And Rebekah spoke unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
Gen 27:6-10
Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth
Rebekahs cunning plot in favour of Jacob
I.
THE HUMAN ELEMENT IN IT.
1. The partiality of a fond mother.
2. Ambition.
II. THE RELIGIOUS ELEMENT IN IT.
1. It seemed as if the oracle of God was likely to become void.
2. The crisis was urgent. (T. H. Leale.)
Crooked measures to obtain a worthy object
This is a mysterious affair. It was just that Esau should lose the blessing, for by selling his birthright he had despised it. It was Gods design, too, that Jacob should have it. Rebekah also knowing of this design, from it having been revealed to her that the elder should serve the younger, appears to have acted from a good motive. But the scheme which she formed to correct the error of her husband was far from being justifiable. It was one of those crooked measures which have too often been adopted to accomplish the Divine promises; as if the end would justify, or at least excuse the means. Thus Sarah acted in giving Hagar to Abraham; and thus many others have acted under the idea of being useful in promoting the cause of Christ. The answer to all such things is that which God addressed to Abraham: I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou perfect. The deception practised on Isaac was cruel. If he be in the wrong, endeavour to convince him; or commit it to God, who could turn his mind, as he afterwards did that of Jacob when blessing Ephraim and Manasseh; but do not avail yourself of his loss of sight to deceive him. Such would have been the counsel of wisdom and rectitude; but Rebekah follows her own. (A. Fuller.)
Use of unscrupulous meals by religious persons
To this day the method of Rebekah and Jacob is largely adopted by religious persons. It is notorious that persons whose ends are good frequently become thoroughly unscrupulous about the means they use to accomplish them. They dare not say in so many words that they may do evil that good may come, nor do they think it a tenable position in morals that the end sanctifies the means; and yet their consciousness of a justifiable and desirable end undoubtedly does blunt their sensitiveness regarding the legitimacy of the means they employ. For example, Protestant controversialists, persuaded that vehement opposition to Popery is good, and filled with the idea of accomplishing its downfall, are often guilty of gross misrepresentation, because they do not sufficiently inform themselves of the actual tenets and practices of the Church of Rome. In all controversy, religious and political, it is the same. It is always dishonest to circulate reports that you have no means of authenticating; yet how freely are such reports circulated to blacken the character of an opponent, and to prove his opinions to be dangerous. It is always dishonest to condemn opinions we have not inquired into, merely because of some fancied consequence which these opinions carry in them; yet how freely are opinions condemned by men who have never been at the trouble carefully to inquire into their truth. They do not feel the dishonesty of their position, because they have a general consciousness that they are on the side of religion, and of what has generally passed for truth. All keeping back of facts which are supposed to have an unsettling effect is but a repetition of this sin. There is no sin more hateful. Under the appearance of serving God, and maintaining His cause in the world, it insults Him by assuming that, if the whole bare, undisguised truth were spoken, His cause would suffer. The fate of all such attempts to manage Gods matters by keeping things dark, and misrepresenting fact, is written for all who care to understand in the results of this scheme of Rebekahs and Jacobs. They gained nothing, and they lost a great deal, by their wicked interference. They gained nothing; for God had promised that the birthright would be Jacobs, and would have given it him in some way redounding to his credit and not to his shame. And they lost a great deal. The mother lost her son; Jacob had to flee for his life, and, for all we know, Rebekah never saw him more. And Jacob lost all the comforts of home, and all those possessions his father had accumulated. He had to flee with nothing but his staff, an outcast to begin the world for himself. From this first false step onwards to his death, he was pursued by misfortune, until his own verdict on his life was, Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life. (M. Dods, D. D.)
Ahead of Providence
Luther was very importunate at the throne of grace to know the mind of God in a certain matter; and it seemed to him as if he heard God speak to his heart thus: I am not to be traced. One adds, If He is not to be traced, He may be trusted; and that religion is of little value which will not enable a man to trust God where he can neither trace nor see Him. But there is a time for everything beneath the sun; and the Almighty has His times and seasons. It has been frequently with my hopes and desires, in regard to Providence, as with my watch and the sun. My watch has often been ahead of true time; I have gone faster than Providence, and have been forced to stand still and wait, or I have been set back painfully. Flavel says, Some providences, like Hebrew letters, must be read backwards. (J. G. Wilson.)
God will not have His kingdom maintained by carnal policy
We must walk in simplicity, sine plicis, for though the serpent can shrink up into his folds, and appear what he is not, yet it doth not become the saint to shuffle either with God or men. Jacob got the blessing by a wile, but he might have got it cheaper by plain dealing. (W. Gurnall.)
A lie not permitted to man
The minister of the seminary at Clermont, France, having been seized at Autun by the populace, the mayor, who wished to save him, advised him not to take the oath, but to allow him to tell the people that he had taken it. I would myself make known your falsehood to the people, replied the clergyman; it is not permitted me to ransom my life by a lie. The God who prohibits my taking the oath will not allow me to make it believed that I have taken it. The mayor was silent, and the minister was martyred.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
6-10. Rebekah spake unto JacobSheprized the blessing as invaluable; she knew that God intended it forthe younger son [Ge 25:23]; andin her anxiety to secure its being conferred on the right objectonone who cared for religionshe acted in the sincerity of faith; butin crooked policywith unenlightened zeal; on the false principlethat the end would sanctify the means.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son,…. Who was in the tent with her, and for whom she had the strongest affection:
saying, behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother; heard the conversation that passed between them, and particularly what Isaac had given in charge to Esau,
saying, as follows:
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, 7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death. 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. 9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: 10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: 12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. 13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. 14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. 15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck: 17 And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
Rebekah is here contriving to procure for Jacob the blessing which was designed for Esau; and here,
I. The end was good, for she was directed in this intention by the oracle of God, by which she had been governed in dispensing her affections. God had said it should be so, that the elder should serve the younger; and therefore Rebekah resolves it shall be so, and cannot bear to see her husband designing to thwart the oracle of God. But,
II. The means were bad, and no way justifiable. If it was not a wrong to Esau to deprive him of the blessing (he himself having forfeited it by selling the birthright), yet it was a wrong to Isaac, taking advantage of his infirmity, to impose upon him; it was a wrong to Jacob too, whom she taught to deceive, by putting a lie into his mouth, or at least by putting one into his right hand. It would likewise expose him to endless scruples about the blessing, if he should obtain it thus fraudulently, whether it would stand him or his in any stead, especially if his father should revoke it, upon the discovery of the cheat, and plead, as he might, that it was nulled by an error person–a mistake of the person. He himself also was aware of the danger, lest (v. 12), if he should miss of the blessing, as he might probably have done, he should bring upon himself his father’s curse, which he dreaded above any thing; besides, he laid himself open to that divine curse which is pronounced upon him that causeth the blind to wander out of the way, Deut. xxvii. 18. If Rebekah, when she heard Isaac promise the blessing to Esau, had gone, at his return from hunting, to Isaac, and, with humility and seriousness, put him in remembrance of that which God had said concerning their sons,–if she further had shown him how Esau had forfeited the blessing both by selling his birthright and by marrying strange wives, it is probable that Isaac would have been prevailed upon knowingly and wittingly to confer the blessing upon Jacob, and needed not thus to have been cheated into it. This would have been honourable and laudable, and would have looked well in the history; but God left her to herself, to take this indirect course, that he might have the glory of bringing good out of evil, and of serving his own purposes by the sins and follies of men, and that we might have the satisfaction of knowing that, though there is so much wickedness and deceit in the world, God governs it according to his will, to his own praise. See Job xii. 16, With him are strength and wisdom, the deceived and the deceiver are his. Isaac had lost the sense of seeing, which, in this case, could not have been imposed upon, Providence having so admirably well ordered the difference of features that no two faces are exactly alike: conversation and commerce could scarcely be maintained if there were not such a variety. Therefore she endeavours to deceive, 1. His sense of tasting, by dressing some choice pieces of kid, seasoning them, serving them up, so as to make him believe they were venison: this it was no hard matter to do. See the folly of those that are nice and curious in their appetite, and take a pride in humouring it. It is easy to impose upon them with that which they pretend to despise and dislike, so little perhaps does it differ from that to which they give a decided preference. Solomon tells us that dainties are deceitful meat; for it is possible for us to be deceived by them in more ways than one, Prov. xxiii. 32. 2. His sense of feeling and smelling. She put Esau’s clothes upon Jacob, his best clothes, which, it might be supposed, Esau would put on, in token of joy and respect to his father, when he was to receive the blessing. Isaac knew these, by the stuff, shape, and smell, to be Esau’s. If we would obtain a blessing from our heavenly Father, we must come for it in the garments of our elder brother, clothed with his righteousness, who is the first-born among many brethren. Lest the smoothness and softness of Jacob’s hands and neck should betray him, she covered them, and probably part of his face, with the skins of the kids that were newly killed, v. 16. Esau was rough indeed when nothing less than these would serve to make Jacob like him. Those that affect to seem rough and rugged in their carriage put the beast upon the man, and really shame themselves, by thus disguising themselves. And, lastly, it was a very rash word which Rebekah spoke, when Jacob objected the danger of a curse: Upon me be thy curse, my son, v. 13. Christ indeed, who is mighty to save, because mighty to bear, has said, Upon me be the curse, only obey my voice; he has borne the burden of the curse, the curse of the law, for all those that will take upon them the yoke of the command, the command of the gospel. But it is too daring for any creature to say, Upon me be the curse, unless it be that curse causeless which we are sure shall not come, Prov. xxvi. 2.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 6-17:
Rebekah’s plan was daring but simple. She ordered Jacob to slaughter two kids from the flock of goats, and she prepared the “savory” (delicious) meat which Isaac loved. Jacob was apprehensive. Esau was hairy, Jacob was not. If Isaac should feel his hands, arms, and neck, he would discover the plot, and Jacob would be cursed and not blessed. Rebekah provided for this, however. She made coverings for Jacob’s neck, arms, and hands, using the skins of the goat kids Jacob had slaughtered. These were “camel-goats,” with long, fine, black wool which was soft like human hair.
Rebekah’s motive was to gain the Covenant Blessing for Jacob. This was also God’s plan. However, Rebekah sought to do God’s will by her own devices. She was unwilling to wait for God to overrule Isaac’s wrong design, which was to give the Blessing to Esau rather than to Jacob. This conspiracy of mother and son hindered the full, free working of God’s power to overcome the errors of men.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 27:6-10
REBEKAHS CUNNING PLOT IN FAVOUR OF JACOB
I. The human element in it.
1. The partiality of a fond mother. She tenderly loved this son, and was ready to sacrifice herself to promote his welfare and distinction.
2. Ambition. She wanted to see her favourite son raised to the highest honour. Yet her ambition was devoid of selfishness, for she asked nothing for herself, but only for Jacob. But here is a trait of female character: it is a womans ambition, not a mans, doing wrong, not for her own advantage, but for the sake of one she loved. It is a touch of womanhood.(Robertson.)
II. The religions element in it. We must remember that we are dealing here with the history of the Church of God. These persons are mentioned, and their acts related because they have to do with this history. We justly blame Rebekah, but we have to consider her conduct in the light of her circumstances and character. Her faith in God was placed in circumstances of great trial.
1. It seemed as if the oracle of God was likely to become void. The purpose of Isaac was known, and it was against Gods revealed purpose. The stubbornness of an old man forbade the thought that he would listen to argument, or set aside the claims of a long-cherished affection. The known will of God and the known will of her husband were at variance. It is a difficult matter to trust in God alone, and to forsake all leaning upon ourselves.
2. The crisis was urgent. Isaac had taken steps to carry out his intention. He supposes himself to be on his deathbed and, therefore, makes up his mind to impart the blessing, which when once bestowed was irrevocable. What in this emergency is the believing wife to do? It was of no use to try mild measures, for the mind of the old man was weak and his purpose too deeply seated. She ought to have left the matter with God, and to be content to be still, to trust, and to wait. But it is a hard trial to allow a great evil to happen when we have the means of preventing it. To work and scheme is more easy than to be silent. When we see the declared will of God likely to be thwarted, it seems as if any device of ours to prevent it becomes a justifiable, and even a pious necessity. The sin of Rebekah was of a complex nature. Hence how difficult it is to estimate human conduct if we only regard it from the outside. We label sins as by a catalogue. We judge of man by their acts; but it is far truer to say that we can only judge the acts by the man. You must understand the man before you can appreciate his deed. The same deed, done by two different persons, ceases to be the same. Abraham laughed, and so did Sarah: one was the laugh of scepticism, the other the result of that reaction in our nature by which the most solemn thoughts are balanced by a sense of strangeness, or even ludicrousness. The Pharisees asked a sign in unbelief; many of the Old Testament saints, in faith. A fine discrimination is therefore needed to understand the simplest deed. A very delicate analysis of character is necessary to comprehend such acts as these and rightly apportion their turpitude and their palliations.(Robertson.)
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 27:6. She overheard what Isaac spoke secretly. Women will be listening; as Sarah behind the door, when she laughed, and little thought to be questioned for it.(Trapp.)
Gen. 27:7-10. The sin of deceiving a man into what is right differs little from deceiving him into what is wrong. The effect of the sin may, indeed, be different; but its moral character in the eyes of Omniscience is substantially the same. The slightest deviation from the straightforward principles of integrity and honesty is contrary to the very genius and actings of a true faith; and though the event was overruled to good, yet this was no justification of the parties concerned. Evil ceases not to be evil because God makes it redound to His glory.(Bush.)
God inclines the love of the mother to the younger, against the custom of nature, because the father loves the elder, against the promise. The affections of parents are divided; that the promise might be fulfilled, Rebekahs craft shall answer Isaacs partiality. Isaac would unjustly turn Esau into Jacob, Rebekah doth as cunningly turn Jacob into Esau: her desire was good; her means were unlawful. God doth oft-times effect His just will by our weaknesses; yet neither thereby justifying our infirmities, nor blemishing His own actions.(Bp. Hall.)
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
‘And Rebekah said to Jacob her son, “Look, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, ‘Bring me venison and make me savoury meat that I may eat, and bless you before Yahweh before my death.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice just as I command you. Go now to the flock and fetch me from there two kids of the goats, and I will make them savoury meat for your father such as he loves. And you will bring it to your father that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” ’
Rebekah’s plan is to replace Esau with Jacob, and she acts accordingly. Note the introduction of ‘before Yahweh’. Isaac had not said that, possibly because he knows Esau will not be impressed by it, but Rebekah knows that Jacob will be impressed by it (compare Gen 27:20).
The subterfuge cannot be fully justified. Both Rebekah and Jacob should have trusted Yahweh to carry out His plans in His own way. But Jacob certainly feels that the firstborn’s portion is his by right and probably felt that that included the blessing. As the blessing included lordship over the brothers he was probably right. He felt that he was about to be cheated. Rebekah also knew and felt the same. And Jacob was her favourite son. Thus they had at least partial justification and felt they were only doing what was right and preventing an injustice. They would both pay a heavy price in the future as a result of Jacob’s ‘banishment’.
On the other hand no credit is reflected on Isaac and Esau. Esau certainly knew that he had sold leadership in the tribe to Jacob, and even if Isaac did not know (which is unlikely) he should not have shown such blatant favouritism. He knew that what he was about to do was epoch-making, and showed the arrogance of an old man who thinks that because of his age he can do whatever he wants. Everyone comes out of this badly. But the reader of that day would probably come down on the side of Jacob. At least he had a valid oath on his side and was supported by a birth prophecy.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 27:6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
Ver. 6. I heard thy father. ] She overheard what Isaac spake secretly. Women will be listening; as Sarah behind the door, when she laughed, and little thought to be questioned for it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Reciprocal: Gen 25:28 – Rebekah
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 27:6. Rebekah spake unto Jacob Rebekah is here contriving to procure the blessing for Jacob, which was designed for Esau. If the end were good, the means were bad, and no way justifiable. If it were not a wrong to Esau to deprive him of the blessing, he himself having forfeited it by selling the birthright, yet it was a wrong to Isaac to take advantage of his infirmity to impose upon him: it was a wrong to Jacob, whom she taught to deceive by putting a lie in his mouth. If Rebekah, when she heard Isaac promise the blessing to Esau, had gone to him, and with humility and seriousness put him in remembrance of that which God had said concerning their sons; if she had further showed him how Esau had forfeited the blessing, both by selling his birthright, and by marrying of strange wives; it is probable Isaac would have been prevailed with to confer the blessing upon Jacob, and needed not thus to have been cheated into it. This had been honourable and laudable, and would have looked well in history; but God left her to herself to take this indirect course, that he might have the glory of bringing good out of evil.