Genesis 25:32

And Esau said, behold, I [am] at the point to die,.... Or, "going to die" (y), going the way of all flesh; which he might say on account of the common frailty and mortality of man, and the brevity of

And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? Esau said ... I am at the point to die - i:e., I am running daily risk of my life; and of what use will the birthright be to me.

I am at the point to die; not with famine, which could not consist with Isaac’ s plentiful estate and house, but by the perpetual hazards to which his course of life exposed him in the pursuit of wild beasts, and contending with other men. What profit shall this birthright do to me? by which he plainly showeth that his care and affections reached no further than the present life.

Genesis 25:32 And Esau said, Behold, I [am] at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?Ver. 32. What profit shall this birthright, &c.] Pluris facio pulticulam bonam, quam titulam inahem. Sensualists look only at the present pleasure, and sell their souls for it. Earthly things are present and pleasant, therefore we so cleave to them; striving, like the toad, who shall fall asleep with most earth in his paws.

THE TΤLDΤTH ISAAC (Genesis 25:19 to Genesis 35:29). THE BIRTH OF ISAAC’S SONS. Abraham begat Isaac—The Tτldτth 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 Genesis 10:22-23.) The name of the district also correctly is “Paddan-Ararn,” and so far from being identical with Aram-Naharaim, in Genesis 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 (1 Samuel 13:20), or a yoke of oxen ( 1 Samuel 11:7); and this also suggests that it was the cultivated district close to the town. In Hosea 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 Faddβn and Tel Faddβn, 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 (Genesis 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 (Revelation 5:8; Revelation 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?

32. I am at the point to die] Esau’s words mean that he is dying of hunger, and has no thought of anything but the prospect of food. So LXX ἰδοὺἐγὼπορεύομαιτελευτᾶν, Lat. en morior. A more improbable and very insipid interpretation makes Esau say, “I live as a hunter in continual danger of death.”