The Profanity of Esau (Genesis 25:17-34; 28:11-22)

"And the boys grew: and Esau was a man who had knowledge of the hunt (so the text reads in the original), a man of the field; but (not and) Jacob was an upright (not plain as the translation has it) man dwelling in tents". The Hebrews word translated by plain in our English versions of the Bible has the meaning of upright in all other places where it occurs (in Job 1:1, 8; 8:20; 9:20; Ps. 64:5). There is no reason why we should not hold to this meaning here. Doing so, we at once apprehend the...