06.6.1. Jacob's Carnal Means to Gain God's Ends
I. -- JACOB’S CARNAL MEANS TO GAIN GOD’S ENDS
FIRST we see how Jacob attempts to supplant the flesh or first-born. His mode of action is fully shewn, and the results, which leave Esau, without the blessing indeed, but yet "my lord Esau." The more excellent way comes out in Joseph. There the victory over the first-born is won, not by striving or supplanting, but by suffering. Not the strength of nature, not doing but dying, in a word the cross, is the elect’s true sceptre over the flesh and outward world. But this is not known at this stage. Here we see the first ways by which the younger strives to overcome the elder, namely by craft and energy.
Three men appear in this scene, who yet live, and still repeat the same acts in the elect house.
First Isaac seeks to bless Esau. He will, if possible, give the blessing to the first-born or natural life. "Isaac called his elder son, and said unto him, My son, make me savoury meat, that I may eat and bless thee" (Genesis 27:4). But this first-born is slow in bringing what is asked; and the blessing, spite of Isaac’s inclination, passes according to a higher purpose upon the younger son. And so the spirit of sonship in us struggles, if it might be so, to make the flesh blessed. Spite of our knowledge that flesh must fail, we yet would make it the heir, and bless it, though we know it cannot be. In vain have Cain and Terah lived and died: in vain has the spirit of faith struggled to save Ishmael: the same desire remains when Isaac is old, stronger now perhaps than at any former stage. For Abraham only prays for Ishmael, but Isaac determines himself to bless the first-born. But flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom (1 Corinthians 15:50). The sons of God may excite the flesh to seek the blessing. It is in vain. The true kingdom is in and of the spirit, in things which the flesh loves not, and where it cannot come. And Isaac, foiled in his purpose, at once and without hesitation confirms the blessing upon the head of Jacob. He answers, "I have blessed him, and he shall be blessed" (Genesis 27:33); nor do Esau’s cries for a moment change this deep conviction. He "trembles" indeed, for the struggle of his own with God’s will moves him exceedingly; but his judgment is untouched; the blessing is fixed: he neither can nor will reverse it. So now, spite of our wish to bless the flesh, through its delays we find our purpose set aside. Then instead of seeking to reverse the gift, we fully acquiesce in the fact, that the spirit is the true possessor of it. The spirit of sonship confirms the rejection of the flesh. It receives a blessing, but it cannot have the inheritance. But Jacob is the chief figure here. Elect, unbroken, still Jacob, not yet transformed into Israel, the man whose own hand is at work, not yet a prince with God, as he becomes afterwards, -- just as he is, young and eager to be blessed, without a thought of his own unfitness to use the blessing he longs for, not fearing Esau, as he does in later days, he seeks at once by craft to supplant him, and take the blessing. Thus the spirit of service in us at the first, loving the blessing, and intent at once to rule the carnal old man, little thinks of its own unchastened state, or of the flesh’s power, if it be roused by opposition, but pursues the same old plan to be blessed, making itself as much like the rejected first-born as possible, putting skins on its hands and neck to be rough, then taking Esau’s raiment, then personating Esau. Instead of waiting God’s time, it will by roughness and guile, contrary to the better nature within, attempt to rule the flesh or first-born, putting on the manners and appearance of the carnal seed, to gain by roughness what roughness has no claim to. For because he was such as he was, Esau fails; and yet Jacob will make himself like this thereby to gain the blessing. But he cannot do this without compunction. He says, "I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing" (Genesis 27:12). Nevertheless "he puts the skins of the kids upon him" (Genesis 27:16). The flesh’s roughness is put on, to gain what we think will be lost, if we walk on in humble quietness. This part of the figure is most striking. When Adam fell, God gave him a "coat of skins" (Genesis 3:21), a witness of death, and yet a covering through the slain Lamb. In like manner the prophets wore hairy garments (2 Kings 1:8; Matthew 3:4), testifying the same truth of a fallen nature and its remedy. This Jacob uses to be more flesh-like. He wears the rough garment, like false prophets, to deceive (Zechariah 13:4). (Note: See Greg. M. in Ezech. l. i. h. 6. He does not notice that Jacob did this to make himself like Esau.) The death of the creature is made his cloak, to be more like that creature, whose doom is sealed by that which covers him. Even thus is the gospel abused. The fact that the lamb was slain, the very pledge that our flesh must not be lived in, is used at first by the spirit of service in us as a means to make us more like Esau, more rough, and more beast-like. And this especially when we would serve. As sons of God, our dangers and temptations meet us on another side; but as workers we try fleshly means, even when the desire of our heart is to overcome the flesh, and to live and walk in the spirit. This was not done by Jacob alone. His mother, Rebekah, moved him to practise this deception (Genesis 27:6-10). Rebekah is that form of truth which the spirit of sonship loves; (Note: See on Genesis 24:1-67 and Genesis 25:12-23.) and this truth, acting on the spirit of service in us, through our impatience and tendency to trust ourselves, excites, and so tempts us. Thus it was in Abraham’s case. Sarah herself stirred him up to seek seed by the bondwoman. (Note: See on Genesis 16:1-16) So even spiritual truth may mislead, if, instead of keeping us in hope and patience, it excites us to godless haste and carnal policy. In service especially we are prone to this, in the efforts which we first make to overcome the elder son. The truth itself excites us to steps, which shew our zeal, but practically deny the zeal of the Lord of Hosts (Isaiah 9:7). The result is always chastening. We learn at last that we only mar God’s work when we attempt to do it for Him, and that if we do wrong, we must also suffer wrong.
Nevertheless Jacob is blessed. The grace, which before his birth gave him the promise, abides "without repentance" (Romans 11:29). God’s purpose is not turned aside. This "worm Jacob" (Isaiah 41:14) must be chastened, yet He blesses him. "And Isaac said, The smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed" (Genesis 27:27). The "image of God" is not yet come, but the "herb and fruit tree" is yielding fruit and odour after its kind. And sweet is the smell of this spirit of service in us, spite of all its haste and imperfections. It is "even as a very fruitful field;" not heaven, but earth fair and sweet to look upon. Sweet is the field, though much is unripe there. Sweet is the vine, when its sour and "tender grape gives a good smell" (Song of Solomon 2:13). Sweet is the olive, while as yet it yields no oil, for the wounds of man, or for the light on God’s candlestick (Exodus 27:20; Luke 10:34). Sweet is the rose, though but a prickly brier, with tokens in its thorns of a curse still working in it. Sweet is the lowly lily, which toils not and spins not, a witness of the beauty which the Lord delights to put on meek and pure natures. Sweet is the violet, hiding itself, of choice preferring shade, and loving the quiet low ground; not feigning humility as a step to grandeur here, but content if only it can reflect the hue of heaven in its humble blossoms. Sweet again is the corn as it comes to the growth; not yet bread-corn, ready to be bruised, but still unripe and growing. Such is this son, whose early life, spite of its faults, is, "as the smell of a full field, which the Lord blesses;" not fit for the garner, but growing and green; freed at least from thickets and stones and pools of stagnant water; where instead of the thorn may come up the fir tree, instead of the brier the myrtle tree, to be unto the Lord for a praise and a name, even for an everlasting sign, which shall not be cut off (Isaiah 55:13). (Note: Gregory the Great interprets all these varied flowers, In Ezech. l. i. h. 6, § 3. Ambrose alludes to the same subject, Hex. l. iii. c. 8, § 36.)
Thus Esau still without, while Jacob is already come with savoury meat, loses the inheritance. When he comes it is too late. Then he cries, "Bless me, even me also, O my father." For the flesh, though stirred up to seek the blessing, loses it by tarrying so long in pursuing outward things. Then it cries with a loud and bitter cry. But the hope of glory is gone; though a lower blessing, if sought, is not denied to it. Then it "lives by its sword," delighting in strife, and in its struggles with the spirit at times has the dominion over it. But it cannot be the heir. The coming world and the inheritance is for ever forfeited.
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Such is the scene within, so far at least as it is given me to utter it. Outwardly too it is fulfilled. Abraham’s sons, who pursue external things in the field of this world, much as the Son may wish to bless them, lose the blessing, while the spiritual seed, though seeking very carnally, press in and seek and make it theirs. And who is it, even to this present day, that stirs up the heirs of promise, to make themselves like carnal men? Alas, it is Mother Church, that body which is the outward form of spiritual truth. She it is who moves her best-loved sons, making them rough men to gain what rough men cannot have. Therefore must she lose her sons. Her craft and carnal means to obtain holy ends, -- and the haste and impatience of those she loves, in and by themselves and in their own strength to seize the blessing, -- ere long divide the mother from her sons, while in sore travail through many days they suffer long discipline. The Esaus stay behind: the Jacobs go forth to toil, to win flocks and herds. Even the carnal and rejected sons receive some blessing. They, no less than their spiritual brothers, have the "fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven" promised them. What is "of the earth," sacramental forms, they put in the first place. The "dew of heaven" is with them the second and lower blessing. (Note: Compare the order of the respective blessings, Genesis 27:28 and Genesis 27:39. Augustine, who constantly quotes Isaac’s two sons as the figure of the double seed, the carnal and spiritual, in the Christian Church, goes at great length into this, Serm. iv. Class. 1, De Jacob et Esau, §§ 14, 31. Some would do well to mark the place here given by Augustine to sacraments. Compare with Confess. l. xiii. c. 18, § 23.) It comes indeed on all alike, on tares and wheat, but each uses it to strengthen its proper life; the one drinking in the dew to nourish thorns, the other by the same dew "out of an honest and good heart" to bring forth good things. But I need not pursue this; for in this view the fulfilment to our shame is around us everywhere.
------------ The dispensations too reflect the scene. The Divine Word, the true Son, produced a double seed. Then He looked for refreshment of heart from him, who, as being the first-born, possessed the first claim. But this son, the Jew, yet tarries without, and comes not until the younger son has gone in, and the word is fulfilled, "A people whom I have not known, they have served me" (Psalms 18:43). In this view, Esau’s raiment, which Jacob put on, without which Esau approached his father, is full of significance. That robe of righteousness (Note: Jewish tradition tells us that this raiment of Esau’s was the ensign of primogeniture, transmitted from father to son. Ambrose expounds the dispensational application of it, De Jacob, &c., l. ii. c. 2, § 9. Gregory the Great gives the same interpretation, In Ezech. l. i. h. 6, § 3.) which the Jew should have had on, but had not, is worn by the Gentile church, even while it misuses the doctrine of the cross, to make itself resemble the carnal seed. For the Church has sought to be rough like the Jew, using the very death of the Lamb, to make itself carnal rather than spiritual. Yet the blessing remains with the Church, in an order exactly the reverse of that granted to the elder son. To Esau the word is, earth first, then heaven. To Jacob, heaven first, then the blessings of this world. To Jacob, thus; -- "God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine." To Esau, thus; -- "Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above." For the Jew seeks first a rest on earth; the Church, a rest in heaven now, and God’s will on earth, when the kingdom of God shall be in the earth even as it is in heaven. (Note: Tertullian, tracing this fulfilment, calls especial notice to the varying order in the two blessings, Adv. Marcion. l. iii. c. ult. But this dispensational application is given by nearly all the Fathers; by Irenaeus, Contr. Hoer. l. iv. c. 21; (al. 38;) by Hippolytus, as quoted by Jerome, Epist. Crit. 125, ad Damasum; by Augustine, Serm. iv. Class. 1, De Jacob et Esau, and elsewhere; by Origen, Hom. xiv. in Gen.; by Gregory the Great, In Ezech. Hom. 6; and by others. Some not only see the Church in Jacob, but Christ also, the Church’s head, like Jacob standing in the first-born or old man’s place, and obtaining the blessing by putting on the likeness of sinful flesh for us, figured in the kids’ skins. So Augustine, Lib. contr. Mendac. c. x. § 24, and Serm. 79 de Tempore, (al. 11, Append.) and Irenaeus, Contr. Hoer. l. iv. c. 21. (al. 38.) But in this deeper sense, which, indeed, is to be traced all through Genesis, we touch on things unspeakable.) So the last shall be first, and the first shall be last; and by strength shall no man prevail.