ויהי כי זקן יצחק, “it happened when Yitzchok aged, noticeably;” According to Nachmanides, Yitzchok at that point had intended to bless Esau seeing that he would inherit the land of Canaan being the firstborn, and as such it would be his duty to uphold the covenant G’d had made with Avraham. Rivkah had never revealed to her husband the prophecy she had received while pregnant with the twins in her womb, according to which the older of the brothers would be subservient to the younger one. Had Rivkah revealed this information to him, Yitzchok would have been violating an express commandment by G’d if he had accorded the blessing of Avraham to his son Esau. The reason Rivkah had not revealed this information to her husband, was her innate modesty. She did not want Yitzchok to feel slighted that G’d had revealed information to her that He had not seen fit to reveal to her husband. Alternately, she thought that Yitzchok, being a saint, had to be aware of anything she knew and more than that, so that revealing to him something that he already knew would appear as if she had underestimated her husband’s close relations to his Creator. At any rate, she feared that due to his open preference for Esau, Yitzchok might not bestow a blessing on Yaakov at all. She was afraid that if she would reveal her prophetic vision to Yitzchok at this time, he would decide not to bestow a blessing on either son, but leave everything to heaven, as his father had done before him. Rabbi Joseph Kimchi does not believe that Yitzchok ever had the intention of bestowing on Esau the blessing of Avraham [which carried with it the power to bless or to curse effectively, Ed.] He did not feel that Yaakov needed a blessing, seeing that he was a righteous individual in his own right. He felt that Esau was in need of a blessing precisely because he was a wicked individual. He hoped that by providing Esau with the opportunity of pleasing his father by bringing him venison to eat, the pleasure he would experience eating it would restore a measure of Holy Spirit to him, something that had been lacking in his life of late. Even the prophet Elisha had suffered from the absence of such Holy Spirit until it had been restored to him as a result of the music played for him, something that relieved his mental depression. [in both cases the mental depression had been brought on by the person’s failure to see his words of benevolent instruction take root in the listener. Ed.] (Kings II 3,15)

הנה נא זקנתי לא ידעתי יום מותי, “here I have aged and I do not know how soon I will die.” If I were to die now, you would lose your share of the inheritance seeing that Yaakov bought it from you. I therefore decided to divide my estate in accordance with the principle that when a father decides to divide his estate between the sons allotting more to one than to the other, but not disinheriting one of them, this is legally acceptable, (Baba Batra 8,5 compareBartenurah) even if the firstborn thereby loses his extra share of the inheritance.

תלייך, “your quiver.” According to Rashi this is a reference to Esau’s sword, swords being hung in their scabbard. [based on the root תלה, “he hung” Ed.] According to Ibn Ezra the word means “quiver,” i.e. the container within which the arrows are stored. Yitzchok told Esau to equip himself with his hunting tools, these consisting of a bow and arrows and their container, or the sword and its scabbard.

וצודה לי ציד, “and hunt some venison for me.” This reveals that Yitzchok was quite unfamiliar with Esau’s lifestyle, as if he had been familiar with it he would not have eaten anything that had been killed by his son. Still, it is problematic how Yitzchok could have eaten animals that had been killed by an arrow. Some commentators therefore explain that Esau had perfected a technique of luring animals by imitating their voices so that when they came close he could slaughter them. This is what the Torah alluded to when it wrote כי ציד בפיו, “he hunted with his mouth.”

ועשה לי מטעמים ואוכלה, “and prepare it for me into a delicacy so that I will eat it.” Seeing you had forfeited your birthright through something that you ate, I will help you to regain it through the food you give me to eat.

ואברכה לפני ה', “I will bless you in the presence of G’d.” Although Yitzchok had only said: בעבור תברכך נפשי, “in order that my soul will bless you, without adding the name of the Lord, he was certain that G’d would fulfill such a blessing when pronounced by him. After all, all blessings originate with the Lord.

אולי ימושני אבי, “perhaps my father will subject me to a “touch-test.” Yaakov did not worry that his father would need such a test to recognise him, but he was concerned that in the process of offering and serving him the meal, Yitzchok would unintentionally touch him, even wanting to kiss him, something which could alert him to the fact that he was not Esau. Actually, it is remarkable that Yaakov did not worry that his voce would betray him for who he was in reality. We know that in the event, Yitzchok became immediately aware that the voice speaking to him sounded like that of Yaakov (Genesis 27,22). It is possible that the brothers, being twins, had very similar sounding voices, and that is why Yaakov was not worried about being recognised by his voice. When the Torah wrote: “the voice sounds like the voice of Yaakov,” this is not a reference to the tone of voice, etc., but to the manner of Yaakov’s speech, which was so totally different from the mode of speech used by his brother. It is also possible that he had tried to fake his voice to sound like that of his brother. The art of impersonating other people’s voices is a well known phenomenon.

ותאמר לו אמו עלי קללתך בני, “His mother said to him: “any curse will devolve upon me, my son.” According to Onkelos, Rivkah said what she said in view of the prophecy which had been revealed to her during her pregnancy that her older son would serve the younger one as his master. Another approach suggests that she meant: “he will not curse you but he will curse him or her who made you deceive him.” (in other words, “he will curse me”.) Yet another commentary offered is that the word קללה, loosely translated as “curse,” actually implies that the victimised party will be deprived of something. Rivkah assured Yaakov that if he were to be deprived of his inheritance as a result of this charade, she could make it up to him out of her marriage settlement.

את בגדי עשו בנו הגדול, ”the garments of her older son Esau.” The use by the Torah of the terms בנו הגדול and בנו הקטן, instead of the customary בנו הבכור and בנו הצעיר, for the older son (the firstborn) or the younger son, is intended to underline that although, usually, honour is accorded to the firstborn, etc., Rivkah being aware that her firstborn son had forfeited any claim to such honour, thought of her two children in terms of the physically older one and the physically younger one, i.e. הגדול והקטון, respectively. She was now concerned with arranging for the transfer of the undeserved privileges of birth from her undeserving older son to her deserving younger son.

הקול קול יעקב, “the voice sounds like the voice of Yaakov, etc.” Rashi writes that Yitzchok meant it was not the habit of Esau to mention the name of the Lord in his conversation, something that made Yitzchok wonder who stood before him. Nachmanides writes that it his hard to imagine that Yitzchok viewed Esau as a wicked person and yet he was about to give him the blessing of Avraham. Possibly, he thought that seeing that Esau was a man of the field, he deliberately refrained from mentioning the name of the Lord, as he might utter it in a location where it would not be appropriate to do so. In other words, Yitzchok considered the very fact that Esau did not usually mention the name of the Lord as a point in his favour. From the point of view of the plain text, we are being told that the voices of the two sons were quite different from one another, and Yitzchok could not fail to notice this.

ויבא לו יין וישת, “he brought him wine, and he (Yizchok) drank it.” Where did Yaakov take the wine from, seeing that his mother had only given him bread to accompany the delicacies she had prepared? According to the Midrash the angel Gavriel brought the wine whose origin was in Gan Eden to Yaakov. Presumably, the words of the Midrash were inspired by the fact that this is the only time in Scripture that the drinking of wine is described as having only positive results. When wine is mentioned as a gift by Malki Tzedek to Avraham, it was a subsidiary to the bread. (Genesis 14,18)

גשה נא ושקה לי בני, “come closer please and kiss me, my son.” Yitzchok was confused seeing that on the one hand, the voice of the person serving him sounded like that of Yaakov, whereas his skin felt like that of Esau. By making a third test, the fragrance of his clothing, something that could not be determined unless the person came very close to him, Yitzchok meant to decide who this person was. When he smelled the familiar fragrance of Esau’s clothes, he conferred the blessing having been convinced that Esau was in front of him.

ראה ריח בני כריח שדה, “indeed the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of the field.” The meaning of the word ראה here is that the expression does not reflect something Yitzchok saw with his eyes, but that this is what he observed internally, when thinking about what his son Esau’s presence projected. He felt that there could not be any doubt that of his two sons it was Esau who represented the fragrance of blossoming flowers and all the blessings associated with nature when it unfolds. This is why he determined to accord him the blessing. Other commentators see in this statement about the fragrance simply a reference to the perfume with which Esau sprayed his garments, something which matched what could be found in the field.

ויתן לך האלוקים, “and may G’d grant you, etc.” Rashi emphasizes that Yitzchok deliberately chose the attribute of Justice to be the origin of Esau’s blessing, i.e. אלוקים, instead of Hashem, as this implied that the blessing would be fulfilled only if Esau remained worthy of it in the eyes of the attribute of Justice. [note that when Yaakov made his vow after the dream of the ladder, he too conditioned fulfillment on the promise that he would be worthy of what he asked for in the eyes of the attribute of Justice. (Genesis 28,21) Ed.] Later on, when Yitzchok knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was Esau who had stood before him, he promised him material blessings without conditioning this on his worthiness. (Genesis 27,39-40) This is remarkable, as by then Yitzchok had been made aware of Esau’s true character and he had confirmed the blessing he had given to Yaakov.

ויתן לך האלוקים מטל השמים, “and G’d will give you from the dew of the heaven, etc.” According to Nachmanides this is not a formula appropriate for use in blessings. Dew descends on the earth all over the earth, and does not require a special blessing to make it happen. If Yitzchok had implored G’d to give Esau an additional amount of dew, this would be different, but all he did was to assure him that he would participate on an equal basis in the blessing of dew, something that every farmer enjoys. Yitzchok’s blessing meant that Esau should enjoy the blessing of dew and the other blessings G’d bestows on the earth, and through it on His creatures, without any interruption through famine of drought, etc. Alternately, the letter ו at the beginning of the word ורב דגן ותירוש means that the ordinary amount of dew, etc., should result in his crops being especially abundant. [I have difficulty with this kind of blessing, seeing Esau was a hunter, not farmer. Maybe Yitzchok suggested obliquely that Esau should stop hunting and become a farmer instead. Ed.] Possibly, what is introduced as a consolation prize for Esau, the blessing in verse 40 that he would survive by means of his sword, was in fact a denial of the blessings he had given Yaakov while he thought that Yaakov was Esau.

יעבדוך עמים וישתחוו לך לאומים, “nations will serve you, and states will pay homage to you.” This promise/blessing was fulfilled at the threshing grounds of Atad, (Genesis 50,11) when the various Canaanite kings, and representatives all paid homage to Yaakov’s coffin as it was on the way to burial in the cave of Machpelah. According to tradition, these kings saluted Yaakov by placing their crowns on the fence of that threshing ground.

הוי גביר לאחיך, “be your brother’s superior, etc.” Seeing that at this point Yitzchok thought that Esau stood in front of him, we cannot escape the conclusion that Rivkah had never told him of the prophecy that the younger son would be the superior one, otherwise Yitzchok would have now rebelled against the prophecy.

אורריך ארור ומברכיך ברוך, “the ones who will curse you will themselves become cursed, and those who will bless you will themselves become blessed.” In Bileam’s blessings, the order is reversed; he said מברכיך ברוך ואורריך ארור, “those who bless you will themselves be blessed, and those that curse you will find themselves cursed.” The righteous will endure problems before finding themselves rewarded and blessed, whereas the wicked may start out as if enjoying blessings, whereas in reality they will wind up being accursed. Still, when G’d spoke to Avraham in chapter 12,2-3 He phrased it thus: ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה, “all the families of the earth will enjoy blessing, thanks to you.” Seeing G’d wanted to conclude with this blessing, He commenced also with a blessing.

ויהי אך יצא יצא, “and as soon as Yaakov had left the presence of his father,” The reason why the Torah speaks of 2 exits, i.e. יצא, יצא, indicates that as soon as Yaakov saw Esau approach he quickly hid himself, and when the way was clear he emerged from his hiding place and left the house of his father.

מי אתה?, “Who are you?” He thought that he was addressing Yaakov who when he had heard that his father had eaten of Esau’s venison, had also prepared a dish for him in order to secure a blessing for himself. He therefore asked: “who are you?” in order to ascertain the true facts.

גם ברוך יהיה,”he shall also retain his blessing.” Since when is the reaction to someone who complains that he has been tricked out of a blessing, that one tells him that the party who received the blessing in his place is to keep it? Surely, the normal reaction would be to curse the swindler who came by the blessing by devious means! Moreover, seeing that Yitzchok repeated the blessing he had given to Yaakov a second time, this clearly indicates that Yaakov did not obtain the blessing by deceitful means in the first place! Why else would he now bless Yaakov willingly and knowingly? This is why Nachmanides explains the entire verse commencing with the words: מי איפוא הצד ציד ויבא לי ואכל מכל as referring to Esau, i.e. “who is the person who has fed me a line which I swallowed hook line and sinker all these years so that I was befuddled enough to bestow the blessing on him?” Alternately, what Yitzchok meant was that once he had uttered the blessing it was too late for him to recall it and to invalidate it, even if it had been obtained under a false premises. Yitzchok had realized as soon as he had finished blessing Yaakov, that he had indeed blessed the son who deserved the blessing. It was this belated inspiration supplied by the Holy Spirit, which made him tremble in the sudden realization that he had lost his beloved son permanently..

בא אחיך במרמה, “your brother came using trickery.” Even though initially, Yitzchok had asked: ”who then is the one who came, etc.”, having had the revelation from the Holy Spirit, now he knew for certain that it had been Yaakov who had come and snatched the blessing from his father.

ואת כל אחיו נתתי לו לעבדים, “and I have designated that all his bothers be his servants.” These words are not a reference to the line הוי גביר לאחיך in verse 29. It is possible that someone is senior to his brothers without the brothers therefore considering themselves as subservient to that brother. The best example in Scripture is that of Yehudah, who was the leader of his brothers without his brothers ever considering themselves as servants of Yehudah.

ואת כל אחיו, “and all his brothers, etc.” Even though he had only one brother, Yitzchok speaks of him in the plural, as he meant to include all of Esau’s future descendants in his remarks. Other commentators feel that the plural extends to Ishmael, as well as Ishmael’s descendants as well as the sons of Keturah.

הנה משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך, “here you are assured that the region in which you will dwell will belong to the most productive ones on earth.” According to Nachmanides, the expression הנה here introduces the limitation of any blessing Yitzchok can bestow now. He says, that although I can assure you of a materially brilliant future, riches based on what the earth you dwell on will produce, but the political power, ממשלה, will belong to your brother. Yitzchok did not bless Esau with the parallel blessing of רוב דגן ותירוש, “an overabundance of grain and wine, either, as he had done when he blessed Yaakov thinking that he was Esau. (verse 28) Both of them, Esau and Ishmael, are sufficiently blessed with the wish that they will dwell on the fertile parts of the earth. Yitzchok was concerned that the one whom he had blessed first would enjoy a clear advantage even in the wording of the blessing he had obtained. This is also why, before sending Yaakov to look for a wife, he added specifically; ויתן לך את ברכת אברהם וגו', “and may G’d grant you the blessing conferred upon Avraham, etc.” The fulfillment of the blessing of “overabundance of grain and wine,” was thus deferred to the period after the land of the Canaanites had been conquered by Yaakov’s descendants. (28,4) The dew of the heaven and the fatness of the land promised to Esau applied to some country other than the land of Israel. There was a distinct difference in the qualities of the blessings extended before Yaakov was dispatched to look for a wife, and the blessings resulting from Yitzchok’s eating the venison. In the first and last blessing the name of G’d as the source of the blessing does appear, whereas in the blessing to Esau, the “consolation prize,” Yitzchok does not even mention the name of G’d. The reason was that Esau had not mentioned the name of G’d either. It is of significance that when blessing Esau as Esau, Yitzchok mentions the fatness of the earth before mentioning the dew of the heavens, whereas when speaking of the same phenomena to Yaakov, Yitzchok reversed the order by mentioning the heavenly part, the dew before mentioning the earth’s contribution to man’s success as a farmer. The reason is that when blessing Yaakov, Yitzchok had already blessed him specifically by invoking the name of G’d.

ועל חרבך תחיה. “and by means of your sword you will survive.” The expression על חרבך is equivalent to בחרבך,”through your sword.” Yitzchok meant that the hands of the one who had pleased him by feeding him venison will be saved through the successful use of the sword that these hands make. Yitzchok most certainly did not wish Esau to become a conqueror and to survive by consuming the loot he had acquired from the enemies he had slain. Having blessed Esau with success in agriculture in the previous verse, there certainly was no call for wishing him success as warrior. He did, however, assure him that in his war against adversaries he would not become the victim of the swords of his enemies. Some commentators hold that the words ועל חרבך תחיה are a consolation to Esau, seeing his father had blessed his brother by appointing him Esau’s superior. Yitzchok now hedged his blessing by assuring Esau that he would not become the victim of any abuse of his stronger brother’s power. Esau’s service to his brother would consist of being employed as his brother’s mercenary, using his sword to what are essentially Yaakov’s battles. Rabbeinu Saadyah Gaon, questions why Yitzchok chose such an unusual wording for his blessing to Esau, instead of saying: “may the Lord give you from the fatness of the earth and the dew of the heaven.” The reason is, according to Rabbeinu Saadyah, that in fact Yitzchok did not bless Esau at all; he merely stated that seeing he had already said to Yaakov that those that curse him would be cursed, if he were to accord something to Esau at the expense of Yaakov, He would make Himself liable to a curse by having diminished what had been promised to Yaakov. However, he consoled Esau by assuring him that his fate already included the fact that bounty of nature would always be at his disposal in the shape of the fatness of the land and the dew of the heaven that would ensure bountiful harvests.

והיה כאשר תריד, “it will come to pass when you have reason to grieve, etc.” when Yaakov will abuse this power of superiority by giving you justifiable reason to complain especially since at a time when Yaakov’s descendants do not live up to the terms of their covenant with G’d, you will be able to shake off his yoke. Yaakov then will not regain his superiority, as Bileam already stated in Numbers 24,19 וירד מיעקב והאביד שריד מעיר, [the root of the word תריד is not ירד “to descend,” but רדה, “to rule, exercise authority.”] “The one who ruled obtaining his power from Yaakov, will lose it, retaining only a city.” This is a reference to the time when the Romans would rule over the entire region of Mesopotamia. Bileam describes the period in the distant future at the time of the redemption when Yaakov/Israel will regain its position of dominance. After that Esau will never again experience a rise in stature.

והיה כאשר תריד, the word תריד is used in a sense similar to Psalms 55,3 “if the Israelites oppress you more than is justified, turn to G’d in prayerful complaint and He will throw off his yoke from you.” Yitzchok hints to Esau that Yaakov will not be at liberty to use his power over him injudiciously. Another explanation sees in the word תריד a variant of רדוי, being vanquished, captive, as if Yitzchok were saying to Esau: “when you do not wish to endure Yaakov’s dominance, conquer his land and shake off his yoke.”

ויאמר עשו בלבו, “Esau said to himself: etc.” According to Ibn Ezra, Esau may have revealed his intention to one of his intimate friends. Nachmanides feels that there is no need to resort to such an explanation, [which distorts the meaning of the text, Ed.] seeing that something that a person resolves in his heart is often described by Scripture as אמירה, “something that has been said.” Esau’s resolve to eventually murder Yaakov was as good as if he had actually said so with his lips. The fact that he had made such a resolution consoled him over the present situation.

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, “the days of mourning for my father’s death are approaching;” according to the plain meaning, Esau looked forward to his father’s death as he would not have wanted to cause his father such a painful experience as losing a son. Not only that, his father might curse him for what he had done. Other commentators believe that the words do not mean that Esau looked forward to his father’s death, but that he said: ”I will bring my father’s mourning Yaakov’s death closer by murdering Yaakov.”

ותשלח ותקרא ליעקב, “she sent a message to Yaakov calling him to come and see her.” She had to send him a message as he was not at his usual place, being in hiding, either in fear of Esau’s revenge or because he was too embarrassed to face his brother, being ashamed of what he had done, and Esau having loudly complained about him to all who would listen.

מתנחם לך להרגך, “he is consoling himself with the plan to kill you.” According to Rashi this either means that he consoles himself over the loss of the blessings by killing you, or that he had already prepared the cup of wine given to a mourner to allow him to comfort himself over the loss of a dear relative.

למה אשכול שניכם יום אחד?, “why should I be bereaved of both of you on the same day?” According to the plain meaning of the text she referred to the death of both Yaakov and Esau. Some commentators believe she was referring to the death of Yaakov and Yitzchok, as Esau had said he would kill Yaakov as soon as Yitzchok would die.