The Pulpit Commentaries
Genesis 28:1-9
EXPOSITION
And Isaac called Jacob (to his bed-side), and blessed him,—in enlarged form, renewing the benediction previously given (Genesis 27:27)—and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan (cf. Genesis 14:3). Intermarriage with the women of the land was expressly forbidden to the theocratic heir, while his attention was directed to his mother's kindred.
Arise, go to Padan-aram (vide Genesis 14:10; Genesis 25:20; Genesis 27:43), to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father;—(vide Genesis 14:24). If yet alive, Bethuel must have been very old, since he was Isaac's cousin, and probably born many years before the son of Abraham—and take thee a wife from thence—though Isaac's wife was found for him, he does not think of imitating Abraham and dispatching another ,Eliezer in search of a spouse for Rebekah's son. Probably he saw that Jacob could attend to that business sufficiently without assistance from others—of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother (vide Genesis 14:1). "Isaac appears to entertain no doubt of Jacob's success, which might be the more probable since the same reason which kept Jacob from marrying in Canaan might prevent Laban's daughters from being married in Haran, the worshippers of the Lord being few (Inglis).
And God Almighty—El Shaddai (vide Genesis 17:1)—bless thee,—the Abrahamic benediction in its fullest form was given by El Shaddai (vide Genesis 17:1)—and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be—literally, and thou shalt become (or grow to)—a multitude—an assembly, or congregation, or crowd called together, from a root signifying to call together (Gesenius), or to sweep up together (Furst); corresponding to ἐκκλησία in Greek—of people.
And give thee the Blessing of Abraham,—i.e. promised to Abraham (vide Genesis 12:2; Genesis 22:17, Genesis 22:18). The additions of τοῦ παρός μου (LXX.), אביךְ = τοῦ πατρὸς σου (Samaritan), are unwarranted—to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger,—literally, the land of thy sojournings (Genesis 17:8)—which God gave unto Abraham—by promise (cf. Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 15:7, Genesis 15:18; Genesis 17:8).
And Isaac sent away Jacob (Rebekah only counseled, Isaac commanded): and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethel the Syrian (vide Hosea 12:12), the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. The historian here perhaps intentionally gives the first place to Jacob.
When (literally, and) Esau saw that Issue had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-aram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge,—literally, in his blessing him (forming a parenthesis), and he commanded him—saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; and that (literally, and) Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone (or went) to Padan-aram; and Esau seeing that (more correctly, saw that) the daughters of Canaan pleased not (literally, were evil in the eyes of) Isaac his father; then (literally, and) went Esau unto Ishmael (i.e. the family or tribe of Ishmael, aiming in this likely to please his father), and took unto the wives which he had (so that they were neither dead nor divorced) Mahalath (called Bashemath in Genesis 36:3) the daughter of Ishmael (and therefore Esau's half-cousin by the father's side, Ishmael, who was now dead thirteen years, having been Isaac's half-brother) Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth,—Ishmael's firstborn (vide Genesis 25:13)—to be his wife.
HOMILETICS
Jacob and Esau, or diverging paths.
I. JACOB'S JOURNEY TO PADAN-ARAM.
1. The path of duty. Entered on in obedience to his mother's wish and his father's commandment, it was an evidence of filial piety. It is the token of a good son that he "hears the instruction of his father, and forsakes not the taw of his mother" (Proverbs 1:8). Sons come to mature age should respect and, where not inconsistent with allegiance to God, yield submission to parental authority (Proverbs 6:20; Malachi 1:6; Ephesians 6:1).
2. The path of blessing. The benediction already bestowed upon Jacob was repeated with greater amplitude and tenderness before he left the patriarchal tent. Happy the youth who enters upon life's journey carrying on his head and in his heart a father's blessing I much more who goes forth beneath the canopy of Heaven's benediction! and this is ever the experience of him who travels by the way of filial obedience. Pious children seldom fail to come to honor, and never want the favor of the Lord (Psalms 37:26; Proverbs 4:20; Proverbs 8:32).
3. The path of promise. In addition to his father's blessing and the Almighty's benediction, Jacob carried with him as he left Beersheba the promise of a seed and an inheritance to be in due time acquired; and in like manner now has the saint exceeding great and precious promises to cheer him in his heavenward pilgrimage, promises the full realization of which is attainable only in the future (John 14:2; 1 Peter 1:4).
4. The path of hope. Sad and sorrowful as Jacob's heart must have been as he kissed his mother and bade farewell to Isaac, it was at least sustained by pleasant expectation. Gilding the horizon of his future was the prospect of a wife to love as Isaac had loved Rebekah, and to be the mother of the seed of promise. So the pathway of the children of promise, though often painful, arduous, and protracted, is always lighted by the star of hope, and always points to a bright and beautiful beyond.
II. ESAU'S MARRIAGE WITH MAHALATH.
1. The way of sin. His former wives being neither dead nor divorced, the conduct of Esau in adding to them a third was wrong.
2. The way of shame. In the selection of Ishmael's daughter he hoped to please his father, but was apparently indifferent about the judgment of either Rebekah or Jehovah. Daring transgressors, like Esau, rather glory in their shame than feel abashed at their wickedness.
3. The way of sorrow. If not to himself, at least to his pious parents, this fresh matrimonial alliance could not fail to be a grief. The daughter of Ishmael was certainly better than a daughter of the Hittites, being almost as near a relative on Isaac's side as Rachel and Leah were on Rebekah's; but, unlike Rachel and Leah, who belonged to the old family stock (the Terachites) in Mesopotamia, Mahalath descended from a branch which had been removed from the Abrahamic tree.
Learn—
1. The care which pious parents should take to see their sons well married.
2. The piety which children should delight to show to their parents.
3. The connection which subsists between true religion and prosperity.
4. The inevitable tendency of sin to produce shame and sorrow.
5. The wickedness of violating God's law of marriage.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD
Life with, and life without, God.
The divergence of the two representative men is seen in this short statement of their marriage relations.
1. Domestic life under the blessing of God and apart from that blessing.
2. The true blessing is the blessing of Abraham, the blessing which God has already provided, promised, and secured.
3. The heir of the blessing must be sent away and learn by experience how to use it.
4. The disinherited man, who has scorned his opportunity, cannot recover it by his own devices. Esau is still Esau. Polygamy was suffered, but never had the blessing of God upon it.—R.