The book that will forever change our ideas about the Bible by Biglino Mauro

Author:Biglino, Mauro [Biglino, Mauro]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Uno Editori
Published: 2013-11-26T16:00:00+00:00

Esau was a hunter who loved to live freely in the steppe, while Jacob preferred the tranquility of pastoral life conducted in the family camps: the first was loved by Isaac whilst the mother Rebecca preferred the second.

Chapter 25 tells that one day Esau returned exhausted and hungry from hunting, and asked his brother to have a little stew that he was preparing. Jacob took advantage of the situation and asked Esau to yield him his birthright in exchange for food. Esau had no hesitation and sold his rights for a piece of bread and a mess of pottage/bowl of lentil soup: hence the famous saying that refers to the yielding of something very important in exchange for “a mess of pottage”, precisely.

That sale was accompanied and ratified by an oath, but evidently this formal act was not enough to make the rights' transfer concrete and operational, since they were so crucial to the lives of individuals and tribes who depended on them.

In fact, when Isaac was old and was about to die, he called his firstborn, Esau, and asked him to hunt some game and prepare a tasty dish to accompany with joy the official ceremony of his blessing and official investiture. Rebecca, the mother, was determined to secure these rights to her favorite son, so she sent for Jacob and together they wove a deception.

So, we ask: what need was there to trick Isaac, if Esau's oath had had any legal value?

It would simply do by informing the father of his rights' yielding, but apparently things were not so simple. The deception now takes shape.

Jacob takes advantage of his brother's absence and replaces him, covering up with a sheepskin in order to simulate Esau's hairiness, and gives to Isaac a meat dish prepared by his mother Rebecca. His father, old and blind, does not notice the replacement and “blesses” Jacob with the ritual formula containing the object of the blessing (cf. Gen 27-29): to have the sky dew on the fields, fertility of the land, and abundance of wheat and wine, to exercise power and govern over the people, to be lord and master of his brothers who recognize and honor him.

In short, the blessing gave all the material rights relating to property, wealth and power . They were exclusive in a double sense: first, only the firstborn could enjoy them and, secondly, those rights were the only ones resulting from the blessing (berakhàh ).

Esau soon discovers the deception and returning from the hunt, goes to his father in order to receive the long-lasting blessing.

When Isaac realizes he has been duped and has given his blessing to the wrong son, he despairs - “he trembles violently” - and absolves Esau.

Now it is obvious to consider that if this had been a spiritual blessing, Isaac had no reason to despair because that kind of blessing is always available to anyone, and without limitation. Therefore, it is clear that things were different.

Esau, then, asks a question that sounds incomprehensible to

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