Rebekah now has a second problem on her hands. The first was to get the blessing away from Esau. The second is to get Jacob away from Esau. She accomplishes this by urging Jacob to go to Mesopotamia until Esau calms down (27:41–46). She also reminds her husband about Esau’s two Hittite wives (27:46). In effect she says to Isaac: “You do not want another Hittite daughter-in-law, do you?”

For a second time, and with full awareness of whom he is blessing, Isaac gives Jacob a warning, some advice about marriage, and a blessing (28:1–9). Isaac nowhere rebukes his son for his earlier antics, any more than God rebuked Abraham or Isaac for similar ruses. Silence, however, should not be taken as approval. The purpose of the Genesis stories in chapters 11–50 is to illustrate the election of one fa…