Do you notice when God prophesies in your life?
My devotional for today was Genesis 27, where Isaac blesses Jacob, thinking it was Esau. For those unfamiliar with that scripture, the gist of it is that Jacob’s mother Rebekkah convinced Jacob to steal his brother’s blessing from their father, Isaac. At his mother’s behest, Jacob got two young goats. She prepared them as his father liked, and then put the goat skins over Jacob’s neck and arms, so that his skin would feel like his brother’s. Pulling this off required haste, and his father noticed. Notice though how Jacob lies:
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, that your soul 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.”
He lied, and he lied in God’s name. Can you believe that? It never had an impact on me until I read that this morning. And now, let’s skip ahead to the blessing he received:
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!”
Now, notice something. Jacob had no other brother but Esau, and Esau never bowed down to him. Quite the contrary, when they met years later, it was Jacob who bowed to Esau:
33:1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. 2 And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. 3 He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.
I include that last verse because of the tearful reunion. It’s touching.
So then, if that Jacob didn’t actually experience the blessing, then what gives? Did he actually steal it? The answer is no.
There are two parts of this.
First, we must remember something God said to Rebekkah in Genesis 25 when Jacob and Esau were to be born:
23 And the Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the older shall serve the younger.”
So, when Rebekkah schemed with Jacob, we can understand somewhat because she already knew that God was planning to establish His people through Jacob, and not Esau. However, Rebekkah’s scheme was completely unnecessary. In fact, after Isaac blessed Jacob (thinking he was Esau), God actually gave Jacob a blessing of His own, in Genesis 28:
13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
He’s not kidding that he didn’t know it! God was going to give Jacob this blessing no matter what blessing Isaac gave Esau. The lying, the treachery, and the heresy was completely unnecessary. But this still doesn’t answer the question about the blessing given to Jacob by Isaac. What about it?
Well, let’s look at that blessing again…
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!”
Does this look familiar at all? I hope so. It’s the life of Joseph! Jacob’s 12th and favorite son. As a young boy, Jacob had the following dreams:
37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
Jacob’s correction should surprise us… or should it? Did he not recognize it as the blessing his father gave him? Or perhaps he remembered that blessing all too well! And he remembered his own treachery. ”Is this how it’s going to be?” he might have thought, ”are these the choices that I made?” Perhaps in his rebuke toward his beloved Joseph, he was really kicking rebuking himself. How many of us fathers have done that? Perhaps he was even jealous. Many fathers would understand that sinful temptation as well. It reminds of when King David had too much blood on his hands to build God a temple; that privelege would fall to Solomon… it would seem that the pattern of forfeting your blessing to your son isn’t an uncommon consequence of sin.
Well, soon after that, Joseph would be sold by his borthers as a slave. He would serve in Egypt, get arrested on false pretenses, but then correctly interpret the pharaoh’s dreams, which predicted 7 years of plenty, followed by 7 years of famine. Joseph was instantly put in charge of Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh. For the 7 years of plenty, he stored up enough grain to last throughout the 7 years of famine.
28 May God give you of the dew of heaven
and of the fatness of the earth
and plenty of grain and wine.
During the famine, people would come from far and wide to ask Joseph for grain to bring home for their families.
29a Let peoples serve you,
and nations bow down to you.
Even his brothers would come to Egypt for food, for the famine reached them, too. When Joseph tricked them into thinking that Benjamin was in trouble, they bowed before him, gave him gifts, and asked for mercy. Joseph revealed himself, and brought his entire family over to live in Egypt.
29b 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
When his brothers cursed him, they were cursed. Later, they blessed him, and they were blessed.
I really love seeing how God works, and it is too often that we don’t even see it. How many times have we prayed, and it came true? I described my wife to God in a prayer one day, before I ever met her. I described her difficulties, her family members, and more. I though I was making her up, but I wanted God to bless her, and to comfort me. One day, I was on a date, and the woman I was out with was talking about herself and her family. Suddenly, a chill came over me, and I was speechless. Sitting across from the table was the woman. Her. The one I prayed for. I thought I was the one talking to God… turns out He was the one talking to me. What I thought was a prayer was a prophecy from God. What Jacob thought was a blessing stolen from Esau, turned out to be a prophecy for his own son, from God.
Pay attention to your prayers. Pay attention to people praying over you. Listen to what people share for no particular reason. Be ready to hear Him at the oddest times. The Holy Spirit is alive and well, and He works through the people and situations that you would least suspect. So pay attention. Take notes. He may be trying to tell you something. But do not worry. His timing is always perfect.