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14 And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. 18 So he went to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?" 19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me." 20 But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the Lord your God brought it to me." ~ Genesis 27:14-20
Today we continue our study of Genesis 27 where we see that the future of God’s promise for the Messiah seemed to hang in the balance of a family fraught with trouble. As we have seen, the wife of Isaac, Rebekah, was as cool as a cucumber because the Lord had told her in Genesis 25 that even though Esau was the born first, Jacob was chosen by the Lord to receive the birthright from his father.
The birthright was a tradition that guaranteed the firstborn son of each family would succeed his father as the priest of the family. In addition, the firstborn son would receive a double portion of his father’s possessions called the inheritance and also the authority of the father. For the patriarchs of Israel, the birthright included being in the line of the coming Messiah. However, there was a loophole that enabled the father to rescind the birthright and pass it on to a younger son.
In v.14-15 of today's passage we read, "14 And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son."
As indicated in our last study, two animals died in order to make the meal for Isaac. The blessing was to be applied only after the meal and the meal was proof of the death of the father. When we take the Lord’s Supper, the Apostle Paul notes, "we proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes." Only after we take the meal is the blessing bestowed. It is an implication that He died so that we could and would live the life that He died to give us. This is the reason why it makes absolutely no sense for a person to take the Lord’s Supper if they don’t believe in Christ. Rebekah knew that she was preparing a tasty meal for Isaac in hopes of the resurrection and his blessing upon Jacob that would lead to that day of the resurrection.
Rebekah put choice clothes belonging to Esau on Jacob. The word "choice" means "precious." Since Esau was the oldest son, he would perform the priestly functions in the house as Isaac was blind. The ancient Greek translation of this verse uses the word which is the same word they use to describe the garments of the high priest along with the word "holy" in Exodus 28. This explains why Rebekah had these clothes. The blessing of the Messiah would be appropriate for one wearing priestly garments, a picture of the coming High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. It would also explain the words of Isaac when he gave the blessing after his meal which we will see in our next study.
In v.16-17 of today's passage we read, "16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob."
Rebekah not only made the deceiving meal and put Esau's clothes on Jacob to deceive, she used the hair of the goats which was black, silk-like hair and was used as a substitute for human hair even by the Romans. In using these two goats on Jacob we see a picture of the Day of Atonement recorded in Leviticus 16. The high priest of Israel, wearing his priestly robes came before the Lord with two goats, one as a sacrifice of atonement and one as a scapegoat to carry the sins from among the people. Jacob went before his father wearing the priestly robes of Esau and the skins of two goats, picturing the Lord Jesus our Substitute and High Priest.
In v.18-19 of today's passage we read, "18 So he went to his father and said, 'My father.' And he said, 'Here I am. Who are you, my son?' 19 Jacob said to his father, 'I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.'"
Jacob explicitly lied to his dad by claiming to be Esau. He lied that he had done exactly as Esau was told him because he had goats belonging to Isaac and not a deer which came from the wild. Jacob's lies were mixed with false actions. He also deceived Jacob by wearing Esau’s clothing and by hiding his own hairlessness with goat’s skins. Although his behavior was wrong, the purposes of God came about exactly as God knew they would.
The beauty of all of this pictures for us the Lord Jesus Christ. This doesn’t mean that God caused it, but that He knew this is how it would come about. In Genesis 25, God told Rebekah that the older would serve the younger before they were ever born. Due to and because of this, she came up with the plan which is given in today's passage. And yet God isn’t to blame even though He is the One who led her to do these things by telling her the outcome before it came about.
Throughout the Scriptures we see the free-will of man and the sovereignty of God making out as if there were two tracks beneath our feet, yet as we look off into the distance, the tracks appears to be one. God has always guided human history and everything that comes about comes about as He has intended.
In v.20 of today's passage we read, "But Isaac said to his son, 'How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?' And he said, 'Because the Lord your God brought it to me.'"
This question from Isaac was expected by Jacob for he had previously brought it up to his mother. Enter God’s providence. Isaac's eyes were bad so he could not tell which son was there, but his taste buds and his hearing were fine. It was his taste that prompted him to send Isaac out for the venison in the first place. This narrative would not have happened if Isaac's taste buds were bad. Isaac's good hearing led him to feel Jacob to see if it was really Him. And this points us to the Lord Jesus who took on a human body. This was important for the Lord Jesus to become human because He otherwise would not have been able to go to the cross and bear our sin on that tree.
Despite her deceit, Rebekah was a woman of faith and she acted imperfectly in faith. Her deceit and Jacob’s deceit was wrong, but it was a wrong that the Lord worked out for their good. I am so glad that as a result of calling on the Lord Jesus as my Savior, I have been saved by His blood, even though I still blow it. The Lord has forgiven our sin and He has used it to bring us to where we are now in service to Him. We will all fall again and again, and when we do, we must remember that the Lord will even our failures to bring about good for us and glory for His name.
