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] threescore years old when she bore them.
26. had hold heel ] As if, from the first, desirous to pull his brother, back, and get in front of him. See the reference to this passage in Hos 12:3. The character of the man was thus prefigured at birth. The idea of overreaching, or outwitting, by cunning and strategy, inspired the early Israelite with admiration and amusement rather than with repulsion.
Jacob ] That is, One that takes by the heel or supplants. The Heb. for “heel” is ‘b, and the name “Jacob” was popularly regarded as having been derived from the same root, with the meaning of “one who seeks to trip up or supplant”; compare the use of the word; “supplant” in Jer 9:4. It appears as a place name = Y’b’r, in Palestine, on the list of Thothmes III ( c. 1450 b.c.), and as a personal name, Ya’ub-ilu, in a Babylonian tablet of Hammurabi’s period ( c. 2100 b.c.).
threescore years old ] See note on Gen 25:20 (P).
SPECIAL NOTE ON Gen 25:26
On the name “ Jacob.”
The popular Israelite derivation of the name “Jacob” from the Heb. word ‘b, “a heel,” like so many other popular derivations, is simply based upon the resemblance in the sound of the proper name to a word in common use.
“It is another question,” says Driver, “whether this explanation expresses the actual meaning of the name. It has been supposed, for instance, that Jacob is really an elliptical form of Jaob’l: in this case El, ‘God,’ would be the subject of the verb (like Ishm’l, ‘God heareth,’ Isr’el, ‘God persisteth,’ Yerame’l, ‘God is compassionate’), and the word might be explained from the Arab., ‘God follows,’ or ‘God rewards.’ In fact there is now evidence that the name is much older than the date at which, according to the Biblical narrative, Jacob must have lived. Mr Pinches has found on contract tables of the age of Khammurabi (c. 2300 b.c.) the personal name Ya‘ub-ilu (analogous to Yashup-ilu, Yarbi-ilu, Yamlik-ilu, Yakbar-ilu, etc., of the same age); and, according to Hommel ( AHT. 203), the contracted form Yaubu occurs likewise. Further, in the lists of 118 places in Palestine conquered by Thothmes III (b.c. 1503 1449, Sayce and Petrie), which are inscribed on the pylons of the temple at Karnak, there occur (Nos. 78 and 102) the names Y-a-p-’a-r and Y-‘–b-’-r. These names (the Egyp. r standing, as is well known, also for l) can be only Joseph-’l and Jaob-’l; and we learn consequently that places bearing these names (cf. for the form the place-names Jezre’l, Jabne’l, Jos 15:11 [= Jabneh, 2Ch 26:6 ]; Yiphta’l, Jos 19:14; Jos 19:27; Yeabze’l, Neh 11:25; Yirpe’l, Jos 18:27) existed in Palestine, apparently in the central part, in the 15th cent. b.c. What connexion, if any, exists between these names and those of the patriarchs, may never perhaps be ascertained; but their existence at such a date in Palestine is remarkable. These facts, however, make it not improbable that (as had indeed been supposed even before their discovery) names of the type of Jacob, Joseph, Jephthah, etc., are elliptical forms of a more original Jaob’l, Joseph’l, etc. But, however that may be, to the Hebrews, as we know them, the idea which Jacob suggested, and in which it was supposed to have originated, was that of supplanter.” Driver in Art. Jacob in Hastings’ Dict. of the Bible, ii. 526.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 26. His name was called Jacob] Yaccob, from akab, to defraud, deceive, to supplant, i.e., to overthrow a person by tripping up his heels. Hence this name was given to Jacob, because it was found he had laid hold on his brother’s heel, which was emblematical of his supplanting Esau, and defrauding him of his birthright.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
1837 Jacob, i.e. supplanter, or one that taketh hold of or trippeth up his brothers heels. See Gen 27:36.
Isaac was threescore years old. Thus God exercised his faith and patience twenty years, by comparing this with Gen 25:20, ere he gave him the promised blessing.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And after that came his brother out,…. Out of his mother’s womb, either by his own strength, or by the help of the midwife:
and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; to pluck him back and get out first; and this was not casual, but was so ordered in Providence, and had a meaning and mystery in it:
and his name was called Jacob; by his parents and others, and that for the above reason, because he took his brother by the heel, which his name has the signification of, and Esau has respect to in Ge 27:36:
and Isaac [was] threescore years old when she bare them; and so it was twenty years after he had been married to her; so long was his faith tried and exercised about the promised seed that was to spring from him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(26) His hand took hold on Esaus heel.Usually there is a considerable intervalan hour or morebetween 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 Esaus heelthat is, there was absolutely no interval between them. Though very rare, yet similar cases have been chronicled from time to time.
His name was called Jacob.The name signifies one who follows at anothers heels. It was Esau who first put upon it a bad meaning (Gen. 27:36), and this bad sense has been riveted to it by Jacobs own unworthy conduct. It is constantly so used even in the Bible. Thus in Hos. 12:3a passage quoted in defence of a literal explanation of the metaphor in this verse by those who are acquainted only with the English Versionthe Hebrew has, he Jacobed, literally, heeledthat is, overreached, got the better by cunning ofhis brother in the womb. This is the very meaning put upon the name by Esau, and in Jer. 9:4 and elsewhere; but it is not well rendered by our word supplant, which contains a different metaphor, the planta being the sole of the foot; whereas to be at a persons heel is to be his determined pursuer, and one who on overtaking throws him down.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. His hand took hold on Esau’s heel His birth seems to have followed that of Esau more speedily than is usual in the case of twins, and his hand was so extended as to seem to grasp hold of Esau’s heel . Hence his name Jacob, heel-catcher . Compare Gen 27:36.
Threescore years old Twenty years after the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah . Comp. Gen 25:20.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 25:26. Isaac was threescore years old, &c. It has been asked, why God permitted Sarah and Rebekah to continue so long barren? To which it is answered, not only to prove and exercise the faith of these patriarchs, but to render the propagation of the blessed Seed more remarkable. It prepared the way for the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, and, as St. Chrysostom expresses it, predisposed the world to the belief of the miraculous conception of the Blessed Virgin.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 25:26 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] threescore years old when she bare them.
Ver. 26. And after that came his brother out. ] God could have brought Jacob out first, for it is he that “takes us out of the womb”; Psa 22:9 but he suffereth Esau for a time to enjoy the first birthright, till his own time came to set things to rights. God “waits to be gracious; for he is a God of judgment”. Isa 30:18
And his hand took hold on Esau’s heel.] As if he would have turned up his heels, and got to the goal before him.
And his name was called Jacob.
“Conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis.”
And Isaac was threescore years old.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
heel. Hebrew. yakob, whence the name Jacob (yakob) heel-catcher: hence, contender.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And after: Gen 38:28-30
took: Hos 12:3
Jacob: Gen 27:36
Isaac was: Gen 25:20
Reciprocal: Mat 1:2 – Isaac begat Luk 3:34 – which was the son of Isaac
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 25:26. His hand took hold on Esaus heel This signified, 1st, Jacobs pursuit of the birthright and blessing; from the first he reached forth to have caught hold of it, and if possible to have prevented his brother. 2d, His prevailing for it at last: that, in process of time, he should gain his point. This passage is referred to, Hos 12:3, and from hence he had his name, Jacob, which means, He took him by the heel, or he supplanted.