Verse by Verse

¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?”

¹⁶ Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

¹⁷ Leah’s eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance.

¹⁸ Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.”

¹⁹ And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.”

²⁰ So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.

²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.”

²² And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast.

²³ Now it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her.

²⁴ And Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid.

²⁵ So it came to pass in the morning, that behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you deceived me?”

²⁶ And Laban said, “It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.

²⁷ Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years.”

²⁸ Then Jacob did so and fulfilled her week. So he gave him his daughter Rachel as wife also.

²⁹ And Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as a maid.

³⁰ Then Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban still another seven years.

³¹ When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.

³² So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, “The Lord has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me.”

³³ Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon.

³⁴ She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi.

³⁵ And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

The only specific weakness that is mentioned [in Leah] is that she was “tender-eyed.” This does not necessarily mean “weak-eyed,” however, as some have interpreted it; it could mean that she did not have eyes as dark and lustrous as those of Rachel, or it might even refer figuratively to Leah as a woman of compassion. — Morris, page 460.

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At this time [after Jacob had served 7 years for Rachel], if not earlier, Laban devised one of the most mendacious schemes imaginable, resolving to substitute Leah for Rachel on the wedding night. Then, he could extract still another seven-year period of free service from Jacob, as well as solve the problem of getting a husband for Leah at the same time. He felt reasonably certain, knowing Jacob’s honorable character, that he would not cast out Leah once He had gone in to her; and if Jacob should actually refuse to work another seven years as he would demand, then at worst it would not be too difficult to find another husband for Rachel. Even if Jacob decided to elope with Rachel (a practically unthinkable development in terms of the customs of the land), Laban would still not have lost anything. — Morris, page 461.

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Jacob continued in service to Laban for the seven additional years on which he had agreed. He did not have to wait all this time for Rachel, however, but went in to her as soon as Leah’s festive week was finished. This is clear from verse 30, which indicates that he went in to Rachel first, and then served Laban another seven years. Rachel was his true love, of course, and he could hardly avoid showing this. Nevertheless, he did learn to love Leah also, even though he loved Rachel “more than Leah.” — Morris, page 463.

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Whereas Abraham and Isaac had only had one son each to whom the promises were given, all the sons of Jacob were to share in the promises. Only one would be the progenitor of the Messiah, but all would be the “children of Israel” and would constitute the promised nation, the chosen people. Therefore, a detailed account is given in the latter part of chapter 29 and the first half of chapter 30 concerning the birth of Jacob’s twelve sons and one daughter. — Morris, pages 463-464.

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That God was concerned for Leah, as well as Jacob and Rachel, is indicated in verse 31. Rachel, like Sarah and Rebekah before her, was “barren” for a time, until the Lord answered her prayers for a son. In the meantime, though, since Jacob was so partial to Rachel (he did not, of course, “hate” Leah, as the literal meaning of the word would suggest; he only loved Rachel more, and so “slighted” Leah), God opened Leah’s womb first and gave her, in fairly rapid succession, four sons.

Each of her sons was named by Leah in accordance with her feelings a the time. Her first-born was named Reuben, meaning “Behold, a son!” Her second was Simeon, “Hearing,” in thanksgiving for the fact that God had heard her prayers. The next was Levi, meaning “Attachment,” expressing her confidence that three sons would thus ensure Jacob’s permanent attachment to her. Then came Judah, whom she called simply “Praise,” as a token of her praise to Jehovah. — Morris, page 464.

Wechsler digs into the matter of the meaning of the word translated “hate,” and shows that in Hebrew it can simply mean “prefer.” Jacob loved Leah. He just preferred Rachel more.

1 So Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the East.

² And he looked, and saw a well in the field; and behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks. A large stone was on the well’s mouth.

³ Now all the flocks would be gathered there; and they would roll the stone from the well’s mouth, water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the well’s mouth.

⁴ And Jacob said to them, “My brethren, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from Haran.”

⁵ Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.”

⁶ So he said to them, “Is he well?” And they said, “He is well. And look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep.”

⁷ Then he said, “Look, it is still high day; it is not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”

⁸ But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and they have rolled the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.”

⁹ Now while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

¹⁰ And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.

¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept.

¹² And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. So she ran and told her father.

¹³ Then it came to pass, when Laban heard the report about Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. So he told Laban all these things.

¹⁴ And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him for a month.

Many writers on Genesis treat this period of Jacob’s life as though it were a punishment for his treatment of his brother. Actually, however, they were for the most part very happy and prosperous years … he did receive some rather shabby treatment at the hand of his Uncle Laban. On the other hand, Laban did give him a job, permitted him to marry his daughters, and made it possible for Jacob to build up extensive holdings of his own. — Morris, page 455.

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Jacob spotted the well through the rather unusual circumstances that, although it was still fairly early in the afternoon, there were already three flocks of sheep lying near the well waiting to be watered. There seems to have been a local regulation regarding the well stipulating that its stone covering only be removed at a certain time in the evening, at which time all the flocks of the vicinity were to be watered in turn, in order of arrival. Those that arrived first would get through first; hence, there were some that would come to “get in line” quite early. The shepherds tending the flocks were apparently either women or young lads, the latter being the case with the three flocks Jacob first saw. The stone on the well was too large for any one or two of them to move; it was easier therefore to have the well opened by several helping each other once a day. This type of well was apparently not a well of flowing water, but rather of stored water.

It is interesting to note that both Jacob and the young shepherds still spoke the same language. The language of Haran was Aramaic, or Chaldee, and was evidently a language well known to Abraham, and therefore also to Isaac and Jacob.— Morris, pages 456-457.

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When Jacob saw Rachel, there is no doubt that he was thrilled beyond words. She was a beautiful woman (Genesis 29:17), in addition to being industrious and strong enough to care for her father’s sheep. …

One receives the impression in reading the narrative here that with Jacob it was a case of love at first sight. Before even introducing himself, Jacob went up to Rachel, after watering the sheep, and proceeded to kiss her, so overcome by emotion was he. This was not intended as a kiss of personal love, of course, but rather simply a kiss of greeting; but even this was practiced only by relatives or close friends, so it must surely have startled Rachel. She was even more shocked when she saw this strong man begin to weep and cry in a loud voice! 

Then, however, he managed to control his emotions  long enough to tell her who he was. He was her cousin, the son of her father’s beloved sister, No doubt Rachel had heard much from Laban about the beautiful Rebekah, who had left home so long ago under such remarkable circumstances. …

When she learned who Jacob was, she immediately ran as fast as she could to tell her father the glad news. Rebekah had left her brother almost one hundred years before, on almost a moment’s notice; and so far as the record goes, he had never seen her since. — Morris, pages 458-459.

As an example of the “Jacob was wrong” view, here’s what Mackintosh says:

In chapter 28, Jacob utterly fails in the apprehension of God’s real character, and meets all the rich grace of Bethel with an “if,’ and a miserable bargain about food and raiment. We now follow him into a scene of thorough bargain-making. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” There is no possibility of escaping from this. Jacob had not yet found his true level in the presence of God, and therefore God uses circumstances to chasten and break him down. …

How often do we find, as in Jacob’s case, that even although the Lord may come near to us and speak in our ears, yet we do not understand His voice or take our true place in His presence. “… Jacob learnt nothing by all this, and it therefore needed twenty years of terrible schooling, and that, to in a school marvelously adapted to his flesh; and even that, as we shall see, was not sufficient to break him down. … The bargain-making Jacob meets with the bargain-making Laban, and they are both seen, as it were, straining every nerve to outwit each other. Nor can we wonder at Laban, for he had never been at Bethel—he had seen no open heaven, with a ladder reaching from thence to earth—he had heard no magnificent promises from the lips of Jehovah, securing to him all the land of Canaan, with a countless seed: no marvel, therefore, that he should exhibit a grasping groveling spirit; he had no other resource … But to find Jacob, after all he had seen and heard at Bethel, struggling with a man of the world, and endeavoring, but such means, to accumulate property, is peculiarly humbling. — Mackintosh, pages 289-290

I am more inclined to agree with Morris’ view that Jacob wasn’t the evil schemer that most people enjoy making him out to be. Of course he wasn’t perfect, but nobody is, and I don’t see any evidence that Jacob’s sins were greater than those of the ordinary follower of God who has faith but fails in action often. If Jacob wasn’t right to go to Haran to find a wife, where was he to get one?

¹⁰ Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran.

¹¹ So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.

¹² Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

¹³ And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

¹⁴ Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

¹⁵ Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

¹⁷ And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

¹⁸ Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.

¹⁹ And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.

²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,

²¹ so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.

²² And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

Jacob “vowed a vow,” that is, he made a solemn vow. This is the first recorded vow in the Bible. There is much to make it appear that the word “if” in this passage [v.20] means “since.” — Williams, page 32.

I checked on Bible Hub to see if “if” could mean “since” here. The Hebrew word is so translated 4 times in other places in the Bible. It’s also translated “certainly,” “surely,” “truly,” and “indeed.” Not everyone buys into this view. Both Mackintosh and Wechsler believe that Jacob intended a conditional if, and take it as evidence that Jacob didn’t yet know God or at least didn’t comprehend Him. Their view seems largely predicated on their opinion that Jacob had a consistently bad character, although, as Morris points out, the Bible never has one bad thing to say about him. I lean toward the since meaning, based on Jacob’s immediate response of setting up an altar and making a sacrifice.

So far as the record goes, Jacob had spent most of his life to date in the family home in Beersheba (Genesis 22:19; 26:33). It was five hundred miles to Haran. … The region around the town of Haran was called Padan-aram (meaning, probably, the “field of Aram,” Aram having come essentially to mean the land of Syria).

It was near Bethel that Abraham had built an altar (Genesis 12:8; 13:3-4), and this was a place to which Jacob would later return (Genesis 35:1). … The word Bethel itself means “the house of God.” Though it was to have many such sacred connotations and memories, apostasy eventually developed there, over a thousand years later, and it had to be destroyed (1 Kings 12:28-33; 2 Kings 23:15-17). — Morris, page 446.

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It was on this occasion, as Jacob slept on the stones of Bethel, that God once again came down in a theophany, the first of about eight which Jacob would experience during his lifetime.

The dominant feature of Jacob’s dream was a mighty ladder, reaching from the earth far up into the sky and even into the very heaven of God’s presence itself. The ladder was wide as well as high, so that streams of heavenly angels could be seen going both up and down the ladder simultaneously.

It is obvious that this was no ordinary ladder. The word is the Hebrew sullam, and is used only this one time in the Bible. 

Almost two thousand years in the future from Jacob’s day, a devout Israelite named Nathanael was meditating on the things of God. … Philip … told him of Jesus and urged him to come meet the One who was indeed the Messiah! Nathanael was skeptical at first, but Jesus soon convinced him, telling him things about himself and his activities which He could only have known supernaturally. And it was then that Jesus made the tremendous claim and promise, referring to Jacob’s dream: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51). 

In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ claimed that He Himself was Jacob’s Ladder, the one means by which one could go from earth to heaven. 

As Jacob marveled at the ladder in his dream, he saw God Himself standing above the ladder and heard Him speak words of blessing, repeating all the promises He had made to Abraham and Isaac concerning the Seed and the land. Regarding his own immediate situation, God promised Jacob that he would be with him wherever he would go, protecting him, and then one day bringing him back to the land he was leaving. — Morris, pages 449-450.

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Here God had been actually seen and heard; here He met with His people. This place should be called the House of God, Bethel, though it had formerly been called Luz. As the House of God, it was also the Gate to heaven, through which God could come to man and into which man must enter to go to God. 

Early in the morning, Jacob rose and hastened to set up the pillar. The central support stone was the stone he had used for a pillow the night before. He had no animal to sacrifice, but he did make a drink offering of oil he was carrying, thus also “anointing” the pillar, dedicating it to the truth of God’s promises.

After anointing the pillar, Jacob rehearsed God’s gracious promises of the night before—God’s promise to be with him wherever he would go. … Therefore, said Jacob (and this was not just making a bargain, as some have suggested, but rather an expression of gratitude and love), “then shall Jehovah be my God and this place will always be a place of remembrance wherein to worship God.” Furthermore, although he had no possessions at the time, Jacob believed that God would indeed supply them, and he voluntarily promised to restore one-tenth of everything to God. … He finally did return to this spot and actually built an altar there (Genesis 35:3, 7). 

God’s promise had been unconditional and hence did not require the payment of tithes to keep it in force. It is legitimate, in the Hebrew, to read Jacob’s statement in this way: “Since [instead of ‘if”] God will be with me …” Morris, pages 451-452.

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In the revelation which the Lord makes to [Jacob], it is a simple record or prediction of what he Himself would yet do. “I am … I will give … I will keep … I will bring … I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” It was all Himself. There is no condition whatever—no if or but; for when grace acts, there can be no such thing. Where there is an if, it cannot possibly be grace. — Mackintosh, page 285.

1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

² Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

³ “May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples;

⁴ And give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.”

⁵ So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”

⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram.

⁸ Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac.

⁹ So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

Rebekah’s counsel quickly convinced Isaac, still shaken from the recent events, and no longer in any mood to try to delay or thwart God’s purposes. He called Jacob, and gave him strict instruction not to marry a Canaanite woman, almost in the same words that Abraham had used long ago concerning his own marriage (Genesis 24:3). Rather, he was to go back to Rebekah’s family in Padan-aram, and there take a wife from among his own cousins, the daughters of his mother’s brother.

Then, in order that neither Rebekah nor Jacob could have any more doubt that he now fully desired and intended that Jacob should have the full blessing, Isaac repeated the blessing in terms much more like those which he himself had received from God (Genesis 26:3-5).

That is, he specifically invoked on Jacob the blessing of Abraham, as well as the promise that he would be the father of a great multitude, and his seed would possess the land of promise. — Morris, pages 443-444.

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The fact that Isaac had sent Jacob far away to find a wife from Rebekah’s people emphasized to Esau that his father, as well as his mother, was highly displeased with Esau’s choice of wives.  In a belated attempt to partially correct this situation, Esau went to the home of his Uncle Ismael (Ishmael himself was already dead at this time) and secured one of his daughters, Mahalath (probably the same as Bashemath in Genesis 36:3), as another wife. … Esau made a desperate attempt to regain the favor of his parents and of God. But even in this attempt, he still was wrong, because Ishmael and his descendants had already been cast out by God, so far as the national promises were concerned. — Morris, page 444.

³⁰ Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

³¹ He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”

³² And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

³³ Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—and indeed he shall be blessed.”

³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”

³⁵ But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”

³⁶ And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

³⁷ Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”

³⁸ And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

³⁹ Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: “Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above.

⁴⁰ By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

⁴¹ So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴² And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you.

⁴³ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran.

⁴⁴ And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away,

⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶ And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

The prediction in verse 40, that Esau should break Jacob’s yoke from off his neck was fulfilled upwards of 900 years later, as recorded in 2 Kings 8:20-22—In his days Edom revolted against Judah’s authority, and made a king over themselves. So Joram went to Zair, and all his chariots with him. Then he rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots; and the troops fled to their tents. Thus Edom has been in revolt against Judah’s authority to this day.—Williams, page 32.

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The truth suddenly came home to Isaac like a mighty blast of icy wind. In spite of all his intentions, God had overruled, and he had blessed Jacob instead of Esau. Furthermore, he realized that he had been deceived by his beloved wife and his faithful son, in order to prevent him from doing what he knew he had no right to do. God had spoken through him in spite of himself; so he told Esau: “Therefore, Jacob indeed shall receive the blessing.” This was clearly the will of God, and there was nothing he could do to change that! He had tried to do so, but God had stopped him.

As the impact of these thoughts came over him, “Isaac trembled very exceedingly.” Hebrew scholars tell us the original language is extremely graphic, something like, “Isaac trembled most excessively with a great trembling.” — Morris, pages 438-439.

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As the truth dawned upon [Esau] as well, he also gave vent to his emotions. He “cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry.” But perhaps his father could bless him anyway … Surely no human tribunal would enforce a contract acquired by deception; so why should Isaac, and why should God?

Isaac simply blamed Jacob for a clever deception which robbed Esau of his intended blessing. Esau bitterly recalled that Jacob had already “taken away” his birthright (forgetting that, at the time, he had despised it); and now, he complained, he had likewise taken away his blessing.

Esau commented on the relevance of Jacob’s very name to the situation. It will be recalled that he was named “Jacob” because, as he was born, he was holding his brother by the heel. The name means something like “heel-gripper” and, therefore, by extension, “One who trips another by the heel.”

Agonizingly, Esau begged his father for a blessing of some kind for himself. … But the portion of the blessing in which Esau was most interested, that of political superiority, had been given irrevocably to Jacob, and all Esau’s crying could not change the situation. The sad commentary in Hebrews refers to his pleading in these words: “Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears’ (Hebrews 12:16-17). — Morris, page 440.

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Esau resolved to murder his brother as soon as his father died, evidently assuming his father was indeed at the point of death (Genesis 27:2).  Uttered in the hearing of some of the servants, his threatening words were brought to his mother’s attention. Again showing herself to be a woman of quick decision, she called Jacob and instructed him to leave the house “for a few days,” in order to visit her brother Laban in Haran. Knowing Esau’s nature, she assumed his anger would pass away quickly and he would soon return to his carefree ways.

However, her “few days” turned out to be over twenty years! So far as the record goes, she never saw Jacob again after that day. … Later events proved that she was correct. Esau did soon forget his anger, and he did prosper quite adequately in a material sense, which was really all he cared about (Genesis 33:1, 4, 9). Isaac repented and gave Jacob his sincere blessing, instructing him to marry a woman of their own people, not a Canaanite, as Esau had done (Genesis 28:1-4). — Morris, page 442.

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As to Esau, the apostle calls him “a profane person, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright,” and “afterwards, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of change of mind, though he sought for it carefully with tears (Hebrews 12:16-17). Thus we learn what a profane person is, viz., one who would like to hold both worlds—one who would like to enjoy the present without forfeiting his title to the future. — Mackintosh, page 279.

³⁴ When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

³⁵ And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.

1 Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” And he answered him, “Here I am.”

² Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death.

³ Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me.

⁴ And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”

⁵ Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it.

⁶ So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,

⁷ ‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’

⁸ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you.

⁹ Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves.

¹⁰ Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.”

¹¹ And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man.

¹² Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”

¹³ But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.”

¹⁴ And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved.

¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

¹⁶ And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

¹⁷ Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸ So he went to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”

²⁰ But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”

²¹ Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

²² So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

²³ And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

²⁴ Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He said, “I am.”

²⁵ He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.”

²⁷ And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: “Surely, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.

¹² Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him.

¹³ The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous;

¹⁴ for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.

¹⁵ Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth.

¹⁶ And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

¹⁷ Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

¹⁸ And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them.

¹⁹ Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there.

²⁰ But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him.

²¹ Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah.

²² And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

²³ Then he went up from there to Beersheba.

²⁴ And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.”

²⁵ So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

²⁶ Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army.

²⁷ And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

²⁸ But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you,

²⁹ that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’ ”

³⁰ So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

³¹ Then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

³² It came to pass the same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”

³³ So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

The wells of Genesis have significant names and are associated with significant events: (1) Beer-lahai-roi, “the well of Him who liveth and seeth me” (Genesis 16:14; 24:62; 25:11). (2) Beeer-sheba, “the well of the oath” or “covenant” (Genesis 21:25-33; 22:19; 26:23-25; 46:1-5). (3) Esek, “contention” (Genesis 26:20). (4) Sitnah, “hatred” (Genesis 26:21). Esek and Sitnah were Isaac’s own attempts at well-digging. Afterward he dwelt by the old wells of his father. and (5) Reho-both, “enlargement” (Genesis 26:22). Upon Isaac’s return to Beer-sheba, the Lord made Himself known. —Schofield, page 39-40.

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In verse 12 occurs the first mention of seed-sowing in the Bible, along with the information that the Lord blessed it with a hundredfold increase. Seed-sowing is frequently used in the New Testament as symbolic of witnessing; and it is noteworthy that the first mention is in the familiar parable of the sower, in which the good seed likewise brought forth a hundredfold (Matthew 13:23).

Isaac at this point prospered so greatly that his power began to eclipse even that of Abimelech and the Philistines. His herds and flocks, the richness of his crops, the increasing number of his servants, became so great that the envy of the Philistines, already vexed because of Abimelech’s protection of him, finally led to retaliation.

An adequate supply of water was, of course, absolutely necessary for Isaac’s operation; and this was obtained from the man wells dug by Abraham, his father, in the Philistine country. The Philistines decided to plug up all these wells and to force him out of their country. Abimelech himself called on Isaac to depart from their land, since he had become more powerful than his own nation. — Morris, page 422.

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Isaac could have resisted this demand, since the earlier Abimelech had given his father the right to dwell anywhere in the land he might choose (Genesis 20:15), and since the wells belonged to Abraham by right of construction. Also he might well have been able to defeat the Philistines colonists in battle, if it had come to that, since he now had ample manpower.

Isaac chose to let them have their way. He moved away, therefore, from the capital, going east and further up the valley of Gerar. Here there were other wells which Abraham had constructed, but these had already been plugged up when Abraham died. … Isaac embarked on a program of reopening these wells … He used the same names Abraham had given them.

In addition, his servants dug another well, evidently lower in the valley, and this turned out to be an artesian well, a well of “living water.” The Philistine herdsmen, however, claimed this water belonged to them … Rather than argue the point, Isaac instructed his own herdsmen to let them have the well and to dig another farther up the valley. He gave the first well the ironic name of Esek (the “Quarrel Well”). They proceeded to dig the second well, but the men of Gerar followed them there and demanded that well also.

Isaac then named it Sitnah (the “Hatred Well”) and again gave it to them. He moved much further away this time, beyond any region to which the Philistines had any reasonable claim. Finally, this time the men from Gerar no longer followed him; so the new well he dug was called Rehoboth (“the Well of Ample Room”). Isaac left some of his flocks and herds in this location, with their herdsmen, while he himself went on still farther. — Morris, page 423.

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While the well-digging was under way at Beersheba, a delegation of the Philistines again appeared—this time none less than King Abimelech himself, along with his chief captain Phichol and another man. … They knew Jehovah was blessing Isaac and that he was growing stronger all the time. Now that he was out of their land, they decided it was the policy of wisdom to stay on good terms with him. … They proposed a mutual nonaggression treaty, somewhat like the one Abraham and the earlier Abimelech had made on this same spot nearly a century before. Isaac was quite agreeable, especially after his recent encounter with God.

As they were departing … Isaac’s servants came to him with the happy news that the well they were digging had struck a good supply of water. It was appropriate that the well be called “the Well of the Oath” (Beersheba), not only because of the pact signed that day, but also because of the similar covenant and name assigned the place by Abraham long ago. No doubt Isaac had in mind God’s great covenant, which He had confirmed to him here. — Morris, page 425.

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Isaac at length makes his way from amongst the Philistines, and gets up to Beersheba. “And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, ‘I am the God of Abraham thy father; fear, not, for I am with the, and will bless thee.'” Mark, it was not the Lord’s blessing merely, but the Lord Himself. And why? Because Isaac had left the Philistines, with all their envy and strife and contention, behind, and gone up to Beersheba. Here the Lord could show Himself to His servant. The blessings of His liberal hand might follow him during his sojourn in Gerar, but His presence could not there be enjoyed. To enjoy God’s presence, we must be where He is, and He certainly is not to be found amid the strife and contention of an ungodly world; and hence, the sooner the child of God gets away from all such, the better. It is a very common error to imagine that we serve the men of this world by mixing ourselves up with them in their associations and ways. The true way to serve them is to stand apart from them in the power of communion with God, and thus show them the pattern of a more excellent way.

The true way to act on the hearts and consciences of the men of the world is to stand in decided separation from them, while dealing in perfect grace toward them. — Mackintosh, page 264-265.

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The patriarchal parallels continue: just as Abram’s “chain of sin” in Genesis 12:10-20 was followed in chapter 13 by the depiction of strife between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen over the land’s resources, so too in this present passage we are told that the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac over the preciously rare Middle Eastern commodity—water. To his credit, though Isaac’s entourage undoubtedly outnumbers and outpowers the Canaanite herdsmen (since he would have inherited, inter alia, the formidable fighting force of Abram described in Genesis 14:14-15), he patiently moves on from each disputed site until he found a location that the herdsmen did not quarrel over. Then, just as to his father Abram (see Genesis 13:14-17; 15:1), God subsequently affirms His covenant protection and provision for Isaac, in exemplary response to which the patriarch built an altar … and called upon the name of the Lord. — Wechsler, pages 227-228.

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That this is the same Abimelech who interacted with Abraham—which view we incline to—is supported by the following observations: (1) the name of the commander of his army—i.e., Phicol—is the same in both accounts (see Genesis 21:22); (2) the life-span of man at this point is in the 200-year range (i.e., Terah died at 205 years; Abraham at 175, and Isaac at 180), which is perfectly consistent with a reign of 80-plus years; and (3) the initiative and wording of Abimelech’s covenant with Isaac is very similar—at points even identical—to that expressed by Abimelech in Genesis 21:22-23. More importantly, this passage stands as a testimony to God’s absolute, gracious sovereignty in evangelism, for here—just as in chapter 21—the patriarch fails to exhibit the confident trust and righteous behavior of a believer in the True God—even common human decency, doing what most people in general know “ought to be done” (see Genesis 20:9). And yet in both instances the one most directly sinned against (Abimelech) affirms, on his own initiative, not only a covenant of peace with the failed evangelist, but also the supreme sovereignty and gracious character of his God! Indeed, that Abimelech’s appreciation—and perhaps faith in—the True God has been deepening since his encounter with Abraham is tantalizingly suggested by the fact that, whereas he only employs the general term “God” (Elohim) in his meeting with Abraham, he here refers to Him when talking to Isaac by His covenant name “Yahweh.” — Wechsler, pages 228-229. 

1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

² Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you.

³ Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

⁴ And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

⁵ because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

⁶ So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

⁷ And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.”

⁸ Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife.

⁹ Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ”

¹⁰ And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”

¹¹ So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

A famine sent Abraham into Egypt where he denied Sarah, who was the vessel of the promises. A similar weapon [of Satan] is used to push Isaac into Gerar, where he also denies his wife! It is evident from the second verse that in spite of the lesson taught him by his father’s experience, he would have gone down into Egypt, had not the Lord appeared to him and prevented him, saying, “Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of.”But it would seem from verse 3 that he had not faith to dwell in that part of the land that God promised to tell him of, and accordingly God condescended to his fears saying in effect: very well, sojourn, if you will, in this land, that is, the land of the Philistine, only do not go down into Egypt, etc. Accordingly it is stated in verses 12-14 that Jehovah did bless him in that land in material wealth, but he suffered spiritually, was a moral injury to the Philistines, was continually contending with them, had anything but a life of peace and, finally, was asked by them to go away! — Williams, page 30.

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So far as the record goes, this is the first time God had appeared to Isaac since he was on Mount Moriah with his father Abraham, probably fifty or more years earlier. The Lord had spoke to Rebekah just before her twins were born, but this is the first time He had spoken to Isaac. 

The Lord had not forgotten His covenant concerning Isaac, however; and so he at this time repeated it to Isaac, in much the same words Isaac had heard Him speak to Abraham so long ago. … He again told Isaac he would give his descendants all the countries of the promised land, would give him an innumerable progeny, and bless all nations through him. However, God pointed out that he would do these things because of Abraham’s faithfulness and obedience, with no mention of Isaac’s — Morris, page 419.

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Isaac stayed in Gerar, which was a part of Canaan but which had been controlled for some time by a colony of Philistines. At this time, the main body of the Philistines still lived on the island of Crete, not actually moving en masse to “Palestine” until centuries later. The king, or “Abimelech,” of this colony was hardly the same one encountered by Abraham nearly a century earlier. 

Rebekah, though she must have been at least sixty years old by this time, was still a very beautiful and desirable woman, and quickly attracted much attention from the Philistine men. Isaac, like Abraham, began to be afraid that he might be murdered on his account. … Isaac’s tent was pitched not too far from the house of Abimelech himself, which was probably on the highest eminence in the community. Abimelech could see down into the women’s quarters of the tent from his window and, one day, perhaps not too much to his surprise, he saw Isaac making love to Rebekah.

When he confronted Isaac with this evidence, Isaac had to admit what he had done and why he had done it. Abimelech rebuked Isaac, and protested that he and his people had much higher standards of morality than Isaac had given them credit for. Adultery with his wife, which conceivably might have ensued, would have involved his whole nation in guilt before God. … Perhaps [the Philistines] had heard of the similar experience with Abraham long ago, when the nation almost died as that earlier Abimelech took Sarah into his harem. In some way, at any rate, God kept the men away from Rebekah. Then, surprisingly, Abimelech, instead of taking vengeance on Isaac for his deception, pronounced a potential capital penalty for any of his subjects who harmed either Isaac or Rebekah. — Morris, pages 420-421.

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The point of these parallels [between Abraham and Isaac]—which center upon the patriarchs’ less-than-perfect faith and expressed sin—is unquestionably to highlight the unmeritoriousness of Isaac as the covenant recipient and thus the unconditionality of the covenant as well as the faithfulness and sovereignty of God in maintaining it. — Wechsler, page 226.

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Of especial significance is God’s statement in verse five that “Abraham … kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” Though God did command Abraham to do a few things, such as emigrating to Canaan (Genesis 12:1), adopting circumcision (Genesis 17:10), and sacrificing Isaac (Genesis 22:2), such actions would hardly seem to square with this emphatic “piling up” of specifically legal terminology. Indeed, this is the first time in Scripture that any one of these four specific terms (whether plural or singular) are used, and after this they are applied almost exclusively to the Mosaic Law—especially when, as here, they are used together (cf. Deuteronomy 11:1). 

A reasonable and biblically-theologically consistent explanation is that this specifically Mosaic legal terminology of God’s statement is intended to teach the reader that by his faith Abraham was credited with the righteousness of perfect law-keeping. It is precisely this point, in fact, that Paul the apostle makes in Romans 3:31, as a lead-in to his extended discussion of Abrahams’ righteousness—to wit: “Do we then nullify the [Mosaic] Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law [i.e., we affirm and fulfill its standard of righteousness].” — Wechsler, pages 226-227.

¹⁹ This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham begot Isaac.

²⁰ Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian.

²¹ Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

²² But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

²³ And the Lord said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.”

²⁴ So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb.

²⁵ And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau.

²⁶ Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷ So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.

²⁸ And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹ Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary.

³⁰ And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.

³¹ But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”

³² And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”

³³ Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴ And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

The next section, beginning in Genesis 25:19b and continuing through 37:2a, was probably recorded by Jacob. — Morris, page 411.

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The birthright included (1) the father’s blessing involving supremacy; (2) a double portion of the family estate; and (3) the domestic priesthood. Jacob, deplorable as was his character, valued divine and eternal blessing; and had he placed himself in God’s hands, the prophecy, made to his mother before he was born, would have been fulfilled to him, and without the degradation and suffering which his own scheming brought upon him.

The domestic priesthood meant that the eldest son acted as priest for the family, and offered the sacrifices which God had commanded Adam and his sons to offer. These are the priests, without doubt, spoken of in Exodus 19:2, and also in Exodus 24:5. With this priesthood were joined the Ten Commandments and the simple laws connected with them; but Israel having rejected this high honour, saying to Moses, “speak thou to us, but let not God speak to us”this peculiar glory was taken from them and vested in the tribe of Levi. — Williams, page 30.

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Isaac was forty years old when he was married to Rebekah, and it would be another twenty years before they would have any children. Like Abraham and Sarah, they had to wait many years and to make it a matter of special prayer, before God sent them a son. Rebekah was from Syria and her relatives are said to be Syrians. Aram was a son of Shem, so the Armaeans, or Syrians, were Semites. She had lived in Padan-aram (“the plain of Aram”), where the towns of Haran and Nahor were settled, and to which her family had migrated. — Morris, page 411.

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Rebekah was feeling more than normal fetal movements; an actual struggle was taking place in her womb, and Rebekah seemed to realize that this was a portent of something significant. … Whether through a prophet, or dream or theophany, we are not told, but in some way God spoke to her, so clearly that she could never forget the remarkable revelation which she received.

The twins in her womb were of two utterly different and antagonistic temperaments. The nations which they would establish would inherit these tendencies. … Which, then, would prevail? The Lord was most specific in His reply: “The elder shall serve the younger.” … since one of the two must carry on the Messianic line and must inherit the promises of the Abrahamic covenant, it is crystal clear that God here told Rebekah that His covenant would be with the younger son. …

Men normally have felt that the first-born son should receive the greater honor and inheritance, but God does not necessarily work in such ways. In the Messianic line, it is significant that neither, Seth, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, nor David were first-born sons; and it is not certain if any of the others were.

There was surely no reason why God could not select the younger if He so willed. God is sovereign, and we do well not to question His choice. “And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth:) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, As it is written, Jacob have I loved [see Malachi 1:1-2], but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:10-13). — Morris, pages 412-413.

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The strikingly unusual appearance of the two boys is reflected in the names given them. The first was named Esau, which means “hairy,” He was obviously a rugged, strong child. The second was named Jacob, which means “heel-catcher” (perhaps also, by extension, “supplanter”). With respect to Jacob’s odd name, the prophet Hosea seems to interpret it as evidence of power with God. “He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God” (Hosea 12:3). — Morris, page 414.

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The only other hunter mentioned in the Bible is “Nimrod the mighty hunter before [literally “against”] the Lord” (Genesis 10:9). One biblical hunter was a rebel against God, the other was a sportsman unconcerned with God. Esau preferred playing out in the fields [since, with his family’s wealthy, there was no need for extra food], even long after he was a grown man, to working for his family and serving the Lord. He also was a “fornicator” (Hebrews 12:16) and profane person. 

Jacob, on the other hand, was a “plain man, dwelling in tents.” Just like Abraham and Isaac, he “sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles” (Hebrews 11:9). … The translators have done Jacob a disservice by calling him a “plain” man, or a “quiet” man. The Hebrew word is tam, which means “perfect” or “complete” or possibly “mature.” It is exactly the same word God used to describe Job when He called him “a perfect man and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil” (Job 1:8). — Morris, page 415.

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Isaac became partial to Esau, and indeed encouraged him in his irresponsible activities, for the highly unworthy reason that “he did eat of his venison.”… The right of primogeniture may have been a custom at this time, but it was not yet a biblical law. In any case, the father had the privilege of transferring it from the eldest son to another, more deserving son (1 Chronicles 5:1-2). — Morris, page 416.

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Why do people so often consider Jacob the culprit in this transaction? [See Williams above.] Scripture does not offer one word of condemnation or criticism of Jacob. Instead, it condemns Esau unequivocally. “Thus Esau despised his birthright” (Genesis 25:34). “Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected” (Hebrews 12:16-17).

This experience with the red lentils, in fact, was closely associated with his very name after that. People from then on often called him Edom (meaning “red”), so that, whenever he heard his name, he was forced to remember that he had sold his birthright for a mess of red pottage!

Jacob, of course, should have been willing to let God work out the problem. God would certainly have overruled the situation even if Isaac had not been willing to give Jacob the birthright as God had instructed him. However Jacob’s sin was not a sin of greed or blackmail, but rather one of lack of faith. — Morris, page 417-418.

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Lest the reader think that God’s response to Rebekah as merely prophetic (i.e., looking forward to the national ascendancy of Israel over Edom) rather than declarative (i.e., His decision for the twins as of that moment), that it was said with respect to the twins themselves, “even though they were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad” (Romans 9:12). The same point, Paul notes, is made by God in His statement through Malachi, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated” (Malachi 1:2-3), in which the reference is not to God’s emotional attitude towards the two, but rather (and in keeping with the broader semantic range of the Hebrew verbs) to His simple, sovereign choice of one over the other. — Wechsler, page 224-225.