Scripturally, there does not seem to be much of this going on past the book of Genesis. Fathers can pass on wisdom to their children, as David did to Solomon, but the Holy Ghost, it seems, was establishing a promise among the patriarchal family. Names and places were being set in stone, a foundation was being laid. A seed was to come forth from Abraham, Issac, Jacob. A land was to be theirs. Not just a general blessing of wealth and posterity here, which any father can pray for his children, but a specific seed and location, which probably has not been repeated often in Earth’s history.

God’s program produces extraordinary words from God’s mouth. When the program is in place, there is no need for this sort of predictive power. Our job is to be sure we are in the middle of God’s original program, to call out a people for His Name, in preparation for the next coming of the Son of Man, and the take-over of the Planet for His Kingdom.

2. Genesis 27:39-40. How was Esau’s blessing fulfilled?

Per NASB, Esau will be away from “fertility” and “the dew of heaven.” Certainly this is a description of the land of Edom, where Esau eventually settled. Here was a dry, desolate place, out of which Esau would slowly build into a nation in its own right, but one which has vanished from the Earth today.

He would live by his sword. We see him approaching Jacob in chapter 33, accompanied by four hundred men. We assume these were armed men, and that Esau had built a strong sword-bearing unit of soldiers who stayed alive by their weapons and their physical strength. Jacob was terrified.

Your brother you will serve. This was according to the original prophecy. Rebekah’s insistence on this plot seems to have played right into the hand of God’s Destiny. His ways truly are not our ways.

But later, you will break his yoke from your neck. Years pass. Jacob’s descendants are the people of Israel and Judah. Esau gives birth to the Edomite nation. But the original word of God is on this people. In the days of the wicked king of Israel known as “Joram,” Edom rebelled against Israel’s rule over them, and stayed in rebellion “to this day”, that is, the day of the writing of the history of the kings.Things turned around yet again for Edom in later history, and the nation disappeared. But not before fulfilling all that God had promised to the man Esau, its founder.

3. Genesis 27:41. If Esau believed in the power of Isaac’s blessing, why did he think he had the power to kill Jacob so that the prophecy would not come true?

The question is the answer. Esau wept and wailed about not receiving the special word from Dad. He must have believed that that word came from God, that it was powerful, that it would come to pass! But look at his heart. He now proclaims that he will break that word himself, that Isaac didn’t speak for God after all, that he, Esau, would have a greater word: he would kill his brother, and the “spell” would be broken, and he would be free.

So why did he want that God-spoken blessing to begin with, if it could be broken by a man’s will?

Now you have two questions to ponder.

4. Genesis 28:3-4. Where did this blessing come from?

Isaac seems now to be in on what is happening. Perhaps long discussions with Rebekah. Perhaps God Himself reveals things to him. Though he favors, at first, his firstborn, and loves his manly macho ways, a Light has come on in his soul and the blessing of God flows through him here to Jacob. This one is not wrenched out of him by trickery, but seems to be a spontaneous heaven-sent word. Jacob is to be the legitimate heir of the promises to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob is to be fruitful and multiply. Jacob is to be a company of peoples.

5. Genesis 28:6-9. How do Esau’s attempts here remind us of the sovereign grace of God?

Esau is trying to work his way into the Father’s good graces, not realizing that grace is no more grace when works are involved. Jacob is just being Jacob, and unbeknown to him, he is a chosen vessel that God will track down and use for His glory. Both men have an evil bent to them because of their old nature. Jacob the deceiver and the deceived. Esau the careless man of the world. But before they were born, God said “The older will serve the younger.” We see Esau’s response. Later God says, “Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.”

All men are lost. All are evil. All deserve the punishment that is coming to them. But God in His mercy has chosen some for Heavenly purposes, and the Heavenly calling will be heard and obeyed. Esau will try and try, but never be able to please the Father, and will wind up far from the land of Promise and the ways of the Lord.

Being in the will of God, and the call of God, is everything.

6. Genesis 28:12. Connect this incident to Jesus in John 1:51.

Yes, fast-forward 2000 years, and see Jesus talking to one Nathaniel, perhaps the one called Bartholomew later, one of the twelve. He sees that Nathaniel is impressed with the word of knowledge that Jesus has just manifested. Jesus had seen him talking with Philip under a tree that was obviously out of his physical sight. How could it be?!

But Jesus assures him that greater things are coming for Nathaniel and the twelve. There will come a time when they will see angels ascending and descending to and from the Heavenly realm, and the means whereby they will do this will be the Son of Man!