Jacob and Rebekah fool Isaac, and Esau looses blessing
Isaac is old now, and can no longer see. He tells Esau to hunt and prepare a meal so that he can bless him before he dies.
Rebekah overhears this, and prepares food while Esau is away so that Jacob can bring this to Isaac, and pretend to be Esau and get his blessing. Esau was very hairy, so Rebekah placed goatskins on his neck and hands, and Jacob brought the food to his father Isaac. The trick worked, and Isaac ate the food and blessed Jacob, thinking he was Esau.
Esau later brought food to Isaac, and Isaac was horrified when he realized he had been fooled. Esau protests, saying Jacob has now taken advantage of him twice, first taking his birthright, and now taking his blessing. Isaac basically says there is nothing he can do, the blessing has already been given, and he tells Esau:
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.”
After this, Rebekah learned of Esau’s intention to kill Jacob, and sent Jacob away to her brother Laban to hide.
The worked, really? What is this blessing thing, anyway?
This story is weird, right? Isaac falls for this trick and actually thinks that dead goatskin feels the same as his son, and despite hearing Jacob’s voice, believes it is Esau? And after finding out the truth, the blessing still stuck on Jacob? What does that even mean? Isaac had magical words that could only be spoken once, and it didn’t matter who he was speaking to, it only mattered who was in the room listening?
More prejudice and tribalism
The chapter concludes with Rebekah’s complaint to Isaac:
“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.”
As mentioned in the last couple of chapters, I have a hard time with these types of comments against entire groups of people. Isn’t the Bible promoting prejudice and hate?