What we're going to do now is we're going to revisit texts that we've looked at in the past in this course, and this time however, we will look at this text through the prisms of the four approaches to presenting the biblical characters that we've just seen. We will also include several different commentaries from the Middle Ages as well as a modern commentary and we will reflect on what those say, vis-a-vis what we saw in a most [inaudible] article, and we will explore what are some of the educational implications of what we're doing here, in terms of teaching this text about these various characters. Now, when we look at Genesis 27, as we said this is texted we've already visited, the story opens with the declaration that Isaac now is old, his vision is failing him, and he calls on his older son Esau and he says to him, "I want you to go out and hunt for me food, and make for me tasty foods as I like, bringing them to me, and I will eat, in order that my soul will bless you before I die". Those are the instructions that Isaac gives to Esau. Now, the interesting part which we will look at is, in addition to Isaac's behavior, we're also going to look now at how Rebecca, the mother, response. Because Rebecca here has a clear role in this whole story, and she plays the role of on the one hand carrying for her son, Jacob, very deeply. At the same time, obviously, she is doing some type of- she's engaging in an action which undermines to a large extent, what her husband Isaac knows or understands. So, let's pay attention to what the verse says, but Rebecca overheard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son, and Esau went to the field to hunt game to bring it to his father. Then, we see another action on Rebecca's part. She said to Jacob, her son, "Behold, I've heard your father speaking to Esau, your brother saying, "Bring me game and make me tasty foods, and I will bless you before the Lord before my death."" Now, all of a sudden, we see that in fact, that Rebecca doesn't exactly say the words that she heard from Isaac, she adds a few things as well. She adds for instance, the words "before the Lord before my death". That does not appear in the verse in for, it just says, "in order that my soul will bless you before I die". It does not say, "and I will bless you before the Lord before my death." So, we see here, that Rebecca in fact is changing the words that she heard from her husband. Then she says to Jacob, and now my son, hearken to my voice, to what I'm commanding you. Now, here's another important clue that the text is giving us. She is saying to her son, I am commanding you to do this, listen to me. In other words, it's not as though she is suggesting it, it is not as though she is requesting it, but rather as the word says in the Hebrew [inaudible] , I am commanding you, very important in terms of our understanding her behavior in this whole story. Then, she goes on and says, go now to the flock, take for me from there to choice kids, and I will make them tasty foods for your father, as he likes, and you shall bring them to your father that he may eat, in order that he bless you before his death. Here again, we have an insight into Rebecca's motives. She says, "Go there and take for me from there two choice kids". You know what she's saying, "this is for me, and I will make them tasty foods for your father, as he likes". In other words, not only is she commanding him to do this, but she is also taking an active role in this whole process of taking the role of Esau, and putting it into Jacob's hands. Then, Jacob said to Rebecca his mother, "Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, whereas I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will touch me, and I will appear to him as a deceiver, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing." Now here, we have an insight into Jacob's behavior. Jacob here says something fascinating. He says, "My brother is hairy, I'm some smooth man, and then my father will touched me, and I will appear to him as a deceiver and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing." The fascinating piece here is, that from Jacob's perspective, he's worried about the practicalities, he's worried that his father will find out that he is not whom he's presenting himself. There is no question here on Jacob's part, and that's the essential point I'd like to make. There's no point from Jacob stressing the moral problematics of the commandment that his mother is saying to him. That's something that we have to understand, that clearly helps us gain insight into Jacob's personality. Obviously, as well into Rebecca's personality. Then, in 13 his mother said to him "On me is your curse, my son. Only hark into my voice, and go. Take them for me." Once again, "take them for me". Once again, Rebecca includes herself in this whole process. He went, he took, he brought them to his mother, and his mother made tasty foods, as his father like. Once again, the text emphasizes the commitment of Rebecca, and the significant role, active role that she assumes in this whole story. And Rebecca took the costly garments of Esau, her eldest son, which were with her in the house, and she dressed Jacob, her younger son. Once again, we see how she assumes an active role. And the hides of the kids she put on his hands and on the smoothness of his neck. Once again, it's her role. And she gave the tasty foods and the bread that she had made, into the hands of Jacob her son. Once again, the text use out, and she and the read that she had made into the hand of Jacob her son. Once again, we see how the text presents Rebecca in such a distinct way as assuming a very clear, and active role in terms of this whole process. And he came to his father, Jacob came to his father and said, "My father!" and Isaac said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?" And here Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn. I've done as you've spoken to me. Please rise, sit down and eat of my game, so that your soul will bless me." Jacob here appears to tell his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn." We have to understand that, I believed literally as the deception of his father. We have to understand that Jacob here decides to lie to his father. "I have done as you've spoken to me". In fact, this was spoken to Esau, his older brother, and not to Jacob, the younger son.
