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Yitzhak, laughter or Isaac the well digger is also known for his blessings.  So, we have named this devotional, ‘The Stolen Blessing or The Stolen Prayer.’ Is a blessing a prayer?  It is if it is invoking God’s promises or blessings upon an individual, family or nation.  Gen. 27:35 says, “Thy brother came with subtlety, and hath taken away thy blessing.” Esau could not get the blessing back even though it was taken away deceitfully by Rebekah and Jacob.  They didn’t have to do this because God promised her in Gen. 25:23 while she was still pregnant and praying to God, when the twins struggled in her womb, “The elder shall serve the younger.” (Rom. 9:12)  In other words, Esau will serve Jacob, why? Rom. 9:13, “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”  God is omniscient, He knew you before you were born, before you were conceived, before you were a gleam in your father’s eye, before you were a thought in your mother’s heart; in fact He knows what you are thinking right now, so be careful, John 2:24-25.  An oath or blessing with God is a permanent thing, Gen. 27:33, “Yea, and he shall be blessed!” Ecc. 5:5 says, “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few.”

The word bless (barak) or blessing is all over this chapter, vv. 4, 7, 10, 12, 19, 23, 29, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 41:  Isaac tried to reverse God’s order, will and plan to have Esau serve Jacob, v. 39-40 “…and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.”  Esau was angry because of the blessing and vowed to kill his brother Jacob after Isaac died.  The family blessing was a powerful thing in those days as it is today, but it has been forgotten in most cultures.  Jacob later blesses his twelve sons in Gen. 49, but in chapter 48:13-22, he blesses Joseph’s two sons Ephraim and Manasseh in reverse; Ironic?  No, God’s perfect will!  You see, it took him about 100 years to understand God’s plan and purpose, how long will it take you?

Isaac didn’t walk as close to God as his father Abraham did.  Isaac only built one altar that we know of, in Beer-Sheba and he stayed there.  Little is said about his walk or talk with El Shaddai.  The promise was to come through him and it did, God keeps His promises.  If he had walked closer to God I believe he would have recognized God’s plan and he would not have tried to reverse it.  You don’t hear any more about Isaac from this point on.  Gen. 28 picks up with Jacob’s life and Isaac is about 150 years old; in Gen. 35:27-29 Isaac dies at 180 and Jacob and Esau are between 80-100 years old.  Isaac’s first blessing in v. 27-29 was intended for Esau, “Be master over your brethren,” but God said Esau will serve Jacob.  Isaac tried to reverse God’s will but in v. 39-40 he prays, “And by thy sword thou shalt live and serve thy brother;”  Do you ever try to reverse God’s will in prayer, or bargain shop with Him?  Sometimes we seem to think God shops for prayer requests on e-bay and the answer goes to the highest bidder, but He doesn’t.

Isaac gives Jacob a final blessing in Gen. 28:3-4 and asks God Almighty to give him the blessings of Abraham.  He calls on El Shaddai, the Strengthener, the Satisfier, really He is the All-Sufficient One, He not only enriches, but He makes fruitful.  Listen, to Isaac’s blessing, “May El Shaddai, bless you and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a multitude of people; and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed, with you; that you may inherit the land wherein you are a stranger which God gave unto Abraham. And Isaac sent away Jacob;”  El Shaddai is a God of fruitfulness, this is the God Isaac prays to, the God of his father Abraham.  Jacob was a supplanter, a heel catcher, a conniver, but obedient.  Esau was honest but rebellious, disobedient, hateful, and seditious.  Yeshua/Jesus spoke of a similar situation in the parable of the two sons in Matt. 21:28-32, which of the two son’s did the will of his father?  The first who said he would not go to work in the field but did?  “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” (Rom. 9:13; Mal. 1:2-3)  A statement that has perplexed theologians since it was written.  Jacob like his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham would eventually meet El Shaddai, Elohim, YeHoVah and He would become the personal God of Jacob or Israel when he returns to Bethel in Gen. 33:20.

For now though, what has happened to, “The Blessing of the Blessing?”  That may sound redundant, but it’s not meant to be, it’s meant to be a probing question.  I believe our children and our children’s children have missed out on spiritual and material blessings because we believe ‘Blessings’ are an ‘Old Testament’ tradition that should be packed away in the attics of our minds in moth balls.  When was the last time, fathers you laid your hands on your children and seriously prayed a blessing over them and for them?  That was a regular, weekly tradition in the orthodox Jewish home, and the church was birthed out of the womb of Judaism.  Children are a blessing from God, not a curse or a punishment.  The fruit of the womb is His reward and happy is the man whose quiver is full and a warrior’s quiver in the Older Testament held 13 arrows!  I have eight children, four by birth and four by marriage and each one makes my heart sing.  I also have ten grandchildren and they make my heart smile, and what a blessing.  As the patriarch of your family you need to reclaim that ‘Stolen Blessing’ which belongs to your family and re-establish once again the blessing, the enemy has snatched.  By the way, who stole it, your neighbor, the deacons, God, or Satan? Every church service used to end with a benediction or a blessing, now they end with announcements, a song, a screen saver or “You’re dismissed!”  What are we still in the fourth grade?  God instructed Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons to bless the children of Israel and put His name on them so He in turn could bless them in Num. 6:27.  Could you apply that to the church and if not, why not?  500 times you have the word ‘Bless or Blessing or Blessed’ in the Scriptures, 500 times!  Is it important to God, is it?  It would do us all well to memorize Numbers 6:24-26, “The Aaronic Blessing” and use it whenever needed.  You see it on walls and plaques everywhere, so let’s steal it back and use it! Amen?       “…Between The Lines…”

“Abba, Father, please, Bevakasha, help us as fathers and pastors to re-establish the blessing which You gave to us as heads of our families and churches to give to them.  To bless them and cause them to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth, to inherit the land and to worship You, the only true God!” In Yeshua’s name. Amen!

“Portraits of Prayer in Genesis”  ‘Isaac & The Stolen Blessing’