ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB: FEARLESS? WEEK 4 JACOB S CONFRONTATION WITH ESAU 1) Review a) With this introduction to fear, let s turn to the lives of the Patriarchs: i) Week one we looked at God s call to Abraham to leave his ancestral home and journey out to the place God would show him which is known today as the Holy Land. ii) Week two we entered into one of the most amazing and chilling stories in all of Holy Scripture God s command for Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac from the point of view of Abraham. iii) Week three we entered into the same story from the point of view of Isaac, and we traced the many-fold mysteries in the way that Isaac foreshadowed Jesus Christ. b) This week we will examine fear or fearlessness in the life of Jacob, Isaac s son 2) Picking Up the Trail to Jacob from Isaac and Rebekah a) Holy Scripture is silent about the age of Isaac at the time of Abraham s great trial, but ancient tradition holds him to be somewhere in his mid-20 s to mid-30 s. b) Isaac married Rebekah at age 40. Like Sarah before her, Rebekah was barren for 20 years before giving birth to twin boys Esau and Jacob. Here is what Holy Scripture records of their birth: 21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, Why is this happening to me? So she went to inquire of the LORD. 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. 24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. 27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Genesis 25:21-28 c) Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob is an important statement in that it sows the seeds of discord between the brothers that will eventually harvest in great strife. 1
3) Fast Forward: Esau Sells His Birthright to Jacob a) Holy Scripture does not provide the ages of the twins when this transpires, but we can imagine that they were now young adults: Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I m famished! 31 Jacob replied, First sell me your birthright. 32 Look, I am about to die, Esau said. What good is the birthright to me? 33 But Jacob said, Swear to me first. So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. Genesis 25:29-34 a) Birthright consisted of both rights and responsibilities: i) Rights: A double-portion of the father s inheritance (Duet 21:17). The son with the birthright was afforded special affection and would legally receive a double portion of his father s estate. This was customarily reserved for the first-born son. ii) Responsibilities: The birthright son was expected to: (1) Assume spiritual leadership of the family once his father passed; and, (2) He was required to provide for his mother until her death, and his unmarried sisters until their marriage. We see this principle in action in Laban caring for his sister Rebekah before she married Isaac and can assume that Laban was the birthright holder in his family. (3) Birthright also embraced the role chieftainship over entire family; (i) For the twins this included the future possession of Canaan and the covenant fellowship of Jehovah (Genesis 28:4) (ii) It may be that Rebekah favored Jacob because she saw in him the potential for spiritual development, whereas in Esau there was none. Isaac may have known this also, but he seemed intent on following the tradition of his fathers. b) Two things come quickly into view: i) How little value Esau placed on his birthright further demonstrating his low regard for spiritual things and toward responsibility. (1) He is not interested in developing or maintaining spiritual responsibilities (his name translates literally to mean one outside the temple or alternately red ); (2) He is apparently unconcerned at this time for a double-portion of his father s estate, nor the responsibilities that come with it. (3) The writer of Hebrews further explains Esau s attitude and behavior this way: 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. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done. Hebrews 12:16-17 ii) Jacob is shown to be a conniver and schemer. If there is within Jacob potential for things spiritual, his life is clearly not yet evidencing the fruits of the Spirit found in people of faith. 2
4) Fast Forward Again: The Deception of Rebekah and Jacob (see Genesis 26:34 27:45) a) When Isaac was old, he sent Esau of to hunt wild game and to prepare him a tasty meal with the intention that he would bestow his blessing upon Esau once he sat down to meal. b) Rebekah over-hears the conversation, and once Esau is off to the hunt, she conspires with Jacob to deceive the aged Isaac. His eyes were now bad, so he relied on his sense of smell and his touch to discern who was in his presence. c) She sends Jacob into the flock to get two young goats so she can prepare a tasty stew for her aged husband just the way he likes it. d) Rebekah then dressed Jacob in Esau s clothing, and put lamb skins on his neck and arms so he would have the rugged hairy feel of his older twin the first record impersonation. e) Once the stew is ready, and Jacob is fitted in his costume, he delivers the meal to Isaac, who, after allaying his suspicions, bestows the blessing on Jacob. f) No sooner does he depart, than Esau returns with fresh game and prepares a meal. He comes to his father, who now discovers the deception and is furious. g) Esau, angry beyond words that his brother has stolen the blessing, and recalling the earlier incident where he was duped into forfeiting his birthright, vows to kill his brother. h) Jacob flees from the family and will be gone many years before returning. i) Jacob is revered as a great man of faith, as were his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham. Are we to infer or deduce from Holy Scripture that scheming, lying and fraud are what it means to be faithful, given that this great pillar of faith and his mother conspired together to deceive Isaac? God forbid! j) Rather, we see the God of perfection working out through the circumstances of family life His divine plan despite the frailties and sinfulness of His chosen instruments. i) Isaac clearly knows that Esau has no interest, desire or concern for things spiritual. Yet, in the tradition of his fathers, he intends to bestow the blessing on this unworthy son. ii) (1) When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah. Genesis 26:34-35 Rebekah is clearly a woman of faith too. But rather than confront Isaac concerning the bestowing of his blessing, she seeks to deceive him. iii) Jacob, who had year s before leveraged his brother Esau s hunger to steal his birthright, now seeks to protect what he has stolen by securing his father s blessing through deception. k) In all three, we see frailty and human fear evidenced in differing ways. 5) Key Events in Jacob s Life Which Follow the Deception of Isaac a) Jacob s Ladder - Jacob s vision in a dream which he had on the run from his brother while in Bethel. (see Genesis 28:10-22) i) He saw a ladder stretching from earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. ii) God appears to him, standing above the ladder, 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you 3
and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Genesis 28:12-15 iii) It appears that this was a sort of conversion experience for Jacob where he places his life in God s hands and reforms his deceptive and self-scheming ways! b) Jacob s Deception by Laban Where the deceiver is deceived! (See Genesis 29:1-30) i) Jacob, still on the run and fearing for his life should Esau catch him, heads to Paddan Aram. ii) There he meets the beautiful Rachel, younger daughter of Laban. He pledges to work for Laban for seven years to secure the hand of Rachel in marriage. iii) After the time had passed, he marries the love of his life only to discover upon lifting the veil to kiss her that he has been betrothed to plain-jane Leah instead, Rebekah s older sister. Jacob is furious, but agrees to labor another seven years for the hand of Rachel. iv) After a week had passed, he married Rachel too, and worked another seven years for Laban. c) Jacob and Laban Part Ways God blesses Jacob. His family, flocks and wealth increase. There is no longer sufficient space for the two clans to peaceably co-exist on the plains, so they separate their flocks and part ways. i) This brings us to the confrontation between Jacob and Esau. 6) Jacob s Confrontation with Esau a) Jacob sets out to return to his home in Palestine, with his family which now includes four wives, twelve sons and two daughters. b) i) Remember that Esau has vowed to kill him. 3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4 He instructed them: This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. 5 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes. 6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him. 7 In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. 8 He thought, If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group ] that is left may escape. 9 Then Jacob prayed, O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, LORD, you who said to me, Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper, 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12 But you have said, I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted. 13 He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds. 17 He instructed the one in the lead: When my brother Esau meets you and asks, Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you? 18 then 4
you are to say, They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us. 19 He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, Your servant Jacob is coming behind us. For he thought, I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me. 21 So Jacob s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp. Genesis 32:1-20 7) Fear and Pragmatism - Jacob learns that his brother Esau is en route to meet him with 400 men. Terrified by this news, and anticipating the worst possible outcome, he immediately does three things: a) He divides his household into two camps, such that if one is completely routed and all of his relatives and servants put to death, the other camp might escape. b) He cries out to God in prayer. c) He sends a series of bribe gifts to Esau consisting in total of 550 animals. 8) Jacob Wrestles with God His Name is Changed to Israel a) There occurs that night by the river Jabbok one of the most mysterious and wondrous events in all of Holy Scripture Jacob wrestles with God in a physical wrestling contest: 22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, Let me go, for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me. 27 The man asked him, What is your name? Jacob, he answered. 28 Then the man said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome. Genesis 32:22-28 b) It is clear from the text that this is not a vision or dream, but a physical contest with spiritual dimensions. c) That God appeared to Jacob in the form of an actual man is clear from His being called God and because of the offices He performed. d) And that it was a spiritual contest on the part of Jacob is also clear from what the prophet Hosea says concerning this episode (see Hosea 7:3 & 4). e) The Church has interpreted that Jacob wrestled with Jesus Christ, and that such appearances of Jesus as recorded in the Old Testament were manifest in order to prepare His people for His actual assumption of our nature at the time appointed by the Father. f) Jesus appears to Jacob for the purpose of comforting him under the distress of the approach of his brother Esau, who Jacob was convinced was coming with 400 men to destroy him and his family in retaliation for all that had previously occurred and in keeping with Esau s pledge to do so. (Genesis 32:6 & 7) g) Jacob used the best means at his disposal to attempt to pacify his brother, while taking the extraordinary precaution of dividing his family into two camps such that if one were destroyed, the other half might live. 5
h) Yet, even with all this precautions, Jacob knew that none could save but God alone, and so he went off alone to spend the night in prayer. i) It is then that Jesus appeared in the flesh and the two contended until daybreak. j) Then the Lord would have departed him, but Jacob would not let up, instead holding the Lord fast in his grip he said, I won t let go of You until You bless me. 9) Consider the Beauty of Jacob s Prayer a) Jacob begins his prayer with this acknowledgement: God of my father Abraham, I am not worthy of the least of Your mercies, let alone all of the truth You have shown to me Your servant. (Genesis 32:10) i) The Gospels inform us that the rich will be sent away empty, but the hungry will be satisfied and filled with good things. (see Luke 1:53) ii) Jesus commended the Publican, a sinner, who beat his own breast and pleaded for mercy while condemning the Pharisee who boasted of his worthiness and piety. iii) In Jacob we see the attitude of the returning prodigal who takes nothing but shame upon himself and casts himself wholly upon the mercy of his father. b) Jacob reminds God of the promise which had been made to him 20 years earlier (32:12) not that God needed to be reminded, for God is constant, unchanging and sure. Yet in bringing the remembrance forward, Jacob is filled up with the promises of God. i) The promises of God are true ground upon which any of us can stand. God s promises to us are spoken in abundant ways throughout Holy Scripture. ii) As Saint Peter writes to us, He has given us such great and precious promises. (2 Peter 1:4) yet iii) It is not until we work out God s promise in our own lives that we can stand in the surety of God s promise with conviction and claim them for ourselves. iv) Six of God promises to me serve as my reminders of God s providence, God provision, God s protection, and God s faithfulness to me: (1) The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still. (Exodus 14:14) (2) Do not be afraid, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. (Isaiah 40:10) (3) Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7) (4) For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future! (Jeremiah 29:11) (5) I will give you every place you set your feet. (Joshua 1:3) (6) I will never leave you or forsake you. (Joshua 1:5) c) Like Jacob, I find that I need to remind God and be reminded of these six very personal promises that have been spoken into my life, especially in times of great fear, anxiety, distress, and when my circumstances seem to be closing in on me. d) Have you ever claimed a promise of God as your very own? Until you make the promise your own, it will offer no power in your life, but as soon as you claim it and take assurance in the promise, you will find that in it is the very power of the Living God in the middle of your darkest moments. 6
10) Consider Jacob s Perseverance in Pressing the Matter Until God s Blessing is Obtained a) Determined perseverance in prayer is a matter of necessity. i) Jesus wanted to amplify this lesson for us, and He did so in the parable of the persistent widow (see Luke 18:1-8) to teach us of Jacob s virtue in being so determined. ii) Our God cannot lie, and cannot deny Himself. He has said to us plainly, Ask, and you shall receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door shall be opened for you. Because everyone who asks, seeks and knocks will be blessed and will discover more abundance than they originally sought. iii) And what if we don t find it right away? What if the door is not opened, we don t find, we don t receive? In these cases, Holy Scripture teaches us that, If realization of the vision lingers, still we must actively wait for it, assured in faith that it will come at last. (Habakkuk 2:3) b) To be sure, there will be times when in our inner most being we feel discouraged by the delay, and in these times, pray that you will have the courage of David to chide the spirit of desolation within you: Why are you cast down, my soul, and why are you restless and disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him (for He shall provide according to His promise though I do not yet see the realization of it right now), my Lord and my God. Italics added (Psalm 42:11) 11) Consider also God s Providence a) We don t know Esau s actual intent as he approached with 400 men. But we do know that the brother s were reconciled that day. b) God gives Jacob a new name Israel as a lasting memorial of God love to him and to us. 1. Jacob represents the conflict between man s higher (Godly, redeemed) and lower (sinful, selfish, self-determined) natures. 2. Despite his weaknesses, Jacob was God s chosen instrument, and so are we. 3. Jacob s life path and progression demonstrate the transforming power of fellowship with God, progressing unevenly from a self-determined young man out to get his own way, to a man of faith and prayer who trusts in God. 4. His intimacy with God is preserved in the titles for Jehovah including: a. God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6, 4:5, 2 Sam 23:1, Psalm 20:1, Isaiah 2:3 5. The titles of the house or family of Jacob include, among others a. House of Jacob (Exodus 19:3, Isaiah 2:5-6, b. Offspring of Jacob (Isaiah 45:19) c. Sons of Jacob (1 Kings 18:31, Malachi 3:6) 7
The Children of Jacob and their Mothers The Twelve Tribes of Israel Leah Bilhah Zilpah Rachel 1. Reuben 2. Simon 3. Levi 4. Judah 5. Dan 6. Naphatli 7. Gad 8. Asher 9. Issachar 10. Zebulon 11. Joseph 12. Benjamin 13. Dinah (daughter) 8