being born, Jacob, his younger brother was holding onto his heal. His
parents took note of this incident and gave him a name that represented his
action at birth. Adam Clarke says this about the name given to Jacob:
His name was called Jacob – Yaccob, from akab, to defraud,
deceive, to supplant, i.e. to overthrow a person by tripping up his
heels. Hence the name was given to Jacob, because it was found he
had laid hold of his brother’s heel, which was emblematic of his
supplanting Esau, and defrauding him of his birthright.
(Commentary on the Bible by Adam Clarke (CLARKE) Electronic
edition copyright © 2015 by Laridian, Inc., Marion Iowa. All rights
reserved. “Commentary on the Bible by Adam Clarke.” Marion, IA:
Laridian, Inc., 2015)
This defrauding nature of Jacob would become evident as the boys grew
older. Genesis 25 describes an incident where Jacob was at home cooking
stew (Genesis 25:29). Esau, on the other hand, was out in the fields hunting.
When Esau returned home he was very hungry and asked his brother for
some of the stew he was cooking.
Taking advantage of his brother’s hunger, Jacob told Esau that he would
only give him the stew if he sold him his birthright. Because Esau was the
firstborn of the two boys, his inheritance would be greater than Jacob’s.
Jacob appeared to resent this. Esau, feeling like he was going to die if he
didn’t get something to eat, swore to Jacob that he would give him his
birthright in exchange for the stew. Having sworn this oath, Esau legally
handed over his rights as the firstborn to his younger brother, fulfilling the
words of prophecy spoken to Rebekah, his mother regarding the older child
serving the younger. This privilege, however, was taken by deceit.
The defrauding and deceiving nature of Jacob can be seen not only in how
he treated his brother in a time of need but also in what he did to his father
in his old age. Genesis 27 recounts the story of how Jacob took advantage
of his father’s failing eyesight. Knowing that he was getting old, Isaac
wanted to bless his eldest son with a special blessing. It should be noted that
this was not a trivial matter. The blessing of the eldest son was a significant
event. This blessing was not just from the father but from God Himself