Genesis 27 General Notes

Some translations indent each line of poetry to make it easier to read. The ULB does this with the poetry in 27:27-29 and in 27:39-40.

In the ancient Near East, a father's blessing was very important. This spoken blessing was legally binding. Jacob previously received the birthright from Esau and was guaranteed the double portion of land and money that was supposed to be inherited by the older son, Esau. In this chapter, Jacob tricks Isaac into giving him Esau's blessing. This means that he is to inherit the promises of the covenant Yahweh made with Abraham. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/bless, rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/birthright, rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/inherit, rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/promise and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/covenant)

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