How is Jacob deceiving Isaac to think he was Esau okay?

[Thomasbradley312]

The story of Jacob going along with his mothers plot and deceiving Isaac into thinking he is Esau has always troubled me.
How are his actions justified? It seems like a heinous sin that he would do that to his brother and yet God doesn’t seem to mind? It almost is like teaching us to use deception to get ahead. How is this okay?

 

[Fauken]

From Haydock’s Commentary:

" Ver. 19. I am Esau, thy first-born. S. Augustine, (L. Contra Mendacium, c. x…) treating at large upon this place, excuseth Jacob from a lie, because this whole passage was mysterious, as relating to the preference which was afterwards to be given to the Gentiles before the carnal Jews, which Jacob by prophetic light might understand. So far is certain, that the first birth-right, both by divine election, and by Esau’s free cession, belonged to Jacob: so that if there were any lie in the case, it could be no more than an officious and venial one. Ch. — Ignorance might also excuse them from any sin; as many good and learned men have thought an officious lie to be lawful. S. Chrys. hom. 52. Origen. Bonfrere. And even if we allow that they did wrong; the Scripture relates, but does not sanction what they did, Let him that thinks himself to stand, take heed lest he fall. 1 Cor. x. 12. C. — As our Saviour says of S. John, He is Elias, Matt. xi, so, Jacob says, I am Esau, not in person , but in right of the first-born. W."

It is also worth mentioning that Esau had already sold his birthright to Jacob:

“25:29 And Jacob boiled pottage: to whom Esau, coming faint out of the field,
25:30 Said: Give me of this red pottage, for I am exceeding faint. For which reason his name was called Edom.
25:31 And Jacob said to him: Sell me thy first birthright.
25:32 He answered: Lo I die, what will the first birthright avail me?
25:33 Jacob said: Swear therefore to me. Esau swore to him, and sold his first birthright.
25:34 And so taking bread and the pottage of lentils, he ate, and drank, and went on his way; making little account of having sold his first birthright.”

 

[LilyM]

Most characters in the OT, even those who are greatest and most favoured by God, are neither perfect nor sinless.

Think of Moses’ disobedoence, for which he is punished by being denied to enter the Promised Land. Think of David’s adultery with Bathsheba. Think of Solomon and his being lured into idolatry at times by foreign wives.

For that matter same goes for the NT. Peter’s denial and Paul’s persecution are not OK.

God has mercy on sinners and can work through even imperfect servants. Which is a good thing given we are all imperfect, no?

 

[Limoncello4021]

It was not ok. However, reading through the Old Testament in particular is a study in human weakness, sin, error, deception, etc. It is downright shocking. The wonder is that God chooses to work for good through our faults! That was the gist of our priest’s sermon today.

 

[Thomasbradley312]

Think of Moses’ disobedoence, for which he is punished by being denied to enter the Promised Land

That one also confuses me. It doesn’t seem like he did anything terribly bad. He just got fed up with the Israelites whining. I would have lost it much earlier than he did honestly.

 

[TheLittleLady]

This is another place where God shows us that He can work in spite of the sins we have. No one every said that the deception was “okay”.

 

[Wesrock]

I agree with the Fathers who say that we are not supposed to see Jacob’s actions here as justified. Jacob matures as a man during his exile. It might give Jacob’s wrestling with God/God’s angel soon after his flight some added meaning, too. Jacob received the blessing and God made it work.

Keep in mind that this, at a high level, parallels other motifs in the Bible. Moses kills and Egyptians and flees and matures. The Israelites sin at Mount Sinai and wander and mature in the desert. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah are, as a result of their paganism, conquered and brought into Exile by Assyria and Babylon. The people of Judah who return from Babylon are much matured. God sees his covenant through even when the people on the other end fail.

A lot of stories in the Bible are simply related, the written words neither explicitly condemning or approving. It’s not like that for every story, but many.

 

[Thom18]

It wasn’t okay, and Jacob later repented for his wrongdoing, apologizing to his brother profusely for cheating him out of their father’s blessing- perhaps because of his own experience of being cheated since leaving home (by Rachel’s father).

 

[Muzhik]

Think of Moses’ disobedoence, for which he is punished by being denied to enter the Promised Land

What happened is that he allowed his annoyance with the Israelites to be demonstrated in lack of faith in God. Moses was to strike a rock to make water flow. When he did, the water didn’t flow right away, so he struck the rock again. Had Moses struck once and turned away, God would have provided the water, in HIS time. By striking twice, Moses was telling God, “Even though this is a gift from You, You will give it to us when I tell you to!” God’s mercy might have permitted Moses to enter the Promised Land, had the Israelites been more faithful and not complained so much; but they had to be schooled once again that worship involves grateful acceptance of the gifts He provides when He chooses to give them.

It’s also worth noting that by this time they had been wandering through the desert for 40 years. Why? Because when they first arrived at the promised land, Moses sent 12 “spies”, one from each tribe, to scout out the resources and provide intel on any opposition they may run into. After 40 days, the spies returned with reports of bunches of grapes so full they two men to be carried back, of “a land flowing with milk and honey”.

However, 10 of the spies also came back with exaggerated stories of the power of the enemies, that the inhabitants were giants “so large we were as grasshoppers in their eyes.” In short, they were faithless, refusing to believe God’s promise to give them the land. Of the 12, only Joshua and Caleb came back with truthful reports. As a result, those two men were the only people of their generation to be admitted to the land. The reason for the 40 years of wandering is so that all of the other people of that generation could die. Then the new generation could take the land God had promised them.

It is for this reason that Judaism requires 10 men for a quorum (a “minyan”) in order to offer public prayer.

 

[Autumn-Smoke]

Think of Moses’ disobedoence, for which he is punished by being denied to enter the Promised Land

Also to add another symbolic and spiritual reason for Moses not being able to lead the People of Israel into the Promised Land, whereas Joshua was able…

Moses is the Law Giver and is thus symbolic of The Law. Scripture says that the Law was given to reveal sin for what it is (Romans 7:7-25) and that no one can merit heaven by keeping the law because no one can keep it 100%. So Moses (the Law) fell short. Whereas, Joshua, whose name means “Salvation” ultimately lead the people into the Promised Land.

Joshua was a forerunner of Jesus, whose name is the same as Joshua’s – Y’shua in Hebrew, meaning “Salvation”. It is only by our faith in Jesus that we will be able to enter into the Promised Land (Heaven) because He alone was able to merit our salvation.

 

[Autumn-Smoke]

As to Jacob and Essau, remember that God said, “Jacob I loved, but Essau I hated.” (Malachi 1:3 and repeated in Romans 9:13.) Jacob is symbolic of those who do everything within their power to obtain the blessing (or to obtain salvation). There are the martyrs who gave their lives for Christ and the many saints who endured hardships and severe fasting to imitate our Lord. St. Paul said that there are many who run the race, but only one who gets the prize, so he himself ran the race so as to obtain the prize. He said that he bent his will and endured bodily hardships so that he might force himself into obedience to Christ.

Unlike Essau who sold his birthright for a bowl of soup: symbolic of all those whom God means to inherit heaven, but who consider the needs and pleasures of this world to be more important than the blessings that God has planned for them and thus they reject his blessing. God hates that decision, just as he hated Esau’s decision to give up every blessing he had coming to him just for a mere bowl of soup. And so Jacob took that blessing from Essau.

 

[Thomasbradley312]

Unlike Essau who sold his birthright for a bowl of soup

Esau wanted the soup because he was outside laboring and felt near death while Jacob was sitting inside playing patty cakes.

 

[Autumn-Smoke]

Esau wanted the soup because he was outside laboring and felt near death while Jacob was sitting inside playing patty cakes.

The scripture says, “Thus Esau despised his birthright.” (Genesis 25:29-34) So God sees it differently.

 

[Fauken]

Esau wanted the soup because he was outside laboring and felt near death while Jacob was sitting inside playing patty cakes.

Jacob was cooking food. And evidently after selling his birthright,

“25:34 And so taking bread and the pottage of lentils, he ate, and drank, and went on his way; making little account of having sold his first birthright.”

Sounds like Esau didn’t give two bits about it. To him, he lost nothing of consequence, and sold it for beans and bread.

 

[Muzhik]

Esau wanted the soup because he was outside laboring

Not quite. He wasn’t outside laboring, like helping to plow the fields, or hoe, or digging a well; he was out hunting and apparently not being very successful at it.

 

[Zaccheus]

Autumn-Smoke:

Unlike Essau who sold his birthright for a bowl of soup

Esau wanted the soup because he was outside laboring and felt near death while Jacob was sitting inside playing patty cakes.

Esau wasn’t laboring: he was hunting.
The fact that he said he was about to die doesn’t mean it was true. Today people say “I’m starving” when they really mean “I missed a meal and I’m hungry”.

Jacob wasn’t playing patty cake, either literally or figuratively. He was preparing a meal.

Would you sell your right to inherit a fortune so you could eat right away instead of waiting till you got home?

 

[Bon_Croix]

According to one homily, Jacob will later pay for the sin of deceiving his Father. The payment is later in Genesis.

 

[Vico]

Yes, providence.

Catechism

312 In time we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures: “It was not you”, said Joseph to his brothers, "who sent me here, but God. . . You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive."178 From the greatest moral evil ever committed - the rejection and murder of God’s only Son, caused by the sins of all men - God, by his grace that “abounded all the more”,179 brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption. But for all that, evil never becomes a good.

 

[Zaccheus]

According to one homily, Jacob will later pay for the sin of deceiving his Father. The payment is later in Genesis.

Jacob deceived his father.
Rachel’s father Laban deceived Jacob.

Jacob agreed to work seven years for the right to marry Rachel: then he got Leah instead and had to work another seven years for Rachel.
Whatever else all this means, Jacob paid for his deceptions: he was deceived in turn.

 

[TK421]

How is Jacob deceiving Isaac to think he was Esau okay?

The Old Testament is an epic. It is not a catechism. It gives blunt narratives of characters who lived with very, very little revelation compared to today.

The story of how Jacob tricked Esau and gained the favor of Isaac through his mother Rebecca is about the intervention of the Blessed Virgin towards her children. Google St Louis De Montfort’s explanation of this passage in Genesis. Rebecca is a prefigure of Mary. Isaac is a figure of Jesus or God.

Almost all of the female characters in the Old Testament are prefigures of Mary. Like when the skull of the invading king was crushed by a woman. Or when Judith drove a nail through the skull of another king. Rebecca is also a prefigure of Mary when we read about her intervention on Jacob’s behalf.