Genesis 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._ His brother ... was called Jacob - i:e., heel-catcher, supplanter, tripper-up, as a wrestler does an antagonist (Genesis 27:36; Hosea 12:3). This action of the infant was an early token of the artful, selfish, crafty character of the future man. 'Whether or no the act of Jacob was beyond the strength ordinarily given to infants in the womb, the meaning of the act was beyond man's wisdom to declare' (Pusey, 'Minor Prophets')....

19-26 Isaac seems not to have been much tried, but to have spent his days in quietness. Jacob and Esau were prayed for; their parents, after being long childless, obtained them by prayer. The fulfilment of God's promise is always sure, yet it is often slow. The faith of believers is tried, their patience exercised, and mercies long waited for are more welcome when they come. Isaac and Rebekah kept in view the promise of all nations being blessed in their posterity, therefore were not only desirous of children, but anxious concerning every thing which seemed to mark their future character. In all our doubts we should inquire of the Lord by prayer. In many of our conflicts with sin and temptation, we may adopt Rebekah's words, "If it be so, why am I thus?" If a child of God, why so careless or carnal? If not a child of God, why so afraid of, or so burdened with sin?...

Verse Genesis 25:26. _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....

- 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 ph

§ 9. THE GENERATIONS OF ISAAC (Genesis 25:19-1). EXPOSITION GENESIS 25:19 AND THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF ISAAC, ABRAHAM'S SON. The usual formula for the opening of a new section (cf. Genesis 2:4). ABRAHAM BEGAT ISAAC. A reiteration in perfect harmony not only with the style of the present narrative, but of ancient historiography in general; in this instance specially designed to connect the subsequent streams of Isaac's posterity with their original fountain-head in Abraham. Genes

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 Genesis 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....

IX. THE GENERATIONS OF ISAAC CHAPTER 25:19-34 Esau and Jacob _ 1. Rebekah barren and the answered prayer (Genesis 25:19)_ 2. The birth of Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25:23) 3. The growth of the boys (Genesis 25:27) 4. Esau sells his birthright (Genesis 25:29) 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 H

THE BIRTH OF JACOB AND ESAU. JACOB TAKES ADVANTAGE OF ESAU TO SECURE HIS BIRTHRIGHT. At this point we pass to the story of Jacob. In the present section Genesis 25:19 f., Genesis 25:26_ b_ belong to P, the rest to Jeremiah Genesis 25:21 is from J, and so in the judgment of most critics Genesis 25:29, though some assign it to E. Like Sarah and Rachel, Rebekah is for long without a child. P fixes the interval from marriage to motherhood as thirty years, but in view of the untrustworthiness of his chronological statements elsewhere no dependence can be placed on them here. Before their birth the mother's life is made int

HEEL. Hebrew. _yakob,_ whence the name Jacob (_yakob_) heel-catcher: hence, contender....

_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 Hosea 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 Jeremiah 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-il