Genesis 27:41 - Exposition

And Esau hated Jacob —a proof that he was not penitent, however disappointed and remorseful (cf. Obadiah 1:10 , Obadiah 1:11 ; 1 John 3:12 , 1 John 3:15 )— because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him :—notwithstanding the fact that he too had received an appropriate benediction; a display of envy as well as wrath, another proof of his ungracious character ( Galatians 5:21 ; James 4:5 )— and Esau said in his heart,— i.e. secretly resolved, though afterwards he must have communicated his intention ( vide Genesis 27:42 )— The days of mourning for my father are at hand. The LXX . interpret as a wish on the part of Esau that Isaac might speedily die, in order that the fratricidal act he contemplated might not pain the old man's heart; another rendering (Kalisch) understands him to say that days of grief were in store for his father, as he meant to slay his brother; but the ordinary translation seems preferable (Rosenmüller, Keil, Murphy, et alii ), that Esan only deferred the execution of his unholy purpose because of the near approach, as he imagined, of his father's death. Isaac, however, lived upwards of forty years after this. Then will I slay my brother Jacob . That which reconciled Isaac and Ishmael ( Genesis 25:9 ), the death of a father, is here mentioned as the event which would decisively and finally part Esau and Jacob. Esau's murderous intention Calvin regards as a clear proof of the non-reality of his repentance for his sin, the insincerity of his sorrow for his father, and the intense malignity of his hate against his brother.