the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
Click here to learn more!
Read the Bible
Easy-to-Read Version
Genesis 27:4
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- CondensedParallel Translations
and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die."
And make savory food for me, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat. That my soul may bless you before I die.
When you prepare the tasty food that I love, bring it to me, and I will eat. Then I will bless you before I die."
Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me. Then I will eat it so that I may bless you before I die."
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.
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 make me a savory and delicious dish [of meat], the kind I love, and bring it to me to eat, so that my soul may bless you [as my firstborn son] before I die."
make to me a seew therof, as thou knowist that Y wole, and brynge that Y ete, and my soule blesse thee bifore that Y die.
and make for me tasteful things, [such] as I have loved, and bring in to me, and I do eat, so that my soul doth bless thee before I die.'
Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die."
Cook some of that tasty food that I love so much and bring it to me. I want to eat it once more and give you my blessing before I die."
Make it tasty, the way I like it; and bring it to me to eat. Then I will bless you [as firstborn], before I die."
and make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.
And make me food, good to the taste, such as is pleasing to me, and put it before me, so that I may have a meal and give you my blessing before death comes to me.
And make me well tastyng meates, such as I loue, and bryng it to me, that I may eate, that my soule may blesse thee before that I dye.
and prepare me a savoury dish such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, in order that my soul may bless thee before I die.
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.'
And make me sauoury meat, such as I loue, and bring it to mee, that I may eate, that my soule may blesse thee before I die.
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.
Get some food ready for me that I love. Bring it to me to eat, so that before I die I will pray that good will come to you."
Then prepare for me savory food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die."
and make for me dainty meats, such as I love and bring in to me, that I may eat, - To the end my soul may bless thee, ere yet I lie!
Then make mee sauourie meate, such as I loue, and bring it me that I may eat, and that my soule may blesse thee, before I die.
And make me stewed meat, such as I like, and bring it to me, that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.
Cook me some of that tasty food that I like, and bring it to me. After I have eaten it, I will give you my final blessing before I die."
Make me a savoury meat thereof, as thou knowest I like, and bring it that I may eat: and my soul may bless thee, before I die.
and prepare for me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat; that I may bless you before I die."
and make me meats, as I like them, and bring them to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee, before I die.
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.
Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die.”
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.
Then make for me tasty food like I love, and bring it to me. And I will eat it so that I can bless you before I die.
And make for me delicious things, such as I love, and bring to me, and I will eat; so that my soul may bless you before I die.
and make me meate (soch as I loue) and brynge it me herein, that I may eate, yt my soule maye blesse the, before I dye.
and prepare a delicious meal for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die."
And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die."
Prepare my favorite dish, and bring it here for me to eat. Then I will pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die."
and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die."
and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die."
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
that I may eat: The blessing, says Dr. A. Clarke, which Isaac was to confer on his son, was a species of divine right, and must be communicated with appropriate ceremonies. As eating and drinking were used among the Asiatics on almost all religious occasions, and especially in making and confirming covenants, it is reasonable to suppose, that something of this kind was essentially necessary on this occasion; and that Isaac could not convey the right, till he had eaten of the meat provided for the purpose by him who was to receive the blessing.
that my: Genesis 27:7, Genesis 27:23, Genesis 27:25, Genesis 27:27, Genesis 14:19, Genesis 24:60, Genesis 28:3, Genesis 48:9, Genesis 48:15-20, Genesis 49:28, Leviticus 9:22, Leviticus 9:23, Deuteronomy 33:1-29, Joshua 14:13, Joshua 22:6, Luke 2:34, Luke 24:51, Hebrews 11:20
Reciprocal: Genesis 25:28 - he did eat of his venison Genesis 27:9 - savoury Genesis 27:14 - mother Genesis 27:19 - that thy Genesis 27:31 - eat Genesis 28:1 - blessed Luke 24:50 - he lifted John 1:13 - nor of the will of the
Cross-References
He blessed Abram and said, "Abram, may you be blessed by God Most High, the one who made heaven and earth.
While Rebekah was leaving they said to her, "Our sister, may you be the mother of millions of people, and may your descendants defeat their enemies and take their cities."
Isaac grew old, and his eyes became so weak that he could not see clearly. One day he called his older son Esau to him and said, "Son!" Esau answered, "Here I am."
Your father said, ‘Kill an animal for me to eat. Prepare the food for me, and I will eat it. Then, with the Lord as witness, I will bless you before I die.'
Then Rebekah took the clothes that her older son Esau loved to wear. She put these clothes on the younger son Jacob.
But Isaac said to his son, "How have you hunted and killed the animals so quickly?" Jacob answered, "Because the Lord your God allowed me to find the animals quickly."
So Jacob went to Isaac his father. Isaac felt him and said, "Your voice sounds like Jacob's voice, but your arms are hairy like the arms of Esau."
Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his arms were hairy like Esau's. So Isaac blessed Jacob.
Then Isaac said, "Bring me the food. I will eat it and bless you." So Jacob gave him the food, and he ate it. Then Jacob gave him some wine, and he drank it.
So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. When Isaac smelled Esau's clothes, he blessed him and said, "My son smells like the fields the Lord has blessed.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And make me savoury meat, such as I love,.... For, though he had lost his sight, he had not lost his taste, nor his appetite for savoury food:
and bring [it] to me, that I may eat; this, was enjoined to make trial of his filial affection and duty to him, before he blessed him:
that my soul may bless thee before I die; not only that he might do it with cheerfulness and vivacity, having eaten a comfortable meal, and being refreshed with it, but that having had proof of his son's duty and affection to him, he might confer the blessing on him heartily: this blessing was not an ordinary and common one, but what parents used to bestow upon their children at the time of their death, or a little before it; and good men oftentimes did this under a spirit of prophecy, declaring what would be the case and circumstances of their children in time to come; and particularly the principal part of the blessing of Isaac, which Abraham had entailed upon him by divine direction, and he thought to have entailed on Esau his firstborn, was the promise of the descent of the Messiah from him and his seed, and of the possession of the land of Canaan by them: and this shows that Rebekah had not made known the oracle to Isaac, that the "elder should serve the younger",
Genesis 25:23: or, if she had, he had forgot, or did not understand it, and might think it respected not the persons of his sons, but their posterity; or however, from a natural affection for Esau his firstborn, and that the blessing and inheritance might go in the common channel, he was desirous he should have it; and he might also be ignorant of Esau's having sold his birthright to Jacob, or that he made no account of it.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- 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.
Genesis 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, Jacobâs flight to Laban took place when he was seventy-seven, and therefore in the one hundred and thirty-sixth year of Isaac. âHis eyes were dim.â Weakness and even loss of sight is more frequent in Palestine than with us. âHis older son.â 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. âI am old.â 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.
Genesis 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 fatherâs 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 Esauâs 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. âWho art thou, my son?â The voice of Jacob was somewhat constrained. He goes, however, deliberately through the process of deceiving his father. âArise, now, sit and eat.â Isaac was reclining on his couch, in the feebleness of advancing years. Sitting was the posture convenient for eating. âThe Lord thy God prospered me.â This is the bold reply to Isaacâs 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 Esauâs; the eyes give no testimony. After this the result is summarily stated in a single sentence, though the particulars are yet to be given. âArt thou my very son Esau?â A lurking doubt puts the definite question, and receives a decisive answer. Isaac then calls for the repast and partakes.
Genesis 27:26-29
He gives the kiss of paternal affection, and pronounces the benediction. It contains, first, a fertile soil. âOf the dew of heaven.â An abundant measure of this was especially precious in a country where the rain is confined to two seasons of the year. âOf the fatness of the earth;â a proportion of this to match and render available the dew of heaven. âCorn and wine,â the substantial products, implying all the rest. Second, a numerous and powerful offspring. âLet peoples serve theeâ - pre-eminence among the nations. âBe lord of thy brethrenâ - pre-eminence among his kindred. Isaac does not seem to have grasped the full meaning of the prediction, âThe older shall serve the younger.â 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 Isaacâs 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.
Genesis 27:30-41
Esauâs blessing. Esau comes in, but it is too late. âWho then?â The whole illusion is dispelled from the mind of Isaac. âYea, blessed he shall be.â 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, âHast thou but one blessing?â
Genesis 27:39-41
At length, in reply to the weeping suppliant, he bestows upon him a characteristic blessing. âAway from the fatness.â The preposition (×× mıÌy) 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, Proverbs 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 (Malachi 1:3). âOn thy sword.â By preying upon others. âAnd thy brother shalt thou serve.â Edom was long independent; but at length Saul was victorious over them 1 Samuel 14:47, and David conquered them 2 Samuel 8:14. Then followed a long struggle, until John Hyrcanus, 129 b.c., compelled them to be circumcised and incorporated into Judaism. âBreak his yoke.â 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 fatherâs death.
Genesis 27:42-46
Rebekah hearing this, advises Jacob to flee to Laban her brother, and await the abatement of his brotherâs anger. âThat which thou hast done to him.â 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.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Genesis 27:4. Savoury meat — ×××¢××× matammim, from ××¢× taam, to taste or relish; how dressed we know not, but its name declares its nature.
That I may eat — The blessing which Isaac was to confer on his son was a species of Divine right, and must be communicated with appropriate ceremonies. As eating and drinking were used among the Asiatics on almost all religious occasions, and especially in making and confirming covenants, it is reasonable to suppose that something of this kind was essentially necessary on this occasion, and that Isaac could not convey the right till he had eaten of the meat provided for the purpose by him who was to receive the blessing. As Isaac was now old, and in a feeble and languishing condition, it was necessary that the flesh used on this occasion should be prepared so as to invite the appetite, that a sufficiency of it might be taken to revive and recruit his drooping strength, that he might be the better able to go through the whole of this ceremony.
This seems to be the sole reason why savoury meat is so particularly mentioned in the text. When we consider,
1. That no covenant was deemed binding unless the parties had eaten together;
2. That to convey this blessing some rite of this kind was necessary; and,
3. That Isaac's strength was now greatly exhausted, insomuch that he supposed himself to be dying; we shall at once see why meat was required on this occasion, and why that meat was to be prepared so as to deserve the epithet of savoury.
As I believe this to be the true sense of the place, I do not trouble my readers with interpretations which I suppose to be either exceptionable or false.
