And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed:
All Commentaries on Genesis 27:27 Go To Genesis 27
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
What advice does Rebekah give? That Jacob should take the skins of the kids and go to his father. The father is expecting the elder and blesses the younger. The Old Testament has the Jews in mind according to its literal meaning, and by the spiritual understanding of it, it is a blessing to Christians. Would your holinesses please concentrate on this great mystery, this great sacrament. Isaac says, “Your brother came with guile” about a man without guile. Isaac undoubtedly knew what was happening since he had the spirit of prophecy, and he himself was acting symbolically. He stakes everything on the sublime truths being symbolically, sacramentally enacted. For if he hadn’t known what he was doing, he would surely have been angry with his son for deceiving him. The elder comes and says, “Here, father, eat; I have done just as you ordered me.” He says, “Who are you?” He replies, “I am your elder son, Esau.” “And who is the one,” Isaac says, “at whose hands I have already eaten, and I blessed him, and blessed he shall be?” He seemed to be angry; Esau was expecting from his lips some sort of curse upon his brother. While he is expecting a curse, Isaac confirms the blessing. What splendid anger, what marvelous indignation! But he knew the mystery being enacted. The blindness of his bodily eyes stood for the mental blindness of the Jews. But the eyes of his heart were able to see the sublimity of the mysteries being unfolded.
