Esau Loses the Blessing

Genesis 27

When Esau was 40, he married two women: Judith and Basemath (both Hittites), and as described in Genesis 26:35, "They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah."

Issac came to be old and blind. Not knowing the day of his death, he wanted to make preparation for passing on his blessing to his older son, Esau. He called for Esau and asked him to go out and hunt wild game and prepare it for him. Then he would be able to give Esau his blessing. Esau's mother, Rebekah, was listening and hoped that her other son, Jacob, would receive the blessing. While Esau was out hunting, she told Jacob to go out to the flock of goats and get one. She would prepare it and have Jacob appear before Isaac to get the blessing.

Now Jacob didn't say something like, "It wouldn't be right", or "That's dishonest". He says, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing." His mother said, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me."

She put some of Esau's best clothes on Jacob, and covered his hands and bare neck with goatskins so he would appear hairy. While obeying his dishonest mother, he is now entering a series of soon-to-be lies before his father.

Jacob presented the food to Isaac. Isaac asks, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" Jacob lies, "The Lord your God gave me success." When Isaac hears the voice as being his other son, Jacob, not Esau, Isaac instructs him to come closer so he can touch him and know whether or not he is Esau. He asks, "Are you really my son Esau?" Jacob says, "I am" (v. 24).

Isaac eats and Jacob waits for his blessing. He obeys his father's request to come closer and kiss him. His father now can smell the clothes of Esau. His senses of touch (v. 22), taste (v. 25), and smell (v. 27) override his sense of hearing (Jacob's voice). He gives a blessing to Jacob:

Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord had blessed.
May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness--
an abundance of grain and new wine.

May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. [Insert Esau here]

May those who curse you be cursed
and those who bless you be blessed.

Ultimately, Esau returned from hunting, prepared the meat, and appeared before his father to receive his blessing. When Isaac realizes he was deceived by Jacob, he "trembled violently" (v. 33). He said to Esau, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.", and "he will be blessed indeed!" (v. 33).

Esau wept and said he was rightfully named Jacob "deceiver". He had stolen his birthright and now his blessing. Isaac warned that the opposite would be the future for Esau; so, Esau held a grudge against Jacob and planned to kill him. Rebekah warned Jacob to flee to her brother Laban's lands in Haran.

When I read this story, I am just so infuriated at Rebekah! What kind of mother is this?! And apparently her role in helping Jacob deceive Isaac goes unnoticed. She begins complaining about "these Hittite women" that Esau has married. She says that if she has to live with any more of them, her life will not be worth living.

Isaac instructs Jacob to go back to Paddan-Aram (Mesopotamia) to his mother's homeland to find a wife. And then blesses him again!

When Esau hears about this second blessing (rubbing salt in the wound), and realizes how displeasing the Canaanite women are to his father, he goes to Ishmael's family to find a third wife. Remember Abraham's son, Ishmael, was not part of the Abrahamic covenant (the blessing Abraham's descendents would receive by God) since Ishmael was born not by Abraham and his wife Sarah, but by Hagar, Sarah's maid. (See earlier blog.)

Ishmael had already died 14 years earlier, so Esau met Ishmael's son (Nebaioth). He married Nebaioth's sister, Mahalath. He now had 3 unblessed unions with "non-Abrahamic covenant" women: 2 Hittites and 1 Canaanite.

Esau and Jacob part ways until years later. We find in Genesis 33:4, there is an emotional reunion between Jacob and Esau. Esau astonishes Jacob by forgiving him! The two brothers weep and this is an important story in Genesis on the theme of grace.