Genesis 27-28 & Deception

In these chapters, God's promise to Rebekah while she was pregnant really comes to fruition, and the selling of the birthright comes into play.

So we get to the point where Isaac is really old and on his deathbed. He wants to bless Esau (because he's the firstborn), but it winds up that Jacob steals Esau's blessing. And Rebekah is in on it, too. She overheard Isaac telling Esau that he wanted to bless him, and Rebekah said "oh, hell no" and managed to wiggle Jacob into the blessing instead. (She liked Jacob better anyway, and when Esau married two Hittite women many years earlier she was livid.) Basically, just a whole lot of deception. What I don't understand: why can't everyone just tell the truth? (This question seems to be recurring.) Also, Genesis 27 makes it seem like Rebekah and Jacob were the big liars, but Esau is right up there with them, and so is Isaac.

Remember, Esau already sold his birthright to Jacob. Well, the little punk tried to take it back when he wasn't honest with Isaac; Esau should have told Isaac right then and there that he can't have the blessing because he sold it to Jacob a long time ago. Jacob should have also been forthcoming with that information; after all, he had no reason to lie because this blessing was rightfully his anyway. And Rebekah should have told Isaac about God's promise when she was pregnant - about how the older would serve the younger - a WAY long time ago! And Isaac was planning on blessing Esau without telling Rebekah or Jacob; why so secretive, Isaac? Basically, the whole family is a bunch of tricksters, and I don't understand it. This whole fiasco could have been totally avoided if everyone had just told the truth. But I guess it can't be all that bad because this is how God wanted it to end up anyway.

So moving on, Jacob ultimately gets blessed with the firstborn blessing, and Esau gets a blessing, too, but his blessing is way mediocre compared to Jacob's. Rebekah sends Jacob back to her homeland to find a wife - half because she doesn't want another local girl in the family and the bigger half because she's worried Esau is going to kill him. So off Jacob goes to find a wife back in Paddan Aram while Esau, the total ding dong that he is, marries one of Ishmael's daughters... eye roll, eye roll, eye roll at Esau. Also, God appears to Jacob in a dream and basically promises the same things to him that he promised to Abraham and Isaac before him. So we DEFINITELY know this is how things were supposed to be.

The thing that kinda struck me was after God appeared to Jacob in his dream, Jacob wakes up and has this epiphany. But at the end of all the things he does for God, Jacob says in Genesis 28:22 that he'll give God a tenth of whatever He gives to him. Excuse me, what? Did Jacob really just say he'll only give God a tenth of himself? I'm not super religious or anything, but if I know anything it's that we're definitely supposed to give WAY more than a tenth of ourselves to God. Like, we're supposed to give Him ten-tenths. Wtf, Jacob?

Genesis 29 was also part of today's reading, but I'm going to save it for it's own post because I REALLY love it.

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Why all the deception? Why do you think the whole family was so secretive about their intentions? Why do you think the blessings turned out this way as opposed to the pleasant way involving everyone being truthful? Is there a lesson to learn here?

And what's up with Jacob promising to give God just a tenth of what He gives to him? Where does he justify that in his brain? And why doesn't God seem to care?