City Life Starter

Written by Stefan Johnsson

The Word

³⁹ Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

“Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be,
    and away from the dew of heaven on high.
⁴⁰ By your sword you shall live,
    and you shall serve your brother;
but when you grow restless
    you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

⁴¹ Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴² But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. ⁴³ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran ⁴⁴ and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away— ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶ Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

Genesis 27:39-46 (ESV)

⁵ And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶ And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. ⁷ And Balaam took up his discourse and said,

“From Aram Balak has brought me,
    the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
    and come, denounce Israel!’
⁸ How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
    How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
⁹ For from the top of the crags I see him,
    from the hills I behold him;
behold, a people dwelling alone,
    and not counting itself among the nations!
¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Jacob
    or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
    and let my end be like his!”

¹¹ And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” ¹² And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

Numbers 23:5-12

Reflection

If you read the passage in Genesis above and wondered, who would curse their favored son? Couldn’t Isaac simply have provided a smaller blessing or nothing at all? It seems overly harsh, even for someone who sold their birthright for some lentil soup.

The answer to this question lies in Numbers 23. As the Israelites camped in the plains of Moab, the king of Moab and his princes grew fearful of the people of God and how many they were. Knowing what had occurred in Egypt, the King of Moab(Balak) sent for Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor to curse the Israelites. If they could be cursed, then he would have an advantage over them. So when Balaam came, he was given three opportunities to curse the Israelites, but was unable to do so. Instead he turned the supposed curse into a blessing!

Balaam could not curse the people of God because they were living in God’s blessing and God was among them. That is, no one can curse what God has blessed and no one can bless what God has cursed. Doing so would contradict God and no one cannot contradict God. This is why we can trust God’s Word because His promises are perfect and true and no one can speak against them.

Going back to Isaac’s blessing and curse. If Jacob had not deceived his father Isaac and Esau had come in first, Isaac would not have been able to bless Esau. It would still have been the same curse! If Isaac had blessed Esau, it would have contradicted God when He prophesied about the twins during Rebekah’s pregnancy in Genesis 25.

²³ And the Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,
    and two peoples from within you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
    the older shall serve the younger.”

Genesis 25:23

At the same time, we see God working within Jacob’s life. Jacob was living in luxury through his father’s wealth. To take the birthright away from Esau it meant that most of Isaac’s possessions would have gone to Jacob, but instead Jacob had to flee to Haran to Rebekah’s brother Laban. He left with nothing and everything ended up going to Esau anyway. It took twenty years for Jacob to learn to trust God instead of using his wealth, wit, and deceptions.

Application

No one can contradict what God has said. It is important for us to know that, no matter our failures or the opposition of the devil, God’s will and His promises will come true. We can stand firm by trusting the Word of God as it teaches us about who God is and what He has already accomplished and what He will accomplish.

Stand strong in faith because you can fully trust that God is with you and no one can stand against, not even Satan himself.

Prayer

Dear Father in heaven, thank You for showing Your goodness and sovereignty through the stories in the Bible. You planned everything out from the beginning and no one could change what You set out to accomplish. I know that Your Word is Truth and that I can trust it completely. Let me dwell in Your goodness. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.