followHIM - Genesis 24-27 -- Part 2 : Dr. Camille Olson

Episode Date: February 20, 2022

Dr. Camille Fronk Olson returns and instructs regarding the importance of covenantal marriage, how the Matriarchs and Patriarchs allowed trials to cause them to grow closer to the Lord, and how the people in the Old Testament allow us to see their need for redemption.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/episodesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producers/SponsorsDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: MarketingLisa Spice: Client Relations, Show Notes/TranscriptsJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Rough Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Transcripts/Language Dept/French TranscriptsAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-pianoPlease rate and review the podcast

Welcome to part two of this week's podcast. Hey, Camille, can I ask you a quick question before we move on from 24? We're in Rebecca meets Isaac. Can we just talk about that really quick? Yes. I'm interested in what you have to say about what she does here. Who is that? And the servant says, this is my master.

You know, it's Isaac. Therefore, it's just instantaneous. She took a veil and covered herself. We have so many different interpretations about what a veil could symbolize. This is the tradition where brides wear veils today. I think that is interesting. In the next generation, Leah will wear a veil when she's married to Jacob, and Jacob won't be able to see her face and thinks he's marrying Rachel, right? You might consider modesty, but it's not like they wore them all the time. Obviously, when she was getting water, the servant could see her right there. Some have even suggested

she was maybe dusty and dirty, and she didn't want the first time she sees her new husband to be, let me get cleaned up first before we see. It's been a long trip. It's been a long trip. But it is an instinctive thing. Perhaps that is part of her whole attire. This is how she wants to present herself to begin with. I don't think we need to see negative in veils. I think we see that with so many today of our Muslim sisters who wear veils and how beautiful.

And that could be as far as what was beauty then too. I don't know. And I do like the little end at the very end of 67. Yes, read that. Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. He misses Sarah's influence in his life. He brought her into his mother Sarah's tent. They had their own space, her tent. I think I've heard whole talks given about, and he loved her.

The love is a verb idea. Maybe Isaac, the same revelation, the Lord is in this thing. Right. But he makes the choice to love her. Is it a feeling? Is it a decision? And the thing of it is, he's just looked at her. There haven't been sending communications ahead saying, let me tell you about this woman I'm bringing home to you. Arranged marriages, love was not even part of the equation, but they grew into love. We don't have the details of that story much. I mean, as far as their life, all we know is that it's going to be 20 years before she's able to get pregnant, to have a child. Chapter 25, it goes into like the descendants of Ishmael.

And so we get 12 sons, 12 princes. He had a big family. We're going to learn later he had daughters, and those will become important. So chapter 25 looks to me like we need to tell you that God fulfilled his covenant to Abraham. There is a lot of kids. And that's part of it. So, let's keep that. I just think that is an important part.

It's part of the covenant. And verse 17, again, reflective that Isaac was aware. I mean, who's keeping this record before it's recorded? We've got when Ishmael dies. And he's gathered unto his people. Same phrase. Yeah, he's not forgotten. He's not forgotten.

And you're saying into the spirit world, can you see a reunion with Abraham? And I think Sarah, I don't want to go back to Sarah had love for Ishmael too, but that's another story. And it says, look at verse 19. And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. And Abraham begat Isaac. There you go. Short verse, short genealogy. Because Isaac is 40 years old when he took Rebecca to wife. You get the idea Rebecca was far younger than that when she would have married. That's typical. And they are praying in verse 21 because she is barren.

It sounds like he's the one entreating the Lord and Rebecca conceives. So you don't know how much is happening here before that 20 years. Let me suggest, can I just flip over to chapter 26 and do a little bit there and say, this could have been during that years. These are not necessarily written in chronological order. But because we're going to get on to those children here pretty quickly and that story take off, let's just take a look at chapter 26 for a minute. Can we do that?

There's no evidence as far as the children going with them. This could be later. But there's a famine sometime and that happens so frequently. And we saw it with Abraham and Sarah that ended up going to Egypt. And the Lord tells them in this case, you don't need to go that far. You can just go over there to Philistia and to Gerar. There in that context, we get our first hint. And I just think, wouldn't this have happened earlier? And I don't know. I don't know the Lord's way of thinking. But verse 3, what is the Lord telling Isaac? I will be with thee, and I will bless thee here

in the land of Philistia. For unto you and unto thy seed I will give all these countries. This is a foreshadowing of what's going to come for the descendants of Abraham. And I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham my father. And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven and will give unto thy seed all these countries. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. I mean, what is it? It's Abrahamic covenant. and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. I mean, what is it? It's Abrahamic covenant.

Still chapter 26, verse 24, the Lord appeared unto him the same night and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, my father, fear not, for I am with thee and will bless thee and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. And he built an altar. And there's the verse. And he pitched a tent and he dug a well. But somewhere in here, it seems like that covenant is bestowed specifically on him.

For our listeners, could you elaborate on Philistia and what that is and what that land becomes? All right. For the famine, they go to an area called Philistia, which is coastal there. The Philistines live there. And later, when the Greeks conquer that area, and the Romans are in that area, you can see the change from the languages, call it Palestine. And so that whole land takes on the name that had originally been Philistia. It was kind of a derogatory for the people of the Jews who were there to call it by Palestine, but it took on that name and that name still continues today. Our Palestinian friends are some of our favorites, are they not? Here's just one incident,

and I don't have a whole lot to say about it. It's another parallel with Abraham and Sarah when they were in Egypt because of the famine. It's just kind of quirky because it just keeps coming up. And you're not saying, what do I do with this? Because for some reason, and this one is a little different because there's no indication here that the Philistines are so anxious, one of them to marry Rebecca, that they would be willing to kill her husband to do so, as was the case down in Egypt with Abraham and Sarah. All we can see is they see that Rebecca is beautiful. This might be another reason that I might think this is earlier in Rebecca's life rather than later, but I don't know. Verse seven, the man of the place asked him of his wife and he

said, she's my sister. For he feared to say she is my wife, lest the man of the place should kill me for Rebecca, because she was fair to look upon. I don't know if he's learning this from his dad and just say, boy, watch out because self-preservation here. This sounds very familiar. It is. But what is different about this is no one's coming to take Rebecca like was in the case of Sarah. And the Philistines are out looking. The king of the Philistines, Abimelech, is looking out the window and he sees, quote, Isaac sporting with Rebecca.

It's that word. Not sure exactly, but it's kind of like they're behaving not like brother and sister. Can we say that? And Abimelech said, wait a minute. This isn't your sister. She's your wife. He said, why'd you lie to me? Yeah.

As Isaac explains, Abimelech, verse 11, charges his people saying, don't touch this man or his wife. The Lord has blessed him. Leave him alone. And as long as Isaac and Rebekah are there, they just wax great. Yeah, verse 13. And become great. And all this flocks and herds. I just wonder, see, that's what I'm wondering, if this could have been during that 20 years.

So maybe, yeah, we're not getting the exact chronological order. I don't know. Because I don't know where to place it chronologically. But it would fit there. It would fit there. Yeah, because there's no mention of the twins here. Not until you get to the very last two verses. And then that just comes out of the blue.

So I'm going to keep those two verses. And can we go back to chapter 25? It's fascinating to me that we've got Keturah, all these kids. We've got Ishmael, all these kids. And then the one that we're counting on. 20 years. Yeah. I just think it is fascinating how often the idea of these incredibly important, strong, good women who are barren. It happens. It happens in the next generation with Rachel. And you go, well, Leah isn't barren, but she is barren as far as the real love of her husband and feeling of acceptance as much in that clan. And in every single case, in those times of real emptiness, that's when each of these women seem to really cement a

relationship with God that I wonder if would not have happened in quite the same way. I have just learned from personal experience that sometimes when blessings don't come in the way you expect or as when you expect and you are an outlier in any way, and you go to church and maybe church doesn't quite connect with what you're going through because it assumes you're like everybody else. That's when you start seeing God is aware of you. I think of Hagar so much. He sees me, the God who sees me. And the fact that God is going to be talking to Rebecca before she has children, it is not the fact that she has born children that makes her now a value to the Lord. She's already a value to him. gets an answer as clear and as precise and detailed and informative as this one would

indicate to me prayer is not an anomaly for Rebecca. She knows the Lord and she knows his voice. We don't have those verses, but if you read between the lines, I think her heart, she's been pouring out her heart. We read in chapter 25, verse 21, Isaac entreating the Lord on her behalf. And Isaac's been praying. I think his prayers, he's, you know, he's not getting another wife like his father did. We don't see any other wives for Isaac.

And he doesn't have other children. Yeah, the genealogy stops with Isaac. That's such an important principle is your difficulties turning you to the Lord. Yeah. I like to tell my students the first syllable of testimony is test, and the first symbol of question is quest. You can ask a question of Siri or Google in an instant, but a quest is a long, arduous search. And we don't like that kind of answer, especially in a world where we do have Siri and Google to give it to us right then.

I tell my students, my worry about Gen Z is you want Google speed answers to golden questions. Ah, that's good. That's good. Instant messages, right? I'm like, Lord, just DM me. Just text me. I'm waiting. The Lord left me on read.

I can't believe this. I can see the dot, dot, dot, but it's sure taken a long time. I can see. Okay. All right. I love time. I can see. Okay. All right. I love it. Let's get into her prayer and the answer, because this is going to change. This is the rest of our story today.

Verse 22 of chapter 25. Rebecca has conceived, and there's nothing to tell her that it's not going to be a single birth. She's, what is going on? Why am I thus? She is struggling. There's some major discomfort going on now that she's, I've obviously talked to some other women and saying, this just doesn't seem normal. We have twin boys.

Oh, yes. I remember my wife said to her doctor, she said, this one feels different. And he said, oh, it's your fourth. You're just, you know, you probably haven't had a girl, you know, in a while. And she's like, no, this definitely feels different. And by the end, it was two seven-pound babies. Ooh. Yeah.

For twins, that's really heavy, isn't it? Yeah, it was. Wow. They seem to be these fetuses that are getting well acquainted in the womb. They struggled together within her. Get away from me. They're starting to really develop their personalities already. So, yeah, she asks the Lord, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord.

And we just pause over that. We don't get this captured in Scripture often enough, but it's going on. We just can't assume that other women aren't praying and getting answers and having that personal relationship. It's too easy to imagine them going through a prophet husband. She inquired of the Lord. She went. And the Lord tells her, now look at this. I don't get answers in paragraphs, you know, typically. Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. You wonder how often, I mean, how normal having twins.

I mean, if she had even known any woman that had had twins. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. I think, how do we have this in Scripture? Rebecca has reported the Lord's answer to her. And she knows what has to happen. And she knows what has to happen. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. Kind of like, that's almost from the midwife's point of view. Well, what do you know yeah because rebecca already knew the first came out red we're gonna see some corollary with that in a minute yes and all over like a hairy garment i

mean this is i mean i don't know all over this is some hairy child yes and they called his name name Esau. And after that came his brother out and his hand took hold on Esau's heel. This is going to be the reason that Jacob gets his name. And his name was called Jacob. And this is where we find out Isaac was three score years old when she buried him. So 40 years old when he was married, 60 years old when they had the children. There's 20 years there. In Hebrew, Jacob's name literally means he shall follow at the heel. And that's where that idea of a supplanter or an overreacher. But I think interesting too, from the revelation, Rebecca knew that Jacob would surpass his brother to receive the birthright. He would be the stronger one.

And we're talking probably in a sense spiritually, especially initially. So there the boys are born. And right after we start getting them, they're growing up and we start learning about them. Verse 27, Esau was that cunning hunter like unto John, by the way. Yes, my cunning hunter co-host. This is a good quality. He's good at hunting. And I'm telling you, the family needs that.

He's a man of the field. He's an outdoorsman. You can just kind of start getting a little bit of personality in. You can just see his physical prowess and strength and he had the four-wheel drive camel yeah yeah and jacob was a plain man i mean that is about as non-plastic description as you can find but put a footnote with that it's the same same word used to describe Noah in Genesis 6-9. It's the very same word.

Perfect in all his generation. Perfect. Oh, see, you can see in this footnote, it says Hebrew, whole, complete, perfect, plain, simple. It's the same word. That's interesting. Yeah, it is. Why wouldn't you use perfect there? I don't know. That's interesting. Yeah, it is. Why wouldn't you use perfect there? I don't know.

That's interesting. I don't know. I like how it says he was intense, too. Sorry, dad joke. Yeah. Dwelling intense. Noah, it says Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And the same word here for 27, a plain man dwelling in tents.

He's a good kid. And he's different from his brother. I don't know. Maybe, I don't know if he's more sensitive or they're different. And they don't really see eye to eye in a lot of stuff, right? You're going hunting again. Yep, yep. And Jacob says, I'll stay home and fix dinner.

Because he can make a mean bowl of soup. I'm telling you, we find that out here. That's coming up. Verse 28, Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison. That's a good reason, don't you? It seems like Isaac related to Esau and appreciated so much some of the tales perhaps that he told of being out there. But Rebecca loved Jacob. And I just don't want to make this so much of a, that means Rebecca didn't like Esau

and Jacob didn't like, or Isaac didn't like Jacob. I think probably every parent has some ways that they can relate more to one child than another, but the love and what they'll be willing to do. Yeah, I get that. I can see that. Yeah, that you relate more to one because they're more like you. You're like, oh, that one was, he looks like me, he acts like me versus a different child who you're going, where did you come from? I don't know if Rebecca might have felt a particular connection with Jacob just knowing what she knew and maybe had a little bit more as far as saying, I got to make sure he stays on the straight and narrow because he's the one the Lord has chosen to do this. Okay, here's one of our major incidents here, right? Jacob's sod pottage.

Sod is just one of those little old words that boil or cook. This is not soup made out of dirt or, you know, the lawn. Two square feet of grass. Yes, yes. And it's so fun that this Hebrew word pottage, why didn't he just say soup? But it is pottage has the same three consonant root as does red, as does edom. It's yod, dalet, mem, or Y-D-M. And the Y sound is kind of that, but it is kind of this play on words that is really very fun. Feed me, I pray thee, some of that red pottage. I think the reason pottage is in italics is you almost didn't have to say that. That's what the translators added because it's almost the same word.

It is red and it is this thick stewish kind of pottage with lentils. Give us a little background on why in King James some words are italicized. I think this is such an important thing. And I love the King James version of the Bible. This is one of the reasons I love it. When the translators were going through the Bible, if they'd come upon a phrase or sentence where a part of speech was missing, or it didn't make quite sense, and if you've ever translated from another language, you can see that there aren't parallel, and you oftentimes have to insert other words to make it make sense in a different language, they would put it in italics, not so you would emphasize it, but so that you would know

they have added it. What is this with red? I mean, are they just saying he was red? We made red soup. Yeah. Well, this is- We called him red. He was red. This soup is red. We nicknamed him red. They named him red, but I think it is. It's kind of like red symbolizes Esau, but his descendants in the Old Testament are called the Edomites. And you will lose that if you don't put this connection that these are the descendants of Esau. Yeah, they're not the Esauites. They're the Edomites because of that red associated with him. Yep. Okay. So here's the situation. Esau's been out hunting. He knows how to find food. I don't know how far away from home they are or if they're kind of close by but as he comes after being out there in the fields and the hunting all day he's hungry I know you can you know those days and he can smell the soup oh it's good and he says I am faint and Jacob goes I mean I think

they've had this little bantering back and forth probably their whole lives. And he goes, okay, obviously, Jacob's been thinking, has thought a lot about the birthright. And he's going to get it because he's the oldest, but I would really like it. I want that added responsibility. I would do it. And maybe he sees Esau doesn't take it as seriously. And he says, sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, behold, I'm the point to die. I mean, come on. Esau's not going to die. You're not going to die. Yeah, I am dying of hunger. What is the birthright? It's more than just, oh, I'll give you a father's blessing. It's a hard thing in this story, especially to see if we're talking about multiple blessings or all the same there is a birthright blessing that it seems families at this time all had and it typically went to the

oldest son the son that gets the birthright gets twice as much as any of the others but the idea is there's a responsibility with it that if down the line so the father dies and you've got a widowed mother, you take care of that mother as long as she lives. That's why you have that. That's why you have it. And you have sisters that something happens and they don't marry or something. You're responsible for the entire clan and you have that double portion specifically to help them. It's not for you. It's for them. And it's not just like, I don't want to minimize a priesthood blessing, but it's not just, oh, I'll give you a blessing. It is temporal responsibilities that go with it.

A priesthood blessing is what we've seen. It's oftentimes combined with the birthright. Some have argued it doesn't have to be. Three things, the birthright blessing, a father's blessing, and then the blessing that would say you're in charge of the covenant. You're succeeding in being the guardian of the Abrahamic covenant for your generation. And the responsibility of being the leader of the covenant people, a spiritual assignment of leadership responsible for all families of the covenant. All that was given to Isaac. It's possible all three of those are going to be given to Jacob, but it's also possible it's three different things. And birthright is a separate thing, and Esau and Jacob are kind of fighting it out for

it here. I don't know if this will be helpful. I am reading a book that has nothing to do with the Bible. It's Ron Chernow's history on the Warburgs, an incredible Jewish family of bankers, Germany, and then some of them were in the United States. And the second generation of that incredibly strong, bright, genius, and wealthy family, the two oldest sons, Abby and Max, Abby was the oldest. He didn't want the birthright. He did not want to take over as head of the bank in the next

generation and he made a deal with his brother max when they were younger and he said look i'll let you take that you be the head of the bank as long as you buy me books the rest of my life all i want are books and he actually did the birthright for books but he got him for the whole life and he max had no idea how much of a reader a scholar a student that abby was thousands upon thousands of books every single year so i always think esau could have done better and said i could at least have a bowl of soup every day for the rest of my life for the birthright but i think some as you can just see it did not mean. At this point in Esau's life, it meant nothing. That added responsibility and stuff. He didn't care about

it. In fact, we read at the end of verse 34, he despised his birthright. And verse 32, what profit shall this birthright do to me? It's like, I don't see the value. Yeah. I don't see. It's more responsibility than it is profit. So it's not really a trick here. It's Jacob saying, look, I want this. You obviously don't care about it. And the fact that he would do so cavalier and say, yeah, for that bowl of soup, I'll take it. You can have it. You can have it. Camille, if it's okay, I'm going to read something from the manual. If you're at home with teenagers, this is a great little lesson. It says, as you read Genesis 25, 29 through 34, consider why Esau might have been willing to give up his birthright in exchange for a meal.

What lessons can you find for yourself in this account? And then this, is there any, quote, pottage that's distracting you from blessings that are more valuable? What are you doing to focus on and appreciate those blessings? So I just think I do this all the time. I have an opportunity to spend time with my kids, and I am on my phone, right? I'm on social media. I have a chance to build a relationship with my wife, and I'm watching whatever on TV. We sell our birthright in a way for- A mess of pottage. Things that don't have any real value.

It's become a common expression, isn't it? You've traded that for a mess of pottage. But you know, at the moment, that's all that Esau cared about. And that is having eyes to see, those eternal kind of eyes, and trust in what the Lord has promised, to sacrifice what we want right now for something that we would care about and will make a difference in the long run. I think about parents generally. Parents do that

all the time. And Esau, I think, is going to learn that one day, but he hasn't figured that out quite yet. Jacob seems to be much more in tune to that, doesn't he? What is that old saying, John? There's nobody who puts on their tombstone. I wish I had spent more time at work. more time at the office. Right? Yeah. We do it all the time. We do it every day. So I think that'd be a good activity for everyone to do listening is to just kind of stop and go, how do I sell the most important blessings for very trivial things?

I loved what Camille said. I think another way that is put that we hear a lot is to trade what we want most for what we want in the moment. I've got this quote from then Elder Dallin H. Oaks, October 1985 General Conference. He said, the contrast between the spiritual and the temporal is also illustrated by the twins Esau and Jacob and their different attitudes toward their birthright. The firstborn Esau despised his birthright. Jacob, the second twin, desired it. Jacob valued the spiritual while Esau sought the things of the world. When he was hungry, Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Behold, he explained, I'm at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me? Many Esau's have given something of eternal value in order to satisfy a momentary hunger for

the things of the world. I've got this one from Elder Bednar. He talks about digital distractions. He said, often we neglect eternal relationships for digital distractions, diversions, and detours that have no lasting value. It is easier to see it in an ancient's life than in my own, though. Those silly Israelites, my goodness. Oh, Esau, I would never do that. How dare you? Okay, we're going to go over chapter 26 to the end of chapter 26, because we looked at the beginning of it earlier, right?

And look at the last two verses. So we got some hint as far as Esau with the birthright. Now look at verse 34. And this is the one that just breaks Isaac and Rebecca's heart. Esau was 40 years old when he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemoth, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. He married two Hittite women. And you hear Rebecca say, what good is my life? I mean, why are they doing this? Again, here's the genealogy, right? We got down to Isaac. Now we have two sons, and here's the first one to

marry, and it's not good. The implication from everything else we read and their grief is the fact that they are not believers. They would not value the covenant. They would have more of the influence on Esau to take him away than to bring them into the covenant. And which could be, you know, kind of part of the way he's responded to the birthright, too. I mean, I don't know. You can see some of that, almost a little bit of rebellion in him right now that he's going, I don't need this.

I don't need this. But Isaac and Rebecca have not crossed him off, and definitely the Lord has not. Camille, there's going to be many people listening who are going to say, that's me. My children are not making decisions that I wish they would. Is it my fault, right? You've got Isaac and Rebecca. Here's the greats. These are the greats of what we'd say are faithful people. And they've got a son, just isn't interested.

And I don't know if there's comfort in the fact that, hey, you're in the same boat as some of the greats when your children say, you know, I'm not interested. Well, that's why I think I have to go a little bit into chapter 28. I mean, this story is not over right here. Yeah. Don't give up on the Esau's. It doesn't end with chapter 27 because that's what our reading assignment for this week is. There's more, and especially we see Rebecca in this. She does not let go.

You remember, she's going to send Jacob up to her family. She's keeping Esau close by. This is a mother's love, and I can't help but think that they will continue to have influence. I will hope to prove by the end of this, that Esau does change. We can all change. And again, like Rebecca waited how many years before she had children, it's going to be how many years before she sees and maybe it's not in this life. Change is possible in the next life. I mean, it just keeps going, and we just keep with them, and we love them, because they're sons and daughters of God, and He loves them. There is redemption. That's this whole thing, right? All these stories.

If we had a family that everything worked out and all their kids just right in line and stuff, you could almost come away and saying, they don't need the atonement. They don't need Christ. They're doing just fine. Boy, wish they could raise my kids. No. And it isn't easy. There aren't easy answers. In my mind, I think when Jacob and Esau have that future reunion, that she got to see it.

You know, that she got to see it from her seat, wherever she was. Wherever that was. Wherever that was. And that's genuine. Okay, chapter 27. And if there's the hardest chapter in Genesis, this could be it. This is a tough one. There's a lot of questions. And I would say right at the get-go, I don't think we have the full story. And our tendency is to

make one person the good person and one person the bad person. And we've got a family who's struggling and trying to find answers. Right. I see Rebecca is protecting her family and her posterity. Maybe Isaac is thinking, ah, let's just see if we can do something more for Esau and he'll come to, he'll get with it. I mean, you know, they care. They care. We start chapter 27 and Isaac is old. He would be about a hundred years old now because right, Esau is 40 when he marries and Isaac was 60 when the boys were born. So whatever age means, but it's old. That still is old there. They've taken away his chariot license.

His eyes are dim. He cannot see. He cannot see. And he calls Esau, his eldest, dim he cannot see he cannot see and he calls Esau his eldest and he said I still love the meat yep I still love the meat I know I'm gonna die it's kind of like he feels like his death is pretty soon therefore I take thy weapons and go get me some of that venison in verse three. Verse four, bring it back to me that my soul may bless thee before I die. Rebecca hears that and she immediately thinks he's going to give the blessing and maybe the one that she was told in the revelation should go to Jacob. That's her interpretation. And she runs, we know this about

her and that fast she has got Jacob. She still has it. And she calls Jacob and says, you know, look, this is what your father said. Go out and you go get some kid from the flock and I'm going to fix that savoring meat for him that fast. And then you go in and tell him that you're Esau. I mean, this just everything about it just feels like now, why are we doing this? Why are we deceiving Isaac? Why is this happening? Yeah, he says he's going to bless Esau. And he wants verse 10, thou shalt bring it to thy father that he may eat, that he may bless thee before his death. She wants that. And Jacob says,

well, he can't see me, but Esau, my brother is a hairy man and I'm a smooth man. He'll know. He'll know. And I'll look like a deceiver. I mean, he's worried. He doesn't want to even give the appearance of doing something that could be evil. And she says, look, put it on me. I'll take it. I'll take it. I don't know. I mean, is this justification? Is this inspiration? Is this administering and helping where her husband might be not being as strong as he typically would be? Is this helping to enable him to do what is the right thing to do? It just feels uncomfortable.

When you pointed out that revelation, these two nations are in thy womb. She knows. Genesis 25, 23. I'm going to write that in as a cross-reference here that she's the Lord here. She knows that. And I always ask the question, I just go, did she ever tell that to Isaac? A lot of times we're given information and we're told not to tell. That's not for others. And that would only make the conflict between Jacob and Esau worse if she's out there saying, I've known boys that since before

you were born, you know? Yeah. We're going to see how that works with Joseph. That doesn't work out very well. Doesn't work very well. That's exactly right. But speaking of that, this is just one of those fascinating things I have just played around with for a long time. Because we always focus on the fact that she's going to take the skins of kids of goats and put it on the hands and the smooth of Jacob's neck. And I go, by golly, he's a hair. Esau is one hair suit guy. If he's like the goats, man. But look at verse 15. Rebecca took goodly raiment of her eldest son, Esau, which she had in the house, and put them on Jacob the younger. Now, let me tell you, this is one of those early Jewish, from the Midrash, the rabbinic traditions that the early rabbis taught about. I think it's an interesting one.

In that rabbinic tradition, Esau's wonderful garments, as they were translated, goodly garments, were the high priestly raiment in which God had clothed Adam, which had been handed down to Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and finally to Esau as Isaac's firstborn. Now, I start playing with that, and I just go, wait a minute. Remember what? It was an animal skin. It's an animal. It's hairy. And it symbolizes Christ. It symbolizes his life and sacrifice. And remember, there was a covering that Noah had that his sons were jealous of. We don't know a whole lot that's going on there. Remember, it is Joseph, the covenant son, that's going to get, we translate it,

coat of many colors. But in Hebrew, you don't know what it is. It's something. We don't know this coat. It's a covering. Okay, now stay with me here. In Zechariah chapter 13, verse 4, the prophet Zechariah, I know we don't usually quote that, but warns against false people who are plain false prophets because they wear a rough garment with the intent to deceive. Was that a way you recognized a representative of the Lord? Elijah had such a rough garment. Remember Christ in the Sermon on the Mount? He said to beware of false prophets because they are wolves in sheep's clothing. I mean, I just play around with this and I just go, was this, I'm not saying the very same

garment that Adam was given turned out, but there was something, there's something about this royal or goodly or wonderful raiment and the rabbis connected it with what Adam and Eve had been given. It's kind of an interesting one. That is, that's cool. Anyway, I think that's kind of fun. How do we unpackage this? What do we do?

Would the Lord ever honor a blessing, especially a blessing of being over his priesthood, if it was done by deceit? Can you trick the Lord? Does the Lord stoop to being a trickster? I mean, all those kind of things, you start seeing where we run into some, we can attribute false attributes to God. I love Robert J. Matthews, and I don't know if either of you ever got to know him, but. I got to give him a ride from the Salt Lake Airport to BYU once, just the two of us, and I that memory that was fun so i love what his explanations and how he let me read to you what he said how could jacob get a different patriarchal blessing through deceit and it be legitimate we wish we had a more complete account of what really happened

we do not get additional help from the JST in this instance. Don't you think that's interesting? Of all the JST, Joseph Smith translation, nothing on this chapter. I'll add a comment by Joseph Fielding Smith on the subject of patriarchal blessings. President Smith said, this is still Brother Matthews, there is a difference between the words of a blessing and the actual realization and reception of the promises stated in that blessing. The Lord would not have been obligated to fulfill the words of Isaac if Jacob and Esau didn't get the blessing that each deserved. So in answer to the question, how can Jacob get a legitimate, different patriarchal blessing

through deceit? I would answer he can't and he didn't. Isn't that great? I got that quote from this lovely book that just came out, edited by Daniel Belknap and Aaron Shade. And this is a chapter on Isaac and Jacob by Aaron Shade. Great, great resource. Both of are coming on our show, by Aaron Shade. Great, great resource. Both of are coming on our show, hopefully later this year.

So the Lord isn't deceived here. Isaac may be, but the Lord isn't. The Lord isn't. I wonder too, how many times we've seen in different circumstances that Circumstances that women are in that because of what their options were, they did some things that might be considered trickery. Let me just remind you of some. Well, one that's later on, David's first wife, Michal, when Saul was sending his men to come and kill David, she got David out the window and she stuffed a pillow in his bed. When the men came to kill David, she said, oh, he's in there sick. I don't know, that sent him away. I guess they couldn't kill him when he was sick. But there's that one. How

about the midwives, Shifrin Pua, when Pharaoh told them to kill all the baby boys as soon as they delivered them? And they said, oh, sorry all the baby boys as soon as they delivered them. And they said, oh, sorry. You know, as soon as those Jewish women, those Hebrew women give birth, they deliver so fast. And Pharaoh goes, oh, okay. I like that. Rebecca doesn't have a lot of options in her culture. I mean, she can't give that blessing. Rahab tells the men of Jericho that the Hebrew spies ran out long, or we better hurry because you might be able to catch them. And Yael, when Cesar, the Canaanite captain, comes to get refuge because his army's being slaughtered by

the Israelites, and he thinks Yael is going to save him, She goes, oh, here, have some warm milk and sleep. And while he's sleeping, you know, she hammers his head to the floor. But you just see different kinds of things that are happening here. Could it be that Rebecca is being an instrument in the Lord's hands to get the right thing to happen? And could it be that Isaac is old and is not exactly sure what he's doing? I hate to, I'm trying to do the same thing and trying to help make sense of it, but the right thing happened. If it was switched around, we wouldn't have trouble. If it was Rebecca struggling and Isaac

came through and did something to went through, we're used to that more. But it's when it's the woman doing it, it's like she's micromanaging, she's, you know, she's where she shouldn't be. But that's why I love this quote from Elder McConkie, women are appointed Rebecca-like, to be guides and lights in righteousness in the family unit and to engineer and arrange so that things are done in the way that will result in the salvation of more of the father's children. Elder McConkie even says, oh, that all more women could be more like Rebecca and engineer things, create an environment where the right blessing could be given. Okay, we got to turn to this one.

Hebrews 11. I know we're New Testament, but remember Hebrews 11. This is the great roll call of the faithful. The faithful hall of fame. These are the people who were so sure about the promises that God had given that they acted even without any evidence to the contrary. In a tiny little verse 20, we read this, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. I just think bottom line with all of it, when Isaac is giving that blessing, he's not doing it with his physical senses. It's not his sight. It's not his smell. It's not his taste that's telling him about this. He's getting this. He thinks, you know, there's something in here that is could be Esau, but he gives the

blessing that the Lord gives to him to give to that son by faith, by the spirit. It's the Lord. You have to have that verse. And Camille, I actually love how complicated and difficult this is. It's good. It's human. There's something the Lord says, yeah, work this out in your mind. It'll be a fun. And it's such a real story. It's messy, just like our lives are messy. It helps us when our lives are messy. Yeah. He gives the blessing and here it is down here 28 and 29 therefore this is chapter 27 of genesis 28 29 therefore god gives thee the dew of the earth and the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine that people serve thee and nations bow down to thee be lord over thy brethren and

let thy mother's sons bow down to thee curse be everyone that that cursed thee and blessed be he that blessed thee. There's some of that that reflects what Rebecca was giving in her revelation before they were born. You can't say it is 100% precisely Abrahamic covenant and putting him in charge, but there are some echoes of it in there. While we're right there, flip over to chapter 28. Here is Isaac again blessing Jacob. And this time he says some similar things, but adds, and this definitely is Abrahamic covenant. God Almighty bless thee and make thee fruitful and multiply thee that thou mayest be a multitude of people and give thee, a father's blessing, and then here is the leadership of the covenant blessing, or if this is all one given there.

You can argue both ways. But we got to go back to 27 because it's classic because Esau comes back just after he finishes giving that blessing. And Isaac seems to be confused, doesn't he? Yeah. He's going, who? He said, wait a minute, who are you? Verse 32, oh, I'm your son, your firstborn, Esau. And Isaac trembled, verse 33, very exceedingly. He said, who? Where is he that hath taken venison? And verse 34, Esau heard the words of his father

and cried with great and exceeding bitter cry, bless me, even me also, O my father. And Isaac is when thy brother came with subtlety and hath taken away thy blessing. Then Esau says, is he, is not he rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he's taken away my blessing. So that does indicate kind of two separate kind of events here. Isaac does bless Esau, and he gives him a great father's blessing right there, but no indication as far as his brother serving him. That order was given to Jacob. So Isaac knows. I don't know. In my mind, I'm like,

Isaac knows he gave the right blessing to Jacob. By the Spirit, he definitely knows. Yeah. At this point, he's going, this needed to happen. And what Camille read in Genesis 28, verses 3 and 4, I've got in my margin, Isaac confirms the right one got the birthright. I'm team Esau. I like that he comes around later, but when he blames Jacob in verse 36, it reminds me of Laman and Lemuel, right? That we're always wronged. Nephi's always taking it. I'm the victim. Yeah. And it's like, you made the decision to trade the birthright. You married outside of the covenant. You did these things. And so what is Esau's response then? After we mourn my father, I won't do it until my father's

gone because I don't want to hurt his feelings. But this is end of verse 41. Then I will slay my brother Jacob. That'll take care of it. That's a very layman and lemuel attitude. Who is right there to say, hey, I got to save both of my boys. It's Rebecca. And that's where at the end of chapter 27, flee thou to Laban my brother, to Haran, and tarry with him a few days until thy brother's fury turn away. Oh, isn't that a mother for you?

It won't take long, and we'll all be one big happy family here again. A few days. And then I'll come and fetch you. And verse 46, Rebecca said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. I think we're going back again to Esau marrying out of the covenant. If Jacob take one of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me? Is Heth the same as a Hittite? Yeah. If you go back and that table of nations back in, you'll find.

About Noah. Where that's connected. Yes. Yes. Oh, poor Rebecca. You just feel for her. I know. And so she says, can you say going by to Jacob and they've got a really close relationship

and we're going to be seeing that Jacob's life go on and it's going to be tough. It's not an easy one. I mean, he's going to have a rough, it's going to be 20 years before he returns. And we don't see Isaac and Rebecca when he comes back, right? And so this is saying goodbye. I wonder, Camille, if way back when Abraham's servant found Rebecca, they needed that kind of sign because she's got to be questioning herself after all this. Maybe I wasn't the right person for the job. I know. But I think, see, isn't that wonderful?

That's a marriage as far as you can't have someone who is there as a help meet for them unless you actually need them. And I'm not saying giving birth to those children was critical. She was the only one that could do it. do what he needed in his priesthood position, her support, her inspiration, administrative skills made a difference. And I think he will bless Rebecca forever as Abraham will Sarah and vice versa. It isn't just ideal in the way that you say, oh, this would be the cover of the ensign kind of. I wonder, I'd love to see more of Esau's mindset after Jacob leaves. And he's there with his wives and his children and

Isaac and Rebecca and feeling like, I have so disappointed them. Look at verse 6 of chapter 28. When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padomaram to take him a wife from thence, and that as he blessed him, he gave him a charge saying, thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. But Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and was gone to Padamerim. And Esau, seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father. I want to say this is a time of change of heart for Esau. It's starting to dawn on him. Wait a minute. I did this to myself. Look what he does next in verse 9, then Esau went to Ishmael. He knows right where Ishmael is. And took unto the wives that which he had Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebadioth, to be his wife.

We see there in verse 9, Esau change direction and he marries one of Ishmael's daughters. Now, you might say, always, this is just window dressing. Not if you see Ishmael being of covenant and that he has blessings too. And what reinforces that is 20 years later, here comes Jacob back with four wives and 12 sons and how many daughters? And he sees Esau coming to him from afar. Oh, it is the most beautiful. Chapter 33. I better send him gifts.

And Jacob is already feeling guilty. He's going to say, oh, here it comes. And he starts sending out all these gifts. He's going to say, oh, here it comes. And he starts sending out all these gifts. He was going to kill me. But chapter 33, verse 4, Esau ran to meet him. Oh, it's Esau running. And he embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and wept. And they wept.

And he says, who were these? And they introduced their families to each other. And then he asked Jacob, why are you giving me all of this? What meanest thou, verse 8, by all this drove which I met? And Jacob says, these are to find grace in thine eyes. And Esau says, I have enough, my brother, keep thou that thou hast to thyself. I mean, it is a beautiful reunion. And there's no competition or animosity. I mean, there could still be, I don't know how close you're going to be living by each other after this. We don't hear about Esau. But let's not justify bad feelings between brothers today or between peoples. This is not the place to say Palestinians

and Israelis are enemies forevermore because of Esau and Jacob or because of Isaac and Ishmael. The Bible tells us the Lord's plan of this family is one of redemption. And with time, incredible things happen. And section 132, these husbands and wives do not sit on thrones, but are gods. They are exalted. And that's just one of the generations right there. They're real people. And one day, we will get to meet them and find out the parts of the story that I just messed up a whole lot.

Oh, it was beautiful. And I think I loved, I can't remember who said it to Hank, but somebody talking about, look, the Old Testament is messy, but it's a book of redemption. So I love that you said that. It's all about redemption. Thank heavens for all of us. It's all about redemption. Thank goodness they had each other, but especially thanks be to God and His grace and mercy to Jesus Christ who made all things possible. Camille, what a great day. That reconciliation, that's a beautiful moment. I feel so much more love for Rebecca, you know, leaving her family behind, taking on. And it's not like the Lord called her to this awesome situation. I mean, this is rough. This 20 years of being barren and then her sons are, she's got to work this out between them. I think they speak to men as well

in the same way that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob speak to me and to women. We want to thank Dr. Camille Frank Olson for being with us today. Wow, wow, wow. Thank you all for listening. We're grateful for your support. We want to thank our executive producers,

Steve and Shannon Sorenson, and our sponsors, David and Verla Sorenson. And we hope everyone will join us next week for our next episode of Follow Him. Thank you.