Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

^ 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" ( Whistorts 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. 22; 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 (Josephus, Ant. xiii. 9, 1, XV. 7, 9). At a still later period, through Antipater and Herod, they established an Idumgean dynasty over Judea, which lasted till the complete dissolution of the Jewish state.

Thus the words of Isaac to his two sons Avere 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-born. In this way a higher hand prevailed above the acts of sinful men, bringing the counsel and will of Jehovah t eventual triumph, in opposition to human thought and will

Vers. 41-46. Esau's complaining and weeping were no changed into mortal hatred of his brother. " The days of mourn' ing^^ he said to himself, "/or my father are at hand, and I will hill my brother Jacob ^ ''3N?3SI: 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 (Q'^^nn to procure comfort by retaliation, equivalent to " avenge himself," Oi53nn, 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 lohy should I lose you both in one day f " 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 haean and deeam in bethel. — chap.

Vers. 1-9. Jacob's depaetuee feom his paeents' house,| — Eebekah's complaint reminded Isaac of his own call, and hi 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

1 This reference is incorrect; the NipJial is used in Isa. i. 24, tho HitJipael in Jer. y. 9-29. Tr.

among the daughters of Canaan, giving hira at the same time the " blessing of Abraham" i.e. 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 — i.e. 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 obhged 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'XnOj 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 stil far off, God added the firm assurance, " / will not leave thee till ' I have done (carried out) what 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 place, 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 proved 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. a 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 ('"•9??^) *^ 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 fivrjfMoa-vvov, Calvin), not as an idol or an object of divine worship (vid. Ex. XXX. 26 sqq.). — He then gave the place the name of Bethel, i.e. House of God, whereas (J^SlXI) 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 hira back in safety to his father's house, Jehovah should be his God (HNTi 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 Eloliim 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 fulfilHng His promise, then he would acknowledge and worship Him as his God, by making the stone thus set up into a house of God, i.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, i.e. 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 Laban. — Being strengthened in spirit by the nocturnal vision, 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 (/Soc/thXo;) 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. jP. von Dalberg, iib. d. Meteor-cultus d. AUen), which were supjwsed 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 li»hvXoi, (iecirii'^t», notwithstanding its sounding like Bethel, can hardly have arisen from the name Beth-El, Gr. B«/tf;jA, since the r for 6 would be perfectly inexplicable. Dietrich derives ^xni/'htau from 7133, to render inoperative, and interprets it 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 well's mouth was large (n?n3 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 Kachel, 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 (yid. Eob. 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 (\^ Di^K'n: is he well?); and received the reply, " Well; and hehold Rachel, his daughter, is just coming (nK3 particip.) with the fiochV When Jacob thereupon told the shepherds to water the flocks and feed them again, for

^ Like the cistern Bir BesJiat, described by Rosen.^m the valley of Hebron, or those which Rohinson found in the desert of Judah (Pal. ii. 165), hollowed out in the great mass of rock, and covered with a large, thick, flat Btone, 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 me"n to roll away.

the clay 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 (i^''?^ T"^? brother, i.e. relation of her father) and Kebekah'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 things,*' — i.e. hardly "the cause of his journey, and the things which had happened to him in relation to the birthright" {Rosenmuller\ but simply the things mentioned in vers. 2-12, — Laban acknowledged him as his relative: " Yes, thou art my hone 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.), durin<T 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? flx me thy wages J' 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, ho 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 Eastern tribes, (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 Racheir 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 service. — 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: 15 HK^J?"; K?^ " it is not accustomed to he so in our place, to give the younger before the first-horny 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 aflfliction 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 Eachel more than Leah; and the chastisement of God, in the fact that the hated wife was blessed with children, whilst Eachel 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) Beuben, " 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 had born three sons, her husband would become attached to her, i.e. show her some affection; (4) Judah ('"T^^fl^ verbal, of the fut. hoph. of t\t\ 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, to Jehovah, who had promised His favour to Jacob (xxviii. 13 sqq.), 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 ivithheld 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 power 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 loith my sister, and also prevailed^ Q'''"}^^? \P^nS3 are neither luctationes quam maxirnce, nor " a conflict in the cause of God, because Kachel 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, of 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 tlie 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, "153, " with good fortune," according to the Chethib, for which the Masoretic reading is *13 N3, " good fortune has come," — not, however, from any ancient tradition, for the Sept. reads ev rv'^y, but simply from a subjective and really unnecessary conjecture, since "'33 = " 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, ''")K'^2, " to my happiness, for daughters call me happy," i.e. as a mother with children. The perfect ''JIIE'N 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 op 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. D''K'i'n, fjirjXa /jbavSpa/yopwv (LXX.), the yellow apples of the alraun {Mandragora vernalis), 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" (nni?? injin.), i.e. that thou wouldst also take, " my soris mandrakes?" At length she parted with them, on condition that Eachel 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), " Elohim 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, "^^^^^ a strange form, to be understood either according to the Chethib "'^b' B'^ " there is reward," or according to the Keri i^K' ii.\^ " he bears (brings) reward." At length she bore her sixth son, and named him Zehulun, 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?3r to dwell, with ace. constr. " to inhabit," formed with a play upon the alliteration in the word 1?T to present — two aird^\ Xejo/xeva. 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, ac-j cording to chap, xxxvii. 35 and xlvi. 7, Jacob had several] daughters, though they are nowhere mentioned by name.

Vers. 22-24. Bieth of Joseph.— At length God gave Rachel also a son, whom she named Joseph, ^oS\ i.e. taking awayl (= ^PM\ cf. 1 Sam. XV. 6; 2 Sam. vi. 1; Ps. civ. 29) and add-] ing (from?!!?)), 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 ElohirrA for Jehovah, may be explained, without the hypothesis of a] double source, on the simple ground, that Rachel first of allj looked back at the past, and, thinking of the earthly means that had been appHed in vain for the purpose of obtaining a child, regarded the son as a gift of God. At the same time, the good fortune which had now come to her banished from her heart her envy of her sister (ver. 1), and aroused behef in that God, who, as she had no doubt heard from her husband, had given Jacob such great promises; so that in giving the name, probably at the circumcision, she remembered Jehovah and prayed for another son from His covenant faithfulness.

After the birth of Joseph, Jacob asked Laban to send him away, with the wives and children for whom he had served him (ver. 25). According to this, Joseph was born at the end of the 14 years of service that had been agreed upon, or seven years after Jacob had taken Leah and (a week later) Rachel as his wives (xxix. 21-28). Now if all the children, whose births are given in chap. xxix. 32-xxx. 24, had been born one after another during the period mentioned, not only would Leah have had seven children in 7, or literally 6^ years, but there would have been a considerable interval also, during which Rachel's maid and her own gave birth to children. But this would have been impossible; and the text does not really state it. When we bear in mind that the imperf. c. "i consec, expresses not only the order of time, but the order of thought as well, it becomes apparent that in the histoiy of the births, the intention to arrange them according to the mothers prevails over the chronological order, so that it by no means follows, that because the passage, " when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children," occurs after Leah is said to have had four sons, therefore it was not till after the birth of Leah's fourth child that Rachel became aware of her own barrenness. There is nothing on the part of the grammar to prevent our arranging the course of events thus. Leah's first four births followed as rapidly as possible one after the other, so that four sons were born in the first four years of the second period of Jacob's service. In the meantime, not necessarily after the birth of Leah's fourth child, Rachel, having discovered her own barrenness, had given her maid to Jacob; so that not only may Dan have been bom before Judah, but Naphtali also not long after him. The rapidity and regularity with which Leah had born her first four sons, would make her notice all the more quickly the cessation that took place; and jealousy of Rachel, as well as the success of the means she had adopted, would impel her to attempt in the same way to increase the number of her children. Moreover, Leah herself may have conceived again before the birth of her maid's second son, and may have given birth to her last two sons in the sixth and seventh years of their marriage. And contemporaneously with the birth of Leah's last son, or immediately afterwards, Rachel may have given birth to Joseph. In this way Jacob may easily have had eleven sons within seven years of his marriage. But with regard to the birth of Dinah, the expression " afterwards" (ver. 21) seems to indicate, that she was not born during Jacob's years of service, but during the remaining six years of his stay with Laban.»

Vers. 25—43. New contract of service betaveex Jacob and Laban. — As the second period of seven years terminated about the time of Joseph's birth, Jacob requested Laban to let him return to his own place and country, i.e. to Canaan. Laban, however, entreated hira to remain, for he had perceived that Jehovah, Jacob's God, had blessed him for his sake; and told him to fix his wages for further service. The words, " if I have found favour in thine ej/es^' (ver. 27), contain an aposiopesis, sc. then remain. ''^^^^ " a heathen expression, like augurando cognovV^ (Delitzsch). vVTisb' thi/ wages, which it will be binding upon me to give. Jacob reminded him, on the other hand, what service he had rendered him, how Jehovah's blessing had followed " at his foot,^' and asked when he should begin to provide for his own house. But when Laban repeated the question, what should he give him, Jacob offered to feed and } keep his flock still, upon one condition, which was founded upon the fact, that in the East the goats, as a rule, are black or darkbrown, rarely white or spotted with white, and that the sheep for the most part are white, very seldom black or speckled. Jacob required as wages, namely, all the speckled, spotted, and black among the sheep, and all the speckled, spotted, and white among the goats; and offered "even to-day'^ to commence separating them, so that "to-morrow" Laban might convince himself of the uprightness of his proceedings, "ipn (ver. 32) cannot be imperative, because of the preceding "i^y??, but must be infinitive: " I will go through the whole flock to-day to remove from thence all..;" and "'"i^b' n^n signifies " what is removed shall be my wages," but not everything of an abnormal colour that shall hereafter be found in the flock. This was no doubt intended by Jacob, as the further course of the narrative shows, but it is not involved in the words of ver. 32. Either the writer has restricted himself to the main fact, and omitted to mention that it was also agreed at the same time that the separation should be repeated at certain regular periods, and that all the sheep of an abnormal colour in Laban's flock should also be set aside as part of Jacob's wages; or this point was probably not mentioned at first, but taken for granted by both parties, since Jacob took measures with that idea to his own advantage, and even Laban, notwithstanding the frequent alteration of the contract with which Jacob charged him (xxxi. 7, 8, and 41), does not appear to have disputed this right. — Yers. 34 sqq. Laban cheerfully accepted the proposal, but did not leave Jacob to make the selection. He undertook that himself, probably to make more sure, and then gave those which were set apart as Jacob's wages to his own sons to tend, since it was Jacob's duty to take care of Laban's flock, and " set three days' journey heticixt Jiimself and Jacob" i.e. between the flock to be tended by himself through his sons, and that to be tended by Jacob, for the purpose of preventing any copulation between the animals of the two flocks. Nevertheless he was overreached by Jacob, who adopted a double method of increasing the wages agreed upon. In the first place (vers. 37-39), he took fresh rods of storax, maple, and walnut-trees, all of which have a dazzling white wood under their dark outside, and peeled white stripes upon them, l^^n fpm (the verbal noun instead of the inf. abs. ^^'H), ^^ peeling the white naked in the rods'' These partially peeled, and therefore mottled rods, he placed in the drinking-troughs (C^nn lit. gutters, from Drn=p") to run, is explained by D';'?n ninj?^ water-troughs), to which the flock came to drink, in front of the animals, in order that, if copulation took place at the drinking time, it might occur near the mottled sticks, and the young be speckled and spotted in consequence, ^"•^^m a rare, antiquated form for njJpnril from D»n, and lom for 1Dn»5 imperf. Kal of Dm = DOn. This artifice was founded upon a fact frequently noticed, particularly in the case of sheep, that whatever fixes their attention in copulation is marked upon the young (see the proofs in Bochart, Hieroz. 1, 618, and Friedreich zur Bihel 1, 37 sqq.). — Secondly (ver. 40), Jacob separated the speckled animals thus obtained from those of a normal colour, and caused the latter to feed so that the others would be constantly in sight, in order that he might in this way obtain a constant accession of mottled sheep. As soon as these had multiplied sufficiently, he formed separate flocks (viz. of the speckled additions), ^^ and put them not unto Lahans cattle;" i.e. he kept them apart in order that a still larger number of speckled ones might be procured, through Laban's one-coloured flock having this mottled group constantly in view. — ^Vers. 41, 42. He did not adopt the trick with the rods, however, on every occasion of copulation, for the sheep in those countries lamb twice a year, but only at the copulation of the strong sheep (niiK'i^lpn the bound ones, i.e. firm and compact), — Luther, "the spring flock;" '^^^L'1? inf. Pi. "to conceive it (the young);" — but not "in the weakening of the sheep," i.e. when they were weak, and would produce weak lambs. The meaning is probably this: he only adopted this plan at the summer copulation, not the autumn; for, in the opinion of the ancients {Pliny, Columella), lambs that were conceived in the spring and bom in the autumn were stronger than those born in the spring (cf. Bochart I.e. p. 582). Jacob did this, possibly, less to spare Laban, than to avoid exciting suspicion, and so leading to the discovery of his trick. — In ver. 43 the account closes with the remark, that the man increased exceedingly, and became rich in cattle (niS"] |N^ many head of sheep and goats) and slaves, without expressing approbation of Jacob's conduct, or describing his increasing wealth as a blessing from God. The verdict is contained in what follows.

Vers. 1-21. The flight. — Through some angry remar of Laban's sons with reference to his growing wealth, and the evident change in the feelings of Laban himself towards him (vers. 1, 2), Jacob was inwardly prepared for the termination of his present connection with Laban; and at the same time he received instructions from Jehovah, to return to his home, together with a promise of divine protection. In consequence of this, he sent for Rachel and Leah to come to him in the field, and explained to them (vers. 4-13), how their father's disposition had changed towards him, and how he had deceived him in spite of the service he had forced out of him, and had altered his wages ten times; but that the God of his father had stood by him, and had transferred to him their father's cattle, and now at length had directed him to return to his home. — Ver. 6. HjriK;: the original form of the abbreviated V!)^, which is merely copied from the Pentateuch in Ez. xiii. 11, 20, xxxiv. 17. Ver. 9. 133''3K: for \y2^ as in chap, xxxii. 16, etc. — " Ten times:" i.e. as often as possible, the ten as a round number expressing the idea of completeness. From the statement that Laban had changed his wages ten times, it is evident that when Laban observed, that among his sheep and goats, of one colour only, a large number of mottled young were born, he made repeated attempts to limit the original stipulation by changing the rule as to the colours of the young, and so diminishing J acob's wages. But when Jacob passes over his own stratagem in silence, and represents all that he aimed at and secured by crafty means as the fruit of God's blessing, this differs no doubt from the account in chap. xxx. It is not a contradiction, however, pointing to a difference in the sources of the two chapters, but merely a difference founded upon actual fact, viz. the fact that Jacob did not tell the whole truth to his wives. Moreover self-help and divine help do not exclude one another. Hence his account of the dream, in which he saw that the rams that leaped upon the cattle were all of various colours, and heard the voice of the angel of God calling his attention to what had been seen, in the words, " I have seen all that Laban hath done to thee" may contain actual truth; and the dream may be regarded as a divine revelation, which was either sent to explain to him now, at the end of the sixth year, " that it was not his stratagem, but the providence of God which had prevented him from falHng a victim to Laban's avarice, and had brought him such wealth" (Delitzsch); or, if the dream occurred at an earlier period, was meant to teach him, that " the help of God, without any such self-help, could procure him justice and safety in spite of Laban's selfish covetousness" (Kurtz). It is very difficult to decide between these two interpretations. As Jehovah's instructions to him to return were not given till the end of his period of service, and Jacob connects them so closely with the vision of the rams that they seem contemporaneous, DelitzscNs view appears to deserve the preference. But the nb^'y in ver. 12, " all that Laban is doing to thee," does not exactly suit this meaning; and we shoul 1 rather expect to find •"iB'y used at the end of the time of service. The participle rather favours Kurtz's view, that Jacob had the vision of the rams and the explanation from the angel at the beginning of the last six years of service, but that in his communication to his wives, in which there was no necessity to preserve a strict continuity or distinction of time, he connected it with the divine instructions to return to his home, which he received at the end of his time of service. But if we decide in favour of this view, we have no further guarantee for the objective reality of the vision of the rams, since nothing is said about it in the historical account, and it is nowhere stated that the wealth obtained by Jacob's craftiness was the result of the divine blessing. The attempt so unmistakeably apparent in Jacob's whole conversation with his wives, to place his dealings with Laban in the most favourable light for himself, excites the suspicion, that the vision of which he spoke was nothing more than a natural dream, the materials being supplied by the three thoughts that were most frequently in his mind, by night as well as by day, viz. (1) his own schemes and their success; (2) the promise received at Bethel; (3) the wish to justify his actions to his own conscience; and that these were wrought up by an excited imagination into a visionary dream, of the divine origin of which Jacob himself may not have had the slightest doubt. — In ver. 13 -'i^n has the article in the construct state, contrary to the ordinary rule; cf. Ges. § 110, 2h; Ewald, § 290.

Vers. 14 sqq. The two wives naturally agreed with their husband, and declared that they had no longer any part or in-jj heritance in their father's house. For he had not treated them' as daughters, but sold them like strangers, i.e. servants. " And he has even constantly/ eaten our monei/," i.e. consumed the property brought to him by our service. The inf. abs. ^i3K after ^ the finite verb expresses the continuation of the act, and is in-^ tensified by qj " yes, even." ^2 in ver. 16 signifies " so that,"^ as in Deut. xiv. 24, Job x. 6.— Vers. 17-19. Jacob then set out with his children and wives, and all the property that he had acquired in Padan-Aram, to return to his father in Canaan; whilst Laban had gone to the sheep-shearing, which kept him some time from his home on account of the size of his flock. Eachel took advantage of her father's absence to rob him of his teraphim {penates), probably small images of household gods in human form, which were worshipped as givers of earthly pros- perity, and also consulted as oracles (see my Archdologiey § 90). — Ver. 20. " Thus Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled \^ — 3? -^?? to steal the heart (as the seat of the miderstanding), like Kkiirretv voov, and 333 with the simple accus. pers., ver. 27, like Kkeirrecv riva, signifies to take the knowledge of anything away from a person, to deceive him; — " and passed over the river (Euphrates), and took the direction to the mountains of Gilead."

Vers. 22-54. Laban's puksuit, eeconciliation, and COVENANT WITH Jacob. — As Laban was not told till the third day after the flight, though he pursued the fugitives with his brethren, i.e. his nearest relations, he did not overtake Jacob for seven days, by which time he had reached the mountains of Gilead (vers. 22-24). The night before he overtook them, he was warned by God in a dream, " not to speak to Jacob from good to badj^ i.e. not to say anything decisive and emphatic for the purpose of altering what had already occurred {vid. ver. 29, and the note on xxiv. 50). Hence he confined himself, when they met, " to bitter reproaches combining paternal feeling on the one hand with hypocrisy on the other;" in which he told them that he had the power to do them harm, if God had not forbidden him, and charged them with stealing his gods (the teraphim). — Ver. 26. ^^ Like sword-booty;^ i.e. like prisoners of war (2 Kings vi. 22) carried away unwillingly and by force. — Ver. 27. " So I might have conducted thee with mirth and songs, with tabret and harp^^ i.e. have sent thee away with a parting feast. Ver. 28. WV: an old form of the infinitive for nijyy as in chap, xlviii. 11," 1. 20.— Ver. 29. ^"j; ^K^ ^l: 'Hhere is' to God my hand" (Mic. ii. 1; cf. Dent, xxviii. 32; Neh. v. 5), i.e. my hand serves me as God (Hab. i. 11; Job xii. 6), a proverbial expression for '"'the power lies in my hand." — Ver. 30. ^^ And now thou art gone (for^ if thou art gone), because thou longedst after thy fatliers house, why hast thou stolen my gods?" The meaning is this: even if thy secret departure can be explained, thy stealing of my gods cannot. — Vers. 31, 32, The first, Jacob met by pleading his fear lest Laban should take away his daughters (keep them back by force). " For I said:" equivalent to "for I thought." But Jacob knew nothing of the theft; hence he declared, that with whomsoever he might find the gods he should be put to death, and told Laban to make the strictest search among all the things that he had with him. ^^ Before our bretJiren,^' i.e. the relations who had come with Laban, as being impartial witnesses (cf. ver. 37); not, as Knohel thinks, before Jacob's horde of male and female slaves, of women and of children. — Vers. 33 sqq. Laban looked through all the tents, but did not find his teraphim; for Kachel had put them in the saddle of her camel and was sitting upon them, and excused herself to her lord (Adonai, ver. 35), on the ground that the custom of women was upon her. " The earners furniture" i.e. the saddle (not "the camel's litter:" Luther), here the woman's riding saddle, which had a comfortable seat formed of carpets on the top of the packsaddle. The fact that Laban passed over Rachel's seat because of her pretended condition, does not presuppose the Levitical law in Lev. xv. 19 sqq., according to which, any one who touched the couch or seat of such a woman was rendered unclean. For, in the first place, the view which lies at the foundation of this law was much older than the laws of Moses, and is met with among many other nations (cf. Bdhr, Symbolikii. 466, etc.); consequently Laban might refrain from making further examination, less from fear of defilement, than because he regarded it as impossible that any one with the custom of women upon her should sit upon his gods. — Vers. 36 sqq. As Laban found nothing, Jacob grew angry, and pointed out the injustice of his hot pursuit and his search among all his things, but more especially the harsh treatment he had received from him in return for the unselfish and self-denying services that he had rendered him for twenty years. Acute sensibility and elevated self-consciousness give to Jacob's words a rhythmical movement and a poetical form. Hence such expressions as ''^nx p^T « hotlr/ pursued,'* 1 which is only met with in 1 Sam. xvii. 53; natsnx for n^N^riK « / had to atone for it," i.e. to hear the loss; " the Fear of Isaac," used as a name for God, ins, (Tel3a<i = (ri^aa/xa, the object of Isaac's fear or sacred awe.— Ver. 40. " I have been; by day {i.e. I have been in this condition, that by day) heat has consumed (prostrated) me, and cold by night"— for it is well known, that in the East the cold by night corresponds to the heat by day; the hotter the day the colder the night, as a rule.— Ver. 42. " Except the God ¥ ^y father... had been for me, surely thou wouldst now have sent me away empty. God has seen mine affl,iction and the labour of my hands, and last night He judged it^ By the warning given to Laban, God pronounced sentence upon the matter between Jacob and Laban, condemning the course which Laban had pui'sued, and still intended to pursue, towards Jacob; but not on that account sanctioning all that Jacob had done to increase his own possessions, still less confirming Jacob's assertion that the vision mentioned by Jacob (vers. 11, 12) was a revelation from God. But as Jacob had only met cunning with cunning, deceit with deceit, Laban had no right to punish him for what he had done. Some excuse may indeed be found for Jacob's conduct in the heartless treatment he received from Laban, but the fact that God defended him from Laban's revenge did not prove it to be right. He had not acted upon the rule laid down in Prov. xx. 22 (cf. Kom. xii. 17; 1 Thess. v. 15).

Vers. 43-54. These words of Jacob " cut Laban to the heart with their truth, so that he turned round, offered his hand, and proposed a covenant." Jacob proceeded at once to give a practical proof of his assent to this proposal of liis fatherin-law, by erecting a stone as a memorial, and calling upon his relations also (" his brethren," as in ver. 23, by whom Laban and the relations who came with him are intended, as ver. 54 shows) to gather stones into a heap, which formed a table, as is briefly observed in ver. 46i, for the covenant meal (ver. 54). This stone-heap was called Jegar-Sahadutha by Laban, and Galeed by Jacob (the former is the Chaldee, the latter the Hebrew; they have both the same meaning, viz. " heaps of witness" ^), because, as Laban, who spoke first, as being the elder, explained, the heap was to be a " witness between him and Jacob." The historian then adds this explanation: " therefore they called his name Galled," and immediately afterwards introduces a second name, which the heap received from words that were spoken by Laban at the conclusion of the covenant (ver. 49): " And 3fizpah" i.e. watch, watch-place (sc. he called it), "for he (Laban) said, Jehovah watch betiveen me and thee; for we are hidden from one another (from the face of one another), if thou

^ These -words are the oldest proof, that in the native country of the patriarchs, Mesopotamia, Aramaean or Chaldaean was spoken, and Hebrew in Jacob's native country, Canaan; from which we may conclude that Abraham's family first acquired the Hebrew in Canaan from the Canaauitea (Phoenicians).

shalt oppress my daughters, and if thou shall take wives to my daughters! No man is with us, behold God is witness between me and thee! " (vers. 49, 50). After these words of Laban, which are introduced parenthetically/ and in which he enjoined upon Jacob fidelity to his daughters, the formation of the covenant of reconciliation and peace between them is first described, according to which, neither of them {sive ego sive tu, as in Ex. xix. 13) was to pass the stone-heap and memorial-stone with a hostile intention towards the other. Of this the memorial was to serve as a witness, and the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father (Terah), would be umpire between them. To this covenant, in which Laban, according to his polytheistic views, placed the God of Abraham upon the same level with the God of Nahor and Terah, Jacob swore by " the Fear of Isaac " (ver. 42), the God who was worshipped by his father with sacred awe. He then offered sacrifices upon the mountain, and invited his relations to eat, i.e. to partake of a sacrificial meal, and seal the covenant by a feast of love.

The geographical names Gilead and Ramath-Mizpeh (Josh, xiii. 26), also Mizpeh- Gilead (Judg ii. 29), sound so obviously like GaVed and Mizpah, that they are no doubt connected, and owe their origin to the monument erected by Jacob and Laban; so that it was by prolepsis that the scene of this occurrence was called " the mountains of Gilead " in vers. 21, 23, 25. By the mount or mountains of Gilead we are not to understand the mountain range to the south of the Jabbok (Zerka), the present Jebel Jelaad, or Jebel es Salt. The name Gilead has a much more comprehensive signification in the Old Testament; and the mountains to the south of the Jabbok are called in Deut. iii. 12 the half of Mount Gilead; the mountains to the

^ There can be no doubt that vers. 49 and 50 bear the marks of a subsequent insertion. But there is nothing in the nature of this interpolation to indicate a compilation of the history from different sources. That Laban, when making this covenant, should have spoken of the future treatment of his daughters, is a thing so natural, that there would have been something strange in the omission. And it is not less suitable to the circumstances, that he calls upon the God of Jacob, i.e. Jehovah, to watch in this affair. And apart from the use of the name Jehovah, which is perfectly suitable here, there is nothing whatever to point to a different source; to say nothing of the fact that the critics themselves cannot agree as to the nature of the source supposed.

north of the Jabbok, the JebelrAjlun, forming the other half. In this chapter the name is used in the broader sense, and refers primarily to the northern half of the mountains (above the Jabbok); for Jacob did not cross the Jabbok till afterwards (xxxii. 23, 24). There is nothing in the names Ramath- Mizpeh, which Ramoth in Gilead bears in Josh. xiii. 26, and Mizpeh-Gilead, which it bears in Judg. xi. 29, to compel us to place Laban's meeting with Jacob in the southern portion of the mountains of Gilead. For even if this city is to be found in the modern Salt, and was called Ramath-Mizpeh from the event recorded here, all that can be inferred from that is, that the tradition of Laban's covenant with Jacob was associated in later ages with Ramoth in Gilead, without the correctness of the association being thereby established.

Vers. 1-3. The host of God. — When Laban had taken his departure peaceably, Jacob pursued his journey to Canaan. He was then met by some angels of God, in whom he discerned an encampment of God; and he called the place where they appeared Mahanaimy i.e. double camp or double host, because the host of God joined his host as a safeguard. This appearance of angels necessarily reminded him of the vision of the ladder, on his flight from Canaan. Just as the angels ascending and descending had then represented to him the divine protection and assistance during his journey and sojourn in a foreign land, so now the angelic host was a signal of the help of God for the approaching conflict with Esau of which he was in fear, and a fresh pledge of the promise (chap, xxviii. 15), " I will bring thee back to the land," etc. Jacob saw it during his journey; in a waking condition, therefore, not internally, but out of or above himself: but whether with the eyes of the body or of the mind (cf. 2 Kings vi. 17), cannot be determined. Mahanaim was afterwards a distinguished city, which is frequently mentioned, situated to the north of the Jabbok; and the name and remains are still preserved in the place called Mahneli (Robinson, Pal. Appendix, p. 166), the site of which, however, has not yet been minutely examined (see my Coram, on Joshua, p. 259).

Vers. 4-13. From this point Jacob sent messengers forward to his brother Esau, to make known his return in such a style of humihty (" thy servant," " my lord ") as was adapted to conciliate him. inx (ver. 5) is the first pers. imperf. Kal for inNK, from in5< to delay, to pass a time; cf. Prov. viii. 17, and Ges. § 68, 2. The statement that Esau was already in the land of Seir (ver. 4), or, as it is afterwards called, the field of Edom, is not at variance with chap, xxxvi. 6, and may be very naturally explained on the supposition, that with the increase of his family and possessions, he severed himself more and more from his father's house, becoming increasingly convinced, as time went on, that he could hope for no change in the blessings pronounced by his father upon Jacob and himself, which excluded him from the inheritance of the promise, viz. the future possession of Canaan. Now, even if his malicious feelings towards Jacob had gradually softened down, he had probably never said anything to his parents on the subject, so that Rebekah had been unable to fulfil her promise (chap, xxvii. 45); and Jacob, being quite uncertain as to his brother's state of mind, was thrown into the greatest alarm and anxiety by the report of the messengers, that Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men. The simplest explanation of the fact that Esau should have had so many men about him as a standing army, is that given by Delitzsch; namely, that he had to subjugate the Horite population in Seir, for which purpose he might easily have formed such an army, partly from the Canaanitish and Ishmaelitish relations of his wives, and partly from his own servants. His reason for going to meet Jacob with such a company may have been, either to show how mighty a prince he was, or with the intention of making his brother sensible of his superior power, and assuming a hostile attitude if the circumstances favoured it, even though the lapse of years had so far mitigated his anger, that he no longer seriously thought of executing the vengeance he had threatened twenty years before. For we are warranted in regarding Jacob's fear as no vain, subjective fancy, but as having an objective foundation, by the fact that God endowed him with courage and strength for his meeting with Esau, through the medium of the angelic host and the wrestling at the Jabbok; whilst, on the other hand, the brotherly affection and openness with which Esau met him, are to be attributed partly to Jacob's humble demeanour, and still more to the fact, that by the influence of God, the still remaining malice had been rooted out from his heart. — ^Vers. 8 sqq. Jacob, fearing the worst, divided his people and flocks into two camps, that if Esau smote the one, the other might escape. He then turned to the Great Helper in eveiy time of need, and with an earnest prayer besought the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, who had directed him to return, that, on the ground of the abundant mercies and truth (cf. xxiv. 27) He had shown him thus far, He would deliver him out of the hand of his brother, and from the threatening destruction, and so fulfil His promises. — Ver. 12. " For I am in fear of Mm, that (|£i tie) he come and smite me, mother with children^ C^a bv Dt< is a proverbial expression for unsparing cruelty, taken from the bird which covers its young to protect them (Deut. xxii. 6, cf. Hos. x. 14).?y super, una cum, as in Ex. xxxv. 22.

Vers. 14-22. Although hoping for aid and safety from the Lord alone, Jacob neglected no means of doing what might help to appease his brother. Having taken up his quarters for the night in the place where he received the tidings of Esau's approach, he selected from his flocks (" of that which came to his hand^'' i.e. which he had acquired) a very respectable present of 550 head of cattle, and sent them in different detachments to meet Esau, "as a present from his servant Jacob" who was coming behind. The selection was in harmony with the general possessions of nomads (cf. Job i. 3, xliii. 12), and the proportion of male to female animals was arranged according to the agricultural rule of Varro (de re rustica 2, 3). The division of the present, " drove and drove separately,^' i.e. into several separate droves which followed one another at certain intervals, was to serve the purpose of gradually mitigating the wrath of Esau. D"'JQ"iB3, ver 21, to appease the countenance; D''JS) XK>J to raise any one's countenance, i.e. to receive him in a friendly manner. This present he sent forward; and he himself remained the same night (mentioned in ver. 14) in the camp.

Vers. 23-33. The wrestling with God. — The same night, he conveyed his family with all his possessions across the ford of the Jabbok. Jahhoh is the present Wady es Zerka (i.e. the blue), which flows from the east towards the Jordan, and with Its deep rocky valley formed at tliat time the boundary between the kingdoms of Sihon at Heshbon and Og of Bashan. It now separates the countries of Moerad or Ajlun and Belka. The ford by which Jacob crossed was hardly the one which he took on his outward journey, upon the Syrian caravan-road by Kalaat-Zerka, but one much farther to the west, between Jehel Ajlun and Jehel Jelaad, through which Buckingham, Burckhardty and Seetzen passed, and where there are still traces of walls and buildings to be seen, and other marks of cultivation. — Ver. 25. When Jacob was left alone on the northern side of the Jabbok, after sending all the rest across, " there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.'' P^^53, an old word, which only occurs here (vers. 25, 26), signifying to wrestle, is either derived from P3^> to wind, or related to P^n to contract one's self, to plant limb and limb firmly together. From this wrestling the river evidently received its name of Jahhok (p'3|; = p3X^). — Ver. 26. ^^ And when He (the unknown) saw that He did not overcome him, He touched his hip-socket; and his hip-socket was put out of joint (yp^ from Vp^) as He wrestled with himP Still Jacob would not let Him go until He blessed him. He then said to Jacob, " Thy name shall he called no more Jacoh, hut Israel (^^^^^^ God's fighter, from nnb* to fight, and?NI God); for thou hast fought with God and with men, and hast prevailed." When Jacob asked Him His name. He declined giving any definite answer, and ^^hlessed him there." He did not tell him His name; not merely, as the angel stated to Manoah in reply to a similar question (Judg. xiii. 18), because it was iOQ wonder, i.e. incomprehensible to mortal man, but still more to fill Jacob's soul with awe at the mysterious character of the whole event, and to lead him to take it to heart. What Jacob wanted to know, with regard to the person of the wonderful Wrestler, and the meaning and intention of the struggle, he must already have suspected, when he would not let Him go until He blessed him; and it was put before him still more plainly in the new name that was given to him with this explanation, " Thou hast fought with Elohim and with men, and hast conquered^ God had met him in the form of a man: God in the angel, according to Hos. xii. 4, 5, i.e. not in a created angel, but in the Angel of Jehovah, the visible manifestation of the invisible God. Our history does not speak of

Jehovah, or tlie Angel of Jehovah, but of Elohim, for the purpose of bringing out the contrast between God and the creature. This remarkable occurrence is not to be regarded as a dream or an internal vision, but fell within the sphere of sensuous perception. At the same time, it was not a natural or corporeal wrestling, but a " real conflict of both mind and body, a work of the spirit with intense effort of the body" {Delitzsch), in which Jacob was lifted up into a highly elevated condition of body and mind resembling that of ecstasy, through the medium of the manifestation of God. In a merely outward conflict, it is impossible to conquer through prayers and tears. As the idea of a dream or vision has no point of contact in the history; so the notion, that the outward conflict of bodily wrestling, and the spiritual conflict with prayer and tears, are two features opposed to one another and spiritually distinct, is evidently at variance with the meaning of the narrative and the interpretation of the prophet Hosea. Since Jacob still continued his resistance, even after his hip had been put out of joint, and would not let Him go till He had blessed him, it cannot be said that it was not till all hope of maintaining the conflict by bodily strength was taken from him, that he had recourse to the weapon of prayer. And when Hosea (xii. 4, 5) points his contemporaries to their wrestling forefatlier as an example for their imitation, in these words, " He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his human strength he fought with God; and he fought with the Angel and prevailed; he wept and made supplication unto Him," the turn by which the explanatory periphrasis of Jacob's words, " I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me," is linked on to the previous clause by nsi without a copula or vav consec, is a proof that the prophet did not regard the weeping and supplication as occurring after the wrestling, or as only a second element, which was subsequently added to the corporeal struggle. Hosea evidently looked upon the weeping and supplication as the distinguishing feature in the conflict, without thereby excluding the corporeal wrestling. At the same time, by connecting this event with what took place at the birth of the twins (xxv. 26), the prophet teaches that Jacob merely completed, by his wrestling with God, what he had already been engaged in even from his mother's womb, viz. his striving for the birthright; in other words, for the possession of the covenant promise and the covenant blessing. This meaning is also indicated by the circumstances under which the event took place. Jacob had wrested the blessing of the birthright from his brother Esau; but it was by cunning and deceit, and he had been obliged to flee from his wrath in consequence. And now that he desired to return to the land of promise and his father's house, and to enter upon the inheritance promised him in his father's blessing; Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men, which filled him with great alarm. As he felt too weak to enter upon a conflict with him, he prayed to the covenant God for deliverance from the hand of his brother, and the fulfilment of the covenant promises. The answer of God to this prayer was the present wrestling with God, in which he was victorious indeed, but not without carrying the marks of it all his life long in the dislocation of his thigh. Jacob's great fear of Esau's wrath and vengeance, which he could not suppress notwithstanding the divine revelations at Bethel and Mahanaim, had its foundation in his evil conscience, in the consciousness of the sin connected with his wilful and treacherous appropriation of the blessing of the first-born. To save him from the hand of his brother, it was necessary that God should first meet him as an enemy, and show him that his real opponent was God Himself, and that he must first of all overcome Him before he could hope to overcome his brother. And Jacob overcame God; not with the power of the flesh however, with which he had hitherto wrestled for God against man (God convinced him of that by touching his hip, so that it was put out of joint), but by the power of faith and prayer, reaching by firm hold of God even to the point of being blessed, by which he proved himself to be a true wrestler of God, who fought with God and with men, i.e. who by his wrestling with God overcame men as well. And whilst by the dislocation of his hip the carnal nature of his previous wrestling was declared to be powerless and wrong, he received in the new name of Israel the prize of victory, and at the same time directions from God how he was henceforth to strive for the cause of the Lord.— By his wrestling with God, Jacob entered upon a new stage in his life. As a sign of this, he received a new name, which indicated, as the result of this conflict, the nature of his new relation to God. But whilst Abram and Sarai, from the time when God changed their names (xvii. 5 and 15), are always called by their new names; in the history of Jacob we find the old name used interchangeably with the new. " For the first two names denoted a change into a new and permanent position, effected and intended by the will and promise of God; consequently the old names were entirely abolished. But the name Israel denoted a spiritual state determined by faith; and in Jacob's life the natural state, determined by flesh and blood, still continued to stand side by side with this. Jacob's new name was transmitted to his descendants, however, who were called Israel as the covenant nation. For as the blessinji of tlieir forefather's conflict came down to them as a spiritual inheritance, so did they also enter upon the duty of preserving this inLeritance by continuing in a similar conflict.

Ver. 31. The remembrance of this wonderful conflict Jacob perpetuated in the name which he gave to the place where it had occurred, viz. Pniel or Pnuel (with the connecting sound 1 or "•), because there he had seen Elohim face to face, and his soul had been delivered (from death, xvi. 13). — ^Vers. 32, 33. "With the rising of the sun after the night of his conflict, the night of anguish and fear also passed away from Jacob's mind, so that he was able to leave Pnuel in comfort, and go forward on his journey. The dislocation of the thigh alone remained. For this reason the children of Israel are accustomed to avoid eating the nervus {scJiiadicus, the principal nerve in the neighbourhood of the hip, which is easily injured by any violent strain in "wrestling. " Unto this day;" the remark is applicable still.

Vers. 1-17. Meeting with Esau. — Vers. 1 sqq. As Jacob went forward, he saw Esau coming to meet him with his 400 men. He then arranged his wives and children in such a manner, that the maids with their children went first, Leah with hers in the middle, and Rachel with Joseph behind, thus forming a long procession. But he himself went in front, and met Esau with sevenfold obeisance, nvns ^nriB'* does not denote complete prostration, like ""i^i? D^Si? in chap. xix. 1, but a deep Oriental bow, in which the head approaches the ground, but does not touch it. By this manifestation of deep reverence, Jacob hoped to win his brother's heart. He humbled himself before him as the elder, with the feehng that he had formerly sinned against him. Esau, on the other hand, " had a comparatively better, but not so tender a conscience." At the sight of Jacob he was carried away by the natural feelings of brotherly affection, and running up to him, embraced him, fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they both wept. The picncta extraordinaria above ^'^i;^^'* are probably intended to mark the word as suspicious. They " are like a note of interrogation, questioning the genuineness of this kiss; but without any reason " (Del). Even if there was still some malice in Esau's heart, it was overcome by the humility with which his brother met him, so that he allowed free course to the generous emotions of his heart; all the more, because the " roving life " which suited his nature had procured him such wealth and power, that he was quite equal to his brother in earthly possessions. — ^Vers. 5-7. When his eyes fell upon the women and children, he inquired respecting them, " Whom hast thou here? " And Jacob replied, " The children with whom Elohim, hath favoured me." Upon this, the mothers and their children approached in order, making reverential obeisance. |3n with double ace. " graciously to present." Elohim: " to avoid reminding Esau of the blessing of Jehovah^ which had occasioned his absence" {Del.). — ^Vers. 8-11. Esau then inquired about the camp that had met him, i.e. the presents of cattle that were sent to meet him, and refused to accept them, until Jacob's urgent persuasion eventually induced him to do so. — Yer. 10. " For therefore^^ so. to be able to offer thee this present, " have I come to see thy face, as man seeth the face of God, and thou hast received me favourably. ^^ The thought is this: In j thy countenance I have been met with divine (heavenly) friend-jH liness (cf. 1 Sam. xxix. 9, 2 Sam. xiv. 17). Jacob might say « this without cringing, since he " must have discerned the work of God in the unexpected change in his brother's disposition towards him, and in his brother's friendliness a reflection of the divine." — ^Ver. 11. Blessing: i.e. the present, expressive of his desire to bless, as in 1 Sam. xxv. 27, xxx. 26. nxnn: fo^^ nxarij as in Deut. xxxi. 29, Isa. vii. 14, etc.; sometimes also in^ verbs n"b, Lev. xxv. 21, xxvi. 34. bb '•^"B^;;: '^I have air (not all kinds of things); viz. as the heir of the divine promise. I

Vers. 12-15. Lastly, Esau proposed to accompany Jacob on his journey. But Jacob politely declined not only his own company, but also the escort, which Esau afterwards offered him, of a portion of his attendants; the latter as being unnecessary, the former as likely to be injurious to his flocks. This did not spring from any feeling of distrust; and the ground assigned was no mere pretext. He needed no military guard, " for he knew that he was defended by the hosts of God; " and the reason given was a very good one: " My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds that are milking (rii-'V from Siy, giving milk or suckling) are upon me'^ ( vV): i.e. because they are giving milk they are an object of especial anxiety to me; " and if one should overdrive them a single day, all the sheep would die^ A caravan, with delicate children and cattle that required care, could not possibly keep pace with Esau and his horsemen, without taking harm. And Jacob could not expect his brother to accommodate himself to the rate at which he was travelling. For this reason he wished Esau to go on first; and he would drive gently behind, " according to the foot of the cattle ("^^SPp possessions = cattle), and according to the foot of the children" i.e. " according to the pace at which the cattle and the children could go" (Luther). " Till I come to my lord to Seir:" these words are not to be understood as meaning that he intended to go direct to Seir; consequently they were not a wilful deception for the purpose of getting rid of Esau. Jacob's destination was Canaan, and in Canaan probably Hebron, where his father Isaac still lived. From thence he may have thought of paying a visit to Esau in Seir. Whether he carried out this intention or not, we cannot tell; for we have not a record of all that Jacob did, but only of the principal events of his life. We afterwards find them both meeting together as friends at their father's funeral (xxxv. 29). Again, the attitude of inferiority which Jacob assumed in his conversation with Esau, addressing him as lord, and speaking of himself as servant, was simply an act of courtesy suited to the circumstances, in which he paid to Esau the respect due to the head of a powerful band; since he could not conscientiously have maintained the attitude of a brother, when inwardly and spiritually, in spite of Esau's friendly meeting, they were so completely separated the one from the other. — Vers. 16, 17. Esau set off the same day for Mount Seir, whilst Jacob proceeded to Succoth, where he built himself a house and made succoth for his flocks, i.e. pro- bably not huts of branches and shrubs, but Imrdles or folds made of twigs woven togethei*. According to Josh. xiii. 27, Succoth was in the valley of the Jordan, and was allotted to the tribe of Gad, as part of the district of the Jordan, *' on the other side Jordan eastward; " and this is confirmed by Judg. viii. 4, 5, and by Jerome (qucest. ad h. I.): Sochoth usque hodie civitas trans Jordanem in parte Scytlwpoleos. Consequently it cannot be identified with the Sdcut on the western side of the Jordan, to the south of Beisan, above the Wady el Mdlih. — How long Jacob remained in Succoth cannot be determined; but we may conclude that he stayed there some years from the circumstance, that by erecting a house and huts he prepared for a lengthened stay. The motives which induced him to remain there are also unknown to us. But when Knohel adduces the fact, that Jacob came to Canaan for the purpose of visiting Isaac (xxxi. 18), as a reason why it is improbable that he continued long at Succoth, he forgets that Jacob could visit his father from Succoth just as well as from Shechem, and that, with the number of people and cattle that he had about him, it was impossible that he should join and subordinate himself to Isaac's household, after having attained through his past life and the promises of God a position of patriarclial independence.

Vers. 18-20. From Succoth, Jacob crossed a ford of the Jordan, and " came in safety to the city of Sichem in the land of Canaan^ oT'^^ is not a proper name meaning " to Shalem," as it is rendered by Luther (and Eng. Vers., Tr.) after the LXX., Vulg., etc.; but an adjective, safe, peaceful, equivalent to Qi^^2, " in peace," in chap, xxviii. 21, to which there is an evident allusion. What Jacob had asked for in his vow at Bethel, before his departure from Canaan, was now fulfilled. He had returned in safety " to the land of Canaan;" Succoth, therefore, did not belong to the land of Canaan, but must have been on the eastern side of the Jordan. D^K' n^J?, lit. city of Shechem; so called from Shechem the son of the Hivite prince Hamor^ (ver. 19, xxxiv. 2 sqq.), who founded it and called it by the name of his son, since it was not in existence in Abraham's time (yid. xii. 6). Jacobpitched his tent before the town, and then bought the piece of ground upon which he encamped from the sons of Hamor for 100'

1 Mamortha, which according to Plln. (h. n. v. 14) was the earlier nam© of Neapolis (Nablus), appears to have been a corruption of Chamor,

Kesita. HD^bip is not a piece of silver of the value of a lamb (according to the ancient versions), but a quantity of silver weighed out, of considerable, though not exactly determinable value: cf. Ges. thes. s. v. This purchase showed that Jacob, in reliance upon the promise of God, i*egarded Canaan as his own home and the home of his seed. This piece of field, which fell to the lot of the sons of Joseph, and where Joseph's bones were buried (Josh. xxiv. 32), was, according to tradition, the plain which stretches out at the south-eastern opening of the valley of Shechem, where Jacob's well is still pointed out (John iv. 6), also Joseph's grave, a Mahometan wely (grave) two or three hundred paces to the north (Rob. Pal. iii. 95 sqq.). Jacob also erected an altar, as Abraham had previously done after his entrance into Canaan (xii. 7), and called it El-elohe-Israel, " God (the mighty) is the God of Israel" to set forth in this name the spiritual acquisition of his previous life, and according to his vow (xxviii. 21) to give glory to the " God of Israel " (as he called Jehovah, with reference to the name given to him at chap, xxxii. 29), for having proved Himself to be El, a mighty God, during his long absence,, and that it might serve as a memorial for his descendants.

Vers. 1-4. During their stay at Shechem, Dinah, Jacob's daughter by Leah, went out one day to see, i.e. to make the acquaintance of the daughters of the land; when Shechem the Hivite, the son of the prince, took her with him and seduced her. Dinah was probably between 13 and 15 at the time, and had attained perfect maturity; for this is often the case in the East at the age of 12, and sometimes earlier. There is no ground for supposing her to have been younger. Even if she w-as born after Joseph, and not till the end of Jacob's 14 years' service with Laban, and therefore was only five years old when they left Mesopotamia, eight or ten years may have passed since then, as Jacob may easily have spent from eight to eleven years in Succoth, where he had built a house, and Shechem, where he had bought " a parcel of a field." But she cannot have been older; for, according to chap, xxxvii. 2, Joseph was sold by his brethren when he was 17 years old, i.e. in the 11th year after

Jacob's return from Mesopotamia, as he was born in the 14th year of Jacob's service with Laban^ (cf. xxx. 24). In the interim between Dinah's seduction and the sale of Joseph there occurred nothing but Jacob's journey from Shechem to Bethel and thence to Ephratah, in the neighbourhood of which Benjamin was bom and Rachel died, and his arrival in Hebron (chap. xxxv.). This may all have taken place within a single year. Jacob was still at Hebron, when Joseph was sent to Shechem and sold by his brethren (xxxvii. 14); and Isaac's death did not happen for 12 years afterwards, although it is mentioned in connection with the account of Jacob's arrival at Hebron (chap. xxxv. 27 sqq.). — Ver. 3. Shechem " loved the girl, and spoke to her heart;" i.e. he sought to comfort her by the promise of a happy marriage, and asked his father to obtain her for him as a wife.

Vers. 5-12. When Jacob heard of the seduction of his daughter, " he was silent" i.e. he remained quiet, without taking any active proceedings (Ex. xiv. 14; 2 Sam. xix. 11) until his sons came from the field. When they heard of it, they were grieved and burned with wrath at the disgrace. N^D to defile = to dishonour, disgrace, because it was an uncircumcised man who had seduced her. "Because he had wrought folly in Israel, hy lying with JacoVs daughter." " To work folly" was a standing phrase for crimes against the honour and calling of Israel as the people of God, especially for shameful sins of the flesh (Deut. xxii. 21; Judg. xx. 10; 2 Sam. xiii. 2, etc.); but it was also applied to other great sins (Josh. vii. 15). As Jacob had become Israel, the seduction of his daughter was a crime against Israel, which is called folly, inasmuch as the relation of Israel to God was thereby ignored (Ps. xiv. 1). "And this ought not to be done" T^'^V^ potentialis as in chap. xx. 9. — Hamor went to Jacob to ask for his daughter (ver. 6); but Jacob's sons reached home at the same time (ver. 7), so that Hamor spoke to them (Jacob and his sons). To attain his object Hamor proposed a further intermarriage, unrestricted movement on their part in the land, and that they should dwell there, trade (e/i7ropevea-Oac), and secure possessions (tnw. settle down securely, as in xlvii. 27). Shechem also offered (vers. 11, 12) to give anything

1 This view is generally supported by the earlier writers, such as Demetrius, Petavius (Hengst. Diss.), etc.; only they reckon Dinah's age at 16, placing her birth in the 14th year of Jacob's service.

they miglit ask in the form of dowry ("inb not purchase-money, but the usual gift made to the bride, vid. xxiv. 53) and presents (for the brothers and mother), if they would only give him the damsel.

Vers. 13-17. Attractive as these offers of the Hivite prince and his son were, they were declined by Jacob's sons, who had the chief voice in the question of their sister's marriage (yid. xxiv. 50). And they were quite right; for, by accepting them, they would have violated the sacred call of Israel and his seed, and sacrificed the promises of Jehovah to Mammon. But they did it in a wrong way; for " iher/ answered with deceit and acted from behind" (}'^^T.\ ^^"V^^- "'?"^ is to be rendered dolos struxit; Cl^T "13^ would be the expression for "giving mere words," Hos. X. 4; vid. Ges. the.s.\ ^^because he had defiled Dinah tJieir sister." They told him that they could not give their sister to an uncircumcised man, because this would be a reproach to them; and the only condition upon which they would consent ^niX3 imperf. Niph. of n^!(<) was, that the Shechemites should all be circumcised; otherwise they would take their sister and go.

Vers. 18—24. The condition seemed reasonable to the two suitors, and by way of setting a good example, " the young man did not delay to do this word" i.e. to submit to circumcision, " as he teas honoured before all his father^ s housed This is stated by anticipation in ver. 19; but before submitting to the operation, he went with his father to the gate, the place of public assembly, to lay the matter before the citizens of the town. They knew so well how to make the condition palatable, by a graphic description of the wealth of Jacob and his family, and by expatiating upon the advantages of being united with them, that the Shechemites consented to the proposal. ^'^^7P.: iniegri, people whose bearing is unexceptionable. '^ And the land, behold broad on both sides it is before them," i.e. it offers space enough in every direction for them to wander about with their flocks. And then the gain: " TTieir cattle, and their possessions, and their beasts of burden... shall they not be ours?" npjpo is used here for flocks and herds, nonii for beasts of burden, viz. camels and asses (cf. Num. xxxii. 26). But notwithstanding the advantages here pointed out, the readiness of all the citizens of Shechem (yid. chap, xxiii. 10) to consent to be circumcised, could only be satisfactorily explained from the fact that this religious rite was PENT. — VOL. I. X already customary in different nations (according to Herod. 104, among the Eg^'-ptians and Colchians), as an act of religious or priestly consecration.

Vers. 25-31. But on the third day, when the Shechemites were thoroughly prostrated by the painful effects of the operation, Simeon and Levi (with their servants of course) fell upon the town nL)3 {i.e. while the people were off their guard, as in Ezek. XXX. 9J, slew all the males, including Hamor and Shechem, with the edge of the sword, i.e. without quarter (Num. xxi. 24; Josh. X. 28, etc.), and brought back their sister. The sons of Jacob then plundered the town, and carried off all the cattle in the town and in the fields, and all their possessions, including the women and the children in their houses. By the sons of Jacob (ver. 27) we are not to understand the rest of his sons to the exclusion of Simeon, Levi, and even Reuben, as Delitzsck supposes, but all his sons. For the supposition, that Simeon and Levi were content with taking their murderous revenge, and had no share in the plunder, is neither probable in itself nor reconcilable with what Jacob said on his death-bed (chap. xlix. 5-7, observe "lit^ ^"^iPV) about this very crime; nor can it be inferred from ^i^if^l in ver. 26, for this relates merely to their going away from the house of the two princes, not to their leaving Shechem altogether. The abrupt way in which the plundering is linked on to the slaughter of all the males, without any copulative Vav, gives to the account the character of indignation at so revolting a crime; and this is also shown in the verbosity of the description. The absence of the copula is not be accounted for by the hypothesis that vers. 27—29 are interpolated; for an interpolator might have supphed the missing link by a vav^ just as well as the LXX. and other ancient translators. — Vers. 30, 31. Jacob reproved the originators of this act most severely for their wickedness: " Ye have brought me into trouble (conturbare), to make me stink (an abomination) among the inhabitants of the land;... and yet I (with my attendants) am a company that can be numbered {lit. people of number, easily numbered, a small band, Deut. iv. 27, cf. Isa. x. 19); and if they gather together against me, they will slay me," etc. If Jacob laid stress simply upon the consequences which this crime Avas likely to bring upon himself and his house, the reason was, that this was the view most adapted to make an impression upon his sons. For his last words concerning Simeon and Levi (xlix. 5—7) are a sufficient proof that the wickedness of their conduct was also an object of deep abhorrence. And his fear was not groundless. Only God in His mercy averted all the evil consequences from Jacob and his house (chap. xxxv. 5, 6). But his sons answered, "Are they to treat our sister like a harlot?" nby: as in Lev. xvi. 15, etc. Their indignation was justifiable enough; and their seeking revenge, as Absalom avenged the violation of his sister on Amnon (2 Sam. xiii. 22 sqq.), was in accordance with the habits of nomadic tribes. In this way, for example, seduction is still punished by death among the Arabs, and the punishment is generally inflicted by the brothers (cf. Niehuhr, Arab. p. 39; Burckhardt, Syr. p. 361, and Beduinen, p. 89, 224-5). In addition to this, Jacob's sons looked upon the matter not merely as a violation of their sister's chastity, but as a crime against the peculiar vocation of their tribe. But for all that, the deception they practised, the abuse of the covenant sign of circumcision as a means of gratifying their revenge, and the extension of that revenge to the whole town, together with the plundering of the slain, were crimes deserving of the strongest reprobation. The crafty character of Jacob degenerated into malicious cunning in Simeon and Levi; and jealousy for the exalted vocation of their family, into actual sin. This event " shows us in type all the errors into which the belief in the pre-eminence of Israel was sure to lead in the course of history, whenever that belief was rudely held by men of carnal minds" (0. r. Gerlach).

Vers. 1-8. Journey to Bethel. — Jacob had allowed ten years to pass since his return from Mesopotamia, without performing the vow which he made at Bethel when fleeing from Esau (xxviii. 20 sqq.), although he had recalled it to mind when resolving to return (xxxi. 13), and had also erected an altar in Shechem to the "God of Israel" (xxxiii. 20). He was now directed by God (ver. 1) to go to Bethel, and there build an altar to the God who had appeared to him on his flight from Esau. This command stirred him up to, perform what had been neglected, viz. to put away from his house the strange gods, which he had tolerated in weak consideration for his wives, and which had no doubt occasioned the long neglect, and to pay to God the vow that he had made in the day of his trouble. He therefore commanded his house (vers. 2, 3), i.e. his wives and children, and "all that were with him" i.e. his men and maid-servants, to put away the strange gods, to purify themselves, and wash their clothes. He also buried " all the strange gods," i.e. Eachel's teraphim (xxxi. 19), and whatever other idols there were, with the earrings which were worn as amulets and charms, "under the terebinth at Shechem" probably the very tree under which Abraham once pitched his tent (xii. 6), and which was regarded as a sacred place in Joshua's time {vid. Josh. xxiv. 26, though the pointing is n?K there). The burial of the idols was followed by purification through the washing of the body, as a sign of the purification of the heart from the defilement of idolatry, and by the putting on of clean and festal clothes, as a symbol of the sanctification and elevation of the heart to the Lord (Josh. xxiv. 23). This decided turning to the Lord was immediately followed by the blessing of God. When they left Shechem a " terror of God" i.e. a supernatural terror, " came upon the cities round about" so that they did not venture to pursue the sons of Jacob on account of the cruelty of Simeon and Levi (ver. 5). Having safely arrived in Bethel, Jacob built an altar, which he called El Bethel (God of Bethel) in remembrance of the manifestation of God on His flight from Esau. — ^Ver. 8. There Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and was buried below Bethel under an oak, which was henceforth called the " oak of weeping," a mourning oak, from the grief of Jacob's house on account of her death. Deborah had either been sent by Eebekah to take care of her daughters-in-law and grandsons, or had gone of her own accord into Jacob's household after the death of her mistress. The mourning at her death, and the perpetuation of her memory, are proofs that she must have been a faithful and highly esteemed servant in Jacob's house.

Vers. 9-15. The feesh revelation at Bethel. — After Jacob had performed his vow by erecting the altar at Bethel, God appeared to him again there {"again,'' referring to chap, xsviii.), " on his coming out of Padan-Aram," as He had appeared to him 30 years before on his journey thither, — though it was then in a dream, now by daylight in a visible form (of. ver. 13, " God went up from him^'). The gloom of that day of fear had now brightened into the clear daylight of salvation. This appearance was the answer, which God gave to Jacob on his acknowledgment of Him; and its reality is thereby established, in opposition to the conjecture that it is merely a legendary repetition of the previous vision.^ The former theophany had promised to Jacob divine protection in a foreign land and restoration to his home, on the ground of his call to be the bearer of the blessings of salvation. This promise God had fulfilled, and Jacob therefore performed his vow. On the strength of this, God now confirmed to him the name of Israel, which He had already given him in chap, xxxii. 28, and with it the promise of a numerous seed and the possession of Canaan, which, so far as the form and substance are concerned, points back rather to chap. xvii. 6 and 8 than to chap, xxviii. 13, 14, and for the fulfilment of which, commencing with the birth of liis sons and his return to Canaan, and stretching forward to the most remote future, the name of Israel was to furnish him with a pledge. — Jacob alluded to this second manifestation of God at Bethel towards the close of his life (chap, xlviii. 3, 4); and Hosea (xii. 4) represents it as the result of his wrestling with God. The remembrance of this appearance Jacob transmitted to his descendants by erecting a memorial stone, which he not only anointed with oil like the former one in chap, xxviii. 18, but consecrated by a drink-offering and by the renewal of the name Bethel.

^ This conjecture derives no support from the fact that the manifestations of God are ascribed to Elohim in vers. 1 and 9 sqq., although the whole chapter treats of the display of mercy by the covenant God, i.e. Jehovah. For the occurrence of Elohim instead of Jehovah in ver. 1 may be explained, partly from the antithesis of God and man (because Jacob, the man, had neglected to redeem his vow, it was necessary that he should be reminded of it by God), and partly from the fact that there is no allusion to any appearance of God, but the words " God said" are to be understood, no doubt, as relating to an inward communication. The use of Elohim in vers. 9 sqq. follows naturally from the injunction of Elohim in ver. 1; and there was the less necessity for an express designation of the God appearing as Jehovah, because, on the one hand, the object of this appearance was simply to renew and confirm the former appearance of Jehovah (xxviii. 12 sqq.), and on the other hand, the title assumed in ver, 11, El Shaddai, refers to chap. xrii. 1, where Jehovah announces Himself to Abram as El Shaddai.

Vers. 16-20. Birth of Benjamin and death of Eachel. —Jacob's departure from Bethel was not in opposition to the divine command, " dwell there " (ver. 1). For the word nc' does not enjoin a permanent abode; but, when taken in connection with what follows, " make there an altar," it merely directs him to stay there and perform his vow. As they were travelling forward, Eachel was taken in labour not far from Ephratah. Y^jAn m_33 is a space, answering probably to the Persian parasang, though the real meaning of n-i33 is unknown. The birth was a difficult one. t^^i?r ^?^ ' §^6 had difficulty in her labour (instead of Piel we find Hiphil in ver. 17 with the same signification). The midwife comforted her by saying: " Fear not, for this also is to thee a son," — a wish expressed by her when Joseph was born (xxx. 24). But she expired; and as she was dying, she called him Ben-oni, "son of my pain." Jacob, however, called him Ben-jamin, probably son of good fortune, according to the meaning of the word jamin sustained by the Arabic, to indicate that his pain at the loss of his favourite wife was compensated by the birth of this son, who now completed the number twelve. Other explanations are less simple. He buried Eachel on the road to Ephratah, or Ephrath (probably the fertile, from nnsi), i.e. Bethlehem (bread-house), by which name it is better known, though the origin of it is obscure. He also erected a monument over her grave ('^^•'???', arrjkrj), on which the historian observes, " This is the pillar of RacheVs grave unto this day:" a remark which does not necessarily point to a post- Mosaic period, but which could easily have been made even 10 or 20 years after its erection. For the fact that a grave-stone had been preserved upon the high road in a foreign land, the inhabitants of which had no interest whatever in it, might appear worthy of notice even though only a single decennary had passed away.^

' But even if this Mazzehdh -was really preserved till the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, i.e. more than 450 years, and the remark referred to that time, it might be an interpolation by a later hand. The grave was certainly a well-known spot in Samuel's time (1 Sam. x. 2); but a monumentuni ubi Rachel posita est uxor Jacob is first mentioned again by the Bordeaux pilgrims of a.d. 333 and Jerome. The KuUet RaUl (Rachel's grave), which is now shown about half an hour's journey to the north of Bethlehem, to the right of the road from Jerusalem to Hebron, is merely " an ordinary Mushm wely, or tomb of a holy person, a small square build-

Vers. 21, 22a. Eeuben's incest. — As they travelled onward, Jacob pitched his tent on the other side of Migdal Eder, where Reuben committed incest with Bilhah, his father's concubine. It is merely alluded to here in the passing remark that Israel heard it, by way of preparation for chap. xlix. 4. Migdal Eder (flock-tower) was a watch-tower built for the protection of flocks against robbers (cf. 2 Kings xviii. 8; 2 Chron. xxvi. 10, xxvii. 4) on the other side of Bethlehem, but hardly within 1000 paces of the town, where it has been placed by tradition since the time of Jerome. The piska in the middle of ver. 22 does not indicate a gap in the text, but the conclusion of a parashah, a division of the text of greater antiquity and greater correctness than the Masoretic division.

Vers. 226-29. Jacob's return to his father's house, AND death of Isaac. — Jacob had left his father's house with no other possession than a staff, and now he returned with 12 sons. Thus had he been blessed by the faithful covenant God. To show this, the account of his arrival in his father's tent at Hebron is preceded by a list of his 12 sons, arranged according to their respective mothers; and this list is closed with the remark, " These are the sons of Jacob, which were horn to him in Padan-Aram" pp.) for ^"i?); Ges. § 143, 1), although Benjamin, the twelfth, was not born in Padan-Aram, but on the journey back. — Vers. 27, 28. Jacob's arrival in " Mamre Kirjath-Arbah" i.e. in the terebinth-grove of Mamre (xiii. 18) by Kirjath-Arbah or Hebron {vid. xxiii. 2), constituted his entrance into his father's house, to remain there as Isaac's heir. He had probably visited his father during the ten years that had elapsed since his return from Mesopotamia, though no allusion is made to this, since such visits would have no importance, either in themselves or their consequences, in connection with the sacred history. This was not the case, however, with his return to enter upon the family