Genesis 27:2

Gen 27:2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:

Ver. 2. I am old, I know not the day of my death.] No more doth any, though never so young. There be as many young skulls as old, in Golgotha. But, young men, we say, may die; old men must die. To the old, death is pro ianuis; to the young, in insidiis. Senex, quasi semi-nex. Old men have pedem in cymba Charontis, one foot in the grave already. Our decrepit age both expects death, and solicits it: it goes grovelling, as groaning for the grave. Whence Terence {a} calls an old man Silicernium; and the Greeks γηροντα, πασα το εις γην οραν, of looking toward the ground, whither he is tending; or, as others will have it, of loving earth and earthly things; which old folk greedily grasp at, because they fear they shall not have to suffice them while alive, and to bring them honestly home, as they say, when they are dead; as Plutarch gives the reason, {b}

{a} Vel quod curvus silices cernat; vel quod mox silentiqus umbris cernendus sit. - Ter, in Adelph.

{b} Tους θριψαντας, και τους θαψαντας.

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.

Gen 27:2. I know not the day of my death — How soon I may die; a declaration which every man may make, and which every man ought well to consider, and lay to heart. It is great mercy and wisdom in God to conceal from us the time of our dissolution. Hereby foreboding fear on the one hand, and vain presumption on the other, are prevented, and a strong motive is afforded us always to live and walk in the Spirit, and be like men waiting for their lord, that when Jesus cometh to call us hence, we may be found prepared to meet him.

“Is death uncertain?

Therefore be thou fix’d:

Fix’d as a sentinel; all eye, all ear:

All expectation of the coming foe.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 2. I know not the day of my death] From his present weakness he had reason to suppose that his death could not be at any great distance, and therefore would leave no act undone which he believed it his duty to perform. He who lives not in reference to eternity, lives not at all.

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

2. 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.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

2. I know not the day of my death] Isaac expects that death is at hand, and fears lest he should die without having pronounced the blessing on his son. The dying utterance was deemed prophetic Gen_48:21, Gen_50:24; 2Sa_23:1-5.

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.

And he said, behold, now I am old,.... See Gill on Gen 27:1,

I know not the day of my death; how soon it will be; everyone knows he must die, but the day and hour he knows not, neither young nor old; and though young men may promise themselves many days and years, an old man cannot, but must or should live in the constant expectation of death.

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

2. Know not the day of my death — He lived forty-three years after this. Gen_35:28.

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

And he (i.e. Isaac) said, Behold now, I am old, and know not the day of my death. Isaac had manifestly become apprehensive of the near approach of dissolution. His failing sight, and probably the recollection that Ishmael, his half-brother, had died at 137 (if that was Isaac"s age at this time; wide supra), occasioned the suspicion that his own end could not be remote, though he lived forty-three or sixty-three years longer, according to the calculation adopted, expiring at the ripe age of 180. (vide Gen_30:28)

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

I am old, and know not the day of my death - How soon I may die.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

לא ידעתי יום מותי I KNOW NOT THE DAY OF MY DEATH — R. Joshua the son of Korcha said: When a person approaches the age at which his parents died he may well be anxious five years before and five years after. Isaac was then one hundred and twenty three years old and he said, “Perhaps I shall only reach the age of my mother who died at the age of 127 and I am now within five years of her age: therefore, I know not the day of my death —I may only reach the age of my mother or it may be the age of my father” (Genesis Rabbah 65:12).

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.

ויאמר...לא ידעתי יום מותי. Perhaps I will die suddenly so that I will not have a chance to bless you close before my death.

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.