Isaac's Blessing obtained by Jacob deceitfully - Esau's Sorrow - Evil Consequences of their error to all the

members of their family - Jacob is sent to Laban - Isaac renews and fully gives him the Blessing of Abraham

(GENESIS 27-28:9)

IF there is any point on which we should anxiously be on our guard, it is that of "tempting God." We do so

tempt the Lord when, listening to our own inclinations, we put once more to the question that which He has

already clearly settled. Where God has decided, never let us doubt, nor lag behind. But if anything might be

described as clearly settled by God, it was, surely, the calling of Jacob and the rejection of Esau. It had been

expressly foretold in prophecy even before the children were born; and Esau had also afterwards proved

himself wholly unfit to be the heir of the promise, first by his light-minded profanity, and next by his alliance

with the Canaanites, than which nothing could have more directly run counter to the will of God, and to the

purposes of the covenant. Despite these clear indications, Isaac did lag behind, reluctant to follow the

direction of God. In truth, he had thrown his natural affections as a makeweight into the scale. As we shall

presently show, Isaac hesitated, indeed, to allot unto Esau the spiritual part of the blessing; but what he

regarded as the natural rights of the first-born appeared to him inalienable, and these he meant now formally

to recognize by bestowing upon him the blessing.

A German writer aptly observes: "This is one of the most remarkable complications of life, showing in the

clearest manner that a higher h and guides the threads of history, so that neither sin nor error can ultimately

entangle them. Each one weaves the threads which are committed to him according to his own views and

desires; but at last, when the texture is complete, we behold in it the pattern which the Master had long

devised, and towards which each laborer had only contributed one or another feature." At the time of which

we write Isaac was one hundred and thirty-seven years old 39 - an age at which his half-brother Ishmael had

died, fourt een years before; and though Isaac was destined to live yet forty- three years longer (Genesis

35:28), the decay of his sight, and other infirmities, brought the thought of death very near to him.

Under these circumstances he resolved formally to bestow the privileges naturally belonging to the first-

born upon Esau. With this, however, he coupled, as a sort of preliminary condition, that Esau should bring

and prepare for him some venison. Possibly he regarded the finding of the game as a sort of providential

sign, and the preparation of it as a token of affection. There would be nothing strange in this, for those who

believe in God, and yet for some reason refuse implicitly to follow His directions, are always on the outlook

for some "sign" to justify them in setting aside the clear intimations of His will. But Rebekah had overheard

the conversation between her husband and her son. Probably she had long been apprehensive of some

such event, and on the outlook for it. And now the danger seemed most pressing. Another hour, and the

blessing might for ever be lost to Jacob. Humanly speaking, safety lay in quick resolution and decided

action. It mattered not what were the means employed, if only the end were attained. Had not God distinctly

pointed out Jacob as heir to the promises? Had not Esau proved himself utterly unfit for it, and that even

before he married those Canaanitish women? She could only be fulfilling the will of God when she kept her

husband from so great a wrong, and secured to her son what God had intended him to possess. Thus

Rebekah probably argued in her own mind. To be sure, if she had had the faith of Abraham, who was ready

on Mount Moriah to offer up his own son, believing that, if it were to be so, God was able to raise him from

the dead, she would not have acted, not even felt, nor feared, as she did. But then her motives were very

mixed, even though she kept the promise steadily in view, and her faith was weak and imperfect, even

though she imagined herself to be carrying out the will of God. Such hours come to most of us, when it

almost seems as if necessity obliged and holy wisdom prompted us to accomplish, in our own strength, that

which, nevertheless, we should leave in God's hand. If once we enter on such a course, it will probably not

be long before we cast to the winds any scruples about the means to be employed, so that we secure the

object desired, and which possibly may seem to us in accordance with the will of God. Here also faith is the

only true remedy: faith, which leaves God t o carry out His own purposes, content to trust Him absolutely,