Genesis 27:12

My father peradventure will feel me,.... For, though he could not see him, and so discern whether he had any hair or no on him, yet, suspecting him by his voice, he might call him to him to feel him,

And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: Jacob said ... Esau ... a hairy man.

I shall appear to him to be indeed a deceiver, one that abuseth his age and blindness. The particle as sometimes signifies not the likeness, but the truth of the thing, . I shall bring a curse upon me, which is due to every one that deceiveth the blind, , especially his father, and especially in a religious concern, , such as this was.

Genesis 27:12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.Ver. 12. My father peradventure will feel me.] Our heavenly Father will certainly feel us, and better feel us; and we shall feel him too, in his fatherly corrections, before he bless us. Suffer we must, or ere we reign: no coming to the crown, but by the cross. Christ himself was "perfected by sufferings"; and we must be "conformed to his image". When Ignatius came to the wild beasts, Now, saith he, I begin to be a Christian. Qui non eat Crucianus, non est Christianus, saith Luther, on the 29th of Genesis: and in another place, I have no stronger argument, saith he, against the Pope’ s kingdom, than this, that he reigneth without the cross. And I shall seem to him as a deceiver.] So shall all complimenting hypocrites to God, that pretend his service to their wicked or worldly ends and aims. They think, belike, to deceive him; but therein they are fairly deceived, for he searcheth the hearts; and bring a curse, instead of a blessing, upon themselves and their posterity. "The hypocrite in heart heaps up wrath". Nemo enim magis; ram meretur, saith a father, quam amicum simulans inimicus . Where shall we read of a hypocrite received to mercy? Sapiens nummularius Deus est: nummum fictum non recipiet. - Bern, Bern.

G: UPON THE OF JACOB’S LIFE (Genesis 27) The elaborate calculations of Lightfoot, and most Jewish and Christian commentators, intended to show that when Jacob set out upon his journey to Haran, he and Esau were each about 77 years of age, and Isaac their father about 137, though based apparently upon the letter of Scripture, are so contrary to its facts that evidently there must be some error in them. Fortunately there are several dates which are open to no doubt, and if we start with these, it may prove not Impossible to arrive at more trustworthy conclusions. When, then, Jacob went down into Egypt, he was 130 years of age (Genesis 46:9), and as Joseph when he “stood before Pharaoh” was 30 (Genesis 41:46), and as his first years of power were the seven years of plenty, and there had been already two years of famine when he made himself known to his brethren, he was plainly about 14 years of age when his father joined him. Now he was a lad of 17 when sold into Egypt (Genesis 37:2), and as he was born before the contract to serve Laban for the speckled cattle (Genesis 30:25), which lasted for six years (Genesis 31:41), he was about 7 when Jacob returned to Canaan. It follows, therefore, that Jacob was 91 when Joseph was born. Now the usual calculations allow only twenty years for Jacob’s sojourn in Padanaram, of which the first seven were spent in service before Leah and Rachel were given him in marriage. If from the twenty, we subtract these seven years and the seven years of Joseph’s age, there remain only six years for the birth of Leah’s six sons and the interval of her barrenness; and undeniably the narrative would be guilty of very remarkable exaggeration in its account of Rachel’s childlessness, and Rachel herself of excessive impatience, considering that at the end of six years she gave birth herself to a son, and in the interval had given her maid Bilhah to Jacob, who had by her two sons; and as the birth of these was the occasion to Rachel of very unseemly exultation over her sister (Genesis 30:6; Genesis 30:8), her conduct can only be accounted for by the fact that Leah had already a numerous offspring when Rachel gave Bilhah to her husband. The case of Leah is still plainer. She bears four sons, after which she “left bearing” (Genesis 29:35), and this barrenness continued so long that she gave Zilpah as her substitute to Jacob, who bare him two sons, Gad and Asher. Now neither Rachel nor Leah would have resorted to this expedient until they utterly despaired of having children themselves; and Leah herself describes it as an act of great self-sacrifice (Genesis 30:18). Zilpah’s sons both seem to have been born in this period of Leah’s barrenness; for we find that Jacob had entirely discarded Leah, and it was only at Rachel’s request that he visited her again.

Verse 12. I shall bring a curse upon me] For even in those early times the spirit of that law was understood, Deuteronomy 27:18: Cursed is he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way; and Jacob seems to have possessed at this time a more tender conscience than his mother.

12. will feel me] Isaac’s sight was no longer good enough to distinguish between his sons; but the sense of touch would remove all doubt. a deceiver] Better, as R.V. marg., a mocker. LXX ὡςκαταφρονῶν, “a profane trifler,” one who treats in a contemptuous way the solemn religious blessing of his father. A rare Heb. word, rendered “scoff,” 2 Chronicles 36:16. a curse] Jacob apprehends that his profanity will be visited by a solemn religious denunciation. If so, he will be a loser, not a gainer, by the trick. The thought of risk, not the deception, troubles him.

12. I shall seem to him as a deceiver — Jacob is cautious and far-sighted; but his words show that he shrinks not from the proposed deception from a feeling that it would be wrong, but only from a fear of detection and a curse.