but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 3. Esau, perceiving the evil which was already in him, and would appear afterwards; (Saint Jerome and Theod.) or rather he was a figure of the reprobate, though not of course one himself. Saint Augustine—A person is said to hate what he loves less. Esau’s privileges were transferred to his brother, who enjoyed a much finer country, and was chosen for God’s peculiar inheritance. Calmet.—Temporal blessings are here specified.—Dragons. Septuagint “houses;” so that they shall be deserted. Bible.—Edom was ravaged by Nabuchodonosor. The people retired into the cities, from which the Jews were driven. Yet afterwards they rebuilt their own habitations.