Genesis · chapter 27 of 50
Updated on
Genesis 27 tells how Isaac, old and nearly blind, wants to bless his son Esau, but Rebekah and Jacob deceive him: Jacob disguises himself and receives the firstborn's blessing. When Esau arrives and discovers the trick, Isaac can only give him a lesser blessing. Esau decides to kill Jacob, and Rebekah sends him far away to her brother Laban.
Genesis 25 told how God had announced to Rebekah that the older would serve the younger, and how Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Genesis 27 shows how the family blessing reaches Jacob by a path of deceit, an uncomfortable chapter in which God's promise moves forward without anyone coming out looking good.
Isaac, old and with failing eyesight, calls Esau and asks him to hunt game and prepare a savory dish so he can bless him before he dies. Rebekah overhears from the tent and calls Jacob. She tells him to bring two young goats so she can prepare the dish Isaac loves, so that Jacob will receive the blessing. Jacob objects that he is smooth-skinned and his father would notice; Rebekah takes the responsibility on herself. She dresses Jacob in Esau's clothes and covers his hands and neck with goatskins.
Jacob goes in to his father and claims to be Esau. Isaac doubts: the voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's. He asks how Jacob found the game so quickly, and Jacob answers that the Lord put it in his path. Isaac touches him, smells his clothes and blesses him: dew from heaven, fertile land, plenty of grain and wine, and nations bowing down to him. Jacob has hardly left when Esau arrives with his dish. Isaac trembles violently when he realizes the deception, but he does not take the blessing back.
Esau cries out bitterly and begs for a blessing of his own. Isaac announces a life far from fertile land, living by the sword, and that one day he will break his brother's yoke. Esau nurses a grudge and plans to kill Jacob once their father dies. Rebekah finds out and sends Jacob to Haran, to her brother Laban, on the pretext of finding a wife, fearing she will lose both sons in one day.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jacob fears his father will find him out and bring a curse on him instead of a blessing. Rebekah answers that the curse can fall on her. The scene shows that the deception comes from Rebekah's determination, not from a command of God.
Isaac blesses Jacob with dew from heaven, fertile land and rule over peoples and brothers. The blessing resembles God's promise to Abraham, and once given it is not taken back, even though Isaac gave it while deceived.
Isaac trembles very violently when he finds that he blessed Jacob, and he declares that the blessing will stand. It is a moment when God's purpose overrides human plans, in spite of sinful methods.
Esau hates Jacob and plans to kill him when Isaac dies. The deception brings lasting consequences: a divided family, a brother forced to flee and a mother separated from her favorite son.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: To hunt game and prepare a savory dish for him to eat. — Genesis 27:3-4
Answer: Rebekah; she called Jacob and told him to bring two young goats to deceive Isaac. — Genesis 27:5-10
Answer: Skins of the young goats on his hands and neck. — Genesis 27:16
Answer: The voice was Jacob's, but the hands felt like Esau's. — Genesis 27:22
Answer: He cried out with great bitterness and begged for another blessing. — Genesis 27:34
Answer: To Haran, to her brother Laban, to save him from Esau's anger. — Genesis 27:42-45
Genesis 27 is an uncomfortable chapter because no one comes out well. Isaac favors Esau, Rebekah favors Jacob, Jacob lies and Esau nurses a grudge. In a small group it helps to notice that favoritism in a family harms everyone, and that a good outcome, even one God brings about, does not justify deceitful means.
At the same time, the chapter reminds us that God works even through our mistakes without approving of them. Jacob will pay for his deceit in the chapters ahead. Ask where you are trying to hurry God's promise along by means that are not his, and what might happen if you waited on him instead.
Genesis 27 ends with Jacob fleeing his home carrying the blessing, but with no land and no security. The road to Haran is long, and in Genesis 28 God himself will appear to him at Bethel with a promise of his own.
In the ancient Near East, a solemnly spoken blessing was considered irrevocable and carried power of its own. Isaac also recognizes that God was at work: he declares that Jacob will be blessed. So all he can offer Esau is a different blessing.
No. The text reports the facts without applauding them and shows the consequences: Jacob has to flee, he is separated from his mother for years, and he will in turn be deceived by Laban. God fulfills his promise in spite of the deceit, not because of it.
Isaac tells him he will live away from the richness of the land, live by the sword and serve his brother, but that one day he will shake off his yoke. His descendants later form the nation of Edom.