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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Genesis 25 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/genesis/25.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; 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but this, though probable, is far from certain, as the Hebrew simply says, <span class= "ital">And Abraham added and took a wife. </span>This statement is altogether indefinite; but as Abraham was 137 years of age at Sarah’s death, and lived to be 175, it is quite possible that, left solitary by Isaac’s marriage, he took Keturah to wife, and had by her six sons. The sole objection is his own statement, in <a href="/genesis/17-17.htm" title="Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?">Genesis 17:17</a>, that it was a thing beyond nature for a man a hundred years old to have a son; how much more improbable, then, must it have become after forty more years had passed by! The argument on the other side, which would infer that the marriage took place in Sarah’s lifetime, from the fact that the birth of grandchildren is mentioned in <a href="/context/genesis/25-3.htm" title="And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.">Genesis 25:3-4</a>, has little weight, as their names might have been subsequently added to bring down the genealogy to a later date.<p>Jewish commentators cut the knot by identifying Keturah with Hagar, who in the meanwhile had, as they say, set an example of matronly virtue in the manner in which she had devoted herself to the bringing up of Ishmael. But in <a href="/genesis/25-6.htm" title="But to the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, to the east country.">Genesis 25:6</a> there is an evident allusion to both Hagar and Keturah in the mention of Abraham’s “concubines” in the plural; and in <a href="/1_chronicles/1-32.htm" title="Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bore Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan; Sheba, and Dedan.">1Chronicles 1:32</a> the children of Keturah are distinguished from Hagar’s one son, Ishmael. To this we must add that as Ishmael was fourteen years old when Isaac was born, he would be now about fifty-four years of age, and his mother have passed the period of life when she could bear six sons.<p>The position, moreover, of Keturah was entirely distinct from that of Hagar. The latter was Sarah’s representative; and her son, if Sarah had remained barren, would have been the heir. Keturah was a secondary wife, whose children from the first held an inferior position in the household. So Bilhah and Zilpah became the substitutes of Rachel and Leah, and therefore their children ranked side by side with Reuben and Joseph, though not altogether on the same level. They were patriarchs, and the progenitors of tribes, even if the tribes sprung from them held a lower rank.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-2.htm">Genesis 25:2</a></div><div class="verse">And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Zimran.</span>—The home of Keturah’s descendants is placed by Josephus and Jerome in Arabia-Felix; but the supposed traces of their names are untrustworthy.<p><span class= "bld">Midian</span> is the one son of Keturah who had a great future before him, for his race became famous traders (<a href="/genesis/37-28.htm" title="Then there passed by Midianites merchants; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.">Genesis 37:28</a>); and as they are called <span class= "ital">Me· danites </span>there in the Hebrew, in <a href="/genesis/37-36.htm" title="And the Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.">Genesis 37:36</a>, it is probable that Medan and Midian coalesced into one tribe. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, belonged to them (<a href="/context/exodus/2-15.htm" title="Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelled in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.">Exodus 2:15-16</a>), and, enriched by commerce, they became so powerful as to be dangerous neighbours to the Israelites. (Judges 6, 7, 8)<p><span class= "bld">Shuah.</span>—From him perhaps descended Bildad the Shuhite, Job’s friend (<a href="/job/2-11.htm" title="Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come on him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.">Job 2:11</a>). The name in the Hebrew is different from that also rendered “Shuah” in <a href="/genesis/38-2.htm" title="And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in to her.">Genesis 38:2</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-3.htm">Genesis 25:3</a></div><div class="verse">And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan.</span>—But Sheba and Dedan are also described as the sons of Raamah, the son of Cush (<a href="/genesis/10-7.htm" title="And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.">Genesis 10:7</a>). We have here proof that these genealogies are to a certain extent geographical, and that whereas these districts at first were peopled by a Hamitic race, they were subsequently conquered by men of the Semitic stock, who claimed Abraham for their ancestor. Most probably, therefore, we ought not to regard Sneba and Dedan as the names here of men. As men they were the sons of Raamah, but when the sons of Jokshan wrested these two countries from the family of Cush, they called them sons of their progenitor, because the dominant portion of the population had sprung from him. They appear as countries in <a href="/jeremiah/6-20.htm" title="To what purpose comes there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me.">Jeremiah 6:20</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/49-8.htm" title="Flee you, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him, the time that I will visit him.">Jeremiah 49:8</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/25-13.htm" title="Therefore thus said the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out my hand on Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.">Ezekiel 25:13</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/27-15.htm" title="The men of Dedan were your merchants; many isles were the merchandise of your hand: they brought you for a present horns of ivory and ebony.">Ezekiel 27:15</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/27-22.htm" title="The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were your merchants: they occupied in your fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.">Ezekiel 27:22</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/38-13.htm" title="Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say to you, Are you come to take a spoil? have you gathered your company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?">Ezekiel 38:13</a>, &c.<p><span class= "bld">Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.</span>—These are certainly not the names of men, but of the three tribes into which the Dedanites were divided.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-6.htm">Genesis 25:6</a></div><div class="verse">But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">The east country.</span>—By this is meant Arabia and Southern Mesopotamia, where, by their superior vigour and organisation, the descendants of Abraham were able to establish their supremacy over the natives. Burckhardt tells us that the Bedaween still follow Abraham’s practice. When their children are grown up, they give each of the younger sons his share of their goods (<a href="/luke/15-12.htm" title="And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And he divided to them his living.">Luke 15:12</a>), whereupon they move to a distance, and leave the eldest brother in quiet possession of the home.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-7.htm">Genesis 25:7</a></div><div class="verse">And these <i>are</i> the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">An hundred threescore and fifteen years.</span>—As Abraham was seventy-five years of age when he left Haran (<a href="/genesis/12-4.htm" title="So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.">Genesis 12:4</a>), his sojourn in Canaan lasted just a century, one quarter of which was spent in the long trial of his faith before Isaac was granted to him. As, however, Esau and Jacob were born when Isaac was sixty years of age (<a href="/genesis/25-26.htm" title="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 three score years old when she bore them.">Genesis 25:26</a>), they would be fifteen at Abraham’s death, and probably had often seen their grandfather, and received his blessing.<p><span class= "bld">Abraham . . . was gathered to his people.</span>—Upon the belief in a future life implied in these words, see Note on <a href="/genesis/15-15.htm" title="And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.">Genesis 15:15</a>, and comp. <a href="/hebrews/11-16.htm" title="But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: why God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city.">Hebrews 11:16</a>.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-9.htm">Genesis 25:9</a></div><div class="verse">And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which <i>is</i> before Mamre;</div>(9) <span class= "bld">His sons Isaac and Ishmael.</span>—Isaac was now seventy-five years of age, and Ishmael eighty-nine, and the two old men, with their enmity long over, metas friends at their father’s burial. While Keturah’s sons were apparently sent far away into Arabia, Ishmael at Paran (<a href="/genesis/21-21.htm" title="And he dwelled in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.">Genesis 21:21</a>) would be at no very great distance from the well Lahai-roi, which was Isaac’s favourite residence.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-11.htm">Genesis 25:11</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">God blessed his son Isaac.</span>—With this general summary the <span class= "ital">Tôldôth Terah </span>concludes, and no portion of Holy Scripture is more interesting or valuable; for in it the broad foundation is laid for the fulfilment of the protevangelium contained in <a href="/genesis/3-15.htm" title="And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.">Genesis 3:15</a>, the progenitor of the chosen race is selected and proved on trial. and the preparation made for the giving of the Law, and for the growing light of prophecy, by the nearness wherewith Abraham walked with God.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-12.htm">Genesis 25:12</a></div><div class="verse">Now these <i>are</i> the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bare unto Abraham:</div>THE TÔLDÔTH ISHMAEL.</span><p>(12) <span class= "bld">These are the generations of Ishmael.</span>—Following the usual rule of this book, Ishmael is not dismissed from the Divine presence without a short record of his history, after which he falls into the background, and the historian proceeds with his main subject, which is the preparation for the forming of that race and nation of whom, according to the flesh, Christ came. These brief notices, moreover, of personages not in the direct line of Christ’s ancestry have their value in God’s great purpose that the Jewish Messiah should be the Redeemer of the Gentiles also (<a href="/romans/10-12.htm" title="For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich to all that call on him.">Romans 10:12</a>); and consequently from the first their history was not alien from God’s counsels. (<a href="/context/romans/10-13.htm" title="For whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.">Romans 10:13-15</a>) The sons of Ishmael.—Of the Arabian tribes sprung from Ishmael we read of Nebajoth and Kedar in <a href="/isaiah/60-7.htm" title="All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you: they shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.">Isaiah 60:7</a> as pastoral tribes, rich in flocks. Dumah is deemed worthy of a special prophecy (<a href="/isaiah/21-11.htm" title="The burden of Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?">Isaiah 21:11</a>); while the people of Tema are described there in <a href="/genesis/25-14.htm" title="And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,">Genesis 25:14</a> as generous and hospitable, and in <a href="/job/6-19.htm" title="The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.">Job 6:19</a> they appear as active traders. (See also <a href="/jeremiah/25-23.htm" title="Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,">Jeremiah 25:23</a>.) Jetur, Naphish, and other Hagarite tribes, were conquered by Reuben and his allies (<a href="/1_chronicles/5-19.htm" title="And they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab.">1Chronicles 5:19</a>), and Jetur became the Iturea of <a href="/luke/3-1.htm" title="Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,">Luke 3:1</a>. For the occasional references made to these and other sons of Ishmael in classical writers, the reader may consult Smith’s <span class= "ital">Dictionary of the Bible, </span>or similar works. The abode of the twelve tribes sprung from Ishmael was the northern part of Arabia, whence gradually they extended their influence, and apparently soon absorbed the Joktanites (<a href="/context/genesis/10-26.htm" title="And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,">Genesis 10:26-30</a>), themselves a kindred Semitic race. These genealogies would be inexplicable if we did not remember that successive waves of people occupied these lands, and that while the old names remained, the dominant race was new. So the rapid growth of individuals into tribes (as of Midian, <a href="/genesis/25-2.htm" title="And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.">Genesis 25:2</a>) was the result of races of higher civilisation and greater energy subduing feeble and less highly-developed tribes. Hence in <a href="/genesis/25-16.htm" title="These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.">Genesis 25:16</a> the sons of Ishmael are called “princes.” We gather from this that Ishmael had gathered round him a body of men of the Semitic race, of whom large numbers were constantly on the move towards Egypt (<a href="/genesis/12-15.htm" title="The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.">Genesis 12:15</a>), and by their aid had established his rule in Paran, and handed it on to his sons.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-16.htm">Genesis 25:16</a></div><div class="verse">These <i>are</i> the sons of Ishmael, and these <i>are</i> their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">By their towns, and by their castles.</span>—Towns and castles in the wilderness of Paran there were none, but we know for certain that the first of these words signified an unwalled village. (See <a href="/leviticus/25-31.htm" title="But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.">Leviticus 25:31</a>, where it is exactly described; also <a href="/psalms/10-8.htm" title="He sits in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places does he murder the innocent: his eyes are privately set against the poor.">Psalm 10:8</a><span class= "ital">·, </span><a href="/isaiah/42-11.htm" title="Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar does inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.">Isaiah 42:11</a>.) It was, however, a settled and permanent place of dwelling. The other word rendered here castle, but used as the equivalent of <span class= "ital">tent </span>in <a href="/psalms/69-25.htm" title="Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.">Psalm 69:25</a>, is really a cluster of tents, the encampment of a tribe, and movable. It occurs in <a href="/numbers/31-10.htm" title="And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelled, and all their goodly castles, with fire.">Numbers 31:10</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/6-54.htm" title="Now these are their dwelling places throughout their castles in their coasts, of the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites: for theirs was the lot.">1Chronicles 6:54</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/25-4.htm" title="Behold, therefore I will deliver you to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in you, and make their dwellings in you: they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk.">Ezekiel 25:4</a>. As is well known, the Arabs are divided into two classes—the dwellers in tents, who are ever moving from station to station, within certain limits, nevertheless, which they seldom pass over; and the agricultural class, who have fixed habitations, are looked upon as inferiors, and probably are the remains of a conquered race. To this day they pay a sort of rent, or black-mail, to the nobler Arabs. We find, then, this distinction already existing when this <span class= "ital">Tôldôth </span>was drawn up; the agricultural Arabs dwelling in unwalled villages, while the nomad tribes pitched now here, and now there, their clusters of black camels’-hair tents. And thus we have in these words proof that Ishmael and his subjects were not all upon the same level; for while he, his sons, and his noblest retainers would dwell in tents, the inhabitants of the villages would be men of inferior origin, compelled to submit themselves to him.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-18.htm">Genesis 25:18</a></div><div class="verse">And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that <i>is</i> before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: <i>and</i> he died in the presence of all his brethren.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Havilah </span>was far to the south, on the Persian Gulf. (See <a href="/genesis/10-29.htm" title="And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.">Genesis 10:29</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Shur.</span>—This was their western limit towards Egypt. (See <a href="/genesis/16-7.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.">Genesis 16:7</a>.) In <a href="/1_samuel/15-7.htm" title="And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until you come to Shur, that is over against Egypt.">1Samuel 15:7</a> this same region is assigned to the Amalekites.<p><span class= "bld">As thou goest toward Assyria.</span>—This does not mean that Shur was on the route toward Assyria, but gives the eastern limit of the country inhabited by the descendants of Ishmael.<p><span class= "bld">He died.</span>—But the Hebrew is, <span class= "ital">he fell</span>—that is, his lot fell; he settled there.<p><span class= "bld">In the presence of.</span>—This means <span class= "ital">to the east </span>of all his brethren. Just as Assyria was regarded as lying to the north of Palestine, because on starting the traveller journeyed in that direction, so Arabia was considered to be on the east, for a similar reason. (But see Note on <a href="/genesis/16-12.htm" title="And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brothers.">Genesis 16:12</a>.)<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-19.htm">Genesis 25:19</a></div><div class="verse">And these <i>are</i> the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac:</div>THE TÔLDÔTH ISAAC</span> (<a href="/genesis/25-19.htm" title="And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac:">Genesis 25:19</a> to <a href="/genesis/35-29.htm" title="And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.">Genesis 35:29</a>).<p><span class= "bld">THE BIRTH OF ISAAC’S SONS.<p>Abraham begat Isaac</span>—The <span class= "ital">Tôldôth </span>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.<p><span class= "bld">The Syrian.</span>—Really, <span class= "ital">the Aramean, </span>or descendant of Aram. (See <a href="/context/genesis/10-22.htm" title="The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.">Genesis 10:22-23</a>.) The name of the district also correctly is “Paddan-Ararn,” and so far from being identical with Aram-Naharaim, in <a href="/genesis/24-10.htm" title="And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.">Genesis 24:10</a>, 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, <span class= "ital">Die Ssabier, </span>1, p. 304.) In Syriac, the language of Charran, padana means a <span class= "ital">plough </span>(<a href="/1_samuel/13-20.htm" title="But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his ax, and his mattock.">1Samuel 13:20</a>), or a <span class= "ital">yoke of oxen </span>( <a href="/1_samuel/11-7.htm" title="And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whoever comes not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.">1Samuel 11:7</a>); and this also suggests that it was the cultivated district close to the town. In <a href="/hosea/12-12.htm" title="And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.">Hosea 12:12</a> 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.<p><span class= "bld">Isaac intreated the Lord.</span>—This barrenness lasted twenty years (<a href="/genesis/25-26.htm" title="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 three score years old when she bore them.">Genesis 25:26</a>), 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 <span class= "ital">to intreat, </span>from a noun signifying <span class= "ital">incense, </span>is uncertain, but rendered probable by the natural connection of the idea of the ascending fragrance, and that of the prayer mounting heavenward (<a href="/revelation/5-8.htm" title="And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.">Revelation 5:8</a>; <a href="/revelation/8-4.htm" title="And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.">Revelation 8:4</a>).<p><span class= "bld">The children struggled together.—</span>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—<p><span class= "bld">If it be so, why am I thus?</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">If </span>so, <span class= "ital">why am I this? </span>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.<p><span class= "bld">She went to enquire of the Lord.</span>—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 (<a href="/genesis/12-7.htm" title="And the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, To your seed will I give this land: and there built he an altar to the LORD, who appeared to him.">Genesis 12:7</a>), and therefore especially holy, was the place signified; and if Abraham were there, he would doubtless join his prayers to those of Rebekah.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-23.htm">Genesis 25:23</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD said unto her, Two nations <i>are</i> in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and <i>the one</i> people shall be stronger than <i>the other</i> people; and the elder shall serve the younger.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">And the Lord said unto her.</span>—Not by the mouth of Abraham, nor in a dream, but directly, as He spake of old to Adam and Eve. We read of no appearance, as in <a href="/genesis/17-1.htm" title="And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be you perfect.">Genesis 17:1</a>, nor must we invent one. The manner in which Jehovah thus spake has not been revealed, and it is enough for us to know that Jehovah did speak of old to men. The answer is in the form of poverty:—<p>“Two nations are in thy womb;<p>And two peoples from thy bowels shall be separated;<p>And people shall be mightier than people;<p>And the great shall serve the small.”<p>The second line shows that even in their earliest childhood her sons would be unlike in character and unfriendly in disposition; upon this follows their development into hostile nations, and the prediction that the son who started with the advantages of the birthright, the stronger physical nature, and superior strength in men and arms (<a href="/genesis/32-6.htm" title="And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother Esau, and also he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him.">Genesis 32:6</a>), would, nevertheless, finally hold the inferior position. There can be no doubt that the secondary cause of the vaster development of Jacob was his being placed by Joseph in the fruitful Delta, where the Israelites were constantly joined by a stream of Semitic immigrants, whose movement towards Egypt is a perfectly authenticated fact of the history of those times. (See <a href="/genesis/12-15.htm" title="The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.">Genesis 12:15</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-25.htm">Genesis 25:25</a></div><div class="verse">And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">Red.</span>—Heb., admoni<span class= "ital">, </span>a secondary reason for the name Edom. (See <a href="/genesis/25-30.htm" title="And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray you, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.">Genesis 25:30</a>,)<p><span class= "bld">All over like an hairy garment.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">all of </span>him—that is, completely—<span class= "ital">like a garment of hair: </span>words rendered “a rough garment” in <a href="/zechariah/13-4.htm" title="And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he has prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:">Zechariah 13:4</a>, where it is used of the jacket of sheepskin worn by the prophets. It appears, therefore, that Esau’s body was entirely covered with red down, which developed in time into hair as coarse as that of a kid (<a href="/genesis/27-16.htm" title="And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck:">Genesis 27:16</a>), and betokened a strong and vigorous, but sensual nature.<p><span class= "bld">Esau.</span>—The Jewish commentators form this name from the verb <span class= "ital">to make, </span>and render it <span class= "ital">well-made; </span>but the usual explanation is <span class= "ital">hairy, </span>from a word now extant only in Arabic.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-26.htm">Genesis 25:26</a></div><div class="verse">And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac <i>was</i> threescore years old when she bare them.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">His hand took hold on Esau’s heel.</span>—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.<p><span class= "bld">His name was called Jacob.</span>—The name signifies <span class= "ital">one who follows at another’s heels. </span>It was Esau who first put upon it a bad meaning (<a href="/genesis/27-36.htm" title="And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me?">Genesis 27:36</a>), 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 <a href="/hosea/12-3.htm" title="He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:">Hosea 12:3</a>—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, <span class= "ital">he Jacobed, </span>literally, <span class= "ital">heeled</span>—that is, overreached, got the better by cunning of—<span class= "ital">his brother in the womb. </span>This is the very meaning put upon the name by Esau, and in <a href="/jeremiah/9-4.htm" title="Take you heed every one of his neighbor, and trust you not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanders.">Jeremiah 9:4</a> and elsewhere; but it is not well rendered by our word <span class= "ital">supplant, </span>which contains a different metaphor, the <span class= "ital">planta </span>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.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-27.htm">Genesis 25:27</a></div><div class="verse">And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob <i>was</i> a plain man, dwelling in tents.</div><span class= "bld">DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHARACTERS OF ESAU AND JACOB. ESATU SELLS HIS BIRTHRIGHT</span>.<p>(27) <span class= "bld">The “boys grew.</span>—With advancing years came also the formation of their characters. Esau became a skilful hunter, a “man of the field”: not a husbandman, but one who roamed over the open uncultivated wilderness (see <a href="/genesis/4-8.htm" title="And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.">Genesis 4:8</a>) in search of game; but “Jacob was a plain man.” This is a most inadequate rendering of a word translated <span class= "ital">perfect </span>in <a href="/job/1-1.htm" title="There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.">Job 1:1</a>; <a href="/job/1-8.htm" title="And the LORD said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil?">Job 1:8</a>; <a href="/psalms/37-37.htm" title="Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.">Psalm 37:37</a>, &c, though this rendering is as much too strong as that in this verse is too weak. On <a href="/genesis/6-9.htm" title="These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.">Genesis 6:9</a>, we have shown that the word conveys no idea of perfection or blamelessness, but only of general integrity. Both the word there and in <a href="/genesis/17-1.htm" title="And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be you perfect.">Genesis 17:1</a>, and the slightly different form of it used here, should in all places be translated <span class= "ital">upright.</span><p><span class= "bld">Dwelling in tents.</span>—Esau equally had a tent for his abode, but Jacob stayed at home, following domestic occupations, and busied about the flocks and cattle. Hence he was the mother’s darling, while Isaac preferred his more enterprising son. Thus the struggle between the twins led also to a divergence of feeling on the part of the parents. Throughout his history Jacob maintains this character, and appears as a man whose interests and happiness were centred in his home.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-28.htm">Genesis 25:28</a></div><div class="verse">And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of <i>his</i> venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.</div>(28) <span class= "bld">Because he did eat of his venison.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">because the venison</span>—that is, the produce of Esau’s hunting—<span class= "ital">was in his mouth; </span>in our phrase, <span class= "ital">was to his taste</span>—was what he liked. The diet of an Arab sheik is very simple (see Note on <a href="/genesis/18-6.htm" title="And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes on the hearth.">Genesis 18:6</a>); and Isaac, a man wanting in physical vigour and adventurousness—as is usually the case with the children of people far advanced in years—both admired the energy which Esau had inherited from Rebekah, and relished the fruits of it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-29.htm">Genesis 25:29</a></div><div class="verse">And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he <i>was</i> faint:</div>(29, 30) <span class= "bld">Jacob sod pottage.</span>—The diverse occupations of the two youths led, in course of time, to an act fatal to Esau’s character and well-being. Coming home one day weary, and fainting with hunger, he found Jacob preparing a pottage of lentils. No sooner did the savoury smell reach him than he cried out in haste, “Let me swallow, I pray, of the red, this red.” The verb expresses extreme eagerness, and he adds no noun whatever, but points to the steaming dish. And Jacob, seeing his brother’s greediness and ravenous hunger, refuses to give him food until he has parted with the high and sacred prerogative which made him the inheritor of the Divine promise.<p><span class= "bld">Therefore was his name called Edom.</span>—Esau may have been called Edom, that is, <span class= "ital">Rufus, </span>the red one, before, but after this act it ceased to be a mere allusive by name, and became his ordinary appellation.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/25-34.htm">Genesis 25:34</a></div><div class="verse">Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised <i>his</i> birthright.</div>(34) <span class= "bld">He did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way.</span>—These words graphically describe Esau’s complete indifference to the spiritual privileges of which he had denuded himself. There is no regret, no sad feeling that he had prolonged his life at too high a cost. And if Jacob is cunning, and mean in the advantage he took of his brother, still he valued these privileges, and in the sequel he had his reward and his punishment. He was confirmed in the possession of the birthright, and became the progenitor of the chosen race, and of the Messiah; but henceforward his life was full of danger and difficulty. He had to flee from his brother’s enmity, and was perpetually the victim of fraud and the most cruel deceit. But gradually his character ripened for good. He ceased to be a scheming, worldly-minded Jacob, and became an Israel, and in his pious old age we see a man full of trust and faith in God, unworldly and unselfish, and animated by tender and loving feeling. Purified from his early infirmities, and with all his better nature strengthened and sanctified by sorrow, he shows himself worthy of his second name, and becomes “a prince with God.”<p><span class= "bld"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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