19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, 4 and the older daughter 5 came and had sexual relations with her father. 6 But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 7
“Two nations 8 are in your womb,
and two peoples will be separated from within you.
One people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”
27:1 When 9 Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, 10 he called his older 11 son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau 12 replied.
27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, 13 she quickly summoned 14 her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. 15
1 tn Heb “and the firstborn said.”
2 tn Or perhaps “on earth,” in which case the statement would be hyperbolic; presumably there had been some men living in the town of Zoar to which Lot and his daughters had initially fled.
3 tn Heb “to enter upon us.” This is a euphemism for sexual relations.
4 tn Heb “drink wine.”
5 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
6 tn Heb “and the firstborn came and lied down with her father.” The expression “lied down with” here and in the following verses is a euphemism for sexual relations.
7 tn Heb “and he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.”
8 sn By metonymy the two children in her womb are described as two nations of which the two children, Jacob and Esau, would become the fathers. The language suggests there would be a struggle between these nations, with one being stronger than the other. The oracle reveals that all of Jacob’s scheming was unnecessary in the final analysis. He would have become the dominant nation without using deception to steal his brother’s blessing.
9 tn The clause begins with the temporal indicator (“and it happened”), making it subordinate to the main clause that follows later in the sentence.
10 tn Heb “and his eyes were weak from seeing.”
11 tn Heb “greater” (in terms of age).
12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Esau) is specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Heb “and the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah.”
14 tn Heb “she sent and called for.”
15 tn Heb “is consoling himself with respect to you to kill you.” The only way Esau had of dealing with his anger at the moment was to plan to kill his brother after the death of Isaac.