23 And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your body, and two peoples will come to birth from you: the one will be stronger than the other, and the older will be the servant of the younger.
By your sword will you get your living and you will be your brother's servant; but when your power is increased his yoke will be broken from off your neck.
Let peoples be your servants, and nations go down before you: be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons go down before you: a curse be on everyone by whom you are cursed, and a blessing on those who give you a blessing.
You have been loved by me, says the Lord. But you say, Where was your love for us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the Lord: but Jacob was loved by me, And Esau was hated, and I sent destruction on his mountains, and gave his heritage to the beasts of the waste land. Though Edom says, We are crushed down but we will come back, building up the waste places; this is what the Lord of armies has said: They may put up buildings, but I will have them pulled down; and they will be named The land of evil-doing, and The people against whom the Lord keeps his wrath for ever. And your eyes will see it; and you will say, The Lord is great even outside the limits of Israel.
Then Moses sent men from Kadesh to the king of Edom to say to him, Your brother Israel says, You have knowledge of all the things we have been through;
And I will give her a blessing so that you will have a son by her: truly my blessing will be on her, and she will be the mother of nations: kings of peoples will be her offspring.
About Edom. This is what the Lord of armies has said. Is there no more wisdom in Teman? have wise suggestions come to an end among men of good sense? has their wisdom completely gone? Go in flight, go back, take cover in deep places, you who are living in Dedan; for I will send the fate of Edom on him, even the time of his punishment. If men came to get your grapes, would they not let some be uncut on the vines? if thieves came by night, would they not make waste till they had enough? I have had Esau searched out, uncovering his secret places, so that he may not keep himself covered: his seed is wasted and has come to an end, and there is no help from his neighbours. Put in my care your children who have no father, and I will keep them safe; and let your widows put their faith in me. For the Lord has said, Those for whom the cup was not made ready will certainly be forced to take of it; and are you to go without punishment? you will not be without punishment, but will certainly be forced to take from the cup. For I have taken an oath by myself, says the Lord, that Bozrah will become a cause of wonder, a name of shame, a waste and a curse; and all its towns will be waste places for ever. Word has come to me from the Lord, and a representative has been sent to the nations, to say, Come together and go up against her, and take your places for the fight. For see, I have made you small among the nations, looked down on by men. ... the pride of your heart has been a false hope, O you who are living in the cracks of the rock, keeping your place on the top of the hill: even if you made your living-place as high as the eagle, I would make you come down, says the Lord. And Edom will become a cause of wonder: everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder, and make sounds of fear at all her punishments. As at the downfall of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbouring towns, says the Lord, no man will be living in it, no son of man will have a resting-place there. See, he will come up like a lion from the thick growth of Jordan against the resting-place of Teman: but I will suddenly make him go in flight from her; and I will put over her the man of my selection: for who is like me? and who will put forward his cause against me? and what keeper of sheep will be able to keep his place before me? For this cause give ear to the decision of the Lord which he has made against Edom, and to his purposes designed against the people of Teman: Truly, they will be pulled away by the smallest of the flock; truly, he will make waste their fields with them. The earth is shaking with the noise of their fall; their cry is sounding in the Red Sea. See, he will come up like an eagle in flight, stretching out his wings against Bozrah: and the hearts of Edom's men of war on that day will be like the heart of a woman in birth-pains.
And not only so, but Rebecca being about to have a child by our father Isaac-- Before the children had come into existence, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and his selection might be effected, not by works, but by him whose purpose it is, It was said to her, The older will be the servant of the younger. Even as it is said, I had love for Jacob, but for Esau I had hate.
The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord has said about Edom: We have had word from the Lord, and a representative has been sent among the nations, saying, Up! and let us make war against her. See, I have made you small among the nations: you are much looked down on. You have been tricked by the pride of your heart, O you whose living-place is in the cracks of the rock, whose house is high up; who has said in his heart, Who will make me come down to earth? Though you go up on high like an eagle, though your house is placed among the stars, I will make you come down from there, says the Lord. If thieves came, attacking you by night, (how are you cut off!) would they not go on taking till they had enough? if men came cutting your grapes would they take them all? How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his secret stores looked for! All the men who were united with you have been false to you, driving you out to the edge of the land: the men who were at peace with you have overcome you; they have taken their heritage in your place. Will I not, in that day, says the Lord, take away the wise men out of Edom, and wisdom out of the mountain of Esau? And your men of war, O Teman, will be overcome with fear, so that every one of them may be cut off from the mountain of Esau. Because you were the cause of violent death and because of your cruel behaviour to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and will be cut off for ever. Because you were there watching when men from other lands took away his goods, and strange men came into his doors, and put the fate of Jerusalem to the decision of chance; you were like one of them. Do not see with pleasure your brother's evil day, the day of his fate, and do not be glad over the children of Judah on the day of their destruction, or make wide your mouth on the day of trouble. Do not go into the doors of my people on the day of their downfall; do not be looking on their trouble with pleasure on the day of their downfall, or put your hands on their goods on the day of their downfall. And do not take your place at the cross-roads, cutting off those of his people who get away; and do not give up to their haters those who are still there in the day of trouble. For the day of the Lord is coming quickly on all nations: as you have done it will be done to you; the reward of your acts will come on your head. For as you have been drinking on my holy mountain, so will all the nations go on drinking without end; they will go on drinking and the wine will go down their throats, and they will be as if they had never been.
These are the words of the Lord: For three crimes of Edom, and for four, I will not let its fate be changed; because his sword was turned against his brother, without pity, and his wrath was burning at all times, and he was angry for ever. And I will send a fire on Teman, burning up the great houses of Bozrah.
Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, let your face be turned to Mount Seir, and be a prophet against it, And say to it, This is what the Lord has said: See, I am against you, O Mount Seir, and my hand will be stretched out against you, and I will make you a waste and a cause for wonder. I will make your towns unpeopled and you will be a waste; and you will be certain that I am the Lord. Because yours has been a hate without end, and you have given up the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their trouble, in the time of the punishment of the end: For this cause, by my life, says the Lord, because you have been sinning through blood, blood will come after you. And I will make Mount Seir a cause for wonder and a waste, cutting off from it all comings and goings. I will make his mountains full of those who have been put to death; in your valleys and in all your water-streams men will be falling by the sword. I will make you waste for ever, and your towns will be unpeopled: and you will be certain that I am the Lord. Because you have said, The two nations and the two countries are to be mine, and we will take them for our heritage; though the Lord was there: For this cause, by my life, says the Lord, I will do to you as you have done in your wrath and in your envy, which you have made clear in your hate for them; and I will make clear to you who I am when you are judged by me. And you will see that I the Lord have had knowledge of all the bitter things which you have said against the mountains of Israel, saying, They have been made waste, they are given to us to take for our heritage. And you have made yourselves great against me with your mouths, increasing your words against me; and it has come to my ears. This is what the Lord has said: Because you were glad over my land when it was a waste, so will I do to you: You will become a waste, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.
This is what the Lord has said: Because Edom has taken his payment from the people of Judah, and has done great wrong in taking payment from them; The Lord has said, My hand will be stretched out against Edom, cutting off from it man and beast: and I will make it waste, from Teman even as far as Dedan they will be put to the sword. I will take payment from Edom because of my people Israel; and I will take Edom in hand in my wrath and in my passion: and they will have experience of my reward, says the Lord.
As for me, my agreement is made with you, and you will be the father of nations without end.
Who is this who comes from Edom, with blood-red robes from Bozrah? he whose clothing is fair, stepping with pride in his great strength? I whose glory is in the right, strong for salvation. Why is your clothing red, and why are your robes like those of one who is crushing the grapes? I have been crushing the grapes by myself, and of the peoples there was no man with me: in my wrath and in my passion, they were crushed under my feet; and my robes are marked with their life-blood, and all my clothing is red. For the day of punishment is in my heart, and the year for the payment of the price for my people has come. And I saw that there was no helper, and I was wondering that no one gave them support: so my arm did the work of salvation, and my wrath was my support. And in my passion the peoples were crushed under my feet, and broken in my wrath, and I put down their strength to the earth.
Come near, you nations, and give ear; take note, you peoples: let the earth and everything in it give ear; the world and all those living in it. For the Lord is angry with all the nations, and his wrath is burning against all their armies: he has put them to the curse, he has given them to destruction. Their dead bodies will be thick on the face of the earth, and their smell will come up, and the mountains will be flowing with their blood, and all the hills will come to nothing. And the heavens will be rolled together like the roll of a book: and all their army will be gone, like a dead leaf from the vine, or a dry fruit from the fig-tree. For my sword in heaven is full of wrath: see, it is coming down on Edom, in punishment on the people of my curse. The sword of the Lord is full of blood, it is fat with the best of the meat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the best parts of the sheep: for the Lord has a feast in Bozrah, and much cattle will be put to death in the land of Edom. And the strong oxen will go down to death together with the smaller cattle. For it is the day of the Lord's punishment, when he gives payment for the wrongs done to Zion. And its streams will be turned into boiling oil, and its dust into burning stone, and all the land will be on fire. It will not be put out day or night; its smoke will go up for ever: it will be waste from generation to generation; no one will go through it for ever. But the birds of the waste land will have their place there; it will be a heritage for the bittern and the raven: and it will be measured out with line and weight as a waste land. The jackals will be there, and her great ones will be gone; they will say, There is no longer a kingdom there, and all her chiefs will have come to an end. And thorns will come up in her fair houses, and waste plants in her strong towers: and foxes will make their holes there, and it will be a meeting-place for ostriches. And the beasts of the waste places will come together with the jackals, and the evil spirits will be crying to one another, even the night-spirit will come and make her resting-place there. The arrowsnake will make her hole and put her eggs there, and get her young together under her shade: there the hawks will come together by twos. See what is recorded in the book of the Lord: all these will be there, not one without the other: the mouth of the Lord has given the order, and his spirit has made them come together. And he has given them their heritage, and by his hand it has been measured out to them: it will be theirs for ever, their resting-place from generation to generation.
For they have all come to an agreement; they are all joined together against you: The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagarites; Gebal and Ammon and Amalek; the Philistines and the people of Tyre; Assur is joined with them; they have become the support of the children of Lot. (Selah.) Do to them what you did to the Midianites; what you did to Sisera and Jabin, at the stream of Kishon: Who came to destruction at En-dor; their bodies became dust and waste. Make their chiefs like Oreb and Zeeb; and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna: Who have said, Let us take for our heritage the resting-place of God. O my God, make them like the rolling dust; like dry stems before the wind. As fire burning a wood, and as a flame causing fire on the mountains, So go after them with your strong wind, and let them be full of fear because of your storm.
Then Amaziah took heart, and went out at the head of his people and came to the Valley of Salt, where he put to death ten thousand of the children of Seir; And ten thousand more the children of Israel took living, and made them go up to the top of the rock, pushing them down from the top of the rock so that their bodies were broken by the fall.
David put armed forces in all the towns of Edom; and all the Edomites became servants to David. The Lord made David overcome wherever he went.
And these are the kings who were ruling in the land of Edom before there was any king over the children of Israel.
And he himself, going before them, went down on his face to the earth seven times till he came near his brother.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Genesis 25
Commentary on Genesis 25 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 25
Ge 25:1-6. Sons of Abraham.
1. Abraham took a wife—rather, "had taken"; for Keturah is called Abraham's concubine, or secondary wife (1Ch 1:32); and as, from her bearing six sons to him, it is improbable that he married after Sarah's death; and also as he sent them all out to seek their own independence, during his lifetime, it is clear that this marriage is related here out of its chronological order, merely to form a proper winding up of the patriarch's history.
5, 6. Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac … unto the sons of the concubines … Abraham gave gifts—While the chief part of the inheritance went to Isaac; the other sons (Ishmael included) migrated to "the East country," that is, Arabia, but received each a portion of the patrimony, perhaps in cattle and other things; and this settlement of Abraham's must have given satisfaction, since it is still the rule followed among the pastoral tribes.
Ge 25:7-11. Death of Abraham.
7. these are the days of … Abraham—His death is here related, though he lived till Jacob and Esau were fifteen years, just one hundred years after coming to Canaan; "the father of the faithful," "the friend of God" [Jas 2:23], died; and even in his death, the promises were fulfilled (compare Ge 15:15). We might have wished some memorials of his deathbed experience; but the Spirit of God has withheld them—nor was it necessary; for (see Mt 7:16) from earth he passed into heaven (Lu 16:22). Though dead he yet liveth (Mt 22:32).
9, 10. his sons … buried him—Death often puts an end to strife, reconciles those who have been alienated, and brings rival relations, as in this instance, to mingle tears over a father's grave.
Ge 25:12-18. Descendants of Ishmael. Before passing to the line of the promised seed, the historian gives a brief notice of Ishmael, to show that the promises respecting that son of Abraham were fulfilled—first, in the greatness of his posterity (compare Ge 17:20); and, secondly, in their independence.
18. he died—rather, "it [their lot] fell" in the presence of his brethren (compare Ge 16:12).
Ge 25:19-34. History of Isaac.
19. these are the generations—account of the leading events in his life.
21. Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife—Though tried in a similar way to his father, he did not follow the same crooked policy. Twenty years he continued unblessed with offspring, whose seed was to be "as the stars" [Ge 26:4]. But in answer to their mutual prayers (1Pe 3:7), Rebekah was divinely informed that she was to be the mother of twins, who should be the progenitors of two independent nations; that the descendants of the younger should be the more powerful and subdue those of the other (Ro 9:12; 2Ch 21:8).
27. the boys grew—from the first, opposite to each other in character, manners, and habits.
28. The parents were divided in their affection; and while the grounds, at least of the father's partiality, were weak, the distinction made between the children led, as such conduct always does, to unhappy consequences.
29. Jacob sod pottage—made of lentils or small beans, which are common in Egypt and Syria. It is probable that it was made of Egyptian beans, which Jacob had procured as a dainty; for Esau was a stranger to it. It is very palatable; and to the weary hunter, faint with hunger, its odor must have been irresistibly tempting.
31. Jacob said, Sell me … thy birthright—that is, the rights and privileges of the first-born, which were very important, the chief being that they were the family priests (Ex 4:22) and had a double portion of the inheritance (De 21:17).
32. Esau said … I am at the point to die—that is, I am running daily risk of my life; and of what use will the birthright be to me: so he despised or cared little about it, in comparison with gratifying his appetite—he threw away his religious privileges for a trifle; and thence he is styled "a profane person" (Heb 12:16; also Job 31:7, 16; 6:13; Php 3:19). "There was never any meat, except the forbidden fruit, so dear bought, as this broth of Jacob" [Bishop Hall].