Toldot, תּוֹלְדֹת - Generations
Genesis 25:19-28:9
Reading #6 - Genesis 27:28–28:4
My Thoughts:
Trickery and deceit. Esau is so disappointed that his brother tricked him and got the blessing. And can you blame him? But in his anger, he says he will kill him. Jacob runs away. This kind of reminds me of what happens when we sin and how sin can “snowball” into more serious results. However, when Jacob flees to Laban, he does meet Rachel, the love of his life. The point is that Jacob deceives his father and then has to run away for fear of his life. Has that ever happened to you? You played a trick or lied to someone and the whole thing got worse? If that has happened try and rectify it all quickly.
Challenge:
Did you ever want something so bad that you were willing to lie to get it? We are supposed to be “lights” to the rest of the world. This story is a reminder to be righteous and to depend on Hashem for the outcome of a need. Present your request before Him and wait. What if Jacob had not tricked his father? How would this story have ended? Would he still somehow have received the blessing? Things to ponder about. The challenge today is to think about how you can be a “light” to your friends and family. And then do it.
Reading #6 - Genesis 27:28–28:4
27:28 Elohim give you of the dew of the sky,
of the fatness of the earth,
and plenty of grain and new wine.
29 Let peoples serve you,
and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers.
Let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you.
Blessed be everyone who blesses you.”
30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that your soul may bless me.”
32 Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?”
He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed.”
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father.”
35 He said, “Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing.”
36 He said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing.” He said, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”
37 Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then will I do for you, my son?”
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have just one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.” Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
39 Isaac his father answered him,
“Behold, your dwelling will be of the fatness of the earth,
and of the dew of the sky from above.
40 You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother.
It will happen, when you will break loose,
that you will shake his yoke from off your neck.”
41 Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. 44 Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away— 45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
46 Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”
28 Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3 May Elohim Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples, 4 and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which Hashem gave to Abraham.”
