Took goodly raiment of her eldest son, &c.— Some critics of very great name, as Bochart, Selden, Grotius, &c. are of opinion, that these were the sacerdotal garments, appropriated to the first-born, which seems very probable; and if so, we have a confirmation of what was suggested on Genesis 27:1. The Jews, who generally render the truth itself suspicious by their fabulous additions, pretend that these were the very garments in which Adam, Noah, and Abraham sacrificed and performed religious offices. It, however, certainly deserves observation, that the word rendered goodly, comes from a root חמד chamad, signifying to desire earnestly, to covet, and is applied to all sorts of sacred things, both of the true and false worship, which were to the respective parties eminently the objects of their desire and affections. See the Lexicographers. For the skins of kids, Genesis 27:16 it is remarked, that in the eastern countries, goats' hair very much resembles the human.

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