{"id":38122,"date":"2018-08-19T08:26:55","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T05:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=38122"},"modified":"2022-03-13T16:48:46","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T14:48:46","slug":"who-was-gaming-whom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/who-was-gaming-whom\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Was Gaming Whom?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[501,486,485,490],"acf":{"old_id":"38122","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33956,"related_cahpter":"27","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Hints in the text that show that things are not as they see(m)...","content":"

At the center of Chapter 27 is a strange scene: While Esau was in the field hunting for food for his father, Jacob stands before his blind father, dressed in goatskins, trying to convince him that he is Esau, in order to steal the blessing as his mother had told him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did Isaac know or did he not know that they were gaming him?<\/span><\/p>\n

At first Isaac asks a reasonable question for a blind father to his twins: “Which of my sons are you?” (27:18), and when Jacob lies to him in his face and answers: “I am Esau, your first-born” (27:19), it seems that Isaac believes him and continues.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the questions begin. \u201cWhy did you hurry?\u201d \u201cThe voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau.\u201d \u201cGet closer so I can smell you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

All the senses of the blind are marshalled to understand what is happening. He is suspicious, but he nevertheless gives a blessing:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMay God give you Of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth, Abundance of new grain and wine. \u00a0Let peoples serve you, And nations bow to you; Be master over your brothers, And let your mother\u2019s sons bow to you. Cursed be they who curse you, Blessed they who bless you” (Genesis 27:28-29).<\/span><\/p>\n

Did he know that he blessed Jacob rather than Esau? After all, he was suspicious the whole time …<\/span><\/p>\n

You can try to figure out if he knew by his reaction when Esau returns:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Isaac was seized with very violent trembling. \u2018Who was it then,\u2019 he demanded, \u2018that hunted game and brought it to me? Moreover, I ate of it before you came, and I blessed him; now he must remain blessed!\u2019\u201d(Genesis 27:33).<\/span><\/p>\n

Apparently, Isaac \u201csuddenly\u201d realized what had happened and was horrified.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I want to give some more credit to Isaac. He may be blind, but he knows very well who is standing before him. And he knows his sons, and his wife, and he too knows how to play along. He knew that he was giving Jacob the appropriate blessing for a leader, and knew that for Esau he was saving an appropriate blessing for a hunter.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are commentators who support this hypothesis. But even the plain sense of the text helps: One can see that Isaac not only does not invalidate the blessing to Jacob, and not only blesses Esau with a blessing that suits him, but in chapter 28 (spoiler alert<\/em>!) Isaac is not angry, does not curse, but offers a blessing to Jacob explicitly with the blessing of a son who is the heir to the blessing of our forefathers: “May He grant the blessing of Abraham to you and your offspring, that you may possess the land where you are sojourning, which God assigned to Abraham” (28:4).<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":96096,"id":96096,"title":"ruth3-boaz blesses ruth","filename":"ruth3-boaz-blesses-ruth.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ruth3-boaz-blesses-ruth.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/who-are-you\/ruth3-boaz-blesses-ruth\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ruth3-boaz-blesses-ruth","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":96095,"date":"2021-08-07 19:54:37","modified":"2022-03-13 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