What Does Genesis 27:17 Mean in the King James?
And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew for “savoury” grows from the same root as “discernment”: the meal that satisfies Isaac’s taste also becomes part of what misleads his judgment.
THE MEANING
The prepared food reaches Jacob’s hand as a convincing sign of Esau, although Jacob is the one before Isaac. The verse exposes a gap that remains present: a sensation can feel like confirmation while concealing the identity it seems to prove.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a story must be true because the senses seem to confirm it.
THE ROOT
מַטְעַמִּים
maṭʿammîm
GROWS FROM
טעם
ṭ-ʿ-m
To taste, and by extension to perceive or discern.
“savoury meat” in this verse is maṭʿammîm. The meal’s name grows from a seed that holds both tasting and discerning. Its savor becomes part of an arranged sensory scene that steers Isaac’s judgment.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāʿam: To taste.
טָעַם
Psalm 34:8 uses the same root in “O taste and see that the LORD is good,” linking taste with perception.
ṭaʿam: Discernment, good judgment.
טַעַם
Psalm 119:66 uses this word for “good judgment,” revealing the discernment hidden within the root of the food’s name.
יַעֲקֹב
Yaʿaqōv
GROWS FROM
עקב
ʿ-q-b
Heel; to follow at the heel and, by extension, to supplant or circumvent.
The name carries the image of a heel, and the same root gives the verb translated “supplanted” in Genesis 27:36. Here Jacob’s hand carries a meal that lets him step into his brother’s place.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāqēv: Heel.
עָקֵב
Genesis 25:26 says Jacob’s hand takes hold of Esau’s heel at birth; the name retains that image.
ʿāqav: To supplant or circumvent.
עָקַב
In Genesis 27:36, Esau uses this verb to name Jacob’s act of taking his place.
THE PATTERN
A convincing outward sign can impersonate the identity it seems to confirm.
And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.THE THREAD
Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.The word rendered “judgment” here is טַעַם (ṭaʿam, discernment), the same root behind the savories in Genesis 27:17. Taste and judgment grow from one Hebrew seed, even as the meal is arranged to bend Isaac’s judgment.
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