“By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.”

This is the faith of one who has received a promise, the promise of Abraham, his blessing and his covenant, and who, without seeing whence it came nor where it was to go, held fast to it. He held fast not because God had spoken directly to him, nor because he himself knew where it led ultimately, but because it came from the mouth of God; he held fast. Certainly he had been blessed with the wealth of his father Abraham, had witnessed the provision of God on Mount Moriah, and had been prospered in his life-time, but as for the fullness of the promise that through the seed of Abraham all nations would be blessed, he was no closer to seeing than Abraham had been. And yet he believed.

But it wasn’t that simple either. According to his understanding the promise is to the first-born. Was this not the first fruit, what was offered to God? Was not Esau the strong one who conquered the land and brought home meat for the family? Esau was the one whom Isaac loved and cherished. It was for Esau that Isaac dreamt of God fulfilling his promises in a mighty way, conquering enemies and spreading God’s fame by his strength. If Esau had found favor in Isaac’s eyes as his first-born, then surely he had found favor in God’s eyes, had he not?

But Isaac lived by faith; not in his son, not in his beloved wife who had comforted him since his mother’s death, not even in his own blessing from God, but in the promise of God to whomever God chose to send it upon. And this faith produced a love that is stronger, more miraculous than any other love he had experienced on earth. It was a love that brought pain and sorrow in his old age and defied all human reason, but it was love that descends from heaven by power of God’s spirit through faith in his promise.

From a human perspective there could be no greater sham than that contrived by Rebekah and Jacob to deceive the aged and blind Isaac into thinking that Jacob was Esau by covering his arms in goat skin and preparing lamb in the place of wild game. Was this not a lack of faith in the providence of God to force Isaac to bless Jacob instead of Esau in such a way? Had not God promised Rebekah that “the older shall serve the younger”? Why then did she not have faith that God would do it in his own way?

Hebrews 11 does not say that Rebekah and Jacob acted in faith, only that Isaac did in his blessing. Here is where faith is appreciated: why God allowed the deception to be the means of giving the blessing to Jacob is not told us; it is not God’s purpose for us to understand