Jacob and Esau Part Ways – Genesis 28:1-9

In a 1984 New York Times Magazine article by John Bowers about brothers, he writes: “I am mystified by siblings who have never competed, who get along magically – or, stranger still, do not have an influence on one another. A friend of mine in New York has a couple of brothers who live here, and he goes years without seeing them, without thinking of them, it seems.”  The story of Esau and Jacob isn’t the only brotherly rivalry written about.  It has become the stock and trade of many a book and movie (The Mission, East of Eden, On the Waterfront, etc.).

[1] Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. [2] Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. [3] God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. [4] May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” [5] 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.

[6] Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” [7] and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. [8] So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, [9] Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth. (Genesis 28:1–9, ESV)

As Jacob departs Beersheba in Canaan for Paddan-aram (Haran?) Isaac once again blesses him, this time wishing the blessing of Abraham, the covenant promises, come to him.  As Isaac found a wife in Rebekah from his family in Haran, so he instructs Jacob to marry there.  His family there is not strictly monotheistic, worshiping only Yahweh, as we will see when Jacob finally returns to Canaan, but they are the right family stock and not like the Canaanites.

Esau has Canaanite wives (Hittites) and hears Isaac tell Jacob not to take a Canaanite wife.  Seeing that his Canaanite wives do not please Isaac, he goes to Ishmael, his uncle, and takes his cousin Mahalath as wife.  He is still competing for his father’s favor and blessing (though some see this as a way of spiting his father and mother, Expositor’s Bible Commentary).  But his best efforts only tie him to the line of the family that is not blessed the way his father Isaac has been.  The blessing is still a seemingly unachievable goal.

The NKJV Abide Bible asks, “Who has bestowed a blessing on you, believed in your calling, or inspired you to walk in faith? Take a few minutes to thank God for those people.”