Commentaria in Genesim
Learn here that God sometimes permits the just in some measure to be ignorant, to be deceived, to fall, to err, that they may acknowledge themselves. Thus holy Isaac thought that the blessing of God was to be fulfilled in Esau, but was deceived; second, that God sometimes reveals to little ones what He hides from the great: so it is revealed to Rebecca what Isaac did not know. Christ confesses the same.
I AM ESAU THY FIRSTBORN.—You will ask whether Jacob here lied, and whether he sinned? First, Origen, Cassian and Chrysostom, following Plato, hold that Jacob lied, but lawfully and without sin; for that it is lawful from time to time to use a lie, as hellebore, or as we use poisonous things in medicines. But this is an error already declared and reprobated by the Church, against which St. Augustine wrote, in his book Against Lying. Second, Gabriel in III, dist. 38, and Aliaco in I, Question XII, at the end, hold that it is not lawful to lie of itself, yet lawful to lie when God dispenses. But the common opinion of Doctors with St. Augustine is that a lie is evil by its nature, and consequently God cannot dispense in it. For a lie is of itself against the nature and virtue of truth. Hence Holy Scripture forbids every lie altogether, Ecclesiasticus chap. vii, verse 14. Third, better St. Augustine, book Against Lying, chap. X, holds that this is a figurative speech. For as in Matthew XI, 14, John the Baptist is called Elias, not as to person, but as to spirit; and in Tobias v, 18, Raphael says he is Azarias, that is, the helper of God, son of Ananias, that is, of the grace of God: so Jacob says he is Esau, not as to name and person, but as to right and birthright, conferred on him by God, chap. xxv, verse 23. Hence he says: “I have done as thou didst command me;” for thou didst intend primarily to command thy firstborn to bring food, and to receive the paternal blessing: but I am the firstborn. “Eat therefore of my venison,” which I hunted not in the field but in the stable.
But I say: Jacob seems, at his mother’s impulse, by garment, deeds and words to lie, not only about the right but also about the person of Esau: for he wishes by all means to persuade his diligent father that he is the very Esau; hence he lies saying: “I have done as thou didst command me;” and, “Eat of my venison,” as if to say: I took arms and bow, I hunted, behold the beast I caught and cooked: eat of it; so St. Chrysostom, Lyranus, Cajetan, Lipomanus, Pererius and others.
Add that, although these words were ambiguous and might be excused and verified by some subtle understanding, yet Jacob does not seem to have had it, for he was not so subtle, nor did he turn over such great matters in his mind: but he was simple, upright and candid; and in this business of snatching the blessing from his brother by guile and fraud, he simply obeyed his mother, and did whatever she suggested; whence also he is called fraudulent by his father, verse 35.
I say secondly, this lie of Jacob was not pernicious, nor injurious to anyone, but officious, and consequently only a venial sin. For the rights of the birthright were due to him by the gift of God, and therefore in snatching them from Esau by guile he did him no injury, but vindicated his own property to himself. So Tostatus, Lipomanus, Cajetan. Add that perhaps from invincible ignorance both the mother and Jacob thought what Origen, Cassian and St. Chrysostom thought, namely that it was lawful for them in such a case and necessity to lie.
You will say: Here was a mystery, therefore not a lie. The antecedent is clear, because Jacob, putting on the garments and person of Esau, signified Christ, who took our sins and punishments upon Himself. Again, he signified that the Gentiles were to be substituted for the Jews in the sonship and blessing of Abraham, namely in grace, justice and salvation, as the Apostle explains, Rom. ix and x.
I answer: This was a mystery on the part of God and the Holy Spirit, who intended to signify this allegorically; but it was a lie on the part of Jacob: for he in the literal sense intended to persuade his father that he was Esau in person. Hence the mystery of God just mentioned does not excuse him, especially since he does not seem then to have been ignorant of it. Add that this mystery and this mystical sense is not situated in the lie of Jacob: for truth cannot rest on falsehood; but is situated in the deed of Jacob, by which he presented himself to his father, and so behaved as if he were Esau: for deeds can often be excused from lying where words cannot. For words signify definitely and determinately the thing and the mind of the speaker; but deeds only confusedly and indeterminately; whence by the mind of the doer they can be bent this way or that, determined, and directed to signify this or that. Thus comedians in comedies, without lying, represent the persons of other kings and princes, by acting what they did, just as if they themselves were kings and princes.
ARISE, SIT AND EAT.—Isaac therefore lay on his little bed, because of old age and weakness, from which Jacob asks him to rise to eat.
Mystically St. Ambrose, book De Isaac, chap. v: “The bed of the saints, he says, is Christ, in which the hearts of all, wearied by worldly battles, find rest. In this bed Isaac rested, and blessed his younger son.”
22. THE VOICE INDEED IS THE VOICE OF JACOB; BUT THE HANDS ARE THE HANDS OF ESAU.—So allegorically the voice of Christ was the voice of the Son of God, but the hands and outward appearance, which men saw and touched, were those of a common man, mortal and wretched. Whence St. Bernard, sermon 28 on the Canticle: “What is heard in Christ, he says, is His own: what is seen, ours: what is spoken is spirit and life: what appears is mortal and death: one thing is seen, and another believed.”
Hence in the same place he teaches that knowledge of the truth is received more through hearing than through sight. “The eyes of the patriarch are dim, he says, the palate is led astray, the hand is deceived, the ear is not deceived. What wonder, if the ear perceives the truth, since faith is from hearing, hearing through the word of God, and the word of God is truth? The voice, he says, is the voice of Jacob; nothing truer: but the hands are the hands of Esau; nothing falser. Thou art deceived, the likeness of the hand deceives thee. Nor is there truth in taste, though there is sweetness: for how has he truth who thinks he is eating game, when he is feeding on the domestic flesh of kids? Much less the eye, which sees nothing. There is no truth in the eye, no wisdom; hearing alone, which perceives the word, has the truth.”
The same is clear in the Eucharist: for in it hand, taste and touch are deceived, while they perceive and taste it and judge it to be bread; but the voice alone does not deceive: for this is the voice of the Son of God, who can neither be deceived nor deceive, saying: “This is my body.”
23. THEN BLESSING HIM.—Destining and preparing himself to bless: for “blessing” here signifies an act not perfected but begun and destined, namely the very destination and preparation for blessing: for not here, but in what follows, does Isaac bless Jacob.
27. AS HE PERCEIVED.—The fragrance of the odour, which Jacob diffused from his garments, so refreshed and cheered the brain of the good old man Isaac that, filled with joy, and burning with love of his son, he broke forth into his blessing.
From this place it is clear that it is most ancient that the garments of princes and nobles were seasoned with precious ointments or perfumes. The same is clear from Cant. iv, 11: “The smell of thy garments as the smell of frankincense.” And Psalm XLIV, 9: “Myrrh, and stacte, and cassia perfume thy garments.”
BEHOLD THE SMELL OF MY SON.—For “behold” the Hebrew has “see,” as if to say: I see, that is I sense, perceive, smell the wonderful fragrance of my son; for sight is put for any sense, as I have said elsewhere.
LIKE THE SMELL OF A PLENTIFUL FIELD—flourishing with flowers and fruits: for these breathe out their sweet and fragrant breath, by which men are wonderfully refreshed.
The word “plentiful” is not in the Hebrew, nor in the Chaldee, but in the Greek.