When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”
Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the LORD before I die.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves.
Comment: You may remember that Abraham very carefully sought a woman from his own background for Isaac. I fancy that Isaac wanted the same lineage for his sons but Esau, of whom not a very nice picture is painted in the Bible, married two girls from a nearby tribe. Obviously from what follows Isaac and Esau still had dealings but they were apparently stormy.
But time passed and Isaac was facing death. Everyone knew that the first born son was the inheritor of the family headship but there was a ‘reading of the will’ before death. Isaac planned a nice ceremony and asked Esau, the hunter, to find fresh meat for this significant ceremony. There was not a 24/7 near by. Rebekah, whose favourite was Jacob, heard what was said. Probably having known about Esau previously ‘selling’ the leadership in exchange for a sumptuous meal when he thought that he was dying, she thought that now was the time to act if her favourite was to win the inheritance prize. ‘So goat meat is great and I can spice it nicely’ she said to herself and sought about stirring up Jacob to help get, not what he deserved, but what he had snatched away from his older brother by trickery.
Prayer: Help me to be a ‘straight shooter’ in my dealing, Father God.
As I read it! 