Genesis 27

Ge 27:1-27.

INFIRMITY OF

ISAAC.

1. 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

Ge 18:7).

that my soul may bless thee--It is difficult to imagine him

ignorant of the divine purpose (compare

Ge 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

(Ge 25:34).

6-10. Rebekah spake unto Jacob--She prized the blessing as

invaluable; she knew that God intended it for the younger son

[Ge 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.

13-17. 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.

18-27. 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.

Ge 27:28-46.

THE

BLESSING.

28. 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"

(Ne 9:25, 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.

30-35. 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, 40. 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

[Ge 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

(2Ki 8:20;

2Ch 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.

42-45. 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.