GENESIS
THE BEGINNING AND THE END
ALPHA & OMEGA
The Kingdoms
The Blessing
- Charge to Esau
- Genesis 27:1-4 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak
that he could no longer see, he called
for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son." "Here I am," he
answered. [2] Isaac said, "I am now
an old man and don't know the day of my death. [3] Now then, get your
weapons--your quiver and
bow--and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. [4]
Prepare me the kind of tasty
food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my
blessing before I die."
- Esau will do as his father asked, but the blessing will not
be his.
- Deuteronomy 6:6-7 These commandments that I give you today
are to be upon your
hearts. [7] Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit
at home and
when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
- Deuteronomy 10:15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your
forefathers and loved
them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it
is today.
- Amos 3:2 "You only have I chosen of all the families of the
earth; therefore I will
punish you for all your sins."
- Romans 9:10-11 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had
one and the same father, our
father Isaac. [11] Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything
good or bad--in
order that God's purpose in election might stand:
- He [Esau] will not get the blessing because it was not his.
- Isaac and Esau made a determined effort to take the blessing
from Jacob
- The culture of the time, the oldest should get the blessing.
- Isaac a "type" of the born again believe, wants to keep
the status quo, but it would
appear God has something new in mind. A warning to the believe to day
who does
not first seek God in all things..
- Rebekah's Plot
- Genesis 25: 5-13 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to
his son Esau. When Esau left for the
open country to hunt game and bring it back, [6] Rebekah said to her
son Jacob, "Look, I overheard
your father say to your brother Esau, [7] 'Bring me some game and
prepare me some tasty food to
eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord
before I die.' [8] Now, my son,
listen carefully and do what I tell you: [9] Go out to the flock and
bring me two choice young
goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way
he likes it. [10] Then take it to
your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he
dies." [11] Jacob said to Rebekah
his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with
smooth skin. [12] What if my
father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring
down a curse on myself
rather than a blessing." [13] His mother said to him, "My son, let the
curse fall on me. Just do what I
say; go and get them for me."
- First, why did Rebekah do this?
- Genesis 25:23 The Lord said to her, "Two nations are in
your womb, and two peoples
from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the
other, and the
older will serve the younger."
- Genesis 25:31 Jacob replied, "First sell me your
birthright."
- Later we shall look at this birthright closer.
- The family of Esau [Edom] and the family of Israel will
be enemies from now on. For a time, the Edomites would appear to do
better. But in the Millennium the
family of Esau will serve the family of Jacob.
- Some will look at this family and say it was a
dysfunctional family. Maybe, but it was
the plan of God that was being fulfilled. As I stated above, Isaac and
Esau were about
to steal the blessing from Jacob. What you do not see in any of this,
someone LOOKED
TO GOD FOR AN ANSWER!
- What was Jacob after?
- The blessing!
- But no where do we see that he wants the spiritual side
of the blessing only
the material side of the blessing.
- What will he do to get it?
- Put on the cloths of Esau, I see this as putting on the
things of the world. The
Born Again person has strict orders.
- Romans 13:12 The night is nearly over; the day is
almost here. So let us put
aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
- 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 For the perishable must clothe
itself with the
imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. [54] When the perishable
has
been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality,
then
the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up
in
victory."
- Galatians 3:27 for all of you who were baptized into
Christ have clothed
yourselves with Christ.
- Ephesians 4:24 and to put on the new self, created to
be like God in true
righteousness and holiness.
- Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armor of God so that you
can take your
stand against the devil's schemes.
- Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self, which is
being renewed in
knowledge in the image of its Creator.
- Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy
and dearly loved,
clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and
patience.
- Colossians 3:14 And over all these virtues put on love,
which binds them all
together in perfect unity.
- The Plot executed
- Genesis 25:14-25 So he went and got them and brought them to
his mother, and she prepared some tasty food,
just the way his father liked it. [15] Then Rebekah took the best
clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in
the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. [16] She also covered
his hands and the smooth part of his
neck with the goatskins. [17] Then she handed to her son Jacob the
tasty food and the bread she had made. [18]
He went to his father and said, "My father." "Yes, my son," he
answered. "Who is it?" [19] Jacob said to his
father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please
sit up and eat some of my game so that you
may give me your blessing." [20] Isaac asked his son, "How did you find
it so quickly, my son?" "The Lord your
God gave me success," he replied. [21] Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come
near so I can touch you, my son, to
know whether you really are my son Esau or not." [22] Jacob went close
to his father Isaac, who touched him
and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands
of Esau." [23] He did not recognize him,
for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed
him. [24] "Are you really my son Esau?" he
asked. "I am," he replied. [25] Then he said, "My son, bring me some of
your game to eat, so that I may give you
my blessing." Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some
wine and he drank.
- This is so clear.
- If I am a child of God, [born again, born of God, the
nature of God] I WILL WALK in the spirit
- Either I serve the God of Light, [truth] or rely on the god
of darkness, [lie, deceit, half truths]
- Look at this person real close.
- Can you see yourself, your spouse, your child, your
neighbor.
- You look at people who do less than the above and you
judge them lost.
- But remember this.
- "I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB"
- Again for this person who studies the Word of God.
The WORD is saying I am
the God of three groups of people.
- Abraham = The man of faith
- Isaac = The unnatural born, saved by the lamb, the
born again of God.
- Jacob = The natural man that one day will wrestle
with God. [later in our
study]
- The Plot is successful
- Genesis 27:26-29 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here,
my son, and kiss me." [27] So he went to him
and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed
him and said, "Ah, the smell of my son is
like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. [28] May God give
you of heaven's dew and of earth's
richness- an abundance of grain and new wine. [29] May nations serve
you and peoples bow down to you. Be
lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to
you. May those who curse you be
cursed and those who bless you be blessed."
- The blessing!!!!!
- May God give you of heaven's dew
- and of earth's richness-
- an abundance of grain and new wine.
- [29] May nations serve you
- peoples bow down to you.
- Be lord over your brothers,
- may the sons of your mother bow down to you
- . May those who curse you be cursed
- and those who bless you be blessed."
- What is this blessing all about.?
- What do we not see in the blessing?
- No important relationship with God.
- The Plot Discovered
- Genesis 27:30-33 After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob
had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother
Esau came in from hunting. [31] He too prepared some tasty food and
brought it to his father. Then he said to
him, "My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give
me your blessing." [32] His father Isaac
asked him, "Who are you?" "I am your son," he answered, "your
firstborn, Esau." [33] Isaac trembled violently
and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I
ate it just before you came and I blessed
him--and indeed he will be blessed!"
- The question of Isaac has to be looked at!
- Who are you?
- This is the question for all of us, who are we?
- Esau answered correct.
- I am your son, your firstborn son.
- I am putting my future in this one thing!
- Not what is important to me!
- Not what I have done with my life!
- Not what I want out of the future!
- Now Issac must think about what has happened.
- He has just blessed the one that God had chosen.
- He becomes fearful.
- God will have His way. What was he thinking of.
- He will let the blessing stand.
- Esau's unavailing remorse
- Genesis 27:34-38 When Esau heard his father's words, he burst
out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his
father, "Bless me--me too, my father!" [35] But he said, "Your brother
came deceitfully and took your blessing." [36] Esau said, "Isn't he
rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my
birthright, and
now he's taken my blessing!" Then he asked, "Haven't you reserved any
blessing for me?" [37] Isaac answered
Esau, "I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives
his servants, and I have sustained him with
grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?" [38]
Esau said to his father, "Do you have only
one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!" Then Esau wept
aloud.
- The battle of many today!
- Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing
- This is not true.
- It was never Esau's to have.
- Look at the father. How often when we see someone in
one way deceiver] , we want
to see everything they do in that light. Even if it is wrong.
- Look at the brother.
- Jacob never deceived him, it was a pure act. I will
give you this [soup] for your
birthright. It was agreed upon.
- Now he wants to try and make a distinction between
birth right and blessing, when in
fact he is talking of the same thing.
- Hebrews 12:16-17 See that no one is sexually immoral,
or is godless like Esau, who
for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. [17]
Afterward, as you
know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He
could bring about
no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
- Again look at the things that were given.
- I have made him lord over you
- made all his relatives his servants,
- I have sustained him with grain and new wine.
- So, the question now to the one not chosen of God.
- So what can I possibly do for you, my son
- Isaac's wicked suggestion
- Genesis 27:39-40 His father Isaac answered him, "Your dwelling
will be away from the earth's
richness, away from the dew of heaven above. [40] You will live by the
sword and you will serve
your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from
off your neck."
- The were and are a warring people.
- Israel will rule over them for long periods of time.
- 1 Samuel 14:47 After Saul had assumed rule over Israel, he
fought against their
enemies on every side: Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the kings of Zobah,
and the
Philistines. Wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment on them.
- 2 Samuel 8:14 He put garrisons throughout Edom, and all the
Edomites became subject
to David. The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.
- 2 Kings 14:7 He was the one who defeated ten thousand
Edomites in the Valley of Salt
and captured Sela in battle, calling it Joktheel, the name it has to
this day.
- The time came, when this rule ended!
- 2 Chron. 21:8-10 In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled
against Judah and set up its own
king. [9] So Jehoram went there with his officers and all his chariots.
The Edomites
surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke
through by night.
[10] To this day Edom has been in rebellion against Judah. Libnah
revolted at the same
time, because Jehoram had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers.
- Esau's Plot against Jacob
- Genesis 27:41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the
blessing his father had given him. He
said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I
will kill my brother Jacob."
- This felling lasts until this day.
- The question we might ask, what should people in like
circumstances do?
- Seek God as a Gentile. Jacob has a earthly blessing. Every
man, woman and child can
seek God and find Him.
- John 3:15-16 that everyone who believes in him may have
eternal life. [16] "For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- The Plot Discovered
- Genesis 27:42 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had
said, she sent for her younger
son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself with
the thought of killing you.
- A divided family.
- Rebekah sees her oldest son, "he is consoling himself with
the thought of killing you.
- Philip. 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever
is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if
anything is excellent or
praiseworthy--think about such things.
- Rebekah's plan to save Jacob
- Genesis 27:43-45 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once
to my brother Laban in Haran. [44] Stay with
him for a while until your brother's fury subsides. [45] When your
brother is no longer angry with you and forgets
what you did to him, I'll send word for you to come back from there.
Why should I lose both of you in one day?"
- A terrible price Rebekah will pay.
- "stay with him for awhile"
- 20 years - 20 later
- She will never see this son again on this earth.
- As we have seen in the lives of all those before. It is not
good to try and help God. She would have been
better off to seek God and let God take care of the situation.
- Now she has likely lost both her sons.
- The anger of Esau will not change until Jacob seeks God in
earnest.
- Rebekah's plea to Issac
- Genesis 27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm disgusted with
living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob
takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like
these, my life will not be worth living."
- It sounds so good.
- Her interest was not in the marriage of her 77 year old
bachelor son, if it were she would have done some
thing before.
- I am sure she did not want her son to marry a Hittite, but
I see the Isaac family as I see to many of
the Christian families of today. How can you tell them apart from those
who live around them.