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12. Enmity between
Esau and Jacob.
After a long time,
when Isaac had already reached an advanced age, he became blind. When he
felt that he would not live much longer, he called his son Esau to him
and said, ‘Behold, I have grown old and do not know when I shall die.
Now go into the field and bring me venison and prepare me a meal that I
like. Then I will give you my blessing before I die.’ So Isaac spoke to
his son Esau, and Rebekah was present and heard him.
Now Rebekah was a woman of a cunning disposition, not always like an
honest housewife and faithful mother, and the quiet, homely Jacob was of
her type. So Rebekah also spoke to her son Jacob. While Esau was in the
field, she quickly slaughtered two young goats and prepared them in the
same way that Jsaac liked to eat venison. Then she dressed Jacob in his
brother's beautiful clothes and covered his neck and smooth hands so
that they were rough like Esau's hands, and gave him the cooked food to
take to his father as if he were Esau, and to receive the blessing in
his brother's place.
It doesn't take much to betray an old, blind father if childlike love
and reverence and awe of God don't make it difficult for the heart.
Jacob brought food to his old, blind father and pretended to be his
brother. Isaac said to him as if he were the brother: ‘God will let you
live in a fertile land and make you a happy man in it. You shall be lord
over your brothers, and your mother's children shall serve you.’ Such a
blessing was to be regarded as the last will and testament of the father;
no one was allowed to change or hinder it. So Jacob gained the blessing
of the firstborn without his father's knowledge, after Esau had secretly
promised him the rights of the firstborn. He carried out this evil deed
against his father and his brother at the instigation of his mother.
Meanwhile Esau came home from the field and prepared the venison for his
father and brought it to him so that he could receive his blessing. The
blind father says, ‘Who are you?’ He said, ‘I am Esau, your firstborn
son,’ and denied to his father that he had sold the firstborn. Then
Isaac was horrified beyond measure. ‘Someone has already been there,’ he
said, and now he realised that it was Jacob. ‘Your brother Jacob has
been there, he has deceived me and received your blessing, and I can
never change it.’
Esau cried out in horror and wept. ‘Bless me too, my father! Have you
not reserved a blessing for me?’ The moved father said: ‘God will also
give you a dwelling place in a fertile land. But I can no longer free
you from your brother's rule’ - because he had given him the word -
’cast off his yoke from your neck yourself!’ From that time on, Esau was
angry with his brother and said, ‘I am sorry for my father, for I am
killing my brother.’
A single reckless act can cause such confusion in a family. Esau
secretly sells his rights. Jacob tricks his father into confirming and
blessing him. The old, weak father does not know how to help himself and
is drawn into the infidelity. Having promised Jacob dominion over Esau,
he secretly allows Esau not to care. Esau is tempted to become a
fratricide. Jacob's life is never safe in his father's own house, and -
it is far from over.
Thus one sin follows another with its severe punishment. - Keep God
before your eyes and in your heart all your life, and be careful not to
give in to sin. Sin is the ruin of men.
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