To enter into the depth of the matter, we need to examine another line in Rashi. Rashi says the words בּ ְ נִ י בְ כ ֹ רִ י (My firstborn son) is an expression of greatness, as in the Pasuk: אָנִי בְּ כוֹר אֶ תְּ נֵהוּ עֶלְיוֹן לְמַ לְכֵי אָ רֶ ץאַ ף – I too will make him firstborn, is its plain meaning. But its deeper meaning, Rashi says, is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu sealed the sale of the birthright that Yaakov took from Eisav.
Seemingly, the sale of the birthright didn't happen now but when Yaakov and Eisav were 15 years old. On the day that Avraham Avinu died, Eisav came from the field and saw Yaakov cooking lentils – "Why are you suddenly cooking lentils?!", Yaakov told him: "Saba Avraham died today" – and then Eisav asks him: הַ לְעִ יטֵ נִי נָא מִ ן הָ אָ דֹם הָ אָ דֹם הַ זֶּה כִּ י עָ יֵף אָ נֹכִ י – Please feed me from this red, red stuff, for I am weary. Yaakov Avinu seizes the moment and asks him to sell him the birthright:
And Yaakov said, 'Swear to me this day,' and he swore to him, and he sold his birthright to Yaakov. And Yaakov gave Eisav bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and he rose and went away, and Eisav despised the birthright.
The first validation of the birthright sale occurred 48 years later – and why 48 years? Since Yitzchak Avinu was 75 years old when Avraham died, he was thus born when Avraham was 100 years old. And at age 123, Yitzchak asked Eisav to prepare delicacies for him so that he could bless him. Therefore, if we calculate 123 minus 75, the result is 48 years that passed from the sale of the birthright.
These 48 years passed, and Rivka hears Yitzchak's words to Eisav and quickly calls Yaakov and tells him: 'Go now to the flock and take for me from there two choice young goats, and I will make them into delicacies for your father, just as he loves. And you shall bring it to your father, and he shall eat, so that he may bless you before his death.'
Then, immediately after Yaakov received the brachot from his father, Eisav arrives on the scene:
And it came to pass, when Yitzchak had finished blessing Yaakov, and Yaakov had just gone out from the presence of Yitzchak his father, that Eisav his brother came in from his hunting. And he also made delicacies and brought them to his father, and he said to his father, 'Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, so that your soul may bless me.' ... And Yitzchak trembled with an exceedingly great trembling and said, 'Who then is he who hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate of all before you came, and I blessed him? Indeed, he shall be blessed.' When Eisav heard his father's words, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, 'Bless me too, my father!' And he said, 'Your brother came with deceit and took your blessing.' And he said, 'Is it because his name is called Yaakov that he has deceived me these two times? He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing!' And he said, 'Have you not reserved a blessing for me?'
Rashi explains that the phrase הֲכִי קָרָא שְׁמוֹ יַעֲקֹב reflects Eisav’s claim that Yaakov was named for his end – namely, that he would ultimately supplant his brother. The Midrash (Tanchuma 23) asks why Yitzchak was seized with fear upon realizing whom he had blessed.
Yitzchak said: Perhaps there is sin within me, that I blessed the younger before the elder and overturned the order of justice. When Eisav cried out, “He has supplanted me – twice,” Yitzchak questioned him further. When Eisav answered that Yaakov had taken his birthright, Yitzchak responded that this was the reason for his trembling: perhaps he had acted unjustly. But now, having blessed the true firstborn, יִהְיֶה גַם־בָּרוּך – he too shall be blessed.
This statement applies not only to the blessing, but to the birthright itself – for even the word בָּרוּך contains בְּ כוֹר. Thus, forty-eight years after the sale, Yitzchak Avinu publicly confirms that the transaction was valid. At this point, Yaakov Avinu is sixty-three years old.
Years later, Yaakov dwells fourteen years in the Yeshiva of Shem v’Ever, arrives in Charan at seventy-seven, and returns toward Eretz Yisrael at ninety-seven. On the way, he wrestles with the angel of Eisav. As dawn breaks, the angel asks to be released, but Yaakov refuses unless he is blessed. The angel responds: לֹא יַעֲקֹב יֵאָמֵר עוֹד שִׁמְך כִּי אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵל – Your name shall no longer be Yaakov, but Yisrael.
Rashi explains: לֹא יַעֲקֹב means not a name associated with receiving blessings through deception. From now on, the blessings will come openly and with strength. The angel tells him that Hakadosh Baruch Hu will reveal Himself at Beit El, change his name there, and bless him openly – and that the angel himself will acknowledge those blessings.
This is the meaning of: וַיָּשַׂר אֶל־מַלְאָךְ וַיּוּכָל בָּכָה וַיִּתְחַנֶּן לוֹ – He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and pleaded. The angel pleaded with Yaakov to wait until Beit El, where Hakadosh Baruch Hu would speak with them together. Yaakov refused to wait though, and the angel, against his will, acknowledged the blessings immediately: וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתוֹ שָׁם – And he blessed him there.
The underlying question remains: How can a birthright be sold? The answer lies in the unique case of twins. There are two dimensions of firstborn status: firstborn by emergence, and firstborn by formation. The Torah describes the birth of Yaakov and Eisav: וַיֵּצֵא הָרִאשׁוֹן... וְאַחֲרֵי־כֵן יָצָא אָחִיו וְיָדוֹ אֹחֶזֶת בַּעֲקֵב עֵשָׂו – The first one emerged... Then his brother emerged, holding on to the heel of Eisav.
Rashi brings a Midrash explaining that Yaakov was formed first, and Eisav second. Using the analogy of objects placed into a narrow tube, the one formed first emerges last. Thus Eisav, who was formed last, came out first, while Yaakov, who was formed first, came out last. Yaakov came to hold him back so that he would be first in birth as he was first in formation, and he would release the womb and take the birthright by law.
The meaning of this is that Yaakov argued: "If I am coming out second, it is a sign that I was formed first!" And here the question arose: Is the firstborn the firstborn by birth, or perhaps the firstborn by formation?
This dispute was never settled absolutely: is the firstborn the one who emerges first, or the one who was formed first? Because this question existed, Yaakov said to Eisav: Even if you claim the birthright by emergence, sell it to me. Eisav agreed. This explains why Yaakov Avinu later says to his father, Yitzchak: אָ נֹכִ י עֵ שָׂ ו בְּ כֹרֶ ך – I am Eisav, your firstborn.
The Ba’al HaTurim notes that the word בְּ כ ֹ רֶ ך appears two times, once in blessing and once in destruction. Yaakov is the one called בְּנִי בְכֹרִ י יִשְׂרָאֵל, whereas Eisav is alluded to in the destructive words הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי הֹרֵ ג אֶת־בִּנְך בְּכֹרֶ ך.
Thus, Yitzchak Avinu ultimately sealed the birthright when he said יִ הְ יֶה ג ם בָּ רוּ ך, meaning, he too remains the firstborn. And finally, the angel sealed it as well, by renaming him Yisrael, not Yaakov.
The question was asked: Why did he have to wait 275 years after the angel sealed the birthright before Hakadosh Baruch Hu sealed it as well? Why did he have to wait so long? Let us enter into a few more additional questions, and at the end of the shiur we’ll have an answer to all the questions together.
