1And it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he summoned Esau his older son and said to him, My son. And he answered him, Here am I. 2And he said, Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. 3Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 4And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die. 5And Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. 6And Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 7Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of Jehovah before my death. 8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. 9Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. 10And you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death. 11And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing. 13And his mother said to him, Let your curse be upon me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me. 14And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. 15And Rebekah took the good clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17And she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. 18And he went in to his father and said, My father. And he said, Here am I. Who are you, my son? 19And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you have spoken to me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me. 20But Isaac said to his son, How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because Jehovah your God brought it to me. 21And Isaac said to Jacob, Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are my very son Esau or not. 22And Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 23And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him. 24And he said, Are you really my son Esau? And he said, I am. 25And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's game, so that my soul may bless you. So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now and kiss me, my son. 27And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: Surely, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which Jehovah has blessed. 28Therefore, God give you of the dew of the heavens, of the fatness of the earth, and abundance of grain and wine. 29Let nations serve you, and people bow down to you. Be lord over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed is everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you! 30And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31And he also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that your soul may bless me. 32And his father Isaac said to him, Who are you? So he said, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. 33And Isaac trembled with a very great trembling, and said, Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him; and moreover, he shall be blessed. 34And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me; me also, O my father! 35And he said, Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing. 36And Esau said, Is he not rightly called by the name Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now behold, he has taken away my blessing! And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me? 37Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son? 38And Esau said to his father, Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me; me also, O my father! And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 39And Isaac his father answered and said to him: Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of the heavens from above. 40By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck. 41And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob. 42And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and summoned Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. 43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban, to Haran. 44And stay with him some days, until your brother's fury turns away, 45until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day? 46And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these daughters of the land, what kind of life is that to me?
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 INFIRMITY OF ISAAC. (Gen. 27:1-27)
when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim--He was in his hundred thirty-seventh year; and apprehending death to be near, Isaac prepared to make his last will--an act of the gravest importance, especially as it included the conveyance through a prophetic spirit of the patriarchal blessing.
4 make . . . savory meat--perhaps to revive and strengthen him for the duty; or rather, "as eating and drinking" were used on all religious occasions, he could not convey the right, till he had eaten of the meat provided for the purpose by him who was to receive the blessing [ADAM CLARKE] (compare
Gen 18:7).
that my soul may bless thee--It is difficult to imagine him ignorant of the divine purpose (compare
Gen 25:23). But natural affection, prevailing through age and infirmity, prompted him to entail the honors and powers of the birthright on his elder son; and perhaps he was not aware of what Esau had done (
Gen 25:34).
6 Rebekah spake unto Jacob--She prized the blessing as invaluable; she knew that God intended it for the younger son [
Gen 25:23]; and in her anxiety to secure its being conferred on the right object--on one who cared for religion--she acted in the sincerity of faith; but in crooked policy--with unenlightened zeal; on the false principle that the end would sanctify the means.
11 Jacob said, Esau my brother is a hairy man--It is remarkable that his scruples were founded, not on the evil of the act, but on the risk and consequences of deception.
13 and his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse--His conscience being soothed by his mother, preparations were hastily made for carrying out the device; consisting, first, of a kid's flesh, which, made into a ragout, spiced with salt, onions, garlic, and lemon juice, might easily be passed off on a blind old man, with blunted senses, as game; second, of pieces of goat's skin bound on his hands and neck, its soft silken hair resembling that on the cheek of a young man; third, of the long white robe--the vestment of the first-born, which, transmitted from father to son and kept in a chest among fragrant herbs and perfumed flowers used much in the East to keep away moths--his mother provided for him.
18 he came unto his father--The scheme planned by the mother was to be executed by the son in the father's bedchamber; and it is painful to think of the deliberate falsehoods, as well as daring profanity, he resorted to. The disguise, though wanting in one thing, which had nearly upset the whole plot, succeeded in misleading Isaac; and while giving his paternal embrace, the old man was roused into a state of high satisfaction and delight.
27 the smell of my son is as of a field--The aromatic odors of the Syrian fields and meadows, often impart a strong fragrance to the person and clothes, as has been noticed by many travellers.
28 THE BLESSING. (Gen. 27:28-46)
God give thee of the dew of heaven--To an Oriental mind, this phraseology implied the highest flow of prosperity. The copious fall of dew is indispensable to the fruitfulness of lands, which would be otherwise arid and sterile through the violent heat; and it abounds most in hilly regions, such as Canaan, hence called the "fat land" (
Neh 9:25,
Neh 9:35).
plenty of corn and wine--Palestine was famous for vineyards, and it produced varieties of corn, namely, wheat, barley, oats, and rye.
29 Let people serve thee--fulfilled in the discomfiture of the hostile tribes that opposed the Israelites in the wilderness; and in the pre-eminence and power they attained after their national establishment in the promised land. This blessing was not realized to Jacob, but to his descendants; and the temporal blessings promised were but a shadow of those spiritual ones, which formed the grand distinction of Jacob's posterity.
30 Esau came in from his hunting--Scarcely had the former scene been concluded, when the fraud was discovered. The emotions of Isaac, as well as Esau, may easily be imagined--the astonishment, alarm, and sorrow of the one; the disappointment and indignation of the other. But a moment's reflection convinced the aged patriarch that the transfer of the blessing was "of the Lord," and now irrevocable. The importunities of Esau, however, overpowered him; and as the prophetic afflatus was upon the patriarch, he added what was probably as pleasing to a man of Esau's character as the other would have been.
39 Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth--The first part is a promise of temporal prosperity, made in the same terms as Jacob's [
Gen 27:28] --the second part refers to the roving life of hunting freebooters, which he and his descendants should lead. Though Esau was not personally subject to his brother, his posterity were tributary to the Israelites, till the reign of Joram when they revolted and established a kingdom of their own (
2Kgs 8:20;
2Chr 21:8-10).
41 Esau hated Jacob--It is scarcely to be wondered at that Esau resented the conduct of Jacob and vowed revenge.
The days of mourning for my father are at hand--a common Oriental phrase for the death of a parent.
42 these words of Esau were told Rebekah--Poor woman! she now early begins to reap the bitter fruits of her fraudulent device; she is obliged to part with her son, for whom she planned it, never, probably, seeing him again; and he felt the retributive justice of heaven fall upon him heavily in his own future family.
45 Why should I be deprived of you both?--This refers to the law of Goelism, by which the nearest of kin would be obliged to avenge the death of Jacob upon his brother.
46 Rebekah said to Isaac--Another pretext Rebekah's cunning had to devise to obtain her husband's consent to Jacob's journey to Mesopotamia; and she succeeded by touching the aged patriarch in a tender point, afflicting to his pious heart--the proper marriage of their younger son.