Genesis 27-28: Wealth Without Ethics (22 minutes)

Welcome to PRS.work, a video series that helps us to hear the Bible together at work.  Reading the Bible aloud in community.

Public Reading of Scripture or PRS is a biblical tradition. Here is more information on it.

The Four Pillars of PRS are:

  1. Listening, not just reading:  Revelation 1.3
  2. In Community: 1 Timothy 4.13 
  3. Regularly:  Psalm 1.2
  4. The Whole Bible, not just favorite passages:  Matthew 4.4

It takes 98 hours to read the Bible.  We believe it is important to turn to God’s word.  If you spend 2½-4 hours weekly listening to the Public Reading of Scripture app, alone or with a group, you will hear the entire Bible 1-2 times in one year.  

We invite you to download the free Public Reading of Scripture app from the app store.  It has a Bible tracker to monitor your progress.

Tracking transforms “trying” to read the Bible into training: Just like soldiers, athletes, or hardworking farmers. 

1 Timothy 4:13 says “Until I come again, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching and to teaching.” So, immerse yourself into all three disciplines: Join a Public Reading of Scripture group, attend a Bible-teaching church, and learn new things by reading books written by credible authors. 

In James 1.22 we are instructed, “ But don’t just listen to God’s word.  You must do what it says.  Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” Putting God’s Word into action, specifically showing His love to everyone we encounter, will lead to fullness ofan abundant life and point people to Jesus.  This includes how we conduct ourselves at work and treat our co-workers.

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To download a transcript of the Theology of Work Bible Commentary for this session, click here.

Introduction

Today’s Public Reading of Scripture comes from the book of Genesis with the story of Isaac’s son, Jacob. Jacob in Hebrew means deceiver, and he lives up to his name by cheating those closest to him. In Jacob’s day, the family inheritance would be passed down from father to the firstborn son. But Jacob, the second-born, uses a clever ruse to buy the birthright from his brother and trick his father into giving him the family blessing.

While God’s blessing does indeed come to rest on Jacob, Jacob’s early career is fraught with conflict. In the same way that Jacob cheated his brother and father, Jacob’s uncle tricks him into marrying the wrong woman and conscripting him into unpaid servitude. He gets back at his uncle by siphoning off his assets while Jacob’s wives act out a bitter rivalry through their own underhanded means.

Before reading along to a dramatic recording of Genesis Chapters 27-30, we will open with Psalm 112 in prayer.

Psalm 112

Praise the Lord!

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
Who delights greatly in His commandments.

2 His descendants will be mighty on earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches will be in his house,
And his righteousness endures forever.
4 Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness;
He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
5 A good man deals graciously and lends;
He will guide his affairs with discretion.
6 Surely he will never be shaken;
The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance.
7 He will not be afraid of evil tidings;
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
8 His heart is established;
He will not be afraid,
Until he sees his desire upon his enemies.

9 He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever;
His horn will be exalted with honor.
10 The wicked will see it and be grieved;
He will gnash his teeth and melt away;
The desire of the wicked shall perish.

Genesis 27

Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered him, “Here I am.”

2 Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 4 And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”

5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. 6 So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 7 ‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. 10 Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.”

11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”

13 But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” 14 And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

18 So he went to his father and said, “My father.”

And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”

20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”

And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”

21 Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

24 Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

25 He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” 27 And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:

“Surely, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field
Which the Lord has blessed.
28 Therefore may God give you
Of the dew of heaven,
Of the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you.
Be master over your brethren,
And let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
And blessed be those who bless you!”

30 Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”

32 And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”

So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

33 Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—and indeed he shall be blessed.”

34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”

35 But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”

36 And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”

38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

“Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth,
And of the dew of heaven from above.
40 By your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your brother;
And it shall come to pass, when you become restless,
That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

42 And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, 45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”

46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

Genesis 28

Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

3 “May God Almighty bless you,
And make you fruitful and multiply you,
That you may be an assembly of peoples;
4 And give you the blessing of Abraham,
To you and your descendants with you,
That you may inherit the land
In which you are a stranger,
Which God gave to Abraham.”

5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram. 8 Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. 9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 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 what I have spoken to you.”

16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 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!”

18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. 22 And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

Pause for Reflection

Now we'll take a moment to reflect silently on what we have just read and heard in Scripture.

Wealth Without Ethics

From the Theology of Work Bible Commentary on Genesis

Although it was God’s plan for Jacob to succeed Isaac and receive his family’s inheritance, Jacob did not trust God to ensure his future. Instead, he used deception and theft to obtain his family’s blessing. Jacob’s unethical dealing with his father and his brother resulted in a deep and long-lived split in the family enterprise. His lack of ethics in obtaining his wealth put Jacob, his entire family, and God’s blessings in serious jeopardy.

What Jacob did not understand is that God’s covenantal blessings are gifts to be received, not prizes to grasp. God’s blessings carry the responsibility that they be used for others benefit, not hoarded unto oneself. Although Jacob, unlike his brother Esau, had faith enough in God’s blessing to value receiving it from his father, Jacob relied on his own abilities to secure what he valued, rather than looking to God to provide. While it was good that Jacob valued the family birthright, it was faithless for him to exploit hungry Esau into selling it to him. While it was understandable for Jacob to want his father’s blessing, it was underhanded to deceive his father into giving it to him. Jacob’s subsequent life as a fugitive from the family testifies to the odious nature of his behavior.

After escaping from the wrath of his brother Esau, Jacob worked for his uncle Laban for twenty-one frustrating years, during which time Laban broke a string of promises to him. During this time Jacob learned the trade of breeding animals, and he used this skill to get back at Laban. Through breeding techniques, Jacob increased his flocks, while depriving Laban of the best genetic stock. It got to the point that Laban’s sons were complaining that “Jacob has taken all that was our father's; he has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father” (Genesis 31:1-2). Jacob ultimately fled from Laban’s house in the same manner that he had departed from his original family.

Jacob claimed his financial gains were gifts from God, saying, “If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed” (Genesis 31:42). Still, when profit comes at the expense of exploiting and deceiving others, something is wrong. Jacob’s schemes hurt those who were closest to him and drove him away from his family over and over again. It would be a stretch to say this represents God’s ideal model of wealth creation. Like Jacob and his blind spots, we too need to be aware of how readily we might fool even ourselves into believing that unethical actions are justified.

Jacob’s relentless drive to gain benefits for himself at the expense of others reveals how his fears made him resistant to God’s transforming grace. To the extent we come to believe in God’s promises, we will be less inclined toward manipulating circumstances and deceiving others. Wealth without ethics, while enticing, is not the whole story of God’s blessing.

How does this apply to your work?