Posted on 06/25/2006 12:13:55 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator
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Does the blessing belong to the owner of the birthright? Can one own the birthright and another receive the blessing?
If you're referring to Jacob and Esau, all I know is that Esau was the first-born but that he first sold his birthright and then obtained the blessing his father originally intended for Esau.
If a father has two sons, and isn't disinheriting either of them, his "estate" would be divided up into three (not two) shares. The "birthright" belongs to the firstborn son, or (at the father's discretion) to whichever son the father considers to be the most faithful and obedient. It is this son that is declared to be the father's firstborn, regardless of the sons' actual birth order. When the inheritance is passed out (the father has not yet died), the title of firstborn gives that son two shares of his father's estate. And the firstborn son, in turn, now has the responsibility to care for his aged father until his passing, since his father no longer has any assets of his own. The other faithful son receives the remaining share of the estate, but has no further responsibilities to his father. Both (faithful) sons receive blessings from their father, but the most faithful gets a double blessing.
In the case of Jacob and Esau, father Isaac is tricked into revealing that he is not thinking God's thoughts after Him, not acknowledging that Esau is godless (Hebrews 12:16), nor what Paul reminds us in Roman 9:13 - "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated" (Malachi 1:2-3). Instead, Jacob will be disinherited entirely, and Esau would be given all of Isaac's estate. Jacob wouldn't even receive the lesser son's single share, if Isaac had his way. Isaac intended to give Esau all three portions of his estate, despite Esau's selling his birthright to Jacob (the second portion, belonging to the firstborn), and despite Jacob having been a faithful son to his father (the third portion).
Or if you want it put to music, Esau Couldn't Wait.
Consider this: what Esau promised Jacob was not Isaac's cooperation in the exchange, but rather half of his inheritance. Had Isaac not gone along with their agreement, and given Esau the double blessing, Esau was still bound by his own oath to turn over half (i.e. the second portion /share given to the firstborn) of his inheritance to Jacob, regardless of how Isaac handled it.
It would be interesting to also explore the idea that Esau might have despised the idea of taking care of their elderly father, and that Jacob - loving their father more than Esau, and fearing how Esau would care for him, given Esau's nature - sought the role of caretaker, too.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe (zt"l, zy"`a) once said that the problem with Qorach's wanting to elevate the entire people of Israel to an equal level was not that it was inherently wrong but that it was not yet time for it (ie, this is reserved for the messianic era), just as Adam's eating from the tree would not have been a sin at all if he had merely waited three hours for the onset of Shabbat. It was the time rather than the act itself that made it sinful.
Now, as to Jacob and Esau, Jacob was a totally righteous person while Esau was wicked. According to CHaZa"L the reason Isaac trembled when he learned it was Jacob and not Esau on whom he had bestowed the blessing was that "he saw Ge'-Benei-Hinnom ("hell") open before him; ie, he realized he had almost made a terrible mistake in bestowing the blessing on his wicked older son. There are numerous midrashim about Jacob and Esau illustrating the cruelty of the former and the kindness of the latter. I'm sure many are available for perusing in English on the Web.
The instance of the actual sale of the birthright is interesting for another reason. I have read an article by Dr. Avigdor Bonchek that points out the following: reading the text in translation creates the impression that first Esau sold Jacob his birthright and then Jacob gave him the lentils. However, the actual Hebrew text uses two verbal forms: a "vav consecutive" (which continues the narrative) and the switch to the perfect (which interrupts it. Yayimkor 'et bekhorato leYa`aqov ("and he sold his birthright to Jacob") but VeYa`aqov natan le`Eisav lechem unezid `adashim ("Jacob had already given to Esau bread and stew of lentils"). Thus there was no pressure placed on Esau by Jacob to sell the birthright in order to sate his hunger. As the text goes on to say, "Esau despised his birthright."
This is the same indication we receive in Parashat Berei'shit that Cain and Abel had already been born in the Garden of Eden prior to the expulsion. Genesis 4 begins VeHa'Adam yada` 'et Chavvah 'ishto ("Adam had already known his wife Eve"), whereas if this had occurred after the expulsion it would have said Vayeida` Ha'Adam 'et Chavvah 'ishto.
I hope you fellows understand that we are discussing actual historical events here and not mere "Aesop's fables." If not, I'll have to kill you!
You're going to casually toss out a bombshell like that, and just walk away??? Can we start a new thread on this subject? I'd like to hear more.
Bombshell? It's simple Theonomic positivism. Right and wrong are defined by Divine decree. It is a sin to kill when it is forbidden to do so, but it is a sin not to kill if G-d commands it (ie, execution of a Halakhically convicted murderer or idolator, killing extermination of `Amaleq and the Seven Nations of Canaan, etc.). It is a sin for a Jew to wear a garment that combines wool and linnen with the exception of those occasions when they are commanded (the tzitziyyot, the High Priest's garments). And it was a sin to eat the fruit when G-d said not to, but if he had waited until Shabbat when G-d would have granted permission there would have been nothing wrong about it at all. In fact, it may be that Adam would have been commanded to eat of the fruit at that time and to refuse to do so would be a sin.
The events in the Garden all took place on the Sixth Day. Adam and Eve could have experienced the peace of Shabbat there but ate the fruit too soon, so they were expelled.
I am not an expert on the details of the event, and in fact there are disagreements (or perhaps I should say apparent disagreements) between the Talmud and Zohar as to when the eating occurred and whether it was before or after Adam and Eve brought forth their first seven children (Cain and his twin sister, and Abel and his two "twin" sisters). Perhaps those who know the material will enlighten us, or perhaps you can find it on the Web.
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