Read Genesis 27:30-28:9 at Bible Gateway.
the teaching tools of scripture
Hebrew paragraph divisions:
Gen 27:1-28:9 {s} Jacob receives the blessing + Esau’s jealousy (life of Jacob repeats events from the life of Isaac)
Strong themes of the parashah:
None this week.
Gen 27:30-28:9 chiastic structure:
1a) Gen 27:30-40, Isaac blessed Jacob with the firstborn blessing + blessed Esau also;
1a) Gen 27:30-33, Isaac had blessed Jacob with the firstborn blessing;
1a) Gen 27:30a, As soon as Isaac had blessed Jacob + Jacob had gone out from his father;
1b) Gen 27:30b-31, Esau came in from hunting/ made savory food + brought it to his father;
1c) Gen 27:32a, His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
central axis) Gen 27:32b, So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau;”
2c) Gen 27:33a, Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who?”
2b) Gen 27:33b, Isaac: “Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me?”
2a) Gen 27:33c, Isaac: “I ate all of it before you came/ I have blessed him + he shall be blessed;”
1b) Gen 27:34a, When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great + bitter cry;
1c) Gen 27:34b-36, Esau: “Bless me—me also, O my father! Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
1a) Gen 27:34b, And said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”
1b) Gen 27:35a, But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing;”
central axis) Gen 27:36a, Esau: “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times;”
2b) Gen 27:36b, Esau: “He took away my birthright + he has taken away my blessing!”
2a) Gen 27:36c, Esau: “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
central axis) Gen 27:37, Isaac: “I have made him your master + all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain + wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”
2c) Gen 27:38a, Esau: “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!”
2b) Gen 27:38b, And Esau lifted up his voice and wept;
2a) Gen 27:39-40, Isaac blessed Esau, but not with the firstborn blessing;
1b) Gen 27:41a, So Esau hated Jacob;
central axis) Gen 27:41b, Because of the blessing with which his father blessed him;
2b) Gen 27:41c-45, Esau planned to murder his brother after his father’s death;
1a) Gen 47:41c-42, Esau planned to murder his brother/ it was told to Rebekah, who called Jacob;
1b) Gen 27:43-44a, Rebekah: Obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran + stay with him;
1c) Gen 27:44b, Rebekah: Until your brother’s fury turns away;
2c) Gen 27:45a, Rebekah: Until your brother’s anger turns away from you + he forgets what you have done;
2b) Gen 27:45b, Rebekah: Then I will send and bring you from there;
2a) Gen 27:45c, Rebekah: Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”
2a) Gen 27:46-28:9 {s} Isaac blessed Jacob + charged him not to take a wife of Canaan;
1a) Gen 27:46, Rebekah to Isaac: If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, what good will my life be to me?
1a) Gen 27:46a, Rebekah to Isaac: I am weary of my life;
1b) Gen 27:46b, Because of the daughters of Heth;
central axis) Gen 27:46c, If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth;
2b) Gen 27:46d, Like these who are the daughters of the land;
2a) Gen 27:46e, What good will my life be to me?
1b) Gen 28:1-2, Isaac charged Jacob: Do not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan, but go to Padan Aram, to the house of your mother’s people;
central axis) Gen 28:3-4, “May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham;”
2b) Gen 28:5, Isaac sent Jacob away to Padan Aram, to Laban, the brother of Rebekah;
2a) Gen 28:6-9 {s} Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father/ he took the daughter of Ishmael to wife;
1a) Gen 28:6a, Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob + sent him away to take a wife;
1b) Gen 28:6b, That he gave him a charge: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan;”
central axis) Gen 28:7, That Jacob had obeyed his father + mother, and had gone to Padan Aram;
2b) Gen 28:8, Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac;
2a) Gen 28:9 {s} So Esau took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael to wife in addition to the wives he had.
Theme of the parashah:
Because Jacob received the blessing of the firstborn, Esau hated him + planned to murder him.
Finding Messiah in Torah:
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Gen 3:15
Just as Abraham’s two seeds, Ishmael and Isaac, represent the line of the seed of the serpent (Ishmael) and the line of the seed of the woman (Isaac), Isaac’s two seeds, Esau and Jacob, represent the line of the seed of the serpent (Esau) and the line of the seed of the woman (Jacob). The seed of the woman, who is Messiah, bruises the head(ship) of the seed of the serpent, just as Isaac did of Ishmael’s, and just as Jacob did of Esau’s, by receiving the blessing God fully intended for him from his mother’s womb (Gen 25:23). Because Jacob was the blessed seed, the enmity of Esau was upon him, just as Cain’s was of Abel, and Ishmael’s was of Isaac, and, we will see, the sons of Jacob was of Joseph.
Additional readings for this parashah:
Psa 23 (my notes) | Mic 5 (my notes) | Rom 11 (my notes)
For further study off site:
The Tares Among the Wheat – Brad Scott
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