Multiple times, Jacob performed feats of daring, strength, and desperation to get God’s blessing. Will you value God’s hand on your life like he did?

As the grandson of Abraham, Jacob must have heard repeatedly about the God of his fathers and about that God’s covenant with his family. He would have learned of the promised land guaranteed to his grandfather’s children, as well as of the promise that descendants would come from his family “like the stars in the sky” (Gen 15:5).

This, anyone would see, was a special family. There was just one problem—Jacob was born second, narrowly preceded by his twin brother Esau.

It’s in Genesis 25 that Jacob offers his brother a bowl of soup in exchange for the birthright he desperately desires.

Genesis 25:29–34. Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Growing up, I thought it was cruel of Jacob to offer his brother only a bowl of soup for the older son’s birthright. Now I see it differently: it was Esau who did not understand that his birthright—and the inheritance in the covenant God made with his family—was his most valuable possession. Jacob did, and he intended to get it by hook or by crook.

Later, Jacob’s father, Isaac, told Esau he was about to bless him, and he sent him off to make him a preliminary meal. But when Rebekah, Isaac’s wife and the brothers’ mother, overheard, she called Jacob in and set a plan in motion to trick Isaac into giving Jacob Esau’s blessing.

Rebekah’s explanation to Jacob shows us their perspective on the scene: she inserts the phrase “before the LORD” into her summary of Isaac’s instructions. Whereas Isaac told Esau that he would like to “bless [Esau] before I die” (Gen. 27:4), Rebekah reports Isaac as saying, “bless [Esau] before the LORD before I die.” Like the birthright, Jacob desperately prizes the blessing—he tricks his father into blessing him instead of Esau.

In a beautiful stanza of Hebrew verse, Isaac blesses him:

Genesis 27:28–29. “May God grant you From the dew of the heavens and the fat of the earth, And abundance of grain and drink. May peoples serve you, and nations bow before you. Be overlord to your brothers, may your mother’s sons bow before you. Those who curse you be cursed, And those who bless you, blessed.”¹

How Jacob must have treasured these words. This blessing would reverberate throughout the centuries, defining one of the most influential peoples in the history of the world.

Deceit is wrong, and the Hebrew text here leaves some unanswered questions: is it Rebekah who is responsible for the trick? Are Jacob and Rebekah acting out of reverence for God or just trying to get something? Why would God honor a stolen blessing?

The record does not offer us a moral accounting, and we should see that as an invitation to consider the biblical text and expect to learn more about God and His character in so doing. Hebrews in the New Testament offers insight into God’s perspective:

Hebrews 12:15-17. See to it that no one…is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

This summary startles me—the Scripture holds Esau accountable, not Jacob, for the loss of his birthright. And the text connects this to the later stolen blessing, saying that after Esau had sold his birthright, he “was rejected”. In God’s eyes, Esau forfeited the blessing when he sold the birthright.

Here, Hebrews uses Esau’s catastrophic failure as a warning to the church. Be careful, it tells us. Don’t minimize what you have in Christ. Prize your relationship with and identity in him as the most precious thing in your life. It is.

Decades after the blessing scenario, Jacob encountered what seemed to be an angel who wrestled him all night:

Genesis 32:24-26. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Bizarre! A “man”, that we see by the end of the scene must be some kind of superhuman, spiritual entity representing Yahweh,
physically wrestles Jacob all night long. If I were grappling with a mysterious stranger for hours, when that stranger tried to leave, I would think “phew! Yes, please go.” But instead of expressing relief, Jacob…demanded a blessing.

In response, the “man” says, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Gen 32:28). Jacob’s boldness and audacity under duress led to him receiving the moniker for an entire nation: Israel.

How far would you go for God’s favor? Do you see where He already has His hand on your life? When you go through struggles, do you pray, not just for God to take away your difficulties, but for Him to put a blessing on you? Will you allow sin to creep in and so deprecate God, or will you fight faithfully to follow Jesus?

Hebrews 12 concludes perfectly. “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (vv. 28–29).

Question: How would you live differently if you valued your relationship with Christ more?

1. Robert Alter’s translation of the Old Testament, quoted here, renders this beautifully. (Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2004).)[↩]