For the Genesis 27:1-4 PODCAST, Click Here!
1 Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, "My son." And he answered him, "Here I am." 2 Then he said, "Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 4 And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die." ~ Genesis 27:1-4
Today, we transition into Genesis 27 which reveals the idea that deception, sin, pain, and evil will never nullify the purposes of God. In fact, deception, sin, pain, and evil actually succeed in making God’s gracious purposes come to pass. If our faith in the God of the Bible is shaken because we think God is wrong in allowing these unwanteds into our lives, then we will struggle trusting Him with every detail of our lives. What we think of God and His relationship with deception, sin, pain, and evil will shape the way we respond when these knock on our door.
Today's passage clearly shows us that God’s relationship with deception, sin, pain, and evil isn’t reactionary, but purposeful. God uses evil to push forward His purpose of blessing the world. The sinful scheming of man in some cases actually leads to the fulfillment of God’s promises because God is ultimately sovereign over everything. In Genesis 27 we will see that God's promises move forward through the sinful scheming of even godly people.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, 'My son.' And he answered him, 'Here I am.'"
Many ask why God allowed deception to come into existence. Deception, evil, pain and sin will never nullify the purposes of God. All of these were allowed by God because He gave man a free will and without it, there is no involvement of the heart. If there is no involvement of the heart then there is no love. In the case of Jacob and Esau, as at many other times in the Bible, Jacob's deception came about to meet God’s purposes, which He spoke of even before their birth in Genesis 25. This means that both the deceived and the deceiver are the Lord's and in the end His plans will come to pass exactly as they should. The only difference between the deceiver and the deceived is our ultimate reaction to God when He confronts us on our sin. Throughout the Scriptures we see that those who admit their sin find forgiveness from God.
Since Joseph was thirty when he stood before Pharoah, that means that he was about 39 when Jacob came to Egypt and Jacob was right around 130 years old at that time. When Joseph was born, Jacob was about 91, which was after he had spent 14 years in Padan-Aram. That means that Jacob and Esau were 77 at this time and it made Isaac 136 years old. Today's passage took place at about the year 2245 BC and it was 61 years after Abraham died.
In v.2 of today's passage we read, "Then he said, 'Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death.'"
Here is Isaac stuck in his tent with bad eyesight and he undoubtedly believed his days were coming to a close. This is the way life is when we encounter a change in our health. Since he was reminded that his time on this earth was limited, Isaac desired to put his house in order even though his death was more than 40 years away. When we do not live our lives in reference to eternity, we truly do not live at all.
In light of eternity, we do well to keep our focus on God’s kingdom for this is why we are on this earth at this moment. We must do all we can to spread the good news of the gospel with anyone willing to listen. We must be wise to make the most of every opportunity that we have because the days are truly evil. The older we all become and the more we see sin advance in this world, the more we should be convinced that our hope is only in the Lord Jesus. In John 16:33 we read, "In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
In v.3-4 of today's passage we read, "3 Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 4 And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die."
In light of the fact that Isaac was the patriarch of an entire camp with dozens of servants, many warriors and their families and that Isaac owned thousands of animals of every kind, he called for his 70 year old son and asked him to hunt game for him. There was more involved here than just a venison stew. Notice the phrase, "make me savory food, such as I love." There is inherent in a parent, especially as we approach the end of our lives, the desire that our children return to us the love and care that we have all their lives given to them. Such was Isaac’s desire. Isaac desired that Esau return the love that he had expressed to him through the years especially through hunting, killing and cooking game on his behalf.
Like father, like son. This is a case that the temporal was the enemy of the eternal. You will remember that the reason Esau lost his birthright in the first place was his great desire for the stew that Isaac had made earlier. Isaac seemed to have no idea of the shallowness in the soul of his son. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"
I close with a quotes from Jim Elliot, one of the missionary on January 8,1956 who gave his life for Christ in the jungles of Ecuador, who put it this way. He said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
