Jacob: The So-Called Deceiver
The court of public opinion can be a harsh critic. This observation seems particularly true in the case of the patriarch Jacob, a grandson of Abraham and the progenitor of the Jewish race. Many people consider Jacob an arch deceiver who stole his brother Esau’s birthright, then cheated him out of his rightful blessing. Certainly, Jacob was not perfect. He was a flawed sinner, like all of us and like everyone in the Messianic line. Yet God, in His sovereignty, loved Jacob and used the patriarch’s mistakes to bring about His perfect will.
Although Jacob and Esau were twins, they couldn’t have been more different. Esau was a skilled hunter (Gen. 25:27) whose emotions got the better of him. He married two Canaanite women (36:2) and showed no inclination for the things of God. Jacob, on the other hand, is described as tam, a Hebrew word that implies moral integrity. Six times the New American Standard Bible translates it as “blameless,” three times as “guiltless,” twice as “perfect,” once as “a man of integrity,” once as “complete,” and once as “peaceful.” Jacob, apparently, was a good guy.
In ancient days, the birthright automatically went to the firstborn son. It gave him a double portion of his father’s inheritance and made him the head of the clan—the person responsible for carrying on the family legacy. Although Esau exited the womb first, the Lord had decreed that Jacob would receive the preeminence and told Rebekah when she was pregnant, “The older shall serve the younger” (25:23).
One day when Esau came in from the field famished, he asked Jacob for some of the stew Jacob had cooked. “Sell me your birthright as of this day,” Jacob replied (v. 31).
In an emotional response that highly exaggerated the truth, Esau declared, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” (v. 32). So, he sold his birthright, “ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright” (v. 34).
Esau wasn’t threatened. He wasn’t coerced. He wasn’t deceived. In an hour, he could have made his own stew and kept his birthright. But satisfying his hunger meant more to him than his family legacy. Scripture warns us against being like Esau, a “profane” person “who for one morsel of food sold his birthright” (Heb. 12:16). No wonder God said, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated” (Mal. 1:2–3; Rom. 9:13).
Unfortunately, Jacob didn’t stop at securing the birthright. Urged by his mother, he deceived a now-blind Isaac into believing he was Esau and stole the blessing reserved for the firstborn (Gen. 27:1–41). At more than 40 years old, Jacob still obeyed his parents. The scheme to deceive Isaac belonged to Rebekah, who used the same Hebrew root word for “command” (mitzvah) that God used when He gave the Israelites the Shema, the highest command in Judaism (Dt. 6:6).
“Therefore, my son,” she said, “obey my voice according to what I command you” (Gen. 27:8).
Perhaps Jacob should have stood up to his mother. He disliked the plan and feared Isaac would recognize him and curse him instead (vv. 11–13). Nevertheless, he obeyed. So, Isaac blessed him; and when Esau learned what had happened, he hated Jacob and contemplated killing him (vv. 41–42).
After Isaac learned the truth, he blessed Jacob again (28:1)—intentionally, this time—and sent him to Rebekah’s brother Laban in faraway Padan Aram, probably southeastern Turkey. En route, Jacob saw the Lord in a dream. Instead of reprimanding Jacob, the Lord bestowed on him the blessing of the Abrahamic Covenant:
I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; . . . and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you (vv. 13–15).
Jacob then vowed, “If God will be with me . . . then the LORD shall be my God” (vv. 20–21).
Some people say Jacob got his comeuppance later when Laban deceived him into marrying his daughter Leah when Jacob thought he was marrying Laban’s daughter Rachel. Many years later, Jacob’s sons also deceived him into thinking his favorite son, Joseph, was dead. Perhaps it was payback, perhaps not. Scripture doesn’t say.
Or perhaps it was merely God working His sovereign plan through sinful human beings. Whatever the case, God never stopped loving Jacob; and He will never stop loving those of us who believe in Him. The Messianic line is riddled with human sin and imperfection. It only becomes perfect with Jesus.
