Esau's marriage with the daughters of the Canaanites was an abomination
not only in the eyes of his mother, but also in the eyes of his father.
He suffered even more than Rebekah through the idolatrous practices of
his daughters in-law. It is the nature of man to oppose less resistance
than woman to disagreeable circumstances. A bone is not harmed by a
collision that would shiver an earthen pot in pieces. Man, who is
created out of the dust of the ground, has not the endurance of woman
formed out of bone. Isaac was made prematurely old by the conduct of
his daughters-in-law, and he lost the sight of his eyes. Rebekah had
been accustomed in the home of her childhood to the incense burnt
before idols, and she could therefore bear it under her own roof-tree.
Unlike her, Isaac had never had any such experience while he abode with
his parents, and he was stung by the smoke arising from the sacrifices
offered to their idols by his daughters-in-law in his own house.[73]
Isaac's eyes had suffered earlier in life, too. When he lay bound upon
the altar, about to be sacrificed by his father, the angels wept, and
their tears fell upon his eyes, and there they remained and weakened
his sight.
At the same time he had brought the scourge of blindness down upon
himself by his love for Esau. He justified the wicked for a bribe, the
bribe of Esau's filial love, and loss of vision is the punishment that
follows the taking of bribes. "A gift," it is said, "blinds the eyes of
the wise."
Nevertheless his blindness proved a benefit for Isaac as well as Jacob.
In consequence of his physical ailments, Isaac had to keep at home, and
so he was spared the pain of being pointed out by the people as the
father of the wicked Esau.[74] And, again, if his power of vision had
been unimpaired, he would not have blessed Jacob. As it was, God
treated him as a physician treats a sick man who is forbidden to drink
wine, for which, however, he has a strong desire. To placate him, the
physician orders that warm water be given him in the dark, and he be
told that it is wine.[75]
When Isaac reached the age of one hundred and twenty three, and was
thus approaching the years attained by his mother, he began to meditate
upon his end. It is proper that a man should prepare for death when he
comes close to the age at which either of his parents passed out of
life. Isaac reflected that he did not know whether the age allotted to
him was his mother's or his father's, and he therefore resolved to
bestow his blessing upon his older son, Esau, before death should
overtake him.[76] He summoned Esau, and he said, "My son," and Esau
replied, "Here am I," but the holy spirit interposed: "Though he
disguises his voice and makes it sound sweet, put no confidence in him.
There are seven abominations in his heart. He will destroy seven holy
places—the Tabernacle, the sanctuaries at Gilgal, Shiloh, Nob, and
Gibeon, and the first and the second Temple."
Gently though Esau continued to speak to his father, he yet longed for
his end to come.[77] But Isaac was stricken with spiritual as well as
physical blindness. The holy spirit deserted him, and he could not
discern the wickedness of his older son. He bade him sharpen his
slaughtering knives and beware of bringing him the flesh of an animal
that had died of itself, or had been torn by a beast, and he was to
guard also against putting an animal before Isaac that had been stolen
from its rightful owner. "Then," continued Isaac, "will I bless him who
is worthy of being blessed."[78]
This charge was laid upon Esau on the eve of the Passover, and Isaac
said to him: "To-night the whole world will sing the Hallel unto God.
It is the night when the storehouses of dew are unlocked. Therefore
prepare dainties for me, that my soul may bless thee before I die." But
the holy spirit interposed, "Eat not the bread of him that hath an evil
eye."[79] Isaac's longing for tidbits was due to his blindness. As the
sightless cannot behold the food they eat, they do not enjoy it with
full relish, and their appetite must be tempted with particularly
palatable morsels.
Esau sallied forth to procure what his father desired, little recking
the whence or how, whether by robbery or theft.[80] To hinder the quick
execution of his father's order, God sent Satan on the chase with Esau.
He was to delay him as long as possible. Esau would catch a deer and
leave him lying bound, while he pursued other game. Immediately Satan
would come and liberate the deer, and when Esau returned to the spot,
his victim was not to be found. This was repeated several times. Again
and again the quarry was run down, and bound, and liberated, so that
Jacob was able meanwhile to carry out the plan of Rebekah whereby he
would be blessed instead of Esau.
Though Rebekah had not heard the words that had passed between Isaac
and Esau, they nevertheless were revealed to her through the holy
spirit,[81] and she resolved to restrain her husband from taking a
false step. She was not actuated by love for Jacob, but by the wish of
keeping Isaac from committing a detestable act.[82] Rebekah said to
Jacob: "This night the storehouses of dew are unlocked; it is the night
during which the celestial beings chant the Hallel unto God, the night
set apart for the deliverance of thy children from Egypt, on which
they, too, will sing the Hallel. Go now and prepare savory meat for thy
father, that he may bless thee before his death.[83] Do as I bid thee,
obey me as thou art wont, for thou art my son whose children, every
one, will be good and God-fearing—not one shall be graceless."
In spite of his great respect for his mother,[84] Jacob refused at
first to heed her command. He feared he might commit a sin,[85]
especially as he might thus bring his father's curse down upon him. As
it was, Isaac might still have a blessing for him, after giving Esau
his. But Rebekah allayed his anxieties, with the words: "When Adam was
cursed, the malediction fell upon his mother, the earth, and so shall
I, thy mother, bear the imprecation, if thy father curses thee.
Moreover, if the worst comes to the worst, I am prepared to step before
thy father and tell him, 'Esau is a villain, and Jacob is a righteous
man.'"
Thus constrained by his mother, Jacob, in tears and with body bowed,
went off to execute the plan made by Rebekah.[86] As he was to provide
a Passover meal, she bade him get two kids, one for the Passover
sacrifice and one for the festival sacrifice.[87] To soothe Jacob's
conscience, she added that her marriage contract entitled her to two
kids daily. "And," she continued, "these two kids will bring good unto
thee, the blessing of thy father, and they will bring good unto thy
children, for two kids will be the atoning sacrifice offered on the Day
of Atonement."
Jacob's hesitation was not yet removed. His father, he feared, would
touch him and convince himself that he was not hairy, and therefore not
his son Esau. Accordingly, Rebekah tore the skins of the two kids into
strips and sewed them together, for Jacob was so tall a giant that
otherwise they would not have sufficed to cover his hands.[88] To make
Jacob's disguise complete, Rebekah felt justified in putting Esau's
wonderful garments on him. They were the high priestly raiment in which
God had clothed Adam, "the first-born of the world," for in the days
before the erection of the Tabernacle all the first-born males
officiated as priests. From Adam these garments descended to Noah, who
transmitted them to Shem, and Shem bequeathed them to Abraham, and
Abraham to his son Isaac, from whom they reached Esau as the older of
his two sons. It was the opinion of Rebekah that as Jacob had bought
the birthright from his brother, he had thereby come into possession of
the garments as well.[89] There was no need for her to go and fetch
them from the house of Esau. He knew his wives far too well to entrust
so precious a treasure to them; they were in the safe-keeping of his
mother. Besides, he used them most frequently in the house of his
parents. As a rule, he did not lay much stress upon decent apparel. He
was willing to appear on the street clad in rags, but he considered it
his duty to wait upon his father arrayed in his best. "My father," Esau
was in the habit of saying, "is a king in my sight, and it would ill
become me to serve before him in any thing but royal apparel." To the
great respect he manifested toward his father, the descendants of Esau
owe all their good fortune on earth. Thus doth God reward a good deed.
Rebekah led Jacob equipped and arrayed in this way to the door of
Isaac's chamber. There she parted from him with the words,
"Henceforward may thy Creator assist thee."[90] Jacob entered,
addressing Isaac with "Father," and receiving the response, "Here am I!
Who art thou, my son?" he replied equivocally, "It is I, thy first-born
son is Esau." He sought to avoid a falsehood, and yet not betray that
he was Jacob.[91] Isaac then said: "Thou art greatly in haste to secure
thy blessing. Thy father Abraham was seventy-five years old when he was
blessed, and thou art but sixty-three." Jacob replied awkwardly,
"Because the Lord thy God sent me good speed." Isaac concluded at once
that this was not Esau, for he would not have mentioned the name of
God, and he made up his mind to feel the son before him and make sure
who he was. Terror seized upon Jacob at the words of Isaac, "Come near,
I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son." A cold sweat covered his
body, and his heart melted like wax. Then God caused the archangels
Michael and Gabriel to descend. The one seized his right hand, the
other his left hand, while the Lord God Himself supported him, that his
courage might not fail him. Isaac felt him, and, finding his hands
hairy, he said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the
hands of Esau," words in which he conveyed the prophecy that so long as
the voice of Jacob is heard in the houses of prayer and of learning,
the hands of Esau will not be able to prevail against him. "Yes," he
continued, "it is the voice of Jacob, the voice that imposes silence
upon those on earth and in heaven," for even the angels may not raise
their voices in praise of God until Israel has finished his prayers.
Isaac's scruples about blessing the son before him were not yet
removed, for with his prophetical eye he foresaw that this one would
have descendants who would vex the Lord. At the same time, it was
revealed to him that even the sinners in Israel would turn penitents,
and then he was ready to bless Jacob. He bade him come near and kiss
him, to indicate that it would be Jacob who would imprint the last kiss
upon Isaac before he was consigned to the grave—he and none other. When
Jacob stood close to him, he discerned the fragrance of Paradise
clinging to him, and he exclaimed, "See, the smell of my son is as the
smell of the field which the Lord hath blessed."[92]
The fragrance emanating from Jacob was not the only thing about him
derived from Paradise. The archangel Michael had fetched thence the
wine which Jacob gave his father to drink,[93] that an exalted mood
might descend upon him, for only when a man is joyously excited the
Shekinah rests upon him.[94] The holy spirit filled Isaac, and he gave
Jacob his tenfold blessing: "God give thee of the dew of heaven," the
celestial dew wherewith God will awaken the pious to new life in days
to come; "and of the fatness of the earth," the goods of this world;
"and plenty of corn and wine," the Torah and the commandments which
bestow the same joy upon man as abundant harvests;[95] "peoples shall
serve thee," the Japhethites and the Hamites; "nations shall bow down
to thee," the Shemite nations; "thou wilt be lord over thy brethren,"
the Ishmaelites and the descendants of Keturah; "thy mother's sons will
bow down to thee," Esau and his princes; "cursed be every one that
curseth thee," like Balaam; "and blessed be every one that blesseth
thee," like Moses.[96]
For each blessing invoked upon Jacob by his father Isaac, a similar
blessing was bestowed upon him by God Himself in the same words. As
Isaac blessed him with dew, so also God: "And the remnant of Jacob
shall be in the midst of many peoples as dew from the Lord." Isaac
blessed him with the fatness of the earth, so also God: "And he shall
give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and
bread of the increase of the ground, and it shall be fat and
plenteous." Isaac blessed him with plenty of corn and wine, so also
God: "I will send you corn and wine." Isaac said, "Peoples shall serve
thee," so also God: "Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their
queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their
faces to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet." Isaac said,
"Nations shall bow down to thee," so also God: "And He will make thee
high above all nations which He hath made, in praise, and in name, and
in honor."
To this double blessing his mother Rebekah joined hers: "For He shall
give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They
shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy feet against a
stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the
serpent shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love
upon me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because
he hath known my name."
The holy spirit added in turn: "He shall call upon me, and I will
answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and
honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my
salvation."[97]
Jacob left the presence of his father crowned like a bridegroom,
adorned like a bride, and bathed in celestial dew, which filled his
bones with marrow, and transformed him into a hero and a giant.[98]
Of a miracle done for him at that very moment Jacob himself was not
aware. Had he tarried with his father an instant longer, Esau would
have met him there, and would surely have slain him. It happened that
exactly as Jacob was on the point of leaving the tent of his father,
carrying in his hands the plates off which Isaac had eaten, he noticed
Esau approaching, and he concealed himself behind the door.
Fortunately, it was a revolving door, so that though he could see Esau,
he could not be seen by him.