It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
The declaration that the older would serve the younger was God's direct answer to Rebekah's troubled prayer while her twin sons were still unborn. In seeking the Lord about the struggle within her, she was shown that she would bear two sons who would grow into two distinct nations. To her it was revealed beforehand that the elder of the two would be placed in subjection to the younger.
That answer was given with full foreknowledge of the characters both Jacob and Esau would afterward develop. God already knew Esau's settled unwillingness to obey Him when He spoke the words to his mother. The saying was therefore a prophecy of the future history of the two sons and their descendants. By it the special advantages and privileges ordinarily belonging to the firstborn were set aside.
The declaration that the older would serve the younger was God's direct answer to Rebekah's troubled prayer while her twin sons were still unborn. In seeking the Lord about the struggle within her, she was shown that she would bear two sons who would grow into two distinct nations. To her it was revealed beforehand that the elder of the two would be placed in subjection to the younger.
That answer was given with full foreknowledge of the characters both Jacob and Esau would afterward develop. God already knew Esau's settled unwillingness to obey Him when He spoke the words to his mother. The saying was therefore a prophecy of the future history of the two sons and their descendants. By it the special advantages and privileges ordinarily belonging to the firstborn were set aside.