Genesis 26-28

The Overlooked Patriarch

In chapter 26 we get what is essentially all of the adult Isaac's story.  But even though his time in the spotlight is short, most of the script he's been handed is essentially bad karaoke of his father's greatest hits.  Maybe it shouldn't be surprising that Isaac gets almost no role in the biblical story from here on out, as some traditions likely had his story end on the sacrificial alter.  Isaac is little more than a supporting actor.  As a child he plays the part of sacrificial lamb in a scene portraying his father Abraham's piety.  Then at the end of his life he is the stooge, duped into giving his blessing to the wrong son.

Chapter 26 begins with the third (and hopefully final) version of a bizarre story we've already encountered in chapters 12 & 20.  Yep, it's the good ol' "She's not my wife, she's my sister, please don't kill me" routine.  Like in chapter 12, J opens the story by informing us of famine in the land (26:1).  But unlike in chapter 12, where Abram and Sarai leave for Egypt, Isaac remains because Yahweh explicitly warns him not to flee for Egypt, but instead commands him to stay in Gerar and promises him similar rewards as he promised to Abraham (26:2-5).  In Gerar, Isaac pulls the same stunt, claiming his wife Rebekah is his sister (26:6-7).  It's even the same king as in E's story in chapter 20, Abimelech, who is wronged.  As in the previous versions, it is implied that if one of the locals were to have taken Isaac's "sister" as a wife, the moral failing would lie with the deceived rather than the deceiver.  When Abimelech discovers Isaac fondling his "sister" (26:8) he rebukes them:

Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us." So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, "Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death."
- Genesis 26:10-11

Never during this trio of tales does Yahweh condemn the actions of the patriarch and his wife.  Instead, in Genesis 12 he actually curses the deceived pharoah (12:17-18).  Oh Yahweh, such a wise arbiter of justice, you truly are worthy of praise and adoration.

Lady Justice is blind, but Yahweh plays favorites.

The rest of the Yahwist's narrative in chapter 26 sees Isaac chart a course of summarized plot points from Abraham's life.  He quarrels with the locals over wells (26:15-22), meets Yahweh and is blessed (26:23-25), and makes a covenant with Abimelech (26:26-31).  Nothing Isaac accomplishes in his adult life is his own story.  It makes one wonder, was Isaac originally not Abraham's son, but an alternative version of Abraham?  Was E's sacrifice story polemic against the Isaac tradition in favor of Abraham?  Or perhaps the Yahwist or the redactor of J & E thought Isaac needed some stories of his own but weren't creative enough to come up with anything?  Whatever the case, the character of Isaac sadly plays little more than a bit part in the stories of his father and sons.

From Isaac's Lips to Yahweh's Ears

Before J continues the story of Jacob & Esau in chapter 27, out of nowhere an interjection from the priestly source informs us that Esau's marital choices have disappointed Isaac & Rebekah (26:34-35).  We'll come back to this later, as P's explanation for Yahweh favoring Jacob over Esau is quite different from J's.  We fast-forward a bit toward the end of Isaac's life (because he's not important) when he is feeble and blind.  Knowing his time is short, Isaac asks his eldest (and as far as the Yahwist is concerned, favorite) son Esau to provide him a "last meal" of sorts.  Isaac promises to give Esau his blessing when this task is fulfilled (27:1-4).

Rebekah overhears this exchange and immediately cooks up a plot for her favored son, Jacob, to steal Esau's blessing (27:5-8).  She prepares a delicious meal for Jacob to present to Isaac, dresses him in Esau's clothes, and covers his skin with goatskins to imitate his wilder, hairier brother (27:9-17).  Masquerading as Esau, Jacob presents himself to Isaac and convinces him to bestow upon him his blessing (27:18-25).

Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said,

“Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field that Yahweh has blessed.
May God give you of the dew of heaven,
and of the fatness of the earth,
and plenty of grain and wine.
Let peoples serve you,
and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”
- Genesis 27:26-29

Isaac Blessing Jacob by Nicolas-Guy Brenet - 1768 CE

No sooner has Jacob stolen his brother's blessing and left his father's presence when Esau returns from the field eager to fulfill his father's request and receive his blessing (27:30-31).  Isaac begins to tremble as the truth dawns on him: he has been duped (27:33).  Esau is beside himself with despair, and in desperation demands a blessing as well (27:34-36).  But it's too late, Isaac has already blessed Jacob with dominion over Esau, and in the cultural context of this story a blessing cannot be undone.  Words were believed to have real supernatural or magical power, especially those employed in sacred ritual, such as a father blessing his son.  The only consolation Isaac can offer Esau is that one day he will throw off his brother's yoke (27:40).  This retrojected "prophecy" of sorts was likely meant to explain the real historical event when Edom (understood to be the children of Esau) gained independence from Judah (children of Jacob) in the 9th century BCE.

Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me, me also, father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
- Genesis 27:38

One can't help but pity the despairing Esau.  The Yahwist really presents him as mostly blameless in his account of the twins' story.  While he is foolish to sell his birthright, the loss of his blessing lies squarely on the shoulders of Rebekah and Jacob.  Understandably, Esau vows to slay his brother in retribution (27:41).  Fearing she may lose both of her sons, Rebekah sends Jacob away to live with her family in Haran (27:42-45).

A Different Perspective

The priestly source resumes at the end of chapter 27 to both provide a different take on why Jacob leaves Canaan as well as a different reason for why Jacob is blessed over the elder Esau.  Remember how the end of chapter 26 seemed to contain a random comment on Esau's Hittite wives (26:34-35)?  Well it doesn't seem so random when you realize the previous Yahwist story of Jacob stealing Esau's birthright was inserted right in the middle of a P sequence in which Jacob is sent to Haran to find a wife of proper lineage.  Here in P Jacob is innocent of any wrongdoing.  He receives his father's blessing not because he has swindled it from his brother, but because his brother has shamed himself by marrying two local women.  P and J have fundamentally different understandings of Jacob and Esau.  For the Yahwist, Jacob is a scheming trickster who steals his brother's rightful inheritance and blessing.  For the priestly authors Esau is thankless child, ambivalent to the wishes of his parents.  Here in the priestly account Rebekah does not send Jacob away to flee his brother's wrath, instead Isaac sends him back to Haran to find a wife from within the family (28:1-5), just as his father Abraham sent for a wife for him (chapter 24).  A proper patriarch must marry his cousin, after all.  Esau begins to grasp this concept a little too late, and so takes a daughter of his half-uncle Ishmael as his third wife in an effort to appease his parents (28:6-9).  Eh, you kind-of-sort-of got it right, Esau.

from NBC Universal's The Office - 2005-2013 CE

Dreams of Divinity

The rest of chapter 28 alternates between the J and E sources as Jacob sojourns to the house of Laban.  Jacob comes upon a "place" (the Hebrew term here can also mean "shrine" - great word-play) to camp for the night and falls asleep.  As Jacob dreams, the two narratives are interwoven to combine a visit from the anthropomorphic Yahweh courtesy of the Yahwist and the Elohist's more esoteric vision of the the Gate of the Skies.  J's story is a sort of stock version of a divine visitor - Yahweh appears over him and promises to bless him and his seed (28:13-16) and when Jacob awakens he names the site Beth-El, meaning "House of God" (28:19).  But the E version of the story is a bit more of a trip.  Instead of a manifestation of Yahweh, Jacob witnesses something truly bizarre:

And he took from the stones of the place and set it as his headrest and lay down in that place.  And he dreamed.  And here was a ladder, set up on the earth, and its top reaching to the skies.  And here were angels of God, going up and going down by it.  And he was afraid, and he said, "How awesome this place is!  This is none other than God's house, and this is the gate of the skies!"  And Jacob got up early in the morning and took the stone that he had set as his headrest and set it as a pillar and poured oil on its top.
- Genesis 28:11b-12 & 28:17-18 (Friedman translation)

This encounter with the divine convinces E's Jacob to swear a conditional oath to Yahweh.  If the god of his fathers sees him safely through his travels to Haran and back to Canaan he will adopt Yahweh as his god as well (28:20-22).  You might think Jacob would of course be committed to Yahweh, inheriting his religious tradition from his father and grandfather, but in a polytheistic or henotheistic tradition there are plenty of gods vying for one's devotion.  Allegiances can shift, and adopting one's father's household god is not necessarily a given.

Jacob's Dream by William Blake - 1805 CE

Psalm 20

This psalm could have been used in liturgy to beseech Yahweh to assist the king and kingdom in military conflicts.  While the other nations are described as putting their faith in the weapons of war, the people and Yahweh's anointed put their faith in Yahweh.  His divine assistance emanates from his earthly abodes in the temple sanctuary and his holy mountain and his otherworldly dwelling in the skies.

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Up next: Jacob's (mis)adventures in courtship.  Sounds exciting!