Genesis 27:37
And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son? And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?
Isaac confirmed the blessing upon Jacob once it was given, declaring that he had made Jacob lord over Esau, had given all his brethren to Jacob for servants, and had sustained him with corn and wine, so that nothing of equal value remained to give to Esau. That lordship and provision belonged to Jacob by Isaac's spoken word and could not be transferred a second time. Jacob had obtained this blessing and authority intended for Esau through deception and fraud, and that obtaining was sin.
Esau had previously despised his birthright and rashly sold it to satisfy appetite, and the blessing would otherwise have belonged to him. When he learned Jacob had obtained it, he reacted with great distress and bitter regret and tried to regain what was lost. His tears and repentance came too late to undo the loss or remedy the matter, even at great sacrifice.
The blessing itself did not make prosperity automatic, for Esau's future prosperity depended on God alone, who blesses or brings adversity according to conduct. Likewise Jacob could still receive God's blessing and prosper by God's hand without the privileges usually given to the firstborn, if he loved and feared God. Esau's deadly threats over the stolen blessing forced Jacob to flee for his life. Jacob had to repent of the fraud, and his later confidence in pleading with God rested on having no concealed, unconfessed sin.
The episode warns that those who barter their heirship to heaven for perishable treasures, selfish pleasure and gratification, and hurtful lusts will find their choice irreversible in the day of God. There will then be no place for repentance, even if they seek it carefully and with tears. The outcome likewise condemns similar deceptions when people in high places of trust use deceptive reasoning, partiality, and hypocrisy from selfishness and covetousness to harness others as machinery, bind their freedom, and rule as lords over God's heritage. God will in no case justify nor excuse grasping all that can be gotten by deception, regardless of agreements made or of the disappointment and wrong done to others.