And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau.
The moment belongs to Isaac's intent to give the firstborn's blessing to Esau, when he questioned the son who came for that blessing and received the false answer claiming to be Esau the firstborn. By fraud and false pretenses Jacob sought to gain what was already his by God's promise. The blessing by itself would not ensure Esau's prosperity, for that depended on his course of action before God, and Jacob likewise would be blessed if he loved and feared God even without the privileges usually given to the firstborn.
Esau learned that Jacob had received the blessing that would have been his and was distressed, but his regret came too late because he had rashly sold his birthright. His loss warns that people who trade their hope of heaven for selfish pleasures may seek repentance only after it is too late. Jacob's deception against Isaac and Esau to obtain the family blessing and birthright brought retribution on himself in his brother's hatred and threats, his flight for his life, twenty years of exile in which he himself was wronged and defrauded until forced to find safety in flight, and a later harvest when the evils of his own character appeared in his sons.
What a person does results from what he is, every deed reacts upon the doer, and the evils that curse life are the fruit of his own sowing. Yet God will not contend forever nor always be wroth, lest the spirit fail before Him, for though He was wroth with covetous iniquity and hid Himself while the sinner went on frowardly in the way of his heart, He sees his ways and will heal him, lead him, restore comforts to him and to his mourners, and give peace to him that is far off and to him that is near. Jacob later repented of the deception by which he had obtained the birthright, and the account shows that God does not overlook concealed or unrepented sin. Genuine repentance and confession leave no hidden wrong to undermine confidence in God's deliverance, and when Jacob pleaded with God in distress God mercifully preserved his life. Deceptions like Jacob's are practiced by those standing in high places of trust who use deceptive reasoning, partiality and hypocrisy to handle men as machinery, to grasp all they can, and to wrong and disappoint others irrespective of rights and agreements.
The moment belongs to Isaac's intent to give the firstborn's blessing to Esau, when he questioned the son who came for that blessing and received the false answer claiming to be Esau the firstborn. By fraud and false pretenses Jacob sought to gain what was already his by God's promise. The blessing by itself would not ensure Esau's prosperity, for that depended on his course of action before God, and Jacob likewise would be blessed if he loved and feared God even without the privileges usually given to the firstborn.
Esau learned that Jacob had received the blessing that would have been his and was distressed, but his regret came too late because he had rashly sold his birthright. His loss warns that people who trade their hope of heaven for selfish pleasures may seek repentance only after it is too late. Jacob's deception against Isaac and Esau to obtain the family blessing and birthright brought retribution on himself in his brother's hatred and threats, his flight for his life, twenty years of exile in which he himself was wronged and defrauded until forced to find safety in flight, and a later harvest when the evils of his own character appeared in his sons.
What a person does results from what he is, every deed reacts upon the doer, and the evils that curse life are the fruit of his own sowing. Yet God will not contend forever nor always be wroth, lest the spirit fail before Him, for though He was wroth with covetous iniquity and hid Himself while the sinner went on frowardly in the way of his heart, He sees his ways and will heal him, lead him, restore comforts to him and to his mourners, and give peace to him that is far off and to him that is near. Jacob later repented of the deception by which he had obtained the birthright, and the account shows that God does not overlook concealed or unrepented sin. Genuine repentance and confession leave no hidden wrong to undermine confidence in God's deliverance, and when Jacob pleaded with God in distress God mercifully preserved his life. Deceptions like Jacob's are practiced by those standing in high places of trust who use deceptive reasoning, partiality and hypocrisy to handle men as machinery, to grasp all they can, and to wrong and disappoint others irrespective of rights and agreements.