When I exegete a book, I tend to get very bogged down in the details and so, I decided to develop a series of a few short lessons on various chapters of the Bible, where I attempt to simply deal with the primary points of each verse without getting too detail-oriented. Each lesson is 4–5 pages long and designed to be read at one sitting. Although it is always nice to have a Bible open when studying this, I have, in almost all cases, included the actual Scripture within the text.

I began this study with a general introduction, followed by introductory lessons to studying the Bible, followed by some introductory lessons to the book of Genesis. These 21 lessons precede the lessons lined to below.

So far, this is what we have studied:

Genesis 26:12–16 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we."

So God blesses Isaac so markedly, that those around him are envious, and ask for him to leave their territory.

Genesis 26:17–22 So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."

Isaac moved a ways away, and dug a well, but herdsmen from Gerar would contend with him over the water rights; so he would move further away. He moved far enough away to where he could dig a well without having to defend it; and he moved far enough away so that the blessing by association no longer applied to the people of Gerar.

Genesis 26:23–25 From there he went up to Beersheba. And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake." So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.

God, from His grace, blesses Isaac; and this is one of the few times that Isaac interacts directly with God. Note that his blessing is based upon Abraham, his father.

Genesis 26:26–27 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?"

There are also some simple economics at work here. God blessed Isaac and those in his periphery. However, because God blessed Isaac, he would have a large contingent of peoples working for him, and he would need to purchase a great many supplies, as well as a lot of food for his people and livestock. This was great for the economy of the Philistines in Gerar. The more that God prospered Isaac, the more that these blessings spilled over into the lives of citizens of Gerar. However, when they drove Isaac away, he left with his possessions and his prosperity, and the Philistines lost the great economic boom that was Isaac.

Application: France recently increased taxes on their very rich to 75%, and these rich people began to leave France, thus reducing the money coming into the government. Taxing the rich excessively was a stupid idea, which they did eventually realize.

Do you see how up to date the Bible is? Things which are written 4000 years ago are pertinent to today’s world. The key is simply understanding what is written and interpreting it in that era, and then applying these lessons to today’s world.

Genesis 26:28–29 And they said, “We saw certainly that Jehovah was with you. And we said, Let there be now an oath between us, between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you; that you will do us no harm since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing but good to you, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of Jehovah.”

Abimelech isn’t quite sure how to present his case, so he tells Isaac that he treated Isaac fairly and did not harm him, and did not do anything but good to him, even though this is not exactly what occurred. It is true that, when Abimelech found out that Rebekah was Isaac’s wife, he did issue an edict for the men of that city to not violate her. There is every indication that Abimelech and Isaac had a cordial relationship.

On the negative side, the people of Gerar convinced Abimelech to drive Isaac away; and they continued to harass Isaac until he had moved 30 miles away (which was a great distance in those days).

Abimelech and those with him do recognize that Isaac is blessed by God, and this is key; they understand. That is a breakthrough. Look, you can live in the same house with a maturing believer and never recognize how much God has blessed that believer. However, these men could see that is what had happened, which suggests that they do believe in Y^ehowah Elohim; and recognize that, they need to make their peace with Isaac.

We studied this topic sometime ago, but if you have forgotten it, it is worth reviewing: Blessing by Association (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

Genesis 26:30 And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

This feast indicates that these men fellowshipped together. Isaac was willing to be gracious to them. He doesn’t send them off saying, “What about those wells? I think you need to compensate me for those wells that your men stole from me. Also the ones that they destroyed. When you are ready to do that, then we will talk.” But Isaac did not do that. Isaac treats them in grace. He is willing to accept things as they were; and he was willing to be at peace with all men.

Isaac is not a perfect man, and this will become clear in the next chapter. However, at this point, he is doing the right thing.

Genesis 26:31 And they rose up early in the morning, and swore to one another. And Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

The swearing is likely a non-aggression pact, and a pact of friendship. Departing in peace meant that everything between them was now fine. Was Isaac compensated for the wells? Probably not. However, we do know that God greatly blessed him; so, he was compensated in that way.

Application: In your life, you will be cheated. People will take advantage of you; and many times, you will not be reimbursed—not by them, anyway. As believers, it is not our responsibility to settle every score. It is not up to us to find the people who have wronged us, and try to harm them back. This does not mean that you should be dishonest. You don’t give a good review to a lousy employee or to a lousy tenant; but, at the same time, you do not chase after every person who has done you wrong and sue them. God has a lot more for us to do than to try to deal with all the injustices in our lives. There are many times when it is better to just let someone flow away from the periphery of your life, and to let God deal with them. God is very good at dealing with those who have wronged believers.

You may recall that, when Isaac came clean with Abimelech, God blessed him a hundredfold. Here, Isaac has come to a point of friendship and fellowship with Abimelech, and note what happens:

Genesis 26:32 And the same day it happened, Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug. And they said to him, “We have found water.”

This is important. Isaac showed some signs of spiritual maturity. He was able to resolve the difficulties with these men without being self-righteous about it. As a result, God blessed him greatly. Pursue peace with all men (Heb. 12:14a; NASB). If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men (Rom. 12:18; NASB).

Genesis 26:33 And he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is The Well of Sheba to this day.

The word for well is b^eʾêr (בְּאֵר) [pronounced b^e-AIR], which means well, pit; spring. Strong’s #875 BDB #91. That is transliterated beer. Sh^ebâʾ (שְבָא) [pronounced sh^eb-VAW], which means seven; an oath; transliterated Sheba, Sebean. Strong’s #7614 BDB #985. When we put these together, we have Beersheba, or Well of the Oath.

If you will recall, we have a very similar narrative back in the life of Abraham, at the end of Gen. 21. The common explanation given by those who do not believe in the Word of God, is that this is the same story, but it got passed along through two different sources, and a few names and details got changed. But that is not what happened. We have similar situations occur in the lives of Abraham and Isaac. When Abraham gave this area the name Beersheba, this is how his family knew the area; this is the name by which the camp of Abraham knew this particular area. However, Isaac, when this incident occurs again, will give this name to the area, and that name will stick—it will be more than just a family name for that area—and become its name even until today.

Now, what is the significance of this similar story, apart from the name Beersheba? This indicates that there is still some positive volition in Gerar. The royalty of that area still understands that Abraham was blessed by God and that his son Isaac is also blessed by God. Therefore, an alliance should be formed.

This is not a weird thing, by the way. If you are going to college, and you know of a good teacher, then you attempt to get into one of that teacher’s classes. When you become an adult and you start interacting with businesses (either as a consumer or as another business), then you choose businesses where the people are serious and have character. You do not necessarily choose the good-time, rock-and-roll businesses where, at 4:59 pm, they padlock their doors and head off to the nearest watering hole to imbibe. If you are able to find a person of character to associate with or to interact with, then you do it.

Similarly, Abimelech and Phicol—probably the sons of Abimelech and Phicol who knew Abraham (Abimelech is doubtless a title; Phicol may or may not be) recognize the importance of an association with Abraham. Abimelech I may have told Abimelech II, “You want to continue to have a good relationship with the people of Abraham, because he knows God.” So Abimelech II has the good sense to locate Isaac and form a bond with him. Remember, when Isaac was in Abimelech’s periphery and not only did Isaac enjoy great blessing, but so did Abimelech and his people. Blessing by association. Then Isaac was forced to leave. Guaranteed that the prosperity of Gerar began to decrease the moment Isaac left town. So Abimelech’s personal experience combined with what his father told him, causes him to realize that an association with Isaac is a good thing.

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At this point, we leave Isaac and go to Esau—Jacob’s twin—but only for a moment.

Genesis 26:34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

As has been the case throughout the Bible, certain men will be followed; certainly lines will be followed. However, for the lines that do not lead to the Messiah, they would no longer be listed after a generation or three. That line might continue to live on for many generations, but the Bible no longer records the people in that line. We know that there were detailed records of these lines in the first third of the book of 1Chronicles, which does follow many genealogies. However, in the rest of Scripture, there is no need to follow out any other line except for the line of promise. And the various authors of Scripture appear to know which line that is.

The important line is the line of the Messiah, so that is followed all the way from Adam to Noah to Abraham to David to Jesus. That is the only line followed out in the Bible. This, in itself, is quite remarkable. There are all kinds of detractors to Scripture, who disagree about when it was written and who wrote it. But, you know what no one disagrees with? There is about a 400 year gap between the Old and New Testaments. Furthermore, no one thinks that the Old Testament was written all at once, but over a period of several hundred years at least (I believe that, technically, the Old Testament was written over a period of about 2000 years). But somehow, whoever wrote it and at whatever time it was written, they knew enough to follow only one genealogical line from beginning to the end. There is a line going from Adam to Abraham. There is no other line followed during that time period. Then the line from Abraham to David is followed—and no other line. And then, two lines are followed from David, and one leads to Joseph and the other leads to Mary. How did someone know which line to follow? How did they know to make mention of this line of Esau, and to follow it out a couple of generations, and then to stop?

As an aside, this is one of the many places where Mormons go off the rails. Although the Bible has genealogical lines, the focus is always on the line from Adam to Abraham to David to Jesus. The Mormon Scriptures (written long after the Bible) are filled with genealogical lines. If you understand why there are genealogies in the Bible (these genealogies lead from Adam to Jesus Christ), you then ask why do the Mormons record genealogies? There is only one genealogical line that matters. The first 8 or so chapters of 1Chronicles inform us that genealogical records for many people were preserved and over a long period of time. However, apart from these chapters in 1Chronicles, the Bible concerns itself with one genealogical line, because there is only one celebrity in the Christian life, and that is Jesus Christ. There is only one genealogical line that matters, and that is the line of promise or the line of grace. We may find our own genealogy to be interesting, and I have studied my own to some extent. However, I would not include my own genealogy in the study of this or that chapter, because it is not pertinent to anything. If you understand that my own genealogy has no place in the study of the Word of God, that should help you to understand why the Mormon genealogies recorded in their scriptures are without meaning—because there is only one line of promise.

Genesis 26:35 They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

They refers back to the wives of Esau. Esau, in his marriages, did not make good choices. The fact that his wives did not fit into the family well, will actually be used later by Rebekah, when she sends her son Jacob away.

It is interesting. Isaac has two children, twins, Jacob and Esau. Jacob is clearly a schemer and a chiseler, always trying to put one over on Esau. He knew of the spiritual blessing and he believed it. However, Jacob tried to get this blessing through subterfuge and by human effort and deception. God’s plan is going to move ahead, no matter what. However, it does not require deception in order to further it.

Esau was more straightforward than Jacob, but he married the wrong kind of women.

The verb here is in the feminine plural, which means, these wives of Esau made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. The Bible does not give us specifics as to how these women made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah. We do not know why, exactly; but these wives were an unhappy choice. If you have lousy in-laws, then you have an inkling of what is going on. If a woman wants to make herself anathema to her mother-in-law, then she will find a way to do that. Women tend to be very skilled when it comes to making another woman dislike them.

You will recall that Abraham went to great lengths to go east to find a wife for Isaac; and that Jacob also will go east to find a wife from his family as well. Esau did not do this; he does not appear to be interested in perpetuating faith in the God of Abraham. Very likely, these other women worshiped false gods, and this was difficult for Isaac and Rebekah.

Esau appears to have married at least 7 different women, comparing this passage to Gen. 28:9 36:2, 34.

Why did Esau marry so many women? He was not happy with the first wife, so he married a second. He was not happy with the first two women, so he married a third. And so on. He came from a family that worshiped Y^ehowah Elohim, and he married women who worshiped heathen gods. As a result, Esau himself could not be made happy; and with each additional wife, his parents were made more unhappy.

It is likely that they all lived together on the compound. They would not all live in the same tent, but their tents would not be far from one another—Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau all being the chief members of this compound. How do you think things worked out with Esau and two or three or four wives, all living in the same compound, none of whom worshiped Y^ehowah, all of whom practices various forms of paganism, and these wives would have been jealous of one another. How do you think that was for camp morale? How do you think Isaac and Rebekah felt about these wives?

The Bible tells us:

Genesis 26:35 Esau’s wives made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

We will study more about Esau and his wives, and even study, in a very limited way, his children. But the line of Jesus does not go through Esau; therefore, even though this portion of the Bible is written about 2000 b.c., the author knows enough that, Esau’s genealogical line is not the line to follow.

There is a lot that goes on in the narrative of Gen. 27. Isaac desires to give a blessing to his son Esau, but he predicates this upon Esau preparing a great meal for him. So there is the concept of earning or deserving attached to this blessing. Both Isaac and Esau are aware that Isaac wants to give Esau the blessing of the firstborn. That is, the promise which God made to Abraham and reaffirmed to Isaac—that promise will be passed along to Esau. This is Isaac’s intent.

To give you an idea, Isaac is somewhere between 130–140 years old and he will live another 40–50 years. This is based upon several sets of dates which are estimated for the Patriarch Timeline (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

However, Isaac only shows up in the narrative in this chapter and the beginning of the next chapter. After that, the focus of the Genesis narrative will be upon Jacob.

People are confused about the Bible and some things which people do in the Bible. Jacob, throughout most of his life, was not a very good person. He does things which ought not be emulated. Just because we find a Biblical character doing something, that does not mean, that should be the pattern for our behavior.

In this chapter, Jacob, aided by his mother, will seek to obtain Isaac’s special blessing through deception. He and his mother both participate in this deception—in fact, his mother plans out and initiates the deception.

What seems to be the case is that Rebecca, Jacob’s mother, was teaching Jacob that, if he did not look out for his own self, that no one else would do it for him. If he needed to deceive someone else in order to get ahead, then he should do this. When interacting with someone else, and there was some advantage to be gained, then, essentially, Rebecca was teaching her son Jacob to try to gain that advantage.

As a result, Jacob believed in looking out for #1. He believed that, unless he looked out for his own interests, then no one else would. He did not look to God for his needs or desires. When you understand this, then you understand Jacob and all that happens to him. Furthermore, because of this, God is going to see to it that Jacob spends 20+ years of his life working for someone who is just like he is. Jacob is a chiseler; Laban, his uncle, whom he will work for, is even more so. Jacob is looking out for #1; but Laban, who Jacob will work for, is even more so. Jacob may or may not understand this lesson; but it is placed in the Bible so that we can understand it.

Rebekah, Jacob’s mother, believed that she could get what she wanted for her favorite son through duplicitous means. But, that is not how God’s plan works. For this reason, God will separate Jacob from his mother for 20 years, and from her negative influence. In fact, after the incidents in this chapter, she will never see her favorite son ever again. Her plans, based upon deception, will seemingly be for nought. She will lose her favorite son by doing what she does. God’s blessing is not to be conferred by duplicitous means.

Application: Do not teach your children the wrong things; you may find that God separates you from them as a result. Part of what a parent is to teach their children is morality. You do not let your child grow up like a weed, and allow him to figure out what is right and wrong on his own, any more than you plant a tree or a bush and never trim it so that it is pleasing to look at. You do not plant a lawn and then decide, “Whatever happens, happens.” You water it, you fertilize it, and you mow it. Surely your own children are more important than your lawn.

Genesis 27:1 And it happened when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called his oldest son Esau and said to him, “My son.”

If Isaac is between 130 and 140, and will live another 40–50 years, then he is going to be in old age for a considerable amount of time. He will live to the age of 180, so his infirmities will naturally increase. Right now, he cannot see well enough to distinguish between his two sons, so he is virtually blind—probably as a result of cataracts.

Isaac clearly favored Esau and Rebekah favored Jacob. Esau was a hunter, and Isaac requested that he kill some wild game for him to eat.

You will note that we have had very little about Isaac’s life to study, and this is because he did not have a life filled with divine good production as Abraham, his father, did. When Abraham offered up his uniquely-born son, this was an act which has stood for all time as a type of Christ offering. We do not find a similar act on the part of Isaac. The bulk of Isaac’s life as recorded in Scripture is associated with births, marriages and deaths—the milestones of life.

What Isaac says in this verse is just one Hebrew word with a suffix, which we translate my son (or, son of mine). Isaac has two sons, but this narrative will reveal that he is very attached to this particular son. Esau is his son.

Genesis 27:2 And Esau said to him, “I am right here.” Then Isaac begin, “Listen: now, I am old, I do not know the day of my death.

Isaac believes that he is going to die soon and that there are some things that he needs to do before he dies. He needs to bless his favorite son Esau. This is #1 on his list to do before dying.

This is an important moment, because Isaac is going to be passing down his inheritance and his blessing to his favorite son. One of the things which is wrong is, raising a son is a day-by-day process. A father cannot give his son everything on a day when the father knows that he is dying. In this way, both Isaac and Rebekah have failed. This narrative tells us that they have been teaching their sons, Esau and Jacob, the wrong things.

Genesis 27:3 And now please take your hunting equipment—your quiver and your bow—and go out to the field and hunt game for me.

The word which I translated as hunting equipment is k^elîy (כְּלִי) [pronounced k^elee]; and it means, manufactured good, artifact, article, utensil, vessel, weapon, armor, furniture, receptacle; baggage, valuables. This word is a multi-use term. It is something which has been made or manufactured. Strong’s #3627 BDB #479. You may think that it is odd to have such a multifarious-use term but we do this all the time. We use the word electronics to describe everything from a cellphone, to a computer, to a big screen tv.

Isaac believes that it is possibly his time to die, and he wants to bless Esau; but he asks Esau to go kill him some wild game. This is going to be a tit-for-tat arrangement.

Genesis 27:4 And make tasty meat-based meal for me, such as I love, and bring [it] to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”

Isaac’s approach here is wrong. You will note that Isaac is offering somewhat of a trade-off here. “I am going to bless you; but what I need from you is an incredible meal of wild game.” This is not grace. His logic is simple. “I am hungry; there is nothing I love more than Esau’s cooked wild game. And it is time for me to bless him. So let’s do both of these together.” Unfortunately, this approach does not teach grace. He is teaching his son that blessing is a matter of works.

God’s blessing and the line of Jesus goes from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; however, it ought to be clear that Isaac and Jacob are not in the same league as Abraham, spiritually speaking.

Genesis 27:5 And Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game in order to bring it.

Rebekah overhears what is going on, so she calls for Jacob. It will be clear from her plan that she believes the Jacob should look out for #1, and that is how she has raised him. Jacob was born second, and she has not only been his advocate but his teacher.

Both parents are teaching their favorite son the wrong things. Isaac is teaching Esau legalism; and Rebekah is teaching her son, Jacob, duplicity and looking out for #1. Neither parent really understands grace or God’s will.

Amazingly enough, God will take these 4 very flawed people and work His will among them. There is one genealogy that matters, and that genealogy goes through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and no matter what these people do to screw things up, God does not lose focus; and God’s plan is never thwarted. That is grace.

Genesis 27:6–7 And Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, ‘Bring me game, and make me delicious things so that I may eat and bless you before Jehovah before my death.’

My guess is, they lived on the same ground, but in different tents, each family has a tent and a specified area which was theirs. One might reasonably assume that there was a reasonable amount of space between these tents. From what we have studied, it is clear that Isaac lives on and oversees a compound; however, this compound may have a central area that is 5 or 10 acres, with tents scattered in that area.

We know that Abraham oversaw a group of 500–1200 (recall that he raised up an army of over 300 men). However, for the most part, we do not even realize that these 500 or so men and women were in close proximity to Abraham. That is because the Bible focuses in on the person of Abraham and his relationship to God. The same thing is true of these 4 principals—there might be anywhere from 300 to 3000 employees and slaves in close proximity with Isaac; but the focus of our narrative is on the interactions of Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau. So these people are around, but the Bible rarely makes reference to them.

In any movie that you see, there are the actors and there are the extras. Your eyes are always on the actors, even if they are in a scene with 15 other people in the background. God’s plan works very similar to this. Angels are watching the human race—and during this part of human history, they were to focus on this particular genealogical line. Through Scripture and through His promises, God made it clear who should be watched.

Genesis 27:6–7 And Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, ‘Bring me game, and make me delicious things so that I may eat and bless you before Jehovah before my death.’

Rebekah tells Jacob exactly what Isaac had said to Esau.

Given all that is about to occur, I don’t believe that Rebekah simply wandered nearby, heard Isaac speaking, and then decided that she needed to hear more. I believe that this was intentional—she knew this was on Isaac’s mind and that she wanted her favorite son to receive the blessing that Isaac was going to give Esau. I am saying that Jacob’s devious behavior is not an anomaly. He learned this from his mother Rebekah.

These parents, who have their favorite sons, have raised these two young men incorrectly. Esau is learning legalism and Jacob is learning deception.

Genesis 27:8 And now, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you.

Rebekah has put together a plan. It is likely that she has been thinking of a plan for some time now. She needs for Jacob to get a meal together for Isaac before Esau is able to shoot or trap anything. Esau will be out hunting, and he could be gone for hours or even days.

Genesis 27:9 Go now to the flock, and bring me from there two good kids of the goats. And I will make them delicious things for your father, such as he loves.

Rebekah knows how to cook (or how to supervise cooking). Remember that she and Isaac are quite prosperous, and probably have a very large staff. Even though these historic recollections involve only these 4 people, this does not mean that they live on this compound alone. It is very likely that she has a staff of cooks that she oversees.

The two kids will have to be killed, drained of blood, skinned—and there are likely other people involved taking care of these things.

Genesis 27:10 And you will bring it to your father so that he may eat, and that he may bless you before his death.”

The trade-off which she suggests is, Isaac will bring him the meal, and he will bless Isaac. However, as we will see, her plan is more complex than that.

Genesis 27:11 And Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “Listen, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.

Rebekah has explained enough to Jacob that he gets it. They are operating on the same wavelength. Jacob doesn’t say, “But, mother, this is wrong.” He says, “Here is a flaw in your plan.” So she has said enough to where he understands that he is going to pretend to be Esau. Jacob understands that the plan is for Isaac to bless him.

Obviously, Esau and Jacob were not identical twins; and, comparatively speaking, Esau had a lot of hair.

Genesis 27:12 My father will perhaps feel me, and I will seem to him as a deceiver. And I will bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.”

Jacob understands that his mother wants Isaac to confer a blessing upon him rather than Esau. He also recognizes that this is being done to deceive his father. Furthermore, if Isaac realizes that Jacob is trying to pull a fast one, he will curse Jacob.

Rooted in all of this is the fact that they believed that what was said by someone like Isaac near the end of his life was important and predictive. Now, this might strike you as being superstitious and perhaps a bit silly. However, what Isaac says will not only be heard by God, but by all angelic creation, both fallen and elect angels; and the words spoken by some men have meaning. These words represent the thinking of their souls; and God will act upon these words. This is the line of promise. Through this line will come the Lord Jesus Christ. So, whatever Isaac says, God will take note, as will the angels. There is also an indication that the speaker will enjoy some measure of inspiration when he speaks.

Genesis 27:13 And his mother said to him, “Your curse be upon me, my son, only obey my voice and go bring them to me.”

What Rebekah is saying is, if Isaac curses him, then she will take the curse upon herself.

As we go further in this narrative, it will become clear that Rebekah has been thinking about this for a very long time and that she has developed quite a plan. A father blessing his son was a common thing near the end of the father’s life. The father might think about this for a decade prior to speaking the words out loud. Furthermore, it would be logical that the blessing fit the man being blessed.

So far, this is what we have studied in Gen. 27:

Gen. 27:1–4 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, "My son"; and he answered, "Here I am." He said, "Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die."

Isaac tells his favorite son Esau to hunt some wild game, and after eating, he would give Esau his final blessing. This can be understood as a very legalistic approach to blessing.

Gen 27:5–10 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, 'Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the LORD before I die.' Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies."

Rebekah hears this and tells her favorite son, Jacob, about it. She tells him to bring two young goats that she will prepare, so that Jacob might pretend to be Esau and take the blessing intended for him.

Gen 27:11–13 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing." His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me."

Jacob does not object to Rebekah’s plan on moral grounds; but he is concerned that he cannot pull this off and his father will curse him instead.

Genesis 27:14 Therefore, Jacob went out. He took them [the 2 kids from the goats] and he brought to his mother. And his mother made delicious things such as his father loved.

This is easy for the wife to figure out. She knew what Isaac liked and she knew the right kind of spices to add. And, even though the text reads that she made this meal, it is likely that she supervised the making of this meal (which does not invalidate the text).

There is a great deal missing from this narrative. When Jacob chooses the two kids from the flock, probably two of his servants prepare the kids for cooking. They might be shaved first, and the hair used for something else. Then they would be killed and bled dry and then skinned. None of this is mentioned in the narrative.

Genesis 27:15 And Rebekah took the clothes of her older son Esau, the costly [lit., desirable] ones which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

The word used to describe Esau’s clothes is feminine plural noun chem^edâh (חֶמְדָה) [pronounced khem^e-DAW], which means, desire, desirable; longing, yearning, delight; regret (?) [see 2Chron. 21:20]. Strong’s #2532 BDB #326. These clothes are variously described as Esau’s good, best, costly clothes; but this is probably Esau’s favorite set of clothes, and/or the clothes which he wore the most often. These would be the clothes which Rebekah desires to use. These clothes will be infused with Esau’s scent, as Tide had few inroads with the Jewish people circa 1900 b.c. Esau and Jacob would smell differently, in part because Esau spent his time outdoors hunting, so he would smell of the great outdoors (which scent, Isaac will pick up on). Jacob, on the other hand, was mostly inside; and his scent would be less noticeable.

Both Jacob and his mother are being duplicitous here. They are both looking for Jacob to get the blessing promised by his father and meant for Esau.

Genesis 27:16 And she put the skins from the kids of the goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck.

She essentially made gloves for him out of the hairy skins of the goat. This is likely from the goat which was just killed for this meal. Again, remember that she has a staff under her, and some of them would be skilled in this area of using the skin of their animals in order to make clothing. She wanted something which did not feel like clothing, but felt natural, like skin. A very thin strip of goat epidermis could be used for make Jacob’s gloves and a neck band.

Because Isaac’s sight was very nearly gone, he would identify his favorite son in other ways—by touch and by smell. Rebekah hoped to disguise Jacob well enough, so that Isaac would mis-identify him as Esau. Therefore, Isaac had to be virtually blind.

Genesis 27:17 And she gave the delicious things and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.

Rebekah knows that Isaac is waiting for a wonderful meal killed and prepared by Esau. She gives this to Jacob to present to Isaac, hoping that Isaac will be overwhelmed by the meal. Furthermore, Isaac spoke to Esau in private; so there is no reason for him to expect Jacob to suddenly show up with a meal.

Genesis 27:18 And he came to his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “I am [right] here; who are you, my son?”

Quite obviously, the voices of the two twin sons are different, and Isaac is not sure to which son he is speaking at this point. From a distance, Isaac could smell the meal, a meal which he is expecting Esau to bring—but, from a distance, he cannot yet smell the clothing that Jacob is wearing. And, from a distance, he can hear the voice, and Jacob’s voice is obviously different than Esau’s. Therefore, Isaac is somewhat confused.

Genesis 27:19 And Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your first-born. I have done as you asked me. Arise, I pray you, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”

Jacob is intentionally deceiving his own father. Again, this explains Jacob’s soul. He has objectives; he has things which he wants; and he attains these things through deceit, deception and manipulation. This is how he believes that he is blessed. Jacob figures that he needs to look out after #1; and that no one else will do this for him. This may have been written nearly 4000 years ago, but it speaks to the heart of man even today.

How many times have you heard, “If you don’t take care of (or, look out for) yourself, no one else will”? This is the mantra by which Jacob lives his life. Jacob was interested in how to get from where you are now to where you want to be in life. And he learned this from his mother. Using a little harmless duplicity is nothing on his ethical scale. He expresses no ethical questions and no moral outrage.

Genesis 27:20 And Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because Jehovah your God brought it to me.”

Isaac appears to be somewhat suspicious here. He is not sure of the voice. As soon as Esau had gone, Rebekah began putting her plan into motion. So, this would have been as if Esau stepped out to the nearest field, found an animal, and killed it right off. Certainly, that is possible; but Isaac is going to be suspicious of what is going on for awhile.

Isaac asks, “How did you manage to kill wild game so quickly?” and Jacob answers, “God brought it to me.” Jacob is using God’s name in a frivolous manner. In other words, this is a blasphemous statement. Why do we find this in the Bible? This tells us Jacob’s sorry spiritual state. He uses God’s name in order to deceive his own father. This ought to be a pretty strong clue that Jacob is out of line. Obviously, Jacob is not very spiritually advanced.

The Bible does not romanticize its people. The people of Scripture are presented as true human beings, with a great many flaws. We are talking about the patriarchs of God’s people, the Jews—and not only does Jacob lie to his father to secure his blessing, but he blasphemes God at the same time.

Genesis 27:21 And Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, I pray you, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are truly my son Esau or not.”

Isaac doubts that this is really Esau. Obviously, he has a meal prepared more quickly than Isaac expected. Further, this son does not sound like Esau; he sounds like Jacob. Isaac cannot see well enough to distinguish his sons, but otherwise, he has normal sensibilities.

Isaac has a close relationship with Esau; and there was probably not a day in his life where he was unsure whether he was speaking to Esau or to Jacob—until now. Right now, Isaac is confused. In some ways, this adult male seems like Esau and in other ways, he seems to be like Jacob. It is likely that Isaac chalked this up to his old age in his own mind; but his instincts were right on the money.

Genesis 27:22 And Jacob went near to Isaac his father. And he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands the hands of Esau.”

The goat skin gloves were convincing, but the voice that Isaac heard was certainly Jacob’s, as he believed it to be. However, the closer that Jacob moves to Isaac, the more he seems like Esau.

Genesis 27:23 And he did not know him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. And he blessed him.

Isaac decided to believe what he felt. Isaac is undoubtedly questioning his own sensibilities now. Never before had he gotten his sons confused; but today, he is confused about the man before him.

The Hebrew sometimes gives us the overall description of what will happen, and then it goes into the actual details of what happens. V. 23 is the overview of the next 6 verses.

Genesis 27:24 And he said, “Are you truly my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”

He asks Jacob again, and Jacob says, “I am [Esau].” Isaac does not think that there would be a reason for Jacob to deceive him; so he takes this at face value that he is speaking to Esau and not to Jacob. But what he hears confuses him greatly. It is possible that Isaac asks this question just to hear this man’s voice again. It is the voice that throws him.

Genesis 27:25 And he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son's game, so that my soul may bless you.” And he brought it near to him, and he ate. And he brought him wine, and he drank.

Rebekah is far off in the background. She did the preparation; but she is not going to allow Isaac to perceive that she is in the background. He might become more suspicious if he realizes that she is there and hovering about. Given Isaac’s inability to see, Rebecca can quietly move about far enough away to escape his detection.

Genesis 27:26 And his father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.”

Isaac is still uncertain, and he asks for Jacob to come closer to him. He thinks that the closer the person is to him, the easier it will be for him to determine which son he is. However, the closer Jacob is to his father, the easier it is for him to deceive Isaac.

Genesis 27:27 And he came near and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Jehovah has blessed.

The odor of the clothing convinced Isaac, along with the feel of Jacob’s hairy hand. Isaac is assuming that his odor is the man himself; but it is from Esau’s clothing.

Esau was a man of the outdoors, and his clothing had that smell to it. So, Jacob wore Esau’s clothing, and he himself smelled like a field blessed by God. That simply means a field with all kind of things growing in it.

Such a pronouncement made by a man of God, before the angels, and before God, must have tangible results. Even though angels are not mentioned, what happens in our lives occurs before a myriad of angels—particularly the lives of believers with doctrine.

God teaches the angels through mankind. There are the unbelievers who say this or that, and there is little wisdom or meaning found in the things which they say. Surely you have been to a party, and people are either talking about themselves and how great they are; or they are attempting to say clever things. There is a point at which this yammering becomes nearly insufferable and you need to get out of there. None of what they have to say is important; and very little of it is interesting. That is what most people sound like to angels.

However, there are also growing and mature believers, and what they say is meaningful and has consequence. What Isaac is saying here—even though he is being misled—has meaning which will continue for at least a generation or more. God makes these words meaningful. God will bring to pass the things which Isaac is saying, even though Isaac is very old, half-blind, and cannot even recognize his son Jacob who is before him.

Because of how Jacob smells, Isaac is inspired to say this:

Genesis 27:28 And may God give you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.

The key to any prosperous field is rain—here, called the dew of heaven (recall that, before the flood, plants were watered with dew rather than by rain). Fatness simply refers to production. It is a word generally used of an animal which is fattened up—with meat, not necessarily with fat. The fatness of the earth simply refers to a field with a great deal of produce.

Also associated with prosperity—wine.

We continue with the blessing made by Isaac concerning Jacob (whom he mistakenly thinks is Esau). Jacob sent his son Esau out to kill some wild game, and then, when he returned with this game, he would prepare it, they would eat it, and then Jacob would bless Esau. Rebekah overhears this, and gets her favorite son Jacob prepared to deceive Jacob and to steal Esau’s blessing.

Gen 27:11–12 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing."

The idea to deceive Isaac and to take Esau’s blessing came from Rebekah. But Jacob does not object to the morality of her plan; only to the possible flaws in the plan.

Gen 27:13 His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me."

His mother says, “Look, kid, I got this. If anything goes wrong, that curse will be upon me.”

Gen 27:14–17 So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the favorite garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

Jacob is too blind to recognize or visually distinguish his sons. However, he can still hear, smell and touch. So, Jacob is now wearing Esau’s clothing, and he has gloves and a neck covering made out of the skin of the young goats which had been slaughtered.

Gen 27:18 So he went in to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"

Isaac is confused from the beginning.

Gen 27:19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me."

Gen 27:20 But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He answered, "Because the LORD your God granted me success."

In uttering these words, Jacob reveals that he has little respect for the God of this blessing that he intends to steal. He lies to his father and blasphemes God in order to take the blessing of the firstborn.

Gen 27:21–23 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not." So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him.

Isaac is suspicious. He is old, but he is not daft. He can distinguish the voices of his sons, and this man sounds like Jacob and not like Esau. However, the things which his mother did win Isaac over. He is beginning to believe that this man is Esau.

Gen 27:24 He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He answered, "I am."

This plot to steal Esau’s blessing is unexpected. Isaac is just looking for simple confirmation, and the one thing that confuses him is the voice. He is probably not looking for the answer yes or no, but to hear this man’s voice again.

Gen 27:25 Then he said, "Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you." So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

Gen 27:26–27 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son." So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed!

Jacob smells like the out-of-doors because he is wearing Esau’s clothing, and Esau was principally a hunter who spent a great deal of time in the outdoors. This becomes the inspiration for what Isaac says. “You will be like a field that Y^ehowah has blessed.”

Then Isaac continues with his blessing.

Genesis 27:28 And may God give you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.

Isaac asks for Jacob to be given 4 things:

1)       The dew of heaven is used here for the first time, and is analogous to blessings from God. All that grows from the earth is nourished by rain from heaven, and the dew is as if God has come down and sprinkled water on His earth. This word is closely associated with the manna from heaven, which God used to sustain the Jews when they spent 38.5 years in the desert (Ex. 16:13–14 Num. 11:9).

One could also understand the dew of heaven to refer to spiritual blessing from God, with which the Jews will be greatly blessed. God delivered the entire Old Testament to his people, the Jews, along with His prophets. No other people has been given so much direct blessing from God.

2)       The fatness of the earth refers to abundant produce from the earth. In our culture, we do not view the word fat in a favorable way, but this is a word of blessing in Scripture. A fattened calf in Scripture is not a calf filled with fat, but a healthy calf with a lot of meat on its bones.

Wherever the Jews have congregated as a people, they are generally very blessed (the exception to this is whenever antisemitism rears its ugly head).

The Jews, as a people, are associated with the earth. In the Millennium, it is not us from the Church Age who will populate the earth, but the Jews and others who have believed in Jesus. And Jesus will rule from Mount Zion throughout the Millennium. He won’t have an office in the United Nations building.

3)       Plenty of grain refers to the produce of the ground, and Isaac is calling for Jacob and his descendants to be blessed with the great abundance of crops. The idea here is logistical grace, where God will see to the needs of his people.

4)       As we saw in the previous lesson, wine is seen as a blessing, and it is associated with the enjoyment of life. So Isaac does not just call for the descendants of Jacob to merely be sustained, but to enjoy the great blessings of life.

Genesis 27:29a Let people serve you, and let nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you.

In some ways, Isaac is repeating the blessing which Abraham was given from God. When Abraham had offered up his uniquely-born son to God, and God withheld Abraham’s hand from killing his son, God (as the Angel of Y^ehowah) said to him, "By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." (Gen. 22:16b–18; ESV, capitalized)

At the same time, these blessings offered by Isaac are unique. Not only will other nations bow down to the son before him, but the son before him will be lord over his brothers. Isaac cannot simply give the other son this same blessing. This seems to be some sort of tradition, of passing along the family blessing to one particular son. If Jacob is lord over his brothers, then that makes him lord over Esau. So there will be a preeminence of Jacob over Esau. And these words of Isaac have been fulfilled. Do you know any Jews today? Of course you do. Do you know any Edomites (descendants of Esau )? No you don’t. They have been relegated to the dustbin of history.

There will be a line of Jacob and there will be a line of Esau. Isaac is calling for the descendants of Esau to bow down to the descendants of Jacob.

The way that this is phrased also implies that Isaac and Rebecca had other sons.

Genesis 27:29b Cursed be everyone that curses you, and blessed be he that blesses you.”

The final blessing is almost exactly the one with which God blessed Abraham. One of the words is different, but it is very close to Gen. 12:3. Using these words means that the blessings promised by God to Abraham have come to Isaac, and he passes them along to Jacob and his descendants. Therefore, all the promises which God made to Abraham are given to the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. With these words, this becomes the line of promise.

For God, this has always been His plan. From eternity past, God would bless the Jewish race, which would come from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, this is where it becomes official in time; where it is announced to all the angels.

Bear in mind, there are only 3 people here: Isaac and Jacob; and Rebekah is off in the distance, overseeing everything. We know that no one else is here for this momentous time of blessing, because no one says, “Hey, that’s not Esau; it’s Jacob.” Nevertheless, this moment is recorded for all history in the Word of God.

Isaac has ask his favorite son Esau to go out and kill some game, and after they eat this game, Isaac would give Esau the blessing of the firstborn. Rebekah overhears Isaac making this promise to Esau, and she tells her favorite son, Jacob, and then lays out a plot to steal this blessing. Jacob agrees to this plot and Isaac ends up blessing Jacob instead of Esau.

The line of promise would go through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and God knew this in eternity past. This is the line that would eventually lead to the Lord Jesus Christ. So God allows Isaac to bless Jacob, thinking that it is his son Esau instead; and then God will honor this blessing.

Gen 27:26 And his father Yitsḥaq [= Isaac] said to him [Jacob], “Please come near and kiss me, my son.”

Gen 27:27 And he came near and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which יהוה [= Y^ehowah] has blessed.

This smell appears to have inspired Isaac.

Gen 27:28 And Elohim [God] give you of the dew of the heavens, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.

There is a poetry in the way that this is laid out:

And God will give you

from the dew of the heavens,

from the fatness of the earth,

and plenty of grain

and wine.

Gen 27:29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers, and let your motherʼs sons bow down to you. Cursed be those cursing you, and blessed be those blessing you!” (Gen. 27:26–29 from The Scriptures 1998+, with notes of clarification by me).

There is also a parallelism in this verse:

Let peoples serve you,

and nations bow down to you.

Be master over your brothers,

and let your motherʼs sons bow down to you.

Cursed be those cursing you,

and blessed be those blessing you!

The first two lines are repeated concepts; the second two lines are repeated concepts; and the final two lines are parallel concept.

The sheer poetry combined with the accuracy of what Isaac says gives credence to the words of Peter: For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2Peter 1:21; ESV)

So somehow, in these words spoken by Isaac—given his many imperfections and despite the deception of Rebekah his wife and Jacob his son—these words are inspired, and they tell us even today of the blessings by God bestowed upon the Jewish people.

Genesis 27:30 And it happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was scarcely gone from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

Isaac blessed Jacob (thinking that he was Esau), Jacob left, and Esau suddenly returned from hunting. He apparently had spent the last couple of hours dressing the meat and cooking it.

In a compound of several hundred people, Esau would not be confused if he smelled meat being prepared within the compound. So, he may have smelled the aroma of the meat which Rebekah had prepared, but he does not give any thought to that. There are probably a 1000 people in Isaac’s compound, so Esau would take it for granted that, at almost any given time, there would waft through the compound the smells of food being prepared.

Genesis 27:31 And he also had made tasty meat and brought to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son's game so that your soul may bless me.”

You will notice that Esau associates his blessing with a gift. He brings his father a great venison meal, and his father blesses him. He is taught to think this way by Isaac. This is not grace; this is tit-for-tat; this is quid pro quo; in Biblical terms, this is legalism. God’s blessing to Jacob through Isaac is grace—it stands to this very day, despite the sin nature activity of the family of Isaac. Quite obviously, Isaac did not earn or deserve that blessing.

Genesis 27:32 And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your first-born, Esau.”

Isaac recognizes Esau’s voice and he is greatly disturbed. Recall that his biggest problem with Jacob pretending to be Esau was his voice. His voice sounded like Jacob; it did not sound like Esau. However, right now, Isaac hears and recognizes Esau’s voice. At this point, there seems to be no question in Isaac’s mind which son he is speaking to.

Genesis 27:33 And Isaac trembled with a great trembling, and said, “Who then was the one who has hunted deer and brought to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yea, he will be blessed!”

What men said in those days was important. Even when a blessing was uttered, it did not just go into the air and disappear. It would have future impact. They believed this and it was true—at least with regards to the line of promise.

Delivering such a blessing suggested that the speaker (1) may have been inspired; and (2) God would concern Himself with the blessing. These were not just empty words uttered into the air, that a wind would carry away. Such a blessing was more than a prayer that would be uttered (a prayer is often uttered regarding specific circumstances; and prayers could be answered “no”). A blessing was meaningful and important. A blessing might be given 1 or 2 times in the life of a person—and was usually spoken by the father of his son. The most common blessing—which is the one that we find the most often, is given by father when his end is near (or thought to be near). This chapter has two end-of-life blessings given by Isaac to his twin sons; and at the end of Genesis, Jacob will bless each of his 12 children.

When Isaac blessed Jacob (thinking that he was Esau), he was in part inspired by the circumstances (the smell of Esau’s clothing that Jacob was wearing). In other words, Isaac did not necessarily have a specific set of things to say that he had memorized. Some of what he said was inspired; if not all that he said. Furthermore, when speaking words like this as a blessing, the blesser expected that God would see to it that the blessee was blessed in the way that he specified. Therefore, this blessing was based upon faith in the sure providence of God.

Blessings like this, uttered by one of the patriarchs (that is, the fathers), became a part of the Angelic Conflict. The line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became the line of blessing, so that God would allow blessings and privileges to that particular line. We reasonably assume that, for an occasion like a blessing, that the Holy Spirit might be involved in the inspiration of that blessing. Again, 2Peter 1:21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (ESV)

These blessings were apparently not given but at specific times—near the end of the life of the patriarch or, as will happen soon, when Jacob leaves their compound, Isaac will bless him (this time, Isaac will know that it is Jacob).

Genesis 27:33 And Isaac trembled with a great trembling, and said, “Who then was the one who has hunted deer and brought to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yea, he will be blessed!”

Esau expected that he might be blessed by Jacob, and these words of his father devastate him.

Isaac has spoken the words of blessing upon his son Jacob, and God has recorded these words for all eternity and God will accordingly bless Jacob.

Genesis 27:34 And when Esau heard the voice of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, me also, O my father!”

Esau was quite upset over this. He has assumed that he would get the great blessing from his father at the very end. This indicates that Esau believed in the blessings spoken by his father, and that God would bring those blessings to fruition.

However, Esau is confused about the blessing, not knowing exactly what Isaac had said concerning Jacob. He did not realize that some of what Isaac said precluded giving a nearly identical blessing to Esau.

Genesis 27:35 And Isaac said, “Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing.”

It is likely that Isaac had been thinking of what to say to bless Esau with; and that he spoke those words on behalf of Jacob. For the receiver of the blessing to be preeminent over all his brothers is pretty much a blessing which cannot be matched. Isaac said this on behalf of Jacob; he could not very well repeat it for his son Esau.

Genesis 27:36 And Esau said, “Is it because his name is called Jacob [= chiseler, supplanter]? For he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing [as well].” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

For a mess of pottage, Esau had traded his birthright to Jacob. That had been a legitimate transaction. In his great hunger, Esau was willing to give up his birthright in order to live (he was famished to the point of exhaustion). This birthright spiritually referred to the blessings which God bestowed upon Abraham. This birthright often meant a double-portion of inheritance.

Jacob had stolen Esau’s birthright and now he has stolen his blessing as well. Therefore, Esau is filled with rage and he will continue to nurse this rage and encourage it.

Reserving a blessing would be something unique, a blessing which would belong to him alone; a blessing which had not been given to Jacob. Esau is saying, “That’s it? You are able to bless Jacob, but you have left nothing with which to bless me?”

“Have you reserved a blessing for me?” by Raphael Sanzio from Christusrex.org, accessed September 3, 2014.

Pope Julius II Della Rovere commissioned 25 year old Raphael Sanzio in 1508 to paint the frescos in his four room apartment on the top floor. Three of the rooms were of modest dimensions, while the fourth one was considerably larger; with the completion of the work, the rooms became known as "The Raphael Stanze." The 52 scenes on the ceilings of the loggia are still popularly referred as "The Raphael Bible."  The primary problem here is, Esau is probably between 40 and 50 years old in the Biblical account.

Genesis 27:37 And Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Listen [this is how it is]! I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given him for servants. And with grain and wine I have supported him. And what will I do now to you, my son?”

Isaac cannot give Esau the same blessing. In his blessing of Jacob, he called for Jacob to be preeminent over Esau. He cannot simply just turn that around. Isaac cannot give Esau that same blessing—it would make no sense. Once the blessing is spoken, it stands as a testimony. Isaac cannot just take it back. If Isaac could do this, then of what meaning and substance is the blessing in the first place?

Genesis 27:38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, me also, my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

Isaac’s promise of wine for Isaac has caused Esau to whine.

Esau has a terrifically damaged soul. He feels sorry for himself; he feels angry toward his brother and cheated by him—and he will continue to encourage these feelings within himself.

This is what we have been studying:

Gen 27:30–31 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me." (ESV)

Jacob has already pretended to be Esau and has stolen Isaac’s end-of-life blessing meant for Esau. Esau comes in after the fact with wild game which he had killed and then prepared for his father.

Gen 27:32–33 His father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau." Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, "Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed." (ESV)

Jacob recognizes the voice of Esau immediately and says that he already gave Jacob Esau’s blessing.

Gen 27:34 As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!" (ESV)

Esau cries out bitterly over this situation.

Gen 27:35 But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing." (ESV)

Gen 27:36 Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." Then he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" (ESV)

Esau is clearly overwrought with emotion.

Gen 27:37 Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?" (ESV)

Isaac cannot very well make both brothers preeminent over the other.

Gen 27:38 Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. (ESV)

At the same time, Isaac lifts up his voice and gives Esau a blessing. However, there is a serious problem with the translation of this next verse.

Bear in mind that this prophecy was made 4000 years ago, at a time when the Middle East looked much different. Recall that the name of the most famous area of the Middle East is called the Fertile Crescent (which is mostly included by the nation of Iraq). At one time, this was a beautiful area—well-watered and filled with both vegetation and two huge rivers. Therefore, it is given that name. But that is not what these places are today and for millenniums have been less than fertile.

It is amazing that these words of Isaac, who is clearly not a spiritual giant, describe the future of Esau and the future of most Arabic peoples.

Genesis 27:40 By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck.” (ESV)

Barnes writes: Edom was long independent; but at length Saul was victorious over them (1Sam. 14:47), and David conquered them (2Sam. 8:14). Then followed a long struggle, until John Hyrcanus, 129 b.c., compelled them to be circumcised and incorporated into Judaism. “Break his yoke.” The history of Edom was a perpetual struggle against the supremacy of Israel. Conquered by Saul, subdued by David, repressed by Solomon, restrained after a revolt by Amaziah, they recovered their independence in the time of Ahab. They were incorporated into the Jewish state, and furnished it with the dynasty of princes beginning with Antipater.

Isaac said, “By your sword, you will live.” Esau’s tradition would be to always be at war. Even today, this is the case.

Wars in the World graphic from June 23, 2014 (if you are not aware of this site, you should bookmark it). Note that nearly all of the warfare is in northern and central Africa as well as in the Middle East, where many of the descendants of Esau live. They are living by the sword, just as Isaac, nearly 4000 years ago, said that they would.

This constant struggle of the Islamic peoples every day threatens to suck in the other nations of the earth into a massive world war—which war I believe we will see in our lifetimes.

Genesis 27:41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

Now, remember the various ways that v. 39 is translated. I said that the correct understanding is for Esau to live away from richness of the earth and away from the dew of the heavens. Note Esau’s reaction—he hates Jacob! This tells us that Isaac has given Esau a crappy blessing. This confirms the translation which I have given to you. Half of this blessing is not very good. Esau hears this, and he is none too happy about it. Jacob stole his blessing, and he hates Jacob!

Esau says to himself that, after Isaac dies, then he will kill his brother Jacob (no one realizes at this time that Isaac’s death is still quite a ways off). Esau was quite angry over this whole blessing ordeal. And he continued to mull over this sin of hatred over and over again in his head.

Genesis 27:42 And these words of her older son Esau were told to Rebekah. And she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.

Esau did not just keep this to himself. He shared this thought with others, and what he said did get back to his mother.

The word translated comforts himself above is nâcham (נָחַם) [pronounced naw-KHAHM], and it is in the Hithpael stem. The Hithpael is the reflexive of the Piel (the intensive stem). The Hithpael conveys the idea that one places himself into the state or the action of the verb, which is an achieved state. Seow gives several uses; however, its primary use is reflexive—the verb describes action on or for oneself. That is, the subject of the verb is also the object of the verb. So, the word himself is not actually found in the Hebrew; nor is this a suffix, but it conveys the meaning of the Hithpael stem. In the Hithpael, this verb means, being sorry, having compassion; ruing, repenting of; comforting oneself, being comforted; easing oneself. Strong’s #5162 BDB #636. In other words, Esau hates Jacob and it gives Esau great pleasure to think of the various ways in which he might kill Jacob, by which he would gain his revenge. This is a fantasy that Esau has, and he plays it out in his thinking in a variety of ways; and this fantasy gives Esau great pleasure.

Sometimes a mental attitude sin can be very gratifying, and Esau no doubt thought about the various ways he might kill Jacob, thoughts which he engaged in for his own personal pleasure; but thoughts he also shared.

The problem with mental attitude sins is, they affect all that you are. Esau has taken the mental attitude sin of hatred and has parlayed this into a series of fantasies, all of which end in the death of his brother Jacob.

This leads us to 3 very important doctrines: the Doctrine of Hatred, the Doctrine of Emotions, and the concept of Emotional Revolt of the soul.

Jacob, pretending to be Esau, has stolen from Esau the blessing spoken by Isaac, their father. This has filled Esau with hatred toward his brother Jacob.

Genesis 27:41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

Because of the hatred in his heart, Esau now fantasizes about killing his brother Jacob.

Genesis 27:42 And these words of her older son Esau were told to Rebekah. And she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.

Esau was apparently not very discrete about his plans to kill Jacob. Not only did he think about it and fantasize about it, but he apparently told several people about what he would do. He told so many people that Rebekah, their mother, heard, and became very concerned about the situation.

Before we can move forward in this narrative, we need to examine a few doctrines. The first is the Doctrine of Hatred.

We have been studying Isaac and his twin sons Jacob and Esau. Jacob has stolen Esau’s birthright and, more recently, Isaac’s end-of-life blessing by deceiving his own father.

You will note that both brothers did not understand how life was. Jacob believed that he could only receive blessing through conniving and stealing; Esau believed that he could somehow overcome this loss of blessing by simply by killing Jacob. Esau’s thinking is illogical. If Jacob is blessed, then that blessing has to come to pass. If the blessing is real and meaningful, then Esau cannot kill Jacob because of the blessing. If the blessing is meaningless, and if Esau could kill Jacob in order to end his blessing, then Esau is upset about nothing. If Esau, through sin, could remove Jacob’s blessing; then Jacob is not really blessed by God. That would mean Esau has power over God, when he does not.

Let’s lay this out in another way. The blessing uttered by Isaac on behalf of Jacob is either real and meaningful or it is not. If the blessing is real and meaningful, then there is nothing that Esau can do about it. However, if this blessing for Jacob is not real and not meaningful, then who cares what Isaac has said? It does not mean anything. Esau may be upset over the whole situation, but, there is nothing that he can do about it.

Now Jacob and Esau are both wrong in their perceptions. God blesses Jacob because, as the Bible says of God, “Jacob I love but Esau, I have hated.” (Rom. 9:13 Mal. 1:2–3) For God to give His blessing to Jacob, no deception or duplicity is required; but when God gives His blessing, there is nothing that can be done to short-circuit it.

Esau is so filled with anger and hatred right now, he cannot think straight. It should be obvious that, if Esau could end this blessing, then the blessing is logically meaningless. However, emotion does not think; emotion does not reason. Emotion rages. There are political groups and one religion (Islam) which are filled with rage—they even celebrate a day of rage, now and again. These are people who celebrate mental attitude sins. Nothing could be more evil.

Much of the material developed below ultimately came from R. B. Thieme, Jr.

The Doctrine of Emotions

1.       Emotion is defined as a complex biological or physiological process. Emotion is a function of the soul that is concerned with somatic expression or feeling. Emotion can be normal or abnormal. The purpose of normal emotion is to respond to various thoughts in our souls by way of norms and standards. 2.       Emotion is tied to our volition and mental attitude. 3.       Emotion is what is experienced as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness. The frame of reference, memory center, viewpoint, norms and standards, and doctrine exist in the right lobe only (the right lobe contains our thoughts, ideas, norms and standards which we have decided to believe). None of these exist in the emotions. Emotions are designed to respond to thoughts that emanate from the thinking of our right lobes. 4.       Emotions can respond to thoughts, but emotions can also function without thoughts. When emotions function without thinking, it is abnormal emotional activity called emotional instability, emotions in control, or emotional revolt. This state of mind can come and go quickly and it can hang on for a long time. 5.       Emotions lack thought; therefore they are not adequate guides for motives, decisions, and actions of the believer. The problem with many liberals is, they feel something, and then they build up their thinking based upon their feelings. 6.       Normal emotional experience is the subordination of the emotion to the intellect. Abnormal emotional experience results in the soul subordinating the intellect to the emotion, or the emotion bypassing the norms and standards. One may have control of his emotions or he can be controlled by his emotions. 7.       Positive response to the heart produces the spectrum of happiness in the emotions from tranquility to ecstatic. Happiness is there because of doctrine. But how do you know its there? Emotions tell you, because of all of the responses from the whole spectrum of emotions. Emotions in the Bible: 8.       Very often, emotions are spoken of, in general, using metonyms (that is, one word stands in for another word). Often interior organs are used to refer to emotions. The womb, kidneys, bowels and/or intestines are terms often used to refer to emotions in general. 9.       Examples of the Bible’s use of metonym; where an interior organ stands for an emotion:           1)       The KJV of Gen 43:30 And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. The ESV modernizes this to: Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there. See also 1Kings 3:26 for a similar example.           2)       Jeremiah uses kidneys in the same way in Lam. 3:10–13 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver;... (ESV) See also Psalm 7:9 26:2 Prov. 23:16 Jer. 17:10 (bear in mind that your modern translation will probably not translate this word reins or kidneys, even though that is the actual Hebrew meaning).           3)       We often use the word heart to refer to our emotional response; whereas the Bible uses heart for the thinking of the soul. The KJV of Psalm 73:21–22 Thus my heart was grieved [that is, his thinking was thrown off kilter], and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. This same passage in the KJ2000: Thus my soul was grieved, and I was pierced in my heart. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before you. In this passage, the psalmist has allowed his emotions to get the best of him. But you can see how our use of the language has changed. So, whereas we closely associate heart with emotions; the word for heart, in both the Greek and the Hebrew, often stands for the right lobe of the soul, which is the entire mental function of the soul. So, with some English translations, this gets tricky. Some of them (like the KJ2000 mentioned above) translates the Hebrew word for reins (kidneys) as heart; but they do not translate the Hebrew word for heart as heart. Because of this confusion, I may need to do the doctrine of heart in the near future. 10.     Mistaken examples:           1)       The word belly or stomach is found in the New Testament. This is not a word which is used for a person’s emotions, but for a person’s appetites; that is, the lust pattern of the soul. A person who puts his desires (for money, power, sex, drugs, alcohol) above everything else is to be avoided. Rom. 16:17–18 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites [= belly in the KJV], and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. (ESV) The idea is, whatever their lust desires is like food to them; they believe that it is absolutely required. These people may sound very reasonable; but beneath all that they say is a desire to satiate their lusts. See Philip. 3:17–19 for a similar example.           2)       However, this does not negate the principle of avoiding similar people who allow their emotions to guide them through life.           3)       This brings up the concept of separation in the Christian life; and that is a very difficult concept. Obviously, we cannot separate from all people who sin and we cannot separate from all people who think too much with their emotions. So, the rule of thumb is, as believers we separate from others where the gospel or Bible doctrine is compromised. Let me offer two examples:                      (1)      This should be obvious. You avoid people involved in criminal activity. You do not ride along with criminals about to rob a convenience store so that you can witness to them. However, this does not prevent you from witnessing to someone who you know to be a criminal.                      (2)      You may have relatives in town visiting you and they may hate the teaching of the Word of God. You still attend Bible class, even though they have no interest in it. You separate from them during this time.                      (3)      We covered this doctrine back in lesson #116. The Doctrine of Separation (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). 11.     None of this means that the Bible is anti-emotion. The emotion is the appreciator of the soul, and we are certainly allowed to appreciate various things, as long as our emotions do not control our soul. NT examples can be found in Philip. 1:7–8 and Philemon 12, 20 where the word bowels is used (in the original Greek) in association with emotional appreciation and refreshment. God gave us emotions so that we can enjoy life. 12.     Many Christians believe a real spiritual experience must be an emotional one and herein lies a significant problem for Christendom. They allow how they feel to determine if they are rightly related to God or if they are filled with the Spirit or not. However, the believer in Jesus Christ cannot gauge his spiritual life based upon his emotions.           1)       As an aside, emotions can also be artificially stimulated through psycho-therapeutic drugs. Although I reject the widespread usage of such drugs, there are probably a few times when they are effective and helpful.           2)       However, as a believer in Jesus Christ, if you are taking a psycho-therapeutic drug, and it plunges you into depression or into a feeling of well being, then what you know about God through Bible doctrine has to overrule your emotional state. No matter how your emotions are brought about, your thinking should override whatever actions your emotions point you to.           3)       The same thing is true of any emotional state, no matter how it is brought about. However you feel, it must be subordinate to the Bible doctrine in your soul. No matter how strong your emotions are and no matter what they appear to be directing you to do, you need to have Bible doctrine in your soul to go to, to apply, to ruminate upon. 13.     False doctrine seems to thrive on emotion. The more a person or group of persons are led by their emotions, the more false doctrine abounds.           1)       We can therefore see the need to beware of hyper emotional types who are led by their emotions and not by their intellects.           2)       There are denominations where emotion dominates worship. Often these denominations grow in numbers of bodies attending. It would seem people like to feel good emotionally. However, how you feel is not a gauge of your spiritually or of your spiritual growth.           3)       Common errors emanate from statements like: "I must feel saved if I am saved"; "my sin was so bad I must do some penance for forgiveness" or "if I do not feel sorry for what I did surely God will not forgive me just by naming my sin.” Then there are other equally inappropriate thoughts like "true worship involves crying and rejoicing with tears while lifting my hands toward God.”           4)       People in these types of situations often think tears of joy or tears of sorrow publicly displayed make for true worship; they often equate this phenomena with the working of the Spirit of God and the one who does the emoting is thought to be, a man of God or a really spiritual person.           5)       Because most people are followers, they can be moved by a charismatic person who is able to touch their emotions and manipulate their emotions. The believer with doctrine must constantly compare what he hears with the rule of doctrine.           6)       Your pastor-teacher might be an excellent, motivating speaker and he might be as dry as chalk dust—his personality is never the issue. How he makes you feel is never an issue. The only issue is, does he communicate Bible doctrine to you accurately and effectively (that is, are you actually learning the Word of God, when all is said and done). 14.     It is absolutely necessary for every believer to keep his or her emotions under control. For to do otherwise can result in demonic influence. 15.     However, there are times when one’s emotions act (or should act) in conjunction with the doctrine in your soul.           1)       I personally have an emotional response to a presentation done by the Liberated Wailing Wall.           2)       There are some hymns which provoke an emotional response within us (like A Mighty Fortress). There is a benediction that we sang at a church; the first church that I attended as a Christian. I find that benediction moving (Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow). You may find that other hymns touch you.           3)       When you see another believer in need, you should not ignore his earthly needs; particularly if God has blessed you. 1John 3:17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? (KJV) Shutting off one’s bowels means turning off a normal emotional response of compassion toward that person in need. The ESV modernizes this verse to: But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? There are things which you see which should stir your emotions; Bible doctrine in your soul gives you the wisdom to appropriately respond.           4)       The fact that you, as a believer, live by doctrine, does not mean that you ignore or suppress your emotions. There are times when you will face the needs of another person—and this may also provoke an emotional response. You deal with the situation as according to doctrine, which sometimes means that you will render aid and comfort. 16.     There is no divine power in emotions. The power is in thinking like God thinks; the power is, what is going on in your (dare I say it?) heart (the Biblical understanding of the heart). Therefore, your thinking must be based upon Bible doctrine. Emotion has no spiritual connotation. Emotions are a stimuli for action, and therefore must be regarded as a form of human energy.           1)       Emotional stress, for example, causes people to act on impulse. The emotion of fear, also a sin, causes flight. The emotion of disgust causes repulsion. The emotion of anger causes violence.           2)       Instincts are reflex behavior based on emotion rather than thought. Emotion does not contain thought. Therefore, emotion is physiological and not thinking.           3)       A soldier in an intense situation will experience some normal fear; however, he must function according to what he has learned, and not let his fear control him. A soldier who responds to his fear will die and probably get many of his fellow soldiers killed. A soldier who responds to what he has learned will be a great soldier, and the man that you want to fight along side with. This is a wonderful parallel to the spiritual life. 17.     Emotion does not contain the ability to reason. It does not contain common sense. It does not contain vocabulary as a tool for mental function. It has no doctrinal content. Emotion is related to human power and influence, but never to divine power and the mystery doctrine of the church.           1)       Emotion hinders spiritual growth and application of Bible doctrine. 2Cor.6:11-12 tells us that the Corinthians were given sound teaching, but their emotional response (bowels in the original Greek) restricted their understanding. In studying the epistles to the Corinthians, it is clear that many of them were controlled by their emotions and got into various tiffs with one another because of their emotions.           2)       Such believers’ unrestrained or uncontrolled emotional patterns are the basis for criminality, violence, hatred, anger, total involvement in the arrogance complex, which means bitterness, vindictiveness, jealousy, implacability, and self-pity. 18.     Ignorance of Bible doctrine causes people to say things like, You are not saved unless you feel saved; you are not spiritual unless you feel spiritual. Under some conditions, the use of doctrine in recall or application often causes an emotional response, and that is normal, but not necessary.

Addendum: Let me use a political example of how emotions have guided our actions in a wrong direction. There is nothing more heart-wrenching than the iconic photo from the Vietnam war, with the children running and crying. No parent can see a picture like that without it reaching deep into their emotions. Picture is from the London Glossy Post, accessed September 1, 2014. No doubt that millions of people who saw this picture said to themselves, “I just want this horror to stop.” And no doubt, this photo-journalism changed the hearts of many Americans about the war. When Congress de-funded the war in Vietnam, partially as a response to many of their constituents, it did not mean that scenes like this no longer occurred. It simply meant that we no longer saw scenes like this, because there is no such thing as photojournalism when a communist takeover occurs. You no longer see the horror and the slaughter by communist armies, because they do not allow this to happen. After the fall of Saigon (the capitol of South Vietnam), as many as 7.5 million people have been killed by the North Vietnamese and their proxies. When we left Vietnam, the killing and slaughter increased. War for the Vietnamese did not end; it became far, far worse. But, we in the United States no longer had to see pictures like the one above; and some liberals to this day blame these murders, committed by a vicious communist army, on the United States. We are to blame for these deaths, only because we left Vietnam, but not because we went there in the first place. We are in part to blame, but because we de-funded our military, pulled out of troops and deserted our allies, thereby allowing millions to be slaughtered. Most people do not grasp large numbers (anything over 100 or 1000), so they have no frame of reference for the number of people killed in Vietnam. If memory serves, we lost about 58,000 American soldiers in Vietnam. For every 1 American soldier who lost his life, before we pulled out of Vietnam, over 100 civilians lost their lives after we left Vietnam. Communism requires adherents, either emotionally or verbal compliance. Their solution for the millions who oppose them is to kill them. So the horror that the Vietnamese faced was 100x worse after we left Vietnam.

Although there have been apocryphal statements attributed to General Giap (the commander-in-chief of the North Vietnamese army) and his memoirs, there was, in 1995, a Wall Street Journal interview with Bui Tin, a former colonel who served on the general staff of the North Vietnamese army, that included the following exchange: Q: How did Hanoi intend to defeat the Americans? A: By fighting a long war which would break their will to help South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh said, "We don't need to win military victories, we only need to hit them until they give up and get out." Q: Was the American antiwar movement important to Hanoi's victory? A: It was essential to our strategy. Support for the war from our rear was completely secure while the American rear was vulnerable. Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m. to follow the growth of the American antiwar movement. Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses. We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in the war and that she would struggle along with us. Q: Did the Politburo pay attention to these visits? A: Keenly Q: Why? A: Those people represented the conscience of America. The conscience of America was part of its war-making capability, and we were turning that power in our favor. America lost because of its democracy; through dissent and protest it lost the ability to mobilize a will to win. Q: What else? A: We had the impression that American commanders had their hands tied by political factors. Your generals could never deploy a maximum force for greatest military effect. Now, Snopes attributes his remarks to becoming disillusioned with what the communists did in Vietnam; but, since he was living in freedom when he gave this interview, it is more likely that he expressed what he believed to be the truth.

My point in that tangent is, our national response to Vietnam should not have been based upon the great emotions which many of us had in that era, but upon what was the right thing to do, for the world and for the South Vietnamese. Pulling out suddenly and letting millions of them be slaughtered was not the right thing to do.

Jacob has stolen the blessing which Isaac had for Esau. Jacob false believed that one might gain honor and riches through deception and manipulation. As a result, his brother Esau was extremely angry.

Gen. 27:41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob. (MKJV)

This has led us to study a plethora of doctrines. However, before we get to the concept of emotional revolt of the soul, we need to understand what the Bible means when it speaks of the heart.

Much of the doctrine below was taken directly from the sources cited in the Bibliography without editing. The bulk of this doctrine came from Bible Doctrine Resources, which posts mostly doctrines from R. B. Thieme, Jr. However, some of what is found below is original, as all 4 sources failed to deal with modern translations, which confuses the issue by their translation.

There are a great many technical terms found in this study—some of which we have studies and many of which we have not. Their definitions can be found at Doctrinal Terms and Definitions (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). This is now about 30 pages long.

The Doctrine of the Heart

1.       Definition and Description of the Heart.

          1)       The physiological heart is rarely used in the Bible. However, it makes for a great analogy; therefore, let’s spend some time examining the physiological heart.

                     (1)      The physiological heart is an intricately woven muscle which by rhythmic contraction circulates the blood.

                     (2)      It is estimated that the heart pumps five quarts of blood every minute, 75 gallons an hour, and 70 barrels a day, and about 18 million barrels in seventy years.

                     (3)      The heart's anatomy and relation to the circulatory system includes a double pump: two atriums and two ventricles. The ventricles have a four ounce volume and the atria a five ounce volume.

                     (4)      The thick muscular walls of the ventricles are primarily responsible to pump the blood. Used blood is low in oxygen and high in CO₂. To be cleansed, the used blood enters the right atrium through the superior and inferior vena cava. Used blood is like false ideas we pick up in life.

                     (5)      The right ventricle pumps blood through the pulmonary artery to the lungs where it discharges CO₂ and picks up oxygen from the alveoli. Then the blood travels through the pulmonary veins to the left atrium which in turns pumps the oxygen in the refreshed blood out through the aorta to the entire body.

                                i          So with metabolized doctrine (Bible doctrine that you believe): it is pumped through various valves and circulates through the brain, giving you a dynamic mental attitude.

                                ii         Likewise, the CO₂ of the soul, i.e., all the false and erroneous ideas we've learned, must be replaced by the oxygen of Bible doctrine. All that is accomplished in the heart or right lobe.

                                iii        Just as breathing and the replenishing of oxygen is a day-by-day operation, so is the taking in of Bible doctrine, so that we might breathe out false doctrine.

                     (6)      The function of the blood is to bathe tissues with fluid, preserving their slight alkaline condition, supplying tissues with food and oxygen, to provide building material for their growth and repair, distribute heat generated by cells and equalizes body temperature, carry hormones which coordinate and stimulate the activities of various organs, and convey antibodies and white blood cells which fight infection. Blood cannot support life unless it keeps circulating. Each day that we take in Bible doctrine, it is pumped throughout our soul (the doctrine which we believe) and it renews the thinking of the soul. Bible doctrine circulating in the soul as a result of the function of the Grace Apparatus for Perception (GAP) provides these same functions. This begins and is accomplished in the heart, or what we call the right lobe of your soul. When we do not take in Bible doctrine, then this is analogous to breathing in air which lacks oxygen.

                     (7)      If blood flow is cut off to the brain, the person loses consciousness in three to five seconds; after fifteen to twenty seconds the body twitches convulsively; if more than nine minutes, the mental powers of the brain are irrevocably destroyed. The muscles of the heart can only survive loss of blood flow for thirty minutes. These facts emphasize the vital importance of the heart to our life. The energy used by the heart is fantastic.

                     (8)      Many tissues of the body use as little as one-fourth of the oxygen brought to them by the blood. The heart uses eighty percent of the oxygen brought to it by the blood. Therefore, the amount of blood supplied to the heart is extremely important, especially when its activity raises its demand for oxygen. That is analogous to positive volition.

                     (9)      Blood is piped into the heart muscle through two large coronary arteries which curl around the surface of the heart. The heart transforms chemical energy into the mechanical energy of contraction very similar to the conversion of energy in the automobile engine.

                                i          In both cases, the human heart and the combustion engine, the fuel is suddenly exploded in exactly the same way, by electrical spark.

                                ii         In both the human heart and the combustion engine, fuel is complex, and the explosions involve a series of chemical reactions.

                                iii        In fact, in the human heart and the combustion engine, the explosion occurs in the cylinders. The cylinders of the human heart are muscle cells which not only contain fuel, but are able to replenish it themselves. The replenishment comes from products supplied by the blood.

                                iv        Likewise, our spiritual heart transfers academic thought into spiritual energy.

                     (10)    The mechanical efficiency of the cells, i.e., the fraction of the total energy that can be converted into mechanical energy, has not been equaled by anything made by man up to the pre-atomic age. Seventy-two times a minute your heart's pacemaker, the S-A node, generates electricity.

                     (11)    All of these statements provide fantastic analogies to the heart or right lobe of the soul as the circulator of Bible doctrine into the thinking part of the soul. When Bible doctrine reaches the heart, Bible doctrine is converted into spiritual energy, i.e., the ten problem solving devices, divine viewpoint, and the momentum of the spiritual life. No one can grow spiritually except through perception of Bible doctrine. 2Peter 3:18a But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (NIV). That is a command, not a suggestion!

                     (12)    Until the atomic age, nothing man made ever came close to the efficiency of energy transfer compared to the heart.

                     (13)    Psalm 139:13-14 For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well. (ESV; capitalized)

                                i          This passage recognizes what God has done in grace in providing the human body. The human body is a grace asset; we don't earn or deserve it. No matter what kind of person we are, we all can metabolize food and breathe air. Health is not determined by merit.

                                ii         Health can be impacted by volition, however. Our daily decisions can impact what happens to our body.

                                iii        The psalmist recognizes the wonder of the human body, which he understands from the right lobe of his soul.

2.       The Great Analogy. Just as the physical heart is the pump that circulates blood throughout the body and thereby supports physical life, so the right lobe of the soul circulates Bible doctrine supporting the spiritual life of the believer. Bible Doctrine is actually perceived and understood in the left lobe of the soul, but it is in the right lobe where it is actually circulated and utilized.

          1)       The mentality of the soul is divided into two lobes: The left lobe, called the noús (νούς) [pronounced noose], meaning mind or thought; and the right lobe, called kardia (καρδία) [pronounced kahr-DEE-uh], meaning heart. This is noted in Job 38:36 "Who endowed the heart with wisdom, or who gave understanding to the mind?"

          2)       The right lobe is the dominant lobe designed by God to dominate the entire soul. Whenever you are logical, analytical, or categorical in your thinking, you are using your heart. 1Sam. 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

          3)       Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinks in his right lobe [heart], so he is. The verb to think is shâʿar (שָעַר) [pronounced shaw-ĢAHR], which means to split open; to reason [out], to calculate, to reckon, to estimate. Strong’s #8176 BDB #1045.

          4)       The mind is the staging area, where information is received; it is believed and then it is pumped throughout the soul. This can be truth, but this can also be false information.

          5)       This is the dichotomous action of the heart choosing for or against the ways of God through discernment based on what he has received in his heart, cosmic system thinking (demon influence) or the Word of God.

          6)       What we breathe into our heart circulates throughout our entire soul.

3.       The Biblical Vocabulary. The Biblical nouns for heart always refer to the right lobe of the soul; they do not refer to the physiological heart.

                     (1)      The Hebrew lêb (לֵב) [pronounced lay^bv] and the Greek kardia (καρδία) [pronounced kahr-DEE-uh] are both translated heart. Both are used outside the Bible for the literal heart, but never so used in the Bible.

                     (2)      The usage of the words for heart is based on analogy. Just as the physical heart is the pump that circulates blood throughout the body and thereby supports physical life, so the right lobe of the soul circulates doctrine supporting the spiritual life of the believer. The doctrine is actually understood in the left lobe, but it is in the right lobe where it is actually circulated and utilized.

                     (3)      The word "heart" connotes many things in English.

                                i          The core of something.

                                ii         In cards, it is a suit; also the game "hearts."

                                iii        It is used for emotion, "He is all heart."

                                iv        There is the false statement, “He has a head belief and not a heart belief.” The implication here is, the person did not involve his emotions when believing in Jesus Christ. However, there is a proper way to understand this—the gospel is heard by the mind, it is considered; and if it is believed, then it is transferred to the heart (and to the human spirit) where it becomes the most fundamental piece of spiritual information. Rom. 10:10 ...for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (NASB)

                     (4)      The Bible never uses the heart for emotion (in the original languages). Faith comes from the heart because faith is thinking, not emotion. However, in some modern translations, words which do not mean heart are sometimes translated heart. This will be discussed in greater detail later on.

                     (5)      The mentality of the soul is divided into two lobes: the left lobe, called the noús (νούς) [pronounced noose], meaning mind, thought; and the right lobe, called kardia, meaning heart.

                     (6)      The left lobe is the reception area. It is the perception—you hear things and consider them in your left lobe. However, when you hear something and believe it, then it is transferred to the right lobe of the soul.

                     (7)      The right lobe is the dominant lobe designed by God to dominate the entire soul. Whenever you are logical, analytical, or categorical in your thinking, you are using your heart. 1Sam. 16:7.

          2)       Kardia was used in secular Greek in both a literal and metaphorical sense.

                     (1)      Among the Greeks, the noun kardia was primarily used literally in a physiological sense as the central organ of the body of man or beast (Homer Iliad, 10, 94).

                     (2)      It also appears in the figurative sense, especially in the poets, infrequently in prose, for the heart as the seat of moral and intellectual life.

                     (3)      The word was used to denote the seat of emotions and passions like anger (Homer, Iliad, 9, 646).

                     (4)      Aristotle for whom the heart is primarily the center of the blood-stream, and hence the center of physical life in general, locates the emotions in the neighborhood of the kardia on the basis of his physiology of the senses.

                     (5)      In Stoicism the heart is in some sense the central organ of intellectual life, the seat of reason, from which feeling, willing and thinking proceed (cf. Chrysippus).

                     (6)      The noun kardia was also used figuratively of nature, the “inward part,” the “core” of a plant or “kernel” of a tree.

          3)       However, the Bible does not use the word heart to mean emotion.

                     (1)      Emotions are designed to respond to thinking that comes from the heart of your soul, never the other way around. Faith too comes from the heart because faith is thinking, not emotion. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17; NASB). The truth of Scripture is heard, evaluated by the mind, and then, ideally speaking, believed.

                     (2)      2Corinthians 6:11–12 Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections (emotions). (translation probably by R. B. Thieme, Jr.) Notice that emotions and heart are in contrast in this passage. Therefore, emotions are not a part of the function of the heart/right lobe of the soul.

                     (3)      Romans 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. This is a reference to the person who is negatively influenced and led by their emotions.

                     (4)      Romans 6:17–18 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. This is a reference to the person who has rejected emotional control of the soul and is instead led by the Word of God circulating in their soul which causes them to build upon their souls with more and more Bible Doctrine.

                     (5)      However, bear in mind, in more modern translations, words for emotions (not heart) are translated heart from time to time.

4.       First Mentions of Heart in the Bible.

          1)       Gen 6:5–6 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

                     (1)      This tells us that in the days leading up to the flood man stopped taking in and applying the Word of God. He was not cycling the Word within his soul. As a result, God's heart was grieved by man's predicament.

                     (2)      Here the word heart is used of both man and God. As for God this is both an anthropomorphism and an anthropopathism, as we know God is not built like man and is instead a spiritual being without the blood pumping organ or brain as we have, nor does He think the way we do, or have the emotions we have.

                     (3)      Anthropomorphism is a physical attribute of man ascribed to God, which He does not literally possess in order for man to understand something about God and His policy toward man by the use of language of accommodation. Likewise an anthropopathism ascribes to God mental characteristics found in man to describe God's thinking and God's planning in human terms.

          2)       The First Mention in the New Testament, Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

                     (1)      This verse tells us that when we have the cleansing of our soul through the circulation of the Word of God through our heart, we will come to have knowledge and understanding of who and what God is and our relationship with Him.

                     (2)      Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. (HCSB)

          3)       The Second Mention is in Matthew 5:28 "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." The second mention tells us that our heart can also be a place of sin influence over our soul when we allow temptation from our Sin Nature to circulate through our heart/soul.

          4)       Just as the first two mentions of heart in the Old Testament had the meaning of sinfulness verses the thinking of God, the New Testament's first two mentions show the same potential dichotomy in man's heart but in reverse order.

5.       The Heart is a Part of the Essence of the Soul. In Scripture, the heart is used for the right lobe of the soul. This distributes all knowledge, thinking, wisdom, and divine viewpoint throughout the entire mentality, just as the physiological heart distributes nourishment throughout the entire body.

          1)       The heart is used in the Bible for the place of thinking, the location of your vocabulary and categories of thought. Therefore, the heart is the thinking function of the soul. The Lord's evaluation of you is what you think. 1Sam. 16:7 The Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his outward appearance or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. God sees not as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Compare Prov. 23:7 As a man thinks in his right lobe [heart], so he is. (Translation probably from R. B. Thieme, Jr.)

          2)       The Lord looks in your heart and sees how much doctrine is circulating through the component parts of your right lobe.

          3)       The soul is composed of at least four invisible but real parts: self-consciousness (Acts 20:10), mentality (Prov. 19:2), volition (Acts 3:23), and emotion (Luke 12:19).

          4)       The mentality of the soul is divided into two parts: the left and right lobes. The right lobe is where you do your thinking, analyzing, applying of knowledge, and is the seat of common sense. The left lobe is your place of assimilating information and the area where your talent functions. R. B. Thieme, Jr. often calls this the staging area. It can be seen as the waiting room or the entry hall. This is where information comes first and is evaluated.

          5)       Brain scientists indicate that two persons inhabit our heads, each residing in the two separate hemispheres of our brain.

          6)       According to scientists, one is verbal, analytical, and dominant, while the other is mute and mysterious.

          7)       Scientists classify the non-speaking side as the right hemisphere (we call it the left lobe).

          8)       In the Bible we classify the mute side as the left lobe and the verbal hemisphere as the right

          9)       The two half brains are linked together by millions of nerves forming a thick cable called the corpus callosum.

          10)     In cases of severe epilepsy, this cable sometimes has to be cut. This results in some strange occurrences. The left side of the brain no longer knows what the right side is doing, yet the speaking half of the patient is controlled by left lobe. The person still insists on finding excuses for whatever the left side has done. His thinking part is severed from his non-thinking part and still operates under the illusion that he is one person, and that his lobes are combined. The two halves of the brain are integrated into a single mentality with the speaking half called the "heart" by the Bible.

          11)     Scientists say that the left hemisphere has a language ability and is analytical; and the right hemisphere is artistic and talented. Talented people tend to live using mostly the non-thinking part of their brain.

          12)     A child is about two years old before the link between his two hemispheres is completed. And it doesn't become completely functional until he is about ten years old. After age ten, one side of the brain is used for synthesis, spacial perception and music, while the other side performs sequential, verbal, analytical, and computer-like activities.

          13)     Scientists contend that excellence in one hemisphere tends to interfere with top level performance in the other. The conclusion is that most talented people aren't smart or analytical.

Operation Z

          14)     What does the Bible say? The heart is part of the essence of the soul; it is the thinking, reasoning part. It is designed to dominate the soul. Therefore, it must be the target for doctrinal teaching, 1Kings 3:9,12 Psalm 119:11 19:14. To reach the target, Bible doctrine must pass through two staging areas: the left lobe and the human spirit. (See the Doctrine of Operation Z.) Graphic of Operation Z, taken from Bible Doctrine Resources, but it is not original with them. R. B. Thieme, Jr. developed this concept and did the first graphics for it. This particular graphic may have come from Jim Oliver. See Country Bible Church for a similar graphic. All of these are accessed September 29, 2014.

6.       Summary of the Compartments of the Heart. Throughout this doctrine we have been utilizing the analogy of a "filing cabinet" to explain how the kardia/heart of the soul works. Basically the Heart is the overall filing cabinet. It is the central resource center of your soul, the place where information is entered, stored, and available for recall and application. As we have noted in this doctrine, there are 6–8 compartments in the heart of your soul so we will use the "filing cabinet" analogy to describe these compartments.

          1)       The Frame of Reference is analogous to the various drawers within the filing cabinet. The drawers provide initial access to the central resource center for storing and finding information within our souls.

          2)       The Memory Center is the actual files you place within the filing cabinet. It is the actual storage of information within your soul.

          3)       Vocabulary Storage is analogous to the tabs or headings we put on files as a technical reference to the information within the files providing us easy access and recall.

          4)       Categorical Storage is the order and arrangement of files, the systematic grouping of reference material for application.

          5)       The Conscience is the scanning of information within a file to use as a basis of reference, establishing guidelines regarding the situations of life.

          6)       Finally, we arrive at the Launching Pad. The Launching Pad is the place where the things stored in the filing cabinet are gathered together for use and application. It is the animated process of removing a file and utilizing what is in that file. For example, you are faced with a disastrous situation in life. The Frame of Reference sends initial general reference points that are related to the situation. Then the Memory Center sends in recalled details and data regarding those reference points. This is followed by the Vocabulary sending technical specifications that can be used for the situation. Next, the Categorical Storage compartment sends supporting data from multiple reference points. Then the Conscience brings forth reasoning based on all the norms and standards built in your soul from accumulated Bible Doctrine that has flowed through it. Finally the Launching Pad gathers together all supporting materials, stages them for launch, and thrusts them forward within your soul so that the Wisdom of God flows throughout your soul and can be applied to the situation you are faced with. This all occurs under the function of your very own Royal Priesthood through the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit working within your soul.

7.       Spiritual Growth is the Result of Building Up Your Heart with the Word of God.

          1)       As a result of having Bible doctrine in the Frame of Reference, moving it into the Memory Center, Vocabulary and Categorical storage, developing Norms and Standards in the Conscience coupled with faith application from the Launching Pad, we then have a growth factor from metabolized Bible doctrine which moves us to spiritual maturity.

          2)       Although the entire process can be quite complex, our involvement is quite simple.

                     (1)      When we eat and breathe, our contribution is fairly simple. Breathing is automatic; and eating is according to our taste (although most of us realize that some foods are better for us than other foods).

                     (2)      The process by which air taken into our lungs and then is sent throughout our bodies, refreshing and replenishing, is rather complex. No one knows the entire process and all that is involved. Most people don’t know much beyond the breathing in of oxygen and the breathing out of CO₂. But, even though our knowledge of this function which sustains and renews our bodies is fairly difficult to understand, all we do is breathe. The body which God has designed takes care of the rest.

                     (3)      The same thing is true of Bible doctrine in the soul. All we do is listen and believe. God has designed our human spirit to take care of the rest. We may understand that we take in doctrine in our perceptive lobe (the left lobe), believe it, and it become imprinted on our heart (the right lobe); but even if we don’t know this, it still occurs.

                     (4)      Our contribution is simple. We need only have positive volition toward the Word of God. We listen, we believe, and God handles the rest.

          3)       This is the status in which spiritual growth is obtained as a result of momentum inside God's power system for your spiritual walk. This is accomplished through the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit and momentum from the Word of God metabolized within your soul. Learning God's Word provides momentum and motivation to learn more of God's Word. This is the momentum factor of spiritual phenomenon resulting in God's wisdom applied to your life.

          4)       There are two categories of spiritual growth.

                     (1)      Normal spiritual growth that comes from the renewing of your mind post-salvation. Ephesians 4:23–24 And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. This is accomplished through the Grace Apparatus for Perception (GAP) which includes the three R's by means of the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit.

                                i          Receptive comprehension, faith upon hearing.

                                ii         Retention, the metabolization of Bible doctrine, converting gnosis into epignosis doctrine and storing it within the Heart of your soul.

                                iii        Recall, the application of the Word resident within your soul from the Launching Pad of the Heart resulting in Wisdom.

                     (2)      Accelerated spiritual growth as a result of suffering for blessing. The acceleration of your spiritual growth comes from the application of metabolized Bible doctrine and the function of the Problem Solving Devices when you are faced with pressure and adversity in life.

                                i          As is the general rule, we tend to learn at an accelerated rate when we are faced with difficulties or perceived failures within our lives. This is in contrast to the times of success and prosperity when we are comfortable, think we are all set and "have it all down pat". In the latter the trend is to not turn to God, His wisdom or power.

                                ii         But in times of difficulty and pressure, we find ourselves in a position of hopelessness and helplessness when it comes to human solutions and our human resources. In these times, like no other, we are narrowed in our application to utilize the power of God, His Word and Spirit.

                                iii        This is called Suffering for Blessing, which is facing difficulties, disasters, or pressure when we are walking with God. This is in contrast to divine discipline, when due to our negative volition, God allows discipline to come into our lives to wake us up.

                                iv        You can learn from divine discipline, punitive suffering, the law of volitional responsibility, and self-induced misery. But that is a slow process and does not necessarily advance you to Spiritual Self-Esteem. In those instances, if you wake up and get back in fellowship with God, the discipline is turned into Suffering for Blessing.

                                v         Suffering for Blessing has three categories related to three stages of spiritual adulthood, which moves us forward and provides momentum to achieve further spiritual growth in spiritual adulthood.

                                vi        1Corinthians 9:24–27 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

8.       Happiness is related to the heart.

          1)       Prov. 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. Having a joyful heart means you share God's happiness (+H) in your right lobe.

          2)       Prov. 15:13-15 A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken. The heart of the intelligent seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly. All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.

                     (1)      God's +H in the right lobe makes for a cheerful face, a marvelous life, and animation. But the spirit is broken when the heart is sad, down, or complaining.

                     (2)      But the spirit is broken meaning the heart is sad, down, or complaining when you do not have the Word in your right lobe.

                     (3)      The heart of the intelligent seeks knowledge, means that your motivation for learning more Bible doctrine comes from the Bible doctrine you already have in your right lobe.

                     (4)      Eventually your motivation for learning more doctrine comes from the doctrine you already have in your right lobe.

                     (5)      The mouth of a fool feeds on folly refers to the believer or unbeliever who fills his heart with false doctrine.

                     (6)      The continual feast means continuous circulation of Bible doctrine in the heart with never ending supply and sustenance.

          3)       2Cor. 6:11-12 O you Corinthians, our mouth has been opened face to face with you [in teaching], because our hearts [right lobes] have been enlarged [by maximum doctrine in the right lobe of the soul]. Therefore, you have not been hindered by us [in your spiritual life]; you have been hindered by your own emotions [= bowels in the Greek]. (translation probably R. B. Thieme, Jr.)

                     (1)      The Corinthians had receptive comprehension but no retention.

                     (2)      Notice that emotions and heart are in contrast in this passage. Therefore, emotions are not a part of the function of the right lobe of the soul.

                     (3)      You have may have made the mistake of arguing with a liberal and then quoted some bit of information, survey, scientific study, etc. Then, you wonder why you have not won the argument. They hear this in their left lobe (the mind), but, whatever consideration is given it still rejects the information due to the emotions controlling the soul. Therefore, it is never transferred over to the right lobe. The heart never accepts that information because they do not believe it. They may say, “Well, you heard that on Fox News” (which they may call Faux News); or they may say, “You can make a scientific survey (or poll, or whatever) say anything.” Their emotional understanding of the topic at hand prevents them from believing what you say. This is the problem of the Corinthians when hearing doctrine taught by Paul. Paul presented the absolute truth to them, but they rejected this truth because it did not line up with their thinking that was controlled by their emotions.

9.       The heart is related to perception and thinking.

          1)       The heart is related to perception of Bible doctrine. Deut. 29:4 “Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know.”

          2)       The heart is related to thinking in terms of reversionism in Psalm 10:6, 11, 13 reveals the human viewpoint thinking of the reversionist related to the heart. He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved to all generations, I shall not be in adversity.” He says in his heart, “God has forgotten me, He has hidden His face from me. He will never see it. Why has the wicked [believer] spurned God?” He has said in his heart, “You will not hold me responsible.”

          3)       The thinking of the atheist is related to the heart. Psalm 14:1 The fool has thought in his heart, “There is no God.”

          4)       The heart is related to rationalizing mental attitudes. The rationalizing maladjustment to the justice of God is found in Isa. 47:10 “And you felt secure in your evil, and you said to yourself, `No one sees me.' Your evil wisdom and your human viewpoint knowledge has deluded you, for you have thought in your heart, `I am, and there is no one as good as I am.' "

          5)       False teachers communicate false doctrine from the deceit of their heart. Jer. 14:14

          6)       The heart is the place where people think they are superior to others. Luke 9:46-47 Now a controversy entered among them as to which of the disciples was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the thinking in their hearts...

          7)       The heart is used for meditation on Bible doctrine. Luke 2:19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

10.     Negative Functions of the Heart or Right Lobe. We have primarily studied the heart as related to the growth of a believer. However, that is not always the way heart is used. The heart is the right lobe for the souls of unbelievers and reversionistic believers as well.

          1)       The heart can reject Bible teaching, as in Prov. 5:12-14. The heart negative to Bible doctrine refuses to concentrate. When you don't like what you hear, then you are unteachable and a candidate for reversionism. How I have hated instruction of doctrine, and my heart has spurned reproof, and I have not listened to the voice of my teacher nor inclined my ear to the instructor. I almost came to ruin in the middle of the assembly of the congregation.

          2)       When doctrine (or, establishment truth, in the case of the unbeliever) is rejected, then there is a vacuum which sucks in that which is false. When this is the case, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. (Jer. 17:9)

          3)       Negative volition toward the standards of God, will result in a man’s thinking being filled with sin. Matt. 15:15–20 But Peter said to him, "Explain the parable to us." And he said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."

          4)       The heart is the source of discord and troublemaking, which leads to strife and conspiracy. Prov. 6:14, 18 The one who by distortion or perversity in his heart devises evil continually, he is the one who is the spreader of strife. A heart that devises wicked conspiracy, feet run rapidly to evil. (Translation probably by R. B. Thieme, Jr.)

          5)       The woman uses heart thinking to entice the male for personal gain without love.

                     (1)      The heart of the prostitute is subtle. Prov. 7:10 And behold a woman comes to meet him dressed magnificently like a prostitute and very cunning of heart. (Translation probably by R. B. Thieme, Jr.)

                     (2)      Eccles. 7:26 I have discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and in her hands she has chains. However, the person who is pleasing God [doctrine in the right lobe] will escape from her. But the sinning one [arrogant male] will be captured by her. (Translation probably by R. B. Thieme, Jr.)

                     (3)      A woman can often do a lot of thinking, but it's not objective, doctrinal, professional or academic thinking; it is thinking used to bring attention to herself in whatever way she wants attention. This is thinking in terms of "snares and nets", and in her hands she has chains. She will be very flattering and conniving, and once she catches you by your arrogance, your arrogance will chain you to her.

                     (4)      One thing that will destroy wisdom, I.Q., and ability to look at life from the divine viewpoint is the dumb arrogant male succumbing to the flattery of a woman, using him for her own advancement or pleasure.

          6)       The heart suffers disappointment from broken promises, Prov. 13:12. The heart is the source of frustrations. Frustration is a thought. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

          7)       The heart is the environment for mental attitude sins.

                     (1)      2Sam. 6:16 Now when it came to pass that the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, then Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked out the window and she saw David dancing before the Lord; consequently she despised him in her heart. You hate and love in your right lobe. Both love and hate are a system and function of thinking.

                     (2)      Prov. 14:10 The heart knows its own bitterness. Bitterness is one of the greatest of all sins of arrogance. It infiltrates the right lobe and neutralizes whatever doctrine is there. And a stranger does not share its joy.

                     (3)      Sorrow and disappointment (Prov. 14:13).

                     (4)      Pride (Prov. 21:4; Obad. 3).

                     (5)      Arrogance is found in Prov. 21:4 Haughty eyes and an arrogant heart, the lamp of the wicked is sin. In other words, once you have arrogance in your right lobe, whatever its manifestation, this becomes your lamp for life and it sets aside all doctrine.

                     (6)      In Obad. 3, arrogance deceives you and causes you to make a fool of yourself. The arrogance of your heart has deceived you.

                     (7)      Worry is found in Eccles. 2:23.

                     (8)      Deceitfulness is found in Jer. 17:9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else and becomes a source of desperate wickedness.

                     (9)      Women use the heart to trap men (Eccl. 7:26).

          8)       The frantic search for happiness is related to the heart in Eccles. 1:13.

          9)       Revolution and insubordination are described as being a part of the thinking of the heart. 2Sam. 15:6 So Absalom stole away the hearts of the men of Israel. Jer. 5:23 But this people have a stubborn and a rebellious heart. They have turned aside and departed from Me. See also Ezek 6:9.

          10)     Hypocrisy is related to thinking in the heart, for you can think one thing and express another thing overtly. Psalm 55:21 His speech was smoother than butter, but his heart was at war with me. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords, ready to stab me.

          11)     Superficial gaiety doesn't indicate the true state of the individual's heart or right lobe. Prov. 14:13 Even in times of laughter, the heart may be in pain, and the end of the party may be grief.

          12)     Reversionism is described in terms of the heart, Jer. 17:5 So says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who depends on mankind and makes flesh his strength. His heart has turned away from the Lord [negative volition to Bible doctrine].” Jer. 17:9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else and becomes a source of desperate wickedness.

          13)     The heart related to negative thinking:

                     (1)      Thinking of reversionism (Psalm 10:6, 11, 13).

                     (2)      Thinking of atheism (Psalm 14:1).

                     (3)      Rationalization of education (Eccles. 1:13-18).

                     (4)      Rationalization of mental attitude sins (Isa. 47:10).

                     (5)      Communication of false teachers from the deceit of their hearts (Jer. 14:14).

                     (6)      Meditation on doctrine (Luke 2:19).

                     (7)      Ambitious thinking (Luke 9:46, 47).

                     (8)      Reversionism in the heart results in national disaster (Deut. 28:47–48).

                     (9)      Revenge is a malfunction of the heart (Prov. 24:1, 2 Ezek. 25:15-17).

                     (10)    The heart is related to psychosis (Isa. 13:7, 8).

                     (11)    Mental attitude sins relate the old sin nature to the heart (Psalm 66:18 101:5 Prov. 6:18 Matt. 12:35 15:18, 19 Luke 6:45 24:25).

          14)     So the heart is related to any kind of failure in life. In other words, the real you is what you think. Your life is not what others see overtly, though it may reflect good or bad thoughts, right or wrong priorities.

A more complete Doctrine of the Heart (which is 40 pages long) is found here: (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

We have been studying Isaac and Jacob and Esau; and Jacob has stolen Esau’s end-of-life blessing from their father Isaac. Esau is so upset with this, he is comforting himself with the fantasy of killing Jacob. Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob." (Gen. 27:41; ESV) Not only does he incessantly think about this, but he talks about it as well, to the point where, even their mother Rebecca hears about it. Esau is allowing his emotions to dominate his soul. He is in emotional revolt of the soul.

How Esau feels cannot be changed by anyone but him. If he acts on this basis of his hatred against Jacob, then Jacob can only respond with a greater force. My guess is, based upon the fact that Esau is an outdoors man and Jacob is a man of the tents, that Esau is stronger and more fit than Jacob.

Application: There are foolish people who believe that they can establish some kind of a lasting peace between modern-day Israel and the Palestinians. That cannot occur. The people of Palestine suffer from emotional revolt in their souls. The only peace that they will agree to is peace that will allow them to rearm in order to prepare for war again. Their rage remains, and you cannot reason with rage. You cannot bring rage to a peace accord. You can control rage with one thing only—a greater force.

Application: Some people think that the bitterness between Jews and Palestinians goes back many centuries. Wrong! There have been periods of time when there was relative peace between the peoples; and there have been Palestinians who live in peace in Israel throughout the history of the new Israel since inception. Hatred and emotional revolt of the soul come from the teaching of one generation to the next; and the acceptance of the new generation of the hatred which they are taught. Every individual with hatred in his soul develops and nurtures that hatred on their own (although many have been taught this way from their youth).

We have been studying several doctrines which are related to Esau’s mental attitude sins driving him to a point where he wants to murder his twin brother Jacob.

We have mentioned the term reversionism on several occasions; particularly in the past two doctrines. Therefore, this ought to be defined.

Reversionism is a state of being as well as a set of actions where a believer reverts back to a former state, habit, belief, or practice of sinning. Reversionism is the status of the believer who fails to execute the plan of God for the Church Age. He returns to his pre-salvation modus operandi and modus vivendi. Reversionism can also refer to the unbeliever who once embraced the laws of divine establishment and now rejects it.

This is where we last left off in our exegetical study of Gen. 27: Jacob has stolen from Esau the end-of-life blessing spoken by Isaac at the urging of their mother, Rebekah. Their father gives this end-of-life blessing (even though Isaac will actually not die for a long time) to Jacob, thinking that he is blessing Esau. When Esau finds out, then he is filled with hatred and rage toward his brother Jacob. His soul is controlled by the emotion of hatred.

Genesis 27:41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

Because of the hatred in his heart, Esau now fantasizes about killing his brother Jacob. When his father dies (and everyone expects that to occur relatively soon), then Esau will kill Jacob. And then he not only relishes this fantasy within his own soul, but he shares this fantasy with anyone who will listen. Because he shares this fantasy of fratricide, his mother hears about it, and seeks to save her favorite son, Jacob.

It was Esau’s emotion of hatred and his fantasy of killing Jacob, that took us off on a doctrinal detour for 4 lessons.

Genesis 27:42 And these words of her older son Esau were told to Rebekah. And she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.

Esau spends so much time talking about his desire to kill Jacob, that their mother, Rebekah, finally hears about it, and she speaks to Jacob and warns him.

Esau is not simply thinking about killing Jacob; he is thinking of all the ways that he might kill Jacob. He is developing plans by which this might be done. These thoughts give him so much pleasure that he is sharing them with others. So his heart is filled with hatred and thoughts of revenge.

Genesis 27:43–44 And now, my son, obey my voice and arise. Flee for yourself to my brother Laban, to Haran, and stay with him a few days until your brother's fury turns away,...

Rebekah tells her son Isaac to flee to the east, and to go to live with her brother Laban who lives in Haran (Charan). A few days appears to be euphemistic for a long time—it will take a few days to get anywhere near the border of the Land of Promise. Quite obviously, Rebekah did not want to lose her son for many years, so she speaks of this time as being just a few days. However, she will never see him again. Rebekah’s plot to steal the final blessing from Isaac was a serious mistake for both her and Jacob (Jacob is an adult male, so he has no excuse for his actions). This plan of Rebekah’s will result in her never being able to see her favorite son again.

Rebekah favored Jacob and she helped him plot to take Isaac’s end-of-life blessing meant for Esau. Neither of them really thought this through, and did not realize just how angry Esau would become.

We know in retrospect that such blessings from God as spoken by a man of God are not completely from the soul of the man of God, but often emanate from the Holy Spirit speaking through the man. Deception was not necessary; God has everything under control.

There is an extreme example of this in Num. 22–24, where a prophet of God was hired by the King of Moab to curse Israel, but he ended up blessing Israel instead. These cursings and blessings have meaning, and God overrules the intentions of man when it is necessary.

Therefore, we know that, when Isaac blesses Jacob, it will be the correct blessing, no matter what. However, what happened here is somewhat of a mess. All of these people are in the plan of God, and yet they have managed to screw everything up. Isaac and Rebekah are both playing favorites; and therefore, their sons are pitted against one another. Jacob believes that it is necessary to deceive his own father; and Esau believes that it is necessary to kill his own brother. God is able to take such family dysfunction and work it out to His Own glory.

Genesis 27:43–44 [Rebekah is speaking to Jacob]: “And now, my son, obey my voice and arise. Flee for yourself to my brother Laban, to Haran, and stay with him a few days until your brother's fury subsides,...

Since Jacob is heir to the promise, we might think that God would step in at this point, and say, “No, Jacob, you are in the Land of Promise right now; this is the land I am giving you. You should not leave it.” But God does not do that. God wants the biggest con-man west of Charan to meet his uncle Laban, the greatest con-man of their extended family. God wants Jacob to come face to face with someone who behaves just as he does; and to (ideally speaking) make judgments about his own behavior based upon the actions of his Uncle Laban. Jacob needs to know what it is like to have someone you trust lie and deceive you; and use your own good intentions in order to manipulate you.

Jacob and his mother pulled a switcheroo for this blessing; and not too far in the future, Leah and her father (Rebekah’s brother Laban) will pull a switcheroo on Jacob. We will find out that deception is both a family trait and an art form for Rebekah’s side of the family.

Genesis 27:45 ...until your brother's anger turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I also be bereaved of both of you in one day?”

Rebekah speaks of losing Esau and losing Jacob. If Esau killed Jacob, then Esau would either flee for his own life; or he would be executed for killing another man. Either way, Rebekah would lose both of her sons. With the few words that Rebekah has said, it is not clear whether she realizes that Esau will wait for the death of his father before killing Jacob. However, at this point in time, Isaac was not expected to live very long.

Now, let’s go back one chapter and read:

Gen. 26:34–35 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. (ESV)

There are times that we have this or that passage (like the one above), and it is difficult to determine, why is this passage here? What does this have to do with my own spiritual advance? What do I get out of this?

First of all, not everything is about you. Secondly, this passage is integral to our exegesis. There is a problem which has plagued Isaac and Rebekah’s family for some time, and that is, the wives of Esau. We know nothing about these women individually except that they made life bitter of Isaac and Rebekah. So, even though Isaac favors Esau, he still has problems with the wives of Esau. We do not know the exact nature of these problems.

In v. 35, we have the 3^rd person feminine plural, Qal imperfect of hâyâh (הָיָה) [pronounced haw-YAW], which usually means to be, is, was, are; to become, to come into being; to come to pass. Strong's #1961 BDB #224. This tells us that the wives of Esau initiate the action of the verb. Sometimes the verb to be can mean to have. What these two women have or are is, the feminine singular construct of môrâh (מֹרָה) [pronounced moh-RAW], which means bitterness, grief, sadness. This is the noun cognate for a verb which means to rebel, to resist, to oppose; to be bitter. Strong’s #4786 BDB #601. This is affixed to the feminine singular noun rûwach (רוּחַ) [pronounced ROO-ahkh], which means, wind, breath, spirit, apparition. Strong’s #7307 BDB #924. So these women are (or, these women have; or, these women exhibit) a bitterness of spirit toward Isaac and Rebekah.

If you know anything about in-laws, you know that they come in all categories. Some in-laws just blend right into the family and they become a part of your family. Some in-laws are not very close and have to be coaxed into family affairs. Some in-laws are stand-offish, and, although they may not exhibit any sort of overt hostility, they avoid all family gatherings. They have headaches, other engagements, work-conflicts; and they can never seem to be a part of the family, even though, in person, they do not appear to want to avoid the family. But then, there are those who are actively hostile to their new family. They look down on this new set of family members; and at family get-togethers, they may start fights, arguments; they might get exceedingly drunk; they may show up high. When they are at a family gathering, they manage to turn a festive gathering into a series of hostile and antagonistic confrontations. This latter description probably applies to the wives of Esau. They were opening hostile toward Isaac and Rebekah. We don’t know how, but my guess is, they disparaged their faith in the Revealed God. They either rejected the idea of God, or, to them, every sort of deity was the same. Maybe they were good at pointing out shortcomings and deficiencies in this family. Such things were abundant in Isaac and Rebekah’s family.

If a person clearly declares that he believes in the Revealed God, that is not something that they can just let go. Have you ever been with a childhood friend, and they know that you believe in Jesus Christ, and they pepper their speech with various profanities (quite obviously, I have). They use the royal name of Jesus Christ as an exclamation; they use God in a trivial way, using His essence title to damn this or that. Then they look at you, just to see how your react. Whatever these wives of Esau did, it was to establish a wall of bitter separation between themselves and Isaac and Rebecca.

Now we will see just how deceptive Rebekah can be. She will mix in truth with lies; so that she is never associated with the stolen blessing incident.

Genesis 27:46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these of the daughters of the land, what good is my life to me?”

Rebekah describes to Isaac how she feels. She uses the 1^st person singular, Qal perfect of qûwts (קוּץ) [pronounced koots], which means to loath, to abhor [due to an undercurrent of dread), to feel a sickening dread; to be weary. Strong’s #6973 BDB #880. She then uses the bêyth preposition, which means in; followed by the masculine plural adjective (which is used as a substantive here) chayyîym (חַיִּים) [pronounced khay-YEEM], which means, life, lives; a life of long duration, immortality; living, sustenance; refreshment; prosperity, welfare, happiness. Strong's #2416 BDB #311. “I am weary of my life;” or, “I abhor my life;” or “I feel a sickening dread in my life” and this weariness is based upon these daughters of Heth (that is, these Hittite women). These women are a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and Rebekah, to the point where Rebekah is weary of or sickened of her own life.

This is not coming out of nowhere. Rebekah is not saying this, and Isaac says, “Now, how long have you felt like this?” He knows all about it. It was mentioned in the previous chapter, indicating that this is an ongoing problem in their family.

Genesis 28 Prologue:

Although Gen. 28 is a literary unit in itself, it is dependent upon the previous chapter to understand all that is going on. In the previous chapter, Jacob stole the final blessing that his father Isaac meant for Esau, and this caused Esau to be mad enough to kill Jacob. Rebekah, their mother, was in on this deception, but did not want anyone else to know this. So she had to get Jacob out of town, but without seeming as if she was saving him from Esau. There is no reason for her to know about this dispute between Jacob and Esau; because it all took place in private. Despite the fact that Isaac was quite wealthy and had many men under him, when he blessed Jacob (thinking him to be Esau), they were alone (except that Rebekah was in the background all this time).

Because Rebekah instigated all this, the worst case scenario is, Jacob her husband hates her, if he finds out; and Esau, her son, kills Jacob and hates her as well. Through her own manipulation, Rebekah has set herself up for great potential harm. Therefore, she must get her son, Jacob, out of town so that Esau does not kill him, but without associating any of this with the stolen blessing.

Gen. 27:42–45 But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah [where Esau has expressed a great desire to kill Jacob]. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran and stay with him a while, until your brother's fury turns away--until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?" (ESV)

Rebekah needs to get Jacob away from the family compound in order to preserve his life. She herself orchestrated his great deception of Isaac, and now, there is fallout that she was not expecting. The son who was deceived, Esau, wants to kill Jacob. She knows this, but her husband Isaac does not; and she cannot reveal that she knows this to him without revealing that she was a party to the deception—something which would have destroyed their marriage. However, she has come up with another plan.

Gen 27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?"

When you become older and your children are grown, you want your name, your traditions, your faith carried on—which is particularly important in this case as these are the very promises of God. Rebekah does not see any of this happening with Esau and his family because of the women he has married. This is a real problem for Rebekah, not something that she is just making up.

Clearly, Isaac does not know that Rebekah was in on this deception. He knows that he was deceived, but he does not know that Rebekah was behind it. Rather than tell Isaac, “Look, I persuaded Jacob to deceive you; and now, he has left the compound because Esau wants to kill him.” Instead, she says, “I cannot stand my daughters-in-law. Jacob is going to get a good woman from Charan. I am going to send him to my brother’s home.” Then, suddenly, Jacob is gone and therefore he is safe from Esau.

Isaac does not know that Esau has threatened to kill Jacob; and Rebekah knows, but really should not know. She has simply kept her ear to the ground, so to speak, to know this.

Rebekah speaks to Isaac and tells him what is going on; so Isaac will send his son Jacob away. Essentially, Rebekah says, “Listen, Isaac, I do not want Jacob to marry heathen women like his brother Esau has. That would be awful! I am going to send him to my brother’s ranch so that he can meet a decent woman from my brother’s family. That way, he will not marry some Hittite hussy.”

So, the cover story is, Esau married Hittite women, which both Isaac and Rebekah object to; and therefore, at this age, Jacob needs to go back east and marry a woman whose God is the Lord. All of this is legitimate; all of this is known to Isaac; so sending Jacob from the land of promise to Haran to marry a near relative is acceptable and understandable. Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, came from Haran and from this family. Therefore, Isaac would agree to this departure and he would not associate this with Jacob’s deception.

Esau married two Hittite women, which apparently were the bane of Rebekah’s existence. She is tired of living simply because of her daughters-in-law, which is a strong indictment of them. We are not told exactly what the problem is with Esau’s wives, apart from these wives being heathen. Going back one more chapter, we have Gen 26:34–35 When Esau was 40 years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. That verse tells us that Rebekah’s complaint did not come out of nowhere. She is not suddenly springing this on Isaac, “You know, I cannot stand Esau’s wives.” “No, honey, I did not know that!” This is already well-known and documented.

The plan is for Jacob should take a wife from the family of Laban. What the problem is exactly, is never told to us; but I would guess that these Hittite women never accepted the God of Abraham and Isaac. They do not believe in this Revealed God; and they might even make fun of Isaac and Rebekah for their faith. Even though Abraham was instructed to leave his family behind, that does not mean that he comes from a heathen family or that his family did not trust in Y^ehowah Elohim. God simply needed for him to separate from his family—and there could be a variety of reasons for that.

So, the cover story is, “Jacob is taking off for Charan, because I want him to get a decent wife.” This is what Rebekah tells Isaac, and this is fine with Isaac. Isaac also has problems with Esau’s wives. This approach will get Jacob away from Esau, who would have possibly killed him, and Rebekah is never implicated in the great deception.

Gen 27:45b Then I will send and bring you from there.

The fact that Rebekah is confident that she can send a message to Jacob when he is 100+ miles away indicates that there has probably been some communication between the families over these past few decades. For her to say this indicates that communication between families did take place; and likely were sent along with traders who were going to cover this or that route. This all suggests that they have knowledge of the genealogies of their family to the east.

There is another simple principle at work here—out of sight and out of mind. If every day, Esau looks and there is Jacob—that lousy SOB who stole his birthright and then his blessing—Esau would continue to seethe with anger. However, with Jacob gone and out of the picture completely, this is something that Esau will adjust to. At some point, his animosity will subside and disappear completely. He cannot be jealous and angry at someone who is not there.

So, despite the deception, Isaac calls for Jacob to send him away. As the head of the family, it would be Isaac’s responsibility to call Jacob in and tell him to do this, and then send him away.

Genesis 28:1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded him. And he said to him, “You will not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

When Isaac makes this pronouncement, all of it appears to be his idea. No doubt Isaac will tell Esau this at a later time. He won’t tell Esau, “Your mother had this great idea about getting Jacob a wife from our relatives;” he will say, “I have sent your brother Jacob to get a wife from our relatives.” So, when this decision is made, it is going to appear as if Isaac made the decision, even though it is actually Rebekah trying to save her son Jacob from her other son Esau.

Esau and Jacob are the same age. Esau married around or before turning 40. However, here, it is clear that Jacob has not yet married, and Rebekah has convinced Isaac that he should not marry a woman of Canaan. There were many different groups of people who lived in Canaan, but the key was, they did not participate in Y^ehowah worship (although, as we have studied, there were believers in Y^ehowah throughout Canaan—and some because of Abraham).

Bear in mind that this is a cover story, to separate Jacob and Esau, so that Esau does not kill him—but there is a real concern here as well. For a plan that had to be developed on the fly, this is actually quite brilliant. Even Isaac and Esau will both think that the decision for Jacob to leave is Isaac’s decision. Rebekah barely leaves a fingerprint behind.

As an aside, I am not really certain that their relatives from the east were involved in Y^ehowah worship either, at this point in time. Later in Genesis, we will find out that some of them have little deity statues (Gen. 31:19–35 35:1–5). So the worship of heathen gods was widespread among them. This might explain why God wanted Abraham to separate from his immediate family (Gen. 12:1).

Isaac continues to speak to his son Jacob.

Genesis 28:2 Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father. And take a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.

Interestingly enough, although a servant went to the east to select a wife for Isaac, Isaac has told Jacob to do this personally. Perhaps it is this new generation that Jacob represents, where he himself chooses his wife. Whether there is influence from Rebekah here or not, we don’t know. “We shouldn’t leave choosing a wife up to a servant. Jacob needs to do this on his own.” I am speculating on discussion that may have taken place between Isaac and Rebekah.

As we have observed, Rebekah and Jacob both tend to be rather deceptive and manipulative. It is likely that Jacob gets this from his mother. This will turn out to be a family trait. Laban, Rebekah’s brother, will also turn out to be deceptive and manipulative. He will try to get things to work out to his own benefit. No matter what the circumstance or situation, Laban will figure out how to make that work to his own profit, and then he will move things in that direction. He is the kind of businessman who believes that, he needs to win every deal, he needs to come out on top every time—and if things are not working out for him, cheating and conning are legitimate. This is the man to whom Isaac is sending Jacob. Con-man Jacob will be sent to his Uncle Laban, who is even a greater con-man.

Now, Isaac will give Jacob a legitimate blessing, where Isaac knows that this is Jacob, and he knows that Jacob may be gone for awhile. Isaac has no idea if he will see his son again.

Genesis 28:3 And may God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, so that you may be a multitude of peoples.

Despite all that has happened and despite the sinful characteristics which Jacob has revealed of himself, Isaac apparently recognizes that the blessing of God will go to Jacob and not to Esau. This represents a great change in Isaac’s attitude toward Jacob.

These blessings are very similar to prayers, and God hears these blessings as do those in the periphery of Isaac (which is possibly just Jacob and Rebekah). Furthermore, whatever angels are watching, they also hear these prayers. Therefore, God would make an effort to fulfill such blessings. We may think of these blessings as being innocuous statements like, “Have a good time” when someone goes on vacation, but they are more than that. God specifically is named; a man of God is saying this; and he is saying this to the one who is next in line to receive the blessings of God. Therefore, God will take these words seriously. God hears these blessings and He acts upon them. Part of the reason is, there is this great angelic audience for all human activity. The angels learn about God’s character by observing us and how God interacts with us.

Let’s go backward in time to illustrate this. When God created the heavens and the earth, it was instantaneous. Gen. 1:1 lines up with the Big Bang theory quite nicely. The Qal perfect tense refers to a completed event or to an instantaneous event. The Qal imperfect would be used for a series of event or for a process. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The verb is a Qal perfect. However, when God restores the earth, many of the verbs are imperfect, and the process occurs over a period of time (the 6 days of creation). Why didn’t God simply snap His fingers and restore the earth? Because He had an audience at this point—all of angelic creation were now in existence, so God reveals His power and intelligence by the restoration of the earth.

Angels are created beings, and therefore, they have a beginning. When God tells them, “I created you for a purpose;” they either accept what God says as true or they doubt Him. Part of what indicates that God is Who He says He is, is the fact that He knows the future as if it were the present. Angels are subject to time and the sequencing of events, as are we.

So, these blessings which are given from generation to generation are done in front of an audience, even though there might only be 2 or 3 people actually involved. When Isaac blessed Jacob previously, no one else was there (except for Rebekah). Otherwise, someone would have blurted out, “That’s not Esau; that’s Jacob!” However, the audience was invisible, and they observe both the actions of man and the actions of God. God reveals His character as well as His great plan. God is able to bring His plan to fruition, despite the dysfunctions of this family.

We greatly enjoy movies and television shows (despite how distorted these things are as compared to real life). Human history is like that for angels. They are in the midst of a great morality play, as it were, with a cast of billions—observing. In many cases, God directs them to a particular place and time, just as we have been directed to studying the family of this semi-nomad Abraham.

There is no reason for you or I to know anything about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These are obscure shepherds from 4000 years ago. However, we know these men because these are the men upon whom God wants us to focus. At this time, there are great power struggles in the east; there are a series of fascinating dynasties in Egypt—but God is concerned with Abraham and his seed. Therefore, we are concerned with him as well.

We know very little about the great events of history from this era. Who is in power and where? And over what plot of ground does he rule? There are countries and kings and wars and great struggles occurring all over this area, but our focus is upon this nomadic shepherd family and their impact upon history and upon the plan of God.

Just as God literally gathers the angels to this place and says, “Watch this;” so we have been gathered to view this line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and to study them and their relationship with God. We are to examine these lives because this is where God wants us to focus.

Isaac continues with his blessing to Jacob. This blessing is no longer marred by deception. Isaac knows who is before him; and his blessing is designed specifically for Jacob. And Jacob really is going away to the east to find a suitable wife.

Genesis 28:4 And may He give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you, so that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.”

At this point, Isaac is giving Jacob a blessing where there is no duplicity. It is Jacob who stands before Isaac; and Isaac knows this.

Isaac is still speaking to Jacob, and he seems to understand, at this point, that the blessings promised to Abraham would flow through him to Jacob. So, at this point, there is no favoritism. Isaac knows who Jacob is, and he passes along the covenantal blessing of God to him. God’s blessings will flow through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Jacob is leaving the Land of Promise, but Isaac says that he and his seed would inherit this land—the land that God gave to Abraham.

So far we have studied the first four verses of Gen. 28:

Gen. 28:1–2 Isaac called for Jacob and he blessed him and gave him a stern command, saying, “Do you marry a Canaanite woman. Instead, rise up and go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take from the daughters of Laban a wife (Laban is your mother’s brother).

This all came about because Rebekah, Jacob’s mother, surreptitiously guided Jacob to deceive his father and receive the end-of-life blessing meant for Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. Esau became so angry over this, he wanted to kill Jacob. So Rebekah needed to get Jacob out of their periphery without revealing that she knew all about this. She would have lost the love and respect of both her husband Isaac (whom she had Jacob deceive) and her other son Esau.

Esau had married some Hittite women, and they were the bane of Rebekah’s existence. Isaac did not like them either. So Jacob was sent eastward to marry someone from their family, just as Isaac had done some 60 years previously. This plot would get Jacob out of town, but without compromising Rebekah’s involvement in the deception of Isaac.

Genesis 28:3–4 And God the Almighty will bless you, make you fruitful and multiply you into a great assembly of peoples. He will give all of the blessings of Abraham to your and to your own descendants. All this ground which you have traveled on will be yours—just as God had promised to Abraham.”

This time, the blessing given to Abraham is passed down through Isaac to Jacob. This time, there is no deception. Isaac says these words with Jacob before him, knowing that this son is Jacob. Jacob would have many sons (in the Hebrew, this means descendants); God would make him fruitful and God will multiply his seed so that he would have many descendants. All of the land that Jacob has traveled over—and much more—is hereby deeded to him, from God to Abraham to Isaac and now to Jacob. It is his line that God will bless.

This is not at all what we would have expected. Jacob had just deceived his father Isaac, and one might think that Isaac would hold back on this blessing—but he does not. The very blessing that God gave to Abraham, Isaac now passes along to Jacob.

Was there a divine influence at this time? Probably. In the book of Numbers, Balaam is hired to curse Israel. God appears to override Balaam’s original intent, and he blesses the children of Israel (all descendants of Jacob, by the way). Num. 24:1–9

Isaac may have simply realized that it is God’s will to pass this blessing along to Jacob, and that is what he does.

Genesis 28:5 And Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Padan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

With this, the active role of Isaac ends and the active role of Jacob begins. Although Isaac will be mentioned again, it will only be incidentally at the end of Gen. 35. Even though Isaac and Jacob are both alive at this point, our focus will now be upon Jacob.

Padan-aram is in the northeastern Mesopotamian area, and this is where a part of Abraham’s family has lived for some time now.

God told Abraham to separate from his family and go to the land of Canaan. Well, Abraham did not separate from his family—he brought them with—and he only got halfway to Canaan. We don’t know if everyone from Abraham’s family traveled with him at this time, or whether they came later. In any case, when Abraham eventually went to the land of Canaan, a portion of his family remained in Padan-aram.

Map of Padan-aram is from Bible-history.com and accessed February 26, 2014. The area marked Mesopotamia is also known as the Fertile Crescent. It was at this point where Abraham had to leave the Euphrates River to travel eastward to Canaan, which is where God had originally sent him. Jacob is in southern Canaan and he will move northward through Syria toward Paddan Aram.

Because Bethuel has lived in this area for a long time, he is called a Syrian. Laban, Bethuel’s son, is Rebekah’s brother and Jacob’s uncle. Many times in Scripture (and this fixes a great many so-called contradictions), people are referred to by the land where they live. I may be called a Texan by some and a Californian by others; however, I was not born in either state. Yet I feel a much greater affinity for Texas and California than I do for where I was born.

If a particular family is prominent in an area, then that area takes on the family name (Aram, Assyria, Canaan). But after the name has been clearly established, then other families who move to that area become associated with the name of that area.

V. 5 is again picked up by v. 10:

Gen 28:5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. (ESV)

Gen 28:10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. (Green’s literal translation)

vv. 6–9 deal with what Esau observes and what Esau does as a result. It would not be inaccurate to put parentheses around these 4 verses or to set them off in their own paragraph. Everything is framed by Esau’s perception (and Esau saw in v. 6a and v. 8a; followed by and Esau went in v. 9a).

Although it is possible that Esau hears about this blessing later on, the text suggests that Esau observes the blessing as it occurs. As a result, he will be motivated to make a change in his life.

Genesis 28:6 And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him away to Padan-aram in order to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “You will not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.” (WEB; emphasis mine)