(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing.” His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me.” He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved.”
(Genesis 27:11-14)
Jacob and Esau are in their seventies. They are grown men. They are twins. But they are not identical. There are differences between them that go farther than personality and profession.
Jacob is not eager for this deception. It isn’t that he doesn’t WANT the blessing. It’s that he doesn’t think this is a good scheme. It seems obvious to him that this will fail. Jacob doesn’t see himself as a deceiver and doesn’t want to bring that reputation and its consequences down on himself. He is clearly dragging his feet.
Rebekah is determined. She isn’t going to let anything stand in her way. She’s thought it out. She sees a way that seems right and just to her – remembering that God promised her Jacob would be superior (very reminiscent of the Sarah-Hagar situation in Genesis 16). In Rebekah’s mind, she’s bringing to pass what is supposed to be. A common human failing. She is so determined, she is willing to have all the negative consequences of being caught come on her head. She’s willing to take one for the team. She’s willing to risk everything for this. In the face of her determination, Jacob relents and does as she asks.
Jacob is seventy-seven (or there abouts). He is a grown adult. He has his own free will. He does not need to do what his mother says when his mother is suggesting behaviour that is clearly not right. But he has allowed her such influence over him that in spite of his misgivings, he submits and does what she wants.
Words are powerful. We’ve lost that idea as a society, but the truth of it is still there. What we say and what is said over us has power to affect change. We need to think about what we say and we need to be careful what we let others say over us. Words matter.
Isaac was about 137 years old. Rebekah was about 117 years old. They had lived together almost a hundred years. Rebekah new his tastes very well and would easily have been able to make him the food just as he liked it.
The Torah: A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘In going along with Rebekah’s plan, Jacob knowingly takes on the role of trickster vis-à-vis Isaac; in the process, Jacob learns from his mother how to achieve a goal by the use of subterfuge. Later, he himself will be tricked by Laban, his father-in-law, who will again use the ploy of covering up the truth to manipulate Jacob into marrying not his beloved Rachel, but her sister Leah (29:25). In turn, Jacob will refine his trickster status by convincing Laban to agree to an arrangement by which Jacob will depart with a significant percentage of Laban’s flock (Genesis 30). Any curse that you get will be on me, son.” Rebekah assures Jacob that if anyone is blamed or punished for what he is about to do, it will be she and not he. Her readiness to take responsibility can be seen as her understanding that what she is doing is not deception for personal gain, but the fulfillment of God’s plan as revealed to her during her pregnancy (25:23). The deception they are about to carry out is for the greater good, a case of “the ends justifies the means.”’
The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 11 Here and in the following verses it repeatedly says אמו, driving home the fact that it was as the mother that she demanded, and as a son that he obeyed. V. 12 כמתעתע, as a cheat, as one who would deceive somebody. This כ explains everything. Jacob was no cheat, did not want to deceive, but he is afraid he would not be given time to explain to his father that he was only blindly obeying his mother, Isaac would at once curse him for trying to deceive him. But thereby he also told her, indirectly and in the most respectful manner, how objectionable the whole affair seemed to him, as a deception meriting being cursed.’
The sage Rashbam writes: ‘ימושני אבי, the word is derived from the expression ממשמש בצהרים in Deuteronomy 28,29 describing people unable to find their way around at high noon, in spite of the sunshine, and having to feel their way about, using their hands in order not to stumble and fall. It is also similar in meaning to the word יסובבהו ערבי נחל in Job 40,22 where it describes the foliage of the reeds forming a protective cover.. עלי קללתך, upon me and my neck; she was relying on the prophecy she had received during her pregnancy that the older son would serve the younger one (25,23)’
The sage Or HaChaim writes: ‘עלי קללתך בני, “may your curse be on me my son!” The reason that she added the word “my son,” although she had been talking to him all the time was that she referred only to what Jacob had said last. We have a rule in Makkot 11 that the curse of a Torah scholar, even if uttered only conditionally, is effective. Had Rebeccah not added the word “my son,” we would have thought that she referred to Jacob’s being cursed by Isaac when he found out he had been tricked. In order to understand Rebeccah’s special love for Jacob the following considerations may help. Rebeccah generally was looked upon askance because she had given birth to the wicked Esau. We find in nature that parts of a whole display an affinity for other parts of the same whole. Rebeccah testified that this rule did not apply in her case, that her deeds proved that she had no affinity for Esau. Her womb was indeed blessed, and the good part (Jacob) represented that which was normal, hence her love for Jacob. The Torah teaches us this by repeatedly describing Jacob as Rebeccah’s son even in instances where these additional words are otherwise quite superfluous (compare verses 6,8,11,13,15,17,42). All of this is to underline that Jacob’s righteousness was a direct outgrowth of his righteous mother. The fact that she had given birth also to an Esau was not a reflection on his mother’s personality.’
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