Genesis 27:3

Like Esau, Isaac let his love of tasty food control his affections (compare 25:28–34).

• The first scene introduces the main problem in the chapter. Isaac knew about God’s oracle (a message from God; 25:22–23), but he went against it or ignored it when he tried to bless Esau.

• Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see: This shows that he was losing awareness, both physically and spiritually.

Jacob got his father Isaac’s blessing through deception. In this story, an entire family tries to carry out their responsibilities by physical means rather than by faith. Faith would have provided Rebekah and Jacob a more honorable solution to the crisis.

Here is, I. Isaac's design to make his will, and to declare Esau his heir. The promise of the Messiah and the land of Canaan was a great trust, first committed to Abraham, inclusive and typical of spiritual and eternal blessings; this, by divine direction, he transmitted to Isaac. Isaac, being now old, and not knowing, or not understanding, or not duly considering, the divine oracle concerning his two sons, that the elder should serve the younger, resolves to entail all the honour and power that were wrapped up in the promise upon Esau his eldest son. In this he was governed more by natural affection, and the common method of settlements, than he ought to have been, if he know (as it is probable he did) the intimations God had given of his mind in this matter. Note, We are very apt to take our measures rather from our own reason than from divine revelation, and thereby often miss our way; we think the wise and learned, the mighty and noble, should inherit the promise; but God sees not as man sees. See Sa1 16:6, Sa1 16:7.
II. The directions he gave to Esau, pursuant to this design. He calls him to him, Gen 27:1. For Esau, though married, had not yet removed; and, though he had greatly grieved his parents by his marriage, yet they had not expelled him, but it seems were pretty well reconciled to him, and made the best of it. Note, Parents that are justly offended at their children yet must not be implacable towards them.
1. He tells him upon what considerations he resolved to do this now (Gen 27:2): "I am old, and therefore must die shortly, yet I know not the day of my death, nor when I must die; I will therefore do that at this time which must be done some time." Note, (1.) Old people should be reminded by the growing infirmities of age to do quickly, and with all the little might they have, what their hand finds to do. See Jos 13:1. (2.) The consideration of the uncertainty of the time of our departure out of the world (about which God has wisely kept us in the dark) should quicken us to do the work of the day in its day. The heart and the house should both be set, and kept, in order, because at such an hour as we think not the son of man comes; because we know not the day of our death, we are concerned to mind the business of life.
2. He bids him to get things ready for the solemnity of executing his last will and testament, by which he designed to make him his heir, Gen 27:3, Gen 27:4. Esau must go a hunting, and bring some venison, which his father will eat of, and then bless him. In this he designed, not so much the refreshment of his own spirits, that he might give the blessing in a lively manner, as it is commonly taken, but rather the receiving of a fresh instance of his son's filial duty and affection to him, before he bestowed this favour upon him. Perhaps Esau, since he had married, had brought his venison to his wives, and seldom to his father, as formerly (Gen 25:28), and therefore Isaac, before he would bless him, would have him show this piece of respect to him. Note, It is fit, if the less be blessed of the greater, that the greater should be served and honoured by the less He says, That my soul may bless thee before I die. Note, (1.) Prayer is the work of the soul, and not of the lips only; as the soul must be employed in blessing God (Psa 103:1), so it must be in blessing ourselves and others: the blessing will not come to the heart if it do not come from the heart. (2.) The work of life must be done before we die, for it cannot be done afterwards (Ecc 9:10); and it is very desirable, when we come to die, to have nothing else to do but to die. Isaac lived above forty years after this; let none therefore think that they shall die the sooner for making their wills and getting ready for death.

Behold, now I am old, I know not the day of my death. There is not the least doubt that Isaac implored daily blessings on his sons all his life: this, therefore, appears to have been an extraordinary kind of benediction. Moreover, the declaration that he knew not the day of his death, is as much as if he had said, that death was every moment pressing so closely upon him, a decrepit and failing man, that he dared not promise himself any longer life. Just as a woman with child when the time of parturition draws near, might say, that she had now no day certain. Every one, even in the full vigor of age, carries with him a thousand deaths. Death claims as its own the foetus in the mother's womb, and accompanies it through every stage of life. But as it urges the old more closely, so they ought to place it more constantly before their eyes, and should pass as pilgrims through the world, or as those who have already one foot in the grave. In short, Isaac, as one near death, wishes to leave the Church surviving him in the person of his son.

Thy weapons - The original word כלי keley signifies vessels and instruments of any kind; and is probably used here for a hunting spear, javelin, sword, etc.
Quiver - תלי teli, from תלה talah, to hang or suspend. Had not the Septuagint translated the word φαρετραν, and the Vulgate pharetram, a quiver, I should rather have supposed some kind of shield was meant; but either can be suspended on the arm or from the shoulder. Some think a sword is meant; and because the original signifies to hang or suspend, hence they think is derived our word hanger, so called because it is generally worn in a pendent posture; but the word hanger did not exist in our language previously to the Crusades, and we have evidently derived it from the Persian khanjar, a poniard or dagger, the use of which, not only in battles, but in private assassinations, was well known.

Now therefore, take, I pray thee, thy weapons,.... Or "thy vessels", or "instruments" (n), his instruments of hunting: as

thy quiver and thy bow; the former is the vessel or instrument, in which arrows were put and carried, and has its name in the Hebrew language from its being hung at the girdle, though another word is more commonly used for a quiver; and Onkelos and Jarchi interpret this of a sword; and which is not disapproved of by Aben Ezra and Ben Melech, who explain it either a quiver or a sword; and the latter was as necessary for hunting as the former, see Genesis 27:40; and such a sword may be meant, as Mr. Fuller observes (o), which we call a "hanger" (i.e. a small sword often worn by seamen); and of the bow being an instrument of hunting, not anything need be said:

and go out to the field, and take me some venison; this does not necessarily intend what we commonly call so, but anything hunted in the field, as hares, wild goats, &c. and indeed the latter seems to be what Isaac loved, by the preparation Rebekah afterwards made.

(n) "instrumenta tua", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "vasa tua", Vatablus. (o) Miscell. Sacr. l. 1. c. 17.

Thy quiver, or, as the Chaldee and Hebrew doctors render it, thy sword; a weapon no less necessary for a hunter of beasts than a bow.

When Isaac had grown old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could no longer see (מראת from seeing, with the neg. מן as in Gen 16:2, etc.), he wished, in the consciousness of approaching death, to give his blessing to his elder son. Isaac was then in his 137th year, at which age his half-brother Ishmael had died fourteen years before;
(Note: Cf. Lightfoot, opp. 1, p. 19. This correct estimate of Luther's is based upon the following calculation: - When Joseph was introduced to Pharaoh he was thirty years old (Gen 41:46), and when Jacob went into Egypt, thirty-nine, as the seven years of abundance and two of famine had then passed by (Gen 45:6). But Jacob was at that time 130 years old (Gen 47:9). Consequently Joseph was born before Jacob was ninety-one; and as his birth took place in the fourteenth year of Jacob's sojourn in Mesopotamia (cf. Gen 30:25, and Gen 29:18, Gen 29:21, and Gen 29:27), Jacob's flight to Laban occurred in the seventy-seventh year of his own life, and the 137th of Isaac's.)
and this, with the increasing infirmities of age, may have suggested the thought of death, though he did not die till forty-three years afterwards (Gen 35:28). Without regard to the words which were spoken by God with reference to the children before their birth, and without taking any notice of Esau's frivolous barter of his birthright and his ungodly connection with Canaanites, Isaac maintained his preference for Esau, and directed him therefore to take his things (כּלים, hunting gear), his quiver and bow, to hunt game and prepare a savoury dish, that he might eat, and his soul might bless him. As his preference for Esau was fostered and strengthened by, if it did not spring from, his liking for game (Gen 25:28), so now he wished to raise his spirits for imparting the blessing by a dish of venison prepared to his taste. In this the infirmity of his flesh is evident. At the same time, it was not merely because of his partiality for Esau, but unquestionably on account of the natural rights of the first-born, that he wished to impart the blessing to him, just as the desire to do this before his death arose from the consciousness of his patriarchal call.