Commentary - Genesis 27:1-4

Bird's-eye view

Here we have the beginning of a sorry episode, a tangled web of domestic intrigue, carnal appetites, and blatant favoritism. And yet, through it all, the sovereign purposes of God are being worked out perfectly. Isaac, the patriarch, is old and blind, and this physical blindness is a fitting picture of his spiritual state. He is preparing to give the covenantal blessing, a matter of grave spiritual importance, but he is doing so on the basis of his stomach. He wants to give the blessing to Esau, the son he loves, in direct contradiction to the prophecy God had given to Rebekah that the older would serve the younger (Gen. 25:23). This is a man attempting to steer the ship of God's covenant according to his own fleshly preferences. He is about to learn, as all God's people must, that the Lord's counsel will stand, and He will do all His pleasure, often in spite of our best laid, and most sinful, plans.

This passage sets the stage for the deception that follows. Isaac is operating by sense, not by faith. He wants to taste, to feel, to handle the situation himself. This reliance on the flesh is what opens the door for Rebekah and Jacob's carnal solution. The whole family is walking by sight. Isaac wants to bless the son he prefers, Rebekah wants to secure the blessing for the son she prefers, and Esau is still trying to get a blessing he had already despised. It is a mess. But it is God's mess, and He is the master weaver who can take these tangled, sinful threads and produce the beautiful tapestry of His redemptive plan.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 1a Now it happened that when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see... The narrative begins by establishing Isaac's condition. He is old, and his sight has failed him. This is more than just a biographical detail. In Scripture, blindness is frequently a metaphor for spiritual inability or ignorance. Isaac cannot see physically, and in this moment, he cannot see God's will clearly either. He is about to make a monumental decision based on his own feelings and appetites, blind to the prophetic word that had already been given concerning his two sons. His physical weakness mirrors his spiritual weakness. He is a patriarch in the dark, fumbling his way toward a decision that God has already settled.

v. 1b ...that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” Isaac's favoritism, noted earlier in Genesis 25:28, now comes to a head. He calls Esau, his "older son," the one he loved because he ate of his game. This is an act of deliberate defiance against the revealed will of God. The prophecy was clear: "the older shall serve the younger." But Isaac prefers the rugged, worldly man of the field. The tender address, "My son," is misplaced. It is an affection rooted in carnal preference, not in covenant faithfulness. Esau's ready reply, "Here I am," shows his willingness to participate in this subversion of God's plan. He is still seeking the blessing he had so casually sold for a bowl of soup.

v. 2 And Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old, and I do not know the day of my death.” Isaac's motivation is his sense of impending death. This ought to be a moment for sober, spiritual reflection, a time to ensure that God's covenant promises are passed on faithfully. Instead, it becomes an excuse for self-indulgence. He uses his age as a pretext to get what he wants. He feels the end is near, and he wants one last taste of his favorite meal before he performs his patriarchal duty. This is a man thinking about his own satisfaction, not the glory of God or the integrity of the covenant. The fear of death is driving him to act on his own terms, to try and secure the future according to his own wisdom.

v. 3 So now, please take up your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; Here is the instruction. Isaac wants Esau to be Esau. He wants the hunter, the man of the flesh, to go and do what he does best. He is commissioning Esau in his very worldliness. The tools of the trade, the quiver and bow, are symbols of Esau's character, profane, earthly, concerned with the things of this world. Isaac is not asking Esau for a demonstration of faith or repentance, but rather for a demonstration of his hunting prowess. The entire enterprise is being set up on a foundation of carnality.

v. 4 ...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. This is the heart of the matter, the transactional nature of Isaac's plan. The blessing is explicitly conditioned on the meal. "Bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you." The sacred, irrevocable, covenantal blessing of the patriarch is being reduced to a payment for a tasty dinner. Isaac's "soul" will bless Esau, but only after his stomach has been satisfied. This is a profound confusion of categories. He is allowing his physical appetite to dictate a spiritual reality of immense consequence. He loves the savory dish, and he loves the son who provides it, and he intends to make that love the basis for the covenant succession. This is the logic of the flesh, and it is a recipe for disaster, which God in His wisdom will use to accomplish His own perfect will.

Key Issues

The Carnal Basis for a Spiritual Blessing

The central problem in this passage is Isaac's attempt to bestow the covenant blessing on a purely carnal basis. The blessing of Abraham was not a mere inheritance of property; it was the line through which the Messiah, the seed of the woman, would come. It carried with it the promise of land, descendants, and a unique relationship with God. It was a spiritual reality with immense historical and redemptive weight.

Yet, Isaac treats it as a reward for a good meal. His request is not for Esau to demonstrate faith, or to affirm the covenant, but simply to satisfy his father's palate. "Prepare a savory dish for me such as I love... so that my soul may bless you." This reduces a sacred act to a fleshly transaction. It is a stark illustration of how easily we can allow our physical appetites and personal preferences to cloud our spiritual judgment. Isaac is walking by taste, not by faith. This is a profound error, and it creates the opening for the deception that follows. God's purposes are not determined by our appetites, and when we try to make them so, we invite chaos into our lives. God will get His man, Jacob, into the place of blessing, but He will do so through the wreckage of this family's sinful, carnal maneuvering.

Application

This story serves as a potent warning against allowing our personal preferences and fleshly appetites to dictate our spiritual decisions. Isaac was the patriarch, the bearer of the covenant, and yet he was ready to subvert God's revealed will simply because he liked Esau's venison. How often do we do the same in smaller ways? We might favor a certain leader, a certain style of worship, or a certain ministry not because it is most faithful to Scripture, but because it appeals to our tastes, our comforts, or our traditions.

Isaac was trying to bless the man he loved, instead of the man God had chosen. We must constantly be on guard against this temptation. Our duty is not to bless whom we like, but to be faithful to the Word of God. We are called to walk by faith, not by sight, and certainly not by taste or smell. When we make decisions in our families, in our churches, and in our own lives, the first question must not be "What do I want?" but rather "What has God said?" Isaac's failure here led to deceit, strife, and decades of family turmoil. Though God overruled it all for good, the pain was real. Let us learn from his mistake and submit our appetites to God's authority, lest we also find ourselves blessing the wrong things for the wrong reasons.