Free The Message Remix by Eugene H. Peterson Page B

there he went up to Beersheba. That very night GOD appeared to him and said,
    I am the God of Abraham your father;
don’t fear a thing because I’m with you.
I’ll bless you and make your children flourish
because of Abraham my servant.
     
    Isaac built an altar there and prayed, calling on GOD by name. He pitched his tent and his servants started digging another well.
    Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his advisor and Phicol the head of his troops. Isaac asked them, “Why did you come to me? You hate me; you threw me out of your country.”
    They said, “We’ve realized that GOD is on your side. We’d like to make a deal between us—a covenant that we maintain friendly relations. We haven’t bothered you in the past; we treated you kindly and let you leave us in peace. So—GOD’s blessing be with you!”
    Isaac laid out a feast and they ate and drank together. Early in the morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac said goodbye and they parted as friends.
    Later that same day, Isaac’s servants came to him with news about the well they had been digging, “We’ve struck water!” Isaac named the well Sheba (Oath), and that’s the name of the city, Beersheba (Oath-Well), to this day.

     
    When Esau was forty years old he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite. They turned out to be thorns in the sides of Isaac and Rebekah.

     
    027 When Isaac had become an old man and was nearly blind, he called his eldest son, Esau, and said, “My son.”
    “Yes, Father?”
    “I’m an old man,” he said; “I might die any day now. Do me a favor: Get your quiver of arrows and your bow and go out in the country and hunt me some game. Then fix me a hearty meal, the kind that you know I like, and bring it to me to eat so that I can give you my personal blessing before I die.”
    Rebekah was eavesdropping as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. As soon as Esau had gone off to the country to hunt game for his father, Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob. “I just overheard your father talking with your brother, Esau. He said, ‘Bring me some game and fix me a hearty meal so that I can eat and bless you with GOD’s blessing before I die.’
    “Now, my son, listen to me. Do what I tell you. Go to the flock and get me two young goats. Pick the best; I’ll prepare them into a hearty meal, the kind that your father loves. Then you’ll take it to your father, he’ll eat and bless you before he dies.”
    “But Mother,” Jacob said, “my brother Esau is a hairy man and I have smooth skin.
    What happens if my father touches me? He’ll think I’m playing games with him. I’ll bring down a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”
    “If it comes to that,” said his mother, “I’ll take the curse on myself. Now, just do what I say. Go and get the goats.”
    So he went and got them and brought them to his mother and she cooked a hearty meal, the kind his father loved so much.
    Rebekah took the dress-up clothes of her older son Esau and put them on her younger son Jacob. She took the goatskins and covered his hands and the smooth nape of his neck. Then she placed the hearty meal she had fixed and fresh bread she’d baked into the hands of her son Jacob.
    He went to his father and said, “My father!”
    “Yes?” he said. “Which son are you?”
    Jacob answered his father, “I’m your firstborn son Esau. I did what you told me. Come now; sit up and eat of my game so you can give me your personal blessing.”
    Isaac said, “So soon? How did you get it so quickly?”
    “Because your GOD cleared the way for me.”
    Isaac said, “Come close, son; let me touch you—are you really my son Esau?”
    So Jacob moved close to his father Isaac. Isaac felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He didn’t recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s.
    But as he was about to bless him he pressed him,