GRIFFIN COMMENTS—GEN 27 (Gen 27:1) And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. Isaac was now 137 years old and his eyesight was gone. He wanted Esauto receive the blessing so called him in to discussit with him and plan for it. I have read a parable of a man shut up in a fortress under sentence of perpetual imprisonment, and obliged to draw water from a reservoir that he may not see,but into which no fresh stream is ever to be poured. How much it contains he cannot tell. He knows that the quantity is not great; it may be extremely small. He has already drawn out a considerable supply during his long imprisonment. The diminution increasesdaily, and how, it is asked, would he feel each time of drawing water and each time of drinking it? Not as if he had a perennial stream to go to-"I have a reservoir; I may be at ease." No: "I had water yesterday, I have it to-day; but my having it yesterday and my having it to-day is the very cause that I shall not have it on some day that is approaching." Life is a fortress; man is the prisoner within the gates. He draws his supply from a fountain fed by invisible pipes, but the reservoir is being exhausted. We had life yesterday, we have it today, the probability; the certainty; is that we shall not have it on some day that is to come.
(R. A. Wilmot) (Gen 27:2) And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: He would live another 43 years and die at the age of 180, but he was somewhat concerned for one reason or another that he might not last much longer. One thing that could have concerned him was that Ishmael, his half brother had passed away at 137 and he knew that he had reached the same age and wondered how much time he had left. (Gen 27:3) Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; Esauwas still hunting, and he was in his seventies. But that was what he was known for, so his father knew he could still bring home the venison.
GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 27—PAGE 1