Jacob the priest

When Rebekah sends her younger son to her husband, she clothes him in goat skins (Genesis 27:15-16). To this point in Genesis, the only other people to be clothed were Adam and Eve, clothed with skins as they left Eden (3:21). Rebekah stands in the place of Yahweh to “invest” her son.

In the light of later uses of this verb, we can infer that Rebekah is clothing her son as a priest. She “fills his hand” with savory food, sends him into the inner room to his father, in hopes of winning a blessing.

(The investiture theme in Genesis culminates with the robing of Joseph in 41:42. His garments are not animal skins but linen, along with a ring and a gold necklace.)

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