Genesis 25:28 Daily Devotional & Meaning – Isaac Loved Esau, Rebekah Loved Jacob, and the Danger of Favoritism
- Benjamin Michael Mcgreevy
- 4 days ago
- 10 min read
Daily Verses Everyday! Day 120
“And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.”
This verse is short, but it reveals one of the most painful realities in Isaac’s household: favoritism. The family through whom God’s covenant promise was moving forward was not a perfect family. It was a divided family. Isaac loved Esau. Rebekah loved Jacob. The parents were not united in how they viewed their sons, and the children were not loved in the same way by both parents. This verse helps explain much of the conflict that follows in the story.
The verse begins, “And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison.” That reason is very important. The text does not simply say Isaac loved Esau because Esau was his son. It says Isaac loved Esau “because he did eat of his venison.” In other words, Isaac’s affection is connected to Esau’s ability to satisfy something Isaac desired. Esau was a hunter. He was a man of the field. He could bring Isaac the food he enjoyed. Isaac’s love, at least in this verse, is tied to appetite.
That is a sobering detail. Isaac was the child of promise. Isaac had been miraculously born to Abraham and Sarah. Isaac had been laid on the altar in Genesis 22 and spared by God. Isaac had inherited the covenant promise. Yet here, Isaac’s preference seems influenced by his stomach. The man who was supposed to guide the covenant family is shown favoring one son because of the food that son provided.
This does not mean Isaac had no real fatherly affection for Esau. Surely Isaac cared for him as his son. But Genesis is exposing the weakness of Isaac’s preference. Isaac loved Esau in a way that was shaped by personal desire. Esau brought him venison, and Isaac enjoyed it. The next chapter will show this even more clearly when Isaac, old and dim-eyed, asks Esau to hunt and prepare savory meat so that he may bless him before he dies (Genesis 27:1-4). The blessing of the covenant line becomes tangled up with Isaac’s craving for a meal.
This is dangerous because God had already spoken before the twins were born. Rebekah had received the word of the Lord: “Two nations are in thy womb… and the elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). God had already declared that Jacob, not Esau, would carry the line of promise. Yet Isaac’s love for Esau appears to move against that divine word. Isaac naturally prefers the firstborn, the hunter, the strong son, the son who brings him what he likes. But God’s will was not determined by birth order, cultural expectation, or Isaac’s appetite.
Here we see how easily human preference can conflict with divine revelation. Isaac had a word from God’s household history. He knew the covenant did not always move by natural custom. God had chosen Isaac over Ishmael. Abraham had other sons through Keturah, but the covenant promise rested on Isaac. Isaac should have known that God’s choice rules over human expectation. Yet when it came to his own sons, Isaac’s heart leaned toward Esau.
This is a warning to all believers. We can know truth in principle and still resist it in practice. Isaac knew the God who chooses according to promise, yet he favored the son who appealed most to his senses. We can confess God’s sovereignty and still become ruled by personal preference. We can say we trust Scripture and still bend our decisions toward what feels easier, more familiar, or more satisfying to us.
Then the verse says, “but Rebekah loved Jacob.” Rebekah’s love is described differently. The verse gives a reason for Isaac’s love, but it does not give a stated reason for Rebekah’s love. That silence is interesting. Perhaps Rebekah loved Jacob because she remembered the prophecy: “the elder shall serve the younger.” Perhaps she saw in Jacob the son connected to God’s promise. Perhaps she simply preferred his temperament. Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. He was closer to the household, while Esau was out in the field. Rebekah may have been more naturally connected to Jacob because he was near her.
But even if Rebekah’s preference aligned more closely with God’s revealed plan, the way she later acts will still be deeply flawed. Genesis 27 will show Rebekah helping Jacob deceive Isaac in order to obtain the blessing. This means the Bible is not simply saying Isaac was wrong and Rebekah was perfectly right. Isaac’s preference for Esau was wrong because it ignored God’s word. Rebekah’s preference for Jacob may have been connected to God’s word, but her method became wrong because she tried to secure God’s promise through deception.
That is a powerful lesson. It is possible to desire the right outcome in the wrong way. Rebekah knew, or at least likely remembered, that Jacob was the one God had chosen. But instead of trusting God to fulfill His promise, she later takes matters into her own hands. She schemes. She instructs Jacob to lie. She uses manipulation to bring about what God had already promised. The result is not peace, but exile, hatred, fear, and years of family separation.
This shows us that trusting God means trusting both His promise and His method. We are not free to sin in order to help God keep His word. God does not need our deception to accomplish His will. He does not need our manipulation to fulfill His promise. Rebekah’s love for Jacob may have been attached to something true, but love becomes dangerous when it is not governed by righteousness.
So this verse reveals a divided household. Isaac loves Esau. Rebekah loves Jacob. Each parent has a favorite. Each son becomes attached to one parent’s preference. This division sets the stage for competition, deception, resentment, and heartbreak. Instead of both parents together submitting to God’s word and guiding both sons wisely, the home becomes split into sides.
Favoritism is a recurring danger in Genesis. Abraham’s household was troubled by tension between Sarah and Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael. Now Isaac’s household is troubled by tension between Esau and Jacob. Later, Jacob himself will repeat the same pattern by loving Joseph more than all his children, because Joseph was the son of his old age (Genesis 37:3). That favoritism will provoke jealousy among Joseph’s brothers and lead them to sell him into slavery. Genesis keeps showing us that parental favoritism does not produce blessing. It produces division.
This is one of the brutally honest things about Scripture. The Bible does not hide the sins and weaknesses of covenant families. Abraham had failures. Isaac had weaknesses. Rebekah had schemes. Jacob would become a deceiver. Esau would despise his birthright. The chosen family was not chosen because it was morally superior in every way. It was chosen because God is gracious and faithful.
That matters because sometimes we imagine biblical families as polished examples of perfect spiritual life. But Genesis shows us real families with real wounds. These households had faith, but they also had fear. They had promises, but also favoritism. They had divine calling, but also human weakness. They had moments of worship, but also manipulation and conflict. This should humble us, but it should also comfort us. God is not faithful because families are perfect. God is faithful because He is faithful.
At the same time, this verse should make us examine our own hearts. Isaac loved Esau because Esau gave him something he wanted. That raises a hard question: do we sometimes love people based on what they provide for us? Do we favor those who make us feel good, serve our interests, affirm our preferences, or satisfy our desires? Do we treat one child, friend, church member, employee, or family member differently because they naturally fit our personality better?
True love is not supposed to be governed by appetite. Biblical love seeks the good of the other person before God. Isaac’s love for Esau should have included spiritual concern for Esau’s soul. Instead of favoring him because of venison, Isaac should have shepherded him toward reverence for the birthright and submission to God’s word. If Isaac truly loved Esau rightly, he would not have encouraged him in a path that opposed the revealed purpose of God. Love is not simply affection. Love seeks what is holy, good, and true.
Rebekah’s love for Jacob also raises a question. Do we ever use love as an excuse for manipulation? A parent may say, “I am only doing this because I love my child,” but if that love leads to deceit, control, or favoritism, it is not righteous. Rebekah’s love for Jacob did not excuse the deception she later arranged. Loving someone does not mean helping them sin. Loving someone means helping them walk before God in faithfulness.
This verse also shows the tragedy of a household where parents are not united under the word of God. Isaac and Rebekah should have been together in prayer, humility, and obedience. They had received a divine word about their sons. They should have sought the Lord together about how to raise them. They should have resisted favoritism. They should have taught Esau to honor God’s promise and taught Jacob to trust God without grasping. Instead, their preferences hardened into division.
That division harmed both sons. Esau was encouraged in his natural pride and appetite. Jacob was encouraged in his tendency to grasp and scheme. Isaac’s favoritism did not help Esau become godly. Rebekah’s favoritism did not help Jacob become honest. Favoritism rarely helps the favored child. It often strengthens their weaknesses.
This is important for parents, but also for leaders. Leaders can have favorites too. They can prefer the people who benefit them, flatter them, agree with them, or make their work easier. But God calls His people to judge righteously and love without partiality. James warns against showing favoritism based on outward advantage, saying, “But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin” (James 2:9). God Himself is not ruled by partiality. Deuteronomy 10:17 says the Lord “regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward.” His judgments are righteous, not driven by appetite, status, or advantage.
In Isaac’s case, this partiality is especially sad because Isaac had experienced the grace of being the chosen son. He knew what it meant for God’s promise to rest on him apart from worldly strength. He was not chosen because he was stronger than Ishmael. He was chosen because God had promised. Yet Isaac seems to look at Esau with natural eyes. He sees the firstborn hunter. He tastes the venison. He loves what appeals to him. Like many people, Isaac could understand grace when it was given to him, but struggled to apply that same truth when God’s grace moved in a way that crossed his own preference.
This is often true of us. We rejoice that God saved us by grace, but then we become offended when His grace does not follow our expectations. We are grateful when God chooses the weak, until He chooses someone we would not have chosen. We praise God for mercy, then become frustrated when His will disrupts our comfort. Isaac’s love for Esau exposes the subtle way our desires can resist God’s plan.
But this verse also points us forward to the greater Son, Jesus Christ. Unlike Isaac, God the Father’s love for His Son is not based on selfish appetite or personal advantage. At Jesus’ baptism, the Father declares, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). The Father loves the Son eternally, perfectly, and without corruption. The Son always does the will of the Father. There is no division, selfishness, manipulation, or favoritism within God. The love of the Father and Son is holy, pure, and eternal.
And through Christ, believers are brought into the love of God, not because we have given God something He lacked, but because of grace. God does not love His people because we bring Him venison. He does not love us because we satisfy some hunger in Him. God is not needy. He is not manipulated by human usefulness. He loves according to His mercy, His covenant, and His own gracious purpose. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
That is very different from the kind of love shown in Isaac’s weakness. Isaac’s affection is attached to what Esau brings. God’s love in Christ is shown toward those who bring nothing but need. We do not feed God. He feeds us. We do not secure His blessing by satisfying His appetite. He gives us the bread of life in Christ. Jesus says in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger.”
This contrast should reshape how we love others. If God has loved us freely in Christ, then we should not love others only when they benefit us. We should not favor people based on what they give us. We should not divide families, churches, or communities around personal preference. We should seek to love according to truth, righteousness, and grace.
Genesis 25:28 is therefore not merely a passing family detail. It is a window into the brokenness that will shape the next major conflict in Genesis. Isaac’s love for Esau and Rebekah’s love for Jacob will eventually lead to deception, stolen blessing, rage, and exile. The favoritism in this verse becomes the seedbed for future pain.
Yet even through this broken family, God’s covenant purpose will not fail. That does not excuse the sin. Isaac and Rebekah’s partiality was harmful. Jacob’s deception was wrong. Esau’s despising of the birthright was profane. But God is able to work even through tangled human weakness. He remains faithful when His people are divided. He keeps His promise when His covenant family is messy. He advances His plan even when human love is mixed with selfishness, fear, and control.
This should not make us careless. It should make us worship. God’s sovereignty does not excuse our sin; it magnifies His grace. He is able to bring His promise forward through people who desperately need Him.
So this verse calls us to beware of favoritism, appetite-driven affection, and divided loyalties. Isaac loved Esau because of what Esau provided. Rebekah loved Jacob, but her love would later become entangled with deception. Both parents show us that love must be governed by God’s word. Affection without obedience can become destructive. Preference without wisdom can wound a family. Desire without submission can resist the will of God.
The better way is to love as God teaches us to love: without sinful partiality, without selfish appetite, without manipulation, and without trying to accomplish God’s promise through unrighteous means. We must love in truth. We must love under Scripture. We must love in a way that seeks the eternal good of others.
In the end, Genesis 25:28 reminds us that the covenant family still needed grace. Isaac needed grace. Rebekah needed grace. Esau needed grace. Jacob needed grace. And so do we. Our homes, churches, and hearts are not healed by favoritism or control, but by surrender to the God who loves perfectly and keeps His promises faithfully.
If you would like to explore Genesis in a sustained, verse-by-verse way with space to reflect, journal, and trace how these foundational truths unfold through Scripture the Verse by Verse book expands these reflections into a unified reading experience. The book gathers these meditations into a structured journey through Genesis, designed to help readers linger in the text and engage God’s Word more deeply over time.
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