27:1
This is a very important incident, but also one which I guess many of us find somewhat bemusing. It is also the first of two incidents where one of the patriarchs bestows a blessing on his children, the other being Jacob which we will encounter towards the end of Genesis. This event is a continuation of the incident at the end of chapter 25 when Esau “sells” his birthright. He may well have forgotten the time he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew, and it is also worth noting that there is no formal taking of the blessing by Jacob. Jacob does not say “Esau sold me his birthright so the blessing is mine”, that is not what happened. Instead Jacob, with the help of his mother, used subterfuge. It is also a fulfilment of God’s words in 25:23, “the older will serve the younger”. So we see an example of the sovereignty of God at work. The plans of men were very important, but it was God’s will that prevailed.
Isaac is now old and blind. Both these matter, the age because it is time for him to bestow a blessing, and the blindness because this helped with the success of the subterfuge.
27:2-4
Isaac calls Esau and tells him that his days are nearly over. So he asks his son to go out into the field to hunt some game and prepare “delicious food” for his father. Then he would bless his eldest son. In Gen 25:23 the Lord had spoken to Rebekah, one wonders if she had told Isaac this, and if she had whether he took her words seriously.
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