27-2: Isaac connives to hand over the “blessing” to Esau

I find it interesting that Esau claims he was duped out of his birthright.

He was the one who agreed to sell it for a bowl of soup in the first place (although it wasn’t his to sell).

It seems like God’s decision to reverse tradition and grant the firstborn rights to Jacob and NOT Esau was based on His foreknowledge of their characters.

He foreknew that Esau would end up despising his birthright anyway and thus his prophetic statement to Rebecca was just a reflection of what would already happen.

Before we move on, recall that the the “birthright” is the rulership authority over the clan and the “blessing” is a double portion of the father’s wealth.

Although they are two distinct things, they also go hand in hand.

So what was Isaac trying to achieve by handing over just the “blessing” portion to Esau?

He was trying to nullify Jacob’s birthright authority.

Jacob would have had a title but no power to back it up.

Kind of like a president without a military.

Or similar to the current Emperor of Japan.

A symbolic position with zero power behind it.

Let’s look at the blessing that Isaac intended for Esau but inadvertently pronounced upon Isaac.

“Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the fatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
May peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
Be master of your brothers,
And may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be those who curse you,
And blessed be those who bless you.”
-Genesis 27:28

It is obvious that certain phrases in this blessing like “Be master of your brothers” are tailored for the firstborn.

I reiterate my point that Isaac had already accepted (albeit reluctantly) that Jacob had been designated the firstborn.

In spite of this, he was using his authority to hand over to Esau those things that by tradition would normally have gone to him anyway.

However, it wasn’t to be.

A conniving Rebecca is going to step in and throw a monkey wrench into this whole operation.

We’ll see what happens next time.