Genesis 27:18-29 - Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

Bible Comments

Jacob Gets Esau's Blessing

Genesis 27:18-29

It is better not to attempt to justify Jacob in this act of treachery; but we may learn the deep and helpful lesson, that if God were able to make a saint out of such material as this, He also can take our poor lives with all their sin and failure and make something of them for His glory. Notice how one lie led to another! Few who enter on a course of deception stop at one falsehood; and how terrible it was to add blasphemy to lying, as when he said that God brought him his quarry in the hunt. Luther wonders how Jacob was able to brazen it out, adding, “I should probably have run away in terror and let the dish fall.” Rebekah kept her son's garments well perfumed with the aromatic plants of Palestine, and their odor awoke the sleeping poetry and fire of the aged father. He compared them to a field of Paradise, filled with the sweet presence of God. Let us see to it that we carry everywhere the fragrance of Christ. See 2 Corinthians 2:15.

Genesis 27:18-29

18 And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?

19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.

20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me.c

21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.

22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

23 And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him.

24 And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.

25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank.

26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.

27 And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:

28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:

29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.