Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ramban · Torah

Ramban on Genesis 37:1/רמב"ן על בראשית ל״ז:א׳

אוַיֵּשֶׁב יַעֲקֹב בְּאֶרֶץ מְגוּרֵי אָבִיו כִּי אָמַר שֶׁאַלּוּפֵי עֵשָׂו יָשְׁבוּ בְּאֶרֶץ אֲחֻזָּתָם, כְּלוֹמַר הָאָרֶץ שֶׁלָּקְחוּ לָהֶם לַאֲחֻזַּת עוֹלָם, אֲבָל יַעֲקֹב יָשַׁב גֵּר כְּאָבִיו בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם אֶלָּא לִכְנַעַן, וְהַכַּוָּנָה לְהַגִּיד כִּי הֵם בּוֹחֲרִים לָגוּר בָּאָרֶץ הַנִּבְחֶרֶת וְשֶׁנִּתְקַיֵּם בָּהֶם "כִּי גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם" (בראשית ט"ו:י"ג) וְלֹא בְּעֵשָׂו, כִּי בְּיַעֲקֹב לְבַדּוֹ יִקָּרֵא לָהֶם זָרַע:

1AND JACOB DWELT IN THE LAND OF HIS FATHERS. The meaning of the verse is that since Scripture had said that the chiefs of Esau dwelt in the land of their possessions¹. — that is to say, the land which they took to themselves as a possession forever — it now says that Jacob, however, dwelt as his father had, as a stranger in a land which was not their own but which belonged to the Canaanites. The purport is to relate that they² elected to dwell in the Chosen Land,³ and that G-d’s words to Abraham, That thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs,⁴ were fulfilled in them but not in Esau, for Jacob alone shall be called their progeny.⁵