GENESIS 27........THE BELOVED AND I

Genesis 27

1 Now it happened when Isaac's eyes

Were dim with age, not to advise,

He called Esau his older son

And said to him, "My son, my son."

And he answered him, "Here I am."

2 Then he said "Indeed now, my lamb,

I'm old. I do not know the day

When I shall die. 3 "Now therefore, say

Will you take weapons, quiver, bow,

And go out to the field and show

Your hunting skills for me. 4 "And make

Me savoury food, such as I take

With joy, and bring it to me so

I may eat, that my soul may know

To bless you before I shall die."

5 Now Rebekah was listening why

Isaac was speaking to his son

Esau. And with the speaking done

Esau went to the field to hunt

The game and bring it to the front.

6 Rebekah spoke to Jacob then,

Jacob her son, saying "The men

Were talking and I heard your father

Speak to Esau your brother rather,

Saying 7 'Bring me game and make food,

A savoury dish for me and good,

That I may eat it and bless you

Here in the presence of Lord YHWH

Before my death.' 8 "Now therefore, son,

Obey my voice and get it done

Whatever I tell you to do.

9 "Go to the flock and bring me two

Choice kids of goats, and I will make

The savoury dish of tasty steak

Such as your father loves. 10 "Then you

Shall take it to your father, do,

That he may eat it, and bless you

Before his death." 11 And Jacob said

To Rebekah his mother bred,

"Look, Esau my brother's a man

Of hairy skin while I'm a man

Of smooth. 12 "Perhaps my father will

Feel me, and I shall seem worse still

To be deceiver in his sight

And get no blessing, but a blight."

13 But his mother said to him, "Let

Your curse be on me, and forget,

My son, only obey my voice,

And go, get them for me and choice."

14 And he went and got them and brought

Them to his mother, and she wrought

The savoury dish his father sought.

15 Then Rebekah took the choice clothes

Of her elder son Esau, chose

From what was with her in the house,

And put them on, to fool her spouse,

Jacob her younger son. 16 And she

Put the skins of the goats to be

On his hands and on the smooth part

Of his neck. 17 Then she gave the tart

Of savoury food and bread, which she

Had made, to her son Jacob free.



How many mothers and their sons seek blessing

From fathers, hands and arms and necks caressing,

To find the world a harsh and heated waste

Despite the pot of savoury herbs they taste.

The damp and clinging skins contrived to seal

The sought for fate of glory always feel

Just what they are, the bloody, sodden things

Of sure deceit known to all who'd be kings.

With loathing I shake off the woollen bands

That tell the world what it less understands

That I seek divine love with heart and voice.

Abandoned, naked, I renew my choice

In poverty to sing Your lovely name

Enjoying that wealth more than any claim.



18 So he went to his father and

Said "My father.' And "Here I stand"

Said he, "Who are you, my son?" 19 Then

Jacob said to his father, "When

You sent me Esau your firstborn

I went and did as you would warn,

Please rise, sit, eat the game I've brought

And give to me the blessing sought."

20 But Isaac said to his son, "How

Have you found it so quickly now,

My son?" And he said "Because YHWH

Your God brought me the barbeque."

21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please

Come near, and let me feel at ease,

My son, if you are Esau or

Someone that I've not bargained for."

22 So Jacob went near to Isaac

His father, and he felt the thick

Hair on him and said "The voice is

Jacob's voice, but these hands of his

Are those of Esau." 23 And he did

Not recognize him, since he hid

His hands with hair like that upon

His brother Esau's hands to con,

And so he blessed him on the skid.



Believe the half of what you see and none

Of what you hear, my father told his son.

All things are changed and all are made to fit

The purposes of those who've chosen it.

Things are not what they seem in this dark world,

The wicked core is gold embossed and pearled.

So I believe no angel no nor prophet

That's come to say his piece both on and off it.

Instead I listen to the voice that can

In no wise be mistaken. Voice of man

Betrays, but Your voice, my Beloved, is sure

And thunders in the silence loud and pure

Despite the centuries since You last spoke

A sermon on Mount Sinai when men woke.



24 Then he said "Are you really he,

My son Esau?" He said "The same."

25 He said "Bring it then near to me,

And I will eat of my son's game,

So that my soul may bless you here."

So he brought meat and grape juice near

To him, he ate and drank. 26 Then dear

Father Isaac said to him, "Here,

Come near now and kiss me, my son."

27 And he came near and kissed him one,

And he smelled the smell of his clothing,

And blessed him and said nothing loathing,

"Surely, the smell of my son's as

The smell of fields that Lord YHWH has

Blessed. 28 Therefore may Ælohim give

You heaven's dew while you shall live,

Earth's fatness and grain plenty and

Grape juice. 29 Let folk of every land

Serve you, and nations bow down to

You and be master in your due

Over your brothers, and let your

Mother's sons bow to you the more.

Cursed be the one who curses you,

And blessed be those who bless you too!"



The prophet Jacob, though he heard his mother,

Betrayed both father and his elder brother.

Yet blessings given cannot be retracted

Despite the underhanded way he acted.

I bless the prophet Jacob and not curse

Lest I find perils in my way for worse.

I bless the fields that smell of fresh and new,

I bless the fatness of the earth and dew,

I bless the harvest kernel and the grape

Cut into forty pieces in a scrape

For those who whirl about the throne of God.

I bless the ear and bless the greening pod.

Bless me, too, my Beloved, and bless me well,

Though I am dressed in veil and mask and shell.



30 Now it happened, when Isaac finished

Blessing Jacob, and not diminished,

Jacob had scarcely gone out from

His father's presence, Isaac's sum,

That Esau his brother came in

From his hunting where he had been.

31 He also had made savoury food,

And brought it where his father stood,

And said to his father, "Get up,

And eat the morsel, taste the cup,

Of his son's game, and bless me here."

32 And his father Isaac said to

Him, "Who are you?" So he said "True

It is I am your son, your first

Born, Esau." 33 Then fearing the worst,

Isaac said "Who? Where is the one

Who hunted game and brought it done

To me? I ate it all before

You came here calling at the door,

And I have blessed him, and indeed

He shall be blessed and all his seed."

34 When Esau heard his father's word

He cried greatly for what occurred

And bitterly said to his father,

"Bless me, me also, O my father!"



Note he who steals my honour and my bread

Is one who lacks both, but pours on my head

The ill-gained fruit of his ill-starred ambition.

Therefore I write and read this small petition.

I am the grateful son, obedient

And true, and all my life I've surely spent

In honour of my parents. All I do

Is for their pleasure and also their due.

He is the cheat and slinking man of fate,

And I do well to bide my time in hate.

For all of that, Beloved, I still desire

Your blessing on one walking in the mire.

If with my dirty feet I come before

Your throne, I come as primogenitor.



35 But he said "Now your brother came

Deceitfully and stole your claim

To blessing." 36 And Esau said "Is

His name not rightly Jacob? His

Supplanting me has come now twice.

He took my birthright in a trice,

And now look, he has also taken

Away my blessing!" Then forsaken,

He said "Have you not kept for me

A blessing?" 37 Isaac answered "See,"

And said to Esau, "I have made

Him master, and the whole brigade

Of all his brothers servants to

Him, and with grain and grape juice too

Have I sustained him. What's to do

For you, my son?" 38 And Esau said

To his father, "Have you instead

Only one blessing, O my father?

Bless me, me also, O my father!"

And Esau lifted up his voice

And wept because he had no choice.



The world takes all, and takes it by deceit,

Yet You, Beloved, stand by it seems to treat

Them with the blessings they have grasped outright

And trampled poor and innocent with fight

And guile. And so I come with call and tears

To beg a blessing beyond what appears.

I rend in anger or in patience veils

And cry that You will listen to my tales.

I boil a soup of my own kidneys and

Give up my liver to Your bowl and hand.

O my Beloved, grant me poor Esau's blessing,

Though without sauce and without savoury dressing,

I come to You, Beloved, and come again.

Deliver me from all deceitful men.



39 Isaac his father answered and

Said to him, "Fatness of the land

Shall be your dwelling, and the dew

Of heaven above. 40 By your sword too

You shall live, and you shall serve long

Your brother, but you shall be strong

And break his yoke from off your neck."

41 So Esau hated Jacob for

The blessing which his father bore

And blessed him, Esau said within

His heart, "The days are coming in

To mourn my father, then I will

Kill brother Jacob for my fill."

42 And the words of Esau her older

Son were told to Rebekah, bolder,

So she sent and called Jacob her

Younger son, and said to confer

With him, "Surely your brother now,

This Esau comforts himself how

He'll kill you later. 43 "Now therefore,

My son, obey me on this score.

Get up, flee to my brother who

Lives in Haran, my brother Laban.

44 "And stay with him a day or two,

Yes, go and stay with brother Laban

Until your brother's fury dies,

45 "Until your brother's anger flies

Away from you, and he forgets

What you have done to him. So let's

Wait till I send for you from there.

Why should I be bereaved with care

Of both of you in one day?" 46 And

Rebekah told Isaac, "Disband

My weariness of life because

The daughters of Heth show their claws.

If Jacob takes a wife like those

Daughters of this land, let life close."



Rebekah's words to Isaac do not tell

The thoughts of heart but only cast a spell

To further aims she does not want to speak.

The mother of the faithful thus is weak

As she relates to her own husband's pride.

To hide the truth to save a dear son's hide

In face of death may very well be fair.

We have to kill the gnat to breathe the air.

Yet it is sorrow to my heart to know

The best and dearest must be dealt with so.

I turn from veils of words to say Your name

And thus change choking dust for lasting fame,

And blackened coals for diamonds out of hand

While trying to make sense and understand.