BRAGADAYJAH 90

Strangely enough, when Isaac told Esau plainly, “your brother has taken away thy blessing,” Esau responded and said to the effect, “no wonder his name is called Jacob; for he has supplanted me, (gotten ahead of me), these two times. First he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing also.” Even so Esau clung tenaciously to the hope that all was not lost; that somehow his father could still bless him even at this late hour. So in one last ditch attempt he said, “O my father, do you not have one blessing with which you can yet bless me?” Accordingly, Isaac told him plainly. “Behold I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants, and with corn and wine have I sustained him; and what shall I do now unto thee my son?” Still Esau would not give up. “Just one blessing, my father he pleaded; and with tears in his eyes and bitterness in his heart he pleaded; “bless me also my father.” If there was even one dried up carrot in a dying fathers sack, Isaac would search for it. He was a righteous man; he had served the Lord as his father Abraham did and as much as he would like to give some quantum of solace to his son, he could not, he would not deceive him; so Isaac told his son Esau, “Your dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. And by the sword shall thou live, and shall serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shall have the dominion, that thou shall break his yoke from off thy neck.” “Very well,” vowed Esau in his pain; “I shall live by the sword; but Jacob shall also perish by my sword. I swear to it.” Even then he said to himself. “My father’s death is at hand. I will not slay my brother until this period of mourning is over; but I shall have my revenge.” As usual Rebekah was ever vigilant; her network of spies never failed her, and she was soon made aware of Esau’s threats against Jacob’s life. More