daily java

Daily Java:

Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. 24 “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked. “I am,” he replied. … 25 Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.” … 30 After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. … 33 Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!” 34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!” 35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” … 41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” (Genesis 27)

There are some odd passages in the Bible and this is surely one of them. It is a real conundrum.

Jacob deceives his father in order to get the paternal blessing. Evidently the one who gets this gets everything, no matter how it is gotten.

Jacob was a sensitive, mama’s boy smooth skinned type, Esau more of a jock-style hairy guy without a lot of brains. But Rebekah liked Jacob better and was, a mothers have done for millennia, willing to lie for him.

Earlier, Esau had come in from a hunt starving because he had found nothing. His brother was making red beans. He offered to sell Esau a bowl of them for his birthright. Esau, being more of a jock-style guy without a lot of brains, said sure. What good is my birthright if I starve to death?

I really think Esau figured he would just humor the kid. Jacob took it for real. As did his mother, Rebekah.

Isaac was so old and feeble that he was blind. When Jacob brought in the food to him, he felt of fur that had been glued to Jacob’s hands and throat and smelled the clothes Rebekah had stolen from Esau.

Because Jacob deceived his father and stole his older brother’s blessing, he became the older brother. Because he became the older brother, his kids became the heirs and through him the line went and ended up in Jesus.

All because of a lie.

Now why would God the Holy Father bless someone through a lie? Wouldn’t it have been easier to make Jacob the first-born? It would have been a piece of cake for God to do that. Why bless him for a lie.

I don’t know. Deuteronomy 29:29 says The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

God works in strange ways. In Philippians 2:12-13, the apostle Paul says continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

That is the way it is. God does what he wants when he wants to do it. And there are some things, strange as they may be, we accept without knowing why.

But God is still good.