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The Deception of Isaac

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The Deception of Isaac The Deception of Isaac Archaic and cultic elements are important in the Jacob cycle as well as in the Canaanite epics. The cultic elements in the Bethel story have been discussed above. A more subtle degree of influence can be detected in the highly compressed story of Jacob's deception of Isaac in Genesis 27. Gunkel and Robertson Smith already noticed cultic elements in this story; I wish to expand on their remarks. The first question concerns the nature of the "tasty meal" (t:l'~,l'~0) that Isaac requests from Esau in v. 4. Isaac states that Esau must hunt some wild game with his quiver and bow and then prepare a "tasty meal" from it, in order that (i1:i~~) Isaac may give the blessing to Esau. Robertson Smith noted that this episode "has all the air of a sacrificial scene."39 Gunkel also remarked that "originally it may have been concerned with a sacrificial meal" and cited a similar episode in the Balaam story where Balaam commands Balak to offer a sacrifice before Balaam blesses the people of Israel (Num 23:1).40 If the dynamics of these stories are the same, then we can perhaps infer that it is the sacrificial meal itself which allows the rz,~~ of Isaac (v. 4) to pronounce the divine blessing, as in the case of Balaam's oracles. Jacob's subversion of Isaac's wishes, in this case, takes on a double level of transgression. Not only is he breaking his father's command to Esau, but he is also actively tampering with the nature of the "tasty meal." Instead of hunting a wild animal for the meal, he offers domesticated goats (t:l'J~ '.:'1~; v. 9). In this, Jacob's deed reflects the traditional Israelite system of sacrifice in which only domestic animals were suitable.41 The polarity between domestic and wild animals, between the preferred and the forbidden, highlights the polarity between Jacob, the domestic man "who dwelled in the tents," and Esau, the brother he 39w. Robertson Smith, Lectures on the Religion of the Semites (London: Black, 1889) 467. 40Gunkel, Genesis, 283. 41 Lev1:2. 83 84 Epic and Cult supplants, who is "a skilled hunter, a man of the fields" (Gen 25:27). The polarity of Jacob and Esau in this scene is mirrored by the polarity of the parents, Isaac and Rebekah. As mentioned in Gen 25:28, Isaac loves Esau because he has a taste for game (i'!;>~ ,,~-':;>), but Rebekah loves Jacob. The father-mother dichotomy serves to heighten the contrast between the two brothers; indeed, the two parents are at cross-purposes over the beneficiary of Isaac's blessing. The point of the polarity, however, goes deeper than the family alliances. As with many instances of thesis and antithesis, the result is a synthesis, fraught with tension as it may be. Rebekah clothes Jacob in Esau's finest garments (Gen 27:15), and then she covers his hands and the "smooth part of his neck" (i'1~l~ np.71J) with the skin of the goats. The polarity of smooth skin versus hairy skin is touched upon here: these are important characteristics of Jacob versus Esau. Inv. 11 Jacob states that Esau is a "hairy man" (i~~ Id'~) but that he is a "smooth man" {p?l'J ID'~). He fears that Isaac will touch him and know him for a "trickster" (.Pl:l~IJQ). The diction here is significant. The "smooth" aspect of Jacob functions on two levels: first he is smooth-skinned, second he is a trickster. The Hebrew adjective 1'70 can convey both nuances of the English word "smooth."42 For Jacob to wear the hairy skins to cover his "smoothness," therefore, is an act that reverberates on several levels. An additional aspect of Jacob's wearing of the skins was pointed out by Robertson Smith. He noted a possible ritual dimension in the sacrificer wearing the skins of the sacrificial animaI.43 He collected a number of instances of this practice in the ancient world, two of which are particularly notable. The first is a reference in Lucian's De Dea Syria to one of the preliminary rites of the pilgrims to Hierapolis, the holy city of the Syrian Goddess. Lucian writes of the pilgrim's activities: dvqp &r' dv lS' Tl)v lm)v mi.\tv rrp6Jrov amwtrat, KE¢Ja).f/v 42Toe double meaning of Jacob's "smoothness" was pointed out to me by Philip Kimball. For the lexical data, see BDB, 325 s.v. p~r,. 43Robertson Smith, Lectures, 467. .
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