WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.439 We study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:05.679 And we do have extra copies here in the room. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:08.080 If anybody would like one, just raise your hand up real high. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:12.000 Somebody will drop one off at your row, your aisle about halfway back on this side. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:13.919 And anybody over here need one. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:17.839 You can also use your device if you would like by jumping online. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.399 The internal network is listed up there. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:26.239 And the password is the same as the name of the network. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:31.359 We are calling our study of the book of Genesis in the beginning for good reason. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:33.280 It opens that way. 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:44.799 And I've pointed out before that perhaps the most offensive verse in the Bible for some people in the world in which we live today, anyway, is Genesis 1.1. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:49.520 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:56.640 So that we are created and not self-defined or self-created, to some would be offensive. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:59.920 To some, that would be a difficult thing to grasp. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:05.200 Perhaps the second most offensive verse in the Bible is verse 3. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:07.120 And God said. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:12.640 So this is not just a battery the universe runs on. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:17.519 This is not just an impersonal being. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:30.719 This is a being that speaks, that created communication, that has things that he loves and wants and desires, an agenda. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.879 And he makes all of that clear by communicating. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:41.439 Didn't just create, dropkick us over the back fence of the universe and say, have a good time, y'all figure it out. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:46.719 And I'm so glad, I don't know about you, but I'm really glad that's not what has happened to us. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:50.159 We have come through the creation story. 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:54.959 Now we're in the story of the patriarchs, and today we'll be in Genesis chapter 27. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:58.400 And it's an amazing story, you guys. 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:05.280 This story is filled with conspiracy, uh, deception, family dysfunction, and conflict. 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:11.280 And while a lot of you might just be calling that breakfast, um, or getting ready for church. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:14.000 That might be, you know, for some of you, getting ready for church. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:24.319 I tried to imagine after I read this story of Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Esau, I tried to imagine them getting ready for church in our day and time and you know, loading up the chariot and coming on in. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:26.479 But um, it's pretty amazing. 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:34.080 We're good, you're gonna probably find yourself identifying in one way or another, either positively or negatively, with somebody in this chapter. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:40.479 Um, but I gotta tell you from the onset, there's no heroic protagonist here in this chapter. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:44.479 Uh, everybody kind of comes off uh looking a little bit weak. 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:50.960 The father is Isaac, the mother Rebecca, the two boys are Esau, the firstborn, Jacob, the younger of the two. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:55.439 And Isaac continues to show favoritism, as does Rebecca. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:59.520 Um Isaac to Esau, Rebekah toward Jacob. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:09.039 And if you remember what has transpired up to this point, Esau had returned home famished, desperately begging for some of the lentil soup that Jacob was making one day. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:18.000 Uh but Jacob uh told Esau he would only give him some of that soup if he would give to Jacob the birthright. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:22.639 So in their tradition, the birthright went to the firstborn son, the eldest son. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:34.560 It was a double portion of the inheritance, and as well, when the patriarch or the father would pass away, the right to become head of the family would also pass along to that uh firstborn. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:50.319 So reading this uh is I mean, I don't when I read this, uh, you know, and I've read it so many times, just doing the one-year Bible like I do, that every time I read it, I keep thinking to myself, it's like a soap opera, and and I don't watch a lot of soap operas in my in my life. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:56.240 I have not, but when I have, and even when I watch some non-soap opera television, I talk to the TV all the time. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:02.719 I talk to the people on the show, and I go, don't do that! Don't make that choice, stop! Watch out! You know, he's gonna die. 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:03.840 I say that all the time. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:04.639 He's gonna die. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:06.639 Kim and I say that to each other constantly. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:07.520 He's gone. 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:09.520 You know, I mean, and it's before it happens. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:13.439 Yeah, but you read this, and uh I think you're gonna find uh again some of that happened. 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:15.120 Now there are seven scenes. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:16.879 Think of this as a play. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:18.560 And there are seven scenes. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:21.120 I'll try to mark them for you as we go through. 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:21.600 Ready? 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:24.800 Uh set your eyes on the page, Genesis chapter 26. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:29.920 It came about when Isaac was old, and his eyes were too dim to see. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:33.040 They called his older son Esau and said to him, My son. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:35.600 And he said to him, Here I am. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:40.240 Isaac said, Behold, now I am old, and I do not know the day of my death. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:43.600 Of course, none of us do, uh, or most of us don't. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:49.600 There are some people that uh get that sorted and figured out in one way or another. 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:52.800 But it's pretty common that none of us would know that. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:59.120 But he's old enough to know, as his senses are fading, that his death is somewhere near. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:03.439 Now then please take your gear, your quiver, your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:07.439 Prepare a savory dish for me, such as I love. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:14.480 Savory, he's got this this term savory is six times in this chapter, which is interesting to me. 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:16.240 I'm not a big numerology guy. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:26.959 I'm not looking for, you know, under the rock to discover some really significant meaning to the word savory, like we should all go out and buy some chipotle sauce or something and put some, put it all over our food. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:29.360 I just know that it's it's interesting. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:34.240 We get that live body detail, reminding me this isn't just a generic fable. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:38.399 You know, this is this is legit life, okay? 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:45.120 So uh prepare a savory dish for me, such as I love, bring it to me that I may eat so that my soul may bless you before I die. 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:48.560 Just, you know, again, he's all about the food. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:50.639 And that's scene one, closing right there. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:51.279 Scene two. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:54.480 Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:06:04.240 So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it home, Rebekah said to her son, notice that the narrator is making it clear to us that they each have a favorite. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:16.879 Rebekah said to her son, Jacob, Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:22.560 Now, therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:28.639 By the way, I don't know if you remember as we've been tracking, I've been trying to highlight what their ages are as we go through this. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:31.519 Isaac's probably about 137 right here. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:34.800 Um, he's gonna live to, I think it's 180. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:38.160 And uh the boys are 70-ish. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:46.319 So, you parents, consider what would happen if your kids decided to live at home in the basement until they were 70 or something, right? 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:47.600 So, this is what's happening. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:48.720 The boys are 70-ish. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:51.199 Therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:54.000 Go to the flock, bring me two choice kids. 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:55.839 That would be a young goat. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:03.519 Uh, bring me two choice kids from there that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:05.839 She knew how to cook what he liked. 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:09.360 And he's asking for his favorite dish. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:20.240 And uh she wants to conspire together with Jacob to somehow or another uh beat Esau to the punch here. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:20.800 Right? 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:26.480 Then you shall bring it to your father that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death. 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:33.439 Jacob answered his mother, Rebekah, behold, Esau, my brother, is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:41.839 Perhaps my father will feel me, then I shall be as a deceiver in his sight, and I shall bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:46.800 See, he's Jacob, he's he's he's concerned about being caught. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:48.399 This is interesting to me. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:51.759 He's not concerned about being a liar. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:56.480 He's just concerned about being seen as a liar. 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:02.319 And man, we are so guilty of that in our own day and age, too. 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:03.920 The way we the way we think. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:12.480 It's it's you know, that sort of, it's you're not really it's not really wrong unless you get caught, kind of a saying that some people use occasionally. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:14.560 It's only if you get caught that something's wrong. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:16.720 That's not what determines whether it's right or wrong. 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:18.160 And Jacob doesn't know that. 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:21.040 He's already in the mode of it's only wrong if you get caught. 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:26.160 And we see that that kind of thinking, erroneous thinking, going all the way back to this guy here. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:28.480 Um so then I'll get a curse and not a blessing. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:31.839 He's looking for he's looking to control the outcome, just like Rebecca is. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:37.759 But his mother said to him, Your curse be on me, my son, only obey my voice and go get them for me. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:41.200 Now there's a real division, as you can see, in the family, isn't there? 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:49.120 Rebecca took the best garments of Esau, her older son, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son. 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:54.240 She put the skins of the kids on the hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:09:00.559 So she's literally strapping body parts from these dead goats onto Jacob, right? 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:04.799 And in places where it would be likely that Isaac would touch him. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:09.200 So she also gave the savory food and the bread which she had made to her son Jacob. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:12.000 Uh close of scene two. 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:17.600 Each of these scenes is defined by the conversation. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:30.559 The first conversation was Isaac with Esau, but the uh sort of snoopy listener, you know, Rebecca in the background, eavesdropping in on the whole thing. 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:35.120 And then this second scene, of course, Rebecca talking to Jacob. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:36.960 Scene three, verse 18. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:40.240 He came to his father and he said, My father, and he said, Here I am. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:42.240 Who are you, my son? 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:48.320 Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:53.840 Okay, that's the first of four lies that Jacob will, I mean, bold-faced lies. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:10:00.639 These aren't, you know, this isn't just trying to hide what you bought somebody for Christmas, kind of lies. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:04.480 This is, I will now deceive you lies. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:09.440 I have an agenda, I will accomplish my agenda through deception. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:17.840 And Jacob's name even means, it literally means a heel grabber, but the idea is somebody's tripping someone else up, he's a deceiver. 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:22.559 We'll see that even reiterated here in this particular chapter. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:23.440 Who are you, my son? 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:24.720 I'm Esau, your firstborn. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:26.320 I have done as you told me. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:27.519 That's lie number two. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:29.440 He has not done as you told me. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:32.559 Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:36.159 This is a hint to how bedridden Isaac has become. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:40.960 Isaac said to his son, How is it that you have it so quickly, my son? 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:42.559 Here's lie number three. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:49.120 And Jacob says, Because the Lord, your God, caused it to happen to me. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:52.639 Just a little pastoral advice, folks. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:11:00.399 If you're gonna lie, don't use God in your deception. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:05.360 That just broke my heart right there. 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:11.440 And these are major personalities in the Bible. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:13.519 Note that, okay? 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:16.080 The Lord God caused it. 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:27.679 There's so many people saying the Lord God caused something or other to happen, and so often people are using that as license for something they want to do, their agenda. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:33.440 Listen, we said this before here in the Village Chapel time and time again. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:41.600 Do not mistake the patience of God for his endorsement on your sinful behavior. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:54.960 Sometimes he's being patient with you, and he's being merciful and not bringing those consequences that might naturally fall your way for the foolishness you're committing. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:12:05.039 But don't mistake that patience of God with his endorsement of your behavior, your attitude, your sinful activity, whatever that may be. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:11.440 Here he is doing that sort of thing, or at least pretending to as he talks to his father. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:12.399 Verse 21. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:18.000 Then Isaac said to Jacob, Please come close that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:20.480 So Jacob came close to Isaac, his father, and he felt him. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:25.600 And he said, The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:30.080 And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's hands. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:31.519 So he blessed him. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:35.279 And he said, Are you really my son, Esau? 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:42.480 And just to one more time, he's a little incredulous because his senses are messing with him. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:45.120 The voice doesn't sound like the right voice, but the touch. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:48.080 And then here's the fourth lie. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:50.799 Here is Jacob's response, Are you really my son? 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:51.360 Esau? 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:53.519 Answer, I am. 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:00.159 Now those are two really beautiful words later in the book of Exodus. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:08.399 When Moses says to God, Who shall I say to the children of Israel, who shall I say, Sent me? 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:14.080 And Yahweh reveals his personal name to Moses, and it's I am. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:39.440 And here, though, Jacob is using these two simple words in such a way as to deceive his own father, whom he should love, and to take advantage of his own brother, whom he should also love, in conspiratorial cooperation with his mother. 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:47.200 This is Isaac, of course. 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:48.559 He brought it to him. 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:51.039 He ate, he also brought him wine and he drank. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:54.320 His father Isaac said to him, Please come close and kiss me, my son. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:56.240 He's still a little suspicious. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:00.480 So he came close and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his garments. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:04.559 Remember, Rebekah had put Esau's clothes on Jacob, right? 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:06.879 He smelled the smell of his garments and he blessed him. 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:14.320 And he said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:24.000 His new sort of found as he's going through his five senses, he's using now his smell. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:34.960 And uh this is like the smell of a field, which it's not a new Calvin Klein fragrance, Ode de la Field, or Ode de la Pasture, or something like that. 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:35.519 No. 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:48.879 This is the smell of Esau, the guy that goes out hunting all of the time, instead of the smell of Jacob, who works a little bit in the garden and harvests the lentils and makes some soup and stuff like that, right? 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:54.639 Now may God give you the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and the abundance of grain and new wine. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:56.799 May people serve you and nations bow down to you. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:01.279 Be master of your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:04.720 Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:10.000 This indeed is a kind of an echo of what we read in chapter 12, Francis, verses 2 and 3. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:11.600 It echoes some of that. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:19.360 But here we do kind of see that four of the five of uh Isaac's senses fail him. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.080 Uh everything but his hearing is failing him now. 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:40.240 His eyesight's gone, and now he's doing this sort of, he just did the smell thing, he's done the touch thing, you know, and he's getting ready to taste this game, this food that uh uh Rebekah cooked that Jacob carried, you know, he's sort of the, he sort of delivered to his dad. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:49.039 And so is and by the way, I was gonna use this as one of my sermon points, uh, the epistemological weakness of uh of empiricism. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:53.600 And and everybody I talked to about that said that was that would be like, no, don't do that. 00:15:53.759 --> 00:16:02.960 Um that would not be the kind of uh but but what's happening here is epistemological means that that's that branch of philosophy that deals with what can we know and how do we come to know it. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:09.759 Empiricism is that belief that you you the stuff we can really know is the stuff that our five senses tell us, and that's it. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:10.879 Nothing else. 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:13.759 And I'm that's weak, in my view. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:20.639 I you believe you believe in so many things that your senses cannot verify. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:22.080 How do I know that? 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:23.679 Well, because you believe in hope. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:25.039 You believe in love. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:26.720 You know? 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:29.279 You believe in right and wrong, all of you do. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:34.320 You're not gonna find that under a microscope, and you're not gonna find it under a telescope. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:39.600 You just can't trust always your five senses. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.200 We used to travel a lot on the road, and we I've told the story before. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:53.200 We would come down 40, some of you know this coming from Knoxville, and there was a literal wall of fog, like cutting off the highway in front of us. 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:57.919 It looked like the highway itself stopped at that wall of fog. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:04.160 My senses told me that the road did not go on, the road went no further. 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:09.440 My senses, if you believe just what your senses will tell you, you might believe a lie. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:11.759 It's good to double check, verify these things. 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:14.640 Scene four begins with verse 30. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:23.359 It came about as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau's brother came in from his hunting. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:28.720 So you've got to see Jacob going out the back door of the tent, and Esau coming in the front door of the tent. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:33.920 That's how close this is, you know, in the sort of play, if you will. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:37.759 And he also made savory food and brought it to his father. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:42.400 And he said to his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:44.480 And Isaac, his father, said to him, Who are you? 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:47.200 And he said, I'm your son, your firstborn Esau. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:58.240 And Isaac trembled violently and said, Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came and blessed him? 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:00.880 Yes, and he shall be blessed. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:12.640 Um when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, even me also, my father. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:20.319 He's reduced a 70-year-old, some 70-some-year-old man, Esau, is reduced to a childlike cry right now. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:31.599 And he said, Um, your your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:34.559 And he said, Is he not rightly named Jacob? 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:37.279 For he has supplanted me these two times. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:38.559 He's deceived me. 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:41.279 He's the heel grabber, he tripped me up these two times. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:45.440 He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:48.799 And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me? 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:58.880 And Isaac answered and said to Esau, Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants, and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:01.519 Now, as for you then, what can I do, my son? 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:05.519 And Esau said to his father, Do you have only one blessing, my father? 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:08.000 Bless me, even me also, O my father. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:10.799 So Esau lifted his voice and he wept. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:22.640 Isaac his father answered and said to him, Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, away from the dew of heaven from above, and by your sword you shall live. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:33.759 Your brother shall serve you, but it no, your brother you shall serve, but it shall come about when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:36.960 Close scene four. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:38.319 Interesting. 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:42.640 Verse uh 41 opens scene five. 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:47.039 So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:53.680 And Esau said to himself, the days of mourning for my father are near, and then I will kill my brother Jacob. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:20:03.839 Now the narrator is giving us some insight into the thoughts of uh Esau here, and just how outraged he was. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:08.000 How much hate and rage have taken over his heart. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:12.880 When the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebecca, she sent in call. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:17.279 By the way, the narrator is saying something that Rebekah did not say. 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:19.839 Esau's your son, too. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:22.400 You know? 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.200 Parents, don't play favorites. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:28.480 Love every single one of your children. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:40.880 But when the words of her eldest son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called your younger son Jacob and said to him, Behold, your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:46.720 So now Esau, one of the four main characters of this particular chapter, has murder on his mind. 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.279 Again, nobody looks good here. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:54.240 Therefore, my son, obey my voice, arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban. 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:55.759 We remember Haran, don't we? 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:59.599 We remember Laban, don't we, from previous chapters. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:06.319 When Abraham sent his servant to go fetch a wife for his son Isaac. 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:10.480 And Rebekah's the one that the servant brought back, right? 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:12.319 So go there, right? 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:17.519 And talk to my brother Laban, verse 44, and stay with him a few days until your brother's fury subsides. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:22.799 So she's thinking this is going to be a passing wave of anger. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:32.079 And she's going to send Jacob away under the guise of go find, you know, go stay with you with my brother, Laban, your uncle Laban. 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:35.839 Your brother's anger against you subsides, and he forgets what you did to him. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:38.240 Then I shall send and get you from there. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:41.279 Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day? 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:47.119 She won't see him again. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:49.039 She doesn't know that. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:51.200 But she won't see him again. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:59.759 We know because we've read the rest of the story, but she says to him now in scene six, she says to Isaac, I'm tired of. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.640 Living because of the daughters of Heth. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:06.880 That would be the Hittite women that Esau actually had married. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:13.119 If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me? 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:18.319 In other words, I can't handle any more Canaanite daughters-in-law in the household here. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:23.920 Again, this is just family dysfunction on ten, on so many levels. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:26.960 But yeah, he will. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:35.039 Jacob will go away for what ends up being about 20 years, and she, Rebekah, to the best of our knowledge, will never see him again. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:39.839 A couple verses from chapter 28 will be scene 7. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:45.519 So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said to him, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:54.640 Evidently he's concerned about what Rebekah's concerned about, or concerned that she's concerned about it and wants to work with her on this. 00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:58.240 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father. 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:02.559 From there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:09.200 And may God Almighty, El Shaddai, be bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:12.640 May he also give you, and he's kind of reiterating the blessing here, isn't he? 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:20.640 May he give you the blessing of Abraham to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham. 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:23.440 Do you understand what the narrator is recording here for us? 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:28.720 The importance of the covenant promises of God. 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:31.839 And the path of those promises, too. 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:44.720 That God is ultimately in charge, and that though common tradition in the world around them, even in pagan cultures, was that the firstborn would be the one to get both the birthright and the blessing. 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:51.920 God has sovereignly chosen to pass this through the line from Abraham to Isaac. 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:56.000 And remember, Ishmael was actually born before Isaac. 00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:03.680 God sovereignly decided that the promise would go through Abraham and Sarah, not Abraham and Hagar. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:18.000 Through Abraham and Sarah comes Isaac, and then in, we've already been told in chapter 25 that that same blessing would be passed along to the younger of the two children that Rebekah is about to have. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:34.319 And so Isaac, in choosing to try to circumvent God's plan and give that blessing in this last chapter here to Esau, he's actually going against God's will, revealed to Isaac already. 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:35.279 Right? 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:45.440 So now I think Isaac, a little bit more awakened to this whole thing as he sends Jacob away, reiterates the blessing to Jacob, the secondborn. 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:46.799 Isaac sent Jacob away. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:54.079 He went to Badan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. 00:24:54.160 --> 00:25:05.200 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Badan Aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him, he charged him, saying, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:06.400 A couple more verses. 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:11.119 And that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother, and had gone to Badan Aram. 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:16.559 So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:28.799 And Esau went to Ishmael and married, besides the wives that he had, the two Hittite women, Mahaleth, the daughter of Ishmael, Abram's son, the sister of Nebaoth. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:31.680 And this is all this is all just interesting. 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:41.599 And some Bible commentators will say, Esau seems to be leaning back in the direction of honoring his parents here, because at least he's choosing to marry his third wife. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:48.079 He's choosing her from among their extended family, meaning Ishmael's daughter, and all of that. 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:50.319 I'm not sure about that. 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:57.759 I think there are commentators that would go either way on some of this stuff, but we're going to stop right there in terms of our text for today. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.160 There's so much here. 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:22.720 I mean, uh, and and it's, you know, I kept watching my uh watching myself in my study because on communion Sundays I don't have as much time to uh to spend in in the uh study, and I'm trying to be brief, and so you know, the epistemological uh weakness of uh empiricism is really not something we could afford to go into very much, right? 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:25.680 So I'm gonna I'm gonna put the points up on the screen here a little bit. 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:26.640 We have three of these. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:29.359 First of all, look at the honesty of the Bible, will you? 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:32.640 Here's four big names in the Bible, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, Esau. 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:36.640 No attempt to hide the fact that all four of them behave badly in this chapter. 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:38.480 In one way or another. 00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:43.200 Isaac's trying to get around the plan that God's already revealed to him. 00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:44.799 But let me give this blessing. 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:54.319 I know that thing went down with the soup between Jacob and Esau and the birthright thing, but let me give the blessing to at least, you know, to Esau here. 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:56.720 He is my favorite after all. 00:26:57.119 --> 00:27:00.000 And there's so much, you know, about that you could unpack. 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:13.279 And Esau was attempting to break his own oath, in which he had sworn, really, really he swore to uh Jacob that everything would pass along to Jacob in that moment where he was, I'm so hungry. 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:16.240 And so Esau's not shown in a very good light here. 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:20.960 It's interesting in this chapter, by the way, the two brothers never really talk, do they? 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:25.359 They're not one of the scenes that we see here. 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:27.039 They're not talking to each other here. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:32.000 And at the end, what we have here is this root, this serious rift. 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:35.039 But glory, hallelujah. 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:47.759 Uh, when they come back together in just a couple chapters, we're gonna have a great time uh just watching them reconcile on what God can do in terms of family uh reconciliation will be a wonderful thing to take a look at. 00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:58.640 But um here Esau uh is is also uh, I think, kind of thinking to himself, maybe if I get this soup and and give it to dad, maybe he'll give me the blessing. 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:07.359 I can circumvent this promise I made uh to Jacob some time ago, trading my birthright and and uh and my father's blessing. 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:10.880 Uh it kind of was wrapped up together a bit. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:14.960 And so he's trying to circumvent that uh that promise that he had made. 00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:21.279 And Jacob resists a little at first, but I don't think it's because he thinks deception is wrong. 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:24.640 Uh I don't think he has any compunction at all about that. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:26.160 I I don't think he's worried about that. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:28.400 He's just worried he's gonna get caught. 00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:32.000 Uh he's so modern or postmodern in that way, isn't he? 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:34.240 Um a postmodern ancient guy. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:34.880 How about that? 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:35.599 Yeah. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:39.519 Um, but because the Bible is honest, this is what I love about the Bible. 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:47.279 And I know I know this isn't one of those ones where y'all are gonna go home and embroider some kind of thing, you know, some verse from this chapter and put it up on the wall. 00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:48.400 I get that. 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:53.279 But when I read this chapter and I see how honest the Bible is, I'm encouraged myself. 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:55.119 I don't know about you, but I am. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:56.079 Why? 00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:57.680 But because it's like a mirror. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:07.599 It not only uh does it reveal God to us, but the mirror kind of is held up to my own life and my own face, my own heart, my own tendencies. 00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:09.759 And I need to know this. 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:17.839 It's part of a good diagnosis to the really big question that everybody asks, even pagans ask this question. 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:21.200 What in the world is wrong with the world? 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:22.880 What is wrong with people? 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:24.079 We all say it all the time. 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:25.599 All you have to do is turn on the news. 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:29.200 Just it doesn't matter what day it is, it doesn't matter how horrible it is. 00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:30.799 They rip and read all the time. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:32.240 That's cheap news. 00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:35.279 Let me tell you how bad people behave. 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:40.640 And then they just back the truck up and dump it all out for us on in their little broadcast, you know? 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:51.839 And as long as they can keep us you know, sort of sensation in a sensational mode, we'll be addicted to what they're offering because we just can't get enough of that, you know? 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:54.319 And uh it's just interesting. 00:29:54.480 --> 00:30:00.640 Um Bono, you know, this guy Bono, that a lot of you guys know who he is, he's the lead singer for the band YouTube. 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:07.920 He says that the scriptures are brim full of hustlers, murderers, cowards, adulterers, and mercenaries used to shock me. 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:10.720 Now it's a source of great comfort. 00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:14.000 That's kind of the way I feel about this, too. 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:24.960 I read this, and I think to myself, look at all that we thought we knew about people like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:28.799 And look at the general sense we had. 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:33.119 These are the holy people of the Old Testament, you know? 00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:45.920 And there is a sense in which what we're learning here is that the honesty of the Bible brings glory to God because look what God can do even with broken people. 00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:54.640 And it really goes no further than the mirror in my own bathroom at home. 00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:59.200 Because he's working in my life, he's working in your life too. 00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:02.880 And that's a good thing for me to know. 00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:07.200 And I'm really glad the Bible is honest, as honest as it is. 00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:19.359 Eugene Peterson has gone home to glory, but um reading his uh biography right now, he it's kind of upset me because the book publishers came out with two biographies. 00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:24.319 A biography of uh Eugene Peterson and a biography of John Stott. 00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:31.759 And so I'm now reading chapter, chapter, chapter, chapter, and I'm getting the two confused, and you know, it's like watching two shows and confusing the whole thing. 00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:41.119 But I love I there there's there's no confusion between the two in terms of like the way they thought and the kind of work they did, but look at how the Lord used both of them in different ways. 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:48.640 And here Eugene says, No literature is more realistic and honest in facing harsh facts of life than the Bible. 00:31:48.960 --> 00:32:01.200 And isn't that honesty something that ultimately you and I will find attractive in this day and age where there's so much intellectual confusion and moral bankruptcy? 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:07.119 You know what's really helpful when stuff is just swirling out there and you can't really tell where true north is? 00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:08.640 You know what's really helpful? 00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:14.400 A little clarity, a little honesty, a little humility. 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:26.559 It's so refreshing that the Bible doesn't try to sort of spin all of these characters in in such a super positive way, you know? 00:32:26.799 --> 00:32:32.960 Now we get the honest truth about them here in this chapter, and uh I do appreciate that. 00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:40.799 Secondly, uh not only notice the honesty of the Bible here in Genesis 27 and through verse 9 of 28, but notice too the patience of God. 00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:47.279 How many times do the characters of the Bible and how many times do we test the patience of God? 00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:51.119 I'm constantly flirting with temptation, you are too. 00:32:52.480 --> 00:33:01.440 You know, um I was talking with somebody yesterday about uh the difference between temptation and acts of sin. 00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:07.599 And we were talking a little bit about how it's not a sin to be tempted, Jesus was tempted. 00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:12.240 Um I'm tempted all the time, I'll be tempted today, you'll be tempted today as well. 00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:15.680 Um the question is, what do we how do we respond to that temptation? 00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:16.960 What do we do with that? 00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:26.400 Do we entertain it and entice it at some point, or do we flee youthful temptations or flee whether they're youthful or not? 00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:27.759 Flee temptation. 00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:29.920 Do we resist temptation? 00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:33.440 Do we are we aware that we're even being tempted? 00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:37.599 We all know those sources, the world, the flesh, the devil, they all exist. 00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:44.720 They all, uh I don't know whether they're, you know, how how synchronized everything is, but I I do know there is a strategic. 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:49.359