Parashat Toldot, Genesis 25:19–28:9
Rabbi David Wein, Tikvat Israel, Richmond, VA
This week’s parasha says that Isaac’s eyes were dim (Genesis 27:1). But why is that? Is the Scripture just saying he needed an ophthalmologist, or is there more to it? For this, let’s turn to the sages, beginning with comedian Jim Gaffigan, with his thoughts on cake:
Cake’s a powerful food. It can actually bring people together:
“It’s Bill’s birthday.”
“I hate that guy.”
“There’s cake in the conference room.”
“Well, I should say hello . . .”
I would argue that Isaac has a similar outlook, which perhaps led to his dim vision. Let’s check out the parasha:
Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. (Genesis 25:28)
And later when Isaac’s eyes are dim and he is preparing to bless Esau:
Then prepare me a delicious meal that I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die. (Genesis 27:4)
Isaac’s love for Esau is wrapped up in his love for the food Esau made for him: delicious wild cake (author’s translation, usually rendered game or food from hunting). In fact, in the second verse, this is the first time in the Bible that the word for love (ahav) is not used for God or another person, but rather for something else: food. And the first verse makes it clear: the favoritism from Isaac comes from what he gets from Esau.
So the rabbis made some connections as to why Isaac’s eyesight might be fading:
Rabbi Yitzḥak began: “You shall not take a bribe [for bribes blind the clear-sighted]” (Exodus 23:8) – Rabbi Yitzḥak said: If one who took a bribe from one who owed him, his eyes dimmed, one who takes a bribe from one who does not owe him, all the more so – “it was when Isaac was old.” (Gen. Rab. 65:7)
“A bribe blinds the clearsighted” is another verse from Exodus, and Rabbi Yitzchak is proposing that this is the reason for Isaac’s sight issues. In other words, the food that he gets from Esau is causing him to have favoritism, and to give blessings and love based on what he can get.
Our biases and our favoritism and our loving what people can do for us make us shortsighted. Do we see people who can’t do as much for us? Do we notice the hurting or do we tend to notice those who can comfort us? Do we favor people with blessings based on their appearance and overlook others?
Here’s James (Jacob) on the subject:
My brothers, practice the faith of our Lord Yeshua, the glorious Messiah, without showing favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and fancy clothes, and also a poor man comes in dressed in rags. If you show more respect to the man wearing the fancy clothes and say to him, “Have this good seat here,” while to the poor man you say, “You, stand over there,” or, “Sit down on the floor by my feet,” then aren’t you creating distinctions among yourselves, and haven’t you made yourselves into judges with evil motives? (James 2:1–4)
Therefore, the faith of Yeshua compels us to love as he does, to notice and see the marginalized and broken, to seek to bless without expecting something in return, or even to bless those who curse us.
This is one possibility for Isaac’s diminished sight, but there’s another idea from the rabbis:
Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa began: “Much, Lord my God, You have done; Your wonders . . .” (Psalm 40:6) – Rabbi Ḥanina said: All the actions and thoughts that you performed on our behalf, were for our benefit. Why did Isaac’s eyes dim? It was so Jacob could come and take the blessings – “it was when Isaac was old.”
Here the idea is that this dimming of sight was under the sovereignty of God to bring the blessings to Jacob in this generation. This reminds me of Paul writing about the descendants of Jacob and Esau in Romans 11. First, he quotes the psalms, then he gives a reasoning for the partial, temporary blindness of Israel:
And David says . . . ”Let their eyes be darkened so they do not see, and bend their back continually.”
I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their false step salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke Israel to jealousy. Now if their transgression leads to riches for the world, and their loss riches for the Gentiles, then how much more their fullness! But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Insofar as I am an emissary to the Gentiles, I spotlight my ministry if somehow I might provoke to jealousy my own flesh and blood and save some of them. For if their rejection leads to the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? . . . A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and in this way all Israel will be saved, (Romans 11:9–15, 25–26)
In other words, perhaps God partially dimmed the eyes of some of Israel in order to work a greater redemption and reconciliation between Israel and God and the nations. Perhaps Isaac’s eyes were dimmed for the purpose of blessing Jacob, with the hope that Jacob would humble himself and become a blessing to Esau. In some ways, Jacob learned this, and in other ways, he left it for his descendants to learn.
Or perhaps both reasons are in view. In his sovereignty, God allowed Jacob to receive the blessing, and he was also teaching Isaac the consequence of loving one son more because he brought him cake (or venison). May our love be more like the love of Messiah Yeshua, who loved, helped, and blessed those who did not return the blessings, that we might truly see each other.