Genesis 27:36 - Exposition

And he (Esau) said, Is he not rightly named Jacob? —literally, is it that one has called ha name Jacob? הֲכִיְ being employed when the reason is unknown. On the meaning of Jacob cf. Genesis 25:26 — for (literally, and) he hath supplanted me (a paronomasia on the word Jacob) these two times— or, already twice; זֶה being used adverbially in the sense of now. The precise import of Esau's exclamation has been rendered, "Has he not been justly (δικαίως, LXX .; juste , Vulgate; rightly, A . V .) named Supplanter from supplanting?" (Rosenmüller). "Is it because he was named Jacob that he hath now twice supplanted me?" (Ainsworth, Bush). "Has he received the name Jacob from the fact that he has twice outwitted me?" (Keil). "Shall he get the advantage of me because he was rims inadvertently named Jacob?" (Lange). "Has in truth his name been called Jacob?" (Kalisch). All agree in bringing out that Esau designed to indicate a correspondence between Jacob's name and Jacob's practice. He took away my birthright ;—this was scarcely correct, since Esau voluntarily sold it ( Genesis 25:33 )— and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing . Neither was this exactly accurate, since the blessing did not originally belong to Esau, however he may have imagined that it did. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? The question indicates that Esau had no proper conception of the spiritual character of the blessing which his brother had obtained.