Back in the Old Testament days, blessings couldn't be wasted on sternutation - they were serious business. As we know, God blessed Abraham, who in turn blessed his son Isaac, who, now nearing death, needs to bless his own son.
Being blessed by God is like being a Highlander: There can be only one. So, being able to only pick one son to pass the blessing to, Isaac choses Esau, who has always been his favorite. Isaac tells Esau to go hunt and prepare a meal for him, and afterwards he will give him his blessing.
While Esau is out, Rebekah devises a plan so that Jacob, her favorite son, may receive the blessing. Knowing that Isaac is blind from old age, she prepares the meal herself, dresses Jacob in Esau's clothes and tells him to go into his father's tent pretending to be Esau.
Jacob complies. Though Isaac is suspicious because of the sound of Jacob's voice, the smell of his clothes convinces him that it is Esau he is talking with. Thinking Jacob is Esau, Isaac blesses him.
Things hit the fan when Esau comes back to discover that he has been swindled out of his blessing. Fearing for Jacob's life, Rebekah sends him off to live with her brother Laban in Haran.
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All this talk about blessings got me researching their role in Judaism. Turns out there's a lot of them. In Judaism, there's a blessing for when you wake up (Modeh ani), a blessing for safe journeys (Tefilat HaDerech), a blessing for eating non-fruit produce (Ha-Etz), and a priestly blessing that requires vulcan-like hand positioning.
Random Adorableness: Bless you, panda bear!
Also,
HOW COOL IS THIS?!?!
This site blew me away today. The goal of "The Brick Testament" is to tell the story of the entire Bible using legos.
Check out the site HERE
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