Genesis 25:29

29 One day Jacob was cooking some stew. Esau came in from the open country. He was very hungry.

Genesis 25:29 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 25:29

And Jacob sod pottage
Or boiled broth; this he did at a certain time, for this was not his usual employment; the Targum of Jonathan says, it was on the day in which Abraham died; and whereas this pottage was made of lentiles, as appears from ( Genesis 25:34 ) ; this the Jewish writers F9 say was the food of mourners; and so this circumstance furnishes out a reason for Jacob's boiling pottage of lentiles at this time: and hence also they F11 gather, that Jacob and Esau were now fifteen years of age; for Abraham was an hundred years old when Isaac was born, and Isaac was sixty at the birth of his sons; and Abraham lived to be one hundred and seventy five, and therefore Esau and Jacob must be fifteen years old when he died: and Esau came from the field, and be [was] faint:
for want of food, and weary with hunting, and perhaps more so, having toiled and got nothing.


FOOTNOTES:

F9 Pirke Eliezer, c. 35.
F11 Seder Olam Rabba, p. 3. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 1.

Genesis 25:29 In-Context

27 The boys grew up. Esau became a skillful hunter. He was a man who liked the open country. But Jacob was a quiet man. He stayed at home among the tents.
28 Isaac liked the meat of wild animals. So Esau was his favorite son. But Rebekah's favorite was Jacob.
29 One day Jacob was cooking some stew. Esau came in from the open country. He was very hungry.
30 He said to Jacob, "Quick! Let me have some of that red stew! I'm very hungry!" That's why he was also named Edom.
31 Jacob replied, "First sell me the rights that belong to you as the oldest son in the family."
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