Commentaria in Genesim
Allegorically, the Jews, although more ancient, serve and are put after the Christians in the Church, in grace and salvation, just as the old law served the new. Tropologically, wicked tyrants serve good martyrs, because by their persecution, crosses and torments they prepare and fashion for them eternal crowns. Add that often the wicked are subject to the good in this life; but certainly and always they shall be subject to them after the day of judgment; for then “the just shall judge nations, and shall have dominion over peoples.” So St. Augustine Secondly, in the just the elder serves the younger, that is, the flesh serves the spirit, and vices yield to virtues, says Origen.
25. AND ALL HAIRY LIKE A SKIN, AND HIS NAME WAS CALLED ESAU. Infants are usually born smooth; but Esau was born hairy over his whole body, by God’s will, that his wild and rough disposition, manners and future life might be foretold. Esau therefore, at his birth, seemed by his hairiness and shagginess not so much an infant as a perfect man; hence he was called Esau, as if made and perfected: for he was hairy like a perfect man. Secondly, he was also thence called Seir, that is, hairy. Thirdly, he was called Edom, that is, red, both from his red colour and rather from the red pottage for which he sold his birthright to Jacob, as is plain from verse 30. So St. Jerome on Abdias, Cajetan, Oleaster and Pererius. Again St. Jerome on Amos, chapter 1, verse 9: “From the name of this (the oak) Philo, a most eloquent man, thinks Esau was named, as it were oaken and of oak-wood; although Esau may also be understood as making, that it may be referred to evil works.” But how Esau was named from the oak I do not see; for the oak is called in Hebrew by another name, not Esau, unless perhaps Philo derives Esau from a word meaning he was strong. But Esau is written in Hebrew with one letter, and that word with another.
Tropologically, Esau represents the wicked, in twelve analogies, says Pererius. The first is that Esau was first and more honourable among men, but Jacob before God: so the wicked in this life excel the good in nature, wit, prudence, nobility, strength, beauty and wealth, and are courted by men, while before God they are without glory and ignoble; in the good it is the very opposite. The second is that the elder shall serve the younger: so the wicked in this world seem to rule over the good, but in truth they serve them, and their glory and crown, as I have said. The third: the struggle of Jacob and Esau signifies the continual strife and battle between the wicked and the good. The fourth: Esau comes forth first, but Jacob holds his heel; so the beginnings of the impious are joyful and prosperous, but their end is mournful and fatal for ever. The fifth: Esau was all hairy, which signified his rough manners, fierce spirit, crafty wit and lustful disposition; such are the impious. The sixth: Esau was a hunter and a husbandman; so the impious gape wholly after the earth and earthly goods. The seventh: Esau sold his birthright for a paltry mess of lentils; so the impious exchange the right of adoption as sons of God and the hope of eternal life for the vilest goods. The eighth: Esau made little account of this loss; so the reprobate count the loss of divine grace and heavenly glory as nothing. The ninth: Esau, taking Chanaanite wives, grievously offended his parents; so the wicked, while they cling to impious companions, grievously offend God and the Church. The tenth: Esau at last felt his evils and losses, and groaned, wept and repented, but with a fruitless and vain repentance; the reprobate do like penance, Wisdom 5. The eleventh: Esau hated Jacob and persecuted him; so the wicked persecute the good. The twelfth: Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his hunting, but Rebecca loved Jacob simply and absolutely, because he was good and holy; so the wicked are not to be loved except in a certain respect, because their artificial works and bodily inventions are useful to the commonwealth; but the elect and holy, as they are great and honoured before God, so are to be loved and honoured simply.
IMMEDIATELY THE OTHER COMING FORTH, HELD HIS BROTHER’S FOOT IN HIS HAND. This posture was that of one wishing to go before, or to come out of the womb together with his brother, as though striving to seize the right of the birthright either before him or at least along with him. This was done not naturally, but by God’s will and disposition. See what is said on verse 23.
AND THEREFORE HE CALLED HIM (his father Isaac, whose office it was to give the child a name) JACOB. For Jacob is the same as supplanter, as is plain from chapter 27, verse 36, or holding the heel (for the word signifies either holding or heel), and so deceiving and supplanting.
Eucherius gives an allegory, book 2, chapter 46: Jacob is Christ, who supplanted Esau, that is, the Jews.
27. HUSBANDMAN. The Septuagint has rustic; in Hebrew it is, Esau was a man of the field, that is, he constantly and willingly lived in the field, far from the city, seldom at home, spending his time almost entirely in the open country.
A PLAIN MAN. In Hebrew it is tam, which the Septuagint render “without pretence,” that is, not feigned, without paint or guile; Symmachus renders it “without crime”; Aquila, “not double, but simple”; properly tam is the same as upright, innocent, whole, perfect; for the root tamam signifies to perfect, to complete. A plain man therefore is a whole man, who aims at one God and at virtue, and does not wander off now and then through many byways and unlawful paths. So Job is called a simple man. This simplicity, therefore, is opposed not to prudence but to guile and falsehood; and this simplicity is truth, purity, sincerity and innocence of soul, free of falsehood, pretence and sin, and unmixed, says St. Chrysostom. So Cicero, book 2 On Ends: “We love,” he says, “what is true, that is, faithful, simple, constant; then we hate what is empty, false and deceiving, such as fraud, perjury, malice and injury.” By this simplicity Jacob obtained from God all prosperity, so that this emblem is justly given him: “Prudent simplicity, abundant happiness.”
HE DWELT IN TENTS, kept himself at home. So the Septuagint. For the houses of the ancient patriarchs especially were tents, or tabernacles; as if to say, Jacob at home gave himself to a quiet life, to household duties and the cultivation of his soul. So Cajetan.
Hesiod said rightly: “It is better to be at home, but it is harmful to wander abroad.” The Hebrews, according to Lyranus, understand by tabernacles the schools which Jacob frequented to learn wisdom and the fear of God. One school, they say, was that of Melchisedech, or Sem, the second of Heber, the third of Abraham.
Hence the Chaldee renders it: Jacob was a whole man and a minister (hearer) of the house of doctrine, which is nothing other than a school. If this is true, see how ancient schools and gymnasia are. Such there was also in the time of Josue, chapter 15, verse 15, Cariat sepher, that is, the city of letters, as if you should say, an Academy. See Middendorp on the antiquity and origin of the several Academies.
Tropologically, St. Gregory, Moralia, book 5, chapter 7: “The pious,” he says, “withdraw from distractions into the secret places of the mind, and there rest as in the bosom of tranquillity”; these are the tabernacles of the pious.
28. REBECCA LOVED JACOB, because Jacob was quieter, gentler and sweeter than Esau, and because Rebecca had heard from God, verse 23, that he was to be preferred to his elder brother.
29. POTTAGE of lentils, as is plain from verse 34. This was the Egyptian lentil, says St. Augustine on Psalm 46, which is savoury and sweet, according to Athenæus, book 4, and Gellius, book 17, chapter 8.
He would be called a husbandman.
This food is called “pulmentum,” because it was made after the manner of a porridge: for as porridge is made of rice, peas and beans, so also of lentils. Add that any relish is called pulmentum: for the first food of the ancients, the Latins also, was porridge, as Pliny testifies, book 18, chapter 8; hence the early Romans were called porridge-eaters; thence any food was called pulmentum.
30. GIVE ME OF THIS RED POTTAGE. Gently reddish, perhaps because it was tinged with saffron, coriander or a like seasoning; for so Zeno ordered the grains of Alexandrian coriander, which are red, to be mixed with lentils. The Hebrew indicates Esau’s excessive greed and gluttony: for it has: Cover me, bury me, fill me, with that red, red stuff. The more learned Hebrews derive the word from a root which signifies to cover and to bury.