A. M. 2148. A. C. 1856; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3418. A. C. 1993. GEN. CH. xxv. 20-xxviii 8. In Abraham's time the famine was so severe in Canaan, produce from it; so that Abimelech's subjects began all that he was forced to remove into Egypt; and upon the to malign him, and, to oblige him to depart the country, same account his son Isaac had now left his habitation, filled up the wells which his father's servants had digged.c near the well Lahairoi, and was come as far as Gerar, Nay, the very king himself, to satisfy the resentment of a where Abimelech at this time was king, in order to pro- | his people, desired of him to leave the city of Gerar, ceed in his journey; but while he was deliberating what and to find him out another habitation; for that, in his to do, God admonished him in a dream not go down into opinion, he had improved his fortune sufficiently while Egypt, but to tarry in the country where he then was; he had been among them: so that, to secure himself, as and at the same time assured him, that he would not only well as make the king easy, he retired into the valley of secure him from the danger of the famine, but, in, per- Gerar, where his father had formerly fed his cattle, and formance of the oath which he had sworn to his father there began to open the wells which his father had caused Abraham, his faithful and obedient servant, would cause to be dug, but the Philistines had filled up, and called his family (to which he would give the whole land of them by their ancient names. But the people of the Canaan in possession, and from which the Messias, the country, thinking him too well situated there, quarrelled desire of all nations, should descend) to multiply exceed- with his shepherds, took away their wells, and put him to ingly. many inconveniences; so that being quite tired with their repeated insults, he removed farther from them, and went and lived in the most distant parts of their country.

Isaac, according to the divine direction, went no farther than Gerar; and here it was that he fell into the same weakness that his father had formerly done in the same place, namely, his making his wife pass for his sister, for fear that some wicked man or other might be tempted to destroy him, in order to enjoy her. But so it was, that the king, from his window, observing some familiarities pass between them that did not so well comport with the character of a brother, sent for him immediately, complained of his dissimulation, charged him with being married, and (not unmindful, very probably, of what had befallen the nation upon the account of Sarah) with a design of entailing guilt, and therewith a judgment of God upon his subjects, in case any attempt had been made upon her virtue. Fear of death, and the desire of self-preservation, were the only apology that Isaac made for his conduct; which Abimelech was pleased to accept, and accordingly issued out an edict that none, upon pain of death, should dare to offer any injury, either to Isaac or his wife.

The great accession of wealth, however, wherewith God had blessed him during his stay in Gerar, raised the envy and indignation of the Philistines. That very year wherein he thought of going down into Egypt for fear of the famine, he sowed a piece of ground, and to the great surprise of his neighbours, received an hundred fold

imagine, succeeded to the priesthood, or chief government in matters ecclesiastical. He had a right to challenge the particular blessing of his dying parent. He had the covenant which God made with Abraham, that from his loins Christ should come, consigned to him. And, what is more, these prerogatives were not confined to his person only, but descended to his latest posterity, in case they comported themselves so as to deserve them. -Poole's Annotations, and Le Clerc's Commentary.

a It is not unlikely that this Abimelech might be the son of that Abimelech, king of Gerar, with whom Abraham had formerly made a covenant, supposing Abimelech to be here the proper name of a man. But it is much more probable, that at this time it was a common name for the king of the Philistines, as Caesar was for the Roman emperors, and Pharaoh for the kings of Egypt.

6 This hundredfold increase in one year was given by God unto Isaac for a sign of his purpose to fulfil the covenant made with his father, and lately renewed to him; particularly for the confirmation of the truth and reason of the warning against his going down to Egypt, as he was inclined, according to the natural prospect of things. Such an increase was at this time a singular blessing of God, after there had been a considerable dearth; and the soil perhaps that afforded so large a crop not so rich; otherwise we may learn from Varro (De Re Rustica, b. 1. c. 44.) that in Syria, near Gadera, and in Africa, about Byzacium, they

Here it was that he dug another well; and meeting with no opposition, called it Rehoboth, that is, room, or enlargement, because God had now delivered him from the straits and difficulties he had lately been in, by reason

reaped an hundred bushels from one; nay, Bochart (in Canaan, b. 1. c. 25.) shows from several good authors, that some places in Africa are so very fruitful, that they produce two or three hundred fold, which makes this account of Moses far from being incredible. (Bibliotheca Biblica, and Patrick's Commentary.) The author of the history of the piratical state of Barbary observes, that the Moors of that country are divided into tribes like the Arabians, and like them dwell in tents, formed into itinerant villages: that "these wanderers farm lands of the inhabitants of the towns, sow and cultivate them, paying their rent with the produce, such as fruits, corn, wax, &c. They are very skilful in choosing the avoid the Turkish troops, the violence of the one little suiting most advantageous soils for every season, and very careful to the simplicity of the other," p. 44. It is natural to suppose that Isaac possessed the like sagacity when he sowed in the land of Gerar, and received that year an hundredfold. His lands appear to have been hired of the fixed inhabitants of the country. On this account the king of the country might, after the reaping of the crop, refuse his permission a second time, and desire him to depart.-Harmer, vol. 1. p. 85.—Ed.

c The same mode of taking vengeance which is here menreferred to. Niebuhr (Travels, p. 302.) tells us, that the Turkish tioned, has been practised in ages subsequent to the time here emperors pretend to a right to that part of Arabia that lies between Mecca and the countries of Syria and Egypt, but that their power amounts to very little. That they have, however, garrisons in divers little citadels built in that desert, near the wells that are made on the old road from Egypt and Syria to Mecca, which are intended for the greater safety of their caravans. But in a following page (p. 330) he gives us to understand, that these princes have made it a custom to give annually to every Arab tribe which is near that road, a certain sum of money and a certain number of vestments, to keep them from destroying the wells that lie in that route.-Harmer, vol. 4. p. 247.—ED.

d The words of Abimelech, according to our translation, are these, Thou art much mightier than we;' but certainly he could not mean that Isaac was more powerful than the whole people of Palestine, or that he had a larger family or more numerous attendants than himself had, and consequently was in a condition, if he had been so minded, to disturb the government. This we can by no means conceive to be possible; and therefore the words in the original (cignatzampta mimennu) do not mean, because thou art mightier than we,' but because thou art increased, and multiplied from us, or by us,' that is, thou hast got a great deal by us; while thou hast continued amongst us, thou hast made & great accession to thy substance, and we do not care to let thee get any more; so that the Philistines did not fear him, but envy him; they grudged that he should get so much among them, and therefore desired him to absent their country.-Shuckford's Cen nection, vol. 2. b. 8.

A. M. 2148. A. C. 1856; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3418. A. C. 1993. GEN. CH. xxv. 20-xxviii.

of a scarceness of water, and not long after settled his constant abode at Beersheba; where he had no sooner arrived, but that very night God appeared to him in a vision, promising him his favour and protection, and that he would bless him, and multiply his seed for his servant Abraham's sake so that Isaac, intending to continue here, built him an altar and place of religious worship, and cleared out the well a which his father had formerly dug.

and which Abraham in former times had bought of the king of Gerar, they had happily found a spring of water, for which reason, in the hearing of Abimelech and all the company, he called it again by the name of Beersheba, the well of the oath," that is, the well wherein water was discovered on the day that Abimelech and I entered into a treaty of peace, and ratified the same with the solemnity of oaths."

By this time Isaac's two sons were arrived at the age of forty; and Esau, who had contracted an acquaintance with the people of the land, had married two wives, Ju

Nor had he been long here before Abimelech, conscious of the peculiar manner wherein God had blessed him, sensible of the ill usage he had received from his sub-dith, the daughter of Beeri, and Bethshemath, the daughjects, and apprehensive, perhaps, that in time he might think of revenging the injuries he had suffered, came attended with the chief of his nobility, and with the captain-general of his forces, either to renew the old league which had formerly been made with his father Abraham, or to enter into a new one.

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ter of Elon, both Hittites, which was no small affliction to his parents. This in a manner quite alienated his mother's heart from him; but as for his father, his affections continued the same. And therefore, finding himself grow old and feeble, and his eyes quite dim with age, and apprehending his death to be nearer than really it was, he called him one day, and declared to him his purpose of giving him his paternal benediction before he died; but wished him withal to take his hunting instruments, and go into the fields, and kill him a little venison, and dress it to his palate, that when he had eaten thereof, and refreshed nature, he might bless him with a more tender affection, as well as a more becoming pathos.

It was but proper that Isaac, upon this occasion, should in some measure resent the indignities that were offered him: and therefore at first he expostulates the matter with them, and seems to wonder why they came to visit him whom they had so lately expelled their country. Abimelech made the best excuse for their behaviour that the nature of the thing would bear; told him, that he had all along perceived that the divine favour attended him Rebecca overheard all this discourse; and as soon as in all his undertakings, and that therefore, that he might Esau was well gone, she called Jacob, and acquainted not be thought to oppose God, he was come to renew the him with what was transacting; that his father was going covenant depending between his people and Abraham's to bestow a benediction, which was final and irrevocable, posterity, and was ready to engage in the same condi- upon his brother; but that, if he would listen to her, and tions and obligations. This speech, so full of submis-do what she ordered him, she had an expedient, by subsion and acknowledgments, soon pacified Isaac, who stituting him in his room, to turn aside the blessing where was naturally of a quiet and easy disposition; so that, she desired it. Jacob was willing enough to comply with having entertained the king and his attendants in a very his mother's request; but if he was to personate his brorespectful and generous manner that night, the next ther, the difference of his skin and voice made him apmorning they confirmed the league with the usual cere-prehensive that his father might discover the imposture, monies, and Abimelech took leave and returned home: and thereupon be provoked, instead of his prayers and but before he departed, Isaac's servants brought him best wishes, to load him with imprecations. But so conword, that in the well which they had been clearing out, fident was his mother of success in this matter, that she a The reasons that induced Isaac to open the old wells, rather took all the curses upon herself, and encouraged him to than dig new ones, might be, 1. Because he was sure to find a follow her directions. Hereupon Jacob hastened to the spring there, which he could not be certain of in other places; fold, and brought two fat kids from thence, which his 2. Because it was easier, and less liable to censure and envy; 3. mother immediately took, and dressed the choice pieces Because he had a right to them, as they were his father's purchase and property; and 4. Because he was minded to preserve of them with savoury sauce, like venison; and so having and do honour to his father's memory, for which reason he called covered his neck and his hands with the skins of the kids, them by the same names that his father had done before him.-a and arrayed him with Esau's best robes, she sent him Bibliotheca Biblica, in locum. The two that are mentioned here are Phicol and Ahazzah. in trembling with the dish to his father. Phicol is of the same name, and bore the same office which he had who is mentioned ch. xxi. 22; but we must not suppose that be was the same man, any more than Abimelech was the ame king. The word properly signifies face or head; and as the captain-general is head of the forces he commands, so some have imagined that it is the appellative name (like that of tribuaus, or dictator, among the Romans) for every one among them that were advanced to that dignity. And in like manner, though the Septuagint seem to make Ahazzah a proper name, and call him the para-nymph, or bride-man, to Abimelech, which was always accounted a post of the first honour; yet I shall rather choose, with Onkelos, to make the word signify a train, or great number of nobility which came in attendance on Abimelech, and to do the patriarch the greater honour upon this occasion.-Le Clerc's Commentary, and Howell's History.

e The articles were agreed upon over night, and, by a mutual oath, ratified in the moriring. And the reason why men took public oaths in the morning fasting, scems to have been ob reverentiam juramenti, as the Jews call it, because they looked upon them as very solemn and sacred things.-Bibliotheca Biblica.

d Gen. xxvii. 16. Put the skin of the kids of the goats.' It is observed by Bochart, that in the eastern countries goat's hair was very like to that of men; so that Isaac might very easily be deceived, when his eyes were dim, and his feeling no less decayed than his sight.

e The Jews have a fancy, that it was the robe of Adam, which had been transmitted down from father to son, in the line of blessing, as they call it, till it came to Abraham, who left it to. Isaac, and he designing Esau, as his eldest, for his successor, gave it to him. Some of them imagine, that it was a sacerdotal habit, wherein Esau, in his father's illness, was supposed to officiate, and for this reason it might be kept in Isaac's tent, near to which, very likely, was the place of religious worship. In all probability it was a vestment of some distinction, which the heir of the family, upon some solemn occasions, was used to put on; and Jacob being at this time to personate his brother, there was a necessity for him to have it. But how his mother should come by it, or why she should have the keeping of it, when Esau had wives of his own, is a question that Musculus raises, and then

in extorting his birthright from him, and now in robbing him of his father's blessing; and then seems to wonder very much that his father's store should be so far exhausted, as (since he would not revoke the other) not to have reserved one blessing for him.

A. M. 2148. A. C. 1856; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3418. A. C. 1993. GEN. CH. xxv. 20-xxviii. 8. His father was lying upon the bed when Jacob entered | supplanted him, complains of his double perfidy; first, the room, and upon his demanding who he was, he roundly answered, that he was his elder son Esau, who had brought him some venison to eat. Surprised at the great expedition he had made, and not knowing indeed what to think, the old man put several times the question to him, whether he was in reality his son Esau or no? to which he as often answered in the affirmative and desired him, in short, to arise, and taste of what he had prepared for him, since God, who knew his zeal to obey his father, had brought it into his hands much sooner than he could otherwise have expected.

The difference between Jacob's and Esau's voice was so remarkable, that Isaac could not but suspect some delusion in the case; and therefore he desired him to draw nearer, that he might be the better satisfied; and when he had felt the hairy skin on his hands and neck, he owned that the hands were the hands of Esau, though the voice was the voice of Jacob.'

Thus satisfied, or rather thus deluded, he arose, and ate heartily of his son's pretended venison; and as soon as he had dined, and drank a a cup or two of wine, he bid him draw near, that he might now bestow upon him his promised blessing. The smell of Jacob's garments contributed not a little to Isaac's cheerfulness. He smelled and praised them. In a kind of ecstasy of pleasure, he embraced and kissed his pretended first-born; and after having wished him all heavenly and earthly blessings, he at length dismissed him.

Jacob was scarce got out of the tent, when Esau, having returned from hunting, and just made ready his venison, came and invited his father, in the same dutiful manner that his brother had done. Surprised at this address, his father asked who he was? and, when he understood that it was his elder son Esau, he was quite in a maze, and began to inquire who, and where that person was, who had been there before, and taken away the blessing which he neither could nor would revoke. Esau, too well perceiving that it must have been Jacob who had thus

answers it, by saying,-That because Esau had married these wives without the consent of his parents, especially his mother, she, for this reason, refused to give it him, and perhaps reserved it for this very occasion. But, in my opinion, there seems to be no necessity for this supposition, since it was sufficient for her purpose, that she knew where it was in Esau's apartment. Bibliotheca Biblica, in locum.

a There is a tradition among the Jews, that Jacob having omitted to bring wine for his father, an angel prepared it and brought it into his apartment; that he gave it into Jacob's hands, and Jacob poured it out for his father; that the wine was the same with the wine of paradise, which had been laid up from the beginning; and that his father, having drank of it, kissed him, and blessed him, as one now filled with the Spirit, even with the Spirit of prophecy and blessing. But the custom of the Jewish doctors is to magnify every little matter.

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Isaac was willing enough to gratify his son's request; and it grieved him, no doubt, to hear his bitter lamentations; but what could he do? all the choicest of his blessings he had bestowed upon Jacob; and as they were gone he could not recall them. However, that he might in some measure pacify Esau, by the same prophetic spirit he acquaints him, "That though his posterity should not enjoy a very plentiful country, yet they should become a great people, and mighty warriors, who should live by the dint of their sword; and though they should sometimes become subject to the descendants of Jacob, yet, in process of time, they would a shake off their yoke and erect a dominion of their own.

Esau was now become so sensible of what he had lost by the fraud and deceptions of his brother, that he was resolved, at a proper season, to be revenged on him. His regard to his father would not permit him to express his resentment in any violent act as yet; but as he supposed that he could not live long, he was determined to kill his brother, as soon as his father was dead. Some speeches of this kind had accidentally dropped from him, which were brought to his mother's ears. Whereupon she acquainted her favourite son with the bloody design his brother had conceived against him; told him that the wisest way would be for him to withdraw somewhere,

c The words in our translation carry a sense quite different tu what we have here suggested; Behold thy dwelling shall be of that this makes the blessing the same with that which was given the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven.' But besides to Jacob, ver. 28, which Isaac professes himself incapable of doing; it is manifest, that Idumea, where the descendants of Esau dwelt, was far from being a fat and fruitful country. Had words, by thy sword thou shalt live; for a rich and plentiful country would have secured them from living by spoil and plunder, as it is manifest the people of that country did, if we can credit the character which Josephus, both in his history of the Antiquities, b. 13, and of the Wars of the Jews, b. 4, gives us of them.- Le Clerc's Commentary; and Universal History.

it been so, there had not been that reason for the subsequent

d The Edomites, or Idumeaus, who were the posterity Esau, for a considerable time were a people of much more power and authority than the Israelites, till, in the days of David, they were entirely conquered, 2 Sam. viii. 14; they were thereupou governed by deputies or viceroys appointed by the kings of Judah: and whenever they attempted to rebel, were for a long time crushed, and kept under by the Jews. In the days of Jehoram. the son of Jehoshaphat, they expelled their viceroy, and set up a king of their own, 2 Kings viii. 20; and though they were reduced at that time, yet for some generations after this, they seemed to have lived independent on the Jews; and when the Babylonians invaded Judea, they not only took part with them, The prayer which Josephus makes Isaac offer up to God but violently oppressed them, even when the enemy was withupon this occasion is in words to this effect. "Eternal God, the drawn; so that, remembering what they had suffered under Joab Creator of all things that are made; thou hast been so gracious in the days of David, they entered into the like cruel measures and bountiful to my father, to myself, and to our offspring, pro- against the Jews, and threatened to lay Jerusalem level with the mising, and possessing us of all things, and giving us assurances ground. Their animosity against the posterity of Jacob seems of greater blessings to come: Lord, make thy words good to us indeed to be hereditary; nor did they ever cease, for any consiby effects, and do not despise thy servant for his present infirmi- derable time, from broils and contentions, until they were conties, which make him the more sensible of his need of thy support. quered by Hyrcanus, and reduced to the necessity of embracing Preserve this child from all evil in thy mercy and infinite good- the Jewish religion, or quitting their country. Hereupon, conness: give, him a long and happy life: bless him with all worldly senting to the former, they were incorporated with the Jews, and enjoyments that may be for his good; and make him a terror to became one nation; so that in the first century after Christ, the his enemies, and an honour and comfort to his friends."- Antiq.name of Idumean was lost, and quite disused.-Le Clerc's Com b. 1. c. 18.

mentary, and Universal History, b. 1. c. 4.

A. M. 2148. A. C. 1856; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3418. A. C. 1993. GEN. CH. xxv. 20.-xxviii. 8. until his fury was assuaged: and the properest place for threescore and ten persons, and now the Lord thy God that purpose would he his uncle Laban's, in Mesopota- hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude :' mia; that thither he might retire a little while, and wherein he alludes to the very words in which the proas soon as his brother's passion was over, she would not mise, the original promise was made. fail to recall him; that to part with him indeed was no small affliction to her, but nothing comparable to the misery that would ensue, if in one day she should be bereaved of them both; of him by the hand of his brother, and of his brother, by the hand of justice.

A. M. 2148. A. C. 1856, OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3418. A. C. 1993. GEN. CH. xxv. 20.—xxvili. 8. of no attribute of God that could restrain him in this option. Loving and hating are terms of a strong signification sometimes; but that here they can bear no more than a bare preference of one before another, is plain from the whole tenor of the apostle's discourse. The truth is, his words, as well as those of Moses, relate, (as we said before) not to the persons, but to the posterity of Jacob and Esau, or not to them personally, but nationally considered. As to their persons, it was never true, that the elder did serve the younger, but only as to their posterity, when the 2 Edomites became tributary to David: and therefore the apostle cannot be supposed here to discourse of any personal election to eternal life, or any absolute love or hatred of these two brothers, with respect to their interest in another world, but only of the election of one seed or nation before another, to be accounted and treated as the seed of Abraham, which is all that the apostle's argument drives at.

In a word, the case of these two patriarchs has nothing to do with the election, or reprobation of particular persons. It shows us indeed, that God may make choice of one nation rather than another, to be his peculiar people; but to apply this to particular persons, or to suppose that the condition of men's souls, even before they come into the world, is determined by an irrevocable decree, is foreign to the apostle's meaning, and abhorrent to his word, who has so plainly declared himself to be no respecter of persons, but that in every nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, shall be accepted of him.'

Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who, for a morsel of meat, sold his birthright. For we know how that afterwards, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected:' where, not inheriting the blessing,' seems to have been connected with his having sold his birthright; as if, having parted with the one, he could not possibly obtain the other: but it is much to be questioned, whether this be the true sense of the passage. Esau himself, when he sold his birthright, did not imagine that he had sold, at the same time, his right to the blessing; for when his father told him, that his brother had come with subtlety, and taken away the blessing, his answer was, ' Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he hath supplanted me these two times; he took away my birthright, and behold now he hath taken away my blessing?' Had he apprehended that the blessing and birthright were things inseparable, having sold the one, he would never have laid any claim to the other; whereas the defrauding him of his blessing is another hardship he complains of, distinct and different and independent on the former: and therefore Esau's birthright was most probably his right of being priest, or sacrificer for his brethren; and parting with this he is justly termed profane, because he hereby showed himself not to have a due value and esteem, for the religious employment that belonged to him.

But though this employment might better comport with Jacob, yet we cannot pretend to justify him in his method of obtaining it. 'Moses, who records the story, does not commend him for it; and therefore we are left at our liberty to pass what censure upon it we think reasonable. God indeed, before he was born, designed and promised this privilege to him; but then he should have waited until the divine wisdom had found out the means of executing his promise in his own way, as David did, till God gave him possession of Saul's kingdom, and not have anticipated God, and snatched it by an irregular act of his own. In the whole affair, indeed, Jacob acted with a subtlety not at all becoming an honest man. He knew that delays were dangerous, and that his brother's consideration, or second thoughts,

Some are of opinion, that the chief prerogative of the primogeniture was nothing else but a double portion of the father's estate, and that this was all that Esan parted with to his brother: but had this been so, we cannot see wherein he is so mightily to blame, or why the apostle, who certainly understood the meaning of the birthright, as well as any modern commentator, should give him the hard name of a profane person,' merely for selling the reversion of a temporal estate, to save his life, in a time of the greatest exigence. Had the birthright, I say, consisted chiefly in this, we cannot see how Jacob could have been reduced to such straits as we after-might possibly spoil his bargain; and therefore he wards find him in, or Esau, as to his outward fortune, have flourished more prosperously than his brother did. When his father Isaac died, and he came from mount Seir, to assist in his funeral, upon his departure from his brother, he is said to have carried away with him all the substance which he had gotten in the land of Canaan.' Now it is plain, that he had no substance in the land of Canaan of his own getting, for he lived at Seir in the land of Edom, beyond the borders of Canaan; and therefore the substance which was gotten in the land of Canaan, must be the substance which Isaac died possessed of, and which Esau, as his heir, took along with him. So that, after the birthright was sold, he was still heir to

his father's substance; and therefore a right to this was
not the thing which Jacob purchased of him. Others are
of opinion, that the birthright was the blessing promised
to the seed of Abraham; and this the author of the Epis-
tle to the Hebrews seems, in some measure, to favour;

Whitby on Rom. ix. 22 Sam. viii. 14. Acts x. 34, 35.
Bibliotheca Biblica.
Gen. xxxvi. 6.
Shuckford's Connection, vol. 1. b. 7. ·

required haste, both in the sale and in his oath, and thereby incurred another sin, in hurrying his brother into an oath, by precipitation, which he neither should have taken, nor Jacob have advised him to take, without mature advice and deliberation.

And in like manner, as to his interception of the blessing, which his father designed for his brother Esau; it is in vain to have recourse to a forced constructions,

8

Bedford's Scripture Chronology. Poole's Annotations.

a Upon Jacob's answering his father, that he was Esau his first-born, the rabbins are put to great perplexity, how to assuil paraphrase the words thus:-"I am, that is, he, who brings the patriarch from the sin of lying; and therefore some of them

thee something to eat, but Esau is thy eldest son;" while others understand them in this manner rather:-"I am Esau, that is, I am in his stead, because he has sold me his birthright;" for by this sale, as they tell us, a proper permutation being made of the elder became the younger, and the younger the elder, as to persons and titles, the first became really last, and the last first; the style, and all the privileges of eldership; so that Jacob was in reality as much the heir and successor of Isaac, as if Esau had been actually dead. And though Esau was still alive, and had the name of Esau, yet Jacob was properly, what his brother