창세기 Chapter 27

Translation: ESV

1

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.'

Key Message

God's will may differ from human plans, and God has his own ways of accomplishing his purposes.

Isaac's dimness of sight in old age is the physical backdrop that makes the deception of this entire chapter possible.

Isaac's dimness of sight in old age is the physical backdrop that makes the deception of this entire chapter possible. Isaac's summoning of Esau reveals his intention to confer the covenantal blessing on the firstborn. Yet this intention stands in conflict with God's prophecy (Gen 25:23).

2

Isaac said, 'Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.'

Key Message

The day of death is known to no one; what is precious must not be postponed.

Isaac believes his death is near and wants to confer the blessing without delay.

3

Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me,

Key Message

Human partiality can lead to attempts to distort God's will.

Isaac asks Esau to hunt for him.

4

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.

Key Message

When God's will is unknown or ignored, even sincere love can be misdirected.

Isaac plans to eat and then bless Esau as the firstborn.

5

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,

Key Message

Using human schemes to accomplish God's will ultimately produces greater conflict.

Rebekah overhears the conversation between Isaac and Esau.

6

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, 'I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,

Key Message

Even when faith exists regarding God's will, using human trickery to accomplish it brings unnecessary suffering.

Rebekah relays to Jacob what she overheard of Isaac's plan.

7

saying, "Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the LORD before I die."'

Key Message

That which is declared in God's name must be handled with all the more reverence.

The phrase 'before the LORD' is significant.

8

Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you.

Key Message

A wrong method employed for a right goal brings not the desired outcome but unnecessary hardship.

Rebekah commands Jacob to obey her.

9

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.

Key Message

Deception is carried out through meticulous planning, but its results lead to unforeseen hardship.

Rebekah lays out a concrete plan.

10

And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.'

Key Message

God's promises are fulfilled without human assistance. Human impatience creates unnecessary sin.

Rebekah's goal is clear: to get Isaac to bless Jacob instead of Esau.

11

But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, 'Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.'

Key Message

Fear of being caught rather than fear of wrongdoing itself is not a true conscience.

Jacob's concern is not the moral wrong of deception but the practical danger of being discovered.

12

Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.

Key Message

Awareness of the wrong itself must precede fear of its consequences.

Jacob fears that if Isaac touches him and discovers the deception, he will receive a curse rather than a blessing.

13

His mother said to him, 'Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.'

Key Message

Willingness to bear all for those we love, when it does not lead them in the right direction, produces instead a greater separation.

Rebekah declares she will bear all responsibility.

14

So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved.

Key Message

Obeying a wrongful directive does not free one from responsibility.

Jacob obeys Rebekah and brings the goats.

15

Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

Key Message

Stealing another person's identity ultimately causes one to lose one's own.

Rebekah dresses Jacob in Esau's clothes.

16

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

Key Message

The more meticulously a deception is prepared, the greater the sin.

Rebekah covers Jacob's smooth hands and neck with goatskin to make him feel like Esau's hairy skin.

17

And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

Key Message

As each step of a deception is completed, the day of truth drawing nearer.

Rebekah hands Jacob the food and bread, completing the preparation.

18

So he went in to his father and said, 'My father.' And he said, 'Here I am. Who are you, my son?'

Key Message

'Who am I?' is the most fundamental question in the journey of faith.

Jacob approaches Isaac and calls him 'Father.

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.'

Key Message

Lies may allow one to escape the moment, but when truth is revealed the pain is far greater.

Jacob tells an outright lie: 'I am Esau.

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.'

Key Message

Using God's name in a lie adds sin upon sin.

Isaac is suspicious.

21

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.'

Key Message

Deception conceals truth, but truth cannot be concealed forever.

Still suspicious, Isaac wants to touch the person before him.

22

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.'

Key Message

Outward appearances can conceal the truth, but they cannot hide it completely.

Isaac perceives the situation precisely: 'the voice is Jacob's but the hands are Esau's.

23

And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him.

Key Message

Preconceptions and partiality blur the eyes of truth.

The tactile evidence overcomes the auditory.

24

He said, 'Are you really my son Esau?' He answered, 'I am.'

Key Message

Repeated lies dig deeper, making it harder to return to truth.

Isaac asks one final time.

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.

Key Message

What is declared in the context of a solemn ritual carries greater binding force.

Isaac eats and drinks wine.

26

Then his father Isaac said to him, 'Come near and kiss me, my son.'

Key Message

The tragedy of this scene is that deception can find a place even within the most intimate relationships.

Isaac asks for a kiss and embrace — part of the blessing ritual.

27

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!'

Key Message

God's blessing comes to pass despite our deceptions, not because of them — because of God's own faithfulness.

Isaac smells the fragrance of Esau's clothing and begins his blessing.

28

May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine.

Key Message

God's blessing reaches every area of life; material prosperity too is a gift from God.

The content of Isaac's blessing begins in earnest.

29

Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!

Key Message

God's covenantal promises come to pass even through flawed human means, but the consequences of those means must still be borne.

The blessing expands to political and spiritual dimensions.

30

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.

Key Message

Divine providence governs all timing, and human plans may inadvertently align with God's will.

Jacob exits just as Esau arrives.

31

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.'

Key Message

Esau, who took the birthright lightly, now realizes its value — but the time has passed.

Esau returns and brings his savory food.

32

His father Isaac said to him, 'Who are you?' He answered, 'I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.'

Key Message

Truth always arrives after falsehood and exposes the consequences of the lie.

Isaac asks Esau too, 'Who are you?' — the shock of Esau's arrival is overwhelming since Isaac believed he had just blessed Esau.

33

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.'

Key Message

God's will transcends even human deception; the blessing once pronounced cannot be revoked.

Isaac 'trembles very violently.

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!'

Key Message

Anguish over lost spiritual blessings is profound, but that anguish must lead to genuine repentance.

Esau cries out with a great and bitter cry.

35

Isaac answered and said to Esau, 'Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.'

Key Message

Truth must always come to light; deception can never be a permanent solution.

Isaac states the plain truth: 'He came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.

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?'

Key Message

Seeing others' faults clearly while ignoring one's own is not genuine repentance.

Esau accurately names what Jacob's name means: 'supplanter, deceiver.

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?'

Key Message

Once God's will has been accomplished, human regret cannot reverse it.

Isaac summarizes the blessing he gave Jacob: 'lord over you, brothers as servants, grain and wine.

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.

Key Message

The human tragedy is that the value of precious things is often recognized only after they are lost.

Esau's desperate cry continues.

39

Then his father Isaac answered and said to him: 'Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high.'

Key Message

Those who treat spiritual blessings lightly will experience their absence in their lives.

Isaac gives Esau a second blessing, but its content is the opposite of Jacob's.

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.

Key Message

God's prophecies are fulfilled precisely in history; Esau's destiny is also realized within God's governance.

Esau will 'live by the sword' and serve Jacob, but eventually 'break his yoke from your neck.

41

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.'

Key Message

A heart of revenge can go as far as contemplating fratricide; anger must be resolved before it leads to action.

Esau resolves to kill Jacob — just as Cain killed Abel.

42

But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. 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.'

Key Message

A deception-created crisis breeds a greater crisis.

Rebekah, who devised the deception, must now worry about Jacob's life as a direct consequence of it.

43

Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran

Key Message

Wrong choices lead to unforeseen separations and suffering.

Rebekah tells Jacob to flee to Haran, where her brother Laban lives.

44

and stay with him a while, until your brother's fury turns away —

Key Message

Human predictions often differ from God's timetable; the consequences of wrongdoing last longer than expected.

Rebekah thinks 'a while' will be enough.

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 be bereft of you both in one day?'

Key Message

A single wrong choice can bring about a crisis in which everything is at risk of being lost.

Rebekah's final words summarize the tragedy: 'Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?' If Esau killed Jacob, Esau would be executed as a murderer, and Rebekah would lose both sons.

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?'

Key Message

Using yet another scheme to accomplish God's will is not a sign of spiritual maturity but a repetition of unbelief.

Rather than telling Isaac about Esau's murder plot, Rebekah uses the issue of marriage to a Canaanite woman as her pretext for sending Jacob away.