Q: Dear Dragon Lady,
I love your Old Testament story retellings. Can you do one for the story of Jacob and Esau and the birthright? I feel like Esau got the short end of the stick.
-Rainbow connection
A:
Dear Rainbow ~
You are sweet. I'm glad you like my Old Testament retellings! I like making them ... when I have access to BYU's library without two kids in tow. Which, unfortunately, didn't happen this week. So I won't have the normal amount of research included in this one. I apologize. Next year send me an email a month or two prior to Alumni Week with the story of choice and give me more time to prepare! Also, I lose access to the system in 3 hours and actually want to go to sleep long before that. So forgive me! Hopefully I can still satisfy your curiosity to some extent.
First, summary (all this can be found in Genesis 25-28, if you want to follow along):
Isaac and Rebekah have twin sons, Jacob and Esau. Esau comes out first, all red and hairy, then Jacob. Prior to the birth, Rebekah was given a revelation where the Lord told her, "the elder shall serve the younger." Esau was a hunter and Isaac loved his venison. He also loved Esau more than Jacob.
One day Esau came in from working in the field and tells Jacob, "I'm starving! Give me food!" and Jacob says, "I will if you give me your birthright." Esau retorts, "Dude. I'm so hungry I might die. Who cares about a stinkin' birthright? It's yours." So Jacob fed him and from then on, Esau despised his birthright.
Other things happen, then in Genesis 26:34 that Esau married a Hittite, which, in case you couldn't tell, is not an Israelite, and thus not of the covenant line.
And it came to pass that Isaac became very old. Like, we're talking over 100-years old now. And he was now blind. Cataracts, perhaps? Who knows. Point is, he was old and blind. And like many men, wanted comfort through food. So he sent Esau out to hunt a deer so he could bring back some venison and cook him up some savory meat, just the way he likes it, so that he could be in the best mood ever so he could bless Esau before he died. So he left.
Rebekah overheard the conversation and, concerned for her favorite son, told Jacob to run out and find two kid goats and she'd cook them up just the way Isaac liked it so they could trick him. "But mom! There's no way that'll work! Esau is hairy! And I'm, well, not! He'll curse me instead of blessing me!" And Rebekah, like any good mom, said, "Don't worry, honey. Nothing bad will happen to you. I'll take your curse if that happens. Now go be a good boy and be obedient." So Jacob went and got the goats and Rebekah cooked them. Then Jacob dressed up in Esau's clothes, and for the final touch, she covered Jacob's hands and neck with goat skins to make them hairy. Then Jacob went into his father with the meat and tricked him into believing he was Esau. So Isaac gave Jacob the blessing of the eldest.
Of course, no deceit like this can go undiscovered. Esau eventually came back with the venison and went into his father. When Isaac figured out what had happened, he trembled very exceedingly and Esau sat down and cried bitterly. Really, you can't blame him. "But Jacob gets everything! Bless me too, daddy!" So Isaac did. It wasn't as great a blessing, but it did promise him that "thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above."
Of course, Esau really hated Jacob now. Brothers can get that way. (Sisters too, for that matter.) He plotted to kill him and, once again, his mom overheard. So she warned Jacob and told him to flee to her brother's house. But then she went into Isaac and told him where Jacob was going, but worried that he'd take to wife one of the daughters of Heth. They would also not be Israelite. They already had one son marry a non-member (if you will), and couldn't bear the thought of their other son doing the same. So Isaac called Jacob in and told him, "Don't take a wife from the daughters of Canaan! Take one from the daughters of Laban (aka one of your female cousins)!" and then he blessed him with the blessing of Abraham.
Which, of course, didn't sit well with Esau. Despite being over 40-years old, you can still see the jealous brother come out here. "Wait, dad doesn't like us marrying the daughters of Canaan? Huh. And now Jacob is going to go marry an Israelite? That'll probably make him dad's favorite. That's no good." So he goes out and marries an Israelite. Because clearly plural marriage is the way to earn daddy's favor.
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Ok. Summary done. (Disclaimer: if you didn't notice, I take liberties in translating scripture into lay man's terms. Please don't take my quotes as actual quotes. Because they're not.)
There are several sections that demand attention. Let's discuss.
Trading birthright for pottage
I, personally, am inclined to believe that were Esau actually starving and near his death bed, Jacob would have fed him without price. Also, Esau seems to be capable of coherent conversation, so it's unlikely that he was actually starving. Plus there is the fact that it's highly unlikely that Jacob was the only person capable of feeding Esau in the whole village/house/tent/whatever. I'm sure were he dying, Esau's mom, for example, would have been willing to feed him. Or perhaps a servant. Or cook. Or neighbor. Or, heaven forbid, he could have grabbed something from the pantry and fed himself. Or, being the one who goes out working the fields and hunting and Jacob being the guy who stayed at home all day, I'll bet Esau probably could have just punched Jacob in the face and taken his food. But, as we see in his choice of bride (the first time), maintaining the covenant (and birthright) isn't his highest priority. Now, I'm sure he was quite hungry. But I also think he was lazy. So when Jacob said he'd trade his food for the birthright, Esau had other options. But he wanted to satisfy his natural man far more than he cared about spiritual blessings. The here and was more important than some distant future. So he agreed. He grumbled about it, but he did it.
Tricking Isaac for the blessing
Really, I could have stopped above, because you only complained about the birthright, which I just explained. This part specifically discusses the blessing. But I assume you meant this part as it's actual trickery on Rebekah and Jacob's part. So I'll continue. I highly recommend you read the Old Testament Student Manual about this, as that's where I'm pulling much of my information from.
Assuming you are LDS, you could conclude that this is one of those plain and precious truths that Joseph Smith said were removed from the Bible. That could satisfy some people. I'm guessing not you. And certainly not me. Besides, where's the fun in that?
Why did Rebekah feel the need to trick Isaac? She had received revelation while still pregnant that Jacob would rule over Esau. She probably was well aware that the blessing Isaac was planning on giving would bless one to rule over the other. There's a lot we don't know here. Had she ever told Isaac about that revelation? Was she worried that in his old age, Isaac would forget? Or not receive revelation? Was she worried that Isaac's clear preference for Esau would blind his spiritual eyes as well? Or maybe Isaac really did think with his stomach and she knew it? Perhaps she didn't trust in the Lord to fulfill His revelation to her. Perhaps she felt it was her duty to make sure that revelation came to pass. Or, perhaps she was inspired to carry out this plan in order to fulfill God's purposes. We don't know.
Most of those speculations show either Isaac or Rebekah to be flawed. Guess what? Even prophets (and their wives) are imperfect. [gasp!] I know! Hard to believe, isn't it? But trust me, it's true. I have it on good authority (read: he once told me) that President Monson once lied to his grandpa about how much he paid for a dog. Even our current prophet did something wrong in his life! It's possible that one or both of them were simply acting human. That doesn't make Isaac less of a prophet. That doesn't make Rebekah unworthy to be a prophet's wife. It makes them real people with real flaws striving for eternal perfection. Just like us.
Giving of the Abrahamic Covenant
When Isaac found out he had been tricked, could he have revoked Jacob's blessing? Perhaps. The student manual says he could have. (This is one place I'd like to dig into commentaries to get more clarification.) He clearly was upset about it. But he said that Jacob had taken the blessing and did not offer to revoke it. Instead he asked Esau what he wanted. Esau wanted a father's blessing. So Isaac gave him one. One that blessed him with abundance (note: he did become a wealthy man. Not exactly the "short end of the stick"), reinforced the blessing already given, saying that Esau would serve Jacob, but then adds on that he will be able to break the yoke from his neck.
When Rebekah expressed concern for Jacob's marriage, Isaac could have said, "Bah! That boy tricked me! I don't care what happens to him. Leave me alone!" or even, "Woman! Don't talk to me! It's your fault this is all happening anyway!" Instead listened to the concerns of his wife, and acted upon them. He had Jacob come to him, and knowing full well it was Jacob, he blessed him with the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant. He didn't have to do that. That, to me, indicates that Isaac had accepted that the blessing had been given to the right son. He didn't act bitter about it at all. Instead he blessed Jacob even further! So had Isaac been in the wrong to begin with, it sounds like he had come to terms with it and probably had repented of his short-sightedness. (Perhaps it's the blindness? Sorry... couldn't help myself.)
Conclusion
Esau wasn't exactly the standard of righteous living. We see multiple times that he cared more about immediate temporal pleasure than of keeping the covenant. It's only when he sees the consequences that he realizes what he's done and despises it and even contemplates murder. (Again, not the actions of a righteous man.) And remember, this wasn't just some ordinary Joe being gipped by his father. This birthright and blessing were, in essence, the prophet passing down his rights and privileges to his son. By tradition, it should have gone to the oldest. But the oldest wasn't worthy of it. (Remind you of anyone else? Laman vs. Nephi, perhaps?) We don't have the whole story. We have at least 40 years, probably more, of history compacted into three chapters.
We don't know who was in the wrong in the whole Let's Trick Daddy debacle. Was Rebekah acting out of the culturally accepted norm in order to preserve the covenant line? (Much like what Tamar did with Judah.) Would the Spirit have allowed Isaac to have given the blessing to the wrong child? Had Rebekah not acted, would the blessings have been swapped? Or would the Spirit have directed Isaac to have given the blessings to the same children to fulfill his prophecy? We don't know.
It's an odd story, which in my opinion is probably why it was put in the scriptures to begin with. We know even prophets are real people and make mistakes. We also know that we don't know the entirety of the story. We know that Isaac accepts how events turn out and add onto the blessings without any apparent bitterness. So we can assume that he believes, in the end, that he did the right thing, if through sketchy methods.
I do not believe that Esau is truly the victim of this story. I believe he spent his life building his own pyre, feeling entitled to the birthright and blessing without any action on his part, then was severely disappointed when he discovered that that wasn't enough. We should feel pity for him. Just as we should feel pity for all our brothers who expect exaltation without righteousness. But we should not commiserate and fuel his spiritual entitlement.
Hope that satisfied you! Again, next year, give me more notice (like, months) on the story so I can do proper research.
~ Dragon Lady
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