The Twins (Part III)

 Part II recap. Jacob has deceived Isaac by disguising himself as Esau. This makes Isaac give Jacob his blessing.

Part III.

No sooner has Jacob received the Blessing from Isaac, Esau returns. Esau came in to his father Isaac and tried to feed his father venison. Isaac was now very puzzled. You are a bit late Esau, your brother Jacob has fooled me and I gave him everything. I don’t have anything left for you.

Esau is very upset about this. He told Isaac that Jacob had stolen his birthright and now his blessing. In fact, this is not totally true. Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentils. The birthright is connected to the blessing, the final word on who would be the sovereign over the other.

Needless to say, Esau was not happy about it. Esau, although Isaac gave him a secondary blessing, planned to kill Jacob. Rebekah told Jacob to flee at least long enough to let Esau calm down.

Isaac goes a step further with Jacob, “And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother.

And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;

And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.

And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.” (Genesis 28:1-5)

Esau was also told to not marry Canaanites. Esau was using the commands of his father to atone for any wrong he had done. God does not measure good works to atone for bad behavior. If you steal someone’s cow and after being caught you give them 12 sheep, the problem is not the value of the cow or the sheep. The value is the act of theft. Esau spent little time with God.

Jacob on the other hand not only feared God, but he trusted God to look over him. On the trip to Padanaram, Jacob found himself in the dark with no shelter. He arranged stones to be a pillow for him. Sleeping in the open was a dangerous thing. Any manner of animal could come by and eat him. Jacob didn’t have a physical person to look out for him. Jacob trusted that the LORD would protect him. (Genesis 28:10-15)

Jacob and Esau have gone in different directions, but they will meet again.