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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 27:5 - 27:17
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Rebekah Arranges to have Jacob Blessed First
v. 5. And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau, his son. This overhearing of Isaac's plan by Rebekah was due to the dispensation of God. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
v. 6. And Rebekah spake unto Jacob, her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau, thy brother, saying,
v. 7. Bring me venison, and make me savory meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death. Rebekah made Jacob her confederate by making known to him all that she had found out.
v. 8. Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
v. 9. Go now to the flock, which included goats as well as sheep, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats, an ample supply being needed in order to represent venison; and I will make them savory meat for thy father, such as he loveth, for Rebekah was also familiar with Isaac's tastes and knew in what form he preferred his roast venison.
v. 10. And thou shalt bring it to thy father that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. Thus Jacob was given to understand what role he was to play in Rebekah's plan.
v. 11. And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, Behold, Esau, my brother, is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man;
v. 12. my father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. This was partly prudence, partly the voice of conscience which told him that he would be making himself a scoffer in the eyes of his old blind father, one making sport of the latter's infirmity, and the discovery would result in his bringing away a curse instead of a blessing. Out of respect for his mother Jacob does not refer to the wrong itself, but to its dangerous consequences.
v. 13. And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son; only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. Both the blame and the curse which might strike Jacob Rebekah was willing to shoulder, for with her to plan meant to act, to pursue her course to the finish.
v. 14. And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory meat, such as his father loved.
v. 15. And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob, her younger son. They were garments of preciousness, and Rebekah planned to have both the touch and the odor of the garments-deceive Isaac.
v. 16. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck. It seems that Angora goats are here referred to, whose long, silky wool resembled human hair.
v. 17. And she gave the savory meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. Thus Rebekah had taken the matter of the patriarchal blessing into her own hands. She had in mind, of course, the promise which she had received, but her rashness caused her to identify her plan with the plan of God. She felt that she must come to the aid of the divine dispensation, but her manner of acting had neither God's command nor His promise. It was the mercy of the Lord which afterward turned her human machinations for the best.