MEMORY VERSE
HEBREWS 11:20 “By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.”
ATTENTION GRABBER!
"What If?"
What if you saw your friend steal some candy, then later offered some to you? Is it okay to steal if you intend to share what’s stolen?
What if you were late getting home and nobody knew. Later your mother asked you if you had come home on time, and you told her you were on time?
Is it okay to lie if seemingly no one is hurt by it?
What if your teacher gave you the honor of taking up the offering, but during the prayer, you took a dollar out and put it in your pocket?
Is it okay to steal if no one knows how much is there?
Have a class discussion about the “what ifs” and the answers given.
Be sure to conclude that sin is never right.
We are going to look at some bad choices that were made by the people in our study, today, and the problems that resulted.
LESSON TIME!
In our last lesson, we recall that Esau sold his birthright to Jacob. In our story today, we come back to the time Isaac is ready to pronounce the blessing on his firstborn son, Esau.
Genesis 27: 1- 46 New International Version (NIV)
1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son, and said to him, “My son.” And he said
“Here I am,”. 2 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”
Isaac, at 136 years old, realizes his days on earth could be short. He is anxious to impart the blessing due to the firstborn son before he dies.
But, the Bible tells us Isaac would continue to live another 44 years.
Yet, aware of his frail condition, Isaac calls his oldest son to come to him. The Bible notes that Isaac's eyes were "dim," He could not see very well.
yet not only were they dim physically, but spiritually as well, for it was not Esau who was to receive the blessing, but Jacob. It seemed that Isaac favored Esau over Jacob. He certainly liked the fact that Esau was a hunter and could fix a nice meal for him.
Isaac requested Esau to go and prepare him venison—his favorite meal.
He would then give the blessing to Esau.
5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.’ 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”
11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12 What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”
13 His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.”
Rebekah heard what Isaac had spoken to Esau, fearing God’s purposes would not be accomplished, she devised a plan.
When we take things out of God's hands and try to "make" them happen ourselves, we can create problems!
We need to “wait” on the Lord--to trust that He will do what is right and best in His time.
Rebekah’s failure to “wait” will have consequences.
Is sin right to do?
As Jacob raises an objection to his mother’s scheme, we see a bit of his character revealed. His objection is not so much that he would be a part of a deceitful plan, but that he could suffer consequences if his deception were found out.
It is not a fear of God, but a fear of man.
If you lie to your mom or dad what would happen to you?
Rebekah says, "Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me."
Rebekah’s failure to trust the Lord resulted not only in her own disobedience but in her son’s disobedience. She taught her son to deceive his father.
Rebekah’s deceit in gaining the blessing for Jacob goes against God.
What might Rebekah have done differently if she trusted that God would accomplish His promises His way?
Trusting God is part of what it takes to be a Christain.
14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. 18 He went to his father and said, “My father.”
“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?” 19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” 20 Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”
“The LORD your God gave me success,” he replied. 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”
22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. 24 “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked. “I am,” he replied. 25 Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.” Jacob brought it to him and he ate, and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”
27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed. 28 May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness— n abundance of grain and new wine. 29 May nations serve you and people bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”
Jacob agreed to carry out his mother’s plan.
She clothed him in Esau's clothes and put skins of baby goats on his hands and his neck.
Jacob lied to his father on purpose.
remember Isaac was blind.
Commandment, Thou shall not Lie!
As his father was still unsure about how a meal could be found and prepared so quickly, Jacob said, “Because the LORD your God brought it to me,"
Now bringing the name of the Lord into his deception. We see how one sin leads to another sin; one "little" lie grows to a bigger lie.
Commandment, Thou shall not take the Lord's name in vain!
When we sin we must repent and ask for forgiveness.
Sin is never right.
Isaac ate and then proceeded to give to Jacob his blessing.
He said "Therefore may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of substantial produce. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you . Be master over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you . Cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be those who bless you!
Jacob received this blessing from his father because of God’s grace (Genesis 28:13-15).
Isaac thought he was blessing Esau, but God caused the words of blessing to fall upon the man of His choice, so they fell on Jacob.
God still had control of the situation.
The failure of faith leading to lies will bring sorrow, as we shall see but it cannot interfere with the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose.
God has His way of turning things around for His purposes despite our sin and disobedience.
30 After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” 32 His father Isaac aske him, “Who are you?”
“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.” 33 Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!” 34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!”
35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
36 Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?” 37 Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?” 38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.
39 His father Isaac answered him, “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. 40 You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”
At this point, Isaac may have realized that he had been going against God's will.
Isaac knew that the blessing actually came from the Spirit of God; and now that it was given, it could not be taken back.
He now fully realized it was God's will that the spiritual blessing should fall on the line of Jacob. Instead of cursing Jacob, Isaac appeared to be gracious, understanding the will of the Lord had been done.
We see Esau very upset over the situation, but we must remember that Esau sold his birthright for bread and stew of lentils--it meant nothing to him.
He must have known that the blessing was not to be his, but Jacob's.
Esau begged and pleaded with his father for a blessing.
Isaac did give Esau a blessing.
"Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck."
The blessing seems similar to Jacob's, but it is different.
God would make Esau into a nation. His descendants would later become the people of Edom. The land of Edom was a wilderness.
He would live by his sword, preying upon others, and serving his brother.
The history of Edom, revealed later in the Bible, was they struggle against the athority over Israel.
41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. 44 Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. 45 When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?” 46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”
It was Rebekah who sent away the son she so loved.
She was the one to lead him into sin, and she was the one God used to send him away.
What she thought would only be a few days, ended up being 20 years. She probably never again saw the son she so loved.
When we sin we get consequences for them.
From our lesson this week we can learn a few things.
1. We must not, like Isaac, allow our earthly passions to make us dull to God’s plan and will for our lives. .
2. We must not, like Rebekah, take matters into our own hands. We must trust in the Lord and “wait.”
3. We must not, like Esau, give up our promised blessings for the temporary satisfaction this world can offer.
4. We must not, like Jacob, trick and sin against others in order to get what we want.
PRAYER
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