Scripture Daily

Context No. 161 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 27:25-29: in context

25He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless you.” He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank. 26His father Isaac said to him, “Come near now, and kiss me, my son.” 27He came near, and kissed him. 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. 28God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine. 29Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you.”

Rebekah has dressed Jacob in Esau's clothes and put goatskins on his hands and neck. Isaac, old and nearly blind, has already asked twice whether this is really Esau. This passage is the blessing going through anyway.

The old man works entirely by sense. He eats the food, drinks the wine, asks for a kiss, and then smells the clothing. The smell of my son is like the smell of a field the LORD has blessed. Esau's coat, worn by the wrong son, carries the outdoor smell of the hunter. Every sense Isaac has left is being used, and each one has been prepared for.

The blessing he gives is agricultural and political: dew of heaven, fatness of the earth, grain and wine, nations serving you, be lord over your brothers. In the culture of the text a blessing once spoken could not be recalled, which is why the discovery a few verses later is so violent, Esau crying out with a great and bitter cry. Isaac had suspected. He asked, and then went ahead on the evidence of a smell. What have I gone ahead with despite a suspicion I raised out loud and then let drop?

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