Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

For Saturday, July 4, 2009

13th Week in Ordinary Time

Optional Memorial: St Elizabeth of Portugal

Optional Memorial: Our Lady's Saturday

From: Genesis 27:1-5, 15-29

Jacob Obtains Isaac's Blessing by Cunning
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[1] When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he
called Esau his older son, and said to him, "My son"; and he answered, "Here I
am." [2] He said, "Behold, 1 am old; I do not know the day of my death. [3] Now
then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and
hunt game for me, [4] and prepare for me savory food, such as I love, and bring
it to me that I may eat; that I may bless you before I die."

[5] Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when
Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, [15] (Then) Rebekah took
the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house and
put them on Jacob her younger son; [16] and the skins of the kids she put upon
his hands and upon the smooth part of his neck; [17] and she gave the savory
food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

[18] So he went in to his father, and said, "My father"; and said, "Here I am; who
are you, my son?" [19] Jacob said to his father "I am Esau your first-born. I have
done as you told me; now sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me." [20]
But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?"
He answered, "Because the Lord your God granted me success." [21] Then Isaac
said to Jacob, "Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are
really my son Esau or not." [22] Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him
and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." [23]
And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy Iike his brother
Esau's hands; so he blessed him. He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He
answered, "I am." Then he said, "Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son's game
and bless you." So he brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine,
and he drank. [26] Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me,
my son." [27] So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his
garments, and blessed him, and said, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell
of a field which the Lord has blessed! [28] May God give you of the dew of hea-
ven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. [29] Let peo-
ples serve you, and nations bow down to you."

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Commentary:

27:1-45. Jacob managed to get the birthright; now he is going to get the blessing
his father intended for his firstborn son. Seemingly, this blessing meant he ac-
quired a right to the inheritance he had already bought from Esau and it meant
he would be the head of the family (cf. v. 29). Moreover, by getting his father's
blessing he also received God's blessing. The Bible does not make a judgment
about the methods Jacob used to deflect his father's blessing to himself; but it
does make it clear, once again, that he had no right to it as far as human laws
were concerned; no, he received both the birthright and the blessing as a gratui-
tous gift from God, who chose the younger son (cf. 25:23). Here too, as in the
case of Isaac (cf. 21:8-13), the part played by the mother is stressed; she ig-
nores custom, and plays an active part in the furthering of God's plans. The
passage also stresses how shrewd the patriarch is by comparison with Esau.
Jacob's action is justified in the overall context of the narrative, given that he
bought the birthright previously from his brother. However, the prophet Hosea
was of the opinion that Jacob had done something he should be sorry for; in
which case Jacob prefigures the people of Israel, whom the prophet calls to re-
pentance (cf. Hos 12:37).

This account is in a style similar to what we saw in chapter 24: the action un-
folds over five scenes, each of which includes a dialogue between two people
(their psychology is captured very well); dramatic tension is maintained by curio-
sity as to who will end up winning the blessing; the story is weII told, and rather
amusing.

27:5-17. Rebekah apparently acts out of human motives, impelled by her love for
her favorite (younger) son (cf. 25:28). God will use this favoritism to guide events
so that his plans for the two sons take effect (cf. 25:23). Holy Scripture does not
justify Rebekah's action, but God draws great good from it: the promises made
to Abraham pass, through Jacob, to the people of Israel, his descendants.

27:20. Jacob's reply, invoking the name of God as it does, is not a little astute:
he does not explain how he obtained the game, but the reader is led to believe
that it was Rebekah's doing.

27:26-29. The blessing Isaac gives Jacob evokes the fine qualities of this son, the
fruitfulness of the land and lordship over the nations--three things connected with
the call to Abraham and the promise of land and descendants, as will be pointed
out later on when Isaac reaffirms his blessing after he discovers he has been de-
ceived (cf. 28:3-4). The Letter to the Hebrews (cf. Heb 11:20) teaches that this
blessing and also that received by Esau (cf. Gen 27:39-40), are inspired by faith
and are given with a view to the future, that is, to the fullness of time. And so St
Augustine interprets that "what the blessing of Jacob typifies is,

then, the preaching of Christ to all nations. [...] Isaac is the law and prophecy by
which Christ is blessed by means of the mouth of the Jews. But, since law and
prophecy was not understood, it was as though it came from one who spoke in
ignorance. It is with the aroma of Christ's name that the world, like a field, is filled.
His is the blessing of the dew from heaven (meaning the shower of His divine
words) and of the fruitfulness of the earth (in the sense of the gathering in of the
peoples of the earth). His is the harvest of grain and of wine (interpreted as the
multitude of those who gather the grain and wine in the sacrament of his Body
and Blood. [...] His Father's sons, in the sense of the sons of Abraham accor-
ding to faith, adore Him who is, in turn, a son of Abraham according to the flesh.
Anyone who curses Him is cursed, and anyone who blesses Him is blessed.
What I mean is that it is our Christ who is blessed (in the sense of being truly
announced) even by the Jews themselves, who, for all their errors of hoping for
some other Messiah and of thinking that it is he who is being blessed, still sing
in their synagogues the Laws and the Prophets" ("De Civitate Dei", 16, 37).

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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries".  Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.  We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."  --  St Jerome

"The Father uttered one Word; that Word is His Son, and He utters Him forever
in everlasting silence: and in silence the soul has to hear it.
   --  St John of the Cross