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When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to him, “Here I am.”
He said, “See now, I am old. I don’t know the day of my death. Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and get me venison. Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die.”
When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to him, “Here I am.”
He said, “See now, I am old. I don’t know the day of my death.
Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and get me venison.
Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die.”
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.
And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:
Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison;
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.
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 elder son, and said unto him: 'My son'; and he said unto him: 'Here am I.'
And he said: 'Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death.
Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison;
and make me savoury food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.'
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4 1. And it came to pass that when Isaac…
1. And it came to pass that when Isaac was old. In this chapter Moses prosecutes, in many words, a history which does not appear to be of great utility. It amounts to this; Esau having gone out, at his father’s command, to hunt; Jacob, in his brother’s clothing, was, by the artifice of his mother, induced to obtain by stealth the blessing due by the right of nature to the firstborn. It seems even like child’s play to present to his father a kid instead of venison, to feign himself to be hairy by putting on skins, and, under the name of his brother, to get the blessing by a lie. But in order to learn that Moses does not in vain pause over this narrative as a most serious matter, we must first observe, that when Jacob received the blessing from his father, this token confirmed to him the oracle by which the Lord had preferred him to his brother. For the benediction here spoken of was not a mere prayer but a legitimate sanction, divinely interposed, to make manifest the grace of election. God had promised to the holy fathers that he would be a God to their seed for ever. They, when at the point of death, in order that the succession might be secured to their posterity, put them in possession, as if they would deliver, from hand to hand, the favor which they had received from God. So Abraham, in blessing his son Isaac, constituted him the heir of spiritual life with a solemn rite. With the same design, Isaac now, being worn down with age, imagines himself to be shortly about to depart this life, and wishes to bless his firstborn son, in order that the everlasting covenant of God may remain in his own family. The Patriarchs did not take this upon themselves rashly, or on their own private account, but were public and divinely ordained witnesses. To this point belongs the declaration of the Apostle, “the less is blessed of the better.” (Hebrews 7:7.) For even the faithful were accustomed to bless each other by mutual offices of charity; but the Lord enjoined this peculiar service upon the patriarchs, that they should transmit, as a deposit to posterity, the covenant which he had struck with them, and which they kept during the whole course of their life. The same command was afterwards given to the priests, as appears in Numbers 6:24, and other similar places. Therefore Isaac, in blessing his son, sustained another character than that of a father or of a private person, for he was a prophet and an interpreter of God, who constituted his son an heir of the same grace which he had received. Hence appears what I have already said, that Moses, in treating of this matter, is not without reason thus prolix. But let us weigh each of the circumstances of the case in its proper order; of which this is the first, that God transferred the blessing of Esau to Jacob, by a mistake on the part of the father; whose eyes, Moses tells us, were dim. The vision also of Jacob was dull when he blessed his grandchildren Ephraim and Manasseh; yet his want of sight did not prevent him from cautiously placing his hands in a transverse direction. But God suffered Isaac to be deceived, in order to show that it was not by the will of man that Jacob was raised, contrary to the course of nature, to the right and honor of primogeniture.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4 Hebrew, Lo, I.
Hebrew, Lo, I.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Gen 27:1 And it came to pass, that when…
Gen 27:1 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.
Ver. 1. Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim.] Old age is of itself a disease, and the sink of all diseases. This Solomon sweetly sets forth {Ecc 12:1-7} by a continued allegory, Ubi quot lumina imo flumina orationis exerit saith one. In general, he calls it "the evil day, the years that have no pleasure in them." In particular, the senses all fail; the hands tremble; the legs buckle; the teeth cannot do their office, as being either lost or loosened; "the silver cord," that is, the marrow of their backs, is consumed; "the golden ewer," that is, the brainpan, broke; "the pitcher at the well," that is, the veins at the liver; "the wheel at the cistern," that is, the head, which draws the power of life from the heart; all these worn weak, and wanting to their office. So that sleep faileth; "desire faileth"; {a} neither spring nor summer (signified by the almond tree and grasshopper) shall affect with pleasure; "the daughters of music shall be brought low," as they were in old Barzillai; "the sun, moon, and stars are darkened," for any delight they take in their sweet shine; yea, "the clouds return after rain"; a continual succession of miseries, like April weather, as one shower is unburdened, another is brewed, and the sky is still overcast with clouds. Lo, such is old age. And is this a fit present for God? wilt thou give him the dregs, the bottom, the very last sands, thy dotage, which thyself and friends are weary of? "Offer it now to thy prince, will he be pleased with thee"? {Mal 1:8} The Circassians, a kind of mongrel Christians, as they baptize not their children till the eighth year, so they enter not into the Church, the gentlemen specially, till the sixtieth year, but hear divine service standing outside the temple; that is to any, till through age they grow unable to continue their rapines and robberies, to which sin that nation is exceedingly addicted: so dividing their time between sin and devotion; dedicating their youth to rapine, and their old age to repentance. {b} But God will not be so put off. He is "a great King," and stands upon his seniority. {Mal 1:14} In the Levitical law, there were three sorts of firstfruits:
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1. Of the ears of corn, offered about the Passover;
2. Of the loaves, offered about Pentecost;
3. About the end of the year in Autumn.
Now of the first two God had a part, but not of the last: to teach us, that he will accept of the services of our youth or middle-age: but for old age, vix aut ne vix quidem . Besides Abraham in the Old Testament, and Nicodemus in the New, I know not whether we read of any old man ever brought home to God.
{a} Sept., η καππαρις, quum et appetitum et Venerem irritat.
{b} Brerewood’s Enquiries, p. 135.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4 Isaac was about one hundred and thirty-seven years old.
Isaac was about one hundred and thirty-seven years old.
He could not see; which was ordered by God's wise providence, not only for the exercise of Isaac's patience, but also as a means to transfer Esau's right to Jacob.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here is, I. Isaac's design to make his will,…
Here is, I. Isaac's design to make his will, and to declare Esau his heir. The promise of the Messiah and the land of Canaan was a great trust, first committed to Abraham, inclusive and typical of spiritual and eternal blessings; this, by divine direction, he transmitted to Isaac. Isaac, being now old, and not knowing, or not understanding, or not duly considering, the divine oracle concerning his two sons, that the elder should serve the younger, resolves to entail all the honour and power that were wrapped up in the promise upon Esau his eldest son. In this he was governed more by natural affection, and the common method of settlements, than he ought to have been, if he know (as it is probable he did) the intimations God had given of his mind in this matter. Note, We are very apt to take our measures rather from our own reason than from divine revelation, and thereby often miss our way; we think the wise and learned, the mighty and noble, should inherit the promise; but God sees not as man sees. See Sa1 16:6, Sa1 16:7.
II. The directions he gave to Esau, pursuant to this design. He calls him to him, Gen 27:1. For Esau, though married, had not yet removed; and, though he had greatly grieved his parents by his marriage, yet they had not expelled him, but it seems were pretty well reconciled to him, and made the best of it. Note, Parents that are justly offended at their children yet must not be implacable towards them.
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1. He tells him upon what considerations he resolved to do this now (Gen 27:2): "I am old, and therefore must die shortly, yet I know not the day of my death, nor when I must die; I will therefore do that at this time which must be done some time." Note, (1.) Old people should be reminded by the growing infirmities of age to do quickly, and with all the little might they have, what their hand finds to do. See Jos 13:1. (2.) The consideration of the uncertainty of the time of our departure out of the world (about which God has wisely kept us in the dark) should quicken us to do the work of the day in its day. The heart and the house should both be set, and kept, in order, because at such an hour as we think not the son of man comes; because we know not the day of our death, we are concerned to mind the business of life.
2. He bids him to get things ready for the solemnity of executing his last will and testament, by which he designed to make him his heir, Gen 27:3, Gen 27:4. Esau must go a hunting, and bring some venison, which his father will eat of, and then bless him. In this he designed, not so much the refreshment of his own spirits, that he might give the blessing in a lively manner, as it is commonly taken, but rather the receiving of a fresh instance of his son's filial duty and affection to him, before he bestowed this favour upon him. Perhaps Esau, since he had married, had brought his venison to his wives, and seldom to his father, as formerly (Gen 25:28), and therefore Isaac, before he would bless him, would have him show this piece of respect to him. Note, It is fit, if the less be blessed of the greater, that the greater should be served and honoured by the less He says, That my soul may bless thee before I die. Note, (1.) Prayer is the work of the soul, and not of the lips only; as the soul must be employed in blessing God (Psa 103:1), so it must be in blessing ourselves and others: the blessing will not come to the heart if it do not come from the heart. (2.) The work of life must be done before we die, for it cannot be done afterwards (Ecc 9:10); and it is very desirable, when we come to die, to have nothing else to do but to die. Isaac lived above forty years after this; let none therefore think that they shall die the sooner for making their wills and getting ready for death.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–4 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was…
And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old,.... He is generally thought to be about one hundred and thirty seven years of age at this time, which was just the age of his brother Ishmael when he died, Gen 25:16; and might put him in mind of his own death as near at hand; though if he was no older, he lived after this forty three years, for he lived to be one hundred and eighty years old, Gen 35:28,
and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see; which circumstance is mentioned, not only as a sign of old age, and as common to it, but for the sake of the following history, and as accounting for it, that he should not know Jacob when he blessed him; and this was so ordered in Providence, that by means of it the blessing might be transferred to him, which otherwise in all probability would not have been done, if Isaac had had his sight:
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he called Esau his eldest son; who though he was married, and had been married thirty seven years at this time, yet still lived in his father's house, or near him; for as he was born when his father was sixty years of age, and he married when he himself was forty, and his father must be an hundred, so if Isaac was now one hundred and thirty seven, Esau must have been married thirty seven years; and though he had disobliged his father by his marriage, yet he retained a natural affliction for him; nor had he turned him out of doors, nor had he any thoughts of disinheriting him; but on the contrary intended to bestow the blessing on him as the firstborn, for which reason he is here called "his eldest son":
and said unto him, my son; owning the relation, expressing a tender affection for him, and signifying he had something further to say unto him:
and he said unto him, behold, here am I; by which Esau intimated he was ready to hear what his father had to say to him, and was willing to obey him. The Targum of Jonathan says, this was the fourteenth of Nisan, when Isaac called Esau to him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–3 We have here,
We have here,
I. Isaac's purpose to entail the blessing upon Esau, ver. 1-4.
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II. Rebekah's plot to procure it for Jacob, ver. 6-17.
III. Jacob's obtaining of the blessing, ver. 18-29.
IV. Esau's resentment of this. In which, (1.) His importunity with his father to obtain a blessing, ver. 30- 40. (2.) His enmity to his brother for defrauding him, ver. 41-46.
Here is Isaac's design to declare Esau his heir. The promise of the Messiah and the land of Canaan was a great trust first committed to Abraham, inclusive and typical of spiritual and eternal blessings; this by divine direction he transmitted to Isaac. Isaac being now old, and either not knowing, or not duly considering the divine oracle concerning his two sons, that the elder should serve the younger, resolves to entail all the honour and power that was wrapt up in the promise upon Esau, his eldest son. He called Esau - Tho' Esau, had greatly grieved his parents by his marriage, yet they had not expelled him, but it seems were pretty well reconciled to him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Isaac, grown old and feeble, and apprehending the approach…
CHAPTER XXVII
Isaac, grown old and feeble, and apprehending the approach of
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death, desires his son Esau to provide some savoury meat for
him, that having eaten of it he might convey to him the
blessing connected with the right of primogeniture, 1-4.
Rebekah hearing of it, relates the matter to Jacob, and
directs him how to personate his brother, and by deceiving
his father, obtain the blessing, 5-10.
Jacob hesitates, 11, 12;
but being counselled and encouraged by his mother, he at last
consents to use the means she prescribes, 13, 14.
Rebekah disguises Jacob, and sends him to personate his
brother, 15-17.
Jacob comes to his father, and professes himself to be Esau,
18. 19.
Isaac doubts, questions, and examines him closely, but does
not discover the deception, 20-24.
He eats of the savoury meat, and confers the blessing upon
Jacob, 25-27.
In what the blessing consisted, 28, 29.
Esau arrives from the field with the meat he had gone to
provide, and presents himself before his father, 30, 31.
Isaac discovers the fraud of Jacob, and is much affected,
32, 33.
Esau is greatly distressed on hearing that the blessing had
been received by another, 34.
Isaac accuses Jacob of deceit, 35.
Esau expostulates, and prays for a blessing, 36.
Isaac describes the blessing which he has already conveyed, 37.
Esau weeps, and earnestly implores a blessing, 38.
Isaac pronounces a blessing on Esau, and prophecies that his
posterity should, in process of time, cease to be tributary
to the posterity of Jacob, 39, 40.
Esau purposes to kill his brother, 41.
Rebekah hears of it, and counsels Jacob to take refuge with her
brother Laban in Padanaram, 42-45.
She professes to be greatly alarmed, lest Jacob should take any
of the Canaanites to wife, 41.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXVII
Verse 1. Isaac was old] It is conjectured, on good grounds, that Isaac was now about one hundred and seventeen years of age, and Jacob about fifty-seven; though the commonly received opinion makes Isaac one hundred and thirty-seven, and Jacob seventy-seven; but See Clarke on Ge 31:55, c.
And his eyes were dim] This was probably the effect of that affliction, of what kind we know not, under which Isaac now laboured and from which, as well as from the affliction, he probably recovered, as it is certain he lived forty if not forty-three years after this time, for he lived till the return of Jacob from Padan-aram; Ge 35:27-29.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Gen 27:1. When Isaac was old — A hundred…
Gen 27:1. When Isaac was old — A hundred and thirty-seven years old; but he lived forty years after this. And his eyes were dim — Whereby God brought about his own purpose of bestowing the blessing on Jacob. He called Esau, his eldest son — With a view to declare him his heir. The promise of the Messiah, and the land of Canaan, was a great trust, first committed to Abraham, inclusive and typical of spiritual and eternal blessings; this, by divine direction, he transmitted to Isaac. Isaac, either not knowing, or not duly considering the divine oracle concerning his two sons, that the elder should serve the younger, resolves to entail all the honour and power that was wrapped up in the promise upon Esau his eldest son. Esau had greatly grieved his parents by his marriage, yet they had not expelled him, but it seems were pretty well reconciled to him.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v1 - Isaac Blessing His Sons
- Isaac Blessing His Sons
The life of Isaac falls into three periods. During the first seventy-five years he is contemporary with his father. For sixty-one years more his son Jacob remains under the paternal roof. The remaining forty-four years are passed in the retirement of old age. The chapter before us narrates the last solemn acts of the middle period of his life.
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Gen 27:1-4
Isaac was old. - Joseph was in his thirtieth year when he stood before Pharaoh, and therefore thirty-nine when Jacob came down to Egypt at the age of one hundred and thirty. When Joseph was born, therefore, Jacob was ninety-one, and he had sojourned fourteen years in Padan-aram. Hence, Jacob’s flight to Laban took place when he was seventy-seven, and therefore in the one hundred and thirty-sixth year of Isaac. “His eyes were dim.” Weakness and even loss of sight is more frequent in Palestine than with us. “His older son.” Isaac had not yet come to the conclusion that Jacob was heir of the promise. The communication from the Lord to Rebekah concerning her yet unborn sons in the form in which it is handed down to us merely determines that the older shall serve the younger. This fact Isaac seems to have thought might not imply the transferrence of the birthright; and if he was aware of the transaction between Esau and Jacob, he may not have regarded it as valid. Hence, he makes arrangements for bestowing the paternal benediction on Esau, his older son, whom he also loves. “I am old.” At the age of one hundred and thirty-six, and with failing sight, he felt that life was uncertain. In the calmness of determination he directs Esau to prepare savory meat, such as he loved, that he may have his vigor renewed and his spirits revived for the solemn business of bestowing that blessing, which he held to be fraught with more than ordinary benefits.
Gen 27:5-13
Rebekah forms a plan for diverting the blessing from Esau to Jacob. She was within hearing when the infirm Isaac gave his orders, and communicates the news to Jacob. Rebekah has no scruples about primogeniture. Her feelings prompt her to take measures, without waiting to consider whether they are justifiable or not, for securing to Jacob that blessing which she has settled in her own mind to be destined for him. She thinks it necessary to interfere that this end may not fail of being accomplished. Jacob views the matter more coolly, and starts a difficulty. He may be found out to be a deceiver, and bring his father’s curse upon him. Rebekah, anticipating no such issue; undertakes to bear the curse that she conceived would never come. Only let him obey.
Verse 14-29
The plan is successful. Jacob now, without further objection, obeys his mother. She clothes him in Esau’s raiment, and puts the skins of the kids on his hands and his neck. The camel-goat affords a hair which bears a great resemblance to that of natural growth, and is used as a substitute for it. Now begins the strange interview between the father and the son. “Who art thou, my son?” The voice of Jacob was somewhat constrained. He goes, however, deliberately through the process of deceiving his father. “Arise, now, sit and eat.” Isaac was reclining on his couch, in the feebleness of advancing years. Sitting was the posture convenient for eating. “The Lord thy God prospered me.” This is the bold reply to Isaac’s expression of surprise at the haste with which the dainty fare had been prepared. The bewildered father now puts Jacob to a severer test. He feels him, but discerns him not. The ear notes a difference, but the hand feels the hairy skin resembling Esau’s; the eyes give no testimony. After this the result is summarily stated in a single sentence, though the particulars are yet to be given. “Art thou my very son Esau?” A lurking doubt puts the definite question, and receives a decisive answer. Isaac then calls for the repast and partakes.
Gen 27:26-29
He gives the kiss of paternal affection, and pronounces the benediction. It contains, first, a fertile soil. “Of the dew of heaven.” An abundant measure of this was especially precious in a country where the rain is confined to two seasons of the year. “Of the fatness of the earth;” a proportion of this to match and render available the dew of heaven. “Corn and wine,” the substantial products, implying all the rest. Second, a numerous and powerful offspring. “Let peoples serve thee” - pre-eminence among the nations. “Be lord of thy brethren” - pre-eminence among his kindred. Isaac does not seem to have grasped the full meaning of the prediction, “The older shall serve the younger.” Third, Prosperity, temporal and spiritual. He that curseth thee be cursed, and he that blesseth thee be blessed. This is the only part of the blessing that directly comprises spiritual things; and even this of a special form. It is to be recollected that it was Isaac’s intention to bless Esau, and he may have felt that Esau, after all, was not to be the progenitor of the holy seed. Hence, the form of expression is vague enough to apply to temporal things, and yet sufficiently comprehensive to embrace the infliction of the ban of sin, and the diffusion of the blessing of salvation by means of the holy seed.
Gen 27:30-41
Esau’s blessing. Esau comes in, but it is too late. “Who then?” The whole illusion is dispelled from the mind of Isaac. “Yea, blessed he shall be.” Jacob had no doubt perpetrated a fraud, at the instigation of his mother; and if Esau had been worthy in other respects, and above all if the blessing had been designed for him, its bestowment on another would have been either prevented or regarded as null and void. But Isaac now felt that, whatever was the misconduct of Jacob in interfering, and especially in employing unworthy means to accomplish his end, he himself was culpable in allowing carnal considerations to draw his preference to Esau, who was otherwise unworthy. He knew too that the paternal benediction flowed not from the bias of the parent, but from the Spirit of God guiding his will, and therefore when so pronounced could not be revoked. Hence, he was now convinced that it was the design of Providence that the spiritual blessing should fall on the line of Jacob. The grief of Esau is distressing to witness, especially as he had been comparatively blameless in this particular instance. But still it is to be remembered that his heart had not been open to the paramount importance of spiritual things. Isaac now perceives that Jacob has gained the blessing by deceit. Esau marks the propriety of his name, the wrestler who trips up the heel, and pleads pathetically for at least some blessing. His father enumerates what he has done for Jacob, and asks what more he can do for Esau; who then exclaims, “Hast thou but one blessing?”
Gen 27:39-41
At length, in reply to the weeping suppliant, he bestows upon him a characteristic blessing. “Away from the fatness.” The preposition (מי mı̂y) is the same as in the blessing of Jacob. But there, after a verb of giving, it had a partitive sense; here, after a noun of place, it denotes distance or separation; for example, Pro 20:3 The pastoral life has been distasteful to Esau, and so it shall be with his race. The land of Edom was accordingly a comparative wilderness (Mal 1:3). “On thy sword.” By preying upon others. “And thy brother shalt thou serve.” Edom was long independent; but at length Saul was victorious over them 1Sa 14:47, and David conquered them 2Sa 8:14. Then followed a long struggle, until John Hyrcanus, 129 b.c., compelled them to be circumcised and incorporated into Judaism. “Break his yoke.” The history of Edom was a perpetual struggle against the supremacy of Israel. Conquered by Saul, subdued by David, repressed by Solomon, restrained after a revolt by Amaziah, they recovered their independence in the time of Ahab. They were incorporated into the Jewish state, and furnished it with the dynasty of princes beginning with Antipater. Esau was now exasperated against his brother, and could only compose his mind by resolving to slay him during the days of mourning after his father’s death.
Gen 27:42-46
Rebekah hearing this, advises Jacob to flee to Laban her brother, and await the abatement of his brother’s anger. “That which thou hast done to him.” Rebekah seems not to have been aware that she herself was the cause of much of the evil and of the misery that flowed from it. All the parties to this transaction are pursued by a retributive chastisement. Rebekah, especially, parts with her favorite son to meet him only after an absence of twenty years, if ever in this life. She is moreover grievously vexed with the connection which Esau formed with the daughters of Heth. She dreads a similar matrimonial alliance on the part of Jacob.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 4 Old: 137 years, when falling sickly and blind, at…
Old: 137 years, when falling sickly and blind, at least for a time, he wished to bless Esau, who was 77 years old. (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Isaac’s preference for the natural first-born, and Esau. Rebekah…
SIXTH SECTION
Isaac’s preference for the natural first-born, and Esau. Rebekah and Jacob steal from him the theocratic blessing. Esau’s blessing. Esau’s hostility to Jacob. Rebekah’s preparation for the flight of Jacob, and his journey with reference to a theocratic marriage. Isaac’s directions for the journcy of Jacob, the counterpart to the dismissal of Ishmael. Esau’s pretended correction of his ill-assoried marriages
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Gen_27:1 to Gen_28:9
1And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see,1 he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: And he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 2And he said, Behold, now I am old, I know not the day of my death. 3Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons [hunting weapons], thy quiver, and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; 4And make me savory meat [tasty; favorite; festive dish. De Wette: dainty dish], such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die. 5And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
6And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, 7Bring me venison, and make me savory meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death. 8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice [strictly], according to that which I command thee. 9Go now to the flock [small cattle], and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savory meat for thy father, such as he loveth: 10And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. 11And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: 12My 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. 13And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. 14And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savory meat 15[dainty dish], such as his father loved. And Rebekah took goodly [costly] raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: 16And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth [part] of his neck; 17And she gave the savory meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
18And he came unto his father, and said, My father: And he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son. 19And 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. 20And 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. 21And 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. 22And 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. 23And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him. 24And he said, Art thou [thou there] my very son Esau? 25And he said, I am. 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. 26And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. 27And 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 28 is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed: Therefore [thus] God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth and plenty [the fulness] of corn and wine: 29Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee [thy mother’s sons shall bow]: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.
30And 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. 31And he also had made savory meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that 32thy soul may bless me. And [then] Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. 33And Isaac trembled very exceedingly [shuddered in great terror above measure], and said, Who? where is he [who then was he]? that hath taken [hunted] venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed. 34And 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. 35And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing. 36And he said, Is he not rightly named [heel-holder, supplanter] Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright [right of the firstborn]; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? 37And 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 sustained him [have I endowed him]: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son? 38And 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 39voice and wept. And [then] Isaac his father answered, and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; 40And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother: and [but] it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion [in the course of thy wanderings], that thou shalt break his yoke from, off thy neck.
41And Esau hated Jacob, because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart [formed the design], The days of mourning for my [dead] father are at hand, then will I slay my brother Jacob. 42And 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 [goes about with revenge to kill thee].2 43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother, to Haran: 44And tarry with him a few days 45[some time], until thy brother’s fury turn away; 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? 46And 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 [what is life to me]
Gen_28:1.And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2Arise, go to Padan-aram [Mesopotamia], to the house of Bethuel, thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from 3thence of the daughters of Laban, thy mother’s brother. And God [the] Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be [become] a multitude3 of people; 4And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger [of thy pilgrimage], which God gave unto Abraham. 5And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
6When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-aram, to take him a wife from thence; and that, as he blessed him, he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; 7And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padan-aram; 8And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; 9Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath [from root חלה, Cecinit. Delitzsch derives it from חֲלֵי, to be sweet] the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth [heights, nabathæa], to be his wife.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS
1. Knobel, without regard to verse 46, and notwithstanding the word Elohim, verse 28, regards our section as a Jehovistic narrative. We have only to refer to the prevailing Jehovistic reference. Respecting the origin of our narrative Knobel has given his opinion in a remarkable manner, e.g., he cannot conceive how an old man may hear well, smell well, and yet be unable to see!!
2. The time. “Isaac at that time was a hundred and thirty-seven years old, the age at which Ishmael, his half-brother, died, about fourteen years before; a fact which, in consequence of the weakness of old age, may have seriously reminded him of death, though he did not die until forty-three years afterwards. The correct determination of his age, given already by Luther, is based upon the following calculation: Joseph, when he stood before Pharaoh, was thirty years old (Gen_41:46), and at the migration of Jacob to Egypt he had reached already the age of thirty-nine; for seven years of plenty and two years of famine had passed already at that time; nine years had elapsed since the elevation of Joseph (Gen_45:6). But Jacob, at that time, was a hundred and thirty years old (Gen_47:9); Joseph, therefore, was born when Jacob was ninety-one years; and since Joseph’s birth occurred in the fourteenth year of Jacob’s sojourn in Mesopotamia (comp. Gen_30:25 with Gen_29:18; Gen_29:21; Gen_29:27), Jacob’s flight to Laban happened in his seventy-seventh year, and in the hundred and thirty-seventh year of Isaac. Comp. Hengstenberg: Beitr. iii. p. 348, etc.” Keil.
3. The present section contains the history of the distinction and separation of Esau and Jacob; first introduced by enmity after the manner of man, then confirmed by the divine judgment upon human sins, and established by the conduct of the sons. This narrative conducts us from the history of Isaac to that of Jacob. The separate members of this section are the following: 1. Isaac’s project; 3. Rebekah’s counter-project; 3. Jacob’s deed and blessing; 4. Esau’s complaint and Esau’s blessing; 5. Esau’s scheme of revenge, and Rebekah’s counter-scheme; 6. Jacob and Esau in the antithesis of their marriage, or the divine decree.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Gen_27:1-4.—And his eyes were dim.—We construe with the Sept., since we are of the opinion that this circumstance is noticed as an explanation of the succeeding narrative.—Thy quiver.—The ἅπαξ λεγ., תְּלִי (lit. hanging), has by some been explained incorrectly as meaning sword (Onkelos and others).—Savory meat.—פטעמים, delicious food. But it is rather to be taken in the sense of a feast than of a dainty dish. It is praiseworthy in Isaac to be mindful of his death so long before-hand. That he anticipates his last hours in this manner indicates not only a strong self-will, but also a doubt and a certain apprehension, whence he makes the special pretence, in order to conceal the blessing from Jacob and Rebekah. [Notwithstanding the divine utterance before the children were born, undoubtedly known to him, and the careless and almost contemptuous disposal of his birthright by Esau, and Esau’s ungodly connection with the Canaanitish women, Isaac still gives way to his preference to Esau, and determines to bestow upon him the blessing.—A. G.]
2. Gen_27:5-17. Rebekah’s counter-project.—Unto Jacob her son.—Her favorite.—Two good kids of the goats.—The meat was to be amply provided, so as to represent venison.—As a deceiver (lit., as a scoffer).—“He is afraid to be treated as a scoffer merely, but not as an impostor, since he would have confessed only a mere sportive intention.” Knobel. It may be assumed, however, that his conscience really troubled him. But from respect for his mother he does not point to the wrong itself, but to its hazardous consequences.—Upon me be thy curse.—Rebekah’s boldness assumes here the appearance of the greatest rashness. This, however, vanishes for the most part, if we consider that she is positively sure of the divine promise, with which, it is true, she wrongfully identifies her project.—Goodly raiment.—Even in regard to dress, Esau seems to have taken already a higher place in the household. His goodly raiment reminds us of the coat of Joseph.—Upon his hands.—According to Tuch, the skins of the Eastern camel-goat (angora-goat) are here referred to. The black, silk-like hair of these animals, was also used by the Romans as a substitute for human hair (Martial., xii. 46).” Keil.
3. Gen_27:18-29. Jacob’s act and Jacob’s blessing.—Who art thou, my son.—The secrecy with which Isaac arranged the preparation for the blessing must have made him suspicious at the very beginning. The presence of Jacob, under any circumstances, would have been to him, at present, an unpleasant interruption. But now he thinks that he hears Jacob’s voice. That he does not give effect to this impression is shown by the perfect success of the deception. But perhaps an infirmity of hearing corresponds with his blindness.—Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat.—They ate not only in a sitting posture, but also while lying down; but the lying posture at a meal differed from that taken upon a bed or couch. It is the solemn act of blessing, moreover, which is here in question.—How is it that thou hast found it so quickly.—It is not only Jacob’s voice, but also the quick execution of his demand, which awakens his suspicion.—And he blessed him.
Gen_27:23. This is merely the greeting. Even after having felt his son, he is not fully satisfied, but once more demands the explanation that he is indeed Esau.—Come near now, and kiss me.—After his partaking of the meat, Isaac wants still another assurance and encouragement by the kiss of his son.—And he smelled the smell of his raiment.—The garments of Esau were impregnated with the fragrance of the fields, over which he roamed as a hunter. “The scent of Lebanon was distinguished (Hos_14:7; Son_4:11).” Knobel. The directness of the form of his blessing is seen from the fact that the fundamental thought is connected with the smell of Esau’s raiment. The fragrance of the fields of Canaan, rich in herbs and flowers, which were promised to the theocratic heir, perfumed the garments of Esau, and this circumstance confirmed the patriarch’s prejudice.—And blessed him, and said.—The words of his blessing are prophecies (Gen_9:27; Genesis 49)—utterances of an inspired state looking into the future, and therefore poetic in form and expression. The same may be said respecting the later blessing upon Esau.—Of a field which the Lord hath blessed.—Palestine, the land of Jehovah’s blessing, a copy of the old, and a prototype of the new, paradise.—Because the country is blessed of Jehovah, he assumes that the son whose garments smell of the fragrance of the land is also blessed.—Therefore God give thee.—Ha-elohim. The choice of the expression intimates a remaining doubt whether Esau was the chosen one of Jehovah; but it is explained also by the universality of the succeeding blessing. [He views Ha-elohim, the personal God, but not Jehovah, the God of the Covenant, as the source and giver of the blessing.—A. G.]—Of the dew of heaven.—The dew in Palestine is of the greatest importance in respect to the fruitfulness of the year during the dry season (Gen_49:25; Deu_33:13; Deu_33:28; Hos_14:6; Sach. viii. 12).—And the fatness of the earth.—Knobel: “Of the fat parts of the earth, singly and severally.” Since the land promised to the sons was to be divided between Esau and Jacob, the sense no doubt is: may he give to thee the fat part of the promised land, i.e., Canaan. Canaan was the chosen part of the lands of the earth belonging to the first-born, which were blessed with the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth. As to the fruitfulness of Canaan, see Exo_3:8. Compare also the Bible Dictionaries; Winer: article “Palestine.” The antithesis of this grant to that of the Edomitic country appears distinctly, Gen_27:39. A two-fold contrast is therefore to be noticed: 1. To Edom; 2. to the earth in general; and so we have מן. But to a blessed land belong also blessed seasons, therefore plenty of corn and wine.—Let people serve thee.—To the grant of the theocratic country is added the grant of a theocratic, i.e., spiritual and political condition of the world.—And nations.—Tribes of nations. Not only nations but tribes of nations, groups of nations, are to bow down to him, i.e., to do homage to him submissively. This promise was fulfilled typically in the time of David and Solomon, ultimately and completely in the world-sovereignty of the promise of faith.—Be Lord over thy brethren.—This blessing was fulfilled in the subjection of Edom (2Sa_8:14; 1Ki_11:15; Psa_60:8-9).—Thy mother’s sons.—His prejudice still shows itself in the choice of this expression, according to which he thought to subject Jacob, the “mother’s” son, to Esau.—Cursed be every one that curseth thee.—Thus Isaac bound himself. He is not able to take back the blessing he pronounced on Jacob. In this sealing of the blessing he afterwards recognizes also a divine sentence (Gen_27:33). His prophetic spirit has by far surpassed his human prejudice. [This blessing includes the two elements of the blessing of Abraham, the possession of the land of Canaan, and a numerous offspring, but not distinctly the third, that all nations should be blessed in him and his seed. This may be included in the general phrase, let him that curseth thee be cursed, and him that blesseth thee be blessed. But it is only when the conviction that he had against his will served the purpose of God in blessing Jacob, that the consciousness of his patriarchal calling is awakened within him, and he has strength to give the blessing of Abraham to the son whom he had rejected but God had chosen (Gen_27:3-4). See Keil.—A. G.]
4. Gen_27:30-40. Esau’s lamentation and Esau’s blessing.—And Isaac trembled.—If Isaac himself had not intended to deceive in the matter in which he was deceived, or had he been filled with divine confidence in respect to the election of Esau, he would have been startled only at the deception of Jacob. But it is evident that he was surprised most at the divine decision, which thereby revealed itself, and convinces him of the error and sin of his attempt to forestall that decision, otherwise we should hear of deep indignation rather than of an extraordinary terror. What follows, too, confirms this interpretation. He bows not so much to the deception practised upon him as to the fact and to the prophetic spirit which has found utterance through him. Augustine: De Civitate Dei, 16, Genesis 37 : “Quis non hic maledictionem potius expectaret irati, si hœc non superna inspiratione sed terreno more generentur.”—Who? where is he?—Yet before he has named Jacob, he pronounces the divine sentence: the blessing of the Lord remains with that man who received it.—He cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry.—Heb_12:17.—Bless me, even me also.—Esau, it is true, had a vague feeling that the question here was about important grants, but he did not understand their significance. He, therefore, thought the theocratic blessing admitted of division, and was as dependent upon his lamentations and prayers as upon the caprice of his father.—Thy brother came with subtilty.—With deception. Isaac now indicates also the human error and sin, after having declared the divine judgment. But at the same time he declares that the question is only about one blessing, and that no stranger has been the recipient of this blessing, but Esau’s brother.—Is not he rightly named. (הכִי)?—Shall he get the advantage of me because he was thus inadvertently named (Jacob=heel-catcher, supplanter), and because he then acted thus treacherously (with cunning or fraud) shall I acquiesce in a blessing that was surreptitiously obtained?—He took away my birthright.—Instead of reproaching himself with his own act, his eye is filled with the wrong Jacob has done him.—Hast thou not a blessing reserved for me?—Esau is perplexed in the mysterious aspect of this matter. He speaks as if Isaac had pronounced a gratuitous blessing. Isaac’s answer is according to the truth. He informs him very distinctly of his future theocratic relation to Jacob. As compared with the blessing of Jacob he had no more a blessing for Esau, for it is fundamentally the greatest blessing for him to serve Jacob.—Hast thou but one blessing?—Esau proceeds upon the assumption that the father could pronounce blessings at will. His tears, however, move the father’s heart, and he feels that his favorite son can be appeased by a sentence having the semblance of a blessing, and which in fact contains every desire of his heart. That is, he now understands him.—The fatness of the earth.—The question arises whether מִן is used here in a partitive sense (according to Luther’s translation and the Vulgate), as in the blessing upon Jacob, Gen_27:28, or in a privative sense (according to Tuch, Knobel, Kurtz, etc.). Delitzsch favors the last view: 1. The mountains in the northeastern part of Idumæa (now Gebalene), were undoubtedly fertile, and therefore called Palœstina Salutaris in the middle ages (Von Raumer, in his Palœstina, p. 240, considers the prophecy, therefore, according to Luther’s translation, as fulfilled). But the mountains in the western part of Idumæa are beyond comparison the most dreary and sterile deserts in the world, as Seetzen expresses himself. 2. It is not probable that Esau’s and Jacob’s blessing would begin alike. 3. It is in contradiction with Gen_27:37, etc. (p. 455); Mal_1:3. This last citation is quoted by Keil as proof of the preceding statement. [The מִן is the same in both cases, but in the blessing of Jacob, “after a verb of giving, it had a partitive sense; here, after a noun of place, it denotes distance, or separation, e.g., Pro_20:3.” Murphy. The context seems to demand this interpretation, and it is confirmed by the prediction, by thy sword, etc. Esau’s dwelling-place was the very opposite of the richly-blessed land of Canaan.—A. G.] But notwithstanding all this, the question arises, whether the ambiguity of the expression is accidental, or whether it is chosen in relation to the excitement and weakness of Esau. As to the country of Edom, see Delitzsch, p. 455; Knobel, p. 299; Keil, p. 198; also the Dictionaries, and journals of travellers.—And by thy sword.—This confirms the former explanation, but at the same time this expression corresponds with Esau’s character and the future of his descendants. War, pillage, and robbery, are to support him in a barren country. “Similar to Ishmael, Gen_16:12, and the different tribes still living to-day in the old Edomitic country (see Burkhardt: ‘Syria,’ p. 826; Ritter: Erdkunde, xiv. p. 966, etc.).” Knobel. See Obadiah, Gen_27:3; Jer_49:16. “The land of Edom, therefore, according to Isaac’s prophecy, will constitute a striking antithesis to the land of Jacob.” Keil.—And shalt serve thy brother.—See above.—And it shall come to pass.—As a consequence of the roaming about of Edom in the temper and purpose of a freebooter, he will ultimately shake off the yoke of Jacob from his neck. This seems to be a promise of greater import, but the self-liberation of Edom from Israel was not of long continuance, nor did it prove to him a true blessing. Edom was at first strong and independent as compared to Israel, slower in its development (Num_20:14, etc.). Saul first fought against it victoriously (1Sa_14:47); David conquered it (2Sa_8:14). Then followed a conspiracy under Solomon (1Ki_11:14), whilst there was an actual defection under Joram. On the other hand, the Edomites were again subjected by Amaziah (2Ki_14:7; 2Ch_25:11) and remained dependent under Uzziah and Jotham (2Ki_14:22; 2Ch_26:2). But under Ahaz they liberated themselves entirely from Judah (2Ki_16:6; 2Ch_28:17). Finally, however, John Hyrcanus subdued them completely, forced them to adopt circumcision, and incorporated them into the Jewish state and people (Josephus: “Antiq.” xiii. 9, 1; xv. 7, 9), whilst the Jews themselves, however, after Antipater, became subject to the dominion of an Idumæan dynasty, until the downfall of their state.
5. Esau’s scheme of revenge, and Rebekah’s counter-scheme (Gen_27:41-46).—And Esau said in his heart.—Esau’s good-nature still expresses itself in his exasperation toward Jacob and in the scheme of revenge to kill him. For he does not maliciously execute the thought immediately, but betrays it in uttered threats, and postpones it until the death of his father.—The days of mourning … are at hand.—Not for my father, but on account of my father; i.e., my father, weak and trembling with age, is soon to die.—Then, and not before, he will execute his revenge. He does not intend to grieve the father, but if his mother, his brother’s protectress, is grieved by the murder, that is all right, in his view.—These words were told.—On account of his frank and open disposition, Esau’s thoughts were soon revealed; what he thought in his heart he soon uttered in words.—And called Jacob.—From the herds.—Flee thou to Laban.—Rebekah encourages him to this flight by saying that it will last but few days, i.e., a short time. But she looked further. She took occasion from the present danger to carry on the thoughts of Abraham, and to unite Jacob honorably in a theocratic marriage. For, notwithstanding all his grief of mind arising from Esau’s marriages, Isaac had not thought of this. But still she lets Isaac first express this thought. Nor is Isaac to be burdened with Esau’s scheme of revenge and Jacob’s danger, and therefore she leads him to her mode of reasoning by a lamentation concerning the daughters of Heth (Gen_27:46).—Deprived also of you both.—Bunsen: “Of thy father and thyself.” Others: “Of thyself and Esau, who is to die by the hand of an avenger.” But as soon as Esau should become the murderer of his brother, he would be already lost to Rebekah. Knobel, again, thinks that in verse 46 the connection with the preceding is here broken and lost, but on the contrary connects the passage with Gen_26:34 and Gen_28:1, as found in the original text. The connection is, however, obvious. If Knobel thinks that the character of Esau appears different in Gen_28:6 etc., than in Gen_27:41, that proves only that he does not understand properly the prevailing characteristics of Esau as given in Genesis.
6. Jacob and Esau in the antithesis of their marriage, or the divine decree (Gen_28:1-9).—And Isaac called Jacob and blessed him.—The whole dismissal of Jacob shows that now he regards him voluntarily as the real heir of the Abrahamic blessing. Knobel treats Genesis 28—ch. 33 as one section (the earlier history of Jacob), whose fundamental utterances form the original text, enlarged and completed by Jehovistic supplements. There are several places in which he says contradictions to the original text are apparent. One such contradiction he artfully frames by supposing that, according to the original text, Jacob was already sent to Mesopotamia immediately after Esau’s marriage, for the purpose of marrying among his kindred—a supposition based on mere fiction. As to other contradictions, see p. 233, etc.—Of the daughters of Canaan.—Now it is clear to him that this was a theocratic condition for the theocratic heir.—Of the daughters of Laban.—These are first mentioned here.—And God Almighty.—By this appellation Jehovah called himself when he announced himself to Abraham as the God of miracles, who would grant to him a son (Gen_17:1). By this apellation of Jehovah, therefore, Isaac also wishes for Jacob a fruitful posterity. Theocratic children are to be children of blessing and of miracles, a multitude of people (קהל), a very significant development of the Abrahamic blessing. [The word used to denote the congregation or assembly of God’s people, and to which the Greek ecclesia answers. It denotes the people of God as called out and called together.—A. G.]—The blessing of Abraham.—He thus seals the fact that he now recognizes Jacob as the chosen heir—And Isaac sent away Jacob (see Hos_12:13).—When Esau saw that Isaac.—Esau now first discovers that his parents regard their son’s connection with Canaanitish women as an injudicious and improper marriage. He had not observed their earlier sorrow. Powerful impressions alone can bring him to understand this matter. But even this understanding becomes directly a misunderstanding. He seeks once more to gain the advantage of Jacob, by taking a third wife, indeed a daughter of Ishmael. One can almost think that he perceives an air of irony pervading this dry record. The irony, however, lies in the very efforts of a low and earthly mind, after the glimpses of high ideals, which he himself does not comprehend.—To Ishmael.—Ishmael had been already dead more than twelve years; it is therefore the house of Ishmael which is meant here.—Mahalath.—Gen_36:2 called Bâshemath.—The sister of Nebajoth.—As the first-born of the brothers he is named instead of all the others; just as Miriam is always called the sister of Aaron. The decree of God respecting the future of the two sons, which again runs through the whole chapter, receives its complete development in this, that Jacob emigrates in obedience of faith accompanied with the theocratic blessing, to seek after the chosen bride, whilst Esau, with the intention of making amends for his neglect, betrays again his unfitness. The decrees of God, however, develop themselves in and through human plans.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The present section connects a profound tragic family history from the midst of the patriarchal life, with a grand and sublime history of salvation. In respect to the former, it is the principal chapter in the Old Testament, showing the vanity of mere human plans and efforts; in respect to the latter, it holds the corresponding place in reference to the certainty of the divine election and calling, holding its calm and certain progress through all disturbances of human infatuation, folly, and sin.
2. It is quite common, in reviewing the present narrative, to place Rebekah and Jacob too much under the shadows of sin, in comparison with Isaac. Isaac’s sin does not consist alone in his arbitrary determination to present Esau with the blessing of the theocratic birthright, although Rebekah received that divine sentence respecting her children, before their birth, and which, no doubt, she had mentioned to him; and although Esau had manifested already, by his marriage with the daughters of Heth, his want of the theocratic faith, and by his bartering with Jacob, his carnal disposition, and his contempt of the birthright—thus viewed, indeed, his sin admits of palliation through several excuses. The clear right of the first-born seemed to oppose itself to the dark oracle of God, Jacob’s prudence to Esau’s frank and generous disposition, the quiet shepherd-life of Jacob to Esau’s stateliness and power, and on the other hand, Esau’s misalliances to Jacob’s continued celibacy. And although Isaac may have been too weak to enjoy the venison obtained for him by Esau, yet the true-hearted care of the son for his father’s infirmity and age, is also of some importance. But the manner in which Isaac intends to bless Esau, places his offence in a clearer light. He intends to bless him solemnly in unbecoming secrecy, without the knowledge of Rebekah and Jacob, or of his house. The preparation of the venison is scarcely to be regarded as if he was to be inspired for the blessing by the eating of this “dainty dish,” or of this token of filial affection. This preparation, at least, in its main point of view, is an excuse to gain time and place for the secret act. In this point of view, the act of Rebekah appears in a different light. It is a woman’s shrewdness that crosses the shrewdly calculated project of Isaac. He is caught in the net of his own sinful prudence. A want of divine confidence may be recognized through all his actions. It is no real presentiment of death that urges him now to bless Esau. But he now anticipates his closing hours and Jehovah’s decision, because he wishes to put an end to his inward uncertainty which annoyed him. Just as Abraham anticipated the divine decision in his connection with Hagar, so Isaac, in his eager and hearty performance of an act belonging to his last days, while he lived yet many years. With this, therefore, is also connected the improper combination of the act of blessing with the meal, as well as the uneasy apprehension lest he should be interrupted in his plan (see Gen_27:18), and a suspicious and strained expectation which was not at first caused by the voice of Jacob. Rebekah, however, has so far the advantage of him that she, in her deception, has the divine assurance that Jacob was the heir, while Isaac, in his preceding secrecy, has, on his side, only human descent and his human reason without any inward, spiritual certainty. But Rebekah’s sin consists in thinking that she must save the divine election of Jacob by means of human deception and a so-called white-lie. Isaac, at that critical moment, would have been far less able to pronounce the blessing of Abraham upon Esau, than afterward Balaam, standing far below him, could have cursed the people of Israel at the critical moment of its history. For the words of the spirit and of the promise are never left to human caprice. Rebekah, therefore, sinned against Isaac through a want of candor, just as Isaac before had sinned against Rebekah through a like defect. The divine decree would also have been fulfilled without her assistance, if she had had the necessary measure of faith. Of course, when compared with Isaac’s fatal error, Rebekah was right. Though she deceived him greatly, misled her favorite son, and alienated Esau from her, there was yet something saving in her action according to her intentions, even for Isaac himself and for both her sons. For to Esau the most comprehensive blessing might have become only a curse. He was not fitted for it. Just as Rebekah thinks to oppose cunning to cunning in order to save the divine blessing through Isaac, and thus secure a heavenly right, so also Jacob secures a human right in buying of Esau the right of the firstborn. But now the tragic consequences of the first officious anticipation, which Isaac incurred, as well as that of the second, of which Rebekah becomes guilty, were soon to appear.
3. The tragic consequences of the hasty conduct and the mutual deceptions in the family of Isaac. Esau threatens to become a fratricide, and this threat repeats itself in the conduct of Joseph’s brothers, who also believed that they saw in Joseph a brother unjustly preferred, and came very near killing him. Jacob must become a fugitive for many a long year, and perhaps yield up to Esau the external inheritance for the most part or entirely. The patriarchal dignity of Isaac is obscured, Rebekah is obliged to send her favorite son abroad, and perhaps never see him again. The bold expression: “Upon me be thy curse,” may be regarded as having a bright side; for she, as a protectress of Jacob’s blessing, always enjoys a share in his blessing. But the sinful element in it was the wrong application of her assurance of faith to the act of deception, which she herself undertook, and to which she persuaded Jacob; and for which she must atone, perhaps, by many a long year of melancholy solitude and through the joylessness which immediately spread itself over the family affairs of the household.
4. With all this, however, Isaac was kept from a grave offence, and the true relation of things secured by the pretended necessity for her prevarication. Through this catastrophe Isaac came to a full understanding of the divine decree, Esau attained the fullest development of his peculiar characteristics, and Jacob was directed to his journey of faith, and to his marriage, without which the promise could not even be fulfilled in him.
5. Isaac’s blindness. That the eyes of this recluse and contemplative man were obscured and closed at an early age, is a fact which occurs in many a similar character since the time of “blind Homer” and blind Tiresias. Isaac had not exercised his eye in hunting as Esau. The weakness of his age first settles in that organ which he so constantly neglected. With this was connected his weakness in judging individual and personal relations. He was conscious of an honest wish and will in his conduct with Esau, and his secrecy in the case, as well as the precaution at Gerâr, was connected with his retiring, peace-loving disposition. Leaving this out of view, he was an honest, well-meaning person (see Gen_27:37, and Gen_26:27). His developed faith in the promise, however, reveals itself in his power or fitness for the vision, and his words of blessing.
6. Rebekah obviously disappears from the stage as a grand or conspicuous character; grand in her prudence, magnanimity, and her theocratic zeal of faith. Her zeal of faith had a mixture of fanatic exaggeration, and in this view she is the grand mother of Simeon and Levi (Genesis 38).
7. It must be especially noticed that Jacob remained single far beyond the age of Isaac. He seems to have expected a hint from Isaac, just as Isaac was married through the care of Abraham. The fact bears witness to a deep, quiet disposition, which was only developed to a full power by extraordinary circumstances. He proves, again, by his actions, that he is a Jacob, i.e., heel-catcher, sup-planter. He does not refuse to comply with the plan of the mother from any conscientious scruples, but from motives of fear and prudence. And how ably and firmly he carries through his task, though his false confidence seems at last to die upon his lips with the brief אָני, Gen_27:24! But however greatly he erred, he held a proper estimate of the blessing, for the security of which he thought he had a right to make use of prevarication; and this blessing did not consist in earthly glory, a fact which is decisive as to his theocratic character. Esau, on the other hand, scarcely seems to have any conception of the real contents of the Abrahamic blessing. The profound agitation of those who surrounded him, gives him the impression that this must be a thing of inestimable worth. Every one of his utterances proves a misunderstanding. Esau’s misunderstandings, however, are of a constant significance, showing in what light mere men of the world regard the things of the kingdom of God. Even his exertion to mend his improper marriage relations eventuates in another error.
8. Isaac’s blessing. In the solemn form of the blessing, the dew of heaven is connected with the fatness of the earth in a symbolic sense, and the idea of the theocratic kingdom, the dominion of the seed of blessing first appears here. In the parting blessing upon Jacob, the term קהל indicates a great development of the Abrahamic blessing.—Ranke: Abraham, no doubt, saw, in the light of Jehovah’s promises, on to the goal of his own election and that of his seed, but with regard to the chosen people, however, his prophetic vision extended only to the exodus from Egypt, and to the possession of Canaan. Isaac’s prophecy already extends farther into Israel’s history, reaching down to the subjugation and restoration of Esau.
9. The blessing pronounced upon Esau seems to be a prophecy of his future, clothed in the form of a blessing, in which his character is clearly announced. It contains a recognition of bravery, of a passion for liberty, and the courage of a hunter—The Idumæans were a warlike people.
10. When, therefore, Isaac speaks in the spirit, about his sons, he well knew their characters (Heb_11:20). The prophetic blessing will surely be accomplished; but not by the force of a magical efficacy; as Knobel says: “A divine word uttered, is a power which infallibly and unchangeably secures what the word indicates. The word of God can never be ineffectual (comp. Gen_9:18; Num_22:6; 2Ki_2:24; Isa_9:7).”—The word of a prophetic spirit rests upon the insight of the spirit into the profound fundamental principles of the present, in which the future, according to its main features, reflects itself, or exhibits itself, beforehand.
11. The high-souled Esau acted dishonestly in this, that he was not mindful of the oath by which he had sold to Jacob the birthright; and just as Rebekah might excuse her cunning by that of Isaac, so Jacob might excuse his dishonest conduct by pleading Esau’s dishonesty.
12. The application of the proverb, “The end justifies the means,” to Jacob’s conduct, is apparently not allowable. The possible mental reservation in Jacob’s lie, may assume the following form: 1. I am Esau, i.e., the (real) hairy one, and thy (lawful) first-born. But even in this case the mental reservation of Jacob is as different from that of the Jesuits, as heaven from earth. 2. Thy God brought the venison to me; i.e., the God who has led thee wills that I should be blessed.
13. However plausible may be the deceit, through the divine truth some circumstance will remain unnoticed, and become a traitor. Jacob had not considered that his voice was not that of Esau. It nearly betrayed him. The expression: “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau,” has become a proverb in cases where words and deeds do not correspond.
14. The first appearance of the kiss in this narrative presents this symbol of ancient love to our view in both its aspects. The kiss of Christian brother-hood and the kiss of Judas are here enclosed in one.
15. Just as the starry heavens constituted the symbol of the divine promise for Abraham, so the blooming, fragrant, and fruitful fields are the symbol to Isaac. In this also may be seen and employed the antithesis between the first, who dwelt under the rustling oaks, and of the other, who sat by the side of springing fountains. The symbol of promise descends from heaven to earth.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See the Doctrinal and Ethical paragraphs. Upon the whole the present narrative is both a patriarchal family picture and a religious picture of history.—Domestic life and domestic sorrow in Isaac’s house.—In the homes of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.—The blind Isaac: 1. Blind in two respects; and 2. yet a clear-sighted prophet.—How Isaac blesses his sons: 1. How he intends to bless them; 2. how he is constrained to bless them.—Human guilt and divine grace in Isaac’s house: 1. The guilt; Isaac and Rebekah anticipate divine providence. They deceive each other. Esau is led to forget his bargain with Jacob; Jacob is induced to deceive his father. Yet the guilt of all is diminished because they thought that they must help the right with falsehood. Esau obeys the father, Jacob obeys the mother. Isaac rests upon the birthright, Rebekah upon the divine oracle. 2. God’s grace turns everything to the best, in conformity to divine truth, but with the condition that all must repent of their sins.—The image of the hereditary curse in the light of the hereditary blessing, which Isaac ministers: 1. How the curse obscures the blessing; 2. how the blessing overcomes the curse.—The characteristics mentioned in our narrative viewed in their contrasts: 1. Isaac and Rebekah; 2. Jacob and Esau; 3. Isaac and Jacob; 4. Isaac and Esau; 5. Rebekah and Esau; 6. Rebekah and Jacob.—The cunning of a theocratic disposition purified and raised to the prudence of the ecclesiastical spirit.—God’s election is sure: 1. In the heights of heaven; 2. in the depths of human hearts; 3. in the providence of grace; 4. in the course of history.—The clear stream of the divine government runs through all human errors, and that: 1. For salvation to believers; 2. for judgment to unbelievers.
To Section First, Gen_27:1-4. Isaac’s infirmity of age, and his faith: 1. In what manner the infirmity of age obscured his faith; 2. how faith breaks through the infirmities of age.—Isaac’s blindness.—The sufferings of old age.—The thought of death: 1. Though beneficial in itself; 2. may yet be premature.—The hasty making of wills.—We must not anticipate God.—Not act in uncertainty of heart.—The preference of the parents for the children different in character from themselves.—The connection of hunting and the enjoyment of its fruits, with the divine blessing of promise: 1. Incomprehensible as a union of the most diverse things; 2. comprehensible as a device of human prudence; 3. made fruitless by the interference of another spirit.—Isaac’s secrecy thwarted by Rebekah’s cunning device.—Human right and divine law in conflict with each other.—Isaac’s right and wrong view, and conduct.
Starke: It is a great blessing of God, if he preserves our sight not only in youth, but also in old age (Deu_34:7).—Cramer: A blind man, a poor man (Tob_5:12).—Old age itself is a sickness (2Sa_19:35).—If you are deprived of the eyes of your body, see that you do not lose the eye of faith (Psa_39:5-6).—A Christian ought to do nothing from passion, but to judge only by the word of God.—Bibl. Tub.: Parents are to bless their children before they die; but the blessing must be conformed to the divine will (Gen_48:5). Doubtless Jacob, taught by Isaac’s error, learned to bless his children better; i.e., in a less restricted manner.—(The Rabbins assert that Jacob desired venison before his pronouncing the blessing, because it was customary that the son about to receive the blessing should perform some special act of love to his father.)—Osiander: It is probable that Isaac demanded something better than ordinary, because this was to be also a peculiar day. To all appearance it was a divine providence through which Jacob gains time to obtain and bear away the blessing before him.—Schröder: Contemplative men like Isaac easily undermine their health (?).—Experience teaches us that natures like that of Isaac are more exposed to blindness than others. Shut in entirely from the external world, their eyes are soon entirely closed to it.—The son, by some embodiment of his filial love, shows himself as son, in order that the father on his part also, may, through the act of blessing, show himself to be a father.—Love looks for love.—Thus the blessing may be considered not so much as belonging to the privilege of the first-born, but rather as constituting a rightful claim to these privileges.
Section Second, Gen_27:15-17. Rebekah’s counter-scheme opposed to Isaac’s scheme.—Rebekah’s right and wrong thought and conduct.—Rebekah protectress of the right of Jacob’s election opposed to Isaac the elect.—Jacob’s persuasion: 1. The mother’s faith and her wrong view of it.—The faith of the son and his erroneous view.—Jacob’s doubt and Rebekah’s confidence.—The defect in his hesitation (it was not a fear of sin, but a fear of the evil consequences).—The defect in the confidence (not in the certainty itself, but its application).—The cunning mother and the cunning son.—Both too cunning in this case.—Their sufferings for it—God’s commandment is of more weight than the parental authority, than all human commands generally.
Starke: Some commentators are very severe upon Rebekah (Saurin, Discours XXVIII; others on the contrary (Calvin and others), praise her faith, her cunning, her righteousness (because Esau as a bold scoffer, had sold his birthright), her fear of God (abhorrence of the Canaanitish nature). (We must add, however, that Calvin also marks the means which Rebekah uses as evil.)—Rebekah, truly, had acted in a human way, striving by unlawful means to attain a good end.—Bibl. Wirt: If the Word of God is on our side we must not indeed depart from it, but neither must we undertake to bring about what it holds before us by unlawful means, but look to God, who knows what means to use, and how and when to fulfil his word.—Bibl. Tüb: God makes even the errors of the pious to work good, if their heart is sincere and upright; yet we are not to imitate their errors.
Gerlach: Though staining greatly, as she did, the divine promise by her deception, yet at the same time her excellent faith shines out through the history. She did not fear to arouse the brother’s deadly hatred against Jacob, to bring her favorite son into danger of his life and to excite her husband against her, because the inheritance promised by God stood before her, and she knew God had promised it to Jacob. (Calvin).—Schröder: (Michaelis: The kids of the goats can be prepared in such a way as to taste like venison.) Isaac now abides by the rule, but Rebekah insists upon an exception (Luther).—The premature grasping bargain of Jacob (Gen_25:29, etc.,) is the reason that God is here anticipated again by Rebekah, and Jacob’s sinful cunning, so that the bargain again turns out badly.—Luther, holding that the law is annulled by God himself, concludes: Where there is no law, there is no transgression, therefore, she has not sinned (!?)—Both (sons) were already 77 years old. The fact, that Jacob, at such an age, was still under maternal control, was grounded deeply in his individuality (Gen_25:27), as well as in the congeniality which existed between Jacob and his mother. Esau, surely, was passed from under Rebekah’s control already at the age of ten years.
Section Third, Gen_27:18-29. Isaac’s blessing upon Jacob: 1. In its human aspect; 2. in its divine aspect.—The divine providence controlling Isaac’s plan: Abraham, Isaac and Esau.—Jacob, in Esau’s garments, betrayed by his voice: 1. Almost betrayed immediately; 2. afterwards clearly betrayed.—Isaac’s solicitude, or all care in the service of sin and error gains nothing.—Jacob’s examination.—The voice is Jacob’s voice, the hands are Esau’s hands.—Isaac’s blessing: 1. According to its external and its typical significance; 2. in its relation to Abraham’s promise and the blessing of Jacob.—Its new thoughts: the holy sovereignty, the gathering of a holy people, the germ of the announcement of a holy kingdom. Isaac’s inheritance: a kingdom of nations, a church of nations.—The fulfilment of the blessing: 1. In an external or typical sense: David’s kingdom; 2. in a spiritual sense: the kingdom of Christ.
Starke: Jacob, perhaps, thought with a contrite heart of the abuse of strange raiment, when the bloody coat of Joseph was shown to him. To say nothing of the cross caused by children, which, no doubt, is the most severe cross to pious parents in this world, and with which the pious Jacob often met (Dinah’s rape, Benjamin’s difficult birth, Simeon’s and Levi’s bloody weapons, Reuben’s incest, Joseph’s history, Judah’s history, Genesis 38, etc.). For Jacob sinned: 1. In speaking contrary to the truth, and twice passing himself for Esau; 2. in really practising fraud by means of strange raiment and false pretences; 3. in his abuse of the name of God (Gen_27:20); 4. in taking advantage of his father’s weakness.—Yet God bore with his errors, like Isaac, etc.
Gen_27:26 : a collection of different places in which we read of a kiss or kisses (see Concordance).—That this uttered blessing is to be received not only according to the letter, but also in a deeper, secret sense, is apparent from Heb_11:20, where Paul says: that by faith Isaac blessed his son, of which faith the Messiah was the theme.
Gerlach: The goal and central point of this blessing is the word: be lord over thy brethren. For this implies that he was to be the bearer of the blessing, while the others should only have a share in his enjoyment.—Lisco: Earthly blessing (Deu_33:28).—Cursed be, etc. He who loves the friends of God, loves God himself; he who hates them, hates him; they are the apple of his eye.—Calwer Handbuch: The more pleasant the fragrance of the flowers and herbs of the field, the richer is the blessing. Earthly blessings are a symbol and pledge to the father of divine grace.—Power and sway: The people blessed of the Lord must stand at the head of nations, in order to impart a blessing to all.—Isaac, much against his will, blesses him whom Jehovah designs to bless.—Schröder: Ah, the voice, the voice (of Jacob)! I should have dropped the dish and run away (Luther).—Thus also the servants of God sow the seed of redemption among men, not knowing where and how it is to bring fruits. God does not limit the authority granted to them by other knowledge and wisdom. The virtue and efficacy of the sacraments by no means depend, as the Papists think, upon the intention of the person who administers them (Calvin).—(Esau’s goodly raiment: Jewish tradition holds these to be the same made by God himself for the first parents (Gen_3:21), and it attributes to the person wearing them the power even of taming wild beasts.—The inhabitants of South Asia are accustomed to scent their garments in different ways. By means of fragrant oils extracted from spices, etc. (Michaelis).—Smell of a field. Herodotus says, All Arabia exhales fragrant odors.)—Thus he wished that the land of Canaan should be to them a pattern and pledge of the heavenly inheritance (Calvin).—Dew, corn, wine, are symbols of the blessings of the kingdom of grace and glory (Ramb.).—That curseth thee. Here it is made known, that the true church is to exist among the descendants of Jacob. The three different members of the blessing contain the three prerogatives of the first-born: 1. The double inheritance. Canaan was twice as large and fruitful as the country of the Edomites; 2. the dominion over his brethren; 3. the priesthood which walks with blessings, and finally passes over to Christ, the source of all blessing (Rambach).—Luther calls the first part of the blessing: the food of the body, the daily bread; the second part: the secular government; the third part: the spiritual priesthood, and places in this last part the dear and sacred cross, and at the same time also, the victory in and with the cross. In Christ, the true Israel of all times, rules the people and nations.
To Section Fourth, Gen_27:30-40. Esau comes too late: 1. Because he wished to obtain the divine blessing of promise by hunting (by running and striving, etc.) (Rom_9:16); 2. he wished to gain it, after he had sold it; 3. he wished to acquire it, without comprehending its significance; and, 4. without its being intended for him by the divine decree, and any fitness of mind for it.—Isaac’s trembling and terror are an indication that his eyes are opened, because he sees the finger of God and not the hand of man.—Esau’s lamentation opposed to his father’s firmness: 1. A passion instead of godly sorrow; 2. connected with the illusion that holy things may be treated arbitrarily; 3. referring to the external detriment but not to the internal loss.—Esau’s misunderstanding a type of the misunderstanding of the worldly-minded in regard to divine things: 1. That the plan of divine salvation was the work of Man_1:2. the blessing of salvation was a matter of human caprice; 3. that the kingdom of God was an external affair.—Esau’s blessing the type: 1. Of his character; 2. of his choice: 3. of his apparent satisfaction.—Here Isaac and Esau are now for the first time opposed to each other in their complete antithesis: Isaac in his prophetic greatness and clearness opposed to Esau in his sad and carnal indiscretion and passionate conduct.
Starke: Gen_27:30. Divine providence is here at work.
Gen_27:33. This exceedingly great amazement came from God.—Cramer: God rules and determines the time; the clockwork is in his hands, he can prolong it, and he can shorten it, according to his pleasure, and if he governs anything, he knows how to arrange time and circumstances, and the men who live in that time, in such a way that they do not appear before or after he wishes them to come. Christian, commend to him, therefore, thy affairs (Psa_31:17; Gal_4:4).—Hall: God knows both time and means to call back his people, to obviate their sins, and to correct their errors (Heb_12:17).—Lange: Isaac did not approve of the manner and means, but the event itself he considers as irrevocable, as soon as he recognizes that God, on account of the unfitness of Esau, has so arranged it. While, therefore, we do not ascribe to God any active working of evil, we concede that, by his wisdom, he knows how to control the errors of men, especially of believers, to a good purpose.
Gen_27:36. Thus insolent sinners roll the blame upon others.
Gen_27:37. The word “Lord” is rendered remarkably prominent, since it appears only here and Gen_27:29. Just as if, out of Jacob’s loins alone would come the mightiest and most powerful lords, princes, and kings, especially the strong and mighty Messiah.—Hall: Tears flowing from revenge, jealousy, carnal appetites, and worldly cares, cause death (2Co_7:10). God’s word remains forever, and never falls to the ground.—Calwer Handbuch: Ver, 36. And still Esau had sold it.—He lamented the misfortune only, not his carelessness; he regretted only the earthly in the blessing, but not the grace.
Schröder: Then cried he a great cry, great and bitter exceedingly. This is the perfectly (?) natural, unrestrained outbreaking of a natural man, to whom, because he lives only for the present, every ground gives way beneath his feet when the present is lost.
To Isaac’s explanation that the blessing was gone. Here also a heroic cast is given to the quiet, retiring, and often unobserved love.—The aged, feeble, and infirm Isaac celebrates upon his couch a similar triumph of love, just as the faith of his father triumphed upon Mt. Moriah, etc. (i.e., he sacrifices to the Lord his preference for Esau).—The world today still preserves the same mode of thinking; it sells the blessing of the new birth, etc., and still claims to inherit this blessing (Roos).—Esau, and perhaps Isaac also, thought probably by the blessing to invalidate the fatal bargain as to the birthright.—He only bewails the consequences of his sin but he has no tears for the sin itself.—The question here was properly not about salvation and condemnation. Salvation was not refused to Esau, but he serves as a warning to us all, by his cries full of anguish, not to neglect the grace of God (Roos).—Esau’s blessing. Esau appealed to the paternal heart, and with the true objective character of the God of the patriarch, Isaac neither could nor should drop his own paternal character.—Now he has no birthright to give away, and therefore no solemn: and he blessed him, occurs here.—(Descriptions of the Idumæan country and people follow).
Section Fifth. Gen_27:41-46. Esau’s hatred of Jacob: 1. In its moral aspect; 2. in its typical significance.—Want of self-knowledge a cause of Esau’s enmity.—Esau inclined to fratricide: 1. Incited by envy, animosity, and revenge; 2. checked by piety toward the father; 3. prevented by his frankness and out-spoken character, as well as by Rebekah’s sagacity.—Rebekah’s repentance changed into an atonement by the heroic valor of her faith.—Rebekah’s sacrifice.—How this sagacious and heroic-minded woman makes a virtue (Jacob’s theocratic wooing for a bride) of necessity (the peril of Jacob’s life).
Starke: Gen_27:44. These few days became twenty years.
Gen_27:45. That Rebekah did this, is not mentioned in any place. Probably she died soon after, and therefore did not live to see Jacob’s return (Gen_49:31; Mat_5:22; 1Jn_3:15; Pro_27:4).—Cramer: Whatever serves to increase contention and strife, we are to conceal, to trample upon, and to turn everything to the best (Mat_5:9).—Gerlach: Gen_27:41. This trait represents to us Esau most truthfully; the worst thing in his conduct, however, is not the savage desire of revenge, but the entire unbelief in God and the reluctance to subject himself to him. Whilst Isaac submitted unconditionally as soon as God decided, Esau did not care at all for the divine decision.—Calwer Handbuch: He did not think of the divine hand in the matter, nor of his own guilt, self-knowledge, or repentance.—Schröder: God never punishes his people without correcting grace is made also purifying grace at the same time (Roos).—As Esau had only cries and tears at first, he now has only anger and indignation.
Gen_27:41. “Repentance and its fruits correspond” (Luther).—All revenge is self-consolation. True consolation under injustice comes from God (Rom_12:19).—And he forgets what thou hast done to him. With this she both acknowledges Jacob’s guilt and betrays a precise knowledge of Esau’s character.—Let us not despair too soon of men. Are there not twelve hours during the day? The great fury and fiery indignation pass away with time (Luther).—How sagacious this pious woman: she conceals to her husband the great misfortune and affliction existing in the house so as not to bring sorrow upon Isaac in his old age (Luther).
Section Sixth, Gen_28:1-8. Jacob’s mission to Mesopotamia compared with that of Eliezer: 1. Its agreement; 2. its difference.—Isaac now voluntarily blesses Jacob.—The necessity of this pious house becomes the source of new blessings: 1. The feeble Isaac becomes a hero; 2. the plain and quiet Jacob becomes a courageous pilgrim and soldier; 3. the strong-minded Rebekah becomes a person that sacrifices her most dearly loved.—How late the full self-development of both Jacob’s and Esau’s character appears.—Jacob’s prompt obedience and Esau’s foolish correction of his errors.—The church is a community of nations, typified already by the theocracy.
Starke: Concerning the duties of parents and children as to the marriage of their children.—The dangers of injudicious marriages.—Parents can give to their children no better provision on their way than a Christian blessing (Tob_5:21).—Bibl. Tub.: The blessing of ancestors, resting upon the descendants is a great treasure, and to be preserved as the true and the best dowry.—Calwer Handbuch: He goes out of spite (or at least in his folly and self-will) to the daughters of Ishmael, and takes a third wife as near of kin to his father as the one Jacob takes was to his mother. (But the distinction was that Ishmael was separated from the theocratic line, while the house in Mesopotamia belonged to the old stock.)—Schröder: Rebekah, who in her want of faith could not wait for divine guidance, has now to exercise her faith for long years, and learn to wait.—Isaac appears fully reconciled to Jacob.—In the eyes of Isaac his father. He does not care about the mother.—Thus natural men never find the right way to please God and their fellow-men whom they have offended, nor the true way of reconciliation with them (Berl. Bibel.).
Footnotes:
[1][Gen_27:1.—Lange renders “when Isaac was old, then his eyes were dim, so that he could not see,” as an independent sentence, laying the basis for the following narrative.—A. G.]
[2][Gen_27:42.—Comforteth, or avengeth. The thought of vengeance was his consolation.—A. G.]
[3][Gen_28:3.—קָהַל, congregation.—A. G.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v4 make . . . savory meat--perhaps to revive and…
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).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–4 1. Isaac was old — One hundred and thirty-seven…
1. Isaac was old — One hundred and thirty-seven years. This we ascertain from Jacob’s history, who was not born until Isaac was sixty years old.
Gen_25:26. Jacob was one hundred and thirty when he went down into Egypt, (Gen_47:9,) which occurred in the second year of the famine, (Gen_45:6,) and seven years of plenty had gone before, (Gen_41:53,) and Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh. Gen_41:46. Hence Jacob must have been in his ninety-first year when Joseph was born, and this occurred fourteen years after the flight to Haran. Gen_29:27, compared with Gen_30:25-26. Jacob must, therefore, have been seventy-seven when he fled from Esau, and Isaac one hundred and thirty-seven.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–4 1. Isaac was old] According to P, Isaac was…
1. Isaac was old] According to P, Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah (Gen_25:20); sixty years old when Esau and Jacob were born (Gen_25:26); and a hundred years old when Esau married Judith and Basemath (Gen_26:34).
his eyes were dim] The narrative assumes that Isaac is in extreme old age, and feeling the nearness of death (cf. Gen_48:10). Cf. 1Ki_14:4.
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he called Esau] His favourite son (cf. Gen_25:28).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4 (1) It came to pass.—The importance of this chapter…
XXVII.
JACOB BY SUBTILTY OBTAINS THE FIRSTBORN’S BLESSING.
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(1) It came to pass.—The importance of this chapter is manifest. Just as in Abraham’s life the decision had to be made which of the two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, was to be the heir of the promise, so, here again, there is the same Divine election (Rom_9:10-13): but while Abraham obeyed, though with heavy heart (Gen_21:11), Isaac even struggled against God’s will, and his assent was obtained by human craft working tortuously to effect that which God would have wrought in His own better way. In this case, however, the sons are more closely allied, being twins, born of the same mother, but the younger following so closely upon the very heels of the elder as to seem, even at his birth, as if in eager pursuit. They grow up strangely unlike—the one brave, active, vigorous, but indifferent to everything save earthly things. In his skill and love of hunting, Esau is the very counterpart of Ishmael. The other is calm, sedentary, keenly alive to business, devoted to domestic pursuits, but chiefly valuing the spiritual privileges for which Abraham had left his distant home, and become a wanderer in the highlands of Canaan. Thoroughly as all honest men must disapprove of the mean way in which Jacob bought the birthright, yet, at least, he valued that which Esau so despised as to sell it for the gratification of a hungry appetite. And now again the transfer is ratified by means of another unworthy artifice, but Esau this time is grieved and distressed; for at least he loved his father, and gave proof of the possession of the same warm heart that made him afterwards fall so lovingly upon his brother’s neck, and kiss him with tears of hearty affection (Gen_33:4).
For Jacob, it must be said that he sought no earthly good. It was not the elder brother’s share of the father’s wealth that he wanted. All that was Isaac’s he resigned to Esau, and went away to push his fortunes elsewhere. Even when he returned with the substance he had gotten in Padan-aram, he was no match for Esau (Gen_33:1), though Isaac was still living. While, too, Esau violated the family law laid down by Abraham, Jacob conformed to it. By marrying Canaanitish women, Esau forfeited by his own act the birthright which previously he had sold; for his children, being illegitimate (Heb_12:16), could not inherit the promise. What was utterly wrong in Rebekah’s and Jacob’s conduct was that they used miserable artifices to do that which should have been left to God; and Isaac was equally wrong in trying to make void and annul the clear intimation of prophecy (Gen_25:23).
Isaac was old.—Isaac was now 117 years of age. but he lived to be 180 (Gen_35:28). (See Excursus on Chronology of Jacob’s Life at end of this book.) He had thus sixty-three more years to live, but not only himself (Gen_27:2), but Esau also expected his speedy decease (Gen_27:41). Probably, therefore, his failing eyesight was the result of some acute disorder, which so enfeebled his general health that he had grown despondent, and thought his death near. But evidently he recovered, and attained to a good old age. It seems, however, that though the lives of the patriarchs were so long extended, yet that their bodily vigour slowly decayed through the latter portion of their days. Jacob when but 130 speaks of himself as a grey-haired old man, already upon the brink of the grave (Gen_42:38; Gen_47:9). Moreover, the term old is used in a very general sense in the Old Testament, and thus Samuel is described as old in 1Sa_8:1, when we should have spoken of him as at most middle-aged.
EXCURSUS G: UPON THE CHRONOLOGY OF JACOB’S LIFE (Genesis 27)
The elaborate calculations of Lightfoot, and most Jewish and Christian commentators, intended to show that when Jacob set out upon his journey to Haran, he and Esau were each about 77 years of age, and Isaac their father about 137, though based apparently upon the letter of Scripture, are so contrary to its facts that evidently there must be some error in them. Fortunately there are several dates which are open to no doubt, and if we start with these, it may prove not Impossible to arrive at more trustworthy conclusions.
When, then, Jacob went down into Egypt, he was 130 years of age (Gen_46:9), and as Joseph when he “stood before Pharaoh” was 30 (Gen_41:46), and as his first years of power were the seven years of plenty, and there had been already two years of famine when he made himself known to his brethren, he was plainly about 14 years of age when his father joined him. Now he was a lad of 17 when sold into Egypt (Gen_37:2), and as he was born before the contract to serve Laban for the speckled cattle (Gen_30:25), which lasted for six years (Gen_31:41), he was about 7 when Jacob returned to Canaan. It follows, therefore, that Jacob was 91 when Joseph was born. Now the usual calculations allow only twenty years for Jacob’s sojourn in Padanaram, of which the first seven were spent in service before Leah and Rachel were given him in marriage. If from the twenty, we subtract these seven years and the seven years of Joseph’s age, there remain only six years for the birth of Leah’s six sons and the interval of her barrenness; and undeniably the narrative would be guilty of very remarkable exaggeration in its account of Rachel’s childlessness, and Rachel herself of excessive impatience, considering that at the end of six years she gave birth herself to a son, and in the interval had given her maid Bilhah to Jacob, who had by her two sons; and as the birth of these was the occasion to Rachel of very unseemly exultation over her sister (Gen_30:6; Gen_30:8), her conduct can only be accounted for by the fact that Leah had already a numerous offspring when Rachel gave Bilhah to her husband.
The case of Leah is still plainer. She bears four sons, after which she “left bearing” (Gen_29:35), and this barrenness continued so long that she gave Zilpah as her substitute to Jacob, who bare him two sons, Gad and Asher. Now neither Rachel nor Leah would have resorted to this expedient until they utterly despaired of having children themselves; and Leah herself describes it as an act of great self-sacrifice (Gen_30:18). Zilpah’s sons both seem to have been born in this period of Leah’s barrenness; for we find that Jacob had entirely discarded Leah, and it was only at Rachel’s request that he visited her again. Zilpah had taken Leah’s place plainly because she had no expectation of having more offspring, and from Gen_30:15 it is evident that Jacob shared in this view, and had long ceased to pay any visits to Leah’s tent. Moreover, this interval lasted so long that Reuben was old enough to be allowed to ramble in the field—that is, the uncultivated pasture land where the flocks fed; and he had sufficient self-control to bring the mandrake-berries which he had found home to his mother. According to the usual calculations, he was between three and four years old at this time: for it is necessary to arrange for the births of Issachar and Zebulun within the six years. He is therefore described as carried by the reapers to the wheatfield, and somewhere there he finds the man-drakes; but the wheat harvest is mentioned only to fix the time, and Reuben had evidently gone a long ramble to places not often visited. For it is plain that the mandrakes were rarities, and that their discovery was unusual; and this would not have been the case had they been found near the tents, nor is it likely that a young child would have been the discoverer. On the other hand, if Reuben were an active young man, nothing was more probable than for him to wander away into distant quarters, looking, perhaps, for game; and the kind heart which made him bring the berries to his mother is in agreement with the brotherly affection which made him determine to save the life even of the hated Joseph (Gen_37:21-22; Gen_37:29-30). “Unstable” he was, with no great qualities, but not destitute of generosity or of sympathy; and to Leah her sons must have been her one comfort under her many trials, and no doubt she treated them lovingly. Now if we put all these things together—the birth of Leah’s four sons; Rachel’s jealousy at her sister’s fruitfulness, and her gift of Bilhah to her husband; Leah’s interval of barrenness, and her gift of Zilpah to take her place; the complete estrangement of Jacob from Leah, upon the supposition that she would never again conceive; and the fact that she had to purchase of Rachel the visit of Jacob to her tent, which was followed by the birth of two more sons,—if we bear all this in mind, few persons could probably be found capable of believing that so much could have taken place in six years. If we add the further consideration that Hebrew women suckled their children for two or more years (note on Gen_21:8), the supposition that Leah had four sons in four years becomes very unlikely. The patriarchal women are described as the reverse of fruitful. Even Leah, the one exception, has only seven children; and where any patriarch has a large family, he obtained it by having more than one wife.
After the six sons, Dinah was born, for so it is distinctly said in Gen_27:21. But even if we interpolate Dinah among the sons, so far from making the difficulty less, we only land ourselves in an impossibility: for we have now to cram seven births, and a period of barrenness into six years. We must, then, accept what Holy Scripture says as a literal fact—that she was born after Zebulun. Now if we bear in mind that Jacob was seven years unmarried, that Dinah was Leah’s seventh child, and that her mother had an interval of barrenness, it is plain that, if Jacob’s sojourn at Padan-aram lasted only twenty years, Dinah could not have been more than two or three years old when Jacob returned to Canaan. Now in the ten years which elapsed between Jacob’s return, bringing with him Joseph, then seven years old, and the sale of Joseph to the Midianites, at the age of seventeen, Jacob dwelt first at Shechem (Gen_33:18), then at Beth-el (Gen_35:1), and finally near Hebron (Gen_37:14). But not only is Dinah marriageable at Shechem, but her brothers, Simeon and Levi, about whose age there can be no doubt, as they were Leah’s second and third sons,—these lads, then, aged one eleven and the other ten, on their arrival at Shechem, are so precociously powerful as to take “each one his sword, and come upon the city, and slay all the males” (Gen_34:25). Jacob, a peaceful man, is horrified at what they do, but dares only to expostulate with these boys; and they, acting upon the usual law, that where there are several wives, the women look not to the father, but to those of their mother’s tent, for protection, give him a fiery answer. Really we find in Gen_27:13 that the sons of Jacob were grown men, who took the management of the matter into their own hands.
If, too, Jacob was seventy-seven when he went to Haran, then, as his mother was barren for twenty years, and Laban was a grown man when he made the arrangements for his sister Rebekah’s marriage, Laban must by this time have been nearly 120. Yet evidently all his children are very young. The difficulty is not, indeed, removed by subtracting twenty years; but it is lessened.
Moreover, as Joseph was born seven-years before Jacob left Padan-aram, and Reuben in the eighth year of his sojourn there, he would be Joseph’s senior by only five years. Yet Reuben calls him a “child (Gen_37:30), and all the rest treat him as one far younger than themselves, though really he was of much the same age as Issachar and Zebulon, and Zilpah’s two sons, Gad and Asher. Judah, Leah’s fourth son, would at most be only four years older than Joseph, yet he seems to have had a flock of his own at Timnath (Gen_38:12), marries, and has three sons. The first, Er, grows up, and Judah takes for him a wife; but he was wicked, and died a premature death. Tamar is then given in marriage to the second son, and he also dies prematurely; whereupon Judah sends Tamar back to her father’s house, with a promise that when Shelah, his third son, is grown up, he shall be given her as a husband. While she is dwelling in her father’s house, Judah’s wife dies, and there were the days of mourning; and as Tamar had long waited in vain, she has recourse, when Judah was comforted after the loss of his wife, to an abominable artifice, and bears twin sons to her father-in-law. Now there were at most twenty-three years between the sale of Joseph and the going down of Jacob’s family into Egypt, and if it was really the case that Judah was only twenty-one at Joseph’s sale, all these events could not have happened within so short a period. The phrase “at that time,” at the beginning of Genesis 38, by no means implies that the marriage of Judah with Shuah’s daughter was contemporaneous with the sale of Joseph. It is quite indefinite, and intended to show that the episode about Judah and his family happened about the same general period; but really it could not have taken place many years previously, for, as we have seen, only ten years elapsed between Jacob’s return and the cruel treatment of Joseph by his brethren. Judah’s marriage, then, must have happened soon after the return to Canaan, when, nevertheless, according to these calculations, he was a boy only eleven years of age.
It is quite plain, therefore, that Jacob’s sojourn in Padan-aram lasted more than twenty years. What, then, is the explanation? It was long ago given by Dr. Kennicott, and, as stated in the Speaker’s Commentary, Bishop Horsley considered that the reasons he gave for his conclusions were unanswerable. All really depends upon the translation of Gen_27:38; Gen_27:41 of Genesis 31, and in the Authorised Version the two periods of twenty years are made to be identical, the second statement being taken as a mere amplification of the first. But if we turn to the Hebrew, it clearly distinguishes the two periods. In Gen_27:38 it is literally, “This twenty years I was, with thee; thy ewes, and thy she goats, did not cast their young,” &c.; and in Gen_27:41, “This twenty years was for me in thy house: I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy sheep.” But in Hebrew the phrase this . . . this, means the one and the other, or, in our language, this and that. (See Note on Gen_29:27.) Thus, then, there were two periods of service, each about twenty years in duration, of which one was for settled wages, and the other for no stipulated hire. They would not necessarily be continuous, and Dr. Kennicott arranges them as follows:—First, Jacob served Labon fourteen years for his two daughters; next, there was a long period of twenty years, during which he took care of Laban’s flocks, receiving from them maintenance for himself and family, but acquiring no separate wealth; finally, after Joseph’s birth, Jacob rebelled at this treatment, and determined to go back to his father, but was prevailed upon to remain, on the promise of receiving for himself all the speckled sheep and goats.
This explanation is confirmed by the curious phrase in Gen_27:41 : “This (second) twenty years was for me in thy house.” The other twenty years were for Laban’s sole good, and made him a wealthy man; but the fourteen years for the two maidens, and the six for the cattle, were, Jacob says, “for me.” They were mine, spent in attaining to the fulfilment of my own purposes.
In the Speaker’s Commentary, the following table is given as a probable arrangement of the chief events in Jacob’s life:—
Years of Jacob’s life.
Twenty years’ unpaid service.0 Jacob and Esau born.
40 Esau marries two Hittite wives, Gen_26:34. F
57 Jacob goes to Padan-Aram, Isaac being 117.
58 Esau marries a daughter of Ishmael, Gen_28:9.
63 Ishmael dies, aged 137, Gen_25:17.
64 Jacob marries Leah and Rachel, Gen_29:20-21; Gen_29:27-28.
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah born of Leah.
Dan and Naphtali born of Bilhah.
71 End of fourteen years’ service.Fourteen years’ service.72 Beginning of twenty years mentioned in Gen_31:38.
Gad and Asher born of Zilpah.
Issachar and Zebulun born of Leah. Dinah born.
91 Joseph born of Rachel.
92 Agreement made, Gen_30:25-34.Six year
service for
cattle.97 Flight from Padan-aram.
98 Benjamin born; Rachel dies.
108 Joseph, at seventeen, is carried to Egypt, Gen_37:2.
120 Isaac dies, aged 180, Gen_35:28.
121 Joseph, aged 30, governor of Egypt.
130 Jacob goes down to Egypt, Gen_46:1.
147 Jacob dies, Gen_47:28.In this table there are only two dates to which I should venture to take exception. First, it is not probable that Dan and Naphtali were born during the seven years which followed upon Jacob’s marriages. Rachel would resort to an expedient so painful to a wife only in despair at her own barrenness, and in envy of her sister’s fruitfulness. The giving of Bilhah must have taken place during the twenty years of unpaid service. Next, Benjamin could scarcely have been born in the very year following the return from Padan-aram; for after the interview with Esau, Jacob goes to Succoth, and thence to Shechem, where he buys a plot of ground. We learn, nevertheless, that Jacob, when Dinah was wronged, had not been there long, from what Hamor and Shechem said to the citizens (Gen_34:21-22). From Shechem, Jacob next goes to Beth-el, and “dwells there” (Gen_35:1), but after some little stay, moves southward, towards the home of his father; and it was near Bethlehem that Benjamin was born. Most certainly Jacob would keep steadily in view his return to Isaac; but the events between the flight from Haran and Rachel’s death at Bethlehem, are too many to be crowded into a year. On the other hand, Rachel’s age warns us that Benjamin’s birth could not have happened long after her arrival in Canaan. If, then, we place it in the hundredth year of Jacob’s life, and the thirty-fourth of his marriage, two things follow—the first, that Rachel was very young at her marriage, and a mere child when Jacob first met her; the second, that Jacob must have spent about twenty years with Isaac at Hebron before the latter’s death.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Genesis 27 - 35
Genesis 27 - 35
These chapters present to us the history of Jacob-at least, the principal scenes in that history. The Spirit of God here sets before us the deepest instruction, first, as to God’s purpose of infinite grace; and, secondly, as to the utter worthlessness and depravity of human nature.
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There is a passage in Gen. 25 which I purposely passed over, in order to take if up here, so that we might have the truth in reference to Jacob fully before us "And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her: and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." This is referred to in Malachi, where we read, "I have loved you, saith the Lord: yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I have loved Jacob, and hated Esau." This is again referred to in Rom. 9: "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
Thus we have very distinctly before us, God’s eternal purpose, according to the election of grace. There is much involved in this expression. It banishes all human pretension from the scene, and asserts God’s right to act as He will. This is of the very last importance. The creature can enjoy no real blessedness until he is brought to bow his head to sovereign grace. It becomes him so to do, inasmuch as he is a sinner, and, as such, utterly without claim to act or dictate. The great value of finding oneself on this ground is, that it is then no longer a question of what we deserve to get, but simply of what God is pleased to give. The prodigal might talk of being a servant, but he really did not deserve the place of a servant, if it were to be made a question of desert; and, therefore, he had only to take what the father was pleased to give - and that was the very highest place, even the place of fellowship with himself. Thus it must ever be. "Grace all the work shall crown, through everlasting days." Happy for us that it is so. As we go on, day by day, making fresh discoveries of ourselves, we need to have beneath our feet the solid foundation of God’s grace: nothing else could possibly sustain us in our growing self-knowledge. The ruin is hopeless, and therefore the grace must be infinite: and infinite it is, having its source in God Himself, its channel in Christ, and the power of application and enjoyment in the Holy Ghost. The Trinity is brought out in connection with the grace that saves a poor sinner. "Grace reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." It is only in redemption that this reign of grace could be seen. we may see in creation the reign of wisdom and power; we may see in providence the reign of goodness and long-suffering; but only in redemption do we see the reign of grace, and that, too, on the principle of righteousness.
Now, we have, in the person of Jacob, a most striking exhibition of the power of divine grace; and for this reason, that we have in him a striking exhibition of the power of human nature. In him we see nature in all its obliquity, and therefore we see grace in all its moral beauty and power. From the facts of his remarkable history, it would seem that, before his birth, at his birth, and after his birth, the extraordinary energy of nature was seen. Before his birth, we read, "the children struggled together within her." At his birth, we read, "his hand took hold on Esau’s heel." And, after his birth - yea to the turning point of his history, in Gen. 32, without any exception - his course exhibits nothing but the most unamiable traits of nature; but all this only serves, like a drab background, to throw into relief the grace of Him who condescends to call Himself by the peculiarly touching name, "the God of Jacob" - a name most sweetly expressive of free grace.
Let us now examine the chapters consecutively. Gen. 27 exhibits a most humbling picture of sensuality, deceit, and cunning; and when one thinks of such things in connection with the people of God, it is sad and painful to the very last degree. Yet how true and faithful is the Holy Ghost! He must tell all out. He cannot give us a partial picture. If he gives us a history of man, he must describe man as he is, and not as he is not. So, if He unfolds to us the character and ways of God, He gives us God as He is. And this, we need hardly remark, is exactly what we need. We need the revelation of one perfect in holiness, yet perfect in grace and mercy, who could come down into all the depth of man’s need, his misery and his degradation, and deal with Him there, and raise him up out of it into full, unhindered fellowship with Himself in all the reality of what He is. This is what scripture gives us. God knew what we needed, and He has given it to us, blessed be His name!
And, be it remembered, that in setting before us, in faithful love, all the traits of man’s character, it is simply with a view to magnify the riches of divine grace, and to admonish our souls. It is not, by any means, in order to perpetuate the memory of sins, for ever blotted out from His sight. The blots, the failures, and the errors of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have been perfectly washed away, and they have taken their place amid "the spirits of just men made perfect;" but their history remains, on the page of inspiration, for the display of God’s grace, and for the warning of God’s people in all ages; And, moreover, that we my distinctly see that the blessed God has not been dealing With perfect men and women, but with those of "like passions as we are" that He has been walking and bearing with the same failures, the same infirmities, the same errors, as those over which we mourn every day. This is peculiarly comforting to the heart; and it may well stand in striking contrast with the way in which the great majority of human biographies are written, in "which, for the most part, we find, not the history of men, but of beings devoid of error and infirmity. histories have rather the effect of discouraging than of edifying those who read them. They are rather histories of what men ought to be, than of what they really are, and they are, therefore, useless to us, yea, not only useless, but mischievous.
Nothing can edify save the presentation of God dealing with man as he really is; and this is what the word gives us. The chapter before us illustrates this very fully. Here we find the aged patriarch Isaac, standing, as it were, at the very portal of eternity, the earth and nature fast fading away from his view, yet occupied about "savoury meat," and about to act in direct opposition to the divine counsel, by blessing the elder instead of the younger. Truly this was nature, and nature with its "eyes dim." If Esau had sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, Isaac was about to give away the blessing for a mess of venison, How very humiliating!
But God’s purpose must stand, and He will do all His pleasure. Faith knows this; and, in the power of that knowledge, can wait for God’s time. This nature never can do, but must set about gaining its own ends, by its own inventions. These are the two grand points brought out in Jacob’s history - God’s purpose of grace, on the one hand; and on the other, nature plotting and scheming to reach what that purpose would have infallibly brought about, without any plot or scheme at all. This simplifies Jacob’s history amazingly, and not only simplifies it, but heightens the soul’s interest in it also. There is nothing, perhaps, in which we are so lamentably deficient, as in the grace of patient, self-renouncing dependence upon God. Nature will be working in some shape or form, and thus, so far as in it lies, hindering the outshining of divine grace and power. God did not need the aid of such elements as Rebekah’s cunning and Jacob’s gross deceit, in order to accomplish His purpose. He had said, "the elder shall serve the younger." This was enough - enough for faith, but not enough for nature, which must ever adopt its own ways, and know nothing of what it is to wait on God.
Now, nothing can be more truly blessed than the position of hanging in child-like dependence upon God, and being entirely content to wait for His time. True, it will involve trial; but the renewed mind learns some of its deepest lessons, and enjoys some of its sweetest experiences, while waiting on the Lord; and the more pressing the temptation to take ourselves out of His hands, the richer will be the blessing of leaving ourselves there. It is so exceedingly sweet to find ourselves wholly dependent upon one who finds infinite joy in blessing us. It is only those who have tasted, in any little measure, the reality of this wondrous position that can at all appreciate it. The only one who ever occupied it perfectly and uninterruptedly was the Lord Jesus Himself. He was ever dependent upon God, and utterly rejected every proposal of the enemy to be anything else. His language was, "In thee do I put my trust;" and again, "I was cast upon thee from the womb." Hence, when tempted by the devil to make an effort to Satisfy His hunger, His reply was, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." When tempted to cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple, His reply was, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." When tempted to take the kingdoms of the world from the hand of another than God, and by doing homage to another than Him, His reply was, "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." In a word, nothing could allure the perfect man from the place of absolute dependence upon God. True, it was God’s purpose to sustain His Son; it was His purpose that He should suddenly come to His temple; it was His purpose to give Him the kingdoms of this world; but this was the very reason why the Lord Jesus would simply and uninterruptedly wait on God for the accomplishment of His purpose, in His own time, and in His own way. He did not set about accomplishing His own ends. He left Himself thoroughly at God’s disposal. He would only eat when God gave Him bread; He would only enter the temple when sent of God; He will ascend the throne when God appoints the time. "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool." (Ps. 110)
This profound subjection of the Son to the Father is admirable beyond expression. Though entirely equal with God, He took, as man, the place of dependence, rejoicing always in the will of the Father; giving thanks even when things seemed to be against Him; doing always the things which pleased the Father; making: it His grand and uvarying object to glorify the Father; and finally, when all was accomplished, when He had perfectly finished the work which the Father had given, He breathed His spirit into the Father’s hand, and His flesh rested in hope of the promised glory and exaltation. Well, therefore, may the inspired apostle say, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"
How little Jacob knew, in the opening of his history, of this blessed mind! How little was he prepared to wait for God’s time and God’s way! He much preferred Jacob’s time and Jacob’s way. He thought it much better to arrive at the blessing and the inheritance by all sorts of cunning and deception, than by simple dependence upon and subjection to God, whose electing grace had promised, and whose almighty power and wisdom would assuredly accomplish all for him.
But, oh! how well one knows the opposition of the human heart to all this! Any attitude for it save that of patient waiting upon God. It is almost enough to drive nature to distraction to find itself bereft of all resource but God. This tells us, in language not to be misunderstood, the true character of human nature. In order to know what nature is, I need not travel into those scenes of vice and crime which justly shock all refined moral sense. No; all that is needful is just to try it for a moment in the place of dependence, and see how it will carry itself there. It really knows nothing of God, and therefore cannot trust Him; and herein was the secret of all its misery and moral degradation. It is totally ignorant of the true God, and can therefore be nought else but a ruined and worthless thing. The knowledge of God is the source of life - yea, is itself life; and until a man has life, what is he? or, what can he be?
Now, in Rebekah and Jacob, we see nature taking advantage of nature in Isaac and Esau. It was really this. There was no waiting upon God whatever. Isaac’s eyes were dim, he could therefore be imposed upon, and they set about doing so, instead of looking off to God, who would have entirely frustrated Isaac’s purpose to bless the one whom God would not bless - a purpose? founded in nature, and most unlovely nature, for "Isaac loved Esau," not because he was the first-born, but "because he did eat of his venison." How humiliating!
But we are sure to bring unmixed sorrow upon ourselves, when we take ourselves, our circumstances, or our destinies, out of the hands of God.* Thus it was with Jacob, as we shall see in the sequel. It has been observed by another, that whoever observes Jacob’s life, after he had surreptitiously obtained his father’s blessing, will perceive that he enjoyed very little worldly felicity. His brother purposed to murder him, to avoid which he was forced to flee from his father’s house; his uncle Laban deceived him, as he had deceived his father, and treated him with great rigor; after a servitude of twenty-one years, he was obliged to leave him in a clandestine manner, and not without danger of being brought back or murdered by his enraged brother; no sooner were these fears over, than he experienced the baseness of his son Reuben, in defiling his bed; he had next to bewail the treachery and cruelty of Simeon and Levi towards the Shechemites; then he had to feel the loss of his beloved wife; he was next imposed upon by his own sons, and had to lament the supposed untimely end of Joseph; and, to complete all, he was forced by famine to go into Egypt, and there died in a strange land. So just, wonderful, and instructive are all the ways of providence."
{*We should ever remember, in a place of trial, that what we want is not a change of circumstances, but victory over self.}
This is a true picture, so far as Jacob was concerned; but it only gives us one side, and that the gloomy side. Blessed be God, there is a bright side, likewise, for God had to do with Jacob; and, in every scene of his life, when Jacob was called to reap the fruits of his own plotting and crookedness, the God of Jacob brought good out of evil, and caused His grace to abound over all the sin and folly of His poor servant. This we shall see as we proceed with his history.
I shall just offer a remark here upon Isaac, Rebekah, and Esau. It is very interesting to observe how, notwithstanding the exhibition of nature’s excessive weakness, in the opening of Genesis 27, Isaac maintains, by faith, the dignity which God had conferred upon him. He blesses with all the consciousness of being endowed with power to bless! He says, "I have blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed.. 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 sustained him; and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?" He speaks as one who, by faith, had at his disposal all the treasures of earth. There is no false humility, no taking a low ground by reason of the manifestation of nature. True, he was on the eve of making a grievous mistake - even of moving right athwart the counsel of God; still, he knew God, and took his place accordingly, dispensing blessings in all the dignity and power of faith. "I have blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed." "With corn and wine have I sustained him." It is the proper province of faith to rise above all one’s own failure and the consequences thereof, into the place where God’s grace has set us.
As to Rebekah, she was called to feel all the sad results of her cunning actings. She, no doubt, imagined she was managing matters most skillfully; but, alas! she never saw Jacob again: so much for management! How different it would have been had she left the matter entirely in the hands of God. This is the way in which faith manages, and it is ever a gainer. "Which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit?" We gain nothing by our anxiety and planning; we only shut out God, and that is no gain. It is a just judgement from the hand of God to be left to reap the fruits, of our own devices; and I know of few things more sad than to see a child of God so entirely forgetting his proper place and privilege, as to take the management of his affairs into his own hands. The birds of the air, and the lilies of the field, may well be our teachers when we so far forget our position of unqualified dependence upon God.
Then, again, as to Esau, the apostle calls him "a profane person, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright," and "afterwards, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of change of mind, though he sought it carefully with tears." Thus we learn what a profane person is, viz. one who would like to hold both worlds; one who would like to enjoy the present, without forfeiting his title to the future. This is, by no means, an uncommon case. It expresses to us the mere worldly professor, whose conscience has never felt the action of divine truth, and whose heart has never felt the influence of divine grace.
We are now called to trace Jacob in his movement from under his fathers roof, to view him as a homeless and lonely wanderer on the earth. It is here that God’s special dealings with him commence. Jacob now begins to realise, in some measure, the bitter fruit of his conduct, in reference to Esau; while, at the same time, God is seen rising above all the weakness and folly of His servant, and displaying His own sovereign grace and profound wisdom in His dealings with him. God will accomplish His own purpose, no matter by what instrumentality; But if His child, in impenitence of spirit, and unbelief of heart, will take himself out of His hands, he must expect much sorrowful exercise and painful discipline. Thus it was with Jacob: he might not have had to flee to Haran, had he allowed God to act for him. God would, assuredly, have dealt with Esau, and caused him to find his destined place and portion; and Jacob might have enjoyed that sweet peace which nothing can yield save entire subjection in all things to the hand and counsel of God.
But here is where the excessive feebleness of our hearts is constantly disclosed. We do not lie passive in God’s hand; we will be acting; and, by our acting, we hinder the display of God’s grace and power on our behalf. "Be still and know that I am God," is a precept which nought, save the power of divine grace, can enable one to obey. "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. (eggus) Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." What will be the result of this activity? "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall garrison (phrouresei) your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4: 5-7)
However, God graciously overrules our folly and weakness, and while we are called upon to reap the fruits of our unbelieving and impatient ways, He takes occasion from them to teach our hearts still deeper lessons of His own tender grace and perfect wisdom. This, while it, assuredly, affords no warrant whatever for unbelief and impatience, does most wonderfully exhibit the goodness of our God, and comfort the heart even while we may be passing through the painful circumstances consequent upon our failure. God is above all; and, moreover, it is His special prerogative to bring good out of evil; to make the eater yield meat, and the strong yield sweetness; and hence, while it is quite true that Jacob was compelled to be an exile from his father’s roof in consequence of his own restless and deceitful acting, it is equally true that he never could have learnt the meaning of "Bethel" had he been quietly at home. Thus the two sides of the picture are strongly marked in every scene of Jacob’s history. It was when he was driven, by his own folly, from Isaac’s house, that he was led to taste, in some measure, the blessedness and solemnity of "God’s house."
"And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. and he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep." Here we find the homeless wanderer just in the very position in which God could meet him, and in which He could unfold His purposes of grace and glory. Nothing could possibly be more expressive of helplessness and nothingness than Jacob’s condition as here set before us. Beneath the open canopy of heaven, with a pillow of stone, in the helpless condition of sleep. Thus it was that the God of Bethel unfolded to Jacob His purposes respecting him and his seed. "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of."
Here we have, indeed, "grace and glory." The ladder "set on the earth" naturally leads the heart to meditate on the display of God’s grace, in the Person and work of His Son. On the earth it was that the wondrous work was accomplished which forms the basis, the strong and everlasting basis, of all the divine counsels in reference to Israel, the Church, and the world at large. On the earth it was that Jesus lived laboured. and died; that, through His death, He might remove out of the way every obstacle to the accomplishment of the divine purpose of blessing to man.
But "the top of the ladder reached to heaven." It formed the medium of communication between heaven and earth; and "behold the angels of God ascending and descending upon it" - striking and beautiful picture of Him by whom God has come down into all the depth of man’s need, and by whom also He has brought man up and set him in His own presence for ever, in the power of divine righteousness! God has made provision for the accomplishment of all His plans, despite of man’s folly and sin; and it is for the everlasting joy of any soul to find itself, by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, within the limits of God’s gracious purpose.
The prophet Hosea leads us on to the time when that which was foreshadowed by Jacob’s ladder shall have its full accomplishment. "And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow, and the sword, and the battle, out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgement, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies; I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." (Hosea 2: 18-23) There is also an expression in the first chapter of John, bearing upon Jacob’s remarkable vision; it is Christ’s word to Nathanael, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (Ver. 51)
Now this vision of Jacob’s is a very blessed disclosure of divine grace to Israel. We have been led to see something of Jacob’s real character, something, too, of his real condition; both were evidently such as to show that it should either be divine grace for him, or nothing. By birth he had no claim; nor yet by character. Esau might put forward some claim on both these grounds; i.e., provided God’s prerogative were set aside; but Jacob had no claim whatsoever; and hence, while Esau could only stand upon the exclusion of God’s prerogative, Jacob could only stand upon the introduction and establishment thereof. Jacob was such a sinner, and so utterly divested of all claim, both by birth and by practice, that he had nothing whatever to rest upon save God’s purpose of pure, free, and sovereign grace. Hence, in the revelation which the Lord makes to His chosen servant, in the passage just quoted, it is a simple record or prediction of what He Himself would yet do. "I am.... I will give.... I will keep .... I will bring..... I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" It was all Himself. There is no condition whatever. No if or but; for when grace acts there can be no such thing. Where there is an if, it cannot possibly be grace. Not that God cannot put man into a position of responsibility, in which He must needs address him with an ’if.’ We know He can; but Jacob asleep on a pillow of stone was not in a position of responsibility, but of the deepest helplessness and need; and therefore he was in a position to receive a revelation of the fullest, richest, and most unconditional grace.
Now, we cannot but own the blessedness of being in such a condition, that we have nothing to rest upon save God Himself; and, moreover, that it is in the most perfect establishment of God’s own character and prerogative that we obtain all our true joy and blessing. According to this principle, it would be an irreparable loss to us to have any ground of our own to stand upon, for in that case, God should address us on the ground of responsibility, and failure would then be inevitable. Jacob was so bad, that none but God Himself could do for him.
And, be it remarked, that it was his failure in the habitual recognition of this that led him into so much sorrow and pressure. God’s revelation of Himself is one thing, and our resting in that revelation is quite another. God shows Himself to Jacob, in infinite grace; but no sooner does Jacob awake out of sleep, than we find him developing his true character, and proving how little he knew, practically, of the blessed One who had just been revealing Himself so marvellously to him. "He was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." His heart was not at home in the presence of God; nor can any heart be so until it has been thoroughly emptied and broken. God is at home, blessed be His name, with a broken heart, and a broken heart at home with Him. But Jacob’s heart was not yet in this condition; nor had he yet learnt to repose, like a little child, in the perfect love of one who could say, "Jacob have I loved." "Perfect love casteth out fear;" but where such love is not known and fully realised, there will always be a measure of uneasiness and perturbation. God’s house and God’s presence are not dreadful to a soul who knows the love of God as expressed in the perfect sacrifice of Christ. such a soul is rather led to say," Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth." (Ps. 26: 8) And, again, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." (Ps. 27: 4) and again, "How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord." (Ps. 84) When the heart is established in the knowledge of God, it will assuredly love His house, whatever the Character of that house may be, whether it be Bethel, or the temple at Jerusalem, or the Church now composed of all true believers, "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." However, Jacob’s knowledge, both of God and His house, was very shallow, at that point in his history on which we are now dwelling.
We shall have occasion, again, to refer to some principles connected with Bethel; and shall, now, close our meditations upon this chapter, with a brief notice of Jacob’s bargain with God, so truly characteristic of him, and so demonstrative of the truth of the statement with respect to the shallowness of his knowledge of the divine character. "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this may that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my Father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God; and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee." Observe, "if God will be with me." Now, the Lord had just said, emphatically, "I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land," &c. And yet poor Jacob’s heart cannot get beyond an "if" nor, in its thoughts of God’s goodness, can it rise higher than "bread to eat, and raiment put on." Such were the thoughts of one who had just seen the magnificent vision of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with the Lord standing above, and promising an innumerable seed, and an everlasting possession. Jacob was evidently unable to enter into the reality and fullness of God’s thoughts. He measured God by Himself, and thus utterly failed to apprehend Him. In short, Jacob had not yet verily got to the end of himself; and hence he had not really begun with God.
"Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east." As we have just seen, in Gen. 28 Jacob utterly fails in the apprehension of God’s real character, and meets all the rich grace of Bethel with an "if" and a miserable bargain about food and raiment. We now follow him into a scene of thorough bargain-making. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." There is no possibility of escaping from this. Jacob had not yet found his true level in the presence of God; and, therefore, God uses circumstances to chasten and break him down.
This is the real secret of much, very much, of our sorrow and trial in the world. Our hearts have never been really broken before the Lord; we have never been self-judged and self-emptied; and hence, again and again, we, as it were, knock our heads against the wall. No one can really enjoy God until he has got to the bottom of self, and for this plain reason, that God has begun the display of Himself at the very point at which the end of flesh is seen. If, therefore, I have not reached the end of my flesh, in the deep and positive experience of my soul, it is morally impossible that I can have anything like a just apprehension of God’s character. But I must, in some way or other, be conducted to the true measure of nature. To accomplish this end, the Lord makes use of various agencies which, no matter what they are, are only effectual when used by Him for the purpose of disclosing, in our view, the true character of all that is in our hearts. How often do we find as in Jacob’s case, that even although the Lord may come near to us, and speak in our ears, yet we do not understand His voice, or take our true place in His presence. "The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not ..... How dreadful is this place!" Jacob learnt nothing by all this, and it, therefore, needed twenty years of terrible schooling, and that, too, in a school marvellously adapted to his flesh; and even that, as we shall see, was not sufficient to break him down.
However, it is remarkable to see how he gets back into an atmosphere so entirely suited to his moral constitution. The bargain-making Jacob, meets with the bargain-making Laban, and they are both seen, as it were, straining every nerve to outwit each other. Nor can we wonder at Laban, for he had never been at Bethel: he had seen no open heaven, with a ladder reaching from thence to earth; he had heard no magnificent promises from the lips of Jehovah, securing to him all the land of Canaan, with a countless seed: no marvel, therefore, that he should exhibit a grasping grovelling spirit; he had no other resource. It is useless to expect from worldly men ought but a worldly spirit, and worldly principles and ways; they have gotten nought superior; and you cannot bring a clean thing out of an unclean. But to find Jacob, after all he had seen and heard at Bethel, struggling with a man of the world, and endeavouring, by such means, to accumulate property, is peculiarly humbling.
And yet, alas! it is no uncommon thing to find the children of God thus forgetting their high destinies and heavenly inheritance, and descending into the arena with the children of this world, to struggle there for the riches and honours of a perishing, sin-stricken earth. Indeed, to such an extent is this true, in many instances, that it is often hard to trace a single evidence of that principle which St. John tells us "overcometh the world." Looking at Jacob and Laban, and judging of them upon natural principles, it would be hard to trace any difference. One should get behind the scenes, and enter into God’s thoughts about both, in order to see how widely they differed. But it was God that had made them to differ, not Jacob; and so it is now. Difficult as it may be to trace any difference between the children of light and the children of darkness, there is, nevertheless, a very wide difference indeed - a difference founded on the solemn fact that the former are "the vessels of mercy, which God has before prepared unto glory," while the latter are "the vessels of wrath, fitted (not by God, but by sin) to destruction." Rom 9: 22, 23)* This makes a very serious difference. The Jacobs and the Labans differ materially, and have differed, and will differ for ever, though the former may so sadly fail in the realization and practical exhibition of their true character and dignity.
{*It is deeply interesting to the spiritual mind to mark how sedulously the Spirit of God, in Rom. 9 and indeed throughout all scripture, guards against the horrid inference which the human mind draws from the doctrine of God’s election - when He speaks of "vessels of wrath," He simply says, "fitted to destruction." He does not say that God "fitted" them.
Whereas, on the other hand, when He refers to "the vessels of mercy" he says, "whom he had afore prepared unto glory." This is most marked.
If my reader will turn for a moment to Matt 25: 34-41, he will find another striking and beautiful instance of the same thing.
When the king addresses those on His right hand, he says, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Verse 34) But when He addresses those on His left, He says, "Depart from me ye cursed." He does not say, "cursed of My Father." And, further, He says, "into everlasting fire, prepared," not for you, but "for the devil and his angels." (Verse 41)
In a word, then, it is plain that God has "prepared’ a kingdom of glory, and "vessels of mercy’ to inherit that kingdom; but He has not prepared" everlasting fire" for men, but for the "devil and his angels" nor has He fitted the "vessels of wrath," but they have fitted themselves.
The word of God as clearly establishes "election" as it sedulously guards against "reprobation." Everyone who finds himself in heaven will have to thank God for it; and everyone that finds himself in hell will have to thank himself.}
Now, in Jacob’s case, as set forth in the three chapters now before us, all his toiling and working, like his wretched bargain before, is the result of his ignorance of God’s grace, and his inability to put implicit confidence in God’s promise. The man that could say, after a most unqualified promise from God to give him the whole land of Canaan, "IF God will give me food to eat and raiment to put on," could have had but a very faint apprehension of who God was, or what His promise was either; and because of this, we see him seeking to do the best he can for himself. This is always the way when grace is not understood: the principles of grace may be professed, but the real measure of our experience of the power of grace is quite another thing. One would have imagined that Jacob’s vision had told him a tale of grace; but God’s revelation at Bethel, and Jacob’s actings at Haran, are two very different things; yet the latter tell out what was Jacob’s sense of the former. Character and conduct prove the real measure of the soul’s experience and conviction, whatever the profession may be. But Jacob had never yet been brought to measure himself in God’s presence, and therefore he was ignorant of grace, and he proved his ignorance by measuring himself with Laban, and adopting his maxims and ways.
One cannot help remarking the fact that inasmuch as Jacob failed to learn and judge the inherent character of his flesh before God, therefore he was, in the providence of God, led into the very sphere in which that character was fully exhibited in its broadest lines. He was conducted to Haran, the country of Laban and Rebekah, the very school from whence those principles, in which he was such a remarkable adept, had emanated, and where they were taught, exhibited, and maintained. If one wanted to learn what God was, he should go to Bethel; if to learn what man was, he should go to Haran. But Jacob had failed to take in God’s revelation of Himself at Bethel, and he therefore went to Haran, and there showed what he was - and oh, what scrambling and scraping! what shuffling and shifting! There is no holy and elevated confidence in God, no simply looking to and waiting on Him. True, God was with Jacob - for nothing can hinder the outshining of divine grace. Moreover, Jacob in a measure owns God’s presence and faithfulness. Still nothing can be done without a scheme and a plan. Jacob cannot allow God to settle the question as to his wives and his wages, but seeks to settle all by his own cunning and management. In short, it is "the supplanter" throughout. Let the reader turn, for example, to Gen. 30: 37-42, and say where he can find a more masterly piece of cunning. It is verily a perfect picture of Jacob. In place of allowing God to multiply "the ringstraked, speckled, and spotted cattle," as be most assuredly could have done, had He been trusted, he sets about securing their multiplication by a piece of policy which could only have found its origin in the mind of a Jacob. So in all his actings, during his twenty years’ sojourn with Laban; and finally, he, most characteristically, "steals away," thus maintaining, in everything, his consistency with himself.
Now, it is in tracing out Jacob’s real character, from stage to stage of his extraordinary history, that one gets a wondrous view of divine grace. None but God could have borne with such an one, as none but God would have taken such an one up. Grace begins at the very lowest point. It takes up man as he is, and deals with him in the full intelligence of what he is. It is of the very last importance to understand this feature of grace at one’s first starting; it enables us to bear, with steadiness of heart, the after discoveries of personal vileness, which so frequently shake the confidence and disturb, the peace of the children of God.
Many there are who, at first, fail in the full apprehension of the utter ruin of nature, as looked at in God’s presence, though their hearts have been attracted by the grace of God, and their consciences tranquillised, in some degree, by the application of the blood of Christ. Hence, as they get on in their course, they begin to make deeper discoveries of the evil within, and, being deficient in their apprehensions of God’s grace, and the extent and efficiency of the sacrifice of Christ, they immediately raise a question as to their being children of God at all. Thus they are taken off Christ, and thrown on themselves, and then they either betake themselves to ordinances, in order to keep up their tone of devotion, or else fall back into thorough worldliness and carnality. These are disastrous consequences, and all the result of not having "the heart established in grace."
It is this that renders the study of Jacob’s history so profoundly interesting and eminently useful. No one can read the three chapters now before us, and not be struck at the amazing grace that could take up such an one as Jacob, and not only take him up, but say, after the full discovery of all that was in him, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel." (Num. 23: 21) He does not say that iniquity and perverseness were not in him. This would never give the heart confidence - the very thing, above all others, which God desires to give. It could never assure a poor sinner’s heart, to be told that there was no sin in him; for, alas! he knows too well there is; but to be told there is no sin on him, and that, moreover, in God’s sight, on the simple ground of Christ’s perfect sacrifice, must infallibly set his heart and conscience at rest. Had God taken up Esau, we should not have had, by any means, such a blessed display of grace; for this reason, that he does not appear before us in the unamiable light in which we see Jacob. The more man sinks, the more God’s grace rises. As my debt rises, in my estimation, from the fifty pence up to the five hundred, so my sense of grace rises also, my experience of that love which, when we "had nothing to pay, could "frankly forgive" us all. (Luke 7: 42) Well might the apostle say, "it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace: not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." (Heb. 13: 9)
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–4 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was…
And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, according to the generally accepted calculation, in his one hundred and thirty-seventh year. Joseph, having been introduced to Pharaoh in his thirtieth year, (Gen_41:46) and having been thirty-nine years of age. (Gen_45:6) when his father, aged one hundred and thirty, (Gen_47:9) came down to Egypt, must have been born before Jacob was ninety-one; consequently, as his birth occurred in the fourteenth year of Jacob"s sojourn in Mesopotamia, (cf. Gen_30:25 with Gen_29:18, Gen_29:21, Gen_29:27) Jacob"s flight must have taken place when he was seventy-seven. But Jacob was born in Isaac"s sixtieth year; (Gen_25:26) hence Isaac was now one hundred and thirty-seven. There are, however, difficulties connected with this reckoning which lay it open to suspicion. For one thing, it postpones Jacob s marriage to an extremely late period. Then it takes for granted that the term of Jacob"s service in Padan-aram was only twenty years, (Gen_31:41) whereas it is not certain whether it was not forty, made up, according to the computation of Kennicott, of fourteen years" service, twenty years" assistance as a neighbor, and six years of work for wages. And, lastly, it necessitates the birth of Jacob"s eleven children in the short space of six years, a thing which appears to some, it not impossible, at least highly improbable. Adopting the larger number as the term of Jacob s sojourn in Mesopotamia, Isaac would at this time be only one hundred and seventeen (vide "Chronologer of Jacob"s Life," 31:41)and his eyes were dim, literally, were failing in strength, hence becoming dim. (1Sa_3:2) In describing Jacob s decaying vision a different verb is employed (Gen_48:10) so that he could not see, literally, from seeing; mi with the inf. constr, conveying the idea of receding from the state of perfect vision (cf. Gen_16:2 Gen_31:29; vide Gesenius, "Hebrew Grammar," he called Esau his eldest son, Esau was born before his twin brother Jacob (Gen_25:25) and said unto him, My son:i.e. my special son, my beloved son, the language indicating fondness and partiality (Gen_25:28) and he (Esau) said unto him, Behold, here am I.
Vers. 1-14.
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The stolen blessing: a domestic drama.
1. Issac and Rebekah, or plotting and counterplotting.
I THE SCHEME OF ISAAC.
1. Its sinful object. The heavenly oracle having with no uncertain sound proclaimed Jacob the theocratic heir, the bestowment of the patriarchal benediction on Esau was clearly an unholy design. That Isaac, who on Mount Moriah had evinced such meek and ready acquiescence in Jehovah"s will, should in old age, from partiality towards his firstborn, or forgetfulness of Jehovah"s declaration, endeavor to thwart the Divine purpose according to election affords a melancholy illustration of the deceitfulness of sin even in renewed hearts, and of the deep-seated antagonism between the instincts of nature and the designs of grace.
2. Its secret character. The commission assigned to Esau does not appear to have been dictated by any supposed connection between the gratification of the palate, the reinvigoration of the body, or the refreshment of the spirit and the exercise of the prophetic gift, but rather by a desire to divert the attention of Rebekah from supposing that anything unusual was going on, and so to secure the necessary privacy for carrying out the scheme which he had formed. Had Isaac not been doubtful of the righteousness of what he had in contemplation, he would never have resorted to maneuvering and secrecy, but would have courted unveiled publicity. Crooked ways love the. (Joh_3:20, Joh_3:21)
1. Its urgent motive. Isaac felt impelled to relieve his soul of the theocratic blessing by a sense of approaching dissolution. If it be the weakness of old men to imagine death nearer, it is the folly of young men to suppose it farther distant than it is. To young and old alike the failure of the senses should be a premonition of the end, and good men should set their houses in order ere they leave the world (Gen_25:6; 2Ki_20:1; Isa_38:1)
2. Its inherent weakness. That Isaac reckoned on Rebekah"s opposition to his scheme seems apparent; it is not so obvious that he calculated on God"s being against him. Those who meditate unholy deeds should first arrange that God will not be able to discover their intentions.
II THE STRATAGEM OF REBEKAH.
1. The design was legitimate. Instead of her behavior being represented as an attempt to outwit her aged, blind, and bed-ridden husband (for which surely no great cleverness was required), and to stealthily secure the blessing for her favorite, regard for truth demands that it should rather be characterized as an endeavor to prevent its surreptitious appropriation for Esau.
2. The inspiration was religious. Displaying a considerable amount of woman"s wit in its conception and execution, and perhaps largely tainted by maternal jealousy, Rebekah"s stratagem ought in fairness to be traced to her belief in the pre-natal oracle, which had pointed to Jacob as the theocratic heir. That her faith, however mixed with unspiritual alloy, was strong seems a just conclusion from her almost reckless boldness (ver. 13).
3. The wickedness was inexcusable. Good as were its end and motive, the stratagem of Rebekah was deplorably wicked. It was an act of cruel imposition on a husband who had loved her for well-nigh a century; it was a base deed of temptation and seduction, viewed in its relations to Jacob the prompting of a son to sin against a father; it was a signal offence against God in many ways, but chiefly in the sinful impatience it displayed, and in the foolish supposition that his sovereign designs needed the assistance of, or could be helped by, human craft in the shape of female cunning.
III THE RIVAL ACCOMPLICES.
1. The confederate of Isaac. The guilt of Esau consisted in seeking to obtain the birthright-when he knew
1. that it belonged to Jacob by Heaven"s gift,
2. that he had parted with any imaginary title he ever had to expect it,
3. that he was utterly unqualified to possess it, and
4. that he was endeavoring to obtain it by improper means.
1. The tool of Rebekah. That Jacob in acting on his mother"s counsel was not sinless is evinced by the fact that he
1. perceived its hazardous nature (vers. 11, 12),
2. discerned its criminality, and yet
3. allowed himself to carry it through.
Lessons:
1. The wickedness of trying to subvert the will of Heaven exemplified in Isaac.
2. The sinfulness of doing evil that good may come illustrated by the conduct of Rebekah.
3. The criminality of following evil counsel, in opposition to the light of conscience and the restraints of Pro vide nce shown by the conduct of both Esau and Jacob.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Isaac was old and his eyes were dim
Gen_27:1-2
Isaac was old and his eyes were dim
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Isaac in the near prospect of death
I.
HE HAS WARNINGS OF HIS APPROACHING END.
1. His advanced age.
2. Signs of weakness and decay.
II. HE SETS IN ORDER HIS WORLDLY AFFAIRS.
1. Duties prompted by the social affections.
2. Duties regarding the settlement of inheritance and property. (T. H.Leale.)
Isaacs preparation for death
1. His longing for the performance of Esaus filial kindness as for a last time.
(1) Esau was his favourite son; not on account of any similarity between them, but just because they were dissimilar; the repose and contemplativeness and inactivity of Isaac found a contrast in which it reposed in the energy and even the restlessness of his firstborn.
(2) It was natural to yearn for the feast of his sons affection for the last time, for there is something peculiarly impressive in whatever is done for the last time.
2. Isaac prepared for death by making his last testamentary dispositions. They were made, though apparently premature--
(1) Partly because of the frailty of life and the uncertainty whether there may be any to-morrow for that which is put off to-day;
(2) Partly perhaps because he desired to have all earthly thoughts done with and put away. When he came to die there would be no anxieties about the disposition of property, to harass him. For it is good to have all such things done with before that hour comes. Is there not something incongruous in the presence of a lawyer in the death room, agitating the last hours? The first portion of our lives is spent in learning the use of our senses and faculties, ascertaining where we are, and what. The second in using those powers, and acting in the given sphere, the motto being, Work, the night cometh. A third portion, between active life and the grave, like the twilight between day and night (not light enough for working, nor yet quite dark), nature seems to accord for unworldliness and meditation. It is striking, doubtless, to see an old man, hale and vigorous to the last, dying at his work, like a warrior in armour. But natural feeling makes us wish perhaps that an interval might be given; a season for the statesman, such as that which Samuel had on laying aside the cares of office in the schools of the prophets, such as Simeon and Anna had for a life of devotion in the temple, such as the labourer has when, his long days work done, he finds an asylum in the almshouse, such as our Church desires when she prays against sudden death; a season of interval in which to watch, and meditate, and wait. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The blind father
Isaac.
1. Now very aged. One hundred and thirty-six years old. Feeble. Ought to have been specially reverenced, both as a father and because so aged. Reverence due to old age. What more beautiful than old age (Pro_15:31)? See the Word of God concerning old age (Lev_19:32; 2Ch_36:17; Pro_20:29).
2. Helpless. Forced to sit in the house while his sons were actively employed. Dependent on the kind offices of others.
3. Blind. And therefore should have been specially reverenced, and treated with most respectful tenderness,
4. Felt his end approaching (Gen_27:4). Should therefore have been treated with the greater consideration.
5. About to impart the covenant blessing. A most solemn act. To be given, and received, in the fear of God.
6. Would signalize it with a feast. The last he might have; and his own beloved Esau should prepare it. (J. C. Gray.)
The day of death unknown
I have read a parable of a man shut up in a fortress under sentence of perpetual imprisonment, and obliged to draw water from a reservoir which he may not see, but into which no fresh stream is ever to be poured. How much it contains he cannot tell. He knows that the quantity is not great; it may be extremely small. He has already drawn out a considerable supply during his long imprisonment. The diminution increases daily, and how, it is asked, would he feel each time of drawing water and each time of drinking it? Not as if he had a perennial stream to go to-I have a reservoir; I may be at ease. No: I had water yesterday, I have it to-day; but my having it yesterday and my having it to-day is the very cause that I shall not have it on some day that is approaching. Life is a fortress; man is the prisoner within the gates. He draws his supply from a fountain fed by invisible pipes, but the reservoir is being exhausted. We had life yesterday, we have it today, the probability--the certainty--is that we shall not have it on some day that is to come. (R. A.Wilmot.)
Isaac, the organ of Divine blessing
It is a strange and, in some respects, perplexing spectacle that is here presented to us--the organ of the Divine blessing represented by a blind old man, laid on a couch of skins, stimulated by meat and wine, and trying to cheat God by bestowing the family blessing on the son of his own choice to the exclusion of the Divinely-appointed heir. Out of such beginnings had God to educate a people worthy of Himself, and through such hazards had He to guide the spiritual blessing He designed to convey to us all. Isaac laid a net for his own feet. By his unrighteous and timorous haste he secured the defeat of his own long-cherished scheme. It was his hasting to bless Esau which drove Rebekah to checkmate him by winning the blessing for her favourite. The shock which Isaac felt when Esau came in and the fraud was discovered is easily understood. The mortification of the old man must have been extreme when he found that he had so completely taken himself in. He was reclining in the satisfied reflection that for once he had overreached his astute Rebekah and her astute son, and in the comfortable feeling that, at last, he had accomplished his one remaining desire, when he learns from the exceeding bitter cry of Esau that he has himself been duped. It was enough to rouse the anger of the mildest and godliest of men, but Isaac does not storm and protest--he trembles exceedingly. He recognises, by a spiritual insight quite unknown to Esau, that this is Gods hand, and deliberately confirms, with his eyes open, what he had done in blindness: I have blessed him: Yea, and he shall be blessed. Had he wished to deny the validity of the blessing, he had ground enough for doing so. He had not really given it; it had been stolen from him. An act must be judged by its intention, and he had been far from intending to bless Jacob. Was he to consider himself bound by what he had done under a misapprehension? He had given a Messing to one person under the impression that he was a different person; must not the blessing go to him for whom it was designed? But Isaac unhesitatingly yielded. This clear recognition of Gods hand in the matter, and quick submission to Him, reveals a habit of reflection, and a spiritual thoughtfulness, which are the good qualities in Isaacs otherwise unsatisfactory character. Before he finished his answer to Esau, he felt he was a poor feeble creature in the hand of a true and just God, who had used even his infirmity and sin to forward righteous and gracious ends. It was his sudden recognition of the frightful way in which he had been tampering with Gods will, and of the grace with which God had prevented him from accomplishing a wrong destination of the inheritance, that made Isaac tremble very exceedingly. In this humble acceptance of the disappointment of his lifes love and hope, Isaac shows us the manner in which we ought to bear the consequences of our wrong-doing. The punishment of our sin often comes through the persons with whom we have to do, unintentionally on their part, and yet we are tempted to hate them because they pain and punish us, father, mother, wife, child, or whoever else. Isaac and Esau were alike disappointed. Esau only saw the supplanter, and vowed to be revenged. Isaac saw God in the matter, and trembled. So when Shimei cursed David, and his loyal retainers would have cut off his head for so doing, David said: Let him alone, and let him curse; it may be that the Lord hath bidden him. We can bear the pain inflicted on us by men when we see that they are merely the instruments of a Divine chastisement. The persons who thwart us and make our life bitter, the persons who stand between us and our dearest hopes, the persons whom we are most disposed to speak angrily and bitterly to, are often thorns planted in our path by God to keep us on the right way. (M. Dods, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Genesis 27
JACOBS FRAUD
Genesis 27
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"The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever."- Psa_33:11
THERE are some families whose miserable existence is almost entirely made up of malicious plottings and counter-plottings, little mischievous designs, and spiteful triumphs of one member or party in the family over the other. It is not pleasant to have the veil withdrawn, and to see that where love and eager self-sacrifice might be expected their places are occupied by an eager assertion of rights, and a cold, proud, and always petty and stupid, nursing of some supposed injury. In the story told us so graphically in this page, we see the family whom God has blessed sunk to this low level, and betrayed by family jealousies into unseemly strife on the most sacred ground. Each member of the family plans his own wicked device, and God by the evil of one defeats the evil of another, and saves His own purpose to bless the race from being frittered away and lost. And it is told us in order that, amidst all this mess of human craft and selfishness, the righteousness and stability of Gods word of promise may be more vividly seen. Let us look at the sin of each of the parties in order, and the punishment of each.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews Isaac is commended for his faith in blessing his sons. It was commendable in him that, in great bodily weakness, he still believed himself to be the guardian of Gods blessing, and recognised that he had a great inheritance to bequeath to his sons. But, in unaccountable and inconsistent contempt of Gods expressed purpose, he proposes to hand over this blessing to Esau. Many things had occurred to fix his attention upon the fact that Esau was not to be his heir. Esau had sold his birthright, and had married Hittite women, and his whole conduct was, no doubt, of a piece with this, and showed that, in his hands, any spiritual inheritance would be both unsafe and unappreciated. That Isaac had some notion he was doing wrong in giving to Esau what belonged to God, and what God meant to give to Jacob, is shown from his precipitation in bestowing the blessing. He has no feeling that he is authorized by God, and therefore he cannot wait calmly till God should intimate, by unmistakable signs, that he is near his end; but, seized with a panic test his favourite should somehow be left unblessed, he feels, in his nervous alarm, as if he were at the point of death, and, though destined to live for forty-three years longer, he calls Esau that he may hand over to him his dying testament. How different is the nerve of a man when he knows he is doing Gods will, and when he is but fulfilling his own device. For the same reason, he has to stimulate his spirit by artificial means. The prophetic ecstasy is not felt by him; he must be exhilarated by venison and wine, that, strengthened and revived in body, and having his gratitude aroused afresh towards Esau, he may bless him with all the greater vigour. The final stimulus is given when he smells the garments of Esau on Jacob, and when that fresh earthy smell which so revives us in spring, as if our life were renewed with the year, and which hangs about one who has been in the open air, entered into Isaacs blood, and lent him fresh vigour.
It is a strange and, in some respects, perplexing spectacle that is here presented to us-the organ of the Divine blessing represented by a blind old man, laid on a "couch of skins," stimulated by meat and wine, and trying to cheat God by bestowing the family blessing on the son of his own choice to the exclusion of the divinely-appointed heir. Out of such beginnings had God to educate a people worthy of Himself, and through such hazards had He to guide the spiritual blessing He designed to convey to us all.
Isaac laid a net for his own feet. By his unrighteous and timorous haste he secured the defeat of his own long-cherished scheme. It was his hasting to bless Esau which drove Rebekah to checkmate him by winning the blessing for her favourite. The shock which Isaac felt when Esau came in and the fraud was discovered is easily understood. The mortification of the old man must have been extreme when he found that he had so completely taken himself in. He was reclining in the satisfied reflection that for once he had overreached his astute Rebekah and her astute son, and in the comfortable feeling that, at last, he had accomplished his one remaining desire, when he learns from the exceeding bitter cry of Esau that he has himself been duped. It was enough to rouse the anger of the mildest and godliest of men, but Isaac does not storm and protest-"he trembles exceedingly." He recognises, by a spiritual insight quite unknown to Esau, that this is Gods hand, and deliberately confirms, with his eyes open, what he had done in blindness: "I have blessed him: Yea, and he shall be blessed." Had he wished to deny the validity of the blessing, he had ground enough for doing so. He had not really given it: it had been stolen from him. An act must be judged by its intention, and he had been far from intending to bless Jacob. Was he to consider himself bound by what he had done under a misapprehension? He had given a blessing to one person under the impression that he was a different person; must not the blessing go to him for whom it was designed? But Isaac unhesitatingly yielded.
This clear recognition of Gods hand in the matter, and quick submission to Him, reveals a habit of reflection, and a spiritual thoughtfulness, which are the good qualities in Isaacs otherwise unsatisfactory character. Before he finished his answer to Esau, he felt he was a poor feeble creature in the hand of a true and just God, who had used even his infirmity and sin to forward righteous and gracious ends. It was his sudden recognition of the frightful way in which he had been tampering with Gods will, and of the grace with which God had prevented him from accomplishing a wrong destination of the inheritance, that made Isaac tremble very exceedingly.
In this humble acceptance of the disappointment of his lifes love and hope, Isaac shows us the manner in which we ought to bear the consequences of our wrong-doing. The punishment of our sin often comes through the persons with whom we have to do, unintentionally on their part, and yet we are tempted to hate them because they pain and punish us, father, mother, wife, child, or whoever else. Isaac and Esau were alike disappointed. Esau only saw the supplanter, and vowed to be revenged. Isaac saw God in the matter, and trembled. So when Shimei cursed David, and his loyal retainers would have cut off his head for so doing, David said, "Let him alone, and let him curse: it may be that the Lord hath bidden him." We can bear the pain inflicted on us by men when we see that they are merely the instruments of a divine chastisement. The persons who thwart us and make our life bitter, the persons who stand between us and our dearest hopes, the persons whom we are most disposed to speak angrily and bitterly to, are often thorns planted in our path by God to keep us on the right way.
Isaacs sin propagated itself with the rapid multiplication of all sin. Rebekah overheard what passed between Isaac and Esau, and although she might have been able to wait until by fair means Jacob received the blessing, yet when she sees Isaac actually preparing to pass Jacob by and bless Esau, her fears are so excited that she cannot any longer quietly leave the matter in Gods hand, but must lend her own more skilful management. It may have crossed her mind that she was justified in forwarding what she knew to be Gods purpose. She saw no other way of saving Gods purpose and Jacobs rights than by her interference. The emergency might have unnerved many a woman, but Rebekah is equal to the occasion. She makes the threatened exclusion of Jacob the very means for at last finally settling the inheritance upon him. She braves the indignation of Isaac and the rage of Esau, and fearless herself, and confident of success, she soon quiets the timorous and cautious objections of Jacob. She knows that for straightforward lying and acting a part she was sure of good support in Jacob. Luther says, "Had it been me, Id have dropped the dish." But Jacob had no such tremors-could submit his hands and face to the touch of Isaac, and repeat his lie as often as needful.
An old man bedridden like Isaac becomes the subject of a number of little deceptions which may seem, and which may be, very unimportant in themselves, but which are seen to wear down the reverence due to the father of a family, and which imperceptibly sap the guileless sincerity and truthfulness of those who practise them. This overreaching of Isaac by dressing Jacob in Esaus clothes, might come in naturally as one of those daily deceptions which Rebekah was accustomed to practise on the old man whom she kept quite in her own hand, giving him as much or as little insight into the doings of the family as seemed advisable to her. It would never occur to her that she was taking God in hand; it would seem only as if she were making such use of Isaacs infirmity as she was in the daily practice of doing.
But to account for an act is not to excuse it. Underlying the conduct of Rebekah and Jacob was the conviction that they would come better speed by a little deceit of their own than by suffering God to further them in His own way-that though God would certainly not practise deception Himself, He might not object to others doing so that in this emergency holiness was a hampering thing which might just for a little be laid aside that they might be more holy afterwards-that though no doubt in ordinary circumstances, and as a normal habit, deceit is not to be commended, yet in cases of difficulty, which call for ready wit, a prompt seizure, and delicate handling, men must be allowed to secure their ends in their own way. Their unbelief thus directly produced immorality-immorality of a very revolting kind, the defrauding of their relatives, and repulsive also because practised as if on Gods side, or, as we should now say, "in the interests of religion."
To this day the method of Rebekah and Jacob is largely adopted by religious persons. It is notorious that persons whose ends are good frequently become thoroughly unscrupulous about the means they use to accomplish them. They dare not say in so many words that they may do evil that good may come, nor do they think it a tenable position in morals that the end sanctifies the means; and yet their consciousness of a justifiable and desirable end undoubtedly does blunt their sensitiveness regarding the legitimacy of the means they employ. For example, Protestant controversialists, persuaded that vehement opposition to. Popery is good, and filled with the idea of accomplishing its downfall, are often guilty of gross misrepresentation, because they do not sufficiently inform themselves of the actual tenets and practices of the Church of Rome. In all controversy, religious and political, it is the same. It is always dishonest to circulate reports that you have no means of authenticating: yet how freely are such reports circulated to blacken the character of an opponent, and to prove his opinions to be dangerous. It is always dishonest to condemn opinions we have not inquired into, merely because of some fancied consequence which these opinions carry in them: yet how freely are opinions condemned by men who have never been at the trouble carefully to inquire into their truth. They do not feel the dishonesty of their position, because they have a general consciousness that they are on the side of religion, and of what has generally passed for truth. All keeping back of facts which are supposed to have an unsettling effect is but a repetition of this sin. There is no sin more hateful. Under the appearance of serving God, and maintaining His cause in the world, it insults Him by assuming that if the whole bare, undisguised truth were spoken, His cause would suffer.
The fate of all such attempts to manage Gods matters by keeping things dark, and misrepresenting fact, is written for all who care to understand in the results of this scheme of Rebekahs and Jacobs. They gained nothing, and they lost a great deal, by their wicked interference. They gained nothing; for God had promised that the birthright would be Jacobs, and would have given it him in some way redounding to his credit and not to his shame. And they lost a great deal. The mother lost her son; Jacob had to flee for his life, and, for all we know, Rebekah never saw him more. And Jacob lost all the comforts of home, and all those possessions his father had accumulated. He had to flee with nothing but his staff, an outcast to begin the world for himself. From this first false step onwards to his death, he was pursued by misfortune, until his own verdict on his life was, "Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life."
Thus severely was, the sin of Rebekah and Jacob punished. It coloured their whole afterlife with a deep sombre hue. It was marked thus, because it was a sin by all means to be avoided. It was virtually the sin of blaming God for forgetting His promise, or of accusing Him of being unable to perform it: so that they, Rebekah and Jacob, had, forsooth, to take Gods work out of His hands, and show Him how it ought to be done. The announcement of Gods purpose, instead of enabling them quietly to wait for a blessing they knew to be certain, became in their unrighteous and impatient hearts actually an inducement to sin. Abraham was so bold and confident in his faith, at least latterly, that again and again he refused to take as a gift from men, and on the most honourable terms, what God had promised to give him: his grandson is so little sure of Gods truth, that he will rather trust his own falsehood; and what he thinks God may forget to give him, he will steal from his own father. Some persons have especial need to consider this sin-they are tempted to play the part of Providence, to intermeddle where they ought to refrain. Sometimes just a little thing is needed to make everything go to our liking-the keeping back of one small fact, a slight variation in the way of stating the matter, is enough-thines want just a little push in the right direction: it is wrong, but very slightly so. And so they are encouraged to close for a moment their eyes and put to their hand.
Of all the parties in this transaction none is more to blame than Esau. He shows now how selfish and untruthful the sensual man really is, and how worthless is the generosity which is merely of impulse and not bottomed on principle. While he so furiously and bitterly blamed Jacob for supplanting him, it might surely have occurred to him that it was really he who was supplanting Jacob. He had no right, divine or human, to the inheritance. God had never said that His possession should go to the oldest, and had in this case said the express opposite. Besides, inconstant as Esau was, he could scarcely have forgotten the bargain that so pleased him at the time, and by which he had sold to his younger brother all title to his fathers blessings.
Jacob was to blame for seeking to win his own by craft, but Esau was more to blame for endeavouring furtively to recover what he knew to be no longer his. His bitter cry was the cry of a disappointed and enraged child, what Hosea calls the "howl" of those who seem to seek the Lord, but are really merely crying out, like animals, for corn and wine. Many that care very little for Gods love will seek His favours; and every wicked wretch who has in his prosperity spurned Gods offers will, when he sees how he has cheated himself, turn to Gods gifts, though not to God, with a cry. Esau would now very gladly have given a mess of pottage for the blessing that secured to its receiver "the dew of heaven, the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine." Like many another sinner, he wanted both to eat his cake and have it. He wanted to spend his youth sowing to the flesh, and have the harvest which those only can have who have sown to the spirit. He wished both of two irreconcilable things-both the red pottage and the birthright. He is a type of those who think very lightly of spiritual blessings. while their appetites are strong, but afterwards bitterly complain that their whole life is filled with the results of sowing to the flesh and not to the spirit.
"We barter life for pottage; sell true bliss
For wealth or power, for pleasure or renown;
Thus Esau-like, our Fathers blessing miss,
Then wash with fruitless tears our laded crown."
The words of the New Testament, in which it is said that Esau "found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears," are sometimes misunderstood. They do not mean that he sought what we ordinarily call repentance, a change of mind about the value of the birthright. He had that; it was this that made him weep. What he sought now was some means of undoing what he had done, of cancelling the deed of which he repented. His experience does not tell us that a man once sinning as Esau sinned becomes a hardened reprobate whom no good influence can impress or bring to repentance, but it says that the sin so committed leaves irreparable consequences-that no man can live a youth of folly and yet find as much in manhood and maturer years as if he had lived a careful and God-fearing youth. Esau had irrecoverably lost that which he would now have given all he had to possess; and in this, I suppose, he represents half the men who pass through this world. He warns us that it is very possible, by careless yielding to appetite and passing whim, to entangle ourselves irrecoverably for this life, if not to weaken and maim ourselves for eternity. At the time, your act may seem a very small and secular one, a mere bargain in the ordinary course, a little transaction such as one would enter into carelessly after the days work is over, in the quiet of a summer evening or in the midst of the family circle: or it may seem so necessary that you never think of its moral qualities, as little as you question whether you are justified in breathing; but you are warned that if there be in that act a crushing out of spiritual hopes to make way for the free enjoyment of the pleasures of sense-if there be a deliberate preference of the good things of this life to the love of God-if, knowingly, you make light of spiritual blessings, and count them unreal when weighed against obvious worldly advantages-then the consequences of that act will in this life bring to you great discomfort and uneasiness, great loss and vexation, an agony of remorse, and a life-long repentance. You are warned of this, and most touchingly, by the moving entreaties, the bitter cries and tears of Esau.
But even when our life is spoiled irreparably, a hope remains for our character and ourselves-not certainly if our misfortunes embitter us, not if resentment is the chief result of our suffering; but if, subduing resentment, and taking blame to ourselves instead of trying to fix it on others, we take revenge upon the real source of our undoing, and extirpate from our own character the root of bitterness. Painful and difficult is such schooling. It calls for simplicity, and humility, and truthfulness-qualities not of frequent occurrence. It calls for abiding patience; for he who begins thus to sow to the spirit late in life must be content with inward fruits, with peace of conscience, increase of righteousness and humility, and must learn to live without much of what all men naturally desire.
While each member of Isaacs family has thus his own plan, and is striving to fulfil his private intention, the result is, that Gods purpose is fulfilled. In the human agency, such faith in God as existed was overlaid with misunderstanding and distrust of God. But notwithstanding the petty and mean devices, the short-sighted slyness, the blundering unbelief, the profane worldliness of the human parties in the transaction, the truth and mercy of God still find a way for themselves. Were matters left in our hands, we should make shipwreck even of the salvation with which we are provided. We carry into our dealings with it the same selfishness, and inconstancy, and worldliness which made it necessary: and had not God patience to bear with, as well as mercy to invite us; had He not wisdom to govern us in the use of His grace, as well as wisdom to contrive its first bestowal, we should perish with the water of life at our lips.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Gen_27:3. Take some venison.] Heb. Hunt a hunt for…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_27:3. Take some venison.] Heb. Hunt a hunt for me. “What this hunt should be except of the deer or gazelle, does not appear. And hence it is not surprising that kids of the flock answered the purpose when so cooked and flavoured as to make a savoury dish.” (Jacobus.)—
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_27:1-5
ISAAC IN THE NEAR PROSPECT OF DEATH
I. He has warnings of his approaching end.
1. His advanced age. He was now 137 years old. His son, Esau, had now been married 37 years; and his brother, Ishmael, had been dead 14 years. He himself thought, very naturally, that he was near his end, though, as it happened, he did not die till 43 years after this time. He felt that the world was going rapidly from him. Friend after friend was departing. The years of man’s age are like the milestones on the journey, we feel that we have not much further to go. Whatever we may put into life; however we may expand the measures of it by holy thoughts and deeds, or make it monstrous by wickedness, the length of it is a measured quantity. Our Lord has taught us that we cannot add a cubit to the length of our life’s journey (Mat_6:27). And Job, long ago, speaking of man, the length of whose mortal day is appointed by his Maker, says, “Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with Thee, Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.” (Job_14:5.)
2. Signs of weakness and decay. Dim eyes, trembling limbs, loss of memory, a languid interest in present things and a tenacious clinging to the past are signs that life is wearing away and that the end is near. It is a merciful Providence that to most men death does not come suddenly to cut them off in the midst of high health, but their way to the dark house is by a gentle descent. God sends them reminders of their latter end, and the man says, “Behold now I am old, and I know not the day of my death.” Young men may die, old men must; they have one foot already in the grave.
II. He sets in order his worldly affairs. He feels now that the time has come for him to discharge any remaining duties towards the living. For soon the hour is coming when he can no longer work, and whatever has to be done must be done quickly.
1. Duties prompted by the social affections. There are those who have grown up around us, and who are associated with us by natural ties, to whom we owe certain duties. We are bound to show them kindness and regard. We have but a short time in which to discharge those obligations, for death will not stay. Isaac wishes to bestow his blessing upon his eldest son, and to receive a kindness from him for the last time. His fond affection would be gratified, and his son would receive honour thereby. He would discharge a debt of love and celebrate the satisfactions of his feelings by a joyful feast.
2. Duties regarding the settlement of inheritance and property. Life was uncertain, and therefore Isaac must contrive so that there may be no disputes after his death. He wishes to settle the position which his sons were to occupy in the family, according to his own notions of right. It is best for a man to arrange all such matters while his mind is clear, and before he is perplexed and confused by the last sickness. In this way he can dismiss the world, and secure for himself a tranquil time before the end. It is well to have some time to walk quietly and thoughtfully along the shores of eternity before we take our last voyage to the unknown scenes beyond life. The conduct of Isaac, at this time, shows a thoughtfulness and a calmness worthy of his reputation as a contemplative man. He is still able to enjoy a feast, and looks forward to some brief renewal of his vigour and spirits. In all this, surely, there is a gleam of immortality. He is about to do something which will take effect after his death. If this life be all, why should we consider the brief enjoyments and distinctions of those who must in a few short years sink with us into nothingness, as though we had never been! Surely the only attitude of mind which we could assume towards such a blank and ruined prospect would be that of despair! But man feels in the depths of his heart that he must have, in some way, an interest and inheritance in the future.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_27:1-2. Dimness, and even loss of sight, is more frequent in Palestine than with us.
Old age itself is a disease, and the sink of all diseases. “The clouds return after the rain.” A continual succession of miseries, like April weather, as one shower is unburdened, another is brewed, and the sky is still overcast with clouds. Lo, such is old age. And is this a fit present for God? Wilt thou give Him the dregs, the very last sands, thy dotage, which thyself and thy friends are weary of? “Offer it now to thy prince, will he be pleased with thee?” (Mal_1:8.) But God will not be so put off. He is “a great king,” and stands upon his seniority (Mal_1:14.)—(Trapp.)
Esau had been perverse and undutiful in marrying into the stock of Canaan, yet his father’s affection still clings to him. How strong is parental love to surmount the worst obstacles!
That the time of death should be uncertain is a benevolent provision, for a man is thereby enabled to continue his services to mankind until the last moment in which he can be useful. The knowledge of the exact time, as fixed and unalterable, would throw a disturbing and perplexing element into human affairs.
Gen_27:3-4. Isaac’s inordinate love of the pleasures of appetite still clung to him. How strongly rooted are old habits and propensities!
The words of dying men are living oracles. It was the patriarch’s care, and it must be ours, to leave a blessing behind us; to seek the salvation of our children whilst we live, and to say something to the same purpose when we die, that may stick by them. So when we are laid in our graves, our stock remains, goes forward, and shall do till the day of doom.—(Trapp.)
Why was “savoury meat” required in order to the bestowment of the blessings? The design of it seems to have been not merely to strengthen animal nature, but to enkindle affection. Isaac is said to have loved Esau on account of his venison (Gen_25:23): this therefore would tend, as he supposed, to revive that affection, and so enable him to bless him with all his heart. It seems however, to have been but a carnal kind of introduction to so Divine an act: partaking more of the flesh than of the Spirit, and savouring rather of that natural affection under the influence of which he at present acted, than of the faith of a son of Abraham.—(Fuller.)
It is probable that Isaac demanded something better than ordinary, because this was to be also a peculiar day. To all appearance it was a Divine providence through which Jacob gains time to obtain and bear away the blessing from him.—(Lange.)
Gen_27:5. Isaac’s carefully calculated project is thwarted by a woman’s shrewdness. A carnal policy can always be met by its own weapons.
Rebekah overhearing this charge of Isaac to his son Esau, takes measures to direct the blessing into another channel. It was just that Esau should lose the blessing, for by selling his birth-right he had despised it. It was God’s design too that Jacob should have it. Rebekah also knowing of this design, from its having been revealed to her that “the elder should serve the younger,” appears to have acted from a good motive. But the scheme which she formed to correct the error of her husband was far from being justifiable. It was one of those crooked measures which have too often been adopted to accomplish the Divine promises; as if the end would justify, or at least excuse the means. Thus Sarah acted in giving Hagar to Abraham; and thus many others have acted under the idea of being useful in promoting the cause of Christ. The answer to all such things is that which God addressed to Abraham: “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be Thou perfect.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 No one can read this chapter without feeling some…
Gen 27:34
No one can read this chapter without feeling some pity for Esau. All his hopes were disappointed in a moment. He had built much upon this blessing, for in his youth he had sold his birthright, and he thought that in his father’s blessing he would get back his birthright, or what would stand in its place. He had parted with it easily, and he expected to regain it easily. He thought to regain God’s blessing, not by fasting and prayer, but by savoury meat, by feasting and making merry.
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I. Esau’s cry is the cry of one who has rejected God, and who in turn has been rejected by Him. He was: (1) profane; and (2) presumptuous. He was profane in selling his birthright, presumptuous in claiming the blessing. Such as Esau was, such are too many Christians now. They neglect religion in their best days; they give up their birthright in exchange for what is sure to perish and make them perish with it. They are profane persons, for they despise the great gift of God; they are presumptuous, for they claim a blessing as a matter of course.
II. The prodigal son is an example of a true penitent. He came to God with deep confession—self-abasement. He said, "Father, I have sinned." Esau came for a son’s privileges; the prodigal son came for a servant’s drudgery. The one killed and dressed his venison with his own hand, and enjoyed it not; for the other the fatted calf was prepared, and the ring for his hand and shoes for his feet, and the best robe; and there was music and dancing.
J. H. Newman, Selection front Parochial and Plain Sermons, p. 141; also vol. vi., p. 15.
References: Gen 27:34.—Bishop Armstrong, Parochial Sermons, p. 1; J. S. Bartlett, Sermons, p. 33. Gen 27:35.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. 111., p. 147.
Gen 27:36
Jacob is the typical Jew; he is the epitome of the character of the chosen people, who, again, are an epitome of the great human world. All the virtues, all the vices, all the strength and all the weakness, all the nobleness and all the baseness, of the people whom Jehovah loved and whom He took to be His own, meet in this patriarch’s character and life.
I. Jacob was a man who could cheat and lie; he could lie roundly and cheat coolly when it suited his purpose; and he could carry on what would everywhere be esteemed sharp practice to a wonderfully successful issue, A man of deep schemes, of far sight, of silent vigilance, of untiring patience, and apparently not much troubled by questions so long as his schemes were justified by success. He was a man of cunning, scheming, crafty nature, with some grand deep qualities beneath them all, which God’s eye discerned, which His hand drew forth, and by a long stern discipline educated for Himself.
II. If we would know why God set a mark on him and made him, rather than his more shallow and splendid brother, the father of a great nation and a prince in His Church, we must note that he could believe and pray: (1) Jacob’s faith was a power in his life; it became in the end a mighty power. Esau could live only for the moment, and found it hard to sink the present in the future; but Jacob could live and suffer for a day far distant, for a day whose light would never gladden him, but would shine upon his heirs. (2) Jacob could wrestle in prayer. No man can believe who cannot pray. The wrestling with the angel was the great crisis in Jacob’s history. It is as though he rose that night into his higher, nobler life. Jacob, the supplanter, disappears, and Israel, the Prince with God, stands up in his room.
J. Baldwin Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 97.
Gen 27:38
I. The character of Esau has unquestionably a fair side. Esau was by no means a man of unqualified wickedness or baseness; judged according to the standard of many men, he would pass for a very worthy, estimable person. The whole history of his treatment of Jacob puts his character in a very favourable light: it represents him as an open-hearted, generous person, who, though he might be rough in his manners, fond of a wild life, perhaps as rude and unpolished in mind as he was in body, had yet a noble soul, which was able to do what little minds sometimes cannot do—namely, forgive freely a cruel wrong done to him.
II. Nevertheless it is not without reason that the apostle styles Esau a profane person. The defect in his character may be described as a want of religious seriousness; there was nothing spiritual in him—no reverence for holy things, no indications of a soul which could find no sufficient joy in this world, but which aspired to those joys which are at God’s right hand for evermore. By the title of profane the apostle means to describe the carnal, unspiritual man—the man who takes his stand upon this world as the end of his thoughts and the scene of all his activity, who considers the land as a great hunting field, and makes the satisfaction of his bodily wants and tastes the whole end of living.
III. Esau’s repentance was consistent with his character; it was manifestly of the wrong kind. It was emphatically sorrow of this world, grief for the loss of the corn and wine. Jacob had taken his birthright—that he could have pardoned him; but it grieved Esau to his very soul that Jacob had gotten the promise of the world’s wealth besides. He continued in heart unchanged, and so he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 2nd series, p. 1.
References: Gen 27:38.—T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. iv., p. 133; S. Leathes, Truth and Life, p. 54. Gen 27:41-46.—R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. ii., p. 1; M. Dods, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, p. 79. Gen 27—Parker, vol. i., p. 268. Gen 28:1-15.—R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. ii., p. 1. Gen 28:10.—F. Langbridge, Sunday Magazine, 1885, p. 675.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Jacob by Subtilty obtains the Blessing
Jacob by Subtilty obtains the Blessing
Urged on by his mother, Jacob attempts by unworthy means to secure the blessing of the firstborn with all the privileges it involved. But the wrongdoing of the actors in the story was soon followed by the suffering which assuredly waits on sin. To quote Delitzsch: '(a) Isaac suffers for his preference for Esau, which was not determined by the will of God but by his weak affection: (b) Esau suffers for despising the blessing of the firstborn: (c) Rebekah suffers for her connivance, by separation from her favourite son whom she never saw again, (d) Jacob, from the time when he confirmed himself in the possession of the sinfully acquired birthright by sinfully acquiring the blessing, had to endure a long strain of hardship and disappointments which made him feel how he had sinned against his father and brother. Yet these were at the same time the means of his education by which his ignoble nature was to be done away, and himself made worthy of being one in the line of those who inherited the promises.' This chapter belongs to the Primitive narrative.
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1. Isaac was old] He was about 120, and both he and Esau thought that his death was at hand (Gen_27:2, Gen_27:41). According to Gen_35:27-29 he lived sixty years longer; and Jacob and Esau, their old strife put away, were present at his burial: but it must be noted that that passage is from a different (the Priestly) source, which has a different chronology from the Primitive document.
4. That my soul may bless thee before I die] In purposing to give the blessing to Esau, his firstborn son, Isaac was acting in opposition to the expressed decree of God: see Gen_25:23.
5-14. Rebekah knew that the blessing was to be Jacob's; she therefore used this device to prevent an injustice from being done, and to obtain the fulfilment of God's purpose. That, however, she should have left to God to carry out in His way. Such 'pious frauds' are the outcome of a weak faith in the wisdom and method of the divine providence. The present narrative disproves the worldly maxim that 'the end justifies the means.'
11. Hairy man] see Gen_25:25.
15. Goodly raiment] RV 'the goodly raiment,' his better clothes which were at home in his tent.
28, 29. The blessing as here recorded refers first to the fruitful land the supposed Esau would inherit, and then to his lordship over his brethren and other tribes. In Gen_28:3, which belongs to the Priestly source, the 'blessing of Abraham' is expressed in another form characteristic of that source.
28. The dew of heaven] greatly valued in hot climates where rain often does not fall from April to September.
33. Yea, and he shall be blessed] Isaac evidently feels that the purposes of God are not to be thwarted by his own preferences, and does not withdraw the blessing from Jacob.
36. Supplanted] see on Gen_25:26.
39. Shall be the fatness] rather, 'Shall be away from the fatness.' Read thus, the prophecy is in agreement with the general barrenness of Edom or Seir, where the descendants of Esau dwelt.
40. Shalt serve thy brother] Throughout OT. history we read of the subjugation of the Edomites to Israel, varied by their throwing off the yoke in troublous times: see 2Sa_8:14; 1 Kings 11 1Ch_18:13; 2 Chronicles 21. About 100 b.c. the Maccabean prince, John Hyrcanus, subdued the Edomites and compelled them to receive circumcision, after which they formed one people with the Jews. Herod, the Edomite, ruled Judaea in our Lord's day.
41. Days of mourning] see on Gen_27:1.
44. Tarry with him a few days] It was twenty years before Jacob returned from Haran; and Rebekah, so far as we know, never saw him again.
45. Deprived also of you both] of Jacob by death, and of Esau through punishment as a murderer.
46. This verse must be read in connexion with Gen_28:1; Gen_27:46; - Gen_28:9 are from the Priestly source and continue the narrative of Gen_26:34-35, without any reference to Gen_27:1-45. Rebekah suggests to Isaac as the reason for Jacob's departure that it was desirable that Jacob, as the acknowledged heir, should seek a wife among his relatives at Haran, as Isaac had done before him (Genesis 24). Esau's heathen marriages had evidently caused his parents much unhappiness: see Gen_26:34-35 and notes.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER 27 The Story of Jacob and the Deception…
CHAPTER 27 The Story of Jacob and the Deception of Rebekah and Jacob
1. Esau sent (Gen 27:1-4)
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2. Rebekah’s deception (Gen 27:5-17)
3. Jacob’s deception (Gen 27:18-25)
4. Jacob blessed (Gen 27:26-29)
5. The discovery (Gen 27:30-40)
6. Esau hates Jacob (Gen 27:41)
7. Rebekah advises Jacob to flee (Gen 27:42-46)
With this chapter the story of Jacob begins. Three periods of his life are especially to be noticed: 1. His life in Canaan; 2. His departure from the land and his servitude in Padan-aram; 3. His return to the Land. The history of his descendants, the people Israel, may be traced in this. They were in the land; now they are away from the land scattered among the nations; like Jacob they will return to the land. Isaac knew the Word of God, “the elder shall serve the younger,” yet he wanted to bless Esau. This was failure on his side. Yet he blessed Jacob by faith (Heb 11:20). Rebekah wants to comply with the divine declaration but uses unholy means trying to aid God by her own devices to fulfill His Word. Jacob obeys his mother and makes use of the deception. Esau deceives, too, for he claimed a blessing to which he had no right before God and man. The flesh and its sinful ways is fully manifested in this chapter, nevertheless the will of God was accomplished.
Isaac lives after this event 43 years longer, but with this he passes from the page of history. Of his death and burial by Esau and Jacob we hear later. His life was characterized by patient endurance and suffering and his faith consisted in quietness and waiting.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Isaac Prepares to Bless Esau
Isaac Prepares to Bless Esau
v. 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. Isaac was by this time one hundred and thirty-seven years old, and the infirmities of old age were beginning to show themselves in his failing eyesight; literally, in his eyes becoming weak away from seeing. He now, in a formal and solemn manner, called for Esau, his favorite son.
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v. 2. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death. As a matter of fact, he lived another forty-three years, but the preparations which he made showed the prudence which characterized him. Every believer should set his house in order betimes and be ready to meet death when it comes.
v. 3. Now, therefore, take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison;
v. 4. and make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die. It was not the sudden whim of an old man which was here revealed, but a carefully prepared plan, according to which Esau was to obtain some game by chase and then to prepare the meat in a way of which he knew that it pleased his father. In spite of the divine utterance before the birth of the children, which was undoubtedly known to him, and the careless and almost contemptuous disposal of his birthright by Esau, in spite, also, of the latter’s objectionable marriage to the Canaanitish woman, Isaac persisted in his preference for Esau, even in the very important matter of transmitting the Messianic promise. Even in believers the weakness of the flesh will often grow into a sulky obstinacy in ignoring God’s manifest guidance.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 his eyes were dim
his eyes were dim
This speaks about being nearly blind as if the eyes were a lamp and the light has nearly gone out. AT: "he was nearly blind" or "he was almost blind" (See: Metaphor)
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He said to him
"And Esau replied"
Here I am
"I am here" or "I am listening." See how you translated this in Genesis 22:1.
He said
"Then Isaac said"
See here
The phrase "see here" adds emphasis to what follows. AT: "Listen carefully" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
I do not know the day of my death
It is implied that Isaac knows he will die soon. AT: "I may die any day now" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
death
This refers to physical death.
translationWords
Isaac
Esau
die
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 27:1-40 Jacob got his father Isaac’s blessing through deception.…
27:1-40 Jacob got his father Isaac’s blessing through deception. In this story, an entire family tries to carry out their responsibilities by physical means rather than by faith. Faith would have provided Rebekah and Jacob a more honorable solution to the crisis.
27:1-4 The first scene sets up the chapter’s crisis. Isaac knew of God’s oracle (25:22-23), yet he thwarted or ignored it by trying to bless Esau. • Isaac was old and turning blind: He was losing his senses, both physically and spiritually.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.