“And the Elder Shall Serve the Younger”

Genesis 27 recounts the struggle over Isaac’s blessings: Rebekah maneuvers Jacob into impersonating his elder brother Esau and deceiving his father to obtain the blessing. Earlier, in the second half of chapter 25, the Torah supplies background to developments in Isaac and Rebekah’s household, including two encounters between Jacob and Esau concerning the birthright.

The first takes place during Rebekah’s pregnancy, before their birth:

And the children struggled together within her; and she said: ‘If it be so, wherefore do I live?’ And she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her: Two nations are in thy womb, And two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels; And the one people shall be stronger than the other people; And the elder shall serve the younger. (Genesis 25:22–23)

וַיִּתְרֹצְצוּ הַבָּנִים בְּקִרְבָּהּ וַתֹּאמֶר אִם כֵּן לָמָּה זֶּה אָנֹכִי וַתֵּלֶךְ לִדְרֹשׁ אֶת ה'. וַיֹּאמֶר ה' לָהּ שְׁנֵי גֹיִים בְּבִטְנֵךְ וּשְׁנֵי לְאֻמִּים מִמֵּעַיִךְ יִפָּרֵדוּ וּלְאֹם מִלְאֹם יֶאֱמָץ וְרַב יַעֲבֹד צָעִיר. (בראשית כ"ה כב-כג)

Rebekah feels unusually vigorous movement within her and seeks an explanation by inquiring of God. He tells her that she carries struggling twins who will become nations, and ultimately the elder will serve the younger.

The second story concerns selling the birthright for lentil stew:

And Jacob sod pottage; and Esau came in from the field, and he was faint. And Esau said to Jacob: ‘Let me swallow, I pray thee, some of this red, red pottage; for I am faint.’ Therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said: ‘Sell me first thy birth right.’ And Esau said: ‘Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall the birthright do to me?’ And Jacob said: ‘Swear to me first’; and he swore unto him; and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:29–34)

וַיָּזֶד יַעֲקֹב נָזִיד וַיָּבֹא עֵשָׂו מִן הַשָּׂדֶה וְהוּא עָיֵף. וַיֹּאמֶר עֵשָׂו אֶל יַעֲקֹב הַלְעִיטֵנִי נָא מִן הָאָדֹם הָאָדֹם הַזֶּה כִּי עָיֵף אָנֹכִי עַל כֵּן קָרָא שְׁמוֹ אֱדוֹם. וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב מִכְרָה כַיּוֹם אֶת בְּכֹרָתְךָ לִי. וַיֹּאמֶר עֵשָׂו הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי הוֹלֵךְ לָמוּת וְלָמָּה זֶּה לִי בְּכֹרָה. וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב הִשָּׁבְעָה לִּי כַּיּוֹם וַיִּשָּׁבַע לוֹ וַיִּמְכֹּר אֶת בְּכֹרָתוֹ לְיַעֲקֹב. וְיַעֲקֹב נָתַן לְעֵשָׂו לֶחֶם וּנְזִיד עֲדָשִׁים וַיֹּאכַל וַיֵּשְׁתְּ וַיָּקָם וַיֵּלַךְ וַיִּבֶז עֵשָׂו אֶת הַבְּכֹרָה. (בראשית כ"ה כט-לד)

Esau returns hungry and thirsty from the field and asks for Jacob’s stew. Jacob exploits the situation by offering a bargain: stew for the birthright. Disdaining the birthright, Esau immediately agrees and sells it.

Initially, both stories seem to support Jacob’s entitlement to Isaac’s blessings. Before the boys’ birth, Rebekah hears that the elder will serve the younger, making Isaac’s blessing of mastery over his brothers appropriate for Jacob. The second story shows Esau selling and despising his birthright, rendering him unworthy of it. Despite this, Isaac chooses Esau. Why? Did he not know these events, or did he knowingly choose Esau anyway? If the latter, how could he ignore God’s words to Rebekah and the sale?

The sale creates no great difficulty for Isaac’s conduct. The Torah does not say whether Jacob told his parents, so Isaac’s knowledge is unclear. Moreover, the sale’s validity is doubtful. First, it is unclear whether a birthright can be purchased at all. Second, exploiting Esau’s exhaustion is unfair and unworthy, certainly unworthy of the spiritual blessing Jacob sought. Even had Jacob boldly claimed entitlement because of the sale, something the Torah never reports, Isaac could rightly reject it for these reasons. More than proving Esau’s unworthiness, the episode reveals Jacob’s problematic character, expressed in his name and Esau’s later complaint that Jacob had supplanted him twice, taking his birthright and then his blessing (Genesis 27:35–36). In the next three chapters I will present Jacob’s gradual transformation and the change in conduct as Jacob becomes Israel.

Why Did Rebekah Not Tell Isaac?

What about Rebekah’s prophecy that the elder would serve the younger? How could Isaac disregard it and bless Esau in direct contradiction?

Did he know the prophecy at the time? Had Rebekah told him before the twins’ birth? The Torah says nothing, but this does not establish that she kept it secret. She may have told him without the Torah recording the conversation, as with other exchanges between them. Nahmanides holds that she never told him, since Isaac could not knowingly contradict it:

It appears that Rebekah never told him the prophecy the LORD had spoken to her, “the elder shall serve the younger.” For how could Isaac violate God’s word, knowing that it would not succeed? (Nahmanides, Genesis 27:4)

ונראה שלא הגידה לו רבקה מעולם הנבואה אשר אמר ה' לה, "וְרַב יַעֲבֹד צָעִיר", כי איך היה יצחק עובר את פי ה', והיא לא תצלח? (רמב"ן, בראשית כ"ז ד)

Nahmanides then explains why she kept silent. Initially she had inquired without Isaac’s permission, or assumed that as a greater prophet than the person she consulted, he already knew. Later, when Isaac intended to bless Esau, she feared his love for Esau would make him decline to bless either son:

At first she did not tell him, out of propriety and modesty, for she went to inquire of the LORD without Isaac’s permission. Or she said: I need not tell a prophet a prophecy, since he is greater than the one who told me. Now [when Isaac gave the blessings], she did not wish to say, “This was told to me by God before I gave birth,” thinking that because he loved Esau, he would not bless Jacob but would leave everything to heaven. She knew that in this way Jacob would receive his heartfelt and willing blessing… (Nahmanides, there)

והנה מִתחילה לא הגידה לו, דרך מוסר וצניעות. כי "וַתֵּלֶךְ לִדְרֹשׁ אֶת ה'" – שהלכה שלא ברשות יצחק. או אמרה: אין אנכי צריכה להגיד נבואה לנביא, כי הוא גדול מן המגיד לי. ועתה (=בשעה שהעניק יצחק את הברכות) לא רצתה לאמר לו: כך הוגד לי מאת ה' טרם לידתי, כי אמרה: באהבתו אותו לא יברך יעקב ויניח הכול בידי שמים, והיא ידעה כי בסיבת זה יתברך יעקב מפיו בלב שלם ונפש חפצה... (רמב"ן, שם)

This is unconvincing. Nahmanides rightly notes that Rebekah initiated the inquiry, since the Torah attributes it to her without mentioning Isaac. But the text gives no basis for claiming he would oppose it, requiring secrecy. It is hard to believe she did not immediately share so momentous a prophecy, before the twins were born and Isaac began loving Esau. Even if she initially withheld it for some reason, hearing his intention to bless Esau should have prompted her to disclose God’s earlier words. Why assume, as Nahmanides does, that Isaac would defy God’s will by refusing to bless Jacob?

It is more reasonable that she told him at some point. But how could he then persist in blessing Esau? In Nahmanides’ words, how could he violate God’s word, knowing it would not succeed?

“And the One People Shall Be Stronger than the Other People”

Radak’s interpretation of the prophecy can explain Isaac’s apparent disregard. He writes:

“The elder shall serve the younger”: It omits et, the word marking the object. The matter is therefore uncertain: it does not explain who will serve whom, the elder the younger or the younger the elder. There is some indication, because usually the subject comes first, except where no doubt is possible, as in “The waters wear the stones” (Job 14:19), or “the fire causeth the waters to boil” (Isaiah 64:1), where the Hebrew puts the objects first. This prophecy leaves the matter unclear because sometimes the elder serves the younger, as in David’s time, and sometimes the younger serves the elder, as today… (Radak, Genesis 25:23)

"וְרַב יַעֲבֹד צָעִיר": לא זכר עמהם מילת "את" שהיא מורה על הפָּעוּל, והנה הדבר מסופק ולא ביאר מי יעבוד את חברו, הרב את הצעיר או הצעיר את הרב. אלא שיש בו מעט ביאור, כי ברוב [המקרים] – הפועֵל הוא הראשון, אלא (=מלבד) בדברים שאין לספק בהם, כמו: "אֲבָנִים – שָׁחֲקוּ מַיִם" (איוב י"ד יט), "מַיִם – תִּבְעֶה אֵשׁ" (ישעיהו ס"ד א). והיה זה שלא התבאר העניין בנבואה הזאת, לפי שפעמים יעבוד הרב את הצעיר כמו שהיה בימי דוד, ופעמים יעבוד הצעיר את הרב כמו שהוא היום... (רד"ק, בראשית כ"ה כג)

Radak notes the missing object marker et. The sentence can therefore be read either “the younger shall serve the elder” or “the elder shall serve the younger.” Usually the subject comes first, making the second reading likelier, but the wording deliberately remains ambiguous. Sometimes the elder serves the younger, and sometimes the reverse: in David’s time the elder served the younger; in Radak’s exile the younger served the elder. The prophecy thus establishes not Jacob’s superiority but the relationship between them. The two nations will struggle perpetually, one becoming stronger than the other. A midrash expresses this:

“The one people shall be stronger than the other people”: Caesarea and Jerusalem. If someone says both are destroyed, do not believe it; both are inhabited, do not believe it. Caesarea destroyed and Jerusalem inhabited, believe it; Jerusalem destroyed and Caesarea inhabited, believe it. As it says, “I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste” (Ezekiel 26:2): when one is filled, the other is ruined. (Yalkut Shimoni, Ezekiel, section 365)

"וּלְאֹם מִלְאֹם יֶאֱמָץ": קיסרין וירושלים, אם יאמר לך אדם חרבו שתיהן – אל תאמין; נתיישבו שתיהן – אל תאמין; חרבה קיסרי וישבה ירושלים – האמן: חרבה ירושלים וישבה קיסרי – האמן, שנאמר: "אִמָּלְאָה הָחֳרָבָה" (יחזקאל כ"ו ב) – אם מלאה זו, חרבה זו. (ילקוט שמעוני, יחזקאל, רמז שס"ה)

The ending’s straightforward sense is indeed that the struggle will be unexpectedly decided when the elder serves the younger. Yet it is deliberately ambiguous to allow the reverse. The prophecy cannot determine who deserves the blessings; it only teaches the antagonistic relationship between the sons. Isaac could therefore decide, for his own reasons, that Esau deserved the birthright, while Rebekah believed Jacob should receive the blessing.

What Is Prophecy?

Radak’s reading highlights an important feature of prophecy. Sometimes it predicts neither a particular event nor a sharply defined situation, but a future reality shaped by changing circumstances. It sets the rules of the game without fixing the outcome. Here it foretells conflict, while who prevails and when depends greatly on the brothers’ actions. A prophecy can thus be conditional on human conduct. The Torah similarly declares that walking in God’s statutes brings one outcome (Leviticus 26:3–13), while rejecting them brings another (26:14 onward).

From Radak’s approach we can develop a view of prophecy as moral and educational guidance rather than fortune-telling of the kind practiced by diviners and sorcerers, practices the Torah prohibits through its command to be wholehearted with the LORD (תָּמִים תִּהְיֶה עִם ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ; Deuteronomy 18:13). Its task is not to reveal the future to satisfy human curiosity, but to direct us toward proper actions by promising a good future if we perform them and punishment if we do not.