But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, “If so, why do I exist?” She went to inquire of the Eternal, and the Eternal answered her, “Two nations are in your womb, Two separate peoples shall issue from your body; One people shall be mightier than the other, And the older the younger shall work.”
ורב יעבוד צעיר, לא זכר עמהם מלת את שהיא מורה על הפעול. והנה הדבר מסופק ולא באר מי יעבוד את חבירו, הרב את הצעיר או הצעיר את הרב, אלא שיש בו מעט ביאור, כי ברוב הפועל הוא הראשון אלא בדברים שאין לספק בהם, כמו אבנים שחקו מים (איוב י"ב) מים תבעה אש (ישעיה ס"ד) והיה זה שלא התבאר הענין בנבואה הזאת לפי שפעמים יעבוד רב את הצעיר, כמו שהיה בימי דוד ופעמים יעבוד הצעיר את הרב כמו שהוא היום, ומעט הביאור שיש בנבואה זו, כי רוב הימים הרב יעבוד את הצעיר לפיכך היה הפועל ראשון, וכן יהיה אחר שוב שביתנו...
“The elder will serve the younger”—there is no mention here of the word את which would show the direct object. Thus, the matter is not clear, it is not explained who will serve whom: Will the elder [serve] the younger or the younger [serve] the elder?
The only small clue we have is the fact that, normally, the active subject is first. There are places where there is no doubt, such as “Stones, waters wear away” (Job 12:19), “Waters consume fire” (Isaiah 64:1).
And as for why the subject is not explained in this prophecy, it is because sometimes the elder will serve the younger—like in the days of David—and other times, the younger will serve the elder—just like today. And here is a small part of the explanation in this prophecy, since through most of history the elder will serve the younger—that’s why the active subject is first, and this will be so also after our return [to Eretz Yisrael].
"Oracles are expected to lead to action. If the oracle predicts evil to come, the petitioner is expected to try to avert it. Some Mesopotamia!! collections of oracles even contain the "solution," the ritual to perform to avert the doom. In Assyria, an evil astral omen might even cause the king to descend temporarily from his throne and appoint a substitute king. In the same way a petitioner will try to ensure that nothing will prevent the predicted good fortune. Rivka takes a prominent role in fulfilling her birth oracle, acting to guarantee that her younger son will achieve his destiny as the preeminent heir. That moment comes as it is time to transfer the family heritage from Isaac to the next generation."
-Dr. Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible
(1) When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” He answered, “Here I am.” (2) And he said, “I am old now, and I do not know how soon I may die. (3) Take your gear, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open and hunt me some game. (4) Then prepare a dish for me such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my innermost blessing before I die.” (5) Rebekah had been listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out into the open to hunt game to bring home, (6) Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I overheard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying, (7) ‘Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you, with God's approval, before I die.’ (8) Now, my son, listen carefully as I instruct you. (9) Go to the flock and fetch me two choice kids, and I will make of them a dish for your father, such as he likes. (10) Then take it to your father to eat, in order that he may bless you before he dies.” (11) Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am smooth-skinned. (12) If my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster and bring upon myself a curse, not a blessing.” (13) But his mother said to him, “Your curse, my son, be upon me! Just do as I say and go fetch them for me.” (14) He got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared a dish such as his father liked. (15) Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there in the house, and had her younger son Jacob put them on; (16) and she covered his hands and the hairless part of his neck with the skins of the kids. (17) Then she put in the hands of her son Jacob the dish and the bread that she had prepared. (18) He went to his father and said, “Father.” And he said, “Yes, which of my sons are you?” (19) Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your first-born; I have done as you told me. Pray sit up and eat of my game, that you may give me your innermost blessing.”
"The deception of the blind elderly Isaac is a bizarre episode, verging on both the tragic and the burlesque. It rests on a premise alien to contemporary thinking, that a blessing unwittingly bestowed is still a blessing. And it assumes that trickery is not automatically immoral. Many heroes of the Bible, including Moses and David, use trickery when frontal assaults will not work, and the Jacob cycle has quite a few trickster stories. Isaac himself is a trickster, having tried the wife-sister trick on Abimelech. Jacob takes Isaac's place in the next generation, as well as Rivka's, being both a trickster and bearer of the promise. Rivka will use whatever means are in the tool kit of those without authority to make decisions.
"The story never tells us that Rivka must use deception because she is powerless, and later readers have often accused her of improper and immoral behavior. But the biblical world valued cunning in the underdog. Only the powerful value honesty at all costs. The powerless know that trickery may save their lives. Early interpreters, both Jewish and Christian, praised Rivka, as did medieval and reformation writers. The censure did not begin until the end of the nineteenth century when male biblical scholars began to condemn her as a Lady Macbeth. The pendulum is beginning to swing again as we learn more about how the disadvantaged make their way in the world and how women negotiate through patriarchy. To some contemporary eyes, the ingenuity and cunning of Rivka's plan is itself a mark of divine guidance and her role as divine helper."
-Dr. Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible
(29) Many peoples will work for you, And nations submit to you; Be master over your brothers, And let your mother’s sons submit to you. Cursed be they who curse you, Blessed they who bless you.”