Second Week of Grand Sweep Bible Study

Genesis 27:1-46

1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, "My son"; and he answered, "Here I am."

2 He said, "See, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.

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

4 Then prepare for me savory food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die."

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,

6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father say to your brother Esau,

7' Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food to eat, that I may bless you before the Lord before I die.'

8 Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you.

9 Go to the flock, and get me two choice kids, so that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he likes;

10 and you shall take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies."

11 But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, "Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a man of smooth skin.

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

13 His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my word, and go, get them for me."

14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared savory food, such as his father loved.

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

16 and she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

17 Then she handed the savory food, and the bread that she had prepared, to her son Jacob.

18 So he went in to his father, and said, "My father"; and he said, "Here I am; who are you, my son?"

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, so that you may bless me."

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."

21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not."

22 So Jacob went up to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

23 He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.

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

25 Then he said, "Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you." So he brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

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

27 So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and 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 of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.

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!"

30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau came in from his hunting.

31 He also prepared savory food, and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, "Let my father sit up and eat of his son's game, so that you may bless me."

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

33 Then Isaac trembled 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 blessed he shall be!"

34 When Esau heard his father's words, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, me also, father!"

35 But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing."

36 Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright; and look, now he has taken away my blessing." Then he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"

37 Isaac answered Esau, "I have already made him your lord, and I have given him all his brothers as servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?"

38 Esau said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me, me also, father!" And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

39 Then his father Isaac answered him: "See, away from the fatness of the earth shall your home be, and away from the dew of heaven on high.

40 By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you break loose, you shall 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."

42 But the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebekah; so she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you.

43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran,

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

45 until your brother's anger against you turns away, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send, and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"

INTRODUCTION:

How many of you remember the story "Stone Soup?" It's a great story isn't it? I'm fixing to show you how old I am. I remember Captain Kangaroo reading it to us as a kid. It was one of my favorites. Mary's favorite story was "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel."

Stone soup is about three soldiers on their way home. Their packs are pretty empty. They don't have any food. They've stopped half a dozen people in a villages and asked for a handout, only to be turned away. Finally, one of the soldiers concocts a wonderful plan to cook a pot of what he calls "Stone Soup."

One of the soldiers asks for a big pot while the others build a fire. The pot is filled with water and set on the fire to boil. The soldier reaches into his pack and pulls out three round smooth stones and drops them into the pot. He begins to stir the pot and smell the aroma of the soup cooking.

Nonchalantly her turns to the children who have gathered to watch and says and tells them that any good soup needs a little salt and pepper. And off they go to get it. As the curiosity of the villagers grows, they too gather around the pot.

One after another the soldier says the soup is good but would be so much better if it had a carrot, onion, potato, cabbage, beef and all the other ingredients. Pretty soon everyone has added their bit to the soup and made it what it was. And they have a delicious kettle of soup fit for a king which they share with all of the villagers.

The lesson from the book, of course, is about sharing and about how when we all do our part and put in our little bit, there is abundance and a soup fit for a king.

But there's also something else I noticed as a kid and then remember every time I read this account of Jacob tricking his father and stealing the birthright from Esau. The soldiers secret ingredient for stone soup wasn't the stones, it was trickery. On the surface, that seems to be the case in the story of Jacob and Esau. And it would appear that God even rewards Jacob for his conniving ways and for serving Esau and Isaac both a bowl of Rapscallion Stew.

I want to use the story of Jacob to illustrate what I think are the major points of the readings from this past week. As we look at the readings we see that Scripture presents God as A DREAM WEAVER, A FAITH STEEPER, A SIN GRIEVER AND A COVENANT KEEPER.

I. DREAM WEAVER:

A. God is definitely a DREAM WEAVER. God spoke to Abraham and spoke of the great nation that would rise up from his offspring. Abraham's descendants would be so numerous that they would outnumber the stars. God planted a Dream in the heart and soul of Abraham, who shared that dream with his wife Sarah. Together they dreamed a dream bigger than life, bigger than hope.

Abraham and Sarah both knew the truth of what Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

Abraham and Sarah believed. They believed God and they believed in God. They had no idea how and when it was going to happen. And they even questioned God. Sarah even laughed at the ridiculousness of God's dream for her to bear a son. But God planted a dream in their hearts and souls and they believed. They dreamed a God sized dream and that's the only way it was going to happen. If God made it happen.

Abraham and Sarah were in their 70s. They were well beyond the parenting age. Sarah was beyond having children, yet God promised her a son. That was their dream. That was the dream God had given them and the dream which lead their lives and faith. God had woven that dream just for them.

Twenty years go by. And just when we begin to think that finally, God has found someone of deep faith. Someone who won't falter in their faith walk, they stumble. Sarah decides to take things into her own hands and make sure Abraham has the heir he wants.

And thus we have the Biblical answer as to why their is so much strife in the Middle East today. Ishmael is the father of all Arab nations and according to them, the rightful heir of Abraham. But God chose Isaac, Sarah's son and the full blooded heir of Abraham. It's been a family squabble ever since.

B. Yet even in the midst of their stumbling, God didn't give up on the dream. God not only wove that dream for Abraham and Sarah but God whispered it in their ears over and over again. God sang it for them over and over again until the tune was stuck in their heads and their hearts.

The dream was so real that WE can understand WHY Sarah did what she did. The consequence of not following directions is the enmity between the offspring. But the dream still lives on. God wouldn't let the dream die.

II. FAITH STEEPER:

A. And in that sense, God is not only a DREAM WEAVER but God is also a FAITH STEEPER.

I've got a good friend who is one of the few men I know who don't drink coffee. Rob drinks hot tea. Now I like hot tea, too, on occasion. But I'm a coffee drinker. Rob knows the fine art of making good tea. He knows how long to let it steep. And that's the secret to good tea. If it steeps too long, it's too strong. If it doesn't steep enough, it's too weak. But when steeped just right, you have a great cup of tea.

It's the same with faith. And God is the perfect FAITH STEEPER. God knows just the right amount of time to let our faith sit and steep. God let it steep in Abraham and Sarah until just the right moment and then came the joy of the birth of their son, Isaac.

B. God Steeps our Faith, too. God builds and deepens our faith by watching us and helping us. Look at how God helped Abraham and his family. We have the whole story of Sodom and Gomorrah, a sermon in itself. Sodom and Gomorrah, cities way beyond sin. Cities fallen completely. Cities marked for destruction. Yet God helps Abraham save Lot and his family.

And what about the story of God's building and testing Abraham's faith by ordering him to sacrifice the object of the hopes and dreams which God had planted in his heart and soul. God steeped the faith of Abraham in the boiling water of that trial by fire.

Abraham and his family had seen the religions of the other people around them. They had seen the child sacrifices made to appease their so called gods. So, I don't think Abraham was surprised at all by God's request. Oh sure, Abraham's heart and head were a curdling cauldron of concern and confusion but he wasn't surprised. He obeyed.

And then just at the right time. Just at the right moment, God stopped Abraham's hand and provided a ram instead. And in essence, God shouted out loud and clear for the world to hear, "No more child sacrifices." God Steeped the Faith of Abraham to perfection.

III. SIN GRIEVER:

A. The passages tell us that God is a DREAM WEAVER, a FAITH STEEPER and God is a SIN GRIEVER. God grieves when we sin. God doesn't give us grief, though maybe He should. Maybe that would help, if God was like a nagging mother or a fussy aunt always reminding us what to do and what not to do. But that's not how God operates.

God created us to be responsible for our actions. God created us to be mature and to take responsibility for our faith and how we live out that faith. And when we don't, God grieves our sin. it breaks God's heart.

B. Friday in the comic strip Curtis, Curtis walks into the classroom at school. His teacher and a man are standing by the teacher's desk. There's also a dog by the desk. Curtis zooms in on the dog and says, "Hey, what's that hairy ol' dog doin' in school?" He leans over to the dog and whispers, "You don't have nuthin' t'do with th' 'mystery meat' they serve int he cafeteria, do ya, ol' boy?"

His teacher says, "Take your seat, Mr. Wilkins, so I can begin the lesson."

Curtis turns to the gentleman and says, "You're lucky, mister! Once I almost got expelled just for bringin' a cute black and white kitty inta' school."

His teacher hollers, "Mr. Wilikins, that was NOT a 'kitty'! It was a skunk!!"

And then Curtis says, "Well, it was a kitty until YOU scared it." (1)

Sin is like that "kitty". At first it seems so soft and cuddly but then all of sudden it turns on you and stinks up the whole place. God grieves every time we sin. God's heart breaks every time we sin and the only one who cal clean us up Christ.

IV. COVENANT KEEPER:

A. God is a DREAM WEAVER, a FAITH STEEPER, a SIN GRIEVER and finally, God is a COVENANT KEEPER.

In our disobedience we grab that skunk all the time. Our lives or an attitude or an action gets out of hand and suddenly everything stinks. It was all cozy and cuddly and soft. And then all of a sudden everything changes. And the stink of sin grabs hold and hangs on. Not only us, but those around us.

It's a good thing God is a COVENANT KEEPER or we would have been lost forever a long time ago. God is a COVENANT KEEPER. And nowhere is that more evident than with Jacob. All the other stuff has just been the vegetables and seasoning. Jacob is the meat of this Rapscallion Stew.

Esau was born first but Jacob came out right on his heals, hanging onto Esau's foot like he was trying to be born first. And that pretty much describes their relationship. The name "Jacob" means 'grabby' and "one who supplants" or "one who trips up." Jacob sure lived up to his name.

B. Jacob was the original conniver. He was a con man par excellent. And Esau wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. So, Jacob didn't really have to work very hard to con him. He just waited until his big brother with the voluminous appetite got hungry. Jacob started cooking. Esau came in famished. he couldn't demand the food but he could and did ask. And the price Jacob exacted was Esau's birth right. Jacob successfully swapped birth positions after the birth. For all intents and purposes, Jacob became the first born, with all the rights and privileges of the first born son.

Esau might not have been bright but Isaac, Jacob's father, had been around the block of life a few times. He had probably seen every trick in the book and used at least half of them. Jacob and Rebekah join forces. Notice, his mother was in on this. She's the one who prods Jacob on. And they proceed to trick Isaac, who is going blind, into giving the traditional blessing of the father to the first born, to Jacob. Jacob the trickster. Jacob the Rapscallion.

C. I haven't always been convinced that Isaac was all that surprised or who tricked who. Esau obviously wasn't cut out for the job of taking over Dad's affairs. He may even have been relieved about the deception or been a party to it. The same thing goes for Isaac.

Isaac reminds me of a boy named Irvin.

Jack, who considers himself the smartest one in his class, likes to make fun of Irvin. Irvin is the boy Jack has identified as the stupidest. Jack pulls aside his friend Tom and says, "You want to see what 'stupid' means, Tom? Watch this. Hey, Irvin. Take the one you want. It's yours."

Irvin looks at the two coins for awhile, a nickel and a dime, and then selects the nickel.

Jack laughs. "Go ahead, Irv, take it."

Irvin takes the larger coin and walks away. An adult who watched the transaction from a distance walked up to Irvin and gently pointed out that the dime is worth more than the nickel, even though it is smaller, and that Irvin has just cost himself 5 cents.

"Oh, I know that," replied Irvin, "but if I picked the dime, Jack would never ask me to choose between the two coins again. This way, he'll keep asking me again and again. I've already collected over a dollar from him, and all I have to do is keep choosing the nickel." (2)

Who was getting to who? The same thing could go for Isaac. Surely, he was wise enough to know that Esau wasn't suited for the leadership of the family. Maybe he planted the idea in Rebekah's mind. maybe Isaac had the last laugh by setting everyone up and conning the con man.

We don't know. But we do know that even if there was deception involved in Jacob receiving the blessing and buying his brother's birthright, God honored the Covenant because God is a COVENANT KEEPER. God has never broken covenant with us. We break it all the time. But not God. God is faithful to the covenant because God is God, and covenant is about God. And it models for us what God desires of us in our covenant relationship with God.

God wants us to be faithful to the covenant. God wants us to be as faithful as God. As faithful as Jesus. God even sent Jesus to show us how and to empower us to be Covenant Keepers through the power and presence of God's Holy Spirit.

God went so far as to do what he wouldn't let Abraham do with Isaac. God's own Son was offered up as the final sacrifice for all sin so that we could and we would return to our covenant relationship with God. A covenant not of the law but a Covenant of Love.

CONCLUSION:

"There is a tribe in East Africa in which the art of true intimacy is fostered even before birth. In this tribe, the birth date of a child is not counted from the day of its physical birth nor even the day of conception, as in other village cultures. For this tribe, the birth date comes the first time the child is a thought in its mother's mind.

Aware of her intention to conceive a child with a particular father, the mother then goes off to sit alone under a tree. There she sits and listens until she can hear the song of the child that she hopes to conceive. Once she has heard it, she returns to her village and teaches it to the father so that they can sing it together as they make love, inviting the child to join them.

After the child is conceived, she sings it to the baby in her womb. Then she teaches it to the old women and midwives of the village so that throughout the labor and at the miraculous moment of birth itself, the child is greeted with its song. After the birth, all the villagers learn the song of their new member and sing it to the child when it falls or hurts itself.

It is sung in times of triumph or in rituals and initiations. This song becomes a part of the marriage ceremony when the child is grown, and at the end of life, his or her loved ones will gather around the deathbed and sing this song for the last time."

God's Grace and God's Covenant of Love are just like that. From the moment of our conception, God begins to whisper God's love song for us. We may turn away. We may become like Jacob and wind up creating nothing but Rapscallion Stew with our lives. But that doesn't mean that God gives up on us.

God is a DREAM WEAVER, a FAITH STEEPER, a SIN GRIEVER and a COVENANT KEEPER. God keeps God's Covenant to be our God in spite of our constantly cooking up our own Rapscallion Stew.. And through our REDEEMER, Jesus, we are enabled to hear God's love song for us, the song born in God's heart just for us. And we're empowered to answer God and sing our song in harmony with God through Christ.

1. Curtis by Billingsley, 1/19/01

2. Robert Sternberg, Still Smarting, p. 40, Teacher Magazine, Editorial Projects in Education, Inc., Suite 250, 4301 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C., January 1997.

3. Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life (New York: Bantam, 1993), 120.

4.