And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
Rebekah handed Jacob the savory meat and bread she had prepared so that he could pose as Esau before his blind, aged father and deceive Isaac to obtain the blessing intended for Esau. The act was wrong and is not presented as right, for God did not prompt it, and He does not connive at selfishness to carry out His plans. The fraud was unnecessary because the blessing had been promised by God to Jacob, and he could have received it by trusting God, who was fully able to provide for him and bring about His purposes in His own way and time, while lack of faith in God's power to fulfill that promise led him into wrongdoing. The blessing and its promised prosperity did not depend on deceit, for Isaac's blessing could bring Esau prosperity only as God granted it according to Esau's conduct; one who loves and reveres God is accepted and blessed while one who rejects God and His commandments is rejected, and Jacob would be blessed if he loved and feared God even without the privileges normally given to the firstborn.
The deception succeeded in obtaining the blessing but brought guilt, family division, lasting consequences and lasting separation between mother and son, and put Jacob under threat from his brother so that he knew he had sinned and had to flee for his life to escape Esau's anger. Though God had not forsaken him, Jacob had to repent of that fraud before God would hear his prayer and mercifully save his life and preserve him. That guilt gave Satan ground to accuse Jacob before the angels of God and claim the right to destroy him, and during Jacob's long night of wrestling Satan pressed the sense of that guilt to discourage him and break his hold on God. Jacob had previously repented of that fraud, learned that God is merciful, cast himself on His mercy, pointed back to his repentance and pleaded for deliverance, and because he had repented God heard his prayer and mercifully preserved his life, whereas without that prior repentance God could not have heard him.
The setting illustrates that sins must be confessed and forsaken before the time of trouble, for forgiven sins have been blotted out while concealed and unconfessed sins leave people unable to trust God for deliverance. The devising and planning in this deception must never be copied, especially seeking advantage over brethren in faith by unfair methods, conniving at evil, underhand dealing, pretense, fraud, dishonesty, intrigue, rivalry and bribery, for such unholy work hurts and finally ruins every soul who engages in it. The verse exposes taking by craft what belongs to another through partiality, hypocrisy and deceptive reasoning that turns men from their rights, disappoints and wrongs them for selfish and covetous gain, and harnesses and rules them, a deception still practiced by men in high places of trust who handle men as machinery and rule as lords over God's heritage; all such secret working is open to the eye of God, angels veil their faces at it, and God will in no case justify or excuse it.
Rebekah handed Jacob the savory meat and bread she had prepared so that he could pose as Esau before his blind, aged father and deceive Isaac to obtain the blessing intended for Esau. The act was wrong and is not presented as right, for God did not prompt it, and He does not connive at selfishness to carry out His plans. The fraud was unnecessary because the blessing had been promised by God to Jacob, and he could have received it by trusting God, who was fully able to provide for him and bring about His purposes in His own way and time, while lack of faith in God's power to fulfill that promise led him into wrongdoing. The blessing and its promised prosperity did not depend on deceit, for Isaac's blessing could bring Esau prosperity only as God granted it according to Esau's conduct; one who loves and reveres God is accepted and blessed while one who rejects God and His commandments is rejected, and Jacob would be blessed if he loved and feared God even without the privileges normally given to the firstborn.
The deception succeeded in obtaining the blessing but brought guilt, family division, lasting consequences and lasting separation between mother and son, and put Jacob under threat from his brother so that he knew he had sinned and had to flee for his life to escape Esau's anger. Though God had not forsaken him, Jacob had to repent of that fraud before God would hear his prayer and mercifully save his life and preserve him. That guilt gave Satan ground to accuse Jacob before the angels of God and claim the right to destroy him, and during Jacob's long night of wrestling Satan pressed the sense of that guilt to discourage him and break his hold on God. Jacob had previously repented of that fraud, learned that God is merciful, cast himself on His mercy, pointed back to his repentance and pleaded for deliverance, and because he had repented God heard his prayer and mercifully preserved his life, whereas without that prior repentance God could not have heard him.
The setting illustrates that sins must be confessed and forsaken before the time of trouble, for forgiven sins have been blotted out while concealed and unconfessed sins leave people unable to trust God for deliverance. The devising and planning in this deception must never be copied, especially seeking advantage over brethren in faith by unfair methods, conniving at evil, underhand dealing, pretense, fraud, dishonesty, intrigue, rivalry and bribery, for such unholy work hurts and finally ruins every soul who engages in it. The verse exposes taking by craft what belongs to another through partiality, hypocrisy and deceptive reasoning that turns men from their rights, disappoints and wrongs them for selfish and covetous gain, and harnesses and rules them, a deception still practiced by men in high places of trust who handle men as machinery and rule as lords over God's heritage; all such secret working is open to the eye of God, angels veil their faces at it, and God will in no case justify or excuse it.