The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 14: Isaac Blesses Jacob (2023)

Episode Date: January 14, 2023

Fr. Mike compares the sacraments with Isaac's blessing to Jacob in Genesis 27-28, Job 17-18, and Proverbs 3:1-4. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, I'm Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we will read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. This is day 14, and we have just completed two weeks. We are completing actually, we're in the process of completing two weeks, the 14th day. Let's get started.

Today we're reading from Genesis 27 and 28. We're also reading Job chapter 17 and 18. And we're now cracking into Proverbs chapter 3 verses 1 through 4. As always, I'm reading from the revised standard version, Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. That is a great Bible to be able to follow along with us if you're ever interested in that because it has all these incredible notes where we have extra information about these, you know, the early age, the patriarchs, all the different ways that scripture connects to each

other. That's so helpful. If you want a reading plan, you can download the reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You also can subscribe to your podcast, this podcast, by just clicking on subscribe. Really simple, really easy, really straightforward. And you can sign up for our email list where you can get updates by texting the word Catholic Bible to the number 33777. As I said, we are reading today Genesis chapter 27 and 28. Let's get started. When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, my son. And he answered, here I am. He said, behold, I am old.

I do not know the day of my death. Now then take your weapons, your quiver and your bow and go out to the field and hunt game for me and prepare for me savory food such as I love and bring it to me that I may eat, that I may bless you before I die. Now, Rebecca was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebecca said to her son, Jacob, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, bring me game and prepare for me savory food that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die. Now, therefore, my son, obey my word as I

command you. Go to the flock and fetch me two good kids that I may prepare for them savory food for your father, such as he loves, and you shall bring it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies. But Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.

Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing. His mother said to him, upon me be your curse, my son, only obey my word and go fetch them to me. So he went and took them and brought them to his mother and his mother prepared savory food such as his father loved. Then Rebecca took the best garments of Esau, her older son, which were with her into the house and put them onau, her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son. And the skins of the kid she put upon his hands

and upon the smooth part of his neck. And she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob. So he went into his father and said, My father. And he said, Here I am. Who are you, my son? Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Now sit up and eat of my game, that you may bless me. But Isaac said to his son, How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? He answered, Because the Lord your God granted me success. Then Isaac said to Jacob, Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not. So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands, so he blessed him. He said, Are you really my son Esau? He answered, I am. Then he said, Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you. So he brought it to him, and he ate. And he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, Come near and kiss me, my son. So he came near and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. May God give you the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and

wine. Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be Lord over your brothers and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you. As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. He also prepared 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. His father Isaac said to him, who are you?

He answered, I am your son, your firstborn Esau. Then Isaac trembled violently and said, who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me? And I ate it all before you came and I have blessed him. Yes, and he shall be blessed. 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. But he said, Your brother came with guile, and he has taken away your blessing. Esau 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. Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, father? Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. Then Isaac, his father, answered him, Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwellings be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother. But when you break loose, you shall break his yoke from your neck. Now Esau hated 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 approaching, then I will kill my brother Jacob. But the words of Esau, her older son, were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him,

Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself by planning to kill you. Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother in Haran, and stay with him a while until your brother's fury turns away, until your brother's anger turns away, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and fetch you from there. Why should I be bereft of both of you in one day? Then Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women such as these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me then? Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him. You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women.

Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your descendants with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham. Thus Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel, the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Badan Aram to take a wife

from there. And that as he blessed him, he charged him, you shall not marry one of the Canaanite women. And that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Badan Aram. So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac, his father, Esau went to Ishmael and took to wife besides the wives he had, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaoth. Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep, and he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth

and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your descendants.

And your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely the Lord was in this place, and I did not know it. And he was afraid, and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on top of it.

He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear so that I may come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me, I will give the tenth to you. Job chapter 17 and 18. Job prays for me. Since you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph. He who informs against his

friends to get a share of their property, the eyes of his children will fail. He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit. My eye has grown dim from grief, and all my members are like a shadow. Upright men are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he that has clean hands grows stronger and stronger. But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you. My days are past. My plans are broken off, the desires of my heart. They make night into day. The light, they say, is near to the darkness. If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness, if I say to the pit, you are my father, or to the worm, my mother, or my sister, where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?

Shall we descend together into the dust? Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and then we will speak. Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight? You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place? Yes, the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out. His strong steps are shortened, and his own schemes throw him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on a pitfall. A trap seizes him by the heel, a snare lays hold of him. A rope is hid for him in the

ground, a trap for him in the path. Terrors frighten him on every side and chase him at his heels. His strength is hunger-bitten, and calamity is ready for his stumbling. By disease his skin is consumed, the firstborn of death consumes his limbs. He is torn from the tent in which he trusted and is brought to the king of terrors. In his tent dwells that which is none of his. Brimstone is scattered upon his habitation. His roots dry up beneath and his branches wither above. His memory perishes from the earth and he has no name in the street. He is thrust from the light into darkness and driven out of the world. He has no offspring or descendant among his people, and no survivor where he used to live.

They of the West are appalled at his day, and horror seizes them of the East. Such are the dwellings of the ungodly. Such is the place of him who knows not God. Proverbs chapter 3 verses 1 through 4. My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands. For the length of days and years of life and abundant welfare will they give you. Let not loyalty and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart, so you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.

God in heaven, we thank you. We give you praise and we give you glory. We thank you for giving us your word and sharing with us your heart, because it is your heart that you revealed to us in this scripture, in this word, in your word. Let our hearts become like yours. Help us to love what you love and to despise what you despise. Help us to live as you have willed us to live and as you have made it possible for us

to live by your grace. May you be glorified in all things this day. In Jesus' name we pray, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So once again, we're following our family, we're following the family story of the people of God, of the Jewish people, and of course, as Christians, we're not a separate people. Christianity is the fruit of Judaism, and that's one of the reasons why we believe that this story, the story of Abraham and Isaac, and now Jacob, is our story. That this whole Bible is our story.

Because as St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans, as Christians, as Gentile Christians, we've been grafted onto that tree. We've been brought into that family, that story, the process of salvation that God had begun so, so long ago. And here we have the story of the deceiver, the grasper, the rebel, Jacob, who earlier he manipulated his brother out of the birthright. Now he deceives his father out of the blessing. There's something remarkable in this, is that, well, there's a number of things remarkable in this, but one of those things that is remarkable and worth noting is the fact that when Isaac gave Jacob the blessing,

after he had given it, he didn't take it back. He didn't take that blessing back. And that's important for us to understand because that is, in so many ways, the basis for our sacraments. What I mean by that is, you know, a Jewish male was brought into the covenant of Judaism by circumcision. You can't undo a circumcision. You're brought into the covenant

and you're part of the covenant. As Christians, it's by our baptism that we're brought into the covenant. We're brought into the family of God through our baptism. And you're made into a son or a daughter of God. God is your father. And you can't undo that. And so here is, you know, Isaac, I imagine, pretty upset, pretty hot about this. That fact that he gave the blessing to the one who deceived him out of the blessing. But at the same time, it was a true blessing. It was a real blessing. He can't undo this blessing in similar way that we can't undo our baptism. Even if someone were to say, I renounce my baptism. Even if someone were to say,

I no longer want to be part of the church. I no longer want to be known as a son or daughter of God. I don't want God to be my father. You can't undo that. You can't undo the blessing of a sacrament. Those permanent sacraments can't be undone. And Isaac in some ways knows this, right? He can't take the blessing away from his son, Jacob. It was given to him, even out of deception, it was still given. And so Jacob is the receiver of not only the birthright that he manipulated out of Esau, but also the blessing that he deceived out of his father, Isaac, which points us to something so important. Earlier, scripture noted that Esau was loved by their father, Isaac, and Jacob was loved

by their mother, Rebecca. And it's noted that it seemed that that was the case. I have a friend who always says that, yeah, when it comes to my family, I always tell my siblings that I'm my mom's favorite. And he asked me, he said, are you your mom's favorite? And I was like, I don't know. I don't know if she has a favorite. One of the great gifts of being loved by your parents is I don't know who their favorites are.

And I think because of that, I don't have any animosity or competition with my siblings. I don't think they have any competition or animosity with me either, because there's that sense of like, no, mom and dad love us all. And I mean, some people are more lovable than others, but I never ever get the sense, ever get the sense that my parents actually have a favorite or that they have a least favorite. One of the gifts they've given our family, one of the gifts they've given to me and my siblings

of harmony and unity is this like, oh no, you are all loved and there is not one clear favorite. Now, I think that there's some people in my family who are super fun. There's some who are kind of easier to be around than others. And there's some that are kind of like myself, like I'm not super always easy to be around either, but what a great gift to be able to give your family this gift of your kids, not knowing if you actually do, you know, prefer one over the other or over the others that they don't even know that because the brokenness of Jacob and Esau, they were competitive in the womb of Rebecca. And that competition was only

exacerbated by the fact that one was preferred by their father and the other one was preferred by their mother. I wonder if there can be a lot of family problems that can kind of be resolved by parents who resolve to love their children as equally as possible. We're not perfect people. We can't always do it like that. But I wonder, I wonder how much pain could be saved for so many families if we just loved each other as best we could instead of preferring each other over the other. Anyways, those are some thoughts for today.

This 14th day of our study, man, our walking through scripture, so incredible. If you wanna get an update, just text the word Catholic Bible, all one word to the number 33777. If you haven't yet subscribed, please do. That'd be awesome if you could subscribe or even share this with some friends.

If this has been something that has blessed blessed your life, these, these past two weeks of just being able to have a 20 minute shot of scripture in your arm and your, in your ear. Um, what a great thing to be able to share on social media, or even just, you know, directly with friends that you think would be blessed by this. Um, I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. Please pray for each other. Pray for the work of Ascension and for my work up here at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Let's pray for each other because we're not going on this journey through the Bible alone.

We are going on this journey as brothers and sisters who are loved unconditionally by our Father, each one of us. So let's pray for each other. My name is Father Mike and I am so grateful to be able to

be on this journey with you, and I'll see you tomorrow.