October 11 2026

Havasu Christian Church      

October 11, 2026

Character Studies in Genesis    

“Esau and Jacob. Not exactly peas in a pod.”

Genesis 25:19-34

INTRO: Today, we meet two men… They are brothers. They are fraternal twins. In spite of this, they seem to be nothing alike. As a matter of fact, they seem to be in competition, even at birth.

        Nature vs Nurture… How much of who we are is genetic, how much is learned behavior?

        This is not a question we really have time today to delve into and look at the studies that have been done, but we can see from the two men we will meet today that children can be VERY different… even twins!

1. Let’s meet the boys!
2. First, what do we know about the two of them?

Genesis 25:20-21 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.

Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived.

1. They are twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah.
2. That seems to be where the similarity ends.
3. They come around later in their parent’s lives.
4. Rebekah is “barren,” unable to have children.
5. Their dad prays to the Lord for a child.
6. His wife becomes pregnant, with twins.
7. They “struggled in the womb.”

Genesis 25:22-23 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.”

1. Rebekah wants to understand why these two are already fighting, and she “enquires of the Lord” about it.
2. She receives a Prophecy.
3. Your two children will both be the beginnings of nations!
4. One will be stronger than the other.
5. The older will serve the younger.
6. Maybe this prophecy is why she favors Jacob over Esau.
7. Now, let’s meet Esau…
8. Esau is the eldest.

Genesis 25: 24-25 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.

1. Literally, Esau means “Hairy” or “Rough” in Hebrew.
2. Apparently, mom and dad weren’t super creative in their choice of names.

Some of the animals my family had in my life… Snowy… Ranger… Walker… Pat… King & Queen.. Precious… Josie… Sadie… Tina… Annie… Star…

We had a few that were more creative…

Bismark (a grey cat, named for the grey German battleship) Bindi (Our current Australian blue heeler. Bindi was the only Australian girl’s name we knew.)

Cortez… (a cat that loved to explore as a kitten.)

Batley… (a cat that FINALLY grew into her ears.)

1. Was Esau THAT hairy as a baby, or did his redness remind them of a hairy garment?
2. Esau is an outdoorsman!

Genesis 25: 27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.

1. Esau is “a man of the field.”
2. Doesn’t bother him to lose track of time and spend the night sleeping on the ground.
3. Esau is a skillful hunter.
4. When he hunts, he brings home something for the family to eat!

It was said of my grandfather; “when he pulls a trigger, something falls.”

1. Our text doesn’t say who taught him to be an outdoorsman, but I suspect someone helped him down this path!
2. Apparently, Esau doesn’t think much about his future.

Genesis 25:29-34 When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; 

     30   and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom. 

     31   But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” 

     32   Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” 

     33   And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 

     34   Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

1. Esau comes in from a trip, out and about, and he is “famished!” (weary from exertion and hunger.)
2. He smells the stew that his brother is cooking.
3. Hunger takes over!
4. He asks for “a swallow of that red stuff.”
5. He gets a new nickname… Edom (Red)
6. His brother takes advantage of Esau’s personality.
7. “Sell me your birthright.”
8. His right as eldest to be the next leader of the family.
9. Esau agrees, and Jacob feeds him bread and lentil stew.
10. We are told that Esau “despised his birthright.”
11. This has the idea of “It’s no big deal!”
12. After all, if I starve to death, it won’t be any good to me anyway!
13. Now let’s meet Jacob.
14. When the boys are born, he comes out holding onto his brother’s heel.
15. He is given the name Jacob, which not surprisingly has to do with his birth.
16. His name means "holder of the heel" or "supplanter.”
17. Does this become a “self-fulfilling prophecy?”
18. Jacob is the polar opposite of Esau.
19. He is the “peaceful” man.
20. This can also be translated “perfect in looks.”
21. Jacob is the “pretty boy!”
22. He would much rather stay home around the tent! “I might break a nail!”
23. We will see that he can be both an outdoorsman and a hard worker when the situation demands, but it doesn’t seem to be his preference.
24. He’s more interested in what goes on at home.
25. He cooks, but it isn’t wild game, it’s Pottage… “the red stuff!”
26. Jacob also seems to have a talent for working things out in his favor…
27. He talks his brother out of the birthright of the first-born.
28. Later, we’ll see him doing more than that.
29. We’ll also see that “the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”

1. How do their parents deal with them?

Genesis 25:28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

1. Mom and Dad have favorites.
2. Every one of our kids was a favorite in different ways!
3. But we did our best to treat them fairly… not the same, but fairly.
4. At different times, they all got to be “the golden child.”
5. Different personalities require different ways of dealing with them.
6. But instead of equal treatment and fairness, we see something much different.
7. Isaac favors Esau.
8. Esau may be gone a lot, but when he comes home, he brings tasty meat that we don’t have to kill valuable livestock to get.
9. I suspect that this favoritism manifested itself in other ways.
10. I’m sure that Jacob noticed…
11. Rebekah favors Jacob.
12. It’s understandable… He’s the one who wants to stay home with her.
13. This will manifest itself as even more of a problem later.

1. Jacob, at his mother’s insistence, steals his brother’s blessing.

Genesis 27:1–4 (NASB95) Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 

     2   Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.

     3   “Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; 

     4   and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”

1. With the Patriarchs, this blessing isn’t just “I hope these things happen to you!”
2. It’s a Prophecy of what God will do with them.
3. Isaac thinks he’s going to die soon, so he wants to get this done!
4. He also wants some of his son’s wild game to eat.
5. It’s a “savory dish.”
6. The word has the idea of a special treat. It’s not something Isaac eats every day.
7. Esau grabs his gear and heads out!
8. Good man!
9. Take care of your old dad!
10. Second, we have a mother with an evil plan.
11. She wants her favorite to have the “good” blessing from his father.

Genesis 27:5-10 Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, 

     6   Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, 

     7   ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.’ 

     8   “Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. 

     9   “Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. 

     10   “Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”

1. Before we go any further, what they did didn’t actually change anything!
2. These Blessings were Prophecy.
3. The father spoke what God wanted said.
4. Isaac is going to give the boys each the blessing that God wants them to have.
5. To fulfill her plan for Jacob to get “the good blessing,” Rebekah tells him what her plan is.
6. “Go get a couple of young goats.”
7. These will be a substitute for the “wild game” that Esau is hunting.
8. I’ll prepare them in a way to fool your father.
9. Then you can take it to him and get the blessing.
10. Jacob objects!
11. That’s a good thing… except for the “Why?”

Genesis 27:11-12 Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. “Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.”

1. Jacob’s objection is not a moral one, it is a practical one.
2. Dad’s liable to touch me and catch me in the lie!
3. Then he might curse me instead of giving me the Blessing!

Genesis 27:13 But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.”

1. Rebekah says that if this happens, she’ll take his curse for him!
2. “Go do what I tell you to do already!!!”

1. Jacob goes along with the plan.

Genesis 27:14-17 So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. 

     15   Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 

     16   And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 

     17   She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob.

1. Jacob’s objections are met.
2. He’s got the right clothes.
3. He’s got the hair.
4. He’s got the food.
5. He’s ready to lie to his father.
6. Jacob is the “next link” in the line of people that will lead to Jesus.
7. Why did God see to it that this event made it into the Bible?
8. Because God is honest, even when His people are not!
9. No one has, or ever will, live a sinless life but Jesus.
10. Jacob sells his story…

Genesis 27:18-27   Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” 

     19   Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me.” 

     20   Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the LORD your God caused it to happen to me.” 

     21   Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

     22   So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 

     23   He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. 

     24   And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” 

     25   So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.  

     26   Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.” 

     27   So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, 

    “See, the smell of my son 

    Is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed;

1. When asked “who are you” the lie just seems to roll of Jacob’s tongue.
2. It’s Esau, your firstborn.
3. Dad may not be able to see, but he still has a brain in his head…
4. “How did you get back so quickly?
5. Again, Isaac has a slick answer.
6. He says “God got me back sooner.”
7. Isaac still isn’t convinced.
8. Let me feel you!
9. Jacob is ready for this too!
10. He gets close so Dad can feel his hands.
11. “You feel like Esau, but you sound like Jacob!”
12. “Are you sure it’s really you?”
13. “Oh yeah dad, it’s really me!”
14. He gives his dad the food and wine, and Jacob has almost gotten past his dad’s objections!
15. “Come give me a kiss!
16. He even smells like his brother!
17. Isaac gives the blessing…

Genesis 27:28-29 Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth,

And an abundance of grain and new wine; May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you;

Be master of your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you.

Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you.”

1. Isaac blesses Jacob with ample water, and good production from his land.
2. He will be a prosperous farmer/rancher.
3. This will specifically include grain and grape juice.
4. “New wine= unfermented.
5. That doesn’t mean he won’t turn it into “Old wine.”
6. Others will serve you. (Your descendants)
7. Nations:
8. His own kin:
9. Those who curse you will be cursed, those who bless you will be blessed.
10. “I’m rubber, you’re glue. What you say bounces off me and sticks to you!”

1. Esau returns from his hunt!

Genesis 27:30-37 Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 

     31   Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.” 

     32   Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” 

     33   Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” 

     34   When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” 

     35   And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” 

     36   Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” 

     37   But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?”

1. Esau comes home, cooks, and then finds out that he’s been robbed!
2. His brother has taken what should have been his.
3. His Dad is so upset he’s shaking!
4. After all, he WANTED to give this blessing to his favorite, Esau!
5. God may very well have caused him to give this blessing to Jacob anyway.
6. Esau is sad and furious!
7. He’s already thrown away his birthright, now he’s lost the blessing too!
8. He has every right to be mad!
9. What Jacob and their mom did was absolutely terrible!
10. Esau asks to be blessed.
11. It seems a fair thing to ask for.
12. Isaac basically says “I gave your brother all the good stuff.”
13. Isaac said the words, but it’s God’s blessing that is given.
14. As I said earlier, I suspect that Jacob had no control over the blessings.
15. Esau wants SOMETHING!

Genesis 27:38-40 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept. Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, “Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above. “By your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve;

But it shall come about when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck.”

1. Esau finds out that he isn’t going to be a successful rancher and farmer.
2. He is instead “live by his sword.”
3. He finds out that he will serve his brother.
4. But one day, he will serve him no longer.

1. Family life, as bad as it might have already been, gets worse!

Genesis 27:41 So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

1. Esau holds onto a grudge.
2. This is understandable.
3. That’s a lot to forgive.
4. But notice, it’s all directed at Jacob, not their mother who instigated this whole thing!
5. Esau is just “biding his time” waiting till there dad dies…. “Then I’ll kill him!!!”
6. Rebekah hears of Esau’s plan.
7. Apparently Rebekah likes to eavesdrop!

Genesis 27:42-45 Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. 

     43   “Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! 

     44   “Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides, 

     45   until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”

1. Rebekah warns Jacob… I doubt this came as a surprise to him!
2. Rebekah tells him to “get out of town till things blow over.”
3. She tells him to go to Haran, to her brother Laban and couch surf!
4. She promises to send for him when things cool down.

TALK ABOUT A MESS!

        From this families’ negative example, we can learn much about how we should NOT live! (and maybe a few things about how TO live!

• INTEGRITY MATTERS!
• In a family, or outside of it, being able to trust is a very important thing!
• At least two members of this family had very little integrity!
• Mom is willing to “sell out” a son, for the other’s sake.
• Her son has evidently already learned from her that being trustworthy isn’t too important!

James 5:12 (NASB95) But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.

• Kids, raised in the same household, have the free will to be VERY different!
• This can be very good.
• Some of us weren’t raised in a family that taught us well.
• That does not have to define us!
• This also can be very bad.
• We have the ability to ignore the good parenting we received, and do wrong!
• Adam and Eve had a perfect Father…
• The parenting we gave our children does have a profound effect on them.
• The parenting we received from our parents has a profound effect on us.
• But we can still choose how we live!
• This situation shows usjust how damaging creating a rivalry can be.
• “You want to eat, sell me your birthright.”
• “I want to be the important son!”
• This kind of problem can happen outside of the home as well.
• At work
• At Church
• In a marriage
• If two people want to be in charge, no one is going to be happy!
• This unhappy situation does not teach us that God arbitrarily decided to give a good life to Jacob and a bad one to Esau.
• Instead, it shows us that God sees what is going to happen, and he works within that framework.
• The Sovereign Lord of the universe limits Himself as He rules the world, and allows us puny humans to exercise free will.
• His KNOWLEDGE of what we will do does not mean God causes us to do what we do.
• In this instance, God knew where these brothers were heading in their lives, and the Prophecy / blessings they receive reflect that knowledge.
• What that family truly needed was forgiveness!
• Nobody in that family was blameless.
• Mom favors Jacob.
• Dad favors Esau.
• Esau doesn’t take his responsibility as oldest son seriously.
• Jacob takes advantage of that fact and “buys” his birthright for some stew.
• Mom sells out her one son in favor of the other.
• Jacob is perfectly willing to take advantage of what his mother wants to do.
• In spite of all the mess, God still works His will in the situation!
• God is still doing that!
• Your life, my life.
• Jesus’ time on earth.
• God worked in this world to bring His plan for saving us to completion!
• In spite of Satan, in spite of those who plotted against Jesus, in spite of a wishy washy governor who had no backbone, God’s will was accomplished!
• He can do that in your life too!