Genesis 27:12

Gen 27:12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.

Ver. 12. My father peradventure will feel me.] Our heavenly Father will certainly feel us, and better feel us; and we shall feel him too, in his fatherly corrections, before he bless us. Suffer we must, or ere we reign: no coming to the crown, but by the cross. Christ himself was "perfected by sufferings"; {Heb 2:10; Heb 5:9} and we must be "conformed to his image". {Rom 8:29} When Ignatius came to the wild beasts, Now, saith he, I begin to be a Christian. Qui non eat Crucianus, non est Christianus, saith Luther, on the 29th of Genesis: and in another place, I have no stronger argument, saith he, against the Pope’s kingdom, than this, that he reigneth without the cross.

And I shall seem to him as a deceiver.] So shall all complimenting hypocrites to God, that pretend his service to their wicked or worldly ends and aims. They think, belike, to deceive him; {a} but therein they are fairly deceived, for he searcheth the hearts; and bring a curse, instead of a blessing, upon themselves and their posterity. "The hypocrite in heart heaps up wrath". {Job 36:13} Nemo enim magis; ram meretur, saith a father, {b} quam amicum simulans inimicus . Where shall we read of a hypocrite received to mercy?

{a} Sapiens nummularius Deus est: nummum fictum non recipiet. - Bern,

{b} Bern.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, before his eyes.

Or, as though I would deceive him.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 12. I shall bring a curse upon me] For even in those early times the spirit of that law was understood, De 27:18: Cursed is he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way; and Jacob seems to have possessed at this time a more tender conscience than his mother.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. will feel me] Isaac’s sight was no longer good enough to distinguish between his sons; but the sense of touch would remove all doubt.

a deceiver] Better, as R.V. marg., a mocker. LXX ὡς καταφρονῶν, “a profane trifler,” one who treats in a contemptuous way the solemn religious blessing of his father. A rare Heb. word, rendered “scoff,” 2Ch_36:16.

a curse] Jacob apprehends that his profanity will be visited by a solemn religious denunciation. If so, he will be a loser, not a gainer, by the trick. The thought of risk, not the deception, troubles him.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Deu 27:18.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mocked him, taking advantage of his blindness and old age. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

I shall appear to him to be indeed a deceiver, one that abuseth his age and blindness. The particle as sometimes signifies not the likeness, but the truth of the thing, Joh 1:14; 2Co 3:18.

I shall bring a curse upon me, which is due to every one that deceiveth the blind, Deu 27:18, especially his father, and especially in a religious concern, Jer 48:10; Mal 1:14, such as this was.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. I shall seem to him as a deceiver — Jacob is cautious and far-sighted; but his words show that he shrinks not from the proposed deception from a feeling that it would be wrong, but only from a fear of detection and a curse. Rebekah has no fear in this regard. Even if detected, she is willing to risk any curse likely to come from one who deliberately attempts to subvert prophecy. She looks at the end to be attained, and scruples not at the means to attain it.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; literally, shall be in his eyes as a scorer (Keil, Lange), with the idea of mocking at his aged sire"s infirmities wJv katafronwn (LXX); or as a deceiver, an imposter, one who causes to go astray (Vulgate, Rosenm Ainsworth, Murphy); though perhaps both senses should he-included, the verb T; to scoff, meaning primarily to stammer, and hence to mislead by imperfect speech, and thus to cause to wander or lead astray, hT (vide Gesenius, p, 870, and Kalisch, p. 506) and I shall bring a curse hllq (from llq to be light, hence to be despised) signifies first an expression of contempt, and then a more solemn imprecationupon me, and not a blessing.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ימשני HE WILL FEEL ME — The word is of the same root as the verb in (Deuteronomy 28:29) “One groping (ממשש) at noon-day”.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

PERHAPS MY FATHER WILL FEEL ME. The reason that Isaac will feel him is not for the purpose of recognition. Instead, Jacob said, “Perhaps he will bring me near him to kiss me or to put his hand on my face in the manner of a father demonstrating affection for his son, and in feeling me he will discover that I am smooth.”Now I wonder why Jacob was not afraid of vocal recognition for all people are recognizable by their voice as our Rabbis have said, “How is a blind man permitted to live with his wife? And how are people permitted to live with their wives at nighttime? Only by vocal recognition.” Now if ordinary people have such power of recognition, what of Isaac, who was wise and expert in distinguishing between his sons? He should truly have the power of recognition by voice. Perhaps the brothers had similar voices, and therefore the Sages said that the verse, The voice is the voice of Jacob, refers not to Jacob’s voice but to his words, i.e., that he speaks gentle language and mentions the Name of Heaven., as referring to the kind of language Jacob used. It may be that he altered his voice in order to speak as his brother did, for there are people who know how to do this.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

אולי...כמתעתע, seeing that he can hardly see I would deceive him saying that I am Esau, and if he will feel me and find that my skin is smooth, he will become angry and demand to know how I dared to deceive him and instead of blessing me he will curse me.

ימושני, the root of the word is משש, the letter shin has a dagesh.

כמתעתע, the root of the word is תעה, even though both the first and second root letters appear twice in the word. We have a parallel expression מעשה תעתועים in Jeremiah 10,15, as well as in Chronicles II 36,16 ומתעתועים בנביאיו, a reference to false prophets and religious dignitaries who deceive their followers.

והבאתי, I will be the cause of bringing a curse upon myself.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.