Selections from Toledot Genesis 25.19-28.9
At 40 Isaac, son of Abraham, weds
Rebekah who appears to be barren Isaac pleads with God on behalf of his wife.
God responds
Rebekah conceives (Pleading to God for another is often
effective)
The children clash inside her. Rebekah
asks God, Why do I exist?
God replies: Two nations are in your
womb, two peoples apart
While in your body. The
elder shall serve the younger
And let the
younger thus learn and serve the elders
Twins. First one emerges red and
covered with hair, named Esau
Then Jacob (the supplanter) his emerges holding Esau’s heel
They grow up. Esau becomes a skillful trapper, a man of the
field
Jacob is gentle,
scholarly and remains with the tents
One day when Jacob is
simmering stew, Esau arrives famished
He trades Jacob his
birthright for the stew, explaining
What good is a
birthright at the time of death?
(Do it now!)
God appears to Isaac saying, stay in
the land I show you
I will be with you and bless you. All will
be blessed by your descendants
Isaac stays in Gerar, sows in the land
Reaps a hundred fold. God
blesses him. He becomes very wealthy
Isaac’s servants find a
well of spring water and call it Rehobeth, Spaciousness and openness, ample
space to increase in the land
Isaac goes to Beer-sheba. God appears
to him that night, saying
I am the God of your father and
mother. Be fearless; I am with you
Isaac builds an altar there and
invokes God’s names
God, who is
beyond mind and definition, can still be experienced
God’s
qualities, God’s names, can be honored and approached
When Isaac is old he calls his son
Esau, saying, I’m old and don’t know
when I’ll die. Go to the country, hunt
me game, make me a tasty dish
Bring it to me that I may give you my
innermost blessing before I die
Rebeccah makes a tasty dish, gives it
to Jacob. Covering his hands and neck with kid skins, she says, take this to
your father that he may bless you. He’ll know and give me a curse not a
blessing, says Jacob.
Let any curse be upon me, she says.
But listen to me. He goes in
Nearly blind, Isaaak asks, who are you?
Your firstborn, says Jacob. I’ve done as
you said. Please eat and give me your innermost blessings
How did you succeed so quickly? asks
Isaac. God was with me, he says Come closer that I may feel you, my son, Jacob
draws near. Isaac says, The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the
hands of Esau
Sages say we
each need the hands of Esau that get things done in the world and the voice of
Jacob that is always heard by God
Come close and kiss me. Jacob kisses
his father, who says
The fragrance of this
child is the scent of a field that God has blessed
May God give you of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth
Let people serve you and nations bow
before you
Watch over your brothers and sisters. Blessed
are those who bless you
Just after Jacob leaves, his brother
Esau arrives with a prepared meal Who are you, asks Isaac. Your first born,
says Esau
Trembling Isaac says, whomever I
blessed remains blessed
Esau bursts into sobs and cries, bless
me too, o’ father
In our
humility we become vulnerable and open -- for blessings
Isaac blesses him, saying
Your abode shall be the fat of the
earth and dew of heaven above
Live by the sword (of discernment and truth)
Serve your brothers and sisters (for through such selfless service)
You will break the yoke from your neck
(be completely
liberated)
To himself Esau says I will kill my
brother Jacob
Rebekah tells Jacob, flee to Haran to
my brother Laban
Isaac sends for Jacob, blesses him and
sends him off
