Living with Family Conflict

KEY VERSE: “He said, Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times; he took away my birthright, and behold he hath taken away my blessing.” —Genesis 27:36

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Genesis 27:5-10, 41-46

JACOB’S name had the meaning of ‘supplanter’. Even though he was Esau’s twin, Esau was the firstborn and, according to the custom of the time, the chief family inheritance—called the birthright—belonged to him. The confirmation of this arrangement was by a special ‘blessing’ bestowed by the father.

But early in life, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a mess of “pottage.” We are told that “Esau despised his birthright.” (Gen. 25:29-34) In the New Testament he is called a “profane person.” (Heb. 12:16) In Romans 9:13 we read, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” (Mal. 1:2,3) Professor Strong suggests “detested” or, by extension, “to love less,” as a proper translation of the Greek word translated “hated” in this text. Understand it as we will, the thought is clear that the Lord loved and appreciated Jacob, and favored him above Esau.

Esau’s sale of his birthright was bona fide. He even sealed the arrangement with his oath. (Gen. 25:33) In later years, when it came time for Isaac to bestow the blessing of the birthright, Esau should have explained this situation and should have seen to it that Jacob be given the blessing. But he did not. Only by maneuvering on the part of their mother did Jacob receive that which properly belonged to him.

According to Christian standards, the misrepresentation practiced by Rebekah and Jacob was wrong. The ethical code of that day apparently was different from what it is now. So far as the record goes, the Lord did not condemn them for it, and we will let the judgment rest with him. The entire Scriptural testimony on the subject is that the Lord wanted Jacob to have the birthright.

Concerning Esau, Hebrews 12:17 reads, “Ye know how afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” The margin suggests ‘repentance’ meant, “or way to change his mind.” Turning to the record in Genesis, we find nothing to indicate that Esau was at all repentant. The “tears” were shed in an effort to get Isaac to change his mind about the blessing and give it to him even though he had already bestowed it upon Jacob. Paul did not say that Esau sought a change of mind on his own part; and Genesis reveals clearly that it was Isaac’s mind he endeavored to change.

Since Jacob had purchased the birthright, his mother, Rebekah, made sure he obtained also the parental blessing which more or less ratified it, by working with Jacob to deceive his aged father. Now that Jacob had received the blessing which belonged with the birthright, Esau was very angry and threatened to kill him. So Jacob was advised by his mother to flee to the home of her brother, Laban, in Padan-aram.

Isaac, realizing now that Jacob was the true heir of the Abrahamic promise, instructed Jacob that he should not take a wife from among the daughters of the Canaanites, but seek a bride from among the daughters of Laban, his uncle, Rebekah’s brother. Thus did the Lord overrule to prevent the promised seed from becoming contaminated. Both his mother and father advised him to seek the home of Laban—his mother’s motive being Jacob’s escape from the wrath of Esau, while, his father’s desire was that he take a wife from among their own people.

This all happened during the Patriarchal Age, when the Lord was dealing with individuals, so the blessing of the birthright had to be exclusively to Jacob. The valuable part of this birthright was the inheritance of the promise made to Abraham concerning his seed being the channel of blessing to all the families of the earth. So far as earthly riches were concerned, Isaac did say to Esau, “Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above.”—Gen. 27:3

Jacob was the last of the individual patriarchs. At his death, the plan of God moved forward into another phase, and the Jewish Age began. The twelve sons of Jacob constituted the nucleus of the nation of Israel—a nation which was entitled to receive God’s blessing. The descendants of Esau, on the other hand, received no special blessing. They were the Edomites who became enemies of Israel, and who, throughout the Scriptures, were denounced by God.

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