Read Genesis
27-28 & Matthew
9v18-38
To discover:
As you read note the elements of the promise now reiterated
to Jacob.
To ponder:
More deception, yet more blessing. We’ll see again and again
that God so governs even evil that it serves his purposes. And so he brings his
blessing to the younger over the older through the favouritism and persistent lying
of a mother and a son who take advantage of a blind and weak old man (27v35)! This
is the God who so governs the responsible decisions of men that he brings us
blessing through the execution of his own Son. Herod and Pilate did what his “power
and will had decided beforehand should happen” (Acts 4v27-28).
Again, the
blessings quoted are prophetic. Jacob’s descendents are given supremacy of
Esau’s, and it is clear Isaac gives the blessing in order to pass the baton of
God’s promise on (v29b, compare 12v3, also 28v3-4). Esau is left resentful, his
thoughts echoing those of Cain (v41). At times we will be treated appallingly
by others – even family. But we must guard our hearts.
As with
Isaac, Jacob is to gain a wife from Abraham’s people not the Canaanites. Esau
marries Ishmael’s daughter uniting the two lines that are outside the promise.
The
subsequent story of Jacob begins with God confirming his promise in a dream
just as he did to Abraham (15v12-19). He is even seen in heaven. Jacob’s naming
of the place “Bethel” (gate of
heaven) declares the significance of the land for the future. Bethel
contrasts Babel. There people
sought to climb to heaven. Here heaven reaches down to earth. The pillar and
oil are a memorial, to mark what had happened.
It wasn’t
necessarily commendable for Jacob to say he would follow God “if” God watches
over him. God had already promised to. So a hint perhaps of a lack of faith.
Nevertheless, Jacob’s commitment patterns that of his descendents: to have God
as his God, to worship him (the idea of “house” refers to a place of worship -
later the temple), and the offering of a tithe.
It was in this
same land that Jesus walked and said that “on him” angels would ascend and
descend (John 1v51). As the perfect descendent of Jacob he inherits and so
embodies the land. He, not modern Israel,
is where we must go for access to God and to worship (John 4v21-26). In him,
God has become our God and we gladly offer our all in return.
Praying it home:
Thank God that by his Spirit we can worship through Christ
anytime and anywhere. Pray for a greater readiness to give our all in response.
Pray also for your attitude to any people you feel resentful towards at the
moment.
Thinking further:
It is dangerous to come to the Old Testament primarily for
moral lessons. We’ve seen how mixed the example of Bible characters can be. God
uses them and blesses them, but it doesn’t mean he condones their actions. The
nature of narrative is that it often doesn’t tell us how we should view what
these people do. But this is far more engaging for us as readers. We are
expected to bring our wider knowledge of God’s word to assess what we read. As
we do, of course we find ourselves wanting to emulate what is good and learn
from what is bad. However, the main point of the stories is rarely the moral
one. As has been seen, it is usually about God and his great purposes.
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