Genesis 25:23 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 25:23
And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Two
שְׁנֵ֤יshe.Nei
H8147
two · cardinal number, both genders dual construct
nations
גוֹיִם֙go.yim
H1471
a foreign nation · noun, common masculine plural absolute
womb
בְּבִטְנֵ֔ךְbe.vit.Nekh
H990
the belly · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
manner
וּשְׁנֵ֣יu.she.Nei
H8147
two · conjunction + cardinal number, both genders dual construct
people
לְאֻמִּ֔יםle.'u.Mim
H3816
a community · noun, common masculine plural absolute
separated
יִפָּרֵ֑דוּyi.pa.Re.du
H6504
to break through · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
bowels
מִמֵּעַ֖יִךְmi.me.'A.yikh
H4578
used only in plural the intestines · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
people
וּלְאֹם֙u.le.'Om
H3816
a community · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
stronger
יֶֽאֱמָ֔ץye.'e.Matz
H553
to be alert · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
people
מִלְאֹ֣םmil.'Om
H3816
a community · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
elder
וְרַ֖בve.Rav
H7227
abundant (in quantity · conjunction + adjective, masculine singular absolute
serve
יַעֲבֹ֥דya.'a.Vod
H5647
to work (in any sense) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
younger
צָעִֽירtza.'Ir
H6810
little · adjective, masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Romans 9:10-13 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
Genesis 27:40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt…
Genesis 27:29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every…
2 Samuel 8:14 And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David’s servants. And the LORD preserved Dav…
Malachi 1:2-5 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
Genesis 17:16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be…
Genesis 24:60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the…
1 Chronicles 18:13 And he put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became David’s servants. Thus the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 25:19-28
We have here an account of the birth of Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah: their entrance into the world was (which is not usual) one of the most considerable parts of their story; nor is much related concerning Isaac but what had reference to his father while he lived and to his sons afterwards. For Isaac seems not to have been a man of action, nor much tried, but to have spent his days in quietness and silence. Now concerning Jacob and Esau we are here told,
I. That they were prayed for. Their parents, after they had been long childless, obtained them by prayer, Gen 25:20, Gen 25:21. Isaac was forty years old when he was married; though he was an only son, and the person f…
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" [Gen 26:4]. But in answer to their mutual prayers (Pe1 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 (Rom 9:12; Ch2 21:8).
Adam Clarke on Genesis 25:23
Two nations are in thy womb - "We have," says Bishop Newton, "in the prophecies delivered respecting the sons of Isaac, ample proof that these prophecies were not meant so much of single persons as of whole nations descended from them; for what was predicted concerning Esau and Jacob was not verified in themselves, but in their posterity. The Edomites were the offspring of Esau, the Israelites were of Jacob; and who but the Author and Giver of life could foresee that two children in the womb would multiply into two nations? Jacob had twelve sons, and their descendants were all united and incorporated into one nation; and what an overruling providence was it that two nations should arise from…
Eighthly, a second time through Isaac and Rebecca, when twins were born, it was said: The elder shall serve the younger, thereby again showing there are two states, one of bondage and the other of freedom.
We must now take a look at the history of the city of God, as it takes its course from this point on among the descendants of Abraham. In the period from Isaac's birth to his seventieth year, when his first children were born, there is one memorable fact: He asked God that his wife, who was barren, might bear him a child. God heard the prayer, and she conceived twins who leaped while still in her womb. She was troubled by the disturbance, and, asking the Lord, she received this answer: "Two nations are in your womb; two people shall stem from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger."This is interpreted by the apostle Paul as an obvious proof of the working of grace: "For before the children had yet been born or had done anything of good or evil," the younger was chosen, through no merits of his own, and the older rejected. So far as original sin goes, both were equal. As for personal sins, neither had any.
MYSTICAL SENSE OF THE ANSWER MADE TO REBEKAH. — In the answer that the Lord gives to Rebekah: There are two nations in your womb and two peoples shall be separated from your belly, and one people shall excel the other, and the greater shall serve the lesser . According to the spiritual sense, the carnal men of the people of God are signified by the eldest son, and spiritual men by the younger son, because, as the Apostle says: Yet that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural: afterwards that which is spiritual (1 Cor. 15:46). These words are still understood in the sense that Esau is the eldest people of God, that is, the Israelites according to the flesh, while Jacob signifies his own spiritual descent. History in turn complements this answer made by God when it relates that the people of Israel, that is to say Jacob, the younger, overcame the Idumeans, that is to say, the nation which came from Esau, and made them inferior in the time of David (Cf. 2 Sam. 8:13-14; 1 Kgs. 11:15). The Idumeans remained long in this state, until King Jehoram, under the reign of which they revolted and issued themselves to the yoke of the Israelites, according to Isaac's own prophecy, when he blessed the younger instead of the eldest (Cf. Gen 27:26, 39-40). Since all this he told the eldest, when he also blessed him after having blessed his brother. [
Dictionary and topics
First-born — Sons enjoyed certain special privileges (Deut. 21:17; Gen. 25:23, 31, 34; 49:3; 1 Chr. 5:1; Heb. 12:16; Ps. 89:27). (See BIRTHRIGHT.) The “first-born of the poor” signifies the most miserable of the…
Rebekah — A noose, the daughter of Bethuel, and the wife of Isaac (Gen. 22:23; 24:67). The circumstances under which Abraham’s “steward” found her at the “city of Nahor,” in Padan-aram, are narrated in Gen.…
Edomites, The · Predictions respecting: Subjection to Israel — Predictions respecting: Subjection to Israel
Esau · Birth of — Birth of
First Born, The · Instances of superseded: Esau — Instances of superseded: Esau
Isaac · .Esau and Jacob born to — .Esau and Jacob born to
Israel · .Prophecies concerning — .Prophecies concerning
Rebekah (Rebecca) · Mother of Esau and Jacob — Mother of Esau and Jacob
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Genesis 25:23
And the Lord said unto her,.... Either by one or other of the above persons she acquainted with this affair, and entreated to seek the Lord for her; or by an impulse upon her own mind:
two nations are in thy womb; or two persons, from whom two nations will spring, the Edomites and Israelites, the one from Esau, the other from Jacob:
and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; different in their bodies, complexions, manner of life, religion, as well as place of abode:
and the one people shall be stronger than the other people: the Edomites, the posterity of Esau, were a very potent people, and had a succession of dukes and kings, before the Israelites, the posterity of Jac…
Two nations. In the first place, God answers that the contention between the twin-brothers had reference to something far beyond their own persons; for in this way he shows that there would be discord between their posterities. When he says, there are two nations, the expression is emphatical; for since they were brothers and twins, and therefore of one blood, the mother did not suppose that they would be so far disjoined as to become the heads of distinct nations; yet God declares that dissension should take place between those who were by nature joined together. Secondly, he describes their different conditions, namely, that victory would belong to one of these nations, forasmuch as this w…
Isaac's marriage, like Abraham's, was for a long time unfruitful; not to extreme old age, however, but only for 20 years. The seed of the promise was to be prayed for from the Lord, that it might not be regarded merely as a fruit of nature, but be received and recognised as a gift of grace. At the same time Isaac was to be exercised in the patience of faith in the promise of God. After this lengthened test, Jehovah heard his prayer in relation to his wife. לנוכח, Gen 25:21 and Gen 30:38, lit., opposite to, so that the object is before the eyes, has been well explained by Luther thus: quod toto pectore et intentus in calamitatem uxoris oraverit. Sicut quando oro pro aliquo, propono illum mihi…
rivals: Jacob and Esau fought in the womb, and their descendants (Israel and Edom) fought continuously throughout their history. In their many conflicts, Israel achieved supremacy over Edom. • your older son will serve your younger son: God’s choice of the younger son over the elder ran against natural order (cp. 48:12-14; see Mal 1:1-3; Rom 9:11-16).
Rashi on Genesis 25:1
קטורה KETURAH — This is Hagar. She was named Keturah because her deeds were as beautiful (sweet) as incense (Ketoreth) (Genesis Rabbah 61). And since she closed her 'opening,' as she did not mate with anyone from the time she separated from Avraham (Genesis Rabbah 61:4).
