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CHAPTER 16: Isaac's Blessing obtained by Jacob deceitfully - Esau's
Sorrow - Evil Consequences of their error to all the members of their
family - Jacob is sent to Laban - Isaac renews and fully gives him the
Blessing of Abraham (GENESIS 27-28:9)
IF there is any point on which we should anxiously be on our guard, it is that of
"tempting God." We do so tempt the Lord when, listening to our own inclinations, we
put once more to the question that which He has already clearly settled. Where God
has decided, never let us doubt, nor lag behind. But if anything might be described as
clearly settled by God, it was, surely, the calling of Jacob and the rejection of Esau. It
had been expressly foretold in prophecy even before the children were born; and
Esau had also afterwards proved himself wholly unfit to be the heir of the promise,
first by his light-minded profanity, and next by his alliance with the Canaanites, than
which nothing could have more directly run counter to the will of God, and to the
purposes of the covenant. Despite these clear indications, Isaac did lag behind,
reluctant to follow the direction of God. In truth, he had thrown his natural affections
as a makeweight into the scale. As we shall presently show, Isaac hesitated, indeed, to
allot unto Esau the spiritual part of the blessing; but what he regarded as the natural
rights of the first-born appeared to him inalienable, and these he meant now formally
to recognize by bestowing upon him the blessing.
A German writer aptly observes: "This is one of the most remarkable complications
of life, showing in the clearest manner that a higher hand guides the threads of
history, so that neither sin nor error can ultimately entangle them. Each one weaves
the threads which are committed to him according to his own views and desires; but
at last, when the texture is complete, we behold in it the pattern which the Master had
long devised, and towards which each laborer had only contributed one or another
feature." At the time of which we write Isaac was one hundred and thirty-seven years
old^39 - an age at which his half-brother Ishmael had died, fourteen years before; and
though Isaac was destined to live yet forty- three years longer (Genesis 35:28), the
decay of his sight, and other infirmities, brought the thought of death very near to
him.
Under these circumstances he resolved formally to bestow the privileges naturally
belonging to the first-born upon Esau. With this, however, he coupled, as a sort of
preliminary condition, that Esau should bring and prepare for him some venison.
Possibly he regarded the finding of the game as a sort of providential sign, and the
preparation of it as a token of affection. There would be nothing strange in this, for
those who believe in God, and yet for some reason refuse implicitly to follow His
directions, are always on the outlook for some "sign" to justify them in setting aside
the clear intimations of His will. But Rebekah had overheard the conversation
(^)