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Indeed Isaac was dying, but not yet dead. Rebekah his wife had spoken to Jacob and advised him to run away and go to her kin at Haran. Isaac also called his son Jacob and told him not to take a wife from among the Canaanites, but go to his mother’s brother Laban at Haran and there find himself a wife. These words of advice were of course heard by Esau, who out of sheer spite, because he knew that doing so would displease both his father and his mother, went and took to wife, not just one but two of the very women his father had warned Jacob against marrying. In the meantime, Jacob departed and headed towards Haran; but when night befell him, he took stones and made a pillow for his head and went to sleep. While asleep he dreamt he saw a ladder that stretched from earth to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder. And he saw God who also spoke to him and said. “I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac; all the land upon which you lie will I give to your seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shall spread across to the West and to the East and to the North and to the South; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. I am with thee and will keep thee in all places wither you go and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you until I have accomplished all I have promised to you to do for you.” More.

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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

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While back in the dwelling Esau’s title was slipping away from him, he was out there in the woods, bow in hand at the ready, and wondering why he was finding it so hard to line up a deer today. Even when at long last he thought he had one full in his sights, the animal was spooked just as he was about to release and his arrow missed the mark by a long way. Esau muttered to himself in disbelief; he had never missed before; at least not in recent memory. And today of all days he said out loud; today when everything is arranged for me to receive my inheritance and my blessing. Should he tell his father about the vow he had made to his brother concerning his birthright? “Of course not!” the voice of reason said to him; so he dismissed the thought and returned his mind to his quarry. Just then he saw him, a perfect specimen; big fat and round. This time he did not miss. Looking up he saw that the sun was no longer directly overhead. It was afternoon; so he hurried back to the tent, and as quickly as he could set about making venison for his father to eat, the way he knew he liked it. Upon entering his father’s room Esau said, “rise now and eat my venison that your soul may bless me.” And Isaac asked, “Who are you?” Esau replied, “I am your son Esau your first born.” Then Isaac revealed to him the sad truth. Jacob had already brought to him fine venison and he had eaten and had blessed him already. There is no blessing left for you son” Isaac told him. Esau wept bitterly and implored his father and asked him to bless him also nonetheless. “Is there no blessing left for me?” Esau beseeched his father; but Isaac said “No son. Your brother came in with subtlety and has taken away your blessing.” More

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The final act in Jacob’s little skit of deception was played out when he kissed his father; and smelling Esau’s scent on him Isaac said; “I smell the smell of my son. It is as the smell of the field which the Lord has blessed. Therefore, God give you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth; and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve you; and nations bow down to you; be lord over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you; cursed be everyone that curse you, and blessed be everyone that bless you.” Isaac’s blessing is explicit. It made Jacob lord and master over all, including his brethren, (sic Esau) and even over other nations. In short Isaac bestowed upon Jacob the very blessings that God had promised to Abraham his father. There is no doubt that Jacob obtained the succession to Isaac by deception. He took advantage of his father’s incapacity, to obtain the title of heir apparent by deceiving his father; and according to Israelitish law and custom it was done and could not be undone. Title to all power and property and right of succession passed irrevocably to him, and that was that. Interestingly, Jacob’s conduct if judged by modern English criminal law standards, would have afforded the classical example of goods or property obtained by larceny by a trick, as distinct from obtaining by false pretences. In the former case, having regard to Isaac’s condition, his repeated questioning of his son Jacob to ascertain it was in fact Esau, his feeling of his arms the smell of his clothes, would have resulted in a finding that there was no intention on the part of Isaac to pass title to Jacob and the entire transaction annulled. In other words, Jacob’s possession would have been treated as theft and so when the truth was revealed, the titles would have been restored to Isaac to deal with as he pleased. More

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Obediently if somewhat reluctantly, Jacob went out and did as his mother Rebekah had commanded him to do, and returned with the young goats. Rebekah well knew her husbands taste in stew so she had no difficulty making it just the way she knew he liked it. The difficulty was passing Jacob off as Esau, because she knew exactly how Isaac would react. Having finished cooking the stew, she put Esau’s clothes upon Jacob and covered his arms and his neck with the very hairy skin from the goats and gave Jacob the savory stew and the bread to take in to his father. The mother had done her part; it was then up to Jacob to play his role out to the end. ” And Isaac replied, “Here am I: who art thou, my son?” And Jacob answered and said, “I am Esau, your firstborn; I have done what you asked me to do. Come on, eat my venison that thy soul may bless me.” Isaac not to be easily fooled, notwithstanding his sightlessness, asked, “How was it possible for you to find this venison so quickly?” And Jacob replied, ”because the Lord thy God brought it to me.” Smelling a rat or not, Isaac had an idea. “Come close my son,” he said. Come let me feel you my son so that I may know whether you are my son Esau or not.” Jacob went close to his father and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice; but the hands are those of Esau.” At this stage, feeling what passed for Esau’s hairy hands, he was almost convinced; yet he asked, “Art thou my very son Esau?” And Jacob said “yes, I am.” Pausing for a moment, I have often said, it is difficult to tell a lie in isolation. That one lie needs a back up or follow-up lie and in the course of one lie several lies have to be told. This account with Jacob and his father eminently proves this hypothesis. In this one episode, before the deal was done, Jacob lied to his father no less than 4 times, and deceived him many more. For indeed it is well said, “What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” More

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Dare I say that the man Esau was a worthless fellow? Let us take another look at him. When his father Isaac was old and his eyes were dim, his father called him and told him to go kill venison and make a savory stew for him so that he may eat and bestow upon him the blessing that was traditionally the right of first born. Esau knew what his father meant, and the implications of blessing him as distinct from Jacob. But he had already sold his birthright to his brother. Did he say “father, as a matter of fact the right of first born no longer belongs to me; I sold it to Jacob.” But instead he said nothing and ran to catch his venison. Unfortunately for Esau, however, Rebekah heard the conversation and intervened to prevent her husband’s blessing being bestowed upon his first born. Rebekah told Jacob what his father had said and what his intention was; and she was not going to have any of it. So she told Jacob to go the flocks and pick out two young kids and fetch them to her quickly, so that while Esau was out hunting for venison, Rebekah would be cooking up both kiddie stew and a scheme to ensure that Isaac blessed Jacob instead. Jacob was skeptical about his mother’s scheme. He pointed out that Esau was hairy while he Jacob was smooth of skin. Therefore, he felt sure his father would see through the scheme and instead of pronouncing a blessing, put a curse on him; but Rebekah assured him that she had the matter well in hand; “so do as I say, she ordered.”

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Upon receiving Abimelech’s request, Isaac decided to throw them a feast at which there were much eating and drinking; and the next morning he had reached a decision according to Abimelech’s proposal; and they both swore to set up and maintain a pact of peace between them, more particularly that Isaac would not use his wealth, his power and his security with God, to do harm to Abimelech and his people. As if God was well pleased with his pact of non-aggression, Isaac’s servants announced to him that the well they had lately dug was full of water; and Isaac named it Shebah, hence the city at that place became known as Beersheba. Sometimes we wonder why God causes or allows certain things to happen; we often puzzle over things like God’s attitude to Jacob as against Esau, for example. Why the Lord said that Jacob was to have the pre-eminence over Esau; why God allowed him to sell his birthright, and at so cheap a price. Later on we will be surprised again when we hear God talking about Esau and Jacob and wonder why. But here is something that may shed good light on our own enquiring minds. It is something else that Esau did that grieved both Isaac and Rebekah and we may be sure, God also. For when he was about forty years old, Esau married not on, but two foreign women daughters of Hittites, unions which grieved Isaac and Rebekah greatly. More.