Verses 24-26
"Reddish" (Heb. ’admoni) is wordplay with "Edomites," Esau’s descendants. Esau means "hairy one" (Heb. sa’ar, similar to "Seir," later the Edomites’ [probably] wooded homeland). Jacob means "El will protect." [Note: Hamilton, The Book . . . Chapters 18-50, p. 178.] Hairiness seems to have been a mark of incivility in the ancient world, indicative of an animal-like nature. [Note: Bruce Vawter, On Genesis: A New Reading, p. 288. See also Waltke, Genesis, p. 356.] The Hebrew ya’aqob ("Jacob") is similar to ’aqeb ("heel"). From Jacob’s grasping Esau’s heel at birth came the nickname "heel-holder" (i.e., one who outwits by trickery) "just as in wrestling an attempt may be made to throw the opponent by grasping the heel." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 1:268.]
The lesson to be learned is that those who owe their existence to God’s creation and election can acknowledge His hand at work in the affairs of their lives.
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