Chapter 18.
CONCERNING THE SONS OF ISAAC, ESAU AND JACOB; OF THEIR NATIVITY
AND EDUCATION.FJAJ 1.81
1. NOW Isaac's wife proved with child, after the death of Abraham; (30)
The birth of Jacob and Esau is here said to be after Abraham's death: it
should have been after Sarah's death. The order of the narration in Genesis,
not always exactly according to the order of time, seems to have led Josephus
into this error, as Dr. Bernard observes here.
and when her belly was greatly burdened, Isaac was very anxious, and inquired
of God; who answered, that Rebeka should bear twins; and that two nations
should take the names of those sons; and that he who appeared the second
should excel the elder
Accordingly she, in a little time, as God had foretold,
bare twins; the elder of whom, from his head to his feet, was very rough
and hairy; but the younger took hold of his heel as they were in the birth.
Now the father loved the elder, who was called Esau, a name agreeable to
his roughness, for the Hebrews call such a hairy roughness [Esau, (31)
For Seir in Josephus, the coherence requires that we read Esau or Seir,
which signify the same thing.
or] Seir; but Jacob the younger was best beloved by his mother.FJAJ 1.82
2. When there was a famine in the land, Isaac resolved to go into Egypt,
the land there being good; but he went to Gerar, as God commanded him.
Here Abimelech the king received him, because Abraham had formerly lived
with him, and had been his friend
And as in the beginning he treated him
exceeding kindly, so he was hindered from continuing in the same disposition
to the end, by his envy at him; for when he saw that God was with Isaac,
and took such great care of him, he drove him away from him
But Isaac,
when he saw how envy had changed the temper of Abimelech retired to a place
called the Valley, not far from Gerar: and as he was digging a well, the
shepherds fell upon him, and began to fight, in order to hinder the work;
and because he did not desire to contend, the shepherds seemed to get the
him, so he still retired, and dug another and when certain other shepherds
of Abimelech began to offer him violence, he left that also, still retired,
thus purchasing security to himself a rational and prudent conduct
At
length the gave him leave to dig a well without disturbance
He named this
well Rehoboth, which denotes a large space; but of the former wells,
one was called Escon, which denotes strife, the other Sitenna, name
signifies enmity.FJAJ 1.83
3. It was now that Isaac's affairs increased, and in a flourishing condition;
and this his great riches
But Abimelech, thinking in opposition to him,
while their living made them suspicious of each other, and retiring showing
a secret enmity also, heFJAJ 1.84
afraid that his former friendship with Isaac would not secure him, if
Isaac should endeavor the injuries he had formerly offered him; he therefore
renewed his friendship with him, Philoc, one of his generals
And when
he had obtained every thing he desired, by reason of Isaac's good nature,
who preferred the earlier friendship Abimelech had shown to himself and
his father to his later wrath against him, he returned home.FJAJ 1.85
4. Now when Esau, one of the sons of Isaac, whom the father principally
loved, was now come to the age of forty years, he married Adah, the daughter
of Helon, and Aholibamah, the daughter of Esebeon; which Helon and Esebeon
were great lords among the Canaanites: thereby taking upon himself the
authority, and pretending to have dominion over his own marriages, without
so much as asking the advice of his father; for had Isaac been the arbitrator,
he had not given him leave to marry thus, for he was not pleased with contracting
any alliance with the people of that country; but not caring to be uneasy
to his son by commanding him to put away these wives, he resolved to be
silent.FJAJ 1.86
5. But when he was old, and could not see at all, he called Esau to
him, and told him, that besides his blindness, and the disorder of his
eyes, his very old age hindered him from his worship of God [by sacrifice];
he bid him therefore to go out a hunting, and when he had caught as much
venison as he could, to prepare him a supper (32)
The supper of savory meat, as we call it, Genesis 27:4, to be caught by
hunting, was intended plainly for a festival or a sacrifice; and upon the
prayers that were frequent at sacrifices, Isaac expected, as was then usual
in such eminent cases, that a divine impulse would come upon him, in order
to the blessing of his son there present, and his foretelling his future
behavior and fortune. Whence it must be, that when Isaac had unwittingly
blessed Jacob, and was afterwards made sensible of his mistake, yet did
he not attempt to alter it, how earnestly soever his affection for Esau
might incline him to wish it might be altered, because he knew that this
blessing came not from himself, but from God, and that an alteration was
out of his power. A second afflatus then came upon him, and enabled him
to foretell Esau's future behavior and foretell Esau�s future behavior
and fortune also.
that after this he might make supplication to God, to be to him a supporter
and an assister during the whole time of his life; saying, that it was
uncertain when he should die, and that he was desirous, by prayers for
him, to procure, beforehand, God to be merciful to him.FJAJ 1.87
6. Accordingly, Esau went out a hunting
But Rebeka (33)
Whether Jacob or his mother Rebeka were most blameable in this imposition
upon Isaac in his old age, I cannot determine. However the blessing being
delivered as a prediction of future events, by a Divine impulse, and foretelling
things to befall to the posterity of Jacob and Esau in future ages, was
for certain providential; and according to what Rebeka knew to be the purpose
of God, when he answered her inquiry, "before the children were born,"
Genesis 25:23, "that one people should be stronger than the other
people; and the elder, Esau, should serve the younger, Jacob." Whether
Isaac knew or remembered this old oracle, delivered in our copies only
to Rebeka; or whether, if he knew and remembered it, he did not endeavor
to alter the Divine determination, out of his fondness for his elder and
worser son Esau, to the damage of his younger and better son Jacob, as
Josephus elsewhere supposes, Antiq. B. II. ch. 7. sect. 3; I cannot certainly
say. if so, this might tempt Rebeka to contrive, and Jacob to put this
imposition upon him. However, Josephus says here, that it was Isaac, and
not Rebeka, who inquired of God at first, and received the forementioned
oracle, sect. 1; which, if it be the true reading, renders Isaac's procedure
more inexcusable. Nor was it probably any thing else that so much encouraged
Esau formerly to marry two Canaanitish wives, without his parents' consent,
as Isaac's unhappy fondness for him.
thinking it proper to have the supplication made for obtaining the favor
of God to Jacob, and that without the consent of Isaac, bid him kill kids
of the goats, and prepare a supper
So Jacob obeyed his mother, according
to all her instructions
Now when the supper was got ready, he took a goat's
skin, and put it about his arm, that by reason of its hairy roughness,
he might by his father be believed to be Esau; for they being twins, and
in all things else alike, differed only in this thing
This was done out
of his fear, that before his father had made his supplications, he should
be caught in his evil practice, and lest he should, on the contrary, provoke
his father to curse him
So he brought in the supper to his father
Isaac
perceivest to be Esau." So suspecting no deceit, he ate the supper,
and betook himself to his prayers and intercessions with God; and said,
"O Lord of all ages, and Creator of all substance; for it was thou
that didst propose to my father great plenty of good things, and hast vouchsafed
to bestow on me what I have; and hast promised to my posterity to be their
kind supporter, and to bestow on them still greater blessings; do thou
therefore confirm these thy promises, and do not overlook me, because of
my present weak condition, on account of which I most earnestly pray to
thee
Be gracious to this my son; and preserve him and keep him from every
thing that is evil
Give him a happy life, and the possession of as many
good things as thy power is able to bestow
Make him terrible to his enemies,
and honorable and beloved among his friends."FJAJ 1.88
7. Thus did Isaac pray to God, thinking his prayers had been made for
Esau
He had but just finished them, when Esau came in from hunting
And
when Isaac perceived his mistake, he was silent: but Esau required that
he might be made partaker of the like blessing from his father that his
brother had partook of; but his father refused it, because all his prayers
had been spent upon Jacob: so Esau lamented the mistake
However, his father
being grieved at his weeping, said, that "he should excel in
hunting and strength of body, in arms, and all such sorts of work; and
should obtain glory for ever on those accounts, he and his posterity after
him; but still should serve his brother."FJAJ 1.89
8. Now the mother delivered Jacob, when she was afraid that his brother
would inflict some punishment upon him because of the mistake about the
prayers of Isaac; for she persuaded her husband to take a wife for Jacob
out of Mesopotamia, of her own kindred, Esau having married already Basemmath,
the daughter of Ismael, without his father's consent; for Isaac did not
like the Canaanites, so that he disapproved of Esau's former marriages,
which made him take Basemmath to wife, in order to please him; and indeed
he had a great affection for her.FJAJ 1.90