I started wondering about what it means in Genesis when we are told that Issac was blind. According to Everett Fox’s interpretation in his “The Five Books of Moses”, Genesis 27:1
“Now when Yitzhak was old and his eyes had become too dim for seeing,..”It doesn’t say he was blind, though we generally understand it as being blind.
Moses Maimonides in his “The Guide for the Perplexed” notes that all five of our senses are defective in that they passively receive impressions which are subject to interpretation. So Issac (Yitzhak is his Hebrew name in transliteration), in this case, saw what he wanted to see. Don’t we all, at times!
I am discussing the Torah Portion when Issac gives Jacob the blessing rather than giving it to Essau (in some versions, the name appears as “Esau”) . This wasn’t the first time in the Bible the younger son receives the blessing and the inheritance. Issac’s father Abraham gave the blessing and the inheritance to Issac, when Ishmael was the older son. In biblical times, the cultural standard typically found the oldest son receiving the blessing and the inheritance. Precedence existed for his doing so. This would indicate greater importance has been placed on knowing the nature of your children, as opposed to just blindly following the crowd, or doing something because it’s traditional.
Right before this story begins, there is a short paragraph which - at first glance - doesn’t seem to fit with either the previous story, nor the next one.
Genesis 26:34-35: “When Esav (Essau’s Hebrew name transliterated) was forty years old, he took to wife Yehudit daughter of B’eri the Hittite and Ba’semat daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a bitterness of spirit to Yitzhak and Rivka (Rebecca’s Hebrew name transliterated).
We are being told that not only did Issac’s son Essau marry two Hittite women, who were off-limits to the Israelites, but these women basically gave Issac and Rebecca a lot of grief. Apparently, they were not good people.
Issac knew deep inside on some level that Essau would not be the one to continue the Jewish line. Issac also had a soft spot for Essau. I presume it is because Essau was strong, whereas Issac was portrayed as weak, and - I’ll just say it - a “momma’s boy” (As Seinfeld used to say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that! I’m just saying...)! We all know people who see some family members differently then those around them do. This isn’t always a bad thing as in this case, where Issac chose to believe that Essau was a better man than reality indicated. Remember, we are all influenced by the company we keep, and Essau chose to marry two mean-spirited women.
Based upon what I’ve written thus far, perhaps the dim-sightedness of Issac really reflected his inability to see people for their character as opposed to what he wished them to be. Now comes the part which I’ve always found more than just a little absurd: Rebecca and Jacob “tricking” Issac into giving the blessing and inheritance of the first born to Jacob instead of to Essau.
Personally, I find it extremely difficult to believe that no matter what “costume” Jacob wore, his father didn’t know it was him. Issac even states that the voice is the voice of Jacob. The fact that the Torah tells us Issac’s vision was dimmed and not that he was blind tells us Issac knew Jacob was in front of him asking for the blessing, etc. Somewhere within his soul, Issac knew his son Jacob would be the one to pass on his Judaism. As a result, it seems even Issac went along with Jacob’s ploy because it was the right thing to do (bless him, that is).
Issac was portrayed as a very passive man, perhaps forever traumatized by that little incident on the mountain where his father was prepared to kill him. Yes, I am being slightly sarcastic here. If he was indeed a passive person, then it fits that he would act surprised when Essau confronted him. Passive people don’t like confrontation, thus they will act innocent to avoid it. It follows that knowing her family members as she did, Rebecca only had Jacob costume himself to give Issac an excuse he could use when Essau returned to him.
Sometimes we pretend to deceive ourselves, and at other times we see people as we want to see them, and miss seeing who they really are. The cold, hard truth is our souls recognize the truths about others and we feel conflict within ourselves until we remove our “blinders”.
May you see what is really there - not what you want to be there - and may you be blessed with peace (shalom).
Let me know what you think!
Spiritually Yours,
Laura Weakley
