Genesis 27–28; Job 17–18; Proverbs 3:1-4;
Commentary on Genesis 27–28
Isaac is now old and almost dying, and cannot see anything. He then calls Esau and asks him to prepare a meal for him, so that Esau may be blessed before he dies. Rebekah listens to the conversation and makes Jacob make and deliver the food first so he might be the one blessed. They use deception (Esau’s clothing) and lies (Jacob says multiple times he is Esau) to usurp the blessing of Esau. Isaac has doubts, but nonetheless is fooled and gives the blessing to Jacob.
Esau then enters the room with the prepared food and Isaac understands and says what happened, but he does not revoke the blessing. Esau is bitter about the situation and asks for another blessing, but Isaac cannot give the same, and thus gives a different blessing. But Jacob now is Esau’s and his brothers’ lord.
Because of Esau’s hate, he plans to kill Jacob after Isaac’s death. Rebekah is told about it and says to Jacob to go away to her brother’s Laban until Esau’s fury passes.
Rebekah talks with Isaac about her fears the Hittite women (whom Esau married), and then Isaac forbids Jacob to marry a Hittite woman, and he should marry a Semitic woman, just as Abraham forbade and instruct Isaac. Isaac reiterates the blessing and passes the three-fold blessing/covenant of God to Jacob.
After Jacob left the house to take a wife in Laban’s house, Esau married a daughter of Ishmael, as he saw the Canaanite women didn’t please their parents.
Jacob is visited by God in a dream, where God make the same three-fold promise He made to Abraham and Isaac to him. He wakes up and is amazed by God’s presence, and builds a pillar (a monument) for God in that place.
In Jacob’s dream, he envisions a ladder (not like our modern ladder with rungs, but a stairway) from Earth to Heaven where Angels are descending and ascending.
Perhaps Jacob is skeptical of God’s promises, because he says in Gen 28:20 “If” God keeps his promises, the Lord will be his God, and the pillar he built will be God’s house, and he will give a tenth of everything he gains to God.
Notes:
- The narrative does not condone Rebekah and Jacob’s ways, on the contrary, Esau is portrayed as the victim and pitied.
- Esau’s plan to kill Jacob mimics Cain and Abel, Cain and Esau are the first-born, and both Abel and Jacob are the ones who receive God’s blessing.
- God reiterating his promises confirms Jacob as the chosen one.
- The ladder reaching the heavens recalls the plans for the Tower of Babel.
Questions:
- 😯😯😯🤯🤯🤯
- What’s the difference between birthright and blessing?
- Was somehow the deception justified?
- Was Isaac wrong to go against the oracle that Rebekah received?
Allegorical sense:
- The irrevocable blessing of Isaac to Jacob foreshadows the irrevocability of the sacraments, where the effects of sacraments such as Baptism cannot be undone.
- Jacob’s ladder is a prophetic image of Christ, who bridges the gap between the earth and the heavens by the union of his divine and human natures. The angels ascending and descending can be seen as mediation, which Christ is the perfect mediator. The angels descending are thus an image of Christ’s incarnation and the ascending are thus an image of Christ ascension.
- Further passages to study related to this:
- (John 1:51) Jesus referencing this passage
- (1 Timothy 2:5) Christ as the perfect mediator
- Further passages to study related to this:
Commentary on Job 17–18
Job continues his complaint, with a self-defeating posture. He prays to God to send him a message to give him confirmation about anything, and he thinks God has closed of his friends’ minds about Job’s situation. He thinks his friends are not being wise, and also doesn’t thing there is hope for him.
Bildad responds offended by Job’s words, asking why would Job think they are stupid. He then rebukes Job who thinks God is tearing him apart, saying that Job is the one tearing himself apart in anger. He then continues basically the same point that the wicked are punished, but in his examples of punishments, he says things which Job is suffering right now suck as skin disease and leaving no descendants.
Commentary on Proverbs 3:1-4
Abundant peace is one of the merits of being a wise and faithful person. Don’t forget the teachings and the commandments, have them on your neck (your actions) and on your heart (your inward intentions).