THE TÔLDÔTH ISAAC (Genesis 25:19 to Genesis 35:29). THE BIRTH OF ISAAC’S SONS. Abraham begat Isaac — The _Tôldôth_ in its original form gave probably a complete genealogy of Isaac, tracing up his descent to Shem, and showing thereby that the right of primogeniture belonged to him; but the inspired... [ Continue Reading ]
XXXV. JACOB RETURNS TO BETH-EL AND HEBRON. — DEATH OF ISAAC. (1) ARISE, GO UP TO BETH-EL. — The position of Jacob at Shechem had become dangerous; for though the first result of the high-handed proceeding of Simeon and Levi was to strike the natives with terror (Genesis 35:5), yet reprisals might fo... [ Continue Reading ]
STRANGE GODS. — Besides Rachel’s teraphim, many, probably, of the persons acquired by Jacob at Haran were idolaters, and had brought their gods with them. Besides these, the numerous men and women who formed the_”tafs_” of the Shechemites were certainly worshippers of false deities. The object, then... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO ANSWERED ME... — The narrative of Jacob’s life, and the detail of God’s providential care of him, would doubtless affect strongly the minds of his followers, and make them ready to abandon their idols, “and worship the God that was Israel’s God” (Genesis 33:20).... [ Continue Reading ]
EARRINGS. — Earrings seem to have been worn not so much for ornament as for superstitious purposes, being regarded as talismans or amulets. Hence it was from their earrings that Aaron made the golden calf (Exodus 32:2). THE OAK. — Not Abraham’s oak-grove (Genesis 12:6), referred to probably in Judg... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TERROR... — Heb., _a terror of God,_ that is, a very great terror (see Genesis 23:6; Genesis 30:8). But to the deeply religious mind of the Hebrew everything that was great and wonderful was the result of the direct working of the Deity. (But see Note on Genesis 48:22.)... [ Continue Reading ]
EL-BETH-EL. — That is, _the God of the house of God:_ the God into whose house he had been admitted, and seen there the wonders of His providence. GOD APPEARED. — The verb here, contrary to rule, is plural (see Note on Genesis 20:13), but the Samaritan Pentateuch has the singular. No argument can b... [ Continue Reading ]
DEBORAH. — As she was at Hebron with Rebekah when Jacob journeyed to Haran, he must have somehow gone thither before this, have seen his father, and told him of his fortunes. Apparently Rebekah was then dead, and Jacob brought back Deborah with him. (See Note on Genesis 33:18.) How dear she was to t... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE CAME OUT OF PADAN-ARAM. — The word “out” is not in the Hebrew, which says, _on his coming from_ — that is, on his arrival at Beth-el from Padan-aram. The insertion of the word “out” lends to a confusion with the revelation recorded in Genesis 31:3. At Beth-el Jacob, when going forth, had see... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD ALMIGHTY. — Heb., _El-shaddai,_ the name by which God had entered into the covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:1). A COMPANY. — Heb., _a congregation of nations._ (See Genesis 28:3, where it is “a congregation,” or church, “of peoples.”)... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD WENT UP FROM HIM. — This formula, used before in Genesis 17:22; Genesis 18:33, shows that this manifestation of God’s presence was more solemn than any of those previous occasions upon which the Deity had revealed Himself to Jacob. It was, in fact, the acknowledgment of the patriarch as the heir... [ Continue Reading ]
JACOB SET UP A PILLAR. — In doing this Jacob was imitating his previous action when God manifested Himself to him in his journey to Haran, Genesis 28:18. This consecration of it by pouring on it oil, and offering to God a drink-offering, was in itself natural and right. But as these memorial pillars... [ Continue Reading ]
JACOB CALLED... — See Genesis 28:19. The name had, of course, remained unknown and unused, as what then passed had been confined to Jacob’s own inward consciousness. He now teaches the name to his family, explains the reason why he first gave it, and requires them to employ it. But with so grand a b... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT A LITTLE WAY. — Heb., _and there was still a “chibrath” of land to come to Ephrath._ This word occurs four times in the Old Testament: here, in Genesis 48:7, in 2 Kings 5:19, and in Amos 9:9, where it is used in the sense of a _sieve._ Many of the Rabbins, therefore, translate “in the spring-tim... [ Continue Reading ]
BEN-ONI... BENJAMIN. — Rachel, in her dying moments, names her child _the son of my sorrow;_ for though _on_ has a double meaning, and is translated _strength_ in Genesis 49:3, yet, doubtless, her feeling was that the life of her offspring was purchased by her own pain and death. Jacob’s name, “son... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IS THE PILLAR OF RACHEL’S GRAVE UNTO THIS DAY. — This is a later addition, but whether inserted by Moses or Ezra we cannot tell. Its site was known in the days of Samuel (1 Samuel 10:2); and as the pillar would be a mass of unwrought stone, with which the natives would have no object in interfe... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TOWER OF EDAR. — Heb., _Eder._ Micah (Genesis 4:8) calls it “the hill of the daughter of Zion;” but the word used often means a beacon-hill, a hill on which a tower for observation is erected, wrongly translated in the Authorised Version _a stronghold._ The tower may, therefore, have been a few... [ Continue Reading ]
REUBEN. — Again another grief for Jacob to mar his return home, and this time it arises from the sin of his first-born, who thereby forfeits the birthright. It was the thought of these miseries, following upon his long years of exile, which made Jacob speak so sorrowfully of his experience of life b... [ Continue Reading ]
IN PADAN-ARAM. — The words are to be taken only generally, as Benjamin was born in Canaan.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CITY OF ARBAH, WHICH IS HEBRON. — Better rendered _Kirjath-arba_ in Genesis 23:2, where see Note.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAYS OF ISAAC WERE AN HUNDRED AND FOURSCORE YEARS. — As Isaac was sixty when his sons were born, Jacob was one hundred and twenty years of age at his father’s death, and one hundred and thirty when he appeared before Pharaoh (Genesis 47:9). Now, as Joseph was seventeen when sold into Egypt (Gene... [ Continue Reading ]
ESAU AND JACOB BURIED HIM. — Esau, who apparently still dwelt at Hebron until his father’s death, takes here the precedence as his natural right. But having in previous expeditions learnt the physical advantages of the land of Seir, and the powerlessness of the Horites to resist him, he gives up Heb... [ Continue Reading ]