Genesis 25:28

28 And Isaac loved Esau because {he could eat of his game}, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Genesis 25:28 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 25:28

And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of [his] venison,
&c.] Better than Jacob, not only because he was his firstborn, but because he brought him of the flesh of creatures, which he took in hunting, and being dressed, were savoury food to him: it is in the original, "because venison (or what he hunted) [was] in his mouth" ^F8, into which he put it, and was very grateful to his taste: but Rebekah loved Jacob;
more than Esau, being more at home with her, and of a milder disposition; and more especially being a good man, a partaker of the grace of God, and to whom she knew by the oracle the blessing and promise belonged.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 (wypb dyu yk) "quia venatio in ore ejus", Pagninus, Montanus.

Genesis 25:28 In-Context

26 And afterward his brother came out, and his hand grasped the heel of Esau, so his name was called Jacob. And Isaac {was sixty years old} at their birth.

27 And the boys grew up. And Esau [was] a skilled hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob [was] a peaceful man, living [in] tents.

28 And Isaac loved Esau because {he could eat of his game}, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 Once Jacob cooked a thick stew, and Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.

30 And Esau said to Jacob, "Give me {some of that red stuff} to gulp down, for I am exhausted!" (Therefore his name was called Edom).

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "game in his mouth"