Gen_26:1-35; Gen_27:1-46; Gen_28:1-22
Pgs. 88-96
Ch. 25-28
SECTION VI.
TOLEDOTH. AND theseare the generations of Izhak bar Abraham. Abraham begat Izhak; and Izhak was ason of forty years when he took Revekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramite ofPadan Aram, the sister of Laban the Aramite, to be his wife. And Izhak. prayedbefore the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord hearkened tohis prayer, and Revekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled in herwomb; and she said, If thus, why have I conceived? And she went to seekinstruction before the Lord: and the Lord said to her, Two nations are in thywomb, and two kingdoms from thy womb shall be divided, and (one) kingdom (shallbe) stronger than (the other) kingdom, and the greater shall be subject to theless. And her days were fulfilled to give birth. And, behold, twins were in herwomb. And the first came forth red, all of him as a garment (covering) of hair;and they called his name Esau. And afterwards came forth his brother, and hishand grasped the heel of Esau, and they called his name Jakob.[1] <l > AndIzhak was sixty years old when he begat them. And the youths grew; and Esau wasa man of idleness, a man going out into the field; and Jakob was a man ofpeace, a minister of the house ofinstruction. And Izhak loved Esau, because he ate of his hunting, and Rivekahloved Jakob. And Jakob dressed pottage, and Esau came from the field, and he wasfaint. And Esau said to Jakob, Let me taste now of that red, that red! for I amfaint: (therefore he called his name Edom:[2] <l >) and Jakob said, Sellthis day thy birthright to me. And Esau said, Behold, I am going to die, andwhat is this birthright to me?[3] <l > And Jakob said, Swear to me to-day;and he sware to him and he sold his birthright to Jakob. And Jakob gave to Esaubread and pottage of lentiles. And he ate and drank, and arose, and went: andEsau despised the birthright.
XXVI. And there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine thatwas in the days of Abraham; and Izhak went to Abimelek, king of the Philistaee,to Gerar.[4] <l > And the Lord appeared to him andsaid, Go not down into Mizraim,[5] <l > remain in the land as I have toldthee; dwell in this land, and My Word shall be to thee for a helper; and I willbless thee. For to thee and to thy son will I give all these lands; and I willconfirm the oath that I have sworn to Abraham thy father; and I will multiplythy son as the stars of heaven, and will give thy son all these lands, andthrough thy son shall all the peoples of the earth be blessed, because Abrahamobeyed My word, and kept the keeping of My word, My commandments, My covenant,and My law. And Izhak dwelt at Gerar; and the men of the place asked respectinghis wife. And he said, She is my sister; for he feared to say, My wife, lestthe men of the place should kill him on account of Revekah; for she was ofbeautiful aspect. And it was when be had been there many days that Abimelek theking of the Philistaee looked from a window, and, behold, Izhak wassporting with Revekah his wife. And Abimelek called Izhak and said,Nevertheless, behold, she is thywife: why then hast thou said, She is my sister? And Izhak said to him, BecauseI said, Lest I be killed on account of her. And Abimelek said, What is thisthat thou hast done to us? It might have been that some one of the people hadlain with thy wife, and thou wouldst have brought upon us the guilt. AndAbimelek commanded all the people saying, Whoever injureth this man shallsurely be put to death. And Izhak sowed in the land, and found in that year ahundred fold on that which he had expended, (or estimated,) and the Lordblessed him; and the man increased, and went on multiplying and increasing,until he had increased greatly. And he had flocks of sheep, and herds ofcattle, and many servants; and the Philistaee were envious of him. And all thewells that the servants of his father had digged in the days of Abrahamthe Philistaee stopped up, and filled with dust. And Abimelek said to Izhak, Gofrom us; for thou art much stronger than we. And Izhak went thence, andsojourned in the vale of Gerar, and dwelt there. And Izhak returned, and diggedthe well of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, andwhich the Philistaee had stopped after the death of Abraham; and he calledtheir names after the names by which his father had called them. And theservants of Izhak digged in the valley, and found there a well of flowing[6] <l >waters. And the shepherds of Gerar strove with the shepherds of Izhak, saying,The water is ours; and he called the name of the well Contention, because theyhad contended with him. And they diggedanother well, and they strovealso on account of it, and he called the name of it Hatred. And he went up fromthence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he calledthe name of it Spaciousness. For he said, Because now hath the Lord enlargedus, and we shall spread abroad in the land. And he went up from thence toBeershava; and the Lord appeared to him in the night, and said, I am the God ofAbraham thy father; fear not: for in thy help is My Word; and I will blessthee, and will multiply thy sons for the sake of Abraham My servant. And he buildedthere an altar, and prayed in the name of the Lord. And he spread there histabernacle; and the servants of Izhak digged there a well. And Abimelek came tohim from Gerar, and a company of his friends, and Phikol[7] <l > thechief of his host. And Izhak said to him, Why have you come to me, when youhave hated me, and sent me from you? And they said, Seeing we have seen thatthe Word of the Lord is for thy help; and we have said, Let the oath which wasbetween our fathers be now confirmed between us and thee, and let us enter intoa covenant with thee, that thou do us no evil, as we have not injured thee, andas we have done thee only good, and we will leave thee in peace; thou art nowblessed of the Lord. And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. And theyarose in the morning and covenanted, each man with his brother; and Izhakdismissed them, and they went from him in peace. And it was in that day thatthe servants of Izhak came and showed him concerning the well that they haddigged. And they said to him, We have found water. And he called it Sheva, (theswearing). Wherefore the name of the city is Beer-sheva unto this day. And Esau was the son of forty years, and he took to wife Jehudith,daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite; andthey were rebels and irritators against the word of Izhak and Revekah.
XXVII. And it was, when Izhak was old, and his eyes were darkened fromseeing, that he called Esau, his eldest son, and said to him, My son. And hesaid to him, Behold, I am. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not theday that I shall die: and now take thy weapons, thy knife and thy bow, and goout into the field, and hunt me venison, and make me food[8] <l > I suchas I like, and bring it to me, and I will eat, and my soul shall bless theebefore I die. And Revekah listened as Izhak was speaking with his son Esau. AndEsau went into the field to hunt venison to bring it. And Revekah spake toJakob, her son, saying, Behold, I have heard thy father speaking with Esau thybrother, saying, Bring me now venison, and make me food, and I will eat andbless thee in the presence of the Lord before I die. And now, my son, obey mein what I command thee. Go now to the flock, and take thee from thence two goodgoat-kids, and make them into food for thy father such as he loves, andcarry in to thy father, that he may eat, and bless thee before he die. AndJakob said to Revekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and Iam a smooth man. It may be that my father will feel me, and I shall be in hiseyes as a deceiver, and shall bring upon me curses, and not blessings. And hismother said to him, Unto me it hath been said in prophecy, that there shall beno curses upon thee, my son; only obeyme, and go, and take for me. Andhe went, and took, and brought to his mother, and his mother made food such ashis father loved. And Revekah took the vestments of Esau her elder son, (whichwere) clean, and were with her in the house, and clothed Jakob her younger son.And with the skins of the kids she covered his hands, and upon the smoothnessof his neck. And she gave the food and the bread that she had made into thehand of Jakob her son. And he went in to his father, and said, Father! And hesaid, Behold me. Who art thou, my son? And Jakob said to his father, I am Esau,thy firstborn: I have done as thou hast told me. Arise now, turn thyseIf, andeat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Izhak said to his son, Whatis this, thou hast so quickly found, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thyGod prepared it before me. And Izhak said to Jakob, Draw near now, and I willfeel thee, my son, whether thou be my son Esau or not. And Jakob drew near toIzhak his father, and he felt him, and said, The voice is the voice of Jakob;but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he could not be known, because hishands were hairy, like the hands of Esau his brother; and he blessed him. Andhe said, But art thou my son Esau? And he said, I am! And he said, Bring beforeme, and I will eat of my sons venison, that my soul may bless thee. And heoffered to him, and he did eat; and he brought him wine, and he drank. AndIzhak his father said to him, Approach now, and kiss me, my son. And heapproached, and kissed him, and he smelled the fragrance of his vestments, andblessed him, and said, Lo, the smell of my son is as the fragrance of a fieldwhich the Lord hath blessed. And the Lord shall give thee of the dew of heaven,and of the goodness of the earth, and abundance of corn and of wine. Let thepeoples serve thee, and kingdoms be subservient to thee: be thou chief of thybrethren, and let the sons of thy mother worship thee: cursed shall they be whocurse thee, and blessed shall they be who bless thee! And it waswhen Izhak had completed to bless Jakob, and Jakob had, going, only gone outfrom Izhak his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. And hehad also made food, and he brought it to his father, and said to his father,Arise, my father, and eat of thy son’s venison, that thy soul may bless me. AndIzhak his father said to him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thyfirstborn, Esau. And Izhak was wonderstruck with exceeding great wonder, andsaid, Who was he who prepared venison, and brought it to me, and I have eatenof all before thou camest, and I have blessed him? and blessed shall he be.When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried a cry, great and bitterexceedingly. And he said to his father, Bless me, also, me, father! And hesaid, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath received thy blessing. And hesaid, Rightly is his name called Jakob, he hath dealt subtilly with me thesetwo times; my birthright he took, and, behold, now he hath received myblessing. And he said, Hast thou not left me a blessing? And Izhak answered,and said to Esau, Behold, I have set him a chief over thee, and all hisbrethren I have given to him for servants, and with corn and wine have Isustained him: and for thee now what can I do, my son? And Esau said to hisfather, Hast thou but one blessing, father? Bless me, me also, my father. AndEsau lifted up his voice and wept. And Izhak his father answered and said tohim, Behold, thy habitation shall be of the best of the earth, and of the dewof heaven from above. And by thy swordshalt thou live, and thy brother obey; and it will be that when his sons shallhave transgressed the words of the law, thou wilt cast his yoke from off thyneck. And Esau kept enmity towards Jakob for the blessing wherewith his fatherhad blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for fatherdraw near and I wilt kill Jakob my brother. And the words of Esau her eldestson were shown to Revekah, and she sent and called Jakob her younger son, andsaid to him, Behold, Esau thy brother plotteth against thee to kill thee. Andnow, my son, receive from me, and arise and go to Laban my brother at Haran,and dwell with him a few days, until thy brother’s wrath turn away, until theanger of thy brother turn from thee, and what thou hast done to him beforgotten; and I will send and bring thee thence. Why should I be bereaved ofboth of you in one day? And Revekah said to Izhak, I am grieved in my life atthe sight of the daughters of Hittah. If Jakob take a wife of the daughters ofHittah, like these of the daughters of the land, what to me is life?
XXVIII.And Izhak called Jakob and blessed him. And he commanded him, and said to him,Thou shalt not take a wife from the daughters of Kenaan; arise, go to PadanAram to the house of Bethuel the father of thy mother, and take to thee fromthence a wife of the daughters of Laban, the brother of thy mother. And the All-sufficientGod bless thee, and make thee to increase and multiply, and become anassemblage of tribes; and give the blessing of Abraham to thee and thy sonswith thee, that thou mayest inherit the land of thy habitation which the Lordgave to Abraham. And Izhak sent Jakob away, and he went to Padan Aram to Labanbar Bethuel, the Aramite, the brother of Revekah, the mother of Jakob and Esau.And Esau, when he saw that Izhak had blessed Jakob, and sent him to Padan Aramto take from thence a wife, and, as he blessed him, commanded him, saying, Thoushalt not take a wife from the daughters of Kenaan, and that Jakob had obeyedhis father and his mother, and had gone to Padan Aram, Esau, considering thatthe daughters of Kenaan were evil in the eyes of Izhak his father, went toIshmael, and took Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael bar Abraham, the sister ofNebaioth, over his wives, unto him to wife.
[1]Ya-a-kov.
[1]"Red."
[1] Sam. Vers."and what is my business with the birthright?"
[1] Sam. Vers."at Askelon."
[1] Sam. Vers."Nophig."
[1] Sam. Vers."sweet."
[1] Here theSam. Vers. metaphrases the name into "Mimarkol," with the same importas "Pumkol" in chap. xxi.
[1]Tavshelin, "stewed meats."
[1] <l >Ya-a-kov.
[2] <l > "Red."
[3] <l > Sam. Vers. "and what is mybusiness with the birthright?"
[4] <l > Sam. Vers. "at Askelon."
[5] <l > Sam. Vers. "Nophig."
[6] <l > Sam. Vers. "sweet."
[7] <l > Here the Sam. Vers. metaphrases thename into "Mimarkol," with the same import as "Pumkol" inchap. xxi.
[8] <l >Tavshelin, "stewed meats."