_ABRAHAM TAKES KETURAH TO WIFE: THE SONS OF KETURAH. ISAAC IS CONFIRMED IN THE INHERITANCE OF ABRAHAM'S PROPERTY: ABRAHAM DIES. THE SONS OF ISHMAEL: ISHMAEL DIES. REBEKAH BRINGS FORTH TWINS: ESAU SELLS HIS BIRTH-RIGHT TO JACOB._ _Before Christ 1853._... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THESE WERE THE CHILDREN, &C.— If we reckon these, and the Ishmaelites, and the Edomites, it is probable, that this posterity of Abraham equalled that of the Israelites. If Abraham's name and history were so well known in the East, and by the Persians, it might be partly by reason of this numerou... [ Continue Reading ]
AN OLD MAN, AND FULL— There is nothing for, _of years,_ in the Hebrew: the word is שׂבע _sabang, full, satiated, satisfied:_ having _completed_ the business of his life, and being _fully satisfied_ with it. Perhaps the metaphor is taken from an entertainment, where the guests, after they have fared... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WAS ABRAHAM BURIED, &C.— Here concludes the sacred history of Abraham. It is remarkable, that such was the veneration of a great part of the world for the memory of this venerable patriarch, that Jews, Arabians, and Indians, have united after their manner to embellish his history with numberle... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, &C.— Moses here enters upon the history of Isaac and Ishmael; and having just mentioned the _blessing,_ the spiritual blessing, continued to Isaac, he goes on to shew, that the temporal blessings promised to Ishmael were also fully accomplished.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THEIR TOWNS— Villages, composed of tents pitched together, Jeremiah 49:31. Some of these people however dwelt in walled towns. See Numbers 31:10. They had also _castles,_ fortified places, erected in the desarts, to which they repaired in time of danger, Isaiah 42:11 such castles are among them t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DIED IN THE PRESENCE— In the Hebrew it is, _he,_ or _it fell:_ some therefore think, that it refers to the lot or inheritance of Ishmael: _and his lot fell, or lay in the presence or midst of all his brethren._ The LXX and Onkelos render it, _he dwelt,_ agreeably to what is foretold, ch. Genesis... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS— i.e._._ This is the account of Isaac and his family.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN STRUGGLED, &C.— Instances of this kind have been recorded in prophane history. The exact _mode_ or _time_ of this struggling cannot be ascertained. Rebekah was alarmed at it, and said, "_Since this is so,_ or _as it is so,_ [that these children thus struggle in my womb,] _why am I thus?... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID, TWO NATIONS, &C.— We have in the prophecies delivered respecting these sons of Isaac, more ample proof of what has been before asserted, that these prophecies were meant not so much of single persons, as of whole nations and people descended from them: for what is predicted concer... [ Continue Reading ]
RED ALL OVER LIKE AN HAIRY GARMENT— With his head and body covered all over with a red hair, or down, like an _hairy_ garment; whence he was called _Esau,_ or _hairy,_ by his parents. _Jacob_ taking hold of his brother's heel was thence named _a supplanter,_ one _that trips up the heel,_ or _displac... [ Continue Reading ]
ISAAC WAS THREESCORE YEARS OLD, &C.— It has been asked, why God permitted Sarah and Rebekah to continue so long barren? To which it is answered, not only to prove and exercise the faith of these patriarchs, but to render the propagation of the _blessed_ Seed more remarkable. It prepared the way for... [ Continue Reading ]
ISAAC LOVED ESAU, &C.— Jacob was his mother's favourite; and it is not much to be wondered at, since the knew he was to inherit the blessing, see Genesis 25:23 which, by the way, gives us a key to all his subsequent behaviour. She could not forbear intrusting Jacob, it is probable, with the secret,... [ Continue Reading ]
JACOB SOD POTTAGE, &C.— This pottage was red, or yellowish, and made of lentils, Genesis 25:34 from AEgypt; a food highly prized by the ancients. By Esau's saying with so much eagerness, _give me_ that _red, red,_ as it is in the original, some suppose he knew what it was, while others conceive that... [ Continue Reading ]
SELL ME THY BIRTH-RIGHT— To judge rightly of the _profaneness_ of Esau, (Hebrews 12:16.) we must consider what rights were attached to primogeniture. Now these were, 1st, Pre-eminence over the rest of the family; 2nd, A double portion of the paternal inheritance; 3rdly, The priesthood; 4thly, The pa... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM AT THE POINT TO DIE, &C.— One cannot have a stronger picture of a profane, thoughtless sensualist, who, for a present momentary gratification, was willing to give up the most important spiritual blessings. His language was in the strain of the Epicureans, _Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we... [ Continue Reading ]
JACOB SAID, SWEAR, &C.— Jacob's conduct, however pious in other instances, is not to be justified in this particular; for he ought not to have taken advantage of his brother's necessity; and if he saw him profanely offering to sell the privileges of his birth-right, it was his duty to have dissuaded... [ Continue Reading ]