And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.
The question belongs to Jacob's disguised visit to his father, when Isaac intended to bless Esau whom he favored while Rebekah remembered that the elder would serve the younger. When Isaac asked again and again whether he was truly his son Esau, Jacob knowingly answered with a direct falsehood that he was Esau in order to take the blessing belonging to another. He had not set out to speak so plain a lie but went on because he felt too far committed to turn back, seeking by his own scheming what was already his by divine promise instead of trusting God to fulfill it in His own time and way. God did not prompt the fraud and does not work out His purposes by such means, for He could have provided for Jacob Himself and dealt with Esau according to his conduct. The lie recoiled upon Jacob in guilt that burdened his conscience for a lifetime, in Esau's hatred, in flight and twenty years of exile in which he was himself wronged, and in evils of his own character reappearing in his sons, yet having repented with humiliation his sin was set before him and pardoned until his name was changed from Jacob to Israel in token of victory and peace. That anguish and wrestling, when Satan accused him and even the Angel reminded him of his guilt until he cast himself on mercy and prevailed, represents the experience of God's people in the time of trouble, whose sins though once real have been confessed, have gone beforehand to judgment and been blotted out, leaving no hidden wrong to overwhelm their faith when they plead for deliverance.
The Deceptive Answer
The question belongs to Jacob's disguised visit to his father to receive the blessing, when Isaac favored Esau and intended to bless him while Rebekah remembered God's word that the elder would serve the younger and urged Jacob to act. When Isaac repeatedly pressed him whether he was truly his son Esau, Jacob knowingly answered with a direct falsehood, presenting himself as Esau in order to obtain the blessing and birthright that belonged to another. That false affirmation of identity when his identity was questioned was the fraud by which he secured what was intended for his brother, a wrong that required repentance.
He had not set out intending to utter a direct falsehood, but once engaged he felt too far committed to retreat and so continued the deception. In doing so he resorted to fraud to gain what was already his by God's promise, seeking by his own efforts and schemes to bring about what God would have accomplished in His own time and way rather than trusting God's power to fulfill it. The deception, carried out with Rebekah's help, was not prompted by God, for God does not carry out His plans through such schemes but could have provided for Jacob by His own means.
A father's blessing could not guarantee God's favor, for Esau would have been blessed or would have faced adversity according to his conduct. Jacob, for his part, could have received God's blessing through righteous living even without the privileges of the firstborn, if Rebekah and he had trusted God to fulfill His purpose in His own way and time instead of using deception.
Results and Repentance
The false claim to be Esau cost Jacob his nobility and truth and left him under self-condemnation. That fraud reacted upon the doer, reaping Esau's hatred and deadly threats, forcing Jacob to flee for his life and to remain an exile for many years. For twenty years he himself was wronged and defrauded, at last forced to find safety in flight. A second harvest came when the evils of his own character cropped out in his sons.
The sin burdened his conscience for a lifetime with fear, terror, self-reproach, doubt, perplexity and remorse that embittered his existence. Twenty years later, leaving Padan-aram in obedience to God, it remained ever before him as, now a returning man, he retraced the road he had trodden as a fugitive. The reproaches of an accusing conscience made him ponder day and night. His journey was very sad with misgivings, even while he remembered God's favor toward him and the promises of divine help and guidance.
The wrong was real guilt requiring repentance with humiliation. Jacob did previously repent of it and learned that God is merciful. His sin was set before him and pardoned. The name Jacob remained a reminder of it until it was changed to Israel to commemorate victory, bringing sweet peace of reconciliation with God and freedom from fear to meet Esau, whose heart God could move to accept Jacob's humiliation and repentance.
Because he had repented, God heard his prayer and mercifully saved his life and did not forsake him despite his wrongdoing. Without that prior repentance God would not have heard him or spared his life. Yet hope remains, for God will not contend forever nor be always wroth, but sees the ways of the covetous and wayward, heals him, leads him, and restores comforts to him and to his mourners, giving peace to him that is far off and to him that is near.
That guilt gave Satan the right to accuse Jacob before God and to press despair upon him in his night of wrestling, when even the Angel reminded him of it to try his faith. Reviewing his life almost to despair, he cast himself on mercy, pointed back to his repentance, and pleaded with humiliation for deliverance and the assurance of pardon, holding fast until he prevailed. Repented sin, blotted out by the atoning blood of Christ, leaves a deep sense of unworthiness but no concealed wrong that can be brought to remembrance to overwhelm faith.
Warning and Final Application
The answer given to obtain another's blessing stands as a warning against all dishonest dealings to gain an advantage over others. It exposes secret working by deceptive reasoning, with partiality and hypocrisy, to harness men and drive them as horses, to handle them as machinery, to bind their freedom, to turn man from his rights, and to grasp all that can be gotten irrespective of agreements and the wrong and disappointment caused to others. All such secret deception is open to God's eye and causes angels to veil their faces, and God will in no case justify it nor excuse it. Because deceptions similar to Jacob's are practiced, the time has come to investigate Christ's teachings to ancient Israel.
By that deception Jacob secured the blessing his father intended for Esau, and that sin of his own brought the danger upon him. It forced him to flee for his life alarmed by his brother's deadly threats and to remain an exile for many years, and later filled him with terror at Esau's vengeful approach and with crushing self-reproach. His anguish over that sin, confessed with humiliation and repentance while pleading for mercy and the assurance of pardon, represents the experience of God's people in the time of trouble. They too must do all they can to right wrongs, to disarm prejudice, and to meet danger by prayer alone.
In that time they can plead for deliverance because their sins, though once real, have been confessed and forgiven and are not concealed. Their confessed sins have gone beforehand to judgment and been blotted out, leaving no concealed wrong to accuse them. Jacob's prior repentance was essential to God hearing his prayer and preserving his life, for had he not repented God would not have heard him and spared him. Repented sin leaves a deep sense of unworthiness but no concealed wrong, because it is blotted out by the atoning blood of Christ and cannot be brought to remembrance to overwhelm faith.
The question belongs to Jacob's disguised visit to his father, when Isaac intended to bless Esau whom he favored while Rebekah remembered that the elder would serve the younger. When Isaac asked again and again whether he was truly his son Esau, Jacob knowingly answered with a direct falsehood that he was Esau in order to take the blessing belonging to another. He had not set out to speak so plain a lie but went on because he felt too far committed to turn back, seeking by his own scheming what was already his by divine promise instead of trusting God to fulfill it in His own time and way. God did not prompt the fraud and does not work out His purposes by such means, for He could have provided for Jacob Himself and dealt with Esau according to his conduct. The lie recoiled upon Jacob in guilt that burdened his conscience for a lifetime, in Esau's hatred, in flight and twenty years of exile in which he was himself wronged, and in evils of his own character reappearing in his sons, yet having repented with humiliation his sin was set before him and pardoned until his name was changed from Jacob to Israel in token of victory and peace. That anguish and wrestling, when Satan accused him and even the Angel reminded him of his guilt until he cast himself on mercy and prevailed, represents the experience of God's people in the time of trouble, whose sins though once real have been confessed, have gone beforehand to judgment and been blotted out, leaving no hidden wrong to overwhelm their faith when they plead for deliverance.
The Deceptive Answer
The question belongs to Jacob's disguised visit to his father to receive the blessing, when Isaac favored Esau and intended to bless him while Rebekah remembered God's word that the elder would serve the younger and urged Jacob to act. When Isaac repeatedly pressed him whether he was truly his son Esau, Jacob knowingly answered with a direct falsehood, presenting himself as Esau in order to obtain the blessing and birthright that belonged to another. That false affirmation of identity when his identity was questioned was the fraud by which he secured what was intended for his brother, a wrong that required repentance.
He had not set out intending to utter a direct falsehood, but once engaged he felt too far committed to retreat and so continued the deception. In doing so he resorted to fraud to gain what was already his by God's promise, seeking by his own efforts and schemes to bring about what God would have accomplished in His own time and way rather than trusting God's power to fulfill it. The deception, carried out with Rebekah's help, was not prompted by God, for God does not carry out His plans through such schemes but could have provided for Jacob by His own means.
A father's blessing could not guarantee God's favor, for Esau would have been blessed or would have faced adversity according to his conduct. Jacob, for his part, could have received God's blessing through righteous living even without the privileges of the firstborn, if Rebekah and he had trusted God to fulfill His purpose in His own way and time instead of using deception.
Results and Repentance
The false claim to be Esau cost Jacob his nobility and truth and left him under self-condemnation. That fraud reacted upon the doer, reaping Esau's hatred and deadly threats, forcing Jacob to flee for his life and to remain an exile for many years. For twenty years he himself was wronged and defrauded, at last forced to find safety in flight. A second harvest came when the evils of his own character cropped out in his sons.
The sin burdened his conscience for a lifetime with fear, terror, self-reproach, doubt, perplexity and remorse that embittered his existence. Twenty years later, leaving Padan-aram in obedience to God, it remained ever before him as, now a returning man, he retraced the road he had trodden as a fugitive. The reproaches of an accusing conscience made him ponder day and night. His journey was very sad with misgivings, even while he remembered God's favor toward him and the promises of divine help and guidance.
The wrong was real guilt requiring repentance with humiliation. Jacob did previously repent of it and learned that God is merciful. His sin was set before him and pardoned. The name Jacob remained a reminder of it until it was changed to Israel to commemorate victory, bringing sweet peace of reconciliation with God and freedom from fear to meet Esau, whose heart God could move to accept Jacob's humiliation and repentance.
Because he had repented, God heard his prayer and mercifully saved his life and did not forsake him despite his wrongdoing. Without that prior repentance God would not have heard him or spared his life. Yet hope remains, for God will not contend forever nor be always wroth, but sees the ways of the covetous and wayward, heals him, leads him, and restores comforts to him and to his mourners, giving peace to him that is far off and to him that is near.
That guilt gave Satan the right to accuse Jacob before God and to press despair upon him in his night of wrestling, when even the Angel reminded him of it to try his faith. Reviewing his life almost to despair, he cast himself on mercy, pointed back to his repentance, and pleaded with humiliation for deliverance and the assurance of pardon, holding fast until he prevailed. Repented sin, blotted out by the atoning blood of Christ, leaves a deep sense of unworthiness but no concealed wrong that can be brought to remembrance to overwhelm faith.
Warning and Final Application
The answer given to obtain another's blessing stands as a warning against all dishonest dealings to gain an advantage over others. It exposes secret working by deceptive reasoning, with partiality and hypocrisy, to harness men and drive them as horses, to handle them as machinery, to bind their freedom, to turn man from his rights, and to grasp all that can be gotten irrespective of agreements and the wrong and disappointment caused to others. All such secret deception is open to God's eye and causes angels to veil their faces, and God will in no case justify it nor excuse it. Because deceptions similar to Jacob's are practiced, the time has come to investigate Christ's teachings to ancient Israel.
By that deception Jacob secured the blessing his father intended for Esau, and that sin of his own brought the danger upon him. It forced him to flee for his life alarmed by his brother's deadly threats and to remain an exile for many years, and later filled him with terror at Esau's vengeful approach and with crushing self-reproach. His anguish over that sin, confessed with humiliation and repentance while pleading for mercy and the assurance of pardon, represents the experience of God's people in the time of trouble. They too must do all they can to right wrongs, to disarm prejudice, and to meet danger by prayer alone.
In that time they can plead for deliverance because their sins, though once real, have been confessed and forgiven and are not concealed. Their confessed sins have gone beforehand to judgment and been blotted out, leaving no concealed wrong to accuse them. Jacob's prior repentance was essential to God hearing his prayer and preserving his life, for had he not repented God would not have heard him and spared him. Repented sin leaves a deep sense of unworthiness but no concealed wrong, because it is blotted out by the atoning blood of Christ and cannot be brought to remembrance to overwhelm faith.