Isaac Blesses Jacob (v. 1-46)
Isaac was old and blind and thought he might die soon. He called his favorite son Esau to him because he wanted to bless him before he dies. But first, he requested that Esau go hunt for him, and prepare a meal for him with the meat.
So Isaac wants to bless his favorite son, but first requests something from him. This seems reasonable. Esau wants to please his father, so why not. This seems relatively unimportant up to this point, but what exactly is this blessing? As we will see, it is not simply symbolic, it is something more, although I'm not exactly sure what.
Rebekah heard this whole thing, so when Esau went out to hunt she told Jacob what happened and asked him to go get 2 goats from their flock so she could make some food for Jacob to give to Isaac and trick him into giving him Esau's blessing.
What exactly is this blessing that it can be stolen like this? It doesn't seem like it can be from God, as surely God could see the deception involved.
Also I would point out that Rebekah doesn't seem to be a very good wife here, but given what happened in the reading from last time, I can hardly blame her.
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| Painting from here |
I like that Jacob is thinking here, and not just blindly following. But now we have added a curse into the mix here along with the blessing. Suppose he gets cursed, how does that work? Is it in Rebekah's power to transfer it to her? What is going on here?
He brought Rebekah the animals and she prepared the food, she also gave Jacob Esau's clothes to wear and put goat skin on Jacob's hands and neck so he would appear hairy like his brother.
I absolutely love this, Esau's hands apparently are like a goat.
Jacob went to Isaac, who seemed suspicious. He asked how he came back so far, Isaac said the lord blessed his hunt. Isaac felt his hand and smelled his clothes. The voice threw him off for a second, but no matter, time to do a blessing.
You would think the voice would be more important than any of the rest of it. Especially since Isaac was obviously suspicious. Why did he go through with the blessing?
After being blessed Jacob left and Esau came in shortly thereafter. Esau offers the food and asks for the blessing, and Isaac trembled as he realized what had happened. Esau cried out, he was angry at Jacob because he has cheated him twice now, first out of his birthright, now out of his blessing.
Hold on there buddy, you lost your birthright out of sheer stupidity.
Esau then asks his father if he has any blessing left for him. Isaac says that Esau will have to serve his brother until he grows restless and then he will "break his yoke form your neck"
So apparently these blessings are a commodity of some sort. Isaac couldn't simply give him the same blessing he gave his brother. He also apparently can't take Jacob's blessing back? This whole thing is confusing.
Esau vows to kill Jacob as soon as his father dies, Rebekah hears this and tells Jacob to flee to her homeland. At some point Esau's anger will die down and Rebekah will send for him. It's for the best anyway, Rebekah hates the Hittite women that Esau has married, if Jacob also marries Hittites she will hate her life. This way Jacob will be likely to marry someone from her land.
Wait a minute! Was this whole ridiculous scheme of Rebekah's so that Jacob won't wind up with a Hittite wife? Look back at the story, the whole situation was her doing. This is the second chapter in a row that is totally motivated by racism.
For the verses of note post:
--Family--
Genesis 27 Rebekah manipulates her whole family in this chapter
--Lies--
Genesis 27:19 Jacob lies to his father multiple times in this chapter (this is an example)
"Jacob said to his father, 'I am Esau your firstborn...'"
--Prejudice--
Genesis 27:46 Rebekah is racist
"Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women.If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?""
So Rebekah cheated one son out of a blessing so that her favorite son could receive it. Parental favoritism, anyone?
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is definitely screwed up. Although the more I think about it, the more I think the last verse really tells the whole story. After Esau learned what Jacob had done he was upset and Rebekah sent Jacob away so he could escape Esau's wrath. This of course has the benefit of him getting a proper wife.
DeleteBut Esau was surely going to figure out that Jacob had done this at some point. It's not like there was a possibility that Jacob would get away scot-free and Esau would be none the wiser. No, Esau had to find out at some point and he was obviously going to be pissed, giving Rebekah the excuse to sent away Jacob so he would get a wife she finds acceptable. Rebekah masterminded this whole thing. She not only screwed Esau out of the blessing, she manipulated her favorite son.
What a bitch!
The story of the prophets in the Quran is for Mahamati Prannath.
ReplyDeletehttp://sanandhonline.blogspot.com/2014/01/alif-lam-mim-unlocked-and-the-stories-of-Quran.html
औलाद याकूब कहया इसहाक , इनों का कबीला है पाक |
"Jacob (or Imam Mahdi Mahamati Prannath) was the (godly) son of Issac (or Devchandra Mehta) whose tribe of followers has been said holy."
Esau, being the first born, by birthright should have been heir to Isaac's "House". However, starting in Genesis 23:30, we find Esau starving to death, and his 'loving' brother Jacob has cooked stew, but when Esau asks for some, Jacob says, "First, sell me your birthright." (Gen. 25:31). In other words, "I will let you live if you renounce your inheritance. Otherwise, I will let you die." Immoral and cold.
ReplyDeleteWhat is very telling for me about Esau is that he was "red" and "hairy"; it seems that throughout this episode, great pains were taken to make him seem cursed, gross - subhuman even. Esau married a local girl, unlike the rest of the Abra-Clan, who married only Iraqis (would be today),sisters,first cousins,etc.,making them 1.inbred and 2. not a Hebrew bloodline but an Iraqi one. The fact that Rebekeh and Jacob don't like Esau's wife means nothing less than that they were bigots. Anyways, Isaac says to Esau from his deathbed, "take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt GAME for me;" But Rebekah grabs Jacob and says, "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."
So - who have you ever met that wouldn't know goat's meat from venison? Get real...... But, Jacob goes in to Isaac with his brother's clothes on, and a hairy covering, and said, "My father." "Yes, my son," [Isaac] answered. "Who is it?". Jacob: "I am Esau your firstborn. So, Jacob connives to get Isaac's blessing and inheritence which is by all rights due, and meant, for Esau, by deceit and lying. (IMHO, Isaac 'blessed' Esau, it's just that Esau was out of the room. So what?!) Knowing what is morally correct and what isn't - and not from a book - I would submit that Jacob is a prick. His mother's a bigot. Nice family.
Isaac says, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." Well, duhhh... And,which thing would be near' impossible to fake? The voice! Come'on, Isaac; try to keep up. Remember, Isaac sent Esau out to bring him some venison and then get his 'blessing'. But Isaac FIRST blesses Jacob (actually, Esau), and THEN asks, "Are you really my son Esau?". "I am," [Jacob] replied. But [Isaac] said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing."
And Isaac basically says, "Oops, my bad, too late to fix" when Esau laments the situation. And then banishes the severely wronged son (Esau) to Nowhereland,and says his life will suck. Make sense to you? Not to me!
In the REAL world, Jacob would've gotten 500 smacks on the butt, and there was nothing Isaac couldn't fix with a word. But this isn't - wasn't - the real world.
It is a carefully constructed story, written down probably as much as < 2 millenia after the fact. If the Pentateuch, Tanakh, or any other "book" calls itself the "word of God", don't you think that God would have kept and protected at least one perfect copy,or could generate at will a million brand spanking new copies? Why leave the idiot bunch - Man - to fight over what has been cobbled together from hearsay, with no originals except the shreds,shards and sheets that comprise the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Now, one can set some of the events of Abraham, perhaps, and Joseph, definitely, within the timeline of the Hyksos Kingdom in Egypt. But the natives ejected the Hyksos, and the "Hebrews" (now Egyptians for 400+ years), probably strove to drive them out of Canaan, the land that they love, that was filled with people they hate. Both things, for no good reason.