19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me."
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau [1] At first Jacob was timid and anxious; now, having dismissed his fear, he confidently and audaciously lies. By which example we are taught, that when any one has transgressed the proper bounds of duty, he soon allows himself unmeasured license. Wherefore there is nothing better than for each to keep himself within the limits divinely prescribed to him, lest by attempting more than is lawful, he should open the door to Satan. I have before shown how far his seeking the blessing by fraud, and insinuating himself into the possession of it by falsehood, was contrary to faith. Yet this particular fault and divergence from the right path, did not prevent the faith which had been produced by the oracle from holding on, in some way, its course. In excusing the quickness of his return by saying that the venison was brought to him by God, he speaks in accordance with the rule of piety: he sins, however, in mixing the sacred name of God with his own falsehoods. Thus, when there is a departure from truth, the reverence which is apparently shown to God is nothing else than a profanation of his glory. It was right that the prosperous issue of his hunting should be ascribed to the providence of God, lest we should imagine that any good thing was the result of chance; but when Jacob pretended that God was the author of a benefit which had not been granted to himself, and that, too, as a cloak for his deception, his fault was not free from perjury.
1 - "In his speech of Jacob's there are three direct falsehoods. 1st, I am Esau;' 2d, I have done according as thou badest me;' 3d, Eat of my venison.' We ought not to be extremely solicitous to find excuses for all the actions for holy men." -- Cornelius a Lapide in Poli Syn.
I am Esau thy first-born - Here are many palpable falsehoods, and such as should neither be imitated nor excused. "Jacob," says Calmet, "imposes on his father in three different ways. 1. By his words: I am thy first-born Esau. 2. By his actions; he gives him kids' flesh for venison, and says he had executed his orders, and got it by hunting. 3. By his clothing; he puts on Esau's garments, and the kids' skins upon his hands and the smooth of his neck. In short, he made use of every species of deception that could be practiced on the occasion, in order to accomplish his ends." To attempt to palliate or find excuses for such conduct, instead of serving, disserves the cause of religion and truth. Men have labored, not only to excuse all this conduct of Rebekah and Jacob, but even to show that it was consistent, and that the whole was according to the mind and will of God!
Non tali auxilio,
non defensoribus istis
The cause of God and truth is under no obligation to such defenders; their hands are more unhallowed than those of Uzzah; and however the bearers may stumble, the ark of God requires not their support. It was the design of God that the elder should serve the younger, and he would have brought it about in the way of his own wise and just providence; but means such as here used he could neither sanction nor recommend.
And Jacob said unto his father, (d) I [am] Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
(d) Although Jacob was assured of this blessing by faith: yet he did evil to seek it by lies, even more because he abuses God's name through it.
And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn,.... Had he only said that he was his firstborn, he might have been excused from lying, because he had bought the birthright of Esau; but when he says, I am Esau, he can by no means be excused; for to say he impersonated Esau will not do; besides, he afterwards says he was his very son Esau, Genesis 27:24,
I have done according as thou badest me; which is another lie; for Isaac had not bid him bring him any venison, nor go into the field for it, and take it and dress it for him; nor indeed had Jacob done either of these:
arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison; or "hunting" (u), what he had hunted; another untruth, for it was not venison he brought him, nor anything that was hunted by him: by this it seems that Isaac lay upon a bed or couch through infirmity, and therefore is bid to arise and put himself in a proper posture for eating, which in those times and countries was usually sitting:
that thy soul may bless me; as this was the thing in view, so speaking of it as soon as he came in, and which he desired might be done after his father had eat and drank, might serve to take off the suspicion of his being another person; since this was what Isaac himself proposed to Esau to do; and this he said when there were none else present.
(u) "de venatione mea", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, &c.
And Jacob said, I am Esau - Who would have thought this plain man could have played such a part? His mother having put him in the way of it, he applies himself to those methods which he had never accustomed himself to, but had always conceived an abhorrence of. But lying is soon learned. I wonder how honest Jacob could so readily turn his tongue to say, I am Esau thy first - born: and when his father asked him, Genesis 27:24. Art thou my very son Esau? to reply I am. How could he say, I have done as thou badst me, when he had received no command from his father, but was doing as his mother bid him? How could he say, Eat of my venison, when he knew it came not from the field, but from the fold? But especially I wonder how he could have the forehead to father it upon God, and to use his name in the cheat.
*More commentary available at chapter level.