“Esav said, ‘His name, Ya’akov [he supplants], really suits him – because he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and here, now he has taken away my blessing!’ Then he asked, ‘Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?’”
Genesis 27:36
Ya’akov had deceived his father by playing the part of Esav. In so doing he took Esav’s blessing as the firstborn. But this robbery of birthright had started back in Genesis 25 when for a bowl of lentils, Esav sold what was his. Now, however, Esav expected to have his reward. The revelation of what he had was becoming clear. True, Ya’akov had been devious in obtaining the birthright and in obtaining his father’s blessing, but once given away Esav could take it back.
When the moment was right, Ya’akov approached his father with the familiar smell and feeling of Esav. Yitz’chak blessed his son, assuming that it was Esav, and proclaimed that Adonai would make him lord over his brother, possess the kinsmen as servants, and be sustained with grain and wine. When Esav learned of this, he responded to his father, “Have you not saved any blessing for me?” But what was left for Esav? What was left for the one who had so easily gave up what had once been his? The only remaining blessing that Yitz’chak could muster was, “You will live by the sword and serve your brother. When you shake loose you will sake the yoke off your neck.
It seems kind of unfair really, that Ya’akov would be blessed for being a deceiver. But when does Adonai always do what we desire? Are not his thoughts better than ours, and his ways not the ways we would choose? The story may not be in Esav’s favor, but as I read it I see once again the mistake that I too can easily give up in following the ways not pointed out by Adonai. I do not want to myself missing out on the blessing that is rightfully mine because of a hunger for sin, much less a hunger for food.
Genesis 27:28 – 28:4
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