Genesis 25:26

And after that came his brother out,.... Out of his mother's womb, either by his own strength, or by the help of the midwife: and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; to pluck him back and get out

And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

1837 Jacob, i.e. supplanter, or one that taketh hold of or trippeth up his brother’ s heels. See . Isaac was threescore years old. Thus God exercised his faith and patience twenty years, by comparing this with , ere he gave him the promised blessing.

Genesis 25:26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’ s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac [was] threescore years old when she bare them.Ver. 26. And after that came his brother out.] God could have brought Jacob out first, for it is he that "takes us out of the womb"; but he suffereth Esau for a time to enjoy the first birthright, till his own time came to set things to rights. God "waits to be gracious; for he is a God of judgment". And his hand took hold on Esau’ s heel.] As if he would have turned up his heels, and got to the goal before him. And his name was called Jacob.] Calcanearius , a heel catcher, or supplanter, as he afterwards proved to Esau, who hit him also in the teeth with it. “ Conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis.” And Isaac was threescore years old.] He lived twice threescore years after this, being a hundred and eighty when he died. Five years longer he lived than his father Abraham, being blind for the last forty.

(26) His hand took hold on Esau’s heel.—Usually there is a considerable interval—an hour or more—between the birth of twins; but here Jacob appeared without delay, following immediately upon his brother. This is expressed by the metaphorical phrase that his hand had hold on Esau’s heel—that is, there was absolutely no interval between them. Though very rare, yet similar cases have been chronicled from time to time. His name was called Jacob.—The name signifies one who follows at another’s heels. It was Esau who first put upon it a bad meaning (Genesis 27:36), and this bad sense has been riveted to it by Jacob’s own unworthy conduct. It is constantly so used even in the Bible. Thus in Hosea 12:3—a passage quoted in defence of a literal explanation of the metaphor in this verse by those who are acquainted only with the English Version—the Hebrew has, he Jacobed, literally, heeled—that is, overreached, got the better by cunning of—his brother in the womb. This is the very meaning put upon the name by Esau, and in Jeremiah 9:4 and elsewhere; but it is not well rendered by our word supplant, which contains a different metaphor, the planta being the sole of the foot; whereas to be at a person’s heel is to be his determined pursuer, and one who on overtaking throws him down.

Verse 26. His name was called Jacob] יעקב Yaccob, from עקב akab, to defraud, deceive, to supplant, i.e., to overthrow a person by tripping up his heels. Hence this name was given to Jacob, because it was found he had laid hold on his brother's heel, which was emblematical of his supplanting Esau, and defrauding him of his birthright.

26. had hold … heel] As if, from the first, desirous to pull his brother, back, and get in front of him. See the reference to this passage in Hosea 12:3. The character of the man was thus prefigured at birth. The idea of overreaching, or outwitting, by cunning and strategy, inspired the early Israelite with admiration and amusement rather than with repulsion. Jacob] That is, One that takes by the heel or supplants. The Heb. for “heel” is ‘βḳ ?κb, and the name “Jacob” was popularly regarded as having been derived from the same root, with the meaning of “one who seeks to trip up or supplant”; compare the use of the word; “supplant” in Jeremiah 9:4. It appears as a place name = Y’ḳ ?b’r, in Palestine, on the list of Thothmes III (c. 1450 b.c.), and as a personal name, Ya’ḳ ?ub-ilu, in a Babylonian tablet of Hammurabi’s period (c. 2100 b.c.). threescore years old] See note on Genesis 25:20 (P). SPECIAL NOTE ON Genesis 25:26 On the name “Jacob.” The popular Israelite derivation of the name “Jacob” from the Heb. word ‘βḳ ?κb, “a heel,” like so many other popular derivations, is simply based upon the resemblance in the sound of the proper name to a word in common use. “It is another question,” says Driver, “whether this explanation expresses the actual meaning of the name. It has been supposed, for instance, that Jacob is really an elliptical form of Jaḳ ?ob’ηl: in this case El, ‘God,’ would be the subject of the verb (like Ishmβ’ηl, ‘God heareth,’ Isrβ’el, ‘God persisteth,’ Yeraḥ ?me’ηl, ‘God is compassionate’), and the word might be explained from the Arab., ‘God follows,’ or … ‘God rewards.’ In fact there is now evidence that the name is much older than the date at which, according to the Biblical narrative, Jacob must have lived. Mr Pinches has found on contract tables of the age of Khammurabi (c. 2300 b.c.) the personal name Ya‘ḳ ?ub-ilu (analogous to Yashup-ilu, Yarbi-ilu, Yamlik-ilu, Yakbar-ilu, etc., of the same age); and, according to Hommel (AHT. 203), the contracted form Yaḳ ?ubu occurs likewise. Further, in the lists of 118 places in Palestine conquered by Thothmes III (b.c. 1503–1449, Sayce and Petrie), which are inscribed on the pylons of the temple at Karnak, there occur (Nos. 78 and 102) the names Y-�a-p-’a-rḁ ? and Y-‘-ḳ ?-b-’β-rḁ ?. These names (the Egyp. r standing, as is well known, also for l) can be only ιρτΰμ Joseph-’ηl and ιςχαΰμ Jaḳ ?ob-’ηl; and we learn consequently that places bearing these names (cf. for the form the place-names Jezre’ηl, Jabne’ηl, Joshua 15:11 [= Jabneh, 2 Chronicles 26:6]; Yiphtaḥ ?’ηl, Joshua 19:14; Joshua 19:27; Yeḳ ?abze’ηl, Nehemiah 11:25; Yirpe’ηl, Joshua 18:27) existed in Palestine, apparently in the central part, in the 15th cent. b.c. What connexion, if any, exists between these names and those of the patriarchs, may never perhaps be ascertained; but their existence at such a date in Palestine is remarkable.

26. His hand took hold on Esau’s heel — His birth seems to have followed that of Esau more speedily than is usual in the case of twins, and his hand was so extended as to seem to grasp hold of Esau’s heel.