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In Genesis 27:23 (NASB)
And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
In Genesis 27:25 (NASB)
So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.”
What's the difference between the two blessings?
The actual blessing pronounced by Isaac is recorded in Gen 27:27-29. It is referenced as a single past event in V33, 25, 36, 37.
The solution here is as per some of the standard commentaries:
The Cambridge Commentary simply says:
- blessed] Anticipating Genesis 27:26-29.
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament arrives at a similar conclusion
he did not recognise him; and "so he blessed him." In this remark (Genesis 27:23) the writer gives the result of Jacob's attempt; so that the blessing is merely mentioned proleptically here, and refers to the formal blessing described afterwards, and not to the first greeting and salutation.
Gill is less decisive:
so he blessed him; or intended and determined within himself to bless him, for the blessing was not given till afterwards; unless this is to be understood of a common blessing, congratulating him on the quick dispatch he made, and the great success he met with; and after this gave him the patriarchal blessing, which as yet he had not, being not thoroughly satisfied of him, as appears by what follows.
