Genesis 27:36

36 Then he said, "Is he not rightly named * 1Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." And he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"

Genesis 27:36 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 27:36

And he said, is not he rightly named Jacob?
&c.] As he was by his parents, and those that were at his birth, because he took his brother by the heel as he came out of his mother's womb; for Jacob signifies "heeler", a supplanter, and was given him to keep up the memory of what he had done, to which Esau here refers: for he hath supplanted me these two times;
to supplant another is to put his foot under the heel of another, in order to trip him up, to which Esau alludes; but uses the word in a figurative sense, for circumventing him, and dealing fraudulently and deceitfully with him, though he is not able to support his charge; for if he dealt fraudulently with any, it was with his father, and not with him, and the two times he refers to prove it not: he took away my birthright;
which is not true, he did not take it away from him either by force or fraud, Esau sold it to him for a mess of pottage, ( Genesis 25:29-34 ) ; he had despised and made light of it himself, and had parted with it at so mean a price, and now falsely charges his brother with taking it away from him, and wrongly accuses him of being a supplanter on that account: and behold, now he hath taken away my blessing;
this also is not true, he had not taken it away; it was given him by his father; and though he had used some artful methods with him to get it, ( Genesis 27:15-17 ) , he had neither supplanted Esau, but if anyone, his father; nor had he done any injustice to Esau, since as he had bought of him the birthright, the blessing annexed to it went along with it, and of right belonged to Jacob: and he said, hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?
is the whole fund of blessings exhausted? are all bestowed upon Jacob? is there not one left for me? he hoped there was, and that as good a one as he had bestowed on his brother, and entreats he might have it.

Genesis 27:36 In-Context

34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!"
35 And he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing."
36 Then he said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." And he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"
37 But Isaac replied to Esau, "Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?"
38 Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." So Esau lifted his voice and wept.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Gen 25:26, 32-34

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or "Was he then named Jacob that he has"
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