Genesis 27:1-46
We have all kinds of scams and deceptions taking place in our culture. Some years ago I knew a man that was a hardworking person and lived a good life. He wanted to do something good for his wife that had been a wonderful wife to him. In his old age he wanted them to have a nice new home and move out of the old farm house that had been home for them for most of their married life. As he was building the new house some scammers got him to put up some “Good Faith Money” to be able to receive big winnings that they promised him. They took thousands of dollars from him and left him with nothing. He was then forced to sale his new house to have money to live and pay his bills. His hurt and guilt from that loss took a huge toll on his health. He died in less than two years after the scammers took his money.
Deception is used by quarterbacks in football. When our son was in North Davidson High School their team played Lexington High School in football. We had coaches from both schools in our church. For our church family it made that game a high interest and held bragging rights for the next year. Lexington had a play in their playbook that they used sometime every year in the game. It was delayed-draw play by their quarterback and every year it was for a long gain and most of the time it went for a touchdown. The deception worked every time on our defense. I asked one of the coaches why they never learned to defend that play. He said, “ We are fooled by the deception of the play ever time.”
One group of people that practice deception and sham are the political hacks that are in the Congress of the United States. They tell us, “Yes, we are for lower taxes. Yes, we are for a strong military. Yes, we are for enforcement of immigration laws. Yes, we are for a government that is governed by our Constitution.” Then they go to Washington and do whatever the special interest groups pay them to do.
This is why the freedoms that we have under the Constitution are about to be lost for us. In today’s scripture lesson we see what happens to a family that practice scams and deception. It was over power and money. The outcome would leave a family broken by the deception they used in their relationships. Let’s look at the lives of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob. Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah who was much younger. When Rebekah became pregnant with the twins the two children struggled with each other in her womb. She went to ask the Lord about this. “Why is this happening to me?”, she asked.
The Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other, and your older son will serve your younger.”As the boys grew Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home. Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home but Rebekah loved Jacob.
That set the stage for the scam and deception that would break this family. Esau was first born of the twins. He was to be the leader and decision maker of the family upon his fathers‘death as was the custom at that time.
Jacob and his mother started to plot and steal from Esau the rights of the first born son. Esau enabled them to do this because of his attitude toward life. “One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. Esau said to Jacob, ‘I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!’
‘All right’, Jacob replied, ‘but trade me your rights as the first born son.’
‘Look, I’m dying of starvation,’ said Esau, ‘What good is my birthright to me now?’
But Jacob said, ‘First you must swear that your birthright is mine.’ So Esau swore an oath there by selling all his right as the firstborn to his brother Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meat then got up and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the first born”. We have people that sell their freedom for a little check from the government.
Then Esau’s mother Rebekah and Jacob steal his blessing from their father Isaac. When Isaac was old and turning blind he knew he needed to pass the torch of family leadership on to Esau. He sent Esau out to hunt some wild game and prepare his favorite dish for him to eat. He told Esau that at the meal he would pronounce the blessing that belonged to the firstborn son.
Rebekah overheard what Isaac said to Esau, so she called Jacob and they planned the scam to deceive Isaac so he would give the blessing to Jacob. It worked and Jacob received the blessing that would make him the head of the family.
The cost of this scam brought pain and hurt to each family member. Isaac felt the pain of his wife and son Jacob’s deception. The scam made Esau angry and he planned to kill his brother when his father died. Rebekah’s deception worked, but she lost two sons; one son was lost by the act of deception and the other son that she loved so much had to be sent away so he would not be killed by his brother. It cost Jacob a place in his family. We cannot deceive the God we know in Jesus Christ. He knows the truth about our inward being. We can lose his gift of eternal life and the peace of His Kingdom by deception. Live a life of faith that can be trustworthy.
