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Chapter 26
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Genesis, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
God, Humanity, and Creation
Mistrust, Disobedience, and Death
Covenants and Faith in God’s Promises
The Role of Women
Summary
Analysis
When Isaac is old and unable to see, he calls Esau to him. Isaac explains that he doesn’t know when he will die, so he wants Esau to hunt and prepare some game for him, just the way he likes it. Overhearing this, Rebekah tells Jacob to get two kids from the flock; she will prepare them for Isaac, and Isaac will then give Jacob his blessing. Jacob worries that if Isaac touches him, he will know that Jacob is not Esau—Esau is much hairier. So Rebekah covers Jacob with Esau’s garments and also places the kids’ skins on his hands. Then Jacob carries the prepared meal to Isaac.
Recall that earlier, Esau yielded his birthright to Isaac because he was hungry. Now Jacob (with his mother’s help) deceives his brother more cleverly. The story is filled with tension, as Rebekah outfits Jacob and hurriedly prepares Isaac’s meal while Esau is out in the fields. Blessings bestowed by a patriarch before his death were considered to have a shaping influence on sons’ lives, hence the high stakes of the moment.
Themes
When Jacob comes in, he tells Isaac that he is Esau. Isaac wonders how the game was hunted and prepared so quickly, but Jacob claims that God granted him success. Then Isaac wants to feel his son to be sure of his identity. Touching Jacob’s skin-covered hands, Isaac satisfies himself that although the man sounds like Jacob, it is really Esau. He eats the meal Jacob has brought, then kisses Jacob and blesses him. The blessing includes the prayer that Jacob’s brothers will bow down to him.
While Genesis doesn’t pass judgment on characters’ behavior, Jacob deceives his father, and Isaac does appear to doubt whether this is really Esau. Again, tension mounts as Isaac makes up his mind and goes forward with the blessing. When he pronounces the blessing, it’s clear why Jacob wanted it so badly; Isaac’s prayer seems to assume that Esau is the chosen inheritor of Abraham’s blessings, not Jacob.
Themes
No sooner has Jacob received the blessing and left than Esau comes in with the game he caught. When Esau identifies himself, Isaac trembles and says that he has already given a blessing. Then Esau cries out bitterly and begs for his own blessing. Esau says that Jacob is rightly named—he has supplanted Esau twice. Finally Isaac gives Esau another blessing, but the blessing says that Esau will serve his brother.
Esau hates Jacob for stealing his blessing, and he resolves to kill Jacob after Isaac dies. But when Rebekah hears of this, she orders Jacob to flee to her brother Laban in Haran until Esau’s anger subsides—she can’t bear to lose both sons in one day.
Rebekah, who helped orchestrate the whole deception, sends Jacob away to spare him from Esau’s anger. Again, no judgment is clearly drawn on Jacob’s behavior, suggesting that even though he acted deceitfully, God has nevertheless chosen to bless this younger, trickster brother over the elder brother, as would be expected at that time.
Themes
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