Jacob and Esau: The Liar and the Blessed

 

In Genesis, Chapter 27, Isaac speaks to his son Esau. Isaac is very old by now and near death. He has great difficulty with his sight. He summons Esau to go out to the fields and hunt for venison (deer). Rebekah overheard the conversation. While Esau goes out to the fields, Rebekah tells Jacob that Esau was hunting venison for his father. She persuades Jacob to go get two kids of goats and she will prepare a culinary delight for her husband, and Jacob will be blessed.

 

Clearly, Rebekah is meddling in the affairs of her sons. In Chapter 25, verse 28, we learned that “Isaac loved Esau ... and Rebekah loved Jacob.” One could infer from this verse that each parent favored one of the sons, though not necessarily a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, based upon that verse, one can at least partially understand Rebekah’s motives for steering her son Jacob to obtain the blessings of Isaac.

 

But isn’t Rebekah acting deceitfully? She has divulged the contents of Isaac and Esau’s conversation to Jacob. That conversation was most likely intended to be a private one. Furthermore, she contradicts the directives of Isaac by ordering Jacob to hunt for the goats. If Jacob obtains the blessings of Isaac, that means Esau will be deprived of those blessings which were intended for him. Rebekah must clearly realize this, and add what’s revealed in verse 6 (she told Jacob she overheard Isaac & Esau’s conversation), it’s reasonable to conclude that she’s acting deceitfully and that Jacob condones it.

 

It’s certainly true that she didn’t tell Jacob to lie to his father, but she didn’t have to. Jacob is a fairly sharp person with far more on the ball than Esau. So Jacob meets his father and pretends he’s Esau (verse 19). Isaac thinks it’s Jacob from the sound of his voice, but is confused by his hairy hands (Esau was a hairier man than Jacob). One can only surmise to what lengths Jacob went to obtain hairy hands!

 

So Jacob obtains the blessings of Isaac. This is revealed in Chapter 27, verses 27-29. Among other things, he becomes the leader of the “peoples”, lord over his brethren, and his brother must bow down to him. When Esau brings his father his venison, Isaac is confused because he thought he just spoke with him. Esau asks his father for his blessing. Isaac does give him one, but certainly not as good as Jacob’s. In verses 39-40, we find out that he must live by the sword and must serve his brother.

 

In verse 41, Esau lets the reader know that he hates Jacob and vows to kill him once his father passes away. Of course Rebekah somehow gets wind of this and tells Jacob to watch out for Esau. She encourages him to flee to Haran where her brother Laban is living.

 

 

By David A. Epstein

May 6, 2001