Genesis 27: 15-27: “And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck: And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son? And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me. And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him. And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:”
Some scholars say that this passage has evidence of two different stories mixed together. In the first story Isaac feels Jacob’s hands covered with goat skins and in the second story Isaac asked Jacob to kiss him. Somehow or other the redactor (editor) mixed the two stories together. However, there is a much better explanation that that. This is one story of an old man who is blind and has trouble hearing. He knows that Jacob wants to take Esau’s place as the eldest son but he still wants to bless Esau. He knows that if he blesses the wrong son he won’t be able to take it back so he is being very careful. He thinks that he might be hearing Jacob’s voice but he is not sure so he checks twice just to make sure that he is blessing the right son. However, Rebekah knew him better than anyone else so she had established a careful plan and that plan worked. There is no evidence of two different stories here there is just evidence of an old man who is blind, a bit deaf and slightly confused.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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