FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART
OP / ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
I do not know whether you have ever brought a curse on yourself, but I have seen enough of it. Honest confession would say that I have sometimes brought some curses on myself. I lost my blessing. Yes, bad choices and wrong decisions have led me down a miserable path when things could have been otherwise.
A path of misery can be specially marked because, at points, a person allows themselves to be deceived by someone who could have helped to change things in a positive direction. The helper did not lead in a positive direction. Yes, I think of some children whose parents gave them guns to kill fellow students or shoot some teachers. The parents have indeed taken curses on themselves.
However, let me turn away from the curses connected with guns and note some things like fame and popularity or power that might seem less socially egregious but have had a deleterious effect on the personal lives of our children and families. I here speak of the many things that are done that, in the end, fill the hearts of parents and their children with guilt, grief, regret, and hardship.
Let me use the Biblical example of Father Isaac, and Mother Rebekah found in Genesis 27. Mother Rebekah led her son Jacob into a most intriguing deception because she wanted him to receive the promised blessing Father Isaac intended to give Esau. I pick up the story at the point where Rebekah calls the curse on herself and leads Jacob into lying and cheating, ultimately leading to hatred and bitter conflict between the two brothers. What might have seemed like a moment of pleasure led to a lifetime of bitterness, separation and death.
I paraphrased the story with the hope that intrigue is not lost. It states that when Isaac arranged to give Esau his blessing, Rebekah overheard and intervened. She told Jacob to get a couple of kids so that she could prepare the meal that Isaac requested Esau to make for him before blessing him. By this act, Rebekah would induce Isaac to give the blessing to Jacob. When Jacob protested, thinking he would be found out, Rebekah told him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.”
So, Jacob obeyed, got the kids, and brought them to Rebekah, and she fixed the “savory food,” which Isaac loved. She then took the choice clothes of Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob. Next, Rebekah used the skins of the kids to cover Jacob’s hands and the smooth part of his neck. She then gave Jacob the savory food and bread she had prepared, who would take it to Isaac, his father.
The story continues; so, Jacob goes to his father and says, “My father.” And Isaac said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” Jacob told Isaac, “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.”But Isaac asked Jacob, “How have you found it so quickly, my son? “And Jacob said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”Then, Isaac told Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 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.” Isaac did not recognize Jacob because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s, so he ate the meal and blessed him.
As soon as Isaac blessed Jacob and Jacob left the presence of Isaac, Esau came in from hunting. He had made savory food, brought it to his father, and said to Isaac, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.” Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” Then Isaac trembled exceedingly and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted the 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.”
When Esau heard the words of Isaac, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me – me also, O my father!”But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.” 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?”
So, Isaac tries to bless Esau, but not with the blessing of inheritance heirship that was already given to Jacob. 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.” Esau’s intent to kill Jacob got around to Rebekah, so she arranged to send Jacob away to his uncle Laban in Padan Aram. And shortly after Jacob left, Rebekah died.
I have short-circuited the story. Please read it. It is like a novel of intrigue that involves tragedy and comedy. Yes, Jacob received the blessing, and Esau some part of a blessing. But in the end, the true loser was Rebekah. She suffered for the curse that she called upon herself. She had to send the son she loved away and lost the love of her other son. Many commentators have argued that Rebekah died of a broken heart not long after Jacob was sent off to Padan Aram. Though respected as one of the great mothers in Israel, the life of Rebekah can teach us a lot about the curses we call upon ourselves and often on our children.
Have you called a curse on yourself? If somehow you have, let me remind you that God can take your curse away.
