Jacob steals Esau's Blessing - Masquerades, Reversals, and Wordplays - Genesis 27

(Click here to read Genesis 27)

There is so much deception in this family. All this distrust is nearly tearing them apart. Covetousness has led to scheming has led to hostility has led to fear has led to a breakdown of the family.

In this chapter, Rebekah schemes with her favourite son Jacob, against her husband, Isaac, to help Jacob by deception to steal the blessing of his older twin brother, Esau.

Isaac thinks he is going to die soon. He's actually going to live to be 180, at least another fifty years.

Isaac is blind. His blindness reminds us also of how he has been so deceived by his own family. He has been made blind.

The impotence of this patriarch is juxtaposed with his wife, Rebekah, who is always described as very busy and, productive, and energetic.

Isaac intended to give Esau his blessing.

Rebekah is the one behind the deception. Lady Macbeth.

Jacob is reluctant to participate in the deception, but not for moral reasons. He is afraid of a curse.

"Just the way his father liked it" – this is repeated three times.

"The patties are cut square, so the meat hangs over the edge of the bun. People like that." – Dave Matthew, founder of Wendy’s. Repeated way more than three times.

I can’t read this chapter without imagining Rebekah explaining to her sons that they need to cut their father’s meat square, so it hangs over the bun.

The blessing of the father was very highly valued.

Esau arrives just on Jacob's heels, a reversal of their birth.

Rebekah sends Jacob away for his safety.

Rebekah clearly is distressed because of Esau's wives. This may have been a motivator in her deception.
The ethnicity of the children of Abraham is always important in the text.

Reversals of fortune and wordplays on names are common clever literary tricks used in Jacob’s story.

In the last chapter, Isaac put on a false identity, but was discovered when he was seen "Isaac-ing" (playing, caressing, laughing) with his wife.

In this chapter, Jacob put on a false identity, but is discovered when he is caught "Jacob-ing" (deceiving, supplanting) against his brother.

In chapter 29, Leah will masquerade as Rachel, another reversal in Jacob’s life. Everything he does is shown being done to him.