Hebrews – Chapter Eleven XXX

by Ed Urzi

“Faith led Isaac to bless Jacob and Esau” (Hebrews 11:20 GW).

To illustrate the cleverness of Rebekah’s plan to deceive her husband Isaac, let’s consider the five senses that human beings possess: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. In order to fool Isaac into blessing her son Jacob, Rebekah knew she would have to deliver some counterfeit information to those senses. Since Isaac was no longer able to visually identify his sons, that left four other senses to contend with.

First, Rebekah knew Isaac could pick up the outdoor scent of Esau’s clothes. She eliminated that problem by putting Esau’s clothes on Jacob. Then there was the meal she prepared- that would take care of the taste part. The goatskins on Jacob’s arms and neck would address Isaac’s sense of touch. The only potential weakness in her plan involved her inability to disguise the sound of Jacob’s voice- but perhaps that would be enough to trick Isaac into doing something he didn’t want to do…

“So Jacob took the food to his father. ‘My father?’ he said. ‘Yes, my son,’ Isaac answered. ‘Who are you—Esau or Jacob?’ Jacob replied, ‘It’s Esau, your firstborn son. I’ve done as you told me. Here is the wild game. Now sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing.’ Isaac asked, ‘How did you find it so quickly, my son?’ ‘The Lord your God put it in my path!’ Jacob replied.

Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Esau.’ So Jacob went closer to his father, and Isaac touched him. ‘The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s,’ Isaac said. But he did not recognize Jacob, because Jacob’s hands felt hairy just like Esau’s. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob.

‘But are you really my son Esau?’ he asked. ‘Yes, I am,’ Jacob replied” (Genesis 27:18-24 NLT).

There are an astonishing number of lies contained within this brief exchange. First, Jacob began by falsely identifying himself as Esau- that’s lie #1. Then he said to his father, “I’ve done as you told me…” which, of course, was another lie because Isaac didn’t tell Jacob to do anything.

Isaac then asked, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?” and Jacob responded with lie #3: “The LORD your God helped me find it” (GNB). So it wasn’t enough for Jacob to deceive his father- he had to bring God into his deception as well. But Isaac still wasn’t convinced, so he asked once more: “‘Are you really my son Esau?’ ‘Yes, I am,’ Jacob answered” (CEV). That false representation was lie #4.

As we’ll see,  Jacob will eventually secure the blessing he sought through this act of deception. However,  he will also learn the truth of the following Biblical admonition: “Make no mistake, God is not mocked. A person will harvest what they plant” (Galatians 6:7 CEB).