ABSTRACT
In the story of the stealing of the blessing, Isaac appears to be a gullible old man, unequal to the conspiracy hatched against him. This view of Isaac is perplexing–did God, who decreed the election of Abraham and Isaac, allow the blessing to fall into the hands of the next patriarch by deceit? When Jacob approaches him for the blessing, Isaac is immediately suspicious. Not only are the results of his subsequent interrogation of Jacob conflicting, but it is also clear that he is troubled by them. Yet, at the smell of Esau’s garments Isaac suddenly becomes so certain of the very thing that he has until just then doubted, that he decides to confer the blessing. How does Isaac negotiate this “cognitive fissure?” I propose that Isaac, poised to give the blessing, understands that Jacob rather than Esau is the one meant to receive the blessing, and that Jacob is the son who is now petitioning him. However, to bestow the blessing on Jacob is in stark opposition to his earlier preferences and commitments. To escape his predicament, Isaac engages in self–deception.
