Genesis 27:40

40 Shall thy blessing be. Thou shalt live by the sword, and shalt serve thy brother: and the time shall come, when thou shalt shake off and loose his yoke from thy neck.

Genesis 27:40 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 27:40

And by thy sword shalt thou live
By what he could get by it; his land being so poor that he could not live upon it, but must be obliged to such methods for a livelihood; or his country being surrounded with enemies, his posterity would be obliged to defend themselves by the sword, and other weapons of war: and shalt serve thy brother;
which is the sense and language of the oracle, ( Genesis 25:23 ) ; and which Isaac perhaps now remembered, and had a clear understanding of it, and delivers out his prophetic blessing agreeably to it: and it shall come to pass, when thou shalt have the dominion;
not over the Israelites, the posterity of Jacob, which the Edomites, Esau's posterity, never had; but when they should get a greater degree of strength, power, authority, and dominion in the world: that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck;
the Edomites should revolt from the posterity of Jacob, and shake off the yoke of bondage and subjection they had been long under; as they did in the times of Joram, king of Judah, and set up a king of their own, and continued in such a state of freedom a long time, see ( 2 Kings 8:20-22 ) .

Genesis 27:40 In-Context

38 And Esau said to him: Hast thou only one blessing, father? I beseech thee bless me also. And when he wept with a loud cry,

39 Isaac being moved, said to him: In the fat of the earth, and in the dew of heaven from above,

40 Shall thy blessing be. Thou shalt live by the sword, and shalt serve thy brother: and the time shall come, when thou shalt shake off and loose his yoke from thy neck.

41 Esau therefore always hated Jacob, for the blessing wherewith his father had blessed him; and he said in his heart: The days will come of the mourning for my father, and I will kill my brother Jacob.

42 These things were told to Rebecca: and she sent and called Jacob, her son, and said to him: Behold Esau, thy brother, threateneth to kill thee.