Genesis 25:26 (WEB)
After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
Fathers and councils · 9
Tertullian
“I suppose he had not yet breathed when he seized his brother’s heel; and was still warm with his mother’s warmth, when he so strongly wished to be the first to quit the womb.” — editor's note: Gen. xxv. 26.
Read the whole comment“…God Himself as an adequate engager and faithful promiser, in that He promised to Abraham that “in his seed should be blest all nations of the earth;” and that out of the womb of Rebecca “two peoples and two nations were about to proceed,”—of course those of the Jews, that is, of Israel; and of the Gentiles, that is…” — editor's note: This promise may be said to have been given “to Abraham,” because (of course) he was still living at the time; as we see by comparing Gen. xxi. 5 with xxv. 7…
Read the whole comment
Irenaeus of Lyons
“Thus, in the first place, at his birth, since he laid hold on his brother’s heel, he was called Jacob, that is, the supplanter—one who holds, but is not held; binding the feet, but not being bound; striving and conquering; grasping in his hand his adversary’s heel, that is, victory.” — editor's note: Gen. xxv. 26.
Read the whole comment
Gregory of Nyssa
“In like manner before him Jacob, having taken hold of his brother’s heel, was called a supplanter, from the attitude in which he came to the birth.” — editor's note: Gen. xxv. 26.
Read the whole comment
Augustine of Hippo
“For these are Jews, who are out of Abraham, from whom Isaac was born, and out of him Jacob, and out of Jacob the twelve Patriarchs, and out of the twelve Patriarchs the whole people of the Jews.” — editor's note: Gen. xxi. 1, xxv. 26, xxix. 32, etc.
Read the whole comment“Yea indeed, the same difference as there is between “Jacob” and “Israel:” not because they were two persons, but these same two names were bestowed upon one man for different reasons; Jacob because of supplanting, for that he grasped the foot of his brother at his birth: but Israel because of the vision of God.” — editor's note: Gen. xxv. 26.
Read the whole comment“…was taking priority of him in the act of birth; and next indeed the head followed, and thereafter, at last, and as matter of course, the rest of the members: while, nevertheless the head in point of dignity and power has precedence, not only of those members which followed it then, but also of the very hand which…” — editor's note: Gen. xxv. 26
Read the whole comment“…the act of birth, yet is that hand joined and compacted together with the whole body under the head, even as also among these same patriarchs some were born with the hand put forth first as a sign of this very thing: so all the saints who lived upon the earth previous to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, although…” — editor's note: Gen. xxv. 26, xxxviii. 27–30
Read the whole comment“For when those twins were born, his brother Esau was born first; and the hand of the younger was found on the elder’s foot.” — editor's note: Gen. xxv. 25, 26.
Read the whole comment
Cross-references · 14
Cited together in On the Catechising of the Uninstructed Chapter 3.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 26.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 26.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 26.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 26.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 26.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 26.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 26.
Cited together in On the Catechising of the Uninstructed Chapter 3.
Cited together in On the Catechising of the Uninstructed Chapter 3.
Cited together in On the Catechising of the Uninstructed Chapter 3.
Cited together in On the Catechising of the Uninstructed Chapter 3.
Cited together in On the Catechising of the Uninstructed Chapter 3.
Cited together in A Treatise on the Soul Chapter 26.