Parshat Toldos
In 27:2-4 Yitzchak tells Esav, "I am old and do not know the day I will die... Bring me food I enjoy so i can bless you before I die."
Yitzchak was not going to die today. As Rashi says, he was 123 years old and was unsure whether he would live until 127 like his mother or 175 like his father. Either way he still had plenty of time left (and he ended up living until 180).
So why did he request the food and deal with the brachos right now as if he was about to die?
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The rule used to be that you lived to be as old as one of your parents. We find that nevertheless Avraham died 5 years earlier(175) than he was supposed to(so he shouldn't be pained by how Eisav turned out). Perhaps Yitzchak was worried because he hit the 5 years before his mother's 127. There is a lot of issues about Eisav that could easily have given him pain.
but didn't he think esav was a tzaddik? he did not know about the bad things esav had done..
exactly,so he didn't understand why his father died early...
he would not have known his father died early (not that he did not know why - he did not know his father was supposed to live to 180)
We see in other places that the avos knew about this rule of living as long as one of the parents.
So Avraham should have lived to 180, unless the rule is changing.
Among other things, if not then Yitzchak could expect to die anytime.
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