Genesis 25:24 Commentary and Bible Study

Now clearly, Isaac was told about the promise. Isaac knew it and Rebekah knew it. She kept it close to her heart, but it was known within the family. And yet Isaac, godly Isaac, seems to half overturn the statement of God. He doesn't disbelieve it; he certainly doesn't reject it, but he so reasons in his mind, that he thinks evidently that Esau can still inherit the family, even if Jacob is going to be the one through whom the seed royal will eventually come. That seems to be the best explanation of why Isaac takes the line in the future that he does. Not only was the prophecy given in advance of their birth remarkable, but so were the circumstances of their birth. ‘After that came his brother out and his hand took hold on Esau's heel’ – a most remarkable and a very unusual birth, not the way twins would normally be expected to come.Esau was the firstborn and the Scripture tells us of the unusual covering over his body because this detail is important in the following account of his life and because it explains the name given to him. He was covered in what looked like a hairy garment all over his body. Because of this he was given the name Esau which is thought to be a form of the past participle of the verb ‘to make’, that is ‘made’. This name is explained by some as a reference to the fact that he was already at birth covered in hair like an adult male and so was ‘made’ from birth. Evidently this was a very unusual feature.But the second twin was born soon afterwards. The second child came out grasping the first child by the heel. This gesture suggests a contest to be born first between the twins, though conducted unconsciously, God put within them an instinct that reflected the more significant contest that would take place between them in conscious adult life, and also in the two peoples whom they represented. Though Esau had succeeded in breaking forth from the womb first and so was entitled to the claim to be the firstborn, Jacob would not give up the struggle. This was the meaning of the hand that would not let go of the already delivered child. That struggle would go on outside of the womb. The second child was given the name Jacob, a name which means the grasper of the heel, or supplanter, derived from the similar Hebrew word for heel. The unnatural struggle between the twins continued even to the point of departure from the womb. This was a real but also a symbolic occurrence. This prophetic event is referred to in Hosea 12:3. Jacob was one who would not give up. Neither did he give up struggling with God to obtain a blessing and he obtained that blessing so that we see that by the grace of God, that unpleasant trait was turned into something noble. The word is often said to mean ‘supplanter’, a word derived from the Latin, meaning ‘to trip up’, notably by grasping the heel. Isaac was sixty years old at their birth, a further important piece of information in understanding the chronology of their lives. Rebekah’s barrenness had come to an end after 20 years.