Passage: Genesis 27
The Big Idea
“Trust yourself. Depend on yourself. Look inside and you’ll find good.” That’s the message of our age. Genesis 27 shows what happens when a whole family lives that way. God had already said Jacob would be blessed, but Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob each trusted their own plans instead of His Word. The result was deception, bitterness and a broken family. If any one of them had simply said, “I’m going to trust God’s promise,” the whole disaster could have been avoided.
The Gospel of Self
Self-dependence. Self-reliance. “You can do it.” “Never depend on anyone else.” “Trust yourself. Trust your instincts. Trust your intuition.”
These are catchphrases of a wildly popular philosophy: humanistic psychology, a self-centered worldview.
Leading humanistic thinkers taught that the healthy life comes from looking inward to an unspoiled, essentially good inner self. Strip away the corruption of society, they said, and you’ll find goodness and unlimited potential. Abraham Maslow argued that our inner nature is good, or at least neutral, so we should bring it out and let it guide us rather than suppress it. Carl Rogers predicted that the philosophy of the future would center on the individual as the one who decides what is valuable. One of Erich Fromm’s books was even titled You Shall Be as Gods. One humanist writer put it plainly: trust yourself to stand alone, and lean not on a single savior.
Christian worldview writers such as David Noebel have pointed out how thoroughly self-centered this is. In this view, the way to become good is to focus on yourself and what you want.
That’s the opposite of the gospel. (To be clear, I’m talking about a philosophy of life, not about getting good counsel or medical help when you need it. Wise help is a gift. The problem is the belief that the answer is found in me.)
“But isn’t it just being all God made you to be?”
No. God made us to be dependent on Him, reliant on Him, connected with Him. Every one of these attitudes of self-sufficiency runs against God’s very nature, which is to provide all we need through a humble, dependent relationship with Jesus Christ, His Son.
God didn’t create us to be alone. It’s never been good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). He made us for relationship. He created us incomplete. And apart from relationship with God, we’re incomplete and insufficient in our inner being. There’s nothing good in the flesh to draw on.
Paul confessed that nothing good lives in him, that is, in his flesh. He had the desire to do good, but not the ability to carry it out (Romans 7:18).
- Our thoughts aren’t good enough.
- Our hearts aren’t pure enough.
- Our intentions aren’t great enough.
- Our abilities and efforts aren’t enough.
- If it comes from us, it isn’t enough.
- That’s what the world finds unacceptable about the Bible. You might too.
- The Bible declares we’re spiritually bankrupt.
Yet God loves us, and He’ll help us, if we’ll trust His promises.
Isaac Trusts His Flesh (Genesis 27:1-4)
When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son Esau. “Here I am,” Esau answered. Isaac said, “I’m old and don’t know the day of my death. Take your weapons, your quiver and bow, go out to the field and hunt game for me. Make me the tasty food I love, and bring it so I can eat and bless you before I die.”
We’ve studied Jacob and Esau before. Both were sinners. But God chose Jacob and rejected Esau. Why? Esau carried an inner pride and self-sufficiency; Jacob would come to brokenness and humility.
God had already told everyone that Jacob was the one who would be blessed (Genesis 25:23). But that was hard to believe if you looked at Jacob. His family had given up on the promise. Esau had the muscles, the skills, the know-how. He had “it.”
Watch how each person in this story trusts their flesh, their own plans and ideas.
Isaac thought he was about to die.
- He wasn’t. By common reckoning, he lived about another forty years. Shows how much he knew!
- He wanted to pass on the family inheritance and leadership.
- He chose Esau, because he liked the kind of man Esau was: a hunter, a provider, a go-getter, a man’s man.
- He thought Esau would do a better job.
- “God must have made a mistake. That was so long ago. Maybe He forgot.”
Isaac was trusting his own opinion more than the Word of God.
Rebekah Trusts Her Flesh (Genesis 27:5-10)
Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau. When Esau went off to hunt, she told Jacob what she’d heard and said, “Now, my son, obey my voice. Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats. I’ll make the tasty food your father loves, and you’ll take it to him so he’ll bless you before he dies.”
- Each parent had a favorite. Rebekah favored Jacob.
- But she didn’t trust the promise. If she had, she would have let God take care of it, even if it looked impossible.
- Instead, she came up with a plan to deceive Isaac.
Isaac and Rebekah both knew what they were doing was wrong. That’s why they had to hide it. No one in this family trusted anyone else, because they weren’t trusting the Lord.
Jacob Goes Along (Genesis 27:11-17)
Jacob said, “But Esau is a hairy man and I’m smooth-skinned. What if my father touches me? I’ll look like a deceiver and bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.” His mother said, “Let the curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them.” So he did. Rebekah cooked the food, dressed Jacob in Esau’s best clothes, and covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with goatskins.
- Remember, Jacob’s name means “heel-catcher,” a supplanter or deceiver.
- He had no problem with lying. His only concern was whether it would work.
- Bible teacher David Guzik makes the point that when we stop asking what’s right and only ask what works, we’ve adopted the modern philosophy of pragmatism, as much of the church has.
- “I’ll bring a curse on myself.” Why worry about bringing anything on yourself? Trust the Lord to give it! That’s how grace works: giving and trusting.
- Jacob was living a life of works. Oh, but he would learn. Just wait.
Now all four were walking in the flesh, trusting their own plans. Esau was going along with Isaac’s plan to give him the blessing, and Jacob was going along with his mother’s plan to steal it.
Did they really think they could pull this off against God? Yes. They didn’t believe His Word. It was two chapters ago for us, but decades ago for them.
Tricked by the Senses (Genesis 27:18-29)
Jacob went in: “I’m Esau, your firstborn. I’ve done what you asked. Sit up and eat, so you can bless me.” Isaac asked, “How did you find it so quickly?” Jacob answered, “Because the LORD your God brought it to me.” Isaac said, “Come close so I can feel you.” He felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He didn’t recognize him, because his hands were hairy. “Are you really my son Esau?” “I am.” So Isaac ate and drank, then said, “Come kiss me, my son.” When he smelled his clothes, he blessed him: “The smell of my son is like a field the LORD has blessed. May God give you the dew of heaven, the richness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”
There’s a neat lesson here. How was Isaac tricked?
- He trusted what he felt.
- He trusted what he smelled.
- He trusted what he tasted.
- But he didn’t trust what he heard.
Just like his relationship with God.
We get tricked when we trust our senses, thoughts and ideas, and not the Word of God. It may not make sense to you. Trust God’s Word anyway. Anything else will trick you.
Isaac was being tricked by his own flesh. His flesh wanted Esau blessed. But God opposes Esau’s self-sufficient heart, and Isaac didn’t trust what he’d heard.
How can we make decisions without going to the Word first?
- It looked like their trick worked.
- But it would tear the family apart, because they didn’t wait for God to do it.
- God had already chosen Jacob. They didn’t need any of this. Just wait.
- Peter reminds us that the Lord isn’t slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient (2 Peter 3:9).
- God wanted to bless this family, but they damaged it through impatience.
- Yet God sovereignly worked it all out according to His will. He’s pretty good at that.
Isaac Trembles (Genesis 27:30-38)
As soon as Jacob left, Esau came in from hunting with his own tasty food: “Let my father sit up and eat, so you can bless me.” Isaac said, “Who are you?” “I’m your son, your firstborn, Esau.” Then Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came, and I blessed him, and indeed he shall be blessed.” When Esau heard this, he cried out with a loud and bitter cry: “Bless me, me too, my father!” Isaac said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? He’s supplanted me twice: he took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Isaac said, “I’ve made him your lord. What can I do for you, my son?” And Esau wept aloud.
- Isaac trembled because he realized he’d tried to go against God, to control God, trusting his own ideas instead of God’s Word.
- God’s will is better.
- We know Jacob will become a man of God, even though he’s a mess right now. Isaac just couldn’t see it.
- God caught him in his own trick.
Hebrews 11:20 says that by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. Where was the faith? Right here, after his attempt to thwart God’s will had collapsed, when he said of Jacob, “And indeed he shall be blessed.”
“I’m not going to fight God anymore. I surrender to His will, His plan, His Word!”
Esau’s Tears (Hebrews 12:15-17)
Esau was devastated. He wept. He blamed Jacob. He blamed his father. But he was only concerned with himself.
These were tears of selfish frustration, the same tears many people cry when they set their self-sufficiency against God’s grace: “I don’t need You, God. I don’t need Your promises. I have my own plans, my own ideas, my own philosophy, my own opinions.”
(It’s amazing how the world thinks saying “That’s just my opinion” makes you immune from being wrong!)
Hebrews tells us to see to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many, and that no one is sexually immoral or godless like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. Afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; he found no place for repentance, though he sought it with tears (Hebrews 12:15-17).
- Esau’s tears weren’t repentance toward God. He wanted the blessing, not the God who gives it.
- Falling short of grace is the real danger. Pride, self-sufficiency, is what keeps us from grace.
- How do we watch out for one another? By helping each other live in humility.
- That’s why I’m so opposed to the gospel of self.
- “No root of bitterness.” We can become bitter that God says we can’t do it alone. But that bitterness causes trouble, major trouble!
- We need to stay in a place of humbly trusting the Lord for everything, and help each other remember not to trust ourselves, our flesh.
Then Isaac prophesied over Esau: his dwelling would be away from the richness of the earth; he would live by the sword and serve his brother, but when he grew restless, he would break his brother’s yoke from his neck (Genesis 27:39-40).
The Consequences (Genesis 27:41-46)
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing, and said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I’ll kill my brother Jacob.”
(The flesh hates it when God gives grace to the humble.)
When Rebekah heard, she called Jacob: “Your brother is comforting himself by planning to kill you. Obey me: flee to my brother Laban in Haran and stay a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away and he forgets what you did. Then I’ll send for you. Why should I lose you both in one day?” And she told Isaac she was weary of life because of the Hittite women, and couldn’t bear it if Jacob married one of them.
- Rebekah was now living with the consequences of her sin.
- Her scheme had torn her family apart.
- She thought it would be “a few days.” It turned out to be twenty years. As far as Scripture records, she never saw her son again.
- We don’t know the full consequences of our sin.
Rise Up and Trust
In all of this, if any one of these people had stood up and said, “I’m going to trust God’s promise,” the whole disaster could have been avoided.
There are plenty of disasters in our own lives, too. Will you rise up and say, “I’m going to trust God’s promises today”? I’m not going to fall short of grace; I’m going to rise up and trust His grace.
Grace Takeaway
The world says, “Trust yourself.” Genesis 27 shows where that road leads: a family where everyone schemes, no one trusts, and everyone gets hurt. God had already promised the blessing; they only needed to believe Him and wait. Don’t trust your senses or your schemes over God’s Word. Stop leaning on yourself, lean on the one Savior, and let God give what He has promised.