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Mother and son scheme against Father and brother

A sceptical reading of the Bible – Genesis. Chapter 27

Jacob & Esau’s genuinely exciting story now reaches a peak of tension.

Isaac lies dying, and sends favourite son Esau out to catch him some deer and prepare some venison for him. Esau is happy to oblige. The spiteful Rebecca however, has other ideas. She has listened in on the conversation between father and son, and sets out to corrupt her husband’s wishes. She gets her own favourite son, Jacob, to bring some goat meats before his father.

Esau must hunt, and venison meat takes days to mature, with the deer left hanging out in the sun. Jacob, as a goat-herder, has his meat supply goats readily to hand.

Even Jacob thinks what he is asked to do to his father is wrong, for himself and in the eyes of God, but his mother insists that he must put obedience to her wishes before other considerations, and she takes on full responsibility for the consequences of her action in God’s eyes.

Rebecca schemes further, taking Esau’s best clothes and giving them to Jacob, while putting Esau in old goatskins. Jacob, pretending to be Esau, now approaches his near blind old father to pass the goat meat off as the finest venison.

Isaac may be old and feeble but he is not totally stupid. He quickly questions how his son was able to prepare and present the venison so quickly. He touches his son’s clothes, and that throws his suspicions, as they are certainly Esau’s clothes, though he sounds just like Jacob (unable to disguise his voice).

Finally satisfied that he has the right son, he blesses him in God’s name.

Oblivious of all this, Esau returns with the real venison he has caught and cured lovingly for his father. He finds Isaac vexed and confused by his presence with more meat. He scolds him, and refuses to give him a second blessing. Esau is sent away without thanks

Esau is deeply enraged now, understandably. Jacob has robbed him of his birthright and of the blessing of father and God. He vows that as soon as Isaac has died, he will murder Jacob.

Esau rashly makes this threat out loud, and ever spying Rebecca hears him and warns Jacob of the plot on his life. She advises Jacob to flee for his life, and recommends that he move away to Haran, until such a time as Esau calms down and forgets his murderous rage.

God surely witnesses this behaviour, which for Rebecca and Jacob is appalling. Esau and Isaac alike are cruelly treated, lied to, and robbed of a father & son bond. Jacob saw that Rebecca’s plans were wicked but did nothing to stop them. God makes no effort to intervene to put matters right here at all.

God is protecting his chosen people regardless of the sins and crimes they themselves commit. They seem to have a complete amnesty to behave abominably. With Abraham passing his wife off as his sister to sell her into a harem twice, Isaac doing likewise, and now Jacob’s malicious behaviour to his older brother, to the true heir to the bloodline of Israel. Decent, non-sinning men like Esau and Lot suffer badly to little reward. God really has a strange set of priorities.

All text quotations from http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=1801

Arthur Chappell

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