Why Isaac Was Blinded So Jacob Could Receive the Blessings

Rabbi Isaac opened: (Deuteronomy 16:19) "And you shall not take a bribe," and so forth. If one who took [a favor] from someone to whom he was already obligated had his eyes dimmed [namely Isaac, who owed Esau a father's love yet was led astray], then one who takes a bribe from someone to whom he owes nothing, how much more so [will he be punished]. Rabbi Hanina bar Pappa opened: (Psalms 40:6) "Many things have You done, O LORD my God; Your wonders and Your thoughts are toward us." All the deeds that You wrought toward us were for our sake. Why were Isaac's eyes dimmed? So that Jacob would come and take the blessings. Isaac had asked for sufferings, and so forth (as is written in remez 105). "And his eyes were dim from seeing" (Genesis 27:1): from seeing the wickedness of that wicked one [Esau]. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: "Shall Isaac go out into the marketplace and have people say, There goes the father of that wicked man? Rather, behold, I will dim his eyes, and he will sit within his house," as it is written (Isaiah 26:20) "When the wicked arise, a man hides himself." From here [we learn that] anyone who raises a wicked son or a wicked disciple, his eyes grow dim. A wicked disciple, [we learn] from Ahijah the Shilonite (1 Kings 14:4) "And Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were set by reason of his age," because he had raised up Jeroboam the wicked. A wicked son, [we learn] from Isaac, "and his eyes were dim from seeing," because he had raised up Esau the wicked.