Rebekah Walks Her Son to the Door and the Voice of Jacob

"And she gave the savory food" (Genesis 27:17). She accompanied him to the door and said: Until here I was obligated to you; from here onward let your Creator stand by you. "And Jacob said... I am Esau your firstborn" (Genesis 27:19). Rabbi Levi said: "I am [the one] whose children are destined to receive the Ten Commandments [I am the one for whom the word 'I am the LORD' will be spoken at Sinai], but Esau is your firstborn." "Arise, I pray, and sit" - the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Jacob: You said "Arise, I pray, and sit" as a request; by your life, in that same language I will repay you, "Arise, O LORD, and let Your enemies be scattered." "There is one swept away without judgment" (cf. Proverbs) - this is Esau. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Esau: You said "let my father arise"; I too will repay you in that language, "Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered" (Psalms 68:2). "And Isaac said to his son: How is it that you found it so quickly, my son? And he said: Because the LORD your God brought it before me" (Genesis 27:20). "How is it that you found the blessing so quickly, my son? Your father was blessed at seventy-five and you are sixty-three." "And he said: Because the LORD your God brought it before me" - Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: one of them said, If for your offering He provided you a ram, as it is written "and behold a ram" (Genesis 22:13), how much more so for your food. The other said, If for your mate He provided you, as it is written "send me good speed" and "he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold camels coming" (Genesis 24), how much more so for your food. "Because the LORD your God brought it before me" - a parable to a raven that brought fire to its nest [an unnatural thing]. When he said "Because the LORD your God," Isaac said: I know that Esau does not mention the name of the Holy One, blessed be He; this is not Esau but Jacob. Immediately he said to him: "Come near, I pray, that I may feel you, my son" (Genesis 27:21). Water poured over his knees and his heart grew soft as wax, and the Holy One, blessed be He, prepared for him two angels, one at his right and one at his left, who held him by his elbows so that he would not fall. This is what is written, "Be not dismayed, for I am your God" (Isaiah 41:10) - do not melt, let not your heart be as wax. "And he said: The voice is the voice of Jacob" (Genesis 27:22). Behold, the voice that is the voice of the wise and hands that send forth death [a play: a voice of wisdom subdues the deadly hands]. Jacob rules only with his voice, as it is said "the voice is the voice of Jacob," and Esau rules only with the hands, as it is said "and the hands are the hands of Esau." When Jacob chirps with his voice, the hands of Esau have no power. No philosophers arose among the nations of the world like Balaam son of Beor and like Avnimos the Gardi. All the nations of the world gathered before Avnimos the Gardi and said to him: Do you say that we are able to make war upon this nation? He said to them: Go and circle around their synagogues and study houses. If you find there children chirping with their voices, you cannot prevail against them; and if not, you can prevail against them. For thus their father promised them and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob" - when the voice of Jacob is found in the synagogues and study houses, the hands are not the hands of Esau. "The voice is the voice of Jacob" - even in the matter of the concubine at Gibeah, "Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin" [the voice of Israel deciding even harsh matters].