Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Isaac his father answered him, “Behold, your dwelling will be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of the sky from above. You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose,
that you will shake his yoke from off your neck.” Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.””
(Genesis 27:39-41)

Isaac had already given his best blessing for Esau away. He didn’t have anything that was as good for Esau. And he couldn’t curse Jacob, because it would fall back on himself (Genesis 27:29). Instead, he did the best he could and gave Esau a loophole. Yes, he would live by the world that he depended on (Esau was always about the flesh, not the spirit). Yes, Jacob would have the superior position. But in the end, Esau would be able to break away and live on his own. It would not be forever.

Esau did not like the blessing. He did not like that he had to be subordinate to his brother for any period of time. He did not like that he had to live by his own efforts. He did not like that riches and ease were not being poured on him. He did not like the yoke of this blessing, even though it gave him the best chance to live the way he preferred to live.

Esau’s answer to this blessing was to hate his brother and determine to kill him. Esau did not take this as a lesson and improve his life. Esau did not see this as an opportunity to better his spiritual life. Esau did not see this as a signpost to get closer to God and let God run the show. Esau blamed Jacob and determined to eliminate the source of his negative feelings. Esau was repeating the error of Cain (Genesis 4:3-8).

Isaac had tried to steer God’s blessing onto his favourite child. Rebekah had tried to do the same. None of them had asked God what He wanted. None of them were acting in trust in Him. This created nothing but strife and now there is a life on the line. When we try and do God’s thing our way, nothing but trouble follows. We need to rely on Him for the blessing, but we also need to rely on Him for how to accept the blessing. His way, not our way.

The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 39.—40. Not ויתן לך האלקים, not under special Management and Guidance of God, but as far as it lies in “heaven and earth” in the ordinary course of things in accordance with the laws of nature, will you attain material plenty. Your sword will be the means by which you will carve your history in the world. You will be the stronger, will conquer the world — to lay the conquered world at the feet of Jacob. “Rome”, the power of the sword, conquers the world, only ultimately, after finding out all its errors, to lay it at the feet of the ideals of Jacob-Israel. As long as you persist in ruling, looking on and using every material conquest only as the step for further conquests, for so long you are in reality working for your brother (only proving to the world, and ultimately to yourself, the futility and lack of security which the power of the sword really acquires I. L.). As long as you are רב, for so long will רב יעבד צעיר, only כאשר תריד when you come down, by your own free-will, voluntarily acknowledge and submit yourself to the ideals of your brother, will you emancipate yourself and stand on an equal footing to your brother. — ריד and רוד, related to ירד (cf. היום רד מאד Judges XIX. 11) to be humbled, to humble oneself. אריד בשיחי (Ps.LV. 3) I sink down in woefulness in prayer”. ויהודה עוד רד עם ה׳ (Hos. XII. 1) “Even in humiliation, Judah is still with God”. יורד בבכי (Is. XV. 3) offers a parrallel to אריד בשיחי. V. 41 שטם .וישטם related to שתם (Lament. III. 8) and סתם, closed in, stopped up, designates a hate which is kept back, a similar conception to נטר which in general, means: guarded, kept, and in particular: to keep, them, retain, hate. “On account of the blessing which his father had given him”. One can take either of the blessing which his father had given Jacob, or which he had given him, Esau. For in this latter it is only distinctly said how his whole future position would be subordinate to that of the future House of Jacob. For he had been told that his importance in the world was only for the benefit of Jacob, and if he wanted to be his equal he would have to subordinate himself to him — ואהרגה, did not my father say על חרבך תחיה, well that shall be the first use to which I shall put my sword.’

The sage Ramban writes: ‘BEHOLD (‘HINEI’), OF THE FAT PLACES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE THY DWELLING. The intent of the word hinei (behold) is: “Now I could give you of the fat places of the earth and of the dew of heaven, for of these there is sufficient [abundance] for both of you to have of the fat places of the earth and of the dew of heaven, but in the matter of lordship, that will be his, and you shall serve him.” Isaac also did not give him plenty of corn and wine as he gave to his brother since he wanted to honor the one who had been blessed first above him. Later he said to Jacob, And G-d Almighty give thee the blessing of Abraham… that thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings, meaning that he should have the plentifulness of the corn and wine in the land of Canaan, which was Abraham’s gift, while Esau would have the dew and the fat places of the earth in another land. AND ON THY SWORD (‘VE’AL CHARBECHA’) YOU SHALL LIVE. The meaning of ve’al charbecha is as if it were written, becharbecha (by thy sword). A similar case is the verse, For man does not live ‘al halechem’ (on bread) alone, which means belechem (by bread). Now the blessing is not that he live on the booty he takes from his enemies by the sword, for he has already given him of the fat places of the earth and of the dew of heaven by which he shall live. Instead, the purport of the blessing is that he survive his battles and be victorious, and not fall by the sword of an enemy. It is for this reason that immediately following this he said, And thou shall serve thy brother, meaning, “but you will not prevail over him. Instead, he will prevail over you.” AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS WHEN THOU SHALL BREAK LOOSE in thy suffering on account of Jacob’s transgression, THEN THOU SHALT SHAKE HIS YOKE FROM OFF THY NECK. This is an indication to Israel that they should not contend with the children of Esau too much in order to do them evil. This is what Scripture commanded: Take ye good heed, contend not with them, etc. And so did our Rabbis say: “For Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to David, ‘I said, Contend not with them, and you did contend. By your life, these six months will not accrue to you and your reign.’ We know this was fulfilled since it is written, And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years, but in truth he reigned six more months, as it is written, In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months.” The Rabbis also said, “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to David, ‘Thy hands are sharp and pointed, and I seek to rule my world with them, etc’” AND ESAU SAID IN HIS HEART. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said, “It is possible that he revealed his secret to one of his friends.” But this is not necessarily so for any decision which a person reaches after deliberation is referred to in Hebrew as “speaking with the heart,” even when it also includes speech with the lips. A similar case is found in the verse, And with a double heart do they speak, for the will is synonymous with the heart. And all Israel were of one heart to make David king, meaning that they had all arrived at the same decision and were talking of it. Similarly, And Jeroboam said in his heart. Similarly did Eliezer say, And before I had finished speaking in my heart, whereas the prayer there was with his lips, as Scripture states, And he said, O Eternal G-d of my lord Abraham. However it is possible that the expression, before I had finished speaking in my heart, means “before I had concluded the thought in my mind.” Now here the verse states that when the great hatred of Jacob permeated Esau’s soul because of the blessing, he conceived the idea of murdering his brother, and with this he comforted himself from his depressed state. This explains the verse, And the words of Esau were told to Rebekah. This is why she said to Jacob, Thy brother Esau comforts himself to slay thee. Now Rashi comments, “She was told, through Ruach Hakodesh, what Esau was thinking in his heart.” And so it is found in Bereshith Rabbah. If so, Esau’s words and thoughts were only in his heart, just as in the verse, I spoke with my own heart. The reason that Esau said, Let the days of mourning for my father be at hand then will I slay my brother is because he would not bring grief to his father during his lifetime. Perhaps it was due to his fear lest his father curse him, and his blessing would then turn into a curse. Rebekah, [who nevertheless advised Jacob to flee], feared that perhaps the elderly one would die suddenly, and Esau would then kill Jacob, or perhaps he might find occasion to kill him even during Isaac’s lifetime.’