Rebekah's Plan in Genesis 27: When God Had Already Spoken (Genesis 27:1–17)

Why did Isaac want to bless Esau?

Isaac wanted to bless Esau because he loved him, and he loved the meat Esau brought home. Genesis said it plainly two chapters back: "Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob" (Genesis 25:28). So the old man sends him out with his quiver and bow, and asks for "a tasty dish that I love" (Genesis 27:4).

God had already spoken about these two boys. Before they were born He told Rebekah, "the older will serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23). Isaac plans the blessing of his life around his appetite, and nobody in the tent mentions what God said.

Why did Rebekah tell Jacob to deceive his father?

Rebekah told Jacob to deceive his father because she remembered what God had said, and she did not trust Him to bring it about while Isaac was handing the blessing to Esau. When the twins fought inside her, she "went to inquire of the LORD" (Genesis 25:22). This time she asks nobody. She calls Jacob and says, "Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you" (Genesis 27:8).

Listen to the way she repeats Isaac's request. She adds a phrase he never said: "so that I may bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die" (Genesis 27:7). She knows the blessing belongs to God. She plans it anyway, with two young goats and a cooking pot.

What was Jacob afraid of?

Jacob was afraid of getting caught. He raised no objection to the lie. "What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing" (Genesis 27:12).

His mother had an answer ready: "Your curse be on me, my son" (Genesis 27:13). She dressed him in "the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau" and laid goat skins on his hands and the smooth part of his neck (Genesis 27:15–16). A family that had heard from God was now running on goat hair and borrowed clothes.

How does Genesis 27 point to Jesus?

Genesis 27 points to Jesus because He did openly what this family tried to fake. Rebekah offered to carry a curse she could never lift. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). Jacob wore his brother's clothes to fool a blind father. In Christ, the Father gives us His Son's own clothing: "all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:27). We come to the Father in the open, by His invitation, and He blesses us with His eyes wide open.

And Jesus says what this tent was missing. "My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27). His voice is the one to listen to, and to be known by Him is the reason we listen.

Let Him keep what He said

God's promise to Rebekah held. It held through Isaac's appetite and through her scheme, because, as the psalm says, "The counsel of the LORD stands forever" (Psalms 33:11). When God has said something to you, in Scripture or in an encouragement someone shared, write it down in the Doxa app with the date and His exact words. Then on the day you are tempted to arrange its fulfilment yourself, read it back, and let Him keep it. We are the people who remember what God has said, and we come to know Him as the God whose word stands.

What has God said to you that you have been tempted to make happen on your own?

Deeper study today in the Doxa Deeper Dive: the Hebrew phrase in Rebekah's command that runs from Eden to Sinai. Read it here.