Last week’s text ends with this description: “When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.” Genesis 26:34–35 (ESV)
Isn’t that the goal of every good son, to make his parents’ lives miserable? We know from Genesis 25 that Isaac is 60 when the twins were born, so he is now 100 years old, setting the scene for v. 1, “When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see…” (27:1). What a legacy, a son’s wives causing bitterness, and blindness. We aren’t told of the specific timing of these events, but if Jacob spends 20 years Canaan securing his wives Racheal and Leah, and we know that Isaac dies at 180 in Gen. 35, Isaac might be 120-130 now, which would mean he lived with blindness for the last 50 or so years of his life. Age might be just a number, but Isaac has a big number, and friction with his son’s family.
Our text today tells the fateful tale of how Isaac and Rebekah deceive blind Jacob and steal the blessing intended for Esau. This is a familiar story, and sometimes the value of such familiar stories is in their telling the tale more than in examining the details. So much like I did a few years ago with David and Goliath, I want to tell the story from Isaac’s point of view, but in a modern-day perspective, based on a script by my seminary professor, Dr. Don Sunukjian. So sit back and listen to "The Tale of a Stolen Blessing."
“The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.” Lamentations 3:25–26 (NLT)
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/live/x0KojABkyFo?si=ibusrpnmM2_PBZ8j
Website https://www.bethanybaptistchurch.com/sermons
