The Book of
Genesis 27
46 verses≈ 9 min4 peopleBSB
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In this chapter
Where we are
- 1–11BeginningsCreation, fall, flood, Babel
- 12–24AbrahamThe call and the promise
- 25–36Isaac and JacobThe promise passed onChapter 27
- 37–50JosephGod meant it for good
Isaac Blesses Jacob
Isaac
When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”
Esau
“Here I am,” Esau replied.
Isaac
“Look,” said Isaac, “I am now old, and I do not know the day of my death. Take your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out into the field to hunt some game for me. Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”
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Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back,
Rebekah
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me a tasty dish to eat, so that I may bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.’
Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you. Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”
Jacob
Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned. What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.”
Rebekah
His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.”
Jacob
So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.”
Isaac
“Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?”
Jacob
Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.”
Isaac
But Isaac asked his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?”
Jacob
“Because the LORD your God brought it to me,” he replied.
Isaac
Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?”
So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.
Isaac
Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
Jacob
And he replied, “I am.”
Isaac
“Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.”
Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank.
Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.”
So he came near and kissed him.
When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
May God give to you the dew of heaven
and the richness of the earth—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
0:17
Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain
May peoples serve you
and nations bow down to you.
May you be the master of your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed,
and those who bless you be blessed.”
May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.
Genesis 27:29
Reflect
Grabbing for a blessing
Everyone in this tent is reaching for something. Isaac reaches for the son he favors. Rebekah and Jacob reach, by a lie, for a blessing God had already promised. Jacob even says, “Because the LORD your God brought it to me.” Where are you tempted to grab by your own schemes what you could trust God to give? Write it down honestly.
Esau’s Lost Hope
As soon as Isaac had finished blessing him and Jacob had left his father’s presence, his brother Esau returned from the hunt. He too made some tasty food, brought it to his father, and said to him, “My father, sit up and eat of your son’s game, so that you may bless me.”
Isaac
But his father Isaac replied, “Who are you?”
Esau
“I am Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered.
Isaac
Isaac began to tremble violently and said, “Who was it, then, who hunted the game and brought it to me? Before you came in, I ate it all and blessed him—and indeed, he will be blessed!”
When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!”
Isaac
But Isaac replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
Esau
So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
Isaac
But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him your master and given him all his relatives as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”
Esau
Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!”
Then Esau wept aloud.
His father Isaac answered him:
“Behold, your dwelling place shall be
away from the richness of the land,
away from the dew of heaven above.
You shall live by the sword
and serve your brother.
But when you rebel,
you will tear his yoke from your neck.”
Two blessings
Whiteboard
Jacob’s blessing gives him the dew of heaven, the richness of the earth and rule over his brothers. Esau’s sends him “away from the richness of the land” to live by the sword, yet promises that one day he will throw off the yoke. Two brothers and two nations, just as God had told Rebekah before they were born.
Pray
Bless me too
Esau’s cry, “Bless me too, O my father!” is one of the saddest lines in Genesis. Some losses can’t be undone, and Genesis doesn’t pretend they can. Bring God your own regrets and the things you can’t take back. Ask Him for honest sorrow, for His mercy, and for a heart that prizes His blessing above whatever is in front of you today.
Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you. So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. Stay with him for a while, until your brother’s fury subsides— until your brother’s rage against you wanes and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”
Question
Quick question
Esau is waiting for his father to die so he can kill his brother. Rebekah has to get Jacob away.
Where does Rebekah tell Jacob to go?
You’ve experienced
Genesis 27
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A verse to carry with you
May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.
Genesis 27:29
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