Does God Use Lies and Deception? – Genesis 26 and 27, TLV
1 Now there was a famine in the land—aside from the previous famine that happened in Abraham’s days. So Isaac went to King Abimelech of the Philistines, to Gerar. 2 Then Adonai appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land about which I tell you. 3 Live as an outsider in this land and I will be with you and bless you—for to you and to your seed I give all these lands—and I will confirm my pledge that I swore to Abraham your father.
4 I will multiply your seed like the stars of the sky and I will give your seed all these lands. And in your seed all the nations of the earth will continually be blessed, 5 because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My mitzvot (commandments), My decrees, and My instructions.” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
7 Now the men of the place asked about his wife. So he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “my wife”—“or else the men of the place would kill me on account of Rebekah, because she’s good looking.”
Wow. Where have we heard that one before?
8 Now after he had been there for a long time, King Abimelech of the Philistines peered down through the window and saw, behold, Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “So in fact she’s your wife! Now how could you say, ‘She’s my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Or else I might die because of her.’” 10 Then Abimelech said, “What is it that you’ve done to us? One of the people could have easily slept with your wife and you would’ve brought guilt on us.” 11 So Abimelech commanded all the people saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife will surely die!”
Can you imagine what poor Abimelech was thinking? “Seriously? Like father, Like son” or “What is wrong with these crazy Hebrews? Doesn’t any of them ever tell the truth?” or “Why is God continually blessing these liars?”
I know that I would have major concerns about this whole clan after both Abraham and his son Isaac pulled the same lie to save their sorry butts.
But, in spite of all that, Adonai still blesses Isaac
12 Then Isaac sowed in that land and in that year reaped a hundredfold. Adonai blessed him 13 and the man became great and continued to become greater until he became very great. 14 He acquired livestock of sheep and livestock of cattle, and numerous servants. Then the Philistines envied him.
15 All the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham the Philistines stopped up and filled with dirt. 16 So Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much more powerful than us.”
So the Philistine people started sabatoging Isaac and his people, filling up their wells, and just being a pain. Abimelech was afraid of them because they had become so numerous and so powerful, and asked them to leave before war broke out and his people were destroyed.
Also, God blessed Isaac because of Abraham, increased his wealth one hundredfold, and made him great, then greater, and then very great. All because of Isaac’s father’s obedience.
17 So Isaac departed from there, camped in the Valley of Gerar and dwelled there. 18 Then Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham—the Philistines had stopped them up after Abraham’s death. He gave them the same names that his father had given them.
19 Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of living water there. 20 But the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s shepherds saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Quarrel, because they quarreled with him.
21 Then he dug another well and they quarreled over it too, so he named it Accusation. 22 Then he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he named it Wide Spaces and said, “Because now Adonai has created wide spaces for us and we will be fruitful in the land.”
23 He went up from there to Beer-sheba. 24 Adonai appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you, and I will bless you and multiply your seed for the sake of Abraham my servant.” 25 So he built an altar there and called on the Name of Adonai. He pitched his tent there and Isaac’s servants hollowed out a well there.
Covenant of Isaac and Abimelech
26 Now Abimelech went to him from Gerar along with Achuzzat his friend and Phicol the commander of his army. 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We’ve clearly seen that Adonai has been with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an agreement between us—between us and you—and let us make a covenant with you: 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we haven’t touched you and just as we did nothing to you but good, and sent you away in shalom. You are now blessed by Adonai.”
30 Then he made a feast for them and they ate and drank. 31 Then they got up early in the morning and made a pledge, each to his brother. Then Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in shalom. 32 Now it happened that on that day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they dug, and said to him, “We’ve found water.” 33 So he called it Pledge. That is why the city’s name is Beer-sheba to this day.
Abimelech was still somewhat afraid of the Hebrews size, wealth, and power, and the way that his people had treated them. So he wanted to make certain that they were friends and not adversaries.
This probably should have been the end of the chapter, as we now transition back to Jacob and Esau…
34 When Esau was 40 years old, he took as wife Judith the daughter of Be-eri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 But they caused a bitterness of spirit for Isaac and Rebekah.
We see here how out of obedience Esau was. Instead of choosing his wife from among his own people, he chose both of them from a potential enemy. The Hittites were descended from Heth, one of the sons of Canaan, who was a son of Ham. The descendants of Ham were continually having problems with the descendants of Shem. They were among the people that were living in the land that God gave to Abraham, and, at one time, God ordered Israel to kill them all.
Our story continues in the first part of Chapter 27…
1 Now it was when Isaac grew old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he said to him. 2 “Look, I’m old,” he said. “I don’t know the day of my death. 3 So now, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt me some game. 4 Then prepare me a delicious meal that I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”
This blessing that Isaac was referring to was the blessing of the Firstborn. Esau would then become the head of the household, and inherit 2/3 of his wealth, while Jacob would have inherited the remaining one third.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Isaac was deliberately forgetting that Adonai had already decreed that Jacob would be the heir to the promise. But because he personally preferred Esau, and Esau was technically a few seconds older than Jacob, Isaac decided to do what he wanted to do...not what God had revealed to Rebekah when the twins were born.
Instead of praying for confirmation of what God told Rebekah, he brushed it off because he did want to believe it...perhaps deciding in his own heart that Rebekah had imagined the whole thing or had perhaps lied about. However he justified it in his own mind, Esau was who he wanted to have the blessing of the firstborn.
5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac was speaking to Esau his son. So while Esau went to the field to hunt game to bring in, 6 Rebekah said to Jacob her son, “Look, I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau saying, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare me a delicious meal that I may eat and bless you in Adonai’s presence before my death.’ 8 So now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I am commanding you. 9 Go now to the flock and bring me two good young goats from there, so that I may prepare them as a delicious meal for your father—that he’ll love. 10 Then you’ll bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”
Does anyone see anything wrong with this scenario?
Rebekah deceives her husband and betrays her first born son, and encourages her younger son to take part of the deception to obtain something by trickery that should have been his by God’s decree.
So, instead of going to God and saying, “Lord, my husband has determined not to honor your decree. Would you please reveal to him what he is supposed to do?” and then letting the Lord handle it, she came up with a plan of trickery and deceit to accomplish it.
11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I’m a smooth man. 12 Perhaps my father will touch me, and he’ll take me for a mocker, and I’ll bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” 13 Then his mother said to him, “Let your curse fall on me, my son. Just listen to me, and go, get them for me.” 14 So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared a delicious meal that his father would love. 15 Rebekah also took her elder son Esau’s favorite clothes that were with her in the house, and she put them on her younger son Jacob, 16 along with the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the hairless part of his neck. 17 She put the delicious meal and the bread that she had prepared in the hand of Jacob her son.
18 Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “I’m here. Who are you, my son?” 19 Then Jacob said to his father, “I’m your firstborn, Esau. I’ve done just what you said to me. Sit up, please, and eat some of my wild game so that your soul may bless me.” 20 Then Isaac said to his son, “How in the world were you able to find it so quickly, my son?” He said, “Because Adonai your God made it happen for me.”
Now Jacob adds to the sin and deception by bringing Adonai into it. Can you think of any time that you have heard someone say “God told me to do this” when you and they knew it was wrong? Maybe you have even done it yourself. Satan is good about planting that thought in your head.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can feel you my son—whether or not you really are my son Esau.” 22 So Jacob came closer to his father Isaac, and he felt him. Then he said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice but the hands are Esau’s hands.” 23 He did not recognize him because his hands were like the hairy hands of his brother Esau. So he blessed him. 24 But he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” So he said, “I am.”
And so another lie is added to the list…
25 Then he said, “Bring it to me and I’ll eat some of my son’s wild game, so that my soul may 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, “Please come closer and kiss me my son.” 27 So he came closer and kissed him. When he smelled the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, “Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that Adonai has blessed. 28 May God give you— from the dew of the sky and from the fatness of the land— an abundance of grain and new wine. 29 May peoples serve you and may nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers. May your mother’s sons bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and may those who bless you be blessed.”
Isaac is showing more pride and arrogance here. Even though God had fore-ordained that the older would serve the younger, he wanted to make certain that did not happen. He thought that he was blessing Esau, and so decreed as part of the blessing that he was to be master over his brothers. The intent was to make Jacob servant to Esau; the very opposite of what God had ordained. He was trying to thwart God’s plan and make his own reality.
30 No sooner had Isaac finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had just gone out from his father Isaac’s presence, than Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 Then he also prepared a delicious meal and brought it to his father, and he said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat of his son’s wild game that your soul may bless me.” 32 His father Isaac said, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your first-born, Esau.” 33 Then Isaac trembled with intense trembling and said, “Who was it then that hunted wild game and brought it to me? I ate it all just before you came and I blessed him—and yes, he will be blessed.”
Can you imagine how sick to his stomach Isaac must have felt, knowing that his rebellion against God had failed and backfired?
34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he shouted with an intensely bitter groan. Then he said to his father, “Bless me, me too, my father!” 35 Then he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” 36 He said, “Is this why he was named Jacob—since he’s tricked me twice already? My birthright he’s taken. Look! Now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he said, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
I ALMOST felt sorry for Esau here. He did what his dad said, and came back expecting the blessing of the firstborn. But the birthright WAS the blessing; they are interchangeable. And he knew that he had already given up everything. And Jacob hadn’t really tricked him regarding the birthright; he had just made a hard bargain. It was up to Esau to accept or reject it. He could always have made his own food. But he thought that he was running for his life, and made the really bad deal with his brother. Jacob had been ruthless during that transaction, but had not tricked him into anything. He was blaming his brother for his own stupidity.
37 Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I’ve made him master over you, and all your brothers I’ve given to him as servants. I’ve provided him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?”
In other words, Isaac had given him exactly what God had said on the day that the twins were born. Hmm. Imagine that.
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you just have one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 39 Then Isaac his father said to him, “Behold, away from the land’s fatness shall your dwelling be, away from the dew of the sky above. 40 By your sword shall you live, and your brother shall you serve. But when you tear yourself loose, you will tear his yoke off your neck.”
41 So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “Let the time for mourning my father draw near, so that I can kill my brother Jacob!” 42 Now to Rebekah was reported the words of Esau her elder son. So she sent and called for Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself about you with the thought of killing you. 43 So now my son, listen to my voice. Get up—flee to Laban my brother in Haran!
44 Then stay with him a few days, until your brother’s rage subsides, 45 until your brother’s rage turns away from you and he forgets what you’ve done to him. Then I’ll send for you and get you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?” 46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these women, from the daughters of the land what is life to me?”
Our Takeaway for this week is one very important lesson:
God’s Will will be done no matter what we do to try to mess it up.
Jacob was prideful, and tried to put his own will over the Lord’s. It didn’t happen.
Rebekah deceived her husband and first born son, and conned her younger son to do some pretty underhanded things. She paid for that by losing her beloved son for many years as he fled for his life. And she was stuck living with the son she betrayed, and his wives who made her life miserable.
Jacob lied and deceived everyone except his mom in order to get what God had declared was already his. He paid for it by fleeing for his life, being separated from the mom he adored, the father who was near death, and his brother, who now hated him.
And yet, God’s will was accomplished.
Did God mean for it to happen this way?
Ideally, no. He doesn’t want any of us to sin, ever. And, in this case, everyone in the story sinned against him and against each other.
But God, in his infinite foreknowledge knew ahead of time exactly what each person would do out of their own free will, and still got His plan accomplished.
Would it have been easier and better for everyone if they had just listened to him to start with?
Of course. If Isaac had believed that God spoke to Rebekah, the love of his life, or if he had prayed to God for confirmation, and let everyone know that he was going to follow God’s directive, none of this would have happened. Jacob would never have had to flee, he could have stayed with the family and they all could have grown closer to God and each other.
If Rebekah had simply prayed to God and asked him to intervene because of Jacob’s plan, then stepped back and let God handle it, there would have been no animosity between her, her husband, and her first born, and she would not have been without her favorite son for years.
If Jacob had done the right thing and said no to his mom, God still would have intervened, and he would not have had to flee for his life.
God’s Plan will ALWAYS be done, in spite of how many times we attempt to mess it up. You cannot win a chess game against an opponent who knows every move that you will make in every circumstance. God will always win the contest.
And that takes us to next time, when the Trickster is himself tricked...Come back next week for “Jacob takes a wife..and then the one he really wanted.”