The Blind Seer Tiresias Guided Odysseus Home; Was Yitzhak's Blindness a Disability?

(1) When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” He answered, “Here I am.” (2) And he said, “I am old now, and I do not know how soon I may die. (3) Take your gear, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open and hunt me some game. (4) Then prepare a dish for me such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my innermost blessing before I die.”

(5) Rebekah had been listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out into the open to hunt game to bring home, (6) Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I overheard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying, (7) ‘Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you, with יהוה’s approval, before I die.’ (8) Now, my son, listen carefully as I instruct you.

(9) Go to the flock and fetch me two choice kids, and I will make of them a dish for your father, such as he likes. (10) Then take it to your father to eat, in order that he may bless you before he dies.”

(11) Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am smooth-skinned. (12) If my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster and bring upon myself a curse, not a blessing.”

(13) But his mother said to him, “Your curse, my son, be upon me! Just do as I say and go fetch them for me.” (14) He got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared a dish such as his father liked.

(15) Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there*there Or “in her charge”—an acknowledgment of authority; Heb. ’itah, lit. “with her.” in the house, and had her younger son Jacob put them on; (16) and she covered his hands and the hairless part of his neck with the skins of the kids. (17) Then she put in the hands of her son Jacob the dish and the bread that she had prepared.

(18) He went to his father and said, “Father.” And he said, “Yes, which of my sons are you?” (19) Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your first-born; I have done as you told me. Pray sit up and eat of my game, that you may give me your innermost blessing.”

(20) Isaac said to his son, “How did you succeed so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because your God יהוה granted me good fortune.”

(21) Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer that I may feel you, my son—whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

(22) So Jacob drew close to his father Isaac, who felt him and wondered. “The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau.” (23) He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; and so he blessed him.

R. David Kimhi; 1160-1235; Provence - "Sefardic" school; grammarian, poet, philosopher; supported Rambam in the controversy regarding his works; many in family famous bible scholars; public debates with Christian scholars; his commentary known by Christian scholars; wrote on Prophets, Psalms and Chronicles; also Genesis.

(1) ויהי כי זקן, the word זקן is a verb in the past tense. The Torah relates that Yitzchak kept on aging until his eyesight was badly impaired. Yaakov experienced a similar problem; (48,10) In fact most people experience the problem of failing eyesight in their old age. In some instances this is a sudden phenomenon, in others it is a phenomenon experienced gradually. In the case of Yitzchok he was struck with this affliction more than 20 years before he died. He misinterpreted the onset of this phenomenon considering it as foreshadowing that his death would occur soon. In the event he was proven wrong. However, this is what prompted him to call in Esau at this time to bestow his blessing upon him before his death.

Perhaps this failure of his eyesight at a premature time was one of the afflictions with which the righteous are sometimes afflicted. It may be that the reason why the Torah bothers with telling us this detail is to inform us that G’d subjects some of the righteous to some afflictions in this life in accordance with His wisdom.

Some commentators attribute Yitzchok’s premature blindness to the smoke of the incense burned by his daughters-in-law to their respective deities. (quoted by Rashi).

French; 1040-1105. Studied in Germany when young; commentary on entire Tanakh and Talmud, some responsa and independent works from his school.

(1) ותכהין HIS EYES WERE DIM through the smoke raised by these women in offering incense to idols (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 8).

Another explanation is: When Isaac was bound upon the altar and his father was about to slay him, at that very moment the heavens opened, the ministering angels saw it and wept, and their tears flowed and fell upon Isaac’s eyes which thus became dim (Genesis Rabbah 65:10).

Another explanation is: They became dim just in order that Jacob might receive the blessings (Genesis Rabbah 65:8).

(9) After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose.dSeptuagint adds “and stood before the Lord.”—The priest Eli was sitting on the seat near the doorpost of the temple of the LORD.—

(12) Now Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they paid no heed to the LORD. (13) This is how the priests used to deal with the people: When anyone brought a sacrifice, the priest’s boy would come along with a three-pronged fork while the meat was boiling, (14) and he would thrust it into eThese vessels have not been distinguished precisely.the cauldron, or the kettle, or the great pot, or the small cooking-pot;-e and whatever the fork brought up, the priest would take away fTargum and Septuagint add “for himself.”on it.-f This was the practice at Shiloh with all the Israelites who came there. (15) [But now] even before the suet was turned into smoke, the priest’s boy would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Hand over some meat to roast for the priest; for he won’t accept boiled meat from you, only raw.”

(17) The sin of the young men against the LORD was very great, for the men treated the LORD’s offerings impiously.

(18) Samuel was engaged in the service of the LORD as an attendant, girded with a linen ephod.

(22) Now Eli was very old. When he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who iMeaning of Heb. uncertain.performed tasks-i at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, (23) he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I get evil reports about you from the people on all hands. (24) Don’t, my sons! It is no favorable report I hear the people of the LORD spreading about. (25) If a man sins against a man, God may pardoniMeaning of Heb. uncertain. him; but if a man offends against the LORD, who can iMeaning of Heb. uncertain.obtain pardon-i for him?” But they ignored their father’s plea; for the LORD was resolved that they should die.

(8) Noticing Joseph’s sons, Israel asked, “Who are these?” (9) And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” “Bring them up to me,” he said, “that I may bless them.”

(10) Now Israel’s eyes were dim with age; he could not see. So [Joseph] brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. (11) And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see you again, and here God has let me see your children as well.”

(12) Joseph then removed them from his knees, and bowed low with his face to the ground. (13) Joseph took the two of them, Ephraim with his right hand—to Israel’s left—and Manasseh with his left hand—to Israel’s right—and brought them close to him.

(14) But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head—thus crossing his hands—although Manasseh was the first-born. (15) And he blessed Joseph, saying,
“The God in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day—
(16) The Messenger who has redeemed me from all harm—
Bless the lads.
In them may my name be recalled,
And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
And may they be teeming multitudes upon the earth.”

(17) When Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he thought it wrong; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s. (18) “Not so, Father,” Joseph said to his father, “for the other is the first-born; place your right hand on his head.” (19) But his father objected, saying, “I know, my son, I know. He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great. Yet his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall be plentiful enough for nations.”