“5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, ‘Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 “Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.” 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9 go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.’11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, ‘But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12 What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.’13 His mother said to him, ‘My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.’14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her elder son Esau, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.18 He went to his father and said, ‘My father.’‘Yes, my son,’ he answered. ‘Who is it?’19 Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.’20 Isaac asked his son, ‘How did you find it so quickly, my son?’‘The Lord your God gave me success,’ he replied.21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.’22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’ 23 He did not recognise him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. 24 ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ he asked.‘I am,’ he replied.25 Then he said, ‘My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.’Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, ‘Come here, my son, and kiss me.’27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,

‘Ah, the smell of my son
    is like the smell of a field
    that the Lord has blessed.
28 May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness –
    an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May nations serve you
    and peoples bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
    and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed
    and those who bless you be blessed.’ NIV

‘’What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing’’ (12).

Okay I admit it. I’m a big fan of Inspector Jack Frost, brilliantly played by David Jason. In one episode, someone asked him how he knew a certain thing was so. I can see him now, tapping a nostril and saying, ‘Your nose’. If only  Isaac had taken notice of what his nose told him (22)…Mind you, he would then have blessed the wrong person. But none of that excuses Rebekah and Jacob’s duplicity. Sometimes ‘your nose’ does tell you something, and you can’t afford to ignore it. It may not necessarily be supernatural insight; you just have a deep-down knowing and it’s safest to listen to your instincts.

One thing I do find deeply disturbing in this story is Jacob’s desire to avoid the appearance and consequences of deceit, but not the deception itself. This made him a hypocrite – an actor playing a part. But who of us has not stood in his shoes? If you’re without sin then by all means throw that stone. I doubt you will.

Warren Wiersbe is again helpful:

‘Rebekah knew what God’s promise was to Jacob, and she should have let God work it out in His own way. ‘’Faith is living without scheming,’’ and who can hinder the Lord from accomplishing His purposes (Dan.4:35)?’ ‘With the Word’, pp. 34,35.

PRAYER: Lord, please teach me to live and speak in a straightforward manner. Cause my yes to be yes and my no to be no. May no deceit or guile find a nesting place in me. Let that truth you so desire be in my ‘inward parts’.