Isaac was forty years old, when he married Rebekah (Genesis 25:20), and sixty years old when Esau and Jacob were born (Genesis 25:26). This would make Isaac’s age one hundred years, when Esau married two Hittite women (Genesis 26:34-35). Abraham considered himself old at one hundred (Genesis 17:17; cp. 18:11). Therefore, Isaac would be considered old by this standard. However, I believe the text at Genesis 27:1 is speaking of his being older yet. He was 180 years of age, when he died (Genesis 35:28), so that would give Isaac 80 more years for his sight to grow dim, which doesn’t seem to be the case at the time of Esau’s marriage.
Jacob spent twenty years in Haran, serving his father-in-law, Laban (Genesis 31:38), and was 91 years of age, when Joseph was born in Haran.[1] He spent 20 years serving Laban, and the first seven of his years there, Jacob wasn’t married, because those seven years were spent for the right to marry Laban’s daughters, Leah and Rachel. During the next 7 years, he acquired 2 more wives, eleven sons and at least one daughter. So, one of his four wives had to have been pregnant every year after Jacob married Leah and Rachel during the second 7-years of service. Therefore, Joseph, Jacob’s eleventh son, couldn’t have been more than six years of age, when Jacob left Haran to return to Canaan at the end of those twenty years. If this is logical and true, Jacob was about 73 years of age, when Isaac sent him to Laban (Genesis 28:1-2). Therefore, Isaac must have been about 133 years of age, when his eyes were dim, when he called Esau, so he could bless him before he died (Genesis 27:1).
So, Isaac was virtually blind, when he called Esau, his eldest son, to come before him (Genesis 27:1). Although Isaac may have been able to see blurred images in the light, he would have been unable to identify anything or anyone by sight. He had to learn to “see” with his other four senses, which he did use in the text in an effort to identify the man before him, who claimed to be Esau, but whom Isaac suspected correctly was Jacob, but as we shall see, he was fooled in the process.
Isaac called for his son, Esau, and he told him to take his bow and go out into the field and kill a deer and prepare it for him, because he really enjoyed eating venison. Afterwards, Isaac said he would bless Esau, because Isaac knew he was old, and he didn’t believe he had much longer to live (Genesis 27:1-4). Therefore, he wanted the right of inheritance to be transferred as he wished.
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[1] Counting back: Jacob was 147 years old when he died (Genesis 47:28), and 130 years old, when he first came to Egypt (Genesis 47:9). Joseph was 30 years old, when he appeared before Pharaoh (Genesis 41:46). He spent an additional 9 years in Egypt as leader next to Pharaoh, before his brothers arrived (Genesis 45:6). At that time Jacob came to Egypt and appeared before Pharaoh at 130 years of age, which was the same as 39 years for Joseph (30 + 9 = 39). Thus, Joseph was born when Jacob was 91 years old.
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