The Blessing of Jacob

Jacob was told that Esau would serve him. Of course, throughout history Esau's descendents (the Edomites) rarely served Israel! But Psalm 108 reminds us that God did not forget. God will go before his people to Edom – and God will give them the victory.

Did you know that a descendent of Esau plays a prominent role in the NT? Herod – the Idumean (or Edomite).

As Jesus stands before Herod, he does battle in a most interesting way! He is silent.

And through his silence – through his suffering – Jesus wins the victory. The long-promised triumph over Edom comes in the cross.

In this passage, Esau has joined himself to a people who are under God's wrath and curse. This is a case analogous to what happened before the Flood, when the sons of God (the seed of the woman) married the daughters of man (the seed of the serpent). When the covenant people of God marry those who are outside the covenant the result is never good.

This seemingly minor point at the end of chapter 26 sets up the whole of chapter 27 by showing us that Esau does not really care about the covenant. We saw a couple weeks ago how quickly Esau sold his birthright. He has no vision for God's covenant – he does not care about God's promises to Abraham.

But in spite of all this, Isaac intends to bless Esau anyway...