One day Esau came back from his hunting in the field and was fainting. He spoke to Jacob, saying, "Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage." Jacob said, "Sell me this day thy birthright." At that time Esau was very tired and answered carelessly, "I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?" As a result, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob (Gen. 25:29-34). This incident reveals the craftiness of Jacob's nature. Jacob treasured the birthright, which shows that he treasured God's promise. This is good, but it was not good for him to acquire the birthright through such a deception. This shows that Jacob was a person who used his own strength to gain what God wanted to give to him.
Jacob plotted with his mother to deceive his father. His father told Esau, "Go out to the field, and take me some venison; and make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die" (27:3-4). But Jacob, under his mother's guidance, took advantage of the weakness of his father's old age and feeble eyesight. He put on Esau's clothes, took skins of the kids of the goats, made savory meat, and received the blessing, thus deceiving his father (vv. 6-29). Once again this shows the craftiness and wickedness of Jacob's character. Some may ask, "If this blessing had gone to Esau, the elder would not have served the younger. Would that not have put God's promise in jeopardy? God's promise was to bless Jacob. By doing this, Jacob fulfilled God's promise. Was this not very good?" However, we have to know that God's promise does not require man's hand for its fulfillment. Will God's throne shake, and does it require man's hand to uphold and stabilize it? These are man's thoughts!
Jacob was a supplanter in his mother's womb. When he was young, he deceived his brother. Then he deceived his father with trickery. These incidents reveal Jacob's nature. He was very clever and crafty! This was Jacob's natural disposition. This was his natural life.
God had to deal with a person like Jacob. After he received his blessing through deception, he could no longer remain at home. He knew that his brother would kill him, and he could only escape. He ran away like a refugee.
He cheated his brother out of the blessing. Yet in the end he received God's disciplining hand. The result of his fleshly activity was discipline. God exercises more discipline on those who are clever, capable, shrewd, and resourceful. However, we must thank the Lord because through His discipline, Jacob received the blessing. From this time on, God continued to discipline him so that he would be blessed through the discipline. He was forced to leave his father's house. He left his parents and set out on his lonely journey to Padan-aram.