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This week’s Torah portion is entitled Toldot, which is translated ‘Generations’ and covers Genesis 25:19-28:9. In Genesis – the foundational story of all Creation, there are several generational passages, and rightfully so. We are promised in Genesis chapter 3 that the seed of the woman, Messiah, would crush the head – destroy – the lesser seed.
Parasha Toldot focuses our attention on the chosen ancestry of that greater seed. It follows a progressively narrowing lineage, leading from Adam to Noah to Shem to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah. Eventually it will lead us to King David and ultimately to a specific descendent of King David, our Lord and Savior Yeshua Ha’Mashiach.
This week’s parasha picks up in the midst of Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah, the niece of his uncle Laban the Syrian. Isaac was now 40. He and Rebekah had been married for some twenty years, yet had no children. Isaac entreated the Lord on Rebekah’s behalf. Verse 21 tells us that the Adonai was pleased with the prayers of Isaac, and enabled Rebekah his wife to conceive.
In verse 22 we learn of a struggle occurring in Rebekah’s womb so intense that she inquired of the Lord for an explanation. The Lord responded by telling her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
Rebekah delivered twins. The first to arrive was Esau; the Scriptures describe him as red and hairy. When the second child came out, his hand was grasping his brother’s heel. He was named Jacob. On this day, God’s word to Rebekah began to be fulfilled: two very different and ultimately adversarial sons were born. Esau grew up to become an avid hunter, one who grew in self-sufficiency outside the camp, while Jacob kept flocks and functioned more effectively as a tent dweller. Verse 28 tells us that Isaac favored Esau due to his love for eating wild game, whereas Rebekah favored Jacob. That favoritism probably didn’t help matters in what seemed to be a growing tension between the two sons.
One day Jacob was preparing red lentil stew as Esau returned from the field. Esau begged Jacob for a bowl of the stew because he was famished. Jacob said, “First sell me your birth right.” Esau responded, “Behold, I am about to die, so of what use then is the birthright to me?” He swore over his birth right to Jacob. The chapter ends on this lamentable note: Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.
In chapter 26 we learn of another famine in the land, much like the famine in the time of Abraham, except this time God directs Isaac to remain in the land and not venture down to Egypt. Adonai also reaffirms with Isaac the covenant made earlier with his father Abraham back in chapter 12. But during the famine, Isaac moves to Gerar, which was in Philistine territory.
It is here that Isaac’s faith wavered. Instead of trusting in the always-faithful God of the Covenant, he, like his father Abraham, lied when questioned about the identity of his wife. Isaac told the Philistines that Rebekah was his sister. Soon enough, Abimelech the king found out the truth and rebuked Isaac for the deception, but commanded his people, under penalty of death, not to touch Isaac or his wife.
With God as his shield and provider, Isaac becomes extremely prosperous in the land. Abimelech, seeing this as a threat, eventually tells Isaac and his people to leave. Isaac then moves the family, eventually settling in Be’er Sheva. But even there contention arose, and eventually Abimelech and Isaac made a covenant of peace between themselves and their people.
Chapter 27 begins as Isaac, now so old that he is almost blind, tells his older son Esau to hunt game and prepare him a delicious meal. It seems that Isaac sensed his death was drawing near, and knew he needed to pronounce the all-important patriarchal blessing. Rebekah overhears Isaac’s instructions to Esau, and conspires with Jacob to present a prepared wild game dish for his father, pretend to be Esau, and obtain the blessing before his brother could return. She tells Jacob to bring her two goats in preparation for the deceptive meal.
Jacob donned some of Esau’s well-worn clothes, and laid goat skin on his hands, arms and neck in order to mimic Esau’s hairiness. This was all done carefully and deliberately in order to deceive his father and receive the blessing. As the great deception began to unfold, Isaac seemed suspicious. Using the last of his functioning senses, he first questioned, then felt and smelled the presenter of his meal. After eating the savory meal, Isaac then pronounced the all-important patriarchal blessing over Jacob.
When Esau returned with his prepared meal for Isaac, he soon learned that Jacob had cheated his way into receiving the blessing. Esau cried, begging his father for even a morsel of a blessing, but there was none. Instead, Isaac prophesied over him, saying, “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.” In other words, Esau’s life would be characterized by spiritual barrenness, violence and rebellion.
Esau became furious, and planned to kill Jacob. Rebekah found out and urgently decided to send Jacob back to Paddan-Aram, to stay with her brother Laban for a few days until Esau cooled off. . Tragically, the ‘days’ Rebekah imagined became, in reality, many years, and Rebekah passed away, never having seen her beloved son Jacob again.
In chapter 28, Isaac summons Jacob, blessing him and giving him final instructions prior to sending him off to Paddan-aram. The parasha ends with Esau taking an additional wife, only this time from the family line of Ishmael. This was out of respect for his father, who disdained any intermarriage with Canaanite women.
There are a few points I would like to share with all of you at the closing of this parasha. The first is this: the account of the struggling of the twin boys within Rebekah’s womb reaffirms the truth that life begins at conception. It ought to be common sense. In spite of what a godless society dictates, it is both good science and it is what the Word of God tells us.
Second, according to the Torah, Esau despised his birthright. The Hebrew word for despise (bazah) means to disesteem, disdain, or regard as contemptible. Esau had no appreciation for the inheritance, authority and responsibility that came with being the first-born son of Isaac and grandson of the patriarch Abraham. Hebrews 12:16 actually describes Esau as godless and profane, and the writer goes on to say that as a result he would not be the rightful heir to the promise of the Faith.
Clearly, God’s plan was to pass the blessing He first gave to Abraham on to Isaac, the son of promise. And because God always honors His promises, there was never a need for Isaac and Rebekah to orchestrate a deception in order to bring it to pass. We can avoid heartache and trouble if we will simply trust God to bring His Word to pass, and not attempt to force matters by our own devices.
The impression we get is that Esau lived his life on the fringes of the camp, never being fully in or out. He did as he willed – including marrying two Hittite women. Esau’s heart was not inclined to receive that which was good and holy. There is a sobering lesson for us to learn from his bad example, as once having but then rejecting his inheritance because his heart was not right. And let us determine that, with God’s help, we will remain faithful and continue to trust in His promises
Messiah Yeshua declared, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Through His perfect life, atoning death and glorious resurrection, we who have committed our lives to Him have inherited a double portion from our Heavenly Father. That inheritance not only gives significance, meaning and purpose to our lives, but will bless the generations to come, and extend to life everlasting.