Genesis 27:39

39 Then 1Isaac his father answered and said to him, "Behold, 2away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above.

Genesis 27:39 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 27:39

And Isaac his father answered and said unto him
Being willing to bestow what he could upon him, without lessening or breaking in upon the grant made to Jacob: behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew
of heaven from above:
this agrees with part of the blessing of Jacob, only the clauses are inverted, and no mention made of corn and wine; the land of Edom not being so fat and fruitful as the land of Canaan. Castalio renders the words very differently, "thy habitation shall be from the fatness of the earth, or without the fatness of the earth, and without the dew of heaven from above" F3; or otherwise he thinks Esau would have the same blessing with Jacob, and so would have no occasion of complaint or grief, or to have hated his brother and sought his life; to which may be added, that the land of Edom, which Esau and his posterity inhabited, was a very desert country, see ( Malachi 1:3 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F3 See the Bishop of Clogher's Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 142.

Genesis 27:39 In-Context

37 But Isaac replied to Esau, "Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?"
38 Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." So Esau lifted his voice and wept.
39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, "Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above.
40 "By your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck."
41 So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

Cross References 2

  • 1. Hebrews 11:20
  • 2. Genesis 27:28; Deuteronomy 33:13, 28

Footnotes 3

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