Genesis 27

[chap, xxrtft the settling of their inheritance; and making those their heirs upon whom they bestowed their blessing. Now the birthright which Esau sold Jacob gavo him right only to. the greatest part of Isaac’s estate; but not to the land of Canaan, which was to be disposed of by Isaac, according to Divine direction.

Genesis 27:1

rr HEN Isaac teas old. A hundred thirty and seven years old, as many have demonstrated. He said unto him, My son, &c] It appears by this and what follows, that though Esau had displeased him by his marriage, yet he retained his natural affection to him, which he had from the beginning. Jx-ND Isaac called Jacob.] Sent for him to come to him. And blessed him.] Renewed and confirmed the blessing he had already given him; that it might not be thought to be of less force, because procured by artifice and subtilty, (xxvii. 35.)

Genesis 27:2

To Padan-Aram. See xxv* 20.

Genesis 27:3

Thy quiver. Some take the Hebrew word to signify a sword; which was as necessary for a huntsman, as a bow and arrows.. And God Almighty bless thee, &c] This is the solemn blessing mentioned ver. 1. wherein he ratifies what he had done, and more fully and distinctly settles the land

Genesis 27:4

Make me savoury meat, &c. To raise his feeble spirits, and enable him to deliver his last and solemn benediction with the more vigour. My soul may bless thee before I die. It seems Isaac did not understand the Divine oracle (xxv. 25.) as Rebekah did; or, she had not acquainted him with it. For he intended to bestow upon Esau the promised land; which was that God told Abraham he would bless his posterity withal. For the last benediction of these great men was

Genesis 27:7

And bless thee before the Lord. These words shew it was not a common blessing, bat a solemn benediction, and by Divine authority or approbation, which Isaac meant to give his son Esau.

Genesis 27:8

Obey my voice, &c. .Rebekah, having just reason to conclude that Esau had forfeited the blessing which she was desirous to preserve in her family, by marrying with the people of Canaan, who were cursed by God, thought of this device to get Jacob preferred before him. And, indeed, it cannot be denied, that it was a profane thing (as I noted before) to marry with a daughter of Hcth. And he seems afterwards to have had no good design in marrying with a daughter of Ishmael, (xxviii.i).) for it looks as if he went about to set up the pretensions of that family against Isaac’s.

Genesis 27:9

Two good kids of the goats. Two fat sucking kids, as Aben Ezra expounds this phrase, “kid -of the goats,” (upon Exod. xxiii. 19.) which, in old time, were accounted very delicious meat: a present fit for a king, (1 Sam. xvi. 20.) and which Manoah prepared for the angel, whom he took for a noble guest, (Judg. xiii. 15.) and (which is most proper to be here considered) allowed to decayed and weak people, as an excellent nourishment. Both these kids were not prepared for Isaac: but she took the most tender and delicate parts of both, and dressed them for him. And I will make them savoury meat.] Dress it so as to please his palate; and not to be distinguished by him from venison. For we know the natural taste of things may be quite altered by various sorts of seasonings, as we call them; and ordered in such manner, that Bochartns says he knew skilful huntsmen take a pasty made of beef for venison. Ver.11. A hairy man.] In the Hebrew, isch sair, a rough man, hairy like a goat. For the same word, sair, signifies a goat, Gen. xxxvii. 31. Lev. ix. 15. and other places.

Genesis 27:10

Put the skin of the kids of the goats. It is observed by Bochartus, that in the eastern countries, goats*- hair was very like to that of men: (par.i.llierozoic. lib.ii. cap. 51.) so that Isaac might easily be deceived, when his eyes were dim, and his feeling no less decayed than his sight.

Genesis 27:12

A deceiver. One that cheats his father; imposing on his age, and on his blindness: which, lie wisely considers, would have been a high provocation if he had been discovered.

Genesis 27:13

Upon me be thy curse. i. e. There is no danger: I will warrant the success.

Genesis 27:15

Took goodly raiment, Sec. His best clothes; which most suppose were laid up in a chest, among odoriferous flowers, or other perfumes: both to preserve them from moths, and to comfort the brain when they were worn: for their smell is mentioned ver. 27. It is a groundless fancy of the Jews, that these were sacerdotal garments, (and the very same that Adam wore, which descended to Noah, &c.) for, as -there was no sacrifice now to be made, so the jprimogeniture did not make him a priest, fnore than Jacob, as was noted before. One may rather say, these were garments belonging to him, as heir of the family: between whom and the other sons, it is very probable, the affection of the parents was wolit to make some difference in their apparel..

Genesis 27:18

Who art thou, my son?. He suspected him, from his voice, and returning so soon from hunting.

Genesis 27:19

I am Esau, thy first-born, &c. Here are many untruths told by Jacob, besides this, (for his father did not bid him go get him some venison, nor did God bring this meat to him, which he had prepared, Sec.) which cannot be wholly excused: but it must be confessed, he and his mother were possessed w r ith a false opinio*), that they might deceive Isaac for the good of his family. Arise, I pray thee, arid sit dnd eat, &c] He was lying upon his bed, one* would guess by this, being aged and infirm: and he intreats him to raise himself up and sit: for so they did in those day’s (as we do now) at their meals. This appears afterwards, when Joseph’s brethren silt down to eat bread, (xxxvii. 26.) and sht when they ate with Joseph in Egypt, (xliii. 33.) And so Homer makesall his heroes sit at their feasts, as Athenaeus observes: which custom continued among the Macedonians in the days of Alexander, as Bochartus observes in his Hierozoic. par.!♦ lib. ii. cap. 50.

Genesis 27:21

Come near, &c. Isaac still suspected by this long discourse with him, w r herein he observed his voice, that it was not Esau. And the Hebrews, in Bereschith Rabba, say, that he fell into a great sweat, and his heart melted in him like wax, while lie talked to him: so that au angel came to support him from falling down.

Genesis 27:23

So he blessed Iflh. After he bad once more asked him whether he was his very son Esau, which Jacob affirmed, (ver. 21.) who was punished for this deceit, when he was cheated himself by Laban, in the business of his wives, as well as in other things: and (as the Hebrews observed) he that deceived his father by the skins of the kids of goats, was deceived himself into the false opinion that Joseph was killed, by his brethren dipping his coat in the blood of a kid of the goats, (Gen. xxxvii. 31.)

Genesis 27:26

Come noiv, and kiss me. Some think he had a desire to be satisfied that way, whether he was Esau or not. But I take it rather to be a token of his great love and affection^ wherewith he bestowed his blessing upon him. Ver. 27; He smelled the smell of his raiment?] As he embraced him, he perceived the fragrancy of his garments: which he could not before, while he stood remote; his senses being weak and dull. The Jews, who fancy these to have been the garments wherein Adam ministered, ima* gine also that they retained the scent which they had in paradise. So Bereschith Rabba, and R. Sol. Jarchi, as Bra’u’nius observes, lib. i. de Vestib. Hcbr. Sacerd. cap. 4. • See, the smell of my son.] The apprehension of one sense is, in this languag’e, often used for the apprehension of another, (as Maimonides speaks, par. i. More Nevoch. cap. *4G.) as, " See the word of the Lord/’ (Jer. ii. 31.) i. e. Hear his word. And so in this place, " See (he smell," is as much as, Smell Hie Odour of my son, &c. But it may simply signify, " Behold, or observe; no field that God h&th adorned with the greatest variety of the most fragrant flowers, smells sweeter than my son "

Genesis 27:28

Therefore God give thee, &c. I take it for a sign that God will give thee (for so it may be translated, as a.prophecy as well as a prayer) the greatest abundance: which proceeds from a rich soil, well watered from heaven. These two are the causes of plenty. The deiv of heaven.] Rain fell only at certain seasons in that country: but there was a recpmpence for it by large dews; w r hieh very much refreshed the earth; and are represented in Scripture as a Divine gift, (Job xxxviii. 28. Micah v. 7.) which God threatens sometimes to withhold, because of men’s offences, (1 Kings xvii. 1.)

Genesis 27:29

Let people serve thee, &c. As the former part of* the blessing relates to wealth, so this to dominion and empire: which was signally fulfilled in the days of David, when the Moabites, Ammonites, Syrians, Philistines, and Edomites also, were subdued under him. Let thy mothers son bow down to thee.] This is. a third part of the blessing, giving him a prerogative in his own family: and in the next words he pronounces a blessing upon all that should be friends to him; as on the contrary, a curse upon his enemies.

Genesis 27:33

Isaac trembled very exceedingly. What the Hebrews say upon ver. 21. (see there) had been more proper here, that his heart melted, and he was ready to swoon away. Wlio?] A broken form of speech. Tea, and he shall be blessed.] He had blessed him so seriously, and with such affection, and (it is likely) extraordinary confidence of God’s approbation, that he would not revoke it. For he felt, as I take it, the spirit of prophecy upon him, when he pronounced this blessing: and it enlightened him to understand the oracle formerly delirered, (xxv. 23.)

Genesis 27:35

Taken away thy blessing. Which I intended to have bestowed on thee; looking upon it as thine, by the right of being my first-born.

Genesis 27:37

All his brethren. His kindred. What shall I now do unto thee, my son?] Having given Jacob so much, it w r as but a small matter he could do for him.

Genesis 27:39

Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness, &c. Some have translated it, " Thy dwelling shall be without the fatness of the earth, and the dew from above: but by thy sword shalt thou live," &c. i. e. he prophesies that he should inhabit a poor country, but maintain himself plentifully by his sword. For otherwise (they think) his blessing would be the same with Jacob’s, ver. 28. But if we retain our translation, there is a manifest difference between this and Jacob’s benediction. For here he makes. no mention of plenty of corn and wine; and gives him no such dominion as he did to Jaeob (the Jews observe other differences); and whatsoever fatness was in the soil of his country, it did not last, as appears by Mai. i. 3.

Genesis 27:40

By thy sword shalt thou live. Live upon spoil. Or, as others interpret it, be in perpetual war to defend thy country. And shall serve thy brother.] Here Isaac speaks out the very words of the oracle mentioned before, (xxv. 23.) which was fulfilled in the days of David, 2 Sam. viii. 14. and 1 Chron. xviii. 15. (the circumstances of which conquest are more fully described, 1 Kings xi. 15, &c.) And again, after they had recovered some strength, Amaziah made great slaughters among them, (2 Kings xiv. 7.) as the Maccabees did afterwards, (1 Mac. v. 65.) and at last were utterly disabled by Hircanus, the son of Simon Maccabasus, as we read in Josephus, lib. xiii. Antiq. cap. 17. Wlxen thou shalf have the dominion.] St. Jerome and the LXX. do not understand this of their having any “dominion over the seed of Jacob (which we never read of), but only of their regaining power to shake off subjection to them, as it follows in the next words. Thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.’] Which they did in the days of Joram, as we read, 2 Kings viii. 20, 22. 2 Chron. xxi. 8, &c.

Genesis 27:41

And Esau said in his heart. Designed and resolved within himself: and, as it should seem, was so full of it, that he could not contain his purpose within his own breast, but in his anger blurted it out to somebody, who told it £o Rebekah. The days of mourning for my father, fcc] He will die shortly (in which he was deceived, for he lived three-andforty years after this), and then I will be revenged. He had some regard to his father still remaining (whom he would not grieve), but no consideration of his mother, who had helped Jacob to supplant him.

Genesis 27:44

Tarry with him a few days. A year or two. But herein she also was mistaken, for he did not return in twenty years’ time. Until thy brother s fury.] Time, in which various things happen, very much allays fury and rage.

Genesis 27:45

And he forget, &c. The memory of it be much w T orri out, and grown w r eak. Wliy should I be deprived of you both in one day?] She had reason to think, that if Esau killed Jacob, and the public justice did not punish it (according to the precept ix. 6. which had settled courts of judicature), God himself would prosecute Esau with his vengeance, as he did Cain«

Genesis 27:46

J am weary of my life, because of the daughters of Heth. The two wives of Esau, who were Hittites, were such a continual vexation to her, that she wished rather to die, than to live among them. If Jacob take a wife, &c] She pretends only this reason for sending Jacob among her kindred, and says not a word - of the danger his life was in; for she would not afflict her husband, but only preserve her son. Wliat good shall my life do to me?] I had rather die, than live in such perpetual vexation; therefore let him go and take a wife, as Abraham did for thee, of our kindred. CHAP. XXV1IL