Genesis 27 When Isaac had become an old man and was nearly blind, he called his eldest son, Esau, and said, “My son.”
“Yes, Father?”
2-4 “I’m an old man,” he said; “I might die any day now. Do me a favor: Get your quiver of arrows and your bow and go out in the country and hunt me some game. Then fix me a hearty meal, the kind that you know I like, and bring it to me to eat so that I can give you my personal blessing before I die.”
5-7 Rebekah was eavesdropping as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. As soon as Esau had gone off to the country to hunt game for his father, Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob. “I just overheard your father talking with your brother, Esau. He said, ‘Bring me some game and fix me a hearty meal so that I can eat and bless you with God’s blessing before I die.’
8-10 “Now, my son, listen to me. Do what I tell you. Go to the flock and get me two young goats. Pick the best; I’ll prepare them into a hearty meal, the kind that your father loves. Then you’ll take it to your father, he’ll eat and bless you before he dies.”
11-12 “But Mother,” Jacob said, “my brother Esau is a hairy man and I have smooth skin. What happens if my father touches me? He’ll think I’m playing games with him. I’ll bring down a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”
13 “If it comes to that,” said his mother, “I’ll take the curse on myself. Now, just do what I say. Go and get the goats.”
14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother and she cooked a hearty meal, the kind his father loved so much.
15-17 Rebekah took the dress-up clothes of her older son Esau and put them on her younger son Jacob. She took the goatskins and covered his hands and the smooth nape of his neck. Then she placed the hearty meal she had fixed and fresh bread she’d baked into the hands of her son Jacob.
Jacob and Esau are twins. Before they were born, the twins were kicking up such a fuss inside the womb that Rebekah prayed and God told her, “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples butting heads while still in your body. One people will overpower the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
When her time to give birth came, sure enough, there were twins in her womb. The first came out reddish, as if snugly wrapped in a hairy blanket; they named him Esau (Hairy). His brother followed, his fist clutched tight to Esau’s heel; they named him Jacob (Heel). Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.
The boys grew up. Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob was a quiet man preferring life indoors among the tents. Isaac loved Esau because he loved his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. (Genesis 25:22-28)
Esau is a hunter, an outdoorsman, and impulsive and impatient. When Esau returns from hunting one day, he is so hungry that he willingly gives up his birthright as the first-born twin to Jacob in return for the stew Jacob is cooking. “Pottage” is an old term for soup or stew, so this is the origin of the saying “to sell your birthright for a mess of pottage.” Esau isn’t worried-after all, what can that wimp Jacob do to him?
Now Isaac is elderly and blind and wants to give Esau a final blessing before he dies. This matter of the blessing is serious stuff, the equivalent of a will. Realizing what’s about to happen, Rebekah hatches a plan for Jacob, her favorite, to gain this blessing.
There are two blood sacrifices mentioned in this story: the animals Esau kills during his hunt and the two young goats Jacob slaughters for Rebekah to cook for Isaac. Esau is thick-headed but honest; however, Rebekah and Jacob are crafty. So two young goats are slaughtered to complete the charade.
Dressed in Esau’s clothes and with hairy goat skin on his neck, Jacob goes to blind Isaac and secures a magnificent blessing. Arriving late, Esau must content himself with a blessing that is almost nearly a curse. Fearing Esau’s wrath, Rebekah urges Jacob to flee to her family in Padan-Aram, several days’ journey to the East.
Why mention this story in conjunction with discussions on blood sacrifice? There are two sacrifices here: the animals Esau kills and the two goats Jacob slaughters for Rebekah to prepare food for Isaac. Esau obediently carries out his father’s request; unfortunately, he arrives too late. But what good are the goats that Jacob slaughters? These poor animals have died because Rebekah wants to cheat her unfavorite son out of his blessing so that her favorite can enjoy it.
Sacrifices that are attempts to manipulate God or people bring curses and not blessings. As a result of his deception, Jacob must flee hundreds of miles away, where he will wind up suffering while working twenty years for his Uncle Laban, who is even craftier than Jacob. Ultimately, God will bless Jacob; however, what if Rebekah had not interfered and had allowed events to take their normal course? Jacob might still have gone to Laban anyway, but he would not have been forced to cut ties with his family as he did. Rather than trust God to care for Jacob, Rebekah insists on acting as her own amateur Providence-something that never works.
Throughout the world, people offer sacrifices of all kinds in attempts to manipulate God or spirits. But ever since the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there has only been one effective blood sacrifice, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary for the sins of the world. There’s an old hymn that tells us:
1 What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain:
O precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow;
no other fount I know;
nothing but the blood of Jesus.
2 For my pardon this I see:
nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my cleansing this my plea:
nothing but the blood of Jesus. [Refrain]
3 Nothing can for sin atone:
nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Naught of good that I have done:
nothing but the blood of Jesus. [Refrain]
4 This is all my hope and peace:
nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness:
nothing but the blood of Jesus. [Refrain]
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to remember that the only sacrifice You desire is for us to turn our hearts over to You and to follow You all the days of our lives. We ask this in the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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