Genesis 25:19

HISTORY OF ISAAC. (Gen 25:19-34)

these are the generations--account of the leading events in his life.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

THE TÔLDÔTH ISAAC (Gen_25:19 to Gen_35:29).

THE BIRTH OF ISAAC’S SONS.

Abraham begat Isaac—The Tôldôth in its original form gave probably a complete genealogy of Isaac, tracing up his descent to Shem, and showing thereby that the right of primogeniture belonged to him; but the inspired historian uses only so much of this as is necessary for tracing the development of the Divine plan of human redemption.

The Syrian.—Really, the Aramean, or descendant of Aram. (See Gen_10:22-23.) The name of the district also correctly is “Paddan-Ararn,” and so far from being identical with Aram-Naharaim, in Gen_24:10, it is strictly the designation of the region immediately in the neighbourhood of Charran. The assertion of Gesenius that it meant “Mesopotamia, with the desert to the west of the Euphrates, in opposition to the mountainous district towards the Mediterranean,” is devoid of proof. (See Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier, 1, p. 304.) In Syriac, the language of Charran, padana means a plough (1Sa_13:20), or a yoke of oxen ( 1Sa_11:7); and this also suggests that it was the cultivated district close to the town. In Hos_12:12 it is said that “Jacob fled to the field of Aram;” but this is a very general description of the country in which he found refuge, and affords no basis for the assertion that Padan-aram was the level region. Finally, the assertion that it is an ancient name used by the Jehovist is an assertion only. It is the name of a special district, and the knowledge of it was the result of Jacob’s long-continued stay there. Chwolsohn says that traces of the name still remain in Faddân and Tel Faddân, two places close to Charran, mentioned by Yacut, the Arabian geographer, who flourished in the thirteenth century.

Isaac intreated the Lord.—This barrenness lasted twenty years (Gen_25:26), and must have greatly troubled Isaac; but it would also compel him to dwell much in thought upon the purpose for which he had been given to Abraham, and afterwards rescued from death upon the mount Jehovah-Jireh. And when offspring came, in answer to his earnest pleading of the promise, the delay would serve to impress upon both parents the religious significance of their existence as a separate race and family, and the necessity of training their children worthily. The derivation of the verb to intreat, from a noun signifying incense, is uncertain, but rendered probable by the natural connection of the idea of the ascending fragrance, and that of the prayer mounting heavenward (Rev_5:8; Rev_8:4).

The children struggled together.—Two dissimilar nations sprang from Abraham, but from mothers totally unlike; so, too, from the peaceful Isaac two distinct races of men were to take their origin, but from the same mother, and the contest began while they were yet unborn. And Rebekah, apparently unaware that she was pregnant with twins, but harassed with the pain of strange jostlings and thrusts, grew despondent, and exclaimed—

If it be so, why am I thus?—Literally, If so, why am I this? Some explain this as meaning “Why do I still live?” but more probably she meant, If I have thus conceived, in answer to my husband’s prayers, why do I suffer in this strange manner? It thus prepares for what follows, namely, that Rebekah wished to have her condition explained to her, and therefore went to inquire of Jehovah.

She went to enquire of the Lord.—Not to Shem, nor Melchizedek, as many think, nor even to Abraham, who was still alive, but, as Theodoret suggests, to the family altar. Isaac had several homes, but probably the altar at Bethel, erected when Abraham first took possession of the Promised Land (Gen_12:7), and therefore especially holy, was the place signified; and if Abraham were there, he would doubtless join his prayers to those of Rebekah.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Narrative of Jacob (Gen_25:25-34)

19–34 (P and J). Esau and Jacob. Esau sells his Birthright

Gen_25:19-20 are from P, Gen_25:21-34 from J.

19. And these are the generations] See Gen_25:12. With this familiar formula (cf. Gen_2:4) commences the next section from P, which deals with the story of Isaac and his two sons, Esau and Jacob.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 25:19 And these [are] the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac:

Ver. 19. And these are the generations.] That is, the affairs and occurrences.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

- LIII. Birth of Esau and Jacob

20. פדן padān, Paddan, “plowed field;” related: “cut, plow.”

25. עשׂי ‛êśâv, ‘Esaw, “hairy, or made.”

26. יעקב ya‛ăqôb, Ja’aqob, “he shall take the heel.”

27. תם tām, “perfect, peaceful, plain.” The epithet refers to disposition, and contrasts the comparatively civilized character of Jacob with the rude temper of Esau.

30. אדים 'ědôm, Edom, “red.”

The ninth document here begins with the usual phrase, and continues to the end of the thirty-fifth chapter. It contains the history of the second of the three patriarchs, or rather, indeed, as the opening phrase intimates, of the generations of Isaac; that is, of his son Jacob. Isaac himself makes little figure in the sacred history. Born when his mother was ninety, and his father a hundred years of age, he is of a sedate, contemplative, and yielding disposition. Consenting to be laid on the altar as a sacrifice to God, he had the stamp of submission early and deeply impressed on his soul. His life corresponds with these antecedents. Hence, in the spiritual aspect of his character he was the man of patience, of acquiescence, of susceptibility, of obedience. His qualities were those of the son, as Abraham’s were those of the father. He carried out, but did not initiate; he followed, but did not lead; he continued, but did not commence. Accordingly, the docile and patient side of the saintly character is now to be presented to our view.

Gen 25:19-26

The birth of Esau and Jacob. “The son of forty years.” Hence, we learn that Isaac was married the third year after his mother’s death, when Abraham was in his hundred and fortieth year. “Bethuel the Aramaean.” As Bethuel was a descendant of Arpakshad, not of Aram, he is here designated, not by his descent, but by his adopted country Aram. By descent he was a Kasdi or Kaldee. Sarah was barren for at least thirty years; Rebekah for nineteen years. This drew forth the prayer of Isaac in regard to his wife. The heir of promise was to be a child of prayer, and accordingly when the prayer ascended the fruit of the womb was given. Rebekah had unwonted sensations connected with her pregnancy. She said to herself, “If it be so,” if I have conceived seed, “why am I thus,” why this strange struggle within me? In the artlessness of her faith she goes to the Lord for an explanation. We are not informed in what way she consulted God, or how he replied. The expression, “she went to inquire of the Lord,” implies that there was some place of worship and communion with God by prayer. We are not to suppose that she went to Abraham, or any other prophet, if such were then at hand, when we have no intimation of this in the text. Her communication with the Lord seems to have been direct. This passage conveys to us the intimation that there was now a fixed mode and perhaps place of inquiring at the Lord. The Lord answers the mother of the promised seed. Two children are in her womb, the parents of two nations, differing in their dispositions and destinies. The one is to be stronger than the other. The order of nature is to be reversed in them; for the older will serve the younger. Their struggles in the womb are a prelude to their future history.

Gen 25:24-26

The twins are born in due time. The difference is manifest in the outward appearance. The first is red and hairy. These qualities indicate a passionate and precocious nature. He is called “Esau the hairy,” or “the made up,” the prematurely developed. His brother is like other children. An act takes place in the very birth foreshadowing their future history. The second has a hold of his brother’s heel, as if he would trip him up from his very birth. Hence, he is called “Jacob the wrestler,” who takes hold by the heel.

Gen 25:27-34

The brothers prove to be different in disposition and habit. The rough fiery Esau takes to the field, and becomes skilled in all modes of catching game. Jacob is of a homely, peaceful, orderly turn, dwelling in tents and gathering round him the means and appliances of a quiet social life. The children please their parents according as they supply what is lacking in themselves. Isaac, himself so sedate, loves the wild, wandering hunter, because he supplies him with pleasures which his own quiet habits do not reach. Rebekah becomes attached to the gentle, industrious shepherd, who satisfies those social and spiritual tendencies in which she is more dependent than Isaac. Esau is destructive of game; Jacob is constructive of cattle.

Gen 25:29-34

A characteristic incident in their early life is attended with very important consequences. “Jacob sod pottage.” He has become a sage in the practical comforts of life. Esau leaves the field for the tent, exhausted with fatigue. The sight and smell of Jacob’s savory dish of lentile soup are very tempting to a hungry man. “Let me feed now on that red, red broth.” He does not know how to name it. The lentile is common in the country, and forms a cheap and palatable dish of a reddish brown color, with which bread seems to have been eaten. The two brothers were not congenial. They would therefore act each independently of the other, and provide each for himself. Esau was no doubt occasionally rude and hasty. Hence, a selfish habit would grow up and gather strength. He was probably accustomed to supply himself with such fare as suited his palate, and might have done so on this occasion without any delay. But the free flavor and high color of the mess, which Jacob was preparing for himself, takes his fancy, and nothing will do but the red red. Jacob obviously regarded this as a rude and selfish intrusion on his privacy and property, in keeping with similar encounters that may have taken place between the brothers.

It is here added, “therefore was his name called Edom,” that is, “Red.” The origin of surnames, or second names for the same person or place, is a matter of some moment in the fair interpretation of an ancient document. It is sometimes hastily assumed that the same name can only owe its application to one occasion; and hence a record of a second occasion on which it was applied is regarded as a discrepancy. But the error lies in the interpreter, not in the author. The propriety of a particular name may be marked by two or more totally different circumstances, and its application renewed on each of these occasions. Even an imaginary cause may be assigned for a name, and may serve to originate or renew its application. The two brothers now before us afford very striking illustrations of the general principle. It is pretty certain that Esau would receive the secondary name of Edom, which ultimately became primary in point of use, from the red complexion of skin, even from his birth. But the exclamation “that red red,” uttered on the occasion of a very important crisis in his history, renewed the name, and perhaps tended to make it take the place of Esau in the history of his race. Jacob, too, the holder of the heel, received this name from a circumstance occurring at his birth. But the buying of the birthright and the gaining of the blessing, were two occasions in his subsequent life on which he merited the title of the supplanter or the holder by the heel Gen 27:36. These instances prepare us to expect other examples of the same name being applied to the same object, for different reasons on different occasions.

“Sell me this day thy birthright.” This brings to light a new cause of variance between the brothers. Jacob was no doubt aware of the prediction communicated to his mother, that the older should serve the younger. A quiet man like him would not otherwise have thought of reversing the order of nature and custom. In after times the right of primogeniture consisted in a double portion of the father’s goods Deu 21:17, and a certain rank as the patriarch and priest of the house on the death of the father. But in the case of Isaac there was the far higher dignity of chief of the chosen family and heir of the promised blessing, with all the immediate and ultimate temporal and eternal benefits therein included. Knowing all this, Jacob is willing to purchase the birthright, as the most peaceful way of bringing about that supremacy which was destined for him. He is therefore cautious and prudent, even conciliating in his proposal.

He availed himself of a weak moment to accomplish by consent what was to come. Yet he lays no necessity on Esau, but leaves him to his own free choice. We must therefore beware of blaming him for endeavoring to win his brother’s concurrence in a thing that was already settled in the purpose of God. His chief error lay in attempting to anticipate the arrangements of Providence. Esau is strangely ready to dispose of his birthright for a trivial present gratification. He might have obtained other means of recruiting nature equally suitable, but he will sacrifice anything for the desire of the moment. Any higher import of the right he was prepared to sell so cheap seems to have escaped his view, if it had ever occurred to his mind. Jacob, however, is deeply in earnest. He will bring this matter within the range of heavenly influence. He will have God solemnly invoked as a witness of the transfer. Even this does not startle Esau. There is not a word about the price. It is plain that Esau’s thoughts were altogether on “the morsel of meat.” He swears unto Jacob. He then ate and drank, and rose up and went his way, as the sacred writer graphically describes his reckless course. Most truly did he despise his birthright. His mind did not rise to higher or further things. Such was the boyhood of these wondrous twins.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Gen_25:19-23

The generations of Isaac.

--

The holy seed

1. God hath a special care to commend unto posterity the line of His Church, and His providences towards it.

2. The eminent line of the Church visible begins from Abraham (Gen_25:19).

3. The holy seed run not foolishly nor hastily into the marriage covenant, but in maturity and prudence.

4. God separates the mother of His Church from all superstitious relations. In calling any to His Church God separates them from corrupt relations (Gen_25:20). (G. Hughes, B. D.)

Lessons

1. In Gods answer of prayer the greatest mercies may be given in, with the greatest temptation.

2. Hard temptations may sometimes cause gracious souls to be discontented with their mercies.

3. In such temptations gracious hearts make their resource to God to know His mind and do it (Gen_25:22). (G. Hughes, B. D.)

Lessons

1. Jehovah vouchsafes answers to His troubled petitioners suitable to their desires.

2. God hath by natural symptoms in some declared the two great parties of the world and of the Church.

3. Gods oracle hath foretold heavy divisions between them.

4. God hath so ordered that the people of the world may be outwardly stronger than the Church.

5. It is Gods oracle that the greatest in the world shall serve the least in the Church.

6. The preferring or undervaluing of creatures either for outward or inward, temporal or eternal good, depends wholly upon Gods will (Gen_25:23). (G. Hughes, B. D.)

Rebekahs barrenness

The intended mother of the promised seed was left for twenty years childless--to contend with the doubts, surmises, evil proposals, proud challengings of God, and murmurings, which must undoubtedly have arisen even in so bright and spirited a heart as Rebekahs. It was thus she was taught the seriousness of the possession she had chosen for herself, and gradually led to the implicit faith requisite for the discharge of its responsibilities. Many young persons have a similar experience. They seem to themselves to have chosen a wrong position, to have made a thorough mistake in life, and to have brought themselves into circumstances in which they only retard, or quite prevent the prosperity of those with whom they are connected. In proportion as Rebekah loved Isaac, and entered into his prospects, must she have been tempted to think she had far better have remained in Padanaram. It is a humbling thing to stand in-some other persons way; but if it is by no fault of ours, but in obedience to affection or conscience we are in this position, we must, in humility and patience, wait upon Providence as Rebekah did, and resist all morbid despondency. This second barrenness in the prospective mother of the promised seed was as needful to all concerned as the first was; for the people of God, no more than any others, can learn in one lesson. They must again be brought to a real dependence on God as the Giver of the heir. The prayer with which Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren was a prayer of deeper intensity than he could have uttered had he merely remembered the story that had been told him of his own birth. God must be recognized again and again and throughout as the Giver of life to the promised line. Learn, therefore, that although God has given you means of working out His salvation, your Rebekah will be barren without His continued activity. On His own means you must re-invite His blessing, for without the continuance of His aid you will make nothing of the most beautiful and appropriate helps He has given you. It was by pain, anxiety, and almost dismay, that Rebekah received intimation that her prayer was answered. In this she is the type of many whom God hears. Inward strife, miserable forebodings, deep dejection, are often the first intimations that God is listening to our prayer and is beginning to work within us. (M. Dods, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Generations of Isaac, Gen_25:19 to Gen_35:29.

BIRTH OF ESAU AND JACOB, Gen_19:19-26.

19. These are the generations of Isaac — Thus characteristically this new section of the history opens. We have also a repetition of Isaac’s birth, his age at marriage, and the name, country, father, and brother of his wife.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Gen_25:19. These are the generations.] The ninth document here begins with the usual phrase, and continues to the end of the thirty-fifth chapter. It contains the history of the second of the three patriarchs, or rather indeed, as the opening phrase intimates, of the generations of Isaac, that is, of his son Jacob.” (Murphy.)—

Gen_25:21. And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren.] This barrenness lasted twenty years, as may be inferred from Gen_25:26. For his wife. Lit. before his wife, it is the same term as occurs in ch. Gen_30:38, where Jacob laid the rods before, i.e. in front of, the flocks. But there can be no doubt here that the word has the force of for or in behalf of: acquiring this meaning through that of “having reference to,” “in regard of.” (Alford.) “The term means before, opposite to, his wife, which Luther understands as referring to his intent desire for his object; having nothing in his eye but this.” (Jacobus.)—

Gen_25:22. And she went to inquire of the Lord.] Kalisch interprets this of her having recourse to God’s prophet, Abraham, who still survived. Knobel and Keil understand that she went to some place where Jehovah was adored, and where priests were wont to give responses in His name. But there is no sufficient evidence for either of these opinions, and it seems more likely to suppose that she inquired of the Lord directly in the way of immediate prayer.—

Gen_25:23. Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels: and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.] This response is in the form of poetical parallelism. The two nations were the Edomites and the Israelites. Their hostility commenced at the time of the Exodus, at the very beginning of their national existence. The Israelites in the end subjected the Edomites.—

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_25:19-23

THE RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF ISAAC

I. It is chiefly distinguished by the patient and retiring graces. He was not a man of activity and heroic boldness, like his father Abraham. He was rather a man of a patient, obedient spirit, of quiet meditative habits, altogether docile, gently susceptible to impressions, and retiring. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews notices him only as “blessing Jacob and Esau concerning things to come” (Heb_11:20). His child-like enquiries and patient silence upon Moriah (Ch. 22), his love to Rebekah (Ch. 24), his communion with Isaac at the burial of his father, his residing at the well Lahai Roi (Ch. 25), his mourning three years for his mother,—such characteristic acts and events in his life show what manner of man he was. He was distinguished by those graces and virtues, which, though in the sight of God are of great price, yet make but little noise in the world. Isaac does not fill any large place in the history. The patient side of the saintly character is here portrayed. There are few exciting incidents in the lives of such men, and therefore the world is heedless of their worth.

II. It was not exempt from great trial. He had heard of the promise that the family, of which he was now the chief, should multiply and become a great nation; yet he was still childless though he had been married for twenty years. It seems that he must be taught that the promised blessing is to come not as a matter of course, but as a gift of special favour. He must be exercised in the patience of faith. The great trial he now endured drives him to God (Gen_25:21). In earnest supplication he tells the Lord of his perplexity. It speaks well for the quiet confidence of his faith that he did not resort to any carnal expedient like his father Abraham. His immediate trial is removed, but only to make way for another. The very blessing which is granted in answer to his prayer becomes itself a new source of anxiety (Gen_25:22). But that anxiety is relieved by further revelations of the future (Gen_25:23).

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Gen_25:19. The ninth document here begins with the usual phrase, and continues to the end of the thirty-fifth chapter. It contains the history of the second of the three patriarchs, or rather indeed, as the opening phrase intimates, of the generations of Isaac, that is, of his Son Jacob. Isaac himself makes little figure in the sacred history. Born when his mother was ninety, and his father a hundred years of age, he is of a sedate, contemplative, and yielding disposition. Consenting to be laid on the altar as a sacrifice to God, he had the stamp of submission early and deeply impressed upon his soul. His life corresponds with these antecedents. His qualities were those of the son, as Abraham’s were those of the father. He carried out, but did not initiate; he followed, but did not lead; he continued, but did not commence. Accordingly the docile and patient side of the saintly character is now to be presented to our view.—(Murphy.)

The history now returns to the Son of Promise. Throughout the whole of the Old Testament, though the history may diverge to notice other interests and peoples, yet it invariably returns to the chosen family whence the Messiah was to spring. That “the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus” is the internal principle of Revelation.

Gen_25:20-21. Sarah was barren for at least thirty years; Rebekah for nineteen. This drew forth the prayer of Isaac in regard to his wife. The heir of promise was to be a child of prayer, and accordingly when the prayer ascended the fruit of the womb was given.—(Murphy).

When Bethuel, and Milcah, and Laban took leave of Rebekah, saying, “Be thou the mother of thousands of millions,” they doubtless expected to hear of a very numerous family. And she herself, and her husband would, as believing the Divine promise, expect the same. But God’s thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways. Abraham’s other sons abound in children, while he in whom his seed is to be as the stars of heaven for multitude, lives childless. In this manner God had tried his father Abraham; and if he be heir to his blessings, he must expect to inherit a portion of his trials. Isaac had received Rebekah in answer to prayer; and let him not expect to receive seed by her in any other way.—(Fuller.)

Isaac entreated the Lord constantly and instantly, as the word signifies; he multiplied prayer, which (as those arrows of deliverance, 2Ki_13:19) must be often iterated, ere the mercy can be obtained. And the Lord was entreated of him. Though it were long first, even full twenty years. God knows how to commend His mercies to us, and therefore holds us long in suspense. Manna, lightly come by, was as lightly set by.—(Trapp).

Under similar circumstances the husband and wife fast and pray, and make a vow before the temple that, should their desire be granted, they will make certain gifts (specifying their kind), or they will repair the walls, or add a new wing to the temple; or that the child shall be dedicated to the deity of the place, and be called by the same name; or they go to a distant temple which has obtained notoriety by granting the favours they require. I have heard of husbands and wives remaining for a year together at such places to gain the desire of their hearts.—(Roberts.)

Prayer leads the way to the ultimate solution of all the perplexities of God’s people.

The trials of faith bring about that entire dependence upon God which prayer requires.

Gen_25:22. She is no less troubled with the strife of the children in her womb than before with the want of children. We know not when we are pleased; that which we desire ofttimes discontents us more in the fruition; we are ready to complain both full and fasting. Before Rebekah conceived, she was at ease; before spiritual regeneration, there is all peace in the soul: no sooner is the new man formed in us, but the flesh conflicts with the spirit. There is no grace where is no unquietness. Esau alone would not have striven: nature will ever agree with itself. Never any Rebekah conceived only an Esau, or was so happy as to conceive none but a Jacob; she must be the mother of both, that she may have both joy and exercise. This strife began early; every true Israelite begins war with his being. How many actions which we know not are not without presage and significance.—(Bishop Hall.)

Even the very answers to prayer may give rise to new sources of perplexity.

There are very different opinions as to the manner in which she went to inquire of the Lord. Some think it was simply by secret prayer; but the phrase, “to inquire of the Lord,” in general usage signifies more than praying; and from its being said that she went to inquire, it is more probable that she resorted to some established place, or some qualified person for the purpose of consultation. We are told, 1Sa_9:9, that “Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spake:—‘Come and let us go to the seer’; for he that is now called a prophet was beforetime called a seer.” As Abraham was now living, and no doubt sustained the character of a prophet (Gen_20:17), she may have gone to him, and inquired of the Lord through his means. The Rabbinical writers, as usual, abound with fanciful conceits on this subject, but they are not of sufficient importance to deserve recital; nor can anything beyond conjecture be advanced upon this passage.—(Bush).

Under the pressure of trials we may even become discontented with our mercies.

Gen_25:23. A question might here arise as to the measure of light which such a communication, made in such circumstances, was fitted to throw on the plan and purpose of God, and the extent to which it was a revelation of His will, for the guidance of the parties interested at the time. It plainly established a distinction between Jacob and Esau while the children were not yet born, and it made that distinction hereditary. Moreover, it put the distinction upon a principal altogether opposed to that which naturally would have approved itself to the minds of the men of that generation—a principle only to be explained by its being resolved into an act of sovereignty (Is. 55:8). Farther, as to the amount of the distinction, it conveyed to Jacob and his descendants, not only the national but the religious pre-eminence, which was attached to the divinely-recognised seed of Abraham. It made him the heir, not only or chiefly of the temporal prerogatives and possessions usually centred in the first-born, but of the spiritual privileges also, whether associated with these or not, that belonged to the chosen race. It constituted him the father of the Saviour—the ancestor and head from whom He was to come, who, as the seed of the woman, was to bruise the serpent’s head, and in whom, as the seed of Abraham, all the families of the earth were to be blessed.—(Candlish.)

Undoubtedly, she herself is the prophetess to whom God reveals the manner and future of her delivery. Jehovah speaks to her. The word of revelation, though dark, infuses into her an earnest yet hopeful feeling of joy, instead of maternal sadness and despondency. Two brothers, as two nations—two nations, to contend and fight with each other from the very womb of the mother. The larger, or elder, and externally more powerful, governed by the smaller, the younger, and apparently the more feeble. In these three points the antithesis between Ishmael and Isaac is reflected again. The apostle (Rom_9:12) dwells upon this passage as affording a striking illustration and proof of the doctrine he was then teaching. Isaac was chosen over Ishmael, but further still, Jacob was chosen over Esau, though they were of the same covenant mother, and prior to their birth. The choice, election, was of grace.—(Lange.)

Observe here how the Jewish race is divided. All the previous history has been a division into two lines. First, the line of Abraham divides into that of Israel and Ishmael: Israel is chosen, Ishmael rejected. Then the line of Israel subdivides into those of Esau and Jacob. Jacob is chosen, and Esau rejected. And such is God’s way. Of the Jews carried away captive into Babylon, only a remnant returned. All those belonging to the visible Church are not members of the true invisible Church. There will be at the end of the world, we are told, one taken and the other left. Many are called but few chosen—a chosen few like the few separated from Gideon’s army. Of these two boys, Esau and Jacob, we see in one the gross man of the world, in the other a character far higher, though mixed with a certain craft or cunning. This sin was not repressed in youth, and it grew up with him into manhood. It is always so; unless the evil propensity is checked in childhood it will increase as life goes on, and that most wise saying is verified—“the child is father to the man.” Esau is called in the Epistle to the Hebrews a profane—that is, a worldly person. His life was one of impulse, wanting in reverence, without any sensitive appreciation of things not level to his senses. Imprudent, incontinent, unable to restrain himself, he sacrificed the future to the present; he looked not beyond the passing hour; he sold his soul for pottage. We can scarcely account for his being the best beloved of his father, except on the principle of like joining to unlike.—(Robertson.)

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

According to the plan of Genesis, the history (tholedoth) of Isaac commences with the birth of his sons. But to give it the character of completeness in itself, Isaac's birth and marriage are mentioned again in Gen 25:19, Gen 25:20, as well as his age at the time of his marriage. The name given to the country of Rebekah (Gen 25:20) and the abode of Laban in Gen 28:2, Gen 28:6-7; Gen 31:18; Gen 33:18; Gen 35:9, Gen 35:26; Gen 46:15, viz., Padan-Aram, or more concisely Padan (Gen 48:7), "the flat, or flat land of Aram," for which Hosea uses "the field of Aram" (Hos 12:12), is not a peculiar expression employed by the Elohist, or in the so-called foundation-work, for Aram Naharaim, Mesopotamia (Gen 24:10), but a more exact description of one particular district of Mesopotamia, viz., of the large plain, surrounded by mountains, in which the town of Haran was situated. The name was apparently transferred to the town itself afterwards. The history of Isaac consists of two stages: (1) the period of his active life, from his marriage and the birth of his sons till the departure of Jacob for Mesopotamia (Gen 25:20-28:9); and (2) the time of his suffering endurance in the growing infirmity of age, when the events of Jacob's life form the leading feature of the still further expanded history of salvation (Gen 28:10-35:29). This suffering condition, which lasted more than 40 years, reflected in a certain way the historical position which Isaac held in the patriarchal triad, as a passive rather than active link between Abraham and Jacob; and even in the active period of his life many of the events of Abraham's history were repeated in a modified form.

The name Jehovah prevails in the historical development of the tholedoth of Isaac, in the same manner as in that of Terah; although, on closer examination of the two, we find, first, that in this portion of Genesis the references to God are less frequent than in the earlier one; and secondly, that instead of the name Jehovah occurring more frequently than Elohim, the name Elohim predominates in this second stage of the history. The first difference arises from the fact, that the historical matter furnishes less occasion for the introduction of the name of God, just because the revelations of God are more rare, since the appearances of Jehovah to Isaac and Jacob together are not so numerous as those to Abraham alone. The second may be explained partly from the fact, that Isaac and Jacob did not perpetually stand in such close and living faith in Jehovah as Abraham, and partly also from the fact, that the previous revelations of God gave rise to other titles for the covenant God, such as "God of Abraham," "God of my father," etc., which could be used in the place of the name Jehovah (cf. Gen 26:24; Gen 31:5, Gen 31:42; Gen 35:1, Gen 35:3, and the remarks on Gen 35:9).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

SECOND SECTION

Jacob and Esau

Gen_25:19-34

19And these are the generations7 [genealogies] of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac: 20And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-Aram [from Mesopotamia], the sister to Laban 21the Syrian. And Isaac entreated the Lord [Jehovah] for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22And the children struggled together [thrust, jostled each other] within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus?8 And she went to inquire of the Lord. 23And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people9 shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger [the greater shall serve the less].

24And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment;10 and they called his name Esau [covered with hair]. 26And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob [heel-catcher]; and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. 27And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter [a man knowing the hunt], a man of the field [a wild rover, not an husbandman]; and Jacob was a plain11 [discreet, sedate] man, dwelling in tents. 28And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison [game was in his mouth his favorite food]: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29And Jacob [once] sod pottage; and Esau came from the field, and he was faint. 30And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee [let me devour greedily], with that same red pottage [from the red—this red, here]; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom 31[Red]. And Jacob said, Sell me this day [first] thy birthright. 32And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die [going to die]: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 34Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS

1. According to Knobel we have, in the present narration, as in Genesis 26, a mixture of different records upon an Elohistic basis by means of the Jehovistic supplement. It is enough to say, that in our section the theocratic element is predominant. [Keil remarks that if the name of God occurs less frequently here, it is due partly to the historic material, which gives less occasion to use this name, since Jehovah appeared more frequently to Abraham than to Isaac and Jacob; and partly to the fact that the previous revelations of God formed titles or designations for the God of the Covenant, as “God of Abraham,” “God of my father,” which are equivalent in significance with Jehovah.—A. G.] It introduces the election of Jacob in opposition to Esau. The order of the Toledoth Knobel explains thus: “The author usually arranges them, in the first place, according to the individual patriarchs, after he has recorded the death of the father. Next begins the proper history of the patriarchs, e.g., Gen_10:1; Gen_11:27; Gen_25:13; Gen_36:1; Gen_37:2. We have already made the remark that the Toledoth frequently dispose of a more general sequence of history, in order to pass over to a more special one. Delitzsch finds three “transitions” in the history of Jacob. The first reaching to the departure of Jacob, Gen_25:19 to Gen_28:9; the second to Jacob’s departure from Laban, Gen_32:1 (a section, however, in which nothing in regard to Isaac occurs); the third, from Jacob’s return to the death of Isaac, Gen_35:29. But this section, too, is merely a history of Jacob, except the three verses in Gen_35:27-29. On the other hand it is preeminently the history of Joseph and of the rest of the sons of Jacob, which begins at Gen_37:2, where, according to Knobel, the history of Jacob should first begin. In the separate biographies we are to distinguish the theocratic stages of the life of the patriarchs, from the periods of their human decrepitude and decease, in which the new theocratic generation already becomes prominent. This history has four sections: Rebekah’s barrenness and Isaac’s intercession; Rebekah’s pregnancy and the divine disclosure of her condition; the antithesis in the nature of the sons reflecting itself in the divided love of the parents; and Esau’s prodigality of his birthright, parting with it for a mess of pottage. In the second section we have the prophetic preface, in the third and fourth the typical prelude to the entire future history of the antithesis between Jacob and Esau, Israel and Edom.

2. The points of light in the life of Isaac lie in part back of this narrative. These are his child-like inquiries and his patient silence upon Moriah (Genesis 22); his love to Rebekah (Genesis 24); his brotherly communion with Ishmael at the burial of Abraham, and his residing at the well Lahai-Roi (Genesis 25). Here we now read first of his earnest intercession on account of the barrenness of Rebekah; then, moreover, of his preference of Esau because he was fond of game. Somewhat later Jehovah appeared unto him at Gerar, preventing him from imitating his father Abraham in going to Egypt during the famine, although he imitates him in passing off Rebekah for his sister. In this, too, he differs from Abraham, that he began to devote himself to agriculture (Gen_26:12). He suffers himself, however, to be supplanted by the Philistines, and one well after another is taken away from him, until he at last retains only one, and finds rest at Beer-sheba. In the second appearance too (Gen_26:24), his deep humility is reflected in this, that he preserves the promise of the blessing, receiving it as he does for the sake of his father Abraham. He now takes courage, and, as Abraham did, proclaims the name of the Lord, and ventures to reprove the conduct of Abimelech. His digging of wells, as well as his tilling the soil, seems to indicate a progress beyond Abraham. Then, too, he is willing to transmit to Esau the theocratic blessing of the birthright, though Esau had shortly before sorely grieved him by the marriage of two of the daughters of the Hittites. The marked antithesis between Isaac’s vision power, his contemplative prominence, and his short-sightedness in respect to the present life, as well as the weakness of his senses, appears most strikingly in Genesis 27. Rebekah proceeds now with more energy, and Isaac dismisses Jacob with his blessing, who returns after many years to bury his father. When Isaac blessed his sons his eyes had already become dim, yet many years passed before he died (from his one hundred and thirtieth to his one hundred and eightieth year). Delitzsch exaggerates Isaac’s weakness as making him in everything a mere copy of Abraham. “Even the wells he digs are those of Abraham, destroyed by the Philistines, and the names he gives to them are merely the old ones renewed. He is the most passive of the three patriarchs. His life flows away in a passive quietness, and almost the entire second half in senile torpidity (!). So passive, so secondary, or, so to speak, so sunken or retired is the middle period in the patriarchal history.” We have referred to the points in which he does not imitate Abraham, but is himself. He does not go to Egypt during the famine, as Abraham did; he begins the transition from a nomadic to and agricultural life, he digs new wells in addition to the old ones, he lives in exclusive monogamous wedlock, and even in his preference of Esau, the game, surely, is not the only motive. If the external right of the firstborn impressed so deeply his passive character (especially in connection with the robust, striking appearance of Esau, seeming to fit him particularly to be heir of Canaan); there can be no doubt, also, that he was repelled by traits in the early life of Jacob. But most especially does he appear to have had a feeling for those sufferings of the firstborn Ishmael, which he endured on his account. And hence he appeared willing to make amends to Esau, his own firstborn, a fact to which, at least, his dwelling at Hagar’s well, and his brotherly union with Ishmael, may point. It is evident that the ardent Rebekah, by her animated, energetic declarations (Gen_24:18-19; Gen_24:25; Gen_24:28; Gen_24:58; Gen_24:64-65; Gen_25:22), formed a very significant complement to Isaac, confiding more in the divine declarations as to her boys than Isaac did, and therefore better able to appreciate the deeper nature of Jacob. But when Isaac, through his passiveness, fails in the performance of his duty, the courageous woman forgets her vocation, and with artifice counsels Jacob to steal the blessing from Isaac—a transgression for which she had to atone in not seeing again her favorite son after his migration. And even if Isaac was shortsighted respecting his personal relations in this world, yet the words of the blessing attest that his spiritual sight of the divine promises had not diminished with his blinded eyes. It had its ground, moreover, in the very laws of the psychical antithesis that Isaac, so feeble in will and character, was attracted by the wild and powerful Esau; while the brave, energetic Rebekah found greater satisfaction in union with the gentle Jacob. In the assumed zeal of her faith for the preservation of a pure theocracy among the patriarchs, she too excels Isaac. We should bear in mind that they were Jews who relate so impartially the Nahoritic Rebekah’s superiority over the Abrahamic Isaac. [“Consenting to be laid on the altar as a sacrifice to God, Isaac had the stamp of submission early and deeply impressed on his soul. Hence, in the spiritual aspect of his character, he was the man of patience, of acquiescence, of susceptibility, of obedience. His qualities were those of the son, as Abraham’s were those of the father. He carried out, but did not initiate; he followed, but did not lead; he continued, but he did not commence. Accordingly the docile and patient side of the saintly character is now to be presented to our view.” Murphy, p. 367.—A. G.]

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Gen_25:19-21. Rebekah’s barrenness, and Isaac’s intercession.—Padan-Aram.—Level, plain of Aram: Hos_12:12, it reads, field of Aram. Gen_48:7. Padan, Mesopotamia. Keil limits the name to the large plain of the city of Haran, surrounded by mountains, following the conjectures of Knobel, who, however, regards Padan-Aram as a specific Elohistic expression. According to others, Mesopotamia is divided into two parts, and here the level country is distinguished from the mountainous region. But this does not apply to Haran. To one travelling from Palestine to Mesopotamia across the mountains, Mesopotamia is an extensive plain. According to Gen_25:26, Isaac waited twenty years for offspring. This was a new trial to him, though not to Abraham, who still lived. Since the line of the blessing was to pass through Isaac, his intercession was based upon a divine foundation in Jehovah’s promise. [For his wife, with reference to, literally before; which Luther says is to be explained spiritually, indicating the intensity of his prayer, the single object before his mind.—“Entreated the Lord. The seed of promise must be sought from Jehovah, so that it should be regarded, not as the fruit of nature, but as the gift of divine grace.” Keil, p. 191.—A. G.]

2. Gen_25:22-23. Rebekah’s pregnancy, and the divine explanation of her condition.—The Hebrew expression יתרצצו denotes a severe struggling with each other. Knobel will have it that this feature was derived from the later enmities between the Israelites and Edomites, and quotes Gen_4:14; Gen_16:12; Gen_19:30. “In like manner, according to Apollod., 2, 2, 1, Acrisius and Proetus, two brothers, had already quarrelled with each other in the womb of their mother about the dominion.” That such intimations and omens can have no real existence is regarded as a settled matter in the prejudices of this kind of criticism.—Why am I thus?—We see again the character of Rebekah in this very expression. According to Delitzsch, she was of a sanguine temperament: rash in her actions, and as easily discouraged. We would rather regard her words as an ill-humored expression of a sanguine-choleric temperament. It does not mean: why am I yet living? (Delitzsch, referring to Gen_27:46, Knobel, Keil), but why am I so? i.e., in this condition. [Why this sore and strange struggle within me?—A. G.]—To inquire of the Lord.—According to a certain Jewish Midrash, she went to Salem (so Knobel). According to Delitzsch, she went rather to Hagar’s well; at all events, to a place sacred on account of revelations and the worship of Jehovah. Luther thinks she went to Shem, others to Abraham or Melchizedek, just as men inquired of the prophets in the time of Samuel (1Sa_9:9). The prophet nearest to her, if she had wanted one, would have been Isaac. The phrase “she went” no doubt means she retired to some quiet place, and there received for herself the divine revelation. For in the patriarchal history sacred visions determined as yet sacred places, nor is it different at present. [Still the phrase seems to imply that there was some place and mode of inquiring of the Lord. Perhaps, as Theodoret suggests, at the family altar.—A.G.] According to Knobel, she received the experience indicated as, in general, a sign of ill omen. Delitzsch thinks she saw in it the anger of Jehovah. However, we must not too sharply interpret her ill humor, on account of the mysterious, painful, and uneasy condition, and the alarming presentiment she may have had of the contentions of her posterity. That she was to be a mother of twins she did not know at this time.—Two nations.—The divine answer is a rhythmical oracle. (See Delitzsch.)

[Two nations are in thy womb;

And two people from thy bowels shall be separated;

And people shall be stronger than people;

And the elder shall serve the younger.

Wordsworth.—A. G.]

With the prophetic elevation the poetic form appears also. It appears very distinctly from this oracle, that they would differ from the very womb of the mother. Since Esau’s liberation is not predicted here, Knobel regards this as a sign that the author lived at a time before Edom threw off the yoke of Judah. We know, however, how the theocratic prophecies gradually enlarge. The meaning of this obscure revelation, clothed as it was in the genuine form of prophecy, and which so greatly calmed her, she saw in a certain measure explained in the relations that had existed between Isaac and Ishmael.

3. Gen_25:24-28. The birth of the twins. The antithesis of their nature, and the divided partiality of the parents towards their children.—Behold, there were twins.—The fulfilment of the oracle in its personal, fundamental form.—And the first came out red.—Of a reddish flesh color. His body, like a garment of skins, covered with hair. (Luxuriance of the growth of the hair.) In the word אדמוני there is an allusion to אדום, in the word שֵׂעָר there is an allusion to שֵׂעִיר. “Arab authors derive also the red-haired occidentals from Esau.” Knobel. Both marks characterize his sensual, hard nature.— And his hand took hold on Esau’s heel.—Delitzsch: “It is not said that he held it already in the womb of his mother (a position of twins not considered possible by those who practise obstetrics), but that he followed his brother with such a movement of his hand.” Knobel contends against the probability of this statement, since, according to a work on obstetrics by Busch, the birth of the second child generally occurs an hour after that of the first one, frequently later. The very least that the expression can convey is, that Jacob followed Esau sooner than is generally the case; upon his heels, and, as it were, to take hold of his heel. Since the fact, considered symbolically, does not speak in his favor; since it points out the crafty combatant who seizes his opponent unawares by the heel, and thus causes him to fall, there is the less ground for imagining any forgery here. The signification of the name “Jacob” is essentially the same with “successor,” as Knobel conjectures. Jacob’s cunning seems to have been stripped from him in his life’s career, deceived as he had been by Laban, and even by his own sons, whilst there remains his holy prudence, his deeper knowledge, and his incessant looking to the divine promise.—A cunning hunter.—Esau developed himself according to the omen.—Because he did eat of his venison.—Literally, “was in his mouth.”—And Jacob was a plain man.—איש תם. Luther: a pious man. Knobel: a blameless man, i.e., as a shepherd. “Hunting, pursued, not for the sake of self-defence or of necessity, but for mere pleasure, as with Esau, the author regards as something harsh and cruel, especially when compared with the shepherd-life so highly esteemed by the Hebrews.” Isaac’s fondness for venison, however, cannot be fully explained by this. Gesenius emphasizes the antithesis of gentle and wild. Delitzsch explains תָּם, “with his whole heart” devoted to God and the good, etc. Keil, more happily, as “a disposition inclined to a domestic, quiet life.” The most obvious explanation of the word in this place points out a man, modest, correct, and sedate, in contrast with the wild, unsteady, roving, and proud manner of Esau’s life. Jacob was modest, because he adhered to the costume of his father, and stayed near the tents.—Because he did eat of his venison, lit., was in his mouth. This weakness of the patriarch was not his only motive in his preference of Esau, but it is particularly mentioned here on account of the following narrative. In like manner, Haman was a melancholy, indolent man, fond of good living.

4. Gen_25:29-34.The typical prelude of the historical antithesis between Jacob and Esau.—Jacob sod pottage.—A dish of lentiles, see Gen_25:34.—Feed me.—Lit.,“let me swallow,” an expression for eating greedily, לעט. According to Knobel, Esau, by reason of his greediness, was not able to think of the name, “lentiles,” but points them out by the words, “that Red!” At the most, “that Red” might express his strong appetite, excited by the inviting color. The addition הָאָדֹם הָזֶּה is generally interpreted: “from that same Red.” The repetition in the original shows that his appetite was greatly excited: “Let me swallow, I pray thee, some of that Red, that Red there!” We question, however, whether he did not say rather: Feed with that Red, me the Red one. Thus by a rude, witty play upon words, he would have introduced the fact of his afterward having been called “the red one.” At all events his name is not to be deduced from the red pottage. “In the words אַדְמוֹנִי and שֵׂעָר above there is indicated a different relation of the names אֱדוֹם (red-brown) and שֵׂעִיר (hairy), but the one referring to אָדוֹם, that red, i.e., brown-yellow pottage of lentiles, φοινικίδιον, is there predominant. Moreover, thousands of names, e.g., among the Arabs (comp. Abulfeda’sHist. Anteisl.), have a like fortuitous origin. But if any one should regard it as accidental that the history of nations for several thousand years should have been connected with a pottage of lentiles, he will not look in vain for similar occurrences in perusing the pages of Oriental history. [Therefore was his name called Edom. There is no discrepancy in ascribing the name both to his complexion and the color of the lentile broth. The propriety of a name may surely be marked by different circumstances. Nor is it unnatural to suppose that such occasions should occur in the course of life. Jacob, too, has the name given to him from the circumstances of his birth, here confirmed.—A. G.] It is scarcely necessary to say here, that lentiles (adas) are still a favorite dish in Egypt and Syria.” Delitzsch.—Sell me this day.—Knobel, as his manner is, regards this fact as improbable. He thinks the object of the narrative is to answer the question, how the birthright descended from Esau to Jacob, and thus erroneously supposes that, according to the Jewish view, the people of God, from Adam down to Isaac, had always descended from the line of the first-born. The text, however, presents to our view the contrast between Esau’s carnal thinking and Jacob’s believing sensibility, in the measure of fanatical exaggeration, and according to its conflict so decisive and typical for all time. The right of the first-born has its external and internal aspects. The external preference consisted in the headship over the brothers or the tribe (Gen_27:29), and later also in a double portion of the inheritance of the father. The internal preference was the right of priesthood, and in the house of Abraham, according to the supposition thus far assumed, a share in the blessing of the promise (Gen_27:4; Gen_27:27-29). [Which included the possession of Canaan and the covenant fellowship with Jehovah, and still more, the progenitorship of him in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed.—A. G.] To acquire a rightful claim to this, was undoubtedly the principal aim in the bargain, as is seen immediately from the answer of Esau: “I am at the point to die;” and also from the fact that Esau appears not to have been limited in his external inheritance. It is to the praise of Jacob that he appreciated so highly a promise extending into the far future and referring to the invisible; the realization of which, moreover, though he was unconscious of it, was already prepared in his very being (either in his natural disposition or in his election). The acuteness, too, with which he discerned Esau’s gross bondage to appetite, deserves no censure. The selfishness of his nature by which he so soon estimates his profits and takes advantage of his brother,—this impure motive, as well as a fanatical self-will arising from his excitement in respect to the birthright, through which he anticipates God’s providence, is all the more obvious in his cunningly availing himself of the present opportunity. [Yet it must be borne in mind that he laid no necessity upon Esau. He leaves him to accept or reject the proposal. And Esau knew well, though he did not value it, what the birthright included. His own words, “what profit shall it do to me, seeing I am about to die?” show clearly that he knew that it included invisible and future things, as well as the visible and present. It was because he thus consciously sold his birthright, and for such a consideration, that the Apostle, Heb_12:16, calls him a profane person.—A. G.] In Esau of course he was not mistaken.—Behold I am at the point to die.—Esau, in his carnal disposition, seems to regard only the present and the things of this life, and of the things of this life, the visible and the sensual only. He yields the entire higher import of the birthright, the specific blessing of Abraham, the inheritance of his posterity, the right and land of the covenant, for the satisfaction of a moment—and that, too, near his paternal hearth, where he would soon have obtained a meal. He is therefore designated (Heb_12:16) as βέβηλος, or profane.—Swear to me this day.—Jacob’s demand of an oath in this transaction evinces a very ungenerous suspicion, just as the taking of the oath on the part of Esau shows a low sense of honor.—And rose up and went his way.—As if nothing happened. Repentance followed later.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Rebekah’s barrenness during twenty years. The sons of Isaac, too, were to be asked for; they were to be children of faith, especially Jacob. Sarah’s example appears to occur again. Similar examples: Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth. Even when not viewed in the light of the Abrahamic promise of the blessing, barrenness was regarded in the ancient Orient as a trial of special severity; how much more so in this case. Starke: “Barrenness among the patriarchs (Hebrews) was a painful occurrence. It was sometimes the fruitful source of strife (Gen_30:2); tears were shed (1Sa_1:7); it was considered a reproach (Luk_1:25); it was even held for a curse.” Here, however, Abraham could from his own experience comfort them; he lived fifteen years after the birth of the children.

2. Isaac’s intercession. It could be based upon God’s promise and Abraham’s experience. Jehovah heard him. He granted more than asked. Instead of one child he received two. Undoubtedly Rebekah sustained his intercession by her prayers.

3. Rebekah’s pregnancy, her painful sensation, her ill-humor and alarming presentiments. The gentle story of the hopeful maternal temperament is often of the greatest significance in history. Isaac, in accordance with his disposition, prays to Jehovah; Rebekah, after her manner of feeling, goes and asks Jehovah. Undoubtedly she herself is the prophetess to whom God reveals the manner and future of her delivery. Jehovah speaks to her. The word of revelation, though dark, infuses into her an earnest yet hopeful feeling of joy, instead of maternal sadness and despondency. Two brothers, as two nations—two nations, to contend and fight with each other from the very womb of the mother. The larger, or elder, and externally more powerful, governed by the smaller, the younger, and apparently the more feeble. In these three points the antithesis between Ishmael and Isaac is reflected again. [The Apostle, Rom_9:12, dwells upon this passage as affording a striking illustration and proof of the doctrine he was then teaching. Isaac was chosen over Ishmael, but further still, Jacob was chosen over Esau, though they were of the same covenant mother, and prior to their birth. The choice, election, was of grace.—A. G.]

4. Brothers unlike, hostile; twins even at enmity, whose physiological unconscious antipathy shows itself already in the womb of the mother—dark forebodings of life not yet existing, bearing witness, however, that the life of man already, in its coming into being, is a germinating seed of a future individuality. This cannot be meant to express a mutual hatred of the embryos. Antipathies, however, as well as sympathies, may be manifested in the germinating life of man as in the animal and vegetable kingdom.

5. The relation of prophecy and poetry appears in the rhythmical form of the divine declaration as it is laid before us. Common to both is the elevated lyrical temperament manifesting itself in articulate rhythm.

6. The individuality of the twins is manifested immediately by corresponding signs. Esau comes into this world with a kind of hunter’s dress covering his rough-red skin; he is, and remains, Esau or Edom. Jacob seems to be a combatant immediately; an artful champion, who unawares seizes his opponent by the heel, causing him to fall. But under Jehovah’s direction and training. Jacob, the heelholding struggler, becomes Israel, the wrestler with God. In the name “Jacob” there is then intimated, not only his inherited imperfection, but at the same time his continual struggle, i.e., there exists a germ of Israel in Jacob. Esau, in his wild rambles, becomes an after-play of Nimrod. Jacob is so domestic and economical that he cooks the lentile broth himself. Esau appears to have inherited from Rebekah the rash, sanguine temperament, but without her nobility of soul; from Isaac he derives a certain fondness of good living—at least of game. Jacob inherited from Isaac the quiet, contemplative manner, from Rebekah, however, a disposition for rapid, prudent, cunning invention. Outwardly regarded, Jacob on the whole resembled more the father,—Esau the mother. This, however, seems to be the very reason why Isaac preferred Esau, and Rebekah Jacob. The gentle Isaac, who was to transmit to one of his children the great promise of the future, even the hope of Canaan, might have considered Esau, not only in his character of first-born, but also in that of a courageous and strong hunter, more suitable to hold and defend Abraham’s prospects among the heathen, than Jacob, who was so similar to himself in respect to domestic life. He might, therefore, understand the oracle given to Rebekah in a sense different from that received by her; or he might doubt, perhaps, its objective validity, opposed as it was to the customary right of succession. That Esau’s venison exercised an influence as to his position towards Esau, is proved from the text. It might be to him a delusive foretaste of the future conquests of Canaan. Esau’s frank nobility of soul is seen also in his promptly and zealously complying with the request. Rebekah confided in her oracle and understood her Jacob better. But even here there coöperated that mutual power of attraction which lay in the two antithetical temperaments. Without doubt, Esau, the stately hunter, moved about in his paternal home as a youthful lord; in which fact Isaac thought that he saw a sign of future power.

7. Isaac’s taste and Esau’s greediness—the two prime features of a likerish deportment. The weakness of the father soon increases to the greediness of the son. Isaac’s contemplation and weakness as to his senses reminds us of similar contrasts.

8. And Jacob sod pottage. Every human weakness has its hour of temptation, and if we do not watch and pray, it will come upon us like a thief.

9. To sell one’s birthright for a pottage of lentiles: this expression has become the established expression for every exchange of eternal treasures, honors, and hopes, for earthly, visible, and momentary pleasures. No doubt the motto: Let us eat and drink, etc., is an echo of Esau’s expression. Yet we are not at liberty to regard this moment of abandonment to appetite as an instance of a frame of mind continual, fixed; nor can we refer the divine reprobation, beginning with this moment, to his future happiness. He was rejected relatively to the prerogatives of the Abrahamic birthright. Notwithstanding his manliness and placability, he was not a man who had longings for the future, and therefore could not be a patriarch among the people of the future (Mal_1:3; Heb_12:17). Jacob, however, was different; he knew how to prize the promises, in spite of those faults of weakness and craft, from which God’s training purified him.

10. Thus it stood with both children even before their birth. The antithesis of their lives was grounded in the depths of their individuality, that is, in the religious inclination of the one, and the spiritual superficiality of the other. But their very foundations had their ground in the divine election (Rom_9:11). The fundamental relations become apparent, with respect to both, in a sinful manner. They become apparent through the sins of both, but they would have appeared, too, without their sinful actions, by God’s providence. The question is about a destination, who was to be the proper bearer of the covenant, not about happiness and perdition.

11. In their next conflict Jacob’s ungenerous negotiation increases to fraud. Thence his subsequent great sufferings and atonement. By the deception of Laban, too, as well as by that of his sons, must expiation be made. The bloody coat of many colors, sent to him by his sons, reminded him of Esau’s coat, in which he approached his father. For Jacob’s opinion concerning the sufferings of his life, see Gen_47:9. Starke: Paul, in quoting these words, Rom_9:12, does not speak of an absolute decree to eternal life or eternal damnation. Because God was to establish his church among the posterity of Jacob, and the Messiah was to come through them, Esau’s posterity, if desirous of salvation, must turn to the worship of Jacob (Joh_4:22). Upon the idea of election, see Lange’s Positive Dogmatic, article Ordo Salutis. [Also Tholuck, Meyer, Hodge on the passage Rom_9:11. It seems well-nigh impossible to escape the conviction that the Apostle here teaches the sovereign choice of persons, not merely to the external blessings, but the internal and spiritual blessings of his kingdom, i.e., to salvation.—A. G.]

12. The present prophecy respecting Jacob and Esau is farther developed in the blessings of Isaac (Genesis 27). Thus everything was historically fulfilled. For Edom and Idumæa, see the Bible Dictionaries; also respecting the prophetic declarations concerning Edom. The prophet Obadiah represents Edom as a type of the anti-theocratic (anti-Christian) conduct of false and envious brothers. This typical interpretation no more excludes the preaching of the Gospel in Idumæa than similar and more definite representations of Babel exclude the preaching of Peter at Babylon.

13. The Hebraic, i.e., the profoundest conception of history, here comes into view again. All history develops itself from personal beginnings. The personal is predominant in history.

14. The mystery of births; of the like relation between male and female being; of the unlike but natural relations between the more and less gifted, between noble and common; and of the different degrees of natural dispositions—a reservation of God, in his decrees of providence.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See the Doctrinal and Ethical. The house of a patriarch in its light and dark aspects: a. The divine blessing and human piety; b. human weakness and sin.—Different directions of the parents. Contrasts of the children.—The trials in the life of Isaac.—Children a blessing, an heritage of the Lord.—The intercession and its answer.—Isaac’s prayers, Rebekah’s inquiries.—Hoping mothers are to inquire of the Lord.—Twin brothers not always twin spirits.—Jacob and Esau.—The sale of the birthright for a pottage of lentiles.—Edom’s character in respect to good and evil. (Saying of Lessing: Nothing in a man is condemned as execrable if he only has the reputation of honor and integrity.)—Jacob’s sin, to human eyes, indissolubly connected with his higher strivings.—It is reserved to the chemistry of God to separate the dross of sin from the pure metal of a pious striving (Mal_3:3).—The experience of the pious, a succession of divine purifications.—Hereditary faults.—Jacob’s haste and eager grasping, the sign Of the severe expiatory penitential sorrows of his life.—He wished to acquire externally, what God’s grace had put into his heart.—The first fault of Jacob a harbinger of the second.—Hereditary virtues and hereditary vices.—Divine election: 1. A predestination of Jacob’s and Esau’s theocratic position; 2. no decree as to their deportment.—Esau and Jacob; or a frank, noble disposition without subjectiveness, without a desire, and even without a true sense of divine things; opposed to an enthusiastic feeling for the eternal, yet tainted with self-deceit and dishonesty.—Jacob, a man of the higher longing and hope. Esau, a man of sensual pleasure, regardless of the future.

Starke, Cramer: The true church is never respected by the world as much as the great mass of the children of the flesh; we must not, therefore, place the bushel by the largest heap.—Bibl. Tub.: Children are an heritage of the Lord (Psa_127:3).—Hall: Isaac asks for one son and he receives two.—Lange: Married people are under obligations to unite in prayer, especially on important occasions.—Notwithstanding natural causes, God, as creator, reserves to himself the closing and opening of the womb of mothers. This shows his sovereignty over the human race (Jer_31:20).—Rebekah, in her impatience, may be a type of those who, having been aroused by God, so that a struggle, necessarily painful, takes place between spirit and flesh, soon become impatient.—In an unfruitful conjugal life we are to take comfort in this: 1. That God visited with barrenness holy people in former times—Sarah, Rachel, Hannah, Elisabeth; 2. God best knows our wants; 3. we are not to render an account for children, etc.; 4. to die without children takes away, in a certain degree, the bitterness of death; 5. the times are calamitous (Mat_24:19). In times of need we are not to consult soothsayers, but God and his word.—(The struggle of the flesh with the spirit in the new life of the new-born; Rom_7:22-23).

Gen_25:26. Gen_3:16.—Cramer: Within the pale of the Christian Church we have different classes of people: Jews and heathen (Joh_10:16), true believers and hypocrites, good and evil (Mat_13:47). God does not judge after the advantages of the flesh, of age, of size and other things which concern the appearance.—Bibl. Wirt.: Two churches are prefigured here: one believing the promises of Christ; the other depending on a carnal advantage of antiquity and extent. These two bodies will never come to an agreement, until finally the true church, as the smaller, will overcome the false by the victory of her faith, and triumph over her in eternal blessedness (1Jn_5:4).—O, children, remember what anxiety you have cost your mothers.

Gen_25:28. Lange: The preference of parents for one or another of their children may have its natural cause, and be sanctified, but seldom does it keep within proper limits. Probably Esau was more attached to his father, and Jacob to his mother. (Isaac, probably, prefers venison, not as a delicacy, but to make better and economical use of his cattle; and because wild animals are of no use to the husbandman, but only cause destruction to him.)

Gen_25:29. The simplicity of early time. Jacob sitting by the hearth and cooking, which is usually the duty of the females.

Gen_25:31. The apology for Jacob (Luther and Calvin, indeed, approve of his transaction on the ground of his right to the privilege of the first-born by the divine promise). Though the first-born was highly esteemed among the patriarchs, Christ would not descend from one of the first-born (indicating that he was the true first-born, who was to procure for us the right of the first-born from God). [See, also, Rom_8:29; Col_1:18; Rev_20:5; Heb_12:23.—A. G.] He claims to descend, not from Cain, but from Shem; not from Nahor, or Haran, but from Abraham; not from Ishmael, but from Isaac; not from Esau, but from Jacob; not from the seven elder sons of Jesse, but from David, and from Solomon, who was one of David’s younger sons.—(Gen_25:27. The permission of hunting on certain conditions: First, that the regular vocation be not neglected; second, that our neighbor be not injured.)—Cramer: In educating children we are to pay particular attention to their dispositions, observing in what direction each one inclines, for not every one is qualified for all things (Pro_20:11; Pro_22:6).—Godless men, who, for the sake of temporary things, despise and hazard the eternal (Php_3:19).

Gerlach: The birth of many celebrated men of God, preceded by a long season of barrenness.—Thereby the new-born babe is to become not only more endeared to the parents, who turn their whole attention to it, but is especially to be regarded by them as a supernatural gift of God, and thus become a type of the Saviour’s birth from a virgin.—The divine prophecy: The patriarchs come into view only (?) in reference to their descendants, with whom they are considered as constituting a unity. For prophecy has not been fulfilled in respect to the brothers as individuals.—Lisco: A frivolous contempt of an advantage bestowed on him by God.—So, also, an inconsiderate oath (Heb_12:16).—An immoderate longing after enjoyment sacrifices the greatest for the least, the eternal for the temporal.—Calwer Handbuch: Abraham too rejoiced in the birth of these boys; he lived yet 15 years after their birth, and the narrative of his death and burial has been, for historical purposes, considered first. When the inherited blessing of the promise is the subject treated of, the mere course of nature cannot decide the issues, in order that all praise may be to God, and not to men.—Schröder: (The Rabbins explain Isaac’s faithfulness to Rebekah from the fact of his having been offered in sacrifice to God (1Ti_3:2). Isaac, to whom the very promise was given, is placed after Ishmael, and Ishmael, possessing a temporal promise only, is put far before him. He is lord over other lords, counts 12 princes in his line, while Isaac lived alone and without any children, like a lifeless clod (Luther).—All the works of God begin painfully, but they issue excellently and gloriously. Earthly undertakings progress rapidly, and blaze up like a fire made of paper, but sudden leaps seldom prosper (Val. Herb.).—Every mother conceals a future; every maternal heart is full of presagings. Her bodily pains, she interprets as spiritual throes that await her.—The case of Rebekah presents consolation to a woman with child (Val. Herb.).—Calvin: Rebekah probably inquired of God in prayer.—Her example should teach us not to give way too much to sadness in distress. We are to restrain, and struggle with, ourselves.—Prophecy (even the heathen oracles) always assumes a solemn and metrical style, etc. The prophet is a poet, as frequently the poet is a prophet.—Her alarming presentiment did not deceive Rebekah. The struggle within her indicated the external and internal conflicts not only of her children, but even of the nations which were to descend from them.—This Gen_25:23 embraces all times; it is the history of the world, of the church, and of individual hearts, enigmatically expressed. (Coats made of red camel’s hair were worn by poor people, also by prophets (Zec_13:4; 2Ki_1:8).)—The Hebrew Admoni is also connected with Adam; Esau is a son of Adam, predominantly inclined to the earth and earthly things.—(Isaac’s bodily nature appears feeble everywhere; Gen_27:1; Gen_27:19). Such persons are fond of choice and finer viands. Wherever Abraham has calves’ flesh, butter and milk, on special festive occasions, Isaac delights in venison and wine (Gen_27:3-4; Gen_27:25).—In the Logos, as the first-born of all creatures, the signification of the first-born, both animal and human, has its true, its ultimate, and divine foundation (Ziegler). The father is pleased, that Esau, like Ishmael, Gen_21:20, is a good hunter, and he regards it as an ornament to the first-born, who is to have the government (Luther). Esau becomes Edom, and therefore, still the more remains Esau merely; Jacob, on the other hand, becomes Israel (Gen_32:28).—Jacob is the man of hope. The possession that he greatly desires is of a higher order: hopes depending on the birthright. He never strives after the lower birthright privileges. (It is doubtful, also, whether these were as fully developed at the time of Abraham as at the time of Moses).—I am at the point to die. Sooner or later I will have to succumb to the perils to which my vocation exposes me. A thought expressed more than once by Arabic heroes (Tuch).—Esau’s insight into the future extended to his death only.—Jacob’s request that Esau should swear. He is as eager for the future as Esau is for the present.—(Lentiles, to this day, are a very favorite dish among the Arabs, being mostly eaten in Palestine as a pottage. Robinson found them very savory, etc.).—Want of faithful confidence in him who had given him such a promise, it was this that made Jacob wish to assist God with carnal subtilty, as Abraham once with carnal wisdom.—Thou shalt not take advantage of thy brother. For the present, no doubt, Jacob obscured the confidence of his hopes, just as Abraham, by anticipation, obscured his prospects.—As Ishmael had no claim for the blessings of the birthright, because begotten κατὰ σάρκα, so Esau forfeits the blessings of his birthright, not because begotten κατὰ σάρκα, but because inclined κατὰ σάρκα (Delitzsch).

Footnotes:

[7][Gen_25:19.—The תּוֹלִדֹת is more than genealogies. See note on Gen_25:4, Genesis 2.—A. G.]

[8][Gen_25:22.—Lit., If so, for what this am I.—A. G.]

[9][Gen_25:23.—גֹוִים and לִאֻמּים are here used as synonymous, although there is ground for the distinction which refers the former to the nations generally, and the latter to the peculiar people of God.—A. G.]

[10][Gen_25:25.—All over like a hairy garment; literally, the whole of him as a mantle of hair.—A. G.]

[11]Gen_25:27.—תָּם, perfect, peaceful, in his disposition, as compared with the rude, roving Esau.—A. G.

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

IX. THE GENERATIONS OF ISAAC

CHAPTER 25:19-34 Esau and Jacob

1. Rebekah barren and the answered prayer (Gen 25:19-22)

2. The birth of Esau and Jacob (Gen 25:23-26)

3. The growth of the boys (Gen 25:27-28)

4. Esau sells his birthright (Gen 25:29-34)

It was 25 years after Abraham entered Canaan before Isaac was born. It was 20 years after Isaac’s marriage before the birth of Esau and Jacob. The barren condition of Rebekah led Isaac to exercise faith and to cast himself upon the Lord for help. And He answered him. God delights to take up what is weak and barren and manifest His power in answer to prayer. Before the children were born the Lord had declared, “the elder shall serve the younger.” The struggle in Rebekah’s womb reminds us of the struggle between the two seeds (Ishmael and Isaac) in Abraham’s household. God’s sovereignty is here solemnly made known. He knew them before they were born and He made His choice according to His own sovereign will and purpose. “And not only this; but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac (for the children being not yet born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him that calleth), it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated” (Rom 9:11-13). That this does not refer to any unconditional and eternal condemnation is clear. It must be noticed that the statement “Esau have I hated” does not appear in Genesis, but in the last book of the Old Testament. Then the character and defiance of Edom had become fully established. In Genesis the Lord speaks only of having chosen Jacob and what creature of the dust can challenge His right to do so.

Then Esau sold his birthright. It fully brought out the defiance of his wicked heart (Heb 12:16-17). The blessings of the birthright he sold consisted in three things: 1. The father’s blessing and the place of head of the family; 2. The honor of being in the direct line of the promised One--Shem-Abraham-Isaac; 3. The exercise of the domestic priesthood. All this Esau despised for a carnal gratification. How numerous are his followers in our days who might have greater blessings, but they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25:19–35:29 This account of the family of Isaac, the chosen son of Abraham, mostly recounts Jacob’s struggle for the blessing (25:27-34; chs 27–33).

25:19-26 Jacob’s struggle for supremacy began before the twins were born (see Hos 12:3).

25:19-20 Isaac . . . married Rebekah: Isaac’s marriage tied him and his family even more closely to Abraham’s ancestors. Had he married a Canaanite, the covenant faith would have been imperiled by this corrupt, syncretistic people.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

These were the events concerning Isaac, Abraham's son

This sentence introduces the account of Isaac's descendants in Genesis 25:19-35:29. AT: "This is the account of the descendants of Isaac, Abraham's son" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

forty years old

"40 years old" (See: Numbers)

when he took as his wife Rebekah

"when he married Rebekah"

Bethuel

Bethuel was Rebekah's father. See how you translated this name in Genesis 22:22. (See: How to Translate Names)

Paddan Aram

This was another name for the region of Mesopotamia, which about the same location as modern Iraq. (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

Isaac

Abraham

year

Rebekah

Aram

Paddan Aram

Laban

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

We have here an account of the birth of Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah: their entrance into the world was (which is not usual) one of the most considerable parts of their story; nor is much related concerning Isaac but what had reference to his father while he lived and to his sons afterwards. For Isaac seems not to have been a man of action, nor much tried, but to have spent his days in quietness and silence. Now concerning Jacob and Esau we are here told,

I. That they were prayed for. Their parents, after they had been long childless, obtained them by prayer, Gen 25:20, Gen 25:21. Isaac was forty years old when he was married; though he was an only son, and the person from whom the promised seed was to come, yet he made no haste to marry. He was sixty years old when his sons were born (Gen 25:26), so that, after he was married, he had no child for twenty years. Note, Though the accomplishment of God's promise is always sure, yet it is often slow, and seems to be crossed and contradicted by Providence, that the faith of believers may be tried, their patience exercised, and mercies long waited for may be the more welcome when they come. While this mercy was delayed, Isaac did not approach to a handmaid's bed, as Abraham had done, and Jacob afterwards; for he loved Rebekah, Gen 24:67. But, 1. He prayed: he entreated the Lord for his wife. Though God had promised to multiply his family, he prayed for its increase; for God's promises must not supersede, but encourage, our prayers, and be improved as the ground of our faith. Though he had prayed for this mercy very often, and had continued his supplication many years, and it was not granted, yet he did not leave off praying for it; for men ought always to pray, and not to faint (Luk 18:1), to pray without ceasing, and knock till the door be opened, He prayed for his wife; some read it with his wife. Note, Husbands and wives should pray together, which is intimated in the apostle's caution, that their prayers be not hindered, Pe1 3:7. The Jews have a tradition that Isaac, at length, took his wife with him to mount Moriah, where God had promised that he would multiply Abraham's seed (ch. 22:17), and there, in his prayer with her and for her, pleaded the promise made in that very place. 2. God heard his prayer, and was entreated of him. Note, Children are the gift of God. Those that continue instant in prayer, as Isaac did, shall find, at last, that they did not seek in vain, Isa 45:19.

II. That they were prophesied of before they were born, and great mysteries were wrapped up in the prophecies which went before of them, Gen 25:22, Gen 25:23. Long had Isaac prayed for a son; and now his wife is with child of two, to recompense him for his long waiting. Thus God often outdoes our prayers, and gives more than we are able to ask or think. Now Rebekah being with child of these two sons, observe here,

1. How she was perplexed in her mind concerning her present case: The children struggled together within her. The commotion she felt was altogether extraordinary and made her very uneasy. Whether she was apprehensive that the birth would be her death, or whether she was weary of the intestine tumult, or whether she suspected it to be an ill omen, it seems she was ready to wish that either she had not been with child or that she might die immediately, and not bring forth such a struggling brood: If it be so, or, since it is so, Why am I thus? Before, the want of children was her trouble, now, the struggle of the children is no loss so. Note, (1.) The comforts we are most desirous of are sometimes found to bring along with them more occasion of trouble and uneasiness that we thought of; vanity being written upon all things under the sun, God thus teaches us to read it. (2.) We are too apt to be discontented with our comforts, because of the uneasiness that attends them. We know not when we are pleased; we know neither how to want nor how to abound. This struggle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, [1.] In the world. The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent have been contending ever since the enmity was put between them (Gen 3:15), and this has occasioned a constant uneasiness among men. Christ himself came to send fire on earth, and this division, Luk 12:49, Luk 12:51. But let not this be offence to us. A holy war is better than the peace of the devil's palace. [2.] In the hearts of believers. No sooner is Christ formed in the soul than immediately there begins a conflict between the flesh and spirit, Gal 5:17. The stream is not turned without a mighty struggle, which yet ought not to discourage us. It is better to have a conflict with sin than tamely to submit to it.

2. What course she took for her relief: She went to enquire of the Lord. Some think Melchizedek was now consulted as an oracle, or perhaps some Urim or Teraphim were now used to enquire of God by, as afterwards in the breast-plate of judgment. Note, The word and prayer, by both which we now enquire of the Lord, give great relief to those that are upon any account perplexed. It is a great relief to the mind to spread our case before the Lord, and ask counsel at his mouth. Go into the sanctuary, Psa 73:17.

3. The information given her, upon her enquiry, which expounded the mystery: Two nations are in thy womb, Gen 25:23. She was now pregnant, not only with two children, but two nations, which should not only in their manners and dispositions greatly differ from each other, but in their interests clash and contend with each other; and the issue of the contest should be that the elder should serve the younger, which was fulfilled in the subjection of the Edomites, for many ages, to the house of David, till they revolted, Ch2 21:8. Observe here, (1.) God is a free agent in dispensing his grace; it is his prerogative to make a difference between those who have not as yet themselves done either good or evil. This the apostle infers hence, Rom 9:12 (2.) In the struggle between grace and corruption in the soul, grace, the younger, shall certainly get the upper hand at last.

III. That when they were born there was a great difference between them, which served to confirm what had been foretold (Gen 25:23), was presage of the accomplishment of it, and served greatly to illustrate the type.

1. There was a great difference in their bodies, Gen 25:25. Esau, when he was born, was rough and hairy, as if he had been already a grown man, whence he had his name Esau, made, reared already. This was an indication of a very strong constitution, and gave cause to expect that he would be a very robust, daring, active man. But Jacob was smooth and tender as other children. Note, (1.) The difference of men's capacities, and consequently of their condition in the world, arises very much from the difference of their natural constitution; some are plainly designed by nature for activity and honour, others as manifestly marked for obscurity. This instance of the divine sovereignty in the kingdom of providence may perhaps help to reconcile us to the doctrine of the divine sovereignty in the kingdom of grace. (2.) It is God's usual way to choose the weak things of the world, and to pass by the mighty, Co1 1:26, Co1 1:27.

2. There was a manifest contest in their births. Esau, the stronger, came forth first; but Jacob's hand took hold of his heel, Gen 25:26. This signified, (1.) Jacob's pursuit of the birthright and blessing; from the first, he reached forth to catch hold of it, and, if possible, to prevent his brother. (2.) His prevailing for it at last, that, in precess of time, he should undermine his brother, and gain his point. This passage is referred to (Hos 12:8), and hence he had his name, Jacob, a supplanter.

3. They were very unlike in the temper of their minds, and the way of living they chose, Gen 25:27. They soon appeared to be of very different dispositions. (1.) Esau was a man for this world. He was a man addicted to his sports, for he was a hunter; and a man who knew how to live by his wits, for he was a cunning hunter. Recreation was his business; he studied the art of it, and spent all his time in it. He never loved a book, nor cared for being within doors; but he was a man of the field, like Nimrod and Ishmael, all for the game, and never well but when he was upon the stretch in pursuit of it: in short, he set up for a gentleman and a soldier. (2.) Jacob was a man for the other world. He was not cut out for a statesman, nor did he affect to look great, but he was a plain man, dwelling in tents, an honest man that always meant well, and dealt fairly, that preferred the true delights of solitude and retirement to all the pretended pleasure of busy noisy sports: he dwelt in tents, [1.] As a shepherd. he was attached to that safe and silent employment of keeping sheep, to which also he bred up his children, Gen 46:34. Or, [2.] As a student. He frequented the tents of Melchizedek, or Heber, as some understand it, to be taught by them divine things. And this was that son of Isaac on whom the covenant was entailed.

4. Their interest in the affections of their parents was likewise different. They had but these two children, and, it seems, one was the father's darling and the other the mother's, Gen 25:28. (1.) Isaac, though he was not a stirring man himself (for when he went into the fields he went to meditate and pray, not to hunt), yet loved to have his son active. Esau knew how to please him, and showed a great respect for him, by treating him often with venison, which gained him the affections of the good old man, and won upon him more than one would have thought. (2.) Rebekah was mindful of the oracle of God, which had given the preference to Jacob, and therefore she preferred him in her love. And, if it be lawful for parents to make a difference between their children upon any account, doubtless Rebekah was in the right, that loved him whom God loved.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 19. These are the generations of Isaac] This is the history of Isaac and his family. Here the sixth section of the law begins, called תולדת יעחק toledoth yitschak; as the fifth, called חיי שרה chaiye Sarah, which begins with Ge 23:1, ends at the preceding verse.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. These are the generations of Isaac. Because what Moses has said concerning the Ishmaelites was incidental, he now returns to the principal subject of the history, for the purpose of describing the progress of the Church. And in the first place, he repeats that Isaac’s wife was taken from Mesopotamia. He expressly calls her the sister of Laban the Syrian, who was hereafter to become the father-in-law of Jacob, and concerning whom he had many things to relate. But it is chiefly worthy of observation that he declares Rebekah to have been barren during the early years of her marriage. And we shall afterwards see that her barrenness continued, not for three or four, but for twenty years, in order that her very despair of offspring might give greater lustre to the sudden granting of the blessing. But nothing seems less accordant with reason, than that the propagation of the Church should be thus small and slow. Abraham, in his extreme old age, received (as it seems) a slender solace for his long privation of offspring, in having all his hope centred in one individual. Isaac also, already advanced in years, and bordering on old age, was not yet a father. Where, then, was the seed which should equal the stars of heaven in number? Who would not suppose that God was dealing deceitfully in leaving those houses empty and solitary, which, according to his own word, ought to be replenished with teeming population? But that which is recorded in the psalm must be accomplished in reference to the Church, that

“he maketh her who had been barren to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of many children.” (Psalm 113:9.)

For this small and contemptible origin, these slow and feeble advances, render more illustrious that increase, which afterwards follows, beyond all hope and expectation, to teach us that the Church was produced and increased by divine power and grace, and not by merely natural means. It is indeed possible, that God designed to correct or moderate any excess of attachment in Isaac. But this is to be observed as the chief reason for God’s conduct, that as the holy seed was given from heaven, it must not be produced according to the common order of nature, to the end, that we learn that the Church did not originate in the industry of man, but flowed from the grace of God alone.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son,.... Moses, having given the genealogy of Ishmael and his posterity, returns to Isaac, the other son of Abraham, with whom and his children the following part of his history is chiefly, if not altogether concerned:

Abraham begat Isaac; for the further confirmation of his being his proper legitimate son this clause is added.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Vers. 19-26.

The childless pair.

I THE DISAPPOINTED HUSBAND.

1. The grievous affliction. Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, was barren. Though neither uncommon nor unjust, this was to Isaac

(1) a specially severe affliction, from its long continuance, from his love for Rebekah, from his own natural desire of offspring, but chiefly from his faith in the promise;

(2) a highly beneficial affliction, serving to instruct and discipline his faith as to the true character of the children of the promise, to refine and intensify his affection for Rebekah, to purify and elevate his own spiritual life, and to enable him to realize his complete dependence on the grace of God.

2. The earnest intercession. "Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife." Isaac"s supplication was

(1) directed to the right quarter, since "children are the heritage of the Lord;

(2) conceived in the right spirit, the word "entreated" implying earnest and repeated application to the heavenly throne;

(3) stated in the right way, with plainness and simplicity of speech; and

(4) seconded by the right helper, Rebekah, according to one reading of the text, joining her entreaties with her husband"s. Husbands and wives should be helpers, not hinderers, of each other"s prayers.

3. The gracious response. "The Lord was entreated of Isaac, and Rebekah conceived. Note the character of God as the Hearer of prayer, the habitual practice of God, which is to listen to his people"s supplications, the power which belongs to prayer of being able to prevail with God, and the special virtue which resides in united prayer. (Mat_18:19)

II THE ANXIOUS WIFE.

1. The unwonted experience. In two respects the pregnancy of Rebekah was unusual. First, she had never conceived before; and secondly, the attendant sensations were uncommon. Great mercies are often accompanied by great discomforts to prevent gracious souls from resting in the gifts and neglecting the Giver.

2. The remarkable interrogation. "Rebekah went to inquire of the Lord." Her conduct was remarkable for the impatience it displayed, the piety it evinced, the faith it implied. If in her querulous exclamation there was sin, m her seeking to God with her anxiety there were grace and faith.

3. The mysterious oracle. This contained three distinct announcements: the first hopeful, that Rebekah should be the mother of twins; the second painful, that, besides being mutually antagonistic from their birth, her two sons should develop into hostile nations; the third unusual, that the elder should serve the younger.

III THE HAPPY MOTHER.

1. Her days were fulfilled. A special mercy which pregnant mothers can appreciate.

2. Her sons were born. Another cause of rejoicing to a mother. (Joh_16:21)

(1) Their names. "Esau and Jacob." Names of men are sometimes prophetic of both character and condition.

(2) Their birth: remarkable for the singular phenomenon by which it was accompanied. Jacob"s holding of Esau"s heel was intended to foreshadow the early character of Jacob, his future over-reaching of Esau, and his ultimate precedence in grace. N.B The first in nature is often last in grace. Between nature and grace there is perpetual antagonism. The great achievements of gracious souls have sometimes fore-shadowings in nature.

(3) Their appearance. Esau red like a hairy cloak; Jacob catching Esau"s heel. The boy is oft the father of the man.

3. Her husband was spared. "Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them." A third mercy not always granted to mothers, to retain their husbands to participate in their maternal joys. (1Sa_4:19)

Learn

1. That children in a home are a special mark of Divine favor.

2. That anxious wives and mothers should carry their troubles to God"s throne.

3. That the future histories and destinies of children are known to God, if not to their parents.

4. That mothers of families have peculiar joys as well as special sorrows.

HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD Vers. 19-34.

Divine purposes unfolded.

We are now entering a new stage of the sacred history, where we are looking less upon the development of one man"s character than upon the unfolding purposes of Jehovah in the family with which he has made his covenant. Again we are in the region of

1. Gracious interposition.

2. Supernatural assistance of human infirmity.

3. Prophetic announcements.

The atmosphere is that of the covenant. The children in the womb are two nations. The history of great peoples is anticipated. R.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isaac’s Prayer for Rebekah

v. 19. And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac;

v. 20. and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian, of Padanaram, the sister to Laban, the Syrian. The threads of the story concerning Isaac are here gathered together in order to devote a paragraph to the founding of his family. The section of Mesopotamia from which Rebekah hailed is called the plains of Aram, which extended west of the Euphrates.

v. 21. And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren; and the Lord was intreated of him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. It is the Lord who grants issue to married people, but the blessing of children, like all other blessings, must be prayed for. Just as Isaac had prayed for a pious wife, so he also prayed for children, and undoubtedly for pious children, just as Luther teaches in his explanation of the Fourth Petition.

v. 22. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, if it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. This was after pregnancy had advanced to the point that movement was distinctly felt. Fearing that her condition would result in misfortune to herself and probably to the child of promise, Rebekah, rash in her speech and actions, and easily discouraged, cried out: If this be so, what is the object of my still being here? Why should I still be living, with this sore and strange struggle within me? Nevertheless she went to ask the Lord, probably through the ministry of Abraham.

v. 23. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. The answer was thus given in rhythmic parallels, the form of Hebrew poetry, stating that the older of the twins, the first-born, would be the servant of the younger. Cf Rom 9:11-12. The younger, therefore, would be the bearer and heir of the Messianic promise, the spiritual fatherhood of Abraham should be continued in him.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ואלה תולדות יצחק AND THESE ARE THE PROGENY OF ISAAC — viz, Jacob and Esau who are spoken of in this section.

אברהם הוליד את יצחק ABRAHAM BEGAT ISAAC — Just because Scripture wrote, “Isaac, son of Abraham” it felt compelled to say “Abraham begat Isaac”, because the cynics of that time said, “Sarah became with child of Abimelech. See how many years she lived with Abraham without becoming with child”. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He shaped Isaac’s facial features exactly similar to those of Abraham’s, so that everyone had to admit that Abraham begat Isaac. This is what is stated here: that Isaac was the son of Abraham, for there is evidence that Abraham begat Isaac (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 1).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF ISAAC, ABRAHAM’s SON. Scripture says this of Esau and Jacob, is not to be understood in the broad sense of “generations” but in the more specific sense of “children.” Thus the verse reads, And these are the children of Isaac, namely, Esau and Jacob mentioned further on. Compare Ramban at beginning of Seder Noach. Isaac’s sons who are mentioned further on. Scripture further mentions the circumstances of their birth.

ABRAHAM BEGOT ISAAC. Rashi comments: “Since it was written, Isaac, Abraham’s son, it became necessary for Scripture to say, Abraham begot Isaac, since the scoffers of the generation were saying, ‘It was from Abimelech that Sarah became pregnant.’ Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, formed Isaac’s facial features similar to those of Abraham so that all should say, Abraham begot Isaac.”Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra further says that the meaning of the word holid (begot) is “bring up and raise,” as is the expression, ‘Yuldu’ (were raised) upon Joseph’s knees, there could not mean “were born,” for it would then mean that Joseph’s great grandchildren were actually born upon his knees. It must mean “raised.” Similarly, it means here, “Abraham raised Isaac.” even as it says, And he sent them away from Isaac his son. In my opinion the correct reason [that Scripture states here, Abraham begot Isaac], is that it now reverts and begins the genealogy with the founding father, in consonance with Scriptural custom, which is to revert to the head of the ancestry when dealing with people of distinction., which literally means “men of elevation,” refers to spiritual or political distinction. Similarly, it is written in the book of Chronicles, The sons of Shem: Elam and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech. And Arpachshad begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber. After Scripture concluded this listing, it began again by saying, Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, Verse 24. This is explained by the fact that Shem is the head of Abraham’s ancestry. Hence Scripture reverts to him in tracing the generations. until, Abram, the same is Abraham., Verse 27. So also in the genealogy of Benjamin in the book of Chronicles, Scripture reverts to previous generations and begins, And Ner begot Kish, and Kish begot Saul., 9:39. Saul was king of Israel. Hence Scripture reverts to his founding ancestor. Here also [the Torah reverts to the founding father and says], Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob, as Scripture will soon mention.It is necessary that Scripture return to relate this. For the purpose of indicating Jacob’s distinction it would have been sufficient to mention, And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Merely mentioning Abraham in this connection would have satisfied the Scriptural principle of reverting to the founding father in the case of “people of distinction.” Why then did the Torah continue, Abraham begot Isaac? Ramban proceeds to resolve this difficulty in accordance with Scriptural textual principles as opposed to Rashi, quoted above, who resorted to an Aggadic explanation: “Since the scoffers of the generation were saying etc.” since it said, And these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. Now, had it only said, And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son, it would appear that Scripture equated Ishmael and Isaac with respect to genealogy and distinction, all the more so since it mentioned the firstborn first.. Furthermore it would have been fitting that it begin with Abraham, it would have been proper that Scripture begin with Abraham, but Scripture had to avoid this for reasons explained further on in the text. and say, “These are the generations of Abraham.” But Scripture did not wish to do this in order to avoid listing Ishmael and the children of Keturah. It is for this reason that Scripture returns and completes the verse by stating, Abraham begot Isaac, as if to say that it is he [Isaac] alone who is Abraham’s offspring. It is considered as if he [Abraham] did not beget anyone else, just as it says, For in Isaac shall seed be called to thee., 21:12. It is for this reason that it also says above, And these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bore unto Abraham: the phrase, whom Hagar, etc., is for the honor of Isaac, as if to say that the genealogy of these generations is not traceable to Abraham, rather they are the children of the handmaid, even as it says, And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation., Verse 13. Scripture does also similarly in the book of Chronicles. At first it states: The sons of Abraham; Isaac and Ishmael. These are their generations: the first born of Ishmael, Nebaioth. Then it mentions, And the sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: she bore Zimran., Verse 32. Now it would have been logical to follow this by saying, “the sons of Isaac,” but instead it reverts and begins: And Abraham begot Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau, and Israel., Verse 34. The repetition, And Abraham begot Isaac, is necessary lest we equate “the sons of Ishmael” with “the sons of Isaac.”

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ואלה תולדת אברהם יצחק בן אברהם אברהם. Whereas the Torah when listing Ishmael’s descendants had restricted itself to a brief summary, now when reporting about Yitzchok, the Torah elaborates a great deal more both about Yaakov and about his brother Esau.

אברהם הוליד את יצחק, we are told in Baba Metzia 86 that Yitzchok’s facial features were so similar to those of his father that anyone ever encountering Yitzchok immediately knew that he must be the son of Avraham. The reason that this had been arranged so by G’d was that when someone claims to have become a father in his old age, some people tend to doubt the “father’s” claim, assuming that the woman who had born that child must have been unfaithful to her husband, or that at least the baby now presented as this father’s was in fact a foundling. Yitzchok’s amazing similarity to his father precluded anyone from making such spurious accusations. Another reason that the Torah repeated something which we all knew, i.e. that Avraham had sired Yitzchok, was that Yitzchok possessed the same virtues and wonderful qualities which Avraham excelled in, so that it was clear who must have been his father not only physically, but that the same father also transmitted a spiritual legacy to his son.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.