in many ways by your parents. Yep, yeah. But in Christ, we we're forgiven, we're made new, we're given the righteousness of God, and we actually have a new example, we have a new life in him. Yeah. You know, and that that's that's something as I've been studying this, I've I've just been so grateful for this because I'm like, we're not trapped. We're like we're not trapped by the sins of our parents, right? By the sins of our of our families, you know. We can't we have a new life.

Favoritism And Family Fallout

SPEAKER_03 19:05

And I and I think to that point, like I'm sure you've maybe examined your life and thought, or you've done something, you're like, that's exactly what my mom or dad would say, or how they would respond. You know, I've been been in there in no shade trying to throw my parents, but just the reality of like there are certain behaviors that are so ingrained into uh us because we've learned them from such a young age. Totally. I think it does sometimes feel like you're kind of trapped in those in that identity, if you will. And um, but it's such the what you just shared has been so good in fr in freeing in my own mind in life of remembering, but I don't I'm not actually defined by that. And I don't have to be defined by that, and I don't have to be enslaved to certain behaviors that I learned when I was young, how to handle a certain situation. I don't have to respond that way. And uh that might be the the way I'm like more naturally wired to because it's been so ingrained, you know, nurture verse nature type thing, but yeah, um but uh recognizing that I don't actually have to live enslaved to that behavior and sin. And that Christ has break has broken that pattern, and there's a new pattern that we're able to set in our families uh if we choose to uh walk with Christ. And so our families and our lives don't have to be defined by I'm not gonna be like them. That's right. It's like rather I'm gonna it's gonna be defined by I want to be like him, like Christ. And uh we're called to follow Jesus, not to live our life in a way where we say, I don't want to be like those people back in there. I know. And so that's been a helpful thing for me to think about is that he is the Jesus died to pay the penalty uh for our sin, conquering, uh um, giving us new life, giving us victors, making us victors over sin and death. Uh, but he also is the example of what it looks like to be the perfect human being in perfect relationship with God, and he is who we are to follow. And so his behavior, his patterns begin to define our lives, not like what's happened to us in the past.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

A new and better way. There is a new and better way. Yep. And uh I I just I love that truth. Because I I I do think that a lot of people think they're stuck. They're just they're just trapped.

unknown 21:15

They do.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

I think that's very true. And uh you don't have to be. Yep. You don't and it's not because it's not because we don't have to be trapped, not because like we can will ourselves to a new life. It's not because it's not because um we can outthink our problems, but there is a real power. There is a power that comes from knowing Christ and worshiping him. And so this is this is one just another reason. It's reason 175 why you should follow Christ and give your life to him and to fully fully surrender to to Christ.