34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”“Here I am,” he answered.2 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”REFLECTIONSWritten by Gus CameronIt feels like we’re watching an episode of “Family Feud”. Even before they were born the baby boys “jostled each other” within Rebekah’s womb (Gen 25:17), and at that time God told Rebekah that the older boy, Esau, would serve the younger, Jacob. As Isaac’s death approached, the natural progression in their day was that the older son would inherit the whole estate, and so we would expect Esau to receive this inheritance. But Rebekah has other plans – she wants her favourite child to get it, even though he’s the younger. It’s tempting to criticise Rebekah’s rather… strange… parenting style, but instead, notice the conflict between the two boys that will haunt Isaac’s descendants for countless generations to come. Jacob’s name means “he deceives”, which he is certainly about to do. Abraham received the most incredible promise of blessing from God, but here already his grandchildren are at war with each other, a war that, centuries later, turns into a real war between the two nations that came from them: Edom and Israel.The truly strange thing is that God would choose to work through a family such as this. It’s as if God is making the task of fulfilling his blessing to Abraham even harder, just to show his incredible ability to be faithful.Ask God to fill you with wonder and thankfulness that out of the chaos and deceit of Abraham’s family, we know that through Christ we have every blessing from God.ABOUT THE AUTHORGus is an assistant minister with our Fairfield Congregations.