The Disturbing Deception of Rebecca and Jacob

Please find below some of the thoughts of Jewish teachers on this incident in the story of Isaac and Rebecca and their twin sons, Esau and Jacob.

In our reading this next Tuesday we will see how the story of Jacob and Esau further unfolds. Note the locations and the names, as well as Jacob's commitment to God to
be fully committed to Him and to show this by setting aside to God the tithe. What do you supposes prompted this kind of a decision by Jacob?

Look forward to seeing you all this Tuesday morning~


The rabbinic commentators are also disturbed by what reads like outright lying and deception on the part of our patriarch, Jacob. This, despite their keen awareness that the ends would have to take precedence over the means. Jacob's thinly disguised ruse works on his elderly father, and Isaac delivers the blessing to Jacob. Taking stock of the contents of the blessing, we see: agricultural plenty, predominance over other nations, and that those who curse him will be cursed while those who bless him will be blessed. No sooner does Jacob leave his father's presence than Esau arrives anticipating the best. Esau's shock and pain at his betrayal is eloquently portrayed. He expresses his outrage at his brother for taking away his blessing, and weeping, begs his father to bless him as well. Isaac comes up with a blessing for Esau, which they know is only a second rate one. It's contents: agricultural plenty, a warrior's life characterized mainly by service to his brother, however including times when he will break loose from his brother's dominion to take supremacy. Esau is furious and cherishes hopes of murdering him. However he would not think of doing so when his father is still alive (27:41). This glimpse into the filial piety of Esau illuminates the one virtue which the rabbis wholeheartedly ascribe to him. (Other than this, he is villianized in rabbinic literature, as well as in the Bible.) Despite all his weaknesses, Esau adored and respected his father. He honored him with special foods, and would not disturb his father's last days with vengeful action. Contrast this with the behavior of Jacob's sons who watched their father grieve for Joseph for years and years and never sought to relieve his suffering by telling the truth (see Lecture 10).

Rebecca hears of Esau's murderous plans and confides in Jacob, about them. She proposes to send Jacob away to prevent the horrible specter of losing him to fratricide and Esau to murder. On this occasion, she does approach her husband, Isaac, about her plan to send Jacob away, but with a MANUFACTURED REASON! She says that she does not want to see Jacob marry a Canaanite woman, and cause all the aggravation that Esau did with his wives (see Lecture 2 on Courtship). Although what she says is no doubt true, this is hardly her true rationale for dispatching Jacob!

Isaac agrees with Rebecca. "He sent for Jacob, and blessed him" (28:1). Isaac adjures Jacob to go back to his mother's family in Paddan-aram to seek his bride. Just before Jacob leaves his father's presence for the last time, Isaac bestows a blessing. Please note the contents of the blessing. "May El Shaddai bless you, make you fertile and numerous, so that you become a community of peoples. May He grant you the blessing of Abraham, you and your offspring; that you may possess the land in which you are sojourning, which God gave to Abraham" (28:3-4).

Does this sound familiar? What you may have realized by now is that NEITHER Jacob nor Esau ever received the Abrahamic blessing from their father on that fateful day of disguises and disappointment! The two key elements in the special blessing bestowed upon Abraham and then upon Isaac by God were: (a) you shall become a great and numerous nation; and (b) you and your descendants shall inherit the Land of your sojournings. Jacob and Esau had been previously blessed with economic prosperity, and opportunities to dominate one another. Only as Jacob is being sent away is the Abrahamic (i.e. the People of Israel's national destiny) blessing passed along to the third patriarch. Aviva Zornberg in *Genesis: The Beginning of Desire* points out that the intentionality of Isaac in SENDING for Jacob adds confirmation to the whole process. At first Jacob received a more vague blessing, somewhat tainted by the procedures. As he prepares to leave home, his father finally blesses him with the REAL blessing in a way that is direct and unquestionable.

* * * * *

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER THOUGHT

1. Since Isaac's eyes were blind, which of his five senses did he use in "confirming" "Esau's" identity?

2. How would you explain the fact that Isaac withheld the Abrahamic blessing from Jacob, when Jacob was posing as Esau?

December 14, 2006

The Moscow Men's Bible Study group will take a holiday break from now until January 16, 2007 as most of our members will be out of town on holiday. But don't put down your Bible! This is a great time of year to revisit the scripture describing the story of our Lord's birth and the light he brought into the world. Share it with your family and friends. You never know, it may stick after the holidays are over!

Your brother in Christ, Quo Vadis

Here is a link that would be very useful for your review in this study of Genesis

http://www.path-light.com/Genesistoc.htm

Genesis 1-11  Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Genesis

study guide | leader's notes

2. The Creation of the World (Genesis 1:1-2)

study guide | leader's notes

3. The Six Days of Creation (Genesis 1:3-2:3)

study guide | leader's notes

4. The Creation of Man (Genesis 2)

study guide | leader's notes

5. Angels, Satan and Demons (selected scriptures)

study guide | leader's notes

6. The Fall of Man (Genesis 3)

study guide | leader's notes

7. The Lost World (Genesis 4-5)

study guide | leader's notes

8. The Days of Noah (Genesis 6)

study guide | leader's notes

9. The Great Flood (Genesis 7-8)

study guide | leader's notes

10. The New World (Genesis 9)

study guide | leader's notes

11. God and the Nations (Genesis 10-11)

study guide | leader's notes


 

December 4, 2006

BTW,

Last night I watched a very difficult movie called "Dogville" starring Nicole Kidman. It was directed by a Danish director and is a challenging morality play. After watching it my mind was on overload trying to figure out its meaning and most of my initial thoughts were political. However, I read an excellent article that views it from a biblical perspective and I am convinced that this is what the author had in mind. This is a tough movie to watch, but it's very though provolking. I recommend it highly and would very much enjoy discussing with any or all of you. I'll bring my copy to breakfast tomorrow in case you want to check it out.

December 4, 2006

Gentlemen, alas my most recent post didnt' post and a general lack of attention to the blog has meant that it's woefully out of date. Since my last post almost a month ago, we have finished 2 Corinthians and have moved on to Genesis. We only got trough the first two chapters, but this is really one of the very best books in the Bible. This is where it all starts, both literally and figuratively. Unfortuantely, much of the discussion around Geneisis gets bogged down on issues of creationism vs darwinism or cosmology and we didn't escape that in our first reading last week. I hope we can stay focussed on the true message, which IMHO, which is twofold: all things were and are created by God; and God truly wants to have a close and loving relationship with man (us) and that's why he gave us free will.

I will try to figure out how to set up this blog so that you all can log in and post to it. I appreciate that this conversation is a tad one-sided.

Yours in Christ,
Quo Vadis

October 31, 2006

We had an excellent discussion of 2 Corinthians 5-6 and will pick up with 2 Corinthians 7 next Tuesday.

There was lots of dicusssion about how difficult Paul's writings can be because they force us to think about how to apply Christ's teachings in our daily lives and in our community - our Christian community and the larger world around us. Additionally, Paul was suffering mightily for his faith and he needed to remind himself and a skeptical public a Corinth that they were playing a bigger game and that the kingdom of heaven awaited them. It's often easy for us to forget how important this was to Paul as we live in the relative comfort of the modern world; we think that life is pretty good - difficult at times, but good - while Paul was experiencing arrest, beatings, skeptical Christians, internecine strife in the community, etc. etc.

Here on earth, in this life, we have to contend with the duality of lightness and darkness living side by side. In the Kingdom of God we will live in a place where lightness reigns and darkness does not exist. This is the promise of our life in the hereafter with our Lord Jesus Christ.

I welcome comments on these points.

October 16, 2006

It was a cold morning today, but we had a very warm discussion about the importance of the resurection in our faith as we finished 1 Corinthians. In our faith we pay a lot of attention to Christ's sacrefice on the cross (rightly so!) and the forgiveness that it offers, but we often fail to give our attention to the glory of the resurrection that follows. The crucifiction was the death of sin, but the resurrection shows us that there is life after death, both in the literal sense and in the sense of the death of sin. The scripture shows us that there is a rich life to be had right now by accepting the gift of forgiveness and that this gift is the gift of life in communion with Christ.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds us that there is another gift and that is the gift of eternal life though our resurection after death. Our bodily resurrection makes possible direct communion with our Lord. As human beings we fear death and prefer to see it as something remote, but death goes hand in hand with life. But we cannot have life without death, but Christ promisses us a new life after death. The life we are living now is awesome and full of possibility and we have the opportunity to live it fully through our faith in Jesus Christ, but Paul reminds us that there is an even better life awating us upon our resurrection.

We had a wonderful discussion on this point and we welcome your contribution to the discussion on this blog. We agreed to continue our reading next week with 2 Corinthians. Be there or be square.