And Jacob said unto his father, I [am] Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou biddest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
19. And Jacob said ] Jacob’s reply combines ( a) a statement of direct falsehood and ( b) a specious assumption of virtue in the prompt obedience to his father’s command.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 19. I am Esau thy first-born] Here are many palpable falsehoods, and such as should neither be imitated nor excused. “Jacob,” says Calmet, “imposes on his father in three different ways.
1. By his words: I am thy first-born Esau.
2. By his actions; he gives him kids’ flesh for venison, and says he had executed his orders, and got it by hunting.
3. By his clothing; he puts on Esau’s garments, and the kids’ skins upon his hands and the smooth of his neck.
In short, he made use of every species of deception that could be practised on the occasion, in order to accomplish his ends.” To attempt to palliate or find excuses for such conduct, instead of serving, disserves the cause of religion and truth. Men have laboured, not only to excuse all this conduct of Rebekah and Jacob, but even to show that it was consistent, and that the whole was according to the mind and will of God!
Non tali auxilio, non defensoribus istis
The cause of God and truth is under no obligation to such defenders; their hands are more unhallowed than those of Uzzah; and however the bearers may stumble, the ark of God requires not their support. It was the design of God that the elder should serve the younger, and he would have brought it about in the way of his own wise and just providence; but means such as here used he could neither sanction nor recommend.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This cannot be excused, for it was a manifest untruth, and no less is all this following relation, though it pleased God graciously to pardon it; and notwithstanding these failings, to confer the blessing promised upon Jacob.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Jacob said unto his father, I [am] Esau thy firstborn,…. Had he only said that he was his firstborn, he might have been excused from lying, because he had bought the birthright of Esau; but when he says, I am Esau, he can by no means be excused; for to say he impersonated Esau will not do; besides, he afterwards says he was his very son Esau, Ge 27:24:
I have done according as thou badest me; which is another lie; for Isaac had not bid him bring him any venison, nor go into the field for it, and take it and dress it for him; nor indeed had Jacob done either of these:
arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison; or “hunting” u, what he had hunted; another untruth, for it was not venison he brought him, nor anything that was hunted by him: by this it seems that Isaac lay upon a bed or couch through infirmity, and therefore is bid to arise and put himself in a proper posture for eating, which in those times and countries was usually sitting:
that thy soul may bless me; as this was the thing in view, so speaking of it as soon as he came in, and which he desired might be done after his father had eat and drank, might serve to take off the suspicion of his being another person; since this was what Isaac himself proposed to Esau to do; and this he said when there were none else present.
u “de venatione mea”, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
19. And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau (46) At first Jacob was timid and anxious; now, having dismissed his fear, he confidently and audaciously lies. By which example we are taught, that when any one has transgressed the proper bounds of duty, he soon allows himself unmeasured license. Wherefore there is nothing better than for each to keep himself within the limits divinely prescribed to him, lest by attempting more than is lawful, he should open the door to Satan. I have before shown how far his seeking the blessing by fraud, and insinuating himself into the possession of it by falsehood, was contrary to faith. Yet this particular fault and divergence from the right path, did not prevent the faith which had been produced by the oracle from holding on, in some way, its course. In excusing the quickness of his return by saying that the venison was brought to him by God, he speaks in accordance with the rule of piety: he sins, however, in mixing the sacred name of God with his own falsehoods. Thus, when there is a departure from truth, the reverence which is apparently shown to God is nothing else than a profanation of his glory. It was right that the prosperous issue of his hunting should be ascribed to the providence of God, lest we should imagine that any good thing was the result of chance; but when Jacob pretended that God was the author of a benefit which had not been granted to himself, and that, too, as a cloak for his deception, his fault was not free from perjury.
(46) “In his speech of Jacob’s there are three direct falsehoods. 1, ‘I am Esau;’ 2d, ‘I have done according as thou badest me;’ 3d, ‘Eat of my venison.’ We ought not to be extremely solicitous to find excuses for all the actions for holy men.” — Cornelius a Lapide in Poli Syn.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(19) Arise . . . sit and eat.The Hebrews at this time, and for centuries, sat at their meals (1Sa. 20:25). It was from the Romans that they learned to recline at table, as we find was their custom in the Gospels. It is a mistake, moreover, to suppose that Isaac was a bedridden old man, for Jacob bids him arise and seat himself. Nor does he help him, though his sight was weak. It is only when commanded to draw near that he lets his father touch him.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 27:19-20, &c. Jacob said, I am Esau, &c. In this discourse of Jacob’s with his father, there are many palpable falsehoods, which can neither be imitated without sin, nor justified without partiality. All attempts to do it are vain: though the intention and the circumstances may extenuate the crime, nothing can vindicate Jacob: and of this opinion are all the most eminent Critics and Divines. It is an eternal rule of right, that “we are not to do evil, that good may come.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 27:19 And Jacob said unto his father, I [am] Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
Ver. 19. I am Esau thy firstborn, &c. ] Here he utters three lies in a breath: besides his ascribing to God that he did, Gen 27:20 so taking that reverend name in vain. This was his sin, and he smarted for it to his dying day: for he had scarcely a merry hour after this; but God followed him with one sorrow upon another, to teach him and us what an “evil and bitter thing sin is,” Jer 2:19 and how it ensnares and ensnarls us. Aristotle could say, that a lie is in itself evil and wicked. a The Hebrews call it Aven, a great iniquity. And the Scripture reckons it among monstrous sins, Rev 21:8 and condemns it to hell, – whether it be the officious, merry, or pernicious lie. Indeed, every lie is pernicious to ourselves or others, or both; because flatly forbidden of God, and because it is against the order of nature, and for that “no lie is of the truth,” as St John hath it, 1Jn 2:21 but of the devil, who began, and still upholds his kingdom by lies. Joh 8:44 Contrarily, God is truth, and his children are all such as will not lie, Isa 63:8 Rev 14:5 at least, not get a haunt and a habit of lying, which David calls “a way of lying”: “Remove from me the way of lying,” saith he, Psa 119:29 that I make not a trade or common practice of it. We find that 1Sa 21:2 he very roundly telleth two or three lies together, as Jacob here did; and all deliberate. So that tale he told Achish of invading the south of Judah, when he had been upon the Geshurites and Gerarites. 1Sa 27:8-11 I know not how it can be excused. But this was not David’s “way,” his common course; pity it should. Honest heathens condemned lying; the Persians punished it severely in their children. b Homer censures it in Dolon, Ulysses, and others, c Clitarchi historici, saith Quintilian, ingenium probatur, fides infamatur. Nepos reporteth of Epaminondas, d that he so loved truth that he would not once lie, no, not in jest. A shame to many Christians, who think the officious and sporting lie to be nothing. Whereas Gal 1:10 we must not speak the truth to please men, much less lie. And for saving ourselves, we must rather die then lie; else Peter had not sinned in denying his Master. As for profiting others, we may not lie, though it were to save a soul. Rom 3:7 We may as well commit fornication with the Moabites, to draw them to our religion, or steal from rich men to give to the poor, as lie to do another man a good turn. See Job 13:7-9 .
a Arist. Ethic., lib. iv. cap. 7.
b Xenoph., Cyrop., lib. i.
c I . – Hom.
d Cor. Nepos in Vita Epam.
I am. Said perhaps because he had bought the birthright.
thy soul = thou. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
I am: Gen 27:21, Gen 27:24, Gen 27:25, Gen 25:25, Gen 29:23-25, 1Ki 13:18, 1Ki 14:2, Isa 28:15, Zec 13:3, Zec 13:4, Mat 26:70-74
that thy: Gen 27:4
Reciprocal: Gen 25:28 – he did eat of his venison Gen 27:35 – General 1Sa 27:10 – And David
Gen 27:19. And Jacob said, I am Esau Who would have thought this plain man could have played such a part? His mother having put him in the way of it, he applies himself to those methods which he had never accustomed himself to, but had always conceived an abhorrence of. But lying is soon learned. I wonder how honest Jacob could so readily turn his tongue to say, I am Esau, thy firstborn: and when his father asked him, (Gen 27:24,) Art thou my very son Esau? to reply, I am. How could he say, I have done as thou badest me, when he had received no command from his father, but was doing as his mother bid him? How could he say, Eat of my venison, when he knew it came not from the field, but from the fold? But especially I wonder how he could have the forehead to father it upon God, and to use his name in the cheat.
27:19 And Jacob said unto his father, {d} I [am] Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
(d) Although Jacob was assured of this blessing by faith: yet he did evil to seek it by lies, even more because he abuses God’s name through it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes