Jacob No.2 The Deceiver

Oh father of the fatherless, in whom all families are blessed, I love the way you father me. You gave me life, forgave the past, now in your arms I'm safe at last. I love the way you father me.

Father me, forever you'll father me, and in your embrace I'll be forever secure. I love the way you father me. I love the way you father me.

When bruised and broken I draw near, you hold me close and dry my tears. I love the way you father me. At last my fearful heart is still, surrendered to your perfect will.

I love the way you father me. Father me, forever you'll father me, and in your embrace I'll be forever secure. I love the way you father me.

I love the way you father me. If in my foolishness I stray, returning empty and ashamed, I love the way you father me. Exchanging for my wretchedness your radiant robes of righteousness, I love the way you father me.

Father me, forever you'll father me, and in your embrace I'll be forever secure. I love the way you father me. I love the way you father me.

And when I look into your eyes, from deep within my spirit cries, I love the way you father me. Before such love I stand amazed, and ever will through endless days, I love the way you father me. Father me, forever you'll father me, and in your embrace I'll be forever secure.

I love the way you father me. I love the way you father me. Father me, forever you'll father me, and in your embrace I'll be forever secure.

I love the way you father me. I love the way you father me. I love the way you father me.

One day, in Isaac's old age, when he was half blind, he called for Esau, his oldest son. My son? Yes, father? I am an old man now, and expect to die almost any day. Take your bow and arrows out into the fields, and get me some venison, and prepare it just the way I like it, savoury and good, and bring it here for me to eat, and I will give you the blessings that belong to you, my firstborn son, before I die.

But Rebekah overheard the conversation, so when Esau left for the field to hunt for the venison, she called her son Jacob, and told him what his father had said to his brother. Now do exactly as I tell you. Go out to the flocks and bring me two young goats, and I'll prepare your father's favourite dish from them.

Then take it to your father, and after he has enjoyed it, he will bless you before his death instead of Esau. But mother, he won't be fooled that easily. Think how hairy Esau is, and how smooth my skin is.

What if my father feels me? He'll think I'm making a fool of him, and curse me instead of blessing me. Let his curses be on me, dear son. Just do what I tell you.

Go out and get the goats. So Jacob followed his mother's instructions, bringing the dressed kids, which she prepared in his father's favourite way. Then she took Esau's best clothes, they were there in the house, and instructed Jacob to put them on.

And she made him a pair of gloves from the hairy skin of the young goats, and fastened a strip of the hide around his neck. Then she gave him the meat, with its rich aroma, and some fresh baked bread. Jacob carried the platter of food into the room where his father was lying.

Father? Yes? Who is it, my son? Esau, or Jacob? It's Esau, your oldest son. I've done as you have told me. Here is the delicious venison you wanted.

Sit up and eat it, so that you will bless me with all your heart. How are you able to find it so quickly, my son? Because Jehovah, your God, put it in my path. Come over here.

I want to feel you, and be sure it really is Esau. Jacob went over to his father. He touched him.

Hmm. The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's. The Ruth convinced Isaac, and he gave Jacob his blessings.

Are you really Esau? Yes, of course. Then bring me the venison, and I will eat it. And bless you with all my heart.

Jacob took it over to him, and Isaac ate. He also drank the wine Jacob brought him. Come here, and kiss me, my son.

Jacob went over and kissed him on the cheek. Isaac smelt his clothes, and finally seemed convinced. The smell of my son is the good smell of the earth and fields that Jehovah has blessed.

May God always give you plenty of rain for your crops, and good harvest of grain, and new wine. May many nations be your slaves. Be the master of your brothers.

May all your relatives bow low before you. Cursed are all who curse you, and blessed are all who bless you. When Isaac had blessed Jacob, and just before Jacob left the room, Esau arrived from his hunting.

He also had prepared his father's favorite dish, and brought it to him. Here I am, father, with the venison. Sit up and eat it, so that you can give me your finest blessings.

Who is it? Why, it's me, of course, Esau, your oldest son. Then who is it who is here just here with venison? I've already eaten it, and blessed him with irrevocable blessing. Esau began to sob with deep and bitter sobs.

O my father, bless me, bless me too. Your brother was here, and tricked me, and has carried away your blessing. No wonder they call him the cheater, for he took my birthright, and now he has stolen my blessing.

Or haven't you saved even one blessing for me? I have made him your master, and have given him yourself, and all of his relatives as his servants. I've guaranteed him abundance of grain, and wine. What is there left to give? Not one blessing left for me.

O my father, bless me too. Yours will be no life of ease and luxury, but you shall hew your way with a sword. For a time you will serve your brother, but you will finally shake loose from him.

And be free. I'm not too sure it could have been his accent. But I did think the mayor of Cape Town, when I was with him just a few days ago, actually welcomed into the port the envy Dallas.

I wasn't quite sure that he got the nature of what the project is all about, of sailing that ship on the oceans of the world, and eventually bringing it to the beautiful Cape Peninsula. I suppose there is a fashion in which one could, picking up on what some of the men were saying here last week, think of this chapter that we've been reading together in terms of, well, a biblical soap would be a wrong description because it would give the connotation of something that's fanciful, and this is not fanciful. But the book of Genesis does bring you into the story of families, and sometimes those families are laced with intrigue and problems.

There is a sense in which the book of Genesis has been written so that you and I might discover in the characters that are found, people that represent ourselves. You see, one of the reasons why we're homing in on Jacob, and one of the reasons why his life and his family life is inscripturated, is placed within this book, is because though the narrative does record literal happenings, there is a meaning that transcends the happenings inasmuch as there is the Jacob mentality in all of us. There is the Esau temperament.

There is the possibility of being like Isaac was in the early days of his life. A young man of confidence who says to his father, well, if I am to be the sacrifice, so be it. I submit.

To the will of God, or the possibility of doing what Isaac did later on, and sort of rusting out, towards the end, only a shade of what he had originally been. There is the possibility of us too conniving like Rebecca did. Tinkering around with the sovereignty of God, believing that somehow God's got himself in a mess, and it requires us, with perhaps not an evil intention, but nonetheless with impudence, to help God out of his difficulty.

Listen. No action, whether foul or fair, is ever done, but it leaves somewhere a record, written by fingers ghostly, as a blessing or a curse, and mostly, in the greater weakness or greater strength, of the acts which follow it, till at length the wrongs of ages are redressed, and the justice of God made manifest. What does that mean? Ultimately, all things pan out to show you that God is in control of every situation, of every circumstance.

Deception is something that pervades this passage. Deception is something that pervades the life of most of us here. For there is a sense in which we even deceive ourselves.

The prophet Jeremiah talks about the heart being deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. There is only one person of whom it could be said, he did no deceit. Neither was Guile, neither was there anything in his life that was contradictory.

And so now, we're looking not so much at Jacob, not so much at Esau, not so much at Isaac and Rebecca, but we're looking at ourselves, and asking God to expose the deception that sometimes we show to other people. For here is a wife deceiving her husband, here is a husband endeavouring to deceive his family, here is a brother deceiving his brother, and here is the other brother deceiving himself. You say, what do you mean? Well, let's open up the story again, shall we? But from this context, that we are not just plundering this chapter in order to discover the history of Israel, we're looking into this chapter because we believe that the figures therein are strangely relevant to us today.

As for Isaac, well, the first verse will tell you, he's an old man. If you work out the arithmetic correctly, and if Martin Luther was accurate in his chronological conclusions, then Isaac is some 137 years of age, and his half-brother Ishmael has now died. And so, perhaps the time has come, although you discover it's somewhat premature in his conclusion, for him to make preparation for his death.

Actually, he will live some two or three decades on from the incident recorded in this chapter. But there is no wrong, in fact, every credit must be given to anyone who on the shores of eternity lingers for a while, and before they take that last voyage into the eternal unknown, they adjust their family circumstances, not wanting to leave their inheritance in a mess, or people ignorant of what their wishes were. So, Isaac considers himself to have every indication that his life is now coming to its close.

The frailty of his eyes is some further evidence, he thinks, that this might be the case. The lamps are now dim, and he finds himself in the same condition as our gracious queen did last week. He can no longer read.

She could have done with glasses, but her servant, presumably, was somewhat embarrassed. As the royal handbag submitted to the rummage of the royal fingers, and no glasses were discovered, but, mercifully, the Duke of Edinburgh, though as old as Her Majesty, has eyes that are stronger, so he could stand in and read her speech. Isaac, he full knows what God's decree has been in terms of these twin sons of his.

The reason why he has Esau on his own, without the witness of anyone else, for such would normally be required, for he is writing, in effect, his will, is that what he is decreeing is against what God has said. And so, Isaac, too, is guilty of deception. As for Rebecca, well, this really is, in one sense, the Dallas story in the Old Testament, because if the marriage has not cracked, at least it's not what it used to be.

It was a love match that Rebecca and Isaac enjoyed in the earlier years. And, indeed, the previous chapter, which actually is distant chronologically from the 27th by presumably many years, gives indication that the love lasted for quite some time. For there, you find in the ninth verse, some Gentile king who is attracted by Rebecca, who thinks that actually she is the sister of Isaac, realizing the familiarity that Isaac has with Rebecca indicates more than just a sisterly, but a wifely relationship.

For he looked down, verse 8, and saw Isaac caressing his wife. How long it had been since he last caressed his wife, when you get to the 27th chapter, only your imagination can tell. But there is a divide.

A distancing has come. As, alas, often occurs with marriages, perhaps several months or years since Isaac last fondled his wife. What went wrong? Well, you know, the kids.

Maybe it was Rebecca's bias towards Jacob. Maybe she did not like the way that Esau had wound his way around his father's heart and was so skillful as a man of the fields and also was a fair hand in the kitchen to the extent that it seems he could satisfy her husband's hungers and cravings more than she could. So you've got this divide with Rebecca directing her affection and attention towards Jacob and Isaac, contrary-wise, towards Esau.

Now, of course, Rebecca knows. She knows what you know, because you listened to the incredible presentation of the early part of the life of Jacob and Esau last week. You know that they were born as twins and Jacob is just minutes later out of the womb than Esau, but he's grasping on to the heel of Esau.

And prophetically, there is the symbolism that he, Jacob, shall have the preeminence over Esau and he shall be in the purposes of God, the one who shall continue God's promise conveyed to grandfather Abraham. Rebecca knows that. And Esau knows that.

And Isaac knows that. And Jacob knows that. But here is Isaac, you see, and he is determining that Esau shall be the man who shall be so blessed and Rebecca overhears and it goes against the grain.

It's not so much that this is what God has planned. It's also what Rebecca wants. And sometimes you can want something that is right, but the way that you go about it almost wreaks havoc with what are the expressed purposes of God.

As for Esau, well, when this business is fully determined, and doubtless on Tuesday they will tell me, this sort of theological argument between Nick and Eric as to whether it was a bowl of lentils or luscious stewed steak, you see, I do listen to addresses that are preached when I'm away. Be warned of this. One thing is clear.

Esau played fast and loose with something that was very precious because invested in it was spiritual worth, the birthright. Push it through into New Testament terms, the possibility of being the Son of God. I mean by that, born into the family of God as a son or daughter of God.

This is the most precious thing in the world, don't you understand? If you listen to a man preach a great and glorious gospel and you do not give him attention, if you pay just light respect to the way of salvation, then you are in danger of being an Esau, of treating lightly that on which God places a great value. As for Jacob, someone has said that you would not buy a second-hand camel and rest at night from Jacob. I'm not too sure that that itself is really an accurate or judicious statement.

Jacob actually comes out better in this chapter and indeed in all the chapters than the other three in the family circle. For Jacob will be the man who ultimately will know what it is to repent. And repentance is about the only contribution that you can ever make to your salvation.

Did you know that? Jacob is very much under the influence of his mother, Rebekah. He knows that ultimately he is to carry on the purposes of God through the family line. The problem with Rebekah and the problem with Jacob is this.

They do not have the same quality of faith as Abraham had and Isaac had. For when it looked as though God's purposes were going to be spoiled because Isaac was going to be killed and therefore God's promise of Abraham fathering a great nation would be frustrated. They both were able to submit in blanket fashion to the sovereignty of God.

The Lord does have things in control. You know, my wife Rowena sometimes gives me the corrective that I often need. That's the reason for wives, is it not? Husbands? She tells me that I'm not always Trinitarian.

She suggests that sometimes I believe in a divine quartet. Well, divine is not the right word for the fourth member. God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and me.

And you see, this is basically Rebekah's problem and Jacob's problem. Here is Isaac and he is going to bless Esau. He's going to give to him the blessings of the firstborn.

And if that happens, then the predictions of God on the birth of Jacob and Esau will not come about. And so deceit seems to be the best way to get out of the conundrum. Esau is dispatched to the fields because Isaac wants some venison before he can pass on his fatherly blessing.

Doubtless he does not shine as one of the greatest stars in the spiritual firmament if before he can direct such a blessing, he needs to have his hunger for venison satisfied. But such is Isaac, rusting into old age instead of retaining the faith and the vitality of yesteryear. Rebekah, very cute, tells Jacob to be off quickly into the fields.

She too knows a thing or two about cooking. It's not just the modern people on television, the Delia Smiths. I've got the right name, haven't I? Took a risk on that one.

Who can use the spices to the degree that one of the tender sheep from the flock can't be so served up as to deceive the old man? He who thinks he has such sensitive tastes will discover that his taste is not quite as accurate as it seems. And so you've got the story. Tragic it is.

Of Jacob now entering into the tent where his father with the poor eyesight is and Jacob has his brother's fine garment on him and the skin of an animal around his wrists and around his shoulders so that should the old man feel that though what he is being given is the menu that Esau has said he will bring to him and yet suspect that the voice is that of Jacob the sense of touch will reaffirm that it is indeed Esau although you know and I know it's Jacob masquerading. It's interesting, isn't it, that all the senses here come into play, the sense of sight, the sense of hearing the sense of touch, the sense of smell and strangely enough it's Isaac's nose that he actually relies on for the final assurance. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes he blessed him and said even though there was evidence that didn't seem to quite fit in with what he believed was happening even though the intonation was the voice of Jacob the sense of touch and the sense of smell eventually causes Isaac to pass the blessing of the firstborn toward Jacob Ah, the smell of my son, verse 27 is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed May God give you of heavens due and of earth riches an abundance of grain and new wine May you be great in the realm of agriculture May you be great in the realm of politics May you lord over your brothers and may the sons of your mother bow down to you a curse be upon all those who are your enemies and those who bless you may they be eternally blessed There is hardly anything else that this man could say as what he felt was his dying wish to honor the one who shall be his successor You know Jacob had some nerve, didn't he? I mean he was able to play the part all the way through Martin Luther said that on the first suggestion from Isaac that he was twigging the thought that this was indeed Jacob dressed up as Esau he would have been out of the room and showed a clean pair of heels but Jacob's web of deceit has now been knitted so thoroughly he cannot leave until the blessing has been received and almost as his shadow flits away from the tent in comes Esau and then of course the cat is amongst the pigeons as Esau offers to his father what he has prepared and the old man realizes that he has been duped Do you feel sorry for him? Well you might be sorry for any elderly person who has been deceived but remember as I took time to tell you right at the beginning this deception was pervasive throughout the whole of the family Isaac had no rights at all to be doing what he was doing that is the reason why you can now understand verse 33 the reason why I have taken so much time sketching in the context or else you would have missed the significance Isaac trembled 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 what has happened? you see the old man knows that however lamentable the circumstances may be and however awful therefore the deception he is the one that is basically to blame Isaac trembles not just a gentle shudder the whole of his frame is trembling violently as he realizes that decades ago the God who spoke to Abraham and the God who spoke to Isaac also spoke at the birth of his two boys and God said the younger shall serve the older or rather the older shall serve the younger and Jacob shall be the premier man in the household when Isaac has gone you see God has a way of working out his purposes Isaac trembles because he knows that what has been done however awful the circumstances may have been nonetheless is the implementation of the will of God I blessed him and indeed he will be blessed for God shall always work out his purposes as year succeeds to year whatever the connivings of many history may be whether it's Esau or Rebekah or Caiaphas or Herod God supremely shall prevail his will shall be done so at the end of this chapter you are left with the four characters in one sense in a state of disarray though their natures were contradictory and what they did was culpable through their conniving God's will has been done Isaac you see him left still an old man but maybe a wiser man Rebekah well she has said to Jacob when initially he reacted against the scheme if you be cursed let the curse come on me and you never make that sort of comment without leaving yourself open to being picked up on it as a result of what happens Jacob has to leave home and Rebekah never sees her son again this side of eternity God is not mocked what you say he records and the only thing that will affect what you have said is should you come back to this God and apologize for your brash remarks and ask that they be expunged from his memory as for the lads Esau and Jacob do you know how I see them I see them as the Old Testament counterpart to the lost sons in the story that our Lord told more commonly known though inaccurately so as the parable of the prodigal son for here too are sons the sons of Isaac there were sons in the story and the one son the younger son ultimately he comes to his senses and there is a way in which you can interpret the story which is that ultimately he did inherit what father alone could give having squandered some of what father gave him in the beginning he then returns into father's house and he repents and he is received back you remember not as a slave not as a servant he is received back as a son because he sought the forgiveness of his father and father will always grant forgiveness to those who are repentant but the older boy he remained obdurate he would not come in even though father went out you remember and invited him into the house where there was music and dancing and merrymaking because his brother had returned and in the very disposition of Esau don't you see exactly the same thing that obduracy oh yes you can take me to the new testament where it talks about Esau with tears wanting his birthright back but what he wants is his birthright back not on the basis of repentance not on the basis of understanding what the birthright indicates he is still cavalier in this whole business of spirituality don't you see that this is the reason why you have these two sons in the old testament and sometimes they are historically portrayed in terms of the nations that they birth the one always against the purposes of God the other disobedient but coming back don't you see it in the gospel story here is Herod when Jesus is confronted by Herod he has nothing to say to Herod why not because Herod is so hard Herod is like Esau Esau birthed the Edomite nation and Herod is an Edomite history teaches us very often that history teaches us nothing in other words we recapitulate the same problems and the same mistakes in the old testament times you find them in the new testament you find them in church history you find them in the 20th century so I conclude by asking you about deception in your life of the beloved Lord it is said there was no deceit in him he was a transparent character and he alone can deal with those who subtly and in a conniving fashion have too disobeyed God and endeavored to serve their own ends and at times have almost but not quite gone as far as Esau and said in effect your birthright perish with you I will have nothing to do with you God if there is within your heart at this very moment a desire to come to grips with the deceits that sometimes you have been guilty of and to have your sins dealt with then I tell you that this old testament story is your encouragement eventually Jacob is straightened out and if God can make a prince out of a man like Jacob if he can put him back on the potter's wheel and remould him on confession of his unworthiness and of his need God can do exactly the same for you if God, I speak thoughtfully is so bold as to say I am the God of Abraham and the God of Jacob so there is a possibility that he could run on with the ofs and you can put your name alongside these of fallen men of yesteryear who were taken by God and stood up once more having had their heart problem dealt with it is the gospel of the gracious God directed towards Jacob which I ask you to submit to this evening let us pray Father we know there is only one blessing that you have all that Isaac could do for Esau was to firm him up in the decisions that he'd already made to give him the blessings or perhaps more accurately describe the curse of the banal man the profane man who wanted an unlicensed freedom and so found his life as a terrorist in the unfertile hills beyond Palestine and no man in no man's land God we pray deliver us from such an inheritance and allow us to have the blessings that you can give to the Jacobs who come to you in repentance and ask as ultimately he did for your help for we have no strength but your strength no dignity but your dignity no consistency but yours take our wretchedness and all our deception and all our sin absolve it we pray as we confess the blood of Jesus Christ and credit his righteousness to our account and enable us to live for your honor and for your glory and the people of God said Amen Good night, God bless you, thank you for coming