Our word for today is a word we have already looked it when we were back in Genesis chapter 12. So why are we looking at it again? Because as we move into chapter 27 of Genesis it is used a massive amount of times so we can’t ignore it.
Our word today is בָּרַךְ bless, praise, kneel, kneel down, filled with strength, adored. It is used 326 times in the Old Testament, 20 times in Genesis chapter 27 the most in the Bible. In our previous study we saw when God blesses someone he is setting up a plan for them to follow in which he will be actively working to accomplish through them and orchestrate circumstances around them for everyone’s benefit. God makes this contrast in a subtle way by contrasting Genesis chapter eleven with chapter twelve. We saw the transition from the tower of babel where people wanted to make a name for themselves and to God who tells Abraham that he will make his name great. In other words, when we try to do things that will make ourselves or others great it ends badly but when we trust God to make us or others great it goes very well. Today’s chapter is a great example of this very thing.
Genesis 27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him… Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death… prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may בָּרַךְ bless you before I die.” This seems strange until we remember what God said back in chapter 25. Genesis 25:21-23 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” Did you catch that? Isaac prays to God for a child and God answers his prayer by giving him two and God makes this declaration about what was going to happen. The older will serve the younger. In other words, God’s plan is to work through Jacob to bring Christ into the world which will be a blessing to everyone.
So even though Isaac trusted in God to give him sons he didn’t listen to God’s plan to bless the younger instead of the older. Why did Isaac try to go against God’s plan that God had clearly laid out? It could be that everyone in the past and present always gave their blessing to the oldest no one did it the other way around. So even though God wanted to do something different Isaac decided to do what was familiar and comfortable that didn’t go against his culture. We don’t know for sure why he went against God but what we do know is that it made everything worse. The rest of the chapter, which we will get more into in the days to come, there is a chaotic mess of deceit, anger, and plans of murder all in the same family. So just like we saw earlier in Genesis when we try to make ourselves or others great everyone suffers but when God makes someone great or blesses them everyone benefits. I’m so glad that God worked his plan out because it benefits me greatly. And by the way God always works his plan out. Galatians 3:14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
