Genesis 25:26

26. had hold … heel] As if, from the first, desirous to pull his brother, back, and get in front of him. See the reference to this passage in Hos_12:3. The character of the man was thus prefigured at birth. The idea of overreaching, or outwitting, by cunning and strategy, inspired the early Israelite with admiration and amusement rather than with repulsion.

Jacob] That is, One that takes by the heel or supplants. The Heb. for “heel” is ‘âḳêb, and the name “Jacob” was popularly regarded as having been derived from the same root, with the meaning of “one who seeks to trip up or supplant”; compare the use of the word; “supplant” in Jer_9:4. It appears as a place name = Y’ḳb’r, in Palestine, on the list of Thothmes III (c. 1450 b.c.), and as a personal name, Ya’ḳub-ilu, in a Babylonian tablet of Hammurabi’s period (c. 2100 b.c.).

threescore years old] See note on Gen_25:20 (P).

SPECIAL NOTE ON Gen_25:26

On the name “Jacob.”

The popular Israelite derivation of the name “Jacob” from the Heb. word ‘âḳêb, “a heel,” like so many other popular derivations, is simply based upon the resemblance in the sound of the proper name to a word in common use.

“It is another question,” says Driver, “whether this explanation expresses the actual meaning of the name. It has been supposed, for instance, that Jacob is really an elliptical form of Jaḳob’çl: in this case El, ‘God,’ would be the subject of the verb (like Ishmâ’çl, ‘God heareth,’ Isrâ’el, ‘God persisteth,’ Yeraḥme’çl, ‘God is compassionate’), and the word might be explained from the Arab., ‘God follows,’ or … ‘God rewards.’ In fact there is now evidence that the name is much older than the date at which, according to the Biblical narrative, Jacob must have lived. Mr Pinches has found on contract tables of the age of Khammurabi (c. 2300 b.c.) the personal name Ya‘ḳub-ilu (analogous to Yashup-ilu, Yarbi-ilu, Yamlik-ilu, Yakbar-ilu, etc., of the same age); and, according to Hommel (AHT. 203), the contracted form Yaḳubu occurs likewise. Further, in the lists of 118 places in Palestine conquered by Thothmes III (b.c. 1503–1449, Sayce and Petrie), which are inscribed on the pylons of the temple at Karnak, there occur (Nos. 78 and 102) the names Y-ša-p-’a-rḁ and Y-‘-ḳ-b-’â-rḁ. These names (the Egyp. r standing, as is well known, also for l) can be only יספאל Joseph-’çl and יעקבאל Jaḳob-’çl; and we learn consequently that places bearing these names (cf. for the form the place-names Jezre’çl, Jabne’çl, Jos_15:11 [= Jabneh, 2Ch_26:6]; Yiphtaḥ’çl, Jos_19:14; Jos_19:27; Yeḳabze’çl, Neh_11:25; Yirpe’çl, Jos_18:27) existed in Palestine, apparently in the central part, in the 15th cent. b.c. What connexion, if any, exists between these names and those of the patriarchs, may never perhaps be ascertained; but their existence at such a date in Palestine is remarkable. These facts, however, make it not improbable that (as had indeed been supposed even before their discovery) names of the type of Jacob, Joseph, Jephthah, etc., are elliptical forms of a more original Jaḳob’çl, Joseph’çl, etc. But, however that may be, to the Hebrews, as we know them, the idea which Jacob suggested, and in which it was supposed to have originated, was that of supplanter.” Driver in Art. Jacob in Hastings’ Dict. of the Bible, ii. 526.

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 25:26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac [was] threescore years old when she bare them.

Ver. 26. And after that came his brother out.] God could have brought Jacob out first, for it is he that "takes us out of the womb"; {Psa 22:9} but he suffereth Esau for a time to enjoy the first birthright, till his own time came to set things to rights. God "waits to be gracious; for he is a God of judgment". {Isa 30:18}

And his hand took hold on Esau’s heel.] As if he would have turned up his heels, and got to the goal before him.

And his name was called Jacob.] Calcanearius , a heel catcher, or supplanter, as he afterwards proved to Esau, who hit him also in the teeth with it. {Gen 27:36}

“Conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis.”

And Isaac was threescore years old.] He lived twice threescore years after this, being a hundred and eighty when he died. {Gen 35:28} Five years longer he lived than his father Abraham, {Gen 25:17} being blind for the last forty. {Gen 27:1}

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.

Gen 25:26. His hand took hold on Esau’s heel — This signified, 1st, Jacob’s pursuit of the birthright and blessing; from the first he reached forth to have caught hold of it, and if possible to have prevented his brother. 2d, His prevailing for it at last: that, in process of time, he should gain his point. This passage is referred to, Hos 12:3, and from hence he had his name, Jacob, which means, He took him by the heel, or he supplanted.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25:26 The name Jacob (Hebrew ya‘aqob, from Hebrew ‘aqeb, “heel, footprint”) was originally positive, meaning “protect” (like a rear guard), but it took on the negative meaning of “heel grabber” or “deceiver” in the context of Jacob’s deceptive, grasping, usurping character (see 27:36).

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

Hos. 11:3; Matt. 1:2

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 26. His name was called Jacob] יעקב Yaccob, from עקב akab, to defraud, deceive, to supplant, i.e., to overthrow a person by tripping up his heels. Hence this name was given to Jacob, because it was found he had laid hold on his brother's heel, which was emblematical of his supplanting Esau, and defrauding him of his birthright.

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

(26) His hand took hold on Esau’s heel.—Usually there is a considerable interval—an hour or more—between the birth of twins; but here Jacob appeared without delay, following immediately upon his brother. This is expressed by the metaphorical phrase that his hand had hold on Esau’s heel—that is, there was absolutely no interval between them. Though very rare, yet similar cases have been chronicled from time to time.

His name was called Jacob.—The name signifies one who follows at another’s heels. It was Esau who first put upon it a bad meaning (Gen_27:36), and this bad sense has been riveted to it by Jacob’s own unworthy conduct. It is constantly so used even in the Bible. Thus in Hos_12:3—a passage quoted in defence of a literal explanation of the metaphor in this verse by those who are acquainted only with the English Version—the Hebrew has, he Jacobed, literally, heeled—that is, overreached, got the better by cunning of—his brother in the womb. This is the very meaning put upon the name by Esau, and in Jer_9:4 and elsewhere; but it is not well rendered by our word supplant, which contains a different metaphor, the planta being the sole of the foot; whereas to be at a person’s heel is to be his determined pursuer, and one who on overtaking throws him down.

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

And after that came his brother out,.... Out of his mother's womb, either by his own strength, or by the help of the midwife:

and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; to pluck him back and get out first; and this was not casual, but was so ordered in Providence, and had a meaning and mystery in it:

and his name was called Jacob; by his parents and others, and that for the above reason, because he took his brother by the heel, which his name has the signification of, and Esau has respect to in Gen 27:36,

and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them; and so it was twenty years after he had been married to her; so long was his faith tried and exercised about the promised seed that was to spring from him.

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

1837 Jacob, i.e. supplanter, or one that taketh hold of or trippeth up his brother’s heels. See Gen 27:36.

Isaac was threescore years old. Thus God exercised his faith and patience twenty years, by comparing this with Gen 25:20, ere he gave him the promised blessing.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. His hand took hold on Esau’s heel — His birth seems to have followed that of Esau more speedily than is usual in the case of twins, and his hand was so extended as to seem to grasp hold of Esau’s heel. Hence his name Jacob, heel-catcher. Compare Gen_27:36.

Threescore years old — Twenty years after the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah. Comp. Gen_25:20.

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

And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau"s heel. The inf. constr, standing for the finite verb (Ewald"s "Hebrews Synt.," 304). Not simply followed close upon the heels of Esau (Kalisch), but seized Esau"s heel, as if he would trip him up (Keil, Murphy). It has been contended (De Wette, Schumann, Knobel) that such an act was impossible, a work on obstetrics by Busch maintaining that an hour commonly intervenes between the birth of twins; but practitioners of eminence who have been consulted declare the act to be distinctly possible, and indeed it is well known that "a multitude of surprising phenomena are connected with births" (Havernick), some of which are not greatly dissimilar to that which is here recorded. Delitzsch interprets the language as meaning only that the hand of Jacob reached out in the direction of his brother"s heel, as if to grasp it; but Hos_12:3 explicitly asserts that he had his brother"s heel by the hand while yet in his mother"s womb. And his name was called literally, and he (i.e. one) called his name; kailese to onoma aujtou (LXX); id circo appellavit eum. (Vulgate; cf. Gen_16:14 Gen_27:36) Jacob. Not "Successor," like the Latin secundus, from sequor (Knobel, Kalisch); but "Heel-catcher" (Rosenm Gesenius, Keil, Lange, Murphy), hence Supplanter (cf. Gen_37:36) And Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. Literally, in the bearing of them, the inf. constr, taking the case of its verb (vide Gesenius, when she (the mother) bare them; ote eteken aujtoukka (LXX); quum nati sunt parvuli (Vulgate); though, as Rebekah"s name does not occur in the immediate context, and dly is applied to the father (Gen_4:18 Gen_10:8, Gen_10:13) as well as to the mother, the clause may be rendered when he (Isaac) begat them (Kalisch, Afford).

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

His hand took hold on Esau's heel - This signified,

1. Jacob's pursuit of the birth-right and blessing; from the first he reached forth to have catched hold of it, and if possible to have prevented his brother.

2. His prevailing for it at last: that in process of time he should gain his point. This passage is referred to Hosea xii, 3, and from hence he had his name Jacob, a supplanter.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

בעקב עשו ESAU’S HEEL — a sign that this one (Esau) will hardly have time to complete his period of domination before the other would rise and take it (his power) from him

ויקרא שמו יעקב AND HE CALLED HIS NAME JACOB — The Holy One, blessed be He, thus named him (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 4). [Some versions add: He said to them (to those who gave Esau that name cf. Genesis 5:25): You have given your first-born a name, I, too, will give my son, my firstborn, (cf. Exodus 4:23) a name. That is what is written, “And He called his name, Jacob” (Genesis 26:26).] Another explanation is: his father called him Jacob because he was grasping Esau’s heel.

בן ששים שנה THREESCORE YEARS OLD — Ten years passed from the time when he married her until she became thirteen years old and capable of child-bearing, and a further ten years he hopefully waited as his father did in regard to Sarah. When even then she did not become with child he realised that she was barren and he prayed for her. But He did not wish to take a maidservant as a second wife because he had been sanctified on Mount Moriah to be a burnt-offering without blemish.

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.

ואחרי כן...וידו אוחזת בעקב עשו, this too, was an allusion that at the end of time he would dominate Esau, as a human being dominates something matters which he grabs with his hand. The heel is the lower end of the body. It was clearly a hint from G’d concerning the future, as a normal baby does not manage to extend his hand outside the placenta and make contact with its twin.

ויקרא שמו יעקב, Yitzchok named him thus.

ויצחק בן ששים שנה, this is mentioned to let us know that Rivkah had been unable to bear a child during 20 years.

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.