Genesis 27

Rebekah used her dislike for Esau’s wives as an excuse to gain Isaac’s permission for Jacob to go to Paddan-aram. Paddan-aram was the area around Haran. [Note: See the map "Abraham’s Travels Outside the Promised Land" under my comments on 11:27-32 for its location.] Evidently Rebekah had kept Esau’s hatred for Jacob from his aged father because she believed Isaac was near death (Genesis 27:41). Rebekah’s deceit secured the blessing for Jacob, but it resulted in his having to flee from his home. As far as Genesis records, Rebekah never saw him again.

". . . her broaching the subject of Jacob’s marriage was a masterstroke: it played equally on Isaac’s self-interest and his principles. The prospect of a third Hittite daughter-in-law and a distracted wife would have unmanned even an Abraham." [Note: Kidner, p. 157.]

"Rebekah’s manipulative language to spare Jacob again displays the poverty of Isaac and Rebekah’s relationship. As demonstrated by the previous deception, Isaac and Rebekah do not seem able to communicate honestly with one another on important spiritual matters." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 382.]

Isaac evidently realized that his desire to give the blessing to Esau was not God’s will, so having given it to Jacob (Genesis 27:27-29) he blessed him further (Genesis 28:1-4). [Note: Concerning Isaac’s desire that Jacob marry someone from outside the Promised Land, see the note at 24:3-4.]

This account is another remarkable demonstration of God’s ability to use the sins of men and women to accomplish His purposes and at the same time punish the sinners for their sins.

"What man intends for evil God utilizes for good." [Note: Davis, p. 238. Cf. Romans 8:28.]

Many years later the aged Jacob blessed Joseph’s younger son Ephraim rather than his older brother Manasseh (Genesis 48:14-19). He must have remembered how he had deceived his father Isaac to get his blessing. Joseph’s approach to Jacob on that occasion was honorable by contrast, and his life was free of the consequences of deceit. This was not true of Jacob’s life.

Jacob reaped what he sowed (Galatians 6:7). Laban later deceived him, and later still his own sons (in the case of the sale of Joseph) did so even more cruelly than he deceived Isaac. [Note: For some helpful insights into Jacob’s character, see R. Paul Stevens, "Family Feud," His 42:3 (December 1981):18-20.]