Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster offers some thoughts on Genesis 25 and how Jacob came to receive his older brother's blessing.
Abraham deceived his son Isaac when walking with him to Mount Moriah to be bound for slaughter (Genesis 22:4) by telling him that they were going there to ‘worship.’ Rebecca also deceived her husband Isaac in this week’s Sedra (Genesis 25:19 - 28:9).
Why did Rebecca tell her younger twin son, Jacob, to deceive his father, Isaac, regarding Esau’s blessing (Genesis 27:8-10)? Her plan was unhesitatingly decisive. Rebecca seized the moment. When her son Jacob pointed out difficulties in her plan to deceive Isaac, she took responsibility on herself: ‘My son, just let the curse fall on me. Just do as I say' (Genesis 27:13).
We usually ask ourselves how Jacob could deceive his father, but it was his mother Rebecca who devised the entire plan. Her intention was to deceive her husband, Isaac, deprive her elder son of his rightful blessing, and order Jacob to be dishonest.
Jacob is described as an ‘Ish tam’ (Genesis 25:27). What is a man who is ‘tam’? Difficult to translate. Simple, wholesome, straightforward, unpretentious, a person of integrity. Some would say even naive. With Jacob what you saw is normally what you got, and ‘tam’ is seemingly a non-striver, utterly content with his lot. The opposite, therefore of the wily manipulator.
Nevertheless, the word ‘Jacob’ is related in Hebrew both to ‘heel’ and to ‘indirect’ - doing things in an indirect, even deceptive, way. Maybe his desire to avoid confrontation leads him to pursue guile when need be.
Three possible reasons are given for Rebecca’s behaviour. Rebecca loved Jacob more than Esau (Genesis 25:28). Therefore she wanted her beloved son to receive the covenantal blessing. This is probably not the reason, however. We are not part of a Shakespearean drama or thriller here. We are talking about role-models, after all.
Another possibility is that Rebecca regarded Jacob as more suitable than Esau to inherit the blessing. Esau was a hunter who had sold his birthright for ‘a mess of pottage' (Genesis 25:31-34). She preferred the traits of her younger son, Jacob, who - according to rabbinic teaching - had shown signs of wanting to study Torah even in the womb.
By contrast, Esau was a hunter and a ‘man of the field.’ Was this what the covenant with Abraham was all about?’ Especially when the Hebrew for hunter also signifies someone who ‘entraps others by words.’ Esau simply couldn’t be trusted, it seems.
G-d had already chosen Isaac over his older half-brother, Ishmael, who was destined to be ‘a wild ass of a man' (Genesis 16:12). Rebecca felt that Isaac was blind to Esau’s faults. The covenant had to be passed down to the son with the right qualities.
And finally, Rebecca may have been influenced by the message from the Lord that she had received before the twins’ birth: ‘Two nations are in your womb and two peoples from within you will be separated. The might will pass from one people to the other people, and the mightier will serve the younger (Genesis 25:23).’ To most people this must surely mean that Esau would end up being subservient to Jacob.
Why didn’t Rebecca share her legitimate concerns about the blessing with her husband Isaac? It may be that she was in awe of her husband. It is recounted that when she encountered Isaac for the first time ‘ … she took her veil and covered herself' (Genesis 24:65).
She saw that Isaac was introverted and passive (an example being the way he had simply accompanied Abraham to his own place of sacrifice, even though he was a grown man in his own right). What a contrast with Abraham himself, who was outgoing and combative, even ready to argue with G-d when necessary.
Isaac was the most restrained of the three patriarchs and perhaps Rebecca didn’t know how to argue with him. Nor did she want to upset him.
Toldot - the title of our Sedra - means generations/offspring, and also the consequences of our actions. Esau becomes Jacob’s mortal enemy and his country is known as Edom. This lies today in the south of present-day Jordan and also covers some of the Negev desert.
Jacob of course eventually becomes known as Israel, when pure-hearted Jacob has to learn how to fight, and even occasionally use the guile he was born with, in order to deceive those who wish to annihilate him.
The accompanying Haftorah of the final Hebrew prophet, Malachi (1-2:7) states the situation clearly: ‘ … the word of the Lord to Israel [Jacob] through Malachi: ‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord. ‘Yet you retort: ‘How exactly have you loved us?’ ‘Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother’ says the Lord. But Esau I hated … They [Esau] will build, but I will throw down and they will be called … the people who the Lord has execrated for all time (Malachi 1:1-4).’
