(Genesis 26:34 - 27:40)
When Esau was 40 years old he took two wives, Judith, the daughter of Beri the Hethite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hethite, but these women incurred the strong displeasure of his parents Isaac and Rebecca.
When Isaac was old, his vision became so weak he could barely see. He summoned his older son Esau and called out, "My son?"
"Here I am," he answered.
His father told him "As you can see, I am now an old man. I'm not sure how much time I have left. --- Do me a favor. Take your arms, your bow and quiver of arrows, go out into the field, and kill some game for me. Prepare some tasty dish of meat --you know the way I like it -- and if you bring it to me to eat, I will bless you before I die."
Rebecca overheard what Isaac had said to Esau. And so when Esau was out hunting to satisfy his father's wishes, Rebecca took aside her son Jacob, "I heard your father talking with Esau, your brother, and telling him, 'Go hunt and bring back some game for me to eat and, in the sight of Jehovah, I will bless you before I die.' --- And so, my son, you must do exactly what I tell you. Go out to the flock and bring back a couple of plump goat kids so that I may prepare from their meat a dish your father will relish. You will then serve it to him and after he eats it, he will bless you before he dies."
But Jacob said to his mother Rebecca, "Esau is hairy and I have smooth skin. My father may touch me, think that I am trying to deceive him, and give me his curse rather than his blessing."
His mother scolded him, "The curse will only be upon me, my son. Just do what I told you and bring me what I asked."
Jacob did so and brought the goat kids to his mother, who prepared from them a dish of tasty meat. Rebecca found some of Esau's best clothes, which she had at home, and dressed her younger son Jacob in them. She wrapped skins from the goat kids around his hands and open neck. She delivered into his hands the meat and the bread she had prepared, and Jacob carried them in to his father.
"My father?" he asked.
"I hear you. But is it you, my son?" the old man responded.
Jacob answered, "Yes, it's me, Esau, your oldest son. I have done as you have commanded. Sit up, if you would, and dine on the venison, so that I may have your blessing."
Isaac queried his son, "How is it that you have gotten this ready so quickly, my son?"
Jacob explained, "It was the will of Jehovah that I found quickly what I was looking for."
"Come closer, my son" Isaac demanded, "that I may feel you and know for sure whether you are Esau or not."
So Jacob came to his father, who felt him and said "The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are those of Esau." (Not recognizing Jacob because his hands were hairy like his older brother's, Isaac blessed him.) “Are you indeed my son Esau?" he asked.
"I am," insisted Jacob.
"Well then, bring me the game meat and my soul will bless you." After he had been served and finished his meal, wine was brought in, and he drank.
Isaac then bid him "Draw near me, my son, and kiss me." When Jacob came near and kissed his father, Isaac noticed the scent of his clothes and blessed him, saying, "See, my son smells like the fecund fields blessed by Jehovah! Therefore, may Jehovah grant you gentle rains from heaven and the fertile soil of the earth, so you may have an abundance of grain and wine. May tribes serve you and nations pay you tribute. You will be the head of the family and may the children of your mother be subservient to you. May those who curse you be cursed. May those who bless you be full of blessings."
No sooner had Isaac finished his blessing and Jacob departed from his presence than his brother Esau came in from the hunt. He had also prepared a dish of tasty meat and brought it in to his father, saying "Let my father sit up and eat his venison, so that his soul may bless me."
Isaac, his father questioned, "Who are you!?"
Esau answered, "I am your son, your first-born son, Esau."
Isaac was incredulous and alarmed and trembled with agitation. "Who was is then that just brought me the venison he had prepared? I ate it before you came here. I gave him my blessing --- I can’t take it back!”
Hearing what his father said, Esau let out a loud groan of anguish and regret. "Surely, my father, you will give me a blessing, too?"
"Your brother used trickery, and has taken away the blessing meant for you," his father declared.
Esau observed, "He is rightly named "Jacob" [meaning usurper]. He has usurped my place twice. First he took away my birthright and now he has stolen my blessing." He then addressed his father, "Don't you have a blessing left over for me?"
Isaac answered him. "Look, I have already made him your master and the head of the family. I have bequeathed him my stores of grain and wine. After that, what is there left to give to you, my son?"
"Have you only one blessing, Father? Can't you bless me, too?" complained Esau, crying out and weeping aloud.
Feeling sorry for Esau, Isaac told him, “Your only blessing will be in fertile soil of the earth and the gentle rain from heaven, but you will have to sustain yourself by fighting. And you will serve your brother, until the time comes when you will grow restless and then break free from his domination."
Notes
1. Esau, in marrying two Hethite women, has gone against the express wishes of his parents, who despise their Canaanite neighbors. Esau, it seems, has insisted on being his own man and following his own counsel. Jacob, on the other hand, has not yet married and seems very much tied to his mother's apron's strings. Although he is man approaching middle age, he seems a docile juvenile cowed by his domineering mother Rebecca, who, it seems, will do anything to advance the interest of her fair-haired boy. (This may be the first, but not the last time the redhead gets the short end of the stick.) In this story of the twins is an implied moral: filial respect and conformity to custom supersedes personal initiative and individual will. The favored son is the complaisant, obedient one.
2. The conduct of Jacob in cheating Esau out of his inheritance is shamelessly defended in most Biblical commentaries. Even Saint Augustine believed his lie was only technical and venial. Such subjective distortion of moral values among the religious is truly appalling. Jacob's conduct was execrable and morally indefensible, one would think, by anyone's standards. He knew that Esau, being the eldest, was his father's heir. Instead of working to enrich himself by his own efforts as his father and grandfather had done, he conspires to steal what will belong to his brother. Although Esau's cavalier, dismissive attitude towards his birthrate is disreputable, it is more disreputable that Jacob chose to take advantage of it by tricking him out of it. No honest person could believe that trading a birthright, a wealthy inheritance for a pot of stew comprises an equal trade, and no honest person would go through with such a bargain. (It should also be pointed out that Esau's birthright was not really his to sell. A heir may refuse to accept his legacy, he may give away a legacy he has received, but prior to receiving the legacy he has no right to override the wishes of the legator by designating a substitute heir.) Jacob, who has shown himself to be devious and conniving, lacks the redeeming virtue of guts, of accepting responsibility for his actions and the punishment, if he is caught. When his mother devises the plan to have him impersonate his brother Esau to their vision-impaired father, Jacob is worried about being caught and will go ahead with the masquerade only when his mother offers to assume the guilt for it. Jacob, pretending to be his brother, is doing more than mere bold-faced lying, he is committing a fraud for personal gain. It is made more despicable by the fact that the victims of it are family members, his father and his twin brother. Deceiving your half-blind, dying father so that you can get his inheritance and cheat your brother out of his is about as low as one can go. How can there be any moral ambiguity here?
3. It doesn't seem to occur to Isaac that his blessing of Jacob was given under false pretenses, and, therefore, could and should be retracted. Perhaps the legal concept of the fraudulent contract being invalid did not exist at that time.
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