Genesis 27 Footnotes

27:1-29 Though the Lord had told Rebekah that her older son, Esau, would serve her younger son, Jacob (25:23), that in no way excuses the elaborate deception Rebekah and Jacob enacted in order to defraud Esau of his blessing as the older son. Instead of trusting the Lord to accomplish what he had promised, Rebekah took the matter into her own hands, much as Sarah had done by giving Hagar to Abraham (Gn 16).

27:30-45 Esau was justified in his anger about how his blessing was stolen, but he had no right to hold a murderous grudge (Eph 4:26-27). No one involved in this incident was an innocent bystander. Rebekah and Jacob schemed together, and Isaac seemingly ignored the Lord’s prophecy to Rebekah (Gn 25:23) by trying to bless the older son over the younger, though God had said the opposite would happen.