A thought about houses and fields
Mishlei 14:1 contains the phrase "chachmas nashim bantha beytha" [The widsom of women built her house]. That would apply to Rivka who used her wisdom to build up her house -- which would be perpetuated through Yaakov. Yaakov is the one associated with the bayis, advancing the Avos from the initial stage of Avraham -- the har [mountain] --through Yitzchak --the sadeh [field]. Now it occurs to me that both Yitzchak and Esav are associated with the sadeh, which could, in part, account for Yitzchak's natural affinity to that son. Esav was called an ish sadeh. Seeing that, Yitzchak may have thought he was continuing the spiritual path he had blazed in the sadeh. Yaakov, on the other hand, was associated with the bayis; he was not a man of the field. His spiritual approach differed from his father's, and it is possible that Yitzchak did not recognize that it was actually the difference in approach that was needed for spiritual advancement. But Rivka did recognize that fact, and she took action to ensure that the spiritual bayis would be built.
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