Featured Could Issac really not tell his son Jacob was wearing goat skin ? ?

[Multicolored Lemur]

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 27 - King James Version

And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: Now therefore take, I pray thee...

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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.

18 And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?

-King James Version

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And this is enough to fool the father Isaac ? ?


Later edit —

From verse 15 and earlier, please notice how Isaac’s mother Rebekah is presented as kind of the “coyote trickster” person!

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy first born; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.

20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me.

21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.

22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

23 And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him.

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So, old Isaac wonders —

how his son got the meal of savoury venison so quickly ? ?

why his voice sounds like his younger son ? ?

— But because his hands are hairy, he goes ahead with the blessing.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

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28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:

29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.

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The first part is nice and poetic “ . . the dew of heaven.”

The part about nations bowing down is expecting entirely too much. And the part of being lord over his brothers makes for terrible family dynamics.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

At first, I thought, maybe Isaac knew it was Jacob but was playing along and wanted to give him the birthright blessings anyways. But Genesis 27:23 makes it seem Isaac was convinced by the hairy hands.

I believe that Isaac could have been fooled. He was in old age. Vs. 1 of that chapter says that Isaac was old and could not see. He might have even had some cognitive decline. In that setting, I could kind of see him just not wanting to press matters much, or he was unable to so he just went with it.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

He might have even had some cognitive decline. In that setting, I could kind of see him just not wanting to press matters much, or he was unable to so he just went with it.

I’m going to stick with the idea that it was just bad writing. A good modern writer would never make their main uptick this cardboard.

And his father likely would have attempted to take hold of his hand. Not just be fooled by something sitting on the top of the hand.

Okay, yes, people do often go along. In fact, the Milgram obedience study found that people often seemed to lack the language to begin their rebellion process.

Next up — Issac gives a lesser blessing to Esau and one which predicts violence

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 27 - King James Version

And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: Now therefore take, I pray thee...

www.biblegateway.com

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38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;

40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

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Why did Isaac the father have to set up a self-fulfilling prophecy of violence?

Why couldn’t the son Esau break the “yoke” of his brother by becoming a blacksmith, for example, or any other trade that allowed him to make it in the world?

 

[Scooter]

I’m going to stick with the idea that it was just bad writing. A good modern writer would never make their main uptick this cardboard.

The thing about the Bible is its honesty. If someone was writing a “story” they would have a hero who could see through charades and silly ploys of deception. The Bible is brutally honest and exposes mankind’s weaknesses. As one writer says the Bible shows warts and all.

 

[Scooter]

Why did Isaac the father have to set up a self-fulfilling prophecy of violence?

Why couldn’t the son Esau break the “yoke” of his brother by becoming a blacksmith, for example, or any other trade that allowed him to make it in the world?

Prophecies come from God. Isaac just spoke what God revealed to him. BTW, Esau did make it in the world. By human standards he was successful.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Why did Isaac the father have to set up a self-fulfilling prophecy of violence?

Why couldn’t the son Esau break the “yoke” of his brother by becoming a blacksmith, for example, or any other trade that allowed him to make it in the world?

I view it as a careless mistake on the part of Isaac. Because of this, it caused tension between Esau and Jacob.

I follow the same rationale that Scooter brought up in one his post regarding the Bible being transparent about the weaknesses and careless acts of even its heroes. Similar examples of this is king David lusting after a man's wife and conspiring to kill the husband so he can have her. That's a huge offense involving an abuse of power not to mention adultery. Then there's the story of women being the first witnesses to the empty tomb. Such details would be embarrassing in that time since women weren't considered credible witnesses.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Prophecies come from God. Isaac just spoke what God revealed to him. BTW, Esau did make it in the world. By human standards he was successful.

@Scooter good to have you in the discussion.

To me, the father’s blessing is almost an example of magic. Once the words are spoken, even under circumstances of fraud, they cannot be unspoken ? ! ?

And Esau is shown becoming fabulously wealthy and living a fabulously long life.