Genesis 27:1-46 - Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

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Genesis 27:1. Isaac was old; in the hundred and thirty-seventh year of his age, the very year in which his brother Ishmael died. Jacob and Esau were also in their seventy-seventh year; but Isaac lived, though blind, about forty-two years after he had blessed Jacob.

Genesis 27:3. Take thy bow. Providence here seems to have given Jacob an opportunity in this mysterious transaction to obtain the blessing. God having promised Isaac the blessing, the reprehensible step was the means employed to obtain it.

Genesis 27:5. Rebekah heard. From the time that she had consulted the oracle she believed that Jacob was to inherit the princely benediction. But Isaac having from the birth of those twins, designed the blessing for Esau, she suddenly formed this tragic plot for Jacob to obtain it. It was an officious and distrustful plot, it being the work of God to demonstrate his fidelity to his promises. Reuben was the firstborn of Jacob, yet Joseph had the blessing, and Judah had the sceptre. God is the sovereign, as well as the ever faithful God. May he not do what he will with his own?

Genesis 27:7. Bless thee. The patriarchs were accustomed before death to bless their children, and their priests were enjoined to bless the people. So our Saviour stretched forth his hands, and blessed the apostles before his ascension.

Genesis 27:12. A curse. Jacob wisely feared the malediction of Ham. The judgments of God on one man should make others afraid to sin.

Genesis 27:15. Goodly raiment. The raiment, it is thought, in which the firstborn officiated at sacrifice, and which was kept by Rebekah, not by Esau's wives. The raiment worn by men in the primitive ages was generally weather-worn, and much decayed.

Genesis 27:19. I am Esau thy firstborn. Two other deceptions follow: I have done as thou didst bid me! Eat of my venison! Origen, strom, 6. has said what may tend to diminish the errors of this plot, that John the baptist is called Elias; that the angel in Tobit is called Azarias; and that the princely blessing was promised to Jacob, The elder shall serve the younger. These changes of name, it is replied, being mere figures of speech, leave the deception in all its glare of turpitude. It was a finesse, a distrust of providence; for God who overruled Jacob to cross his hands in blessing the two sons of Joseph, could by means known to himself have secured the blessing to Jacob.

Genesis 27:23. He discerned him not. The holy prophets, and the holy apostles were sometimes for a moment deceived, notwithstanding their high endowments; Jesus Christ alone being omniscient, and having in all things the preëminence.

Genesis 27:27. The smell of a field. ‘ Αρου πληρους, a full field; that is, a field in full bloom. So is the Samaritan Pentateuch.

Genesis 27:28. God give thee. This benediction consists of five parts, including every spiritual and temporal blessing of the covenant; these are in substance the same as those which God sware to confer on Abraham's seed after the oblation of Isaac.

Genesis 27:29. Let people serve thee. This blessing is not restricted to the sovereignty of the kings of Judah over a few surrounding nations, but extends to all the nations to be converted to the Messiah. The eyes and hearts, of all the prophets were lost and swallowed up in the glory of Christ.

Genesis 27:38. Hast thou but one blessing. היא hi, sometimes found in the feminine ipsa, that, is here not rendered. It is omitted altogether in many other versions, though the key-word to the anguish of Esau's heart. “Hast thou but that one blessing, oh my father!” Ah! that one blessing, the princely sovereignty. To this Jacob pointedly replies, I have made him thy Lord! Isaac, conscious that the Spirit had accompanied his words, adds but the secondary benedictions, which were confirmed to him as patriarch and prince in Mount Seir.

Genesis 27:40. Thou shalt serve thy brother. These words refer to Esau's posterity, often made tributary to the house of David, and as often “broke off their yoke.” But for their wickedness they, and other small states, were denationalized, and their mountains laid waste for the dragons of the wilderness by the Assyrian conquests. And thus the prophecies of Obadiah were fulfilled. “For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.” Genesis 27:10-18; 1 Kings 22:47; 2 Kings 8:20.

Genesis 27:41. Then will I kill my brother Jacob. Family crimes are double crimes, because they violate the tenderest ties of nature; but revenge, and revenge without measure, completes the calamity, and plunges the injured in greater guilt than the first offender.

Genesis 27:45. Both in one day. Rebekah, through an eagerness to come prematurely at the promised blessing, had contrived a cluster of untruths, and now she eats the bitter fruits of her own doings. Had she come once more and told Isaac God's revealed will, no doubt he would have hearkened at last; for the Spirit of God, as was really the case, would have overruled the purposes of his heart.

REFLECTIONS.

How short is the life of man, how soon the long age of the patriarchs expired! Our age in comparison of theirs, will expire at noon. It is high time to think of dying, and of settling our affairs, that we may give up ourselves to God.

But oh, the quarrels of brothers concerning their rights of precedence and property have too often imbittered the last moments of an aged saint. Let parents avoid as much as possible all partiality in their affections, and do their best for the concord of their children; and let children do all they can to procure the good esteem and blessing of their parents; for a parent's blessing is to be regarded as next to God's favour.

In all families where wrongs have happened, and where grievances are unredressed, let no one, like Esau, think of revenge, but think rather of his own sins and personal unworthiness. Revenge makes a calamity double, and perpetuates its memory to the latest generation. Revenge invades the rights of God, who alone is best acquainted with the proper measure, and happiest occasions of corrections for sin.

In Esau's bitter and unavailing tears, all sinners may see the sad fruits of selling their birthright for the sinful pleasures of the age, and the awful situation in which they will be found when they come to die. In vain shall they cry and weep with the bitterest tears; in vain shall they begin to stand without and knock, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us. The period of mercy will be past, and God will not reverse the sentence pronounced in his word.

Did Jacob's exile work for his good by enabling him to marry in the Lord, and to become established as a patriarch in the earth? Then let no man be discouraged though he suffer afflictions, or visitations of his sins. God will hear the tears of true repentance, and direct the afflicted in the way he ought to go. Above all things let us learn never to serve God by unlawful means: doing evil that good may come is expressly forbidden by the Lord, and shame will be the consequence.

Related Commentaries of Genesis 27:1

Genesis 27:1-46

1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.

2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:

3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and takea me some venison;

4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.

5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.

6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,

7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death.

8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.

9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:

10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.

11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:

12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.

13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.

14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved.

15 And Rebekah took goodlyb raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son:

16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:

17 And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

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.

30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

31 And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me.

32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau.

33 And Isaac trembledd very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.

34 And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.

35 And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.

36 And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?

37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustainede him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?

38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatnessf of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;

40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

42 And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.

43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran;

44 And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away;

45 Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?

46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?