Genesis 27:12

12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing."

Genesis 27:12 Meaning and Commentary

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, as he did; for Jacob understood his mother right, that he was to represent his brother Esau in the transaction of this affair: and I shall seem to him as a deceiver;
one that imposes upon another and causes him to err, leads him to say or do wrong things: and not only appear as one, but be really one, and even a very great one, as the doubling of the radical letters in the word shows; yea, the worst of deceivers, a deceiver of a parent, of one that was both aged and blind: and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing;
and he might justly fear, that should he be found out, it would so provoke his father, that instead of blessing him, he would curse him, see ( Deuteronomy 27:18 ) .

Genesis 27:12 In-Context

10 and you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies."
11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing."
13 His mother said to him, "Upon me be your curse, my son; only obey my word, and go, fetch them to me."
14 So he went and took them and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared savory food, such as his father loved.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.