Глава 25

Gen.25:1. And Abraham took another wife, named Keturah. This new marriage apparently took place after Sarah's death; although, however, it could have been concluded during her lifetime, since Keturah and her offspring, just like Hagar and her offspring, did not have the full rights of legal marriage, with which only marriage with Sarah and offspring from her remained. Gen.25:2. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. The six sons of Keturah were the founders of a whole family of new nomadic tribes of Arabia; but the names of these tribes, with the exception perhaps of the Midianites, remained almost unknown in subsequent biblical history. Gen.25:5. And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac [his son], Abraham transfers all his spiritual and material wealth to the only begotten son of his only full-fledged wife, Sarah, (Gen. 21:10, 24:36). Gen.25:6. And to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac his son while he was still alive, Here is Abraham's wise dying order: he does not leave the children of his concubines without some provision; but at the same time removes them from Isaac, thereby showing in advance that they have no part in the estate of the legal heir. to the east, into the land of the east. By this name, they usually understand Arabia, the inhabitants of which were generally called “bene-kedem” - “sons of the east” (Judges 6:3; 1 Kings 4:30; Job 1:3). Subsequently, they received the Arabic name “Sharqiin”, i.e. eastern, where the word “Saracens” originated. Death and burial of Abraham Gen.25:7–8. The days of Abraham's life that he lived were one hundred and seventy-five years; and Abraham passed away, and died in a good old age, aged and full [of life], and was gathered to his people. A figurative and strong expression indicating Abraham’s fulfillment of his life’s destiny, which the apostle later spoke about himself in similar, only clearer, words (2 Tim. 4:7–8). The last thought of this text is especially important, since it characterizes the existence of faith in the afterlife immortality of the soul even in that distant patriarchal period (cf. Deut. 32:50 and 1 Kings 2:10). Gen.25:11. After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. Having already told his father Abraham that “I will establish my covenant with Isaac” (Gen. 17:19, 21), God now, after the death of Abraham, gives him His special blessing, i.e. distinguishes him as the ancestor and representative of the chosen people. Ishmael's offspring and his death Gen. 25:12–16. This is the genealogy of Ishmael the son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bore to Abraham; and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, their names according to their genealogy: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, after him Kedar, Adbeel, Mivsam, Hadad, Thema, Yetur, Naphish and Kedma. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, in their villages, in their nomads. These are the twelve princes of their tribes. This is the beginning of a new section (toldoth) of the genealogy of the descendants of Abraham's bastard son Ishmael. Although the names of these new ancestors of the Arab tribes, for the most part, remain unknown to us, nevertheless, in their very number one cannot help but see the fulfillment of that prophecy about the twelve princes from Ishmael, which was given much earlier (Gen. 17:20). Gen.25:18. They lived from Havilah to Sur, which is before Egypt, as you go to Assyria. Based on these geographical indications, as well as on the previous context (Gen. 10:7, 20:1), we will have to determine the territory of the Ishmaelites along the shores of the Persian Gulf and in the mountainous part of the Arabian Peninsula. Gen.25:19. This is the genealogy of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Abraham gave birth to Isaac. The beginning of a new section is the genealogical table of Isaac, which serves as the title of the whole story of his life, ending only with the 35th chapter of Genesis. Isaac's prayer for the resolution of Rebekah's infertility Gen.25:21. And Isaac prayed to the Lord for [Rebekah] his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord heard him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. “Mr. Philaret notes that the most blessed births were often preceded by infertility: for example, the birth of Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Simeon, Samuel, John the Baptist. It is very likely that God is pleased to first purify and establish the faith and hope of those to whom the blessed fruit of the womb is given. Moreover, the power of God is made perfect in weakness, i.e. at a time when the weakening of the forces of nature appears, then the grace of God acts to fulfill the goals of wisdom” (Vlastov). Gen.25:22. Her sons began to beat in her womb, and she said: if this happens, then why do I need this? Metropolitan Filaret, based on various biblical translations, wants to see here an expression of some fear on the part of Rebekah for her life. But it seems to us that it is more convenient and more consistent with the context to find another, higher meaning here - namely, the mother’s desire to find out the fate of her offspring, which is now given to her by God, after so many years of infertility, and obviously, not without special, higher goals of divine Providence. And she went to ask the Lord. It is not clear from the text itself how this questioning of the Lord took place; therefore, some think that Rebekah turned to one of the pious patriarchs - Shem, Abraham, Melchizedek, Eber, or even Isaac (Gen. 27:46), others believe that she could have done this directly in prayer or sacrifice. Gen.25:23. The Lord said to her: Two nations are in your womb, and two different nations will come out of your womb; one people will become stronger than the other, and the greater will serve the lesser. In the external form of this verse one sees parallelism of thoughts - a distinctive feature of Jewish poetry; in the inner, essential content they see a prophetic revelation of the future fate of the offspring of both twins who are about to be born. This fate is not entirely ordinary: here the elder is promised great strength and external power, and yet he, in the end, submits to the younger. And subsequent history justified this prophecy: although the house of Esau was indeed stronger and more populous than the house of Jacob, when he returned from Haran (Gen. 32:11), and the descendants of Esau received elders and kings earlier (Gen. 35:1), however, over time, David conquered the Edomites (2 Kings 8:14; 1 Kings 11:1), and Joram and Amaziah they even severely punished them for trying to free themselves (2 Kings 8:16–23, 14:7). Birth of twins Esau and Jacob Gen. 25:24–25. And the time came for her to give birth: and behold, twins were in her womb. The first one came out red, all shaggy like leather; and they called his name Esau. The hairy skin of Rebekah's firstborn gave rise to the name Esau, and his reddish color gave rise to another name for Esau - Edom, which means “red”. Gen.25:26. Then his brother came out, holding Esau’s heel with his hand; and his name was called Jacob. And the name of Rebekah’s second son, Jacob, was of random origin, it came from the circumstances of his birth - precisely from the fact that he was born holding the heel of his older brother, as Esau himself explains (Gen. 27.36). Differences in their character and lifestyle Gen. 25:27–28. The children grew up, and Esau became a man skilled in hunting, a man of the fields; but Jacob was a meek man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau because his game was to his taste, and Rebekah loved Jacob. That the meek, feminine Isaac loved the energetic and stern Esau more, and the active and ardent Rebekah preferred the quiet and modest Jacob - this is deeply psychologically true. The Bible also does not hide the fact that Isaac’s preference for his eldest son Esau was also somewhat selfish in nature. Although unrelated to this, it was quite natural and understandable, since Esau was the firstborn, and all the best hopes and hopes usually rested on the firstborn. Esau sells his birthright Gen.25:30. And Esau said to Jacob, Give me something red to eat, this red thing, for I am tired. The repetition of the same word here expresses a special insistence and strength of desire, testifying to Esau’s extraordinary hunger. As for the dish itself, which aroused such a tired hunter’s appetite, experts of the East say that it was a red lentil stew, very prized to this day for its smell and taste. Gen.25:31. But Jacob said [to Esau], “Sell me your birthright now.” No matter how hard we try to whitewash Jacob in this case, there still remains something insufficiently noble in his act, which can only be excused by Esau’s complete disregard for his right (Gen. 25:34). Gen.25:33. Jacob said to [him], swear to me now. He swore to him, and [Esau] sold his birthright to Jacob. Although the rights of the firstborn were finally established only in the Law of Moses (Num. 3:12, 8:17, etc.), there is no doubt that in practice these privileges existed much earlier. The main significance of the firstborn was that they were the bearers and possessors of those blessings and promises that were given by God to Abraham and confirmed to Isaac (Gen. 12:2–3, 13:15–16, 22:17, etc.). But to perceive these promises a strong and ardent faith was needed; This is precisely what Esau lacked, which is why God allowed him to lose this high right and transfer it to someone more worthy. Gen.25:34. And Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil food; and he ate and drank, and arose and walked; and Esau despised the birthright. With all this, Esau clearly revealed his complete disregard for the spiritual benefit of the birthright, since the interests of his sensual nature were much closer to higher, spiritual and religious interests. In the history of Esau and Jacob we get a new example of how the gradual separation and, as it were, purification of God's chosen seed took place, with which only the heroes of the faith were spiritually related, i.e. people who glorified themselves by ardent faith in the promise and high religious enthusiasm (Heb. 11:1-20). You might be interested in: