The sefarim talk in many places about the mesirus nefesh displayed by Yitzchak at the Akeidah. Rav Chaim of Volozhin famously teaches that the mesirus nefesh of the Jews in all the generations was rooted in the mesirus nefesh of the Akeidah. We see that this one act of Yitzchak encapsulated ALL of the difficulties and tests the Jews were able to withstand throughout all the generations.
נורא!!!
When Yitzchak gave his brachos to Yaakov the pasuk says that he smelled ריח בגדיו - the smell of his clothing. Chazal expound that he smelled ריח בוגדיו - the [delicious] smell of his REBELS.
The midrash goes on to tell the story of such rebels:
The Midrash says (Bereishis Rabbah 65:22) that after the Greeks took the Temple Mount, they wanted to enter the Holy Temple and take possession of its precious vessels – but they feared Heavenly retribution. They found a non-affiliated Jew named Yosef Meshita, and bribed him to go in ahead of them, saying he could take whatever he wanted. Yosef Meshita agreed, entered the Sanctuary, and removed the golden Menorah.
The Greeks were taken aback by its beauty. “This Menorah must be given to the King,” they said. “Go back in and take something else.”
“I shall not,” the suddenly serious sinner said. “Is it not enough that I have angered my Creator once – shall I go in a second time as well?!” They tried to reason with him, but he would not re-enter. They threatened him, but he would not budge. It soon became clear that he would either acquiesce, or die: The Greeks built a large wooden table, and began nailing Yosef to it. Instead of backing down, he refused to hand over the Menorah to the heathens, crying out, “Woe is to me, that I have angered my Creator,” as his soul departed him.
Yakum Ish Tzrorot was an assimilationist during the Roman occupation of Israel. His brother-in-law, R' Yossi ben Yoezer, was sentenced to death by the Roman authorities for teaching Torah, a kiddush Hashem. As R'Yossi was led to be executed, Yakum rode up and shouted at him: "Do you see now what happens to you for performing mitzvot?" R' Yossi responded back: "In that case, you can imagine what is going to happen to you for not performing mitzvot!" These words had an unbelievable effect on Yakum -- "like a serpent's poison" -- and he immediately did teshuva. [See the original for what happened next].
Based on what we said earlier we can understand that when Yitzchak saw the mesirus nefesh of Yaakov's rebellious descendents he knew that he was worthy of the brachos that he was giving in order to continue the chain and that Eisav was out.
[ואני תפילה עמ' כ"ט]
