ותכהין HIS EYES WERE DIM through the smoke raised by these women in offering incense to idols (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 8). Another explanation is: When Isaac was bound upon the altar and his father was about to slay him, at that very moment the heavens opened, the ministering angels saw it and wept, and their tears flowed and fell upon Isaac’s eyes which thus became dim (Genesis Rabbah 65:10). Another explanation is: They became dim just in order that Jacob might receive the blessings (Genesis Rabbah 65:8).

לא ידעתי יום מותי I KNOW NOT THE DAY OF MY DEATH — R. Joshua the son of Korcha said: When a person approaches the age at which his parents died he may well be anxious five years before and five years after. Isaac was then one hundred and twenty three years old and he said, “Perhaps I shall only reach the age of my mother who died at the age of 127 and I am now within five years of her age: therefore, I know not the day of my death —I may only reach the age of my mother or it may be the age of my father” (Genesis Rabbah 65:12).

שא נא — The word שא means sharpen, similar to what שא read in the Mishna (Beitzah 28a) “One may not sharpen the knife in the usual manner but one may sharpen it by passing it (משיאין) over another”. Isaac said to Esau, “Sharpen your knife and slaughter an animal according to the regulations so that you may not give me to eat נבלה” (i.e. the flesh of animal that is not killed according to the ritual rules) (Genesis Rabbah 65:13).

תליך means thy sword which is usually hung (at the side).

צודה לי AND HUNT FOR ME [SOME VENISON] of animals that are ownerless, but not of such as are acquired by theft (literally, by robbery).

לצוד ציד להביא TO HUNT FOR VENISON IN ORDER TO BRING IT —What is the force of to bring it? It means that he intended that if he would find no venison (flesh of a wild, ownerless animal) he would bring home of the flesh of an animal acquired by theft (Genesis Rabbah 65:13).

'לפני ה BEFORE THE LORD — By his permission: that He should approve of what I do.

וקח לי AND TAKE FOR ME — (The words may mean “Take that which belongs to me”) — these are mine and not the proceeds of theft. Isaac had made provision in her marriage contract that she should receive daily two kids of the goats (Genesis Rabbah 65:14).

שני גדיי עזים TWO KIDS OF THE GOATS — Did then two kids of the goats form a meal for Isaac? But the explanation is: it being Passover he offered one as his Paschal sacrifice and of the other he prepared the savoury food. So is it stated in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 32).

כאשר אהב SUCH AS HE LOVETH (Genesis 27:5) — For the taste of a kid is similar to the taste of a deer.

איש שער means A HAIRY MAN.

ימשני HE WILL FEEL ME — The word is of the same root as the verb in (Deuteronomy 28:29) “One groping (ממשש) at noon-day”.

החמדות THE COSTLY GARMENTS — the clean ones, as the Targum has it, דכיתא (clean); (cf. Rashbam). Another explanation: They are called חמדות literally, coveted ones, because he had coveted them from Nimrod (who also was a hunter; cf. Genesis 10:9) (Genesis Rabbah 65:16)

אשר אתה בבית WHICH WERE WITH HER IN THE HOUSE — But he had several wives and yet he stored them with his mother! But the reason for this was that he was acquainted with their practices and was suspicious of them (Genesis 10:9) (he feared that they might steal his clothes) (Genesis Rabbah 65:16).

אנכי עשו בכרך I AM ESAU THY FIRST-BORN — I am he that brings food to you, and Esau is your first-born.

עשיתי I HAVE DONE many things at different times כאשר דברת אלי ACCORDING AS THOU SPAKEST UNTO ME

שבה SIT — The word means to sit at the table and therefore it is translated in the Targum by אסתחר (from סחר to “go round” corresponding to the Hebrew סבב from which the term מֵסֵב to recline at, to sit round the table at a meal is derived).

גשה נא ואמשך STEP NEAR, I PRAY THEE, THAT I MAY FEEL THEE — Isaac said to himself, “It is not Esau’s way to mention the name of God so readily, and this one says, “Because the Lord thy God caused it thus to happen to me! קול יעקב (Genesis Rabbah 65:19).

THE VOICE OF JACOB, because he speaks in an entreating strain —“Arise I pray thee.” Esau, however, spoke in a harsh strain (v. 31) “Let my father arise” (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 11).

ויאמר אני AND HE SAID I AM — He did not say, “I am Esau”, but “It is I”.

’וירח וגו AND HE SMELLED etc.— Surely there is no more offensive smell than that of washed goat-skins! But Scripture implicitly tells us that the perfume of the Garden of Eden entered the room with him (Genesis Rabbah 65:22).

כריח שדה אשר ברכו AS THE ODOUR OF A FIELD WHICH THE ETERNAL HATH BLESSED — to which God has given a pleasant perfume: it refers to a field of apple-trees. So have our Rabbis, of blessed memory, explained it (Taanit 29b).

ויתן לך THEREFORE GOD GIVE THEE — May he give thee and give thee repeatedly (Genesis Rabbah 66:3). However, according to its real meaning it must be connected with the preceding statement — viz., with the words, “See, the smell of my son, which the Holy One, blessed be He, has given him is like the smell of the field etc.“ And may He also give thee of the dew of heaven

מטל השמים OF THE DEW OF HEAVEN — Take it in the ordinary sense of the words; but there are Midrashic explanations giving many different meanings

האלהים GOD [GIVE THEE]—What denotes the use here of the Divine Name אלהים which signifies God in His attribute of Justice? May He act in justice! If you are worthy of it may He give it to you, and if not, let Him not give it to you. But to Esau he said, (Genesis 27:39) “The fat places of the earth shall be thy dwelling” —whether you be righteous or wicked He will give you this. From him (Isaac) did Solomon learn when he built the Temple how to compose his prayer (having in mind a similar idea): An Israelite who is a man of faith and acknowledges that God’s judgment is just will not reproach You;—therefore (1 Kings 8:39) “Render unto every man (Israelite; 1 Kings 8:38) according to his ways whose heart thou knowest”. A stranger, however, is lacking in faith; therefore Solomon said, (1 Kings 8:43) “Hear thou in heaven … and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for — whether he be worthy or unworthy grant him his request in order that he may not reproach You. This explanation of האלהים is found in an old and correct text of Rashi.

בני אמך THY MOTHER’S SONS — Jacob, however, said to Judah (49:8) “Thy father’s sons (shall bow down to thee]”, because he had sons by several wives, but here, because he (Isaac) had but one wife he said “thy mother’s sons” (Genesis Rabbah 66:4).

ארריך ארור ומברכיך ברוך THEY THAT CURSE THEE SHALL BE CURSED AND THEY THAT BLESS THEE SHALL BE BLESSED — But in the case of Balaam Scripture says (Numbers 24:9) “Blessed be everyone that blesseth thee and cursed be every one that curseth thee”. The explanation is: the righteous have sufferings first and happiness afterwards, so that in point of time those who curse and afflict them (cause them suffering) come before those who bless them (cause them happiness) — therefore Isaac, a righteous man, invokes a curse upon those who themselves curse before he invokes a blessing upon those who bless. The wicked however have happiness first and suffering afterwards; therefore Balaam, a wicked man, invokes the blessing before the curse (Genesis Rabbah 66:4).

יצא יצא [JACOB] WAS YET SCARCE GONE OUT — this means, as one went out the other came in (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 11).

ויחרד [AND ISAAC] TREMBLED — Explain it as the Targum renders it ותוה, which means he was perplexed. The Midrashic explanation (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 11) is that he saw Gehinnom opening beneath him (Esau).

מי אפוא WHO THEN IS HE — The word אפוא is an independent particle having no etymological connection with any other Hebrew word and is used with many different shades of meaning Another explanation of אפוא is that it is the same as איה פה where here, — so that מי אפוא means “Who is he and where is he here that hath hunted venison”?)

ואכל מכל AND I HAVE EATEN OF ALL — all tastes that I desired to find in it I indeed found therein (Genesis Rabbah 67:2).

גם ברוך יהיה YEA, AND HE SHALL BE BLESSED — In order that you may not say “If Jacob had not deceived his father he would never have received the blessing”, he, therefore, confirmed it, blessing him now of his own free will (Genesis Rabbah 67:2).

במרמה WITH SUBTLETY — with cleverness (cf. Onkelos).

הכי קרא שמו IS IT BECAUSE HE HAS BEEN CALLED [JACOB]—This is a question, like (29:15) “Is it because (הכי) thou art my brother?” Perhaps that is why they have given him the name Jacob — in reference to what was to happen in the future — that he would some time or other supplant me (יעקבני)? (Tanchuma). Why did Isaac tremble? He thought: Perhaps I have sinned in blessing the younger before the elder, thus changing the order of relationship between them. But when Esau began to cry out, “for he hath supplanted me these two times”, his father asked him, “What did he do to you?” He replied, “He took away my birth-right”. Isaac thereupon said, “It was on account of this that I was grieved and trembled: perhaps I had overstepped the line of strict justice. Now, however, I have really blessed the first-born — ‘And he shall indeed be blessed’”.

ויעקבני THAT HE HATH SUPPLANTED ME — Explain it as the Targum renders it, וחכמני, which means “and he lay in wait for me.” The word (Deuteronomy 19:11) וארב “and he lies in wait” is rendered by the Targum וכמי. There are some who read in the Targum not וכמני but וחכמני which means “he showed himself clever against me” (outwitted me).

אצלת HAST THOU NOT RESERVED — the word means “separating״, “setting aside״, like (Numbers 11:25) “And he separated.

הן גביר AND BEHOLD I HAVE MADE HIM THY MASTER — This blessing is the seventh in the series of blessings which Isaac gave to Jacob (cf. w. 28. 29) and yet he (Isaac) singles it out as though it were the chief blessing? But the explanation is, he said to him (Esau): “What benefit will a blessing be to you? If you acquire property, it will belong to him, for “Behold, I have made him thy master״, and whatever a servant acquires becomes the property of his master (Genesis Rabbah 67:5).

ולכה אפוא מה אעשה בני AND WHAT SHALL I DO NOW UNTO THEE [MY SON?] — Where here (איפה) shall I look for something that I can do for you?

הברכה אחת HAST THOU BUT ONE BLESSING? The ה in הברכה is the interrogative prefix, as in (Num. XIII. 19, 20) “whether in camps (הבמחנים)”, “whether it is fat (השמנה)", and (2 Sam. III. 33) “Should Abner die (הכמות) as a churl dieth”?

משמני הארץ וגו THE FATNESS OF THE EARTH etc. — This refers to the Greek portions of Italy (Graeca Magna) (Genesis Rabbah 67:6).

ועל חרבך—The phrase is equivalent to בחרבך BY THY SWORD. The word על is sometimes used instead of the prefix ב, as (Ezekiel 33:26) “Ye stand by your sword (על חרבכם)”, which is the same as בחרבכם; (Exodus 6:26) “by their hosts (על צבאותם), which is the same as בצבאותם.

AND והיה כאשר תריד AND IT SHALL CAME TO PASS THAT WHEN THOU ROVEST ABOUT — The word תריד signifies grief, pain, as (Psalms 40:3) “I am distraught (אריד) in my complaint”. It means: when Israel will transgress the Torah and you will have reason to feel aggrieved with regard to the Blessings, ופרקת עלו וגו THEN THOU SHALT PULL HIS YOKE FROM OFF THY NECK (Genesis Rabbah 67:7).

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי THE DAYS OF MOURNING FOR MY FATHER APPROACH — Explain it according to the evident meaning of the words — (I will wait to kill him until my father is dead), that I may not cause grief to my father. There are Midrashic explanations of various kinds.

ויגד לרבקה WERE TOLD TO REBEKAH — It was told her by the Holy Spirit what Esau was thinking in his heart (Genesis Rabbah 67:9).

מתנחם לך DOTH COMFORT HIMSELF CONCERNING THEE — He regrets the brotherly relationship existing between you, harbouring thoughts other than those of brotherhood, to estrange himself from you and to kill you. The Midrashic explanation (Genesis Rabbah 67:9) is: In his eyes you are already regarded as dead and he has drunk for you (i. e. because he regards you as dead) the cup of consolation (which it was customary for near relatives of the deceased to drink). But according to the real meaning the word signifies “comforting” — he will comfort himself for the loss of the blessings by killing you.

אחדים means A FEW.

למה אשכל means WHY SHOULD I BE BEREAVED משניכם OF BOTH OF YOU? — The one who buries his children is termed שכול bereaved: so we find in the case of Jacob (43:14), “If I am to be bereaved (שכלתי) let me be bereaved”.

גם שניכם OF YOU BOTH — If he attacks you and you kill him his children will rise and kill you. The Holy Spirit poured itself forth upon her and she prophesied (had a presage) that they would both die on one day just as it is stated in the Chapter המקנה לאשתו (Sotah 13a).

קצתי בחיי means I AM DISGUSTED WITH MY LIFE.