Hello again and happy Thursday!  It’s almost the weekend, so that’s something to be happy about for sure.  In this chapter, we’re covering a famous episode in the history of Isaac and Jacob.  It’s a sordid tale of lies and deception and it threatens to end in murder, though we know that it never comes to that in the end.  What’s interesting to me about this passage is that God predicted when Jacob and Esau were born that Jacob, the younger brother, would rule over the older brother, and that’s exactly what happened when Jacob received the blessing of Isaac.  Does that mean that Rebekah and Jacob were doing God’s work and that God approved of their lies?  I don’t think so.  I think God was just acknowledging that He knew how things would turn out with them, and I think that God would have chosen Jacob anyway.  Why?  Because Jacob is concerned with spiritual things.  We will see it come out in his character more as we read about him, but even at this point in the story Jacob is more concerned with God that Esau was.  Jacob isn’t perfect at all.  In fact, he’s a liar.  But God is looking for faith, not perfection, and faith is something Jacob has and Esau does not.

That’s all for me today.  Comment on this passage here or on Facebook, and don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast either on this page or on the iTunes store.  Have a good weekend!