(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that your soul may bless me.” Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.””
(Genesis 27:30-32)
Esau finally arrives. It took time for him to hunt the game, bring it home, prepare it, and get the food to his father. Jacob had just left when Esau arrived. They almost met. It was a close call.
Esau has no idea what’s happened. There is no evidence left behind. He is ready to receive his blessing. He is all about getting from Isaac. He must have been thinking about it all during his hunt and preparation. He did the task, and he wants the reward.
Isaac is confused. He doesn’t know what’s happening or he doesn’t want to know what’s happening. But he must speak up. He has to look past his physical senses that he chose to agree with and into his spirit which had been throwing up warnings and red flags. Esau, not knowing anything about what happened, is confused and simply declares who he is. No artifice. No invoking God’s name. Just simple truth with specifics.
It’s never a good idea to attach a blessing to a performance. It’s never a good idea to ignore the checks of our spirit when we are in a situation. It’s never a good idea to decide to do something of significance that God hasn’t told us to do or that we haven’t consulted God about. Isaac brought about this whole situation through following a good human idea instead of waiting for a God idea. Rebekah and Jacob took the bag situation and made it worse. This whole thing is a tragedy of human thinking from beginning to end. None of them bring God into it, but all of them (except Esau) are acting to bring about what they think God wants in the way they think God has laid open to them. We get into more trouble trying to force God’s hand and thinking it’s His idea than anything else we do. Human history is replete with it and it ALWAYS gives followers of the Lord a bad reputation.
The sage Or HaChaim writes: ‘ויהי כאשר כלה, As soon as he had finished, etc. The reason for the apparently superfluous word ויהי which always introduces something of a painful nature, is that the Torah testifies that Isaac completed his blessing prematurely; instead of giving Jacob the entire blessing he was capable of bestowing as he did for Esau afterwards, he did not do so now. Had Isaac truly completed giving Jacob all the blessings he was capable of bestowing, Esau would have gone out empty-handed. ויהי אך יצא יצא יעקב, Jacob had barely left his father’s presence, etc. The extra words: ויהי, אך, יצא are all meant to draw our attention to the fact that Jacob would not have left yet except that he noticed that Esau was arriving (as pointed out at the end of the verse). This caused Jacob to make a hasty exit. The Torah hints at the embarassment Jacob felt at leaving the presence of his father as if he were a thief beating a hasty retreat. Our sages in Midrash Rabbah pursue a different approach.’
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