Genesis 27:42-28:9 “Rebekah and Isaac Send Jacob Away”

“So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, ‘You must not marry any of these Canaanite women.’”
Genesis 28:1 (NLT)

Everyone pursued their own interests, but no one was happy. Rebekah had succeeded in her scheme to deceive Isaac in giving the blessing to Jacob, but now she was sending Jacob away. Isaac thought he was giving the blessing of the firstborn to Esau only to find that he had blessed Jacob instead. Esau thought he was getting the blessing only to find that Jacob had stolen it from him. Jacob thought he had gotten the blessing only to discover that Esau was plotting to kill him. O, what tangled webs we weave!

But something had to be done to save Jacob’s life, so Rebekah formed another plan. Jacob would go to her brother Laban’s house until Esau’s anger had passed. She persuaded Isaac to send Jacob back to her family to get a wife, because her life would be miserable if Jacob married a Canaanite wife as Esau had done.

Whatever feelings of betrayal or anger Isaac may have felt against Jacob for deceiving him, he put these aside. Perhaps he now realized that he had been in the wrong. While both boys were still in Rebekah’s womb, God had said that the older would serve the younger. Yet Isaac had sought to reverse the order and make Jacob serve Esau. Isaac was humbled beneath the sovereign hand of God. Therefore, he blessed and released Jacob. He imparted the blessing of Abraham upon his youngest son that he would be fruitful, become many peoples, and inherit the land of Canaan.

Our plans do not always work out as we imagine. Sometimes we think we’ve gotten what we want only to suffer “buyer’s remorse”. Often we are humbled beneath the sovereign grace of God. But will we humble ourselves and accept God’s will above our own? We make messes when we go our own way, but God can redeem our mistakes if we will confess our sins and surrender to His plan.