Genesis 25:29

Esau Sells His Birthright

29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Genesis 25:29 In-Context

27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.

28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.

30 And Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!" (Therefore his name was called Edom.)

31 Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright now."