Introduction: At the time of this incident, Isaac was considered an old man, and he was afraid he was going to die soon. He asked Esau, his oldest son, to prepare him some food from game Esau would hunt in the fields. The rest of this story is a classic of deceit, in that a family was torn apart based on taking advantage of an old man. Isaac was fooled, once, but he found out the truth before he could be fooled again.
1 Isaac had a desire
Text, Genesis 27:1-4, KJV: 1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: 3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; 4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.
This episode of Isaac’s life took place late in his life. By way of review, he was 40 years old when Rebekah became his wife and he was 60 when his sons, Esau and Jacob, were born. There is no record of any other children. Each son was old enough now to basically take care of himself, so Isaac may have been close to 100 years of age.
Believing he didn’t have much time left before he died, Isaac asked Esau to basically hunt some wild game for a special meal. Esau and Jacob, even though twin brothers, were probably about as different as they could be: Moses wrote in Genesis 25:17 that Esau was “a cunning hunter, a man of the field” but “Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents”. The clearest example of their differences might be seen in Genesis 25:29-34, where Esau came in from hunting and was so hungry that he sold his birthright to Jacob, who had been doing some cooking, for some “bread and pottage of lentiles (sic)”. How much of this transaction Isaac and Rebekah knew is never recorded, but it’s likely they would not have been happy about it.
Now, Isaac is hungry for some of his favorite food and sends his favorite son (Gen. 25:28) to bring him back something he really desired. Isaac added, that he wanted Esau to do this in order to bless him before Isaac died (remember, he thought he didn’t have long to live at this time).
Something that I found interesting, by the way, is Isaac’s mention that Esau take his “quiver and bow” on the hunt. As far as I can tell, this is only the second mention of archery or bow and arrow in the Bible. Ishmael, son of Abraham by Hagar, became an archer after he and his mother were forced out of Abraham’s household (Genesis 21). Whoever taught Ishmael or Esau the fundamentals of archery may never be known.
With that charge or request from his father, Esau gathered his weapons and went off to find some “venison (KJV)” or suitable food for Isaac. But he wasn’t the only one making plans for Isaac.
2 Isaac was deceived
Text, Genesis 27:5-10, KJV: 5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, 7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death. 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. 9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: 10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.
Isaac had requested Esau to hunt and prepare him a meal of “venison (KJV)” or game, as it would be called today. Frankly, I’ve had a few pieces of venison and if the meat found around Beersheba tasted anything like the venison prepared (!) here in the USA, Isaac would be welcome to my share, too! But in all fairness, it seems domestic livestock like cattle or sheep wasn’t used for food very often—witness the special treatment Abraham gave to the Three Visitors in Genesis 18. There was no restriction on wild game, though, in those days, especially before the Law of Moses was enacted many years later.
And Esau wasn’t the only one to hear Isaac’s request. When Esau “went to the field” to go hunting, Rebekah decided to take matters into her own hands. She had a plan and that plan was to get the blessing for Jacob, whether or not he was entitled to it. If she had considered this, or how much, before this time, it is not recorded but now she had everything in place to make her plan a reality.
The first thing she did was to involve Jacob! She told him about Isaac’s request and Isaac’s plan to give Esau the blessing. There may be a lot more to this “blessing” than we know about today and the reader is encouraged to use reliable, conservative commentaries or resources about Bible customs and manners to find more about this “blessing”, such as what it was and what it may have entailed for the one receiving it. Jacob did receive this blessing, all right, but he got a lot more than he bargained for as a result, as will be seen.
Then Rebekah instructed Jacob to get “two good kids of the goats” and she would make “savory meat” such as what Isaac loved. Another contrast: Esau went to hunt wild game but Jacob seemed to tend domestic livestock. Oddly enough, Rebekah said she would do the cooking and prepare the food for Isaac even though Jacob seemed to be somewhat of a cook himself. Well, maybe there’s a difference between “lentil stew”, such as what Jacob conned Esau with to get the birthright and “goat a’ la Rebekah” to get the blessing! After all, Rebekah did have 20 more years of experience in preparing meals for Isaac!
And Rebekah finally told Jacob the reason for this deception: she wanted Jacob to get the blessing, and not Esau, before Isaac died.
Verses 11-29 give more details about how Jacob listened to his mother and borrowed some of Esau’s clothes in order to fool Isaac. Remember, Isaac’s vision or eyesight was failing him by this time (verse 1) and Rebekah used this, she thought, to her advantage. Jacob had protested this, knowing he was a smooth man while Esau had more hair on his body, but Rebekah told Jacob to use some goatskins to represent hair!
The rest of this passage, omitted to save space, goes on to describe Jacob’s attempt, and success, to fool his father into thinking Jacob was really Esau! Isaac seemed to have his doubts but at the end, gave the blessing to Jacob. Once he had received it, Jacob left, probably as fast as his feet would take him away from Isaac’s tent!
And then came Esau, bringing another helping or serving of “savory meat” like the kind Isaac loved along with him. Verses 30-40, again omitted to save space, now describe what happened when Esau came to Isaac’s tent. In a word, Isaac was convinced Esau had already come and gone, but when he realized it was truly Esau, he “trembled very exceedingly (!)” Other versions will give other renderings, but it’s fair to say that Isaac was shaken up beyond anything he had ever experienced before!
Esau, in what may have been the only time he ever shed tears, asked Isaac—twice—if there wasn’t a blessing left for him, too. Isaac indeed gave him a blessing (verses 39-40). But Esau was furious and he expressed his hatred of Jacob.
Word of this came to Rebekah and she promptly informed Jacob about this. Isn’t it interesting how Rebekah seemed to know everything that went on in the camp” First, Isaac’s desire and now Isaac’s deception: and she wasn’t about to let anything happen to _her_ favorite son. Now verses 41-45 relate how she advised Jacob to run for his life, at least until Esau’s anger cooled down (was that ever going to happen?), then she would send word for him to come back home.
But before she sent Jacob off to her brother’s place—her home area—she came to Isaac with what she believed was a legitimate concern. Jacob was apparently still single, but Esau had at least two foreign wives, and Rebekah used this as a springboard for her next plan.
3 Isaac gave direction
Text, Genesis 27:46-28:1-5, KJV: 27:46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me? 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. 2 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother. 3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; 4 And 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, which God gave unto Abraham. 5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
Rebekah’s concerns are stated in verse 46. How she voiced this, especially the last phrase translated “what good shall my life do me?” has other renderings in other versions. At the very least she didn’t want Jacob to marry the same kind of women Esau had chosen. Isaac must have remembered that his own mother, Sarah, had died quite a few years before Abraham and didn’t want that to be repeated with his own wife!
Now Isaac summoned Jacob, to give him advice as to what he should do. These are also the last recorded words of Isaac. Truthfully, Isaac also gave Jacob another blessing after he gave some conditions (commands?) before sending Jacob on his way. The first was to not marry a girl from Canaan. This is logical because Esau, as mentioned, had already married two such women and the effect/s—not mentioned in Scripture—was obvious to both Isaac and Rebekah.
The second command was to go to Paddan-Aram, the land of Rebekah’s birth and youth, and marry a woman from there. This sounds quite similar to the commands of Abraham to his servant, when Abraham decided it was time for Isaac to find a wife. That beautiful story is told in Genesis 24. The differences, though, are striking: then, Abraham sent a servant but now, Isaac sends his own son; then, the servant brought 10 camel loads of stuff to impress the lady, but now, Jacob had nothing but himself; then, Abraham said nothing recorded in Scripture that looked like a blessing, but now, Isaac gives Jacob a final blessing.
Something of interest is what is not recorded. There is no mention that Isaac said anything to Jacob about stealing Esau’s blessing or even how he had cheated Esau of the birthright years before. Either Isaac forgot, or chose to forget,, or had a premonition he would never see Jacob again. Even so, these last recorded words of Isaac have a glimmer of hope: he, like Isaac and Abraham, would inherit the very land where he had lived. This was partially fulfilled when Joshua led the children of Israel to Canaan, and will be totally fulfilled when the Lord Jesus Christ returns from Heaven to establish His Kingdom on earth one day! Lord, hasten the day!
Conclusion: Isaac was old, nearly blind, and figured he was near the end of his earthly life. He made a request for, perhaps, one final special dinner as prepared by Esau, but was fooled when Jacob tricked him into giving him the blessing intended for Esau. Isaac had his doubts but didn’t act on them, having a much different blessing for Esau than either one of them intended.
Isaac was fooled—once—and even though Scripture does not record any of his reactions, he may have never gotten over it. May we too be careful and not be fooled. The results of one encounter may become something impossible to correct.
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
