I have long suspected that most Bible scholars, commentators … and Sunday School teachers … tend to be a bit TOO hard on Jacob.
It’s about what happened in Genesis 27. Here’s the story according to me:
Isaac, when he was old, pulled his son, Esau, aside. He told him secretly that, in exchange for a venison steak dinner cooked to perfection, he’d give to him—Esau, not Jacob—his blessing. Now, this wasn’t just any “blessing.” This was the covenant blessing that had been passed down from the ONE True GOD to his father, Abraham, then to him, and which he was to bestow on HIS son, and his son’s descendants—as numerous as the stars in the heavens.
When Rebekah overheard what Isaac intended to do, she knew she had to do something—and quick. She talked Jacob into helping her commit an act of outright deception. This was HER idea—not Jacob’s. And it worked. Convincing old Isaac that HE was Esau, Jacob literally sabotaged the sabotage and procured the family blessing that Isaac had intended to give to Esau.
This is where most folks that read that story jump to the same conclusion. “See?! What a CONNIVER! He lived up to his name—Supplanter! Heel-grabber! Trickster! He fooled his father and literally stole what was NOT rightfully his! What chutzpah!!”
REALLY? Let’s drop the rotten tomatoes and step back a bit. There is a broader view of this story that we must consider. And while we’re at it, I think it’s time we cut Jacob some slack.
First Fact: God promised that Jacob, the younger, would be blessed and would rule over Esau, the elder, long BEFORE this incident.1 Before the boys were even born. Period. That is key. Rebekah knew this. No doubt, Isaac also knew it. But, for some unknown reason, Isaac apparently thought that he could overrule God’s express will. That seems very odd. Was it dementia? Selective amnesia? Cloudy thinking brought on by hunger? IF Isaac DID know what God had said, perhaps we should be a tad bit harder on Isaac for being the underhanded one here.
Second Fact: There’s two parts to the inheritance: the birthright and the blessing. Esau (the elder) clearly despised the birthright and had willingly given it up for a bowl of soup.2 (Again, cloudy thinking due to hunger?) Perhaps it was because he knew that Jacob was ALREADY given the blessing by God—preordained before birth to be the head of the house. So, what good would the birthright be to him while the blessing rightly belonged to Jacob all along? Still, Isaac was determined to stymie the Plan of God by giving his blessing to Esau, in spite of what God had said. By his own words, he intended to counter the express Word of God … evidence that WORDS mean things.3 They indeed MATTER. So, Rebekah stepped in to keep Isaac from doing something he’d surely regret.
Third Fact: Jacob clearly didn’t want to deceive his father. Why would he? He had lived his entire life in faith and obedience to his parents’ God and his parents’ instructions (unlike Esau—who was a “profane man”).4 He was simply obeying his mother, whom he loved. But when Esau threatened murder, Jacob was forced to flee for his life, never seeing the face of his mother again.
Fourth Fact: The seal on this whole drama, after all is said and done, is the unequivocal Abrahamic BLESSING bestowed by God on Jacob at Bethel—to give him the land, to bless him with children too numerous to count, and to make Jacob’s family a blessing to the entire earth. “Behold,” God said to Jacob, “I [am] with YOU and will keep YOU wherever YOU go, and will bring YOU back to this land; for I will not leave YOU until I have done what I have spoken to YOU.” (Genesis 28:15)
This take on the story became an established and well-known fact. The Apostle Paul reiterated, in writing to the Romans, what God had revealed to Rebekah: “It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” (Romans 9:13 NKJ) Why was Esau loved less? Because he chose to be a heathen in a God-fearing home.4
Still, after all that, some hold to the idea that Jacob was a conniving cheat. “Aha! See?! What goes around, comes around.” They say Jacob’s “deceit” came back to hurt him through Laban’s trickery—with Rachel and with his wages—and even later with his own sons. But, Laban’s being a swindler had nothing to do with Jacob. Jacob worked long and hard for Laban, always fulfilling his promises, while Laban proved again and again that he wasn’t true to his word.
Yet, even so, read what Jacob had to say to Leah and Rachel about that: “The God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me.” 5 If Jacob was truly a cheat, then God, the Righteous Judge, surely would not have blessed him time after time.
In fact, the eventual fulfillment of the blessing given to Abraham would not fall on Abraham, or Isaac … but on JACOB, when the Angel of the LORD said to him, “What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but ISRAEL: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” (Genesis 32:27-28)
This ultimate blessing was complete when God ordained that the PEOPLE that God loved, and the LAND that God loved, would forever be called by the covenant name given to none other than JACOB … the name ISRAEL.
“When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.” (Psalm 14:7 ESV)
ISRAEL—the NAME inscribed in stone for all eternity: “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven … and (it) had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of ISRAEL.” (Revelation 21:2-12)
God had the FIRST WORD about Jacob (and Esau), and—regardless of what others continue to say about Jacob or any one of us—HE alone will forever have the LAST WORD about those that love and honor HIM.
“Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” (Deuteronomy 7:9 NKJ)
1Genesis 25:23; 2Genesis 25:33-34; 3Matthew 12:37; 4Hebrews 12:16; 5Genesis 31:7
