As many of us know all too well, having
a sibling isn’t always fun and games. Siblings for the most part end up fighting at
some point, whether this be over disagreements in the household, a need to establish dominance or
simply a clash of personalities. Sibling rivalries are certainly not uncommon and in some cases may
actually be beneficial in terms of cultivating growth, resiliency and perhaps in the long term,
a greater bond between the two children. But the relationships between siblings so far in the
bible have proven to be adversarial at best, and whether you consider Cain killing Abel or the
animosities between Isaac and Ishmael, brothers generally prove to be at odds with each other.
So it comes as no surprise really that the sons of Isaac, Esau and Jacob would come to experience
more of the same - especially considering their last encounter in Genesis 25 where Jacob, the
younger brother, pressures Esau into selling him his birthright by bribing him with food.
We’ve understood already from Genesis 25 that Esau and Jacob were both very different men, with
Esau preferring to go out into the wild to hunt and Jacob preferring to stay at home in the tents.
Both parents recognised such a stark difference between the two that they even preferred one
over the other respectively, with Isaac favouring Esau and Rebekah favouring Jacob. In fact, we
can interpret the difference between the two by simply looking at their characteristics, with
Esau being adventurous and outgoing (if not, a little simple) and Jacob being introvert
and hermit-like (if not, a little scheming). The end of Genesis 26 identifies the simplicity of
Esau in his fondness of flesh as we are told that he went ahead and married two wives in Judith and
Elon, both of whom were Hittite women. The simple notion of greed is established here with Esau
taking two wives and essentially demonstrating adultery and fornication, but it also shows us
that he had no regard for Abraham’s views on marriage, in that he did not wish for his
descendants to marry the women of Canaan. Whether or not Isaac enforced this
rule upon his sons is unclear, but it is clear that both he and Rebekah were
against his marriages, for the bible tells us that both women were a source of grief for them. Jacob
on the other hand remains suspiciously absent in this passage and we do not receive any mention of
any women in his life at this point - perhaps an indication of how much time he spent alone
in the tents with only his own company. Chapter 27 of Genesis opens up by telling us that Isaac had grown so old that his eyes
had become weak and he could no longer see. Like Abarahm before him, he had lived a good
and long life under the protection of his God, but not even he could not be saved from the
gradual decline of his body, and so he yielded to his fate and sought to put his affairs in
order, knowing that his death was on the horizon. With this, he summoned his oldest son Esau to
his tent and told him, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then,
get your equipment - your quiver and bow - and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game
for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give
you my blessing before I die.” (Genesis 27:2-4) Here, we see Isaac wish to eat one last
meal prepared by his favourite son. It becomes obvious here that Isaac thinks
quite highly of Esau, despite his supposed fornication with the Canaanite women, and that he
treasures the fact that Esau, unlike his brother, was a successful hunter. He indulges himself
in his son’s hobby and talent and glorifies him and him alone. Despite having lost the
birthright to his younger brother Jacob, Isaac still appears to honour Esau and rejects
the notion that Jacob was at all more worthy. In fact, he even rejects the testament by God to
Rebekah that the older will serve the younger and ignores any of the spiritual wisdom that he would
have otherwise heeded. Such was the love that Isaac held for Esau, that he turned a blind eye
to both his son's flaws in marrying pagan women and the words of God who had witnessed Esau
despise his birthright when selling it to Jacob. Whilst this was happening inside the tent, we are
told that Rebekah was listening and that when Esau left the tent to go and hunt for his father’s
meal, Rebekah ran and told Jacob of what she had learned. Of course, we do not know whether Rebekah
was actively spying on her husband and son, or whether she just happened
to overhear their conversation, but there is most definitely a sense here
that there was a lack of trust within Isaac’s household. Furthermore, we see Rebekah
hang around long enough for Esau to leave, implying that whether or not she came upon
the conversation by chance, she did eavesdrop for the duration of what was meant to be a
private conversation between Isaac and Esau. The bible tells us, “Rebekah said to her son
Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring some game
and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence
of the Lord before I die.’” (Genesis 27:5-7) It was bad enough that Rebekah had
eavesdropped on the conversation at all, but now she goes a step further and passes that
information onto Jacob. Though, she does not do this out of simple gossip - that would've perhaps
been more forgivable, but instead goes yet another step further and produces a plan to sabotage
Esau’s receiving of the blessing. She tells Jacob, “Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell
you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for
your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you
his blessing before he dies.” (Genesis 27:8-10) Here, we see how Rebekah comes to mirror
the deceitfulness and impatience of Sarah whereby they engineer their own schemes in
order to hasten God’s plan. We saw Sarah do this when she encourages Abraham to sleep
with Hagar so that she can have a son and thus, actualise the Covenant. In this case of Rebekah,
we see her plot to actualise God’s words that the older would serve the younger, or that Esau would
serve Jacob. Neither of these women show that they trust God here, hence why they take it upon
themselves to exact the reality they want - even if this means acting mendaciously. Furthermore,
it is no secret that Rebekah loved Jacob more, and so it can be said that she acts from a place
of selfishness in order to get what she wants. So deceptive is Rebekah’s plan that she shows
to have considered every angle. She tells Jacob that she will make the food that his father
loves and because she knows him so well, she knows exactly how to prepare the meal he
expects from Esau. With this, Rebekah accepts full responsibility for the plan and does not allow
Jacob to dirty his hands with the preparation of the scheme. Interestingly, it should also be noted
that despite praising Esau’s hunting and skills and glorifying his cooking, Isaac proves to
not actually be able to tell the difference between his son’s cooking and his wife’s,
suggesting that in actuality, he didn’t think that much of Esau’s ability at all, but
that his love for him blinded him into thinking he was greater than he actually was. Still,
one might argue that Esau in this endeavour was still greater than Jacob, for Jacob shows
a lack of any virtue nor even initiative given that he does nothing here except bring
the food to Isaac and pretend to be Esau. Yet again, we are privy to a more spineless side
of Jacob who amongst sitting at home in the tents, can’t even execute the plan without his
mother’s intervention. This is quite confounding given that we don’t see him miss a beat when
it comes to obtaining the birthright from Esau. In that instance, he appeared to be
quick-witted and somewhat conniving, but here he appears lost, witless
and if anything, quite cowardly. We see him panic over even the slightest
details of the plan, telling his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I
have smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would
bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.” (Genesis 27:11-12) With this, we also
see how willing he is to go along with the plan, for his misgivings are not reserved for the fact
that this is immoral or unrighteous, but instead for how he might be caught. He appears to show
little regard for taking advantage of his father and instead seems only concerned with how he
will be exposed if his father touches him. To placate his worries and to reassure
him that he will not be in any trouble, Rebekah even promises to take the blame,
telling him “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.”
(Genesis 27:13). What’s interesting here is that Rebekah is willing to bear the brunt of
the repercussions should anything go wrong and this could be a demonstration of her love
for Jacob, for such deception would surely alienate her husband at such a crucial point
in both her life and his own. Furthermore, she is willing to face the potential curse from
God on behalf of Jacob, which again shows us how far she is willing to go for her son and what she
is willing to risk in order to ensure his success. Yet, some might point out Rebekah’s arrogance
here, that she assumes responsibility for the sin by nominating herself and thus, taking
it out of the hands of God again. With this superseding of her God’s authority,
it’s quite easy to unpick the hubris in Rebekah’s character, which serves to show believers that
even those who were once righteous and noble, can also stray into doing dishonest
things if they are not careful. So once Rebekah has assured Jacob enough, he goes
out and fetches the items that she had requested. She prepared the meal for Isaac - supposedly,
in the exact way he liked it and then proceeded to dress Jacob in Esau’s clothes. In
order to replicate the hairiness of Esau, she covered Jacobs hands and neck with goatskin
so that of course if Isaac touched him, he would not be alerted that he was indeed conversing
with the wrong son. As we can see, this whole episode was orchestrated by Rebekah and whilst
Jacob is indeed guilty for having carried out, it is uncertain whether or not he would have
had the sense nor the gall to attempt it alone. Jacob went to his father once the food
had been prepared and with his disguise, he entered Isaac’s tent and announced
himself as Esau. He tells his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told
me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” (Genesis 27:19)
But Isaac, despite being weary and old, did have some of his wits left as he queries,
“How did you find it so quickly, my son?” Shrewdly, and perhaps a sign of his
more cunning ways, Jacob replied, “The Lord your God gave me success.”
But still, Isaac is not convinced and we can see here that he definitely
suspected something was amiss. He asks his son, “Come near so I can touch you,
my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.” One might say that it was on the
account that Esau and Jacob sounded nothing alike that kind gave the game away, and that even
in his decrepit state, it was Isaac’s eyes that had failed him, but not his ears. This is
confirmed when Jacob approaches Isaac and upon being touched, is told “The voice is the voice
of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” With this, Isaac becomes convinced that this
is Esau given that his hands were hairy. The bible tells us, “He did not recognise him, for his
hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him.” (Genesis 27:23-24)
Yet even after this, Isaac still feels like something is amiss as he asks yet
again, “Are you really my son Esau?” However, we see Jacob is fully committed to the
lie and without hesitation, responds with “I am.” He proceeds to bring the food to Isaac that had
been prepared by Rebekah and the bible tells us he also supplemented this with wine, which Isaac
drank. Afterwards, Isaac - still in doubt as to whether this was Esau or not, asks him to come
close and kiss him. It is believed that Isaac, who could not trust his eyes, came to doubt his
ears as well. He had even felt his son’s hands and was still not convinced. In fact, one might
argue that having tasted the food, he was able to derive some difference between Esau’s and
Rebekah’s. So, with his last remaining sense, he uses his nose when Jacob comes to kiss him and
breathes in deep to catch a whiff of his clothes. It might be said that Isaac showed both gumption
and caution in using all of his senses and that perhaps, this was an indication of how little he
trusted his own family and those around him. But Rebekah’s ruse proves to be too well thought out
for Isaac, for after smelling the clothes of Esau, he becomes certain that this can be no other man.
“Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.” (Genesis 27:27)
He announces, before proceeding to give Jacob exactly that which he wanted.
“May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness - an abundance of grain and
new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and
may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those
who bless you be blessed.” (Genesis 27:28-29) So here we see the controversial, yet irrefutable
event of Jacob inheriting the blessings of Isaac - those that would recognise him as the
spiritual head of the family. As we can see, Jacob is promised the riches of the earth, the
abundance of crops and the prospects of new wine. Other nations will bow before him and he will be
the lord over his brothers - even Esau. As if he didn’t need anymore protection, he is made a boon
that anyone who curses him will be cursed, thus safeguarding him from the rebuttals of his brother
and conversely, any who bless him will be blessed. The bible then tells us that as soon as
Jacob had finished getting the blessing and had left the tent, Esau returned home. He
too had prepared the food as had been requested and set it before Isaac to eat. He says to him,
“My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”
Confused, Isaac asks him, “Who are you?” “I am your son,” he answered,
“your firstborn, Esau.” The bible tells us, “Isaac trembled violently
and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before
you came and I blessed him - and indeed he will be blessed!” (Genesis 27:33)
We under the assumption here that Isaac was so mortified over this, that he shook
violently and was so overcome with emotion, that he began to convulse. He knows that
the blessing is irrefutable and that it cannot be undone and so, he can do very little
except voice the hopelessness of the situation. In fact, one might say that even if he could
renounce the blessing and give it back to Esau, he would not have - for Isaac may have seen this
as God’s will, and despite his favoritism to Esau, realised that when God had told Rebekah
that the older son would serve the younger, he was being serious.
Esau does not hide his disappointment and he bursts out with a loud and bitter cry
and said, “Bless me - me too, my father!” With this, Isaac confirms “Your brother came
deceitfully and took your blessing.” Showing us that he did indeed understand exactly
what had transpired and despite his old age, was well aware now that Jacob
had disguised himself as Esau. But Esau is relentless and demands, “Isn’t
he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my
birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Here we see that both father and son
are horrified over what Jacob has done - to the point that Esau reflects on the
previous time that Jacob had manipulated him. Many would sympathise with Esau given that he
does in fact come across as the victim in both scenarios. What Isaac had meant for Esau as
the oldest son was pounced upon by Jacob the younger and what’s more, Jacob had acquired
both birthright and blessing through rather questionable means. However, there are those that
believe Jacob was justified in these approaches and there is an argument that because God had
predicted that the older brother would serve the younger, Jacob was merely facilitating his
words, albeit rather sneakily. Another proposal is that Esau did not see the birthright or the
blessings as anything other than materialistic and political advantages, whereas Jacob understood
their more spiritual and ancestral importance. In a sense, this argument sees Jacob as being
more worthy of receiving the blessings from Isaac and that because he was more
spiritual in that sense than Esau was, he was justified in his acquisition.
But in any case, Esau continues to express his frustrations as he turns to his father and asks
him, “Haven’t you reserved any blessings for me?” To which Isaac answers, “I have made him lord over
you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new
wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?” Isaac acknowledges that there is nothing he can
do now that he has already given the blessing to Jacob and perhaps it might be said that he
may have finally surrendered to God’s will, instead of trying his best to make
Esau the inheritor of the blessing. There is a dejected tone to Isaac here
who shares in his son’s disappointment and it seems that the rhetorical question here,
‘So what can I possibly do for you, my son’ is an admittance of his own shame for having
been duped by Jacob, as well as an admittance of how incorrigible the situation has now become.
Esau resorts to begging his father for even the slightest of blessings and is seen
to even weep over what has transpired. But Isaac is adamant that this is not possible now
and reveals the grim reality to Esau, telling him, “Your dwelling will be away
from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will
live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you
will throw his yoke from off your neck.” Here, we learn that Esau will live away
from the earth’s richness - or that, he and his people will be nomads and will
surely not be those of any considerable wealth. He tells him that they will be away from
the dew of heaven above, implying that they will be a godless people and will not incur the
protection, nor guidance, of the Lord. He is told that he will live by the sword; yet again another
implication that Esau would live a hard life, one of turmoil and battle. He is also told
that he will serve his brother, but that he will grow restless under these circumstances and
would in essence, break free of such servitude. With this mini prophecy decided for Esau, it
should come as no surprise that Esau would hate Jacob thereafter. The bible tells us, “Esau held
a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself,
“The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” (Genesis
27:41) We see here that Jacob’s actions drove a wedge between them and it was this that
would fester such intense and negative feelings from one brother towards the other; to the
extent that one was eager to kill the other. Echoes of Cain and Abel are seen here between
Esau and Jacob and the theme of brother killing brother becomes foreshadowed once more - perhaps,
in a more explicit way than with Cain and Abel. With Cain, his motivations to kill Abel were
mostly to do with envy and one might argue that killing Abel was much
less a premeditated attack. But in this instance, Esau specifies
that he wants to kill his brother and even provides a timeframe for which to do
it; that being, once his father has passed away. It might also be said that this was Esau’s way
of dealing with Isaac’s death and in some way, it could be rationalised that Esau was killing Jacob
to avenge the shame he had brought upon Isaac for having tricked him. But it’s probable that
Esau was thinking more from a selfish and angry side for having lost both the birthright and the
blessing, and less for the honour of his father. The concept of revenge was comforting to Esau
given that it gave him relief from both feelings of inadequacy when compared to Jacob’s cunning
and relief from the embarrassment of having to serve him at all - him, the younger brother.
Rebekah soon learns of what Esau intends to do and with this information, she warns her
favourite son Jacob. “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. Now
then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. Stay with him for
a while until your brother’s fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you
and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I
lose both of you in one day?” (Genesis 27:42-45) Yet again, we see Rebekah stepping in to provide
for her son - only this time, it is with more evasive action. She cannot bring herself to plot
against Esau in a way that would threaten his life and so, the only other option is to flee. ‘Why
should I lose both of you in one day?’ she expresses, perhaps suggesting that she could have
inspired conflict, but then if Esau won the fight and killed Jacob (which would most likely have
been the case given his skill as a hunter) then she would lose them both, on the account that she
had already lost Esau courtesy of her scheming. Instead, sending Jacob away for a few days seemed
like the more favourable outcome and with this, she had hoped it would be enough time for Esau to
calm down and forget about his grudge. Of course, we understand that these ‘few days’ actually
turn out to be more than twenty years. Rebekah convinces Isaac to send Jacob away under
the guise that she is disgusted by the Hittite women around them. She declares, “I’m disgusted
with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women
of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.” Yet again,
she is seen here to manipulate the weary Isaac, only this time, it is so that he will send Jacob
away to find a wife, and thus out of the reach of the vengeful Esau. It is unknown whether Rebekah
really did hate the Hittite women or whether she was just using this argument to convince Isaac to
send Jacob away. You’ll notice that she declares that if Jacob marries one of them,
her life will not be worth living, and it could be said that she was indirectly
threatening Isaac to send Jacob away, otherwise she would be depressed and in a
most extreme case, would take her own life. Unwilling to see his wife so unhappy, Isaac
summons Jacob immediately and agrees to send him away to his mother’s land in Padan Aram,
where he instructs him to stay with Bethuel, his mother’s father. He further instructs him to
marry one of the daughter’s Laban - his mother’s brother and to start a family of his own. The
scheming of Rebekah is often underestimated, if not, understated. She not only plays Esau by
worming him out of the blessing, but also plays Jacob into acquiring that which she wants for him.
Indeed, you might say that Jacob allows himself to be played in this fashion because it is exactly
what he wants too, but none of this would have come to light had it not been for Rebakah’s
plotting. We see her most of all play her own husband Isaac by taking advantage of not only
his declining health, but also his good nature as she manipulates him into sending Jacob away.
In any case, everything Rebekah had intended went according to plan and we see Isaac not only
send Jacob away, but also reiterate the blessing, telling him in Genesis 28 “May God Almighty
bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.
May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession
of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.” (Genesis 28:3-4)
Now, when Esau learns that Jacob has been sent away, we do not get an explanation as
to exactly how he felt, though it can be assumed that he was even more enraged that
he had been denied his opportunity for revenge. Along with this, he became aware that Jacob
had been advised not to marry a Canaanite woman - something which as we’ve discussed was
passed down from Abraham, who wanted to keep their lineage within their own community, for
these were trusted to be God fearing people. The Cannanites on the other hand, according to
Abraham, would lead men astray and they would weigh their husbands down until eventually,
they too began to pray to their gods, instead of the Lord. But Esau, who had already
taken Canaanite wives became aware in that moment of how they displeased his father and so,
perhaps in an effort to curry even more favour, (and perhaps to avoid being outshone even
more by Jacob), he went to Abraham’s banished brother Ishmael and married his daughter
Mahalath, adding to his retinue of wives. In what could be described as a family break
up, we see from this story that whilst Jacob did obtain the blessings and Rebekah’s
scheme was successful, no one actually won. Isaac, Rebakah, Esau and Jacob prove not to be
such a noble family, given that in some capacity they scheme not only against each other, but also
against God. They reject the words and wisdom of God in favour of their own wants and desires
and even though God spells out quite clearly what is going to happen, the characters
still try to employ their own tactics. With this, believers might derive the lesson
that despite our own schemes and plots, regardless of how smart or well-thought out they
are, God’s will is God’s will and no amount of planning or strategy can alter his mission.
The breaking down of Isaac and Rebekah’s family becomes something of a tragedy given that by
the end of it, none of them actually trust each other - and with good reason too. Perhaps even
worse, none of them appear to trust their God which is what sees them working against each
other in the first place. Perhaps even ironically, the blessing which they each work so hard to
obtain had already been decided by God and so, it didn’t matter in the end whether or not
Isaac had blessed Esau with it, or not - for it had already been decided by God that it would be
given to Jacob, for better or worse. In essence, only God had the ability to give the blessing
and whilst it was Isaac who facilitated this, in the end, it was virtually out of his hands.
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