The story of Jacob receiving Isaac’s blessing is not about trickery in any moral sense. It is a symbolic parable — a profound teaching story. At its centre is the message: You become what you assume. More importantly, the blessing belongs to the one who steps into the identity, not the one who claims it by birth.
Isaac: The Law of Assumption Embodied
According to Paul, Isaac is the child of promise — the product of faith and inner conviction, not flesh or outward circumstance (Galatians 4:23). He represents the Law of Assumption in action — the chooser who blesses the identity that is presented in faith, regardless of outer appearance.
Within Isaac dwell two sons — two states of being. Esau is the outer, natural self, shaped by physical effort and past habit. Jacob is the inner, imaginative self — the one who dwells in reflection and spiritual assumption.
Isaac’s blessing is not a passive handing down of inheritance but an active choosing of the state that has been assumed.
The Birthright and the Hunger for Spiritual Inheritance
Before the blessing in Genesis 27, Esau had already sold his birthright in Genesis 25:29–34. This early act reveals that the one who lives by appetite and immediate gratification will give up the deeper spiritual inheritance for fleeting satisfaction. The birthright is the right to carry forward the spiritual legacy. Esau lightly esteems it; Jacob hungers for it and claims it — not by force, but by desire and assumption.
The Act of Clothing: Identity Assumed
When Rebekah hears Isaac’s plan to bless Esau, she instructs Jacob to present himself in his brother’s place. Jacob puts on Esau’s garments and covers his hands and neck with goatskin to mimic Esau’s hairiness. In biblical symbolism, clothing always points to a change of identity — an assumed state.
Jacob does not become Esau naturally; he becomes him by imaginative presentation. This is the living enactment of the Law of Assumption: one assumes the form of the desired state before it is confirmed externally.
Not Annihilation, But Replacement by Assumption
This story is not like Cain killing Abel — not a destruction of one state by violent means. Rather, it is a gentler and more advanced spiritual lesson. Jacob does not destroy Esau but replaces his role by assuming it. This is how one state of consciousness supplants another — not by force but by faithful assumption.
The Blessing Given: The Moment of Choice
Isaac says:
“The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” — Genesis 27:22
Here Isaac is pointing out imagination fused with physical sensual feeling.The inner identity (voice) and outer appearance (hands). Isaac gives the blessing. His authority rests on the presentation of the assumed identity.
The blessing is given to Jacob — the one who believes himself to be the rightful heir. Esau’s later arrival is too late; he has not assumed the role, so the blessing is irrevocably transferred.
The Fulfilment of Genesis 1:26
This moment enacts the profound truth of Genesis 1:26:
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
The image is not given but taken on. Man becomes what he presents himself as. The likeness is fulfilled when inner conviction and outward form align through assumption.
Paul’s Echo: Putting on the New Man
Paul explicitly echoes this teaching, describing spiritual transformation as:
“Putting on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” — Ephesians 4:24
“Putting off the old man… and being renewed in the spirit of your mind.” — Ephesians 4:22–24
Jacob’s donning of Esau’s garments is a living enactment of this principle. To become the new man, you must clothe yourself in the assumed state. This outward act of putting on clothing symbolises an inner readiness to live as the person you aim to be, before the outer world confirms it.
The Blessing Belongs to the One Who Assumes
This is not a story of deceit. It is a spiritual drama of assumption and inner transformation.
Isaac is the fruit of faith that blesses faith.
The outer man (Esau) represents the old, reactive self, short-sighted and attached to immediate gratification.
The inner man (Jacob) is learning to assume and become.
The message is simple and daring:
You do not receive the blessing by waiting to deserve it —
You receive it by assuming the identity of the one who already has it.
The Bible calls this “faith.” Neville Goddard called it “living in the end.” Either way, the one who dares to wear the feeling of the fulfilled desire will always hear the words:
“Surely, he shall be blessed.”
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