Smell Fast - Day 37

Do you pass the smell test?  You remember the story in Genesis 27?  There were two brothers.  Jacob the younger and Esau the older (by a few seconds).  Esau is described as a man of the fields and was favored by his father.  Jacob was a man of the tents and favored by his mother.  In the culture and era that the story is set there were strict customs associated with the rights of the firstborn.  There was a birthright.  This basically meant the older son got twice as much of an inheritance as the other children.  Jacob had already stolen this primarily through Esau's weakness and stupidity.

Then we have this story of the blessing.  The patriarch (Isaac) of the family would traditionally bless his eldest son.  The "blessing"  may have been even more coveted than the birthright.  When Esau goes out to prepare for his great gift, Jacob and his mom conspire to trick Isaac (who is blind) into thinking Jacob is Esau.  They do this by putting animal skins on him and making him feel and smell like his brother.  Even though Isaac identified the voice with Jacob, his other two senses  informed him to the contrary.

What really does it for Isaac though is the scent.  When Jacob comes close enough for his dad to smell him he says,


“Ah, the smell of my son 
   is like the smell of a field 
   that the LORD has blessed. 

He then proceeds to bless Jacob thinking he is Esau!........Wait a second!  Isaac blesses the wrong son, right?   

I thought if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, and smells like a duck then its probably a duck.  But ...............that doesn't seem to apply here.

What we have to realize is that this was a part of God's plan.  It was his providence for Jacob and his descendants whom he would later adopt as his own.  Isaac may have wanted Esau blessed but God wanted Jacob.  

You ever heard the expression "You hear what you want to hear."?   Its no different for what we taste, touch, see or smell.  I imagine selective smelling is much like selective hearing.  God simply used the gifts he had given (senses) to produce the outcome he desired.  For us today, do we allow our noses to point us to God.  I imagine Wimpy in the old Popeye cartoon being transfixed by the smell of a hamburger.  His nose leads the way to what he would gladly pay Tuesday for Today.  

When this clip comes off I would like everything I breathe in to be a beacon to the Lord, drawing me ever closer to Him.  I would like to smell his goodness in creation.  To inhale the aroma of his love.  

I hope I can say, "Ah the smell of the Lord is like the smell of the earth (his creation), that he has blessed."