This is the attitude that Esau and his people have had ever since. Just to compare the two of them mentally, in the games people play, Esau was no match for Jacob. Jacob could run circles around Esau at any time. It was not that Esau was dumb; it was just that his personality did not provide him the wherewithal to keep up with Jacob's deceptions. Twice Jacob had swindled him out of priceless inheritances! The birthright made Jacob recipient of that portion of the inheritance that belonged to the firstborn alone, and the blessing Jacob took to himself was that gift of God by which the patriarch passed on the promised family blessings for the future. These birthright blessings included the patriarchy—which was now Jacob's! We read the part where he was made Esau's master. This meant that the leadership position in Abraham's and Isaac's family passed not to the elder, Esau, but to the younger, Jacob; thus, he would become patriarch when Isaac died. Esau would be left to form his own house, but without all the advantages and wealth inherent within the blessing and the birthright.
Moving up to Genesis 27 we find the biblical descriptions and prophecies concerning Esau. This is where he loses the blessing to Jacob by his (Jacob's) tricking Isaac. Previously, Esau had already been tricked out of the birthright (Genesis 24) and so this is the second time Jacob had gotten from Esau what was rightfully his as the firstborn. As we read toward the end of the chapter we find Esau going to Isaac and pleading, "Please bless me, too!"
In the New King James Version it sounds as though verses 39 and 40 are a blessing from Isaac. They are not! It is a prophecy. It is not a blessing! He just said that he did not have anything left to give him. The blessing was an "all or nothing" portion of an inheritance. Verse 39 has been poorly translated:
I am certain Isaac, being who he was, realized very quickly not just that Jacob had deceived him, but that God had done a work here for His purpose to go forward. I think that is why he trembled so. He felt the hand of God working in all of this.
