Genesis 27:40

40 thou shalt live by (the) sword, and thou shalt serve thy brother, and (then the) time shall come when thou shalt shake away, and unbind his yoke from [off] thy nolls.

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 To whom Esau said, Father, whether thou hast only one blessing? I beseech thee, that also thou bless me. And when Esau wept with great yelling, (To whom Esau said, Father, hast thou only one blessing? I beseech thee, that thou also bless me. And when Esau wept with great yelling,)

39 Isaac was stirred, and said to him, Thy blessing shall be (not) in the fatness of [the] earth, and in the dew of heaven from above; (Isaac was stirred, and said to him, Thy dwelling shall be far from the fatness of the earth, and far from the dew of heaven above;)

40 thou shalt live by (the) sword, and thou shalt serve thy brother, and (then the) time shall come when thou shalt shake away, and unbind his yoke from [off] thy nolls.

41 Therefore Esau hated evermore Jacob for the blessing by which the father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning of my father shall come, and (then) I shall slay Jacob, my brother. (And so Esau hated Jacob even more for the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father shall come, and then I shall kill my brother Jacob.)

42 These things were told to Rebecca, and she sent, and called (for) her son Jacob, and said to him, Lo! Esau, thy brother, menaceth to slay thee (Lo! Esau, thy brother, hath threatened to kill thee);