Chapter 25:19-25:34
Rebecca, like Sarah, is also infertile. Rebecca and Isaac cry out to God for twenty years before God hears them, and divinely intervenes. Rebeccas pregnancy is tumultuous, with twins wrestling inside her, and when she cries out about it 25:22 But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, ‘If so, why am I thus?’ And she went to inquire of the Lord, When Rebecca cries, “why am I even alive?” I feel that line land in my bones. Motherhood is so many of those moments — the long nights, the early mornings, the never ending whining, the bewildering phases (looking at you, 15-month-old, Sophia) — where we, too, cry out and ask the exact same question. At least I do.
God tells Rebecca – and only her – something profound: 25:23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, two separate peoples shall issue from your body; One people shall be mightier than the other, And the older shall serve the young.” What’s striking is that Rebecca keeps this divine message to herself; she never tells Isaac. Later, when Esau dismisses his birthright for a bowl of stew (“give me that red stuff to gulp down!”), we can feel the weight of that prophecy beginning to take shape.
The Torah goes out of it’s way to mention each parent had a favorite twin 25:28 Isaac favored Esau because he had a taste for game; but Rebekah favored Jacob. One day, Esau comes back from hunting famished. Jacob sees an opening, and decides to trade his brother a bowl of red lentils for his birthright. And because Esau didn’t have any qualms or hold any regrets with this trade, the Torah makes it clear he spurned his birthright.
Chapter 26
26.1-4 There was a famine in the land -aside from the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham- and Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar. The Lord had appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land which I point out to you. Reside in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; I will assign all these lands to you and to your heirs, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your heirs as numbers as the stars of heaven, and assign to your heirs all these lands, so that all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your heirs– OK, so we open this chapter with quiet the bang! God spoke very similar words to Abraham when there was a famine, and for both our patriarchs, it’s a test of faith. In Abraham’s case, it was to go to an unknown land. In Isaac’s case, it’s a test to whether he would trust that God would provide food during a famine (spoiler: He does). In addition, we have that beautiful poetry, again that God mentioned so often to Abraham. See the section entitled The Lord’s Poetic Metaphor in my Lech-Lecha post.
Meanwhile, Isaac stayed in Gerar. And he decided to lie to Abimelech and say Rebecca is his sister, for the same reason his father, Abraham, lied. However, this episode is way less dramatic than the two from Abraham’s time. 26:12 Isaac sowed in that land and reaped a hundredfold the same year. He became very successful and very wealthy, so much so that the Philistines envied him, and began to sabotage him by filling his father’s wells with earth. Which is interesting, because it proves human nature doesn’t change: instead of emulating the successful, most people envy them, and often sabotage. 26:16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you have become far too big for us.” To which Dennis Prager makes a painstaking comment: “This story is a paradigm of much of Jewish history. Jews arrive somewhere as strangers, become economically successful, and then are considered a thread to the original inhabitants, who then expel (and/or kill) the Jews.” Isaac leaves, and continues to dig wells, more squabbling between Isaac’s servants and the herdsmen of Gerar. Isaac keeps choosing to make peace. Which can’t be easy, these people are spiteful and relentless! And finally, Abimelch comes to him, and see’s that The Lord has been with Isaac, and wants to make peace. In typical Isaac fashion, he does.
I really love this chapter. It’s so full and so rich, and feels like a character study on an often overlooked patriarch. Isaac is faithful, steady, successful, deeply devoted to his wife, conflict-averse in the best way, and always choosing peace over pride. Abraham is spectacular. But Isaac, in his own way, is just as wonderful — a man of quiet strength, patience, trust, and unwavering kindness.
Chapter 27
This is an intense chapter — the famous moment when poor, aging, hard-of-seeing Isaac is deceived and the birthright blessing is stolen. It’s also a pivotal turning point, because this single act sets the stage for Jacob’s lifelong struggles. The Torah is honest about this: our past deceptions often echo forward into the challenges we face later. And as we follow Jacob’s story, we’ll see those echoes again and again — and I’ll point them out when we reach the end of his life.
Rebecca overhears Isaac speaking to Esau, to hunt game, prepare a dish he loves, and receive the birthright blessing. Rebecca recalls God’s earlier words to her (25:23 the older will serve the younger) and decides to act. While Esau is out hunting, Rebecca instructs Jacob to fetch two choice kids so that she prepare the meal herself. Jacob hesitates, just a bit, that his brother is a hairy man, and he is smooth-skinned. Rebecca leaves nothing to chance: she prepares the dish, grabs Esaus best clothes for Jacob to wear, and covered his hands and the back of his neck with skins of the kids. 27:17 Then she put in the hands of her son Jacob the dish and the bread that she had prepared. It’s GO TIME!
What follows is a series of four little tests — Isaac’s suspicions vs. Rebecca’s cunning plans:
Test #1: Isaac first asks which of his sons is speaking to him.
Test #2: 27:21 Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer that I may feel you , my son – whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
Test #3: 27:24 He asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
Test #4: Isaac asked “Esau” to come kiss him, so he could smell him. And he smelled the borrowed clothing, and said, yes this is Esau.
Isaac gave Jacob four chances to come clean, and unfortunately for Jacob, will shape the rest of his life and inevitably will haunt the man to his grave.
Dennis Prager notes that Jacob was in a genuine no-win situation. Whether he obeyed his mother or refused her, someone would be deceived. And had Esau received the blessing after despising his birthright, that would have been its own form of dishonesty — a lie by omission. There was no perfect path here.
Jacob receives the blessing, and everything slowly falls apart.
Esau returns, presents his meal, and Isaac — suddenly understanding what has happened — trembles violently. Esau cries out with a raw, bitter sob that is almost painful to read. The consequences hit immediately: Rebecca now fears for Jacob’s life. And the chapter ends with her engineering yet another deception, urging Jacob to flee under the pretext of finding a wife, setting him on the long, winding journey that will shape the rest of his story.
My heart aches for this entire family. As a mother of two young boys – not twins, but just twenty-seven months apart – I understand how two children raised under the same roof can be profoundly different. Even in these little kid years, their distinct personalities are unmistakable. And with that lens, reading this chapter feels even more wrenching: the layers of favoritism, misunderstandings, and the devastating bitter cry of Esau when he realizes there’s nothing left for him. The Torah lets us witness the raw pain for a family unraveling. And it’s achingly human.
Chapter 28:1-28:09
This is the final farewell for Jacob, Isaac blesses him again, and instructs him to go to Paddan-aram to his mother’s fathers house and take a wife among the daughters of Laban, his uncle, as they insist Jacob not marry a Canaanite woman. Esau overhears this, and realizes how much his two Canaanite wives displease his parents, so he takes another wife from his uncle Ishmael’s home.
What’s striking here is Esau’s response. He overhears his parents private conversation and realizes, maybe for the first time, how deeply his earlier marriages displeased them. And in his imperfect way, he tries to repair the hurt by choosing a wife from his father’s family. It’s a small but meaningful glimpse of Esau’s desire to please his parents. And a reminder that even flawed characters seek connection, approval, and a path to make things right.
Takeaways for the Week
- Mothers often see truth and insights about their children in a way no one else can fully understand.
- We should strive to be like Isaac – choosing peace over pride, even when others around us are petty, jealous, or openly combative.
- Jacob’s deception will teach us that shortcuts, even for noble reasons, ripple through a family; honesty is worth choosing, even when it’s hard.
- We should check our own subtle favoritisms -even the unspoken ones – and repair them before they have a chance to take root.