The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 14: Isaac Blesses Jacob (2025)

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

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 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 the all the different ways that scripture

You know, the earlier age, the patriarchs, the 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 three three seven seven seven 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 Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah 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 Rebekah took the best garments of Esau, 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 in to 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. Curse be everyone who curses you, and bless 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 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, oh my father. But he said, your brother came with Gile 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. And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me? Isaac answered Esau, Behold, I have made him your Lord. In all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?' 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 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 Badan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel, the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. And 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 Mahaloth the daughter of Ishmael and took to wife, besides the wives he had, Mahaloth, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebeoth. 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 it 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 loose 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 17, 18 Job prays for relief. My spirit is broken. My days are extinct. The grave is ready for me. Surely there are markers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation. Lay down a pledge for me with yourself, who is there that will give surety 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 shoe-hide 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 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 abatation. 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 descent 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. of the ungodly. Such is the place of him who knows not God. Proverbs 3, verses 1-4. 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 this 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, that 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, 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 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 somewhere to say I'd no longer want to be part of the church, I no longer we 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 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. Um, 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, 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. And 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 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, are walking through scripture. So incredible. If you want to 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.

This has been something that has blessed your life these past two weeks of just being able to have a 20 minute shot of scripture in your arm, in your ear, what a great thing to be able to share on social media or even just directly with friends that you think would be blessed by this. 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 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.