The Blessing of a Wounded Patriarch: Genesis 27.1-40

Abstract

The interrelation of the characterization of Isaac in Gen. 27.1-40, his blessing in 27.28-29, and the narrative past constructed for him in the non-Priestly material addresses a number of questions that have persisted about the evaluation of this blessing and its relation to the divine blessings promised to the patriarchs. The present study argues that the character of Isaac restricts and deforms the blessings that are the leitmotif of the patriarchal narrative. The thesis is articulated in dialogue with current source-critical scholarship on the Pentateuch and presents a stratum of biblical material whose conception of Isaac and his blessing is at odds with subsequent inner-biblical and post-biblical mainstream interpretations. Perspectives derived from the nexus of character, blessing, and narrative 'history' are germane for understanding the oracle to Rebekah (25.23) and the different uses of niphal and hithpael verbs in discrete passages on the nations' participation in the patriarchal blessings.