Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

brought his reason into captivity to the obedience of faith. He did not question the truth of the word of God, which had been addressed to him in a mode that was to his mind perfectly infallible (not in a vision of the night, however, of which there is not a syllable in the text), but he stood firm in his faith, " accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead" Heb. xi. 19). Without taking counsel with flesh and blood, Abraham started early in the morning (vers. 3, 4), with his son Isaac and two servants, to obey the divine command; and on the third day (for the distance from Beersheba to Jerusalem is about 20^ hours; Rob. Pal. iii. App. 6Q, 67) he saw in the distance the place mentioned by God, the land of Moriah, i.e, the mountainous country round about Jerusalem. The name "^^l^, composed of the Hophal partic. of HNl and the divine name t^\ an abbreviation of njn^ (^Ht " the shown of Jehovah," equivalent to the manifestation of Jehovah), is no doubt used proleptically in ver. 2, and given to the mountain upon which the sacrifice was to be made, with direct reference to this event and the appearance of Jehovah to Abraham there. This is confirmed by ver. 14, where the name is connected with the event, and explained in the fuller expression Jehovah-jireh, On the ground of this passage the mountain upon which Solomon built the temple is called nj"]isn with reference to the appearance of the angel of the Lord to David on that mountain at the threshingfloor of Araunah (2 Sam. xxiv. 16, 17), the old name being revived by this appearance.

Ver. 5. When in sight of the distant mountain, Abraham left the servants behind with the ass, that he might perform the last and hardest part of the journey alone with Isaac, and, as he said to the servants, " worship yonder and then returnr The servants w^ere not to see what would take place there; for they could not understand this " worship," and the issue even to him, notwithstanding his saying " we will come again to you," was still invi)lved in the deepest obscurity. This last part of the journey is circumstantially described in vers. 6-8, to show how strong a conflict every step produced in the paternal heart of the patriarch. They go both together, he with the fire and the knife in his hand, and his son with the wood for the sacrifice upon his shoulder. Isaac asks his father, where is the lamb for the burntoffering; and the father replies, not " Thou wilt be it, my son,"

but " God (Elohim without the article — God as the all-pervading supreme power) will provide it; " for he will not and cannot yet communicate the divine command to his son. Non vult Jilium macerare longa cnice et tentatione (^Luther). — Vers. 9, 10. Having arrived at the appointed place, Abraham built an altar, arranged the wood upon it, bound his son and laid him upon the wood of the altar, and then stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. — ^Vers. 11 sqq. In this eventful moment, when Isaac lay bound like a lamb upon the altar, about to receive the fatal stroke, the angel of the Lord called down from heaven to Abraham to stop, and do his son no harm. For the Lord now knew that Abraham was Q"**?^. i^T. God-fearing, and that his obedience of faith did extend even to the sacrifice of his own beloved son. The sacrifice was already accomplished in his heart, and he had fully satisfied the requirements of God. He was not to slay his son: therefore God prevented the outward fulfilment of the sacrifice by an immediate interposition, and showed him a ram, which he saw, probably being led to look round through a rustling behind him, with its horns fast in a thicket pn^ adv. behind, in the background); and as an offering provided by God Himself, he sacrificed it instead of his son. — Ver. 14. From this interposition of God, Abraham called the place Jehovah-jireh, *' Jehovah sees," Le, according to ver. 8, provides^ providet; so that p^^, as in chap. xiii. 16, is equivalent to jS?y, x. 9) men are still accustomed to say, " On the mountain where Jehovah appeo.rs^^ (•^^T)? ^rom which the name Moriah arose. The rendering " on the mount of Jehovah it is provided" is not allowable, for the Niphal of the verb does not mean provideri, but " appear." Moreover, in this case the medium of God's seeing or interposition was His appearing. — Vers. 15-19. After Abraham had offered the ram, the angel of the Lord called to him a second time from heaven, and with a solemn oath renewed the former promises, as a reward for this proof of his obedience of faith (cf. xii. 2, 3). To confirm their unchangeableness, Jehovah swore by Himself (cf. Heb. vi. 13 sqq.), a thing which never occurs again in His intercourse with the patriarchs; so that subsequently not only do we find repeated references to this oath (chap. xxiv. 7, xxvi. 3, I. 24; Ex. xiii. 5, 1a, xxxili. 1, etc.), but, as Luther observes, all that is said in Ps. Ixxxix. 36, cxxxii. 11, ex. 4 respecting the oath given to David, is founded upon this. JSicut enim promissio seminis AbrahcB derivata est in semen Davidis, ita Scriptura S.jusjurandum Abrahce datum in personam Davidis transfert. For in the promise upon which these psalms are based nothing is said about an oath (cf. 2 Sam. vii.; 1 Chron. xvii.). The declaration on oath is still further confirmed by the addition of ^'i^^ DW ^^ edict {Ausspruch) of Jehovah,^ which, frequently as it occurs in the prophets, is met with in the Pentateuch only in Num. xiv. 28, and (without Jehovah) in the oracles of Balaam, Num. xxiv. 3, 15, 16. As the promise was intensified in form, so was it also in substance. To express the innumerable multiplication of the seed in the strongest possible way, a comparison with the sand of the sea-shore is added to the previous simile of the stars. And this seed is also promised the possession of the gate of its enemies, Le, the conquest of the enemy and the capture of his cities (cf. xxiv. 60).

This glorious result of the test so victoriously stood by Abraham, not only sustains the historical character of the event itself, but shows in the clearest manner that the trial was necessary to the patriarch's life of faith, and of fundamental importance to his position in relation to the history of salvation. The question, whether the true God could demand a human sacrifice, was settled by the fact that God Himself prevented the completion of the sacrifice; and the difficulty, that at any rate God contradicted Himself, if He first of all demanded a sacrifice and then prevented it from being offered, is met by the significant interchange of the names of God, since God, who commanded Abraham to offer up Isaac, is called Ha-Elohim, whilst the actual completion of the sacrifice is prevented by " the angel of Jehovah," who is identical with Jehovah Himself. The sacrifice of the heir, who had been both promised and bestowed, was demanded neither by Jehovah, the God of salvation or covenant God, who had given Abraham this only son as the heir of the promise, nor by Elohim, God as creator, who has the power to give life and take it away, but by Ha-Elohim, the true God, whom Abraham had acknowledged and adored as his personal God, and with whom he had entered into a personal relation. Coming from the true God whom Abraham served, the demand could have no other object than to purify and sanctify the feelings of the patriarch's heart towards his son and towards bis God, in accordance with the great purpose of his call. It was designed to purify his love to the son of his body from all the dross of carnal self-love and natural selfishness which might still adhere to it, and so to transform it into love to God, from whom he had received him, that he should no longer love the beloved son as his flesh and blood, but simply and solely as a gift of grace, as belonging to his God, — a trust committed to him, which he should be ready at any moment to give back to God. As he had left his country, kindred, and father's house at the call of God (xii. 1), so was he in his walk with God cheerfully to offer up even his only son, the object of all his longing, the hope of his life, the joy of his old age. And still more than this, not only did he possess and love in Isaac the heir of his possessions (xv. 2), but it was upon him that all the promises of God rested: in Isaac should his seed be called (xxi. 12). By the demand that he should sacrifice to God this only son of his wife Sarah, in whom his seed was to grow into a multitude of nations (xvii. 4, 6, 16), the divine promise itself seemed to be cancelled, and the fulfilment not only of the desires of his heart, but also of the repeated promises of his God, to be frustrated. And by this demand his faith was to be perfected into unconditional trust in God, into the firm assurance that God could even raise him up from the dead. — But this trial was not only one of significance to Abraham, by perfecting him, through the conquest of flesh and blood, to be the father of the faithful, the progenitor of the Church of God; Isaac also was to be prepared and sancti fied by it for his vocation in connection with the history of salvation. In permitting himself to be bound and laid upon the altar without resistance, he gave up his natural life to death, to rise to a new life through the grace of God. On the altar he was sanctified to God, dedicated as the first beginning of the holy Church of God, and thus '' the dedication of the first-born, which was afterwards enjoined in the law, was perfectly fulfilled in him." If therefore the divine command exhibits in the most impressive way the earnestness of the demand of God upon His people to sacrifice all to Him, not excepting the dearest of their possessions (cf. Matt. x. 37, and Luke xiv. 26); the issue of the trial teaches that the true God does not demand a literal human sacrifice from His worshippers, but the spiritual sacrifice of an unconditional denial of the natural life, even to submission to death itself. By the sacrifice of a ram as a burnt-offering in the place of his son, under divine direction, not only was animal sacrifice substituted for human, and sanctioned as an acceptable symbol of spiritual self-sacrifice, but the offering of human sacrifices by the heathen was condemned and rejected as an ungodly ideXoOprjaKCLa. And this was done by Jehovah, the God of salvation, who prevented the outward completion of the sacrifice. By this the event acquires prophetic importance for the Church of the Lord, to which the place of sacrifice points with peculiar clearness, viz. Mount Moriah, upon which under the legal economy all the typical sacrifices were offered to Jehovah; upon which also, in the fulness of time, God the Father gave up His only-begotten Son as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, that by this one true sacrifice the shadows of the typical sacrifices might be rendered both real and true. If therefore the appointment of Moriah as the scene of the sacrifice of Isaac, and the offering of a ram in his stead, were primarily only typical in relation to the significance and intent of the Old Testament institution of sacrifice; this type already pointed to the antitype to appear in the future, when the eternal love of the heavenly Father would perform what it had demanded of Abraham; that is to say, when God would not spare His only Son, but give Him up to the real death, which Isaac suffered only in spirit, that we also might die with Christ spiritually, and rise with Him to everlasting life (Rom. viii. 32, vi. 5, etc.).

Vers. 20-24. Descendants of Nahor. — With the sacrifice of Isaac the test of Abraham's faith was now complete, and the purpose of his divine calling answered: the history of his life, therefore, now hastens to its termination. But first of all there is introduced quite appropriately an account of the family of his brother Nahor, which is so far in place immediately after the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, that it prepares the way for the history of the marriage of the heir of the promise. The connection is pointed out in ver. 20, as compared with chap. xi. 29, in the expression, " she also" Nahor, like Ishmael and Jacob, had twelve sons, eight by his wife Milcah and four by his concubine; whereas Jacob had his by two wives and two maids, and Ishmael apparently all by one wife. This difference with regard to the mothers proves that the agreement as to the number twelve rests upon a good historical tradition, and is no product of a later myth, which traced to Nahor the same number of tribes as to Ishmael and Jacob. For it is a perfectly groundless assertion or assumption, that Nahor's twelve sons were the fathers of as many tribes. There are only a few names, of which it is probable that their bearers were the founders of tribes of the same name. On Uz, see chap. x. 23. Buz is mentioned in Jer. xxv. 23 along with Dedan and Tema as an Arabian tribe; and Elihu was a Buzite of the family of Ram (Job xxxii. 2). Kemuel, the father of Arain, was not the founder of the Aramaeans, but the forefather of the family of Bam, to which the Buzite Elihu belonged, — Aram being written for Eam, like Arammim in 2 Kings viii. 29 for Rammim in 2 Chron. xxii. 5. Chesed again was not the father of the Chasdim (Chaldeans), for they were older than Chesed; at the most he was only the founder of one branch of the Chasdim, possibly those who stole Job's camels (Knohel; vid. Job i. 17). Of the remaining names, Bethuel was not the founder of a tribe, but the father of Laban and Rebekah (chap. xxv. 20). The others are never met with again, with the exception of Maachah, from whom probably the Maachites (Deut. iii. 14; Josh. xii. 5) in the land of Maacah, a small Arabian kingdom in the time of David (2 Sam. x. 6, 8; 1 Chron. xix. 6), derived their origin and name; though Maachah frequently occurs as the name of a person (1 Kings ii. 39; 1 Chron. xi. 43, xxvii. 16).

Vers. 1, 2. Sarah is the only woman whose age is mentioned in the Scriptures, because as the mother of the promised seed she became the mother of all believers (1 Pet. iii. 6). She died at the age of 127, thirty-seven years after the birth of Isaac, at Hebron, or rather in the grove of Mamre near that city (xiii. 18), whither Abraham had once more returned after a lengthened stay at Beersheba (xxii. 19). The name Kirjath Arba, Le. the city of Arba, which Hebron bears here and also in chap. xxxv. 27, and other passages, and which it still bore at the time of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites (Josh. xiv. 15), was not the original name of the city, but was first given to it by Arba the Anakite and his family, who had not yet arrived there in the time of the patriarchs. It was probably given by them when they took possession of the city, and remained until the Israelites captured it and restored the original name. The place still exists, as a small town on the road from Jerusalem to Beersheba, in a valley surrounded by several mountains, and is called by the Arabs, with allusion to Abraham's stay there, el Khalily i.e. the friend (of God), which is the title given to Abraham by the Mohammedans. The clause " in the land of Canaan'^ denotes, that not only did Sarah die in the land of promise, but Abraham as a foreigner acquired a burialplace by purchase there. ''And Abraham came^^ (not from Beersheba, but from the field where he may have been with the flocks), ''to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her,^ i,e. to arrange for the customary mourning ceremony.

Vers. 3-16. He then went to the Hittites, the lords and possessors of the city and its vicinity at that time, to procure from them " a possession of a burying-place." The negotiations were carried on in the most formal style, in a public assembly " of the people of the land," i.e. of natives (ver. 7), in the gate of the city (ver. 10). As a foreigner and sojourner, Abraham presented his request in the most courteous manner to all the citizens ( " all that went in at the gate," vers. 10, 18; a phrase interchangeable with "all that went out at the gate," chap, xxxiv. 24, and those who " go out and in," Jer. xvii. 19). The citizens with the greatest readiness and respect offered "the prince of God," i.e. the man exalted by God to the rank of a prince, " the choice " ("''^?^, i*e, the most select) of their graves for his use (ver. 6). But Abraham asked them to request Ephron, who, to judge from the expression " his city " in ver. 10, was then ruler of the city, to give him for a possession the cave of Machpelah, at the end of his field, of which he was the owner, " for full silver," i.e. for its full worth. Ephron thereupon offered to make him a present of both field and cave. This was a turn in the affair which is still customary in the East; the design, so far as it is seriously meant at all, being either to obtain a present in return which will abundantly compensate for the value of the gift, or, what is still more frequently the case, to preclude any abatement in the price to be asked. The same design is evident in the peculiar form in which Ephron stated the price, in reply to Abraham's repeated declaration that he was determined to buy the piece of land: " a piece of land of 400 shekels of silver, what is that between me and thee" (ver. 15)? Abraham understood it so (V^^] ver. 16), and weighed him the price demanded. The shekel of silver " current with the merchant," i.e. the shekel which passed in trade as of standard weight, was 274 Parisian grains, so that the price of the piece of land was £52, 10s.; a very considerable amount for that time.

Vers. 17-20. ''Thus arose (^i^*!) the field... to Abraham for a possession;^^ i.e. it wsis conveyed to him in all due legal form. The expression " the field of Ephron which is at Machpelah " may be explained, according to ver. 9, from the fact that the cave of Machpelah was at the end of the field, the field, therefore, belonged to it. In ver. 19 the shorter form, ^' cave of Machpelah," occurs; and in ver. 20 the field is distinguished from the cave. The name Machpelah is translated by the LXX. as a common noun, to airrfKaLov to BlttXovv, from n^BDlO doubling; but it had evidently grown into a proper name, since it is used not only of the cave, but of the adjoining field also (chap. xlix. 30, 1. 13), though it undoubtedly originated in the form of the cave. The cave was before, i.e. probably to the east of, the grove of Mamre, which was in the district of Hebron. This description cannot be reconciled with the tradition, which identifies Mamre and the cave with Harriet el Khalil, where the strong foundation-walls of an ancient heathen temple (according to Rosenmiiller's conjecture, an Idumsean one) are still pointed out as Abraham's house, and where a very old terebinth stood in the early Christian times; for this is an hour's journey to the north of modern Hebron, and even the ancient Hebron cannot have stretched so far over the mountains which separate the modem city from Rameh, but must also, according to chap, xxxvii. 14, have been situated in the valley (see Robinson's later Biblical Researches, pp. 365 sqq.). There is far greater probability in the Mohammedan tradition, that the Harem, built of colossal blocks with grooved edges, which stands on the western slope of the Geabireh mountain, in the north-western portion of the present town, contains hidden within it the cave of Machpelah with the tomb of the patriarchs (cf. Rohinsorij Pal. ii. 435 sqq.); and Rosen, is induced to look for Mamre on the eastern slope of the Rumeidi hill, near to the remarkable well Ain el Jedid, — Ver. 20. The repetition of the statement, that the field with the cave in it was conveyed to Abraham by the Hittites for a burialplace, which gives the result of the negotiation that has been described with, so to speak, legal accuracy, shows the great importance of the event to the patriarch. The fact that Abraham purchased a burying-place in strictly legal form as an hereditary possession in the promised land, was a proof of his strong faith in the promises of God and their eventual fulfilment. In this grave Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, were buried; there Jacob buried Leah; and there Jacob himself requested that he might be buried, thus declaring his faith in the promises, even in the hour of his death.

Vers. 1-9. After the death of Sarah, Abraham had still to arrange for the marriage of Isaac. He was induced to provide for this in a mode in harmony with the promise of God, quite as much by his increasing age as by the blessing of God in everything, which necessarily instilled the wish to transmit that blessing to a distant posterity. He entrusted this commission to his servant, " the eldest of his house," — i,e. his upper servant, who had the management of all his house (according to general opinion, to Eliezer, whom he had previously thought of as the heir of his property, but who would now, like Abraham, be extremely old, as more than sixty years had passed since the occurrence related in chap. xv. 2), — and made him swear that he would not take a wife for his son from the daughters of the Canaanites, but would fetch one from his (Abraham's) native country, and his kindred. Abraham made the servant take an oath in order that his wishes might be inviolably fulfilled, even if he himself should die in the interim. In swearing, the servant put his hand under Abraham's hip. This custom, which is only mentioned here and in chap, xlvii. 29, the so-called bodily oath, was no doubt connected with the significance of the hip as the part from which the posterity issued (xlvi. 26), and the seat of vital power; but the early Jewish commentators supposed it to be especially connected with the rite of circumcision. The oath was by ''Jehovah^ God of heaven and earth," as the God who rules in heaven and on earth, not by EloJiim; for it had respect not to an ordinary oath, but to a question of great importance in relation to the kingdom of God. " Isaac was not regarded as a merely pious candidate for matrimony, but as the heir of the promise, who must therefore be kept from any alliance with the race whose possessions were to come to his descendants, and which was ripening for the judgment to be executed by those descendants" (^Ilengstenberg, Dissertations i. 350). For this reason the rest of the negotiation was all conducted in th(* name of Jehovah. — Vers. 5 sqq. Before taking the oath, the servant asks whether, in case no woman of their kindred would follow him to Canaan, Isaac was to be conducted to the land of his fathers. But Abraham rejected the proposal, because Jehovah took him from his father's house, and had promised him the land of Canaan for a possession. He also discharged the servant, if that should be the case, from the oath which he had taken, in the assurance that the Lord through His angel would bring a wife to his son from thence.

Vers. 10-28. The servant then went, with ten camels and things of every description belonging to his master, into Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor, i.e. Haran, where Nahor dwelt (xi. 31, and xii. 4). On his arrival there, he made the camels kneel down, or rest, without the city by the well, " at the time of evening, the time at which the women come out to draw water, ^^ and at which, now as then, women and girls are in the habit of fetching the water required for the house (vid, RohinsorHs Palestine ii. 368 sqq.). He then prayed to Jehovah, the God of Abraham, " Let there come to meet me to-day ^^ sc, the person desired, the object of my mission. He then fixed upon a sign connected with the custom of the country, by the occurrence of which he might decide upon the maiden pysn puella, used in the Pentateuch for both sexes, except in Deut. xxii. 19, where nnp occurs) whom Jehovah had indicated as the wife appointed for His servant Isaac, n^pii^ (ver. 14) to set right, then to point out as right; not merely to appoint. He had scarcely ended his prayer when his request was granted. Rebekah did just what he had fixed upon as a token, not only giving him to drink, but offering to water his camels, and with youthful vivacity carrying out her promise. Niehuhr met with similar kindness in those regions (see also Hobinson, Pal. ii. 351, e''^.). The servant did not give himself blindly up to first impressions, however, but tested the circumstances. — Yer. 21. " The ma?i, wondering at her J stood silent^ to know whether Jehovah had made his journey prosperous or notV nNfiro, from HKC' to be desert, inwardly laid waste, Le. confused. Others derive it from hnk^ = nytj^ to see; but in the Hithpael this verb signifies to look restlessly about, which is not applicable here. — Vers. 22 sqq. After the watering of the camels was over, the man took a golden nosering of the weight of a beka, i.e. half a shekel (Ex. xxxviii. 26), and two golden armlets of 10 shekels weight, and (as we find from vers. 30 and 47) placed these ornaments upon her, not as a bridal gift, but in return for her kindness. He then asked her about her family, and whether there was room in her father's house for him and his attendants to pass the night there; and it was not till after Eebekah had told him that she was the daughter of Bethuel, the nephew of Abraham, and had given a most cheerful assent to his second question, that he felt sure that this was the wife appointed by Jehovah for Isaac. He then fell down and thanked Jehovah for His grace and truth, whilst Rebekah in the meantime had hastened home to relate all that had occurred to " her mothers house^^ i.e. to the female portion of her family, ^pn the condescending love, riD5< the truth which God had displayed in the fulfilment of His promise, and here especially manifested to him in bringing him to the home of his master's relations.

Vers. 29-54. As soon as Jjaban her brother had seen the splendid presents and heard her account, he hurried out to the stranger at the well, to bring him to the house with his attendants and animals, and to show to him the customary hospitality of the East. The fact that Laban addressed him as the blessed of Jehovah (ver. 31), may be explained from the words of the servant, who had called his master's God Jehovah. The servant discharged his commission before he partook of the food set before him (the Kethibh Qt^^^i in ver. 33 is the imperf, Kal of Db'^^DlK^); and commencing with his master's possessions and family affairs, he described with the greatest minuteness his search for a wife, and the success which he had thus far met with, and then (in ver. 49) pressed his suit thus: " And noWy if ye will show kindness and truth to my lordj tell me; and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand or to the lefty^ sc, to seek in other families a wife for Isaac. — Ver. 50. Laban and Bethuel recognised in this the guidance of God, and said, " From Jehovah (the God of Abraham) the thing proceedeth; zve cannot speak unto thee bad or good,* i.e. cannot add a word, cannot alter anything (Num. xxiv. 13; 2 Sam. xiii. 22). That Rebekah's brother Laban should have taken part with her father in deciding, was in accordance with the usual custom (cf. xxxiv. 5, 11, 25, Judg. xxi. 22, 2 Sam. xiii. 22), which may have arisen from the prevalence of polygamy, and the readiness of the father to neglect the children (daughters) of the wife he cared for least. — Ver. 52. After receiving their assent, the servant first of all offered thanks to Jehovah with the deepest reverence; he then gave the remaining presents to the bride, and to her relations (brother and mother); and after everything was finished, partook of the food provided.

Vers. 54-60. The next morning he desired at once to set off on the journey home; but her brother and mother wished to keep her with them 'y\^V iX D""©^, ^^ some days^ or rather ten;** but when she was consulted, she decided to go, sc, without delay. ^' Then they sent away Rebehah their sister (Laban being chiefly considered, as the leading person in the affair) and her nurse " (Deborah; Ch. xxxv. 8), with the parting wish that she might become the mother of an exceedingly numerous and victorious posterity. '^Become thousands of myriads** is a hyperbolical expression for an innumerable host of children. The second portion of the blessing (ver. 605) is almost verbatim the same as chap. xxii. 17, but is hardly borrowed thence, as the thought does not contain anything specifically connected with the history of salvation.

Vers. 61-67. When the caravan arrived in Canaan with Rebekah and her maidens, Isaac had just come from going to the well Lahai-Eoi (xvi. 14), as he was then living in the south country; and he went towards evening (^"^V ^^^??, at the turning, coming on, of the evening, Deut. xxiii. 12) to the field " to meditate." It is impossible to determine whether Isaac had been to the well of Hagar which called to mind the omnipresence of God, and there, in accordance with his contemplative character, had laid the question of his marriage before the Lord (Delitzsch), or whether he had merely travelled thither to look after his flocks and herds {Knobel). But the object of his going to the jield to meditate, was undoubtedly to lay the question of his marriage before God in solitude, ^^y meditarij is rendered " to pray " in the Chaldee, and by Luther and others, with substantial correctness. The caravan arrived at the time; and Rebekah, as soon as she saw the man in the field coming to meet them, sprang (PBJ signifying a hasty descent, 2 Kings v. 21) from the camel to receive him, according to Oriental custom, in the most respectful manner. She then inquired the name of the man; and as soon as she heard that it was Isaac, she enveloped herself in her veil, as became a bride when meeting the bridegroom. ^W, Oipia-Tpov, the cloak-like veil of Arabia (see my Archdologie, § 103, 5). The servant then related to Isaac the result of his journey; and Isaac conducted the maiden, who had been brought to him by God, into the tent of Sarah his mother, and she became his wife, and he loved her, and was consoled after his mother, i.e, for his mother's death. •^Jp^'J with n local, in the construct state, as in chap. xx. 1, xxviii. 2, etc.; and in addition to that, with the article prefixed (cf. Ges, Gram, § 110, 25c).

Abraham's marriage to keturah — his death and burial. — chap. xxv.

Vers. 1-4. Abraham's marriage to Keturah is generally supposed to have taken place after Sarah's death, and his power to beget six sons at so advanced an age is attributed to the fact, that the Almighty had endowed him with new vital and reproductive energy for begetting the son of the promise. But there is no firm ground for this assumption; as it is not stated anywhere, that Abraham did not take Keturah as his wife till after Sarah's death. It is merely an inference drawn from the fact, that it is not mentioned till afterwards; and it is taken for granted that the history is written in strictly chronological order. But this supposition is precarious, and is not in harmony with the statement, that Abraham sent away the sons of the concubines with gifts during his own lifetime; for in the case supposed, the youngest of Keturah's sons would not have been more than twenty-five or thirty years old at Abraham's death; and in those days, when marriages were not generally contracted before the fortieth year, this seems too young for them to have been sent away from their father's house. This difficulty, however, is not decisive. Nor does the fact that Keturah is called a concubine in ver. 6, and 1 Chron. i. 32, necessarily show that she was cotemporary with Sarah, but may be explained on the ground that Abraham did not place her on the same footing as Sarah, his sole wife, the mother of the promised seed. Of the sons and grandsons of Keturah, who are mentioned in 1 Chron. i. 32 as well as here, a few of the names may still be found among the Arabian tribes, but in most instances the attempt to trace them is very questionable. This remark applies to the identification of Zimran with Za^pdfi (Ptol. vi. 7, 5), the royal city of the KivaihoKokTrlraL to the west of Mecca, on the Red Sea; of Jokshan with the KaaaavlTaL, on the Red Sea (Ptol. vi. 7, 6), or with the Himyaritish tribe of Jakish in Southern Arabia; of Ishhak with the name Shobek, a place in the Edomitish country first mentioned by Ahulfeda; of Shuahvfiih the tribe Syayhe to the east of Aila, or with Szyhhan in Northern Edom (Burckhardly Syr. 692, 693, and 945), although the epithet the Shuhite, applied to Bildad, points to a place in Northern Idumaea. There is more plausibility in the comparison of Medan and Midian with Mohidva on the eastern coast of the Elanitic Gulf, and MaBidva, a tract to the north of this (Ptol. vi. 7, 2, 27; called by Arabian geographers Madyan, a city five days' journey to the south of Aila). The relationship of these two tribes will explain the fact, that the Midianim, chap, xxxvii. 28, are called Medanim in ver. 36. — Ver. 3. Of the sons of Jokshan, Sheba was probably connected with the SabaBans, who are associated in Job vi. 19 with Temuy are mentioned in Job i. 15 as having stolen Job's oxen and asses, and, according to Strabo (xvi. 779), were neighbours of the Nabatgeans in the vicinity of Syria. Dedan was probably the trading people mentioned in Jer. xxv. 23 along with Tema and Bus (Isa. xxi. 13; Jer. xlix. 8), in the neighbourhood of Edom (Ezek. xxv. 13), with whom the tribe of Banu Dudan, in Hejas, has been compared. On their relation to the Cushites of the same name, vid» chap. x. 7 and 28. — Of the sons of Dedan, the Asshurim have been associated with the warlike tribe of the Asir to the south of Hejas, the Letushim with the Baiiu Leits in Hejas, and the Leummim with the tribe of the Banu Ldm^ which extended even to Babylon and Mesopotamia. Of the descendants of Midian, Ephah is mentioned in Isa. Ix. 6, in connection with Midian, as a people trading in gold and incense. Ephrr has been compared with the

Banu Gifar in Hejas; Hanoch, with the place called Ilanakye, three days* journey to the north of Medinah; AhidaJi and Eldaah, with the tribes of Abide and Vadaa in the neighbourhood of Asir. But all this is very uncertain.

Vers. 5-11. Before his death, Abraham made a final disposition of his property. Isaac, the only son of his marriage with Sarah, received all his possessions. The sons of the concubines (Hagar and Keturah) were sent away with presents from their father's house into the east country, i.e, Arabia in the widest sense, to the east and south-east of Palestine. — Vers. 7, 8. Abraham died at the good old age of 175, and was ^'gathered to his people.*^ This expression, which is synonymous with " going to his fathers'' (xv. 15), or "being gathered to his fathers" (Judg. ii. 10), but is constantly distinguished from departing this life and being buried, denotes the reunion in Sheol with friends who have gone before, and therefore presupposes faith in the personal continuance of a man after death, as a presentiment which the promises of God had exalted in the case of the patriarchs into a firm assurance of faith (Heb. xi. 13). — Vers. 9, 10. The burial of the patriarch in the cave of Machpelah was attended to by Isaac and Ishmael; since the latter, although excluded from the blessings of the covenant, was acknowledged by God as the son of Abraham by a distinct blessing (xvii. 20), and was thus elevated above the sons of Keturah. — Ver. 11. After Abraham's death the blessing was transferred to Isaac, who took up his abode by Hagar's well, because he had already been there, and had dwelt in the south country (xxiv. 62). The blessing of Isaac is traced to JElohim, not to Jehovah; because it referred neither exclusively nor pre-eminently to the gifts of grace connected with the promises of salvation, but quite gene:.lly to the inheritance of earthly possessions, which Isaac had received from his father.

To show that the promises of God, which had been made to Ishmael (chap. xvi. 10 sqq. and xvii. 20), were fulfilled, a short account is given of his descendants; and according to the settled plan of Genesis, this account precedes the history of Isaac. This is evidently the intention of the list which follows of the twelve sons of Ishmael, who are given as princes of the tribes which sprang from them. Nebajoth and Kedar are mentioned in Isa. Ix. 7 as rich possessors of flocks, and, according to the current opinion which Wetzstein disputes, are the Nabatcei et Cedrei of Pliny (h. n. 5, 12). The Nabatceans held possession of Arabia Petrcea, with Petra as their capital, and subsequently extended toward the south and north-east, probably as far as Babylon; so that the name was afterwards transferred to all the tribes to the east of the Jordan, and in the Nabataean writings became a common name for Chaldeans (ancient Babylonians), Syrians, Canaanites, and others. The Kedarenes are mentioned in Isa. xxi. 17 as good bowmen. They dwelt in the desert between Arabia Petrsea and Babylon (Isa. xlii. 11; Ps. cxx. 5). According to Wetzstein^ they are to be found in the nomad tribes of Arabia Petraea up to Harra. The name Dumahy AovfjLeOa, AovfiaiOa (Ptol. v. 19, 7, Steph, Byz.), Domata (Plin. 6, 32), has been retained in the modern Dumat el Jendel in Nejd, the Arabian highland, four days' journey to the north of Taima. — Tema: sl trading people (Job vi. 19; Isa. xxi. 14; mentioned in Jer. xxv. 23, between Dedan and Bus) in the land of Taima, on the border of Nejd and the Syrian desert. According to Wetzstein, Duma and Tema are still two important places in Eastern Hauran, three-quarters of an hour apart. Jetur and Naphish were neighbours of the tribes of Israel to the east of the Jordan (1 Chron. v. 19), who made war upon them along with the Hagrites, the Aypaloi of Ptol. and Strabo. From Jetur sprang the Iturceans, who lived, according to Strabo, near the Trachonians in an almost inaccessible, mountainous, and cavernous country; according to Wetsztein, in the mountains of the Druses in the centre of the Hauran, possibly the forefathers of the modem Druses. Tlie other names are not yet satisfactorily determined. For Adbeel, Mibsam, and Kedma, the Arabian legends give no corresponding names. Mishma is associated by Knohel with the MaL(TaifjLavel<^ of Ptol. vi. 7, 21, to the N.E. of Medina; Massa with the Maa-avoi on the N.E. of Duma; Hadad (the proper reading for Hadar^ according to 1 Chron. i. 30, the LXX., Sam., Masor., and most MSS.) with the Arabian coast land, Chaththy between Oman and Bahrein, a district renowned for its lancers {XarTrjvia, Polyh.; Attene, Plin.). — Ver. 16. These are the Ishmaelites "in their villages and encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes,^^ "ijfn: premises hedged round, then a village without a wall in contrast with a walled town (Lev. xxv. 31). HTtp: a circular encampment of tents, the tent village of the Dudr of the Bedouins. niDKj here and Num. xxv. 15, is not used of nations, but of the tribe-divisions or single tribes of the Ishmaelites and Midianites, for which the word had apparently become a technical term among them. — Vers. 17, 18. Ishmael died at the age of 137, and his descendants dwelt in Havilah~z.g. according to chap. X. 29, the country of the Chauloiceans, on the borders of Arabia Petrsea and Felix — as far as Shur (the desert of Jifar, xvi. 7) to the east of Egypt, " in the direction of Assyria." Havilah and Shur therefore formed the south-eastern and south-western boundaries of the territories of the Ishmaelites, from which they extended their nomadic excursions towards the N.E. as far as the districts under Assyrian rule, i.e. to the lands of the Euphrates, traversing the whole of the desert of Arabia, or (as Josephus says. Ant. i. 12, 4) dwelling from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. Thus, according to the announcement of the angel, Ishmael " encamped in the presence of all his brethren." ^23 J to throw one's self, to settle down, with the subordinate idea of keeping by force the place you have taken (Judg. vii. 12y. Luther wavers between corruitj vel cecidit, vel fixit tabemaculum.

According to the plan of Genesis, the history (tholedoth) of Isaac commences with the birth of his sons. But to give it the character of completeness in itself, Isaac's birth and marriage are mentioned again in vers. 19, 20, as well as his age at the time of his marriage. The name given to the country of Rebekah (ver. 20) and the abode of Laban in chap, xxviii. 2, 6, 7, xxxi. 18, xxxiii. 18, xxxv. 9, 26, xlvi. 15, wiz. Padaii- Aram, or more concisely Pac?an (chap, xlviii. 7), "the flat, or flat land of Aratn," for which Hosea uses " the field of Aram" (Hos. xii. 12), is not a peculiar expression employed by the Elohist, or in the so-called foundation-work, for Aram Naharaim, Mesopotamia (chap. xxiv. 10), but a more exact description of one particular district of Mesopotamia, viz. of the large plain, surrounded by mountains, in which the town of Haran w^as situated. The name was apparently transferred to the town itself afterwards. The history of Isaac consists of two stages: (1) the period of his active life, from his marriage and the birth of his sons till the departure of Jacob for Mesopotamia (xxv. 20-xxviii. 9); and (2) the time of his suffering endurance in the growing infirmity of age, when the events of Jacob's life form the leading feature of the still further expanded history of salvation (chap, xxviii. 10-xxxv. 29). This suffering condition, which lasted more than 40 years, reflected in a certain way the historical position which Isaac held in the patriarchal triad, as a passive rather than active link between Abraham and Jacob; and even in the active period of his Hfe many of the events of Abraham's history were repeated in a modified form.

The name Jehovah prevails in the historical development of the tholedoth of Isaac, in the same manner as in that of Terah; although, on closer examination of the two, we find, first, that in this portion of Genesis the references to God are less frequent than in the earlier one; and secondly, that instead of the name Jehovah occurring more frequently than Elohim, the name Elohim predominates in this second stage of the history.

The first difference arises from the fact, that the historical matter furnishes less occasion for the introduction of the name of God, just because the revelations of God are more rare, since the appearances of Jehovah to Isaac and Jacob together are not so numerous as those to Abraham alone. The second may be explained partly from the fact, that Isaac and Jacob did not perpetually stand in such close and living faith in Jehovah as Abraham, and partly also from the fact, that the previous revelations of God gave rise to other titles for the covenant God, such as " God of Abraham," " God of my father," etc., which could be used in the place of the name Jehovah (cf. chap. xxvi. 24, xxxi. 5, 42, xxxv. 1, 3, and the remarks on chap. xxxv. 9).

Vers. 21-26. Isaac's marriage, like Abraham's, was for a long time unfruitful; not to extreme old age, however, but only for 20 years. The seed of the promise was to be prayed for from the Lord, that it might not be regarded merely as a fruit of nature^ but be received and recognised as a gift of grace. At the same time Isaac was to be exercised in the patience of faith in the promise of God. After this lengthened test, Jehovah heard his prayer in relation to his wife. ^3137, ver. 21 and chap* xxx. 38, lit opposite to, so that the object is before the eyes, has been well explained by Luther thus: quod toto pectore et intentus in calamitatem uxoris oraverit. Sicut quando oro pro aliquo, propono ilium mihi in conspectum cordis mei, et nihil aliud video aut cogito; in eum solum animo intueor. — Vers. 22, 23. When Hebekah conceived, the children struggled together in her womb. In this she saw an evil omen, that the pregnancy so long desired and entreated of Jehovah would bring misfortune, and that the fruit of her womb might not after all secure the blessing of the divine promise; so that in intense excitement she cried out, ^^Ifit be so, wherefore am If" i,e. why am I alive? cf. chap, xxvii. 46. But she sought counsel from God: she went to inquire of Jehovah. Where and how she looked for a divine revelation in the matter, is not recorded, and therefore cannot be determined with certainty. Some suppose that it was by prayer and sacrifice at a place dedicated to Jehovah. Others imagine that she applied to a prophet — to Abraham, Melchizedek, or Shem (Luther); a frequent custom in Israel afterwards (1 Sam. ix. 9), but not probable in the patriarchal age. The divine answer, couched in the form of a prophetic oracle, assured her that she carried two nations in her womb, one stronger than the other; and that the greater (elder or first-bom) should serve the less (younger). T|Sn Tj^ptDD: ^'proceeding from thy womb, are separated" — Vers. 24 sqq. When she was delivered, there were twins; the first-bom was reddish, i,e, of a reddish-brown colour (1 Sam. xvi. 12, xvii. 42), and " all over like a hairy cloak," i.e. his whole body as if covered with a fur, with an unusual quantity of hair (hypertrichosis), which is sometimes the case with new-bom infants, but was a sign in this instance of excessive sensual vigour and wildness. The second had laid hold of the heel of the first, i.e. he came into the world with his hand projected and holding the heel of the first-born, a sign of his future attitude towards his brother. From these accidental circumstances the children received their names. The elder they called Esau, the hairy one; the younger Jacob, heel-holder: 3pX^ from ^PV (denom. of 3py heel, Hos. xii. 3), to hold the heel, then to outwit (xxvii. 36), just as in wrestling an attempt may be made to throw the opponent by grasping the heel.

Vers. 27-34. Esau became " a cunning hunter, a man of the field^^ i.e. a man wandering about in the fields. He was his father's favourite, for " venison was in his mouth," i.e. he was fond of it. But Jacob was Dri ^^, " a pious man " (Luther); DPI, integer, denotes here a disposition that finds pleasure in the quiet life of home. DyliN iv)^^ not dwelling in tents, but sitting in the tents, in contrast with the wild hunter's life led by his brother; hence he was his mother's favourite. — Vers. 29 sqq. The difference in the characters of the two brothers was soon shown in a singular circumstance, which was the turningpoint in their lives. Esau returned home one day from the field quite exhausted, and seeing Jacob with a dish of lentils, still a favourite dish in Syria and Egypt, he asked with passionate eagerness for some to eat: ^'Let me swallow some of that red, that red there;" ^^^, the brown-red lentil pottage. From this he received the name Edom, just as among the ancient Arabians persons received names from quite accidental circumstances, which entirely obscured their proper names. Jacob made use of his brother's hunger to get him to sell his birthright. The birthright consisted afterwards in a double portion of the father's inheritance (Deut. xxi. 17); but with the patriarchs it embraced the chieftainship, the rule over the brethren and the entire family (xxvii. 29), and the title to the blessing of the promise (xxvii. 4, 27-29), which included the future possession of Canaan and of covenant fellowship with Jehovah (xxviii. 4). Jacob knew this, and it led him to anticipate the purposes of God. Esau also knew it, but attached no value to it. There is proof enough that he knew he was giving away, along with the birthright, blessings which, because they were not of a material but of a spiritual nature, had no particular value in hb estimation, in the words he made use of: ''Behold I am going tc die (to meet death), and what is the birthright to meV The only thing of value to him was the sensual enjoyment of the present; the spiritual blessings of the future his carnal mind was unable to estimate. In this he showed himself to be ^e^rfKof; (Heb. xii. 16), a profane man, who cared for nothing but the momentary gratification of sensual desires, who " did eat and drink, and rose up, arid went his way, and so despised his birthright " (ver. 34). With these words the Scriptures judge and condemn the conduct of Esau. Just as Ishmael was excluded from the promised blessing because he was begotten " according to the flesh," so Esau lost it because his disposition was according to the flesh. The frivolity with which he sold his birthright to his brother for a dish of lentils, rendered him unfit to be the heir and possessor of the promised grace. But this did not justify Jacob's conduct in the matter. Though not condemned here, yet in the further course of the history it is shown to have been wrong, by the simple fact that he did not venture to make this transaction the basis of a claim.

The incidents of Isaac's life which are collected together in this chapter, from the time of his sojourn in the south country, resemble in many respects certain events in the life of Abraham; but the distinctive peculiarities are such as to form a true picture of the dealings of God, which were in perfect accordance with the character of the patriarch.

Vers. 1-5. Renewal of the promise. — A famine ** in the land " (i,e, Canaan, to which he had therefore returned from

Hagar's well; xxv. 11), compelled Isaac to leave Canaan, as it had done Abraham before. Abraham went to Egypt, where his wife was exposed to danger, from which she could only be rescued by the direct interposition of God. Isaac also intended to go there, but on the way, viz. in Gerar, he received instruction through a divine manifestation that he was to remain there. As he was the seed to whom the land of Canaan was promised, he was directed not to leave it. To this end Jehovah assured him of the fulfilment of all the promises made to Abraham on oath, with express reference to His oath (xxii. 16) to him and to his posterity, and on account of Abraham's obedience of faith. The only peculiarity in the words is the plural, " all these landsT This plural refers to all the lands or territories of the different Canaanitish tribes, mentioned in chap. xv. 19-21, like the different divisions of the kingdom of Israel or Judah in 1 Chron. xiii. 2, 2 Chron. xi. 23. 7Kn; an antique form of ^}<^ occurring only in the Pentateuch. The piety of Abraham is described in words that indicate a perfect obedience to all the commands of God, and therefore frequently recur among the legal expressions of a later date. ^)p, ^"J.?^^ "^'?? " ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ of Jehovah's care," i.e. to observe Jehovah, His person, and His will. Mishmereth, reverence, observance, care, is more closely defined by " commandments, statutes, laws,^' to denote constant obedience to all the revelations and instructions of God.

Vers. 6-11. Protection of Kebekah at Gerae. — As Abraham had declared his wife to be his sister both in Egypt and at Gerar, so did Isaac also in the latter place. But the manner in which God protected Rebekah was very different from that in which Sarah was preserved in both instances. Before any one had touched Rebekah, the Philistine king discovered the untruthfulness of Isaac's statement, having seen Isaac "sporting with Rebekah," sc, in a manner to show that she was his wife; whereupon he reproved Isaac for what he had said, and forbade any of his people to touch Rebekah on pain of death. Whether this was the same Abimelech as the one mentioned in chap. XX. cannot be decided with certainty. The name proves nothing, for it was the standing official name of the kings of Gerar (cf. 1 Sam. xxi. 11 and Ps. xxxiv.), as Pharaoh was of the kings of Egypt. The identity is favoured by the pious conduct of Abimelech in both instances; and no difficulty is caused either by the circumstance that 80 years had elapsed between the two events (for Abraham had only been dead five years, and the age of 150 was no rarity then), or by the fact, that whereas the first Abimelech had Sarah taken into his harem, the second not only had no intention of doing this, but was anxious to protect her from his people, inasmuch as it would be all the easier to conceive of this in the case of the same king, on the ground of his advanced age.

Vers. 12-17. Isaac's increasing wealth. — As Isaac had experienced the promised protection (" I will be with thee," ver. 3) in the safety of his wife, so did he receive while in Gerar the promised blessing. He sowed and received in that year " a hundred measures^^ Le» a hundred-fold return. This was an unusual blessing, as the yield even in very fertile regions is not generally greater than from twenty-five to fifty-fold (Niehuhr and Burckhardt), and it is only in the Ruhbe, that small and most fruitful plain of Syria, that wheat yields on an average eighty, and barley a hundred-fold. Agriculture is still practised by the Bedouins, as well as grazing {Robinson^ Pal. i. 77, and Seetzen); so that Isaac's sowing was no proof that he had been stimulated by the promise of Jehovah to take up a settled abode in the promised land. — Vers. 13 sqq. Being thus blessed of Jehovah, Isaac became increasingly (^^'7, vid. chap. viii. 3) greater {i.e, stronger), until he was very powerful and his wealth very great; so that the Philistines envied him, and endeavoured to do him injury by stopping up and filling with rubbish all the wells that had been dug in his father's time; and even Abimelech requested him to depart, because he was afraid of his power. Isaac then encamped in the valley of Gerar, i.e, in the " undulating land of Gerar," through which the torrent (Jurf) from Gerar flows from the south-east (Ritter, Erdk. 14, pp. 1084—5).

Vers. 18-22. Eeopening and discovery of wells. — In this valley Isaac dug open the old wells which had existed from Abraham's time, and gave them the old names. His people also dug three new wells. But Abimelech's people raised a contest about two of these; and for this reason Isaac called them JEsek and Sitnah, strife and opposition. The third there was no dispute about; and it received in consequence the name Rehohoth, '' breadths," for Isaac said, " Yea now ('^^V"'3, as in chap. xxix. 32, etc.) Jehovah has provided for us a broad space, that we may he fruitful (multiply) in the land^ This well was probably not in the land of Gerar, as Isaac had removed thence, but in the Wady Buhaibeh, the name of which is suggestive of Rehoboth, which stands at the point where the two roads from Gaza and Hebron meet, about 3 hours to the south of Elusa, 8 J to the south of Beersheba, and where there are extensive ruins of the city of the same name upon the heights, also the remains of wells (Robinson, Pal. i. 289 sqq.; Strauss, Sinai and Golgotha); where too the name Sitnah seems to have been retained in the Wady Shutein, with ruins on the northern hills between Ruhaibeh and Kliulasa (Elusa).

Vers. 23-25. Isaac's journey to Beersheba. — Here, where Abraham had spent a long time (xxi. 33 sqq.), Jehovah appeared to him during the night and renewed the promises already given; upon which, Isaac built an altar and performed a solemn service. Here his servants also dug a well near to the tents.

Vers. 26-33. Abimelech's treaty with Isaac. — The conclusion of this alliance was substantially only a repetition or renewal of the alliance entered into with Abraham; but the renewal itself arose so completely out of the circumstances, that there is no ground whatever for denying that it occurred, or for the hypothesis that our account is merely another form of the earlier alliance; to say nothing of the fact, that besides the agreement in the leading event itself, the attendant circumstances are altogether peculiar, and correspond to the events which preceded. Abimelech not only brought his chief captain Phicol (supposed to be the same as in chap. xxi. 22, if Phicol is not also an official name), but his XTiD ''friend,^^ i.e. his privy councillor, Ahuzzath, Isaac referred to the hostility they had shown; to which Abimelech replied, that they (he and his people) did not smite him (V^}), i.e. drive him away by force, but let him depart in peace, and expressed a wish that there might be an oath between them. n^N the oath, as an act of self-imprecation, was to form the basis of the covenant to be made. From this njK came also to be used for a covenant sanctioned by an oath (Deut. xxix. 11, 13). n^;;n nx "that thou do not: " DK a particle of negation used in an oath (xiv. 23, etc.). (On the verb with zere^ see Ges. § 75, Anm. 17; Ewald, § 224.) — The same day Isaac's servants informed him of the well which th^y had dug; and Isaac gave it the name Shehah ('"IV^^, oath), in commemoration of the treaty made on oath. " Therefore the city was called Beershehar This derivation of the name does not shut the other (xxi. 31) out, but seems to confirm it. As the treaty made on oath between Abimelech and Isaac was only a renewal of his covenant concluded before with Abraham, so the name Beersheha was also renewed by the well Shehah. The reality of the occurrence is supported by the fact that the two wells are in existence still {yid, chap. xxi. 31).

Vers. 34, 35. Esau's Marriage. — To the various troubles which the Philistines prepared for Isaac, but which, through the blessing of God, only contributed to the increase of his wealth and importance, a domestic cross was added, which caused him great and lasting sorrow. Esau married two wives in the 40th year of his age, the 100th of Isaac's life (xxv. 26); and that not from his own relations in Mesopotamia, but from among the Canaanites whom God had cast off. On their names, see chap, xxxvi. 2, 3. They became " bitterness of spirit" the cause of deep trouble, to his parents, viz. on account of their Canaanitish character, which was so opposed to the vocation of the patriarchs; whilst Esau by these marriages furnished another proof, how thoroughly his heart was set upon earthly things.

Vers. 1-4. When Isaac had grown old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could no longer see (rifc<")D from seeing, with the neg. 19 as in chap. xvi. 2, etc.), he wished, in the consciousness of approaching death, to give his blessing to his elder son. Isaac was then in his 137th year, at which age his half-brother Ishmael had died fourteen years before; ^ and this, with the increasing infirmities of age, may have suggested the thought

^ Cf. Lightfoot^ opp. 1, p. 19. This correct estimate of Luther's is based upon the following calculation: — When Joseph was introduced to Pharaoh be was thirty years old (xli. 46), and when Jacob went into Egypt, thirty- of death, though he did not die till forty-three years afterwards (xxxv. 28). Without regard to the words which were spoken by God with reference to the children before their birth, and without taking any notice of Esau's frivolous barter of his birthright and his ungodly connection with Canaanites, Isaac maintained his preference for Esau, and directed him therefore to take his things (D Y?, hunting gear), his quiver and bow, to hunt game and prepare a savoury dish, that he might eat, and his soul might bless him. As his preference for Esau was fostered and strengthened by, if it did not spring from, his liking for game (xxv. 28), so now he wished to raise his spirits for imparting the blessing by a dish of venison prepared to his taste. In this the infirmity of his flesh is evident. At the same time, it was not merely because of his partiality for Esau, but unquestionably on account of the natural rights of the firstborn, that he wished to impart the blessing to him, just as the desire to do this before his death arose from the consciousness of his patriarchal call.

Vers. 5-17. Rebekah, who heard what he said, sought to frustrate this intention, and to secure the blessing for her (favourite) son Jacob. Whilst Esau was away hunting, she told Jacob to take his father a dish, which she would prepare from two kids according to his taste; and, having introduced himself as Esau, to ask for the blessing " before Jehovah, ^^ Jacob's objection, that the father would know him by his smooth skin, and so, instead of blessing him, might pronounce a curse upon him as a mocker, i.e. one who was trifling with his blind father, she silenced by saying, that she would take the curse upon herself. She evidently relied upon the word of promise, and thought that she ought to do her part to secure its fulfilment by directing the father's blessing to Jacob; and to this end she thought any means allowable. Consequently she was so assured of the success of her stratagem as to have no fear of the possibility of a curse. Jacob then acceded to her plan, and nine, as the seven years of abundance and two of famine had then passed by (xlv. 6). But Jacob was at that time 130 years old (xlvii. 9). Consequently Joseph was born before Jacob was ninety-one; and as his birth took place in the fourteenth year of Jacob's sojourn in Mesopotamia (cf- XXX. 25, and xxix. 18, 21, and 27), Jacob's flight to Laban occurred in the seventy-seventh year of his own life, and the 137th of Isaac's.

fetched the goats. Rebekah prepared them according to her husband's taste; and having told Jacob to put on Esau's best clothes which were with her in the dwelling (the tent, not the house), she covered his hands and the smooth (Le, the smooth parts) of his neck with the skins of the kids of the goats,^ and sent him with the savoury dish to his father.

Vers. 18-29. But Jacob had no easy task to perform before his father. As soon as he had spoken on entering, his father asked him, " Who art thou, my son? " On his replying, " lam Esau, thy first-horn^^ the father expressed his surprise at the rapid success of his hunting; and when he was satisfied with the reply, " Jehovah thy God sent it (the thing desired) to meet mg," he became suspicious about the voice, and bade him come nearer, that he might feel him. But as his hands appeared hairy like Esau's, he did not recognise him; and " so he blessed him^ In this remark (ver. 23) the writer gives the result of Jacob's attempt; so that the blessing is merely mentioned proleptically here, and refers to the formal blessing described afterwards, and not to the first greeting and salutation. — Vers. 24 sqq. After his father, in order to get rid of his suspicion about the voice, had asked him once more, " Art thou really my son Esau? " and Jacob had replied, '' I am^^ ("'^^? = yes), he told him to hand him the savoury dish that he might eat. After eating, he kissed his son as a sign of his paternal affection, and in doing so he smelt the odour of his clothes, i.e, the clothes of Esau, which were thoroughly scented with the odour of the fields, and then imparted his blessing (vers. 27—29). The blessing itself is thrown, as the sign of an elevated state of mind, into the poetic style of parallel clauses, and contains the peculiar forms of poetry, such as n&5") for t^}^^, rrin for *^^Ji},, etc. The smell of the clothes with the scent of the field suggested to the patriarch's mind the image of his son's future prosperity, so that he saw him in possession of the promised land and the full enjoyment of its valuable blessings, having the smell of the field which Jehovah blessed, i.e. the garden of paradise, and broke out into the wish, " God (^Ha-Elohim, the personal God, not Jehovah, the

^ "We must not think of our European goats, whose skins would be quite unsuitable for any such deception. ''It is the camel-goat of the East, whose black, silk-like hair was used even by the Romans as a substitute for human hair. Martial xii. 46." — Tuck on ver. 16.

covenant God) give thee from the dew of heaven, and the fat fields of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine^^ i,e. a land blessed with the dew of heaven and a fruitful soil. In Eastern countries, where there is so little rain, the dew is the most important prerequisite for the growth of the fruits of the earth, and is often mentioned therefore as a source of blessing (Deut. xxxiii. 13,28; Hos. xiv. 6; Zech. viii. 12). In ^fioro, notwithstanding the absence of the Dagesh from the K^, the D is the prep, p, as the parallel ^t^ip proves; and D^3DK^ both here and in ver. 39 are the fat (fertile) districts of a country. The rest of the blessing had reference to the future pre-eminence of his son. He was to be lord not only over his brethren (i.e, over kindred tribes), but over (foreign) peoples and nations also. The blessing rises here to the idea of universal dominion, which was to be realized in the fact that, according to the attitude assumed by the people towards him as their lord, it would secure to them either a blessing or a curse. If we compare this blessing with the promises which Abraham received, there are two elements of the latter which are very apparent; viz. the possession of the land, in the promise of the rich enjoyment of its produce, and the numerous increase of posterity, in the promised dominion over the nations. The third element, however, the blessing of the nations in and through the seed of Abraham, is so generalized in the expression, which is moulded according to chap. xii. 3, " Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee," that the person blessed is not thereby declared to be the medium of salvation to the nations. Since the intention to give the blessing to Esau the first-born did not spring from proper feelings towards Jehovah and His promises, the blessing itself, as the use of the word Elohim instead of Jehovah or El Shaddai (cf. xxviii. 3) clearly shows, could not rise to the full height of the divine blessings of salvation, but referred chiefly to the relation in which the two brothers and their descendants would stand to one another, the theme with which Isaac's soul was entirely filled. It was only the painful discovery that, in blessing against his will, he had been compelled to follow the saving counsel of God, which awakened in him the consciousness of his patriarchal vocation, and gave him the spiritual power to impart the " blessing of Abraham " to the son whom he had kept back, but whom Jehovah had chosen, when he was about to send him away to Haran (xxviii. 3, 4).

Vers. 30-40. Jacob had hardly left his father, after receiving the blessing (fi<V^ "H^, was only gone out), when Esau returned and came to Isaac, with the game prepared, to receive the blessing. The shock was inconceivable which Isaac received, when he found that he had blessed another, and not Esau — that, in fact, he had blessed Jacob. At the same time he neither could nor would, either curse him on account of the deception which he had practised, or withdraw the blessing imparted. For he could not help confessing to himself that he had sinned and brought the deception upon himself by his carnal preference for Esau. Moreover, the blessing was not a matter of subjective human affection, but a right entrusted by the grace of God to paternal supremacy and authority, in the exercise of which the person blessing, being impelled and guided by a higher authority, imparted to the person to be blest spiritual possessions and powers, which the will of man could not capriciously withdraw. Regarding this as the meaning of the blessing, Isaac necessarily saw in what had taken place the will of God, which had directed to Jacob the blessing that he had intended for Esau. He therefore said, '^ I have blessed him; yea^ he will he (remain) blessed" (cf. Heb. xii. 17). Even the great and bitter lamentation into which Esau broke out could not change his father's mind. To his entreaty in ver. 34, ''Bless me, even me also, 0 my father!" he replied, " Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.''* Esau answered, " Is it that (^?l1) they have named him Jacob (overreacher), and he has overreached me twice?** i.e. has he received the name Jacob from the fact that he has twice outwitted me? ''^n is used " when the cause is not rightly known" (cf. chap. xxix. 15). To his further entreaty, '^ Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me V* y^^, lit. to lay aside), Isaac repeated the substance of the blessing given to Jacob, and added, " and to thee (^2? for jl^ as in chap. iii. 9), now, what can I do, my son V* When Esau again repeated, with tears, the entreaty that Isaac would bless him also, the father gave him a blessing (vers. 39, 40), but one which, when compared with the blessing of Jacob, was to be regarded rather as " a modified curse," and which is not even described as a blessing, but "introduced a disturbing element into Jacob's blessing, a retribution for the impure means by which he had obtained it." ^' Behold,'' it states, ^^ from the fat fields of the earth will thy dwelling be, and from the dew of heaven from above,'' By a play upon the words Isaac uses the same expression as in ver. 28, " from the fat fields of the earth, and from the dew," but in the opposite sense, |^ being partitive there, and privative here, " from=away from." The context requires that the words should be taken thus, and not in the sense of " thy dwelling shall partake of the fat of the earth and the dew of heaven" {Vulg., Luth,, etc.).^ Since Isaac said (ver. 37) he had given Jacob the blessing of the superabundance of corn and wine, he could not possibly promise Esau also fat fields and the dew of heaven. Nor would this agree with the words which follow, '^ By thy sword wilt thou live," Moreover, the privative sense of |p is thoroughly poetical (cf. 2 Sam. i. 22; Job xi. 15, etc.). The idea expressed in the words, therefore, was that the dwelling-place of Esau would be the very opposite of the land of Canaan, viz. an unfruitful land. This is generally the condition of the mountainous country of Edom, which, although not without its fertile slopes and valleys, especially in the eastern portion (cf. Robinson, Pal. ii. p. 552), is thoroughly waste and barren in the western; so that Seetzen says it consists of " the most desolate and barren mountains probably in the world." The mode of life and occupation of the inhabitants were adapted to the country. " By (lit, on) thy sword thou wilt live;" i.e. thy maintenance will depend on the sword (^V as in Deut. viii. 3 cf. Isa. xxxviii. 16), " live by war, rapine, and freebooting" {Kriobel), ''And thy brother thou wilt serve; yet it will come to pass, as ("^^^3, lit. in proportion as, cf. Num. xxvii. 14) thou shakest (tossest),'thou wilt break his yoke from thy neck." ^n, "to rove about" (Jer. ii. 31; Hos. xii. V)yHiphil "to cause (the thoughts) to rove about" (Ps. Iv. 3); but Hengstenberg' s rendering is the best here, viz. " to shake, sc. the yoke." In the wild, sport-loving Esau there was aptly prefigured the character of his posterity. Josephus describes the Idumsean people as " a tumultuous and disorderly nation, always on the watch on every

^ I cannot discover, however, in Mai. i. 3 an authentic proof of the privative meaning, as Kurtz and Delitzsch do, since the prophet's words, " I have hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste," are not descriptive of the natural condition of Idumaea, but of the desolation to which the land was given up.

motion, delighting in mutations" (Whistons tr.; de bell Jud. 4, 4, 1). The mental eye of the patriarch discerned in the son his whole future family in its attitude to its brother-nation, and he promised Edom, not freedom from the dominion of Israel (for Esau was to serve his brother, as Jehovah had predicted before their birth), but only a repeated and not unsuccessful struggle for freedom. And so it was; the historical relation of Edom to Israel assumed the form of a constant reiteration of servitude, revolt, and reconquest. After a long period of independence at the first, the Edomites were defeated by Saul (1 Sam. xiv. 47) and subjugated by David (2 Sam. viii. 14); and, in spite of an attempt at revolt under Solomon (1 Kings xi. 14 sqq.), they remained subject to the kingdom of Judah until the time of Joram, when they rebelled. They were subdued again by Amaziah (2 Kings xiv. 7; 2 Chron. xxv. 11 sqq.), and remained in subjection under Uzziah and Jotham (2 Kings xiv.?2; 2 Chron. xxvi. 2). It was not till the reign of Ahaz that they shook the yoke of Judah entirely off (2 Kings xvi. 6; 2 Chron. xxviii. 17), without Judah being ever able to reduce them again. At length, however, they were completely conquered by John Hyrcanus about B.C. 129, compelled to submit to circumcision, and incorporated in the Jewish state (JosephuSy Ant. xiii. 9, 1, XV. 7, 9). At a still later period, through Antipater and Herod, they established an Idumaean dynasty over Judea, which lasted till the complete dissolution of the Jewish state.

Thus the words of Isaac to his two sons were fulfilled, — words which are justly said to have been spoken " in faith concerning things to come" (Heb. xi. 20). For the blessing was a prophecy, and that not merely in the case of Esau, but in that of Jacob -also; although Isaac was deceived with regard to the person of the latter. Jacob remained blessed, therefore, because, according to the predetermination of God, the elder was to serve the younger; but the deceit by which his mother prompted him to secure the blessing was never approved. On the contrary, the sin was followed by immediate punishment. Rebekah was obliged to send her pet son into a foreign land, away from his father's house, and in an utterly destitute condition. She did not see him for twenty years, even if she lived till his return, and possibly never saw again. Jacob had to atone for his sin against both brother and father by a long and painful exile, in the midst of privation, anxiety, fraud, and want. Isaac was punished for retaining his preference for Esau, in opposition to the revealed will of Jehovah, by the success of Jacob's stratagem; and Esau for his contempt of the birthright, by the loss of the blessing of the first-bom. In this way a higher hand prevailed above the acts of sinful men, bringing the counsel and will of Jehovah to eventual triumph, in opposition to human thought and will.

Vers. 41-46. Esau's complaining and weeping were now changed into mortal hatred of his brother. " The days of mourns ing,^^ he said to himself, "/or my father are at hand, and I will kill my brother Jacob T ""^K 73X: genit. obj. as in Amos viii. 10; Jer. vi. 26. He would put off his intended fratricide that he might not hurt his father's mind. — Ver. 42. When Rebekah was informed by some one of Esau's intention, she advised Jacob to protect himself from his revenge (on^nn to procure comfort by retaliation, equivalent to " avenge himself," CDj5:nn, Isa. i. 24^), by fleeing to her brother Laban in Haran, and remaining there " some days,'^ as she mildly puts it, until his brother's wrath was subdued. ''For why should I lose you both in one dayV^ viz. Jacob through Esau's vengeance, and Esau as a murderer by the avenger of blood (chap..ix. 6, cf. 2 Sam. xiv. 6, 7). In order to obtain Isaac's consent to this plan, without hurting his feelings by telling him of Esau's murderous intentions, she spoke to him of her troubles on account of the Hittite wives of Esau, and the weariness of life that she should feel if Jacob also were to marry one of the daughters of the land, and so introduced the idea of sending Jacob to her relations in Mesopotamia, with a view to his marriage there.

Jacob's flight to haran and dream in bethel. — chap.

Vers. 1-9. Jacob's departure from his parents' house. — Rebekah's complaint reminded Isaac of his own call, and his consequent duty to provide for Jacob's marriage in a manner corresponding to the divine counsels of salvation. — Vers. 1-5. He called Jacob, therefore, and sent him to Padan-Aram to his mother's relations, with instructions to seek a wife there, and not among the daughters of Canaan, giving him at tl#e same time the " blessing of Abraham,^^ Le, the blessing of promise, which Abraham had repeatedly received from the Lord, but which is more especially recorded in chap. xvii. 2 sqq., and xxii. 16-18. — Vers. 6-9. When Esau heard of this blessing and the sending away of Jacob, and saw therein the displeasure of his parents at his Hittite wives, he went to Ishmael — Le, to the family of Ishmael, for Ishmael himself had been dead fourteen years (p. 273) — and took as a third wife Mahalath, a daughter of Ishmael (called Bashemath in chap, xxxvi. 3, a descendant of Abraham therefore), a step by which he might no doubt ensure the approval of his parents, but in which he failed to consider that Ishmael had been separated from the house of Abraham and family of promise by the appointment of God; so that it only furnished another proof that he had no thought of the religious interests of the chosen family, and was unfit to be the recipient of divine revelation.

Vers. 10—22. Jacob's dream at Bethel. — As he was travelling from Beersheba, where Isaac was then staying (xxvi. 25), to Haran, Jacob came to a place where he was obliged to stop all night, because the sun had set. The words " he hit (lighted) upon the place/^ indicate the apparently accidental, yet really divinely appointed choice of this place for his nightquarters; and the definite article points it out as having become well known through the revelation of God that ensued. After making a pillow with the stones (nb^^5'^DJ head-place, pillow), he fell asleep and had a dream, in which he saw a ladder resting upon the earth, with the top reaching to heaven; and upon it angels of God going up and down, and Jehovah Himself standing above it. The ladder was a visible symbol of the real and uninterrupted fellowship between God in heaven and His people upon earth. The angels upon it carry up the wants of men to God, and bring down the assistance and protection of God to men. The ladder stood there upon the earth, just where Jacob was lying in solitude, poor, helpless, and forsaken by men. Above in heaven stood Jehovah, and explained in words the symbol which he saw. Proclaiming Himself to Jacob as the God of his fathers. He not only confirmed to him all the promises of the fathers in their fullest extent, but promised him protection on his journey and a safe return to his home (vers. 13-15). But as the fulfilment of this promise to Jacob was still far off, God added the firm assurance, " / will not leave thee till I have done (carried out) lohat I have told thee^ — Vers. 16 sqq. Jacob gave utterance to the impression made by this vision as soon as he awoke from sleep, in the words, " Surely Jehovah is in this plaoe, and I knew it not" Not that the omnipresence of God was unknown to him; but that Jehovah in His condescending mercy should be near to him even here, far away from his father's house and from the places consecrated to His worship, — it was this which he did not know or imagine. The revelation was intended not only to stamp the blessing, with which Isaac had dismissed him from his home, with the seal of divine approval, but also to impress upon Jacob's mind the fact, that although Jehovah would be near to protect and guide him even in a foreign land, the land of promise was the holy ground on which the God of his fathers would set up the covenant of His grace. On his departure from that land, he was to carry with him a sacred awe of the gracious presence of Jehovah there. To that end the Lord prov-ed to him that He was near, in such a way that the place appeared " dreadful," inasmuch as the nearness of the holy God makes an alarming impression upon unholy man, and the consciousness of sin grows into the fear of death. But in spite of this alarm, the place was none other than " the house of God and the gate of heaven" i.e. sl place where God dwelt, and a way that opened to Him in heaven. — Ver. 18. In the morning Jacob set up the stone at his head, as a monument (nnJifD) to commemorate the revelation he had received from God; and poured oil upon the top, to consecrate it as a memorial of the mercy that had been shown him there (visionis insigne fiprjfiocri/vov, Calvin), not as an idol or an object of divine worship (yid, Ex. XXX. 26 sqq.). — He then gave the place the name of Bethel, i.e. House of God, whereas {^^"1X1) the town had been called Luz before. This antithesis shows that Jacob gave the name, not to the place where the pillar was set up, but to the town, in the neighbourhood of which he had received the divine revelation. He renewed it on his return from Mesopotamia (xxxv. 15). This is confirmed by chap, xlviii. 3, where Jacob, like the historian in chap. xxxv. 6, 7, speaks of Luz as the place of this revelation. There is nothing at variance with this in

Josh. xvi. 2, xviii. 13; for it is not Bethel as a city, but the mountains of Bethel, that are there distinguished from Luz (see my Commentary on Josh. xvi. 2).^ — Ver. 20, Lastly, Jacob made a vow: that if God would give him the promised protection on his journey, and bring him back in safety to his father's house, Jehovah should be his God (*T>'*t^'^ in ver. 21 commences the apodosis), the stone which he had set up should be a house of God, and Jehovah should receive a tenth of all that He gave to him. It is to be noticed here, that Elohim is used in the protasis instead of Jehovah^ as constituting the essence of the vow: if Jehovah, who had appeared to him, proved Himself to be GoD by fulfilling His promise, then he would acknowledge and worship Him as his God, by making the stone thus set up into a house of God, z.e. a place of sacrifice, and by tithing all his possessions. With regard to the fulfilment of this vow, we learn from chap. XXXV. 7 that Jacob built an altar, and probably also dedicated the tenth to God, Le, offered it to Jehovah; or, as some have supposed, applied it partly to the erection and preservation of the altar, and partly to burnt and thank-offerings combined with sacrificial meals, according to the analogy of Deut. xiv. 28, 29 (cf. chap. xxxi. 54, xlvi. 1).

Vers. 1-14. Arrival in Haran, and reception by

Jacob proceeded on his journey into " the land of the sons of the East;" by which we are to understand, not so much the

^ The fact mentioned here has often been cited as the origin of the anointed stones (/iuhv'Koi) of the heathen, and this heathen custom has been regarded as a degeneration of the patriarchal. But apart from this essential difference, that the Baetulian worship was chiefly connected with meteoric stones (cf. F. von Dalherg^ ub. d. Meteor-cultus d. Alten)^ which were supposed to have come down from some god, and were looked upon as deified, this opinion is at variance with the circumstance, that Jacob himself, in consecrating the stone by pouring oil upon it, only followed a custom already established, and still more with the fact, that the name /Sat/ryXo/, /3«/t&X/«, notwithstanding its sounding like Bethel^ can hardly have arisen from the name Beth-El^ Gr. B«;^^x, since the t for 0 would be perfectly inexplicable. Dietrich derives {iettruJ^iou from ^133, to render inoperative, and interprets i* amulet.

Arabian desert, that reaches to the Euphrates, as Mesopotamia, which lies on the other side of that river. For there he saw the well in the field (ver. 2), by which three flocks were lying, waiting for the arrival of the other flocks of the place, before they could be watered. The remark in ver. 2, that the stone upon the welFs mouth was large (•^^'IS without the article is a predicate), does not mean that the united strength of all the shepherds was required to roll it away, whereas Jacob rolled it away alone (ver. 10); but only that it was not in the power of every shepherd, much less of a shepherdess like Rachel, to roll it away. Hence in all probability the agreement that had been formed among them, that they would water the flocks together. The scene is so thoroughly in harmony with the customs of the East, both ancient and modern, that the similarity to the one described in chap. xxiv. 11 sqq. is by no means strange (vid. Rob. Pal. i. 301, 304, ii. 351, 357, 371). Moreover the well was very differently constructed from that at which Abraham's servant met with Rebekah. There the water was drawn at once from the (open) well and poured into troughs placed ready for the cattle, as is the case now at most of the wells in the East; whereas here the well was closed up with a stone, and there is no mention of pitchers and troughs. The well, therefore, was probably a cistern dug in the ground, which was covered up or closed with a large stone, and probably so constructed, that after the stone had been rolled away the flocks could be driven to the edge to drink.^ — Vers. 5, 6. Jacob asked the shepherds where they lived; from which it is probable that the well was not situated, like that in chap. xxiv. 11, in the immediate neighbourhood of the town of Haran; and when they said they were from Haran, he inquired after Laban, the son, i.e. the descendant, of Nahor, and how he was (v DvK^n: is he well?); and received the reply, " Well; and behold Rachel, his daughter, is just coming (nsn particip.) with the flochr When Jacob thereupon told the shepherds to water the flocks and feed them again, for

^ Like the cistern Bir Beshat^ described by Rosen. ^m the valley of Hebron, or those which Robinson found in the desert of Judah (Pal. ii. 165), hollowed out in the great mass of rock, and covered with a large, thick, flat stone, in the middle of which a round hole had been left, which formed the opening of the cistern, and in many cases was closed up with a heavy stone, which it would take two or three men to roll away.

the day was still " great," — i.e. it wanted a long while to the evening, and was not yet time to drive them in (to the folds to rest for the night), — he certainly only wanted to get the shepherds away from the well, that he might meet with his cousin alone. But as Rachel came up in the meantime, he was so carried away by the feelings of relationship, possibly by a certain love at first sight, that he rolled the stone away from the well, watered her flock, and after kissing her, introduced himself with tears of joyous emotion as her cousin {\}'*?^ ^D^?, brother, i.e. relation of her father) and Rebekah's son. What the other shepherds thought of all this, is passed over as indifferent to the purpose of the narrative, and the friendly reception of Jacob by Laban is related immediately afterwards. When Jacob had told Laban ''all these tldngs^^ — i.e. hardly "the cause of his journey, and the things which had happened to him in relation to the birthright" (Rosenmiiller), but simply the things mentioned in vers. 2-12, — Laban acknowledged him as his relative: " Yes, thou art my bone and my flesh " (cf. ii. 23 and Judg. ix. 2); and thereby eo ipso ensured him an abode in his house.

Vers. 15-30. Jacob's double marriage. — After a full month (" a month of days," chap. xli. 1; Num. xi. 20, etc.), during which time Laban had discovered that he was a good and useful shepherd, he said to him, '' Shouldst thou, because thou art my relative, serve me for nothing? fix me thy wages^ Laban's selfishness comes out here under the appearance of justice and kindness. To preclude all claim on the part of his sister's son to gratitude or affection in return for his services, he proposes to pay him like an ordinary servant. Jacob offered to serve him seven years for Rachel, the younger of his two daughters, whom he loved because of her beauty; i.e. just as many years as the week has days, that he might bind himself to a complete and sufficient number of years of service. For the elder daughter, Leah, had weak eyes, and consequently was not so good-looking; since bright eyes, with fire in them, are regarded as the height of beauty in Oriental women. Laban agreed. He would rather give his daughter to him than to a stranger.^ Jacob's proposal may be explained, partly on the

' This is the case still with the Bedouins, the Druses, and other Eastem tribe&> (^Burckhardt^ Volney^ Layard^ and Lane.)

ground that he was not then in a condition to give the customary dowry, or the usual presents to relations, and partly also from the fact that his situation with regard to Esau compelled him to remain some time with Laban. The assent on the part of Laban cannot be accounted for from the custom of selling daughters to husbands, for it cannot be shown that the purchase of wives was a general custom at that time; but is to be explained solely on the ground of Laban's selfishness and avarice, which came out still more plainly afterwards. To Jacob, however, the seven years seemed but ** a few days, because he loved RacheU^ This is to be understood, as C a Lapide observes, " not affective, but appretiative^^ i.e. in comparison with the reward to be obtained for his sen^ice. — Vers. 21 sqq. But when Jacob asked for his reward at the expiration of this period, and according to the usual custom a great marriage feast had been prepared, instead of Rachel, Laban took his elder daughter Leah into the bride-chamber, and Jacob went in unto her, without discovering in the dark the deception that had been practised. Thus the overreacher of Esau was overreached himself, and sin was punished by sin. — Vers. 25 sqq. But when Jacob complained to Laban the next morning of his deception, he pleaded the custom of the country: |3 *^^T ^^, " it is not accustomed to he so in our place, to give the younger before the Jirstrbornr A perfectly worthless excuse; for if this had really been the custom in Haran as in ancient India and elsewhere, he ought to have told Jacob of it before. But to satisfy Jacob, he promised him that in a week he would give him the younger also, if he would serve him seven years longer for her. — ^Ver. 27. ''Fulfil her week;" i.e. let Leah's marriage-week pass over. The wedding feast generally lasted a week (cf. Judg. xiv. 12; Job xi. 19). After this week had passed, he received Rachel also: two wives in eight days. To each of these Laban gave one maid-servant to wait upon her; less, therefore, than Bethuel gave to his daughter (xxiv. 61). — This bigamy of Jacob must not be judged directly by the Mosaic law, which prohibits marriage with two sisters at the same time (Lev. xviii. 18), or set down as incest (^Calvin, etc.), since there was no positive law on the point in existence then. At the same time, it is not to be justified on the ground, that the blessing of God made it the means of the fulfilment of His promise, viz. the multiplication of the seed of Abraham into a great nation. Just as it had arisen from Laban's deception and Jacob's love, which regarded outward beauty alone, and therefore from sinful infirmities, so did it become in its results a true school of affliction to Jacob, in which God showed to him, by many a humiliation, that such conduct as his was quite unfitted to accomplish the divine counsels, and thus condemned the ungodliness of such a marriage, and prepared the way for the subsequent prohibition in the law.

Vers. 31-35. Leah's first sons. — Jacob's sinful weakness showed itself even after his marriage, in the fact that he loved Rachel more than Leah; and the chastisement of God, in the fact that the hated wife was blessed with children, whilst Rachel for a long time remained unfruitful. By this it was made apparent once more, that the origin of Israel was to be a work not of nature, but of grace. Leah had four sons in rapid succession, and gave them names which indicated her state of mind: (1) Reuben, " see, a son! " because she regarded his birth as a pledge that Jehovah had graciously looked upon her misery, for now her husband would love her; (2) Simeon, i.e. " hearing," for Jehovah had heard, i.e. observed that she was hated; (3) Levi, i.e. attachment, for she hoped that this time, at least, after she bad born three sons, her husband would become attached to her, i.e. show her some affection; (4) Judah (^1^'*^\<, verbal, of the fut. hoph. of nT*), i^e. praise, not merely the praised one, but the one for whom Jehovah is praised. After this fourth birth there was a pause (ver. 31), that she might not be unduly lifted up by her good fortune, or attribute to the fruitfulness of her own womb what the faithfulness of Jehovah, the covenant God, had bestowed upon her.

Chap. XXX. 1-8. Bilhah's sons. — When Rachel thought of her own barrenness, she became more and more envious of her sister, who was blessed with sons. But instead of praying, either directly or through her husband, as Rebekah had done, tc Jehovah, w^ho had promised His favour to Jacob (xxviii. 13 sqq.)i she said to Jacob, in passionate displeasure, " Get me children, or I shall die;^^ to which he angrily replied, ^^ Am I in God^s stead (i.e. equal to God, or God), who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? " i.e., Can I, a powerless man, give thee what the Almighty God has withheld? Almighty like God Jacob certainly was not; but he also wanted the Dower which he might have possessed, the power of prayer, in firm reliance upon the promise of the Lord. Hence he could neither help nor advise his beloved wife, but only assent to her proposal, that he should beget children for her through her maid Bilhah (cf. xvi. 2), through whom two sons were born to her. The first she named Dan, i.e. judge, because God had judged her, i.e. procured her justice, hearkened to her voice (prayer), and removed the reproach of childlessness; the second Naphtali, i.e. my conflict, or my fought one, for ^^ fightings of God, she said, have I fought with my sister, and also prevailedJ^ ^'^'y^. \c^'^?? are neither luctationes quam maximce, nor " a conflict in the cause of God, because Rachel did not wish to leave the founding of the nation of God to Leah alone " {Knohel), but " fightings for God and His mercy " {Hengstenherg\ or, what comes to the same thing, " wrestlings of prayer she had wrestled with Leah; in reality, however, with God Himself, who seemed to have restricted His mercy to Leah alone" (Delitzsch). It is to be noticed, that Rachel speaks of Elohim only, whereas Leah regarded her first four sons as the gift of Jehovah. In this variation of the names, the attitude of the two women, not only to one another, but also to the cause they served, is made apparent. It makes no difference whether the historian has given us the very words of the women on the birth of their children, or, what appears more probable, since the name of God is not introduced into the names of the children, merely his own view of the matter as related by him (chap. xxix. 31, xxx. 17, 22). Leah, who had been forced upon Jacob against his inclination, and was put by him in the background, was not only proved by the four sons, whom she bore to him in the first years of her marriage, to be the wife provided for Jacob by Elohim, the ruler of human destiny; but by the fact that these four sons formed the real stem of the promised numerous seed, she was proved still more to be the wife selected by Jehovah, in realization of His promise, to be the tribe-mother of the greater part of the covenant nation. But this required that Leah herself should be fitted for it in heart and mind, that she should feel herself to be the handmaid of Jehovah, and give glory to the covenant God for the blessing of children, or see in her children actual proofs that Jehovah had accepted her and would bring to her the affection of her husband. It was different with Rachel, the favourite and therefore high-minded wife. Jacob should give her, what God alone could give. The faithfulness and blessing of the covenant God were still hidden from her. Hence she resorted to such earthly means as procuring children through her maid, and regarded the desired result as the answer of God, and a victory in her contest with her sister. For such a state of mind the term Elohim, God the sovereign ruler, was the only fitting expression. Vers. 9—13. Zilpah's Sons. — But Leah also was not content with the divine blessing bestowed upon her by Jehovah. The means employed by Rachel to retain the favour of her husband made her jealous; and jealousy drove her to the employment of the same means. Jacob begat two sons by Zilpah her maid. The one Leah named Gad, i.e. " good fortune," saying, 1J2, " with good fortune," according to the Chethib, for which the Masoretic reading is "1J ^^3, " good fortune has come," — not, however, from any ancient tradition, for the Sept. reads iv Ttf^rj, but simply from a subjective and really unnecessary conjecture, since ^J3 = " to my good fortune," sc. a son is bom, gives a very suitable meaning. The second she named Asher, i.e. the happy one, or bringer of happiness; for she said, "'"}^^3, " to my happiness, for daughters call me happy," i.e. as a mother with children. The perfect "'^l"itpNl relates to " what she had now certainly reached" (Del.)* Leah did not think of God in connection with these two births. They were nothing more than the successful and welcome result of the means she had employed.

Vers. 14-21. The other children of Leah. — How thoroughly henceforth the two wives were carried away by constant jealousy of the love and attachment of their husband, is evident from the affair of the love-apples, which Leah's son Reuben, who was then four years old, found in the field and brought to his mother. CK?!, firj}^ fiavSpayopcjv (LXX.), the yellow apples of the alraun {Mandragora vemalis), a mandrake very common in Palestine. They are about the size of a nutmeg, with a strong and agreeable odour, and were used by the ancients, as they still are by the Arabs, as a means of promoting child-bearing. To Rachel's request that she would give her some, Leah replied (ver. 15); " Is it too little, that thou hast taken (drawn away from me) my husband, to take also^^ {^^\i^ injin.), i.e, that thou wouldst also take, " my son!s mandrakes?" At length she parted with them, on condition that Rachel would let Jacob sleep with her the next night. After relating how Leah conceived again, and Rachel continued barren in spite of the mandrakes, the writer justly observes (ver. 17), " Elohini hearkened unto Leah,^ to show that it was not from such natural means as love-apples, but from God the author of life, that she had received such fruitfulness. Leah saw in the birth of her fifth son a divine reward for having given her maid to her husband — a recompense, that is, for her self-denial; and she named him on that account Issaschar, "i^^^, a strange form, to be understood either according to the Chethib ^^^ 8^^ " there is reward," or according to the Keri "^y^ ^^ " he bears (brings) reward." At length she bore her sixth son, and named him Zebulun, i.e. "dwelling;" for she hoped that now, after God had endowed her with a good portion, her husband, to whom she had born six sons, would dwell with her, i.e. become more warmly attached to her. The name is from /'^J to dwell, with ace. constr. " to inhabit," formed with a play upon the alliteration in the word 13T to present — two aira^ Xeyofieva. In connection with these two births, Leah mentions Elohim alone, the supernatural giver, and not Jehovah, the covenant God, whose grace had been forced out of her heart by jealousy. She afterwards bore a daughter, Dinah, who is mentioned simply because of the account in chap, xxxiv.; for, according to chap, xxxvii. 35 and xlvi. 7, Jacob had several daughters, though they are nowhere mentioned by name.

Vers. 22-24. Birth of Joseph. — At length God gave Rachel also a son, whom she named Joseph, ^OV, i.e. taking away (= f\D'^\ cf. 1 Sam. XV. 6; 2 Sam. vi. 1; Ps. civ. 29) and adding (from PjDJ), because his birth not only furnished an actual proof that God had removed the reproach of her childlessness, but also excited the wish, that Jehovah might add another son. The fulfilment of this wish is recorded in chap. xxxv. 16 sqq. The double derivation of the name, and the exchange of Elohim for Jehovah, may be explained, without the hypothesis of a double source, on the simple ground, that Rachel first of all looked back at the past, and, thinking of the earthly means that had been applied in vain for the purpo ^ of obtaining a child,