Daily Scripture Reading Genesis 27:1-23

People are not all the same. We have different personalities, values, priorities, skills, tastes, and opinions. Each human tends to gravitate towards and favor people who have similar likes and dislikes. To some extent that is understandable. However, it can also cause conflict.

One area where favoring one person over another can be particularly devastating is in the area of parenting. When a parent favors one child over another, that can have detrimental effects. Today’s passage illustrates what can happen when parents have a favorite child.

Gen. 27:1 ¶ Now it happened that when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”

Don’t miss the phrase “eyes were too dim to see”. Isaac was blind.

Gen. 27:2 And Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old, and I do not know the day of my death.

Gen. 27:3 So now, please take up your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me;

Gen. 27:4 and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”

Look at the word “bless”. Isaac intended to bless Esau. Keep in mind, Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob because Esau loved hunting (see Genesis 25:28), but Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob because he despised his birthright (see Genesis 25:33-34).

Gen. 27:5 ¶ Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. Then Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring to Isaac.

Rebekah favored Jacob over Esau (see Genesis 25:28).

Gen. 27:6 But Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying,

Gen. 27:7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat and bless you in the presence of Yahweh before my death.’

Gen. 27:8 So now, my son, listen to my voice as I command you.

Gen. 27:9 Go now to the flock and get for me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.

Gen. 27:10 Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”

Rebekah intended to deceive Isaac. She probably had two reasons for the deception. First, she favored Jacob over Esau and would have wanted Jacob to receive the blessing. Second, she probably knew that Esau despised his birthright and had sold it to Jacob; thus; she knew that the blessing should go to Jacob.

On the one hand you could argue that Rebekah was looking out for Isaac and acting to make sure Isaac did the right thing. On the other hand, she was deceiving her husband. The Bible is clear that Isaac loved Rebekah (see Genesis 24:67) and Isaac interceded for Rebekah when she was barren (see Genesis 25:21), but then Rebekah launched a very deceptive plan to trick Isaac.

This family was divided. Isaac and Esau were on one side while Rebekah and Jacob were on the other side. The division was the direct result of the fact that Isaac favored Esau while Rebekah favored Jacob.

This illustrates what can happen when parents have a favorite child, particularly when one parent favors one child while the other parent favors a different child. The parents end up working against each other.

Gen. 27:11 Then Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.

Gen. 27:12 Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a mocker in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.”

This was a very valid objection. Rebekah’s plan was full of risk.

Gen. 27:13 But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only listen to my voice, and go, get them for me.”

Rebekah claimed she would take any curse upon herself, but I am not sure she actually could have done that.

Gen. 27:14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother; and his mother made a savory dish such as his father loved.

Gen. 27:15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and she put them on Jacob her younger son.

Gen. 27:16 And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

Gen. 27:17 She also gave the savory dish and the bread, which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.

Gen. 27:18 ¶ Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

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

At this point Jacob was clearly participating in the deception. He lied to his father.

Gen. 27:20 Then Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because Yahweh your God caused it to happen to me.”

Notice the words “your God”. He did not say “our God”. This means either Esau or Jacob or both did not consider Yahweh to be their God, at least at this particular time.

Gen. 27:21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

Gen. 27:22 So Jacob came near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

Blind people tend to have a very keen sense of hearing. Since they cannot see, they notice things with their ears that sighted people often miss. In this case, Isaac picked up on the fact that he was hearing Jacob’s voice, but he allowed his sense of touch to overrule what his ears were telling him.

When Rebekah posed her plan to Jacob, he had a fear of being caught and receiving a curse instead of a blessing. The fact that Isaac recognized Jacob’s voice shows how close he was to being caught.

Gen. 27:23 And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

Rebekah’s deception worked and Isaac was tricked into blessing Jacob instead of Esau.

People are not all the same. We have different personalities, values, priorities, skills, tastes, and opinions. Each human tends to gravitate towards and favor people who have similar likes and dislikes. To some extent that is understandable. However, it can also cause conflict.

One area where favoring one person over another can be particularly devastating is in the area of parenting. When a parent favors one child over another, that can have detrimental effects.

Isaac favored his son Esau, while Rebekah, his wife, favored Jacob. This caused Isaac and Rebekah to work against each other. Their home became divided, Isaac and Esau on one side while Rebekah and Jacob were on the other side.

What examples have you seen of parents favoring one child over another?

What have been the negative consequences of the favoritism?

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”