May the mumbling commence!
Will deception and conniving and scheming work? Or will the will of the Lord prevail? It’s no contest. Read from Peterson’s The Message:
So he went and got them and brought them to his mother
and she cooked a
hearty meal, the kind his father loved so much.
Rebekah
took the dress-up clothes of her elder son Esau
and put them on her younger son Jacob. She took the
goatskins and covered his hands and the smooth nape of his neck. Then she placed the hearty meal she had fixed and fresh bread she’d baked into the hands of her son Jacob.
He went
to his father and said, “My father!”
“Yes?” he said. “Which son are you?”
Jacob
answered his father, “I’m your firstborn son Esau. I did what you told me. Come now; sit
up and eat of my game so you can give me your personal
blessing.”
Isaac
said, “So soon?
How did you get it so quickly?”
“Because
your God cleared the way for me.”
Isaac
said, “Come close, son; let me touch you – are you
really my son Esau?”
So Jacob
moved close to his
father Isaac. Isaac felt him and said,
“The voice is Jacob’s voice but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He didn’t recognize him because his hands were
hairy, like his brother Esau’s.
But as he
was about to bless him he pressed him, “You’re sure? You are my son Esau?”
“Yes. I am.”
Isaac
said, “Bring the
food so I can eat of my son’s game and give
you my personal blessing.” Jacob brought it
to him and he ate. He also brought him
wine and he drank. (Genesis 27:14-25)
Now read the same passage from the NIV translation:
So he went and got them and brought them to his mother,
and she prepared
some tasty food, just the way his father liked
it. Then
Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in
the house, and put them on her younger
son Jacob. She also covered his hands and
the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins.
Then she handed to her son Jacob the
tasty food and the bread she had made.
He went
to his father and said, “My father.”
“Yes, my son,” he
answered. “Who is it?”
Jacob
said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn.
I have done as you told me.
Please sit up
and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing.”
Isaac
asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”
“The Lord your God gave me success,” he
replied.
Then
Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can
touch you, my son,
to know whether you really are my son Esau
or not.”
Jacob
went close to his
father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands
are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like
those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. “Are you really my son
Esau?” he asked.
“I am,”
he replied.
Then he
said, “My son,
bring me some of
your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”
Jacob
brought it to him and he ate, and he brought some wine and he drank.
(Genesis 27:14-25)
The differences between the NIV and Peterson’s work are
evident throughout this passage, but they do not change the heart of meaning of
the Scripture.
Isaac was wary.
He knew the propensity for Jacob to deceive. What he had not anticipated fully was the deception
from his wife. Her final touches of the
goatskins on Jacob’s skin helped to seal the deal.
Isaac asks for clarification four times because his
senses and logic were sending him mixed messages. The voice was Jacob’s. There was no way that Esau could not have
successfully hunted, cleaned and prepared a meal so fast. But there was the hairiness of the skin to
his touch… like Esau not Jacob.
Isaac asks one last time, “Is that really you, Esau?” And Jacob continues the deception by
answering yes.
It seems that Jacob and Rebekah were successful in their
deception. But it really was because of
the Lord’s will.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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