Reacting to Isaac's disobedient plan to bless Esau, Jacob and Rebekah stole the blessing by deception. Esau became so angry with Jacob over his action that Jacob had to flee for his life.
Two reports of Esau's marriages (26:34-35 and 28:6-9) frame the major account (27:1-28:5) providing a prologue and epilogue. Esau's marriages are significant because Rebekah used them to persuade Isaac to send Jacob away to get a wife (27:4b) and because they were the reason Isaac did so (28:1).
The main account centers on Isaac giving the blessing.
"AIsaac and the son of the brkh/bkrh(=Esau) (27:1-5).
BRebekah sends Jacob on the stage (27:6-17).
CJacob appears before Isaac and receives blessing (27:18-29).
C'Esau appears before Isaac and receives antiblessing (27:30-40).
B'Rebekah sends Jacob from the stage (27:41-45).
A'Isaac and the son of brkh/bkrh(=Jacob!) (27:46-28:5)."654
We can identify three purposes for this brief section.
1. Moses explained and justified the reason for Jacob's later departure for Paddan-aram (27:46-28:2).
2. Moses identified the ancestors of the Edomites who later played a major role in Israel's history.
3. Moses revealed Esau's carnal character again. Esau showed no interest in the special calling of his family but sought to establish himself as a great man in the world by marrying Canaanite women. These were evidently the daughters of Canaanite lords.655The Canaanites were, of course, cursed by God (9:25-27).
"These preliminary notices [in verses 34 and 35] put into perspective the cunning deed of Jacob and Rebekah. They demonstrate that Esau was not fit to inherit the blessing."656
Here we have the third round of Jacob's battle with Esau. The first was at birth (25:21-28) and the second was over the birthright (25:29-34). In all three incidents Jacob manipulated his brother.
"This chapter [27] offers one of the most singular instances of God's overruling providence controlling the affairs of sinful men and so disposing of them that the interests of God's kingdom are safeguarded. Usually the guilt of Jacob is overemphasized, and Esau is regarded as relatively or entirely the innocent party in the transaction. This traditional view requires modification and correction."657
"This chapter portrays an entire family attempting to carry out their responsibilities by their physical senses, without faith. . . .
"All the natural senses play a conspicuous part--especially the sense of taste in which Isaac prided himself, but which gave him the wrong answer, Reliance on one's senses for spiritual discernment not only proves fallible, but often fouls up life unduly.
"Most importantly, however, the story is about deception."658
An oral blessing was as legally binding as a written will in the ancient Near East.659
"As in modern society, inheritance under Nuzi law was effected by testamentary disposition, although the tablets indicate that such a testament was often made orally. One of the tablets tells of a lawsuit between brothers concerning the possession of their late father's slave girl, Sululi-Ishtar. The youngest of three brothers, Tarmiya, was defending his elder brothers' claim to Sululi-Ishtar and the tablet sets out his testimony:
My father, Huya, was sick and lay on a couch; then my father seized my hand and spoke thus to me. "My other sons, being older, have acquired a wife; so I give herewith Sululi-Ishtar as your wife."
"In the end result the Court found in favour of Tarmiya, upholding his father's oral testamentary disposition.
"It also appears from another Nuzi tablet that even an oral testament commenced with an opening introductory statement such as: Now that I am grown old . . . .' which was the legal phraseology to indicate that what was to follow constituted a testamentary disposition. In similar manner, Isaac indicated to his elder son Esau that he wished to bestow upon him his testamentary blessing: Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death' (Genesis 27:2)."660
27:1-4 Abraham's life ended with happiness, success, and a strong character. In contrast, physical and spiritual decay marked Isaac's old age.661
"In this the infirmity of his [Isaac's] flesh is evident. At the same time, it was not merely because of his partiality for Esau, but unquestionably on account of the natural rights of the firstborn, that he wished to impart the blessing to him, just as the desire to do this before his death arose from the consciousness of his patriarchal call."662
". . . Isaac's sensuality is more powerful than his theology."663
27:5-17 It seems consistent with the character of Rebekah as presented elsewhere in Genesis to interpret her actions here as commendable. A sincere desire to make sure that Isaac's blessing went to the divinely chosen, more responsible of her sons apparently motivated her. While her motive seems to have been good, her method evidenced lack of faith in God.664She tried to pull the wool over Isaac's eyes.
"Jacob is clearly less concerned with the rightness, the morality, of his mother's suggestion than he is with what happens to him if his disguise is discovered and his impersonation revealed."665
People used the black, silk-like hair of the camel-goat of the East (v. 16) as a substitute for human hair as late as the Roman period.666
27:18-29 The response to Isaac's blessing in verse 23 is proleptic; it refers to the blessing in verses 27-29, not another blessing that preceded this one.
Isaac uttered his blessing (vv. 27-29) in poetic language and God's Spirit doubtless inspired it since it proved to be prophetic (cf. 49:1-27; Deut. 33; et al.). It was an oracle.
The writer mentioned two of the elements in the Abrahamic promises specifically here: possession of the land, and numerous posterity. He generalized the third element, the blessing of the nations, in verse 29c.
"Since the intention to give the blessing to Esau the firstborn did not spring from proper feelings toward Jehovah and His promises, the blessing itself, as the use of the word Elohiminstead of Jehovah or El Shaddai(cf. xxviii. 3) clearly shows, could not rise to the full height of the divine blessings of salvation, but referred chiefly to the relation in which the two brothers and their descendants would stand to one another, the theme with which Isaac's soul was entirely filled. It was only the painful discovery that, in blessing against his will, he had been compelled to follow the saving counsel of God, which awakened in him the consciousness of his patriarchal vocation, and gave him the spiritual power to impart the blessing of Abraham' to the son whom he had kept back, but whom Jehovah had chosen, when he was about to send him away to Haran (xxviii. 3, 4)."667
27:30-45 Isaac evidently knew that he had been resisting God's will and finally accepted defeat submissively (v. 33). Besides in that culture a paternal blessing, much more a divine oracle, such as the one Isaac had uttered, was irrevocable.668
"By showing that the blessing was irrevocable, even by the father who gave the blessing, the writer underscores an important feature of the blessing--its fulfillment is out of human hands."669
Perhaps Isaac did not withdraw the blessing he had given Jacob because he realized that God had overruled his carnal preference for Esau (vv. 39-40).
Isaac's prophecy to Esau was no true blessing. At best he introduced a disturbing element into the blessing he had given Jacob because Jacob had used deception to obtain it.
The mountains of Edom are some of the most desolate and barren of any on earth. They stand to the southeast of the Dead Sea.
The Edomites served, revolted from, and were conquered by the Israelites repeatedly during their history. Saul defeated them after they enjoyed a long period of independence (1 Sam. 14:47). Then David made them his vassals (2 Sam. 8:14). They tried to revolt under Solomon but were unsuccessful (1 Kings 9:14 ff.). The Edomites were subject to Judah until King Joram's reign when they rebelled successfully. In Amaziah's reign Judah again subjugated them (2 Kings 14:7). They finally achieved permanent freedom from Judah during Ahaz's reign (2 Kings 16:6). John Hyrcanus conquered Edom about 129 B.C., forced the Edomites to submit to circumcision, and incorporated them into the Jewish nation. Later through Antipater and Herod they established the Idumean dynasty over Judah that lasted until the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
Rebekah feared the loss of both her sons as a result of her plot (v. 45). Esau might have killed Jacob, and Esau then might have fled or the avenger of blood might have slain him (cf. 9:6).
27:46-28:5 Rebekah used her dislike for Esau's wives as an excuse to gain Isaac's permission for Jacob to go to Paddan-aram.670Evidently Rebekah had kept Esau's hatred for Jacob from his aged father because she believed Isaac was near death (v. 41). Rebekah's deceit secured the blessing for Jacob, but resulted in his having to flee from his home. Rebekah never saw him again.
". . . her broaching the subject of Jacob's marriage was a masterstroke: it played equally on Isaac's self-interest and his principles. The prospect of a third Hittite daughter-in-law and a distracted wife would have unmanned even an Abraham."671
Isaac evidently realized that his desire to give the blessing to Esau was not God's will, so having given it to Jacob (27:27-29) he blessed him further (28:1-4).672
This account is another remarkable demonstration of God's ability to use the sins of men and women to accomplish His purposes and at the same time punish the sinners for their sins.
"What man intends for evil God utilizes for good."673
Many years later the aged Jacob blessed Joseph's younger son Ephraim rather than his older brother Manasseh (48:14-19). He must have remembered how he had deceived his father Isaac to get his blessing. Joseph's approach to Jacob on that occasion was honorable by contrast, and his life was free of the consequences of deceit. This was not true of Jacob's life.
Jacob reaped what he sowed (Gal. 6:7). Laban later deceived him, and later still his own sons (in the case of the sale of Joseph) did so even more cruelly than he deceived Isaac.674
Esau sought to obtain his parents' approval by marrying one of Abraham's descendants.
However "he failed to consider that Ishmael had been separated from the house of Abraham and family of promise by the appointment of God; so that it only furnished another proof that he had no thought of the religious interests of the chosen family and was unfit to be the recipient of divine revelation."675
This great story teaches that when God's people know His will they should not resort to deceptive, manipulative schemes to attain spiritual success but must pursue God's will righteously. Every member of Isaac's family behaved in a self-centered and unprincipled manner, yet God graciously overcame their sins. This reminds us that His mercy is the ultimate ground of salvation.
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