Isaac

January 28

Genesis 27:18-23, 28-29

A father’s blessing

Isaac and Rebekah got married and had two sons, Esau and Jacob. As time passed, Isaac became old and was blind. It was the custom for a father to speak a blessing on his eldest son. This is called a birthright. So Isaac called Esau and asked him to first go out and hunt for a wild animal and cook it for him.

When Isaac’s wife Rebekah heard this, she thought of a plan to trick Isaac into blessing Jacob instead of Esau, because Jacob was her favorite son.

While Esau was out hunting, Rebekah prepared a pot of goat meat. Then she gave Jacob the goatskin to cover his arms because Esau’s arms were hairy, while Jacob’s arms were smooth.

As Jacob served the food to his father, Isaac asked, “Esau, is it really you, my son? Come here so that I can touch you.” Jacob held out his arm covered with the hairy goatskin. When Isaac felt it, he thought it was Esau standing there, and he spoke his blessing, but he was blessing Jacob.

What does it mean to be blessed?

Do you think that Jacob did a bad thing? What Jacob did was not right because he lied to his father and took the special blessing that was meant for Esau.

But what is a blessing? One hears the words “bless you” so often that it doesn’t seem all that special anyway.

When a father or mother honors the Lord, God special favor is on all their children. This blessing from God doesn’t necessarily mean that a child will grow up to live a long and healthy life or become rich, but rather that God will draw the child close to Himself. God will answer the prayers of a parent and bless every son and daughter in the family, not just the eldest son.

Verse for today

But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children. Psalm 103:17