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These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son:
Abraham fathered Isaac. (Gen. 25:19)

Isaac and Rebecca had been married for twenty years but were still without an heir to carry on the family line.  Finally their prayers were answered and Rebecca conceived, though not without complications. When she inquired of the LORD about her travail, He told her that she was carrying twins that would be heads of two rival nations, but the younger child would in fact become the promised heir of the chosen people.

The day came for Rebecca to give birth, and the first child came out "red and covered with hair," so they called his name Esav ("hairy"); then his brother came out with his hand grasping Esau's heel, so they named him Ya'akov ("supplanter," from the Hebrew root meaning "heel"). Since Isaac was 60 years old when the twins were born (Gen. 25:26) and he had married Rebecca at age 40 (Gen 25:20), we know that they had waited 20 years for the birth of their first descendants.

Esau grew up to be "a skillful hunter, a man of the field," while Jacob was ish tam yoshev ohalim, "a wholesome man, who lived in tents."  Isaac favored Esau; but Rebecca, believing the promise of the LORD, favored Jacob (we have to ask why Isaac did not believe the message given to Rebecca regarding the twins, but that's another matter).

The portion then gives us a look at the spiritual life of the two boys. According to Jewish tradition, on the day of the funeral of their grandfather Abraham, Jacob was cooking lentil soup for Isaac, the traditional mourner's meal. Esau rushed in from a hunting expedition, exhausted and hungry. He then begged Jacob to give him some of "that red stuff" (ha'dom hezeh), but Jacob answered that he would give him some only if he would sell him his birthright.  Esau, profane as he was in his thinking, and concerned only with his immediate satisfaction, agreed to the terms and discounted his birthright as being worth only a plate of beans (on account of this incident, Esau was given the additional name of Edom ("red"), and some Jewish commentators claim that he became the head of Rome, though this interpretation seems unlikely). Nevertheless, vaiyiven esav et-habechorah, "Esau spurned the birthright."

Next we read how Isaac followed in the footsteps of his father Abraham.  A famine occurred in the land of Canaan, and Isaac and Rebecca moved to the town of Gerar (under the jurisdiction of Abimelech of the Philistia), perhaps with the intent of going all the way to Egypt. The LORD then told him not to go, but to remain in promised land, where He would bless him and make his descendants number as the stars in heaven. Isaac obeyed, but presented Rebecca as his sister (as Abraham had done with Sarah) out of fear that he would be killed by someone coveting her beauty. However, like Abraham, Isaac's ruse was exposed, and he was chided by Abimelech for his duplicity.

Isaac and his family then settled in the town of Gerar and became so wealthy and powerful that the Philistines began to envy him. Abimelech finally asked him to resettle elsewhere, so Isaac moved to a nearby valley. After a series of contentions with the Gerarites regarding water rights, he finally found rehebot, or room to settle down.

Later Isaac relocated to Be'er Sheva where the LORD appeared to him and renewed the  covenant of Abraham with him. There he built an altar and offered sacrifices to the LORD.  Abimelech then sent a delegation to make terms of peace. This section ends with the news that Esau, at the age of forty, married two Hittite women (Judith and Basemath, respectively), described as being a "source of bitterness to Isaac and Rebecca."

The story jumps ahead to when Isaac had grown old and was nearly blind. Thinking that his end was near, he wanted to bless Esau as the family heir before he died (it seems that Isaac wasn't the best family communicator, since doubtlessly Rebecca had long believed Jacob to be the appointed heir, and Jacob had earlier obtained the rights of the bechor (firstborn) by means of the agreement he had made with Esau). Nonetheless, Isaac instructed Esau to go off to hunt for his favorite food, after which he would then give him the formal blessing as the head of promised line.

Rebecca overheard the plan and sprang into action. She instructed Jacob to prepare a similar dish, dress in Esau's cloths, and cover his arms and neck with a goatskin costume to simulate the smell and feel of his more hirsute brother. Then he would pass himself off as Esau and thereby foist the blessing from his father.

Everything went according to Rebecca's scheme, and Jacob received Isaac's blessing (if even under such deceptive circumstances). To Jacob would be "the dew of the heaven and the fat of the land" and mastery over his brother. However, scarcely after having given the blessing of the bechor to Jacob, Esau returned from his hunt with a meal for his father. The deception was then made plain, but Isaac refused to revoke the blessing he had given to Jacob.  All that was left for inconsolable Esau was the promise that though he would serve his brother Jacob, eventually he would break his yoke from his neck.  At this point, Esau began plotting to murder his brother for his deception.

Upon learning of Esau's intention, Rebecca instructed Jacob to flee back to Haran to stay with her brother Laban until Esau cooled off. She then cajoled Isaac by insisting that she wanted Jacob to marry a woman from the old country - and not one of the Hittite women of Canaan. To his credit, Isaac listened to his wife and told Jacob to go to Haran and find a wife from among his cousins living there.

The parashah ends with the account of Esau's marriage to a third wife named Mahalath (a daughter of Ishmael), in a pathetic attempt to finally gain his parent's approval.

Haftarah Reading Snapshot:

The Haftarah for Parashat Toldot comes from the first part of the book of Malachi. Malakhi means "my messenger" and was one of the last of the Hebrew prophets who served the LORD after the Babylonian exile during the Second Temple period.

The LORD had shown great favor to the Jewish people as the descendants of Israel. He had showered them with blessings, even to the exclusion of their ancestor Esau (who despised the role of the priesthood by rejecting his status as bechor).  He gave to Israel alone the land of promise, and restored the Temple and priesthood as in the days of old.

Yet despite all the good favor shown to them, the Jewish people showed a disdainful attitude toward the Temple and its service (and therefore to God Himself). Malachi described how the people would offer blind sacrifices or animals that were lame or sick, and thereby held the altar of the LORD in contempt.  Moreover, the priests themselves failed to live up to the legacy of the great heroes of the Tribe of Levi.

The haftarah ends with a warning that such contempt would change their blessings as God's chosen people into a curse, since the children of Israel were now acting in a manner that resembled their profane ancestor Esau!

Brit Chadashah Snapshot:

The reading from the Brit Chadashah reveals Paul's desire to see all of Israel come to understand the truth of salvation as given through the Promised Seed of Abraham, Yeshua the Mashiach.

Nevertheless, since it is true that many of the Jewish people have rejected their Mashiach, Paul consoles himself by reflecting that not all physical descendants of Abraham are made the inheritors of the covenantal blessings from the LORD. No, Abraham had two sons, but it was Isaac (not Ishmael) who was chosen; and Isaac also had two sons, but it was Jacob (not Esau) who was chosen. In other words, even though Ishmael and Esau were physical descendants of Abraham, they were not chosen to be inheritors of the blessing of God.

Indeed, regarding the case of Jacob and Esau, Paul goes further by saying that "though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad -- in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call -- Rebecca was told, "The older will serve the younger." He then quotes from the haftarah (Malachi 1: 3): "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

Paul then asks the rhetorical question of whether all this might be unfair.  After all, was it Esau's fault that he was rejected when God had Himself foreordained that the blessing should not be his? Paul answers this by flatly saying that the LORD God of Israel is sovereign and can choose to show mercy and grace to whomsoever He wills - man's objections notwithstanding.  In other words, God has the complete right to predestine outcomes to suit His good pleasure and purposes, and mankind must simply accept His rule and reign in the universe.

Being a physical descendant of Abraham is not enough to be a part of God's family, since only the children of the promise are counted as God's offspring. And that even includes "goyim," or Gentiles, as the prophet Hosea revealed: "those who were not my people I will call 'my people,' and her who was not beloved I will call children of the Living God" (Hosea 1:10).  And did not the prophet Isaiah also cry out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved"?

Paul ends this line of thinking by saying that those who trust in the promise of God's salvation through the Mashiach have attained righteousness by faith; but those who pursue their own righteousness based on the law will never succeed in reaching that goal, since Yeshua alone is the "end of the law for righteousness" to all who believe:



"For by works of the law no one will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith." (Romans 3:20-4).

Addendum:

The Deception of Esau

In this week's Torah portion we read that God told Rebecca, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided..." (Gen. 25:23). These twins, of course, were Esau (עֵשָׂו) and Ya'akov (יַעֲקב), respectively.



According to Rashi (and others), Esau was also the founder of Edom (Gen. 25:30), a nation that eventually became identified with political Rome.  The issue of the birthright - and therefore the mantle of Abrahamic leadership - was therefore crucial for the history of the Jewish people. To this day, Rome (i.e., "Edom") and Israel are considered perpetual enemies...

Some of the sages have argued that Rebecca's deception of Isaac was la-shamayim, "for the sake of heaven." After all, was she not explicitly told - by God - that "the elder would serve the younger" (Gen. 25:23)?   And was it not evident later that Jacob, described as ish tam yoshev ohalom - "a man of integrity who dwelled in tents" - was better suited for Abraham's heritage than Esau, who was described as ish yodea tzayid - "a man who knew entrapment" (the word tzayid suggests that Esau knew how to "entrap," i.e., deceive)?  Indeed, Rebecca surely knew that Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob for "a mess of pottage," and she also understood that Jacob had tested his brother to determine whether his commitment to the family and its spiritual purpose was genuine.  When Esau later married two "Hittite" women, was this not a source of bitterness to the family (Gen. 26:34-35)? And it's important to remember that Esau's polygamous union with the women of the surrounding pagan culture occurred before the duplicity that led to Jacob obtaining the blessing of the firstborn (bechor) from Isaac....

How could Isaac have been so blind? Couldn't he see the spiritual qualities of his sons? Why didn't he take heed of Rebecca's concern and counsel?  And what of the portentous prophecy that the "elder shall serve the younger"? How could Isaac have missed this crucial truth about the future heir of the Jewish people -- especially since it was the overriding concern of his father Abraham?  And what about the Akedah itself? Surely Isaac understood the promise that Abraham's legacy would bless the entire world.... 

But perhaps Isaac may be "excused" from his ignorance because all he ever knew was the integrity and love of his father Abraham, and therefore it would have been unthinkable to him that one of his sons could be a deceiver...  The twist here is that the deceiver was not Jacob, but rather Esau, who (according to midrash) "entrapped" his father into thinking that he was so punctilious in keeping the commandments that he would ask him how much salt he should tithe before salting his food...

Rebecca's deception of her husband was intended to show him that he was gullible and thereby easily deceived by Esau's hypocrisy. It was an object lesson, if you will, rather than a outright case of "stealing."  After all, Esau was soon to arrive - venison in hand - and the charade would be exposed for all to see... No, Rebecca's plan was to "open the eyes" of her myopic husband, revealing to him that he had been guilty of sacrificing the righteous son Jacob for the sake of deceptive Esau. 

We all know the story. The dissimulation succeeded, of course, and Jacob managed to "steal" the blessing from his father.  When Esau returned from his hunting expedition, Isaac later tremblingly acknowledged to him that "... he (Jacob, not Esau) shall be blessed" (Gen. 27:33), thereby indicating that his spiritual sight was indeed restored.  Isaac finally understood the truth about his sons... As Rebecca already foresaw, Jacob was not to be cursed as a deceiver, since it was Esau who all along had been deceiving him!

But Esau cried out with "an exceedingly great and bitter cry" and implored his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!" (Gen. 27:34). Isaac again acknowledged that Jacob had come deceitfully and "taken away the blessing," yet Esau persisted: "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father" (Gen. 27:34-38).

Isaac then blessed Esau with the same two blessings he gave to Jacob, though the order of the blessings was reversed: The "fat places" of the earth would be his dwelling and also the "dew of heaven" from above. In other words, Esau would be given prosperity in this world, and then (if he was interested), the "dew from heaven." Jacob, on the other hand, was given the same blessings but in right relation: his first concern would be prosperity in the world to come, and then (if he was interested) would he partake of the "fat places" of the earth.  

But what about this "deception for the sake of heaven"?  Does the Torah endorse it as some sort of pragmatic necessity to effect the will of God?

Well, despite Rebecca's good intentions, it's clear that the Torah depicts Jacob as complicit in an act of real deception ("Are you my son Esau?" "I am...") -- for which he paid dearly.  First he earned the (perpetual) enmity of his twin brother Esau, who sought to murder him for his treachery.  When Jacob then fled to his mother's ancestral home, his uncle Laban deceived him several times, first by switching Leah for his betrothed Rachel, and later by fudging with his wages. Later, his firstborn son (of Leah) Reuben dishonored him by committing incest with his concubine Bilhah (Gen. 35:22), and later still, when Jacob attempted to shower "extra blessings" upon his "firstborn son" (of Rachel), his other sons collectively deceived him by implying that Joseph was dead, showing Jacob his the blood-soaked coat of many colors.  Fascinatingly, Joseph's subsequent exile in Egypt corresponded to the number of years that Jacob spent away from his own father, Isaac, and he was further deceived into thinking that his long-lost son was an Egyptian vizier...

The enmity of Esau haunted Jacob for years, even to the point of wrestling with the Angel of LORD over the issue (Gen. 32:24-29). From such wrestling came a resolution -- the true blessing from God Himself that resulted in a "limp" -- and the new name of "Israel."



Nonetheless, the sibling rivalry with Esau had cost him dearly.  Above all, Jacob yearned for the approval and love of his father Isaac, yet he found himself a fugitive from the land of promise, a vagabond, and bereft of his loving mother's embrace (Rebecca died while Jacob was in exile). Psychologically it may be asked if Jacob's act of deception was not, in effect, a pathetic attempt to "entrap" his father's love.  After all, Isaac loved Esau (Gen. 25:28), and Esau was a skilled deceiver.  Perhaps if Jacob could be more like his brother, then his father would likewise love him?

What a profound hunger -- for the love of our fathers!   I have suffered, as I am sure many of you have, too, with the hunger to feel my father's love, acceptance, and affection, only to be denied, to feel bereft, to be driven and made desperately lonely because of this lack.  Each of us must "wrestle with the Angel" to find the source of blessing from our true, Heavenly Father... Each of us must find healing for the abandonment of our fathers by returning to the embrace of our true Father in Heaven.  

 

Blessing:

based on the Torah portion

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