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Isaac felt he must now soon die,
and he called Esau, and said to him, "Go now, and bring me savory
meat, that I may eat it, and bless thee, before I die." Esau
obeyed: he took his bow and his arrow, and went into the field to
hunt for venison. When Rebekah heard Isaac speak to Esau, she was
not pleased, because she wished Isaac to bless Jacob, for God had said
Jacob should be greater than Esau. So she called Jacob, and said,
"Esau is now gone to hunt for venison, that his father may eat and
bless him. Now obey me, and go, and kill two kids, and I will make
savory meat, and thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and
bless thee." But Jacob said, "I know my father cannot see,
but he can feel. Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man; and if
my father feel me, he will know I am Jacob, and not Esau, and I shall seem
to him a deceiver, and bring a curse upon me, and not a
blessing." But Rebekah told Jacob to go and bring the kids
quickly, and he obeyed, and went. It is right for children to obey
their parents when the parents tell them to do right, but not when they
tell them to do wrong. We must obey God more than man, or woman, or
father, or mother. Jacob knew it was wicked to try to deceive his
blind father, and he ought to have told his mother so respectfully and
meekly. Jacob and his mother both displeased God then. Rebekah
took the kids which Jacob brought, and made savory meat, such as his
father loved, and then she took Esau's clothes, and put them upon Jacob;
and she put the hairy skins of the kids upon his neck and hands, that he
might feel rough like Esau, and sent him with the meat to his
father. So Jacob came in, and said, "My father, here is the
venison; rise, eat, and bless me." But Isaac asked, "How
didst thou find it so quickly, my son?" Then Jacob said,
"Because the Lord brought it to me." Isaac told his son to
come near to him; and he felt him, and asked, "Art thou my very son
Esau? The voice is like Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands
of Esau." Then Jacob again said, "Yes, I am Esau, thy
eldest son, Esau." Isaac now believed him, and he called him
near, and ate the meat, and drank the wine which Jacob gave him.
Then he blessed and kissed his deceitful son, and told him what should
happen in a future time; for God taught Isaac to prophesy. He said,
"The Lord bless thee, and give thee plenty of corn and wine; let
people serve thee, and be lord over thy brethren." All this was
fulfilled, when the Israelites, Jacob's children, afterwards possessed the
fruitful land of Canaan, and became a powerful people. Isaac
finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob went away. Esau was now come
home, and he brought the venison to Isaac; for he did not know what his
brother had done. When Esau asked his father to bless him, Isaac
wondered very much, and said, "Who art thou?" and Esau answered,
"I am thine eldest son, Esau." Then Isaac trembled, and
asked again, "Who? Who was he that came, and brought me
venison, and I ate, and blessed him before thou camest? yes, and he shall
be blessed." When Esau heard this, he cried and said, "O
bless me, even me, also, my father;" and Esau wept. But Isaac
told him, that though God would give Esau many blessings, yet Jacob would
be greater than he; and this made Esau very angry, and he thought,
"My father will die soon, and then I will slay my brother
Jacob." When Rebekah knew that Esau hated Jacob, and wished to
kill him, she called her younger son and said, "Go now to Haran,
where my brother Laban lives, thy uncle; and stay there a few days, till
Esau's anger is turned away, and then I will send, and fetch
thee." So Isaac and Rebekah blessed Jacob, and prayed God to
keep him safely, and sent him away to Padan-aram. It
was night. Jacob was weary, and he lay down on the cold ground, and
put hard stones under his head for a pillow, and soon fell asleep.
And God gave him a beautiful dream when he was asleep. He saw a
ladder set on the earth, and its top reached to heaven, and holy angels
were going up and down upon it. Above it stood the Lord, and He
spoke to Jacob. He said, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God
of Isaac. I will give the land where thou liest, to thy children,
for a possession." And then the Lord told Jacob, that a Savior
should come into the world, who would be a blessing to all people, and He
said, "I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places, and bring
thee again into this land." How thankful Jacob was to hear the
Lord speak to him so kindly, when he had been so forgetful, and so
unthankful to God! God's eye is always upon us, when we sleep, and
when we wake. He always remembers us, though we very often forget
Him, as Jacob did. Let us think of Him, and love Him more. When
Jacob awoke, he said, "God is in this place, and I knew it not;"
and he was afraid and said, "How dreadful is this place! This
is the house of God, and the gate of Heaven!" Then he took the
stone, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon it, for he wished
the place to be remembered as holy ground; and he called the name of it
Bethel, or the house of God, because God appeared to him there.
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