Genesis 27 - Isaac's blessings
a) These verses follow an extensive passage in which Ya‘aqob has prepared food and disguised himself as Esau.
b) r
e’êh is used here as an exclamation, not in the literal sense. sâdeh is translated as
open country rather than
field, firstly as Esau is more associated with wild places than cultivated ones in the earlier part of the account, and secondly because this more closely resembles the older Ugaritic usage.
Wilderness would also be possible here.
c) Elohim is used here with the definite article. The next two lines parallel parts of the Ugaritic Ba'al cycle - see
Ugaritic parallels - Blessing for more detail.
d) ‘ammîym and l
e’ummîym are set in parallel. Both have the basic meaning of
people-groups and the translations here of
tribes and
multitudes have been chosen by analogy with Ugaritic usage. Here, ‘ammîym is linked with words for family relationships and so suggests communities, while l
e’ummîym is seen as related to Akkadian lîmu,
thousand and so suggests numbers of people. g
ebîyr can mean
lord and so suggest a more formal, official connection, but here a more personal relationship-based word has been chosen.
e)
f)
g)
h)