5Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, 7‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.’ 8“Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. 9“Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. 10“Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” 11Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. 12“Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” 13But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.”
There are a couple things at play here. First off, we see the results of Esau’s ‘rebellion’. His father, Isaac, was willing to forgive and forget. His mother, however, had a longer memory, and was not so inclined. It’s believed she already favored Jacob anyway, but Esau’s behavior only furthered the divide between himself and his mother. The second thing is the amazing logic of Rebekah and Jacob. Jacob isn’t concerned about being a deceiver here, he only wants to make sure his father doesn’t know it. But he has to know that Esau will eventually come back, and then Isaac (and Esau) will know what happened anyway. Rebekah assures him that she will take all the blame, and if Isaac curses Jacob, she will take that as well. It is an interesting promise for one who is in the act of deception to make, and we’ll see later just how well that turns out. For now, rest assured: if you are party to such an act, you will surely reap the consequences.