Isaac sends Esau to hunt for some wild game, 1-5. Rebekah instructs Jacob to obtain the blessing, 6-13. Jacob, feigning to be Esau, obtains it, 14-29. Esau brings his wild game, 30-32. Isaac trembles, 33. Esau complains, and by importunity obtains a blessing, 34-40. He threatens Jacob's life, 41. Rebekah disappoints him by sending Jacob away, 42-46.
1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son and said to him, "My son." And he said to him, "Behold, here I am." 2 And he said, "Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now therefore, take, I pray you, your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt some wild game for me. 4 And make me savory food such as I love and bring it to me so that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die."
5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for wild game and to bring it. 6 And Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 7 'Bring me wild game and make me savory food so that I may eat and bless you before the LORD before my death.' 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, according to that which I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and bring me from there two good kids of the goats, and I will make them savory food for your father such as he loves. 10 And you shall bring it to your father so that he may eat and that he may bless you before his death." 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12 My father perhaps will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver, and I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing." 13 And his mother said to him, "Let your curse be upon me, my son. Only obey my voice and go, bring them to me." 14 And he went and took and brought them to his mother. And his mother made savory food such as his father loved. 15 And Rebekah took fine clothing of her eldest son Esau, which was with her in the house, and put it upon Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 And she gave the savory food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.
18 And he came to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?" 19 And Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your first-born. I have done according as you told me. Arise, I pray you, sit and eat some of my wild game so that your soul may bless me." 20 And Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the LORD your God brought it to me." 21 And Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near, I pray you, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are my very son Esau, or not." 22 And Jacob went near to Isaac his father. And he felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." 23 And he did not discern him because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. 24 And he said, "Are you my very son Esau?" And he said, "I am." 25 And he said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat some of my son's wild game so that my soul may bless you." And he brought it near to him, and he ate, and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 And his father Isaac said to him, "Come near now and kiss me, my son." 27 And he came near and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his clothing and blessed him and said,
"Behold, the smell of my son/
is as the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed.
28 Therefore, may God give you of the dew of heaven/
and the fatness of the earth/
and plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let people serve you/
and nations bow down to you./
Be lord over your brothers,/
and let your mother's sons bow down to you./
Cursed is everyone who curses you,/
and blessed is he who blesses you."
30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had yet scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 And he also had made savory food and brought it to his father, and said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat some of his son's wild game so that your soul may bless me." 32 And Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am your son, your first-born Esau." 33 And Isaac trembled exceedingly and said, "Who? Where is he who has taken this wild game and brought it to me, and I have eaten all of it before you came and have blessed him? Indeed, he shall be blessed." 34 And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceedingly bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father." 35 And he said, "Your brother came with subtlety and has taken away your blessing." 36 And he said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me twice: he took away my birth-right, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." And he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" 37 And Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. And what shall I do now to you, my son?" 38 And Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
39 And Isaac his father answered and said to him,
"Behold, your dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth/
and of the dew of heaven from above.
40 And by your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother./
And it shall come to pass, when you have the dominion,/
that you shall break his yoke from off your neck."
41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will slay my brother Jacob." 42 And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah. And she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau, as concerning you, comforts himself, purposing to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. And arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran. 44 And stay with him a few days until your brother's fury turns away, 45 Until your brother's anger turns away from you and he forgets that which you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?"
46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, such as these, who are from the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?"
Matthew Henry Commentary - Genesis, Chapter 27[➚]