Testimonia — Early Christian Bible Commentary
Genesis 27 · World English Bible
1When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to him, “Here I am.”
2He said, “See now, I am old. I don’t know the day of my death.
3Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and get me venison.
4Make 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.”
5Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
6Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
7‘Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless you before the LORD before my death.’
8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you.
9Go now to the flock and get me two good young goats from there. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves.
10You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”
11Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
12What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing.”
13His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me.”
14He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved.
15Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
16She put the skins of the young goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck.
17She gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
18He came to his father, and said, “My father?” He said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me.”
20Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He said, “Because the LORD your God gave me success.”
21Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
22Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23He didn’t recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him.
24He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He said, “I am.”
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.”
30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that your soul may bless me.”
32Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
33Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed.”
34When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father.”
35He said, “Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing.”
36He said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing.” He said, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”
37Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then will I do for you, my son?”
38Esau said to his father, “Do you have just one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.” Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
39Isaac his father answered him, “Behold, your dwelling will be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of the sky from above.
40You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you will shake his yoke from off your neck.”
41Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran.
44Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away—
45until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
46Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”
World English Bible · World English Bible; source eBible.org.
Notes on Genesis 27
1869 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 27, etc.
Editorial footnote · Against Heresies, Book 5 / Chap. xxxiii. — Further proofs of the same proposition, drawn from the promises made by Christ, when He declared that He would drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples in His Father's kingdom, while at the same time He promised to reward them an hundred-fold, and to make them partake of banquets. The blessing pronounced by Jacob had pointed out this already, as Papias and the elders have interpreted it., editorial note cite_note-282 · Original source
1869 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 28, 29.
Editorial footnote · Against Heresies, Book 5 / Chap. xxxiii. — Further proofs of the same proposition, drawn from the promises made by Christ, when He declared that He would drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples in His Father's kingdom, while at the same time He promised to reward them an hundred-fold, and to make them partake of banquets. The blessing pronounced by Jacob had pointed out this already, as Papias and the elders have interpreted it., editorial note cite_note-284 · Original source
1869 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Cf. Gen. xxvii. 27.
Editorial footnote · Against Celsus, The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2 / ORIGEN CONTRA CELSUM. / ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. BOOK I. / Chapter XLVIII., editorial note f1201 · Original source
1870 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 41, etc.
Editorial footnote · First Epistle to the Corinthians, The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers / THE FIRST EPISTLE OF CLEMENT. / THE FIRST EPISTLE OF CLEMENT TO THE CORINTHIANS. / Chap. iv.—Many evils have already flowed from this source in ancient times., editorial note f17 · Original source
1871 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 27-29.
Editorial footnote · The City of God, THE CITY OF GOD. / BOOK SIXTEENTH. / ARGUMENT., editorial note Footnote_321_321 · Original source
1871 (English edition) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 33.
Editorial footnote · The City of God, THE CITY OF GOD. / BOOK SIXTEENTH. / ARGUMENT., editorial note Footnote_322_322 · Original source
1885 (historical English edition; physical printing year uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 28.
Editorial footnote · The Five Books Against Marcion, Book 3, Chapter 24, editorial note cite_note-25 · Original source
1885 (historical English edition; physical printing year uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 39.
Editorial footnote · The Five Books Against Marcion, Book 3, Chapter 24, editorial note cite_note-28 · Original source
1886 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 27–29.
Editorial footnote · The Treatises of Cyprian, Chapter uncertain; original source section: Part 21, editorial note cite_note-3 · Original source
1887 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 16–19
Editorial footnote · Against Lying, Chapter uncertain; original source section: Section 24, editorial note cite_note-7 · Original source
1888 (historical English edition; physical printing year uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 19.
Editorial footnote · Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 8, editorial note cite_note-13 · Original source
1888 (historical English edition; physical printing year uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 41.
Editorial footnote · Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 40, editorial note cite_note-32 · Original source
1892 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)
Gen. xxvii. 1
Editorial footnote · Dialogues, Chapter uncertain; original source section: The Impassible, editorial note cite_note-15 · Original source
Date uncertain | Ambrose of Milan
20. Suppose that things come which are accounted terrible as regards the grief they cause, such as blindness, exile, hunger, violation of a daughter, loss of children. Who will deny that Isaac was blessed, who did not see in his old age, and yet gave blessings with his benediction? Was not Jacob blessed who, leaving his father’s house, endured exile as a shepherd for pay, and mourned for the violated chastity of his daughter, and suffered hunger? Were they not blessed on whose good faith God received witness, as it is written: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter V., source paragraph 7 · Original source
Date uncertain | Irenaeus of Lyons (historical collection attribution)
3. The blessing of Isaac with which he blessed his younger son Jacob has the same meaning, when he says, “Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field which the Lord has blessed.” But “the field is the world.” And therefore he added, “God give to thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, plenty of corn and wine. And let the nations serve thee, and kings bow down to thee; and be thou lord over thy brother, and thy father’s sons shall bow down to thee: cursed shall be he who shall curse thee, and blessed shall be he who shall bless thee.” If any one, then, does not accept these things as referring to the appointed kingdom, he must fall into much contradiction and contrariety, as is the case with the Jews, who are involved in absolute perplexity. For not only did not the nations in this life serve this Jacob; but even after he had received the blessing, he himself going forth [from his home], served his uncle Laban the Syrian for twenty years; and not only was he not made lord of his brother, but he did himself bow down before his brother Esau, upon his return from Mesopotamia to his father, and offered many gifts to him. Moreover, in what way did he inherit much corn and wine here, he who emigrated to Egypt because of the famine which possessed the land in which he was dwelling, and became subject to Pharaoh, who was then ruling over Egypt? The predicted blessing, therefore, belongs unquestionably to the times of the kingdom, when the righteous shall bear rule upon their rising from the dead; when also the creation, having been renovated and set free, shall fructify with an abundance of all kinds of food, from the dew of heaven, and from the fertility of the earth: as the elders who saw John, the disciple of the Lord, related that they had heard from him how the Lord used to teach in regard to these times, and say: The days will come, in which vines shall grow, each having ten thousand branches, and in each branch ten thousand twigs, and in each true twig ten thousand shoots, and in each one of the shoots ten thousand clusters, and on every one of the clusters ten thousand grapes, and every grape when pressed will give five and twenty metretes of wine. And when any one of the saints shall lay hold of a cluster, another shall cry out, “I am a better cluster, take me; bless the Lord through me.” In like manner [the Lord declared] that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand ears, and that every ear should have ten thousand grains, and every grain would yield ten pounds (quinque bilibres) of clear, pure, fine flour; and that all other fruit-bearing trees, and seeds and grass, would produce in similar proportions (secundum congruentiam iis consequentem); and that all animals feeding [only] on the productions of the earth, should [in those days] become peaceful and harmonious among each other, and be in perfect subjection to man.
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Against Heresies: Book V, Chapter uncertain (transcription heading: Chapter XXXIII), source paragraph 134 · Original source
Date uncertain | John Chrysostom
[3.] Ver. 17. “For ye know” (he says) “how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” What now is this? Doth he indeed exclude repentance? By no means. ‘But how, you say, was it that “he found no place of repentance”?’ For if he condemned himself, if he made a great wailing, why did he “find no place of repentance”? Because it was not really a case of repentance. For as the grief of Cain was not of repentance, and the murder proved it; so also in this case, his words were not those of repentance, and the murder afterwards proved it. For even he also in intention slew Jacob. For “The days of mourning for my father,” he said, “are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.” ( Gen. xxvii. 41.) “Tears” had not power to give him “repentance.” And [the Apostle] did not say “by repentance” simply, but even “with tears, he found no place of repentance.” Why now? Because he did not repent as he ought, for this is repentance; he repented not as it behoved him.
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Homilies on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Homily 31, source paragraph 14 · Original source
Date uncertain | John Chrysostom
Herewith consider this also; that thou injurest not him whom thou enviest, but into thyself thou art thrusting the sword. For wherein did Cain injure Abel? Did he not even against his own will send him the more quickly into the kingdom? but himself he pierced through with innumerable evils. Wherein did Esau harm Jacob? Did not Jacob grow wealthy, and enjoy unnumbered blessings; while he himself both became an outcast from his father’s house, and wandered in a strange land, after that plot of his? And wherein did Jacob’s sons again make Joseph the worse, and this, though they proceeded even unto blood? had not they to endure famine, and encounter peril to the utmost, whereas he became king of all Egypt? For the more thou enviest, the more dost thou become a procurer of greater blessing to the object of thine envy. For there is a God who beholds these things; and when He sees him injured, that doeth no injury, him He exalts the more, and so makes him glorious, but thee He punishes.
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 40, source paragraph 39 · Original source
Date uncertain | Theodoret of Cyrus
Orth.—Because the body which suffered was His body. But let us look at the matter thus; when we hear the divine Scripture saying “And it came to pass when Isaac was old his eyes were dim so that he could not see,” whither is our mind carried and on what does it rest, on Isaac’s soul or on his body?
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · Dialogues, Chapter uncertain; original source section: The Impassible, source paragraph 147 · Original source