Life of Jacob 1: The Struggle for Approval Peter Lim Intro: Earlier we looked at a NT passage, in the wonderful monologue by Oscar, along with Milton and Michelle's help. Now we will look at an OT passage, so we will cover both the Old and New testaments this morning. Today, I am going to begin a 4 week series on the key events in the life of Jacob --- about the life of this OT character, and he certainly was a character. We won't cover everything in Jacob's life, but just touch on some major events. My research is based on a number of sources and commentaries, such as the works of tim keller and others. Now let me ask you to do something. Think of someone you know, whose life you think is a mess. Someone who you think of and you just shake your head. someone you think, that person really needs God's help, I hope God can even work in that person's life. Just think of the person. You don't have to look at the person... you don't have to nudge them in the ribs with your elbow if that person is next to you. you don't have to look at them... of course, you are all looking at me, and maybe after you know me better, I may be that person... But whoever it is, the story of Jacob is a story about a guy who life was messed up, as least as much or maybe more than anyone you know. Jacob was a very ordinary person, a little different from many of the great people of the Bible, such as a Abe, Moses, David, Elijah, and others. Jacob had more weaknesses, struggles, failures and any of them. He was very much like all of us, like you and me. We can learn a lot from his life. His story is an amazing one and it gives us hope.
Let's start by looking at the beginning, when Jacob and his twin brother were still in their mother's womb. read passages: Gen 25:21-23, 27-end, 27:5-19, 30-33 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. 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 Now let's skip to Gen 27: 1 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. Isaac said, I am now an old man and don t know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your equipment 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. This is the beginning part of story I want to look at today. It is about the blessing that Isaac was going to give to his son Esau, who was the oldest. But instead, Jacob, the younger son steals this blessing. Now before I go on, I want point out that, in that culture, the oldest son had a special honor. He had a special status
in the eyes of the others. He became the head of the clan. He got a larger share of the inheritance from his father. But there is even something else more important for the descendants of Abraham. You see, God promised that through Abe's many descendants, all the world will be blessed. That blessing ultimately would come through the messiah. And that messianic line was passed on to, normally, the oldest son. So the oldest son, in Jacob's day was to have a special blessing. This passage is about that. For us, I would like to see the idea of blessing as the need for approval ---- the need for approval. This story about Jacob reveals 3 truths about approval or blessing in our life 1. First, Jacob's story shows us that we all have the need for approval Esau and Jacob were twins. Esau was born first, so he was the oldest. Growing up, Esau was favored by his father. Esau grew up to be a skillful hunter, out in the wild, He was a real man's man, hairy, maybe a little bigger than Jacob. And as Esau grew up, his father Isaac was proud of him, perhaps living his life through his son Esau, as parents tend to do sometimes. Esau was the firstborn and was always favored by his father. Jacob however was a home-body. Not hairy like Esau, not a hunter-type person. He was home with Rebekah a lot and Rebekah grew to love Jacob. it says in Gen 25:27-28:
"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 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob." Let's look at Gen 27, the passage we started earlier. Here isaac is old and blind. And being old, before he dies, he wants to give his blessing to Esau. Now when we often use the word blessing, it has a causal meaning. "Oh, bless you my child," or "that was such a blessing" or "Oh bless her heart". That's how I use it too. But this blessing that the scripture talks about is much more significant, much more important than our causal use of the word. In that culture, it was a special blessing. In this passage, it was Isaac's death-bed blessing, although he ended up living many more years. It was something like the reading of a WILL, except the person has not died yet. It was something like the coronation or declaration of a new leader of the clan. It was something like a prophecy in the name of the Lord. It was all those things combined ----- and I don't think there is anything exactly like it in our culture. I mentioned how I wanted to look at this idea of blessing as the need for approval. Isaac was proud of Esau and Jacob had probably seen countless times growing up where Isaac was so proud of Esau and honored Esau. But Jacob didn't get his father's approval, and Jacob so desperately needed that. That is true for all of us. We all have that desire for approval from others. There has been lots of studies that tell you the importance of it in a person's life. I've heard of the effects with babies, babies that were hugged, loved, talked to, held by someone
versus those that had been neglected and ignored. And you can seen such a difference in the development of a babies based on how they were treated. Or for teenagers or young adults, you all know the power of peer pressure, the need to be accepted by a group, by one's peers. And for adults, the need to succeed and excel in their careers. So all through life, we see the great power of the need for approval, for acknowledgement from others. we all seek the blessing from significant people in our lives, whether from our parents, or from our grown-up children, from coworkers, or others. I have known people who never really got their parent's approval or never thought they did. But they always wanted their parents approval, even as adults. Even if they didn't really admit it. It was a sore, wounded, aching spot in their heart. Something that has affected their actions growing up, and still affects their emotions as an adult. We share that same longing for blessing, the same longing and desire that Jacob had. 2. Second point, Jacob's story also shows us how people often try to get that blessing. As we have read, Isaac tells Esau to hunt something and prepare a delicious meal for him, and then he will give Esau the blessing. Rebekah had over heard this and she tells Jacob to pretend that he is Esau. Jacob at first is afraid to do so and is worried that Isaac might find out and curse him instead of bless him. Rebakah says she will take the curse upon herself if Isaac curses Jacob. So Rebekah gets everything prepared and Jacob decides to
do it. Then Jacob goes to Isaac dressed up as Esau, wearing Esau's clothes, smelling like Esau, probably trying to look like Esau, wearing goat skin on his arms to feel like Esau (Esau had hairy arms but Jacod had smooth arms). The only problem was Jacob's voice. It says in v. 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. " Isaac does a series of tests, touching Jacob, eating the food to see if it is the way that Esau makes it. Isaac was finally convinced and pronounced the special blessing on Jacob. So Jacob gets the blessing. But he had to dress up as Esau. That is how many people try to get approval in life --- they dress up to be someone they are not. People often dress-up, pretend --- to be someone they are not. People often cover-up --- to try to impress others People often appear to be someone else --- to gain favor and approval from others People often mask themselves, pretend -- to establish an identity, which is not them. And isn't that where the word hypocrite comes from -- to wear a mask, to be an play actor? And how do people do this? Through appearances, through trying to act a certain way, through trying find this in their material possessions. You can see this in advertising. Companies spend millions of dollars each year with ads that try to get you to buy their product. Buy this product and you will be cool... you will be a high class person, others will look up to you, you will have
lots of friends, you will be a successful person, you will be a happy person. Now we know the advertizers do this but they keep doing it anyway. why? because for a big enough percentage of people -- it works. Advertizers have tapped into something basic in people -- this need for approval, for blessing. People dress-up, cover up. And what's worst, people try to do this to God. Remember what Adam and Eve did after they sinned? They got fig leaves and they covered themselves. And they hid from God. People hide from God. They dress-up with good deeds, with a good moral lifestyle. They try to cover themselves by doing religious things. They try to make themselves presentable to God, to gain his favor, to gain his approval, to gain his blessing. They try to hide their real self from God, and does work? of course not. If they don't know the Lord personally, all that is useless. One of the most terrifying, haunting verses in the Bible, especially for people who appear religious is Matt 7:22 "Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! " The end result of people who dress-up, who are fakes, who are impostors -- the result is awful. And that was the same result for Jacob. After he did this to his father, his life just went from bad to
worse. Let me tell you how it got worse. When Esau comes back, Isaac and Esau both realize what Jacob had done. Esau now hated his brother. He made up his mind to kill Jacob, as soon has his father was dead. verse 41-43: "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. 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 planning to avenge himself by killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran." So Jacob had to run for his life. Now about his father Isaac, it must have been emotionally painful for Jacob, to finally, after many years, hear his father bless him but... knowing deep down inside, it wasn't really him that his father was blessing. His father thought Jacob was Esau. And so his father was still favoring Esau, not Jacob. Fortunately, later Isaac does bless Jacob as he leaves to travel far away. And the only one who truly loved Jacob, who truly understood and cared for him was his mother Rebekah. But Jacob had to leave home, he had to run for his life. As it turns out, Jacob never saw his mother alive again. It was many years before Jacob would return and his mother died before he returned. And of course they didn't have cell phones so he couldn't just call her up and talk to her. The
one who truly loved him, he never saw alive again. Now we've seen the wrong way people try to get blessing and approval. Is there a right way to get it? 3. The third point: Jacob's story gives us a glimpse of how to find true blessing. There are 2 minor things in the story that point us in how to find true blessing. First of all, when Esau comes to Isaac and Issac finds out what Jacob did, Isaac says something very interesting. v. 30-33 "After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing. His father Isaac asked him, Who are you? I am your son, he answered, your firstborn, Esau. 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! Here Isaac realizes what Jacob has done. It says Isaac trembled violently. We are not sure why, perhaps because of he realizes the deceitfulness of what Jacob had done. But also, I believe God showed Isaac something. In the last sentence "I ate it just before you came and I blessed him..."
And then the sentence changes. The tone or direction of his thought changes. Then he says "and indeed he will be blessed". That keyword "indeed" is there. Issac confirms and he even agrees here with his blessing upon Jacob. I believe Isaac suddenly remembered the prophecy about Esau and Jacob. We read it earlier. The prophecy to Rebekah, where the Lord said: " the older will serve the younger" Rebekah surely told Isaac about this. Perhaps Issac didn't believe it or refused to believe it. But now, he sees -- it has come to pass. He realized, that all these years, he was going against God's will. All these years, he was focusing on Esau, instead of Jacob. But now, he sees that God's word has come to pass and it will continue to come to pass for Jacob, somehow in the future. In the next chapter, we see Isaac calling Jacob, Jacob not Esau, and blessing him, after finally remembering God's prophecy. We can only find true blessing in God and God's word. This whole passage has to be understood in the light of this prophecy and promise, that God told Rebekah. It was wrong for Jacob and Rebekah to trick Isaac and Esau. The bible is not saying deceiving others and lying to others is ok. It is not teaching that. But in light of the wrong things that were done in this family, God still kept his promise --- what he said still came to pass. This just shows the greatness of God even in the midst of human failure and sin. We can only find the true blessing by remembering and believing in what God has said. We can only find true blessing in God and his word. This story has some lessons for families, for parents, for dealing with children. It shows us a lot of what not to do.
Instead of understanding and praising the differences among the children, we see the opposite. Instead of loving each child equally, and seeing the uniqueness in their abilities and interests, we see the opposite. When we look at this family, we see all these problems going on. We see the brothers fighting each other, parents using the children in their own way, plotting against each other. What an awful example of parenting and raising children. We see a dysfunctional family here. And yet that was the reality of the situation. God tells it like it is --- the good, the bad, and the ugly. And the amazing thing was that God was able to work through such people. And such people like you and me. Since God was still able to work through these people --- that gives us hope. So to find true blessing, we need to turn to God's word, just as Isaac remembered what God had said. The bible says a lot about how to develop good families, the right way to raise children, the right way to parent. And the right way to give blessing and approval. So I don't want to just leave you with a bad example. Lets's look at 2 good examples from the life of Jesus -- as the right way to receive and give blessing. When Jesus was baptized, there was a voice that came from heaven. The bible says in Matt 3:17 that a voice said "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well-pleased" Jesus's own father blessed him at his baptism. He said he loved his son and that he was well-pleased with his son. He showed his approval. And now only to Jesus, (Jesus surely knew it already), but to the others that were there and that heard.
As parents, it is good to tell our children that we are "wellpleased" with them, that we are proud of them. Of course, kids are not perfect, no one is, but we should look for things about our children that we can be proud of. And then tell it to them. And even better, tell it others with your children there. Then your children can hear you say that about them in front of others. It will be such a good motivation for them. It will be a positive way to guide them and encourage them. Many of you have children who are adults now. My children are adults too. But you can still do this even if your children are grown up, it is still important to them. There is another example about Jesus. Now of course, Jesus was never married, and so never had children, was never actually a human parent. But even so, get a glimpse of how he treated children, how he loved children. In Mark 10:13. it says that people were bringing their children to Jesus. But the disciples didn't like that and were trying to keep the children from Jesus. When Jesus saw this, he was upset. in Mark 10:14: He says: Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them." What do we see Jesus doing here with these children? Jesus gave these children his attention. He said let them come to me. He was very busy, teaching, preaching,
meeting with important people. But he took time out of his busy schedule to give attention to the children. Jesus also gave these children his affection. It says picked them up, he took them in his arms, he held them. Jesus showed his affection to them. And finally, it says Jesus bless them. He gave his approval to them in front of others. In this example, Jesus gave his attention, his affection, and his approval to the children. Now back to Jacob's story. The second minor thing we see that points us in the right direction is something that Rebekah said. When Jacob was worried that his father might curse him, instead of bless him, Rebekah said in Gen 27:13 My son, let the curse fall on me" Isaac did not curse Jacob, so Rebekah did not have to take a curse. But many centuries later, there was someone else who did take a curse. This other person did take the curse for Jacob and for you and for me. gal 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. This says that we are all cursed. We all cannot have the blessing, the ultimate blessing that comes only from God. The blessing Jacob so desperately was seeking, and the blessing and approval that we all seek.
But it says that Christ became the curse for us and so redeemed us from the curse. Christ has made the way for us to receive God's blessing. We were all made and designed to have a relationship with God, a relationship as a child to a loving parent. A parent that loves us and blesses us. Thru the cross, Jesus has made that possible for us, to know the blessing from our heavenly father. some of you, maybe you've grown up in a messed up home like Jacob. You had a tough upbringing. maybe your parents were much less than ideal. Or maybe they were just more or less absent. The thought of your parents does not give a good feeling ---- your experience with your parents was not good experience The blessing of Christ is that now you can have a father. You can have a heavenly father. You can have the father that you always longed to have, and that you need to have, the father that will give you his approval and blessing in Christ. others of you, you may have had good family upbring, you had good parents. But even for you, there is still a longing in your heart. A longing for true, spiritual blessing, something that your parents, as good as they were, could never quite fulfill. It is something only a loving relationship with God can fulfill. This morning, God is ready to give you that blessing. Just come to him as a trusting child and accept what Jesus did for you on the cross. Today, as we looked at Jacob, and this major event in his life about how he got the blessing from his father Isaac, we saw 3 truths about the blessing.
1. First, is that we all seek and hunger after blessing and approval in our life. 2. Second, we sometimes dress up and pretend to be someone we are not to get the blessing and approval. 3. Third, only by turning to God's word and to what Christ has done for us on the cross can we find true blessing from God. Through this story of Jacob this morning, God may be showing you some things in your own life. Your heavenly father is here, waiting for you to come to him. Just trust him, put your faith in him. Let close our eyes and pray. Lord I pray for every person here, may they know you as a heavenly father in a real way. May each person here experience your blessing in their life. Now with your eyes closed, I want to say that: God may be calling some of you this morning to receive God's approval, his love. If you are like that this morning, I would like you to silently ask God to make Him real to you. If you believe in God but don't really know him like a loving father, ask him to show himself to you. This is just between you and God. Just repeat these words silently, in your heart: Lord, I don't know everything about you. But I want to believe. I want to trust in you. You have the answers for my life. Please help me. amen.