Genesis 25:28

_AND ISAAC LOVED ESAU, BECAUSE HE DID EAT OF HIS VENISON: BUT REBEKAH LOVED JACOB._ The parents were divided in their affection; and while the grounds, at least, of the father's partiality were weak, the distinction made between the children led, as such conduct always does, to unhappy consequences. BECAUSE HE DID EAT OF HIS VENISON - literally, because venison was in his mouth; i:e., he was fond of game. [But the Septuagint has: hoti hee theera autou broosis autoo-for his (Esau's) venison was food to him.]...

28._And Isaac loved Esau_. That God might more clearly show his own election to be sufficiently firm, to need no assistance elsewhere, and even powerful enough to overcome any obstacle whatever, he permitted Esau to be so preferred to his brother, in the affection and good opinion of his father, that Jacob appeared in the light of a rejected person. Since, therefore, Moses clearly demonstrates, by so many circumstances, that the adoption of Jacob was founded on the sole good pleasure of God, it is an intolerable presumption to suppose it to depend upon the will of man; or to ascribe it, in part, to means, (as they are called,) and to human preparations. (33) But how was it possible for the father, who was not ignorant of the oracle, to be thus predisposed in favor of the firstborn, whom he knew to be divinely rejected?. It would rather have been the part of piety and of modesty to subdue...

27,28 Esau hunted the beasts of the field with dexterity and success, till he became a conqueror, ruling over his neighbours. Jacob was a plain man, one that liked the true delights of retirement, better than all pretended pleasures. He was a stranger and a pilgrim in his spirit, and a shepherd all his days. Isaac and Rebekah had but these two children, one was the father's darling, and the other the mother's. And though godly parents must feel their affections most drawn over towards a godly child, yet they will not show partiality. Let their affections lead them to do what is just and equal to every child, or evils will arise....

Verse Genesis 25:28. _ISAAC LOVED ESAU - BUT REBEKAH LOVED JACOB._] This is an early proof of unwarrantable parental attachment to one child in preference to another. _Isaac loved Esau_, and _Rebekah loved_ _Jacob_; and in consequence of this the interests of the family were divided, and the house set in opposition to itself. The fruits of this unreasonable and foolish attachment were afterwards seen in a long catalogue of both _natural_ and _moral_ evils among the descendants of both families....

- 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

AND ISAAC LOVED ESAU, BECAUSE HE DID EAT OF [HIS] VENISON,.... Better than Jacob, not only because he was his firstborn, but because he brought him of the flesh of creatures, which he took in hunting, and being dressed, were savoury food to him: it is in the original, "because venison (or what he hunted) [was] in his mouth" h, into which he put it, and was very grateful to his taste: BUT REBEKAH LOVED JACOB; more than Esau, being more at home with her, and of a milder disposition; and more especially being a good man, a partaker of the grace of God, and to whom she knew by the oracle the blessing and promise belonged. h כי ציד בפיו "quia venatio in ore ejus", Pagninus, Montanus....

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

VENISON. Heb _. hunting._ Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of the Cause), App-6, hunting put for what was caught. Eating was strong in Esau too (Genesis 25:34). It was "the will of the flesh" which Isaac's faith overcame in Genesis 27, for he wished to bless Esau, and he loved his savoury meat, See note on Genesis 27:3; Genesis 27:4. Compare Hebrews 11:20....

_because … venison_ Cf. Genesis 27:3-4. _Rebekah loved Jacob_ i.e. more than Esau. We have in this verse the division of the two pairs, Isaac and Esau, Rebekah and Jacob, on which turns the narrative in chap. 27. The contrast between the hunter and the shepherd is drawn with a settled preference for the shepherd....