Forming Faith Blog

Stews, Cons, and Blessings (Genesis 27, 28)

Posted on September 9 2025 by Gregory Rawn

Through a pair of stews, Jacob cheats his (slightly) older brother Esau out of his birthright and blessing. Despite this bad behavior, God chooses to continue God’s promise to Abraham through Jacob and his descendants.

A bowl of meat stew, like the stew Jacob used to steal Esau's blessing.
Photo by Snappr on Pexels.com
In the Beginning

The Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament) is the story of a people’s tumultuous relationship with the Creator and God’s steadfast relationship with those chosen people. Genesis, literally the book of Beginnings, starts at the beginning of the entire universe and narrows its scope to a single couple, the beginning of the covenant people of Israel. As per our theme for the Narrative Lectionary’s first five readings, God Provides Blessings, God was always present and giving good gifts to the people, and God is with us, too.

Blessings are, indeed, the focus of today’s readings, specifically the blessings of a father to a son and the blessings of God to a chosen representative.

Brothers, Birthrights, and Blessings

So, a little background is in order. Since we last saw Abraham and Isaac, Isaac has grown up, married Rebekah, had twin sons, and gotten old. These twins are Esau and Jacob, and they have been fighting each other since they shared a womb.

In our modern, Western culture, birth order is basically only relevant in relative developmental levels and sibling arguments. But in Abraham and Isaac’s context, birth order was legally significant. Even in the case of twins. I’m sure there is more to it, but one area where this is important is inheritance. When a father died, the property was divided into portions equal to the number of sons plus one (so with two sons, there would be three portions), and the older son would be given the extra portion. So, since Esau was the oldest, he would get two-thirds of Isaac’s property and leave Jacob with only one-third. This is called the birthright, which Esau traded for a bowl of stew (Genesis 25:29-34). Daddy’s rich, so it was a really bad trade.

There are two main types of “blessings” in the Bible. One is how we would normally use the term: good gifts (#blessed). The second, and the type used in our story, is a verbal proclamation. If it’s given by God, then it is a promise of good gifts in the future. If it’s given by a human (say, Isaac), then it works a bit like a prayer-prophecy: a promise of good gifts in the future that cannot be accomplished by the blesser. Though the expectation was that it would indeed come true. It is literally the opposite of a curse.

Tell the Tale 

Now, to today’s passages. We have two related, but separate stories here:

  1. Jacob steals Esau’s blessing (Genesis 27)
  2. God visits Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28)

The first story is quite long, so the creators of the Narrative Lectionary grabbed a few short parts, possibly to give some context to the second story. But while the “Jacob’s ladder” story is nice and all, it doesn’t have the fun, dysfunctional family drama of the great con. So, I would highly recommend that you tell the whole story with as many or as few words as you have time for. That’s what I’m going to try to do with the rest of this blog post.

Cons and Consequences

As with many families, ancient and modern, there was dysfunction in the home of Isaac and Rebekah. An important part of having multiple kids is that you don’t play favorites (even if you have one)! But, we learn early in the story that Isaac loved Esau more (for the deep reason of liking the wild game Esau brought him), and Rebekah loved Jacob more. That would definitely not cause problems, right?

In addition to the inheritance birthright, the eldest son would also get the father’s quasi-prophetic blessing. So, he would be richer and more #blessed in his life. Esau already lost the birthright due to his ridiculously stupid actions, but he’s at least going to get Isaac’s blessing, right?

Isaac has a craving for wild meat, so he sends Esau to make him some stew before giving him the blessing. I guess Isaac’s not in a hurry since hunting, butchering, and cooking a stew would likely take all day. Rebekah hears all of this and decides that her favorite, Jacob, should get the blessing as well as the birthright. So, she hatches a plan to con Isaac out of the blessing with goat hair and goat stew. Jacob didn’t even add anything to the plan; he just did what his mother told him to do. And, it works. Isaac is fooled, and Jacob gets the blessing.

So [Jacob] came near and kissed [Isaac], and [Isaac] smelled the smell of [Jacob’s] garments and blessed him and said,

“Ah, the smell of my son
    is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
May God give you of 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!”

Genesis 27:27-29

I’m sure Jacob was thrilled to hear that Isaac intended Esau to be lord over Jacob and make him bow down. Rebekah and Jacob had to know that their little con would be found out sooner or later. And it was sooner, since Jacob had barely left Isaac when Esau came in with his stew for his father. (Esau just doesn’t have good luck with stews!) And while I cannot condone the lying, scheming, and stealing that Jacob did on his mother’s orders, I also can’t forgive that the soggy leftovers of a blessing that Esau got was originally intended to be Jacob’s. Father of the year, here.

Surprising exactly no one, Esau is furious with Jacob and vows to kill him. Rebekah, again, comes to the rescue and manipulates Isaac to send Jacob away to get a wife from his uncle’s family. This time, Isaac knowingly gives Jacob a blessing:

“May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and numerous, that you may become a company of peoples. May he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, land that God gave to Abraham.”

Genesis 28:3-4
Dreams and Just Desserts?

Jacob runs away. As he is traveling at dusk, he comes to “a certain place” and sleeps there with a rock as a pillow. Comfy. Jacob has a dream-vision of a ladder/stairway/ramp from the land to the sky with angels ascending and descending on it. God stood beside Jacob in this dream 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 offspring, and your offspring 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 all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that 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 what I have promised you.”

Genesis 28:13-15

So, Jacob’s on the run from a murderous brother after ruining Esau’s life through deceit and trickery. If God were going to show up in this case, then I would expect at least a stern talking-to. But, no, God does not condemn Jacob’s actions. God reiterates the promise God gave Abraham: land, a powerful legacy, a blessing to all people, and God’s continued presence.

Jacob’s understandably amazed by all of this and places his stone-pillow on a pillar to be a memorial for God’s presence and promises.

Faith Formation Connection

How can you approach these passages with your faith formation participants in class, small group, or worship? I’m always a big fan of storytelling. And the choppy nature of the assigned passages really does require telling the whole story. If your participants are youth or older, challenge them to wrestle with the story. How is it that Jacob not only gets away with his immoral behavior but seems to be rewarded for it? You can simplify it for younger participants that God chooses Jacob in spite of his bad decisions, that we don’t have to be worthy for God to work through us.

However you decide to do it, tell the story!

In God’s amazing grace,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

Download a FREE activity for 9/1/2025
Free Resource

During the main Narrative Lectionary year (September 7 to May 24), we provide a free resource download from one of our products to help you in your faith formation ministry. This week, download “Altars Everywhere,” an activity from our Living the Word: Cross+Gen Worship (NL) intergenerational worship resource, though this can be used with most age groups in many contexts!

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