UBRARY OF PRINCETON 
 
 ' ' 1 
 
 FEB272004 
 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
NOTES, 
 
 CRITICAL AND P : A C T I C A L 
 
 ON THE BOOK. OF 
 
 GENESIS; 
 
 design:' a i -» '-iNxH.M. I -:..l' Ti 
 
 BIBLICAL READING AND INSTRUCTION. 
 
 By GEORGE BUSH, 
 
 PROF. OF HEB. AND ORIENT. LIT., N. V. CITY UNIVERS 
 
 IN TW«^ VrMUMFt' 
 VOL. II. 
 
 TENTH EDIT!©."*. 
 
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THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 If those portions of history are most 
 replete with interest and instruction 
 which exhibit to us illustrious charac- 
 ters in trying situations, having their 
 virtues put to the severest test, yet hold- 
 ing fast their integrity, conquering diffi- 
 culties, and rising superior to temptation 
 by the power of moral principle, then 
 the ensuing narrative of Abraham's last 
 and greatest trial prefers the strongest 
 claims to our attention. It is an event 
 preeminently memorable in the Ufe of 
 the patriarch. Whatever signal instan- 
 ces of faith and obedience have hither- 
 to distinguished his conduct, they are 
 all eclipsed by that which we are now^ 
 called to consider. At the very time 
 when we are prompted to congratulate 
 the happy sire, and flatter ourselves 
 that his tribulations have an end ; 
 that the storms w^hich ruffled the noon 
 of Ufe are blown over, and the evening 
 of his age is becoming calm and serene, 
 the sorest of his struggles yet awaits 
 him. The loss of a beloved child would, 
 under any circumstances, have been a 
 grievous affliction ; but in the present 
 case he finds himself required to submit 
 to a bereavement which threatened to 
 extinguish the hopes of the world. Nor 
 was this all. The fatal blow was to be 
 struck with his own hand ! And in 
 this he was called to obey a mandate 
 in which the divine counsel seemed so 
 evidently to war with itself, that his bo- 
 som could not but be torn with a con- 
 flict of emotions, such as the mere grief 
 of a father conld never occasion. To a 
 command which should merely put to 
 the proof his patemal aflfection. he 
 
 VOL. IT. 1 
 
 could, no doubt, have submitted without 
 hesitation ; but when, to the eye of 
 reason, he saw the precept arrayed 
 against the promise of God, and an act 
 enjoined directly at variance with all 
 the attributes of a Being holy, just, and 
 true, he could not but be conscious of 
 an inward struggle, ineffably severe. 
 But the faith which had triumphed be- 
 fore, triumphed now ; and as he came 
 forth from the terrible ordeal, hke gold 
 tried in the furnace, how pertinently 
 may we conceive an approving God 
 addressing him in the language of the 
 poet : — 
 
 " All thy vexations 
 Were but my trials of thy love : and thou 
 Ilast strangely stood the test." 
 
 The command here given to the pa- 
 triarch to sacrifice his only son has ever 
 been so fruitful a theme of cavil with the 
 enemies of revelation, that it will be pro- 
 per, in the outset, to advert vdth some 
 particularity to the objections usually 
 urged against it. The command, it is 
 said, is inconsistent with the attributes 
 of a Being of perfect justice and good- 
 ness. But to this it may be rephed, that 
 the assertion rests upon no sufficient 
 grounds. As God is the author and giver 
 of life, he surely can, without the least 
 shadow of injustice, take it away when 
 and in what manner he pleases. It 
 carmot be supposed that he conferred 
 life either upon Abraham or Isaac, upon 
 the terms of taking it away only in one 
 certain manner, or in the way most 
 agreeable to them. It was given in 
 this, as in all other cases, under the or- 
 dinary reserve of his own indisputable 
 right of resumption in any mode that 
 
GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. ISTS'. 
 
 might seem to him best. There is im- 
 doubtedly something shocking in the 
 idea of a parent's taking away the Ufe 
 of his o-wn child ; but when tliis is done 
 in obedience to an express command 
 from a competent authority, then that 
 which would otherwise be a sin be- 
 comes a duty, and wlioever would im- 
 pugn the act, must necessarily impugn 
 the authority from which it proceeds. 
 To human view it might appear a very 
 barbarous deed in a father to order a 
 son to be beaten to death with rods be- 
 fore his eyes; yet the conduct of Junius 
 Brutus, who pjassed this sentence upon 
 his own children, is usually considered 
 as having been fully justified by the 
 circumstances which occasioned it. 
 And did Abraham owe less obedience 
 to God than Brutus to his country ? 
 Indeed, had the command been actually 
 executed, we should have been bound, 
 by our antecedent knowledge of the 
 perfections of the Deity, to regard it as 
 wise, JTJst, and good ; though we might 
 not, from our limited powers, have been 
 able to see the reason of it ; for a di- 
 vine command necessarily supposes wis- 
 dom, justice, and goodness in the highest 
 possible degree. But this was not the 
 case. God never intended that the 
 command should be actually executed. 
 His purpose was to make trial of Abra- 
 ham's faith and obedience ; to make 
 him perfect by suffering; and in him 
 to propose to all coming generations an 
 illustrious example for their imitation 
 in the various trying services and sacri- 
 fices to which the voice of duty might 
 call them. And will any one affirm 
 that God may not, without impeaching 
 his wisdom, his justice, or his mercy, 
 put true religion to the test ?— the test 
 of severe and repeated trials— the bet- 
 ter to display, to perfect, and to crowTi 
 it ? Great virtue has a right to be made 
 conspicuous. It is sinking the merit of 
 all true moral heroism to withold from 
 it the occasions of exercising itself. 
 The justice of God, therefore is so far 
 
 from being concerned in guarding great 
 minds from great trials, that it is rather 
 evinced in granting them. Nor are we. 
 to estimate such a dispensation by the 
 shght and transient anxieties or pains of 
 the trial itself, but by the lasting joy 
 that awaits and rewards the triumph. 
 Add to this the incalculable advantages 
 that would redound to mankind at large 
 from such an example. No one can doubt 
 that every signal instance of devout 
 submission to the will of God under the 
 pressure of sha^p temptations is among 
 the stablest supports and the most pow- 
 erful incitements to a similar conduct 
 under similar circumstances. Every 
 such example is a new and shining hght 
 set up on high to guide, enlighten, and 
 cheer us in the path of duty. But while 
 we find, in these considerations, an ample 
 vindication of the wisdom and equity of 
 this command, perhaps a stUl more ade- 
 quate estimate will be formed of it, if we 
 view it in another hght. It has gene- 
 rally been held that the present com- 
 mand was imposed merely as a trial of 
 Abraham's faith ; and seeing the deed 
 was not executed, it has been affirmed 
 that there was nothing unworthy the 
 divine goodness in having instituted 
 such a trial ; all which may be readily 
 admitted : but as Bp. Warburton has 
 suggested, it hardly accounts for all the 
 circumstances ; and it may be well to 
 state, in a condensed form, the theory of 
 that learned divine in regard to it. He 
 supposes that Abraham was desirous of 
 becoming acquainted with the manner 
 in which all the families of the earth 
 should be blessed in him ; and upon 
 this he builds the conclusion that the 
 command was imposed upon him chief- 
 ly with the design of teaching him by 
 action, instead of words, and thus ena- 
 bling him to see and feel by what means 
 this great end should be accomplished. 
 In other words, that it was a prefigura- 
 tion of the sacrifice of Christ. 
 
 This theory the author founds upon 
 that passage of the Gospel of John 8 
 
B. C. 1872.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 A ND it came to pass after these 
 ^^ things, that * God did tempt 
 
 Heb. 11. 17. Jam. 1. 12. 
 
 a 1 Cor. 10. 13. 
 I Pet. 1. 7. 
 
 56. in which the Lord says to the unhe- 
 lieving Jews, ♦ Your father Abraham re- 
 joiced to see my day ; and he saw it 
 and was glad.' It is evident, from the 
 reply made by the Jews to this asser- 
 tion, that they understood the expression 
 to see in its most hteral sense ; while it 
 is equally evident, that when they ob- 
 jected to the possibility of a man, not 
 yet fifty years old, having seen Abra- 
 ham, our Lord did not correct them in 
 the notion which they had formed as 
 to seeing. It was not, however, himself 
 jiersonally, whom our Saviour asserted 
 that Abraham rejoiced to see, but his 
 day; by which cannot be meant the 
 period of his sojourn upon earth, but the 
 circumstance in his hfe which was of 
 the highest importance, and mainly 
 characteristic of his office as the Re- 
 deemer. That the term will admit of 
 this interpretation is indubitable, from 
 the frequent use made, in a similar 
 sense, of the word hour. Thus, when 
 our Lord repeatedly says, ' My hour is 
 not yet come'—' the hour is at hand, 
 and the Son of Man is betrayed into 
 the hands of sinners ;' when he prayed 
 that 'if it were possible the hour might 
 pass from him :' where it is said, that 
 'no man laid hands on him, because 
 his hour was not yet come ;' and again, 
 ' that the hour was come when the Son 
 of Man should be glorified,'— in all these 
 instances it is evident that the word 
 does not signify a mere portion of time, 
 from which no one can be saved by its 
 passmg from him ; but some particular 
 circumstance or circumstances in his 
 life, which were peculiar to him as the 
 Redeemer. The peculiar circumstance, 
 however, which constituted Jesus the 
 Redeemer of the world, was the laying 
 down of his hfe ; and this it was which 
 
 Abraham, and said unto him, Abra- 
 ham : and he said, Behold, here I 
 
 Abraham must have rejoiced to see, and 
 seeing which he was glad. But there 
 is nothing recorded of Abraham in the 
 Old Testament, from which it could be 
 inferred that he saw Christ's day in 
 this sense, if he did not see and/eeZ it in 
 the command to sacrifice his only son. 
 In this transaction therefore, he would 
 have a lively figure of the offering up of 
 the Son of God for the sins of the 
 world ; and not only so, but the inter- 
 mediate system of typical sacrifices un- 
 der the Mosaic economy was repre- 
 sented by the prescribed oblation of the 
 ram instead of Isaac. 
 
 On the whole, we regard this as a ve- 
 ry rational and plausible hypothesis, and 
 one that derives no litde support from 
 the place where the scene of the trans- 
 action was laid. If the design of the 
 command had been simply a trial of 
 Abraham's faith, it is not easy to see 
 why he should have been required to 
 go to such a distance to perform an act 
 that might as well have been perform- 
 ed anywhere else. But when we find 
 him directed to go to the site of Jerusa- 
 lem, and to rear his altar, and offer up 
 his sacrifice, on or near the very spot 
 where the Saviour was afterwards actu- 
 ally crucified, we cannot well avoid see- 
 ing in the incident a designed typical 
 and prophetical character. But a fuller 
 view of the event in its various bear- 
 ings will be gained from the explana- 
 tions that follow. 
 
 1 . And it came to pass after these things. 
 Heb. ' After these words.' That is, we 
 suppose, not merely after the things re- 
 corded in the preceding chapter, but 
 after all the previous trials which Abra- 
 ham had been called to pass through. 
 Notwithstanding he may have hoped 
 for a per^pd of tranquil rest in the de- 
 
GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1872. 
 
 2 And he said, Take now thy 
 son, ^ thine only son Isaac, whom 
 thou lovest, and get thee "■ into the 
 
 a Heb. 11. 17. b 2 Chron. 3. 1. 
 
 cline of life, after the various trials and 
 conflicts, the dangers and deliverances 
 through which he had passed ; yet he is 
 once more reminded that he is stiU in the 
 flesh, that the days of his warfare are 
 not yet accomplished, and that he must 
 arm himself for a far more fiery trial than 
 any he has yet endured. We cannot 
 but feel for the venerable patriarch thus 
 suddenly awakened from his state of 
 repose, and summoned to a new and 
 unparalleled conflict; but the event 
 teaches us that a believer's trials are 
 not confined to the commencement of 
 his course ; that the longest period of 
 rest and peace may be succeeded by a 
 sore temptation ; and the severest con- 
 flict be reserved for the last. IT God 
 
 did tempt Abraham. Heb. tl'0'2 nis- 
 sah, tried, proved. Gr. t-Ktipaoc, id. This 
 literal rendering of the term, which is 
 actually given in the old Geneva ver- 
 sion, ' God did prove Abraham,' goes at 
 once to correct the erroneous impression 
 that might possibly be received from 
 our English word ' tempt,' which usually 
 has the sense of exciting to sin. But 
 in this sense we are expressly assured 
 by James 1. 13, that ' God is not tempted 
 of evil, neither temptelh he any man ;' 
 he neither deceives any man's judgment 
 nor perverts his will, nor seduces his 
 affections, nor does any thing else that 
 can subject him to the blame of men's 
 sins. Temptation in this bad sense al- 
 ways proceeds from the maUce of Sa- 
 tan working on the corruptions of our 
 own hearts. God may, however, con- 
 sistently with all his perfections, by his 
 providence, bring his creatures into cir- 
 cumstances of special probation, not for 
 the purpose of giving him information, 
 but in order to manifest to themselves 
 and to others the prevailing di|positions 
 
 land of Moriah ; and offer him there 
 for a bm-nt-offerin^ upon one of the 
 mountains which I will tell thee of. 
 
 of their hearts. In this sense of trying, 
 putting to the proof, bringing to the test, 
 the original term in many other instance* 
 is used in reference to the Most High> 
 and always in such a way as to leave 
 his attributes unimpeached. Thus 
 Deut, 13. 3, 'For the Lord your God 
 (HDD nissah) proveih you, to know 
 (i. e. to make known) whether ye love 
 the Lord your God with all your heart 
 and all your soul.' 2 Chron. 32. 31, ' In 
 the business of the ambassadors God left 
 him (irilDrb lenassolho) to try him, that 
 he might know all the evil that was in 
 his heart,' Indeed, in some cases we 
 find this kind of trial made a subject of 
 petition on the part of good men, as if 
 they regarded it as a special favor. Ps. 
 26. 2, ' Examine me, O Lord, and ( ^^z'Oj 
 nassani) prove me ; try my reins and my 
 heart.' And so with a diflereat word, 
 but to the same effect, Ps. 139. 23, 24, 
 ' Search me, O God, and know my 
 heart: try me, and know my thoughts . 
 and see if there be any wicked way ir 
 me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 
 And we find Paid, 2 Cor. 13 5, employ 
 ing the corresponding Gr. term, wliei 
 enjoining as a duty to be performed bj 
 Christians towards themselves, the very 
 probation, vvldch is indicated by the Heb 
 word ; ' Examine {Treipa^ere try) your 
 selves, whether ye be in the faith; 
 
 prove your own selves.' -IT Behold, 
 
 here I am. Heb. ^21^ hinnini, be- 
 hold me. Arab. 'What is thy plea- 
 sure ?' The patriarch's prompt ob- 
 sequiousness to the slightest call of 
 God is strikingly set forth in this reply. 
 It exhibits him as presenting himself in 
 the divine presence, ready at a mo- 
 ment's warning to enter upon any ser 
 vice that might be enjoined upon him, 
 without first waiting to know distinctly 
 
B. C. 1872.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 what it was, or what were the reasons 
 of it. Our obedience ever derives 
 its principal value in the sight of hea- 
 ven from the ready,implicit, and unques- 
 tioning spirit in which it is rendered. 
 
 2. Take now thy son, thine only son 
 Heb. '7'i(l'i yahid, only. Gr. ayanrirov 
 helmed. As an only son is usually 
 the object of a very intense affec- 
 tion, the epithets only and beloved came 
 to be used interchangeably. Thus Prov. 
 4. 3, ' For I was my father's son, ten- 
 der and only (beloved) in the sight of 
 my mother ;' where the original Heb. 
 ITTi only is also rendered by the Sept. 
 ayaTTUijicvoq beloved. The term [lovoyc- 
 vris only begotten, applied to Christ in the 
 New Testament, is of equivalent import. 
 In accordance with the Heb. there- 
 fore, Paul calls him, Heb. 11. 17, 'his 
 only begotten son.' Isaac was the 
 only son of Sarah, the free woman, and 
 he only, in contradistinction from Ish- 
 raael, who was now expelled, was to be 
 reckoned the seed of Abraham and the 
 heir of the promises. In this sense 
 Abraham would naturally understand 
 it; and thus understood, it could not but 
 go to enhance beyond expression the 
 anguish of a father's heart in view of 
 the command now given him. Indeed, 
 the language in which this severe man- 
 date is conveyed, appears to be pur- 
 posely so constructed, as to aggravate 
 to the utmost the wound it was calcu- 
 lated to inflict. Every word seems 
 chosen with a view to awaken some 
 painful feeUng, and to increase the diffi- 
 culty of compUance. To a person of 
 humane and benevolent disposition, like 
 Abraham, the idea of a human sacrifice 
 would naturally be in the highest de- 
 gree revolting, had the meanest slave 
 of his household been demanded, and 
 had the choice of the victim been left 
 to himself. What then must have been 
 his emotions as the true object of the 
 command unfolded itself, and he found 
 his own beloved son demanded as a 
 sacrificial offering ! Let us for a mo- 
 1* 
 
 ment put our souls in his soul's stead, 
 and realize to ourselves the spontaneous 
 train of thought and feeUng which must 
 have passed through his mind. ' Take 
 now thy son ;' and for what ? — To in- 
 vest him with all the honors of the pro- 
 mise, to put him in possession of the 
 destined inheritance ? Alas no ! — To 
 seek for him a fitting companion to share 
 with him the blessings and comforts 
 that might be expected to flow from the 
 covenant favor of his own and his fa- 
 ther's God ? Neither is this the end of 
 the command. ' Take now thy son — 
 thine only son — Isaac — whom thou lov- 
 est, and — offer him up upon one of the 
 mountains, which I w'ill teU thee of!' 
 Was ever message like this addressed 
 to a father ? — each word more piercing 
 to parental ears than the keenest dagger 
 to the heart ! — every clause awakening 
 a new and sharper pang of anguish ! 
 Who but Abraham could have forborne 
 remonstrance on such a heart-rending 
 occasion ? Who but he could have re- 
 frained from saying, 'Lord, shall Hose 
 my child 1 — lose him almost as soon as 
 I have received him ? Didst thou give 
 him only to tantalize thy servant ? Re- 
 member the long years through which 
 his birth was expected, and the trans- 
 ports of joy with which at length it was 
 hailed, and which was commemorated 
 in the name of thine own appointment. 
 Remember the promises which can be 
 fulfilled only on the condition of his life 
 being prolonged. — If sin he at the door, 
 let me expiate the guilt. Let thousands 
 of rams, let every bullock in my stalls, 
 bleed at thine altar. These are nothing 
 compared with my child. — Or if nothing 
 will appease thine indignation but hu- 
 man blood, let my death be the sacrifice. 
 I am old and grey-headed. The best 
 of my days are past, and the best of my 
 services performed. My life is of Httle 
 value. Let me die, but let him Uve. — 
 Yet if the decree cannot be reversed, if 
 the offering must come from my own 
 family, if it must be the fruit of my own 
 
GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1872. 
 
 body, O that Ishmael — yet how shall I 
 speak it ? — my heart bleeds at the 
 thought I — but as for Isaac, the son of 
 Sarah, the son of my old age, the crown 
 of aU my hopes, the very solace of my 
 soul; how shall I survive such a loss ? 
 The blow that goes to his heart, must 
 be fatal to us both.' Such we may 
 conceive to have been the plea which 
 fond nature would have prompted in 
 any other father than the father of the 
 faithful ; and if his prayer availed not 
 to avert the doom of death, he would 
 have besought that it might be mitigat- 
 ed ; that he might expire by a natural 
 dissolution; that some disease m.ight 
 gently loose the cords of life, and that 
 his sorrowing but submissive parents 
 might have the melancholy consolation 
 of soothing" his dying pangs, and of clos- 
 ing his eyes when he had ceased to 
 live. At any rate he would sue to be 
 exempted from the pain of witnessing 
 the sad catastrophe. If the son of his 
 love must be bound hand and foot for 
 the slaughter; if he must receive the 
 steel into his bosom, and welter in his 
 own blood, how fervently would he ask 
 to be spared the anguish of beholding 
 such a scene. Such, we say, would be 
 the native promptings of the paternal 
 heart. Yet in the case of Abraham all 
 these aggravations clustered round th 
 command that was given him, and as 
 no alleviation was hinted to him, so none 
 does he seem to have sought. lie who 
 before staggered not at the promise, 
 staggers not now at the precept. Deaf 
 aUke to the arguings of carnal reason, and 
 the yearnings of fatherly affection, he 
 consults not with flesh and blood, but 
 enters with the utmost promptitude up- 
 on the work before him ; and the secjuel 
 informs us that it was carried out as it 
 was commenced, in the full triumph of 
 
 an unwavering faith. 1 Tlie land of 
 
 Moriah. Ileb. u'^T^n '^''^,^ 'tl^ e^ ^retz 
 hammoriyali ; by interpretation the land 
 of vision. Gr. cig Tr,v yr,v rr-v vipri\rjv to 
 
 the high land ; i. e. the visible, the con- 
 
 spicuous land. Chal. ' To the land oi 
 reverence or worship ;' the variation 
 from the Hebrew being owing to the 
 Targum's referring the word to the root 
 j^^^i yara, to fear, to reveren-e, instead ol 
 deriving it from J-;54^ raah, to see. The 
 Gr. evidently refers the term to the right 
 root, but interprets it solely of the high, 
 commanding, fonspicuous character of the 
 locality in.question. The probability is, 
 that the name is here used proleptically, 
 it having been given from the event, in 
 reference to the remarkable vision ox 
 manifestation of the Most High which 
 was there made, and to which allusion 
 is had in the expression Jehovah-jireh, v. 
 14. Indeed, this seems to be intimated 
 in the very form of the word itself, 
 which Fuller (Misc. Sac.) suggests is a 
 contraction or compound of n"' n^S^!^ 
 moreh-jah, Jehovah ?nanifested,hY a pro- 
 cess of formation which is fully given by' 
 RosenmuUer in loc. That the land ol 
 Moriah included the site of Jerusalem, 
 where was a well-known mountain 
 called by the same name, is a point 
 universally admitted ; but upon which 
 one of the several hills included in the 
 compass of the city the commanded 
 sacrifice was to be offered up, it is im- 
 possible to determine. From the con- 
 gruities of the case, we should natural- 
 ly suppose that the spot would be se- 
 lected on which the antitypical sacri- 
 fice was to be made in the fulness ot 
 time, and this is ' perhaps the general 
 opinion of commentators. But this is 
 made less certain by the now' admitted 
 fact that Calvary was not properly a 
 m.ountain ; and that, although the place 
 of the crucifixion is often popularly 
 called '3Iount Calvary,' yet the Scrip- 
 tures nowhere authorise this mode ol 
 expression. There was doubtless a 
 gentle swell or rocky protuberance in 
 the ground, resembling in form a human 
 skull, from which the name was deriv- 
 ed ; but as the present locality has no 
 appearance of a mountain, or even a 
 liiU of any size, so we have no reason 
 
B. C. 1872.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 
 3 IT And Abraham rose up early 
 in the morning-, and saddled his ass, 
 and took two of his young men with 
 him, and Isaac his son, and clave 
 
 to think it was ever entitled to such a 
 designation. But we can easily con- 
 ceive that it would have answered all 
 the typical purposes intended in the 
 transaction, to have had the offering 
 made on any of the several mountain- 
 tops which distinguish the site of that ve- 
 nerable city. We incline, on the whole, 
 to the opinion that it was the spot up- 
 on which the temple was afterwards 
 
 erected. IF Offer him there for a 
 
 burnt-offering. Heb. ribS'b ib^'H 'make 
 him ascend for an ascension, one of the 
 usual terms in the original for offering. 
 The act was performed by first cutting 
 the throat of the animal, to drain off its 
 blood, and then consuming the body to 
 ashes upon the altar. 
 
 3. Abraham rose up early in the morn- 
 ing, 4"c. The ready obedience exhibit- 
 ed by the patriarch to this call, evinces 
 beyond question that he must have been 
 perfectly satisfied of its emanating from 
 God. The law of parental duty, the in- 
 stincts of parental feehng, would inevita- 
 bly have prevailed over a dubious reve- 
 lation ; and though we may be unable to 
 determine how he could have been thus 
 assured, yet of the fact there can be no 
 doubt. His conduct was such as might 
 nave been expected under the un- 
 wavering conviction by which it was 
 prompted. The command came during 
 {he night, and it was obeyed 'early in 
 the morning.' There was no doubtful 
 question of its reahty or its obligation. 
 There was no culpable communing 
 with flesh and blood. Even Sarah 
 eeems not to have been informed of it, 
 lest her affections should embarrass or 
 overpower his faith. ' That which he 
 must do, he wall do : he that hath learn- 
 ed not to regard the hfe of his son, had I 
 iearned not to regard the sorrow of his | 
 ivife.' Bp. mil. — -IT SaddUd his\ 
 
 the wood for the burnt-offering, and 
 rose up, and went unto the place of 
 wliieh God had told him. 
 
 ass. Ordered it to be done. See Note 
 on Gen. 3. 21. The saddles of that an- 
 cient period were doubtless a far more 
 simple contrivance than those of mo 
 dern times. Goguet remarks in his Ori- 
 gin of Laws that ' no nation of antiquity 
 knew the use of either saddles or stir- 
 rups ;' and even in our times Hasselquist, 
 when at Alexandria, says, ' I procured 
 an equipage which I had never used be- 
 fore ; it was an ass with an Arabian sad- 
 dle, which consisted only of a cushion, 
 on which I could sit, and a handsome 
 bridle.' But even the cushion seems an 
 improvement upon the ancient eastern 
 saddles, which were probably nothing 
 more than a kind of rug or mat of straw 
 
 girded to the beast. IT Two of his 
 
 young men. That is, servants, as explain- 
 ed Gen. 14, 24. IT And clave thewood. 
 
 Another instance of the usage so inces- 
 santly recurring, by which a person is 
 said to do that which he orders or pro- 
 cures to be done. See on Gen. 27. 37. 
 He carried the wood with him, because 
 the mountain probably afforded nothing 
 but green shrubs, which would make a 
 very slow fire, and thus prolong the 
 consumption of the victim. To guard 
 against this, Abraham took with him a 
 supply of dry materials, which could be 
 
 speedily kindled into ahvely flame. 
 
 IT Rose up. Heb. t3p'^ yakom. This term 
 is frequently employed to express the 
 act of entering upon the execution of any 
 business, the addressing one's self to a 
 work. Thus, Ezra 3. 2, ' Then stood up 
 (tp'n rose up) Joshua and his brethren, 
 and builded the altar ;' i. e. they set 
 about it. It is applied to God in the 
 same sense ; Ps. 3. 7, ' Arise, O Lord, 
 save me ;' i. e. enter thou upon tl^ie work 
 
 of my dehverance. IT Went unto the 
 
 place. Went towards the place, which 
 he did not reach till the third day. 
 
8 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1872. 
 
 4 Then on the third day Abra- 
 ham lifted up his eyes, and saw the 
 place afar off. 
 
 5 And Abraham said unto his 
 
 4. On the third day. It was not quite 
 two days' journey from Beersheba to 
 Moriah, and though it is no doubt true 
 that a loaded ass moves slowly, it is 
 somewhat difficult to conceive why so 
 long a time should have been consumed 
 in travelling the distance of only 42 
 miles. The fact may be accounted for 
 by supposing that, although he rose 
 early in the morning, and went about 
 the necessary preparations, yet he did 
 not find himself in readiness actually to 
 set forth till the middle of the day. This 
 would leavqf but half a day's journey 
 for the first day. The second might 
 have been wholly occupied, and early 
 on the third he may have reached the 
 destined spot. But whatever may be 
 thought of this, certain it is, that the 
 trial must have been rendered more ag- 
 gravating to Abraham by the delay, 
 and the distance which he had to travel. 
 Had the oracle demanded an instant 
 sacrifice, the struggle, though severe, 
 would have been short and compara- 
 tively easy. But in a three days' jour- 
 ney, leisure was afforded for reflection ; 
 the powerful pleadings of nature woidd 
 make themselves heard ; parental af- 
 fection had time to revive ; and the 
 sight, th« society, the conversation of 
 Isaac, could not but combine to shake 
 the steadfastness of his faith, and urge 
 him to return. But whatever may be 
 the promptings of nature, faith such as 
 Abraham's, knew not what it is to re- 
 lent. With steady step and unwaver- 
 ing purpose he advances to the fatal 
 spot. II Sau) the place afar off. It be- 
 ing probably pointed out by a luminous 
 cloud, preintimative of the Shekinah, 
 which rested upon it. Such is the 
 tradition of the Jews.' When God bade 
 Abraham go to the place be would teU 
 him of, and offer his son, he asked how | 
 
 young men, Abide ye here with the 
 ass, and I and the lad will go yon- 
 der and worship, and come again 
 to you. 
 
 he should know it? And the answer 
 was, ' Wheresoever thou seest my Glo- 
 ry, there wUl I stay and wait for thee. 
 And accordingly now he beheld a pillar 
 of fire reaching from heaven to earth, 
 and thereby knew that this was the 
 place.' — Pirhe Eliezer. Calvin supposes 
 that he saw with his eyes the place 
 which he had before seen in mental 
 vision. 
 
 5. Abide ye here, &c. He left his ser- 
 vants behind, lest their affectionate but 
 ill-judged remonstrances, if not their 
 forcible resistance, when they saw what 
 he w^as about to do, might interfere w ith 
 the execution of his purpose. It was 
 not unnatural that they should think 
 him actually beside himself, when they 
 perceived him on the point of immo- 
 lating his son. Upon what grounds 
 Abraham felt himself warranted to say, 
 ' We will come again to you,' is not 
 clear. Some commentators consider it 
 as a kind of involuntary prophecy, and 
 by some it is resolved into an allowable 
 dissimulation, adopted in order to quiet 
 the minds of his attendants. But a 
 more probable, as well as a more cre- 
 ditable solution is, to suppose that he 
 truly, though vaguely, believed that 
 God would either prevent the catastro- 
 phe, or restore his slain son to life. We 
 can scarcely derive any other inference 
 from the words of the apostle, Heb. 11. 
 17 — 19, 'By faith Abraham, when he 
 was tried, offered up Isaac — accounting 
 that God was able to raise him up even 
 from the dead.' As his birth at the ad- 
 vanced age which his parents had at- 
 tained, was a miracle little short of life 
 from the dead, this would render his 
 restoration less difficult of behef than it 
 would otherwise have been. And as 
 he w as assured, that the promise be- 
 fore given, that in Isaac and. m him 
 
B. C. 1872.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 
 
 6 And Abraham took the wood 
 of the burnt- offering, and ^ laid it 
 upon Isaac his son; and he took 
 the fire in his hand and a knife : 
 and they went both of them to- 
 gether. 
 
 <i John 19. 17. 
 
 7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham 
 his father, and said, My father: and 
 he said, Here am I, my son. And 
 he said. Behold the fire and the 
 wood : but where is the lamb for a 
 burnt-offering 1 
 
 only, should his seed be called and mul- 
 tiplied, could not fail, he must have 
 been, on the whole, persiiaded that God 
 would accomplish his word by raising 
 his son from the dead. Accordingly 
 the Apostle goes on to affirm that ' he re- 
 ceived Isaac from the dead in a figure,' 
 or parable. That is, as he is said to 
 have been not actually, but intentional- 
 ly and virtually offered up ; so he was 
 riot literally, but virtually and figurative- 
 ly restored to life from the dead. Oth- 
 ers, however, refer this to a parabolical 
 representation of the sufferings, death, 
 and resurrection of Christ. 1^ Go yon- 
 der and worship. Heb. ninr.mjl lit. and 
 bow down, the usual posture of worship ; 
 thus confirming the conjecture above 
 mentioned, that the Divine glory appear- 
 ed on the summit of the mountain. He 
 had a good reason therefore for pro- 
 posing to go thither and worship. 
 
 6. Laid it upon Isaac. As the sacri- 
 fice was to be burnt to ashes, no small 
 quantity of wood would be requisite ; 
 and from Isaac's bearing such a burden 
 up the hill, it is inferred, that although 
 in V. 5 he is called in our translation 
 •lad,' instead of young man, yet he 
 must now have arrived at adult age. 
 Josephus makes him twenty-five ; 
 others thirty-three, that his age might 
 correspond with that of his great anti- 
 type at the time of his crucifixion. The 
 point is wholly uncertain. If, however, 
 as intimated above, the transaction in 
 the main were designed to be prefigu- 
 rative of the crucifixion of the Saviour, 
 we see no objection to considering this 
 particular incident as typical of Christ's 
 bearing his cross as related by the Evan- 
 gelist, John, 19. 17. Yet there is not, 
 
 perhaps, sufficient ground for a positive 
 affirmation on the subject. 
 
 7. And Isaac spake, &c. At the pe- 
 riod of life to which Isaac had now ar- 
 rived, he must necessarily have been 
 conversant with the rites and ceremo- 
 nies which obtained in the Abrahamic 
 age, and more especially with the man- 
 ner in which expiation was made for 
 sin, — that for this purpose it was 
 necessary that the lives of animals 
 should be sacrificed, and the blood of 
 bulls and of goats should be shed. It was 
 natural, therefore, seeing they were un- 
 attended by any thing by which the re- 
 quisite expiation could be made, that 
 Isaac should propose the question here 
 mentioned, and which was so well cal- 
 culated to harrow up a father's heart 
 For we must assuredly regard it, under 
 the circumstances, as one of the most 
 affecting questions ever addressed to 
 mortal ears. How keenly must it 
 have put the faith of Abraham to the 
 test ! Let the tender parent substitute 
 himself in the place of the patriarch, 
 and he cannot but understand and feel 
 the ineffable pathos comprehended in 
 this brief interrogation. 'If,' as Bp. 
 Hall remarks, ' Abraham's heart could 
 have knowTi how to relent, that question 
 of his dear, innocent, and pious son had 
 melted it into compassion. I know not 
 whether that word, 'my father,' did 
 not strike Abraham as deep as the 
 knife of Abraham could strike his son.* 
 
 ^ Where is the lamb ? Heb. fltD seh, 
 
 applied to the young either of sheep or 
 goats. Ex. 12. 5. Deut. 14. 4. The 
 Gr., however, has to rrpoParov ro cig oXo' 
 Kap-zoi(yiv the sheep for holocaust. 
 
 8. God will provide himself a lamb far 
 
10 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1872. 
 
 8 And Abraham said, My son, 
 God will provide himself a lamb for 
 a burnt-offering : so they went both 
 of them together. 
 
 9 And they came to a place 
 which God had told him of; and 
 
 Abraham built an altar there, and 
 laid the wood in order ; and bound 
 Isaac his son, and «laid him on the 
 altar upon the wood. 
 
 eHeb. 11. 17. Jam. 2. 21. 
 
 ahumt'offering. Heb. ri'iTn ib U^^^ V'^' 
 reh lohasseh, will see for liimself the lamb. 
 Chal. ' My son, there will be revealed 
 before God for himself a lamb for a burnt 
 offering.' Gr. oipcrai eav-M -rrpoParov, 
 wUl see for himself a sheep. The idiom 
 is Hebraic, that language having no oth- 
 er term iox provide ox foresee, than/o see. 
 Thus 1 Sam. 16, 1, ' I have provided me a 
 king among his sons.' Heb. I have seen 
 me a king, &c. Gen. 41. 33, ' Now there- 
 fore, let Pharaoh look out a man discreet 
 and wise,' &c. Heb. Let Pharaoh see 
 a man, &c. The answer thus returned, 
 though evidently evasive, was yet so 
 happily framed, that it could not but 
 have been satisfactory to Isaac. Piety 
 to God, and filial reverence and defer- 
 ence to his father, had no doubt been 
 among the earhest lessons with which 
 his mind was imbued ; and the present 
 reply addressed itself to both these 
 principles. It was clear that his father, 
 from the fixed solemnity of his manner, 
 and from the strange and inexplicable 
 nature of the whole proceeding, was 
 engaged in some religious service of 
 more than usual sacredness ; and as he 
 knew from his father's general conduct 
 that he would neither do nor say any 
 thing unadvisedly, and as he was doubt- 
 less aware that he had entered upon 
 the business in obedience to a divine 
 command, he would probably take it 
 for granted that Abraham was fully au- 
 thorised to reply as he did, and that he 
 did not speak at random in saying that 
 God would provide himself a lamb for 
 sacrifice. His ready acquiescence, 
 therefore, in the answer made to his en- 
 quiry, shews the working of a genuine 
 faith in him as well as in his father. 
 9. Bound Isaac his son, and laid him 
 
 on the altar on the wood. Not that this 
 was necessary as a measure of precau- 
 tion to prevent Isaac's escaping, but 
 simply to conform to the usual rites pre- 
 scribed in the offering up of animal sac- 
 rifices. As the victims were bound by 
 their four legs, so Isaac was doubtless 
 bound by the hands and feet. — Hitherto 
 it appears that Abraham had not inform- 
 ed his son of the true import of the com- 
 mand which he had received. But 
 now the mighty secret with which his 
 bosom labored must be divulged, and 
 the lamb for the burnt-offering produced. 
 The Jewish historian, Josephus, presents 
 us with a dialogue which passed be- 
 tween the father and the son on this oc- 
 casion, striking and pathetic indeed, 
 but far inferior to the beautiful simplici- 
 ty of 3Ioses. He has not, it is true, in- 
 formed us of the express words in which 
 the annunciation was made to Isaac ; 
 but whatever they were, their purport 
 was evidently this ; — ' Thou thyself, my 
 dear child, art the destined victim. 
 That God, who graciously gave thee to 
 my longing desires, is now pleased to 
 require thee again at my hand. The 
 Lord gave, the Lord taketh away ; 
 let us both adore the name of the Lord.' 
 But the sacred historian has thrown a 
 veil over this affecting scene, that the 
 imagination of the reader might portray 
 to him more vividly than it is in the 
 power of language to do, the struggle of 
 the father and the agonies of the son. 
 Had not the patriarch been sustained 
 by the consciousness that he was doing 
 every thing in obedience to the will of 
 God, it is easy to perceive that the con- 
 flict would have been too great for hu- 
 man endvu-ance. We cannot see how 
 it would have been possible for him so 
 
B. C. 1872.J 
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 
 11 
 
 10 And Abraham stretched forth 
 his hand, and took the knife to slay 
 his son. 
 
 11 And the Angel of the Lord 
 
 coolly and composedly to have gone 
 about the execution of the fearful order. 
 And as it was, what must he have suf- 
 fered while building the altar — laying 
 on the wood — binding his beloved son — 
 and placing him upon the pile so soon to 
 be smeared with his blood and mingled 
 with his ashes ! Every %aew we can 
 take of the affecting procedure works 
 our sympathies to a higher pitch of in- 
 tensity, and elevates the character of 
 the patriarch immeasurably in our es- 
 teem. But let not the almost equal me- 
 rit of Isaac be forgotten. The conside- 
 ration of his exemplary conduct, his 
 meek and pious resignation to the divine 
 appointment, is perhaps apt to be lost in 
 the vague impression that he was too 
 young to entertain an adequate sense of 
 his danger, and too feeble to have made 
 resistance, had he been so inclined. 
 But allowing him to have been no more 
 than twenty-five, can it be supposed 
 that an old man an hundred and twenty- 
 five years of age, could have bound, with- 
 out his consent, a young man in the ve- 
 ry prime and vigor of life ? Unques- 
 tionably Isaac now approved himself 
 the worthy son of such a sire ; and in 
 his cheerful compHance we seem to 
 hear him saying, ' I should be unworthy 
 of life, were I capable of shevdng re- 
 luctance to obey the will of my father 
 and my God. It were enough for me 
 that my earthly parent alone called me 
 to the altar ; how much more when my 
 heavenly father re- demands his owti.' 
 Thus it was not so much the superior 
 strength, or even the parental authority, 
 of the father, as the filial affection and 
 pious obedience of the son, that prevail- 
 ed on this trying occasion. 
 
 10. And Abraham stretched forth his 
 hand, &c. We feel an involuntary 
 shuddering as we draw near to the fear- 
 
 called unto him out of heaven, and 
 .d, Abraham, Abraham. And he 
 said. Here am I. 
 
 ful crisis. Nature shrinks back at the 
 spectacle here presented of a father 
 hfting up his hand armed with a deadly 
 weapon against the life of his son ! But 
 here was the completion of Abraham's 
 obedience and of his faith. Any thing 
 short of this, and all would have been 
 unavailing. This last, this agonizing 
 moment, when the knife was taken 
 and the hand outstretched to strike, 
 consummated the trial of Abraham, 
 and bequeathed his faith to the church 
 of God as the most perfect model which 
 mere mortality has ever offered of it. 
 And as he proceeded so far in his obe- 
 dience as to afford demonstrative evi- 
 dence that he would have gone to the 
 utmost extent of the letter of the com- 
 mand, God accepted the will for the 
 deed, and the apostle therefore speaks 
 of it, Heb. 21. 17, as if the act were 
 really performed ; ' By faith Abraham, 
 when he was tried, offered up Isaac : 
 and he that had received the promises, 
 offered up his only begotten son ;' where 
 the term is that usually employed to sig- 
 nify not a purposed but an actual offering. 
 11. The Angel of the Lord called unto 
 him, &c. A moment more, and the vic- 
 tim would have been smitten ; but in 
 that moment the awful mandate is coun- 
 termanded. A voice too familiar to 
 Abraham not to be at once recognised as 
 that of God himself addresses him out 
 of heaven, and averts the dire catastro- 
 phe. Though termed an Angel, yet it 
 is evident from the manner in which he 
 here speaks of himself, and from what is 
 said v. 12, 16, that he was not a created 
 being, but was no other than the divine 
 personage so often introduced into the 
 sacred narrative under the title of the 
 Angel Jehovah, the Angel of the Cove- 
 nant, &c. respecting whom see note on 
 Gen. 16. 7. 
 
12 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1872. 
 
 12 And he said, ^ Lay not thine 
 hand upon the lad, neither do thou 
 any thing unto him : for ^ now I 
 know that thou fearest God, seeing 
 thou hast not withheld thy son, 
 thine only son, from me. 
 
 f 1 Sam. 15. 22. 
 Jam. 2. 22. 
 
 Mic. 6. 7,8. g ch.26.5. 
 
 12. Lay not thy hand upon the lad, 
 &c. The Heb. 'lib'i yeled, is applied 
 not only to lads or children, but also to 
 grown up young men, as above to 
 Abraham's armed or trained servants, 
 ch. 14. 14 ; to the young man of She- 
 chem who ravished Dinah, ch. 34. 19 ; 
 to Joseph when called to interpret Pha- 
 raoh's dreams, ch. 41. 12 ; to Joshua 
 acting as a servant or minister to 
 Moses, Ex. 33. 11; and to Absalom 
 making war against his father, 2 Sam. 
 18, 29. The command w^as intended 
 merely for trial; and as it fully ap- 
 peared on trial that Abraham was cor- 
 dially willing and determined to resign 
 his son in obedience to the will of God, 
 the end of the command was answered ; 
 consequently the counter-command to 
 forego the sacrifice is not to be viewed 
 as militating at all with the imchange- 
 ableness of the divine counsels. — ' The 
 voice of God was never so welcome, 
 never so sweet, never so seasonable as 
 now. It was the trial that God intend- 
 ed, not the fact. Isaac is sacrificed, and 
 is yet alive ; and now both of them are 
 more happy in what they would have 
 done, than they could have been dis- 
 tressed, if they had done it. God's 
 charges are oftentimes harsh in the be- 
 ginnings and proceeding, but in the con- 
 clusion always comfortable. True spir- 
 itual comforts are commonly late and 
 sudden; God defers, on purpose that 
 our trials may be perfect, our deliver- 
 ance welcome, our recompences glo- 
 rious.' Bp. Hall. IT I know thai thou 
 
 fearest God, &c. God previously knew 
 aU this, and had in eflfect declared it, 
 ch. 18. 19 The idea is simply that he 
 
 13 And Abraham lifted up his 
 eyes, and looked, and beheld behind 
 him a ram caught in a thicket by 
 his horns : and Abraham went and 
 took the ram, and offered him up 
 for a burnt-offering in the stead of 
 his son. 
 
 knew, by a new proof, by having actu- 
 ally made trial of him. He speaks here, 
 as in multitudes of other cases, in accom- 
 modation to human usages of speech. 
 It is common for men to say that they 
 know that which they have found out by 
 special trial, which they have learned 
 as the result of experiment ; and the 
 Most High is here pleased to adopt the 
 same language. Thus Ps. 139. 23, it is 
 said, ' Search me, O God, and know my 
 heart ;' though the psalmist had just be- 
 fore said, V. 2, ' Thou understandest my 
 thoughts afar off.' For himself he need- 
 ed not the patriarch's obedience to dis- 
 cover to him the state of his mind ; but 
 for our sakes he made the exhibition of 
 Abraham's obedience a ground for ac- 
 knowledging the existence of the inward 
 principle from which it sprang. It is by 
 a holy and obedient deference to the 
 divine authority that faith and fear are 
 made manifest. As a sinner, Abraham 
 was justified by faith only ; but as a pro- 
 fessing believer, he was justified by the 
 works which his faith produced. This 
 view will probably reconcile the appa- 
 rent discrepancy of Pavil and James in 
 regard to Abraham's justification. They 
 both allege his case as an example of 
 what they are teaching, but the one res- 
 pects him as ungodly, the other as god- 
 ly. In the first instance he is justified 
 by faith exclusive of works ; in the last 
 by faith, as producing works, and there- 
 by proving him the friend of God. 
 
 13. Behold, behind him a ram- caught 
 in a thicket. This was in fact an accom- 
 plishment of what Abraham himself 
 had a little while before unwittingly pre- 
 dicted. In reply to Isaac's question, 
 
B. C. 18r2.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 13 
 
 14 And Abraham called the name 
 of that place Jehovah-jireh : as it is 
 
 Where is the lamb for a burnt-offer- 
 
 ing ?' he had said, ' 3Iy son, God will 
 provide himself with a burnt-offering.' 
 By this answer he merely intended to 
 satisfy his son's mind for the present, 
 till the time should come for making 
 known to him the command which he 
 had received from God, in which com- 
 mand that provision was actually made. 
 But now, through the miraculous inter- 
 position of Heaven and the substitution 
 of the ram in Isaac's place, it had been 
 hterally verified in a way which he him- 
 self had never contemplated. ' He that 
 made that beast brings him thither, fast- 
 ens him there. Even in .sra^all things 
 there is a great providence !' Bp. Hall. 
 The command to sacrifice the ram, 
 though not expressly affirmed, is yet to 
 be presumed from the cirsumstances ; 
 and in that incident we perceive not on- 
 ly the gracious interposition of Heaven 
 in behalf of Abraham, but also a clear 
 intimation of that system of animal sac- 
 rifices which afterwards constituted the 
 grand feature of the Jewish economy, 
 and which was designed typically to fore- 
 shadow the future paramount sacrifice 
 of the 'Lamb slain from the foundation 
 of the world.' In order to intimate 
 this still more forcibly, it can scarcely 
 admit of doubt that the very place 
 where the ram, after getting entangled, 
 was offered up, was the place subse- 
 quently chosen for the site of the Tem- 
 ple, and, by consequence, of the oflfer- 
 ing up of the stated perpetual sacrifices 
 of the children of Israel. 3 Chron. 3. I. 
 
 14. Abraham called the name of that 
 place Jehovah-jireh. Heb. nii'~i'i ilin^ 
 Yehovah-yireh, the Lord vill see or provide. 
 Gr. Kvpios eiSsv, the Lord hath seen. 
 The import of this will be considered 
 in the note on the ensuing clause. The 
 name was doubtless given in allusion to 
 the expression mentioned above, v. 8, 
 ' God will provide himself a 'amb for 
 
 VOL. ir. 2 
 
 said to this day, In the mount of 
 the Lord it shall be seen. 
 
 a burnt-offering.' The striking cor- 
 respondence between this name and 
 ' Moriah ' will be evident upon re- 
 ferring to what is said of the etymol- 
 ogy of that word in v. 2. The whole 
 thread of the sacred story makes it 
 evident that good men of old were par- 
 ticularly solicitous to express in some 
 public and permanent manner their 
 grateful sense of the divine mercies. 
 Hence they scarcely ever received any 
 remarkable deliverance from evil or 
 communication of good from God, but 
 they erected some memorial of it, and 
 gave either to the place or to the memori- 
 al itself, some name that should transmit 
 to posterity a remembrance of the bless- 
 ing vouchsafed. Such was ' Beth-el,' 
 where Jacob was favored with a special 
 vision, Gen. 28, 19; and 'Peniel,' where 
 he wrestled with the angel, Gen. 32. 
 30; and ' Eben-ezer,' the stone erected 
 by Samuel in memory of Israel's vic- 
 tory over the Philistines, 1 Sam. 7. 12, 
 Frequently the name of Jehovah him- 
 self was annexed to some word expres- 
 sive of the event commemorated, as 
 ' Jehovah-nissi,' the Lord my banner, 
 Ex. 17. 15 ; ' Jehovah-shalom,' the Lord 
 send peace, Judg. 6. 24 ; ' Jehovah-sham- 
 mah,' the Lord is there, Ezek. 48. 25. In 
 like manner the father of the faithful 
 bestows a commemorative name upon 
 the scene of this remarkable transaction. 
 
 IT As it is said to this day, In the 
 
 mount of the Lord it shall be seen. Heb. 
 nji^'i yeraeh, it shall be seen ; the same 
 letters as in the preceding clause, but 
 diffJerently pointed and pronounced. 
 Gr. ev TO) opei Kvpiog u6dri in the moun- 
 tain the Lord hath been seen. The Chal. 
 evidently interprets it of the future 
 erection of the Temple as a place of wor- 
 ship on the spot, ' And Abraham prayed 
 and served (God) there in that place, 
 and said before the Lord, Here shall the 
 generations (to come) serve (God). 
 
14 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. L 
 
 15 TT And the angel of the Lokd 
 called unto Abraham out of heaven 
 the second time, 
 
 Therefore was it said in this day, In this 
 mount Abraham served before the Lord.' 
 With this the Jewish critic Jarchi agrees, 
 saying, ' The simple sense is that ex- 
 pressed by the paraphrast, viz. that it 
 should be, that God would provide or 
 elect for himself this place, in which he 
 would cause the presence of his majesty 
 to dwell, and oblations to be offered to 
 him.' Some commentators have sup- 
 posed that this clause should be transla- 
 ted more nearly in accordance with the 
 Greek, ' In the mount the Lord will ap- 
 pear' ; or, disregarding the points, ' The 
 Lord will provide' ; but this is less con- 
 formable to the Hebrew, and gives at 
 any rate a sense differing only by a 
 shade from the obvious import, viz. 
 that in the crisis of need God will inter- 
 pose. The passage is undoubtedly 
 meant to inform us that the incident 
 here related was so remarkable, the di- 
 vine intervention so illustrious, that it 
 gave rise to the well-known proverbial 
 saying, ' In the mount of the Lord it 
 shall be seen ;' an expression of which 
 perhaps the nearest equivalent in En- 
 glish is the familiar apothegm, ' Man's 
 extremity is God's opportunity.' The 
 name, thus become a proverb in Israel, 
 not only furnished a memorial of God's 
 goodness to Abraham, but a promise al- 
 so that w?ien those that trusted in him 
 were reduced to the most trying straits, 
 and no way of extrication appeared, he 
 would interpose at the critical moment, 
 and provide for their deliverance and 
 safety. The circumstance plainly 
 teaches us, that whatever God has at 
 at any time done for the most favored 
 of his saints, may be expected by us 
 now, as far as our necessities call for it. 
 Of all the events related in the Old Tes- 
 tament, scarcely any one was so pe- 
 culiar and so exclusive as this. Who 
 besides Abraham was ever called to 
 
 16 And said, ^ By myself have I 
 sworn, saitli the Lord, for becausc 
 
 hPti.lOS.S. Lukel.73. fleb.G. 13, ]■;. 
 
 sacrifice his own son ? WTio besidei- 
 him was ever stayed by a voice from 
 neaven in the execution of such a com- 
 mand? And yet, behold this very 
 event was made the foundation of the 
 proverb before us ; and from this, par- 
 ticular and exclusive as it was, all be- 
 lievers are taught to expect that God 
 will interpose for them in hke manner, 
 in the hour of their extremity. Philoso- 
 phy and reason may remonstrate, and 
 say that we have no grounds to look for 
 miracles to be wrought in our behalf; 
 but faith will assure us, that though out- 
 ward miracles may be withheld, yet 
 that what ^-as formerly done by visi- 
 ble exercises of miraculous power shall 
 now in effect be done by the invisible 
 agency of God's providential care. The 
 mode of effecting our deHverance may 
 be varied, but the deUverance itself 
 shall be secured. We are indeed very 
 prone to ask, In what w-ay will he inter- 
 pose ? But to this our answer is, It 
 must be left to him. He is not hmited 
 to any particular means. He can work 
 6y means, or toithout them, as seemeth 
 to him good. The whole creation is at 
 his command. But two things we cer- 
 tainly know ; namely, that he will inter- 
 pose seasonably ; and that he will inter- 
 pose effectually ; for he is, and ever will 
 be, 'a very presenthelp in time of trou- 
 ble.' Let us then confidently trust him 
 in seasons of the greatest darkness and 
 distress. 
 
 15, 16. The Ajigel of the LORD — 
 said, By myself have I sworn, &c. Chal. 
 ' By my Word.' Abraham now reaps 
 the reward of his faith, and sees the effi- 
 cacy of his persevering obedience. The 
 promise of redemption is renewed, 
 a clearer revelation of the divine will is 
 made, a more cheering annunciation of 
 the future prosperity of his family is gi- 
 ven. And all this is confirmed and rati- 
 
B. C. 1872.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 15 
 
 thou hast done this thing, and hast 
 not withheld thy son, thine only son : 
 17 That in blessing I will bless 
 thee, and in multiplying I will mul- 
 tiply thy seed ' as the stars of the 
 
 i cli. 15. 5. Jer. 33. 22. 
 
 fied by the solemnity of an oath, in 
 which we are told by the apostle Heb. 
 6. 13, 14, God swears by himself because 
 he could swear by no greater. And 
 this affords a clear proof of the divinity 
 of the speaker ; for had he been a mere 
 created angel, he could, of course, have 
 sworn by a greater had he sworn by 
 his Maker : but as it is expressly affirm- 
 ed that he could swear by no greater, 
 the inference is inevitable that he must 
 have been God. His swearing thus on 
 this occasion was virtually pledging 
 the honor of his holy name, and of all 
 his perfections, as the security for the 
 fulfilraent of his engagements to Abra- 
 ham. This was done not only that the 
 patriarch himself, but ' that we also might 
 have strong consolation, who have fled 
 for refuge to lay hold on the hope set 
 
 before us.' IT Because thou hast done 
 
 this thing, &c. Not that we are to sup- 
 pose that Abraham had properly merit- 
 ed or purchased the blessings conveyed 
 in the following promises, for it is clear 
 that the same things for substance had 
 been freely promised him long before. 
 Gen. 12. 2 — 13. 16. But as he had now 
 put forth a new and signal demonstra- 
 tion of his faith, it pleased God with this 
 to connect the promise of the stupen- 
 dous benefaction which he designed 
 for his servant. Indeed, it will be 
 observed, that the language is something 
 more than that of mere repetition. The 
 terms are stronger than had been used 
 on any former occasion, and, as such, 
 more expressive of divine complacency ; 
 and the whole being couched in the 
 form of an oath, it constituted a more 
 3mphatic declaration of blessing than 
 \braham had yet received. 
 17. Thy seed shall possess the gate of 
 
 heaven, ^ and as the sand which is 
 upon the sea-shore ; and ' thy seed 
 possess " the gate of his ene- 
 
 shall 
 mies 
 
 kch. 13. 16. ich.24.60. =»Mic. 1. 
 
 his enemies. That is, the ' gates,' collect, 
 sing, for plur. according to common idi- 
 om. Gr. K\T]()ovoiir]crci rag i:o\cis tmv 
 vnEvavTtojv shall inherit the cities of their 
 adversaries. Chal. ' Shall inherit the ci- 
 ties of them that hate them.' The 
 meaning plainly is, that they should 
 subdue their enemies. As gates were 
 in ancient times the principal places of 
 resort, as not only their markets were 
 held there, but also their courts of 
 justice and their deliberative assemblies, 
 hence it is common for the scrip- 
 tures to speak of the power of a city be- 
 ing concentrated in its gate or gates. 
 The possession of the gates was therefore 
 the possession of the cities to wdiich they 
 pertained; and this view of the sub- 
 ject goes to explain and justify the Greek 
 version. — ' In this and several other pas- 
 sages, the gate is emblematic of authori- 
 ty and dominion ; even as in Europe the 
 delivery of the keys of a town is a for- 
 mal act of submission to a conquering 
 or superior power. Sometimes the word 
 'gate' denotes 'power' in a more gene- 
 ral and absolute sense. A familiar in- 
 stance of this is where we speak of the 
 Turkish power as ' the Porte,' ' the Sub- 
 lime Porte,' ' the Ottoman Porte.' This 
 denomination is derived from the prin- 
 cipal gate or 'porte' of the Turkish 
 Sultan's palace at Constantinople. 
 When the writer saw this gate, it did 
 not seem to him very ' sublime,' but the 
 mention of the gate involves the idea of 
 the palace, and of the power which re- 
 sides there.' Pict. Bible. We shall 
 hereafter have frequent occasion to ad- 
 vert to this usage. The words are not 
 to be understood, however, as intimat- 
 ing that Abraham's seed were to be tini- 
 formly and perpetually victorious over 
 
16 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1872. 
 
 18 ° And in thy seed shall all the 
 nations of the earth be blessed ; ° be- 
 cause thou hast obeyed my voice. 
 
 n ch. 12. 3. & 18. 18. & 26. 4. 
 Gal. 3. 8. 9, 16, 18. o ver. 3, 10. 
 
 Acts. 3. 2 
 cli.26. 5. 
 
 their enemies, that they were neuer to be 
 in subjection to a foreign foe, which we 
 learn from their history was not the fact ; 
 but that on the whole and in the final 
 issue they should attain to a triumphant 
 ascendancy over ' every adversary and 
 evil occurrent ' The true construction, 
 however, embraces not only the tem- 
 poral conquests of Israel under Joshua, 
 David, Solomon, and others, but also 
 the higher spiritual victories to be 
 achieved by him who w as preeminently 
 the seed of the woman as well as the 
 seed of Abraham ; and of w^hom it is 
 elsewhere predicted that he shall reign till 
 all his enemies are put under his feet. 
 Comp. Num. 24. 17—19. Josh. 1.— 10. 
 2 Sara. 8. 10. Ps. 2. 8, 9 ; 72. 8, 9. Dan. 
 2. 44, 45. Luke 1. 68—75. Rev. 11. 
 15. 
 
 18. In thy seed shall all the nations of 
 the earth he blessed. Or. Heb. "lil^r.n 
 hithbareltu, shall bhss themselves, or count 
 themselves blessed, according to the na- 
 tive force of the Hithpael conjugation. 
 Comp. Is. 65. 16. The Gr. however 
 has cvev\oyrj9r]aovrat. shall be blessed, 
 which our translators have seen fit to 
 follow. The expression is more em- 
 phatic than any which has hitherto oc- 
 curred in reference to the same subject, 
 and implies how highly they should 
 value the promised seed, and the bless- 
 ings of which he should be the procur- 
 ing cause. The phrase ' in thy seed,' 
 it can scarcely be doubted, has for the 
 most part a collective import, implying 
 that the posterity descending from Abra- 
 ham should ultimately and instrumen- 
 tally become a signal blessing to the 
 whole world. But from the Apostle's 
 language. Gal. 3. 16, we are plainly 
 taught that the words are to be taken in 
 a more restricted apphcation, and to be 
 
 19 So Abraham returned unto 
 his young men, and they rose up, 
 and went together to p Beer-sheba; 
 and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba- 
 
 p chap. 21. 31. 
 
 understood of one particular person, even 
 that illustrious and divine individual, who 
 formed the substance of all the exceed- 
 ing great and precious promises made 
 to or through the patriarchs or prophets 
 of old ; — ' He saith not. And to seeds, as 
 of many ; but as of one. And to thy 
 seed, which is Christ.' Yet it would 
 perhaps be putting constraint upon the 
 apostle's words to interpret them as ab- 
 solutely excluding the collective sense 
 which the expression usually bears. 
 His remarks seem to be grounded ra- 
 ther upon the letter of the phrase, which 
 he would give us to understand natural- 
 ly and prominently refers to an individ- 
 ual, who, of course, can be no other than 
 Christ; while at the same time this in- 
 terpretation does not, we apprehend, 
 necessitate the inference that that in- 
 dividual actually exhausts the full im- 
 port of the term. Christ was, however, 
 so far the leading and dominant object of 
 the oracle, as to justify the apostle's 
 application of it principally to him. 
 
 19. So Abraham returned unto his 
 you7ig men, <fec. With what diflJerent 
 feehngs did Abraham now descend from 
 Jehovah-jireh ! His Isaac lives, and 
 yet his sacrifice is offered. He came to 
 yield his dearest earthly delight at the 
 call of God, and he goes away, not only 
 accompanied by his son, whom he had 
 virtually resigned, but enriched with 
 new blessings and fresh promises ! So 
 true is it that God is ever better to his 
 people than their fears, 5'ea, than their 
 hopes. No sacrifice was ever yet sincere- 
 ly made for him, but it finally redounded 
 a hundred-fold to the gain and the conso- 
 lation of the oflferer. ' Isaac had never 
 been so precious to his father, if he had 
 not been recovered from death ; if he 
 had not been as miraculously restored as 
 
B. C. 1872.] 
 
 20 T[ And it came to pass after 
 these things, that it was told Abra- 
 braham, saying-, Behold " Milcah, 
 she hath also borne children unto 
 thy brother Nahor ; 
 
 21 "" Huz his first-born, and Buz 
 his brother, and Kemuel the father 
 « of Aram, 
 
 qch. 11.29. rJob. 1.1. "Job.SS. 2. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 17 
 
 given. 
 
 Abraham had never been as 
 
 blessed in his seed, if he had not neg- 
 lected Isaac for God. The only way to 
 find comfort in an earthly thing is, to 
 surrender it in a believing carelessness 
 into the hands of God.' Bp. Hall. 
 
 20. It came to pass after these thiiigs, 
 &c. The genealogy here given, and 
 occupying the remaining verses to the 
 end of the chapter, is undoubtedly in- 
 troduced in order to make way for the 
 following account of Isaac's marriage to 
 Rebekah, a daughter of the family of 
 Nahor. It was contrary to the design 
 of heaven that the family of Abraham 
 should intermarry with the heathen 
 races among whom he now dwelt, and 
 to add to the recent tokens of the divine 
 favor, he is now cheered by the wel- 
 come tidings of the prosperity of his 
 brother's house, in which he would not 
 fail to perceive how kindly God was 
 preparing the way for the higher happi- 
 ness of his son and the further fidfdment 
 of his promises. 
 
 21. Huz his first-horn. Heb. fi;? 
 Ootz or Uz, the letter z in scripture pro- 
 per names being almo.st invariably the 
 representative of the Ileb. tz. The ' land 
 of Uz', the country of Job, was, it may 
 be supposed, so called from, this indi- 
 vidual. He and his brother Buz seem 
 to have emigrated and settled south, 
 either in Edom or the northern regions 
 of Arabia. Buz was probably the fa- 
 ther or one of the ancestors of Elihu, 
 who, in Job 32. 2, is called ' Elihu the 
 
 Buzite.' "ir The father of Aram. Gr. 
 
 itaTipa ^vpioiv Father of the Syrians; 
 
 22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and 
 Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 
 
 23 And ^ Bethuel begat " Rebe- 
 kah : these eight Milcah did bear to 
 Nahor, Abraham's brother. 
 
 24 And his concubine, whose 
 name was Reumah, she bare also 
 Tebah, and Gaham, and Thabash, 
 and Maachah. 
 
 1 1 ch. ai. 15. « Called, Rom. 9. 10, Rebecca. 
 
 probably a correct rendering, as the 
 names of individuals in the scriptures, 
 who were the founders of nations, usu- 
 ally stand for the nations themselves. 
 ' Aram' throughout the Bible is render- 
 ed by the Greek ' Syria' and ' Syrians,' 
 as is ' 3Iitzraim' by ' Egypt,' and ' Cush' 
 by ' Ethiopia.' This usage of the Sep- 
 tuagint has for the most part governed 
 that of all the later versions. 
 
 22. Chesed. Ileb. Tr3 Kesed, that 
 is, the Kasdim or Chaldeans, respecting 
 whom and their origin see Note on Gen. 
 11. 23. Of the other four individuals 
 whose names follow, with the excep- 
 tion of Bethuel, the sacred writers give 
 us no information. 
 
 24. His concvhine. Heb. "^mbS; pi^^f^- 
 gesh, from whence the Gr. TraWuKig pal- 
 lalcis and Lat. peJlex. Our English word 
 '■conciihine'' is derived from a Latin com- 
 pound con and cuho, implying simply m^u- 
 tual cohahifation withoiit a duly solem- 
 nized marriage. The Heb. term, how 
 ever, supposed to be derived from 3^5 
 palag, to divide, and -j-rj^ nagash, to ap- 
 proach, did not, as the word concuhine 
 does with us, imply any thing immoral 
 or reproachful. Its true import is that 
 of a half-wife, divided or secondary wife, 
 from the impUed division of the hus- 
 band's affections and attentions between 
 two objects. An accurate knowledge 
 of oriental customs and notions is ne- 
 cessary to enable one to enter fully in- 
 to the force of the term as distinguished 
 from our sense of the word concuhine. 
 This, as it is well known, denotes a 
 woman who, without being married to 
 
13 
 
 a man, lives with him as his wife. In 
 fact, in its usual acceptation it dif- 
 fers not from mistress, and of course 
 conveys the idea of a connexion in the 
 highest degree unlawful and abhorrent 
 to the fundamental laws of Christianity. 
 But with the sacred writers concubi- 
 nage runs into polygamy, the word being 
 used to designate a lawful wife, but one 
 of secondary or subordinate rank. She 
 differed from the proper wife in 
 not being wedded with all the usual 
 ceremonies and solemnities ; in not 
 bringing with her a dowry ; and in hav- 
 ing no share in the government of the 
 family. Wives of this description are 
 at present known in the East under the 
 title of odaliques, and it is generally un- 
 derstood that they are subject to the 
 mistress of the family, or the principal 
 wife, whose nuptials have been cele- 
 brated according to the usual rites. 
 They are at the same time treated with 
 every respect as a secondary order of 
 wives— very seldom, unless in cases of 
 criminality, with the indignities inflicted 
 on a slave. The children of the principal 
 wife usually inherit the father's fortune 
 in preference to the children of the oda- 
 liques. In the harem slie takes the 
 upper seat on the sofa, directs the econ- 
 omy of the women's apartments, and 
 when her consort forgets her charms for 
 those of another, her title to supremacy 
 still remains unaltered. She sits too on 
 the same sofa with her husband, al- 
 though at its extreme edge ; while the 
 odaliques sit, their feet folded under 
 ihem, upon cushions spread upon the 
 carpet. When she first appears among 
 the latter in the morning, it is the usage 
 that they should kneel down and kiss 
 the hem of her garment. See Quin's 
 Life in the East. 
 
 Remarks.— The transaction which 
 we have now considered, taken in all 
 its bearings, is rich in practical instruc- 
 tion. We learn from it, 
 
 (1) Tfie nature and working of true 
 
 GENESIS. [B. C. 1872. 
 
 power of this principle was probably 
 never put forth by a human being. In 
 addition to all the aggravating circum- 
 stances above detailed, it should be con- 
 sidered that Abraham's previous trials 
 had been very severe. The same 
 things, we well know, may be more or 
 less trying according to the situation or 
 state of mind in which they find us. If 
 the treatment of Job's friends had not 
 been preceded by the loss of his sub- 
 stance, the untimely death of his chil- 
 dren, the rash counsel of his wife, and 
 the heavy hand of God, it would have 
 been much more tolerable. So if Abra- 
 ham's faith and patience had not been 
 exercised in the manner they were an- 
 terior to this temptation, he could doubt- 
 less more easily have borne it. But 
 it was ' after these things' that God ap- 
 pointed this sore trial to his servant — 
 after his being called away from his 
 country and kindred— after his pilgrim- 
 age to Egypt— after his domestic troubles 
 and his parting with Ishmael— after five 
 and twenty years' waiting for the child 
 of promise— after hope had been raised 
 to the highest pitch, yea, after it had 
 been actually turned into enjoyment— 
 and when the child had lived long 
 enough to discover an amiable and pious 
 spirit— yet after all this he is called to 
 pass through another ordeal still more 
 trying than any preceding one ! And 
 how plausible were the pleas which 
 might have been urged against so fear- 
 ful a command ? Murder was an ob- 
 ject both of human and divine abhor- 
 rence ; and what would the surrounding 
 heathen say when they should hear of 
 this cruel massacre ? What would they 
 think of him and his religion when he 
 could rejfresent such a horrid deed of 
 blood as an act of piety performed in 
 obedience to a divine mandate ? Would 
 they not universally have exclaimed 
 against him as a monster of cruelty, and 
 said of him at every turn, ' There goes 
 the man that cut the throat of his own 
 
 faith. A more illustrious display of the son.' Again, Avith what face could ha 
 
B. C. 1872.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXll. 
 
 19 
 
 look upon his wife whose son he had 
 murdered ? How could she entertain the 
 executioner of Isaac, or beUeve that such 
 an order emanated from God ? In all these 
 respects it is easy to see with what a 
 strength of reason his faith had to wres- 
 tle, to say nothing of the still sorer con- 
 flict with affection. But faith had taught 
 Abraham not to argue, but to obey. 
 Pie knew that what God commanded 
 was good, and what he promised, infal- 
 lible ; and therefore went forward with- 
 o\it wavering in absolute submission to 
 the will of the Most High. Such was 
 the triumph of Abraham's faith. And 
 now, do we desire to form an estimate 
 of the reality and strength of our own 
 faith ? Let us place ourselves for a mo- 
 ment in a .situation similar to that of the 
 patriarch. Let us think of that per.son, 
 of that object, which is the dearest to 
 us of any on earth • and let us imagine 
 the breath of the destroying angel wither- 
 ing it, hke Jonah's gourd, at our feet, — 
 its beauty fled, and the grave about to 
 shut it for ever from our view ; and let 
 us ask ourselves whetlier we could re- 
 ceive such a visitation without a mur- 
 mur from the hands of our heavenly 
 Father? Could we say with the Shu- 
 namite, in answer to the prophet's mes- 
 sage, 'Is It well with the child ?' that 
 child which had just expired in her arms 
 — could we say with her, 'It is well.' 
 This is the office of faith, and one of 
 its most difficult works. Yet it has been 
 achieved by thousands, and must be 
 achieved by us e»e patience shall have 
 had her perfect work. The most val- 
 uable of the gifts of heaven, the dearest 
 of our earthly delights, must all be held 
 as Isaac in his father's arms, ready at 
 the slightest bidding to be laid and to be 
 sacrificed on the altar of God. 
 
 (2 ) The certainty that God mill inter- 
 pose for his people in the hour of their 
 necessity. This is the plain import of 
 the proverb, ' In the mount of the Lord 
 it shall be seen.' We may therefore 
 confidently trust in him in seasons of 
 
 the greatest darkness and distress. He 
 may not come to our help at the mo- 
 ment that our impatient minds may de- 
 sire. On the contrary, he may tarry 
 long till we are ready to cry, ' The Lord 
 hath forsaken us, and our God hath for- 
 gotten us.' But he has wise and gra- 
 cious purposes to answer by such de 
 lays. Hemakesuseof them tostirusu 
 to more earnest importunity ; to render 
 us more simple and humble in our de- 
 pendence, to display more gloriously the 
 riches of his power and goodness. when 
 he does appear ; and to teach both us 
 and others the wisdom of waiting his 
 time. Whatever, then, our unbelieving 
 fears may say, let us be assured that 
 God is no inattentive observer of our 
 condition, and that at the critical mo- 
 ment, when his succour shall be most 
 welcome, it shall come. And where is 
 the christian heart that hath not had 
 engraven upon it many precious remem- 
 brances of the fulfilment of this pro- 
 mise ? In temporal and in spiritual dif- 
 ficulties : in the day of i-orrow, and on 
 the bed of sickness; in the hour of dan- 
 ger to ourselves or to those we have 
 loved, the Lord has most unexpectedly 
 appeared in our behalf, and enabled us 
 to exclaim ' Jehovah-jireh' in view of 
 the joyful deliverance. Wliat then 
 ought to be the effect of these repeated 
 interferences of divine mercy in our 
 behalf? Surely to teach us never to 
 doubt, never to despair, never to des- 
 pond. If called to give up our dearest 
 possession, the wife of our bosom, the 
 children of our love, let us bow even 
 amidst our keenest sufferings, to ki.ss 
 the rod and him who hath appointed 
 it. He that hath been with us in six 
 troubles will not leave us in seven ; and 
 it will only be adding ingratitude to un- 
 belief, to rob ourselves of the comfori 
 of this delightful assurance. Nor is it 
 in life only that we are to sustain our- 
 selves by cleaving to this confidence, 
 fn nature's final conflict, when our faith 
 may be expected to meet its severest 
 
20 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1860. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 AND Sarah was an hundred 
 and seven and twenty years 
 old : these ivere the years of the life 
 of Sarah. 
 
 shock, ihen shall these cheering words 
 stand out in letters of light, which even 
 the closing eye can read and the faint- 
 ing heart can dwell upon. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 1. And Sarah was an hundred and 
 seven and twenty years old. Heb. 1^n"i 
 JlTU ^^Tl yihyu haye Sarah, the lives 
 of Sarah were, &c. according to the 
 Heb. idiom which always employs the 
 plur. for ' life ;' a u.sage designed, ac- 
 cording to Calvin, to intimate the va- 
 rious events of life, its numerous and 
 often rapid vicissitudes, which seeming- 
 ly divide it into several different lives. 
 Another solution, liowever, of a physio- 
 logical character, is given Gen. 2. 7. It 
 is somewhat remarkable that Sarah is 
 the only female mentioned in the scrip- 
 tures, whose age, death, and burial are 
 distinctly noted. She was 65 at the pe- 
 riod of Abraham's departure from Ha- 
 ran, hved with him in his pilgrim state 
 62 years, and died 3S years before him. 
 She is always spoken of in the sacred 
 writings as the pattern of conjugal fi- 
 delity and love, and her example is held 
 forth by the apostle, 1 Pet. 3. 6, as the 
 highest model for christian Women, and 
 the title of her ' daughters' as their most 
 honorable distinction. The very fact 
 that so few of the incidents of her his- 
 tory are recorded speaks strongly in 
 her favor ; for there is httle in the even 
 tenor of female life, when that life is 
 passed in the retired and noiseless path 
 of devotedness to God, and in the peace- 
 ful round of domestic duties, which can 
 or ought to form the subject of the his- 
 torian's pen. The very privacy of the 
 christian graces, manifested in such a 
 walk and conver-sation. while it endears 
 
 2 And Sarah died in ^ Kirjath- 
 arba ; the same is '' Hebron in the 
 land of Canaan : and Abraham 
 came to mourn for Sarali, and to 
 weep for her. 
 
 a Josh. 14. 15. JudfT. 1. 10. b ch. 13. 18. ver. 19. 
 
 them the more to the select circle in 
 which they move, and which alone can 
 duly appreciate their unobtrusive 
 amiableness and worth, is adverse to 
 their gaining eclat. The traits of char- 
 acter which best en^irfe them to celebrity, 
 are the very ones which prevent their 
 attaining it. 
 
 2. Sarah died in Kirjath-arha. The 
 patriarch, after having enjoyed the ten- 
 derest of all relationsh'ps during a longer 
 period than that of which a whole life, 
 at the present day usually consists, is 
 at length caUed to feel the pang of sepa- 
 ration. Sarah pays the debt of nature, 
 and is removed to that world where they 
 neither ' marry nor are given in mar- 
 riage ' Although there is ahvays some- 
 thing in the breaking of this tie more 
 affecting, perhaps, than in the disruption 
 of any other which unites us to our 
 kind, yet the bitterness of the bereave- 
 ment was enhanced to Abraham by pe- 
 culiar circumstances. Sarah had been 
 his ' companion in tribulation.' They 
 had shared together in a series of trying 
 dispensations through a long course of 
 years, and their union had at length 
 been cemented by a pledge, such as 
 had never before, and but in one in- 
 stance since, gladdened the heart of a 
 parent. The stroke therefore could 
 not but be one of deep affliction to 
 the survivor, and the sequel clearly 
 
 informs us that he felt it as such. 
 
 IT Kirjath-arha. Heb. SD'HJ* Jl'^lp 
 lit. the city of the four ; so called, if wo 
 may believe the Jewish tradition, from 
 the circumstance of the four illustrious 
 men, viz. Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob, being buried there, as also the 
 four distinguished yvomen. Eve, Sarah, 
 Rebekah, and Leah. All these perscma 
 
B. C. I860.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIll. 
 
 21 
 
 were certainly buried there, except 
 Adam and Eve, whose place of inter- 
 ment is nowhere mentioned. But as to 
 the origin of this name, see Josh. 14. 15. 
 Whoever built the city, it must have 
 been one of the most ancient in the world. 
 Egypt was one of the first countries set- 
 tled after the deluge, and its inhabitants 
 made much boast of the antiquity of their 
 cities ; yet we are informed in Num. 13. 
 22, that Hebron was built seven years 
 before Zoan, or Tanis, the ancient capi- 
 tal of Lower Egypt. At the conquest 
 of Palestine by the Israelites Hebron 
 was possessed by the Anakims, and was 
 taken by Caleb, whose possession it be- 
 came, being in the allotment of the tribe 
 of Judah. It was afterwards assigned 
 to the Levites, and became a city of 
 refuge. David kept his court there in 
 the first seven years of his reign, before 
 Jerusalem was taken. Afterwards Ab- 
 salom raised the standard of rebelhon 
 in Hebron. During the Babylonish cap- 
 tivity, the Edoraites appropriated He- 
 bron when they invaded the south of 
 Judah, and it became the capital of a 
 district which continued to be called 
 Idumsea long after the territory of the 
 Edomites had been incorporated with 
 Judaja. Wells think it became the 
 site of a bishopric in the early times of 
 Christianity, and it was certainly made 
 f-uch when the Crusaders conquered 
 Palestine. Hebron is now merely a 
 village, called Habroun and El Khalyl, 
 i. e. the friend, from its having been the 
 residence of Abraham, the friend of 
 God. It is situated about 27 miles south 
 of Jerusalem, eastward of a chain of 
 hills which intersects the country 
 from north to south. It stands on the 
 slope of an eminence, at the summit 
 of which are some mis-shapen ruins 
 of an ancient castle. It has some small 
 manufactures of cotton, soap, glass- 
 lamps, and trinkets, which render it the 
 most important place of the district. It 
 is rather a neat town, with unusually 
 high houses ; but the streets are narrow 
 
 and winding. The adjoining district, 
 which is no doubt 'the valley of He- 
 bron,' is an oblong hollow, or valley, di- 
 versified with rocky hillocks, groves of 
 fir, and some plantations of vines and 
 
 oUve trees. IT Abraham came to mourn 
 
 for Sarah, and to weep. Heb. (l^,w-b 
 livkothah, to xoeep her ; i. e. to bewail or 
 lament lier. Mourning for the pious 
 dead is but a suitable tribute to the me- 
 mory of their living worth. Abraham 
 was sensible of his loss, and gave vent 
 to the natural expressions of sorrow. 
 His religion was not of that sort which 
 values itself on doing violence to nature. 
 He knew nothing of that philosophy 
 which affects to deny what it feels. 
 Neither had an old age of one hundred 
 and thirty years,extinguished in his heart 
 those tender emotions which such an 
 event was calculated to awaken. He 
 who does not weep on such an occasion, 
 is something more or less than a man. 
 From the example of our Lord himself, 
 who wept over the bier of Lazarus, we 
 are taught that there is nothing abhor- 
 rent from true wisdom or manly virtue 
 in grave and temperate lamentation for 
 our departed friends. But the Christian 
 is not to mourn as those that have no 
 hope, nor is his mourning to be allowed 
 to interfere with the grand duties of 
 Hfe. — In what sense Abraham is said to 
 have 'come' to mourn for Sarah, is not 
 clear. Harmer thinks that, according to 
 a custom among the Syrians and Greeks, 
 of mourning at the door within which a 
 dead body lay, the patriarch came from 
 his own tent to sit mourning on the 
 ground at the door of Sarah's, which 
 was distinct from his owti. Gen. 24. 67. 
 But as it is common for those that lead 
 the nomade mode of life, for the con- 
 venience of feeding their numerous 
 flocks, to have several places of tem- 
 porary residence, we should rather in- 
 fer that he was absent from Hebron at 
 the time of her death, but hastened 
 thither to perform the last duties when 
 he received the intelligence 
 
22 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1860. 
 
 3 IT And Abraham stood up 
 from before liis dead, and spake 
 unto the sons of Heth, saying, 
 
 4 " I am a stranger and a sojourn- 
 er with you : "^ give me a possession 
 
 c ch. 17. 8. 1 Chron. 29. 15. Ps. 105. 12. 
 Heb. 11. 9, 13. d Acts 7. 5. 
 
 3. Abraham stood up from before h's 
 dead. Or, Heb. tp"^ yakom, rose up ; 
 an expression denoting the moderation 
 of his grief, and the comparative ease 
 with which, from a principle of piety, 
 he was enabled to subdue his emotions, 
 and to rise up and engage in the active 
 duties of Ufe. As there is a time for 
 weeping, so there is a time to refrain 
 from w'eeping ; and it is well there is. 
 The necessary cares connected with our 
 condition in this world are a merciful 
 means of raising us from the torpor of 
 
 melancholy. IT Spake ttnto the sons of 
 
 Heth. The descendants of Heth, the 
 son of Canaan, and grandson of Ham, 
 elsewhere called Hittites. He w-as now 
 sojourning in their country. 
 
 5. A stranger and a sojourner with you. 
 We have now been tracing the history 
 of Abraham through the space of near- 
 ly one hundred years, during the great- 
 er portion of which the promise of God 
 was pledged to him that all the land of 
 Canaan should be his ; and here we find 
 him, at the close of a long and toilsome 
 life, obtaining his first inheritance in it, 
 and that — a sepulchre for his wife. In 
 all this time he was, and he felt himself 
 to be, ' a stranger and a sojourner.' It is 
 to the acknowledgment that he here 
 makes to the sons of Heth, that Paul so 
 expressly refers in Heb. 11.13, 'They 
 confessed that they were strangers and 
 pilgrims on the earth.' Abraham, how- 
 ever, did not sustain this character 
 alone. Israel, when put in possession of 
 the land, were taught to view themselves 
 in the same hght ; Lev. 25. 23, 'The 
 land shall not be sold forever ; for the 
 land is mine, for ye are strangers and so- 
 journers with me.' Even David, when 
 
 of a burying-place with you, that 
 I may bury my dead out of my 
 sight. 
 
 5 And the children of Heth an- 
 swered Abraham, saying unto him, 
 
 king of Israel, makes the same confes- 
 sion, Ps. 39. 11, 'For I am a strange? 
 with thee, and a sojourner, as all my 
 fathers were.' But Abraham's confes 
 sion, though true at all times, was pa 
 culiarly true and striking when thus ul 
 tered at the grave of Sarah. So w 
 all feel it to have been with him, and s( 
 with ourselves. Never does the im 
 pression of this great truth come upoi 
 us with such force, never do we fee? 
 the ties that bind us to the earth sc 
 loosened, so nearly rent asunder, as 
 when we stand by the grave of those 
 we love. However at other and hap 
 pier times we may forget the frail te 
 nure by which we hold this earthly tab 
 ernacle, we are strongly impressed with 
 the conviction then. We then, indeed, 
 ' know the heart of a stranger,' and 
 wonder that we have ever felt domes- 
 ticated here on earth, where there is so 
 much sin and suffering, so little stability 
 and peace. Would that we could car- 
 ry this abiding conviction along with us 
 into the daily business of life. How 
 httle influence would its trials and dis- 
 appointments possess over us. How 
 much internal peace would it bestow, to 
 feel that we were 'strangers and pil- 
 grims' on earth, and that soon, amid 
 the comforts of our Father's house, we 
 should smile at the little disquietudes of 
 
 the way. IT Give me a possession of 
 
 a burying-place, &c. That is, sell rae. 
 He did not ask it as a gift, as is clear 
 from V. 9. He wished to purchase a 
 burying-place for the interment of his 
 dead in general, not of Sarah in par- 
 ticular ; and in making this proposition, 
 he exhibited a striking evidence of his 
 faith in the promise of the future pos- 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 B. C. I860.] 
 
 6 Hear us, my lord; thou art 
 " a mighty prince among us : in 
 the choice of our sepulchres bu- 
 ry thy dead: none of us shall 
 withhold from thee his sepulchre, 
 but that thou mayest bury thy dead. 
 
 = ch. U. -2. & 14. 14. &. 24. 35. 
 
 23 
 
 session of this land by his posterity ; 
 for the procuring a sepulchre of one's 
 own was regarded as a sign of the con- 
 firmation of a man's right and title 
 to the land in which it is situated. This 
 doubtless is the import of the following 
 passage; Is. 22. 16, 'What hast thou 
 here, and whom hast thou here, that 
 thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre 
 here, as he that heweth hira out a se- 
 pulchre on high, and that graveth a hab- 
 itation for himself in a rock;' i. e. hast 
 taken possession as though the land of 
 
 Israel were thine own. IT Bun/ my 
 
 dead out of my sight. An expression 
 that forcibly reminds us of the triumphs 
 of death. The faces which once excited 
 the strongest sensations of pleasure, 
 now require to be buried out of our sight. 
 The beauty which conjugal affection 
 doated upon, has disappeared ; and those 
 who were but so recently the desire of 
 our eyes, have now become a loathing 
 unto all flesh ! Abraham cannot now 
 endure to look upon her whom he once 
 shuddered to think the eyes of another 
 might regard with too much desire, and 
 he is now as anxious to remove her 
 from his presence as he formerly was 
 to retain the possession of her wholly 
 to himself. Let the beautiful, the gay, 
 the vain, the valued, think of this and 
 dismiss their self-complacency. Dust 
 thou art, and unto dust shall thou re- 
 turn. 
 
 6. Thou art a mighty prince amoug us, 
 Heb. fi^.j!^ iD'^nbi^ J^'^'iIJD nesi Elohirn 
 attah, a prince of God art thou. Gr. 
 (3aai\evs Ttapa Ocov av ei tv rifxtv a king 
 from God art thou among us. Chal. ' A 
 prince before the Lord.' The name of 
 
 7 And Abraham stood up and 
 bowed himself to the people of the 
 land, even to the children of Heth. 
 
 8 And he communed with them, 
 saying, If it be your mind that I 
 should bury my dead out of my 
 
 God is frequently affixed to words to 
 give intensity of meaning, or to denote 
 excellence of the superlative degree in 
 the subject spoken of. Thus, Ps. 36. 6, 
 ' Great mountains ;' Heb. Mountains of 
 God. Gen. 30. 8, ' Great wrestlings ;' 
 Heb. WrestUngs of God. 1 Sam. 14. 15, 
 ' Very great trembling ;' Heb. Trembling 
 of God. Ps. 80. 10, ' Goodly cedars ;' 
 Heb. Cedars of God. Acts 7. 20, (3Ioses) 
 was exceeding fair ;' Gr. ' Fair to God. 
 So in 1 Chron. 24. 5, the priests who in 
 ourtransladon are termed 'governors of 
 the house of God,' are in the original 
 called 'princes of God;' i. e. eminent 
 and honorable rulers. The term however 
 does not imply the exercise of any autho- 
 rity or dominion on the part of Abraham, 
 but simply his enjoyment of the bless- 
 ings of heaven in a pre-eminent degree of 
 
 worldly prosperity. IT In the choice 
 
 of our sepulchres. That is, in the choicest 
 or best of our sepulchres, or in any 
 that thou shalt choose. From the Heb. 
 ■^Hft keber, sepulchre, is derived by a com- 
 mon transposition of letters, the German 
 ' Grab,' (Kereb, Kreb, Greb, Grab,) and 
 from this comes our Eng. ' Grave.' The 
 predominant import of the original is a 
 subterranean vault or grotto, geiierally ex- 
 cavated by human art, used as a place of 
 deposit for the dead. Tombs of this des- 
 scription were almost universally made 
 use of as places of interment for the 
 rich and noble, while the inferior classes 
 were usually buried in the pubUc ceme- 
 teries, which resembled the grave-yards 
 of modern times. A more particular ac- 
 count of the ancient mode of burial 
 will be found in a note below, v. 19. 
 7. Abraham stood up and housed him- 
 
24 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1860. 
 
 sight, hear me, and entreat for me 
 to°Ephron the son of Zohar, 
 
 9 That he may give me the cave 
 of Machpelah, which he hath, which 
 
 self. Heb. intTa*^ yishtahu, homed or 
 did obeisance, the 
 same word as that 
 often rendered 'wor- 
 ship,' and importing 
 an act of respectful 
 reverence. Gr. tt^oo-- 
 tKvvri<j£. The pos- 
 ture is no doubt 
 correctly represent- 
 ed in the cut, which 
 is exactly that des- 
 cribed by Herodotus 
 =.^ as practised among 
 "^ the ancient Egypt- 
 ians,-and which continues, as a devotional 
 attitude, in the East to the present day. 
 
 ♦ The politeness of Abraham may be 
 seen exemphfied among the highest and 
 the lowest of the people of the East : 
 in this respect nature seems to have 
 done for them what art has done for 
 others. With what grace do all classes 
 bow on receiving a favor, or in paying 
 their respects to a superior ! Sometimes 
 they bow down to the ground ; at other 
 times they put their hands on their bo- 
 soms, and gently incline the head ; they 
 also put the right hand on the face 
 in a longitudinal position; and some- 
 times give a long and graceful sweep 
 with the right hand, from the forehead to 
 the ground.' Roberts. 
 
 8. If it he yourmind. Heb. n;^ 6i^ 
 CiID&3 ri5% i^ y^s^ ^^^ naphshekem, if it 
 be With your soul. Gr. ei excrs tt\ 4'^Xfl 
 vixoiv if ye have it in your soul. Chal. 
 ' If it be the pleasure of your soul.' 
 
 • Soul' often occurs in the sacred writings 
 m the sense of will, desire, prevailing in- 
 clination. Thus, Ps. 27. 12, ' Deliver me 
 not over unto the will of mine enemies.' 
 Heb. Unto the soul. Deut. 21. 14, ' Go 
 wliither she wilV Heb. Go according to 
 her soul Ps. 105. 22, 'To bind his 
 
 is in the end of his field ; for as 
 much money as it is worth he shall 
 give it me, for a possession of a bu- 
 ry ing-place among you. 
 
 princes at his pleasure ;' Heb. At his 
 soul. 
 
 9. That he may give me the cave of 
 Machpelah. Heb. tlbciS^^n niJlO meu- 
 rath hamrrmkpelah. Gr. to airrjXaiov to 
 Snr\ovv,the twofold cave. Chal. ' The cave 
 of doubleness.' It is a much disputed 
 point among bibhcal critics whether the 
 term is to be understood as a proper 
 name or as an appellative. The Jew- 
 ish commentators maintain the latter, 
 deriving nbC^'O Macpelah, from ^5^ 
 kaphal, to he double, as if the cave con- 
 sisted of two separate chambers, or 
 were furnished with two distinct en- 
 trances. Others, we think with better 
 rea.son, upon comparing vss. 17, 19, 
 make it a proper name, although there 
 can be little doubt that there was 
 was some peculiarity in the topography 
 of the place which first gave rise to the 
 appellation. This is perhaps most satis- 
 factorily explained by the extracts from 
 
 Purchas in a subsequent note. T At 
 
 the end of his field. That is, in one ex- 
 tremity of his territory ; the original 
 word for ' field' denoting a far larger 
 region than this term does with us. In- 
 deed, it answers much more nearly to a 
 modern township or county than to the 
 little tract of land which we usually de- 
 miate ' a field.' In Hos. 12. 13, it is taker 
 in a still more extensive sense; 'Jacol 
 fled into the country of Syria (n'li^ tllul 
 
 field of Syria.y IT For as much money 
 
 as it ts worth. Heb. 5^b?2 C]05i haTike- 
 seph male, for full silver, i. e. full money. 
 Silver is often used by the sacred writers 
 for money, and full for full weight, as it 
 is evident from v. 16, that money was 
 formerly thus computed. A similar 
 phraseology occurs 1 Chron. 21. 24, 'I 
 will verily buy it !^^?2 t)D^;3 for the 
 full silver ;' where the parallel passage 
 2 Sam. 24. 24, relates the same fact thus 
 
B. C. 1860.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 25 
 
 10 And Ephron dwelt among the 
 children of Heth. And Ephron the 
 Hittite answered Abraham in the 
 audience of the children of Heth, 
 even of all that *" went in at the gate 
 of his city, saying, 
 
 fch. 34.20,24. Ruth 4. 4. 
 
 I will surely buy it of thee '^'in^iln ^^ 
 a price.' It is worthy of observation 
 that this is the first money transaction 
 which we read of in the world. Till 
 then and long after, both among the 
 posterity of Abraham and other nations, 
 wealth was estimated by the number 
 and quality of cattle, and cattle were 
 the principal instruments of commerce. 
 Thus we read in many places of Homer 
 of a coat of mail worth an hundred 
 oxen; a caldron worth twenty sheep; a 
 cup or goblet worth twelve lambs ; and 
 the like. The words belonging to com- 
 merce or exchange of coipaiodities, in 
 the Greek language, are mostly derived 
 from the names of certain animals, by 
 means of which that exchange was ori- 
 ginally carried on. Thus the word 
 which signifies to barter, traffic, or com- 
 mute one kind of goods for another 
 {apvvaQai) is derived from that which sig- 
 nifies a hxmb ; the verb translated to sell 
 (iTcoXciv) comes from a noun signifying a 
 colt; the Greek word for buy (coveiaOai) 
 comes from that which signifies an ass ; 
 while the term denoting rent or revenue 
 (irpoBacns), and that which signifies a 
 sheep (npoSarov), are of kindred origin 
 and import. A criminal, according to 
 the magnitude of his oflfence, was an- 
 ciently condemned to pay a fine of four, 
 twelve, or an hundred oxen. A wealthy 
 person was said to be a person of many 
 lambs. Two rival brothers are repre 
 sented in Hesiod as fighting with each 
 other about the sheep of their father ; 
 that is, contending who shoidd be his 
 heir. But from the present narrative 
 it appears, that as early as the time of 
 Abraham, silver was employed as a 
 VOL. ir. 3 
 
 lis Nay, my lord, hear me : the 
 field give I thee, and the cave that 
 is therein, I give it thee ; in the 
 presence of the sons of my people 
 give I it thee : bury thy dead. 
 
 E See 2 Sam. 24. 21—24. 
 
 more commodious medium of traffic. 
 From that period to the present the 
 precious metals have been mostly em- 
 ployed by all civilized and commercial 
 nations for the same purpose. 
 
 10. Ephron answered Abraham in the 
 audience of the children of Heth. Heb. 
 ^jTiiln beozne, in the ears of. — —IT AU 
 that went in at the gates of the city. Bar- 
 gains and covenants used anciently to 
 be entered into and solemnly ratified in 
 the gates of cities, from the ease of pro- 
 curing witnesses among the crowds that 
 resorted tliither, written documents be- 
 ing then but little in vogue. It was es- 
 pecially of importance to Abraham that 
 this purchase sliould be known and rati- 
 fied. Had he accepted the sepulchre as 
 a present, or bought it in a private way, 
 his title to it might at some subsequent 
 period liave been disputed, and his de- 
 scendants been deprived of that which 
 he was desirous of securing to them. But 
 all fears of this kind were efiectually 
 prevented by the pubUcity of the trans- 
 action. The chief persons of the city 
 were not only wellnesses of it, but agents, 
 by whose mediation Ephron was induced 
 to conclude the bargain. Being v«t- 
 nessed, moreover, by all who went in 
 or out of the gate of the city, there was 
 Uttle likelihood, after possession was 
 once taken, that any doubt could ever 
 arise respecting the transfer of the pro- 
 perty, or the title of Abraham's posteri- 
 ty to possess it. 
 
 11. Nay, my lord, hear me. ' Respecta- 
 ble people are always saluted with the 
 dignified tide My lord ;' hence English 
 gentlemen, on their arrival, are apt to 
 suppose they are taken for those of very 
 
26 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B, C. 186a 
 
 12 And Abraham bowed down 
 himself before the people of the 
 land. 
 
 13 And he spake unto Ephron in 
 the audience of the people of the 
 
 high rank. The man of whom Abra- 
 ham offered to purchase Machpelah, af- 
 fected to give the land. ' Nay, my lord, 
 hear me, the field I give thee.' And 
 this fully agrees with the conduct of 
 those who are requested to dispose of a 
 thing to a person of superior rank. Let 
 the latter go and ask the price, and the 
 owner will say, ' My lord, it will be a 
 great favor if you will take it.' 'Ah, 
 let me have that pleasure, my lord.' 
 Should the possessor believe he will one 
 day need a favor from the great man, 
 nothing v^ill induce him to sell tlie arti- 
 cle, and he will take good care (through 
 the servants or a friend) it shall soon be 
 in his house. Should he, however, have 
 no expectation of a favor in future, he 
 will say as Ephron, ' The thing is worth 
 80 much ; your pleasure, my lord.' — Ro- 
 
 herts. IT The field I give thee, &c. ' In 
 
 after-times we find that the Hittites were 
 not at all a popular people with the Is- 
 raeUtes. This Ephron is the first of that 
 nation who comes under our notice ; 
 and his tone and manner on this occa- 
 sion do no great credit to his tribe. We 
 are not surprised that Ephron's respect- 
 ful and seemingly hberal conduct has 
 been beheld favorably in Europe, for 
 only one who has been in the East can 
 properly appreciate the rich orientalism 
 it exhibits. We will therefore state the 
 transaction as illustrated by what we 
 have ourselves seen in Persia. Abra- 
 ham wishes to purchase of Ephron a 
 certain field containing a cave : Ephron, 
 feeling the value of the opportunity of 
 laying, or seeming to lay, under obliga- 
 tion so great a person as Abraham, 
 makes a parade of his readiness to give 
 it : — ' TTie field give I thee, and the cave 
 that is therein, I give it thee ; in the pre- 
 
 land, saying, But if thou wilt give 
 iU I pray thee, hear me : I will 
 give thee money for the field : take 
 it of me, and 1 will bury my dead 
 there. 
 
 sence of the sons of my people give lit 
 thee.^ This is exquisitely oriental, as ■will 
 be seen by the following extract from 
 Mr. Frazer's 'Journey into Khorasan:' — 
 ' The least a Persian says when he re- 
 ceives you is, that he is your slave ; that 
 his house, and all it contains — nay, 
 the town and country — are all yours ; 
 to dispose of at your pleasure. Every 
 thing you accidentally notice — his calle- 
 eons (water smoking-pipes), his horse, 
 equipage, clothes — are all Peshcush-e- 
 Sahib — presents for your acceptance.'^ 
 This mode of address, as Francklin ob- 
 ser\-es, is not confined to the great; but 
 the meanest artisan will not hesitate to 
 offer the citj* of Shiraz, with all its ap- 
 purtenances, as a present to a stranger 
 on his arrival. All this is understood to 
 mean no more than 'Your obedient, hum- 
 ble servant,' at the end of our letters. 
 But it often happens, that if the stranger 
 be a person of wealth or influence, the 
 man is really anxious to force upon his 
 acceptance any article he happens 
 to admire, or expresses a ^^ish to 
 purchase. But if the stranger is in- 
 considerate enough to accept iJ, it will 
 not be long before he discovers that by 
 this act he is considered to have given 
 the person a claim either upon his good 
 offices and favor, or for a present o} 
 much more than equal value in return. 
 If, like Abraham, he understands these 
 matters, and is not disposed to receive 
 such obligation, his best course is either 
 'not to admire' at all, or to insist on at 
 once paying the value of that which at- 
 tracts his admiration. In the latter case, 
 the man will name the price, like Ephron, 
 in a slight way, as a thing of no conse- 
 quence : ' It is worth so much ; what is 
 that betwixt me and thee ?' But when 
 
B. C. ISCO.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXlll. 
 
 27 
 
 14 And Ephron answered Abra- 
 ham, saying unto him, 
 
 15 My lord, hearken unto me : 
 the land is worth four hundred ^ she- 
 kels of silver : what is that betwixt 
 me and theel bury therefore thy 
 dead. 
 
 16 And Abraham hearkened un- 
 to Ephron, and Abraham ' weighed 
 to Ephron the silver, which he had 
 named in the audience of the sons 
 
 !> Exod. 30. 15. Ezek. 45. 12. i Jcr. 32. 9. 
 
 the money is produced, he counts it 
 carefully, and transfers it to the pocket 
 or bosom of his vest in a business-like 
 manner, without any indication that 
 shekels of silver are undervalued by 
 him.' Pict. BMe. 
 
 16. Four hundred shekels. Heb. ^j^Jti; 
 shekel, from bp"d shakal, to weigh 
 whence we have by transposition of 
 letters the Eng. ' scale,' an instrument 
 of weighing. It is so called from the 
 fact that the value of money was in 
 those early ages reckoned by weight. 
 For this reason the word sJiekel is at 
 once the name of a weight and a coin 
 The value of the Jewish shekel was not 
 far from fifty cents, American money 
 The price, therefore, that Ephron setup 
 on his field, may be fixed at about two 
 hundred dollars ; consequently it could 
 not have been a very small tract which 
 in that age could have brought so con- 
 siderable a sum. IT What is that be- 
 twixt me and thee 7 ' We all know what 
 a proof of arrogance or ignorance it is 
 considered for a person to name himself 
 before another, even though that other 
 should be an inferior ; and what odium 
 Cardinal Wolsey incurred by writing 
 himself before the king, — '^ Ego et rex 
 metis, land my king.^ Yet here Ephron 
 mentions himself before Abraham, to 
 whom he nevertheless speaks with great 
 respect : and David, while he continues 
 to treat Saul as his sovereign, and ap- 
 pears before him in a most submissive 
 attitude, uses the same expression, ' me 
 
 of Heth, four hundred shekels of 
 silver current money with the mer- 
 chant. 
 
 17 IT And k the field of Ephron 
 which was in Machpelah, which was 
 before Mamre, the field and the cave 
 which was therein, and all the trees 
 that were in the field, that were in 
 all the borders round about, were 
 made sure 
 
 k ch. 25. 9 & 49. 30, 31, 32. & 50. 13. Acts 
 7.16. 
 
 and thee' (1 Sam. xxv. 12). This was 
 not therefore considered disrespectful 
 even in an inferior ; nor is it now in the 
 East — at least not in Persia — where the 
 strict and minutely regulated etiquette 
 of society does not regard this practice 
 as improper.' Pict. Bible. 
 
 17. Were made sure. Heh. 12^)"^ yakoni, 
 stood, or stood up ; i. e. were made sta- 
 ble, «ure, confirmed. The same term v. 
 20, rendered by the Gr. £Kvpo}Or], was con- 
 firmed. Throughout the above transac- 
 tion, there was much more in the mind 
 of Abraham than was known to the peo- 
 ple with whom he was deaUng. The im- 
 mediate and ostensible reason for making 
 the purchase was, to procure a place of 
 interment for his wife. But he had others 
 no less important. One of these, as we 
 have already intimated, was to express his 
 confidence in the divine promise. God had 
 promised to him and to his seed the land 
 wherein he sojourned. But Abraham had 
 continued there till this time without 
 gaining in it so much as one foot of land. 
 Yet it was not possible that the promise 
 could fail. He was as much assured that 
 it should be fulfilled, as if he had seen its 
 actual accomplishment. Under this con- 
 viction he purchased the field as a pledge 
 and earnest of his future inheritance. A 
 similar compact, made with precisely 
 the same view, occurs in the prophecies 
 of Jeremiah, ch. 33. 6—16, 42—44. The 
 prophets had foretold the speedy deso- 
 lation of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, 
 and the restoration of the Jews to their 
 
28 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1860. 
 
 18 Unto Abraham for a posses- 
 sion in the presence of the children 
 of Heth, before all that went in at 
 the g^ate of liis city. 
 
 19 And after this, Abraham bu- 
 ried Sarah his wife in the cave of 
 the field of Machpelah, before Mam 
 
 ovMi land after a captivity of seventy- 
 years. His uncle's son, alarmed, as it 
 should seem, by the approach of the 
 Chaldean army, determined to sell his 
 estate ; and offered it to Jeremiah first, 
 because the right of redemption belong- 
 ed to him. By God's command, Jere- 
 miah bought the inheritance, and hav- 
 ing had tiie transfer signed and sealed 
 in a public manner, he buried the writ- 
 ings in an earthen vessel, that, being pre- 
 served to the expiration of the Babylo- 
 nish captivity, they might be an evi- 
 dence of his title to the estate. This 
 was done, not that the prophet or his 
 heirs might be enriched by the purchase, 
 but that his conviction of the truth of 
 his own prophecies might be made man- 
 ifest. But in addition to this, and close- 
 ly connected with it, Abraham designed 
 to perpetuate among his posterity the ex- 
 pectation of the promised land. It was 
 to be four hundred years before his seed 
 were to possess the land of Canaan. 
 In that length of time it was probable 
 that without some memento, the prom- 
 ise itself would be forgotten ; and more 
 especially during their Egyptian bond- 
 age. But their having a burying-place 
 in Canaan, where their bones were to 
 be laid with the bones of their father 
 Abraham, was the mosthkely meansof 
 keeping alive in every succeeding gen- 
 eration the hope of ultimately possessing 
 the whole land. Accordingly we find 
 it did produce tbis very effect ; for as 
 Abraham and Sarah were buried in that 
 cave, so were Isaac and Rebekah, and 
 Jacob and Leah, notwithstanding Jacob 
 died in Egypt. And Joseph also, though 
 buried m Egypt, gave commandment 
 that when the IsraeUtes should depart 
 
 re ; the same is Hebron in the 
 land of Canaan. 
 
 20 And the field, and the cave 
 that is therein ' were made sure 
 unto Abraham for a possession of a 
 burying-place, by the sons of Heth. 
 
 1 See Ruth 4. 7, 8, 9, 10. Jer. 32. 10, 11. 
 
 out of the land of Egypt to possess the 
 land of Canaan, they should carry up 
 his bones with them, and bury them in 
 the sepulchre of his progenitors. 
 
 19. Buried Sarah his wife, in the cave, 
 &c. 'This chapter affords the earhest 
 notice of the practice, which was for- 
 merly very prevalent in the East, of de- 
 positing the dead in natural or artificial 
 caves, great numbers of which are still 
 to be found in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, 
 and Persia. In the mountainous coun- 
 try of southern Palestine there are 
 abundance of natural caves in the rocks, 
 which might easily be formed into com- 
 modious sepulchral vaults ; and where 
 such natural caves are wanting, sepul- 
 chres were hewn in the rock for such 
 families as were able to incur the neces- 
 sary expense ; for this was the mode of 
 sepulchre decidedly preferred by those 
 who could obtain it. The arrangement 
 and extent of these caves varied with 
 circtimstances. Those in the declivity 
 of a mountain were often cut in horizon 
 tally ; but to others there was usually ^ 
 descent by steps from the surface. The 
 roofs of the vaults are commonly arched ; 
 and sometimes, in the more spacious 
 vaults, supported by colonnades. These 
 rocky chambers are generally spacious, 
 being obviously family vaults, intended 
 to receive several dead bodies. Niches, 
 about six or seven feet deep, are usually 
 cut in the sides of the vault, each adapt- 
 ed to receive a single corpse ; but in 
 some vaults small rooms are cut in the 
 same manner; and in others, stone 
 slabs of the same length are fixed hori- 
 zontally against the walls, or cut out of 
 the rock, one above another, serving as 
 shelves on which the corpses were de 
 
B. C. I860.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIll. 
 
 29 
 
 posited : in others, however, the floor it- 
 self is excavated for the reception of the 
 dead, in compartments of various depths, 
 and in the shape of a coffin. Some of 
 the bodies were placed in stone coffins, 
 provided with sculptured lids ; but such 
 sarcophagi were by no means in gene- 
 ral use ; the bodies, when wound up in 
 the grave-clothes, being usually deposit- 
 ed without any sort of coffin or sarco- 
 phagus. The vaults are always dark, the 
 only opening being the narrow entrance 
 which is usually closed by a large stone 
 rolled to its mouth ; although some of 
 a superior description are shut by stone 
 doors, hung in the same manner as the 
 doors of houses, by pivots turning in 
 holes in the architrave above and in the 
 threshold below. Some of these vaults 
 consist of several chambers, one within 
 another, connected by passages. The 
 innermost chambers are usually deeper 
 than the exterior, with a descent of se- 
 veral steps. When there is more than 
 one chamber, the outermost seems to 
 have been a sort of ante-room, the 
 walls being seldom occupied with se- 
 pulchral niches or shelves. This cave of 
 Machpelah became, after the purchase 
 by Abraham, the family sepulclire ol 
 the Hebrew patriarchs ; and it is rea- 
 sonable to conclude that it was of supe- 
 rior size, and contained more than one 
 apartment. The Spanish Jew, Benja- 
 min of Tudela, visited the place about 
 650 years ago ; and as his account is 
 precise and interesting, we quote it from 
 ' Purchas his Pilgrimes,' 1625. ' I came 
 to Hebron, seated in a plaine ; for He- 
 bron, the ancient metropolitan citie, 
 stood upon an hill, but it is now deso- 
 late. But in the valley there is a field, 
 wherein there is a duphcitie, that is, as 
 it were, two little valleyes, and there the 
 citie is placed ; and there is an huge tem- 
 ple there called Saint Abraham, and that 
 place was the synagogue of the levves, 
 at what time the country was possessed 
 ny the Ishmaehtes. But the Gentiles, 
 >vho afterwards obtayned and held the 
 3* 
 
 same, built sixe sepulchres in the tem- 
 ple, by the names of Abraham, Sara, 
 Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Lia (Leah). 
 And the inhabitants now tell the pil- 
 grimes that they are the monuments of 
 the patriarkes: and great summes of 
 m.oney are offered there. But surely, 
 to any lew coming thither, and offering 
 the porters a reward, the cave is shew- 
 ed, with the iron gate opened, which 
 from antiquitie remayneth yet there. 
 And a man goeth dorni with a lamp- 
 light into the first cave, where nothing 
 is found, nor also in the second, untill he 
 enter the third, in which there are the 
 sixe monuments, the one right over 
 against the other ; and each of them are 
 engraven with characters, and distin- 
 guished by the names of every one of 
 them after this manner, — Sepulchrum 
 Abraham patris 7iostn, super quern pax 
 sit ; and so the rest, after the same ex- 
 ample. And a lampe perpetually burn- 
 eth in the cave, day and night ; the offi- 
 cers of the temple continually minister- 
 ing oile for the maintenance thereof. 
 Also, in the self-same cave, there are 
 tuns full of the bones of the ancient Is- 
 raehtes, brought thither by the famiUes 
 of Isreal, which even untill this day re- 
 mayne in the self-same place.' This 
 curious account agrees pretty well the 
 above general description. The Avord 
 Machpelah means 'double,' applied rather 
 the field containing the cave, than to the 
 cave itself. Benjamin's mention of the 
 two valleys forming, as Purchas trans- 
 lates, 'the field of duplicity,' explains 
 the application which has perplexed 
 Calmet and others. Sandys, who was 
 there early in the seventeenth century, 
 and who describes the valley of He- 
 bron as ' the most pregnant and pleasant 
 valley that ever eye beheld,' mentions 
 the 'goodly temple' built by the em- 
 press Helena, the mother of Constan- 
 tine, and afterwards changed into a 
 mosque, as a place of much resort to 
 Moslem pilgrims. John Sanderson was 
 there in the summer of 1601, and the 
 
30 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1860. 
 
 account he gives agrees, as far as it goes, 
 with that of the Spanish Jew ; but ac- 
 cess to the cave was more restricted 
 than it seems to have been in the time 
 of the latter. He saj's, ' Into this tombe 
 not any are suffered to enter, but at a 
 square hole through a thick wall they 
 may discern a Uttle light of a lamp. The 
 levves do their ceremonies of prayer 
 there without. The 3Ioores and Turkes 
 are permitted to have a Uttle more sight, 
 which is at the top, where they let down 
 the oyle for the lampe ; the lampe is a 
 very great one, continually burning.' 
 For upwards of a century only two or 
 three Europeans have been able, either 
 by daring or bribery, to obtain access to 
 the mosque and cave. Ali Bey, who 
 passed as a Mussulman, has given a des- 
 cription of it ; but his account is so in- 
 compatible with all others, and with the 
 reports of the Turks, that it is difficult 
 to admit its accuracy. According to all 
 other statements, the sepulchre is a 
 deep and spacious cavern, cut out of 
 the sohd rock ; the opening to which is 
 in the centre of the mosque, and is sel- 
 dom entered even by Moslems : but Ali 
 Bey seems to describe each separate 
 tomb as a distinct room, on the level of 
 the floor of the mosque. These rooms 
 have their entrances guarded by iron 
 gates, and by wooden doors plated with 
 silver, with bolts and padlocks of the 
 same metal. He says, ' All the sepul- 
 chres of the patriarchs are covered 
 with rich carpets of green silk, magnifi- 
 cently embroidered with gold ; those of 
 their wives are red, embroidered in like 
 manner. The sultans of Constantino- 
 ple furnish these carpets, which are re- 
 newed from time to time. I counted 
 nine, one over the other, upon the se- 
 pulchre of Abraham. The rooms aho 
 which contain the tombs are covered 
 with rich carpets.' We can only recon- 
 cile this with other statements by sup- 
 posing that the Turks have put tlic:-e 
 monuments upon the level of the floor, 
 immediately over the supposed resting- 
 
 places of the patriarchs in the cave un- 
 derneath ; and that, instead of conduct- 
 ing them into the crypt, these tombs 
 above ground are shown to ordinary 
 visiters.' — Pict Bible. The accompany- 
 ing cut from 3Iaundrell will give a tole- 
 rably correct idea of the ground-plan of 
 the excavated sepulchres of the East. 
 
 L, 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 As the sacred story proceeds, we see 
 more and more of the simple manners 
 of those ancient times, but we see also, 
 what is far better, the deep regard which 
 Abraham had to the word and promise 
 of God in all his transactions. He car- 
 ries the great principle of Faith into all 
 his domestic arrangements, and has a 
 single eye intent upon one object, what- 
 ever he does. By the death of Sarah, 
 the care and anxiety that naturally 
 gathered about the dear object of their 
 common afTection becomes, of course, 
 much increased to the surviving parent. 
 Isaac was now arrived at man's estate, 
 and it was fit that the heir of the prom 
 
B. C. 1857.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 31 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 AND Abraham * was oid aiw? well 
 stricken in age : and the Lord 
 '' had blessed Abraham in ail things. 
 
 « ch. 13. 11. & 21. 5. b ch. 13. 2. ver. 35. 
 Ps. 112. 3. rrov. 10. 22. 
 
 ise shotild be established in a family of 
 his own. This becomes now the 
 great theme of the patriarch's solicitude 
 and the chapter before us details with 
 the most simple and interesting minute 
 n«ss th« steps taken to bring about the 
 wished-for event. The narrative affords 
 a striking instance of the sovereignty of 
 inspiration. The Holy Spirit is not gov 
 emed by human estimates of the relative 
 importance of events. The great revo- 
 lutions which take place in the world, 
 the rise and overtiirow of secular king- 
 doms, are disregarded by God as com- 
 paratively unworthy of notice, while 
 the most trivial things that appertain to 
 his church and people are often re- 
 corded with the most minule exactness. 
 We have here a whole chapter, and tliat 
 one of the longest in the Bible, taken 
 up with an account of the marriage of 
 Isaac, an incident which might as well, 
 to all appearance, have been narrated in 
 a few words. But nothing is trivial in 
 Giod's eyes which can serve to illustrate 
 the operations of his grace or tend to 
 the edification of his church ; and he 
 may deem it no less important for men 
 to be brought to recognize and admire 
 his providence in the most inconsidera- 
 ble affairs of life than in the most mo- 
 mentous. It is perhaps for this reason 
 that we have here such a detailed ac- 
 count of the incidents and conversation 
 connected with Eliezer's expedition, 
 while in other things involving the deep- 
 est mysteries, the greatest brevity is 
 studied. 
 
 1. Abraham was old. As he was an 
 hundred when Isaac was born, ch. 21. 5, 
 and Isaac was forty when he married, 
 ch. 25. 20, it follows that h3 was now 
 one hundred and forty. IT Wellstnck- 
 
 2 And Abraham said unto his 
 elder servant of his house, that ^ rul- 
 ed over all that he had, 'Put, X 
 pray thee, thy hand under my thigh : 
 
 c ch. 15. 2. d ver. 10. ch. 39. 4, 5, 6. 
 
 « ch. 47. 29. 1 Chron. 29.24. Lam. 5. 6, 
 
 en in age. Heb. d'^^D'^n 5^^ coming, or 
 going, into days ; i. e. into years, as the 
 word days often signifies. 
 
 2. His eldest servant of his house 
 Heb. I^^n yi^il nnSJ his servant, the el- 
 der of his house. So also the Gr. tm 
 iraiSi avTov Toi npec-0VTepi,y rris otKiag 
 avTov, his servant the elder of his house, 
 allusion being probably had to Eliezer, 
 of whom see Gen. 15. 2. The scriptu- 
 ral usage in respect to both these terms, 
 servant and elder, is important, as they 
 are of frequent occurrence in the New 
 Testament, and belong to that class of 
 words whose import deserves to be fix- 
 ed with the utmost precision. This can 
 only be done by a comparison of the 
 passages in which they occur, and the 
 result of such a comparison will clearly 
 evince that they are both, in many cas- 
 es, titles of office, with which the idea of 
 subordinate or ministerial ruling is close- 
 ly connected. Thus, wherever mention 
 is made of the ' servants' of a king or 
 prince, the term is for the most part to 
 be understood of counsellors, ministers, 
 or other officers pertaining to the court 
 The leading idea is not that of servitude, 
 as understood among us at the present 
 day. Thus, Gen. 40. 20, ' Pharaoh made 
 a feast unto all his servants ; i. e. unto 
 all his officers. Ex. 12. 30, 'Pharaoh 
 rose up in the night, he and all his ser- 
 vants ;' i. e. all his officers. In this sense 
 Moses is emphatically called ' the serv 
 ant of the Lord,' Deut. 34. 5 ; Heb. 3. 5, 
 from being intrusted with administration 
 of divine things. Retaining this sense 
 of ministerial rather than of serviZe agen- 
 cy, the term is used in the New Testa 
 ment with nearly the import of steward, 
 and with prevailing reference to office- 
 bearers in the church, rather than ordj- 
 
32 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1857. 
 
 nary members. With a view accord- 
 ingly to this import of steivards or upper 
 servants, Paul and the other Apostles fre- 
 quently denominate themselves the 
 servants of Jesus Christ. So in like 
 manner, in the parable of the servants 
 receiving the talents, Mat. 25. 14—30, 
 reference is chiefly had to ministers of 
 the Gospel, who are stewards in the 
 household of God. So too Rev. 1. 1, 
 ' The revelation of Jesus Christ which 
 God gave unto him to show unto his 
 servants the things which must shortly 
 come to pass;' i. e. to show unto his 
 ministering servants, the pastors and 
 teachers of the churches, for whom the 
 prophetic mysteries of this book were 
 principally designed, simply for the rea- 
 .son that they might naturally be ex- 
 pected to possess means and advantages 
 for understanding and expounding them, 
 which would not ordinarily fall to the 
 lot of other Christians. — The dominant 
 usage of the term ' elder' is strikingly 
 analogous to that of ' servant.' Tho ugh 
 originally and properly a designation of 
 age,ns the office of ruling or administering 
 the aflfairsof a community was generally 
 i»trusted to men of mature years, whose 
 judgment was sound and theirdeportment 
 grave, yet it gradually came to denote 
 the office itself, apart from the conside- 
 ration of age, and therefore is repeated- 
 ly used as synonymous with ruler or 
 governor. Thus, Gen. 50. 7, ' And with 
 him went up all the servants of Pharaoh^ 
 the elders of his house, and all the elders 
 of the land of Egypt ;' i- e. the rulers, 
 the governors of his house, and of the 
 provinces. Ruth, 4. 2, ' And he took 
 ten men of the elders of the city ;' i. e. 
 of the magistrates of the city. Thus in 
 the New Testament, 1 Tim. 5. 17, 'Let 
 the elders that ride well be counted wor- 
 thy of double honor.' The kind of rul- 
 ing imported by this term is not that of 
 lordship, force, or despotic coercion, but 
 the mild influence of moral suasion, 
 founded upon the revealed truths of in- 
 Bpiration. The true spiritual ruling in- 
 
 stituted in the Christian Church consists 
 not merely or mainly in the administra- 
 tion of discipline or the determination 
 of controversies, but in the exercise of 
 a salutary moral influence, especiaUy 
 by admonition and example, upon those 
 who are the subjects of it. 
 
 2. Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my 
 tldgh. Great obscurity rests upon the 
 design of the act here prescribed by 
 Abraham to his servant. No allusion 
 to a similar formality is found anywhere 
 else in the sacred volume, except Gen. 
 47. 29, where Jacob requires the same 
 ceremony from his son Joseph ; nor is 
 there any evidence from history that 
 this was a customary rite in taking or 
 administering oaths among any known 
 ancient people. How then is the action 
 to be explained ? We cannot perhaps 
 advance beyond a probable conjecture 
 in making the attempt. The phrase 
 ' come out of the thigh' is equivalent to 
 being horn of or descended from one. 
 Gen. 46. 26 : Ex. 1. 5. Again, a name 
 written on the thigh was an emblem of 
 power and authority, as Rev. 16. 16, and 
 ' girding the sword upon the thigh,' Ps. 
 45. 3, is to be considered as a symboli- 
 cal action of the same import. Connect- 
 ing therefore the ideas oi generation ^nA 
 dominion with the word thigh, and bear- 
 ing in mind the very peculiar and un- 
 wonted title which Abraham here gives 
 to the Most High, ' the Lord, the God of 
 heaven and the God of the earth,' 
 may we not suppose that the patri- 
 arch did in fact require his servant 
 to swear by Him who was to descend 
 from Ids loins, and who was to be in- 
 vested with kingly dignity and domin- 
 ion ? — in other words, by the very Per- 
 sonage who is elsewhere described as 
 having 'on his A-esture and on his thigh 
 a name written. King of kings and Lord 
 of lords.' It is not unhkely that there 
 is something euphemistic in the phrase, 
 and that as Abraham's circumcision was 
 a seal of his faith in the divine promise, 
 the cerem.ony had a special relation to 
 
B. C. 1857.J 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 33 
 
 3 And I will make thee *" swear 
 by the Lord, the God of heaven 
 and the God of the earth, that 
 
 fch.14.22. Deut. 6. 13. Josh. 2. 12. 
 
 that part of the person which bore the 
 mark of this ordinance. This is the 
 opinion of most of the Jewish commen- 
 tators, which is confirmed by the Arabic 
 version, — 'Put thine hand upon my 
 compact, or covenant ;' i. e. upon the 
 token of the covenant. 
 
 3. / will make thee swear. Heh. 
 ^'S'-^Ztl^i/^ dshhiaka, Twill swear thee; i. e- 
 I will adjure thee ; I will bind thee by 
 the solemnity of an oath. The terra 
 has a reference to the act which was 
 about to be performed. The swear- 
 ing on the part of the servant was not 
 verbal, but consisted in performing the 
 rite required by Abraham. Thus he 
 was sworn as a witness is sworn before 
 a magistrate, when he has the oath ad- 
 muiistered to him, and lifts his hand or 
 applies his lips to the holy volume in 
 
 token of his assent. ^ Thou shall not 
 
 take a wife, &c. Upon comparing this 
 injunction with the general conduct and 
 character of Abraham, we see in it 
 another striking instance of his prevail- 
 ing faith. His great anxiety was that 
 Isaac should not connect himself wiih 
 the people among whom he was so- 
 journing ; and why ? Had he contracted 
 an unreasonable prejudice against them ? 
 Far from it. From what is related in the 
 preceding chapter, it is evident he had 
 no objection to exchange with them the 
 common civilities of life. He could es- 
 timate their hospitality and kindness as 
 they deserved. He had no ground to 
 complain of their treatment of him, 
 but he cannot be insensible to their 
 alienation from God ; and to take their 
 daughters in marriage, he is convinced 
 would bo a sure w-ay to corrupt his own 
 family. The grand design of God in 
 giving the land to Abraham's posterity, 
 was the ultimate overthrow of idolatry. 
 
 ^ thou shalt not take a wife unto my 
 son of the daucrhtorsof the Canaan- 
 ites among whom I dwell : 
 
 gch. 2-1 35. &27. 46. &: 23. 2. Exod. 34. 16 
 Deut. 7. 3. 
 
 and the establishment of his true wor 
 ship on earth. To what purpose then 
 was he called from among Chaldean 
 idolaters, if his son were to join affinity 
 with those of Canaan ? Was there not 
 every probability that Isaac might even- 
 tually be led to renounce the God of his 
 father, and adopt the abominations of 
 his new kindred? Without any spe- 
 cial distrust of the general firmness of 
 Isaac's principles, he was still too well 
 acquainted with the infirmities of our 
 nature not to be aware, that there was 
 more likelihood of even the son of Abra- 
 ham's being perverted by an idolatrous 
 wife, than of such a wife's being brought 
 to the true faith by a believing husband. 
 But even should Isaac retain his integ- 
 rity, there was some hazard that his pos- 
 terity, partly deriving their origin from 
 these heathen races, and mingled among 
 them, should gradually conform to their 
 idolatrous practices. He would there- 
 fore erect the strongest possible safe- 
 guard around the pure faith of his seed ; 
 and to this he was still more strongly 
 urged, .by knowing that the inhabitants 
 of Canaan were devoted to destruction. 
 He saw them filling up the measure of 
 their iniquities, and he feared lest his be- 
 loved Lsaac and his descendants, becom- 
 ing partakers of their evil deeds, should 
 share also in their punishment. The 
 measure proposed, therefore, was every 
 way worthy of this great pattern of be- 
 lievers. Throughout the whole, there 
 appears not the least taint of worldly 
 policy, or any of those motives which 
 usually govern men in the settlement of 
 their children No mention is made of 
 riches or honors or natural accomplish- 
 ments. The patriarch, with the solici- 
 tude of a good father, is desirous of 
 matching his son rather prudently and 
 
34 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1857. 
 
 4 ^ But thou shalt go ' unto my 
 country, and to my kindred, and 
 take a wife unto my son Isaac. 
 
 5 And the servant said unto 
 him, Peradventure the woman wnll 
 not be willing to follow me unto 
 
 h ch. 28. 2. i cli. 12. 1. 
 
 piou.sly, than wealthily or splendidly. 
 In his esUmate, no consideration could 
 outweigh that of the religious character 
 of the person sought as a companion for 
 his son. How admirable a pattern is this 
 for parents, in reference to the forming 
 of matrimonial connections for their 
 children I Unhappily great numbers, 
 even among the professors of godliness, 
 bring nothing but worldly considerations 
 to this all-important subject. The out- 
 ward advantages of fortune, rank, or per- 
 sonal attractions, are the only things re- 
 garded. But what comparison can these 
 bear to the internal qualities of sound 
 principle, good sense, amiable temper, 
 and meek devoted piety? What per- 
 manent happiness can we promise our- 
 selves in connection with one who can- 
 not understand our views or enter into 
 our feelings? — to whom we cannot 
 speak of religion so as to be sympathiz- 
 ed with, advised, or comforted ? — with 
 whom we cannot take sweet counsel on 
 the things of all others most interesting 
 and absorbing to our souls ? No won- 
 der that in such unions, comfort and se- 
 renity of spirit are banished from our 
 abodes. No wonder that there arise es- 
 trangement of affection, diversity of 
 pursuits, contrariety of will, domestic 
 jangling, mutual accusations and retorts, 
 and all that embitters or poisons the 
 springs of love and peace. Whether, 
 therefore, we are choosing for ourselves 
 in this matter, or sanctioning the choice 
 of others, let the example of this holy 
 man have its due weight in governing 
 our conduct. Let us learn from him to 
 subordinate every thing to the one great 
 concern — the interests of the sojil. Let j 
 every plan and purpose entertained, j 
 
 this land : must I needs bring thy 
 son again unto the land from 
 whence thou camest? 
 
 6 And Abraham said unto him, 
 Beware thou, that thou bring not 
 my son thither again. 
 
 7 *ir The Lord God of heaven, 
 
 every occupation chosen, every place 
 of residence selected, every connec- 
 tion formed, express our firm and un- 
 varying conviction of the reahty, the im- 
 portance, the preciousness of those in- 
 terests which infinitely transcend all 
 others. 
 
 4. Thou shalt go unto my country, &t 
 That is, into 3Iesopotamia, v. 10, where 
 he had lived for some time after leaving 
 Ur of the Chaldees, and where Nahor 
 and his family still remained after Abra- 
 ham had departed for Canaan. It was 
 not therefore the land of his nativity, 
 but the land of his former temporary 
 sojourning, which he here calls his, and 
 to which the servant was commanded 
 to go. See Note on Gen. 11. 23, 31. 
 From the narrative contained in ch. 31, 
 respecting Laban, it appears that some 
 vestiges of idolatry still lingered even 
 among the kindred of Abraham, but 
 doubtless it was far less prevalent than 
 in Canaan. 
 
 5, 6. Peradventure the woman will not 
 he tvilling, &c. As was very natural, 
 the servant being about to bind himself 
 by an oath, is tenderly concerned lest 
 he should be ' .snared by the words of 
 his mouth,' and engage in more than he 
 is able to perform. His conduct in this 
 matter is much to be praised. The ob- 
 Hgation of an oath should not be assum- 
 ed without a full understanding of its 
 import, and the imposers of oaths ought 
 always to be ready to sadsfy the rea 
 sonable scruples of those who take them. 
 But the ansvi-er of Abraham is equally 
 worthy of our attention. W^hatever 
 were his anxiety that his son should 
 take a wife from among his own kindred, 
 he here evinces an equally strong re- 
 
B. C. 1857.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 35 
 
 which ^ took me from my fath- 
 er's house, and from the land of my 
 kindred, and which spake unto me, 
 and that sware unto me, saying-, 
 1 Unto thy seed will I give this land : 
 "" he shall send his angel before 
 
 k ch. 12. 1, 7. I c^■. 12. 7. & 13. 15. & 15. 18. 
 & 17. 8. Exod. 32. 13. Deut. 1. 8. & 34. 4. 
 Acts. 7. 5. m Exod. 23. 20, 23. & 33. 2. Heb. 
 1.14. 
 
 pugnance to his returning and settling 
 in the country out of which he had 
 been called. He had had a promise 
 given him that the land into which he 
 had been brought, should be his and his 
 seed's; and he lived and acted upon 
 that promise all his life long. Against 
 present appearances and human proba- 
 bilities, he maintained an unshaken con- 
 fidence in the fulfilment of the promise, 
 and took all his measures accordingly. 
 As he had buried Sarah in it under this 
 assured expectation, so he would not 
 allow Isaac on any account to remove 
 out of it ; and thus do what tended di- 
 rectly to frustrate the promise. It was 
 perhaps owing in a great measure to 
 his extreme solicitude on this head, that, 
 instead of sending Isaac, who was now 
 forty years of age, and abundantly ca- 
 pable of managing the negotiation him- 
 self, he despatched his aged servant to 
 
 conduct the affair in his behalf IT 
 
 Bring again. Isaac, it is true, had never 
 been in that land in person, but in the 
 loins of his father he had : and it is a 
 common usage of the sacred writers to 
 speak of a family or line of descendants 
 as one continued person. Upon this 
 idiom the use of the word again in this 
 place is no doubt founded. In like 
 manner, it is said Gen. 15, 16, 'In the 
 fourth generation they shall come 
 hither again,' although that generation 
 had of course never been in that land 
 before. 
 
 7. The LORD God of heaven, &c. 
 Rather according to the Heb. 'The 
 Lord, the God of heaven C^l-jV^ nin*^ 
 
 thee, and thou shalt take a wife un- 
 to my son from thence. 
 
 8 And if the woman will not be 
 willing to follow thee, then " thou 
 shalt be clear from this mine oath ; 
 only bring not my son thither 
 again. 
 
 n Josh. 2. 17, 20. 
 
 d'^?2L'n)Gr. Kt)f3tof eeoi,the Lord, the 
 God, &c. The assurance which Abra- 
 ham here gives his servant of the di- 
 vine presence and guidance on his jour- 
 ney appears to be the result of a strong 
 conviction in his mind, wrought by the 
 experience of the past, rather than by 
 any communication to that effect ex- 
 pressly received from God. 'Every 
 former favor is a pledge of a future. 
 ' Thou hast — thou wilt' is a scripture 
 demonstration. See in Ps. 86, 1 — i, six 
 'thou basts,' whereupon he infers anden- 
 forceth his ' Turn us, O God of our sal- 
 vation.'-- 7V«/)p. So the patriarch's 
 language here is the expression of a 
 firm, unshaken confidence in the pros- 
 perous issue of the expedition. He 
 had been prompted by the most sincere 
 regard to the will of God in having it 
 undertaken, and he could not but infer 
 from all that had been before done for 
 him, and said to him, that he would put 
 the seal of his approbation upon the 
 step proposed. And how pleasant is 
 it to enter upon our work with such 
 an inward assurance ! — to be able unhesi- 
 tatingly to promise ourselves or others, 
 the presence, protection and blessing of 
 the God of heaven in our enterprises ! 
 If governed in the main by the pious 
 spirit of Abraham, this confidence may 
 be freely entertained. God will regard it 
 as an acceptable exercise of faith, and 
 not as the promptings of an unhallowed 
 
 presumption IT Will send his angel 
 
 before thee. Nothing, we think, is more 
 susceptible of proof, than that the term 
 ' angel' in scriptural usage is employed 
 
GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1857. 
 
 9 And the servant put his hand 
 under the thigh of Abraham his 
 master, and sware to him concern- 
 ing that matter. 
 
 IlO it And the servant took ten 
 
 not only to denote those personal agents 
 whom the Most High may see fit to 
 make the executors of his will, but also 
 in an impersonal sense, implying in ma- 
 ny cases merely a dispensation of provi- 
 dence, whether in a way of mercy or 
 of judgment. The phraseology, indeed, 
 but rarely occurs in respect to the ordi- 
 nary incidents of life, but extraordinary 
 operations of providence, or events 
 fraught with momentous consequences, 
 and as such, having a peculiarly notice- 
 able character, though accomplished by 
 natural means, are in Scripture spoken 
 of as ' angels.' Thus the destruction of 
 the first-born in Egypt is attributed to 
 an angel, because such an event was 
 extraordinary and memorable in the 
 highest degree. In hke manner, the 
 destruction of Sennacherib's army 
 is ascribed to angelic agency for the 
 same reason. In both cases we cannot 
 doubt that the judgment was executed 
 directly and immediately by the hand of 
 God. Thus, too, as to the present decla- 
 ration. We suppose the angel to be the 
 personification of a special providence. 
 God would send his angel before the 
 servant in the sense of preparing his 
 vny, of removing difficulties and objec- 
 tions, and fully reconciling the minds of 
 his kindred to ths step. See Note on Ex. 
 12. 23, for fuller confirmation of this 
 idea. 
 
 9. Abraham his master. Heb. I^jIJ^ 
 adonav, his lord. So also in the next 
 
 verse. IT Sware to him. Heb. '$':i''^^ 
 
 yish-sha-ba, wassworn to him. The Heb. 
 verb for swearing, is always used in the 
 passive voice, as if it were an act which 
 no one was supposed to engage in vol- 
 untarily, but only as he w^as adjured by 
 another. 
 
 camels, of the camels of his master, 
 and departed ; (° for all the goods, 
 of his master were in his hand;) 
 and he arose, and went to Mesopo- 
 tamia, unto the city of Nahor. 
 
 over.ii. Pch. 27. 43. 
 
 10. Took ten camels, &c. Although 
 we are not expressly told that this was 
 done by Abraham's direction, yet there 
 can be little doubt that the whole busi- 
 ness of the preparation and outfit was 
 conducted under his eye, and ordered 
 with his approbation. The brevity of 
 the scripture narrative often requires us 
 to supply from the character of the par- 
 ties or the circumstances of the case 
 many subordinate items which are omit- 
 ted by the writer. Such inferential ad- 
 ditions are frequently clearly confirmed 
 by subsequent parts of the narrative, or 
 the parallel recitals elsewhere found. 
 Thus, in the present passage nothing is 
 said of the servant's being accompanied 
 by attendants ; yet it is evident that one 
 man woidd be unable to manage so ma- 
 ny camels, nor w-ould it be at all con- 
 sonant with Oriental customs or notions 
 for such an expedition to be undertaken 
 for such an object by a single individ- 
 ual ; and from vss. 32, 59, it is obvious 
 that it was not. Without allowing his 
 faith such a paramount influence as to 
 lead to the neglect of prudent means, 
 he no doubt designed by fitting out such 
 an imposing retinue, amounting, in fact, 
 to a small caravan, to make an impression 
 upon the minds of the maiden and her 
 family, whoever they might be, to whom 
 the proposals should be made. It would 
 obviously tend to a favorable result 
 were they to receive such an idea of 
 Abraham's and Isaac's substance, as 
 should preclude the apprehension of a 
 female's losing or lessening the comforts 
 of her present condition by acceding to 
 the proposed connection. Had the ser- 
 vant gone alone, without any evidences 
 of his master's wealth, it is clear that he 
 could not reasonably have expected to 
 
B. C. 1857.J 
 
 11. And he made his camels to 
 kneel down without the city by a 
 well of water, at the time of the 
 
 obtain the same credence for his asser- 
 tions on the subject. The measure, 
 therefore, was in every view poHtic and 
 wise, although we cannot question that 
 both Abraham and his servant, as ha- 
 bitually pious men, placed more depend- 
 ence on a secret divine interposition, than 
 upon any devices, however well chosen, 
 
 of their own. IT For all the goods of 
 
 his master were in his hand. More lite- 
 rally ^And all the goods,' &c. The ori- 
 ginal term ^ItJ toob, here rendered goods, 
 is the proper Heb. word for goodness or 
 excellency of any kind, whether moral 
 or physical. In such connections as the 
 present, it evidently has a secondary or 
 accommodated import, being applied to 
 riches or substance, because these are 
 what men usually esteem good, and in- 
 dustriously pursue as such. The exact 
 purport of this parenthetic clause is a 
 matter of some doubt. Calvin, and per- 
 haps most commentators, understand it 
 as rendering a reason for the servant' s 
 large and sumptuous preparations for 
 the journey. Having all his master's 
 goods at his disposal, he might exercise 
 a discretionary power in making 
 provision for the expedition. But per- 
 haps the rendering of the Gr., adopt- 
 ed also by Jerome in the Vulgate, is to 
 be preferred. In both these versions 
 the construction is, ' And (he took and 
 carried) of all his master's goods (some- 
 thing) with him.' According to this the 
 idea is that the servant took with him 
 ' in his hand' a portion of the choicest, 
 the best, the most precious of his master's 
 effects, of which to make presents to 
 the lady elect and her family. Thus it 
 is said of the present brought by Ha- 
 zael from Ben-hadad to Elisha, 2 Kings, 
 8. 9, that he ' took a present with him, 
 even of every good thing (ilts ^w ^^ol 
 toob) of Damascus ;' i. e. of the mo.st 
 VOL. II. 4 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 37 
 
 evening, even the time nhat wo- 
 men go out to draw water : 
 
 1 Exod. 2. 16. 
 
 precious things of all kinds. So the 
 term is elsewhere repeatedly used in 
 an emphatic sense to denote that which 
 is pecidiarly choice and valuable. Comp. 
 Gen. 45. 18,20. Is. 1. 19. Deut. e.'ll. 
 On the whole, we cannot but deem this 
 the most correct interpretation of the 
 two ; and we suppose, moreover, that 
 the articles mentioned vv. 22, 52, were 
 a part of the mtO goods, here said to 
 have been in the hand of the servant 
 
 when he departed. IT Went to MesO' 
 
 potamia. Heb. ^'^"mj Q'^i^ Aram naha- 
 rayim, that is, Syria of the two rivers ; 
 denoting the region lying between the 
 rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The same 
 country is elsewhere called Q'nii y['^ 
 padan Aram, or, the plain of Aram, or 
 Syria. ' Mesopotamia' is a Greek word 
 signifying the country between the rivers. 
 The ' city of Nahor,' i. e. the city of 
 Nahor's residence, was no doubt Haran 
 (Charran), of which, see Note on Gen. 
 11.31. 
 
 11. Made the camels to kneel down. As 
 this immediately precedes an act of 
 prayer on the part of the servant, it 
 m.ight possibly be thought that he in- 
 tended in some sort to make his 
 camels participators in that act. But 
 kneeling is not peculiarly an attitude of 
 devotion in the East ; and Eliezer him- 
 self did not kneel ; for even in his prayer, 
 he describes himself as standing by the 
 well. He merely intended to give the 
 wearied camels a little rest, kneehng be- 
 ing the posture in which camels always 
 
 repose. IT The time that women go out 
 
 to draw water. Heb. !r;:Ji".l'n r.^!2 fi^'b 
 leaith tzeth hash-sho-abofh, at the time of 
 the going forth of the women-drawers {of 
 water.) ' Water is usually drawn in the 
 evening and frequently in the cool of the 
 morning also. Fetching water is one of 
 the heaviest of the many heavy duties 
 
38 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 B. 0. 1857. 
 
 which devolve upon the females in the 
 East, and one which most sensibly im- 
 presses us with a sense of their degraded 
 condition. The Usage varies in differ- 
 ent countries. Among the Arabs and 
 other nomades, and also in many parts 
 of India, it is the exclusive employment 
 of the women, without distinction of 
 rank. But in Turkey and Persia, the 
 poorer women only are subject to this 
 .servile employment, respectable fami- 
 lies being supplied daily by men who 
 make the supplying of water a distinct 
 business. The tents of the Bedouins 
 are seldom pitched quite near to the 
 well from which tliey obtain their wa- 
 ter ; and if the distance is not more than 
 a mile, the men do not think it necessa- 
 ry that the water should be brought up- 
 on the camels; and, unless there are 
 asses to be employed on this service, 
 the women must go every evening, 
 sometimes twice, and bring home at 
 their backs long and heavy bags full of 
 water. The wells are the property of 
 tribes or individuals, who are not al- 
 ways wilhng that caravans should take 
 water from them ; and in that case, a 
 girl is sometimes posted at the well to 
 exact presents from those who wish to 
 have water. It is not likely that Abra- 
 ham's servant travelled without a 
 leathern bucket to draw water, and itis 
 therefore probable that he abstained 
 from watering his ten camels until he 
 should have obtained permission. The 
 women, when they are at the wells in 
 the evening, are generally obhging to 
 travellers, and ready to supply such wa- 
 ter as they may require for themselves 
 or their beasts. The women of towns 
 in Turkey and Persia have seldom far 
 to go, except under peculiar circum- 
 stances in the situation or soil of the 
 place, or quality of its water. Their 
 uater-vossel depends much upon the 
 distance ; if rather far, a skin will pro- 
 bably be preferred as most convenient 
 for carrying a good quantity ; but if near, 
 an earthen jar will often be chosen. 
 
 The present well seems to have been 
 quite near the town, and we concur ir 
 the translation which renders Rebekah'f 
 Vessel ' a pitcher.' The word "^ hid v. 
 different from that (-"^H chemath) ren 
 dered ' bottle' in the narrative of Ilagnr' 
 expulsion ; and is the same word u.=e( 
 to describe the vessels in which Gideon"; 
 soldiers concealed their torches, anc' 
 which they broke to produce a crashing 
 and alarming noise. The women con- 
 trive to draw an enjoyment even out of 
 this irksome duty, as it affords the best 
 opportunity they have of meeting and 
 talking together, and of displaying their 
 finery to each other. They by no 
 means appear to the worst advantage, 
 as to dress, at the wells ; and this cir- 
 cumstance shows that Abraham's ser- 
 vant might there, without any incongrui- 
 ty, invest Rebekah with the ornaments 
 he had brought. To a traveller in the 
 East, the best opportunities of making 
 his observations on the females will oc- 
 cur in the evening at the wells. Eliezer 
 was aware of this, and regarded the op- 
 portunity as favorable for his purpose. 
 It appears that the unmarried females 
 even of tov\Tis went unveiled, or only 
 partially veiled, on ordinary occasions in 
 these early times. Now all go veiled ; 
 and the more extended use of the veil 
 in modern times has probably, in one 
 respect, operated favorably for the wo- 
 men, by exonerating those in families 
 decently circumstanced, from the very 
 heavy duty of fetching water, the pro- 
 per management of the veil being 
 scarcely compatible with the perform- 
 ance of this laborious office. Accord- 
 ingly we find that this duty devolves 
 more exclusively on the females, with- 
 out distinction of rank, in those Asiatic 
 countries or tribes where the women 
 are not obliged to veil their faces, as in 
 India, and among the Arabian and othe 
 nomade tribes. We have already no 
 ticed the Arabian usage. In consequence 
 of the modifications which we venture 
 to think that the extended u.se of the 
 
B. C. 1857.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 12 And lie said, ■■ O Lord, God 
 of my master Abraham, I pray thee, 
 
 I ver. 27. ch. 26. 24. &. 28. 13. & 32. 9. Exod. 
 3. 6, 15. 
 
 veil has produced nmongthe inhabitants 
 of towns west of the Indus, it is perhaps 
 in India we are to look for the most pre- 
 cise parallels to the patriarchal customs. 
 Accordingly we find, that in many parts 
 of India, women of the first distinction 
 draw water daily from the pubhc wells. 
 They always fetch it in earthern jars 
 carried upon their heads. Sometimes 
 two or three jars are thus carried at 
 once, one upon the other, forming a pH- 
 larupon the bearer's head. As this ne- 
 cessarily requires the most perfect steadi- 
 ness, the habit gives to the females a 
 remarkably erect and stately air. It 
 seems that it is a distinction to carry the 
 jar on the shoulder; and Forbes, in his 
 ' Oriental Memoirs,' relates an anecdote 
 of an intelligent native who, when this 
 highly interesting passage was read to 
 him, inferred that Rebekah was of ' high 
 caste,' from her carrying the pitcher on 
 her shoulder (verse 15). The text, how- 
 ever, does not necessarily imply that she 
 carried the jar erect upon her shoulder, 
 but quite as probably means that it was 
 carried at the back, the handle being 
 held over the shoulder by the hand or a 
 leathern strap.' — Pict. Bible. 
 
 12. O Lord God, &;c. or rather as be- 
 fore, v. 7. ' O Lord, the God,' &c. The 
 character of Eliezer, if he were indeed 
 the person charged with the present 
 commission, shines brighter at every 
 step. He shews himself throughout, to 
 have been eminently worthy of being 
 entrusted with so momentous a negoti- 
 ation. And not only so, but his conduct 
 reflects additional credit upon Abraham, 
 the influence of whose pious example 
 is to be recognized in the humble and 
 devout deportment of his servant. A 
 devoted and exemplary master will sel- 
 dom fail to make religion respected in 
 his household, and domestics will often 
 
 ' send me (rood speed this day, and 
 shew kindness unto my master 
 Abraham. 
 
 BNeh. 1.11. Ps. 37. 5. 
 
 be brought to know and love that of 
 which they would otherwise have re- 
 mained ignorant and negligent. This 
 w as doubtless the case with this head- 
 servant of the patriarch, who shows his 
 concern for the welfare of his master's 
 household, not by an ostentatious pa- 
 rade of his services, but by praying de- 
 voutly to God for success upon the mis- 
 sion confided to him. The prayer is 
 remarkable for (1) The faith in which it is 
 offered. He speaks all along under a 
 full persuasion that the providence of 
 God extended to the minutest events, 
 and that there was no presumption in 
 appealing to him on the present occa- 
 sion. His words are full of confidence 
 that God would direct him in a matter of 
 so much importance to his church in all 
 future ages. (2) The correct views of the 
 character of Jehovah which he expresses. 
 He addresses him as the covenant God of 
 Abraham, who had given him exceed- 
 ing great and precious promises. In ap- 
 proaching him in this character, he would 
 occupy the best possible vantage ground 
 for urging his request, as any promise 
 made to Abraham would furnish a plea 
 which could scarcely fail to be eflTectual. 
 (3) The sign which he presumed to ask 
 for. A better, he could not well have 
 desired ; for such an oflfer freely made 
 to a stranger would indicate a most 
 amiable disposition. It would demon- 
 strate at once the humility, the industry, 
 the courtesy, the extreme kindness of 
 the female, and would be a pledge that 
 she possessed all the qualifications which 
 he deemed most desirable in a compan- 
 ion worthy of his master's son. She 
 who could be thus complaisant and 
 obliging to a stranger, would certainly 
 conduct herself well in the relation of a 
 wife. It is a natural inquiry, whether 
 the servant did right in thus fixing in 
 
40 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1857.. 
 
 13 Behold, ' I stand here by the 
 well of water ; and " the daughters 
 of the men of the city come out to 
 draw water : 
 
 14 And let it come to pas?, that 
 the damsel to whom I shall say, 
 Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, 
 that I may drink ; and she shall say. 
 Brink, and I will give thy camels 
 drink also : lei the same he she that 
 
 t ver. 43. 
 
 1 ell. 29. 9. Exod. 2. 16. 
 
 his own mind iipon a sign, and apparent- 
 ly prescribing it to God as a test of the 
 selection about to be made. In reply 
 we may observe, (1.) That the event 
 seems clearly to prove that the proceed 
 ing" received the divine approbation, if 
 it were not in fact of divine sugges 
 tion. (2.) Let the circumstances of 
 the case be considered. It does not ap 
 pear that any particular individual or 
 particidar family had been designated 
 by Abraham, to whom his servant was 
 to apply. All was uncertainty in this 
 respect ; and yet a choice was to be 
 made without any great delay, which 
 might have been attended with special 
 inconveniences on all sides. The exi- 
 gency, therefore, was peculiar, and the 
 servant seems to have determined to 
 do what common prudence would have 
 dictated to any sensible man under sim- 
 ilar circumstances. Being an entire 
 stranger to all the people of the city, he 
 resolved to take his stand at the public 
 watering-place, and judge as well as he 
 could from the deportment of the young 
 women, which of them promised fairest 
 to possess the requisite endowments of 
 person, temper, and manners. All this, 
 as far as we can see, was both proper 
 and politic under the circumstances ; and 
 being an habitually pious man, when 
 once he had fixed upon a definite course 
 of action, he looks up to God, and im- 
 plores his blessing upon it. This was 
 all. But his conduct, except in implor- 
 ing the divine blessing upon whatever 
 
 thou hast appointed for thy servant 
 Isaac ; and " thereby shall 1 know 
 that thou hast shewed kindness un- 
 to my master. 
 
 15 11 And it came to pass, before 
 he had done speaking, that behold, 
 Rebekah came out, who was born 
 to Bethuel, son of ^ Milcah, the wife 
 of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with 
 her pitcher upon her shoulder. 
 
 w See Judg. 6. 17, 37. 1 Sam. 6. 7. & 14. 8. 
 & 20. 7. X ch. 11. 29. & 22. 23. 
 
 he undertook, is evidently no rule for 
 us in the ordinary transactions of life. 
 
 IT Send me good speed. Heb. u'lpfl 
 
 hakreJi, bring it to pass, or cause it to liap- 
 pen ; i. e. the object of the journey. 
 Gr. svoScoaov tvavnov cfiov prosperously 
 direct he/ore me. Chal. ' Meet me this 
 day.' The same word occurs in the 
 original. Gen. 27. 20, ' And Isaac said 
 unto his son. How is it that thou hast 
 found it so quickly, my son ? And he 
 said, Because the Lord thy God brought 
 it to me'; i. e. made it to occur. It is 
 used in speaking of events and occur- 
 rences, which, though ordered by the 
 special providence of God, befall men 
 so little in consequence of their own 
 skill or foresight, that in common dis- 
 course they are ascribed to chance. 
 Thus, Luke 10. 31, ' And by chance there 
 came down a certain priest that way.' 
 When Eliezer repeats the incidents of 
 his journey, v. 42, the parallel word em- 
 ployed is 'prosper.' 
 
 13. Well of water. Heb, Q'l^^ri '^^5> 
 awn hammayim, fountain of water. 
 ' Well' and ' fountain' are often used in 
 the scriptures interchangeably. The 
 original has ' well,' v. 11, and ' fountain,' 
 v. 13. Theprimary and common signifi- 
 cation of '^"ij) ayiji is eye ; but as the eye 
 is the source from which tears flow, so an 
 opening in the earth from which waters 
 gush out has the same term appHed to it. 
 
 14. Hast appointed. Heb. f.'n'Zn ho- 
 kahta ; a term having the import of de- 
 monstratively prepared. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 B. C. 1857.] 
 
 16 And the damsel >' teas very 
 fair to look upon, a virgin ; neither 
 had any man known her : and she 
 went down to the well, and filled 
 her pitcher, and came up. 
 
 17 And the servant ran to meet 
 
 y ch. 26. 7. 
 
 41 
 
 15. It came to pass before he had done 
 speaking. In the subsequent recital, v. 
 45, Eliezer says, ' Before I had done 
 speaking in mine heart,' from which it 
 appears that this was a mental instead of 
 a verbal prayer ; and in reference to the 
 speedy answer with which it met, we 
 may cite the -vipry apposite remark of 
 Bochart, that ' so forward is God to be- 
 stow his benefits upon us, that they do 
 not so much follow our prayers, ?is pre- 
 vent and go before them.' Is. 65. 24, 
 'And it shall come to pass, that before 
 they call, I will answer ; and while they 
 
 are yet speaking, I will liear.' ^ Her 
 
 pitcher upon her shoulder. ' The East- 
 ern women, according to Dr. Pococke, 
 sometimes carry their jars upon their 
 heads ; but Rebecca's was carried on 
 her shoulder. In such a case, the jar is 
 not to be suppo.sed to have been placed 
 upright on the shoulder, but held by one 
 of the handles, with the hand over the 
 shoulder, and suspended in this manner 
 on the back ; held, I should imagine, 
 by the right handover llie left .shoulder. 
 Consequently, when it was to be pre- 
 sented to Abraham's servant, that he 
 might drink out of it, it was to be gently 
 moved over the left arm, and being 
 suspended by one hand, while the other, 
 probably, was placed under the bottom 
 of the jar, it was in that position pre- 
 sented to Abraham's servant, and his 
 attendants, to drink out of ' She said, 
 Drink, my lord ; and she hasted, and 
 let down her pitcher upon her hand, and 
 gave him to drink.' v. 1 3. — Jlarmer. 
 
 16. Very fair to look upon. Ileb. 
 n&^1?2 £"1-12 tohath mareh, good of coun- 
 tenance, or visage.^ Comp. Gen. 26. 7. 
 E.x. 2. 2. IT Went down to theivelland 
 
 4* 
 
 her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, 
 drink a little Vv^ater of thy pitcher. 
 ' 18 ^ And she said, Drink, my 
 lord : and she hasted, and let down 
 her pitcher upon her hand, and g-ave 
 liim drink. 
 
 z 1 Pet. 3. 8. & 4. 9. 
 
 filed her pitcher. ' It would seem that 
 this well had a descending stair. Such 
 wells are not very common in the East, 
 except in India, where they occur fre- 
 quently enough. Chardin, as quoted 
 by Harmer, is disposed to understand, 
 that where steps to a well are mention- 
 ed, a reservoir of rain-water is always 
 to be understood. Such reservoirs be- 
 ing seldom of the great depth of wells, 
 it is convenient to have steps, so that 
 the surface of the water may be reach- 
 ed by the hand as its quantity diminish- 
 es. All reservoirs have not, however, 
 such steps, nor are all wells without 
 them. The grand well at Cairo in 
 Egypt, called 'Joseph's Well,' has a 
 descent of about one hundred and fifty 
 feet, by a winding staircase six feet in 
 widths It is however true, that steps to 
 wells occur but rarely in the East. 
 Their greater frequency in India is pro- 
 ba'oly because the Hindoos do not use 
 leathern buckets to draw water, and 
 their earthen vessels would be very 
 liable to be broken if let down into wells 
 by a rope. Neither Chardin nor any 
 other traveller seems to have noticed 
 the existence of steps to streams of run- 
 ning water in the Kast ; yet in Persia 
 we have ourselves sometimes obtained 
 water from a covered stream, access to 
 which was afforded by descending steps, 
 protected by a vaulted superstructure 
 of brick. We are, upon the whole, dis- 
 posed to decide less positively than 
 Chardin, that the present ' well' could be 
 nothing else than a reservoir of rain- 
 water, although we must allow the pro- 
 babilities to be in favor of his supposi- 
 tion.' — Pict. Bible. 
 
 13. My lord. The Hebrew is used m 
 
42 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1857. 
 
 19 And when she had done giv- 
 ing him drink, she said, I will draw 
 loaLer for thy camels also, until they 
 Iiave done drinking. 
 
 20 And she hasted, and emptied 
 her pitcher into the trough, and ran 
 again unto the well to draw ivater, 
 and drew for all his camels, 
 
 21 And the man, wondering at 
 her, held his peace, to wit whether 
 
 * the Lord had made his journey 
 prosperous, or not, 
 
 22 And it came to pass, as the 
 camels had done drinking, that the 
 man took a golden '^ ear-ring of half 
 a shekel weight, and two bracelets 
 for her hands of ten shekels weight 
 of gold, 
 
 a ver. 12, 5G. b Exod. 32. 2. 3. Isai. 3. 19, 
 20, 21. Ezek. 16. 11, 12. 1 Pet. 3. 3. 
 
 addresses of politeness and civility, 
 equivalent to our ' Sir.' 
 
 19. Will draw water for thy camels al- 
 so. ' Had Rebekah done no more than 
 Eliezer had prayed for, we might have 
 supposed that she acted not as a free 
 agent, but was impelled to it by the ab- 
 solutely controlling power of God: but 
 as she exceeds all that was requested, 
 we see that it sprang from her native be- 
 nevolence, and sets her conduct in a 
 most amiable point of view.' — A. Clarke. 
 
 20. Emptied her pitcher into the trough. 
 ' Troughs of stone or wood are some- 
 times, but not often, found near wells in 
 the East. When found, they are com- 
 monly at wells near towns, and, like the 
 descending steps, are more common in 
 India than elsewhere. This also may 
 arise from the prejudices of the Hindoos 
 precluding the use of the leathers which 
 the Arabs and travellers through deserts 
 employ in watering their cattle at wells. 
 As the cattle can seldom get direct ac- 
 cess to the water in a well, they are 
 usually supplied by the water being 
 thrown into a sort of leathern trough 
 used for the express purpose ; but very 
 commonly a simple skin is used, to 
 which the necessary concavity is given 
 by scraping a hollow in the sand 
 over which it is placed, or by propping 
 up the edges with sand, earth, or stones. 
 What sort of trough is intended here 
 and in Exod. 2. 16, does not appear.' — 
 
 Picl. Bible. IT Drew for all htJ! camels. 
 
 In view of the arduousness of such a 
 task for a young female, we know not 
 how to resist the impression that she ' 
 
 was accompanied and assisted by other 
 inmates of the famdy of her own sex, 
 or that the water was principally drawn 
 by Eliezer's attendants under her su- 
 i perintendence. 4 
 
 I 21. Wondering at her, held his peace. 
 \ Heb. ■il3^'in!0 Tib ri55ri-;?2 mishtaeh lah 
 maharish, amazed on account of her, hold- 
 ing his peace. Gr. ' Considered her, 
 and held his peace.' Chal. 'Was silent 
 in contemplation.' He was rapt in ad- 
 miration of the divine providence, which 
 had made the event to correspond so 
 remarkably with his desires. The 
 maiden's conduct so amiable in itself, and 
 so exactly in unison with his previous 
 wishes, struck him with a kind of 
 amazement, accompanied by a momen- 
 tary hesitation whether all could be 
 true. Thus the disciples of Jesus won- 
 dered when Peter was cast into prison ; 
 and when their prayers were heard, and 
 Peter stood without knocking at the 
 gate, they could not credit the joyful 
 news, but said, 'It is his angel.' We 
 pray for blessings, and when our pray- 
 ers are answered, we can scarcely be- 
 lieve them to be so. 
 
 22. The man took a golden ear-ring, &c. 
 It would seem from v. 47, that although 
 he now ' took' or drew out, and had 
 in readiness the jewels, yet he did 
 not actually present them till after 
 he had proposed the ensuing ques- 
 tions. ' Our generally excellent trans- 
 lation sometimes indicates the pain- 
 ful difficulties in which the translators 
 were occasionally involved, in conse- 
 quence of the ignorance of eastern 
 
B. C, 1857.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 43 
 
 countries which then generally prevail- 
 ed, and which often left them in great 
 doubt about the true renderings. Here 
 we have ' a golden ear-ring,' that is, an 
 odd ear-ring. This being felt as some- 
 what of an absurdity, the marginal ren- 
 dering is, 'a jewel for the face ;' but 
 again, in v. 47, it is, ' I put the ear-ring 
 upon her face,' which is rather a curious 
 disposition of an ear-ring. The thing 
 really intended seems to be a ring or 
 jewel for the nose ; but our translators 
 having no knowledge of such an orna- 
 ment, which seemed to them to imply 
 an absurdity, have carefully avoided 
 the true idea everywhere except in 
 Isaiah 3. 21, the translator of which por- 
 tion had probably gained some informa- 
 tion not possessed by the others, of this 
 peculiarity of oriental ornament. Yet 
 all their care could not preclude an oc- 
 casional allusion to it, as where Prov. 11. 
 22, could not but be rendered ' a jewel 
 in a sv\nne's snout.' The extensive use 
 of nose-ornaments among the Arabian 
 and other females of the East having 
 now become known, modern translators 
 render the present text ' nose-ring,' as is 
 done in the Arabic and Persian versions. 
 Such rings are generally of silver or 
 gold, but sometimes of coral, mother-of- 
 pearl, or even horn, according to the 
 taste or means of the wearer. Chardin, 
 who was profes.«ionally a jeweller, must 
 have been conversant with this subject ; 
 and he says that the better sort of rings 
 are set with a ruby between two pearls : 
 we do not recollect, however, to have 
 eeen rubies in them ; but the turquoise 
 ts common. This curious ornament va- 
 ries considerably in size and thickness ; 
 but it is always circular, and is worn, 
 not from the middle cartilage of the 
 nose, but from the external cartilage of 
 the left nostril, which is pierced for the 
 purpose. We have also seen an orna- 
 ment for the nose worn by the Koordish 
 and Bedouin females, which has escap- 
 ed the notice of illustrators of Scripture, 
 but which we .*hould prefer to consider 
 
 as the ^nose-jewel,' when a ring is not 
 expressly mentioned It is a thin cir- 
 cular plate of gold, frequently a coin, 
 about the size of half a crown piece, 
 and in appearance not unlike the large 
 fancy buttons which decorated the coats 
 of a past generation. A turquoise is 
 often set in the centre over the pin by 
 which it is attached to the side of 
 the nose, where its appearance is suffi- 
 ciently striking, and it always seemed 
 to us much less pleasing than even the 
 nose-n'/jo-.' — Pict. Bible. 
 
 NoSE-Rl.VG. 
 
 -IT Two bracelets for her hands of (en 
 
 shehels weight of gold. — ' That is, about 
 four ounces and a half, which seems an 
 extraordinary weight for a pair of brace- 
 lets. But they are worn as heavj', or 
 indeed, much heavier, in the East, re- 
 sembling, as Chardm remarks, rather 
 manacles than bracelets. They are 
 sometimes flat in shape, but more usu- 
 ally round or semicircular, taking a cu- 
 bical form at the section where they 
 open to admit the hand. They have 
 no fastenings, but open and compress 
 by their own elasticity alone ; they are, 
 in fact, enormous rings, which we hfive 
 
44 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1857. 
 
 23 And said, Whose daughter 
 art thou ? tell me, I pray thee : is 
 there room in thy father's house 
 for us to lodo-e in ] 
 
 often seen not less than an inch in diam- 
 eter ; bat their weight, although great, 
 is not commensurate to their size, as they 
 are usually hollow. The weight which 
 a woman carries on her arms is, howev- 
 er, not to be estimated by that of a sin- 
 gle pair of bracelets ; for no woman 
 who can possibly get more is contented 
 with one pair. It is not unusual to see 
 five or six bracelets on the same arm, 
 covering it from the wrist nearly to the 
 elbow. These and their other orna- 
 ments form the sole wealth of the bulk 
 of the women ; and they are anxious, 
 on all occasions, to accumulate it, and 
 loath to part with it ; hence, on com- 
 paratively poor women, living and dress- 
 ing meanly, it is not so uncommon to 
 see a considerable quantity of precious 
 metal in the ornaments of her head- 
 dress, and of her arms and ankles ; and 
 whatever ornaments she possesses are 
 not treasured up to be produced on 
 grand occasions, but are worn daily as 
 parts of her ordinary costume. Thus 
 she puts all her bracelets on her arms at 
 once, all her anklets on her legs, and all 
 her ear-rings in her ears. Such orna- 
 ments furm her whole per-^^onal wealth, 
 and on their value she rests her claim to 
 permanent consideration. This is par- 
 ticularly the case with the Bedouin fe- 
 males, who are generally well supplied 
 with all kinds of trinkets of personal or- 
 nament ; for although the Arab cares 
 little about his own dress, he is anxious 
 to deck his wife as richly as possible, 
 that honor maj' be reflected upon him- 
 self, and his circumstances properly es- 
 timated. The use of ornaments on all 
 occasions seems to explain why Eliezer 
 placed the nose-ring at once on the 
 nose of Rebekah, and the bracelets on 
 her hands, instead of giving them to 
 
 24 And she said unto him « I am 
 the daughter of Bethuel the son of 
 Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor 
 
 <= ch. 2C. 23. 
 
 her as things to be treasured up. The 
 material of the bracelets is exceedingly 
 various. Gold is necessarily rare ; sil- 
 ver is the most common, but many that 
 seemed to be silver, we have found to 
 be plated steel. Amber, coral, mother- 
 of-pearl, and beads, are also used for 
 bracelets, particularly for the upper 
 part of the arm, for, whatever be the 
 material of the others, it is usually de- 
 sired that the one on the wrist should be 
 of silver. The poorer sort of women 
 are, however, often obliged to content 
 themselves with rings of copper, horn, 
 common glass beads, and other articles 
 of inferior description. Estimating the 
 gold by its weight, nearly five ounces, 
 Eliezer's present was altogether very 
 valuable.' — Pict. Bible. 
 
 Bracelets. 
 
B. C. 1857.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 45 
 
 25 She said, moreover, unto him, 
 We have both straw and provender 
 enough, and room to lodge in. 
 
 26 And the man <^ bowed down 
 his head, and worshipped the Lord. 
 
 27 And he said, ^ Blessed he the 
 Lord God of my master Abraham, 
 who hath not left destitute my mas- 
 ter of <" his mercy and his truth : I 
 being in the way, the Lord ^ led 
 me to tlie house of my master's 
 brethren. 
 
 28 And the damsel ran, and told 
 them of her mother's house these 
 things. 
 
 29 IT And Rebekah had a bro- 
 
 d ver. 52. Exod. 4. 31. •■ Exod. 18. 10. Ruth 
 4. 14. 1 Sam. 25. 32, 39. 2 Sata. 18. 28. Luke 
 1. 68. f ch. 32. 10. Ps. 98. 3. g ver. 48. 
 
 25. Straw and provender. — ' The straw 
 yiT\ tehen, Arab tibn, seems to have been 
 ' cut straw,' to render it more portable. 
 The Septuagintrenders it by ax^ipoLi chaff, 
 which is a name applied to straw after 
 it has been cut fine by the use of a 
 chaff-cutter. The 'provender' was, it 
 would seem, a mixture of several kinds 
 of fodder, cut-straw, barley, beans, &c. 
 so combined as to render the whole 
 palatable. The original word is !^150/3 
 mispo, which the Septuagint translates 
 by x°P'''C-'^V-°'''''^t which is a derivative 
 from xopTo? grass, and hence signifies 
 fodder, of which herbage is the princi- 
 pal ingredient. Hay is not made in the 
 East. Cattle continue at the present 
 day to be fed with chopped straw mix- 
 ed with barley. The common reader 
 would suppose the 'straw' to be for lit- 
 ter ; but straw is never so employed in 
 the East ; dung, dried and pounded, be- 
 ing used for that purpose.' — Pict. Bihh, 
 
 27. And he said, Blessed, &c. If this 
 was a vocal, and not a mental prajf^er, 
 we must suppose that it was uttered 
 while Rebekah was running to inform 
 her family of what had happened. For 
 it appears, from v. 48, that he made use 
 of the expression 'which led me in the 
 
 ther, and his name was ^ Laban : 
 and Laban ran out unto the man, 
 unto the well. 
 
 30 And it came to pass, when he 
 saw the ear-ring, and bracelets up- 
 on his sister's hands, and when he 
 heard the words of Rebekah his 
 sister, saying, Thus spake the man 
 unto me ; that he came unto the 
 man, and behold, he stood by the 
 camels at the well. 
 
 31 And he said, Come in, ^thou 
 blessed of the Lord, wherefore 
 standest thou without 1 for I have 
 prepared the house, and room for 
 the camels. 
 
 h cli. 2?). 5. i ch. 26. 29. Judg. 17. 2. Ruth 
 3. 10. Ps. 115. 15. 
 
 right way to take my master's brother's 
 daughter unto his son ;' but it is by no 
 means to be imagined that he would 
 have spoken those words in her hearing. 
 It would be difficult to point out a more 
 striking instance of one who ' acknow- 
 ledged God in all his ways,' than we be- 
 hold in this pious domestic. He neither 
 takes any step without prayer, nor re- 
 ceives any favor without praise. 
 
 IT Hath not left destitute my master of 
 his mercy and his truth. Heb. ' Hath 
 not left off his mercy and his truth from 
 with my lord.' 
 
 23. And the damsel ran. That is, as 
 intimated above, while Ehezer was 
 
 worshipping. IT Told them of her 
 
 mother s house. Because her mother and 
 the females had apartments or tents 
 separate from those of the men. Daugh- 
 ters, too, are naturally more familiar 
 with their mothers than their fathers, 
 particularly in the East. 
 
 30. When he saw the ear-rings and 
 bracelets, &c. From what we after- 
 wards learn of Laban, it is not perhaps 
 doing him injustice to suppose that the 
 golden ornaments had great influence 
 in prompting a behavior which had the 
 appearance of being highly disinterest- 
 
43 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1857. 
 
 32 H And the man came into the 
 house : and ungirded his camels, 
 and ^ gave straw and provender for 
 the camels, and water to wash his 
 feet, and the men's feet that were 
 with him. 
 
 33 And there was set meat be- 
 fore him to eat : but he said, ^ I will 
 not eat until I have told my errand. 
 And he said, Speak on. 
 
 t ch. 43. 24. Judg. 19. 21. » Job. 23. 12. 
 John. 4. 34. Epii. 6. 5, 6,7. 
 
 ed and generous. His whole history 
 shows him to have been a mercenary 
 man, and quite susceptible to the im- 
 pressions which the display of great 
 wealth would make tipon a covetous 
 mind. But, whatever were his motives, 
 his treatment of the servant was kind. 
 Finding him at the well, modestly wait- 
 ing for a farther invitation, he accosts 
 him in language that would have be- 
 fitted the lips of a much better rnan ; 
 ' Come in, thou blessed of the Lord,' &c. 
 32. The man came into the house ; and 
 ungirded his camels, &c. A somewhat 
 inaccurate rendering, owing to the fact, 
 undoubtedly, that the Heb. is often 
 wanting in precision in making transi- 
 tions from one part of a narrative to 
 another. It often omits a nominative 
 where the scope of the context enables 
 the reader easily to supply it. Here 
 there is no doubt that Laban is the sub- 
 ject of the verb, and our translation ought 
 to have inserted ' he' before ' ungirded ;' 
 for it would have been a gross lack of 
 civility to have made Eliezer imload 
 and feed his own camels. The old Geneva 
 version is more correct : — ' And he (to 
 wit, Laban — marg.) unsaddled the ca- 
 mels and brought,' &c. We are to un- 
 derstand, therefore, that Laban, or those 
 who acted by his orders, performed the 
 service here mentioned. The original 
 for 'ungirded' (nrS"' yM'^^'a/') properly 
 signifies he opened, by which is meant 
 the loosing of the travelling gear, and 
 taking off the burdens of the camels. A 
 
 34 And he said, I am Abraham's 
 servant. 
 
 35 And the Lord "^ hath blessed 
 my master greatly, and he is be- 
 come great : and he hath given 
 him flocks, and herds, and silver, 
 and gold, and men-servants, and 
 maid-servants, and camels, and 
 asses. 
 
 36 And Sarah, my master's wife, 
 
 m ver. l.ch. 13.2. 
 
 similar usage occurs 1 Kings 20. 11 
 ' Let not him that girdeth on his har- 
 ness, boast himself as he that putteth il 
 off; Heb. As he that openelh it. Ps. 102. 
 20, ' To loose those that are appointed to 
 death ;' Heb. To open those, &c. Jer. 
 40. 4, ' Behold I loose thee this day from 
 the chains which were upon thine hand ;' 
 
 Heb. I open thee. IT Water to wash 
 
 his feet. See Note on Gen. 18. 4. 
 
 33. There was set meat before him. 
 Or, 'he set,' i. e. Laban; as the original 
 has a double reading to afford both 
 senses. Gr. iraptQrjKzv, he set. Chal. 
 ' They set.' The word ' meat' or ' food,' 
 which is wanting in the Heb. is to be 
 
 supplied in rendering. IF He said 1 
 
 will not eat until, &c. How does the 
 character of this devoted servant bright- 
 en with every new circumstance intro- 
 duced into this beautiful narrative ! So 
 full is his heart of his errand, so much 
 does he prefer his master's interest to 
 his own comfort or gratification, that he 
 will not eat till he has discharged his 
 mission ! He esteems his work more to 
 him than his necessary food. Such is 
 the feeling of every true servant of God. 
 I will not give sleep to mine eyes,' 
 says David, ' nor slumber to mine eye- 
 lids, till I find out a place for Jehovah, 
 an habitation for the mighty God of Ja- 
 cob. ' A striking illustration of this is 
 furnished by Mr. Frazer, who, in his 
 work, the ' Kuzzilbash,' and its sequel, 
 'The Persian Adventurer,' has noticed 
 many oriental usages which were but 
 
B. C. 1857.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 47 
 
 ° bare a son to my master when she 
 was old: and" unto him hath he 
 given all that he hath- 
 
 37 And my p master made me 
 swear, saying, Thou shalt not take 
 a wife to my son of the daughters 
 of the Canaanites, in whose land 
 I dwell : 
 
 38 1 But thou shalt go unto my 
 father's house, and to my kindred, 
 and take a wife unto my son. 
 
 39 " And I said unto my master, 
 Peradventure the woman will not 
 follow me. 
 
 40 ' And he said unto me, the 
 Lord, ' before whom I walk, will 
 send his angel with thee, and pros- 
 
 n ch. 21. 2. o ch. 21. 10. & 25. 5. p ver. 3. 
 1 ver. 4. "■ ver. 5. " ver. 7. * ch. 17. 1. 
 
 little known in this country. The Per- 
 sian noble, Ishmael Khan, having occa- 
 sion to claim the protection of an A(f- 
 ghaun chief, who was known to dislike 
 the Persians, was advised to throw him- 
 self upon the protection of this formid- 
 able person, and claim his safe-conduct 
 as a boon of hospitality. In reply, Ish- 
 mael observed, — ' I might take the 
 sanctuary of his table. The Affghauns, 
 I beheve, regard it as sacredly as we 
 Persians.' * No,' replied he, ' that is not 
 the AfTghaun custom ; but they have a 
 custom which is of equal sacredness 
 and force ; they term it nunnawautee. 
 If you desire to receive a favor from 
 any man among these clans, be he khan 
 or ryot, you must repair before him, and 
 proclaim yourself his guest ; but at the 
 same time declare that you will accept 
 of no office of hospitaUty ; that you 
 will neither taste of his salt, nor share 
 his carpet, unless he consents to grant 
 you^ request ; and this request, so de- 
 manded, be it for protection only, or for 
 more efficient assistance, he cannot, 
 consistently with Affghaun honor, deny, 
 provided it be at all within the bounds 
 of reason.' Pict. Bible. 
 
 36. Whe7i she was old. Heb "^TlS^ I 
 
 per thy way ; and thou shalt take a 
 wife for my son of my kindred, and 
 of my father's house. 
 
 41 "Then shalt thou be clear 
 from this mine oatn, when thou 
 comest to my kindred ; and if they 
 give not thee one, thou shalt be 
 clear from my oath. 
 
 42 And 1 came this day unto the 
 well, and said, ^ O Lord God of 
 my master Abraham, if now thou 
 do prosper my way which I go : 
 
 43 ^ Behold I stand by the well 
 of water; and it shall come to pass, 
 that when the virgin cometh forth 
 to draw water, and I say to her. 
 Give me, I pray thee, a httle water 
 of thy pitcher to drink ; 
 
 " ver. 8. ' ver. 12. ^ ver. 13. 
 
 ririipT ahare ziknathah, after her old age , 
 a very striking expression, emphatically 
 implying her natural incapacity to 
 become a mother. The usual phrase 
 
 would be ' in her old age.' IT Hath 
 
 he given all that he hath. That is, hath 
 purposed to give : for the actual giving 
 did not occur till some time after this, 
 Gen. 25. 5. 
 
 37. My master rnade me swear. Heb. 
 '^25>j123'i yashbiani, adjured me. Eliezer 
 did not swear otherwise than in being 
 sworn. See on v. 3. 
 
 38. But thou shalt go. Heb- 55^ ^54 
 "ibn if^'lo telek, if thou shalt not go. An 
 imprecatory mode of speech, in which 
 part of the sentence is understood. See 
 the idiom explained in the Note on Gen. 
 21. 23. Gr. aWa iropcvcri, but thou shalt 
 go- 
 
 40. Before whom I walk. Heb. I^i^&y 
 ^insbmnn Ttl^^^ asher hlthhallakti lepa- 
 Jiav, before whom I have walked. That is, 
 before whom I have habitually walked 
 in a way of obedience. Gr. w F.vr\piarTi<ja 
 tvavTiov avTov, whom I have pleased be- 
 fore htm. The idea of acceptable walk- 
 ing is undoubtedly implied. 
 
 41. Clear from my oath. Heb. ^Inbj4^ 
 mealathi, from my execration or curse 
 
48 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1857. 
 
 44 And she say tome, Both drink 
 thou, and I will also draw for thy 
 camels : let the same he the woman 
 whom the Lord hath appointed out 
 for my master's son. 
 
 45 '^And before I had done 
 y speaking in mine heart, behold, 
 Rebekah came forth with her pitch- 
 er on her shoulder ; and she went 
 down unto the well, and drew wa- 
 ter: and I said unto her, Let me 
 drink, I pray thee. 
 
 46 And she made haste, and let 
 down her pitcher from her shoulder, 
 and said, Drink, and I will give thy 
 camels drink also : so I drank, and 
 she made the camels drink also. 
 
 47 And I asked her, and said. 
 Whose daughter art thou? And 
 she said. The daughter of Bethurf, 
 Nahor's son, whom she bare unto 
 him : and 1 ^ put the ear-ring upon 
 
 ^ ver. 15, &c. r 1 Sara. 1. 33. = Ezek. 16. 
 11, 12. 
 
 Gr. opKtarixov id. In the corresponding 
 passage, v. 8, it is ^njinS shebuaihi, my 
 oath ; but an oath naturally implies an 
 imprecation of evil to him who fails to 
 perform it. 
 
 48. My master's brother's daughter. 
 Rebekah was not Abraham's brother's 
 daughter, but grand-daughter. Here 
 too Bethuel, who was Abraham's 
 nephew, is called his brother, as Lot 
 was before, 
 
 49, That I may turn to the right hand, 
 or to the left. Thatis, that I may go some 
 other way in order to fulfil the obliga- 
 tion of my oath. 
 
 50. The thing proceedeth from the 
 Lord. Heb. "l^mfl t^'2'^yatzaohaddahar, 
 the word cometh forth from the Lord. It 
 appears to be the divine will and plea- 
 sure. IT Cannot speak unto thee bad or 
 
 good. That is, cannot say any thing 
 at all against the measure. Comp. Gen. 
 31. 24. 
 
 51, Take her, and go, and let her be, 
 &c. ' The whole conduct of this affair 
 
 her face, and the bracelets upon her 
 hands. 
 
 48 " And I bowed down my head, 
 and worshipped the Lord, and bless- 
 ed the Lord God of my master 
 Abraham, which had led me in the 
 right way to take ^ my master's 
 brother's daughter unto his son. 
 
 49 And now if ye will <^deal 
 kindly and truly with my master, 
 tell me : and if not, tell me ; that 
 I may turn to the right hand, or to 
 the left. 
 
 50 Then Laban and Bethuel an- 
 swered, and said, <^ The thing pro- 
 ceedeth from the Lord : we can- 
 not "speak unto thee bad or good. 
 
 51 Behold, Rebekah is <" before 
 thee, take her, and go, and let her 
 be thy master's son's wife, as the 
 Lord hath spoken. 
 
 aver. 26. bch.2-2. 23. « ch. 47. 23. Josh, 
 2. 14. d Ps. 118. 23. Matt. 21. 42. Mark. 12. 
 11. ecli.31. 24. fell. 20. 15. 
 
 is calculated to surprise an European 
 reader. A servant is sent on a distant 
 journey, with full powers to select a 
 wife and conclude a marriage for his 
 master's son. The servant addresses 
 himself to the lady's father and brother, 
 and they agree to his proposals without 
 consulting Rebekah. The agent makes 
 valuable presents to the lady and her 
 relations, and carries her away, and 
 Isaac and Rebekah meet as man and 
 wife without having ever seen each 
 other before. But all this is most pre- 
 cisely analogous to usages which still 
 prevail in the East, with some small di- 
 versity in different nations. We will 
 state the process of a marriage of a 
 young couple in Persia, which seems, 
 on the whole, to present a very close 
 parallel to this patriarchal procedure. 
 When a young man becomes mar- 
 riageable, his parents begin to look about 
 among their kindred and acquaintance 
 for a suitable partner for him, frequent- 
 I ly assisting their inquiries or leaving the 
 
B. C. 1857.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 49 
 
 52 And it camo to pass, that, 
 when Abraham's servant heard 
 their words, he ^ worshipped the 
 Lord, bowing himself to the earth. 
 
 53 And the servant brought forth 
 ^jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, 
 and raiment, and gave them to Re- 
 bekah. He gave also to her bro- 
 
 e ver. 26. h Exod. 3. 22. & 11. 2. & 12. 35. 
 
 matter entirely to a confidential ser- 
 vant — generally the young man's old 
 nurse, who goes about from house to 
 liouse, and having found a suitable ob- 
 ject, endeavors to create a mutual pre- 
 possession by speaking to each of the 
 other. Very often, however, the whole 
 matter is concluded without any refer- 
 ence to the parlies most immediately 
 interested. Wlien the parents have 
 found a suitable female, they proceed to 
 the house of her father, and make their 
 overtures to him ; and if they are ac- 
 ceptable, he denotes his acquiescence 
 by ordering sweetmeats to be brought. 
 A few days after, another meeting is 
 held at the same place, and there it is 
 finally settled what the parents of the 
 young man are to give in his behalf to 
 the bride [for the principle of stich gifts, 
 see Note on Gen. 34. 12] ; and this is a 
 matter of great importance, as these 
 presents remain with the lady, and form 
 her dower or provision in case of a di- 
 vorce from her husband. It consists of 
 fine dresses and shawls [raiment in the 
 text, V. 53], with female ornaments, 
 some money, and a complete outfit of 
 domestic utensils. Among some of the 
 Arab tribes, the present or dower re- 
 ceived for the bride on such occasions 
 is called the 'five articles,' and consists 
 of a carpet, a silver nose-ring, a silver 
 neck-chain, silver bracelets, and a ca- 
 -ntel-bag. As to the consent of the wo- 
 Tian, the usage varies in different na- 
 tions. In Persia, after all has been 
 concluded, the woman has nominally 
 the power, almost never exercised, of 
 expressing her dissent before the con- 
 VOL. U. 5 
 
 ther and to her mother ' precious 
 things. 
 
 54 And they did eat and drink, 
 he and the men that zcerewith him, 
 and tarried all night ; and they rose 
 up in the morning, and he said, 
 ^ Send me away unto my master. 
 
 55 And her brother and her 
 
 i 2 Chron. 21. 3. Ezra 1. 6. k ver. 56, & 59. 
 
 nexion receives its final sanction ; but 
 among many Bedouin tribes, the woman 
 is seldom suflfered to knovi^, untU the be- 
 trothing ceremonies announce it to her, 
 who is to be her husband, and then she 
 has no power of negativing the contract ; 
 but she maj'-, if she pleases, withdraw 
 the day after her marriage from her 
 husband's tent to that of her father ; 
 and, being divorced, is thenceforward 
 regarded as a widow. In the instance 
 before us, it does not appear to us that 
 the consent of Rebekah was required to 
 her own m arriage. The question which 
 was asked her the next day — ' Wilt thou 
 go with tliis man ?' (v. 58) — we consider 
 to mean no more than to ask whether 
 s!ie were willing to set out so soon as 
 Eliezer desired, or would rather insist 
 on staying a few days longer with 
 her relations as they had wished.' — Pict. 
 Bible. 
 
 53. Jewels of silver, and jewels of golcL, 
 &c. Heb. &DS "ib!3 ^^ keseph, vessels 
 of silver, &c. The original for 'jewels' 
 (vessels) is a word of large import, be- 
 ing applied to implements, instruments, 
 
 and utensils of all lands. IT Precious 
 
 things. Heb. il^H^lO migdanoth, dainties. 
 Gr. Sojpa gifts. But from comparison of 
 other places where the term or its kindred 
 n3!0 meged occurs, particularly Deut. 33. 
 13.— 15. Cant. 4. 13, 2 Chron. 21. 3.— 
 32.23. Ezra, 1. 6, it seems to denote 
 the precious or dainty fruits of the earth. 
 
 55. A few days, at the least ten Heb. 
 '^T.i;3> 1J5 'D'^?2^ yamim o asor, lit. days 
 or ten. Our marginal rendering is, ' a 
 full year, or ten months,' which is favor- 
 ed by the Chaldee Targums, but we 
 
5a 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1857. 
 
 mother said, Let the damsel abide 
 with us a few days, at the least ten ; 
 after that she shall go. 
 
 56 And he said unto them. Hin- 
 der me not, seeing the Lonir hath 
 prospered my way : send me away, 
 that I may go to my master. 
 
 57 And they said. We will call 
 the damsel, and inquire at her 
 mouth. 
 
 58 And they called Rebekah, and 
 
 believe the English version expresses 
 the true idea of the originfil. 
 
 57. Inquire at her mouth. The case 
 being somewhat difficult, and neither of 
 the parties disposed to disoblige the 
 other, they agree to leaive it to the deci- 
 sion of the damsel herself. A few days 
 to take leave of her friends would, no 
 doubt, have been desirable to her ; but 
 seeing so much of God in the affair, and 
 the man's heart so deeply set upon it ; 
 feeling also her own heart entirely in it, 
 she determines to throw no hindrance 
 in the way, and therefore answers free 
 from all affectation, ' I will go. — ' Do 
 people wish to know the truth of any 
 thing which has been reported of ano- 
 ther, they say, ' Let us go and inquire of 
 his mouth.' — 'Let us hear the birth of 
 his mouth.' Do servants ask a favor of 
 their mistres.«!, she will say, ' I know not 
 what will be the birth of the master's 
 mouth ; I will inquire at his mouth.'' So 
 the mother and brother of Rebecca in- 
 quired at the month of the damsel, whe- 
 ther she felt willing to go with the man. 
 'And she said, I will go.' — Roberts. 
 
 59. And her nurse. The name of this 
 nurse was Deborah. We hear no more 
 of her till we are told of her death. She 
 appears to have survived her mistress, 
 and to have died in the family of Jacob, 
 much lamented. ' How often have 
 scenes like this led my mind to the pa- 
 triarchal age ! The daughter is about 
 for the first time to leave the paternal 
 roof : the servants are all in confusion ; 
 
 said unta h-er. Wilt thou go with 
 this man ? And she said, 1 will go. 
 
 59 And they sent away Rebekah 
 their sister, and ^ her nurse, and 
 Abraham's servant, and his men. 
 
 60 And they blessed Rebekah, and 
 said unto her. Thou art our sister; 
 be thou •" the mother of thousands 
 of millionsy and " let thy seed pos- 
 sess the gate of those which hate 
 them. 
 
 1 ch. 35. 8. •» ch. 17. 1(J. » ch. 22. 17. 
 
 each refers to things long gone by, each 
 wishes to do something to attract the 
 attention of his young mistress. One 
 says, ' Ah ! do not forget him who- 
 nursed you when an infant:' another,. 
 ' How often did I bring you the beauti- 
 ful lotus from the distant tank ! Did 
 I not always conceal your faults ?' The 
 mother comes to take leave. She weeps,, 
 and tenderly embraces her, saying, ' My 
 daughter, I shall see you no more ; — 
 Forget not your mother.' The brother 
 infolds his sister in his arms,^and promis- 
 es soon to come and see her. Th© 
 father is absorbed in thought^ and is on- 
 ly aroused by the sobs of the party. He 
 then affectionately embraces his daugh- 
 ter, and tells her not to fear. The fe- 
 male domestics must each smell of the 
 poor girl, and the men touch her feet. 
 As Rebecca had her nurse to accompa- 
 ny her, so, at this day, the Aija (the 
 nurse) who has from infancy brought up 
 the bride, goes with her to the new 
 scene. She is her adviser, her assist- 
 ant, and friend ; and to her will she tell 
 all her hopes and all her fears.' — Roberts. 
 60. Blessed Rebekah. Implored, in- 
 voked a blessing upon her, to wit, what 
 immediately follows, that she might be 
 indefinitely multiplied in her seed. See 
 on Gen. 17. 16. ' From the numerous 
 instances which are recorded in the 
 scriptures, of those who were aged, or 
 holy, giving their blessing, may be seen 
 the importance which was attached to 
 such benedictions. Has a son, or a 
 
B. C. 1857. j 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 51 
 
 61 ^ And Rebekah arose, and 
 her damseJs, and they rode upon 
 the camels, and followed the man : 
 and the servant took Rebekah, and 
 went his way. 
 
 62 And Isaac came from the way 
 
 daughter, to leave a father, an aged 
 friend, or a priest, a blessing is always 
 given. To be the mother of a nume- 
 rous progeny is considered a great hon- 
 or. Hence parents often say to their 
 daughters, ' Be thou the mother of thou- 
 sands.' Beggars, also, when relieved, 
 say to the mistress of the house, ' Ah ! 
 madam, millions will come from you.' 
 
 Roberts. ^ Thou art our sister. 
 
 This should rather have been rendered, 
 ' O thou, our sister !' It is not, according 
 to the Ileb. accents, a proposition, but 
 
 an exclamation. IT Be thou the mother 
 
 of thousands. Heb. nUi'l '^Sbx ""^H ^«i/^ 
 alphe rebabah, be thou to thousands of mil- 
 lions. This, according to the Jewish 
 writers, is the form of the ancient solemn 
 benediction which was wont to be pro- 
 nounced upon the bride when she was 
 taken home to her future husband. — It 
 is remarked by Arbp. Seeker that when 
 our translators make (-li^'i refeafio/i, a de- 
 terminate number, they elsewhere ren- 
 der it 10,000 ; but here and Ezek. 16. 7. 
 a million. The term properly denotes 
 
 any large indefinite number. IT Let 
 
 thy seed possess the gate, &c. That is, 
 have their enemies in their power, as ex- 
 plained Gen. 22. 17. As these are the ve- 
 ry terms of the last blessing pronounced 
 from heaven on Abraham ch. 22. 17, they 
 had probably been made acquainted 
 with that blessing either by Abraham's 
 servant, or previously in some other 
 way. 
 61. Arose. See Note on Gen. 23. 3. 
 
 IT And her damsels. Given as a part 
 
 of her marriage portion. As nothing 
 was said of them in v. 59, this affords 
 another instance of the usage mention- 
 
 of the ° well of Lahai-roi ; for he 
 dwelt in the south country, ' 
 
 63 And Isaac went out p to med- 
 itate in the field at the even-tide '. 
 and he hfted up his eyes, and saw, 
 and behold, the camels were coming. 
 
 o ch. 16. 14. & 25. 11. p Josh. 1. 8. Ps. 1. 2. 
 &;77. 12. & 119. 15. & 143.5. 
 
 ed above, by which a circumstance 
 omitted in one part of a narrative is dis- 
 tinctly related in another. 
 
 62. Isaac came from theioaij of the well 
 Lahai-roi. Heb. ij^l 'ijlb "".ii^ &^i:3>3 ^tD 
 ba mibbo bear lahai roi, came from the com- 
 ing, l e . trora the usually travelled way 
 to and from the well of Lahai-roi. The 
 phraseology in the original is unwonted 
 and obscure, and we have accordingly 
 a great variety of renderings in the ver- 
 sions. Gr. ' Walked through the wil- 
 derness of the well of vision.' Chal. 
 ' Came from the well whereat the An- 
 gel of life appeared to him.' Arab. 
 ' Had returned from the journey to the 
 well of the Living One that seeth.' Vulg. 
 ' Walked along the way that leadeth to 
 the well of the Living and the Seeing, so 
 called.' From all this, and from its be- 
 ing said, ch. 25. II, that ' Isaac dwelt by 
 the well Lahai-roi,' which was some- 
 what to the south of Canaan, v. 63, we 
 gather that Isaac was now residing for 
 the most part in the vicinity of that me- 
 morable well, or at least that he was 
 frequently passing to and fro (5^1^)3) be- 
 tween that place and Beer-sheba ; and 
 that, having now come to the latter 
 place, the dwelling of his aged father, 
 in expectation of meeting his bride, ho 
 took occasion, while waiting there, to 
 walk out into the fields at the close of 
 the day, when the incidents related in 
 the text occurred. 
 
 63. Went out to meditate. Heb. S^^'n 
 HTi^b y^tze lasuah, went out to meditate^ 
 contemplate, or pray. Gr. aSoXeaxncai 
 to exercise himself; i. e. religiously ; to 
 give scope to the pious sentiments of 
 his heart in a retired place, at the tran- 
 
52 
 
 (iEXESi 
 
 [B. C. 1857. 
 
 64 And Rebekah lifted up her 
 eyes, and when she saw Isaac, "^ she 
 lighted off the camel. 
 
 65 For she had said unto the ser- 
 vant, What man is this that walk- 
 eth in the field to meet us ? And 
 the servant had said, It is my mas- 
 ter : therefore she took a vail and 
 covered herself. 
 
 q Josh. 15. 18. 
 
 quil hour of twilight, when the soul is 
 most disposed for devout contemplations. 
 As meditation and prayer are the right 
 improvement of mercies past, so they are 
 the best preparative for mercies yet ex- 
 pected. Isaac could not have put him- 
 s-elf in a more suitable posture for wel- 
 coming the anticipated blessing, than 
 that in which he is here represented, 
 nor in one which would have been more 
 apt to ensure its being made substantial 
 and durable. As a general fact, it may 
 safely be affirmed that those husbands 
 and wives are likely to prove the great- 
 est blessings to each other, whose un- 
 ion is brought about in answer to pray- 
 er. ' A prudent w^ife is from the Lord.' 
 64. She lighted off the camel. ' Isaac 
 was walking, and it would therefore 
 have been the highest breach of orient- 
 al good manners to have remained on 
 the camel when presented to him. No 
 doubt, they all alighted and walked to 
 meet him, conducting Rebecca as a 
 bride to meet the bridegroom. It is 
 a customary mark of respect to great 
 personages for a person to ahght from 
 the animal on which he is riding, and 
 lead it until the superior has ridden by ; 
 and as no conventional superiority is in 
 the East conceded to women, as in Eu- 
 rope, tliis will show that it would have 
 been highly improper to have rode di- 
 rectly up to Isaac when he was on foot. 
 This would have been treating him as 
 an inferior. In Persia, on occasions 
 when it is thought necessary to stand 
 upon punctilio, two persons of equal 
 rank, after having been riding side by 
 
 66 And the servant told Isaac all 
 thinirs that he had done. 
 
 67 And Isaac brought her into 
 his mother Sarah's tent, and took 
 Rebekah, and she became his 
 wife ; and he loved her : and Isaac 
 '" was comforted after his mother's 
 deaf.h. 
 
 rch. 38. 1'J. 
 
 side, will take care, when both dismount, 
 that it shall be done at precisely the 
 same moment; for he whose foot first 
 touches the ground is considered to ad- 
 mit his inferiority to the other.' — Fid. 
 Bible. 
 
 65. Took a veil, &c. The veil might, 
 in the present instance, answer a double 
 purpose ; (1) It would express her sub- 
 jection to her husband, as being al- 
 ready in fact his espoused wife. (2) It 
 would prevent that confusion which the 
 exposure of her person, especially in so 
 sudden and unexpected a manner, must 
 have occasioned. ' Whether veiled be- 
 fore or not, she now covered herself — 
 her whole person — with the ample en- 
 veloping veil with which brides are still 
 conducted to the bridegroom- Rosen- 
 muller, in illustration of this passage, 
 quotes an ancient father (Tertullian), 
 who, with an express reference to the 
 same text observes, as a custom still ex- 
 isting in his time, that the heathen brides 
 were also conducted to their husbands 
 covered with a veil. It is still all but 
 universal in the East, and it will be ob- 
 served that it is used not only by the fe- 
 males whose faces are always conceal- 
 ed, both before and after marriage, but 
 by those who display part or the whole 
 of their faces on all ordinary occasions. 
 It is, in fact, the indispensable costume 
 for the occasion. Whether the bridal 
 veil was distinguished from other veils 
 does not appear, but we observe that 
 one of red silk or muslin is affected by 
 the Persians on such an occasion, al- 
 though the ordinary veils are white or 
 
B. C. 1853.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 53 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THEN again Abraham took a 
 wife, and her name was Keturah. 
 
 blue ; and Dr. Rus.sel, in his account of 
 a Maronite marriage, observes that the 
 bride's veil was of the same color. 
 Thus we see that Rebekah, by envelop- 
 ing her person in a veil, put herself into 
 the costume usual for a bride when con- 
 ducted to the tent or house of her hus- 
 band.'— Pic?. Bihle. 
 
 67. And he loved lier. ' The force of 
 this first expressionof such an attachment 
 seems to have escaped notice. Isaac, 
 from all that appears, was the only one 
 of the patriarchs who had no opportuni- 
 ty of exhibiting a preference to his wife 
 before marriage. He had never seen 
 her till she stood unveiled in his tent as 
 his wife. It seemed, therefore, neces- 
 sary to add, that ' he loved her' v^hen 
 he did see her. It is remarkable, that 
 what merely arose from circumstances 
 in the case of Isaac, is now amply il- 
 lustrated by the established practices of 
 the East. The women being complete- 
 ly secluded, and never seen without 
 veils, no opportunity of personal ac- 
 quaintance, or even of inspection before 
 marriage, is afforded. The man sees 
 his wife for the first time unveiled when 
 he enters the room into which she has 
 been received on her arrival at his house. 
 Having previously formed no idea of 
 her person and qualifications, but from 
 the general and exaggerated praises of 
 the old nurse, who is usually his agent, 
 this is a critical and anxious moment; 
 and it is a most happy circumstance for 
 both, when the account of such a trans- 
 action can conclude with the emphatic 
 words ' he loved her.' Pict. Bible. 
 Thus the comfort of a wife was made 
 to compensate for the loss of a mother. 
 God, in infinite wisdom, saw fit to set 
 a day of prosperity over against a day 
 of adversity. Now he wounds our 
 spirits by dissolving one tender union, 
 and now binds up our wounds by ce- 
 5* 
 
 2 And ''she bare him Zimran, 
 and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midi- 
 an, and Ishbak and Shuah. 
 
 e 1 Cliron. 1. 32. 
 
 menting another. But while these vi- 
 cissitudes occur, let us remember that 
 the transition from the character of a 
 a dutiful son to that of a kind and affec- 
 tionate husband, is natural and easy, and 
 that he that fills up one station in life 
 with credit and honor, is thereby pre- 
 pared for all those that follow. IF 
 
 Was comforted after his mother^ s death. 
 Heb. 1>3ii "^^n^i ahare immo., after his 
 mother ; an elliptical mode of expression 
 not unusual in the Hebrew. Gr. irepi 
 'Eappai r^^f fxrjrpog avTov, concerning Sa- 
 rah his mother. The interval between 
 her death and his marriage was three 
 years, during the whole of which period 
 he had cherished towards his deceased 
 parent all those mournful and tender 
 regrets which would naturally spring 
 up in the bosom of the most, devoted 
 filial aflTection. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 1. Then again Abraham tool: a wife. 
 Heb. Tlp^l &D'^ yusepJi vayilihah, added 
 and tooh. In 1 Chron. 1. 32, Keturah is 
 called Abraham's concubine, and if such 
 were the fact, it gives no litde counte- 
 nance to the idea of Calvin and other 
 commentators, that she had been as- 
 sumed into this relation before Sarah's 
 death ; for if she were married after that 
 event, we know not how to account for 
 the fact of her being thus ranked as a 
 concubine or secondary wife. If Sarah 
 were dead, why did she not come fully 
 into her place as principal wife ? The 
 silence of Moses about her pedigree fa- 
 vors this opinion. As it is wholly im- 
 probable that Abraham Avould make an 
 alliance with any family of the Canaan- 
 ites, and equally so that any princess of 
 Canaan would accept of him in his old 
 age, when the whole inheritance was to 
 go to Sarah's son, we seem to be war- 
 I ranted in the belief that Keturah was 
 
54 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1853. 
 
 3 And Jokshanbegat Sheba, and 
 Dedan, And the sons of Dedan 
 were Asshurim, and Letushim, and 
 Leummim. 
 
 his concubine, taken, doubtless, from 
 among the servants of his family. Ac- 
 cording to the standard of morality then 
 acknowledged, might he not have co- 
 habited with her without any imputa- 
 tion on his continence, before Sarah's 
 death ? Was the interval sufficient, be- 
 tween Sarah's death and Abraham's, 
 for six sons to be born to him of one 
 woman, and grow up to manhood, when 
 manhood hardly took place before the 
 age of thirty at soonest ? In the charge 
 given by Abraham to the servant in 
 the preceding chapter, he talks hke an 
 old man preparing to leave the world. 
 Is it likely that after this he should take 
 a concubine and beget six children? 
 There is nothing in the original properly 
 answering to the word ' then' at the com- 
 mencement of the verse, or to mark suc- 
 cession. True, the incident comes in out 
 of its proper order, but this is very com 
 mon with the sacred penmen, and here 
 the reason may have been, that the w 
 er wished to carry on the history of the 
 great ixud prominent events of Abraham's 
 life uninterrupted by minor details, till 
 he had reached the consummation of 
 Isaac's marriage. He then, before giv 
 ing an account of Abraham's death, and 
 the setdement of his family, goes back, 
 by way of brief preface, to the circum 
 stance of his having, some years before, 
 taken a concubine, by whom he had sev 
 era! children. This view of the mat- 
 ter is still farther confirmed by the fact 
 that Paul speaks of Abraham's begetting 
 Isaac when he was as good as dead 
 The birth of a son at such an advanced 
 age was out of the ordinary course of 
 nature ; it was nothing short of a mira- 
 cle. If then he had six sons born to 
 him after he was one hundred and forty 
 years of age, m.ust it not have been in 
 consequence of the miraculous continu- 
 
 4 And the sons of Midian ; 
 Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, 
 and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these 
 icei'e the children of Keturah. 
 
 ance of his physical vigor ? For how 
 could he be said to be the father of six 
 children in the course of nature at one 
 hundred and forty, w-hen it is expressly 
 said that Isaac was born to him out of 
 the course of nature at one hundred ? 
 For these reasons, we have little hesi- 
 tation in supposing that the verse would 
 be more correctly rendered, ' And Abra- 
 braham had taken in addition (another) 
 wife, and her name was Keturah.' ' It 
 seems to us,' says the editor of the Pict. 
 Bible, ' that the current usages of the 
 East give great probability to this con- 
 jecture, which is strengthened by con- 
 sidering the great age of Abraham when 
 Sarah died ; and that his sons by Keturah 
 were old enough to be sent away to form 
 independent clans before his own death.' 
 
 2. And she bare him Zimran and Jok- 
 shan, &c. Of some of these nations 
 we have no further account in the sa- 
 cred volume, and but very doubtful 
 traces in profane history. From 3Iedan 
 descended the 3Iedanites, Gen. 37. 36, 
 (on which, see Note). They seem to 
 have peopled that part of Arabia Petrsea 
 contiguous to the land of Moab, east- 
 ward of the Dead Sea. Jerome terms 
 the people of this country Madianeans ; 
 and Ptolemy mentions a people called 
 Madianites, who dwelt in the same re- 
 gion. From Midian came the Midian- 
 ites, who soon after lapsed into idolatry, 
 as is evident from the narrative contain- 
 ed in Num. 25. From Shuah probably 
 came Biidad, the Shuhite, Job, 2. 11; 
 and from Sheba, the Sabeans mention- 
 ed in the same bonk, ch. 1. 15, as the 
 marauders who robbed Job of his oxen 
 and a>ses. 
 
 3. The S071S of Dedan were Asshurim, 
 &c. As their terms are plural, if they 
 are truly proper names, they must have 
 been designed to denote tribes ox f ami' 
 
B. C. 1853.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 55 
 
 5 ^ And ^ Abraham gave all that 
 he had unto Isaac. 
 
 6 But unto the sons of the con- 
 cubines which Abraham had, Abra- 
 ham gave gifts, and " sent them 
 away from Isaac his son (while he 
 
 b ch. 24. 36. c ell. 21. 14. 
 
 lies, and not individuals. But the an- 
 cient versions vary from ours. Onlcelos 
 interprets the words of persons dwelling 
 ill camps, fe7its,and islands ; and Jonathan 
 ben Uzziel calls them merchants, artifi- 
 cers, and heads or chiefs of people. 
 
 5. Gave all that he had unto Isaac. 
 Gave him the bulk, the principal part, 
 of his possessions ; not absolutely the 
 whole, for we find it immediately said 
 that he 'gave gifts' to his other sons. 
 But as Isaac was the only son of Sarah, 
 the free woman, and born according to 
 promise, it was proper that he should 
 be considered the legitimate heir, and 
 inherit accordingly the substance of the 
 estate. 
 
 6. The S071S of the concvhines. That 
 Is, of Hagar and Keturah. Of course 
 Ishmael was included, and we thus 
 learn incidentally that he was not lost 
 sight of by his father, who made a bet- 
 ter provision for him than has yet ap- 
 peared in the course of the narrative. 
 With a view, no doubt, to preserve peace 
 among his sons, Abraham distributed all 
 his property in his lifetime, giving the 
 greater portion of it to Isaac, and supply- 
 ing the others with cattle and materials 
 for a domestic establishment, with ad- 
 vice to go and settle themselves east- 
 ward in the Arabian desert. ' The ar- 
 rangement was, doubtless, satisfactory 
 to all parties ; for among the Bedouins of 
 the present day, w'e observe that the 
 son, although he treats his father with 
 respect while in his tent, is anxious to 
 set up an independent estabhshraent of 
 his own, and spares no exertion to at- 
 tain it ; ' and when it is obtained,' says 
 Burckhardt) ' he listens to no advice, 
 sor obeys any earthly command but 
 
 yet lived) eastward, unto ^ the east 
 country. 
 
 7 And these are the days of the 
 years of Abraham's life whch he 
 lived, an hundred threescore and 
 fifteen years. 
 
 d Judg. 6. 3. 
 
 that of his own will.' Though often too 
 proud to ask for what his own arm may 
 ultimately procure, he usually expects his 
 father to make the offer of some cattle to 
 enable him to begin life ; and the omission 
 of it occasions deep disgust, and leads 
 to quarrels in after-times, which form the 
 worst feature of the Bedouin character. 
 They have few children circumstanced 
 Uke those of Abraham by his concu- 
 bines ; but in other Asiatic nations, 
 where parallel circumstances occur, the 
 fathers provide for such eons much in 
 the same way as Abraham, giving them 
 some property proportioned to his 
 means, with advice to go and settle at 
 some place distant from the family seat.' 
 Pict. Bible. Allusion is probably made 
 to these descendants of Abraham under 
 the title of ' children of the East ;' Judg 
 6. 3, and also Job, 1. 3, where Job him- 
 self, who may have descend-ed from this 
 stock, is called ' the greatest of the peo- 
 ple of the East.' 
 
 7. These are the days of the years, &.c. 
 A peculiar and impressive mode of com- 
 puting time, as if intended to intimate that 
 we are creatures of a day, whose life is 
 to be reckoned rather by ' the inch of days 
 than the ell of years.' Thus died this 
 venerable patriarch, the father of the 
 faithful, after having sojourned as a 
 stranger and a pilgrim in the land of 
 promise one hundred years. From a 
 comparison of dates, it appears that he 
 survived Shem twenty-five years ; his 
 father Terah, one hundred years ; and 
 his wife Sarah, thirty-eight years ; that 
 he lived after Isaac's marriage, thirty- 
 five years ; and consequently saw his 
 two grandsons, Jacob and Esau ; and 
 finally finished his course A. M. 2183, 
 
56 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1853. 
 
 after the flood, 527. His life, though 
 shorter by far than that of any of liis il- 
 histrions predecessors whose history has 
 come particularly under review, was 
 yet much fuller of incidents and events. 
 It was a life chequered with uncommon 
 trials, and marked with blessings no less 
 extraordinary ; a life distinguished by 
 the most signal virtues, yet not wholly 
 exempted from frailties and infirmities. 
 His chiefest happiness consisted not in 
 his being favored with a remarkable de- 
 gree of w'oridly prosperity, and an tm- 
 Tisual term of years to enjoy it, but in 
 the high distinction of being called ' the 
 friend of God,' and made the depositary 
 of a promise in which the whole w orld 
 was to be blessed. The event of his 
 decease is but briefly related. Doubt- 
 less it would have been highly gratifying 
 had the Spirit of God seen fit to have 
 handed do\^Tl to us some longer me- 
 morial of the death of the eminent and 
 far-famed subject of our history. PJost 
 instructive would it have been to have 
 stood in imagmation by the side of his dy- 
 ing bed, and to have heard his assuran- 
 ces of the mercy and faithfulness of Him 
 in whom he had believed, and who had 
 led him through the mazes of so long a 
 pilgrimage. Nothing of this, however, 
 has been vouchsafed us, and, except for 
 the purpose of our gratification, nothing 
 of it was needed. After such a life of faith 
 and piety, there is Uttle need of inquir- 
 ing into the manner of his death. We 
 know that it could not have been other- 
 wise than full of peace and hope. From 
 the earthly, he no doubt, looked believ- 
 ingly forward to the heavenly Canaan, 
 the land of immortal rest, and thither, 
 after a long and honorable course below, 
 we have every assurance that he was 
 
 graciously received. Luke 16. 22. T 
 
 Gave up the ghost and died. Heb. "I^'i 
 r')2'^'l 2/^5'»^« vayamoth, expired and died ; 
 or, breathed his last and died. Gr. 
 SK'Xcnriov aircOavev, failing died; from 
 which probably originated the expres- 
 sion, Luke 16. 9, ' that when ye fail 
 
 {£K\tn:r]Tz) they may receive you, &c.' 
 The original term y'^;^ ^"u'eo, signifies 
 simply to cease from breathing, to breathe 
 one's last, to expire. The word does not 
 strictly signify to give up the soul, m the 
 modern sense of that phrase, any far- 
 ther than as it implies that he who dies* 
 yields back his soul to Him who gave it. 
 Hence 5>13 gava, to expire, differs from 
 nTO muth, to die, in the simple fact that 
 it presents one of the prominent pheno- 
 mena attending death, viz. the sending 
 forth the breath without inlialing it again. 
 The Eng. word ' ghost' is supposed to 
 be derived from the Anglo-Saxon ' gast* 
 an inmate, inhabitant, guest, and also 
 spirit; but in popular use it is now re- 
 stricted to the latter meaning. But the 
 primitive idea seems to be that of dis 
 missijig the soul or spirit as the guest oj 
 the body. It is almost always rendered in 
 our translation by ' expire,' but the pre- 
 sent version ' giving up the ghost,' i. e. 
 yielding up the spirit, is liable to no se- 
 rious objection. IT In a good old age, 
 
 Heb. n^1t3 h2'^''iI;D heseba tobah, in a 
 good hoary age; the idea of grey-headed 
 age being prominent in the original 
 term. This was according to promise. 
 Upwards of four score years before this, 
 the Lord addressed Abraham in vision. 
 Gen. 15. 15, saying, ' Thou shalt go to 
 thy fathers in peace ; thou shalt be bu- 
 ried in a good old age.' In every thing, 
 even in death, the promises were ful- 
 filled to Abraham. ^ Ftdl of days. 
 
 Heb. simply S/^-^J sabea, full. Our 
 translators have supplied the word years, 
 but the original signifies full in the sense 
 of satisfied, satiated, and may as well 
 imply here /«7Z of blessings and comforts. 
 Targ. Jon. ' Saturated with all good.' 
 The previous expressions would seem 
 sufficient to denote the fact of his lon- 
 gevity. The present, we think, to be 
 better understood of his having had 
 in every respect, a satisfying experience o{ 
 life ; he had known both its good and 
 ics evil, its bitter and its sweet ; and he 
 now desired to live no. longer ; he waa 
 
B. C. 1857.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXV, 
 
 57 
 
 8 Then Abraham gave up the 
 ghost, and *= died in a good old age, 
 an old man, and full o/" years ; and 
 ^ was gathered to his people. 
 
 9 And ^ his sons Isaac and Ish- 
 mael buried him in the cave of 
 Machpelah, in the field of Ephron 
 the son of Zohar the Hittite, which 
 is before Mamre ; 
 
 ech.15. 15. &49. 29. fch.3o.29. &49. 33. 
 ch. 35. 29. & 50. 13. 
 
 ready and anxious to depart. It seems 
 to be a metaphor taken from a guest 
 regaled by a plentiful banquet, who ris- 
 es from the table satisfied and full. Thus 
 Seneca, remarking in one of his epis- 
 tles, that he had lived long enough, 
 says 'Mortem plenus expecto,' fully sa- 
 tisfied, I wait for death. IT Was gath- 
 ered to Ids people. Heb. li^^S" bi* tjDi^'^ 
 yeaseph el ammav, was gathered to his peo- 
 ples ; i. e. to his fathers, as the promise 
 stands. Gen. 15. 15. The phrase is fre- 
 quently understood as equivalent to one's 
 spirit being gathered to the spirits of the 
 blessed in another world, but it is extreme- 
 ly doubtful whether a strict philological 
 -induction will warrant us in affixing to it 
 iny other sense than that of being add- 
 td to the number of the dead, without any 
 reference to the particular state of de- 
 parted souls. Moreover, as Abraham's 
 ancestors were idolaters, the promise 
 that his spirit should be gathered to 
 theirs, would be one of very equivocal 
 import. 
 
 9. His sons buried him in the cave of 
 Machpelah. Abraham, therefore, in ptir- 
 chasing a grave for Sarah, was merely 
 providing a final resting-place for him- 
 self! How certain, and often how sud- 
 den, the transition, from the funeral rites 
 we prepare for others, to those which 
 others prepare for us ! Were we to 
 leave out of view the spiritual and eter- 
 nal blessings conferred upon Abraham, 
 how humble would be the conclusion of 
 60 grand a career. Vision upon vision, 
 covenant upon covenant, promise upon I 
 
 10 hThe field which Abraham 
 purchased of the sons of Heth : 
 •there was Abraham buried, and 
 Sarah his wife. 
 
 11 And it came to pass after the 
 death of Abraham, that God bless- 
 ed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt 
 by the ^ well Lahai-roi. 
 
 h ch. 23. IG. 
 24.62. 
 
 iCh.49. 31. kc!i.l6.14. & 
 
 promise, conducting only to a little cave 
 in Hebron ! But from the divine decla- 
 ration uttered three hundred and thirty 
 years after this event, ' I am the God of 
 Abraham,' it appears that his reladon to 
 God was as entire at that time, as at any 
 former period in his whole life. ' God 
 is not the God of the dead, but of the 
 living ;' and the faithful of all past ages 
 live with God, and their dust is precious 
 in his eyes, in whatever cavern of the 
 earth or recess of the ocean it may be 
 deposited. — From the circumstance of 
 Isaac and Ishmael being both present at 
 the burial of their father, it is to be in- 
 ferred that they were now living on 
 amicable terms with each other as 
 brethren. Though previously at va- 
 riance, they now unite in sympathetic 
 sorrow at the grave of Abraham. The 
 latter must have been 'a wild man' in- 
 deed not to have been tamed at least in- 
 to a temporary tenderness by such an 
 event. A wise providence often works 
 a forgetfulness of past resentments by 
 the common calamities visited upon fami- 
 lies and kindred. They tend to recon- 
 cile the alienated, to extinguish bitter- 
 ness and strife, to rekindle the dying 
 embers of filial duty and brotherly love. 
 Isaac and Ishmael, men of different na- 
 tures, of opposite interests, rivals from 
 the womb, forget all animosity, and min- 
 gle tears over a father's tomb. Let the 
 lesson thus afforded be carefully learn- 
 ed by all who bear the fraternal relation, 
 and let them be admonished to go and 
 do likewi.se. ' Death brings those toge- 
 
GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1822. 
 
 12 IF Now these are the genera- 
 tions of Ishmael, Abraham's son, 
 J whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sa- 
 rah's handmaid, bare unto iVbra- 
 ham. 
 
 13 And "" these are the names of 
 the sons of Ishmael, by their names, 
 according to their generations : the 
 first-born of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and 
 Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, 
 
 ichap. 16. J 5. m 1 Chroa. 1. 29. 
 
 ther who know not how to associate to- 
 gether on any other occasion, and will 
 bring us all together, sooner or later.' 
 —Fuller. 
 
 11. God blessed Isaac. The death 
 and burial of so great and good a man 
 as Abraham must have made an im- 
 pression upon survivors, but it caused 
 no interruption in the flow of the en- 
 tailed and covenanted blessings of the 
 God of Abraham. Isaac was heir to 
 the promise, and the blessings and in- 
 fluences which had distinguished the 
 father, rested on the son ; and this was a 
 better legacy than if the patriarch had 
 bequeathed to him all the riches and 
 honors of the world.' It was, no doubt, 
 in consequence of his connection with 
 the covenant that he experienced so 
 largely of the bounties and benefactions 
 
 of heaven. ^ Isaac dwelt by the 
 
 loell Lahai-roi. That is, he continued, 
 after Abraham's death, to reside at the 
 same place where he had fixed his hab- 
 itation before. See on ch. 24. 62. 
 
 12. These are the generations of Ish- 
 mael. The historian having adverted to 
 the blessing of God upon Isaac, here 
 pauses before proceeding with the se- 
 quel of his history, to show how ex- 
 actly the promises made to Ishmael, ch. 
 17. 20, were also fulfilled. His descend- 
 ants, like those of Isaac, branched out 
 into twelve tribes, and constituted the 
 bulk of the population which spread 
 over the Arabian peninsula. — An in- 
 teresting vicAV of their history consid- 
 
 14 And Mishma, and Dumah, 
 and Massa, 
 
 15 Hadar, and Tenia, Jetur, Na- 
 phish, and Kedemah : 
 
 16 These are the sons of Ish- 
 mael, and these are their names, by 
 their towns, and by their castles ; 
 " twelve princes according to tlieir 
 nations. 
 
 " ch. 17. »0. 
 
 ered in its connection with the ante- 
 cedent prophecies, will be found in 
 Forster's ' Mahometanism unveiled,' 
 vol. I. p. 113—161. 
 
 13. According to their generations. 
 That is, says Jarchi, according to the or- 
 der of their births, which Rosenmuller 
 pronounces the correct interpretation. 
 
 16. By their toions. Heb. tn'^'^^niS 
 hehatzrehem, by or in their villages. Both 
 these terms, ' town' and 'village,' natu- 
 rally convey to the reader the idea rath- 
 er of European than of Asiatic modes 
 of habitation, but the want of appropriate 
 terms in our language to answer to the 
 original, renders this unavoidable. Mi 
 chaelis derives the word from an obso 
 lete Heb. root ^ISH hatzar, the Arabic 
 equivalent of which hatzara still exists, 
 signifying to surround, to encircle, to en- 
 viron. From this radical meaning he 
 deduces for the noun hntzar the sense 
 of a portable village of the Nomades, con- 
 sisting of tents placed in a circle, usually 
 denominated by the Tartar word horde, 
 (Arab. Oordu, Gr. ovpSa, ourda), which 
 was brought into Europe by the Mogul 
 conquerors upwards of five centuries 
 ago. The term occurs in the same 
 sense and in respect to the same peo- 
 ple, Is. 42. 11, 'Let the wilderness and 
 the cities thereof lift up their voice, the 
 ri7Za^es(2i"*,^n) that Kedar doth inhab- 
 it -.'where the villages appear to be some- 
 thing diflferent from the cities. Thus 
 also, Josh. 13. 23, 28, where cities and 
 adjacent villages are attributed to the 
 
B. C. 1773.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 59 
 
 17 And these are the years of 
 the life of Lshmael : an hundred and 
 thirty and seven years : and " he 
 gave up the ghost and died, and was 
 gathered unto his people. 
 
 tribes of Reuben and Gad on the east 
 of the Jordan, whose habits were pro- 
 bably, from their local situation, more 
 nomadic than those of their brethren in 
 Canaan proper. It is natural to suppose, 
 however, that such villages or encamp- 
 ments would, in process of time, be 
 transformed to more stable and fixed 
 dwelling-places, and it may be that 
 the word in the present case is in- 
 tended to be used in that sense. IT 
 
 By their castle!^. Heb. t-.Tiit;!! betiroth- 
 The precise distinction between the im- 
 port of this term and the former is not 
 easily ascertained. The primary sense 
 of the root ~i1t3 ioor is order, regularity ; 
 and though not used as a verb, yet as a 
 noun it is employed to signify a row, 
 range, orderly disposition, as in Ex. 28. 
 17, 18. 1 Kings, 6. 36. 2 Chron. 4. 3, 
 13. The present term fi"l^L: Urah is 
 usually rendered either castle or pal- 
 ace, perhaps from the orderly rows or 
 tiers of stones of which such buildings 
 v/ere composed. Indeed, Parkhurst 
 suggests very plausibly that both the 
 Eng. ' tier' and ' tow^er' as well as the 
 Lat. ' turris,' are to be traced to this root 
 as their origin. The Gr. renders it by 
 t-rravXis, which Michaehs and Rosenmul- 
 ler are inclined to interpret of stalls for 
 cattle. But the leading usage of the 
 original rather favors the sense of towers, 
 citadels, or fortified places, although with- 
 out a more accurate knowledge of the 
 ancient civil life of the IshmaeHtish no- 
 mades, we may be unable to define pre- 
 cisely the class of buildings intended. 
 
 IT Twelve princes according to their 
 
 nations. That is, twelve chiefs or heads 
 of tribes (Phylarchs) corresponding to the 
 number of tribes. 
 
 17- These are the years of the life, &c. 
 
 18 V And they dwelt from Havi- 
 lah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, 
 as thou goest toward Assyria : and 
 he died '' in the presence of all his 
 brethren. 
 
 i> 1 Smiii. Ic 
 
 This account of Ishmael's death, as well 
 as that of Abraham's above, is inserted 
 by anticipation, in order that the subse- 
 quent history of Isaac might not be in- 
 terrupted. In point of fact, though the 
 circumstance of his death is stated he- 
 fore the birth of Jacob and Esau, yet it 
 did not happen till some years after- 
 wards. Abraham lived till they were 
 fifteen years old, and Ishrnael till they 
 were sixty-three. His death occurred 
 A. M. 2231, 573 years after the flood, 
 48 years after the death of Abraham, 
 and when Isaac was 123. There is, 
 perhaps, no good reason to doubt that 
 lshmael died in the faith of his father 
 Abraham, and was received to the 
 same reward in another world. 
 
 18. And they dwelt. Gr. KarcoKtice, he 
 dwelt ; as if the translators understood 
 the term of lshmael, but still taken col- 
 lectively, as including his descendants. 
 This is strictly according to the usus 
 loquendi of the scriptures, and the ver- 
 sion we regard as a good one. ' They,' 
 therefore, in this clau.«e of the verse is, 
 we conceive, perfectly equivalent to 
 ' he' in the subsequent one, on which 
 see note below. IT From Havilah un- 
 to Shur. There are undoubtedly differ- 
 ent countries referred to in scripture un- 
 der the name of Havilah. See Note on 
 Gen. 2. 11. The allusion here seems to 
 be to a region lying on the west border 
 of the Persian Gulf, and the statement 
 of the sacred writer is, that Ishmael's 
 descendants spread themselves over the 
 tract extending from this region in the 
 east, to the desert of Shur in the west, 
 which was adjacent to the land oi 
 
 Egypt. IT He died in the presence of 
 
 all his brethren. Heb. J353 naphal, he 
 fell. As Ishmael's death has already 
 
60 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1857. 
 
 19 IF And these are the genera- 
 tions of Isaac, Abraham's son : 
 'Abraham begat Isaac : 
 
 20 And Isaac was forty years 
 old when he took Rebekah to wife, 
 * the daughter of Betliuel the Syr- 
 
 r Matt 1. 2. 
 
 ch. 
 
 been raenlioned, and as the term ' fall' 
 is seldom used in the Scriptures in ref- 
 erence to 'dying,' except in cases of 
 sudden and violent death, as where one 
 'falls' in battle, the probabdity is that it 
 here signifies that his territory or pos- 
 sessions ftU to him in the presence of 
 his brethren, or immediately contiguous 
 to their borders. Accordingly the Gr. 
 and the Chal. both render it, ' And he 
 dwelt before his brethren ;' evidently re- 
 garding it as the fulfilment of the prom- 
 ise, ch. 16. 12, ' And he sliall dwell in the 
 presence of his brethren.' Moreover, 
 as tribes and nations are often called 
 by the names of their individual found- 
 ers, as Israel, Moab, Midian, &c., and 
 as the rest of the verse speaks solely of 
 the posterity of Ishmael, we doubt not 
 that 'he' is a collective term, referring 
 not to Ishmael personally, but to the 
 body of his descendants. We would 
 therefore render the clause, ' They fell 
 (i. e. their lot or inheritance /eZZ to them) 
 in the presence of all their brethren.' 
 A similar usage of the term occurs 
 Num. 34. 2, ' This is the land that shall 
 fall unto you for an inheritance.' Josh. 
 23. 4, ' Behold I have divided unto you 
 by lot these nations that remain ;' Heb. 
 'I have caused to fall unto you.' Ps. 
 78. 55, '■Divided them an inheritance.' 
 Ps. 16. 6, ' The lines are fallen unto me 
 in pleasant places, and I have a goodly 
 heritage.' If the passage be taken lite- 
 rally as it reads, it is difficult to under- 
 stand what is meant by his ' dying in the 
 presence of all his brethren.' 'Breth- 
 ren' must be taken in the wide sense of 
 kindred or relatives in general, for he 
 had but one brother strictly so called, 
 
 ian of Padan-aram, * the sister to 
 Laban the Syrian. 
 
 21 And Isaac entreated the Lord 
 for his wife, because she ivas barren : 
 " and the Lord was entreated of him, 
 and ^ Rebekah his wife conceix^ed. 
 
 t ch. 24. 29. u 1 Chron. 5. 20. 2 Chron. 33 
 13. Ezra 8. 23. w Rom. 9. 10. 
 
 and if it include the general stock of his 
 kindred, how can we suppose that they 
 were all convened from distant regions 
 on this occasion? — especially as it was 
 predicted that he and they should sus- 
 tain a hostile relation to each other. 
 
 19. And these are the generations, &c. 
 That is, not only the history of his off- 
 spring, the genealogy of his descendants, 
 but also of the leading occurrences and 
 events that happened to him in the 
 course of his life. — See Note on Gen. 2. 
 4. It is a kind of inscription or title to 
 the whole narrative, which runs on from 
 this place to the end of ch. 35. 
 
 21. Isaac entreated the Lord for his 
 wife, &c. The history having now re- 
 turned to the son of promise, we should 
 suppose, from the situation in which we 
 left him, v. 11, that nothing was want- 
 ing to complete his earthly felicity. We 
 should, at any rate, have supposed, that 
 as the promise respected principally the 
 multiplication of his seed, the great num- 
 ber of his children would have made a 
 prominent part of his history. But 
 God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, 
 nor his ways as our ways. Though 
 now possessed of the bulk of his father's 
 property, confirmed by God as the sole 
 and undisputed heir of the covenant 
 promise, and enjoying with Rebekah a?' 
 the tender endearments of the most hal 
 lowed union — yet one thing was want- 
 ing, in the lack of which, his conjugal 
 and domestic bliss still left his mind a 
 prey to corroding anxieties. His wife 
 was barren, and he was childless. 
 While Abraham's other sons abounded 
 in children, he whose seed was to be as 
 the stars of heaven for multitude, is 
 
B. C. 1838.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 61 
 
 22 And the children struggled 
 together within her : and she said, 
 
 without the prospect of an heir. Though 
 he had been now united to Rebekah for 
 twenty years, yet no toiiens of ap- 
 proaching paternity cheer his heart. 
 The child of promise continues to be 
 denied. In this manner God had before 
 tried his father Abraham : and if he be 
 heir to his blessings, he must expect 
 to inherit a portion of his trials. Yet 
 we do not find that in this emergency 
 he had recourse like Abraham in sim- 
 ilar circumstances, to any crooked poli- 
 cy, to any doubtful expedient. He 
 looks for reUef to that source only 
 where he was accustomed to seek and 
 to find the cure or the solace of ail 
 his ills. ' He entreated the Lord for 
 his wife ;' or rather as the Heb. ex- 
 presses it (liD'^J^ nSSb^ lenokah ishto, 
 before his wife : i. e. in her presence ; 
 united with her in joint supplication. 
 ' Under similar circumstances, the hus- 
 band and the wife fast and pray, and 
 make a vow before the temple, that, 
 should their desire be granted, they will 
 make certain gifts, (specifying their 
 kind,) or they will repair the walls, or 
 add a new wing to the temple ; or that 
 the child shall be dedicated to the deity 
 of the place, and be called by the same 
 name. Or they go to a distant temple 
 which has obtained notoriety by grant- 
 ing the favors they require. I have 
 heard of husbands and wives remaining 
 for a year together at such places, to 
 gain the desire of their hearts I — Roberts. 
 
 IT The Lord was entreated of him. 
 
 'He asked a child, and his praj^er is 
 answered by the gift of two sons, and 
 thus Providence, often slower than 
 our wishes, frequently compensates 
 that delay by greatly outdoing our re- 
 <\uests and expectations.' — Hunter. 
 
 22. The children struggled together with- 
 in her. Heb- i::^21ri^ yithrotzatzu, 
 bruised themselves by struggling. The 
 
 Vol. II. 6 
 
 If it he so, why am I thus 1 * And 
 she went to inquire of the Lord. 
 
 1 Sam. 9. 9. & 10. 22. 
 
 original term, which is very strong, is 
 employed to signify a violent concus- 
 sion, or the impinging of one thing 
 against another. She was conscious of 
 extraordinary and painful sensations 
 during her pregnancy, as if her children 
 were wrestling within her. The cir- 
 cumstance filled her mind with perplexi- 
 ty, and prompted the exclamation and 
 the inquiry immediately spoken of. 
 The incident was no doubt supernatural, 
 and intended to pre-indmate the future 
 strife and variance that should subsist 
 between the respective hnes destined to 
 descend from these two unborn children. 
 ' She is no less troubled with the strife 
 of the children in her womb, than be- 
 fore with the want of children. We 
 know not when we are pleased : that 
 which we desire, ofttimes discontents us 
 more in the fruition : we are ready to 
 complain both full and fasting : before 
 Rebecca conceived, she w-as at ease : 
 before spiritual regeneration, there is 
 all peace in the soul : no sooner is the 
 new man formed in us, but the flesh con- 
 flicts with the spirit. There is no grace 
 where is no unquietness. Esau alone 
 would not have striven : nature will 
 ever agree with itself. Never any Re- 
 becca conceived only an Esau ; or was 
 so happy as to conceive none but a Ja- 
 cob : she must be the mother of both, 
 that she may have both joy and exer- 
 cise. This strife began early ; every 
 true Israelite begins war with his be- 
 ing. How many actions, which we 
 know not of, are not without pre- 
 sage and signification !' — Bishop Hall. 
 
 ^ If it be so, why am I thus ? Heb. 
 
 ^i2i5 nt n'^b 'p tSi iin hai lammah zeh 
 anoki, if so, wherefore this to me ? the 
 meaning of which perhaps is, If it be 
 so that God hath heard our prayers, 
 why am I in this painful condition? 
 Why have I conceived, if such strange 
 
62 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1833, 
 
 23 And the Lord said unto her, 
 y Two nations are in thy womb, 
 and two manner of people shall be 
 separated from thy bowels : and 
 
 y cli. 17. J6. &:24.60. 
 
 sensations be the result ? The passage, 
 b.owever, is exceedingly obscure, nor 
 do we obtain mucli light from the an- 
 cient versions. The Gr. has, ' If it 
 s-hall be so with me, why is this unto 
 me ?' _ Chal. ' If it was to be so, why 
 did I conceive ?' Arab. ' If I had known 
 that the thing would be so, I would not 
 have requested it !' Vulg. 'If it should 
 be so with me, what need was there to 
 conceive ?' — —IT She went to inquire of 
 the Lord. There are very different opin- 
 ions as to the manner in which she made 
 this inquiry. Some think it was simply 
 by secret prayer ; but the phrase to in- 
 quire of the jLor^, in general usage signi- 
 fies more than praying, and from its being 
 said that she went to inquire, it is more 
 probable that she resorted to some estab- 
 lished place, or some quahfied person for 
 the purpose of consultation. We are told, 
 1 Sam. 9.9, that ' Beforetime in Israel 
 when a man went to inquire of God, thus 
 he spake. Come and let us go to the seer ; 
 for he that is now called a prophet, was 
 beforetime called a seer.' As Abraham 
 was now living, and no doubt sustained 
 the character of a prophet, Gen. 20. 7, 
 she may have gone to him, and inquir- 
 ed of the Lord through his means. The 
 Rabbinical writers, as usual, abound 
 with fanciful conceits on this subject, 
 but they ar? not of sufficient importance 
 to deserve recital ; nor can any thing 
 beyond conjecture be advanced upon 
 the passage. 
 
 23. Tv)o natiojis are in thy womh. In 
 what particular manner the response 
 was made to her inquiry, we are not 
 informed, any more than how the in- 
 quiry itself was proposed ; but the pur- 
 port of it was, that two nations, i. e. the 
 founders of two nations, were in her 
 womb, and leaving her to infer that the 
 
 ^ the one people shall be stronger 
 than the other people ; and ^ the 
 elder shall serve the younger. 
 
 ^ 2 Sam. 8. 14. » ch. 27. 29. Mai. i. 3. <i.w 
 0. 12. 
 
 intestine strife which caused her pain 
 and perplexity, was a pre-intimation of 
 the continued hostility that should sub.sitt 
 between their respective posterities. 
 
 ^ Shall be separated from thy bow- 
 
 els. Heb. IT^.t"^ yipparedu, that is, 
 shall be separated from each other from 
 the time of their birth. The sense or- 
 dinarily put upon the words, is that of 
 i.'^suing from the womb. But this is un- 
 doubtedly incorrect, as the original is 
 never used to signify that kind o( physi- 
 cal separation implied in the removal of 
 the child from the forming receptacle in 
 which it had reposed before birth. It 
 properly denotes separation in the sense 
 of parting, sundering, and thence of dis- 
 persing or scattering, as may be seen 
 from the following examples, whic'n ex- 
 hibit its prevailing use ; 2 Sam. 1. 23, 
 ' Saul and Jonathan w^ere lovely and 
 pleasant in their lives, and in their death 
 they were not divided (ITi-:^).' Prov. 
 19. 4, ' Wealth maketh many friends, 
 but the poor is separated (I'nS'i) from 
 his neighbor.' Neh. 4. 19, ' The work is 
 great and large, and we are separated 
 (D"'"I'^23) upon the wall.' Gen. 10 
 5, ' By these were the isles of the Gen- 
 tiles divided (ni53) in their lands.' 
 
 IT The one people shall be stronger, 
 
 &:c. The two people or nations intend- 
 ed were the Israelites and Edomites ; 
 and nothing is clearer from history than 
 that these races were not only difTerent 
 in their dispositions, manners, customs, 
 and religion, but that after a long course 
 of hostilities, the seed of Isaac obtained 
 the ascendancy, and reduced the Edom- 
 ites to complete subjection. See the de- 
 tails of their history, as drawn out in 
 
 ' Newton on the Prophecies.' IT The 
 
 elder shall serve the younger. That is, 
 shall be subject to. Heb. "T^^iT ^t'2^'^ ^'^ 
 
B. C. 1838. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 24 IT And when her days to be 
 delivered were fulfilled, behold there 
 were twins in her womb. 
 
 25 And the first came out red, 
 ^ all over like an hairy garment : 
 and they called his name Esau. 
 
 26 And after that came his broth- 
 er out, and <= his hand took hold on 
 
 b ch. 27. 11, 16, 23. c Hos. 12. 3. 
 
 rah yaabod tzair, the great shall serve the 
 little. That is, the greater in dignity ; 
 which was a distinction pertaining to the 
 elder on the ground of the birthright. It 
 is, however, constantly to be borne in 
 mind, that what is here said of the chil- 
 dren, refers not so much to Jacob and 
 Esau personally, as to their posterity, 
 although in the former sense it still 
 holds true. — The Heb. 2"^ rob is the 
 root from which comes Rabbi, the Jew- 
 ish term for great men and masters. 
 
 25. The first came out red. Heb. "i2''2l5^ 
 admoni, rubicund or ruddy, a word of the 
 same origin with Edam (Qli^)^ another 
 appellation by which Esau was called. 
 It elsewhere occurs only twice, 1 Sam. 
 16. 12, and 17. 42, in both which cases 
 it is spolven of the florid complexion of 
 David, and is translated ruddy. But 
 here it is undoubtedly a term rather of 
 reproach than of commendation, and ap- 
 plied to Esau to denote the fierce, cruel, 
 and sanguinary disposition by which he 
 and his posterity should be character- 
 ized. In proof of this, see Gen. 27. 40, 
 41. Obad. 1. 10. Ezek. 25. 12. Thus 
 the cruel persecuting dragon of the 
 Apocalypse, Rev. 12. 3, is depicted of a 
 
 red color, for the same reason. IT All 
 
 over like an hairy garment. Heb. 'i^^ 
 13>'lI3 tTTlJ!^^ J(^io keaddereth sear, all of 
 him as a mantle of hair. Gr. ' Wholly 
 like a rough hide.' Vulg. ' All hairy or 
 shaggy in manner of a skin.' Chal. ♦ As 
 a bristly garment.' Thus denoting his 
 strong, rough, fierce, and uncultivated 
 character, with perhaps a secondary al- 
 lusion to his hcentious temperament. 
 From the epithet "^5"^' fpor, hoinf or 
 
 Esau's heel; and ^his name was 
 called Jacob : and Isaac 7vas three- 
 score years old when she bare them. 
 27 And the boys grew : and 
 Esau was " a cunning hunter, a man 
 of the field ; and Jacob was f a plain 
 man ^ dwelling in tents. 
 
 1 ch. 27. 36. e ch. 27. 3, ;'. t Job 1. ], 8. & 
 2. Ps. 37. 37. s Hebr. 11. 9. 
 
 shaggy, is derived the name of the prin- 
 cipal range of mountains, Mt. Seir, lying 
 
 in his territory Mai. 1. 3. 1 They 
 
 called his name Esau. Heb. 1tj5 esav, 
 which the Jewish commentators inter- 
 pret by made, made up, perfected, i. c 
 not having a soft, smooth skin like other 
 infants, but covered with hair like a full- 
 grown man ; indicating the possession 
 of a constitutional vigor entirely out of 
 the common course of nature. Others, 
 however, with great probability think 
 Esau to be a dialectical variation from 
 the Arabic root 5$^3> atha, to be covered 
 with hair, whence "^T,^}^ athai, hairy. 
 The true etymology cannot perhaps be 
 definitively settled. 
 
 26. His name was called Jacob. Heb. 
 mpS'"! yaakob, he shall hold by the foot, 
 from ^p2> akab, to supplant, to trip up 
 the heels, to throw down by tripping up 
 the heels, and thence metaphorically 
 to deceive, to defraud. The name was 
 given to Jacob because it was found 
 that he had at birth laid hold on his 
 brother's heel, an act emblematical of 
 his subsequently supplanting and de- 
 frauding him in the matter of the birth- 
 right. 
 
 27. A cunning hunter. Heb. 5>Ti 1J2^ 
 "]^;2 ish yodea tzayid, a man knowing hunt- 
 ing ; i. e. skilled or expert in hunting. 
 
 '^ A man of the field. Addicted to 
 
 ranging the field. "iT A plain man 
 
 dwelling in tents. Heb. ClTl '^'i^ ish 
 tam, literally a perfect or xipright man ; 
 but in what sense precisely the epithet 
 is to be understood in this connection, 
 is not obvious. The ancient versions, 
 most of them, especially the ChaL, the 
 
64 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1838. 
 
 Syr., and the Arab., adhere to the prim- 
 itive sense of the term as given above, 
 but the Gr. has rendered it by a-xXaa- 
 Tos, gtdleless, and the Vulg. by simplex, 
 from which comes our translation j;;Zam. 
 But this is a very ambiguous term. 
 ' Plain,' in one of its senses, is opposed 
 to splendid, sumptuous, extravagant; 
 but this can hardly be its import here, 
 as in this particular there can be little 
 doubt that the two brothers were very 
 much upon a level. The state of soci- 
 ety in those primitive ages would not 
 allow of any marked difference in their 
 modes of living in this respect. Again, 
 that it is a term descriptive of moral 
 character, implying that high degree of 
 sincerity, uprightness, and integrity which 
 is predicated in the word perfect of Noah, 
 Job, and others, is not very easily con- 
 ceivable, while so much evidence to the 
 contrary is afforded in regard to Jacob 
 by the sequel of the narrative. Per- 
 haps the most probable supposition is 
 that it refers not to moral qualities, but 
 to native disposition, temperament, or pre- 
 dilection as to a particular mode of life, 
 and that Jacob is here called a 'plain 
 man,' not as plainness is opposed to sub- 
 tlety'xn general, in which he seems to have 
 beenasmuchanadeptashis brother, but 
 as opposed to Esau's skill, cunning, or 
 dexterity in hunting, a pursuit to which 
 Jacob was habitually or constitutionally 
 averse, preferring the more calm and 
 quiet occupations of the pastoral life. 
 IT Dwelling in tents. It would, per- 
 haps, be too much to infer from this that 
 Esau did not dw^ell at all in tents ; but 
 as Jacob followed the occupation of 
 a shepherd, and as the pastoral life was 
 nece.'ssarily in those regions nomadic or 
 migratory, this would naturally lead to 
 his living more emphatically in tents, 
 as a needful appendage to his pursuits 
 as a shepherd. ' The use of tents pro- 
 bably arose at first out of the exigencies 
 of pastoral life, which rendered it ne- 
 cessary that men removing from one 
 place to another in search of pasture 
 
 should have a portable habitation. Ac- 
 cordingly we find that the first mention 
 of tents is connected with the keeping 
 of cattle (ch. 4. 20), and to this day 
 tents remain the exclusive residence of 
 only pastoral people. Portabihty is not 
 the only recommendation of tents to the 
 nomade tribes of the East ; the shelter 
 which they offer in the warm but de- 
 licious climates of Western Asia is posi- 
 tive enjoyment. Shelter from the sun 
 is all that is needful ; and this a tent 
 sufficiently affords, without excluding 
 the balmy and delicate external air, the 
 comparative exclusion of which renders 
 the finest house detestable to one ac- 
 customed to a residence in tents. The 
 advantage of tents in this respect is so 
 well understood even by the inhabitants 
 of towns, that in many places, those 
 whose circumstances admit it, endeavor 
 so far as possible, to occupy tents dur- 
 ing the summer months. This was the 
 constant practice of the late king of 
 Persia, who every year left his capital 
 with all the nobles, and more than half 
 the inhabitants, to encamp in the plain 
 of Sultanieh. Many of the princes, his 
 .sons, did the same in their several pro- 
 vinces ; and the practice is an old one 
 in Persia. It is true that tents would 
 seem to be rather cheerless abodes in 
 the winter ; but it is to be recollected 
 that the nomades have generally the 
 power of changing the climate with the 
 season. In winter the Bedouins plunge 
 into the heart of the Desert, and others 
 descend, in the same season, from the 
 mountainous and high lands, where they 
 had enjoyed comparative coolness in 
 summer, to the genial winter climate of 
 the low valleys and plains, which in the 
 summer had been too warm. It is im- 
 possible to ascertain with precision the 
 construction and appearance of the pa- 
 triarchal tents ; but we shall not pro- 
 bably be far from the truth, if we con- 
 sider the present Arab tent as affording 
 the nearest existing approximation to 
 the ancient model. The common Arab 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 B. C. 1837.] 
 
 28 And Isaac loved Esau, because 
 he did ^ eat of his venison : ' but 
 Rebekah loved J acob. 
 
 b ch. 27. 19, 25, 31. i ch. 27. 6. 
 
 tent is generally of an oblong figure, va- 
 rying in size according to the wants or 
 rank of the owner, and its general shape 
 not unaptly compared by Sallust, and 
 after him Dr. Shaw, to the hull of a ship 
 turned upside down. A length of from 
 25 to 30 feet, by a depth or breadth not 
 exceeding 10 feet, form the dimensions 
 of a rather large family tent ; but there 
 are many larger. The extreme height — 
 that is, the height of the poles, which 
 are made higher than the others in order 
 to give a slope to throw off the rain 
 from the roof— varies from 7 to 10 feet : 
 but the height of the side parts seldom 
 exceeds 5 or 6 feet. The most usual 
 sized tent has 9 poles, three in the mid- 
 dle, and three on each ."iide. The cover- 
 ing of the tent among the Arabs is usu- 
 ally black goats'-hair, so completely 
 woven, as to be impervious to the hea- 
 viest rain ; but the side coverings are 
 often of coarse wool. These tent-cov- 
 erings are spun and woven at home by 
 the women, unless the tribe has not 
 goats enough to supply its own demand 
 for goats'-hair, when the stuff is bought 
 from those better furnished. The front 
 of the tent is usually kept open, except 
 in winter, and the back and side hang- 
 ings or coverings are so managed, that 
 the air can be admitted in any direction, 
 or excluded at pleasure. The tents are 
 kept stretched in the usual way by cords, 
 fastened at one end to the poles, and at 
 the other to pins driven into the ground 
 at the distance of th.ree or four paces 
 from the tent. The interior is divided 
 into two apartments, by a curtain hung 
 up against the middle poles of the tent. 
 This partition is u.sually of white wool- 
 en stutr, sometimes interwoven with 
 patterns of flowers. One of these is 
 for the men, and the other for the wo- 1 
 men. In the former, the ground is usu-' 
 
 29 IF And Jacob sod pottage : 
 and Esau came from the field and 
 he ivas faint. 
 
 ally covered with carpets or mats, and 
 the wheat-sacks and camel-bags are 
 heaped up in it, around the middle post, 
 like a pyramid, at the base of which, or 
 towards the back of the tent, are ar- 
 ranged the camels' pack-saddles, against 
 which the men recline as they sit on the 
 ground. The women's apartment is less 
 neat, being encumbered with all the 
 lumber of the tent, the water and but- 
 ter skins, the culinary utensils, &c 
 Some tents of great people are square, 
 perhaps 30 feet square, with a propor- 
 tionate increase in the number of poles, 
 while others are so small as to require 
 but one pole to support the centre. The 
 principal differences are in the slope of 
 the roof, and in the part for entrance. 
 When the tent is oblong, the front is 
 sometimes one of the broad, and at oth- 
 er times one of the narrow, sides of the 
 tent. We suspect this difference de- 
 pends on the seas(m of the year or the 
 character of the locaUty, but we cannot 
 speak with certainty on this point. 
 Some further information concerning 
 tents has been given in previous notes, 
 and other tents and huts will hereafter 
 be noticed. It will be observed, that the 
 tent covering among the Arabs is usu- 
 ally black ; but it seems that they are 
 sometimes brown, and occasionally strip- 
 ed white and black. Black tents seem 
 to have prevailed among the Arabs from 
 the earliest times.' — Picl. Bible. 
 
 23. Isaac loved Esau, because, &c. 
 This partiality of Isaac towards Esau, 
 especially considering the grounds of it, 
 was not only a weakness wholly unwor- 
 thy of him, but the prolific source of 
 most of the troubles which afterwards 
 arose to disquiet the family of the pa- 
 triarch. Th.e mischief was increased 
 by Rebekah's having her favorite also ; 
 although the reas-ons of her preference 
 
36 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1837. 
 
 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed 
 me, I pray thee, with that same red 
 
 are not stated. Perhaps her affections 
 centered more upon Jacob, because he 
 was the younger, more dehcate, more 
 placid, and of a more domestic turn. 
 Or it may be that her fondness was di- 
 rected by the prophecies which had 
 gone before upon him, marking him out 
 as the one more favored of heaven. 
 But, whatever may be said of the res- 
 pective grounds of these parental prefer- 
 ences, it is clear from the sequel that 
 nothing could be more unhappy than 
 the consequences to which they led. 
 The distresses which embittered the re- 
 mainder of Isaac's life are to be traced 
 directly to this source ; teaching us by 
 an impressive example, the lesson which 
 all parents rnay expect to learn from the 
 exhibition of a similar weakness. A 
 distinction among children, while it sows 
 the seeds of discord between the heads 
 of the household themselves, produces 
 effects upon its objects equally disas- 
 trous. It kindles the flames of jealousy 
 and resentment between brothers and 
 sisters, and renders the heart, which 
 should be the seat of every gentle and 
 kindly emotion, the habitation of anger, 
 malice, and revenge ; and if such bale- 
 ful passions do not break out into deeds 
 of violence and blood, it will be simply 
 because a kind providence in some way 
 interposes, and spares those that have 
 sown the wind from reaping the whirl- 
 wind. Let these considerations have 
 their due weight with those who stand 
 in this deUcate and responsible relation. 
 Let the principles of equity combine 
 with the dictates of nature to forbid an 
 unequal distribution of parental favors 
 or affections. It may not perhaps be 
 always possible to suppress the feeling 
 of preference, but the expression of it, 
 at least, is in our power ; and as we val- 
 ue the peace and happiness of the do- 
 mestic circle, as well as the real good of 
 the object of our partiality, we shall stu- 
 
 poitage ; for I am faint : therefore 
 was his name called Edom. 
 
 diously avoid betraying it either by 
 
 word or deed. ^ Because he did eat 
 
 of his venison. Heb- I'lCS T'lZ '^ID ^i 
 tznyid bephiv, because his venison was in 
 his mouth. Gr. ' His wild game was his 
 food.' The original denotes not merely 
 the flesh of the deer as among tis, but 
 a?iy kind of game taken in hunting ; and 
 the import of the expression ' was in his 
 mouth' is, that it was agreeable to his 
 taste. This phraseology, it seems, ia 
 not unknown elsewhere in the East. 
 ' Has a man been supported by another, 
 and is it asked, ' Why does Kandan love 
 Muttoo ?' the reply is, ' Because Mut- 
 too's rice is in his mouth.'' ' Why have 
 you such a regard for that man ?' — ' Is 
 not his rice in my mouth T — Roberts. 
 But how humiliating the reason assign- 
 ed for Isaac's preference of his elder 
 son ! By what grovelling and unwor- 
 thy motives are wise and good men 
 sometimes actuated ! How mortifying 
 a view of human nature to see prudence, 
 justice, and piety controlled by one of 
 the lowest and grossestof our appetites ! 
 
 29. Jacob sod pottage. ' Sod' is the 
 past tense of ' seethe,' to boil. The 
 word rendered pottage signifies a dish 
 made by boiling. See farther of this 
 dish in the subsequent note. 
 
 30. Feed me. Heb. 'i:::2'^5bn haliteni, 
 let me have a draught ; a word occurring 
 nowhere else in the Bible, and evident- 
 ly implying that the dish was served up 
 in a liquid form. 'The people of the 
 East are exceedingly fond of pottage^ 
 which they call Kool. It is something 
 like gruel, and is made of various kinds 
 of grain, which are first beaten in a 
 mortar. The red pottage is made of 
 Kurakan, and other grains, but is not 
 superior to the other. For such a con- 
 temptible mess, then, did Esau sell hi.s 
 birthright. When a man has sold his 
 fields or gardens for an insignificant sum, 
 tlie people say ' The fellow has sold hi?i 
 
B. C. 1837.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 67 
 
 31 And Jacob said, Sell me this jam at the point to die: and what 
 
 day thy birthright 
 32 And Esau 
 
 =aid, Behold, I 
 
 land for pottage.'' Does a father give his 
 daughter in marriage to a low caste man, 
 it is observed, 'He has given her for 
 pottage.'' Does a person by base means 
 seek for some paltry enjoyment, it is 
 said, ' For one leaf (i. e., leaf-ful) of pot- 
 tage, he will do nine days' work.' Has 
 a learned manstooped to any thing which 
 was not expected from him, it is said, 
 'The learned one has fallen into the 
 pottage pot.'' Has he given instruction 
 or advice to,others — ' The hzard which 
 gave warning to the people, has fallen 
 into the pottage pot.'' Of a man in great 
 poverty, it is remarked, ' Alas ! he can- 
 not get pottage.'' A beggar asks, ' Sir, 
 will you give me a little pottage V Does 
 a man seek to acquire large things by 
 small means—' He is trying to procure 
 rubies by pottage." When a person 
 gready flatters another, it is common to 
 say, ' He praises him only for his pot- 
 tage.'' Does a king greatly oppress hi.s 
 subjects, it is said, ' He only governs for 
 his pottage.'' Has an individual lost 
 much money by trade — ' The specula- 
 tion has broken his pottage pot' Does 
 a rich man threaten to ruin a poor man, 
 the latter will ask, 'Will the lightning 
 
 strike my pottage pot ?' Roberts. H 
 
 With that same red pottage. Heb. y^ 
 'BlJ^n C^i^tl '>nin haadom, haodom, of or 
 from the red, that red. The repetition of 
 the epithet and the omission of the sub- 
 stantive, indicated the extreme haste 
 and eagerness of the asker. His eye 
 Was caught by the color and luscious ap- 
 pearance of the dish, and being faint 
 with hunger and fatigue, he gave way 
 to the solicitations of appetite, regardless 
 of consequences. ' The ^1^4 edom, or 
 redpottage, was prepared, we learn from 
 this chapter, by seething lentils S"'^'"T!3> 
 idashim in water ; and subsequently, as 
 ive may guess, from a practice which 
 prevails in many countries, adding a lit- ! 
 
 profit shall this 
 me ] 
 
 birtliriffht do to 
 
 de manteca, or suet, to give them a fla- 
 vor. The writer of these observations 
 has often partaken of this self-same 'red 
 pottage,' served up in the manner just 
 described, and found it better food than 
 a stranger would be apt to imagine. 
 The mess had the redness which gained 
 for it the name of edom ; and which, 
 through the singular circumstance of a 
 son selling his birthright to satisfy the 
 cravings of a pressing appetite, it impart- 
 ed to the posterity of Esau in the people 
 of Edom. The lentil (or Lens esculenta of 
 some writers, and the Ervum lens of 
 Linnaeus) belongs to the leguminous or 
 podded family. The stem is branched, 
 and the leaves consist of about eight 
 pairs of smaller leaflets. The flowers 
 are small, and with the upper division 
 of the flower prettily veined. The pod.s 
 contain about two seeds, which vary 
 from a tawny red to a black. It delights 
 in a dry, warm, sandy soil. Three va- 
 rieties are cultivated in France — ' small 
 brown,' 'yellowish,' and the 'lentil of 
 Provence.' In the former country they 
 are dressed and eaten during Lent as a 
 haricot ; in Syria they are used as food 
 after they have undergone the simple 
 process of being parched in a pan over 
 
 the fire.'— P/'i. Bible. ^ Therefore 
 
 was his name called Edom. That is, red. 
 That another reason existed for his be- 
 ing so called, viz. the peculiar cast of 
 his complexion or skin at birth, appears 
 from V. 25 ; but the epithet acquired a 
 new significancy from the circumstance 
 here recorded, and was in fact applied 
 to him as a memorial of his inordinate 
 craving in the matter of the red pottai;e, 
 under the promptings of which he vvas 
 induced to sell his birthright. 
 
 Z 1 . Sell me th is day thy birth righ t. Th at 
 is, the right of primogeniture, the pre- 
 rogatives of which were very impor- 
 tant, although the attempts of the learn* 
 
68 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1837. 
 
 ed to define them with absolute precis- 
 ion have not been successful. The fol- 
 lowing are usually enumerated as the 
 principal privileges which constituted 
 the distinction of the first-bom : (1) They 
 were peculiarly given and consecrated 
 to God, Ex. 22. 29 ; (2) they stood next 
 in honor to tlieir parents, Gen. 49. 3 ; 
 (3) had a double portion in the paternal 
 inheritance, Deut. 21.17; (4) succeed- 
 ed in the government of the family or 
 kingdom, 2 Chron. 21. 3; and, (5) vv-ere 
 honored with the office of priesthood, 
 and the administration of the pubhc 
 worship of God. The phrase ' first-born,' 
 therefore, w^as used to denote one who 
 was pecuU rly near and dear to his 
 father, Ex. 4. 22, and higher than his 
 brethren, Ps. 89. 23 ; and typically 
 pointed to Christ, and to all true Christ- 
 ians, who are joint heirs with him, to an 
 eternal inheritance, and constitute the 
 first-born whose names are written in 
 heaven. Heb. 12. 23. ' It should be 
 understood,- that previously to the es 
 tablishment of a priesthood under the 
 Law of 3Ioses, the first-born had not 
 only a preference in the secular inherit- 
 ance, but succeeded exclusively to the 
 priestly functions which had belonged 
 to his father, in leading the religious ob- 
 servances of the family, and performing 
 the simple rehgious rites of these 
 patriarchal times. The secular part of 
 the birthright entided the first-born to a 
 'double portion' of the inheritance; 
 but writers are divided in opinion as to 
 the proportion of this double share. 
 Some think that he had one-half, and 
 that the rest was equally divided among 
 the other sons ; but a careful considera- 
 tion of Gen. 47. 5 — 22, in which we see 
 that Jacob transfers the privilege of the 
 first-born to Joseph, and that this privi- 
 lege consisted in his having one share 
 more than any of his brethren, inchnes 
 us to the opinion of the Rabbins, that 
 the first-born had merely twice as much 
 as any other of his brethren. It is cer- 
 tainly possible, but not very likely, that 
 
 in the emergency, Esau bartered all 
 his birthright for a mess of pottage ; 
 but it seems more probable that Esau 
 did not properly appreciate the value of 
 the sacerdotal part of his birthright, and 
 therefore readily transferred it to Jacob 
 for a trifling present advantage. This 
 view of the matter seems to be confirm- 
 ed by St. Paul, who calls Esau a ' pro- 
 fane person' for his conduct on this oc- 
 casion ; and it is rather for despising his 
 spiritual than his temporal privileges, 
 that he seems to be liable to such an 
 imputation.' — Pict. Bible. 
 
 32. Behold, I am at the point to die. 
 m>2b "ibin "^ij^it anold Jiolek lamuih, 1 
 am going {or walking) to die ; i. e. I am 
 daily exposed to die ; liable to be cut 
 oflT in consequence of my precarious 
 mode of life, and at best have but a 
 short time to live. This was doubtless 
 his meaning, and not that he should now 
 die of hunger unless he ate of the pot- 
 tage ; for it is not conceivable but that 
 in the house of Isaac there either was, 
 or might easily be procured, something 
 to satisfy tlie cravings of nature. But 
 men seldom abstain from any thing they 
 are anxious to do, for want of some ex- 
 cuse on the ground of expediency or 
 necessity to justify it. So it was 
 with Esau. He was eager for the food, 
 and, under the pressure of hunger, was 
 willing to part with his birthright to ob- 
 tain it, though he was still too well aware 
 of the value of his inheritance to alien- 
 ate it w-ithout presenting to himself the 
 semblance of a reason for so unequal a 
 barter. He therefore makes the expos- 
 edness of his condition a pretence for 
 the step . With this flimsy apology, he 
 endeavors to hide from himself the in- 
 fatuation of his conduct. The spirit of 
 his language was, 'I cannot live upon 
 promises ; give me something to eat 
 and drink, for to- morrow I die.' Such is 
 the spirit of unbehef in every age ; and 
 thus it is that poor deluded souls con- 
 tinue to despise things distant and 
 heavenly, preferring to them the rao- 
 
B. C. 1837.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me 
 this day; and he sware unto him : 
 and ^ he sold his birthright unto Ja- 
 cob. 
 
 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread 
 
 i Hebr. 12. 16. 
 
 mentary gratifications of flesh and 
 sense. 
 
 34. Gave Esau bread and pottage of 
 lentiles. Rather according to the Heb. 
 ' Gave Esau food, even pottage of len- 
 tiles. ' Lentiles' were a kind of pulse, 
 Hke vetches or pease. Dr. Sliavv ob- 
 serves of the Egyptians, ' that beans, 
 lentiles, kidney beans, and garvancos, 
 are the chiefest of their pulse kind. 
 Beans, when boiled, and stewed with 
 oil and garlic, are the principal food of 
 persons of all distinctions. Lejitiles are 
 dressed in the same manner as beans, 
 dissolving easily into a mass, and mak- 
 ing a j)o;/o^e of a chocolate color. ^ — Tra- 
 vels, p. 140. IT Thus Esau despised his 
 
 birthright. That is, practically despised 
 \t ; not that he did in his private judg- 
 ment entertain a contemptuous idea of 
 Its value, but by bartering it away for 
 Buch a paltry consideration, he acted as 
 if he despised it ; and the Scriptures re- 
 gard conduct as the true test of princi- 
 ple and motive. Thus was the momen- 
 tous bargain concluded which was to 
 transfer for ever to the younger son the 
 right of primogeniture — a bargain of 
 which Bp. Hall significantly remarks, 
 ' there was never any meat, except the 
 forbidden fruit, so dear bought as this 
 broth of Jacob.' It would have been a 
 strong proof of his indifference to re- 
 ligious privileges, had he sold them for 
 all the riches that Jacob could have giv- 
 en him in return; but what can be 
 thought of the infatuation of throwing 
 them away for so very a trifle ? How 
 justly does the apostle, writing as mov- 
 ed by the Holy Ghost, affix the epithet 
 'profane' to the ctiaracter of the man 
 who, ' for one morsel of meat sold his 
 birthright.' A profane person is one ' 
 
 and pottage of lentiles ; and i he did 
 eat and drink, and rose up, and 
 went his way : thus Esau despised 
 his birthright. 
 
 1 Eccles. 8. 15. Isai. 22. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 32. 
 
 who treats sacred things with irreligious 
 contempt. Esau is so termed because 
 he practically despised and undervalued 
 those inestimable spiritual privileges 
 and blessings secured in the birthright. 
 Had he disregarded only temporal ben- 
 efits, he had been guilty indeed of egre- 
 gious/oZZy, but it would not have amount- 
 ed to profaneness. But now by one 
 rash act, prompted by the urgency of a 
 fleshly appetite, he voluntarily renounc- 
 ed, and forfeited for himself and his 
 posterity, all the precious prerogatives 
 which flowed down in the line of the 
 covenant, and which ought to have been 
 dearer to him than life itself. It may, 
 indeed, be said that it was unjust and un- 
 kind in Jacob to take advantage of his 
 brother's necessity and thoughtlessness, 
 and we may not perhaps be able wholly 
 to acquit him of the charge ; but still 
 this affords no real paUiation of the con- 
 duct of Esau. The Scriptures nowhere 
 represent Jacob as a perfect character ; 
 and it is, moreover, altogether suppos- 
 able that be had long been aware of 
 his brother's indifference in this matter, 
 and that he had daily proofs of the light 
 estimation in which he held these spirit- 
 ual favors, and therefore would be less 
 scrupulous in availing himself of the op- 
 portunity to get .possession of them. 
 But all this affords no apology for Esau, 
 whose criminahty was enhanced by 
 his evincing no remorse on account of 
 what he had done. He expressed no 
 regret for his folly, nor made any over- 
 tures to his brother to induce him to 
 cancel the bargain. On the contrary, 
 it is said that ' he did eat and drink, and 
 rose up and went his way ;' as if ho 
 were perfectly satisfied with the equiv- 
 alent, su(!h as it was, which he had ob- 
 
70 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1804. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 AND there was a famine in the 
 land, besides '^ the first famine 
 that was in the days of Abraham. 
 And Isaac went unto '^Abimelech 
 king of the Philistines unto Gerar. 
 
 a ch. I'll. 10. b ch. 20. 2. 
 
 tained. But while we justly condemn 
 the reckless and ruinous conduct of 
 Esau in this transaction, let us not for- 
 get how many there are that virtually 
 justify his deed by following his exam- 
 ple. Though Hving embosomed in an 
 economy of light and love, yet what 
 numbers are there who manifest the 
 same indifference about spiritual bless- 
 ings, and the same insatiate thirst after 
 sensual indulgence, as did Esau ? The 
 language of their conduct is, ' Give me 
 the gratification of my desires ; I must 
 and will have it, whatever it cost me. 
 If I cannot have it but at the peril of my 
 soul, so be it. Let my hope in Christ 
 be destroyed ; let my prospects of hea- 
 ven be for ever darkened ; only give me 
 the indulgence which my lusts demand.' 
 What do we see in all this but the very 
 temper and behavior of the profane 
 Esau ? What is this but a sale of the 
 birthright for a mess of pottage ? Such 
 conduct, in such circumstances, is far 
 more inexcusable than even that of 
 Esau. It may be pleaded in excuse for 
 him that he knew not comparatively 
 what a Saviour or what an inheritance 
 he despised. But we have had the 
 Saviour fully revealed to us, and know 
 what a glorious place the heavenly Ca- 
 naan is. Yet with thousands Christ and 
 heaven are as little thought of as though 
 they were utterly unworthy of atten- 
 tion. And what aggravates this per- 
 verseness is, that it is followed by the 
 same reckless unconcern as marked the 
 conduct of Esau. Its subjects do not 
 bethink themselves of what they have 
 done. They go on in their worldly ca- 1 
 reer regardless of consequences. They j 
 do not acknowledge and bewail their I 
 
 2 And the Lokd appeared unto 
 him, and said, Go not down into 
 Egypt : dwell in " the land which 1 
 shall tell thee of. 
 
 3 ^ Sojourn in this land, and « I 
 
 <= ch. 12. 1. d ch. 20. 1. Ps. 39. 12. Hebr. 
 11. 9. e ch. 28. 15. 
 
 sin and folly. They do not repent and 
 pray for pardon. They do not resort to 
 the means which God in mercy has pro- 
 vided for the forgiveness of offenders. 
 Alas ! what a fearfully close resemblance 
 in all this to the mad career of their 
 prototype ! We can only earnestly be- 
 seech all such to reflect deeply on their 
 folly and danger, and to contemplate 
 that moment when they shall be ' at the 
 point to die.' Let them think what 
 judgment they will then form of earthly 
 and eternal things. Will they then say 
 contemptuously, ' What profit will thia 
 birthright be to me ?' Will it then ap- 
 pear a trifling matter to have an inter- 
 est in the Saviour, and a title to hea- 
 ven ? 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 1. And there was a famine, &c. The 
 times of the patriarchs appear to have 
 been remarkable for the frequent occur- 
 rence of famines. It may not be easy 
 to account for the fact, but it is obvious 
 that every such season must have been 
 a trial to their faith, as it would tempt 
 them to think lightly of the land of 
 promise. Unbelief would say that it 
 was a land which ' ate up the inhabit- 
 ants thereof,' and that it was not worth 
 waiting for. Thus Abraham had been 
 tried. Gen. 12. 10, and Isaac is now 
 made to pass through the same ordeal. 
 
 IF Isaac went unto Abimelech. ' The 
 
 name of the king and of the captain of 
 the host, Phichol (v. 26), are the same as 
 in Abraham's time ; but the persons are 
 no doubt diflferent, as more than ninety 
 years have intervened between the visit 
 of Abraham and this of Isaac. It is not 
 unlikely that ' Abimelech' and 'Phichol' 
 
B. C. 1804.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 71 
 
 will be with thee, and ^ wiJl bless 
 thee : for unto thee, and unto thy 
 seed s I will give all these countries, 
 
 ^ch.l2. 1. B ch. 13. 15. & 1.5. 18. 
 
 were standing official names for the 
 kings and generals of this little kingdom. 
 A king of this country is called Abime- 
 lech in David's time. In the history, 
 indeed, 1 Sam. 21. 10, he is called Achish, 
 but in Ps. 34, he is called Abimelech. — 
 There is a surprising similarity between 
 the history of Abraham's sojourn at Ge- 
 rar, and that of his son. 
 
 2. Go not down into Egypt. Whither 
 it was undoubtedly his original purpose 
 to have gone. But although Abraham 
 in like circumstances had been permit- 
 ted to go to the same country, and so- 
 journ there during the extremity of the 
 famine, yet this permission was denied 
 to Isaac ; perhaps because God fore- 
 saw that, from the native gentleness of 
 his character, he would be less able than 
 his father to encounter the perils and 
 temptations with which he would meet 
 among a people, from whose vices the 
 more hardy virtue of Abraham himself 
 had scarcely escaped unharmed. It 
 would, indeed, have been easy for God 
 to have armed him with a sufficient de- 
 gree of inward fortitude to withstand 
 the assaults to which his religious princi- 
 ples would be exposed, but this would 
 have been a departure from the ordina- 
 ry course of his moral government, and 
 he consults his well-being at once more 
 wisely and more kindly by sparing him 
 the necessity of the conflict. Where 
 the heart and the general course of con- 
 duct is right, we may take it for grant- 
 ed that God will order his providence, 
 with a special reference to our infirmi- 
 ties, so as graciously to anticipate and 
 avert the evils into which we should 
 otherwise have plunged ourselves. 
 
 T Dwell in the land, &c. Heb. "p^ 
 
 shekon, tabernacle, or dwell tent-wise. 
 Thus Heb. 11. 9, 'By faith he (Abra- 
 ham) sojourned in the land of promise, | 
 
 and I will perform ^ the oath which 
 I sware unto Abraham thy fath- 
 er ; 
 
 b ch. 22. 16. Ps. 105. 9. 
 
 as in a strange country, dwelling in tab- 
 ernacles with Isaac and Jacob 5' i. e. in 
 the same way with Isaac and Jacob. He 
 is commanded to abide in the land of 
 his present sojourning, and yet in such 
 a way that he should be perpetually 
 reminded that he was merely a sojourn- 
 er, and that the time for the full posses- 
 sion of the promised land had not yet ar- 
 rived. 'He feeds his mind with the 
 hope of the promised inheritance, but at 
 the same time magnifies his word by 
 giving him inward peace only in the 
 midst of outward agitations. And sure- 
 ly we never lean upon a better prop 
 than when, trusting simply to the divine 
 declaration, and disregarding the present 
 aspect of things, we apprehend by 
 faith a blessing which does not yet ap- 
 pear.' — Calvin. 
 
 3. I will be with thee, &c. Chal. ' 3Iy 
 Word shall be an help unto thee.' To 
 satisfy Isaac that he should never want 
 a guide or a provider, the Lord renews to 
 him the promises that had been made to 
 his father Abraham. ' Had he met with 
 nothing to drive him from his retreat by 
 the well of Lahai-roi, he might have en- 
 joyed more quiet, but he might not have 
 been indulged with such great and pre- 
 cious promises. Times of affliction, 
 though disagreeable to the flesh, have 
 often proved our best times.' — Fuller. 
 It is in this way that God is wont to 
 arouse his sluggish servants to action, 
 by assuring them that their labor shall 
 be in vain. He does, indeed, claim at 
 our hands, as a father from a son, a rea- 
 dy and unrecompensed service, but he is 
 pleased by the exhibition of rich rewards 
 to stimulate and quicken the diligence 
 which is so prone to grow slack. This 
 solemn renewal of the covenant is dis- 
 tinguished by two remarkable features : 
 ( 1) The good things promised ; ' I will be 
 
72 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1804. 
 
 4 And ' I will make thy seed to 
 multiply as the stars of heaven, 
 and will give unto thy seed all 
 these countries : ^ and in thy seed 
 shall all the nations of the earth be 
 blessed : 
 
 ' ch. 15. 5. & 22. 17. ^ ch. 12. 3. &c 22. 18. 
 
 with thee, and bless thee,' &c. The 
 sum and substance of the blessings 
 is, the grant of the land of Canaan, 
 a numerous progeny, and, chief of all, 
 the Messiah in whom the nations should 
 be blessed. On these precious promises 
 Isaac was to live. God provided him 
 bread in the day of famine, but he Uved 
 not on bread only, but on every word 
 which proceeded out of the mouth of 
 God. (2) Their being given for Abra- 
 hajTi's sake ; ' Because Abraham obeyed 
 my voice,' &c. While all the essential 
 good of the promise is assured to Isaac, 
 and thus made a source of encourage- 
 ment and comfort to him, any incipient 
 rising of self-complacency is kept down 
 by the intimation, that it is rather to 
 Abraham's merit than to his own, that 
 he is to look as the procuring cause of 
 such signal favor. '^ All these coun- 
 tries. Heb. n^li^ eratzoth, lands ; viz. 
 those which are so particularly rehears- 
 ed Gen. 15. 18 — 21, though now pos- 
 sessed by numerous and powerful na- 
 tions. Corap. Ps. 105. 42—44. — - 
 T WiUperform. Heb. ^in^^I^n hakimothi, 
 will cause to stand up, will establish ; a 
 phraseology of very common occur- 
 rence in speaking of the fulfdment of 
 the divine promises. Gr. or^jo-co, I will 
 establish, confirm. 
 
 5. Kept my charge, my commandments, 
 &c. Heb. "^ri'l^^'JS'^ ^'^'JL"^ yishmor 
 mishmarti, kept my keeping ; i. e. my or- 
 dinances ; a general term for whatever 
 Gk)d commands or ordains for man's ob- 
 servance. Comp. Lev. 8. 35. — 22. 9. 
 Deut. 11. 1. The variety of terms here 
 employed, many of which did not come 
 into common use till some agos after- 
 wards, seems intended to convey the idea 
 
 5 1 Because that Abraham obey- 
 ed my voice, and kept my charge, 
 my commandments, my statutes^, 
 and my laws. 
 
 6 ][ And Isaac dwelt in Gerar : 
 
 7 And the men of the place ask- 
 
 1 ch. 22. 16, 18. 
 
 of the universality of Abraham's obedi 
 ence. He gave the most diligent and 
 exact heed to every precept, admonition, 
 and institution which God was pleased 
 to impart. Very nice distinctions are at- 
 tempted to be made by the Jewish wri- 
 ters in fixing the precise import of these 
 several terms ; but it will be sufficient to 
 remark in general, that by ' command- 
 ments' is meant both moral precepts, as 
 those of the decalogue, to which it is 
 often applied, and also occasional direc- 
 tions or appointments, such as the com- 
 mand to leave the land of the Chaldees, 
 to offer up Isaac, to send away Ishmael, 
 &c. By 'statutes' is meant the ceremo- 
 nial institutes, or the rules and ordinan, 
 ces pertaining to the ritual services, such 
 as circumcision, sacrifices, distinction of 
 clean and iinclean, &c. ; all which are 
 founded solely upon the will of God, and 
 not upon the intrinsic nature or propriety 
 of things. ' Laws,' again, are authorita- 
 tive instructions relative to the doctrines 
 and duties of religion in general ; moral 
 teachings which have a binding power 
 upon the conscience. The original woi-d 
 rrnri torah is derived from a root j"!^'^ 
 yarah, signifying to teacli, to train by in- 
 stitution, and this etymology is plainly 
 hinted at in the sacred text, Ex. 24. 12, ' I 
 will give thee tables of stone, and (even) 
 a law (n'niri torah,) and commandments) 
 that thou mayest teach them (DSTI'linb ^- 
 horotham).'' A fuller explication of these 
 terms will be given as we proceed in 
 our expository notes upon the subse 
 quent books. 
 
 7. The men of the place asked him of 
 his wife. As the word answering to 
 'him' is wanting in the original, the idea 
 probably is, that the men of the place 
 
B. C. 1804.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 73 
 
 ed liim of his wife ; and "> he said, 
 She is my sister : for " he feared to 
 say, She is my wife ; lest, said he, 
 the men of the place should kill me 
 for Rebekah; because she °was 
 fair to look upon. 
 
 8 And it came to pass when he 
 had been there a long time, that 
 Abimelech king of the Philistines 
 looked out at a window, and saw, 
 and behold, Isaac was sporting with 
 Rebekah his wife. 
 
 «> ch. 12. 13. &c 20. 2, 13. ° Prov. 2D. 25. 
 
 « ch. 24. 16, 
 
 9 And Abimelech called Isaac, 
 and said, Behold, of a surety she is 
 thy wife : and how saidst thou, She 
 is my sister ? And Isaac said unto 
 him. Because I said, Lest I die for 
 her. 
 
 10 And Abimelech said. What is 
 this thou hast done unto us ? one of 
 the people might lightly have lien 
 with thy wife, and p thou shouldest 
 have brought guiltiness upon us. 
 
 11 And Abimelech charged all 
 
 P eh. 20. 9. 
 
 in the first instance asked of each other 
 respecting her, made her a frequent topic 
 of conversation. But the result was 
 that these inquiries came at length to 
 Isaac hiraself, and he was prompted to 
 answer tkem in the manner described. 
 
 IT He said, she is my sister, &c. 
 
 Isaac here falls into the same infirmi- 
 ty which had dishonored his father in 
 Egypt. Influenced by a fear unuxjrthy 
 of a friend of Gk)d, he gives an equivo- 
 cating answer, the criminality of which 
 was aggravated by the extraordinary 
 manifestations of the divine goodness so 
 recently vouchsafed to him. He is in- 
 deed entitled to the same apology that 
 was made for Abraham on a similar oc- 
 casion, viz. that according to common 
 usage in respect to the v\"ords ' brother' 
 and ' sister', he was not guilty of a posi- 
 tive falsehood ; for Rebekah was his 
 cousin, and the terms above-mentioned 
 are used indiscriminately of all kindred. 
 Still, it may be properly said to have 
 been taking advantage of a quibble, and 
 as such, was a conduct wholly unbe- 
 coming one who had so much reason to 
 repose an unlimited confidence in the 
 divine protection. He was in all pro- 
 bability prompted to this expedient by 
 the example of his father in similar cir- 
 cumstances, forgetting that the infirmi- 
 ties of pious men are not to be imitated, 
 but avoided. 'The falls of th^ra that 
 VOL. II. 7 
 
 have gone before us, are so many rocks 
 on which ethers have split ; and the 
 recording of them is like placing buoys 
 over them, for the security of future 
 mariners.' — Fuller. But the incident 
 teaches another and quite as important 
 a lesson, viz. that in swerving at all 
 from the strict path of duty, we may be 
 furnishing a precedent to others of whom 
 we little dream. No man knows, in do- 
 ing wrong, what use will be made of 
 his example. 
 
 8. Isaac was sporting with ReheJcah. 
 That is, taking freedoms, using famiUari- 
 ties with her, such as exceeded those that 
 were common between brothers and sis- 
 ters. The original is pnZ'n metzakek, a 
 derivative from pni2 tzahak, the root from 
 which Isaac's name comes, on the im- 
 port of which see Note on Gen, 21. 9. 
 
 9. Of a surety she is ihy wife. But 
 why was this a necessary inference ? 
 Might not Isaac justly have subjected 
 himself to evil imputations ? Might he 
 not have been guilty of great crimes un- 
 der the covert of his alleged relationship 
 to Rebekah ? The answer to this is 
 highly creditable to the patriarch. It is 
 clear that his general deportment at Ge- 
 rar had been so uniformly upright and ex- 
 emplarj'-, that Abimelech knew not how 
 to entertain an ill opinion of his con- 
 duct ; and though his words were incon- 
 sistent with his conduct in the present 
 
74 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [3. C. 1804. 
 
 his people, sayinpf, He that qtouch- 
 eth this man or his wife shall surely 
 be put to death. 
 
 12 Then Isaac sowed in that 
 
 Ps. 105. 15. 
 
 in3lance,-yet, judging from his whole de- 
 portment, he comes to the conclusion 
 rather that his words had been somehow 
 false, than that his actions had been 
 wrong. Such is usually the paramount 
 influence of a good Hfe. 
 
 10. Might lightly have lien with. Heb. 
 liSlD t35>?2S Mmat shakav, within a little 
 had lien with. Clial. ' It lacked but a 
 little of one of the people's lying with 
 her.' The word ' lightly' in our trans- 
 lation seems to be equivalent to ' easily.' 
 
 IT Shouldesi have brought guiltiness 
 
 upon us. Heb. tCSi asham, gross or 
 shameful crime, a term applied both to 
 sin and the punishment of sin. It is 
 here rendered by the Gr. ayvoiav, igno- 
 rance, a kindred terra to which is applied 
 also by the apostle, from the Septuagint 
 usage, to the sins or ' errors' (ayvonixarwy 
 ignorances, or ignorant trespasses) of 
 the people, Heb. 9. 7, for which atone- 
 ment was made every year. In Paul's 
 use of it, it doubtless denotes that class 
 of sin« which were committed rather 
 through inadvertence than presumption 
 and wilfulness ; and such a distinction is 
 very appropriate here. The sin which 
 the king of Gerar intimates might have 
 been brought upon his people, would 
 have been strictly one of inadvertence 
 ot ignorance on his part — an ayvoia. 
 His words show, however, that ii was 
 a deeply fixed persuasion in the minds 
 of heathen nations, that the violation of 
 the marriage covenant was a sin of deep 
 die, and one which merited, and was 
 hkely to draw after it, the divine indig- 
 nation. 
 
 11. ife that toucheth, &c. That is, 
 injureth, or wrongeth, either by word or 
 deed, in person, honor, or possessions. 
 Thus Josh. 9. 19, ' We have sworn un- 
 to them by the Lord God of Israel ; 
 
 land, and received in the same year 
 an hundred-fold: and the LoeD' 
 * blessed him : 
 
 r Matt. 13. 8. Mark ' 
 1,35. Job 4-2; 12. 
 
 « ver. 3 ch . 24- 
 
 now therefore we may not touch them,' 
 f . e. hurt them. Job 1.11, ' But put forth 
 thy hand now, and touch all that he hath,' 
 i. e. injure, blast, or destroy. Ps. 105. 15, 
 ' Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and 
 do my prophets no harm,' i. e. injure 
 not, as imphed in the latter or exegeti- 
 eol clause. The conduct of Abimelech 
 on this occasion was as worthy of a 
 good king, as that of Isaac had been un- 
 worthy of a servant of God. 
 
 12. Isaac sowed in that land. ' A gen- 
 tleman who had spent many years in 
 Persia gave us the following informalioi/ 
 while conversing about the pastoral 
 tribes (Eelauts) which form a large part 
 of its population ; — There are some 
 that live in their tents all the year ; and 
 others that build huts for the winter, 
 which they abandon in the summer, 
 and often return to them in the winter 
 They then begin to grow corn in the vi' 
 cinity, and leave a few old persons to 
 look after it. As the cultivation increas- 
 es, a greater number of persons stay at 
 the huts in the summer also, until at! 
 last nearly all the tribe remains to at- 
 tend to the cultivation, only sending out 
 a few with the flocks. Thus the wan- 
 dering tribes gradually change from a 
 pastoral to an agricultural people. May 
 not this illustrate the situation of our 
 pastoral patriarch when he began to 
 cultivate ? And may not the prospect 
 which it involved of Isaac's permanent 
 settlement in Gerar with his powerful 
 clan, account for the visible uneasiness 
 of the king and people of that district, 
 and for the measures which they took 
 to prevent such settlement ? We thus 
 also see the process by which a wander- 
 ing and pastoral people gradually be- 
 come settled cultivators.' Pict. Bib. ■ 
 
 IF Received in the same rear, &c. Heb 
 
B. C. 1S04.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI, 
 
 13 And the man ' waxed great, 
 and went forward, and grew until 
 he became very great : 
 
 14 For he had possession of 
 flocks!, and possession of herds, and 
 great store of servants : and the 
 Philistines " envied him. 
 
 ch. 
 
 14. 35. Ps. 112. 3. Prov. 10. 22. 
 " cli. 37. 11. Eccles. 4.4. 
 
 found, implying that it was more than 
 he looked for ; an increase far exceed- 
 ing his most sanguine expectations. 
 Chal. 'He found in that year a hundred- 
 fold more than he thought of.' This 
 was the evident effect of the special 
 blessing of God. 
 
 13. Went fonvard. Heb. '^^b^I "ib^ 
 yelek haloJi, rvent or walked going ; i. e. 
 kept continually increasing. The Keb. 
 term for ' walk' or ' go' is frequently us- 
 ed in the sense of continued increase or 
 growing intensity. Thus, 2 Sam. 3. 1, 
 ' Now there was long war betw-een the 
 liouse of Saul and the house of David ; 
 but David waxed stronger and stronger ;' 
 Heb. Went on or walked, and be- 
 came strong. Jon. 1. 11, 'For the sea 
 wrought, and was tempestuous ;' Heb. 
 The sea walked and was tempestuous. 
 See Note on Gen. 3. 8. 
 
 14. Great store of servants. Heb. 
 nin'1 m^5 avuddah rabhah, much ser- 
 vice; abstract col. sing, for concrete. 
 Thus Ezek. 1. 1, ' I was among the cap- 
 lives ;'' Heb. I was among the captivity. 
 h is an idiom of frequent occurrence. 
 Ainsworth and the marg. give ' husband- 
 ry', as df)es the Gr. ytwpyia, implying 
 not only the collective body of servants 
 belonging to a thrifty agricultural es- 
 tablishment, but also the various work 
 in tillage, &c. which they performed. 
 The same thing is said of Job 1. 3. 
 — —IT And the Philistines envied him. 
 The original ^':'p kana, which is usually 
 rendered as here by the Gr. ^ri\ow, to 
 he zealous, has, when used in a bad sense, 
 the import of a jealous, envious, indig- 
 nant zeal. ' Here again we see how 
 
 15 For all the wells ^^ which his 
 father's servants had digged in the 
 days of Abraham his father, the 
 Philistines had stopped them, and 
 filled them with earth. 
 
 16 And Ahimelech said unto 
 Isaac, Go from us : for thou ^ art 
 much mightier than we. 
 
 w ch. 21. 30. :>: Exod. 1. 9. 
 
 vanity attaches to every earthly good ; 
 prosperity begets envy, and from envy 
 proceeds injury.'' — Fuller. 
 
 15. All the wells, &c. A more effec- 
 tual mode of expressing envy or enmity 
 could not well have been devised, as it 
 was in effect to destroy the flocks and 
 herds which could not subsist without 
 water. In those countries a good well 
 of water was a possession of immense 
 value ; and hence in predatory wars it 
 was always an object for either party to 
 fill the vi^ells with earth or sand, in order 
 to distress the enemy. ' The same 
 mode of taking vengeance on enemies 
 has been practised in more recent times. 
 The Turkish emperors give annually to 
 every Arab tribe near the road by 
 which the Mahommedan pilgrims travel 
 to 3Iecca, a certain sum of money, and 
 a certain number of vestments, to keep 
 them from destroying the wells which 
 He on that route, and to escort the pil- 
 grims across their country. D'Herbelot 
 records an incident exacdy in point, 
 which seems to be quite common among 
 the Arabs. Gianabi, a famous rebel in 
 the tenth century, gathered a number 
 of people together, seized on Bassorah 
 and Caufa ; and afterwards insulted the 
 reigning caliph, by presenting himself 
 boldly before Bagdad, his capital ; after 
 which he retired by little and litde, fill- 
 ing up all the pits with sand, which 
 had been dug on the road to Mecca 
 for the benefit of the pilgrims.' — Pax- 
 ton. Had the Philistines merely forced 
 their way to these wells, and drank of 
 them, it might have been excused ; but 
 to stop them, was an act of downright 
 
GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1804. 
 
 17 ir And Isaac departed thence, j ped them after the death of Abra- 
 and pitched his tent in the valley of j ham: y and jie called their names 
 Gerar, and dwelt tliere. | after the names by which his father 
 
 18 And Isaac di^rged again the j had called them, 
 wells of water which thev had disf- 19 And Isaac's servants digged 
 
 ged in the days of Abraham his 
 father : for the Philistines had stop- 
 
 barbarity, and a gross violation of the 
 treaty of peace which had been made 
 between a former Abimelech and Abra- 
 ham. Gen. 21. 25 — 31. But envy con- 
 siders that which is lost to another as 
 gained to itself, and not only delights in 
 working gratuitous mischief, but will 
 even punish itself in a measure to have 
 the malicious sadsfaction of doing a still 
 greater injury to an enemy. 
 
 16. Go from us ; for thou art nmcJi 
 mightier than we. It is not, perhaps, to 
 be inferred that this request expresses 
 the personal feelings of Abimelech to- 
 wards Isaac ; but perceiving the temper 
 of his people, he entreated him quietly 
 to depart. The reason he gave for it, 
 that 'he was much mightier than they,' 
 was framed perhaps in part to apologise 
 for his people's jealousy, and in part to 
 soften his spirit by a comphmentary 
 style of address. Had Isaac been dis- 
 posed to act upon Abimelech's admis- 
 sion, lie might, instead of removing at 
 his request, have resolved to stand 
 his ground, alleging the covenant made 
 with his father, and his own improve- 
 ments of his lands ; but being a man of 
 peace, and willing to act upon the 
 maxim of the wise man, that ' yielding 
 pacifieth great offences,' he waves all 
 dispute, and meekly retires to 'the val- 
 ley of Gerar,' either beyond the bor- 
 ders of Abimelech's territory, or at 
 least farther off from his metropolis. 
 
 17. Pitched his tent. Heb. ']n'^ yihan. 
 This is a common term in reference to 
 military encampments, and denotes some- 
 what of a permanent residence, in op- 
 position to frequent removals and migra- 
 tions. The root n.n hanah, differs. 
 
 m the valley, and found there a well 
 of springing water. 
 
 y ch. 21. 31 
 
 according to Parkhurst, from ^"5% al,ali 
 the usual term for pitching tents, ns fir- 
 ing ox fastening down a tent differs from 
 stretching it out. 
 
 18. Isaac digged again, &c. Heb. 
 '^trri'^l 1'^^ yashov vayaJipor, returned 
 and dug ; i. e. re-dug ; not returned to 
 Gerar. Gr. izaXiv wovlc, dug again 
 
 IF Called their names, &c. 'This 
 
 w^ould appear a tride among us, be- 
 cause water is so abundant that it is 
 scarcely valued, and nobody thinks of 
 perpetuating his name in the name of 
 a well. But in those deserts, where 
 water is so scarce, and wells and springs 
 are valued more, and as they are there 
 the general permanent monuments of 
 geography, it is also an honor to have 
 given them names.' — Burder. It is clear, 
 that wherever Abraham sojourned he 
 improved the country ; yet it would 
 seem that wherever the Philistines fol 
 lowed him, it was their study to mar his 
 improvements, and they were willing 
 even to deprive themselves of the bene- 
 fits of his labors rather than to suffer 
 them to remain undisturbed. But as 
 these waters would be doubly sweet to 
 Isaac from having been first tasted by 
 his beloved father, he resolves to open 
 them again , and, to show his filial affec- 
 tion still more, he chooses to call them 
 by the same names by which his father 
 had called them — names wliich proba- 
 bly carried with them some interesting 
 memorials of the divine favor towards 
 Abraham. 'Many of our enjoyments, 
 both civil and religious, are the sweeter 
 for being the fruits of the labor of our 
 fathers : and if they have been corrupt- 
 ed by adversaries since their days, wa 
 
B. C. 1804.-1 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 77 
 
 20 And the herdmen of Gerar 
 * did strive with Isaac's herdmen, 
 
 z ch. 21. 2o. 
 
 must restore them to their former puri 
 ty.'— Fuller. 
 
 19. Isaac's servants digged in the val 
 ley ; the re-opened well, it would seem 
 not furnishing an adequate supply of 
 water. He accordingly searches for a 
 richer vein, and succeeds in finding ofte. 
 The contention that arose, it appears, 
 had respect not to the old wells which 
 he re-opened, but to the new ones which 
 he dug himself. The former were prob- 
 ably somewhere in the near neighbor- 
 hood of the latter, but of much inferior 
 value, from their scanty supply of wa- 
 ter. !r A well of springing water. Heb. 
 
 tS^'^n l^!^ 'mayim liayim, living water. 
 Waters that run or spring forth from 
 fountains are called, from their con- 
 tinued ebuUition, living, in opposition 
 to the stagnant waters contained in pools 
 and cisterns. Thus Lev. 14. 5, 6, the 
 phrase running v:ater is in the original 
 living water. Thus, too, Rev. 21. 6, 'I 
 will give to him that is athirst of the 
 fountain of the water of life freely ;' i. e. 
 of the fountain of living wMer ; though 
 this living water is no doubt at the same 
 time a symbol of spiritual blessings as 
 refreshing to the soul as draughts of 
 fresh water to the thirsty traveller. 
 As a large portion of the water made 
 use of in Oriental countries is rain col- 
 lected in cisterns, we may see how nat- 
 ural it would be to attribute a peculiar 
 value, and apply an expressive name, to 
 springs or streams of running water. 
 
 20. The water is ours. ' The cause 
 of these differences seems to have been, 
 that a question arose whether wells dug 
 by Abraham's and Isaac's people within 
 the territories of Gerar belonged to the 
 people who digged them, or those who 
 enjoyed the territorial right. The real 
 motive of the opposition of the people 
 of Gerar, and their stopping up the wells 
 made by yibraham, seems to have been 
 7* 
 
 sajdng, The water is ours : and he 
 called the name of the well Esek ; 
 because they strove with him. 
 
 to discourage the visits of such power- 
 ful persons to their territory ; for other- 
 wise the wells would have been suffer 
 ed to remain on account of their utility 
 to the nation. Stopping up the wells is 
 still an act of hostility in the East. Mr. 
 Roberts says that it is so in India, where 
 one person who hates another will 
 sometimes send his slaves in the night to 
 fill up the well of the latter, or else to pol- 
 lute it by throwing in the carcases of un- 
 clean animals. However, of all people in 
 the world, none know so well as the Arabs 
 the value of water, and the importance 
 of wells, and hence they never wanton- 
 ly do them harm. They think it an act 
 of great merit in the sight of God to dig 
 a well ; and culpable in an equal degree 
 to destroy one. The wells in the des- 
 erts are in general the exclusive proper- 
 ty either of a whole tribe, or of individ- 
 uals whose ancestors dug them. The 
 posesssion of a well is never ahenated ; 
 perhaps because the Arabs are firmly 
 persuaded that the owner of a well is 
 sure to prosper in all his undertaking?, 
 since the blessings of all who drink 
 his water fall upon him. The stopping 
 of Abraham's wells by the Philistines, 
 the re-opening of them by Isaac, and 
 the restoration of their former names — 
 the commemorative names given to 
 the new wells, and the strifes about 
 them between those who had sunk them 
 and the people of the land — are all cir- 
 cumstances highly characteristic of 
 those countries in which the want of 
 rivers and brooks during summer ren- 
 ders the tribes dependent upon the well 
 for the very existence of the flocks am! 
 herds which form their wealth. It would 
 seem that the Philistines did not again 
 stop the wells while Isaac was in their 
 country. It is probab'e that the wells 
 successively sunk by Isaac did not fur- 
 nish water sufncient for both his own 
 
78 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1804. 
 
 21 Andthey digged another well, 
 and strove for that also : and he 
 called the name of it Sitnah. 
 
 22 And he removed from thence, 
 and digged another well; and for 
 that thev strove not: and he called 
 
 herds and those of Gerar, and thus the 
 question became one of exclusive right. 
 Such questions often lead to bitter and 
 bloody quarrels in the East ; and it was 
 probably to avoid the last result of an 
 appeal to arms that Isaac withdrew out 
 of the more settled country towards the 
 Desert, where he might enjoy the use of 
 his wells in peace. Whether the wells 
 sunk or re-opened by Isaac were sub- 
 servient to the agricultural pursuits men- 
 tioned in V. 12, does not appear; but, 
 having stated the importance of water 
 to the shepherds, we may subjoin its 
 value to the agriculturist, as exemplified 
 in Persia. In that country, the govern- 
 ment dutj' on agricultural produce is 
 always regulated according to the ad- 
 vantages or disadvantages of the soil 
 with respect to water. Those lands 
 that depend solely on rain, are almost 
 never cultivated ; those that are water- 
 ed from wells or reservoirs pay five per 
 cent, on the produce : those that get a 
 supply of water from aqueducts pay fif- 
 teen per cent., and those that have the 
 advantage of a flowing stream pay 
 twenty per cent. These rates are after 
 deducting the seed, and allowing ten 
 oer cent, for the reapers and threshers, 
 (See Malcolm's ' History of Persia,' vol. 
 
 ii. p. 473.r—Pict. Bible. IT Esek. 
 
 That is, confentiGTi, strife, wrangling. 
 The Gr. renders the clause, ' And they 
 called the name of the well aSiKiav, rjSi- 
 Knaav yap avrov, injury (or wrong), be- 
 cause they injured (or wronged) him.'' ' It 
 is often the lot of even the most quiet 
 and peaceable, that, though they avoid 
 striving, they cannot avoid being striven 
 with. In this sense Jeremiah was a 
 man of contention,' Jer 15. 10, and 
 
 the name of it Rehoboth ; and no 
 said, For now the Lord hath made 
 room for us, and we shall * be fruit- 
 ful in the land. 
 
 23 And he went up from thence 
 to Beer-sheba. 
 
 a ch. 17. 6. & 23. 3. & 41. 52. Exod. 1. 7. 
 
 Christ himself, though the Prince of 
 Peace.' — Henry. 
 
 21. Sitnah. That is, hatred, spiteful- 
 ness. From the same root with ' Sit- 
 nah,' (viz. YJ5 satan) is derived ' Satan' 
 an adversary, or hater, a well-known ap- 
 pellation of the Evil Spirit. 
 
 22. Rehoboth. That is, room, enlarge- 
 ment, free space; a plural term in the 
 original, and properly conveying the 
 idea o{ ampliiude vi'\i\\ special emphasis. 
 The two former names carried with 
 them by implication a charge of t«ro?i^- 
 ful strife and hostility against the Phi- 
 listines, who had thus defrauded him of 
 the fruit of his labor, while the latter 
 was expressive of his gratitude to God. 
 whose kind providence had at length 
 removed hiin beyond the region of these 
 molestations and conflicts. Tlie Psalm 
 ist, in acknowledging, Ps. 4. 2, the di- 
 vine deliverance, makes use of a term 
 derived from the same root, ' Thou hasi 
 enlarged me ("^^ rl^nnn hirhaUa li, thou 
 hast made room for me) when I was in 
 distress.' 
 
 23. He U)ent up from thence to Beer- 
 sheba. Whh the reasons which led to 
 this removal \vc are not made acquainted 
 He would naturally feel attached to the 
 place where Abraham had sojourned, 
 where he had so often called his house- 
 hold together for the worship of Jeho- 
 vah, and where every object would 
 serve to remind the son of the covenant 
 blessings pledged to the father. But, 
 whatever were his immediate induce- 
 ments, it was obviously a step prepara- 
 tory, on tlie part of God, to a larger 
 measure of consolation than he had for 
 some time afforded to his servant. Af- 
 ter having been insulted and outraged 
 
S. C. 1804.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVr. 
 
 79 
 
 24 And the Loed appeared unto 
 fiim the same night, and said, ^ I 
 'Um the God of Abraham thy father: 
 ^ fear not, for ^ I &m with thee, and 
 
 b ch. 17. 7. & 24. 12. & 28. 13. Exod. 3. 6. 
 Acts 7.32. cch. 15. 1. dver. 3, 4. 
 
 by the Philistines, he needed especial 
 encouragement, and God immediately 
 appears to comfort and support liim in 
 his trials by a renewal of his promises. 
 -' Because,' says Calvin, ' one word of 
 God weighs more with the faithfvd than 
 the greatest abundance of earthly good, 
 it is not to be doubted that this revela- 
 tion was more precious to Isaac than 
 If a thousand rivers had flown with nec- 
 tar. And Moses must be presumed to 
 have set forth this gracious manifesta- 
 tion with the express design of teaching 
 us so to estimate the gifts of God, as 
 «ver to assign the palm to the testimo- 
 ny of his paternal love imparted thi'ough 
 his word. Food, raiment, health, peace, 
 and all our prosperous issues, give us, 
 indeed, a taste of the divine beneficence ; 
 but it is only when he familiarly ad- 
 dresses us, and makes himself known as 
 our father, that we are filled to satiety.' 
 34. And the Lord appeared unto him, 
 ojc. No doubt by the usual visible sym- 
 bol of the Shekinah. Such appearances 
 would tend to quicken attention, con- 
 firm faith, and inspire reverence towards 
 the word uttered. The vision of the eye 
 would deepen the impression made by a 
 simple voice, and remove every doubt 
 of the reality of the revelation. Satan 
 may indeed transform himself into an 
 angel of light, and play off his illusions 
 upon a distempered or corrupt imagina- 
 tion ; but the visions of God's glory car- 
 ry their own evidence with them, and 
 exempt their subjects from the danger 
 of mistake. Such revelations, howev- 
 er, are necessarily partial. The full 
 display of the Godhead is never to be 
 understood by such expressions as that 
 of the text ; for human nature, in its 
 feebleness, would sink at once under 
 su/jh an overpowering disclosure. God 
 
 will bless thee, and multiply thy 
 seed for my servant Abraham's 
 sake. 
 
 "25 And he * builded an altar there, 
 
 ^ch. 12.7. & 13. 18. 
 
 appeared to Isaac only so far as he was 
 
 enabled to bear it. 
 
 -IT I am the God i 
 
 Abraham, 4'c. These promises are the 
 same for substance as were made to him 
 on his going to Gerar, v. 2 — 4. But the 
 same truths are new to us under new 
 circumstances, and toucb our hearts 
 with all their original sustaining and re- 
 freshing power. This prefatory decla- 
 ration would at once renew the memo- 
 ry of all the promises before made, and 
 direct the mind of Isaac to that abiding 
 covenant entered into with Abraham, 
 and to be transmitted to his posterity. A 
 self-righteous spirit would perhaps have 
 been offended at the idea of being bless- 
 ed /or another's sake ; but he who walk- 
 ed in the steps of his father's faith would 
 enjoy it ; and by how much he loved 
 him for whose sake it was bestowed, by 
 so mucli would his enjoyment be the 
 greater. 
 
 25. He huilded an altar there, &c. As 
 an expression of his gratfeful sense of 
 the divi.ne goodness on the present oc- 
 casion, and as a part of his habitual prac- 
 tice as a pious man, he set up the stated 
 worship of God on the spot which had 
 been consecrated by similar observan- 
 ces in the days of his father. Gen. 12. 
 7.— 13. 18. 'We are no better than 
 brute beasts if, contenting ourselves 
 with a natural use of the creatures, we 
 rise not up to the Atithor ; if, instead of 
 being temples of his praise, we become 
 graves of his benefits. Isaac first built 
 an altar, and then digged a weW^ —Trapp. 
 
 IT Pitched his tent there. Heb. tO'^ yet, 
 
 stretched out, extended. This is not the 
 word usually employed to signify the 
 act of pitching-, planting, or locating a 
 tent ; but properly implies that kind of 
 extension in an encampment of tents 
 ^{^liich would be caused by an addition 
 
80 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1804. 
 
 and *■ called upon the name of the 
 Lord, and pitched his tent there : 
 and there Isaac's servants digged a 
 well. 
 
 26 H Then Abimelech went to 
 him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one 
 
 fPs. 116. 17. 
 
 to the number of occupants. The &rigi 
 nal term occurs Is. 54. 2, ' Enlarge the 
 place of thy tent, and let them stretch 
 forth the curtains of thy habitations ; 
 spare not, lengthen thy cords, strength- 
 en thy stakes.' This affords the true 
 clew to the meaning of the passage be- 
 fore us. Isaac's regular maintenance of 
 the worship of God was the means of 
 gathering to his establishment a consid- 
 erable number of proselytes, and this 
 was the reason of his stretching or ex- 
 tending his tent, or rather his tents, as 
 
 the import of the term is plural. 
 
 f There Isaac's servants digged a well. 
 It cannot but appear singular that when 
 this place had received its name from a 
 well, Isaac should again have sought to 
 find water, especially as Abraham had 
 purchased the right of the well for him- 
 self and his posterity. Add to tliis, that 
 the digging of a well in that rocky re- 
 gion was a very arduous undertaking, 
 as is clearly intimated by the fact of 
 the discovery of water being communi- 
 cated to Isaac, V. 32, as a very impor- 
 tant piece of intelligence. Why then 
 was a new well attempted to be dug ? 
 The probabihty, we think is, that from 
 a malignant opposition to his character 
 or his religion, there was a concerted 
 plan among the natives, to drive that 
 holy man from their territories by cut- 
 ting off the necessary supply of water 
 for his flocks and herds, and that in the 
 execution of this nefarious project, they 
 had stopped up this well at Beer-sheba, 
 as well as the others mentioned above. 
 26. Abimelech went to him. One would 
 scarcely have expected that after driv- 
 ing him, in a manner, out of their coun- 
 try, the Philistines would have had any 
 
 of his friends^ &and Phichol the 
 chief captain of his army. 
 
 27 And Isaac said unto them^ 
 Wherefore coise ye to me, seeing 
 ^ ye hate me, and have ' sent me 
 away from you ? 
 
 ech. 21.22. ^Judg. 11. 7. i ver. 1&. 
 
 more to ssy to Mm. Bat AbiraelecV 
 and some of his courtiers are induced 
 to pay him a visit. They were not easy 
 when he was with them, and now they 
 seem hardly satisfied when he has left 
 them. Afraid, prolxibly, of hjs growing 
 power, and conscious that they had 
 treated him unkindly, they now seem 
 to wish for their own sakes to adjusS 
 these differences before they proceeded 
 
 any farther. IT Ahuzzath one of his 
 
 friends. Heb. 1n!>^'*3 rTHJ^ Ahuzzath 
 mereahu. This is rendered appellative- 
 ly by the Chal. ' A company or retinue 
 of his friends.' TheGr. more plausibly 
 regards it as a proper name, rendering it 
 Oxo^olQ vvn(paycoyr} avTon, Ochozath his 
 paranymph ; i. fe. the leader of the bride^ 
 or he who conducts the bride from her 
 father's house to the house of her future 
 husband. The same word occurs in 
 the Gr. version of Judg. 14, 22, render- 
 ed in the Eng. translation companion 
 See Note in loo. In the New Testa- 
 ment, the same personage is called tin. 
 friend of the bridegroom, John, 3. 29. 
 
 27. Isaac said unto them, &c. Isaac, 
 while they acted as enemies, bore it pa- 
 tiently, as a part of his lot in an evil 
 world ; but now that they want to be 
 thought friends, and to renew covenant 
 with him, he feels keenly, and speaks 
 his mind ; ' Wherefore come ye to me, 
 seeing ye hate me,' &c. We can bear 
 that from an avowed adversary which 
 we cannot bear from a professed friend ; 
 nor is it any transgression of the law of 
 meekness and love plainly to signify 
 our strong perception of the injuries re- 
 ceived, and to stand on our guard in 
 dealing with those who have once acted 
 unfairly. 
 
B, C. 1790.] 
 
 28 And they said, We saw cer- 
 tainly that the Lord ^' was with thee: 
 and we said, Let there be now an 
 oath betwixt us, eveii betwixt us 
 and thee, and let us make a cove- 
 nant with thee : 
 
 29 That thou wilt do us no hurt, 
 
 kcli.21.22, 23. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 81 
 
 28. We saw certainly, &c. Heb. li^'n 
 13 ^5^") raoh rainu, seeing we saw. Had 
 they, then, any true regard for Isaac's 
 God, or for him on that account? We 
 fear not. But ' when a man's ways 
 please the Lord, even his enemies shall 
 be at peace with him,' and there is 
 something sacred in the character of 
 a good man, to which the wicked often 
 pay an involuntary tribute of respect 
 and admiration. Discarding the envy 
 which he may have cherished, he 
 comes to do homage to a man highly 
 favored of the Lord. The worst of 
 men often find it for their interest to 
 live on good terms with the wise and 
 the pious, while the good cleave to each 
 other not from policy, but from af- 
 fection. U" That the Lord teas with 
 
 thee. Chal. 'That the Word of the 
 Lord was thine help.' Such a confession 
 from such a source is fraught with a 
 useful lesson. When profane or world- 
 ly men pronounce him blessed of the 
 Lord, whose temporal affairs prosper, 
 they do in effect acknowledge that God 
 is the sole author of every good ; and 
 if others refer our mercies to this source, 
 we shall be guilty of enormous ingrati- 
 tude not to express for ourselves the 
 same devout recognition of the divine 
 
 benefits. ^ Let there be now an oath, 
 
 &c. Heb. (1^54 alah, an oath of execra- 
 tion. Gr. apa, a curse ; i. e. an oath im- 
 precating a curse upon the breaker of it. 
 The Chal., however, understands it 
 somewhat difTerently ; ' Let now the 
 oath which was between our fathers be 
 
 confirmed between us and thee.' 
 
 11" Make a covenant. Heb. * Cut a cove- 
 nant ;' as usual. 
 
 as we have not touched thee, and 
 as we have done unto thee nothing 
 hut good, and have sent thee away 
 in peace : ' thou art now. the bless- 
 ed of the Lord. 
 
 SO "^ And he made them a feast, 
 and they did eat and drink. 
 
 •■ ch. 24. 31. Ps. 115. 15. ^ ch. 19. 3. 
 
 29. That thou wilt do iis, &c. Heb 
 ' If thou shalt do us,' &c. That is, 
 'taking a curse upon thee, r/thou shalt 
 do us hurt.' ^ As we have not touch- 
 ed thee, &c. We cannot, of course, but 
 commend Abimelech and his people 
 for wishing to be on good terms with 
 such a man as Isaac, but what shall 
 be thought of their assertion that they 
 'had done unto him nothing but good, 
 and had sent him away in peace V 
 Surely they must have known, and 
 he must have felt, the contrary to be 
 true. They had, indeed, at first, in a 
 courteous manner, shown the rites of 
 hospitahty to Isaac, but ere long their 
 kindness was changed to hatred, and 
 this hatred to persecution. But this is 
 the very spirit of the native self-com- 
 placency of the human heart, and a spe- 
 cimen of its proneness to lose sight of its 
 own demerits. We magnify the slightest 
 offices of good neighborhood into such 
 stupendous acts of charity, that they 
 completely eclipse all other conduct of a 
 
 contrary description. IT Thou art now 
 
 the blessed of the Lord. As if he should 
 say, ' Since God hath so abundantly 
 blessed thee, thou canst afford to forget 
 the slight annoyance experienced from 
 the contentionof our servants with thine.' 
 
 30. And he made them a feast, &c. As 
 Isaac was of a peaceable spirit, and un- 
 willing to sharpen the reproaches which 
 their own consciences administered to 
 them, he admitted their plea, though a 
 poor one, and treated them generously. 
 The providing and partaking of a ban- 
 quet by the parties appears to have 
 been a usual appendage to the ratify- 
 ing of a covenant. See Gen. 31. 54. 
 
83 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1796. 
 
 31 And they rose up betimes in 
 the morning-, and " sware one to 
 another : and Isaac sent them away, 
 and they departed from him in 
 peace. 
 
 32 And it came to pass the same 
 day, that Isaac's servants came and 
 told him concerning the well which 
 they had <iigged, and said unto him, 
 We have found water. 
 
 " ch. 21. 31. 
 
 31. Sware one to another. Heb. IS^Jj^ 
 l^nj^b ^«^ leahiv, a man to Ms brother. 
 Gr. sKuaros rco TrXrjinov, each to his neigh- 
 bor. 
 
 33. Called it Shebah. Heb. nS^-r 
 shebah. That is, he confirmed and rati- 
 fied this name, which had been before 
 given it by Abraham, Gen. 21.31, va- 
 rying it, however, by the addition of tlio 
 emphatic letter |^ h, which may perhaps 
 have been intended to convey the idea 
 oi fullness, satisfaction, resulting from 
 the blessing obtained. Or the meaning 
 may be, that the name had been given 
 by Abraham to the ' place,' i. e. the re- 
 gion, in which the well was situated ; 
 but that it was now given to the partic- 
 ular spot near the well, where the city 
 of Beer-sheba was afterwards built. 
 However this may be, such, at any rate, 
 was the name (Beer-sheba) by which 
 the city was subsequently called to the 
 time when the history was written. 
 
 34. Took to wife Judith the daughter of 
 Beeri the Hitlite. From the period men- 
 tioned in the preceding verse, a delight- 
 ful calm of eighteen years ensued, of 
 Avhich no record remains for our instruc- 
 tion, but which, from the well-known 
 character of Isaac, we cannot doubt 
 was so passed as to be had in everlasting 
 remembrance with God. At the end 
 of that period, his domestic peace was 
 again disturbed by the waywardness of 
 his favorite son. The patriarch bore 
 in mind the extreme anxiety of his fath- 
 er Abraham lest he should form an 
 
 ;33 And he called it Shebah: 
 ° therefore the name of the city is 
 Beer-sheba unto this day. 
 
 34TT p And Esau was forty years 
 old when he took to wife Judith the 
 daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and 
 Bashemath the daughter of Elon the 
 Hittite : 
 
 35 Which 1 were a grief of mind 
 unto Isaac and to Rebekah. 
 
 och.21. 31. Pch.36. 2. 
 28. 1, 8. 
 
 ch. 27. 46. & 
 
 idolatrous connexion, and therefore, ani- 
 mated by the same pious sentiments, he 
 was naturally desirous that his sons 
 should follow his example. How then 
 must his paternal feehngs have been 
 shocked to find his favorite Esau, with- 
 out consulting him, introducing two Ca- 
 naanitish wives at once into the holy 
 family ! In this high-handed measure 
 there was a double evil. It was, on the 
 one hand, being unequally yoked with 
 infidelity ; and, on the other, it was up- 
 holding a practice which has ever been, 
 and ever will be, fatal to domestic peace. 
 The daughter of an Hittite would na- 
 turally be disposed to interrupt the re- 
 hgious harmony that prevailed ; and 
 two wives at once would as certainly 
 be disposed to annoy each other, and 
 embroil the whole household in their 
 quarrels. The consequences, we learn, 
 were precisely such as might have been 
 anticipated. Both the parents were 
 grieved, and their lives embittered, by 
 the step. Such is the return which pa- 
 rents are sometimes fated to meet with 
 for all that profusion of tenderness and 
 affection which they lavish upon their 
 offspring ; for all their wearisome days 
 and sleepless nights. 
 
 35. Which were a grief of mind, &c, 
 Heb. mi n1?3 morath ruah, a bitterness 
 of spirit. Gr. ricrav £pi§ovaai were con- 
 tentious with Isaac and Rebekah. Chal. 
 'They were rebelhoiis and stubborn 
 against the rtl^ndate of Isaac and Re- 
 bekah.' The idea of both these an- 
 
K. C 1760.] 
 
 CHAPTER xxvn 
 
 as 
 
 CHAPTER XXVil. were dim, so that he could not see, 
 
 A ND it came to pass, that when: he called Esau his eldest son, and 
 -i^^ Isaac was old, and " his eyes | said unto hiin, My son : and he said 
 ■■^ch. 4«. 10. 1 Sam. 3. 2. j unto him, Behold, here am I. 
 
 cient versions accords with what some ofhisfother. The second, commenciiiL' 
 have thought to be the true sense ofathis father's death, and ending in his 
 the Hebrew, viz. that they were of a j one hundred and thirty-seventh year. 
 rebellious spirit, as the original TiTC when it pleased God to visit him witl- 
 
 may be derived either from "1"','^ marar, 
 to be bitter, or from ni!^ inarah, to rebel. 
 The sense is, no doubt, substantially the 
 same, whichever etymology we adopt ; 
 but as the grammatical form of the word 
 favors the former construction, and as 
 we find elsewhere, Prov. 14. 10, the par- 
 allel phrase i!J 53 tTi;^ morrath nephesh, 
 bitterness of soul, we conclude that that is 
 the more correct of the two. The Jerusa- 
 lem Targum attributes to them the posi- 
 tive practice of idolatry ; — ' They serv- 
 ed God with strange service, and receiv- 
 ed not the instruction of Isaac or Re- 
 bekah.' But the disquiet which it pro- 
 duced, was no doubt overruled to a hap- 
 py result. Had the aged couple found 
 these daughters-in-law mild, gentle, and 
 amiable in their deportment, it is easy 
 to see that this circumstance might 
 have tended gradually to work a kindly 
 spirit towards the reprobate race from 
 which they sprang, and led in the end 
 perhaps to a general amalgamation of 
 two peoples designed by God to be 
 kept perpetually distinct. But the do- 
 mestic jars which arose from this ill- 
 assorted union, went undoubtedly to 
 counteract any undue bias in this direc- 
 tion in the minds of Isaac and Rebekah. 
 Thus a wise and benignant providence 
 extracts good out of evil. 
 
 CHAPTER xxvn. 
 The Ufe of Isaac may be divided into 
 three periods. The first, containing sev- 
 enty-five years, from his birth to the 
 death of Abraham, during which, being 
 under parental government, and of a 
 meek, unassuming disposition, his histo- 
 ry is blended with and included in that 
 
 extreme weakness, and a total loss oi 
 eye-sight, contains the space of sixty- 
 two years, which may be called his ac- 
 tive period. To this succeeds a dreary 
 period of forty-three years to the day of 
 his death, during which we see an in- 
 firm, dark old man, holding fast, on the 
 whole, his integrity and his confidence 
 in God, but placed by his physical and 
 mental infirmities so much at the dispos- 
 al of others, as to become inadvertently 
 the source of the most trying embarrass- 
 ments and disunions in his own family. 
 How this happened, it is the object of 
 the present chapter to relate ; and in 
 following the thread of the narrative, we 
 are struck with the feature so peculiar 
 to the inspired historians of merely 
 relating their story without interposing 
 any comments of their own. In the 
 account of Jacob's obtaining the bless- 
 ing by subtlety from his father, no cen- 
 sure is passed upon his conduct by 
 Moses ; and an inadvertent reader might 
 consider it only in the light of a trick, 
 displaying considerable ingenuity of 
 contrivance, and dexterity of execution, 
 but not, perhaps, as involving any special 
 moral delinquency. But though the sa- 
 cred writer does not stop to descant upon 
 Jacob's guilt, yet the subsequent history 
 plainly discovers a just providence pun- 
 ishing his sin, and reads to us a most in- 
 structive lesson on the baneful effects of 
 fraud. 
 
 1. When Isaac was old. The age to 
 which he had now attained is stated 
 above. He seems for some reason to 
 have been impressed with the idea that 
 he was at this time near his end, though 
 he lived upwards of forty years from 
 
84 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 2 And he said, Behold now, I am 
 old, I ^know not the day of my 
 death. 
 
 3 <= Now therefore take, I pray 
 thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and 
 
 bProv.27. 1. Jam. 4. 14, 
 
 ch. 25.27,28, 
 
 the date of this event. IT Called Esau 
 
 his eldest son. Heb. bl^n IjS I"!*^ Esau 
 beno haggadol, Esau his son the great ; 
 ir e. the greater or older ; a usage al- 
 ready explained, Gen. 10. 21.— 25. 23. 
 The whole of the ensuing narrative 
 makes it plain that, notwithstanding 
 Esau's perverse and undutiful carriage 
 towards his father in marrying into the 
 stock of Canaan, he was still the ob- 
 ject of his doting partiality. 
 
 3. Thy weapons. The Heb. 'ibS Me 
 signifies properly vessels, implements, 
 utensils of any kind ; and it is probable 
 that our Eng. word ' weapons,' instead 
 of being exclusively applied to armor, or 
 warlike instruments, was formerly used 
 in a like general sense. The old Gene- 
 va version has, more correctly, ' instru- 
 ments.' IT Take me some venison. 
 
 Heb. rrr^^ 'lb mis tzudah li tznyidah, 
 hunt me a hunting, i. e. game, of what- 
 ever kind. 
 
 4. Make me savoury meat. Heb. 
 lD'^)2^t3?3 matammim, from tS'ta iaam, to 
 taste. ' There are several points in this 
 account that require explanation. One 
 is, how it happened that Isaac should 
 direct Esau to go hunting, to get him 
 venison, when, as it seems from the re- 
 sult, a ' kid of the goats' (that is, a young 
 kid still sucking the dam) would have 
 done as well. The fact is that the ori- 
 ental shepherds seldom, except to enter- 
 tain a stranger, think of diminishing their 
 flocks to supply themselves with meat. 
 They are as glad of any game that falls 
 in their way as if tliey had not a sheep 
 or goat in their possession ; and it was 
 quite natural that such ' a cunning hunt- 
 er' as Esau should rather be directed to 
 go out into the fields and shoot game 
 
 thy bow, and go out to the field, 
 and take me some venison ; 
 
 4 And make me savoury meat, 
 such as 1 love, and bring ii to me 
 that I may eat ; that my soul ''maj 
 bless thee before I die. 
 
 J ver. 27. ch. 48. 9, 15. & 49. 23. Dent. H3. 1. 
 
 than to go and fetch kids from the flock. 
 Another thingis, hovvthc flesh of young 
 kids could be imposed upon Isaac for 
 venison : but if by venison is to be un- 
 derstood the flesh of a young gazelle, 
 which is by no means clear, the differ- 
 ence between it and that of a young 
 kid is not great, as we know from per- 
 sonal experience ; and a still greater 
 difference would be lost, even to per- 
 sons with senses more acute than Isaac's 
 were at this time, when disguised by the 
 strong flavors, salt, spicy, sour, or sweet, 
 which the Orientals are fond of giving 
 to their more luxurious dishes. We have 
 often hesitated at an oriental supper to 
 determine of what meat the strongly- 
 seasoned, or highly-acidulated, or sweet- 
 ened, messes set before us were com- 
 posed. As Isaac intended a particular 
 indulgence, there is no doubt that the 
 utmost resources of patriarchal cookery 
 were employed upon the dish prepared 
 for him. The word ' matamim' has a 
 more extensive signification than the 
 word ' savoury,' here used to translate 
 it . It means in general any thing highly 
 grateful to the taste, and may express 
 any of the more self-indulgent prepara- 
 tions admired by the Orientals ; all 
 whose most esteemed dishes are satu- 
 rated with butter or fat — highly season- 
 ed with salt, spices, garlic, and onions- 
 sharpened WMth vegetable acids, or 
 sweetened with honey or vegetable 
 sweets. Sometimes the oleaginous, the 
 saline, the spicy, the sweet, and the 
 sour, concur to aggrandize and mystify 
 the same dish. If Jacob's kids had 
 been roasted whole, in the way formerly 
 mentioned, after being stuffed with 
 raisins, pistachio nuts, almonds, and 
 
B. C. 1760. 
 
 CAlAVVi'Wi XXVfL 
 
 95 
 
 5 And Rebekah heard when 
 Isaac spake to Esau his son : and 
 Esau went to the field to hunt /or 
 venison, and to bring it. 
 
 husked corn or rice, the result would 
 have been a most savoury dish, now 
 much admired in the East, and which a 
 man with all his senses in perfection 
 would not readily distinguish from a 
 j-oung gazelle similarly treated.' Pict. 
 
 Bible. !r That my soul may bless 
 
 thee, 4'C. That is, that Jmay bless thee, 
 as V. 7 ; soul being often used in Heb. 
 for one's person. See Note on Gen. 2. 7. 
 But wherein consisted the blessing 
 which was now about to be bestowed, 
 and why was savory meat required in 
 order to the bestowment of it ? It can- 
 not be doubted that, from such a father 
 as Isaac, a common blessing was to be 
 expected on all his children ; but in this 
 family, there was a peculiar blessing per- 
 taining to the first born — a solemn, ex- 
 traordinary, prophetical benediction, en- 
 tailing the covenant blessing of Abra- 
 ham, with all the promises, temporal and 
 spiritual, belonging to it, and by which 
 his posterity were to be distinguished as 
 God's peculiar people. This was the 
 blessing which Isaac was now about to 
 bestow, and, by way of preparative to 
 the solemn act, he calls for a dish of his 
 favorite food. The reason of this is not 
 entirely obvious ; but, as the transmis- 
 sion of the covenant blessing was sup- 
 posed to be performed with the special 
 and powerful concurrence of the Holy 
 Spirit, very great weight and solemnity 
 were attached to it ; and as certain 
 states of the animal system were sup- 
 posed to be more favorable than others 
 to th*f illapses of the Spirit, as is evident 
 from the effect of music on the pro- 
 phets, 2 Kings 3. 14, 15, it is not unlikely 
 that Isaac designed, by eating savory 
 meat nnd drinking wine, v. 25, so to re- 
 vive the languid tone of nature, so to 
 refresh and exhilarate all his physical 
 VOL. If. 
 
 6 "iT And Rebekah spake unto 
 Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I 
 heard thy father speak unto Esau 
 thy brother, saying, 
 
 powers, that, like an instrument of mu- 
 sic perfectly attuned, he might render 
 himself a more fit organ of the oracular 
 impulses of the Holy Ghost. At the 
 same time we cannot but regard the 
 suggestion of Adam Clarke, on this 
 subject as highly plausible, viz: 'That, 
 as eadng and drinking were used 
 among the Asiatics on almost all re- 
 ligious occasions, it is reasonable to 
 suppose that something of this kind was 
 essentially necessary on this occasion ; 
 and that Isaac could not convey the 
 right, till he had eaten of the meat pro- 
 vided for the purpose by him who waa 
 to receive the blessing.' This hypothe- 
 sis may be admitted in entire consisten- 
 cy with what we have said of the patri- 
 arch's design to refresh himself by 
 suitable and grateful nourishment for 
 the work before him. As to his purpose 
 of conferring the blessing upon Esau 
 rather than upon Jacob, it is, perhaps, 
 too much to afHrm that in this he went 
 intentionally counter to the divine coun- 
 sels. We cannot be positively certain 
 that he was acquainted with the oracle. 
 Gen. 25. 23, announcing that the elder 
 should serve the younger, or that he 
 knew of Esau's seUing his birth-right ; 
 still, it is not easy to conceive of his hav- 
 ing been ignorant of them ; and just in 
 proportion to the probability of his being 
 informed on this head is the difficulty of 
 accounting for his conduct. As the sacred 
 narrative afTords us no clue on the sub- 
 ject, we are, perhaps, shut up to a mere- 
 ly hypothetical solution, viz. that, his 
 partiality for Esau, and the custom of 
 the elder son being heir, led him to forget, 
 misunderstand, or disregard the previ- 
 ous intimation of the divine will. 
 
 6 — 10. And Rebekah spake unto Jacob, 
 <^c. We now come to a detailed ac- 
 
85 
 
 Gi^iXl^SiS. 
 
 P>.r, 1760= 
 
 7 Bring me venison, nnd make i and bh^ss thee before the Lord, he- 
 me savoury meat, that I may eat, fore my death. 
 
 count of the stratagem by which the 
 blessing was diverted from Esau, and 
 conferred upon Jacob ; and we cannot 
 but pause in astonishment, at beholding 
 a person of Rebekah'sexemplarj^ char- 
 acter devising such a plot, and a plain 
 man like Jacob, executing it in accord- 
 ance with her wishes — a plot to deceive a 
 holy and aged man. a husband, a parent, 
 in the very hour of his expected decease, 
 and in a transaction of the most sacred 
 importance. We cannot, indeed, sup- 
 pose this to have been their ordinary 
 mode of acting ; and this renders it not a 
 little surprising that tliey should all at 
 once have shown themselves such profi- 
 cients in the arts of dissimulation and 
 fraud. But, although the measure was ut- 
 terly unjustifiable and base, yet, as we 
 cannot at this distance of time, put our- 
 selves into the precise position of the 
 parties, nor possess ourselves of the ex- 
 act state of mind by which it was prompt- 
 ed, this fact should somewhat soften our 
 condemnation. On the one hand, it is 
 clear that God designed that Jacob should 
 have the blessing, and that Rebekah 
 was aware of this design. There is 
 every reason to believe, also, that sjie 
 highly prized the blessing, and was in- 
 fluenced by a principle of sincere faith 
 in seeking to obtain it ; and so far she 
 is to be commended. But the scheme 
 which she formed to compass the end 
 was exceedingly culpable. She had no 
 right to suppose that treachery and false- 
 hood, were under any circumstances, 
 admissible in bringing about the divine 
 purposes. It is as high presumption for 
 men to think that their cunning is need- 
 ed to accomplish God's purposes, as that 
 by their cunning they can defeat 
 them. Rebekah'3 wag, therefore, a 
 crooked policy, wholly at variance 
 with the simplicity of a child of God ; 
 and not only .^o.it was an expedient ihat 
 
 I was not barely sinful, but unnecessary 
 1 As she had been assured by a divine ora 
 cle that the elder should serve the young' 
 er^ as the birthright was transferable, 
 and Jacob had actually purchased ii 
 the proper course would have been for 
 I her and Jacob to have set the matter 
 1 plainly before Isaac ; and by arguments, 
 
 expostulations, and entreaties, urged 
 him thus to comply with what was evi- 
 dently the will of heaven. Isaac was a 
 pious man, and would scarcely have 
 dared to set liimself knowingly against 
 the counsels of God. This should have 
 been their first effort, and, had it failed, 
 still they should have borne it in mind 
 that God was able to overrule his actions 
 and to constrain him, as he afterwards 
 did Jacob himself, to cross his hands, 
 and, even against his will, to trans- 
 fer (he blessing to him for whom it 
 was designed. They should have 
 committed the result implicidy to him. 
 He might be safely left with the exe- 
 cution of his own purposes. The sin of 
 deceiving a man into what is right, dif- 
 fers litde from the sin of deceiving him 
 into what is wrong. The effect of the sin 
 may indeed be different, but its moral 
 character, in the eyes of Omniscience, 
 is substantially the same. On the whole, 
 after every abatement, we cannot but 
 severely condemn the conduct of Re- 
 bekah and Jacob. The slightest devia- 
 tion from the straight-forward princi- 
 ples of integrity and honesty, is con- 
 trary to the very genius and actings of 
 a true faith ; and though the event was 
 overruled to good, yet this was no jus- 
 tification of the parties concerned. Evil 
 ceases not to be evil, because God 
 
 makes it redound to his glory. 
 
 IT Bless thee he/ore the Lord. That is, 
 with special solemnity, with a blessing t'» 
 be pronounced as in the divine presence, 
 and sanctione'.l by the divine authority 
 
B. C. 1760.T 
 
 CHAPTER XXVil. 
 
 S7 
 
 8 Now therefore, my son, " obey 
 my voice, according to t.'iat which I 
 command thee. 
 
 9 Go now to the flock, and fetch 
 me from thence two good kids of the 
 goats ; and I will make them '"sa- 
 voury meat for thy father, such as 
 he loveth : 
 
 10 And thou shalt bring it to 
 thy father, that he may eat, and 
 
 ver. 13. f ver. 4. 
 
 11. And Jacob said to Rehekah, <^-c. 
 The feelings of Jacob instinctively re- 
 volt at the proposition of his mother, 
 and he remonstrates against it. Would 
 that he had duly heeded the warning of 
 the internal monitor, which, with far 
 greater authority than that of Rebekah, 
 was saying to him, ' Obey mi/ voice, ac- 
 cording to that which /command thee !' 
 But the remonstrance, such as it was, 
 loses nearly all its merit by being found- 
 ed on the consequences of the act, and 
 not on the act itself. He seems not to 
 have been struck by the enormity of 
 the deed as an ofTence against God. 
 How great the contrast between his 
 reasoning on this occasion, and that of his 
 son Joseph when assaulted by a pow- 
 erful temptation. ' 1 shall bring a curse 
 upon me, and not a blessing,' said the 
 one ; ' How shall I do this great wicked- 
 ness, and sin against God,' said the other. 
 But we learn from the sequel, that as he 
 now sowed, so he afterwards reaped. 
 
 12. J shall seem to him as a deceiver. 
 Heb. 5>.~l!?n'^D kimtataa, as one that 
 causeth greatly to err, or, as a very de- 
 ceiver. The original from n^n to loan- 
 der, to err, is of an intensive form, con- 
 veying a meaning, the exact shade of 
 which cannot well be transfused into 
 Englifh. Gr. 'As one despising him.' 
 Chal. ' As one mocking him.' The 
 particle 'as' is often used in the Scrip- 
 tures, to signify, not similitude, but re- 
 ality, or the thing itself; thus, Ob. 1. 11, 
 ♦Thou wast as one of them ;' i. e. wast | put himself in such a relation to fallen 
 
 that he s may bless thee before his 
 death. 
 
 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah 
 his mother. Behold, i^Esau my bro- 
 ther is an hairy man, and I am a. 
 smooth man : 
 
 12 My father peradventure will 
 ' feel me, and I shall seem to him as 
 a deceiver; and I shall bring '^i 
 curse upon me, and not a blessing. 
 
 e ver. 4. h ch. 25. 25. ' ver. 22. 
 ^ ch. 9. 25. Deut. 27. 18. 
 
 one, Deut. 9. 10, ' On them (the tables) 
 was written according to all the words ;' 
 Heb. 'as all the words;' IVeh. 7. 2, 
 ' For he was a faithful man ;' Heb. 
 as a faithful man.' John 1. 14, 'We 
 beheld his glory, the glory as of the 
 only begotten of the Father ;' i. e. 
 simply, the glory of the only begotten ; 
 2 Cor. 3. IS, 'Are changed into the same 
 image as by the Spirit of the Lord ;' i. e. 
 
 by the Spirit. IF Shall bring a curse. 
 
 That his fears on this head were well 
 founded, appears evident from the fol- 
 lowing passage in the Law, Deut. 27. 
 18, ' Curt^ed be he that makedi the blind 
 
 to wander out of the way.' IT Upon 
 
 me be the curse. Chal. ' It was said 
 unto me by prophecy, that curses shall 
 not come upon thee, but blessings.' By 
 Jacob's curse she meant the curse that 
 he might incur. But her presumption 
 in this case is as much to be censured 
 as her subdety in the outset. As it was 
 impossible that she could have the full 
 approval of her own conscience in 
 this affair, she run a fearful risk in 
 making such a declaration; and it 
 would argue a very low tone of moral 
 sentiment to imagine that her pledging 
 herself to bear the blame, would at all 
 extenuate the guilt of her sin. There 
 is but one being who ever has said, or 
 could truly say, 'Upon me be thy 
 curse.' The compassionate Saviour of 
 sinners, ' the Lamb slain from the foun- 
 dation of the world,' has graciously 
 
GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 13 And his mother said unto 
 him, ^ Upon me he thy curse, my 
 son ; only obey my voice, and go 
 fetch me them. 
 
 14 And he went, and fetched, 
 and brought them to his mother : 
 
 1 ch. 43. 9. 1 Sam. 2j. 24. 2 Sam. 14. 9. 
 Matt. 27. 25. 
 
 man that he can properly adopt this 
 language, and to him only is it appro- 
 priate. Rebekah's words evince, in- 
 deed, a great strength of assurance in 
 the divine promise or prediction, but 
 this does not extenuate the fraud she 
 was now practising upon Isaac, nor the 
 bad morality which she was virtually 
 teaching her son. 
 
 14. And he went, ^c. Rebekah takes 
 the consequences upon herself, and then 
 he has no more to object, but does as 
 she instructs him. Had his remon- 
 strance arisen from an aversion to the 
 evil, he would not so readily have 
 yielded to her suggestions. But where 
 temptation finds the heart fortified by 
 nothing stronger than a regard to present 
 consequences, it is very certain to pre- 
 vaU. Let us beware, however, how 
 we are drawn by any authority what- 
 ever to the commission of evil. It will 
 be of litde avaU to say, My adviser was 
 ray father, or my mother. There is a 
 plain path, from which no authority 
 under heaven should induce us to 
 swerve. 
 
 15. Rebekah took goodly raiment, Sfc. 
 Heb. im>3nn hahamudoth, desirable. 
 But whether this ' desirableness' arose 
 from their pecuhar make, or from their 
 color, or from some other circumstances 
 which gave them an adventitious pre- 
 ciousness, is uncertain ; though we are 
 inclined to give considerable weight to 
 the suggestions that follow. The Gr. 
 has rr}v (TTo\r]v tj]v Ka'Xrjv the fair stole or 
 robe. Chal. 'Vestments which were 
 clean.' The ' stole' was a long robe 
 with fringed or flounced borders, usual- 
 
 y white, though sometimes purple ; and 
 
 and his mother "" made savoury meat, 
 such as his father Joved. 
 
 15 And Rebekah took " goodly 
 raiment of her eldest son Esau, 
 which 2cere with her in the house, 
 and put them upon Jacob heryoun- 
 ger son : 
 
 m ver. 4. 9. " ver. 27. 
 
 worn by the great as a mark of distinc- 
 tion, Luke 15. 22, and 20. 46, in both 
 which passages the original word for 
 ' robes' is croXai stoles. The same 
 word is applied by the Gr. of the Sept. 
 to the 'holy garments' in which the 
 priests ministered under the law, Ex. 
 28. 2-4, ' And thou shalt make holy gar' 
 ments {<7To\r]v ayiav a holy stole) for Aaro^n 
 thy brother, for glory and for beauty,' 
 &c. From general usage, therefore, we 
 may regard the 'stole' as a species of 
 vestment appropriated mainly to the sa- 
 cerdotal office, and perhaps from a very 
 early period preserved and handed 
 down among the patriarchs as a badge 
 of the birthright. Such a robe, we are 
 disposed to think, was the many-colored 
 coat of Joseph, the possession of which 
 excited the envy of his brethren, be- 
 cause worn as a sign of the transfer of 
 Reuben's forfeited birthright to Joseph. 
 See Note on Gen. 37. 3. As the privile- 
 ges and prerogatives included in the 
 birthright had a principal reference to 
 Christ, and w-ere never fully realized 
 but in him ' who is the first-born of ev- 
 ery creature,' so it can scarcely be 
 questioned that the reason of .his being 
 represented in his different apparitions 
 after the resurrection, and when he had 
 entered upon his eternal priesthood, as 
 clothed in a long while garment, is to 
 intimate that the shadow of the robe of 
 primogeniture had now passed into its 
 appropriate substance. This circum- 
 stance was made evident to the senses 
 of the disciples present at our Lord's 
 transfiguration, which was nothing else 
 than an anlicipative visible display of 
 the personal glory with which he was 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 CNAP'l'ER XXVI I 
 
 16 And she put tlie skins of the 
 kids of the goats upon his hands, 
 and upon the smooth of his neck : 
 
 17 And she gave tlie savoury 
 meat and the bread, wliicli she had 
 prepared, into the hands of her son 
 Jacob, 
 
 18 IF And he came unto his fath- 
 er, and said. My father. And he 
 
 to be invested after his resurrection 
 Accordingly we are told, 3Iark 9. 2 
 that among the splendors of the scene, 
 'his raiment became shining, exceeding 
 white as snow ; so as no fuller on earth 
 can white them.' Well, therefore, might 
 Moses be commanded to make the typi 
 cal ' stoles' for Aaron and his sons ' for 
 glory and for heauhj.'' But as all true 
 Christians are fellow-heirs with Christ, 
 and come into a participation with him 
 in all the consummated blessings of the 
 birthright, being made kings and priests 
 unto God, this fact lays the foundation 
 for such allusions as the following, Rev. 
 3. 4, 5, ' Thou hast a few names even in 
 Sardis, which have not defiled their gar- 
 ments ; and they shall walk with me in 
 white ; for they are worthy. He that 
 overcometh shall be clothed in white 
 raiment ;' Rev. 6. 9 — 11, ' And I saw 
 under the altar the souls of them that 
 were slain for the word of God, &c , 
 and white robes (Gr. ' white stoles, 'j were 
 given unto every one of them.' Kev. 
 7. 9, ' After this I beheld, and lo, a great 
 multitude which no man could number, 
 stood before the throne and before the 
 Lamb, clothed with white rones (Gr. 
 ' with white stoles'). All these passa- 
 ges we conceive have a direct allusion 
 to the birthright garments of which the 
 first mention occurs in this history of 
 Jacob and Esau. These ' garments of 
 desire' were, in all probability, the sa- 
 cred symbolical ' stole' received from 
 their ancestors, and kept by the mother 
 of the family in sweet-scented chests or 
 wardrobes, to preserve them from the 
 
 who art thou, mv 
 
 said. Here a7n I 
 son ] 
 
 19 And Jacob said unto his fath- 
 er, I am Esau thy first-born ; I have 
 done according as thou badest me : 
 arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my 
 venison, ° that thy soul may bless 
 
 ver. 4. 
 
 depredations of moths. Targ. Jon. 'And 
 Rebekah took the desirable robes of her 
 elder son Esau, which had belonged to 
 Adam the first parent.' In allusion to 
 this aromatic fragrance it is said, v. 27, 
 that ' Isaac smelled the smell of his rai- 
 ment.' If these were mere common 
 garments, it may be asked why they 
 were in the keeping of Esau's mother, 
 rather than of himself or of his wives, 
 especially as he had been married 
 37 years, and was now, as well as Ja- 
 cob, 77 years old ? IT In the house. 
 
 ' They were certainly living in a tent ; 
 but it is to this day not unusual to call 
 a tent a house. The word house is used 
 much as we use the word ' home,' be- 
 ing applied quite irrespectively of the 
 sort of domestic habitation denoted by 
 it. 'I he Bedouins always denommate a 
 tent 'a house,' using the same word 
 in'^n (beil) in sound and meaning as the 
 Hebrew word in the text.' Pict. Bible. 
 19. I am Esau thy first-born. Our es- 
 timate of Jacob's conduct in this stage 
 of the transaction will depend upon the 
 views we entertain of the real drift of 
 this reply. That the words taken in 
 their literal sense convey a direct and 
 positive falsehood is clear; but it may 
 still be a question whether there were 
 not another sense intended by Jacob in his 
 own mind ; one in which the expression 
 might be understood so as to free the 
 peaker from the charge of uttering a 
 downright lie. It is, at any rate, contend- 
 ed by some commentators,that, as he had 
 virtually come into the place of Esau 
 by the purchase of the hirthrisht, he 
 
 8* 
 
90 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 20 And Isaac said unto his son, 
 How is it that thou hast found it so 
 quickly, my son ? And he said, be- 
 cause the Lord thy God brought it 
 to me. 
 
 21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, 
 Come near, I pray thee, that I Pmay 
 feel thee, my son, whether thou be 
 my very son Esau, or not. 
 
 P ver. 12. 
 
 might say that he was the first-born on 
 the same grounds that John the Baptist 
 is called Elias, and the Gentiles termed 
 the cireuracision. As it is not supposed 
 that John the Baptist was guilty of a 
 falsehood when he denied that he was 
 Elias, John 1. 21, though our Saviour 
 eaid that he was, so it is suggested that 
 Jacob's words may he true if interpreted 
 as equivalent to ' I am Esau thy first- 
 born ; not in person, but in right.' But 
 this plea, however specious, besides 
 resting upon a very uncertain basis, does 
 not afford a vindication broad enough to 
 cover all the features of Jacob's crooked 
 policy on this occasion. With Henry 
 we may ask, ' How could he say ' I have 
 done as thou badest me,' when he had 
 received no command from his father, 
 but was doing as his mother bade him ? 
 How could he say, ' Eat of my veni- 
 son, when he knew it came not from 
 the field, but from the fold ?' On the 
 whole, we must, we think, be content 
 to leave this humiliating conduct as a 
 blot on the character of Jacob, without 
 apology and without excuse, only ob- 
 serving, that, disgraceful as it was, God 
 could forgive it, and did forgive it, for 
 the sake of a better righteousness than 
 his own. 
 
 20. Because the LORD (hy God brought 
 it to me. Heb. "i:t:b .T'.pn hikrah le- 
 pJianai, made to occur ; the appropriate 
 term for expressing a special interposi- 
 tion of providence. See note on Gen. 
 24. 12. Gr. 'For the Lord thy God de- 
 livered it before me.' Chal. ' Because 
 
 22 And Jacob went near unto 
 Isaac his father ; and he felt him, 
 and said. The voice is Jacob's voice, 
 but the hands are the hands of 
 Esau. 
 
 23 And he discerned him not, be- 
 cause his q hands were hairy, as his 
 brother Esau's hands : so he blessed 
 him. 
 
 1 ver. IG. 
 
 the Lord prepared it before me.' The 
 answer intimates that his speedy suc- 
 cess was owing to a particular divine 
 interference in his behalf! It is not 
 easy to conceive a more daring piece of 
 effrontery than tiiis. It was bad enough 
 to deal in so many gross equivocations ; 
 but to bring in the Lord God of his fath- 
 er, in order to give them the appearance 
 of truth, was much worse, and what we 
 s'nould scarcely have expected but from 
 one of the most depraved of men. But 
 this was the natural result of a first 
 wrong step. Little do we know whith- 
 er we may be drawn if once we depart 
 from the plain direct course of honesty 
 and truth. Jacob probably had no idea 
 of going beyond a little stroke of dissim.- 
 ulation and fraud ; yet here we find him 
 treading upon the borders of absolute 
 blasphemy, by making God himself con- 
 federate in his sin ! Let us beware then 
 of evil in its very first approaches. 
 
 23. He discerned him not, because, Sfc. 
 It is remarked by Bochart (Hierozoic. I. 
 ii. c. 51.) that in the eastern countries 
 the goats' hair has often a soft, delicate 
 fee], very much like that upon the hu- 
 man person ; sj that Isaac might be, 
 without much difficulty, deceived, es- 
 pecially considering that at his advan- 
 ced age his sense of touch miglit be 
 nearly as much impaired as that of vis- 
 ion. ^ So he blessed him. That is, 
 
 after eating and drinking, as mentioned 
 V. 25. The incident is related a little 
 out of its place. It comes in here by 
 anticipation, astl-e writer intends to say, 
 
B. C. 17G0.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVll. 
 
 91 
 
 24 And he said, Art thou my 
 very son Esau? And he said, I 
 am. 
 
 25 And he said. Bring it near 
 to me, and I will eat of my son's 
 venison, ^ that my soul may bless 
 thee. And he brought it near to 
 him, and he did eat : and he brought 
 him wine, and he drank. 
 
 26 And his father Isaac said un- 
 to him, Come near now, and kiss 
 me, my son. 
 
 f ver. 4. 
 
 in general terms, that Jacob deceived 
 his father, and thus obtained the bles- 
 sing ; but it is not till afterwards that he 
 proceeds to detail the various particu- 
 lars that led to it. 
 
 20. Kiss me. A sign of affection and 
 reverence. Comp. Gen. 4S. 10. Ps. 2. 
 ]2. His thus coming in contact with his 
 father's person would also afford a proof 
 to the senses, from the peculiar scent of 
 his apparel, in favor of his alleged iden- 
 tity. But it was deceiving, if not betray- 
 ing, his father with a kiss. 
 
 27. The smell of m>/ son is as the smell 
 of a field, 4'C. Gr. 'The smell of a full, 
 or plenteous, field,' i. e. a field abounding 
 with herbs, fruits, and fiowers of every 
 description, regaling the senses with 
 their grateful fragrance. Pliny observes 
 that land, after a long drought, moisten- 
 ed by the rain, exhales a delightful 
 odor, with which nothing can be com- 
 pared ; and adds, that 'it is a sign of a 
 fruitful soil when it emits an agreeable 
 smell after having been ploughed.' Even 
 the parched herbage of the deserts and 
 uncultivated plains is often exceedingty 
 fragrant, and would, perhaps, be capable 
 of imparting its odor to the garments of 
 Esau,' a man of the field ;' and Poole par- 
 aphrases the words of Isaac, ' These 
 garments smell not of the sheep-cotes 
 and stalls, as Jacob's do, but of the fields 
 in which Esau lives.' But the smell 
 in this case was probably occasioned by 
 !he aromatic l^erbs which had been laid 
 
 27 And he came near, andkissed 
 him : and he smelled the smell of 
 his raiment, and blessed him, and 
 said. See, Hhe smell of my son is as 
 the smell of a field which the Lord 
 hath blessed: 
 
 28 Therefore 'God give thee of 
 " the dew of heaven, and '^ the fat- 
 ness of the earth, and ^plenty of corn 
 and wine : 
 
 9 Hos. 14. 16. t Hpbr. 11. 20. " Deut 
 33. l?>, 28. 2 Sara. 1. 21. w cli. 45. 18. 
 ^ Deut. 33. 28. 
 
 up with the clothes, both to prevent 
 theirbeing fretted by the moths, and to 
 give them an agreeable odor. ' The 
 Orientals are proverbially fond of per- 
 fumes. They sprinkle their c!othe.s 
 with scented oils or waters, or fumi- 
 gate them with the incense from odorif- 
 erous woods, or carry such woods or 
 fragrant herbs in a small bag, or sewed 
 up in their clothes. Even the great 
 simplicity of their mode of life does not 
 preclude the use of perfumes from the 
 Bedouins, who often perfume their head- 
 kerchief with civet, or with an odorife- 
 rous earth called ares, which comes from 
 Aden, and is much in u.se among the 
 desert Arabs.' Pict. Bible. ' It is not 
 common to salute as in England ; they 
 simply smell each other ; and it is said 
 that some people know their children by 
 the sm.ell. It is common for a mother 
 or father to say, ' Ah ! child, thy smell 
 is like the Sen-Paga-Poo,' (a flower sa- 
 cred to Chrisna.) The crown of the 
 head is the principal place for smelling 
 Of an amiable man, it is said, 'Hovv 
 sweet is thes7?2eZZof that man ! the smell 
 of his goodness is universal.' Roberts. 
 The Jerusalem Targum gives this more 
 of a mystical import, interpreting it of 
 ' the smell of the perfumes of good spi 
 ces, that should' afterwards be offered in 
 the mount of the house of the sane- 
 tuary,' 
 
 23. God give thee of the dew of heaven, 
 &c. Or, Heb. '.ri"^ yitien, toill give ; at 
 
92 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 B. C. 1760. 
 
 29 y Let people serve thee, and ; * cursed be every one that curseth 
 nations bow down to thee : be lord thee, and blessed 6e he that blesseth 
 
 over thy brethren, and ^ let thy mo- 
 ther's sons bow down to thee : 
 
 r ch. 9. 25. & 25. 23. z ch. 49. 8. 
 
 once a prayer and a prophecy. ' The 
 value of this blessing cannot be ade- 
 quately appreciated by the European 
 reader. But in Palestine, and indeed 
 throughout Western Asia, rain rarely if 
 ever falls from April to September, and 
 the heat of the sun being at the same 
 time very strong, all vegetation would 
 be parched and dried up, were it not for 
 the copious dews which fall during the 
 night and completely moisten the ground, 
 keeping in a fertile condition lands which 
 would otherwise be sterile and desolate. 
 But all this moisture evaporates with 
 astonishing rapidity as soon as the sun 
 has risen. It seems that the advantage 
 of these abundant dews is not generally 
 enjoyed, except in regions more or less 
 hilly or elevated, or in confined vallej^s. 
 In extensive open plains and deserts it 
 does not seem tliat any dews fall in sum- 
 mer. But in such tracts no men can in- 
 habit, except the wandering tribes, and 
 towns and villages are only found on 
 the banks of natural or artificial streams ; 
 nor, unless in the same situations, is 
 any cultivation attempted where there 
 are no night dews in summer to com- 
 pensate for the want of rain. The pas- 
 .sage Gen. 2. 5, 6, has led some to sup- 
 pose that there w'as no rain, but dew- 
 only, previous to the atmospheric and 
 other changes which are conceived to 
 have taken place at the Deluge. If the 
 passage in question affords sufficient 
 foundation for tliis theory, there could 
 then have been no rainbow previous to 
 the Deluge, and the opinion would be 
 justified which considers that the rain- 
 bow was first manifested to Noah, when 
 it was made a token of the covenant be- 
 tv.'een God and man. But see also the 
 
 note on Gen. 9. 13.' Fid. Bible: !r 
 
 The fatness of the earth. Heb. '^2'^*.^"^ 
 
 thee. 
 
 « ch. 12. 3, Numb. 24. 
 
 f '^S^n tnishman-nai haaretz, of the fat- 
 nesses of the earth ; i. e. the choicest and 
 best. See note on Gen. 4. 4. This in- 
 cludes the land of Canaan for an inher- 
 ance, the emblem of all blessedness, and 
 thence termed, Neh. 9. 25—35, the fat 
 land. That the language of the whole 
 verse has a sense beyond that of the 
 simple letter ; or in other words, that the 
 blessing was not exhausted in the an- 
 nunciation of mere temporal good things, 
 we think altogether probable. Yet it 
 might savor too much of the Rabbinical 
 mode of interpretation to attempt to give 
 a precise import to these figurative 
 phrases. We perhaps go to the full ex- 
 tent of sober explication, when we say, 
 in general terms, that the ' dew of hea- 
 ven' and the 'fatness of the earth' sha- 
 dow out to us the doctrines of the gos- 
 pel and the graces of the Holy Spirit 
 shed forth upon men ; in fine, the whole 
 inventory o( spiritual mercies which flow 
 to the holy seed in virtue of the coven- 
 ant made with Abraham. This is con- 
 firmed by the evident drift of the fol- 
 lowing, among other passages of sacred 
 writ. Dent. 32. 2, Hos. 14. G, 7, Is. 25. 
 6, — 4. 8. 8. Indeed, so closely analogous 
 is this, in point of phraseology, to the 
 blessing pronounced upon Esau, v. 39, 
 that unless we would make them almost 
 equivalent, it would seem imperative 
 upon us to affix some sense to the words 
 over and above that conveyed by the 
 mere letter. 
 
 29. Let people serve thee, &c. Heb. 
 ^ny^j) ammim, peoples ; that is, foreign 
 people, the various hostile nations by 
 which the Israelites were surrounded, 
 viz. the 3Ioabites, Ammonites, Syrians, 
 Philistmes, and Edomites, all of whom 
 were efTectually subdued in the days ot 
 David. — T" Be lord over thy brethren, &c 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIl. 
 
 93 
 
 30 IT x\nd it came to pass, as 
 soon as Isaac had made an end of 
 blessing Jacob, and Jacob was j^et 
 scarce gone out from the presence 
 of Isaac his father, that Esau his 
 brother came in from his hunting. 
 
 31 And he also had made savoury 
 meat, and brought it unto his father ; 
 and said unto his father. Let my 
 father arise, and ^ eat of his son's 
 venison, that thy soul may bless me . 
 
 '' ver. 4. 
 
 In these words was ratified to Ja- 
 cob the principal prerogative of the 
 birthright, viz. that of pre-eminence 
 over the rest of the family. It is to be 
 understood, however, mainly of his pos- 
 terity ; for Esau was never personally 
 in subjection to Jacob. The elements 
 of the blessing, we perceive, were 
 three-fold, consisting of the promise 
 
 (1) of worldly wealth and prosperity ; 
 
 (2) of dominion or empire ; (3) of 
 family pre-eminence. It is somewhat 
 remarkable that the blessing should be 
 pronounced in such general terms, that 
 there should be no more express men- 
 tion of those crowning spiritual mercies 
 connected with the promised land, 
 which are commonly supposed to have 
 constituted the burden of the patriarchal 
 benediction. While it is rich in the 
 promise of earthly good, there is no dis- 
 tinct allusion to heavenly. This is per- 
 haps to be accounted for simply by say- 
 ing that such partial intimations were in 
 keeping with the nature of that early 
 dispensation. It was mainly an econo- 
 my of shadows and symbols. None of 
 the patriarchs appear to have been fa- 
 vored with explicit revelations of the 
 good things promised. The earthly Ca- 
 naan was to them a pledge and a type 
 of the heavenly, and in that it would 
 seem they were required to read about 
 all that it was given them to know of I 
 their eternal inheritance. Other com- 
 mentators give other explanations on 
 this point, but perhaps none more satis- 
 
 32 And Isaac his father said unto 
 him. Who art thou ? And he said, 
 I am thy son, thy first-born, Esau. 
 
 33 And Isaac trembled very ex- 
 ceedingly, and said. Who? where 
 is he that hath taken venison, and 
 brought it me, and I have eaten of 
 all before thou earnest, and have 
 blessed him 1 yea, " and he shall be 
 blessed. 
 
 <^ch.23. 3,4. Roin.ll. 29. 
 
 factory ; as, after all our efforts, we are 
 obliged to confess that, in regard to the 
 actual amount of knowledge possessed 
 by the ancient believers, of the gospel 
 mysteries, we are still left in utter un- 
 certainty. In all probabihty the clear- 
 ness of their knowledge was greatly 
 disproportioned to the strength of their 
 faith. But we are obliged to speak 
 doubtingly on the whole subject. 
 
 30 — 33. — And it cams to pass^ &c. — 
 Jacob has succeeded in clandestinely 
 and surreptitiously obtaining the bles- 
 sing, and in view of the result we can 
 hardly refrain from asking, how a bles- 
 sing obtained by such means can be a 
 blessing. Certainly we are ready to say 
 that Jacob had about as much ground 
 of deep repentance for thus obtaining 
 the blessing, as Esau for losing it. Yet 
 the secret purposes of Heaven are thus 
 often accomplished, while they receive 
 no taint from the corrupt and contam- 
 inating agencies with which they are 
 interwoven. — But the issue of the trans- 
 action is now to be detailed. Jacob had 
 scarcely left his father's presence, when 
 Esau, returning from the chase, came to 
 the bedside of the Patriarch, and pre- 
 sented him venison. This at once dis- 
 covered the imposition. The conse- 
 quence was what might have been ex- 
 pected. T Isaac trembled very exceed- 
 ingly. Heb. i5> ribn3 mnn n^n^ 
 
 "IJi^3 yeherad haradah gedolah ad mead, 
 trembled (uith) a great trembling ex- 
 ceedingly. Gr. ' Was thrown into an 
 
94 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 34 And when Esau heard the 
 words of his father, '' he cried with 
 dHebr. 12. 17. 
 
 ecstacy of astonishment.' Chal. ' Won- 
 dered with an exceedingly great admi- 
 ration.' His emotions were absolutely 
 overwhelming. On the one hand he 
 could not but feel a degree of just indig- 
 nation in view of the imposition which 
 had been practised upon him, especial- 
 ly when he remembered the precau- 
 tions he had taken against being thus 
 deceived : yet, on the other, a moment's 
 reflection would convince him that the 
 transfer of the blessing must have been 
 'of the Lord,' and consequently that he 
 had all along been acting against his will 
 in designing to have it otherwise. Two 
 such considerations, rushing on his mind 
 at once, hke two impetuous counter-cur- 
 rents coming together, sufficiently ac- 
 count for his feelings, especially when 
 we add his consciousness of the irrevoc- 
 able nature of the blessing, and the mo- 
 mentous consequences annexed to it. 
 But, while he resents the subtlety of Ja- 
 cob and the unkindness of Rebekah, he 
 acknowledges and acquiesces in the will 
 of God. The blessing which he had 
 unwittingly pronounced, and which he 
 knows to be irrevocable, he deliberately 
 and solemnly confirms ; ' I have blessed 
 him ; yea, and he shall be blessed.' His 
 feelings would perhaps be not inaptly 
 expressed by the language of Balaam, 
 Num. 23: 19, 20, 'God is not a man, 
 that he should lie ; neither the son of 
 man that he should repent; hath he 
 said, and shall he not do it ? or hath he 
 spoken, and shall he not make it good ? 
 Behold, I have received commandment 
 to bless, and he hath blessed ; and I 
 cannot reverse it.' Hence, probably, it 
 is that the Apostle, Heb. 12. 17, af- 
 firms that Esau ' found no place for re- 
 pentance, though he sought carefully 
 with tears.' That is, he found no place 
 for repentance, or change of purpose, in 
 Ms father. He could not prevail upon 
 
 a great and exceeding bitter cry, 
 and said unto his father, Bless me, 
 even me also, O my father ! 
 
 him to reverse the word that had pro- 
 ceeded from his lips. The blessing had 
 been solemnly conferred and confirmed, 
 and could not now be revoked. From 
 that passage, therefore, we can infer no- 
 thing positive as to Esau's final .salvation 
 34. Cried with a great and exceeding 
 Utter cry. The language is very em 
 phalic, and describes a poignancy o" 
 grief amounting to positive anguish 
 The time had now come that he bitterly 
 bewailed his folly in despising and 
 throwing away his birthright for so tri- 
 fling a consideration — a proof that the vis- 
 itation of crimes often sleeps for a time, 
 and that vengeance may awake when the 
 misdeed itself is almo.*t forgotten. ' Why 
 did he not rather weep to his brother for 
 the pottage than to Isaac for a bless- 
 ing ? If he had not then sold, he had not 
 needed now to buy. It is just with God 
 to deny us those favors which we were 
 careless in keeping, and which we under 
 valued in enjoying. How happy a thing 
 is it'to know the seasons of grace, and not 
 to neglect them ! How desperate to have 
 known and neglected them ! These 
 tears are both late and false.' — Bp. Hall. 
 In like manner, the time will come 
 when all who profanely neglect the 
 proflfered mercies of Christ, and practic- 
 ally barter away their hopes and pros- 
 pects of eternal life for sinful indulgen- 
 ces, will mourn in bitterness of spirit the 
 loss of the blessings which they have 
 so thoughtlessly despised. Still it would 
 appear, that in the case of Esau, in the 
 midst of all his regrets, there was no 
 real contrition, no godly sorrow of heart, 
 but only disappointment and vexation 
 at his loss. We find at the time no self- 
 condemnation, no confession of his sin ; 
 but a severe accusation of his brother, as 
 if /le only were to blame for what had 
 happened. Neither does he give any 
 evidence of having been a true penitent 
 
B. C. 1706.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 96 
 
 35 And he said, Thy brother 
 came with subtiity, and hath taken 
 away thy blessing-. 
 
 36 And he said, " Is not he riglit- 
 ]y named Jacob ] for he hath sup- 
 planted me these two times : ^ he 
 took away my birth-right ; and be- 
 hold, now he hath taken away my 
 blessing. And he said, Hast thou 
 not reserved a blessing for me ? 
 
 37 And Isaac answered and said 
 
 ch. 25. 28. 
 
 f ch. 25. 33. 
 
 afterwards, for his heart was evidently 
 full of rage and enmity towards his 
 brother, under the influence of wiiich he 
 determines on a fit opportunity to put an 
 end to his life. All this shows a state 
 of mind at the widest possible remove 
 from sincere repentance. 
 
 36. Is he not riglithj iiamed, &c. Heb. 
 yiy^ N^p "^im hukl knra sJiemo. There 
 seems to be nothing in the original an- 
 swering to ' rightly' in our version. 
 The word "i^n ^'oAV, compoiuided of the 
 interrogation n ha,whether, and "'^ ki, that, 
 implies no more than a simple question, 
 ' Is it because his name is called Jacob T 
 The rendering of the whole clause by 
 Junius and Tremellius, is a li tde different 
 from ours, yet perhaps equally correct ; 
 'Is it not because his name is called Ja- 
 cob (supplanter) that he has supplanted 
 me this second time ?' f He hath sup- 
 planted me. Heb-i3np5'"i yakebani ; in 
 obvious allusion to Jacob's name, (:3p5>"i 
 yaakob,) of which he here gives a cavil- 
 ling interpretation ; as much as to say, 
 that his brother had shown himself well 
 entitled to his name. It cannot be de- 
 nied that there was some ground for the 
 reflections thus cast upon Jacob. He 
 had indeed acted the part of a sujrplant- 
 er in a way altogether unjustifiable; 
 still the statement was exaggerated. 
 Esau was not warranted in saying, 'He 
 took away my birthright,' as though he 
 robbed him of it ; for the surrender was 
 his own voluntary act. He parted with 
 
 unto Esau, e Behold 1 have made 
 him thy lord, and all his brethren 
 have 1 given to him for servants ; 
 and ^ with corn and wine have 1 
 sustained him : and what shall I do 
 now unto thee, my son ? 
 
 38 And Esau said unto his fa- 
 ther, Hast thou but one blessing, 
 my father ? bless me, even me also, 
 O my father ! And Esau lifted up 
 his voice, ' and wept. 
 
 e 2 Sara. 8. 14. ver. 23. h ver. 23. * Ilebr. 
 12. 17. 
 
 it because he practically despised it. But 
 it is no unusual thing for men to act as 
 if accusing others were the most effect- 
 ual mode of justifying themselves. 
 
 37. / have made him thy lord. Heb. 
 I'^il!^"!^ samtiv. Ihavej^ut, appointed ; i. e. 
 
 I have declarativehj made him so. 
 
 IT All his brethren have I given ; i. e. de- 
 clared that they shall be given. 
 
 IT With com and wine Lave I sustained 
 him; i. e. declared that he shall be sus 
 tained. Gr. earnpila have strengthened. 
 Comp. Ps. 104. 15. Isaac, in using this 
 language, is not to be considered as giv- 
 ing vent to a self-sufficient or self-com- 
 placent spirit; it is the ordinary pro- 
 phetic style. Men speaking by inspira- 
 tion are often said to do that which they 
 merely announce shall be done. Thus. 
 Ezek. 43. 3, ' The vision that I saw when' 
 I came to destroy the city ;' i. e. to fore- 
 tell its destruction. Jer. 1. 10, ' I have 
 this day set thee over the nations and 
 over the kingdoms to root out, and to 
 pull down, and to destroy, and to throw 
 down, to build and to plant ;' i. e. to pre- 
 dict that these all things shall be done. 
 Jer. 15. 1, 'Cast them (this people) out of 
 my sight ;' i. e. announce to them that 
 they shall be cast out. Gen. 41. 13, 'Me 
 he restored and him he hanged ;' i.e. fore- 
 told these events. Ezek. 21. 20, ' Re- 
 move the diadem, take off the crown, 
 exalt him that is low, abase him that is 
 high;' i. e. predict that these events 
 shall occur. 
 
96 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 39 And Isaac his father answer- 
 ed, and said unto him, Behold, ^ thy 
 dwelling shall be the fatness of the 
 earth, and of the dew of heaven 
 from above ; 
 
 40 And by thy sword shalt thou 
 
 k ver. 23. Hebr. 11. 20. 
 
 39. Thy dinelUng shall be of the fatness 
 of the earth, &;c. Heb . ^2>2"i;;a '^ish- 
 inanne, from the fatness, &c. Taken 
 according to the letter, this blessing, as 
 far as it goes, is precisely identical with 
 that of Jacob, v. 28 ; and if that, as we 
 suggested, includes the promise of the 
 land of Canaan, it is perfectly incon- 
 ceivable how the same earthly inherit- 
 ance could be prophetically secured to 
 both. For this reason we are strongly 
 inclined to adopt the rendering of some 
 of the Jewish critics, 'Thy dwelling 
 shall he from (i. e. at a distance from) 
 the fatness of the earth,' <fec. This is 
 the literal sense of the original, although 
 we know not that the present rendering 
 can be considered as doing any positive 
 violence to the Hebrew idiom. But 
 we think, on the whole, that there is a 
 designed equivocation in the words of the 
 oracle. They were so framed as to be 
 susceptible of the most favorable sense 
 which Esau could draw from them, and 
 yet at the same time, in Isaac's intention, 
 or rather in the mind of the Spirit, legi- 
 timately conveyed the meaning attri- 
 buted to them above. We see not that 
 the phraseology can justly be objected 
 to on this score, for it does not appear 
 that Isaac was under obligation to bestow 
 upon Esau any blessing at all ; and if 
 he uttered one which, as he would na- 
 turally understand it, would have the 
 effect to soothe and satisfy his mind, 
 while at the same time in reality it but 
 confirmed the previous blessing of Jacob, 
 and disjoined Esau from all participation 
 in it, who had any right to complain ? 
 The land of Edom, or Mount Seir, 
 which fell to him for a possession, was 
 no doubt sufficiently distinguished for I 
 
 live, and • shalt serve thy brother • 
 and "" it shall come to pass when 
 thou shalt have the dominion, that 
 thou shalt break his yoke from off 
 thy neck. 
 
 I ch. 25. 23. Obad. 18, 19, 20. 2 Sam. 8. 
 14. m 2 Kings 8. 20. 
 
 its fertility to warrant the expressions 
 here used, and yet we are assured, from 
 the whole tenor of the Scripture, that 
 that region was not to be compared in 
 this respect with the destined inherit- 
 ance of Israel. 
 
 40. By thy sword shalt thou live. Heb 
 'l^'in b5 «^ harbeka, upon thy sword; 
 implying not only that his life should be 
 passed in wars and tumults ; that he 
 should be engaged in perpetual hostilities 
 with surrounding nations ; but also that 
 he should procure his subsistence, his 
 living, by this means rather than by the 
 peaceful pursuits of agriculture ; that he 
 should live upon the prey or spoil that he 
 should acquire bj^ his warlike weapons. 
 This, perhaps, confirms the interpreta- 
 tion of the preceding verse ; for if a very 
 rich and fertile country were assigned 
 to him, why was such a roving and 
 freebooting kind of life predicted ? Why 
 should he not draw his subsistence from 
 the dew of heaven and the fatness of 
 
 the earth ? IF Shalt serve thy brother. 
 
 This clause, and in fact the whole pro- 
 phecy, has a more especial reference to 
 the posterity of Esau than to Esau him- 
 self; for Esau in person was never sub- 
 ject to Jacob. IT When thou shall 
 
 have dominion. Heb. T^^ln tarid; a 
 w-ord of very difficult explication, as it 
 may be derived from three different 
 roots, either (1) TT^ radad, to pros- 
 trate, to subject, to bring down ; (2) n""l 
 radah, to obtain rule, to have dominion ; 
 or (.3) IT^ rud, to complain. A very 
 similar form from the last root occurs, Ps. 
 55. 2(3), ' Attend unto me, and hear me 
 I mourn in my complaint (Ti"15^ arid] and 
 make a noise.' An idea not unsuitable to 
 the context may be, that when Esau, in 
 
B. C. 1760.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 97 
 
 41 IT And Esau " hated Jacob 
 because of the blessing wherewith 
 his father blessed him : and Esau 
 
 n ch. 37. 4, 8. 
 
 nis posterity, should have suffered long 
 under the ascendancy of his brother's 
 race, and should be brought penitently 
 to grieve and complain by reason of the 
 sore oppression, that then God would 
 interpose by his providence, and enable 
 them to strike the yoke of bondage from 
 their necks ; especially if the sins of 
 Israel should provoke him thus to give 
 the advantage to their enemies. Ac- 
 cordingly both the Jerusalem Targum, 
 and that of the Onkelos, render the pas- 
 sage as follows :— ' When the sons of 
 Jacob attend to the law, and observe 
 the precepts, they shall impose the yoke 
 of servitude upon thy neck ; but when 
 they shall transgress the words of the 
 law, thou shalt break off the yoke of 
 servitude from thy neck.' Syr. ' If thou 
 shalt repent, his yoke shall pass from 
 oiT thy neck.' This rendering, which 
 IS adopted in the version of Junius and 
 Tremellius — Erit tamen quern planx- 
 eris, and it shall be when thou shalt have 
 bewailed thyself — has at least the merit of 
 harmonizing with what we know to 
 have been the tenor of the divine dis- 
 pensations toward the chosen people. 
 They invariably lost their ascendancy 
 over their enemies in proportion as they 
 sinned against heaven. The proposed 
 interpretation, therefore, we think pre- 
 ferable to any other, especially to that 
 of our translation, which makes the 
 clause a perfect tautology. Would it 
 be possible to gain the dominion without 
 breaking the yoke from their necks ? 
 The prediction was not fully accora- 
 pUshed till about nine hundred years 
 after it was uttered. The yoke was not 
 firmly fixed upon them till the time of 
 David, 2 Sam. 8. 14 ; and at that pe- 
 riod the Jewish people observed the 
 law ; but the nation having gradually 
 Jegenerated, Hadad the Edomite, to- 
 VOL. If. 
 
 said in his heart, "The days of 
 mourning for my father are at hand, 
 p then will I slay my brother Jacob. 
 
 o ch. 50. 3, 4, 10. p Obad. 10, 
 
 wards the end of Solomon's reign, made 
 a vigorous attempt to free himself from 
 the galling subjection, but without suc- 
 cess. His failure, however, was not 
 long afterwards retrieved, as in the 
 reign of Joram ' Edom revolted from 
 under the hand of Judah, and made a 
 king over themselves.' 2 Kings, 8. 20, 
 22. Jehoram made some attempts to 
 subdue them again, but could not pre- 
 vail ; ' so the Edomites revolted from 
 under the hand of Judah unto this day.' 
 2 Chron. 21. 8—10. 
 
 41. And Esau hated Jacc^, &c. What- 
 ever feehng of commiseration or sym- 
 pathy we may hitherto have cherished 
 for Esau in seeing him supplanted by 
 the subtlety of Jacob, it is all banished 
 from our bosoms when we here behold 
 him inwardly cherishing the most malig- 
 nant passions, and coolly anticipating the 
 time when he can imbrue his hands in 
 the blood of his brother ! His guilt in 
 this assumes an awfully atrocious char- 
 acter. As he was well aware of Isaac's 
 partiality towards himself, he must have 
 been convinced that it was not owing 
 to him, nor to Jacob's fraud, but to the 
 Lord's doing, that the actual result had 
 been brought about. Hence it appears 
 that his hatred was of the same nature 
 with that of Cain towards Abel, and of 
 Saul towards David, being directed 
 against him principally on account of 
 his having been a special object of the 
 divine favor. Under these circum- 
 stances to attempt to take Jacob's Ufa 
 was virtually waging war with the high 
 purposes of heaven, and an attempt to 
 frustrate the decree of God by a stroke 
 of his sword ! The depravity which 
 could have prompted such a bloody re- 
 solve in the bosom of a brother and in 
 the family of a patriarch, seems scarce- 
 ly credible : yet history and observa- 
 9 
 
G.'ETN'ESrs.. 
 
 [B. C. 1760, 
 
 42 And these words of Esau her | Behold,, thy brothor Esan, as touch- 
 elder son were told to Rebekah : | in^ thee, doth , comfort himself, pur^ 
 and she sent and called Jacob her I j>osinfr to kill thee. 
 younger son, and said unto him. 
 
 tion both unite to teach us that no 
 bounds can be set to the wickedness of 
 which human nature is capable. The 
 same spirit of hatred seems to have been 
 perpetuated in his posterity against the 
 seed of Jacob. As nothing but the 
 death of Jacob could comfort Esaii, so 
 nothing could satisfy his descendants 
 but to see Jerusalem ' razed to its foun- 
 dations.' Obad. V. 10, 11, &c. IT The 
 
 days of mourning for 7ny father are at 
 hand. H-eb. "^^i^ b!iX ■'?2"i yeme cbel 
 abi, the days of irdcurning of my father. 
 That is, the days in which he shall be 
 bewailed by mourning; the days of 
 mourning on account of my father. 
 The original will also bear another sense, 
 *The days of my father's mourning 
 shall be at hand,' i. e. the days in which 
 he shall himself be a mourner over his 
 slain son. The former, however, is pref- 
 erable. ' When the father (or the mo- 
 ther) has become aged, the children 
 say, 'The day of the lamentation of our 
 father is at hand.' *'HY^ sorrowful time 
 for our mother is fast approaching.' If 
 requested to go to another part of ths 
 country, the son will ask, ' How can 1 
 go ? the day of sorrow for my father is 
 fast approaching.' When the aged pa- 
 rents are seriously ill, it is said, ' Ah I 
 she days of mourning have come.' — 
 Roberts. Esau, by proposing thus to 
 suppress his resentment till his father 
 ■were removed beyond the reach of be- 
 ing grieved by its effects, did indeed 
 somewhat consult the feelings of a pa- 
 rent ; yet he evidently had no consider- 
 ation for the grief of his mother. So 
 cruel are even the tender mercies of the 
 wicked. 
 
 42. These words were told to Rehekah, 
 &c. Esau, it seems, had not only ' said 
 in his heart,' that he would slay his bro- 
 
 <! Ps. 64. 3. 
 
 ther, but ihat he had in some w-ay actu 
 ally avowed his intention, perhaps before 
 some of the servants. His purpose, thus 
 divulged, had come to the ears of his 
 mother, and she clearly foresaw what 
 was to be expected. It would be at the 
 hazard of Jacob's life, and consequently 
 of the frustration of the divine counsels^ 
 concerning him, that he remained any 
 longer under the same roof with his 
 vindictive brother. Immediate precau 
 tions must therefore be taken to have 
 him removed out of the way. Thus 
 the imhappy mother begins to reap ac- 
 cording as she had sown. The safety 
 of her favorite can only be secured ai 
 the price of his banishment. We see 
 from this, that though their imposition 
 succeeded, yet it was a success thaS 
 embittered the whole life, both ef Jacob 
 and his parents. Rebekah, the contri- 
 ver of the fraud, was deprived of her 
 favorite son, probably for the rest of her 
 days. He, who should have been the 
 stay and ths consolation of her declining 
 years, was a stranger in a distant land. 
 Nor did the evH terminate here. In- 
 stead c-f the elder serving the youngerj 
 Jacob was now a banished stranger, s 
 wandering fugitive, in continual terror 
 of his enraged brother. The retributive 
 justice of heaven, moreover, is seen pur- 
 suing him at every step. First, he who 
 bad imposed upon his father, was him- 
 self imposed upon by his ^ncle in the 
 circumstances of his marriage. Next, 
 the continual jealousies and hatred be- 
 tween his wives Leah and Rachel must 
 have reminded him of liis own want of 
 fraternal affection. His sin also was vis- 
 ited upon him in his own family ; contin- 
 ual feuds prevailed amongst his owti 
 children ; and he who was most beloved 
 by the father, was most hated by the 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVll. 
 
 99 
 
 43 Now therefore, my son, obey 
 ray voice : and arise, flee thou to 
 Laban my brother »■ to Haran ; 
 
 44 And tarry with liim a few 
 days, until thy brother's fury turn 
 away ; 
 
 45 Until thy brother's anger turn 
 away from thee, and he forget that 
 which thou hast done to him : then 
 I will send, and fetch thee from 
 
 r ch. 11. 31. 
 
 rest. At length he was himself the dupe 
 of an Imposture more successful even 
 than that by which he had deceived his 
 father. Joseph, his beloved son, was 
 8old by his brethren, and stated to be 
 slain. In a word, the rest of the life of 
 Jacob was signalized by scenes of do- 
 mestic trouble and vexation, which had 
 their origin in the unhappy step we are 
 now considering. At the close of his life 
 he justly said, ' Few and evil have been 
 my days ;' and he might have added, 
 'I am a melancholy example of the ef- 
 fects of deviating from the path of sim- 
 plicity and truth.' ^ Esau comforfeth 
 
 himself, purposing to Mil thee. Heb. 
 ^niub nb t:n];^?2 mitknahem leka le- 
 horgeka, comforfeth himself over thee, or 
 touching thee, to kill thee. What a source 
 from whence to draw comfort! How 
 unfathoraably deep in depravity must 
 that soul be sunk which can find conso- 
 lation in such a bloody and barbarous 
 thought as this ! 
 
 44. Tarry with him a few days. This 
 proved eventually to be a period of 
 twenty years, and it is at best doubtful 
 whether Rebekah everagain beheld her 
 son. 
 
 45. Why should I he deprived of you 
 loth in one day 7 But why does Rebe- 
 kah fear a two-fold bereavement ? It 
 is indeed possible that she may have ap- 
 prehended that a murderous attack from 
 Esau upon his brother might arouse 
 him in self-defence, so that it should be 
 only at the expense of the aggressor's 
 
 thence. Why should I be deprived 
 also of you both in one day ? 
 
 46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, 
 ' 1 am weary of my life, because of 
 the daughters of Heth : * if Jacob 
 take a wife of the daughters of 
 Heth, such as these which are of 
 the daughters of the land, what good 
 shall my life do me 1 
 
 « eh. 26. 35. & 28. 8. » ch. 24. 3. 
 
 life that he should lose his o<^n. But a 
 more probable explanation is the follow- 
 ing : If Esau had killed Jacob, he would 
 have been liable either to have been 
 punished with death, according to the 
 law, ch. 9. 6 ; or to have been driven 
 into exile like Cain, where he would have 
 been virtually lost to her forever. 
 
 46. lam weary of my life, &c. It would 
 appear from the circumstances that Re- 
 bekah was here framing an excuse for 
 Jacob's departure, and concealing the 
 true cause. Though Isaac was now so in- 
 firm as to have lost all power of man- 
 agement, and every thing devolved on 
 Rebekah, yet it was expedient before Ja- 
 cob's departure, to obtain his father's 
 concurrence. But in order to do this she 
 passes over the true reason of the propo- 
 sed journey in silence, and knowing that 
 he, as well as herself, had been grieved 
 by Esau's wives, she now pretends to 
 fear that Jacob may form a similar con- 
 nexion, and makes this the ostensible rea- 
 son why he should go immediately to 
 Padan-aram, viz. that he might take a 
 wife from among their relations in that 
 country. She does not propose it, how- 
 ever, directly, but merely in the form of 
 a bitter complaint of the conduct of 
 Esau's wives. But this policy com- 
 pletely answered the end, as is clear 
 from the next chapter. 
 
 Remarks. Several of the important 
 reflections suggested by the foregoing 
 narrative, deserve to be dwelt upon a 
 little more in detail. 
 
100 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 (1.) The history furnishes cm admon- 1 
 itory les!(on to parents. The foundation' 
 of the most material errors in life is often 
 laid at a very early period. Parents are 
 frequently disappointed in their off- 
 spring, and troubled in their lives, from 
 a cause which they little suspect. They 
 complain of their children, when, per- 
 haps, the fault is to be traced mainly to 
 themselves. They have indulged an 
 early partiality, founded upon no just 
 reasons, which has been productive on 
 both sides of the worst effects. Let 
 them guard them with anxious vigilance 
 against the symptoms of a weak favor- 
 itism toward their children. God has 
 made them equally the guardians of 
 all their children, and they who mis- 
 manage so important a trust must ex- 
 pect to suffer for it. A wise providence 
 often points out the sin in the punish- 
 ment, and teaches parents discretion 
 in the discharge of their duties, by set- 
 ting before their eyes the bad effects 
 which flow from the want of it. 
 
 (2.) We may learn from this story not 
 to make the supposed designs of God the 
 rule of our conduct. We say ' supposed 
 designs,' because as to us, they can be 
 only supposed. It may please God to 
 foretel future events, but it is not there- 
 fore our duty by crooked means to bring 
 them to pass. God does not give pro- 
 phecy for a rule of action. He will ac- 
 complish his own purposes in his own 
 way. It is happy for us that the course 
 of duty is clearly marked out, in the 
 preceptive portions of the word. We 
 are to follow what is fair, and just, and 
 honorable, and leave the consequences 
 to God. 
 
 (3.) We are reminded that the way to suc- 
 cess and to prosperity in our undertakings 
 is often not that which appears the short- 
 est, or even the surest. Jacob was, indeed, 
 for the lime being successful in his frau- 
 dulent device. But what fruits had he 
 of his triumph? He sowed the wind 
 and reaped the whirlwind. Soon was 
 he forced to fly from his brother's wrath, 
 
 and years of trouble followed his de- 
 parture from the paternal mansion. Had 
 he permitted God to accomplish his de- 
 claration in his own way ; had his con- 
 duct to his brother been, as it should 
 have been, kind and affectionate, and 
 free from guile, we cannot doubt that 
 his history would have been far differ- 
 ent. Plis life might then have been as 
 remarkable for happiness and peace as 
 it was for calamity and disquietude. 
 The true source of prosperity is the 
 blessing of God, and this cannot be 
 counted upon, except in strict adherence 
 to the principles of rectitude. A man 
 is exposed to temptation ; some great 
 advantage offers itself; a httle art or 
 deceit in supplanting another is thought 
 indispensable ; excuses are not wanting 
 to justify the act. But w hat, in general, 
 is the result? Either his arts recoil 
 against himself, and he is utterly disap- 
 pointed of his aim ; or if he apparently 
 succeeds, his success is rather a curse 
 than a blessing. The attainment of his 
 end is more to be deprecated than fail- 
 ure. Our highest wisdom and our su- 
 rest safety lie in the course of plain, 
 simple, undeviating integrity. 
 
 (4.) We are taught that regret is often 
 unavailing to restore an offender to llie 
 privileges of innocence. Esau, having 
 sold his birthright and lost the blessing, 
 discovered his error too late. The bles- 
 sing once gone, was gone forever ; and 
 tears, and prayers, and exclamations 
 were in vain employed to recover it. 
 Let us learn then, that however momen- 
 tous the consequences depending upon 
 a single wrong step, they may he irre- 
 trievable. Kegret, however bitter, en- 
 treaty, however urgent, may come too 
 late. And even should we escape the 
 doom of final despair, yet our whole 
 hves may be embittered by the recollec- 
 tion of our guilt and folly. In vain shall 
 we look for our former peace of mind, 
 the sweets of conscious innocence, and 
 the fruits of pleasing hope. We may 
 seek for them with tears hut they will 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 AND Isaac called Jacob, and 
 * blessed him, and charged him, 
 and said unto him, ^ Thou shalt not 
 take a wife of the daughters of Ca- 
 
 CHAPTER XX VIII. 
 
 101 
 
 naan. 
 2 <= Arise, 
 
 go 
 
 to 
 
 Padan-aram, 
 
 a cli. 27 33. b ch. 24. 3, <= Hos. 12. 
 12. d ch. 25. 20. 
 
 not be found. Let us not, by yielding 
 to temptation, cast away our confidence, 
 which hath great recompense of re- 
 ward. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 1. Blessed him. That is, deliberately 
 confirmed and ratified to him the bles- 
 sing which he had before given him 
 unawares. He had undoubtedly by 
 this time become satisfied that Jacob 
 was the real object of the blessing which 
 he had pronounced, and he now renews 
 it not only inteUigently and expHcidy, 
 but with all his heart. 
 
 2. Arise, goto Padan-aram. That is, 
 to Mesopotamia or Syria between the 
 rivers. See Note on Gen. 25. 20. Gr. 
 a-JTucipaBi £tg rrji/ MtaoTToraniav run to 
 Mesopotamia. The precise limits of the 
 country to which the name applies can- 
 not well be ascertained. ' Properly 
 speaking, it would seem to include all 
 the country between the rivers ; but it 
 is only applied to the great plain which 
 extends southward of Mount Masius, 
 which passes between the rivers in the 
 north of this region, and which changes 
 entirely the nature of the country : all 
 that lies to the north-west of this point 
 being mountainous and rugged ; while 
 to the south-east a flat and sandy char- 
 acter prevails. From the latter charac- 
 ter we must, however, except the ex- 
 treme south-eastern portion, formerly 
 called Babylonia and Chaldea, but now 
 Irak Arabi, which possesses a soil natu- 
 rally rich, the fertility of which was pro- 
 verbial in remote antiquitv, when innu- 
 
 to the house of ' Bethuel thy moth- 
 er's father ; and take thee a wife 
 from thence of the daughters of 
 ^ Laban thy mother's brother. 
 
 3 sAnd God Almighty bless thee, 
 and make thee fruitful, and multi- 
 ply thee, that thou mayest be a 
 multitude of people; 
 
 e ch. 22. 23. t ch. 24. 29. e ch. IT. 1, 6. 
 
 merable canals traversed it in all direc- 
 tions, but the interior of which is now 
 destitute of either inhabitants or vege- 
 tation. Many parts also of the north- 
 western portion, which is usually dis- 
 tinguished as Mesopotamia Proper, are 
 naturally fertile ; but, except near the 
 great rivers wliich inclose tliis country, 
 or on the brooks which flow into them, 
 the whole country may be described 
 as a desert — being, in fact, little better 
 than a continuation of the great desert 
 of North Arabia ; and equally with it 
 claimed by the Bedouins, who are its 
 sole inhabitants, and who exact the cus- 
 tomary tribute from all travellers. One 
 of the most agreeable of the fertUe and 
 pleasant tracts by which this desolate 
 region is skirted is the north and north- 
 eastern part, in which Jacob fed the 
 flocks of Laban for so many years ; and 
 which contains numerous rich pastures 
 and pleasant hills ; although the want 
 of water prevents large portions of natu- 
 rally fertile soil from being productive. 
 The air is uncommonly pure throughout 
 Mesopotamia : but the sandy deserts, by 
 which the southern portion is environed 
 render the climate there so very warm 
 in summer as to be considered remark- 
 able even by Asiatics, who are accus- 
 tomed to strong summer heats.' Pict. 
 Bible. 
 
 3. That thou mayest he a multitude of 
 people. Heb. 'C'i?35 bupb Hhhal am- 
 mim, to a congregation of peoples. Gr. 
 £(j (jvvayoiyai tQvuiv, to synagogues of 
 nations. Chal. 'An assembly of tribes ;' 
 in allusion, probably, to the twelve 
 
102 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 4 And give thee ^ the blessing of 
 Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed 
 with thee ; that thou mayest inherit 
 the land ' wherein thou art a stran- 
 ger, which God gave unto Abra- 
 ham. 
 
 5 And Isaac sent away Jacob : 
 
 " cli. 12. 2. 1 ch. 17. 8. 
 
 tribes which were to spring from Jacob. 
 The phraseology in the original is re- 
 markable, the term being the same that 
 is applied in several instances to the 
 church of Israel in the VA'ilderness, and 
 conveying under it an ulterior allusion 
 to the Christian church, compo.sed of ev- 
 ery kindred, and nation, and people, and 
 tongue. Comp. Gen. 35. 11, Deut. 31. 
 30, Num. 16. 3, Ex. 16. 3, Acts 7. 33. 
 
 4. Give thee the blessimr qf Abraham. 
 That is, confirm, fulfil, make real to thee 
 the blessing promised to Abraham, one 
 prominent feature of which was the in- 
 heritance, by his seed, of the land in 
 which Jacob himself is said to be a stran- 
 ger and sojourner, though he had been 
 born in it, and thus far bred up in it. 
 II The land wherein thou art a stran- 
 ger. Ileb. '^'^'^3:^ 'I'^'^iJ^ !ri^ eth erelzme- 
 
 gureka, the land of thy sojour?iings. 
 
 IT Which God gave. Gave by promise ; 
 purposed to give. Gen. 12. 7, — 13. 15, 
 —15. 7, 18,-17. 8. 
 
 5. Belhuel the Syrian, Heb. '^/^^S^il 
 haarammi, the Aramite, or Aramean ; so 
 called, not because he was of the race 
 oi Ara)n, the son of Shern, but because 
 he dwelt in that country which had for- 
 merly been poss'essed by the descend- 
 ants of Aram. See Note on Gen. 25. 20. 
 
 6. When Esau saxo, &c. That is, 
 took cognizance of the fact; attentively 
 considered it. The incidents here re- 
 corded in respect to Esau are very 
 remarkable. Finding Jacob now dis- 
 missed, and himself left alone under the 
 paternal roof, he begins to think of 
 taking advantage of circumstances, and 
 endeavoring, if possible, to recover 
 what he had so foolishly lo.st. To this 
 end he knows he must first of all concil- 
 
 and he went to Padan-aram unto 
 Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, 
 the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and 
 Esau's mother. 
 
 6 ^ When Esau saw that Isaac 
 had blessed Jacob, and sent him 
 away to Padan-aram, to take him a 
 wife from thence : and that as he 
 
 iate his father. It was only by ingra- 
 tiating himself afresh into his favor that 
 he could hope to induce him to revoke 
 the blessing conferred upon Jacob, and 
 bestow it upon himself. His great study, 
 therefore, now is, to please his father, 
 to work effectually upon his parental 
 fondness. He accordingly enters with 
 feigned repentance upon a partial refor- 
 mation. Knowing that his parents were 
 both grieved by his marriage with the 
 Hittite women, and perceiving, from the 
 charge given to Jacob and the ready 
 obedience he had yielded to it, that it 
 was on this point that the patriarch was 
 most accessible, he seems to have said 
 to himself, ' If that will please him, I 
 will take another wife ; and as he thinks 
 so much of his Idndred, it shall be from 
 among them. 3Ioreover, as Jacob, who 
 is his mother's favorite, intends to mar- 
 ry into her family, I, who am my fa- 
 ther's, will marry into /j/s.' Such a 
 measure, he seems to have little doubt, 
 he could pass off upon his father as a 
 noble act of filial duty, as a grand sacri- 
 fice of inclination to conscience. But 
 in all this we see the awkward and 
 wayward manoeuvring of a seh''-inter- 
 ested hypocrite. In the first place he 
 stood in no need of a wife, for he had 
 two already ; and if he had sincerely 
 aimed to gratify his parents, he would 
 rather have put away these than have 
 taken a third in addition to them. In 
 fact, in pretending to avoid one sin he 
 falls into another ; and so it often hap- 
 pens to those whose heart* are not right 
 with God. From not guiding their foot- 
 steps by his word, their very efforts 
 towards amendment plunge them deep- 
 er into difficulty. Because it was 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVITL 
 
 103 
 
 blessed him, he gave him a charge, 
 paying. Thou shalt not take a wife, 
 of the daiighters of Canaan; 
 
 7 And that Jacob obeyed his fa- 
 
 ill done of Esau to take wives of the 
 daughters of Canaan, it did not follow 
 •that it weuld be doing well to add to the 
 number by taking another from a dif- 
 ferent stsck. It is well to refrain from 
 -any thing which we knew to be dis- 
 .pleasing to Gk>d ; but it is maldng bad' 
 ■worse, if, in our projected amend- 
 ment, we follow the desires and devices 
 ^f our own hearts v/ithout consulting 
 his will. Yet such was Esau's conduct 
 on this occasion ; and not only so, but, 
 secondly, he goes to a family which had 
 become, in the rigliteous providence of 
 God, alienated, if not outlawed, from the 
 pale of the covenant, and which at this 
 time had in all probability greatly apos- 
 tatized from the true faith and the true 
 worship. Thirdly, the extreme faulti- 
 ness of his conduct appears in this, 
 Shat he consulted the feelings of his 
 father only, regardless of those of his mo- 
 ther. As his father had it in his power to 
 favor him in a way in which his mother 
 €ould not, his sole aira wss to work upon 
 his partialities without any reference to 
 hers. Finally, that he had no sincere 
 and ingenuous sorrow for the past is 
 «lear from the fact that he still retained 
 his hatred against his brother. He was 
 even now laying snares for his feet, and 
 ■'hunting for his precious life.' This 
 ,of itself was enough to give the lie to 
 all his pretensions. True repentance 
 would have softened down the malignant 
 feelings which he cherished, and though 
 lie might not have been reinstated in 
 she blessings and prerogatives which 
 he had lost, yet he would have acknow- 
 ledged the hand of an overruling provi- 
 dence in what had occurred, and es- 
 ieemed it a mercy to hold even a second 
 place in a hne so honored and favored 
 as that of Abraham. The conduct of 
 Esau throughout this t.rf3.nsaction aSords 
 
 ther, and his mother, and was gone 
 to Padan-aram ; 
 8 And Esau seeing ^ that the 
 
 fc ch. 21. 3. &. 26. 35. 
 
 abundant matter of reflection and im- 
 provement. What a striking type do 
 we behold in it of the mercenary 
 and one-sided rehgion of great multi- 
 tudes of men ! They would fain secure 
 the favor of God and the advantages of 
 piety, while at the same time they are 
 at th« farthest remove from having 
 respect to all God's commandments ; and 
 their hearts are replete with unkind, un- 
 filial, unfraternal, envious, and vindict- 
 ive feehngs toward their fellow-men. 
 Many will go far in the outward prac- 
 tice of piety, provided there may be a 
 privileged exemption on the score of 
 some particular sin. They will put 
 away some offences, if only there may 
 be a reservation of others. But of what 
 avail can be any religious professions or 
 doings when marred by such glaring in- 
 congruities and inconsistencies as these ? 
 We can see at a glance how ground- 
 less would be any one's pretensions to 
 the spirit of the gospel who should allow 
 his enmity to rise to the murderous 
 height of that of Esau. But let us not 
 forget that there are lower degrees of 
 malice which are as really decisive 
 against our claims to Christian character, 
 and put an inseparable obstacle in the 
 way of our obtaining tli« light of God's 
 countenance. A cherished pique, a la- 
 tent grudge against a brother or a sister, 
 is not only destructive of the peace of 
 our own minds, but conclusive evidence 
 that the meek and merciful spirit of 
 Christ is not in us. Of what nature 
 must be that so-called religion, which 
 does not avail to quench the unholy 
 fires of passion, and m^elt away all our 
 little feuds and animcsities in the 
 stronger, the sacred fervors of that love 
 which is born of God ? 
 
 8. Pleased not Isaac. Heb. t\1'$^ 
 tTC'^' '^;">^ rootk heanai yitzhak, [were] 
 
104 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 176a 
 
 daughters of Canaan pleased not 
 Isaac his father ; 
 
 9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, 
 and took unto the wives which he 
 had 1 Mahalath, the daughter of Ish- 
 
 ich.36. 3. 
 
 evilin the eyes of Isaac ; i. e. displeas- 
 ing, disagreeable, offensive : as, on the 
 contrary, good in the eyes of is equiva- 
 lent to pleasing, grateful, acceptable. 
 Gen. 16. G. 
 
 9. Then went Esau unto Ishmael. Tliat 
 is, to his family, for Isliraael himself, it 
 would seem, was now dead. Gen. 25. 
 
 17. IT Mahalath, called Bashemath, 
 
 ch. 36. 3. 
 
 10. Jacob went out from Beershebay &c. 
 The circumstances of Jacob's departure 
 from his father's house, formed a stri- 
 king contrast with the pompous mission 
 which had been sent to tlie same coun- 
 try when a v/ife was to be procured for 
 Isaac. Without a servant to attend him, 
 or a beast to carry him, or any other 
 accommodation, except, as he afterwards 
 informs us, Gen. 32. 10, ' a staff' to walk 
 with, he pursues his solitary way. The 
 reason of this, though not expressly as- 
 signed, is perhaps to be referred to the 
 hatred of Esau. Jacob may have stolen 
 away secretly, and without any retinue, 
 and have shunned the frequented path to 
 Padan-Arara, in order to elude the vi- 
 gilance and resentment of his brother, 
 who, he had grounds to fear, would pur- 
 sue him to take his life. But however 
 this may have been, his reflections on 
 the occasion must have been pungent in 
 the extreme. Great as we may suppose 
 his comfort to have been in receiving 
 his father's pardon and blessing, and 
 rich as were tlie promises embraced in 
 this paternal benediction, yet it was 
 doubtless with many a bitter pang that 
 he prosecuted his journey. His sin has 
 found him out. He cannot but feel that 
 he has been himself the architect of his 
 present lonely, destitute, and perilous 
 
 mae], Abraham's son, "^ the sister 
 of Nehajoth, to be his wife. 
 
 10 IT And Jacob " went out from 
 Beer-sheba, and went toward ° Ha- 
 ran. 
 
 ra ch. 25. 13. 
 
 Hos. 12. 12. 
 
 Acts 
 
 condition. Had it not been for his 
 criminal impatience, and the sinful strat- 
 agem to which it led, he would not, 
 probably, have excited his brother's ha- 
 tred, or subjected himself to exile from 
 the home of his childhood. But we here 
 behold the heir of promise, the chosen 
 servant of God, in whose loins were an 
 elect people and many powerful kings,, 
 whose history was to occupy so large a 
 space in the book of God, in whom all 
 the famihes of the earth were to be bles- 
 sed, a forlorn wanderer, banished from 
 his father's house, his whole inheritance 
 his staff in his hand ! We see him go- 
 ing forth, an alien and a fugitive from 
 that very country, his anxiety to obtain 
 which had formed one motive of his 
 late duplicity ! But the lesson which 
 is taught by the patriarch's lot is full of 
 instruction. We cannot but read in it a 
 stern rebuke of that sinister proceeding 
 to which it was owing. Nor can we 
 doubt that the train of thought that 
 now passed through Jacob's mind w^as 
 of a gloomy and distressful character. 
 Oppressed with a desolating sense of his 
 loneliness, and inwardly pained with the 
 compunctious visitings of his faithful 
 conscience, he must often have asked 
 himself, on his dreary route, ' Why am 
 I here ?' — a question to which the recol- 
 lection of his sin would furnish a ready 
 answer. The secret doubt whether he 
 were indeed the objectof the pardoning 
 love and the special guidance of the 
 Most High, must have occasioned him 
 many a bitter pang while the shades of 
 the iirst evening were closing around 
 him ; but the sequel informs us that, in 
 the midst of this scene of outer and in- 
 ner darkness-, God was graciously prepar» 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVllL 
 
 105 
 
 11 And he lighted upon a certain 
 place, and tarried there all nicrht, 
 because the sun was set: and he 
 took of the stones of that place, and 
 put them/or his pillows, and lay down 
 in that place to sleep. 
 
 ing a message of peace and joy for his 
 
 exiled servant. ^ Werd toward Ha- 
 
 ran. Which is computed to have been 
 at least four hundred and fifty miles 
 distant from Beer-sheba. The route 
 thither was through a country in many 
 places desert and savage, and in others 
 no less dangerous from the hostde tribes 
 that dwelt in it or ranged through it. 
 It should not be forgotten, moreover, 
 that Jacob at this time, instead of being 
 a hale young man, in the prime of life, 
 had attained the age of seventy-seven 
 years. 
 
 11. He lighted upon a certain place. 
 Ileb. 3?33'i yijjhga, chanced to meet loilh, 
 implying that his being overtaken by 
 nightfall in that particular place, and tar- 
 rying there all night, was in consequence 
 of a providential ordering, rather than 
 of his own purpose. Thus, Eccl. 9. 11, 
 ^ Time and chance (5):55 pega) happen- 
 eth to them all ;' wliere the noun doubt- 
 less has the import of something at once 
 unexpected, unforeseen, and yet providen- 
 tial. The doctrine of chance, fortune, 
 or blind fate, did not enter into the theol- 
 ogy of the Hebrews. This place was eight 
 miles north of -Ferusalem and forty-eight 
 from Beer-sheba. Jacob probably in- 
 tended to reach the city before sunset, 
 but being delayed beyond his expecta- 
 tions, and finding the gates shut upon his 
 arrival, he was under the necessity, it 
 seems, of lodging in the open field in the 
 suburbs. Even at the present day itfre- 
 quendy happens in the eastern coun- 
 tries, that travellers not reaching the 
 city previous to the shutting of the 
 gates, are compelled to abide under the 
 walls all night; as, when once shut, 
 they refuse to opsn them till next day. 
 
 12 And ho p dreamed, and be- 
 hold, a ladder set up on earth, and 
 the top of it reached to heaven : 
 and behold, i the anf^els of God as- 
 cending and descending on it. 
 
 p ch. 41. 1. Job. 33. 15. q John 1. 51. 
 Hebr. 1. 11. 
 
 But sleeping in the open air is a custom 
 very common in the East, and from the 
 temperature of the climate much less 
 
 dangerous than in colder latitudes. 
 
 IT Put them for his pillows. Heb. 
 I'^lTill'iO'j meraashothav. This word, 
 derived from tlJJ^'n rosh, head, properly 
 signifies head-bolster, or v^hat is at the 
 head of any one, and stands opposed to 
 nib:i^"^ margeloth, from ^:i^ regel,foof, 
 signifying any thing placed at the feet. 
 It occurs also 1 Sam. 25. 7, ' And behold 
 Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and 
 his spear stuck in the ground at his bol- 
 ster (^ri'::'Al'^)-' T And lay doion in 
 
 that place to sleep, lleh .'2'Z':j^ yishkab, 
 stricUy implying nothing more than 
 simply to lie down, without necessarily 
 involving the idea of sleeping. The 
 words 'to sleep,' added at the close of 
 the verse by our translators, are purely 
 supplemental, and ought, no doubt, to 
 have been printed in Italics. 
 
 12. And he dreamed, &c. The sove- 
 reign manner in which the Most High 
 dispenses his favors is here strikingly 
 illustrated. Jacob had been guilty of a 
 high-handed offence in personating his 
 brother, and imposing on his father, and 
 thus fraudulendy obtaining the blessing. 
 In consequence, he was now fleeing to 
 avoid the effects of his brother's indig- 
 nadon. And in what manner should 
 we suppose that God would meet him, 
 if indeed he should deign to notice such 
 an offender at all? Would he not say 
 to him, as he afterwards did to the fugi- 
 tive prophet, ' What doest thou here, 
 Elijah V Or rather, would he not meet 
 him in a way of judgment, as he did 
 .Moses on the way to Egypt, Ex. 4. 24 — 
 23, and pidnfully indicate to him 
 
106 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 his sore displeasure ? But behold, in 
 order to display the riches of his grace, 
 he reve;^ls himself to him in a most in- 
 structive vision. lie confirms to him 
 all the promises previously made to 
 J^raham and to Isaac, and extends the 
 manifestations of his favor beyond all 
 former bounds ! Well may he exclaim 
 with David, ' Is this the manner of men, 
 
 O Lord God ?' ^ And behold, a ladder. 
 
 Heb. £30 siillam. Gr. xXi/ia^. It is 
 
 mountains which are ascended in this 
 manner by jutting prominences on 
 their sides, (called in the Spanish lan- 
 guage 'ladderas,' with which compare 
 the Eng. phrase ' to scale a height,') 
 were sometimes termed ' ladders.' Thus 
 Josephus, J. W. b. ii. c. 10, speaking of 
 the situation of Ptolemais, says, ' It was 
 bounded on the north by a mountain 
 called the Ladder of the Tyrians.' Anal- 
 ogous to this, ' the stairs that go dov\Ti 
 
 extremely doubtful whether the real ob- from the chy of David,' in Jerusalem, 
 
 ject seen in Jacob's vision was an ordi- 
 nary 'ladder.' We are not satisfied 
 that this rendering yields the genuine 
 sense of the original. It is certainly very 
 incongruous in point of imagery to con- 
 ceive of a ladder with its base standing 
 upon the earth, while its top had no- 
 thing solid to lean against. As to its top 
 reaching to heaven, this impHes its great 
 height, but properly conveys no intima- 
 tion of any support afforded to its upper 
 extremity. The Heb. term, which oc- 
 curs only here, is a derivative from 
 ibo salal, to raise up in a pile, to exalt 
 hy casting or heaping up, as in the con- 
 struction of a mound or highxoay. In 
 this sense, from which there is no im- 
 portant deviation throughout the Scrip- 
 tures, the verb occurs, Is. 57. 14, ' Cast 
 ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way.' Is. 
 (52. 10, 'Go through, go through the 
 gates ; prepare ye the way of the peo- 
 ple ; cast up, cast up, the highway.' Jer. 
 50. 26, 'Come against her from the ut- 
 most border, cast her up as heaps, and 
 destroy her utterly.' With these pas- 
 sages, therefore, as a clew, we take the 
 term to mean, instead of ' a ladder,' in 
 the common acceptation, a towering ele- 
 vation, as of several mountains cast up 
 and heaped together in one, with broJcen 
 irregular sides, composed of ledges of 
 rocks serving as steps .or stairs, hy which 
 it might be ascended to the top. The 
 
 are rendered K\t[iaKa5 ladders, Neh. 3. 
 15, and 12. 36, though they were in 
 reahty nothing else than stone steps ex- 
 cavated from the side of the hill. In 
 the vision of the patriarch, the angels 
 of God, we suppose, were seen ascend- 
 ing and descending the decHvities of 
 this heaped-up mountain, while the di- 
 vine Glory, in visible apparition, rested 
 upon its summit. Though the dream 
 was undoubtedly supernatural, yet it is 
 not unlikely that the object presented 
 in this vision was suggested by the pre 
 vious circumstance of Jacob's rudely 
 heaping together his pillow of stones, 
 and that the little pile on which his 
 head rested was the miniature model of 
 the object which God spread before his 
 imagination in his sleep. The interpre- 
 tation given of this visionary mountain- 
 pile by the Jewish commentators is the 
 following: 'The ladder, which Jacob 
 our father saw, was a parable of the 
 monarchies ;' i. e. of the series of great 
 monarchies and kingdoms forming the 
 subject of the predictions of Daniel. Of 
 these, mountains, in the figurative lan- 
 guage of Scripture, is a standing 
 symbol, and the overthrow of a king- 
 dom is thus described in the prophetic 
 style.: Jer. 51. 25, ' Behold I am against 
 theCj O destroying mountain, saith the 
 Lord, which destroyest all the earth: 
 I and I will stretch out mine hand upon 
 
 reason of its being rendered ' ladder' in thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, 
 theGr. of the Sept., which most modern! and will make thee a burnt (or, Heb. 
 versions, and our own among the rest, I ' a burning') mountain.' Closely con- 
 havo adopted, may have been, that high' noct.ed with this, and ©f a parallel Jm- 
 
B. C. 1760.1 
 
 CIlAI'-VKfl NXV)IK 
 
 107 
 
 13 ■■ And behold the Lord i^tood 
 above it, and said ^ I am the Lord 
 
 r ch. 3o. 1. & 43 3. s ch. 2o. 24. 
 
 God of Abraham thy father, and the 
 God of Isaac: Mhe land whereon 
 
 ' clj. 13. 5, & 35. 12. 
 
 port, is the following passage from the 
 Apocalypse, ch. 8. 8, ' And as it were a 
 great mounlain, burning with fire, was 
 cast into the sea ; and the tiiird part of 
 the sea became blood.' A similar dic- 
 tion prevails ttiroughont the prophets. 
 We are inclined to think, therefore, that 
 there is some ground for this interpreta- 
 tion, so far at least as to warrant us in 
 understanding the scenery of the vision 
 as foreshadowing some future hlngdoms 
 or kingdom destined to arise and hold a 
 conspicuous place on the earth. That it 
 has in some w>ay a reference to gospel 
 times and events is clear from our 
 Saviour's allusion to it, John, I. 51, 
 ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereaf- 
 ter ye shall see heaven open, and the 
 angels of God ascending and descending 
 upon the Son of man ;' that is, ye shall 
 one day see that realized in regard to 
 me which was shadowed forth in Jacob's 
 vision. But that the ladder, as it is 
 termed, was a type of Christ in his di- 
 vine and human nature, mediating be- 
 tween heaven and earth, is, in our 
 opinion, an entirely fanciful and unwar- 
 ranted mode of interpreting the vision. 
 It will perhaps be sufficient to say, that 
 the Saviour's words will be fulfilled at 
 the period to which we have referred, 
 when his kingdom shall have become 
 fully established on earth. It is not un- 
 Hkely that the communication between 
 heaven and earth by means of angels 
 will then be much more complete than 
 it has ever yet been. But, though the 
 above may have been its ultimate scope, 
 yet we cannot well doubt that its more 
 immediate object was of a simpler char- 
 acter, and one more especially adapted 
 to the circumstances of Jacob at the 
 time. He had now left his father's 
 house solitary and sorrowful, with much 
 to fear and little to hope. He had, in- 
 deed, received the paternal blessing, but 
 he had irritated his injured brother, and 
 
 under the reproofs of his own conscience 
 he could not but be a prey to the most 
 disquieting apprehensions. Under these 
 circumstances, what could dispel his 
 fears and allay the inward tumult of his 
 mind, but the firm persuasion of an 
 overruling providence, of a real though 
 invisible communication betv\ieen hea- 
 ven and earth ? This, then, we may 
 suppose to have been the proximate de- 
 sign of the \'ision. God would teach 
 him, by its significant imagery, the con- 
 soling truth, that there was a constant 
 intercourse kept up, through the me- 
 dium of angelic ministers, between the 
 visible and invisible world ; that al- 
 though he was now an exile from his 
 native land, and traversing alone unin- 
 habited deserts ; that though he was in 
 danger from the wild beasts that roamed 
 abroad at night, and from the lav^dess 
 tribes that prowled for spoil through the 
 day, yet he was encompassed by the 
 presence and protection of his Maker, 
 whose angels pitched their camps about 
 his bed, and under the shadow of whose 
 wmgs he might rest. To all this nothing 
 could be better adapted than the vision 
 of the towering mountain-height and 
 the ascending and descending angels, 
 now vouchsafed to him. At the same 
 time we know of nothing to forbid the 
 supposition that an ulterior and deeper 
 meaning was couched under this sym- 
 bol, of which it was not necessary that 
 Jacob himself should be aware. He 
 learned enough from it to answer his 
 present purposes ; enough to inspire 
 him with confidence, and fill him with 
 comfort ; and if we with the aid of sub- 
 sequent revelations and a superior in- 
 sight into the symbolic language of the 
 Scriptures, can elicit from it a greater 
 fulness and richness of import, what 
 should prevent us from so doing ? 
 
 13. Behold theLord stood above it. Heb 
 1*^b5> ^125 mn'^ Uyn hinneh Jehovah nit^ 
 
108 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 thou liest, to thee will I give it, and 
 to thy seed. 
 
 14 And " thy seed shall be as 
 the dust of the earth; and thou 
 shalt spread abroad ^ to the west, 
 
 • ch. 13. 16. ^ ch. 13. 14. Deut. 12. 20. 
 
 tzab alav, behold Jehovah standing upon 
 it or above it. Gr. O Kvpiog eneuTripiK- 
 To £ff' avrris, the Lord was firmly fixed, 
 grounded, or established upon it. Chal. 
 
 * And the glory of the Lord was fi-xed, 
 (nin3!'?i meattad, constituta. — Buxtorf) up- 
 on or over it.' The original word ^iZ] 
 for 'stood,' (or * standing,') is from the 
 eame root with that rendered ' set,' 
 (1322^ mutzab. Gr. ecTnpiYjxtvr) firmly 
 
 fi^ed), in the succeeding clause, and is 
 used for the most part to signify, not an 
 active stationing or placing one's self, but 
 passively, a being firmly fixed, settled, es- 
 tablished, usually spoken of pillars, sta- 
 tues , columns, and other abiding fix- 
 tures, and less properly applied to a 
 personal agent, except in the sense of 
 being constituted, or appointed to office, 
 made to preside over, as I Sam. 19. 20. 
 
 • And when they saw Samuel standing 
 as appointed (^^2]) over them ;' where 
 the terms for ' standing,' and ' appoint- 
 ed,' are entirely different. 1 Sam. 22. 
 9, ' Doeg, which was set over d^:) the 
 servants of Saul.' Ruth 2. .5, ' Said un- 
 to his servant that was set over ('^'Si',) the 
 reapers.' The phraseology, therefore, 
 legitimately points to a visible object, 
 which was capable of being firmly fix- 
 ed and established on the summit of the 
 visionary pile. And as the title 'Jeho- 
 vah' is apphed to this object, we cannot 
 but conclude that it was the Shekinah, 
 the usual visible symbol, not so much of 
 the divine nature in the abstract, as of 
 the future manifested Deity in the person, 
 glory, and kingdom of the Messiah. We 
 suppose, then, that this part of the vision 
 distinctly imported that tbe future king- 
 dom of Christ was destined finally to 
 rise superior to the glory of all worldly 
 kingdoms, and to be established above 
 
 and to the east, and to the north, and 
 to the south : and in thee and * in 
 thy seed shall all the faraihes of the 
 earth be blessed. 
 
 ^ ch. 12. :). & 18. 18. & 22. 18. & 26. 4. 
 
 them. This fact the prophet Isaiah an- 
 nounces in terms strikingly corrobora- 
 tive of our present interpretation. Is. 
 2. 2, ' And it shall come to pass in the 
 last days, that the mountain of the 
 Lord's house shall be established in the 
 top of the mountains, and shall be exalt- 
 ed above the hills ; and all nations shall 
 flow unto it.' In this view of the sub- 
 ject we not only perceive a sufficient 
 reason for the use of the extraordinary 
 term IQV;, implying at once establish- 
 ment and pre-eminence, or presidency, but 
 are also enabled to see more distinctly, 
 we believe, than on any other inierpre ■ 
 tation, the grand scope of the whole vis- 
 ion, and particularly of the Divine ad- 
 dress made to Jacob in connexion with 
 the imaginary scenery before him. It 
 was, if we mi.stake not, to assure him 
 that his final lot, in the muldplication 
 and enlargement of his seed, should be 
 as much superior to his present hum- 
 ble state, as the immense mountain-pile 
 seen in his vision exceeded the little 
 heap of stones thrown together for his 
 pillow. Of this assurance Jacob after- 
 wards records himself a partial fulfil- 
 ment; Gen. 32. 10, 'For with my staff 
 I passed over this Jordan, and now I am 
 become two bands.' 
 
 14. As the dust of the earth. This 
 prediction makes very striking the apos- 
 trophe of Balaam, Num. 23, ' Who can 
 count the dust of Jacob, and the num- 
 ber of the fourth part of ].*rael ? 
 
 IT Thou shalt spread abroad, &c. Heb. 
 uiSIti paraizta, shall break forth, like 
 waters, on every side. The assurance 
 here given to Jacob, respecting the fu- 
 ture increase of his seed, while it re- 
 news and confirms the blessings before 
 announced to Abraham, falls in, at the 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 109 
 
 15 And behold y I am with thee, 
 and will ^ keep thee in all places 
 whither thou goest, and will "" bring 
 thee again into this land : for ^i 
 will not leave thee, " until 1 have 
 
 y ver. 20,21. cli. 26. 24. & 31. 3. ^ ch. 
 48. 16. Ps. 121. 5, 7, 8. a ch. 35. 6. 
 
 •> Deut. 28. 6. Josh. 1. 5. 1 KiiiRS 8. 57. 
 Heb, 13. 5. c Numb. 2^19. 
 
 same time with what we have said of 
 the symbolic drift of the vision. What 
 the huge mountain mass was to the lit- 
 tle heap of stones at his head, that 
 should the coundess muhitude of the 
 patriarch's chosen seed be to himself 
 personally. 
 
 15. Behold I am with thee, and nnll keep 
 thee, &c. The Gr. of the Sept. gives 
 this part of the promise in a more re- 
 stricted sense, — cv rt] o6u) 7:0(777, in all the 
 way, or in all this way, i. e.-I will direct, 
 help, and support thee in a peculiar 
 manner in thy present journey. But 
 the words have probably a more exten- 
 sive reach of meaning, pledging the di- 
 vine presence and protection in all the 
 journeys he might undertake. The 
 promises now vouchsafed to Jacob are of 
 two kinds ; the former being a repetition 
 and ratification of those before made to 
 Abraham and Isaac, relating rather 
 to his posterity than to himself; while 
 the latter had a more distinct reference 
 to Jacob personally, and to the circum- 
 stances of his present distress. It is to 
 Jacob, individually, that God more espe- 
 cially speaks in the verse before us. 
 Though now wandering forth alone, 
 and not knowing to what dangers and 
 temptations he might be exposed in the 
 country to which he is going, or whether 
 he should ever return again in safety, yet 
 the Lord assures him that, however he 
 might be an alien frum his father's 
 house, he should not be cast away from 
 his presence, and that he would be his 
 guide and guardian wherever he should 
 go. Why should we not, as the spirit- 
 ual seed of Jacob, catch a gleam of re- 
 TOL. If. 
 
 done that which I have spoken to 
 thee of, 
 
 16 ^ And Jacob awaked out of 
 his sleep, and he said, Surely the 
 LoKD is in ^' this place ; and I knew 
 it not. 
 
 J ExGd. 3, 5. Josh. 5. 15. 
 
 freshing light from this assurance as we 
 pass along ? If God will be with us ; 
 if he will keep us in all places and cir- 
 cumstances ; if he wdl never leave us 
 nor forsake us ; and if he will bring us 
 at last to our promised and hoped-for 
 land of rest, then may we go on our 
 way with confidence and joy. Who- 
 ever we may leave, or whatever we 
 may lose, still we part not from our best 
 friend, nor are we deprived of our most 
 valuable portion. We cannot be lone- 
 ly, if God be with us. We cannot want, 
 if he provide for us. We cannot err, if 
 he guide us. We cannot perish, if he 
 preserve us. And all this he will do for 
 those that put their trust in him 
 
 16. Surely the LORD is in this place, 
 and I knew it not- Chal. ' In very deed 
 the glory of the Lord dwelleth in this 
 place.' Arab. 'The light of God is in 
 this place.' As might have been ex- 
 pected, the dream produced a powerful 
 impression upon the mind of Jacob. 
 His feelings upon awaking were those 
 of grateful wonder mingled with emo- 
 tions of reverential awe, bordering close 
 upon dread. He who had felt no fear 
 in laying himself down to sleep in a 
 lonely place, and under the cloud of 
 night, is now filled with holy dismay 
 when the morning arose, at the thought 
 of being surrounded with God. But 
 the element of joy was not extinguished 
 by the feeling of the awful which the 
 scene had inspired. The drift of his 
 exclamation was, that the Lord had been 
 especially present to him where he lit- 
 tle thought of meeting with him. He 
 had laid him down to sleep, as on com- 
 10 
 
110 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C 1700 
 
 17 And he was afraid, and said, 
 How dreadful is this place! this is 
 
 the raornin<4-, and took the cJtone 
 that he had put /or his pillows, and 
 
 e ch. 31. 13. 45. & 35. 14. 
 11, 12. Nnml). 7. 1. 
 
 f Lev. 8. 10. 
 
 none Other but tl^ie house of God, "^ set it up /o?* a pillar, ^ and poured oil 
 and this is the gfate of heaven. | upon the top of it. 
 
 18 And Jacob rose up early in 
 
 nion ground, but he found that it was a 
 consecrated place, hallowed by the 
 presence of God hinnself in this blessed 
 vision of the night. It seemed a lone 
 and uninviting spot, but it had proved 
 to him a magnificent temple. He had 
 seen in it a glorious appearance of God, 
 with his attendant retinue ; and the gates 
 of heaven itself had, as it were, been 
 opened to his view. Such a visitation 
 was too precious not to be especially 
 commemorated, and this, accordingly, 
 was his immediate care. 
 
 18. Took the stone — and set it up for a 
 pillar. Heb. f^l^'^ matzehah, a fjced, 
 standing pillar. The original term is 
 rendered, Lev. 26. 1, a ' standing image ;' 
 and it is elsewhere rendered in like man- 
 ner, either ' image,' or ' statue ;' but the 
 Gr. has cr/jXf? pillar, and it is properly 
 used for those sacred, memorial, or rep- 
 resentative pillars, which were after- 
 wards forbidden to the Israelites, prob- 
 ably on account of the too common idola- 
 trous abuse of them. Lev. 20. 1. Deut. 
 16. 22. When Jacob is said to have ta- 
 ken the 'stone' upon which his head 
 had lain, and set it up for this purpose, 
 w-e are probably to understand the word 
 as a collect, sing, for ' stones ;' as it ap- 
 pears obvious from v. 11, that there was 
 more than one of them H And pour- 
 ed oil upon the top of it. This was to 
 Jacob not only a night much to be re- 
 membered, but a place much to.be hon- 
 ored. He therefore resolves to fix upon 
 the spot a solemn memorial of the 
 Lord's appearance to him there. From 
 the litde cruse, which had no doubt form- 
 ed a part of his slender stock of provision 
 for his journey, he pours oil upon the 
 pillar to consecrate the place. Things 
 and persons anointed with oil were re- 
 
 garded as set ujmrtto the service of God, 
 I to a holy and sacred use. Thus the 
 ! tabernacle and its vessels were anoint- 
 I ed, Kx 40. 9 — 11. In like manner 
 I kings and priests, when inaugurated into 
 office, passed through the same ceremo- 
 : ny, 1 Sam. 10. 1. And thus Jacob ren- 
 j (lets the present place henceforth ht.ly, at 
 I least in his own estimation, and gives it a. 
 I nameof correspondingimport. The prac- 
 tice of erecting pillars as memorials of 
 events is coeval with the earliest history 
 of nations. Where men are ignorant of the 
 art of writing, a durable monument of 
 this kind, which is associated with the 
 story of some remarkable fact, wilUong 
 preserve that storj' in recollection. Af- 
 ter the art of writing was introduced 
 among the nations of antiquity, we find 
 that they still continued to erect these 
 pillars, but avaihng themselves of that 
 invention, they sculptured the history 
 deeply in the stone, that in this endur- 
 ing f(»rm it might become the possession 
 ' of nations yet to be.' Every reader 
 has heard of the pillars or obelisks of 
 Egypt and Nubia. We learn from Eu- 
 sebius and other authors, that it was 
 very common, in early times, to rear pil- 
 lars of stone, to anoint them with oil. and 
 then perform religious rites around or 
 over them. To these pillars the Greeks 
 gave the name ' Baitulia,' an evident de- 
 rivative from ' Bethel,' the place of their 
 origin. (See Le Clerc on Gen. 28. 18.) 
 From the same source undoubtedly ori- 
 ginated the worship of the ' Black Stone,' 
 among the followers of Mohammed, 
 which is still preserved at 3Iecca, in the 
 temple of the Caaba, otherwise denom- 
 inated ' Beit-allah,' house of God, a terra 
 which also clearly betrays its etymolo- 
 i gicol relation to ' Bethel.' ' Nothing can 
 
B. C. 1760] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVni. 
 
 Ill 
 
 19 And he called the name of of that city was called Luz at the 
 ? that place Beth-el : but the name first. 
 
 Ju.iff. 1. !21. 26. IIos. 4. 15. 
 
 be more natural than this act of Jacob, for 
 the purpose of marking the site and mak- 
 ing a memorial of an occurrence of such 
 greatinterestand importance to him (see 
 Note on chap 35. 20.) The true design of 
 this humble monument seems to have 
 been, however, fo set this anointed pil- 
 lar as an evidence of the solemn vow 
 which he made on that occasion. This 
 use of a stone, or stones, is definitely 
 expressed in chap. 31. 48 and 52. Mr. 
 Morier, in his ' Second Journey through 
 Persia,' notices a custom which seems 
 to illustrate this act of Jacob. In trav- 
 elling through Persia, he observed that 
 the guide occasionally placed a stone 
 on a conspicuous piece of rock, o-r 
 two stones one upon another, at the 
 same time uttering some words which 
 were understood to be a prayer for the 
 safe return of the party. This explained 
 to Mr. Morier what he had frequently 
 observed before in the East, and par- 
 ticularly on high roads leading to great 
 towns, at a point where the towns are 
 first seen, and where the oriental travel- 
 ler sets up his stone, accompanied by a 
 devout exclamation in token of his safe 
 arrival. Mr. Morier adds : ' Nothing is 
 so natural, in a journey over a dreary 
 country, as for a solitary traveller to set 
 himself down fatigued, and to make the 
 vow that Jacob did : ' If God will be with 
 me, and keep me in the way that I go, 
 and will give me bread to eat and rai- 
 ment to put on, so that I may reach my 
 father's house in peace,' &c., then will 
 I give so much in charity ; or, again, that 
 on first seeing the place which he has 
 so long toiled to reach, the traveller 
 should sit down and make a thanksgiv- 
 ing, in both cases setting up a stone as 
 a memorial.' The writer of this note 
 has himself often observed such stones 
 without being aware of their object, un- 
 til happening one day to overturn ons 
 
 that had been set upon another, a man 
 hastened to replace it, at the same time 
 informing him that to displace such 
 stones was on act unfortunate for the 
 person so displacing it, and unpleasant 
 to others. The writer afterwards ob- 
 served, that the natives studiously avoid- 
 ed displacing any of these stones, ' set 
 up for a pillar,' by the way-side. The 
 place now pointed out as Pethel con- 
 tains no indication of Jacob's pillar. 
 The Jews believe that it was placed in 
 the sanctuary of the second temple, and 
 that the ark of the covenant rested upon 
 it; and they add, that after the destrue- 
 tion of that temple, and the de.solation of 
 Judea, their fathers were accustomed 
 to lament the calamities that had befallen 
 them over the stone on which Jacob's 
 head rested at Bethel. The Mohamme- 
 dans are persuaded that their famous 
 temple at Mecca is built over the same 
 stone.' Pict. Bible. 
 
 19. But the name of that city was call- 
 ed Luz at the first. It does not follow 
 from this that there w^as any city in this 
 place at this time. It is quite clear from 
 the preceding narrative that Jacob had 
 slept in the open field at some distance 
 from any house. But there may have 
 been a city in the vicinity which was 
 originally called ' Luz,' and which after- 
 wards, in consequence of the event 
 here mentioned happening in its neigh- 
 borhood, may have received the name 
 of ' Beth-el.' Or we may take what is 
 perhaps the still more plausible solution 
 of Calvin, who thinks there was no 
 city whatever on the spot or in the 
 vicinity at the time, but that afterwards 
 one was built there by the Canaanites, 
 and called ' Luz' from the abundance 
 oi almond treis whicli grew there, with- 
 out any regard to Jacob's appellation; 
 but that in subsequent ages, when the 
 ciiildren of Israel obtained posgesaion of 
 
112 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 |B. C. 1760. 
 
 20 ^ And Jacob vowed a vow, say- 
 ing, If ' God will be with me, and 
 
 " ch. 31. 13. Judg. 11. 30. 2 Sam. 15. 18. 
 I ver. 15. 
 
 the country, and of this city among 
 others, they restored, from motives of 
 reverence, the ancient name which the 
 patriarch had bestowed upon it. That 
 the place was long regarded with reh- 
 gious veneration we may infer from Jer- 
 oboam's having chosen it for the seat of 
 his idolatrous worship of the golden 
 calves, 1 Kings, 12. 28, 29, for which 
 reason the prophet Hosea, ch. 4. 15, 
 alluding to the name given it by Jacob, 
 calls it ' Beth-aven,' the house of vnmty, 
 i. e. of idols, instead of ' Beth-el,' house 
 of God. In like manner Amos, 5. 5, 
 'Bethel shall come to nought (Heb. 
 'list il^rr^ shall he Avert.'') A good 
 name has no security of permanence 
 where a change for the worse has taken 
 place in the character. God even 
 writes upon his own people, ' Lo- Ammi,' 
 not my people instead of ' Ammi,' my peo- 
 ple, when, by their transgression, they 
 forfeit his favor. 
 
 20. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, 
 &c. Not satisfied vi'ith merely erecting 
 and anointing the memorial-pillar, Jacob 
 gives way still further to the prompt- 
 ings of a grateful heart, and binds him- 
 self by the solemnity of a vow to be 
 more fully the Lord's than he had ever 
 been before. It is not to be understood, 
 however, from his conditional mode of 
 expression, ' If God will be with me,' 
 &c. that he had any doubt as to the 
 fulfilment of the divine promise, or that 
 he would prescribe terms to his Maker. 
 The language implies nothing more 
 than his cordially taking God at his 
 word ; his laying hold of his gracious 
 assurances ; and a sincere avowal, that 
 since the Lord had kindly promised him 
 the bestowmentof inestimable blessings, 
 he would endeavor not to be w-anling 
 m the suitable returns of duty and de- 
 votedness. God had promised to be 
 
 will keep me in this way that I go 
 and will give me ^ bread to eat, and 
 raiment to put on, 
 
 k 1 Tim. 6. 8. 
 
 with him, to keep him, to bring him 
 again into the land, and not to leave him. 
 He takes up the precious words, and 
 virtually says, ' Oh, let it be according 
 to thy word unto thy servant, and thou 
 shall be mine, and I will be thine, for- 
 ever.' This was all right ; for Jacob 
 sought nothing which God had not pro- 
 mised, and he could not well err while 
 making the divine promises the rule 
 and measure of his desires. Our vows 
 are wrong when either we hope that by 
 them we can induce God to do for us 
 what otherwise he has not engaged or is 
 unwilling to perform ; or when we im- 
 agine that the services which we 
 stipulate to render to him will be any 
 compensation for the mercies vouch- 
 safed. Vows are not intended to have 
 the force of a bargain or compact by 
 which to involve the Ueity in obliga- 
 tions of any kind ; but merely to bind 
 ourselves to the performance of some- 
 thing which was before indifferent, or 
 to impress our minds more strongly 
 with the necessity of executing some 
 acknowledged duty. From the connex- 
 ion and circumstances, it is clear that 
 Jacob's vow was one of the most unex- 
 ceptionable character, and such as God 
 approved. 'The order of what he de- 
 sired is deserving of notice. It corres- 
 ponds with our Saviour's rule, to seek 
 things of the greatest importance first. 
 By how much God's favor is better 
 than life, by so much his being viith us, 
 and keeping ns, is better than food and 
 
 raiment.' Fuller. IT Will give me 
 
 bread to eat and raiment to put on. It is 
 impossible not to be struck with the 
 moderation of Jacob's desires, as evinced 
 in these words. He speaks like one 
 who is firmly persuaded that if God be 
 with us, and keep us, the mere necessa- 
 ris3 of hfa will make us happy. Ha 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 113 
 
 21 So that ^ I come again to my 
 father's house in peace : "' then shall 
 the Lord be my God : 
 
 22 And this stone, which I have 
 
 '• Jiidg. 11. 31. 2 Sam. 19. 24,30. 
 m Deut. 2o. 17. 2 Sam. 15. 8. 2 Kings 5. 17. 
 
 seeks not high tilings for himself. He 
 asks not for weaUh or equipage, for rank 
 or renown. The means of a bare sub- 
 sistence, a simple competency, bounds 
 the narrow circle of his wishes, as far as 
 worldly good is concerned ; and where 
 this spirit exists, we know from the case 
 of Solomon, 1 Kings, 3. 5—12, that God 
 is wont to grant not only the favors re- 
 quested, but vastly more. Thus it was 
 with Jacob, and thus we shall doubtless 
 find it with ourselves. 
 
 21. Then shall the Lord he my God. 
 That is, I vvill utterly renounce and for- 
 sake all the idolatries and superstitions 
 of the surrounding heathen ; I will ac- 
 knowledge, worship, and cleave to Je- 
 hovah alone, having no other God be- 
 fore him, and serving him in my own 
 person and in my family faithfully and 
 reverently all the days of my life. It 
 should not, however, be withheld from 
 the reader, that Geddes, Rosenmuller, 
 and many other critics of note, consider 
 this clause as one of the conditions, and 
 not of tlie consequences, of the vow. 
 They accordingly render ' If God w ill 
 be with me, &-c., and if the I.ord will be 
 a God to me;' i. e. according to the 
 promise made to Abraham, Gen. 17. 7, 
 to be a God to him and to his seed. 
 
 set for a pillar, " shall be God'a 
 house : ° and of all that thou shalt 
 give me, I will surely give the tenth 
 unto thee. 
 
 n ch. 3.5. 7, 14. 
 
 Lev. 
 
 30. 
 
 That is, shall stand for, shall represent, 
 shall signify ; for which the Hebrew 
 has no other term than the verb of exist- 
 ence. See Note on Gen. 40. 12. It 
 does not appear that he intended to 
 erect a structure in this place for 
 the permanent worship of God, which 
 should be called ' the house of God,' 
 or that his words, rightly understood, 
 announce any such purpose. We rather 
 take the drift of the clause to be., that 
 he should ever regard the place as pe- 
 culiarly sacred, a .spot honored and 
 hallowed by an extraordinary manifes- 
 tation of the divine presence; and, 
 prompted by that feeling, he would leave 
 tliere a monument which should not only 
 be a memento of the mercies so signally 
 vouchsafed him, but also a shadow, a 
 symbol, a prefiguration of that future 
 structure which in process of time God 
 would cause to be erected within the 
 bounds of the promised land, and which 
 should itself be but a type of that final 
 spiritual my.«tical house, the church, 
 composed of living stones, and forming 
 the body of his spiritual seed. Jt may, 
 indeed, be doubted whether Jacob him- 
 self understood the full import of the 
 words he now uttered. The true expo- 
 sition, if we mistake not, is to be read 
 
 The original will undoubtedly admit of i in a passage of the New Testament 
 
 this rendering as naturally as of the 
 other, and it is perhap-s equally pro- 
 bable. In this sense it seems to have 
 been understood by all the ancient 
 translators, except the Syr , Vulg , and 
 Pers., who took the prefix 1 ((T'hl 
 vehayah) in the sense of turn, then, and 
 hke the F'ng. version, make it a part of 
 Jacob's stipulation to God. But 3Ii- 
 chaelis rejects this, and adopts the former 
 construction. 
 
 22. This stone — shall he God's house. 
 
 where Paul appears to be guided by the 
 Holy Ghost to the right explication of 
 the patriarch's language. 1 Tim. 3. 15, 
 'That thou mayesf know how thou 
 oughtpst to behave thyself in the house 
 of God, which is the church of the liv- 
 ing God, the pillar and ground of truth.' 
 The phrase 'house of God' seems to 
 have suggested to the Apostle its Heb. 
 designation, ' Bethel,' and this again, 
 by a natural association, the memorial 
 pillar there erected by Jacob, the spirit 
 10*" 
 
114 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 THEN Jacob went on his jour- 
 ney, " and came into the land 
 of the people of the east. 
 
 a Numb. 23. 7. Hos. 12. 12. 
 
 ual import of which he pronounces to 
 be to represent ' the church of the liv- 
 ing God,' a declaration properly based 
 upon Jacob's words, v. 22, 'And this 
 stone shall be God's house.' The ex- 
 pression ' pillar and ground of the truth,' 
 is probably a Hebraism, equivalent to 
 ' the tme pillar and ground ;' i. e. the 
 church is the reality, the truth, the sub- 
 stanxie, of which Jacob's pillar was the 
 shadow. The terms true and iruth are 
 clearly appUed in this sense in the New 
 Testament. Thus, John, 1. 17, 'The 
 law was given by Moses, but grace and 
 Iruth came by Jesus Christ.' Now, as it 
 is certain that truth, in its ordinary ac- j fortless 
 cpptation, came as really, though not to 
 the same degree, by Moses as by Christ, 
 we are forced to understand this of the 
 substance of the gospel as contradistin- 
 guished from the shadows of the law. 
 By 3Ioses came the letter and the type, 
 by Christ came the spirit, the reality, 
 the suhsta7ice, or, in a word, the truth. 
 So here we take the apostle's meaning 
 
 2 And he looked, and behold, a 
 well in the field, and lo, there were 
 three flocks of sheep lying by it ; 
 for out of that well they watered 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 ' Isaac's life was not more retired and 
 quiet than Jacob's was busy and trou- 
 blesome : in the one I see the image of 
 contemplation, of action in the other. 
 None of the patriarchs saw so evil days 
 as he, from whom justly hath the 
 church of God therefore taken her 
 name : neither were the faithful ever 
 since called Abrahamites, but Israelites. 
 That no time might be lost, he began 
 his strife in the womb; after that, he 
 flies for his life from a cruel brother to 
 a cruel uncle. With a staff he goes 
 over Jordan alone, doubtful and com- 
 not like the son of Isaac: 
 in the way the earth is his bed, and 
 the stone his pillow ; yet even there he 
 sees a vision of angels. Jacob's heart 
 was never so full of joy as when his 
 head lay hardest. God is most present 
 with us in our greatest dejection, and 
 loves to give comfort to those that are 
 forsaken of their hopes.' Bp. HaU. 
 
 1. Went on his journey. Heb. 5^"^" 
 
 to be, that the church was the true, the l^-^^^'j^^yissaraglav, lifted up his feet. Th 
 
 real, the substantial pillar and ground 
 {eSpaioii^a, supporting base) which Jacob 
 erected, anointed, and named at Bethel. 
 If so, we can hardly doubt that the Holy 
 Spirit had a scope in the transaction far 
 beyond what entered into the thoughts 
 
 of Jacob. ^ I will surely give the tenth 
 
 unto thee. From which it is clear that 
 tithes were paid and set apart for reli- 
 gious uses before the giving of the law 
 of 3Ioses. To whom they were paid, 
 or to what particular purpose applied, 
 in this case, does not appear ; but it 
 seems very probable t'nat Jacob intend- 
 ed to lay an obligation upon his poster- 
 ity to reserve a tenth of the fruits of 
 their labor for the maintenance of reli- 
 gious institutions. 
 
 phrase is emphatic, and implies that he 
 travelled on briskly and cheerfully, not- 
 withstanding his age, being refreshed in 
 his spirit by the recent manifestation 
 of the divine favor. Thus, Ps. 74. 3, 
 ' Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual de- 
 solations ;' i. e. come speedily for our 
 deliverance. A Jewish commentator 
 says, ' His heart lifted up his feet,' an 
 expression strikingly indicative of the 
 buoyancy and light-heartedness with 
 which he re-commenced his travels 
 Although many a weary day's journey 
 still lay between him and the place of 
 his destination, and much of uncertain- 
 ty, danger, and fatigue attended his 
 solitary way, yet such was the influence 
 of the cheering assurances he had re- 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 115 
 
 the flocks : and a j^reat stone was 
 upon the well's mouth. 
 
 3 And thither were all the flocks 
 gathered : and tliey rolled the stone 
 
 ceived of the divine presence and pro- 
 tection, that he proceeded on his course 
 on the following morning with feeUngs 
 of alacrity and joy to which he had 
 been before a stranger. The effect of 
 his feelings on the remainder of his 
 journey would almost appear to be 
 hinted by the brevity with which the 
 historian recounts it ; for the four hun- 
 dred miles are despatched in a single 
 verse, ' He lifted up his feet, and came 
 into the land of the people of the east.' 
 ' The joy of the Lord was Jacob's 
 strength ; it became as oil, wherewith 
 his soul being suppled, he was made 
 more lithe, nimble, and fit for action. 
 He that is once soaked in this oil, and 
 bathed with Jacob in this bath at Beth- 
 el, will cheerfully do or suffer aught for 
 God's sake. Let us pluck up our feet, 
 pass from strength to strength, and take 
 long and lusty strides toward heaven. 
 
 It is but a little before us.' Trapp 
 
 IT Of the people of the easf. Heb. n;;^ 
 r»^[^ bene kedem, children or sons of the 
 east. That is, to the country of Mesopota- 
 mia lying to the east of Canaan. Tlie peo- 
 ple of this region are spoken of under a 
 similar designation, Judg. 8. 3. 1 Kings, 
 4. 31. Job, 1. 3. The Gr. omits the 
 word 'children,' and renders eig yriv 
 avaTo\(x)v, to the land of the east. It was 
 'from the east' that the Lord had for- 
 merly ' raised up the righteous man' 
 (Abraham), and to the same region 
 was his grandson now conducted, that 
 he might ' serve for a wife.' Hos. 12. 
 12. 
 
 2. A great stone was upon the well's 
 mouth. ' In Arabia, and in other places, 
 they are wont to close and cover up their 
 wells of w-ater, lest the sand, which is 
 put into motion by the winds there, like 
 the water of a pond, should fill them, 
 and quite stop them up. This is the ac- 
 
 from the well's mouth, and watered 
 
 the sheep, and put tne stone again 
 
 upon the well's mouth in his place. 
 
 4 And Jacob said unto them, 
 
 count Sir J. Chardin gives us in a note 
 on Ps. 69. 15. I very much question 
 the appUcableness of this custom to that 
 passage, but it will serve to explain, I 
 think, extremely well, the view of keep- 
 ing that well covered witn a stone, from 
 which Laban's sheep were wont to be 
 watered ; and their care not to leave 
 it open any time, but to stay till the 
 flocks w-ere all gathered together, be- 
 fore they opened it, and then, having 
 drawn as much water as was requisite 
 to cover it up again immediately. Gen. 
 29.2, 8. The extreme scarcity of vv-ater in 
 those arid regions entirely justifies such 
 vigilant and parsimonious care in the 
 management of this precious fluid ; and 
 accounts for the fierce contentions about 
 the possession of a well, which so fre- 
 quently happened between the shep- 
 herds of different masters.' Harmer. 
 
 3. Thither were all the flocks gathered. 
 .Not only the flocks, but the shepherds 
 with them. Both are included according 
 to Heb. usage under one and the same 
 term. So ' tents,' Gen. 13. 5, includes 
 those who dwelt in them; 'horses,' 
 Zech. 1. 8, includes their 'riders,' as 
 appears from v. 11; and 'chariots,' 1 
 Chron. 19. 13, those who drove them. 
 The word ' rolled,' immediately after, 
 necessarily requires that 'shepherds' 
 should be understood in ' flocks,' as 
 otherwise we have a dialogue occupying 
 several verses, and yet no man mention- 
 ed but Jacob ; the only living creatures 
 present beside himself being three flocks 
 
 of sheep. "^ Ttiey rolled the stone from 
 
 the weWs mouth, &c. There is an apparent 
 discrepancy between this and the sequel 
 of the narrative, which implies that the 
 stone was not rolled away till Rachel 
 came to the well. But this is ea.'^ily re- 
 conciled by the remark, that the presenl 
 verse simply informs us what it was cms 
 
116 
 
 My brethren, whence oe ye 
 they said, Of Haran are we. 
 
 5 And he said unto them, Know 
 ye Laban the son of Nahor? And 
 they said, We know him. 
 
 6 And he said unto them ^ Is he 
 Weill And they said, He is well: 
 
 b cJi. 43. 27. 
 
 GENESIS. [B. C. 1760. 
 
 ? And and behold, Rachel his daughter 
 cometh with the sheep. 
 
 7 And he said, Lo, it is yet high 
 day, neither is it time that the cat- 
 tle should be gathered togeiher : 
 water ye the sheep, andgoandked 
 them. 
 
 toniary to do at this well, while the rest 
 of the passage describes what was after- 
 wards done on this occasion in conform- 
 ity with general usage. This idea is 
 distinctly and properly preserved in the 
 Lat. Vulgate ; ' Morisque erat,' &c., and 
 the custom teas, when all the sheep were 
 gathered together, &c. ' The passage, 
 as a whole, is one that strongly illus- 
 trates the value of a well of water, and 
 the care that was usually taken of it. 
 Wells are still sometimes covered with 
 a stone, or otherwise, to protect them 
 from being choked up by the drifted 
 .sand : and it was probably to prevent 
 the exposure of the well by too frequent- 
 ly removing the stone, that the shep- 
 herds did not water their flocks until the 
 whole were assembled together ; for it 
 is not to be supposed that tliey waited 
 because the united strength of all the 
 shepherds was requisite to roll away the 
 stone when Jacob was able singly lo 
 do so. When the well is private prop- 
 erty, in a neighborhood where water is 
 scarce, the well is sometimes kept 
 locked, to prevent the neighboring shep- 
 herds from watering their flocks fraudu- 
 lently from it ; and even when left un- 
 locked, some person is frequently so far 
 the proprietor that the well may not be 
 opened unless in the presence of himself, 
 or of some one belonging to his house- 
 hold. Chardin, whose manuscripts fur- 
 nished Harmer with an illustration of 
 this text, conjectures, with great reason, 
 that the present well belonged to La- 
 ban's family, and that the shepherds 
 dared not open the well until Laban's 
 daughter came with her father's flocks. 
 Jacob, therefore, is not to be supposed 
 
 to have broken the standing rule, or to 
 have done anything out of the ordinary 
 course ; for the oriental shepherds are 
 not at all persons hkely to submit to the 
 inference or dictation of a stranger. lie, 
 however, rendered a kind service to 
 Rachel, as the business of watering 
 cattle at a well is very tiresome and 
 laborious.' Pict. Bible. 
 
 5. Laban the so7i of Nahor. That is, 
 the grandson or descendant of Xahor ; for 
 he was the son of Bethuel. But this is 
 the well-known usage of the Hebrew. 
 
 6 Is he well ? Heb. I3 tib' 
 
 hash- 
 
 alom lo, {is there) peace to him 7 i e. not 
 only health, but general welfare and 
 prosperity ; a sense often conveyed by 
 the word ' peace.' This has ever been, 
 and still is, the customary mode of salu- 
 tation in the east, the Arabic word 
 'salaam,' which is constantly employed 
 on such occasions, being derived from 
 the Heb. l^lb- shalom. Gr. vyiaivei ; 
 is he well? On the subject of oriental 
 salutations, see ' Scripture Illustrations,' 
 p. 280. 
 
 7. It is yet high day. Heb. f]*!! 115 
 5)1-13 odhayom gadol, yet the day is great ; 
 i. e. a great part of the day yet remains. 
 Gr. en tiniv r)ntpa ir-,Wr], yet there is 
 much day- ' Are people travelling 
 through places Avhere are wild beasts, 
 those who are timid will keep troubling 
 the party bj^ saying, ' Let us seek for a 
 place of safely :' but the others reply, 
 ' Not yet ; for the day is great.' ' Why 
 should I be in such haste ? the day is 
 yet great.' When tired of working, it 
 is remarked, ' Why, the day is yet great.' 
 — 'Yes, yes, you manage to leave off 
 while the day is yet great,' Roberts. 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 117 
 
 8 And they said, We cannot, un- 
 til all the flocks bo g^athered to- 
 gether, and till they roll the stone 
 from the well's mouth ; then we 
 water the sheep. 
 
 As it was yet too early to gather the 
 flocks into their cotes or stalls for the 
 night, Jacob, who was well versed in 
 the pastoral life, was at a loss to account 
 for the fact that they were not watered 
 and turned again to pasture, instead of 
 wasting a good part of the day idly 
 about the well. After being watered 
 and allowed to rest themselves awhile 
 in the shade in the middle of the day, 
 (Cant. 1. 7.) the flocks were usually turn- 
 ed out again, to feed till sun-set. 
 
 8. And they said, We cannot, &c., i. e. 
 either from physical inability were not 
 able, or from moral incapacity, not hav- 
 ing the right, as being contrary to com- 
 pact or usage. Thus, in the latter sense. 
 Gen. 34. 14,,' We carmoZ do this thing, to 
 give our sister to one that is uncircum- 
 cised ;' it is contrary to law. Gen. 43. 
 32, ' Because the Kgyptians might not 
 eat bread with the Hebrews ;' Heb. 
 
 ' cannot.' IT Till they roll the stone, 
 
 i. e. till the stone be rolled ; the active 
 for the passive ; a very common idiom. 
 Thus, Neh. 2. 7, ' If it please the king 
 let letters he given me ;' Heb. ' let them 
 give me letters.' Est. 2. 2, ' Let there 
 be fair young virgins sought for the 
 king ;' Heb. ' let them seek.' Is. 9. 6. 
 ' Unto us a child is born, and his name 
 shall be called ;' Heb. ' One shall call 
 his name.' So in the New Testament, 
 Luke 16. 4, ' I am resolved what to do ; 
 that when I am put out of the steward- 
 ship, they may receive me into their hous- 
 es ;' i. e. that I may be received. So 
 likewise, v. 9, 'that when ye fail (i. e. 
 die) they may receive you into everlasting 
 habitations ;' i. e. that ye may be re- 
 ceived. Rev. 12. 6, ' And the woman 
 fled into the wilderness, where she hath 
 a place prepared of God, that they should 
 
 9 IT And while he yet spake with 
 them, " Rachel came with her fath- 
 er's sheep : for she kept them. 
 
 « Cxod. 2. IG. 
 
 feed her there ;' i. e. that she should be 
 fed there. 
 
 9. Rachel came with her father s sheep ; 
 for she kept them. Heb. HIH fl3?'n '^j 
 ki roah hi, for she shepherdized, or acted 
 the shepherdess. ' The pastoral poetry 
 of classical antiquity, which has been 
 imitated more or less in all nations, has 
 rendered lis familiar with the idea of fe- 
 males of birth and attractions acting as 
 shepherdesses long after the practice it- 
 self has been discontinued, and the em- 
 ployment has sunk into contempt. 
 When nations originally pastoral, settled 
 in towns, and adopted the refinements 
 of Hfe, the care of the sheep ceased to 
 be a principal consideration, and grad- 
 ually devolved upon servants or slaves, 
 coming to be considered a mean em- 
 ployment, to which the proprietor or his 
 household only gave a general and su- 
 perintending attention. The respecta- 
 bihty of the employment in these patri- 
 archal limes is not evinced by finding 
 the daughter of so considerable a per- 
 son as Laban engaged in tending the 
 flocks, for in the East all drudgery de- 
 volves upon the females ; but by our 
 finding the sons of such persons similar- 
 ly engaged in pastoral duties, which in 
 Homer also appears to have been con- 
 sidered a fitting employment for the sons 
 of kings and powerful chiefs. We are 
 not aware that at present, in the East, 
 the actual care of a flock or herd is con- 
 sidered a dignified employment. Forbes, 
 in his ' Oriental Memoirs,' mentions that 
 in the Brahmin villages of the Concan, 
 women of the first distinction draw the 
 water from wells, and tend the cattle to 
 pasture, ' like Rebecca and Rachel.' 
 But in this instance it cannot be because 
 such employments have any dignity in 
 
118 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 10 And it came. to pass, when] stone from the well's mouth, and 
 Jacob saw Rachel the daughter ofj watered the flock of Laban his mo« 
 
 Laban his mother's brother, and the 
 sheep of Laban his mother's brother, 
 that Jacob went near, and ^ rolled 1 he 
 
 d Exod. 2. 17. 
 
 them, but because the women are ob- 
 liged to perform every servile office. 
 So, among the Hedouin Arabs, and 
 other nomade nations, the immediate 
 care of the flocks devolves either upon 
 the women or the servants ; but most 
 generally the latter, as the women have 
 enough to occupy them in their multi- 
 farious domestic duties. However, 
 among some tribes, it is the exclusive 
 business of the young unmarried women 
 to drive the cattle to pasture. 'Among 
 the Sinai Arabs,' says Burckhardt, ' a boy 
 would feel himself insulted were any 
 one to say, ' Go and drive your father's 
 sheep to pasture ;' these words, in his 
 opinion, would signify, ' Yotiare no bet- 
 ter than a girl.' ' These young women 
 set out before sun-rise, three or four to- 
 gether, carrying some water and vic- 
 tuals with them, and they do not return 
 until late in the evening. Throughout 
 the day they continue exposed to the 
 sun, watching the sheep with great care, 
 for they are sure of being severely beat- 
 en by their father should any be lost. 
 These young women are in general 
 civil to persons who pass by, and ready 
 enough to share with them their victuals 
 and milk. They are fully able to pro- 
 tect their flocks against any ordinary 
 depredation or danger, for their way of 
 life makes them as hardy and vigorous 
 as the men. Pict. Bible. 
 
 10. And it came to pass, &c. While 
 they are yet speaking, Rachel, in the 
 bloom of maiden beauty, and as inno- 
 cent as the lambs which she tended, 
 draws nigh with her fleecy charge. 
 The meeting of the patriarch with his 
 relative, the daughter of his mother's 
 brother, was, as miglit be expected, re- 
 plete with tender interest, and we may 
 
 ther's brother. 
 
 11 And Jacob 'kissed Rachel, 
 and hfted up his voice, and wept. 
 
 e ch. 33. 4. & 45. 14. 15. 
 
 well suppose, that in proffering his aid 
 in watering the flocks, his civility was 
 quickened by a warmer impulse of 
 kindness than he would have felt to- 
 wards any other stranger. This was a 
 labor which had to be performed twice 
 in the day, and occupied a considerable 
 space of time, so that the service ren- 
 dered by Jacob was something more 
 than a trifling attention. Whether 
 he rolled away the stone by his own 
 unassisted strength, is perhaps doubtful. 
 It may have been ascribe J to him be- 
 cause he bore a very active and con- 
 spicuous part in it. Thus, it is said of 
 Joseph, Gen. 50. 14, 'after he had bu- 
 ried his father;' whereas, in v. 13, it is 
 said that his (Jacob's) sons carried him 
 into the land of Canaan, and buried him. 
 The presence of Fiachel and the excited 
 state of his own feelings would no doubt 
 prompt him to put forth his very best 
 exertions on the occasion. ' A light 
 heart makes a strong hand.' 
 
 11. AndJacob kissed RacJiel, &,c. Ac- 
 cording to the simple manners of those 
 ancient times. The tears shed on this 
 occasion must have flowed from a full 
 heart, and it is not, perhaps, difficult to 
 imagine the mixture of emotions by 
 which his bosom was agitated. On the 
 one hand, beholding Rachel, and seeing 
 in her every thing that was amiable and 
 engaging, his heart overflowed with 
 tenderness. But again his thoughts re- 
 verted, by natural association, to his 
 mother; and every thing that revived her 
 memory, even the very flocks of sheep 
 that belonged to her brother, was full of 
 pleasing yet saddening interest. From 
 his mother, his father, his home, his 
 mind would pass to the consideration of 
 his own peculiar circumstances — alone 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 12 And Jacob told Rachel that lie 
 was *" her father's brother, and that 
 he v^as Rebekah's son ; s and she 
 ran and told her father. 
 
 13 And it came to pass when 
 Laban heard the tidings of Jacob 
 his sister's son, that ^ he ran to meet 
 him, and embraced him, and kissed 
 him, and brought him to his house. 
 And he told Laban all these things. 
 
 f ch. ]3. 8. & 14. 14, 16. g ch. 24. 28. 
 
 !> ch. 24. 29. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 119 
 
 and unattended in a land of strangers, 
 anxious to secure a particular object, 
 yet doubting whether he had grounds 
 for hope in the lack of those induce- 
 ments which were ordinarily essential 
 to success. With such a complicated 
 throng of feelings rushing at once upon 
 him, and all heightened by the recollec- 
 tion of the precious and unexpected dis- 
 closures made to him at Bethel, who 
 can wonder that the historian represents 
 him as giving vent to the insuppressive 
 burden of his feelings in a flood of 
 tears ? 
 
 12. And Jacob told Rachel, &c. It 
 must have excited surprise in Rachel's 
 mind to see a stranger so attentive in 
 watering her flock, and still more so to 
 receive from him so affectionate a salu- 
 tation ; but now, having relieved his 
 heart by a burst of weeping, he tells 
 her who he is ; he is her father's near 
 kinsman, Rebekah's son ! On hearing 
 this she was too much overjoyed not to 
 run at once and communicate the ti- 
 dings to her family. This brings on 
 another scene of affecting salutations, 
 and Jacob's subsequent recital of his 
 interesting story so tenderly impresses 
 Laban, that he addresses him in the 
 most affectionate language, ' Surely thou 
 art my bone and my flesh,' — a common 
 Hebraism for expressing near relation- 
 ship, and probably derived from the cre- 
 ation of Eve. 
 
 13. Heard the tidings. Heb. :j):2U3 
 5)a"i3 shemoa shema, heard the hearing. 
 
 14 And Laban said to him, ■ Sure- 
 ly thou art. my bone and my flesh : 
 and he abode \vith him the space of 
 a month. 
 
 15 IF And Laban said unto Jacob, 
 Because thou art my brother, should- 
 est thou therefore serve mo for 
 nought 1 tell me, what shall thy 
 wages be 1 
 
 1 ch. 2. 23. Judg. 9. 2. 2 Sam. 5. 1. & 
 19. 12, 13. 
 
 i. e. the word or matter heard. The 
 corresponding Gr. term occurs Rom. 10. 
 16, 'Who hath believed our report?^ 
 Gr. aKOT], our hearing. The phrase is 
 sometimes explained by parallel ex- 
 pressions. Thus, where one Evange- 
 hst, Mark 1. 28, says, 'His/a??ie (Gr. his 
 hearing) spread abroad,' another, Luke 
 4. 37, says, '■Wis fame (Gr. his sound or 
 echo) went out into every place i' the 
 
 original words being different. IT All 
 
 these things. That is, all the particulars 
 relative to the present journey. The con- 
 trast between the humble style in which 
 Jacob now appeared before him, and 
 the equipage which had distinguished 
 the mission sent in behalf of Isaac for a 
 similar purpose, made it proper that h6' 
 should go into a full detail on this head. 
 
 14, The space of a month. Heb. TUin 
 f^y^^ hodesh yamim, a month of days, 
 i. e. a full month ; as a year of days, 
 2 Sam. 14. 28, is a full year. It is not 
 implied by this that Jacob stayed no 
 longer than a month with Laban, but 
 that he staid with him, in the first in- 
 stance, the space of a month, and at the 
 expiration of this period entered into a de- 
 finite contract with him for a longer term. 
 
 15. Because thou art my brother, &c. 
 That is, my kinsman. The latitude 
 with which this word and its cognates, 
 'sister,' 'son,' &c., are used in the sa- 
 cred writings, has already been advert- 
 ed to. Gen, 12. 13. During the first 
 month of his stay, Jacob, far from being 
 an idle guest, employed himself about 
 
130 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1760. 
 
 18 And Laban had two daugh- 
 ters : the name of the elder was 
 Leah, and the name of the younger 
 was Rachel. 
 
 17 Leah was tender-eyed, but 
 
 his uncle's business; but nothing was 
 said with respect to terms. On such a 
 subject it was not for Jacob to speak ; 
 so Laban very properly intimated that 
 he did not wish to take advantage of his 
 near relationsliip, and obtain gratuitous 
 service from him any more than from 
 any other man. This suggestion brought 
 out the delaration of Jacob's love for 
 Rachel. 
 
 17. LeaJi was tender-eyed, &c. Au- 
 thorities are about equally divided as 
 to the true import of this phrase ; some 
 contending that it is designed to indicate 
 a beauty, others a defect in Leah. The 
 Gr. has aoOevets weak, infirm. Chal. 
 ' Fair.' Vulg. ' Blear-eyed. ' Jerus. Targ. 
 'Tender with weeping and praying.' 
 In this diversity of rendering, it is scarce- 
 ly possible to speak with positiveness 
 of the true meaning of the phrase. As 
 '.he peculiarity denoted by the term is 
 Dentioned by way of contrast to Rebe- 
 kah's beauty, we think it most probable, 
 on the whole, that it was some natural 
 blemish, or some accidental distemper 
 in the eye, which greatly injured the 
 countenance. The sense of the original 
 ti'l'Dl rakkoth, is doubtless closely allied 
 
 to that of weak, tender, delicate. 
 
 IT Beautiful and well-favoured. That is, 
 having a fine shape and fine features, 
 the two grand requisites of personal 
 beauty. 
 
 18. I will serve thee seven years, &c. 
 This he proffered because he had no 
 money or other goods, which he could 
 give to the father for his daughter. 
 Among many people of the East, in an- 
 cient and modern times, the custom has 
 always been, not for the bride to bring 
 a dowry to the bridegroom, but the 
 bridegroom must^ in a manner, purchase 
 
 Rachel was beautiful and well-fa- 
 voured. 
 
 18 And Jacob loved Rachel ; and 
 said, "^ 1 will serve thee seven years 
 for Rachel thy younger daughter. 
 
 k ch. 31. 41. 2 Sam. 3. 14. 
 
 the girl whom he intends to marry, from 
 the father. Therefore Shechem says, 
 (ch. 34. 12.) to Dinah's father and broth- 
 ers, ' Ask me never so much dowry and 
 gift, and I will give according as ye shall 
 say unto me : but give me the damsel 
 to wife.' In the same manner Tacitus 
 relates that among the ancient Ger- 
 mans the wife did not bring the dowry 
 to the man, but the man to the woman. 
 ' The parents and relations are present, 
 who examine the gifts, and choose, not 
 such as are adapted to female dress, or 
 to adorn the bride, but oxen, and a har- 
 nessed horse, a shield, and a sword. In 
 return for these presents he receives 
 the wife.' This custom still prevails 
 among the Bedouins. ' When a young 
 man meets with a girl to his taste, he 
 asks her of her father through one of his 
 relations : they now treat about the 
 number of camels, sheep, or horses, for 
 the Bedouins never save any money, 
 and their wealth consists only in cattle. 
 A man that marries must therefore lit- 
 erally purchase his wife, and the fathers 
 are most fortunate who have many 
 daughters. They are the principal rich- 
 es of the family. When, therefore, a 
 young man negotiates with the father 
 whose daughter he intends to marry, 
 he says, ' Will you give me your daugh- 
 ter for fifty sheep, six camels, or twelve 
 cows ?' If he is not rich enough to give 
 so much, he offers a mare or foal. The 
 qualities of the girl, the family and the 
 fortune of him that intends to marry 
 her, are the principal considerations in 
 making the bargain. {D'Arvieux ) This 
 is confirmed by Seetzen, in his account 
 of the Arab tribes whom he visited in 
 1803. The ceremonies at the marriage 
 of a wandering Arab are remarkable ; 
 
B. C. 1760.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 121 
 
 19 And Laban said. It is better 
 that I give her to thee, than that I 
 
 a young Arab knows a girl who pleases 
 him ; he goes to her father, and makes 
 faer wishes known to him. The latter 
 speaks to his daughter. 'Daughter,' 
 jsays he, 'there is one who asks you 
 for his wife : the man is good, and it 
 depends upon yourself if you will be- 
 come his wife ; you have my consent.' 
 If the girl refuses, there is an end of the 
 matter ; if she is contented, the father 
 returns to his guest, and informs him of 
 the happy intelligence, ' But,' he adds, 
 *I demand the price of the girl.' This 
 consists of five camels ; but generally, 
 by the intervention of others, a couple 
 more are added, and those given are 
 frequently miserable enough. When 
 the young man, although otherwise an 
 unexceptionable match, had no proper- 
 ty which enabled him to furnish the re- 
 quisite payments and presents, some ser- 
 vice or enterprise was occasionally ac- 
 cepted from the suitor as an equivalent. 
 Thus Jacob, being destitute of property, 
 and having no other prospect than a 
 younger brother's share in the inherit- 
 ance of his father, offers seven years' 
 service as an equivalent for wiiat La- 
 ban might othewise have expected in 
 parting with his daughter. In a similar 
 case, when another unprovided young- 
 er brother, David, loved ftlichal, the 
 daughter of King Saul, the father pro- 
 posed to the suitor, and actually accepted 
 from him, a successful enterprise against 
 the Phillistines as an equivalent for the 
 ordinary advantages which the father 
 derived from the marriage of his daugh- 
 ter. (1 Sam. 18. 25.) The usage of an un- 
 provided young man to serve the father, 
 whose daughter he sought in marriage, 
 has been found by travellers to exist in 
 many countries distant from each other. 
 Out of various illustrations which we 
 could quote, we shall content ourselves 
 with one mentioned ia Buckhardt's 
 
 VOL. ir. 
 
 should give her to another man 
 abide with me. 
 
 ' Tra^'els in Syria,' which not only af- 
 fords a striking parallel, but is the more 
 interesting from its occurring at no very 
 great distance from the scene of patri- 
 archal narrative. In his account of the 
 inhabitants of the Haouran, a region 
 south of Damascus, this traveller says, 
 ' I once met a young man who had 
 served eight years for his food only ; at 
 the expiration of that period he obtained 
 in marriage the daughter of his master, 
 for whom he would otherwise have had 
 to pay seven or eight hundred piastres. 
 When I saw him, he had been married 
 three years, but he complained bitterly 
 of his father-in-law, who continued to 
 require of him the performance of the 
 most servile offices without paying him 
 any thing, and thus prevented him from 
 setting up for himself and his family.' In 
 his account of Kerek, the same traveller 
 describes it as a customary thuig for a 
 young mar. vithout property to serve 
 the father five or six years as a menial 
 servant, in compensation for the price 
 of the girl. Thus Jacob also served 
 seven years for Rachel, and it was well 
 for him that, according to the touching 
 and beautiful expression of the text, 
 these seven years ' seemed unto him but 
 a few days, for the love he bore to 
 her.' Pict. Bible. 
 
 19. Better that I should give Iter to thee, 
 &.C. ' So said Laban, in reference to his 
 daughter Rachel ; and so say fathers in 
 the East, under similar circumstances. 
 The whole affair is managed in a busi- 
 ness-like ivay, without any thing like a 
 consuhation with the maiden. Her Ukes 
 and dislikes are out of the question. 
 The father understands the matter per- 
 fectly, and the mother is very knowing; 
 therefore they manage the transaction. 
 This system, however, is the fruitful 
 source of that general absence of do- 
 i mestJc happiness which prevails there. 
 U 
 
122 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B.C. urn: 
 
 She has, perhaps, never seen the man 
 with whom she is to spend her days. 
 He may be young ; he may be aged ; 
 he may be repulsive or attractive. The 
 whole is a lottery to her. Have the 
 servants or others whispered to her 
 something about the match? she will 
 make her inquiries ; but the result will 
 never alter the arrangements -. for though 
 her soul abhor the thoughts of meeting 
 him, yet it must be done.' Roberts. 
 ' We have already remarked, that the 
 propriety of giVing a female in mar- 
 riage to the nearest relation who can 
 lawfully marry her, is to this day gene- 
 rally admitted among the Bedouin Arabs 
 and other Oriental tribes. The same 
 principle was certainly in operation in 
 the patriarchal times, but its close ap- 
 plication in the present instance seems 
 to have escaped notice. It will be ob> 
 served that Jacob was the first consin to 
 Laban'3 daughters, and, according to 
 existing Arab usages, he had in that 
 character the best possible claim to 
 them, or one of them, in marriage. His 
 elder brother, Esau, had perhaps in this 
 view a preferable claim to the elder 
 daughter, Leah ; but Jacob, himself a 
 younger brother, had anunquestio^nable 
 claim to Rachel, the youngest daughter 
 of Laban, and therefore, independently 
 of his affection for her, it was quite in 
 the customary course of things that he 
 should apply for Rachel in the first in- 
 stance. Among all the Bedouin Arabs 
 at the present day, a man has the exclu- 
 sive right to the hand of his first cousin ; 
 he is not obhged to marry her, but she 
 cannot be married to another without 
 his consent. The father of the girl can- 
 not refuse him, if he offers a reasonable 
 payment, which is always something 
 less than would be demanded from a 
 stranger. For this, and much other 
 information in the course of these notes, 
 we are indebted to Burckhardt, whose 
 work on the Bedouins supplies a valua- 
 ble mass of information, the applicability 
 of which to the illustration of the Scrip- 
 
 tures dees not appear to have been 
 hitherto perceived.' Pkt. Bible. Had* 
 Laban really possessed the generosity 
 which his words seem to express, he 
 would have given Jacob the object o? 
 his choice without compelling him tO' 
 wait seven years for her. Though 
 it was proper for Jacob to make the 
 offer he did, it was mean and sordid 
 for Laban to accept it. But it is evident 
 th'at his own private interest was all 
 that he .studied. In his sister Rebekah's 
 marriage there were presents of gold 
 and silver, and costly raiment — things 
 which wrought much on his mind. But 
 here were none of these moving induce- 
 ments. Here was a poor man who 
 could only talk of promised blessings ; 
 but upon these he set no value. He 
 was governed by sight, and not hy faith ; 
 and seeing that Abraham's descendants 
 were partial to his family, he resolved 
 to make his market of it. ' Indeed he 
 sdd her to him for some years' service. 
 This was Laban or Nabal, choose you 
 which. Their names were not more 
 like than their natures.' Trapp. God 
 makes use elsewhere &f the circum 
 stance of this servitude of Jacob to keep 
 up a spirit of humility, as well as a 
 memory of their ancestry, among the 
 children of Israel. It was a part of the 
 confession required to be made by every 
 Israehte when he presented his basket 
 of first ripe fruits before the Lord, ' A 
 Syrian ready to perish was my father, 
 allnding to Jacob's poverty and dis 
 tress when he first came, at this time 
 into Syria. Again, when the prophe 
 Hosea, ch. 12. 12, reproves the people for 
 their luxury and pride, and haughtiness, 
 he reminds them that ' Jacob fled into 
 the country of Syria, and Israel served 
 for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.' 
 It would, no doubt, tend to abate the 
 loftiness of spirit of many of the wealthy 
 and the great of this world, if they would 
 look back upon the humble and perhaps 
 servile condition of the founders of their 
 familie.s, i. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 B. C. 1753.] 
 
 20 And J acob ' served seven 
 years for Hacliol ; and they seemed 
 unto him hut a few days, for the 
 love he had to her. 
 
 > ch. 30. 26. Hos. 12. 12. 
 
 123 
 
 20. They seemed unto him but a few days, 
 &c. As human nature is constituted, 
 it is not easy perhaps to avoid some de- 
 gree of surprise at this intimation. Our 
 first impressions would undoubtedly 
 be that love would operate directly in 
 a contrary way, causing the time to 
 appear rather long than short. To a 
 doting husband, absorbed in the object 
 of his affeciions, the period of seven 
 years might, one would say, appear but 
 as a few fleeting days ; but how it could 
 so have seemed to an ardent Zoi'er dwel- 
 ling under the same roof with her upon 
 whom his heart was set, is not so obvious. 
 For this reason some have been confi- 
 dent in the belief that what is here 
 spoken is expressive of what it appeared 
 when it was past ; or, in other words, 
 that Rachel was given to Jacob at the 
 beginning of the stipulated term, a week 
 after his nuptials with Leah. In accord- 
 ance with this view of the subject, 
 those who hold it would render the pre- 
 ceding clause 'had served' instead of 
 ' served,' as the Hebrew will no doubt 
 admit. But the proposed interpretation 
 on the whole seems less natural than 
 the common one, especially upon refer- 
 ence to v. 25, where he says, ' Did I not 
 serve with thee for Rachel ?' where the 
 implication of n past service is too pal- 
 able to be explained away. It cannot, 
 aerefore, be adopted without appearing 
 tO do violence to the letter of the text; 
 and it is easier to account for the time 
 seeming short to .Jacob, than for a mode 
 of expression so foreign to the alleged 
 sense of the writer. It should be borne 
 in mind that Jacob was now seventy- 
 seven years of age, and consequently 
 had passed those days when passion 
 would be apt to overmaster reason. 
 With all due allowance for the ardent 
 temperament of the east, we may still 
 
 21 IT And Jacob said unto Laban, 
 Give me my wife (for my days are 
 fulfilled) that 1 may '" go in unto 
 her. 
 
 m Juflg. 15. 1. 
 
 believe that the love affairs of an aged 
 patriarch would be carried on more so- 
 berly and sedately, and savor less of 
 passionate impetuosity, than at an earlier 
 period of life. His affection, moreover, 
 had the solace of the daily society of its 
 object. The tedium of absence would 
 not operate to make the days and 
 months Hnger in their course. The 
 pleasant commerce which he enjoyed 
 would make the recurrence of his daily 
 task easy and delightful. Every morn- 
 ing would he commence his accustom- 
 ed labors with renewed spirit and ac- 
 tivity. Every evening would he return 
 from his occupation, with pleasing anti- 
 cipations of the period when his toils 
 would be renumerated and his wishes 
 crowned. Thus the seven years of 
 service, cheered by the constant pre- 
 sence, and sweetened by the daily con- 
 versation of his beloved, would imper- 
 ceplibly glide away. That an eariier 
 consummation of his wishes would have 
 been agreeable, we cannot question. 
 But the whole tenor of the divine dis- 
 pensations seems to have been ordered 
 with a view to exercise the patience of 
 the patriarch, and Jacob had only to 
 reflect back a few years to be reminded 
 of what his impatience had cost him, and 
 thus to be reconciled to a lot which, after 
 every abatement, had so many sweet 
 alleviations. As to the objection that 
 according to this construction Jacob 
 must have had twelve children in seven 
 years, it may be answered that this is 
 not an improbable number to be born 
 in that time from two wives and as 
 many handmaids. Besides, as God had 
 promised a numerous posterity to Abra- 
 ham, an extraordinary fruitfulness might 
 reasonably be expected. 
 
 21. Give me my wife. That is, my 
 betrothed, affianced wife, though the 
 
124 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1753. 
 
 22 And Laban gathered together daughter Leah, Zilpah his maid, 
 all the men of the place, and " made for a handmaid. 
 
 a feast. j 2.5 And it came to pass, that in the 
 
 23 And it came to pass in the morning, behold, it was Leah : and 
 evening, that he took Leah his he said to Laban, What is this thou 
 daujjhter, and brought her to him ; hast done unto me? did not I serve 
 
 and he went in unto her. 
 
 24 And Laban gave unto his 
 
 ° Judg. 14. ]0. John'i. 1, 2. 
 
 nuptials were not yet celebrated. Thus, 
 Mat. 1. 20, ' Fear not to take unto thee 
 Mary thy wife;' i. e. thy betrothed 
 wife, or, as she is termed, Luke 2. 5, 
 'espoused wife.' See also Deut. 22. 23, 
 24, where this sense of the word ' wife' 
 
 is indubitable. IT M'j day a are fulfilled. 
 
 The term of my stipulated service ; the 
 seven years agreed upon. 
 
 22 Made a feast. Heb. r;!rri>2 mish- 
 ieh, a dri.nkin<^, or a feast of drinking. 
 See note on Gen. 19. 3. The word is ren- 
 dered in the Gr. yaiios u wedding, 
 whence the word ' wedding' is used in 
 the New Testament and elsewhere, in- 
 terchangeably with 'feast.' Thus, 
 Luke 14. 7, ' VVlien thou art bidden of 
 any man to a wedding,' i. e. to a com- 
 mon feast. Est. 9.^ 22, 'That they 
 should make them days of feasting and 
 joy.' Gr. ' Days of wedding and joy.' 
 As marriage w'as a very solemn con- 
 tract, there is much reason to believe 
 that sacrifices were offered on the occa- 
 sion, and libations poured out; and we 
 know, that on festival occasions a cup 
 o(wine was offered to every guest : and 
 as this was drunk with particular cere- 
 monies, the feast might derive its name 
 from this circumstance, which was the 
 most prominent and observable on such 
 occasions. 
 
 23. And it came to pass in the evening, 
 &c. ' According to the custom of those 
 eastern nations, the bride v^as conduct- 
 ed to the bed of her hu.sband, with si- 
 lence, in darkness, and covered from 
 head to foot with a veil ; circumstances, 
 all of them favorable to the wicked, 
 selfish plan which Laban had formed, 
 
 with thee for Rachel] wherefore 
 then hast thou beguiled me ] 
 
 23 And Laban said, It must not 
 
 to detain his son-in-law h)nger in his ser- 
 vice. Leah is accordingly substituted 
 instead of her sister. And he who, 
 by subtilty and falsehood, stole away 
 the blessing intended for his brother, is 
 puni.shed for his deceit, by finding a 
 Leah where he expected a Rachel. He 
 who employed undue advantage to ar- 
 rive at the right of the first-born, haa 
 undue advantage taken of him in hav- 
 ing the first-born put in the place of the 
 younger. He who could practise upon 
 a father's blindness, though to obtain a 
 laudable end, is, in his turn, practised 
 upon by a father, employing the cover 
 of the night, to accomplish a very un- 
 warrantable purpose.' Hunter. In such 
 a way God often deals with men, cau-ing 
 them to reap the bitter fruits of sin, eren 
 when they have lamented and forsaken 
 it. 'When thou shaii make an end to 
 deal treacherously, they shall deal trea- 
 cherously with thee.' 
 
 24. And Laban gave, &c. ' It is still 
 customary in the east for a father, who 
 can afford it, to transfer to his daughter, 
 on her marriage, some female slave of 
 his household, who becomes her confi- 
 dential domestic and humble friend in 
 her new home, but not the less a slave. 
 ITiis slave forms a link between the old 
 and new households, which often proves 
 irksome to the hiisband ; but he has 
 little, if any, control over the female 
 slaves in his establishment.' Pict. Bible. 
 
 26. And Laban said. It must not bz so, 
 &c. As selfish and mercenary as Laban 
 was, and as little scrupulous about the 
 means of promoting his own advantage, 
 it can scarcely be supposed that he 
 
B. C. 1753.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 125 
 
 be so done in onr country, to give 
 the younfifer before the first-born. 
 
 27 ° Fulfil her week, and we will 
 give thee this also for the service 
 which thou shalt serve with me yet 
 seven other years. 
 
 23 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled 
 her week : and he gave him Rachel 
 his daughter to wife also. 
 
 o Judg. J 4. 12. 
 
 should have ventured upon the extraor- 
 dinary step here mentioned, had such 
 a practice been in that age and country 
 wholly unknown. But there is reason 
 to believe that Laban's statement here 
 was correct, though he evidently ought, 
 in common honesty, to have acquainted 
 Jacob with this custom before he made 
 his bargain with him. Mr. Roberts 
 says of the marriage customs in India, 
 that ' when the eldest daughter is de- 
 formed, or blind, or deaf, or dumb, iJien 
 the younger may be given first : but un- 
 der other circumstances it would be dis- 
 graceful in the extreme. Should any 
 one wish tooZ^er the order of things, the 
 answer of Laban is given. Should a 
 fcither, however, have a very advanta- 
 geous offer for a younger daughter, he 
 w-ill exert all his powers to get off the 
 elder; but until this can be accomplish- 
 ed, the younger will not be married 
 \ ounger brothers ^ve sometimes married 
 first, but even this takes place but very 
 seldom.' The same usage still exists in 
 many parts of the east- ' The Rev. John 
 Hartley, in his ' Researches in Greece 
 and the Levant,' relates an anecdote of 
 a young Armenian in Smyrna, who sol- 
 icited in marriage a younger daughter 
 who had obtained his preference. The 
 girl's parents consented to the match: 
 but when the time for solemnizing the 
 marriage arrived, the eldest daughter 
 was conducted by the parents to 
 the altar, and the young maa was 
 quite unconsciously married to her. 
 The deception was not discovered till 
 it could not be rectified. Mr. Hartley 
 adds ' It was in a conversation with an 
 
 29 And Laban gave to Rachel 
 his daughter, Bilhah his handmaid, 
 to be her maid. 
 
 J30 And he went in also unto 
 Rachel, and he p loved also Rachel 
 more than Leah- and served with 
 him '^ yet seven other years. 
 
 pver. 20. Deut. 21. 15 ich. 30. 2G&31 
 41. Hos. 12. 12. 
 
 Armenian in Smyrna that this fact was 
 related to me. I naturally exclaimed, 
 'Why, that is just the deception that 
 was practised upon Jacob !' ' What de- 
 ceptitm ?' he exclaimed. As the Old 
 Testament is not yet translated into 
 any language with w^hich the Arme- 
 nians are familiar, he was ignorant of 
 the story. Upon giving him a relation 
 of Jacob's marriage, as related in Gen. 
 29, he assented to it at once as a circum- 
 stance in no respect improbable. Mr 
 Hardey says, tlie father excused his 
 conduct in precisely the same way as 
 Laban, alleging that custom did not 
 warrant the marriage of the younger 
 before the elder daughter. We have 
 heard of cases in which, when a man 
 wished to obtain a younger daughter, 
 he found it the best course to do all in 
 his power to promote the previous mar- 
 riage of her elder sister. A father also 
 will often exert all his powers to get off 
 his elder daughter, when a very advan- 
 tageous and acceptable match for the 
 younger is proposed to him.' Pict. Bible. 
 27. Fulfil her week. 'We read, that 
 a great feast was made, after which Leah 
 was consigned to Jacob. It is not said 
 how long the feast lasted ; but it was 
 doubtless a week ; and now Laban 
 says in elTect : — ' Let there be another 
 week of feasting for Rachel, after which 
 she also ^hall be given to thee, and then 
 thou shalt serve me yet other seven 
 years.' It is evident that the marriage 
 of Jacob with Leah and Rachel took 
 place nearly at the same time. Calmet, 
 indeed, thinks, that • the week' refers to 
 Leah's marriage ; but this is an errpr 
 
120 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1753. 
 
 31 *\\ And when the Lord "" saw 
 thai Leah was hated, ho ^ opened 
 her womb : but Rachel 7cas barren. 
 
 32 And Leah conceived, and bare 
 a son , and she called his name 
 
 rPs. 127. 3. Bch. mi. 
 
 Reuben: for she said, Surely the 
 Lord hath ' looked upon my afflic- 
 tion ; now therefore my husband 
 will love me. 
 33 And she conceived again, and 
 
 ' Exod. 3. 7. Sc 4. 31. Deut. 25. 7. Ps. 25. 
 IS. & 106. 44. 
 
 for in that case the festivities must have 
 been after the final completion of the 
 marriage ; whereas, as Calmet himself 
 states, thu bride was not consigned to 
 the bridegroom until after the days of 
 feasting had expired. As to the seven 
 days' feasting, the Rabbins acquaint us 
 that this term was a matter of indispen- 
 sable obligation upon all married men ; 
 and that they were to allow seven days 
 for the marriage of every wife they 
 took, even though they should marry 
 several on the same day. In this case 
 they made so many wedding weeks suc- 
 cessively as they married vvive.s. These 
 seven days of rejoicing were common- 
 ly spent in the house of the woman's 
 father, after which the bride was con- 
 ducted in great state to her husband's 
 house. (See Calmet, article ' ^larriage,' 
 edit. 1732.) Thus we read, that Samson's j 
 wedding entertainment lasted seven 
 full days (Judges 14. 17, 18,) and also 
 that of Tobias (Tobit 11. 19.) When 
 the bride was a widow, the festivities 
 lasted but three days. Similar practices 
 have prevailed among other nations. 
 The famous Arabian romance of Antar,' 
 translated by Mr. Terrick Hamilton, is 
 full of allusions to this custom.' Pict. 
 Bible. Laban's policy was to obtain 
 Jacob's voluntary consent to the mar- 
 riage, which would be secured by his 
 cohabiting and rejoicing with her during 
 the week, and then he knew the nup- 
 tial knot would be too fast tied to be af- 
 terward loosed. 
 
 31. That Leah was hated. That is, 
 loved les.<!. The expression is not abso- 
 lute, but comparative. Apart from any 
 thing repulsive in her person, this ef- 
 fect was perhaps to be expected from 
 the part she had voluntarily borne in 
 
 the imposition practised upon him. 
 From this and the preceding verse, we 
 obtain a clue to the genuine meaning of 
 the Heb. J^^'J sanah, to hate, in certain 
 disputed passages. It evidently im- 
 plies notliing more than a less degree of 
 love. The subsequent narrative makes 
 it plain that Jacob did not hate Leah, in 
 tlie ordinary acceptation of that term ; 
 but lie felt less affection for her than for 
 her sister. So by the declaration 3Ial. 
 1.'2, 3, Eom. 9. 15 'Jacob have I loved, 
 but Ksau liave I hated,' we are simply 
 to understand that God had shown a 
 greater degree of affection for Jacob 
 and his posterity tlian for Esau and 
 his descendants, which was evinced in 
 giving the former a better earthly por- 
 tion than he did the latter, and by 
 choosing his family to be the progeni- 
 tors of the Messiah. From this lan- 
 guage alone no inference can be drawn 
 as to the eternal states of the two na- 
 tions. It is worthy of notice in this 
 case, how God balances the good and 
 ill of the present life. Leah is slighted 
 in comparison with Rachel, but he gives 
 children to her, while he witholds 
 them from the other ; and children in a 
 family whose chief blessedness consist- 
 ed in a promised seed, were, of course, 
 very highly prized. 
 
 32. Culled his name Reuben. Heb. 
 -pll^'l re-u-ben, lit. see ye a son. The 
 names of the four sons successively born 
 to her were all significant, and expres- 
 sive of her state of mind, either as grieved 
 for want of an interest in her husband's 
 heart, or as prompted by piety to view 
 the hand of God in all that befel her. 
 
 33. She called his name Simeon. Heb 
 liy^'iT shimon, hearing, from y^'^^ sha* 
 ma, to hear. 
 
I. C. 1752.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 127 
 
 bare a son ; and said, Because the 
 Lord hath heard that 1 was hated, 
 tie hath therefore (jfiven me this son 
 also: and she called his name Si- 
 meon. 
 
 34 And she conceived aorain, and 
 bare a son ; and said, Now this 
 time will my husband be joined un- 
 
 34. Therefore was his name called Levi, 
 Heb. 1-15 levi, (pron. laivee,) joined, 
 from nib lavah, to join. 
 
 35. She called liis name Judah. H-eb. 
 rmn*^ yekudak, praise, from HT^ yadah, 
 
 to give thanks, praise, celebrate. ^ Left 
 
 bearing. Heb. tnb?3 'llZ'STi taamod 
 milledeth, stood from bearing. ' When a 
 mother has ceased to bear children, 
 should a person say it is not so, others 
 will reply, ' <S^e stood from bearing at 
 euch a time.' Roberts. Our common 
 translation would seem to imply that 
 she now ceased entirely from having 
 children ; but the original purports no 
 more than that she ceased for a time from 
 child-bearing, and this is the sense evi- 
 dently required, as she had three more 
 children after this, Gen. 30. 17—21. 
 
 Remarks. — The following brief prac- 
 tical hints will easily refer themselves 
 to the several verses on which they are 
 founded. 
 
 (1.) Cheering tokens of the divine 
 presence are greatly calculated to quick- 
 en zeal and accelerate speed in the way 
 of duty. 
 
 (2.) Objects and incidents of the most 
 common occurrence, and of the slight- 
 •ost heed to others, often have the char- 
 acter of special providences in the esti- 
 mation of the spiritually-minded. 
 
 (3.) The civility, kindness, and bene- 
 volence, which distinguish good men at 
 home, should characterize them on their 
 journeys abroad. They know not what 
 precious fruits they may reap from at- 
 tentions shown to strangers. 
 
 (4.) The waste of time by men in any 
 occupation, ■will not fail to gri£ve the 
 
 to me, because I have borne him 
 three sons : therefore was his name 
 called Levi. 
 
 35 And she conceived again, and 
 bare a son : and she said, Now will 
 I praise the Lord : therefore she 
 called his name " Judah, and lefi 
 bearing. 
 
 o Matt. 1.2. 
 
 hearts and prompt the admonitions of 
 those who have been trained to habits 
 of active industry. 
 
 (5.) The outward expressions of a 
 sincere and cordial affection, as they 
 are prompted by nature, so they are 
 sanctioned by religion. 
 
 (6.) If the people of God arc melted 
 to tears, or kindled to transports, it is 
 usually in view of some striking indica- 
 tions of a special providence. 
 
 (7.) The plea of kindred should never 
 interfere with the claims of justice. 
 
 (8.) Unprincipled men will not scru- 
 ple oftenlimes to admit the propriety 
 of a conduct which they never mean to 
 practice- 
 
 (9.) How sordid, and how deeply 
 poisoned by avarice, must have become 
 the hearts of those parents who value 
 their chudren only so far as they are pro- 
 fitable to them I 
 
 (10.) Hard and long service is made 
 easy and short where love is the moving 
 pring of action. 
 
 (11.) Good men, in the unsuspecting 
 simplicity of their hearts, are sometimes 
 unwarily seduced into evil by the sub- 
 tlety of mercenary deceivers, but when 
 aware of their error, they are filled witn 
 a holy indignation against the fraua 
 practised upon them. 
 
 (12.) The plea of custom, fashion, de- 
 corum, &c., is often set up as an exten- 
 uation of conduct directly at variance 
 with the will of God. 
 
 (13.) Children are joinm^ mercies be- 
 tween husband and wife. As manv 
 children as parents have, so many bond* 
 of love exisi between them. 
 
128 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 174a 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 AND when Rachel saw that 
 ^ she bare Jacob no children, 
 Rachel ^ envied her sister ; and said 
 unto Jacob, Give me children, •= or 
 else I die. 
 
 ch. 29. 31. «> ch. 37. 11. <= Job. 5.2. 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 1. Rachel envied her sister. Heb. 
 S^-pn iekanna. The original expresses 
 by one and the same word, the emo- 
 tions of ertvy, zeal, and jealousy. But 
 how it is to be interpreted in any given 
 connexion, whether in a good or bad 
 sense, can be determined only by th© 
 context. That the evil affection denot- 
 ed by the term is stronger and more 
 baneful in its consequences than anger, 
 is to be inferred from such passages as 
 the following, Prov. 27. 4, 'Wrath is 
 cruel, and anger is outrageous ; but 
 who is able to stand before e7ivy T 
 Prov. 14. 30, ' Envy is as rottenness in 
 the bones.' Cant. 8. 6, 'Jealousy is 
 cruel as the grave.' 'Her envy was no 
 doubt sharpened in this case by the 
 fact that Leah was her sister, and by 
 the knowledge that she was herself the 
 favorite and elected wife. She must 
 have feared that she should lose her 
 ascendancy over Jacob by the want of 
 children. The natural domestic evils 
 of polygamy must be rendered more 
 intense when the wives are sisters ; 
 and this seems to be stated in the law 
 (Lev. 18. 18.) as a reason why such 
 marriages shoiild not in future be con- 
 tracted. 'Neither shalt thou take a 
 wife to her sister, to vex her, — beside 
 the other in her lifetime.' Jacob was, 
 in a great measure, forced by circum- 
 stances into such a connexion ; but it 
 does not appear that a marriage with 
 two sisters at once was at this tim-e con- 
 sidered singular or improper. The 
 Arabians, who retained many patriareh- 
 a. usages which the law forbade to the 
 Jews, continued the practice until the 
 time of Mohammed, who declared 
 
 2 And Jacob's anger was kin- 
 dled against Rachel ; and he said, 
 •^ Am 1 in God's stead, who hath 
 withheld from thee the fruit of the 
 womb 1 
 
 1 ch. 15. 2. 1 Saai. 1. 5 
 
 such connexions ttnlawful.' Pict Bible. 
 IF Give me children, or else I die. Heb. 
 ■^i^b^ nril^ '^'^i^ fij^ im ain methah anoki,. 
 ifreone, lam a dead woman, or a corse; 
 i. e. I shall be as good as dead; my 
 name will not be perpetuated ; as to the 
 raising up of seed, I shall be as though 
 I had never been. See note on the 
 expression, 'thou art a dead man,' 
 Gen. 20. 3. A possible sense undoubt- 
 edly is, that she would die of vexation 
 and grief; but the former we conceive 
 to be the legitimate import of the 
 phrase. She would intimate that with- 
 out children she would be like a seed 
 cast into the ground, which is never 
 quickened. The idea is substantially 
 the same as that conveyed by the an- 
 cient Jewish proverb, that ' the childless 
 are but as the lifeless.' The eager de- 
 sire for offspring among the Hebrew 
 women is easily accounted for, if wo 
 bear in mind that the distinguishing 
 blessing of Abraham was a numerous 
 posterity, and in particular one illus- 
 trious person in whom all the nations of 
 the earth should be blessed. It was 
 natural, then, that they should feel a 
 laudable ambition to contribute to the 
 fulfilment of the prophecy ; and we are 
 not to be surprised if many of Eve's 
 daughters flattered themselves, hke 
 their first parent, with the hope of being 
 the mother of the Messiah. But Ra- 
 chel's language was that of a sinful im- 
 patience, for which it would seem, that 
 in the righteous providence of God she 
 afterwards paid dear, as she died in giv- 
 ing birth to Benjamin, ch. 37. 16 — 19. 
 
 2. Jacob's anger was kindled against 
 Rachel, &c. His spirit was stirred with- 
 in him rather bv the reflection which 
 
B. C. 1748.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 129 
 
 3 And she said, Behoid « my 
 maid BiJhah, go in unto her ; *" and 
 she shall bear upon my knees, & that 
 I may also havn children by her. 
 
 4 And she gave him Bilhah her 
 handmaid ^ to wife : and Jacob went 
 in unto her. 
 
 5 And Bilhah conceived, and 
 bare Jacob a son. 
 
 ech. 16. 2. f ch. 50.23. Job 3. 12. 
 
 gch. ]5. 2. h ch. 18. 3. & 35. 22. 
 
 her complaints cast upon God, than by 
 any injury or injustice done to himself. 
 It excited a holy resentment to find one 
 whom he so tenderly loved failing to 
 recognise her entire dependence on 
 the power and providence of the 3Iost 
 High for the mercy desired ; for the 
 truth so plainly expressed by David, 
 Ps. 127. 3, that ' children are a heritage 
 of the Lord,' was no doubt as cordially 
 held by the patriarch as by the monarch 
 of Israel. His, therefore, was a ' being 
 arigry and sinning not ;' and we may 
 add, that if any thing ever tends to pro- 
 voke anger in the bosom of the pious, 
 it is not so much the sense of their own 
 wrongs, as of the dishonor done to their 
 heavenly Father. A rash demeanor, a 
 murmuring or rebellious spirit towards 
 bim, grieves them to the heart, and 
 they cannot forbear to rebuke it even 
 in their nearest and dearest friends. 
 Though they may love their persons, 
 
 they will chide their sins.' IT Am I 
 
 in God's stead ? Am I greater than 
 God to give thee what he has refused ? 
 Chal. ' Why dost thou ask children of 
 me ? Oughtest thou not rather to have 
 asked them from before the Lord ?' 
 Arab. ' Am I above God, who hath with- 
 held,' &c. A righdy framed spirit 
 shudders at the thought of being ac- 
 counted in God's stead in any respect. 
 
 3. Go in unfa her. This is similar to 
 the case of Sarah giving liagar to Abra- 
 ham. Such things, we are told by tra- 
 vellers, happen to this day in India and 
 China, often with the full concurrence, 
 
 6 And Rachel said, God hath 
 i judged me, and hath also heard 
 my voice, and hath given me a son : 
 therefore called she his name Dan. 
 
 7 And Bilhah, Rachel's maid, 
 conceived again, and bare Jacob a 
 second son. 
 
 8 And Rachel said, with great 
 wrestlings have I wrestled with my 
 
 ' Fs. 35. 24. & 43. 1. Lam. 3. 59. 
 
 and at the request of the lawful wife, 
 when she is herself sterile, or when the 
 children are dead and she has ceased 
 
 to hope for more. TT She shall bear 
 
 upon my hnees. That is, bear children 
 which I may nurse and dandle on my 
 knees as though they were my own; 
 which shall be mine adoptively. Ac- 
 cordingly, V. 6, she calls Bilha'n's son 
 her own. The handmaid was the sole 
 property of the mistress, and therefore 
 not only all her labor, but even the 
 children borne by her, were also her 
 property. For this reason these female 
 slaves may be said to have borne chil- 
 dren vicariously for their mistresses. 
 
 IF That I may also have children by 
 
 her. Heb. 1";;::^^ ibbaneh, may be builded 
 by her. See note on Gen. 16. 2. 
 
 6. God hath judged me. Heb, ^;2T 
 dannani, judged me, whence y-^ dan, 
 judging, the name given to her child. 
 The original word forjudge, when used 
 in reference to the righteous, sometimes 
 implies chastisement, or affliction for 
 sm, as 1 Cor. 11. 32, ' when we are judg- 
 ed we are chastened of the Lord ;' and 
 sometimes the vindication or deliver- 
 ance of tliose who are unrighteously 
 condemned, afflicted, or punished, as 
 1 Sam. 24. 15, ' The Lord therefore be 
 judge, and judge between me and ihee, 
 and see and plead my cause, and deliv' 
 er me out of thine hand.' The latter 
 sense .especially is to be understood 
 here. 
 
 8. With great wrestlings, &c. Heb. 
 tj'^nbx "'birtS naphtuU dohim^ wrest- 
 
130 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [13. C. 1749. 
 
 sifter, and I Iiave prevailed : and 
 she called his name ^ Naphtali. 
 
 9 When Leah saw that she had 
 left bearing, she took Zilpah, her 
 maid, and ^ jjave her Jacob to wife. 
 
 10 And Zilpah, Leah's maid, 
 bare Jacob a son. 
 
 k Matt. 4. 13. 
 
 vcr.4. 
 
 lings of God ; i. e, great, urgent, vehe- 
 ment wrestlings. See the Heb. idiom 
 illustrated, Gen. 23. 6. The original 
 comes from a root, ^^iS patJial, signify- 
 ing to twist, wreathe, intwist, intioine, and 
 hence applied to wrestling, from the ef- 
 forts of the combatants to intwine or in- 
 ferZocZ: their limbs so as to throw each 
 other to the ground. That the expres- 
 sion, as used by Rachel, implies what we 
 ordinarily understand by earnest wrest- 
 ling with God in prayer, is highly proba- 
 ble, and so the Chal. expressly renders 
 it; but as she says that she wrestled 
 with her sister, we may suppose that it 
 implies the diversified and anxious 
 expedients to which she resorted, turn- 
 ing, writhing, struggling by crafty strat- 
 agems to effect her object. Hence the 
 name 'Naphtah,' i. e. my wrestling; 
 called 'Nephtalim,' Mat 4. 13. 
 
 11. Atroop Cometh, &c. Heb. ^3i5a- 
 gad, either a troop cometh, or with a troop, 
 asthe original has a double reading. The 
 rendering in our version is taken from 
 the margin of the Heb. Bible, which 
 has ^^3 5^2 ba gad, a troop cometh, in two 
 distinct words; while in the text itself 
 these words coalesce into one, ^32 &a 
 gad, with or in a troop. Yet all this pro- 
 ceeds upon the assumption that the true 
 sense of "i3 gad, is a troop, which is 
 doubtful. Nearly all the earlier versions 
 give the sense of luck, fortune, or pros- 
 perity, derived perhaps from some su- 
 perstitious notion of the auspicious influ- 
 ence ofsomeoneof the heavenly bo- 
 dies, either the sun, moon, or one of the 
 planets. As in Arabic the planet Jupi- 
 ter is called Gad, and the Targum of 
 
 11 And Leah said, A troop com- 
 eth, and she called his name Gad. 
 
 12 And Zilpah, Leah's maid 
 bare Jacob a second son. 
 
 13 And Leah said, Happy am 
 I, for the daughters "" will call me 
 blessed: and she called his name 
 Asher. 
 
 m Prov. 31. 28. liUke 1. 43. 
 
 Jonathan renders the present phrase, 
 i^'2TJ b^bt^D mazzela toba, a propitious 
 star. The Chal. , moreover, has 13 i^Ji^ 
 atha gad, fortune cometh. Some have 
 supposed that this name was applied as 
 the title of a species of divinity, and that 
 from it comes, by remote derivation, 
 our terms good and God. See the com- 
 mentators on Is. 65. 11, where the same 
 word occurs as the name of an idol. 
 The Gr. translates it ev tvxt] with good 
 fortune, and the Vulg. ' Feliciter,' hap- 
 pily, fortunately. But it is much more 
 likely that these versions should have 
 mistaken the meaning of the original, 
 than that Leah, who had evinced so 
 pious a recognition of God in naming 
 her other children, should now all of a 
 sudden so strangely act the heathen as 
 to acknowledge thepower of a fictitious 
 deity. On the whole, therefore, we ad- 
 here to the rendering given in our Eng. 
 Bible as the most correct, particularly 
 when compared with Jacob's interpre- 
 tation of the name in Gen. 49. 19, ' Gad, 
 a troop (1113 gadud) shall overcome 
 him,' &c. 
 
 13. And Leah said, Happy am I, &c. 
 Heh.'^'^Xi^i^^beoshri, in my happiness, or 
 in my blessedness. Gr. ^aKapia eyw, O 
 
 happy II ^ The daughters will call 
 
 me blessed. All coming generations will 
 felicitate me on my happy lot. Marked 
 allusions to this phraseology occur else- 
 where. Prov. 31. 2^, 'Her children 
 arise up and call her blessed.^ Cant. 6. 
 9, ' The daughters saw her, and blessed 
 her. Luke 1. 48, 'For, beholdj from 
 henceforth all generations shall call me 
 bhssed. *r Called his name Asher 
 
B. C. 1748.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 131 
 
 14 IT And Reuben went in the 
 days of wheat-harvest, and found 
 mandralfes in the field, and brought 
 
 That is, happy, blessed. The following 
 scriptural names are all of the same 
 etymological import with ' Asher,' viz. 
 Felix, Fortunatns, Eutychus, Tychicus. 
 So among the Greeks and Latins, Eu- 
 demon, Eutychus, Macarius, Faustus, 
 Faustulus, Felicianus. 
 
 14. In the days of wheat-harvest. 
 Which in that cHmate ordinarily occur- 
 red in the month of May. IT Man- 
 drakes. Heb. fj^^n dudaim, lovely, 
 amiable, from HTl dud, beloved ; proba- 
 bly from the common opinion of their 
 tendency to excite amorous propensities. 
 The Gr. renders them ixTj\a navSpayopcov, 
 
 them unto liis mother Leah. Then 
 Rachel said to Leah, ° Give me I 
 pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. 
 
 " ch. 25. 30. 
 
 apples of mandragora, or mandrake ap. 
 pies; the Chal. '^^ni^ri'i yabrohin, a 
 word of Arabic origin applied to this 
 plant from the resemblance of its smell 
 to the rank savor of a goat. By some 
 they are supposed to have been, not 
 fruits, hat Jlowers of peculiar beauty and 
 fragrance. The mass of coramenta- 
 tors, however, understand by ' Dudaim,' 
 mandrakes, a species of melon, abound- 
 ing in Palestine and the East, and which 
 was in high repute for its prolific vir- 
 tues, as from it philtres or love-potions 
 were made. The plant grows low like 
 the lettuce, to which its leaves have a 
 
 MAJ!U>RAEE. 
 
132 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B.C. 1747 
 
 15 And she said unto her, " Is it 
 a small matter that thou hast 
 taken my husband 1 and wouldest 
 thou take away my son's mandrakes 
 also? And Rachel said, Therefore 
 he shall lie with thee to-night for 
 thy son's mandrakes. 
 
 16 And Jacob came out of the 
 field in the evening", and Leah went 
 out to meet him, and said. Thou 
 must come in unto me ; for surely I 
 have hired thee with my son's raan- 
 
 Numb. 16. 9, 13. 
 
 great resemblance, except tliat they 
 have a dark green color. The flowers 
 are purple, and the fruit when ripe, in 
 the beginning of May, is of the size and 
 color of a small apple, exceedingly rud- 
 dy, and of a most agreeable odor. Has- 
 selquist, speaking of Nazareth in Galilee, 
 says, ' What I found most remarkable 
 at this village was the great number of 
 mandrakes which grew in a valley be- 
 low it. I had not the pleasure to see 
 this plant in blossom, the fruit now 
 (May 5th,) hanging ripe on the stem, 
 which lay withered on the ground. 
 From the season in which this mandrake 
 blossoms and ripens fruit, one might 
 form a conjecture that it was Rachel's 
 Dudaim. These were brought to her in 
 the wheat harvest, which in Galilee is in 
 the month of May, about this time, and 
 the mandrake was now in fruit.' The 
 word occurs only here and Cant. 7. 13, 
 •The mandrakes give a smell,' v/hich 
 Michaelis thus paraphrases: 'Now the 
 voluptuous mandrakes, widely exhaling 
 their somniferous odor, breathe and ex- 
 cite to love.' 
 
 17. God hearkened unto Leah. That 
 is, mercifully liad respect to her, not- 
 withstanding her infirmities. We do 
 not read that she prayed unto him, yet 
 he condescended to bless her. See 
 what is said. Gen. 21. 17, on God's 
 hearing the voice of a particular con- 
 dition or estate. 
 
 18. She caUed his name Issachar. Heb. 
 
 drakes. And he lay with her that 
 night. 
 
 17 And God hearkened unto 
 Leah, and she conceived, and bare 
 Jacob the fifth son. 
 
 18 And Leah said, God hath 
 given me my hire, because 1 have 
 given my maiden to my husband : 
 and she called his name Issachar. 
 
 19 And Leah conceived again, 
 and bare Jacob the sixth son. 
 
 20 And Leah said, God hath en- 
 
 'ni"i!i"i!3'i yissakar, he hringeth hire, or he 
 heareth wages, or reward. The word is 
 written in the original with the letters 
 of ' Issaschar,' but with the vowel-points 
 of ' Issachar,' suppressing the sound of 
 the latter s which is quite unusual, and 
 the reason of which is unknown, un- 
 less the interpretation of Ewald be 
 admitted, who supposes the name 
 to be contracted from '■fi"^ ''13'^ yesh 
 sakar, there is reward, the first "O sh 
 being resolved in sound into the 'iT^ s 
 following, though the ancient ortho- 
 graphy has retained both 'ii^'o's. In look- 
 ing upon her son as a ' reward' given 
 her by God for yielding her maid 
 to Jacob, we may probably suppose her 
 laboring under a mistake. The Lord 
 favored her not /or that act, but in spite 
 of it. 
 
 20. Now will my husband dwell with 
 me. Heb. 'i^b^t'i yizheleni, wdl dwell 
 (with) me. Gr. aiperiei jie, will choose 
 me. ' Many reasons concur to render 
 the possession of sons an object of great 
 anxiety to women in the east. The 
 text expresses one of these reasons. 
 Sons being no less earnestly desired by 
 the husband than by the wife, a woman 
 who has given birth to sons acquires 
 an influence and respectability which 
 strengthen with the number to which 
 she is mother. To be without sons is 
 not only a misfortune, but a disgrace to 
 a woman, and her hold on the affections 
 of her husband, and on her standing as 
 
B. C. 1747.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 133 
 
 dued me with a good dowry ; now 
 will my husband dwell with me, be- 
 cause I have borne him six sons : 
 and she called his name p Zebulun. 
 
 21 And afterwards she bare a 
 daugliter, and called her name Di. 
 nah. 
 
 22 IF And God ^ remembered Ra- 
 
 P Matt. 4. 13. q ch. 8. 1. 1 Sam. 1. 19. 
 
 liis wife, is of a very feeble description. 
 Divorces are easily effected in the East. 
 An Arab has only to enunciate the 
 simple words, e7it taleka — 'thou art 
 divorced,' which, in whatever heat or 
 anger spoken, constitute a legal divorce.' 
 Pict. Bible. Mr. Roberts's testimony 
 is equivalent. ' Should it be reported 
 of a husband that he is going to forsake 
 his wife after she has borne him chil- 
 dren, people will say, ' She has borne 
 him sons ; he will never, never leave 
 her.' To have children is a powerful 
 tie upon a husband. Should she, how- 
 ever, not have any, he is almost certain 
 
 to forsake her.' IF Zebulun. That is, 
 
 dwelling ; implying that he should be 
 the cause or occasion of the dwelling 
 together of his parents. 
 
 21. Called her name Dinah. Heb. 
 Tti*'~[ dinah, judgment; a word coming 
 from the same root with Dan, v. 6. No 
 reason is assigned by the mother for the 
 name, but the inference seems fair that 
 it was prompted by sentiments similar 
 to those which led Rachel to adopt an 
 equivalent name for her son by Bilhah, 
 v. 6. ' The simplicity of this announce- 
 ment, contrasted with the exuberant 
 thankfulness and exultation which ac- 
 company the birth of sons in this and 
 the preceding chapter, is remarkably 
 expressive to persons acquainted with 
 the customs and feelings of the east. 
 When there is prospect of a child, both 
 the parents hope and pray that it may 
 be a son. All their desires centre in 
 male offspring, which is everywhere 
 regarded as the greatest of blessings ; and 
 the disappointment is most acute when 
 VOL. ir. 
 
 chel, and God hearkened to her, and 
 "" opened her womb. 
 
 23 And she conceived, and bare 
 a son ; and said, God hath taken 
 away ^ my reproach : 
 
 24 And she called his name Jo- 
 seph ; and said, * The Lord shall 
 add to me another son. 
 
 rch. 29. 3h « 1 Sam. 1. C. Isai. 4. 1. Luke 
 1. 25. « ch. 35. 17. 
 
 the child proves to be a female. This 
 IS not that the possession of a daughter 
 is in itself regarded as an evil, but be- 
 cause her birth disappoints the sanguine 
 hopes which had been entertained of 
 the greater blessing. Time enables 
 the httle creature to win her way to 
 the hearts of her parents. But it is 
 only time that can reconcile them to 
 their disappointment \ and in the first 
 instance the household in which a fe- 
 male child has been born, has the ap- 
 pearance of having been visited by 
 some calamitous dispensation. Her 
 birth is quite unmarked by the rejoicings 
 and congratulations which greet the 
 entrance of a son into the world, and 
 every one is reluctant to announce the 
 untoward event to the father; whereas, 
 when the infant is a boy, the only ques- 
 tion is, who shall be foremost to bear 
 to him the joyful tidings.' Pict. Bible. 
 
 23. God hath taken away my reproach. 
 That is, the reproach of my barrenness. 
 In like manner Elizabeth says, Luke, 
 1.25, 'Thus hath the Lord dealt with 
 me, in the days wherein he looked on 
 me, to take away my reproach among 
 men.' Comp. 1 Sam. 1. 6. Is. 4. 1. 
 
 24. Called his name Joseph. Heb. 
 wlCT"' yoseph, adding, or, he will add. In 
 Ps. 81. 6, and in the engraving on 
 Aaron's breastplate, Ex. 23. the name 
 is written trjDin"^ yehoseph, analogous to 
 which we find 1 Chron. 10. 2, Jonathan^ 
 and 1 Sam, 31. 2, Jehonathan ; and in 
 like manner 2 Chron. 24. 1, Joash, and 
 
 2 Kings, 12. \, Jehoash. ^ Shall add 
 
 to me another son! Thus prophetically 
 declarinar the event which was accom' 
 
 12 
 
134 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1745. 
 
 25 *\l And it came to pass, when 
 Rachel had borne Joseph, that Ja- 
 cob said unto Laban, " Send me 
 away, that I may go unto '■'•' mine 
 own place, and to my country. 
 
 28 Give me my wives and my 
 children, ^ for whom I have served 
 thee, and let me go : for thou know- 
 cst my service which I have done 
 thee. 
 
 a ch. 24. 54, 56. " ch. 18. 33. & 31. 55. 
 X ch. 29. 20, 30. 
 
 plished in the birth of Benjamin, Gen. 
 35, 18. Yet it should be remarked that 
 the original will admit of its being ren- 
 dered in the form of a praj^er, ' May the 
 Lord add another.' 
 
 25. Send me away, &c. Having nov^- 
 fulfilled the second seven years' period 
 of service, and attained the age of about 
 ninety years, Jacob's desire to return 
 to his native country was prompted not 
 only by his experience of the hard, 
 selfish, unjust, and perfidious character 
 of Laban, and an earnest anxiety once 
 more to behold his aged parents before 
 they died, but by a paramount regard 
 to the promise of God. He remember- 
 ed that this, the land of his sojourning, 
 was not the land of his inheritance. 
 He called to mind the hereditary hope 
 of his family, the parting benediction of 
 Isaac, the vision at Bethel, and under 
 the influence of these impressions felt 
 all the ties that bound him to Mesopota- 
 mia to give way. That he was finally 
 induced to protract his stay somewhat 
 longer with his uncle does not essential- 
 ly militate with this view of his present 
 feelings ; for the determination was 
 pardy forced upon him by the urgent 
 solicitation of Laban, whom he saw he 
 could not leave without making him his 
 enemj', and partly by the desire to pro- 
 vide more amply for liis family, that he 
 might not return em ply-handed to his 
 friends in Canaan. This he distinctly 
 hints at below ; 'When shall I provide 
 for mine own house nl.<^o ?' 
 
 27 And Laban said unto him, I 
 pray thee, if I have found favour in 
 thine eyes, tarry : for y I have learn- 
 ed by experience that the Lord hath 
 blessed me ^ for thy sake. 
 
 2S And he said, ^ Appoint me 
 thy wages, and I will give it. 
 
 29 And he said unto him, ^' Thou 
 knowest how I have served thee, 
 and how thy cattle was with me. 
 
 y ch. 39. 3, 5. ^ ch. 26. 24. a ch. 29 
 
 15- b ch. 31.6, 38, 39, 40. MaU. 24. 45 
 
 27. And Laban said unto him, I pray 
 thee, &c. Although Jacob's proposal to 
 return to Canaan was very moilestly 
 made, yet his greedy kinsman, well 
 aware of the advantages which had ac- 
 crued to him from his nephew's faithful 
 service, expresses much regret on hear- 
 ing his departure spoken of. But it is 
 not regret at the thought of parting with 
 his daughters and his grand-children. 
 It is not the tender concern of bidding 
 a long farewell to a near relation and a 
 devoted servant. No, it is regret at 
 lobing an instrument of gain- It is the 
 sorrow- of a man who loves only him- 
 self. IT I have learned by experience, 
 
 &c. Heb. ^ri'LlTl^ nihashti, I have learn- 
 ed by experiment. Gr. oioivicaijnv, Thave 
 divined by birds, or augury. The root of 
 the original word is "j^n: nahash, from 
 which comes the Heb. oi serpent, (Gen. 
 3. 1.) signifying to ascertain by means oj 
 a close, subtle, and insidious inspection. 
 Laban had no doubt watched Jacob 
 with the most jealous vigilance, and the 
 conclusion to which he was brought 
 was, that his kinsman was an object of 
 the special superintending providence of 
 God, and that he himself was blessed 
 for his sake. Thus a testimony is some- 
 tim.es extorted from the lips of the wick- 
 ed, that they are prospered for the sake 
 of the good. 
 
 2-^. Appoint me thy wages. Heb. 
 nlpD nokbah, puncture, or prick down ; 
 i. e. state with the most absolute pre- 
 
n. C. 1745.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 135 
 
 30 For it was little which thou 
 hadst before 1 cmne, and it is now 
 increased unto a multitude ; and 
 the Loud hath blessed thee since 
 my coming : and now, when shall I 
 * provide for mine own house also ] 
 
 <= I Tim 5. 8. 
 
 30. It is now increased. Heb. y-j^n 
 yiphrotz, broken forth, spread abroad ; a 
 term usually employed to signify a vast 
 and sudden increase. Comp. Gen. 25. 
 14. — —IT Since my coming. Heb "^^^^b 
 leragli, at my foot. The usage in regard 
 to the original term for ' foot,' is pecu- 
 liar. In some cases itobviou.sly has the 
 sense of ZoSor, as Is. 5S. 13, 'If thou turn 
 away thy foot from the Sabbath ;' i. e. 
 if thou refrain from all servile work on 
 the Sabbatb. Is. 32. 20, ' Blessed are 
 ye that send forth the feet of the ox and 
 the ass ;' i. e. that employ the labor of 
 these animals. The phrase is elsewhere 
 Ui?ed as equivalent to conduct, guidance, 
 direction. Thus, 2 Sam. 15. 17, ' And 
 the king went forth, and all the people 
 after him ;' Heb. ' at his foot.' 2 Kings 
 3. 9, ' And there was no water for the 
 host, and for the cattle that folloived 
 them;' Heb. 'at their feet.' So here, 
 ' the Lord hath blessed thee at my foot ;' 
 i. e. under my guidance and manage- 
 ment. ' By the labor of Jacob's foot, the 
 cattle of Laban bad increased to a mul- 
 titude. Of a man who has become 
 rich by his own industry, it is said, 
 ' Ah ! by the labor of his feet these 
 treasures have been acquired.' ' How 
 have you gained this prosperity ?' ' By 
 the favor of the gods, and the labor of 
 my feet.' 'How is it the king is 
 prosperous?' 'By the labor of the feet 
 of his ministers.' Roberts. 
 
 31. Shalt not give me any thing. That 
 is, no definite fixed amount, as Laban 
 was minded to do. Jacob had in view 
 
 another plan of proceeding. ^ If 
 
 thou wilt do this thing for me, &c. ' There 
 is a difficulty in this passage which will 
 not escape the notice of the careful 
 
 31 And he said, What shall 1 
 give thee? And Jacob said. Thou 
 shalt not give me any thing. If 
 thou wilt do this thing for me, I will 
 again feed and keep thy flock : 
 
 reader. The terms of the agreement 
 were, that, in consideration of Jacob's 
 services, Laban should allow to him all 
 the sheep or goats of a certain descrip- 
 tion which should thereafter be born. 
 The agreement refers to no present dis 
 tribution of the flocks ; yet we find La- 
 ban immediately selecting the animals 
 of the description defined by Jacob, an J 
 sending them three days' journey dis- 
 tant from the others, under the charge 
 of his sons. Perhaps the first impres- 
 sion of the reader would be, that Laban, 
 for the greater security, placed with his 
 sons the animals of the class (parti-co- 
 lored) defined by Jacob, leaving with 
 him those of one color, and that, from 
 time to time an exchange was efTected, 
 the parti-colored in the one-colored 
 flock of Laban, fed by Jacob, going to 
 the parti-colored flock of Jacob, fed by 
 Laban's sons ; and the one-colored ani- 
 mals produced in Jacob's parli-colored 
 flock, in charge of Laban's sons, being 
 transferred to the flock in charge of Ja- 
 cob. But this hypothesis assumes that 
 Laban made over to Jacob in the first 
 instance all the parti-cnlored animals in 
 his flocks, whereas the agreement only 
 states a prospective advantage. We 
 have therefore no doubt that the solu- 
 tion offered by Dr. Adam Clarke is the 
 most reasonable. He supposes that the 
 separation was a stratagem of Laban, 
 for the purpose of diminishing Jacob's 
 chances as much as possible, by leaving 
 him with a flock that did not contain a 
 single animal of the sort to which he 
 was to be entitled, and from which it 
 might therefore be expected that the 
 smallest possible proportion of parti- 
 G/)Lor»d animals would proceeii Tha 
 
136 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1745. 
 
 32 I will pass through all thy 
 flock to-day, removing from thence 
 all the speckled and spotted cattle, 
 and all the brown cattle among the 
 sheep, and the spotted and speckled 
 among the goats : and*^ of such shall 
 be my hire. 
 
 33 So shall my * righteousness 
 answer for me in time to come, 
 when it shall come for my hire be- 
 fore thy face : every one that is not 
 speckled and spotted among the 
 goats, and brown among the sheep, 
 that shall be counted stolen with 
 me. 
 
 «> ch. 31. 8. e Ps. 37. 6. 
 
 counter-stratagem of Jacob, and its re- 
 sult, appear in the sequel of the chap- 
 ter.' Pict. Bible. 
 
 32. I will pass through all thy JlocJc, 
 &c. • Flock' here is a general term un- 
 der which Jacob goes on to specify the 
 two species of animals of which it was 
 composed. The original for ' removing' 
 ("icn haser) is a word of very doubtful 
 construction in this place. Grammati- 
 cally, it may refer either to Jacob or to 
 Laban. In the former sense it is taken 
 by the Syr. and Arab. ; in the latter by 
 the Gr., Chal., and Vulg. Probably it 
 would be best, in translating, to leave it 
 in its native ambiguity ; ' Let me pass 
 through all thy flocks to-day, (and) re- 
 move,' &c. By 'speckled' is meant 
 those marked with small sprinklings, 
 and by 'spotted,' those bearing spots of 
 a larger size. The term ' catde,' more 
 over, is applied in the Scriptures to sheep 
 and goats, as well as to cows and oxen. 
 
 ^ Of auch shall be my hire. It is all 
 
 along to be borne in mind that this was 
 a prospective arrangement. Jacob did 
 not propose, by removing the parti-co 
 lored from the one-colored, now to ap- 
 propriate one portion to himself and 
 another to Laban ; but the stipulation 
 was thtmceforth to take effect. All the 
 brown and speckled which should there- 
 after bo brought forth should belong to 
 
 34 And Laban said, Behold, I 
 would it might be according to thy 
 word. 
 
 35 And he removed that day the 
 he-goats that v/ere ring-streaked 
 and spotted, and all the she-goats 
 that were speckled and spotted, and 
 every one that had some white in it, 
 and all the brown among the sheep, 
 and gave them into the hands of his 
 sons. 
 
 36 And he set three days' jour- 
 ney betwixt himself and Jacob : and 
 Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. 
 
 Jacob, and the rest to Laban ; and it 
 was so imlikely that the single-colored 
 should produce many parti-colored, that 
 Laban gladly embraces the proposal. 
 But the event shows him to have been 
 supplanted by the superior astuteness of 
 Jacob, 
 
 33. So shall my righteousness answer for 
 me in time to come. Heb. '^n'^ fiT^3 beyom 
 7nahur,intheday tO'morTou\i. e. shordy 
 hereafter, or in time to come. The 
 clause might perhaps be more correctly 
 rendered, 'So shall my righteousness 
 answer for me before thee hereafter 
 when thou shalt come upon my wages 
 before thee ;' i. e. shalt come to exam- 
 ine my portion of the flock, and to see 
 that all is right. Jt is as if he had 
 said, so shall my honest and upright 
 conduct bear witness for me. The 
 thing will show for itself that I am guilty 
 of no fraud whatever, but simply take 
 what yuu agree to give me. The origi- 
 nal word for answer (,'-;;55 nnah) is often 
 rendered testify. Thus Is. 59. 12, * Our 
 :-ins testify against us.' Heb. Answer 
 
 against us. IT Shall be counted stolen 
 
 vnth me. You shall count it to have 
 been stolen by me. 
 
 34. I would that it might be, &c. Or, 
 Let it indeed be. 
 
 35. All the brown among the sheep 
 As tha original has the import of heat^ 
 
B, C. 1739.1 
 
 37 IF And *" Jacob took him rods 
 of green poplar, and of the hazel 
 and chesnut-tree ; and pilled white 
 streaks in them, and made the 
 white appear which ivas in the rods. 
 
 33 And lie set the rods which he 
 had pilled before the flocks in the 
 gutters, in the watering-troughs 
 when the flocks came to drink ; 
 that they should conceive when 
 they came to drink. 
 
 39 And the flocks conceived be- 
 fore the rods, and brought forth 
 cattle ring-streaked, speckled, and 
 spotted. 
 
 40 And Jacob did separate the 
 lambs, and set the faces of the 
 flocks toward the ring-streaked, and 
 
 fch. 31. 9—12. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 137 
 
 sultriness, hurnivg, it is probable that by 
 ' brown' here we are to understand sim- 
 hurnt or black. It is not known that any 
 slieep are brown. 
 
 37. And Jacob took him rods, Ac- 
 Many have contended that this was a 
 natural means sufficient for producing 
 the effect; and it is an established fact, 
 that any stronj^ imprc^ssion upon the 
 mind of the female during tlie period of 
 gestation bas a corresponding in.Quence 
 upon the offspring. Kven on this sup- 
 position Jacob cannot be considered as 
 violating his contract, fur he only used 
 such means to produce variegated cattle 
 as his knowledge of natural causes af- 
 forded him. But it is evident from ch. 
 31. 5 — 13, that there was something mi- 
 raculous in it, and that in the means 
 which he employed, be followed some 
 divme intimation. If so, his conduct, 
 Eo far from being culpable, was praise- 
 worthy, as being a compliance v>ilh the 
 will of God. lie is, in fact, hereby ac- 
 quitted of selfishness and every other 
 improper motive, just as the divine com- 
 mand to the Israelites to borrow of the 
 Egyptians acquits them of fraud. Bo\h 
 were extraordinary interpositions on be- 
 half of the injured ; n kind of divine re- 
 
 all the brown in the flock of Laban : 
 and he put his own flocks by them- 
 selves, and put them not unto La- 
 ban's cattle. 
 
 41 And it came to pass whenso- 
 ever the stronger cattle did con- 
 ceive, that Jacob laid the rods be- 
 fore the eyes of the cattle in the 
 gutters, that they might conceive 
 among the rods. 
 
 42 But when the cattle were 
 feeble, he put them not in : so the 
 feebler were Laban's, and the 
 stronger Jacob's. 
 
 43 And the man ^increased ex- 
 ceedingly, and ^ had much cattle, 
 and maid-servants, and men-ser- 
 vants, and camels, and asses. 
 
 g vor. 30. h cAu 1.3. 2. & 24. 35. & 26. 13, 14. 
 
 prisal, in which justice was executed on 
 a broad scale. 'They shall spoil those 
 that spoiled them, and rob those that 
 robbed them, saith the Lord God.' And 
 as the Egyptians could not complain of 
 the Israelites, inasmuch as they had 
 freely lent, or rather given their jewels, 
 without any expectation of receiving 
 them again (see note on Ex. 9. 1 — 3) ; 
 so neither could Laban complain of Ja- 
 cob, for that he had nothing more than 
 it was agreed he should have : nor was 
 he, on the whole, injured, but greatly 
 
 benefited by Jacob's devices. 
 
 ^ Pilled. Pealed. He took green rods 
 of different trees, or shrubs, and pealed 
 off the bark so as to make streaks of 
 white in them, and then placed them in 
 full view of the flocks at the times men- 
 tioned in the text, that the designed ef- 
 fect might take place. If unbelievers 
 object to tliis as a crafty device origin- 
 ating with Jacob, we may answer, Let 
 them make use of the same means, and 
 see if the same results will follow. We 
 presume it wiil not be pretended that 
 i any person has since made the experi- 
 I ment with success. 
 
 i IvEsi.\RKS. (1.) The jealousy and 
 strife which took place in the tents of 
 
138 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 A. 
 
 CHAP. XXXI. 
 ND he heard the words of La- 
 ban's sons, saying, Jacob hath 
 
 taken away alJ that icas our father's ; 
 and of that whicli was our father's 
 hath he gotten all this * glory. 
 
 a Ps 49. 16. 
 
 Jacob, by reason of his many wives, 
 may make us thankful that a practice, 
 common amongst the people of God in 
 early times, has been totally abolisbed 
 by the gospel of Christ. It is one of the 
 many instances in which the liberty 
 wherewith we should be apt to indulge 
 ourselves, would be far less conducive 
 to our happiness, than that liberty where- 
 with Christ has made us free. This 
 lesson of gratitude is still more strongly 
 enforced upon us by considering the ef- 
 fects of Jacob's marrying two sisters, 
 who thenceforth seem to have lost ail 
 sisterly aflfeclion ; envying each other, 
 and trafficking with each other for the 
 kind regards of their common husband. 
 May we hence learn to feel thoroughly 
 convinced, that the bounds which God 
 sets to our desires are in all cases or- 
 dered for our good ; and that whether 
 we can see the reasonableness of his 
 laws or not, it must be as much for our 
 real interest, in every case, to refrain 
 from that which he forbids, as to enjoy 
 that which he allows. 
 
 (2) Though some of the names given 
 by the sisters to their respective children 
 have perpetuated the memory of their 
 strife, yet in others they seem to have 
 been piously designed to express their 
 sense of the divine goodness. In this, 
 their example may suggest to us a claim 
 for our thankfulness too often forgotten 
 upon the birth of those little ones whom 
 God brings into the world. It may teach 
 as to render our devout acknowledg- 
 ments to him who thus setteth the soli- 
 tary in families ; and not only so, but it 
 may hint the propriety of giving more 
 scope to religious sentiments in the 
 choice of names for our children than is 
 common amongst many professing god- 
 hness. Why should not such names be 
 selected as will not only remind us of 
 
 what we owe to the father of mercies, 
 but such also as will establish an im- 
 portant association in the minds of our 
 children between their names and thejr 
 duty ? We are probably but little aware 
 of the secret influence exerted upon the 
 character from this source. The bestow- 
 ing of the names of great military chiel- 
 tains and heroes has no doubt tended to 
 kindle up and keep alive the baneful spir- 
 it of war among men, and, in general, we 
 could not well more effectually secure 
 the transfusion of any one's spirit into 
 another, than by giving him in infancy 
 his name, and then rearing him up un- 
 der the influences of all the associations 
 which it carries vvith it. Let us then 
 avail ourselves of this principle to a 
 good end. Let us call our children af- 
 ter the good, rather than the great. 
 Let us name them, not so much from 
 our earthly relations as from our spirit- 
 ual kindred, those whose names are 
 written in the book of God, on purpose 
 that we may follow their examples. 
 
 CHAP. XXXL 
 
 1. And he heard, <tc. Not perhaps 
 that he heard it directly from them, for 
 they were three days' journey asunder ; 
 but it was reported to him ; it came to 
 
 his ears. ^ Jacob hath taken away all 
 
 that was our father s. The spirit which 
 prompted this calumnious assertion was, 
 no doubt, of the most malevolent char- 
 acter, and but for Jacob's timely remov- 
 al, would probably have led to a violent 
 seizure of all his possessions under the 
 pretext of tlieir belonging in equity to 
 Laban. In this extremity God inter- 
 feres for the protection of his servant. 
 
 11 Gotten all this glory. Heb. rir!!^ 
 
 asah, made, in tlie sense of acquired, ac 
 cumulated, amassed, as explained in the 
 note on Gen. 12. 5. Chal. 'Gotten all 
 
n. C. 1739.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXXf. 
 
 139 
 
 2 And Jacob beheld ^ the coun- 
 tenance of Laban, and behold, it 
 icas not "= toward him as before. 
 
 3 And the Lord said unto Jacob, 
 ^ Return unto the land of thy fa- 
 
 b ch. 4. 5. c Deut. 28. 54. d ch. 28. 15, 20, 
 21. &c 32. 9. 
 
 these riches.' The original for glory 
 (-j^i habod) properly signifies weigld or 
 burden, as Gen. 13. 2, where Abraham 
 is said to have been ' very rich,' Heb. 
 ' very weighty.' The word is rendered 
 ' glory,' because glory and honor are the 
 usual concomitants of riches. This 
 sense of the term occurs Is. 61. 6, 'Ye 
 •shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and 
 (or, even) in their fflonj shall ye boast 
 yourselves ;' i. e. in their abundance, 
 their opulence. Rev. 21. 21, ' And the 
 kings of the earth do bring their glory 
 and honor into it;' i. e. their riches. 
 Mat. 4. 8, ' He shovveth him all the king- 
 doms of the world, and the glory of 
 them ;' i. e. all their riches and treasures. 
 2. Was not toward hiinns before. Heb. 
 t'l'.IlV^ bT^r.i Idthmol shilshom, as yes- 
 terday (and) the day before. ' Tliis form 
 of speech is truly oriental, and means 
 time gone by. Has a person lost the 
 friendship of another, he will say to 
 him, 'Thy face is not to me as yester- 
 day and the day before.' Is a man re- 
 duced in his circumstances, he says, 
 'The face of God is not upon me as 
 yesterday and the day before.' The fu- 
 ture is spoken of as to-day and to-morrow ; 
 ' His face will be upon me to-day and 
 to-morrovj,' which means, alumys. '] 
 nil! lov^ thee to-day and to-morrow,' 
 ' Do you think of me ?' — ' Yes, to-day 
 and to-morrov\'.' '31odeliar, have you 
 heard that Tamban is trying to injure 
 you?' — 'Yes; and go and tell him that 
 neitiier to-day nor to-morrow will he 
 fcucceed.' Our Saviour says, ' Cehold, I 
 cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and 
 to-morrow.' Jacob said to Laban, '3Iy 
 righteousness answers for me in time 
 to come ;' but t'le Hebrew has for this. 
 
 thers, and to thy kindred; and I 
 will be with thee. 
 
 4 And Jacob sent and called Ra- 
 chel and Leah to the field unto his 
 flock, 
 
 '^ to-morrow i' bis righteousness would 
 be perpetual. In eastern language, 
 therefore, 'yesterday and the day be- 
 fore' signifies Uxnepast ; but ' to-day and 
 to-morrow,' tim.e Income. See Ex. 18. 14. 
 Jos. 4. 6, also '24. 22, margin.' Roberts. 
 
 3. The Lord said unto Jacob, &c 
 Had Jacob removed under the impulse 
 of mere personal resentment, he might 
 have sinned against God, though not 
 against Laban. But when an expre.^s 
 command came to him from Jehovah to 
 return to the land of his fathers, with a 
 promise that he would be with him, the 
 path of duty was plain. In all our re- 
 movals it becomes us so to act that we 
 may hope for the divine presence and 
 blessing to attend us ; else, though we 
 may flee from one trouble, we shall fali 
 into many, and be less able to endure 
 them. 
 
 4. Jacob sent and called Rachel and 
 Leah, &c. This is easily explained on 
 the supposition, which eastern customs 
 abundantly confirm, that while Laban 
 and his daughters dwelt in a house, Ja- 
 cob was now at some distance with 
 his flocks abiding in tents. We know 
 from ch. SO. 36^ that Laban's flocks 
 uere in two parcels, one under the care 
 of Jacob ; the other committed to tlie 
 care of Laban's sens, three days' jour- 
 ney o(F. Jacob's also were probably, 
 for the same reason, removed to an 
 equal distance. Tliis, of course, made it 
 
 i necessary for him to send for his wives, 
 ; a measure still more natural if we 
 : suppose it to have been at the sheep- 
 \ shearing season, wh'ch was a time of 
 [feasting and special entertainment to 
 I relations and friends, who were invited 
 to be present. Comp. Gen. 33. 12. I 
 
140 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 5 And said unto them, ^I see 
 your father's countenance, that it is 
 not toward me as before : but the 
 God of my father *" hath been with 
 nje. 
 
 6 And s ye know that with all 
 my power I have served your father. 
 
 7 And your father hath deceived 
 me, and ^ changed my wages ' ten 
 
 e ver. 2. t ver. 3. e ver. 38, 39, 40, 41. ch. 
 30.29. liver. 41. 'Numb. 14.22. Neli. 
 4. 12. Job 19. 3. Zech. 8. 23 
 
 Sam. 25. 4, 8, 36. 2 Sam. 13. 25. Bp. 
 Patrick's explanation of the circum- 
 stance, that it was for greater secrecy, 
 and perhaps to avoid tlie danger of be- 
 ing seized upon by Laban and his sons, 
 is far less plausible. Could not a hus- 
 band speak to his wives with sufficient 
 privacy in Laban's house ? Were 
 matters come to such an extremity that 
 Jacob durst not venture himself within 
 the doors of his uncle's house, for fear 
 of being seized upon and made a pri- 
 soner ? In fact, Jacob seems actually 
 to have communicated his intention to 
 Rachel in her father's house ; for when 
 he sent for his wives, she brought her 
 father's teraphim with her, which she 
 would by no means have done had she 
 been unapprised of his design. 
 
 5. I se'3 your father's countenance, that 
 it is not, &c. Had Laban's sons only 
 murmured, Jacob might have borne it : 
 but their father partook of their disaffec- 
 tion, as was palpably evident by his al- 
 tered demeanor. It is wisely ordered 
 that the countenance shall, in most 
 cases, be an index to the heart ; else 
 there would be much more deception 
 in the world than there is. We gather 
 more of men's dispositions towards us 
 from looks that from words ; and do- 
 mestic happiness is more influenced by 
 the one than the other. Sullen silence 
 is often less tolerable than contention 
 itself, because the latter, painful as it is, 
 affords opportunity for mutual explana- 
 nation. But while Jacob had to com- 
 
 times : but God ^' suffered him not 
 to hurt me. 
 
 8 If he said thus, ^ The speckled 
 shall be thy wages ; then all the 
 cattle bare speckled : and if he said 
 thus. The ring-streaked shall be thy 
 hire ; then bare all the cattle ring- 
 streaked. 
 
 9 Thus God hath '" taken awa> 
 
 k ch. 20. 6. Ps. 105. 14. 
 m ver. 1, 16. 
 
 1 ch. 30. 32. 
 
 plain of Laban's cloudy countenance, 
 he could add, ' The God of my father 
 has been with me ;' or, as the Chal. has 
 it, ' The Word of the God of my father 
 has been for m.y help ;' thus bearing 
 witness to his integrity ; far had he done 
 wrong, he would not have been thus 
 blessed. The smiles of God are the 
 best supports under the frowns of men 
 If we walk in the light of discountenance, 
 we need not fear what man can do 
 unto us. 
 
 7. Your father hath deceived me. Heb. 
 ^TTi hcthel. This word, in Judg. 16. 10, 
 is rendered mocked ; in Ex. 8. 29, deal 
 deceitfully, and by the Chal. is here 
 rendered hath lied unto me. It properly 
 denotes all these. ^ Changed Viy wa- 
 ges ten limes. That is, many times ; a 
 definite rmmber for an indefinite, ac- 
 cording to a common usage of the origi- 
 nal. Thus, Num. 14.22. ' Yehavetempt- 
 ed me these /en times,' i. e. many times. 
 Job 19. 3, 'These ten times have ye 
 reproached me,' i. e. in repeated instan- 
 ces ; again and again. In like manner, 
 Lev. 26. 25, ' Ten women shall bake 
 your bread in one oven.' Eccl. 7. 19, 
 ' Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more 
 than ten migtity men the city.' Zech. 
 8. 23, ' In those days — ten men shall take 
 I hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew. 
 Rev. 2. 10. ' Ye shall have tribulation 
 
 ten daj's.' IF Suffered him not. Heb. 
 
 i:~: ncfhano, gave him not. See the 
 idiom explained Gen. 20. 6, 
 
 10. Thus God hath taken auay, &c 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 141 
 
 the cattle of your father, and given 
 them to me. 
 
 10 And it came to pass at the 
 time that the cattle conceived, that 
 I Ufted up mine eyes, and saw in a 
 dream, and behold, the rams which 
 leaped upon the cattle were ring- 
 streaked, speckled, and grizzled. 
 
 11 And " the angel of God spake 
 unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob : 
 And I said. Here am I. 
 
 12 And he said. Lift up now thine 
 
 " ch. 48. 16. 
 
 These words contain a clear vindication 
 of Jacob from the charge brought 
 against him by Laban's sons, v. 1, of 
 having despoiled their father of his 
 wealth. In whatever form his wages 
 were to be paid to him, God, and not 
 he, liad so ordered the course of things, 
 that it should turn to his advantage, and 
 this he would piously and gratefully ac- 
 knowledge. To this assertion of the 
 patriarch the sentiments of his wives, 
 as they express themselves, v. 16, most 
 cordially respond. 
 
 10. Saw in a dream. It was doubtless 
 in this way that the expedient describ- 
 ed in the preceding chapter was sug- 
 gested to the mind of Jacob. ^ Griz- 
 zled. Heb. t]"iT^2 heruddim, from the 
 verb Tnn harad, to strew, scatter, sprin- 
 kle, and hence to hail. Indeed, our word 
 grisled comes from the old French gresle, 
 hail, now written grele. The import 
 of the epithet therefore here is hail-spot- 
 ted, or marked with rather large w'hite 
 spots, like hail-stones on a dark ground. 
 It differs from C^lp^ nekuddim, speckled, 
 occurring in the same connexion, only 
 by mdicating spots of a larger size. 
 This was the color of the horses seen 
 in the fourth chariot in Zechariah's 
 vision, Zech. C>. 3, bay mottled with 
 white. 
 
 11. The angel of God spake unto me in 
 a dream. It is somewhat doubtful 
 whether this and the dream mentioned 
 V. 10, were one and the same. That 
 
 eyes and see, all the rams which 
 leap upon the cattle are ring-streak- 
 ed, speclded, and grizzled : for ° I 
 have seen all that Laban doeth unto 
 thee. 
 
 13 I am the God of Beth-el, 
 p where thou anointedst the pillar, 
 and where thou vowedst a vow un- 
 to me : now " arise, get thee out 
 from this land, and return unto the 
 land of thy kindred. 
 
 o Exod. 3. 7. p ch. 28. 18, 19, 20. 
 q ver. 3. ch. 32. 9. 
 
 they were so, appears on the whole most 
 probable, and if we render v. 11, ^ For 
 the angel of God spake unto me,' &c. 
 the words contained in vv. 12, 13, be- 
 come merely a more expanded state- 
 ment of the particulars of the dream 
 briefly alluded to in v. 10. Not having 
 previously mentioned it to his wives, he 
 here takes occasion, in order to confirm 
 them still more in the belief that he was 
 under special divine direction in the 
 contemplated removal, to recite it in 
 fuller detad. The words uttered by the 
 angel are very remarkable. ' I am the 
 God of Bethel.' It is scarcely conceiv- 
 able that such language should ever 
 have proceeded from the lip^ of a crea- 
 ted being. Indeed, the evidence of the 
 supreme divinity of the speaker here 
 is the same with that which meets us in 
 the account of similar apparitions alrea- 
 dy considered. Gen. 16. 7.-22. 11. It 
 is therefore unnecessary to dwell upon 
 it here. 
 
 13. Where thou anointedst the pillar. 
 This was a clear intimation, if any such 
 were needed, that God had accepted 
 the services of Jacob, performed at Beth- 
 el. But in directing his thoughts to the 
 vision at Bethel, the Lord reminds his 
 servant of those solemn acts by which 
 he had at that time devoted himself to 
 him. It is not only necessary for our 
 support in trouble that we should re- 
 member the promises of God to us, but 
 our solemn engagements also to him. 
 
142 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [Ji. C. 1739. 
 
 14 And Rachel and Leah an- 
 swered, and said unto him, " Is there 
 yet any portion or inheritance for us 
 in our father's house ? 
 
 15 Are we not counted of him 
 strangers 1 for = he hath sold us, and 
 hath quite devoured also our money. 
 
 16 For all the riches which God 
 hath taken from our father, that is 
 our?, and our children's : now then, 
 
 r cli. 2. 24. • ch. 29. 15, 27. 
 
 It is thus that the same devout and joy- 
 ful affections which distinguished the 
 happiest seasons of our lives will be 
 kindled afresh, and in all our movements 
 we shall more distinctly keep in view 
 the end for which we live. 
 
 14. Is there yet any portion or inherit- 
 ance 7 Implying that they had no hope 
 of deriving any farther benefit from their 
 relation to such a fatlier, and conse- 
 quently no motive for remaining longer 
 with him. By ' portion,' is to be under- 
 stood such voluntary gifts and presents 
 as he might be induced to make to them, 
 and by ' inheritance,' that to which they 
 might expect to succeed by law or com- 
 mon usage. 
 
 15. Hath sold us, and hath quite devour- 
 ed also our money. Instead of dealing 
 with us as daughters, disposing of us 
 with honorable dowries, he has bar- 
 gained us away like slaves, and applied 
 the proceeds to his own use, instead of 
 bestowing any portion of it upon us. 
 
 T Devoured our money. Heb. 12 £ DID 
 
 kaspenu, our silver ; i.e. the price, the 
 equivalent, for which we were sold. 
 The ' selling' to which they allude, was 
 Laban's compact with Jacob for four- 
 teen years' service. As this service 
 was in lieu of a dowry, which would 
 naturally have accrued to the wives as 
 aright, they jointly complain of being 1 
 excluded from all participation in the i 
 avails of it. Their crimination of their I 
 father is not to be reckoned a breach of' 
 filial reverence, for they are not iradu- 1 
 cing^ him in the presence of strangers, ' 
 
 whatsoever God hath said unto thee, 
 do. 
 
 17 IT Then Jacob rose up, and 
 set his sons and his wives upon 
 camels ; 
 
 18 And he carried away all his 
 cattle, and all his goods which he 
 had gotten, the cattle of his getting, 
 
 I which he had gotten in Padan-aram ; 
 for to go to Isaac his father in the 
 land of Canaan. 
 
 but merely stating the reason which 
 justified them to their own consciences 
 in leaving him. 
 
 17, IS. Then Jacob rose up, &c. The 
 result showed that Jacob acted prudent- 
 ly in taking his departure without the 
 knowledge of Laban. Had he known 
 it, there is every reason to believe he 
 would either have detained him by force, 
 or deprived him of a part of his proper- 
 ty. — ' A very interesting part of Orien- 
 tal usages consists in the different forms 
 of travelling and migration, in which 
 httle alteration seems to have taken 
 place since the most early times, the 
 usages of which are briefly indicated in 
 tlie book of Genesis. It is impossible 
 for one who is acquainted with the Bi- 
 ble to witness the migration of a nomade 
 tribe, whether Arabian or Tartar, with- 
 out being forcibly reminded of this jour- 
 ney of Jacob, and the various removals 
 of his grandfather and father. The de- 
 gree of change probably extends little 
 further than to the more warlike char- 
 acter which the tribes now assume in 
 their journeys, arising from the increase 
 of population, and from the extension of 
 the aggressive principle among the chil- 
 dren of the deserts. We have already 
 mentioned the expedition with which 
 the people in the East prepare for an 
 entire removal (see note on chap. 14. 10.) 
 In a quarter of the time which it would 
 take a poor family in England to get the 
 furniture of a single room ready for re- 
 moval, the tents of a large encampment 
 will have been struck, and, together 
 
J3. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 143 
 
 with all the moveables and provisions, 
 packed away upon the backs of camels, 
 mules, or asses ; and the whole party- 
 will be on its way, leaving, to use an 
 expression of their own, not a halter 
 or a rag behind. The order of march in 
 the removal of a pastoral tribe or fami- 
 ly seems to be much the same as that 
 which may be traced in the next and 
 ensuing chapter. When the number of 
 animals is considerable, they are kept in 
 separate flocks and droves, under the 
 charge of shepherds and herdmen, or of 
 the yaung men and women of the tribe, 
 who hurry actively about, often assisted 
 by dogs, to restrain the larger and more 
 lively animals from straying too far- 
 The very young or newly-born lambs 
 and kids are carried either under the 
 arms of the young people, or in baskets 
 or panniers thrown across the backs of 
 camels. To this custom of carrying the 
 lambs in the arms of the shepherds, as 
 well as to the necessity mentioned by 
 Jacob (chap. 33. 13.) of driving slowly 
 when the sheep are with young, there 
 is a beautiful allusion in Isaiah, chap. 
 40. 11; 'He shall feed his flock like a 
 shepherd ; he shall gather the lambs 
 with his arm, and carry them in his bo- 
 som, and shall gently lead those that are 
 with young.' The sheep and goats 
 generally lead the van, and are followed 
 by the camels, and perhaps asses, laden 
 more or less with the property of the 
 community : consisting of the tents, 
 with their cordage, mats, carpets, clothes, 
 skins, water and provision-bags, boilers, 
 and pots, and sundry other utensils, 
 bundled up in admirable confusion, un- 
 less when all the property belongs to 
 one person, as in the case of Jacob. 
 The laden beasts are usually followed 
 by the elderly men, the women, and the 
 children, who are mostly on foot in the 
 ordinary migrations with the flocks ; 
 which must be carefully distinguished 
 from a caravan journey, or a predatory 
 excursion across the deserts. The very 
 young children are carried on the backs 
 
 or in the arms of their mothers, who in 
 general are on foot, but are sometimes 
 mounted, with their infants, on the 
 spare or lightly-laden beasts. The sick 
 and very aged persons are similarly 
 mounted ; and the children old enough 
 to take some care of themselves, but 
 not to go on foot, or perhaps to speak, 
 are either carried on the backs of the 
 young men or women, or set upon the 
 lop of the baggage on the beasts of 
 burden, and left there to shift for 
 themselves. The little creatures cling 
 to their seats, and seldom require or 
 receive much attention. The mid- 
 dle-aged men, well armed and ready for 
 action, march steadily along by the 
 flanks of the column, controlling and di- 
 recting its general progress ; w-hile the 
 younger people attend to the details. 
 The chief himself brings up the rear, 
 accompanied by the principal persons of 
 the party. He is generally on horse- 
 back, however the rest may be circum- 
 stanced. Sometimes, when the tribe 
 is wealthy, a great proportion of the 
 people may be mounted in some way 
 or other; and the men, armed with lan- 
 ces, ride about to bring up the march of 
 the cattle ; but, as a general thing, we 
 may say that the mass of the people 
 perform such migrations on foot. A 
 day's stage, w'ith numerous flocks, is 
 necessarily short, and the pace easy ; 
 and must not be confounded with a 
 day's journey by the caravan. It would 
 seem as if most of Jacob's people went 
 on foot. It is only said that he set his 
 wives and children upon camels : and 
 in chap. 33. 14, where the phrase which 
 the text gives is, ' I will lead on softly, 
 according as the cattle that goeth he/ore 
 me, and the children are able to endure,' 
 — the margin more literally renders, 
 ' According to the foot of the work, ac- 
 cording to //te/oof of the children.' Pict. 
 
 Bible. ^ Carried away all his cattle. 
 
 Heb. ;in3'^ yinhag, led, drove,OT conduct' 
 
 ed atvay. IT Cattle of his getting. Or, 
 
 Heb. I'^i^p kinyano, of his possessing. 
 
144 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 19 And Laban went to shear 
 his sheep : and Rachel had stol- 
 
 19 And Laban went — and Rachel had 
 stolen. Rather, ' For Laban had gone — 
 and Rachel stole,' as several of the an- 
 cient versions read it. His absence gave 
 Rachel the opportunity of possessing her- 
 self of the images. It is impossible to 
 speak with confidence of the motives by 
 which Rachel was actuated in this tran- 
 saction. Among the many solutions 
 which have been attempted of her con- 
 duct, the following may be specified. 
 (1) That the images were of pre- 
 cious metal, and Rachel stole them, 
 to compensate for the loss of dowry 
 sustained through Laban's bargain 
 with Jacob. (2) That she thought 
 that by taking the oracles, she should 
 deprive Laban of the means of discover- 
 ing the flight of her husband. (3) That 
 she expected by this act to bring pros- 
 perity from the household of her father 
 to her husband. (4) Some conclude 
 that she hoped to cure her father of his 
 idolatrous propensities by depriving him 
 of the instruments ; while many, on the 
 other hand, imagine that Rachel and 
 her sister were infected by the same 
 superstitions as their father, and wished 
 to continue the practice of them in the 
 land of Canaan. This last supposition 
 is not very easily reconciled with 
 what we are led to infer respecting the 
 character of these women in the forego- 
 ing narrative. They were both, on the 
 birth of their children, apparently so 
 full of devout acknowledgments to the 
 Most High, as the author of their mer- 
 cies, that we were constrained to enter- 
 tain a hope of their piety. Nor ought, 
 perhaps, the clandestine abduction of 
 the images to forfeit for them our good 
 opinion on the whole ; although, if her 
 object was, as some suppose, by a pious 
 theft, to remove from her father a 
 prominent occasion of sin, it is not 
 easy to see why she should not have 
 
 en the ^ images that loere her fa- 
 ther's. 
 
 « ch. 35. 2. 
 
 cast them into the Euphrates as she 
 crossed it, or at least have informed Ja- 
 cob, after their departure, of what she 
 had done. For this reason her conduct 
 appears questionable. In fact, the more 
 we ponder the story, the greater are our 
 misgivings as to the purity of her mo- 
 tives. But whatever they were, it is 
 clear that these images afterwards 
 proved a snare to Jacob's family ; for 
 we are informed, ch. 35. 1 — 3, that he 
 could not go up to Bethel till he had 
 cleansed his house of them. The prob- 
 ability, we think, is, that the family of 
 Laban, though possessed of some 
 knowledge of the true God, was yet ia 
 a measure tinctured with some remains 
 of the idolatry and superstition of the sur- 
 rounding countries, and afforded a speci- 
 men of that mixed and mongrel worship 
 which is elsewhere expressed, Zeph. I. 
 5, by 'swearing by the Lord and by 
 Malcham,' equivalent to aiming to serve 
 God and mammon at the same time. 
 The human heart is sadly prone to idol- 
 atry, and even when in possession of 
 some knowledge of God is ever mixing 
 up with his the worship of other strange 
 gods. We see this, if w^e mistake not, 
 here among the descendants of Nahor, 
 the near relatives of Abraham ; we see 
 it in the images of the Romish church ; 
 we see it in many who set up their idols 
 in their hearts, if not in their houses, 
 who worship the creature more than 
 the Creator, w-ho make gods of their 
 riches, their pleasures, their lusts. But 
 the irrevocable commandment of the 
 Almighty is, ' Thou shalt have no othei 
 
 gods but me.' -IT Teraphim. Heb 
 
 C^&l^ teraphiin. Gr. ct^coXa, idols. 
 Chal. Arab., and Syr. ' Images.' Jose- 
 phus, ' Types of gods.' The etymology, 
 and consequently the exact signification 
 of the word, is doubtful. Of the various 
 conjectures respecting its origin, the 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXr. 
 
 145 
 
 following appear to rest upon the most 
 plausible grounds : (1.) That it is de- 
 rived from the Syriac ' Teraph,' to in- 
 quire, from their being consulted and 
 inquired of as oracles, Ezek. 21. 21 ; 
 ^ech. 10. 2. (2.) That it is formed by 
 1 common change of the letters T and 
 S from Seraphim, the same as Cher- 
 ubim, from which the original hint of 
 them is supposed to be taken ; or, (3.) 
 That, as Jurieu suggest.^, it comes from 
 Jj^S'l rapha, to heal or cure, whence, by 
 adding formative letters Q'^D'^ri tera- 
 phim, dii sanatores, gods thai can cure or 
 heal. This is supposed to be confirmed 
 by the fact that the Teraphim are called 
 in the Gr. of Judg. 17. 5, Oepadtiv tlier- 
 aphein, to which, it is conjectured, we 
 are to trace the origin of the word 
 depa-irevca therapeuo, to heal, from these 
 idols being consuked, and thus, in a 
 sense, worshipped, by their votaries, 
 with a view, among other things, to the 
 obtainment of health, healing, and the 
 general prosperity of the hous^'hold.s to 
 which they pertained. Eat, leaving the 
 question of the etymology of the term 
 undecided, we remark that the Tera- 
 phim are frequently mentioned in the 
 Old Testament. They seem to have 
 been images— sometimes very small and 
 sometimes large — apparently in the hu- 
 man figure, or at least with a human 
 head ; and the Jewish writers say that 
 they were placed in niches, with lamps 
 burning before them. ' From the pas- 
 sages of Scripture m which they are 
 mentioned, it would seem that they 
 were not idols in the worst sense of the 
 word, no primary worship being render- 
 ed to them. They were certainly used 
 by persons who had professed the wor- 
 ship of the true God ; hut as they 
 proved a snare to take away the heart 
 from Him, and to divide or supersede 
 that exclusive confidence and trust 
 which he required, we find them de- 
 nounced by (he prophets ; and they 
 were doubtless included in the general 
 
 Moses. No doubt they often became 
 objects of positively idolatrous homage; 
 but in their general use, before and after 
 the deliverance of the law, they seem 
 to have been popularly considered as 
 not being incompatible with the alle- 
 giance due to Jehovah ; and there are 
 instances in which we find teraphim 
 connected, in some way or other, with 
 the family and pubUc worship rendered 
 to Him. So far as this matter can be 
 understood, it seems to us that these 
 images were considered to fix a protect- 
 ing and guiding presence to the places 
 in which they were set — protecting, 
 perhaps, as an Oriental talisman is con- 
 sidered to protect; and guiding as an 
 oracle, which in some way or other was 
 considered to indicate the course that 
 ought to be pursued on occasions of 
 doubt and difficulty. Thus the Danite.s 
 desired the Levite, who had charge of 
 Micah's teraphim, to ask counsel for 
 them, and he gave them a response as 
 from the Lord (Judges 18. 5, 6.) The 
 prophets also mention them as oracles. 
 Ezekiel (chap. 21. 21.) describes the 
 king of Babylon as using divination — 
 consulting with teraphim ; and Zecha- 
 riah (chap. 10. 1.) tells the Jews that 
 their teraphim ' have spoken vanity, and 
 the diviners have seen a lie.' Our 
 translation sometimes retains the origin- 
 al word, and at other times renders it 
 ' images' or ' idols.' The Seventy have 
 generally rendered the word by ' ora- 
 cles' (SfjXcav and avocpdeyyonevoi) ; but 
 in Sam. 16. 13, 16, they have K£voTa<pia, 
 as if they thought that the teraphim 
 there meant images placed as sepulchral 
 monuments. Some, however, render 
 this Greek word by ' vain figures.' Pict. 
 Bible. The ' Teraphim' may be defin- 
 ed divining images, and there can be 
 little doubt that they were regarded as a 
 kind of Penates, Lares, or household 
 gods, as Laban himself virtually terran 
 them, v. 30. They appear to have 
 been employed in false worship for a 
 interdiction of images by the law of j purpose similar to that of (he Ephod m 
 VOL. It. 13 
 
146 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B,C. r 
 
 20 And Jacob stole away una- 
 wares to Laban the Syrian, in that 
 he told him not that he fled. 
 
 21 So he fled with all that he 
 
 had ; and he rc^e up> and passed 
 over the river, and " set his face 
 toward the mount Gilead. 
 <: cb. 46. 28. 2 Kings 12. 17. Luke 9. 51, 53. 
 
 the true. Accordingly the prophet 
 Hosea, ch. 3. 4, in a prediction of the 
 future desolate condition of the Jews, 
 pays, ' They shall be withozit an image, 
 and without an ephod, and without tera- 
 phim,* or as it should probably be render- 
 ed, ' without a-n ephod, even teraphim ;' 
 the word 'without' not occurring in the 
 original ; as if in their degenerate state 
 the Ephod were in God's sight no bette? 
 than the Teraphim. The drift of the 
 passage is to predict that they should 
 he reduced to such extremrties, that they 
 should neither have the implements 
 of the worship of the true God nor of 
 idols. For a fuller account of the Tera- 
 phim, see 'Jurieu's Critical Hist, of 
 Doct. and Wor. of the Church,' vol. ii. 
 p. 77. 
 
 20. Jacob stole away unawares to La- 
 han. Heb. mb £li^ n^^*^ yignob elh leb, 
 stole away the heart, a Hebraism for de- 
 parting wzthoul the consent or privity of 
 Laban. Or. CKpvxpe rov Aa0av, hid (i. e. 
 covertly eluded) Laban. Chal. ' Jacob 
 concealed it from Laban.' To 'steal 
 the heart,' in the original idiom, is to 
 conduct or demean one's self in such a 
 way as to create a false impression 
 as to a matter of fact. Thus Absalom 
 • stole the hearts of the men of Israel,' 
 2 Sara. 15- 6, by so framing his conduct 
 as to produce the impression of his being 
 at once a dutiful son and a loyal subject, 
 while he was at the same time plotting 
 the overthrow of the government at the 
 hazard of his father's life. So Jacob 
 ' stole the heart of Laban' by acting as 
 if he had no other design but of remain- 
 ing with him, while he was, in fact, 
 making arrangements for a clandestine 
 departure. In hke manner we find in 
 Homer, II. 14. 217, ^cXetttciv voov, to 
 steal the mind, i. e. to mislead, to deceive, 
 
 to impose upon. IT Laban the Syrian. 
 
 But what necessity was there of here 
 mentioning his country ? Was not this 
 already sufficiently known ? We incline 
 to the belief that there is in the original 
 a designed play upon words, which af- 
 fords the only clue to the use of the epi- 
 thet in this place. The Heb. for Syrian 
 is "^IQ^IH arammi, Aravnte, and it so hap- 
 pens that the Heb. term for cunning, 
 crafty, wily, is 'a'"|3> aram, differing but 
 little in its letters, and still less in 
 sound ; so that the impct would be- 
 that Jacob (the supplanter) had, in 
 thus secretly stealing away, outwitted 
 hiB scheming kinsman, whatever may 
 have been his previous stratagems for 
 
 detaining him. ^ Li that he told him 
 
 not. Or, impersonally, in that no one told 
 him ; in that it came not at all to his ears. 
 21. Passed over the river. The river 
 Euphrates, lying between Mesopotamia 
 and Cancan ; so called by way of dis- 
 tinction. ^ Set his face. That is, di- 
 rected his course with the full bent of 
 his soul ; going forward with the most 
 determined purpose. Accordingly it is 
 rendered in the Gr. ojp/iijac, implying an 
 earnest and violent running or rushing 
 forward. It is equivalent to the expres- 
 sion, Luke 9. 51, 'He steadfastly set his 
 face to go to Jerusalem ;' so also Jer . 50. 5, 
 They shall ask the way to Zion vdth their 
 faces thitherward; i. e. fully resolved to 
 go. ? The Mount Gilead. The moun- 
 tainous regions of Gilead ; ' mount' be- 
 ing used as a collect, sing, for 'moun- 
 tains.' The range is so trailed here pro- 
 leptically, as the name was first given by 
 Jacob himself (v. 4,) to the round heap 
 of stones, and it was ultimately extend- 
 ed to the adjoining mountains and dis- 
 trict. Mount Gilead is properly a chain 
 of mountains, forming part of thcexten- 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 147 
 
 22 And it was told Laban on the 
 third day, that Jacob was fled. 
 
 23 And he took * his brethren 
 with him, and pursued after him 
 seven days' journey : and they over- 
 took him in the mount Gilead. 
 
 =«ch. 13.8. 
 
 eive ridge which, under various names 
 extends north and south, and forms the 
 eastern boundary of Canaan, towards 
 Arabia Petrea. It is situated on the 
 east side of the Jordan, and stretches 
 from Hermon, one of the highest peaks 
 of Lebanon or Libanus, on the north, 
 to Arabia Petrea on the south. The 
 northern part of it, known by the 
 name of Bashan was celebrated for its 
 stately oaks and numerous herds of cat- 
 tle pastured there, to which there are 
 many allusions in the Scriptures. The 
 scenery of this elevated tract is describ- 
 ed by Mr, Buckingham as exceedingly 
 beautiful ; its plains covered with a fer- 
 tile soil, its hills clothed with forests, 
 and at every new turn presenting the 
 most beautiful landscapes that can be 
 imagined. The middle part, in a strict- 
 er sense, was termed Gilead ; and in 
 the southern parts, beyond Jordan, were 
 the mountains of Abarim. The most 
 eminent among these are Pisgah and 
 Nebo, which form a continued chain, 
 and command a view of the whole land 
 of Canaan. From Mount Nebo 3Ioses 
 surveyed the promised land before he 
 was gathered to his fathers. This flight 
 of Jacob occurred A. M. 2266, 610 years 
 after the flood, in the 158th year of 
 Isaac's age, and the 98th of Jacob's. 
 
 22, 23. It was told Laban on the third 
 day. He heard of it no earlier on ac- 
 count of the distance that intervened 
 between his flocks and Jacob's, as we 
 learn from comparing ch. 30. 36, -with 
 eh, 31. 19. But no sooner does he hear 
 of his son-in-law's abrupt departure, 
 than he collects a sufficient force from 
 among his kinsmen and adherents, and 
 sets out in hot pursuit of him. It is easy 
 
 24 And God y came to Laban 
 the Syrian in a dream by night, and 
 said unto him, Take heed that thou 
 ^ speak not to Jacob either afood or 
 bad. ^ 
 
 y ch.20. 3. Job 33. 15. Matt. 1. 20. 
 » ch. 24, 50. 
 
 to see from this with what reception a 
 formal request or proposal to be dismiss- 
 ed from his service that he might return 
 to Canaan, would have met at the hand 
 of Laban, The patriarch was no doubt 
 fully satisfied in his own mind that he 
 must leave his employer clandestinely 
 if he left him at all, 
 
 24, God came to Lahan in a dream by 
 night. Not that there was any personal 
 manifestation of the Deity to Laban, but 
 he was visited by a supernatural dream ; 
 a dream in which it was in some way 
 mysteriously impressed upon his spirit 
 that he must offer no harm to Jacob, 
 Such communications were anciently 
 made to men independent of their mo- 
 ral character. The divine influence, 
 which makes know-n the will of God, or 
 the coming events of his providence is 
 entirely different from that which is put 
 forth in the renewal of men's characters 
 and making them heirs of eternal Ufe. 
 Accordingly, we find such men as 
 Abimelech, Laban, Balaam, and Nebu- 
 chadnezzar made, on particular occa- 
 sions and for particular purposes, the re- 
 cipients of divine revelations. But the 
 gift of prophecy is of infinitely less va- 
 lue than the saving graces of the Holy 
 
 Spirit. IT Speak not to Jacob either 
 
 good or bad. Heb. 5>^ 15" )2TOf2 mittob 
 ad raa, from good to bad. The sequel 
 shows that this could not have been in- 
 tended, as the letter of the text would 
 seem to indicate, as a prohibition against 
 saying any thing at all to Jacob. It is 
 probably to be understood in a restrict- 
 ed sense, that is, in reference to the 
 special design with which he had pur- 
 sued his kinsman. He was not to at- 
 tempt, either by enticing words or by 
 
148 
 
 GENESIS. [B. C. r/<^. 
 
 25 IF Then Laban overtook Ja- 
 cob. Now Jacob had pitched his 
 tent in the mount : and Laban with 
 his brethren pitched in the mount 
 ofGilead. 
 
 26 And Laban said to Jacob, 
 What hast thou done, that thou hast 
 stolen away unawares to me, and 
 
 rough usage or threats, to prevail upon 
 Jacob to desist from his present journey, 
 and return to Syria. Some, however, 
 j)ropose to adhere to the hteral rendering, 
 and to interpret it as a w arning to La- 
 ban 7Wt to change from a friendly tone of 
 address to a harsh menacing one ; q. d, 
 do not begin with ' Peace be unto thee,' 
 and then proceed to injurious language 
 or acts of violence. Whether this be 
 the true construction or not, the sense 
 it gives is rather confirmed by seve- 
 ral of the versions. Gr. jxr] ttotc AaA/jo-r/j 
 ^sra laKofi irovrjoa lest in any way thou 
 speak evil with Jacob. Vu!g. Cave ne 
 quidquam aspere loquaris contra Jacob, 
 take heed that thou speak not any thing 
 harshly against Jacob. Coverd. ' Take 
 heed that thou speak not to Jacob aught 
 save good.' Germ. Vers, of Luth. 
 • Watch thyself that thou speak with 
 Jacob no otherwise than friendly.' 
 
 26. VHiathast thou done that, &.C. Thus 
 evincing the truth of the remark, that 
 those whose own conduct is the most fla- 
 grantly unjust and oppressive, are often 
 the most ready to interrogate sharply 
 
 the doings of others. H Stolen away 
 
 unawares to me. Heb. ^!''2b TiJ^ il:3n 
 tignob eth lehabi, stolen away my heart. 
 See above, on v. 20. IT As captives ta- 
 ken with the sword, Heb. ^"-in iTlT^S'ir^ 
 kishbuyo^h hareb, as captives of the sword ; 
 i. e. as captives or prisoners taken and 
 carried away by a predatory band. But 
 the assertion was entirely false, as they 
 had gone voluntarily with Jacob, and as 
 they belonged to Jacob, why should! 
 they not have gone with him ? | 
 
 27. That I mi^ht have sent thee with I 
 
 " carried away my daughters, as cap- 
 tives taken with the sword 1 
 
 27 Wherefore didst thou flee 
 away secretly, and steal away from 
 me, and didst not tell me, that I 
 mi^ht have sent thee away with 
 mirth, and with songs, with'tabret, 
 and with harp ? 
 
 » 1 Sam. 30. 2. 
 
 mirth, &c. ' The Easterns used to set 
 out, at least on their long journeys, 
 with music. When the prefetto of 
 Kgypt was preparing for his journey, he 
 complained of his being incommoded by 
 the songs of his friends, who in this 
 manner took leave of theirrelations and 
 acquaintance. These valedictory songs 
 were often extemporary. If we coasi- 
 der them, as they probably were, used 
 not on common but more solemn occa- 
 sions, there appears peculiar propriety 
 in the complaint of Laban.' Harmer. 
 
 IF With tabret. Pleb. trjin toph. An 
 
 instrument of music, otherwise termed 
 a timbrel. It is supposed to have resem- 
 bled very nearly the tambourine of mo- 
 dern days. A skin is stretched over a 
 rim hke the end of a drum ; around the 
 rim are hung litde bells, and the player 
 strikes the sskin with the knuckles of one 
 hand, and shakes it with the other. It 
 was used, in ancient times, chiefly by 
 women. 'The original word seems to 
 stand generally for all instruments of the 
 drum kind. The word ' drum,' howev- 
 er, occurs nowhere in our tran.slation, 
 the Hebrew word being always render- 
 ed either 'tabret' or 'timbrel.' The 
 toph seems to have been much used in 
 civd and religious rejoicings, and is of- 
 ten mentioned as being beaten by wo- 
 men. Thus, after the passage of the 
 Red Sea, Miriam, the sister of Moses, 
 took a timbrel, and began to play and 
 dance with the women (Exod. 15. 20.) ; 
 and when Jephtha returned to his home 
 after his victory over the Ammonites, 
 his daughter came forth to meet tiim 
 with timbrels and dances r Judges 11 
 
 1 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXr. 
 
 149 
 
 23 And hast not suffered me ^ to 
 kiss my sons, and my daufrhters ? 
 •^ thou liast now done foolishly in so 
 doing. 
 
 29 It is in the power of my hand 
 
 b ver. 55. Ruth 1. 9, 14. 1 Kings JO. 20. 
 Acts 20. 37. <= 1 Sam. 13. 13. 2 Chion. 
 
 16.9. 
 
 34). Our weli-known instrument, the 
 tambourine, so nearly resembles the 
 Oriental timbrel, from which it is co- 
 pied, as to render any particular descrip- 
 tion unnecessary. This instrument con- 
 tinues to be much used in the East, and 
 occupies a conspicuous place in all mu- 
 sical entertainments. It invariably ac- 
 companies a dance. Dancing and the 
 use of the timbrel are almost the only 
 accomplishments which a lady acquires. 
 The female slaves dance to its sound 
 before their mistress, who has almost 
 invariably at hand in her apartment a 
 tambourine, which she takes up and 
 plays many times in the course of a 
 day.' Pict. Bible. 
 
 23. 3Iy sons and my daughters. By 
 his 'sons,' Laban here means his grand- 
 sons, the sons of his daughters and of 
 Jacob. We shall find many instances 
 in which the term 'son' is applied to 
 grandsons. Thus Laban himself is call- 
 ed (chap. 29. 5,) the son of Nahor, who 
 was, in fact, his grandfather; and 3Ie- 
 phibosheth is in the same way called 
 the son of his grandfather Saul (2 Sam. 
 59. 24.). Throughout his address La- 
 ban means to insinuate that Jacob had 
 no cause to leave him on account of 
 any thing he had done ; that where there 
 was so much secrecy, there must be 
 something dishonorable ; and that in 
 pursuing him he was moved only by 
 affection for his children. But his words 
 are obviously full of hj-pocrisy and cant. 
 However he may talk about his regard 
 to his children and grand-children, that 
 which lay nearest his heart was the sub- 
 stance which Jacob had taken with him, 
 and which he no doubt meant in some 
 way to recover. But he acts the part 
 
 to do you hurt : but the ^ God of 
 your father spake unto me • yester- 
 night, saying. Take thou heed that 
 thou speak not to Jacob either good 
 or bad. 
 
 ver. 53. ch. 28. 13. 
 
 ver. 24. 
 
 of thousands, who, when galled by an 
 evil conscience, endeavor to ease them- 
 selves of its reproaches by transferring 
 the blame from themselves to the per- 
 sorjs they have wronged. He reproach- 
 es Jacob with a conduct which he well 
 knew had resulted entirely from his 
 own harshness and severity ; and with 
 the utmost self-complaisance talks of 
 the liberal and generous things which 
 he intended to have done, after the call 
 and occasion are over, and when his 
 generosity is in no danger of being put 
 to the test. 
 
 29. It is in the power of my hand, &c. 
 Or perhaps more correcdy, 'It was in 
 the power of my hand.' The reader of 
 the original will notice that the pronoun 
 for 'you,' is here in the plural number, 
 as also that which immediately follows, 
 ' the God oiyour father' — S^'^DS^ abikem 
 your father, implying h\m and his par- 
 ty, instead of *^i::5< ahika, thy father^ 
 conveying the idea of a single individuaL 
 This cannot well be expressed in English 
 without a circumlocution. — The pro- 
 gress of the story makes it evident that 
 truth will usually in the end make itself 
 to appear, whatever may have been the 
 disguises in which it was wrapped. 
 Laban here virtually acknowledges the 
 violent purpose with which he had un- 
 dertaken the pursuit ; but in the same 
 breath he would fain make a merit of 
 abstaining from the harm which he 
 meditated. As his company was no 
 doubt more powerful than that of Ja- 
 cob, he would impress upon hiiia the 
 idea that his forbearance was the effect 
 of generosity, and that he had, in fact, 
 acted very rehgiously in paying so 
 much deference to the warning voice 
 13* 
 
150 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 30 And now, though thou would- 
 cst needs be gone, because tliou sore 
 longedst after thy father's house ; 
 yet wherefore hast thou ^ stolen my 
 gods ? 
 
 31 And Jacob answered and said 
 to Laban, Because I was afraid : 
 for I said, Peradventure thou would- 
 
 fver. 19. Judg. 18. 24. 
 
 of Jacob's God, as though he were a 
 Deity different from the God of his own 
 father, and one whom he might exercise 
 his pleasure about serving. Tims do 
 men sometimes vainly magnify as a 
 virtue that which is imposed upon them 
 through sheer necessity. 
 
 30 Wherefore hast thou stolen my 
 gods ? We can figure to ourselves Ja- 
 cob's surprise at hearing this charge. 
 If there was any thing about Laban's 
 house more odious and contemptible 
 in the patriarch's eyes than another, it 
 was his Teraphim. Had he supposed 
 such an abomination to have been mix- 
 ed with his goods, he would, no doubt, 
 have looked upon it as corrupting the 
 whole. Wliile, therefore, it was cutting 
 to his feelings to be accused of theft, it 
 was doubly so to be accused of having 
 stolen taut which he abhorred. In 
 these circumstances his defence, as 
 might be expected from one who felt 
 himself wronged, is, with the exception 
 of the first charge, manly and spirited, 
 perhaps to a degree bordering upon un- 
 due resentment. 
 
 31. Because I was afraid. This was 
 Jacob's reply to the first part of Laban's 
 address, v. 26 — 23. in which he expos- 
 tulates with him for leaving him at all. 
 By saying nothing to justify the fear 
 which he had entertained, and dwelling 
 wholly on the fact, he leaves Laban to 
 infer, if he pleases, that his conduct in' 
 fleeing was liable to some exception ; i 
 holding it sufficient to vindicate himself | 
 from the charge of having unJ'ctUnghj 
 taken his departure. As to the question 
 oi right in the case, that he leaves unre- 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 by force thy daughters 
 
 est take 
 from me. 
 
 32 With whomsoever thou find- 
 est thy gods, e ]et him not hve : be- 
 fore our brethren discern thou what 
 is thine with me, and take it to 
 thee : for Jacob knew not that Ra- 
 chel had stolen them. 
 6 ch. 44. 9. 
 
 solved ; herein, says Calvin, affording a 
 hint to the children of God, not to be 
 over-anxious in the matter of repelling 
 false and slanderous aspersions cast 
 upon their character or conduct. Having 
 turned aside the weight, the gravamen, 
 of a calumnious charge, we may safely 
 wave an argumentative rebutting of the 
 minor items. 
 
 32. With whomsoever thou findest thy 
 gods let him not live. Here, in reply to 
 the second head of Laban's charge, 
 Jacob, as might be expected, speaks in 
 language expressive of the strongest in- 
 dignation. Indeed, we do not know 
 that he can be acquitted of the charge 
 of giving way to a culpable precipitancy 
 of speech. Unless he had been as well 
 assured of the innocence of all about 
 him as he was of his own, we see not how 
 such a severe imprecation is to be ex- 
 cused. Good men are often too confident 
 of the goodness of those connected with 
 them. Withotit deigning even to disown 
 the charge, he at once pronounces the 
 doom of death against the individual, 
 with whom, upon strict search, the idols 
 should be found. At least such is the 
 drift of his reply, according to the con- 
 struction put upon it by our own and 
 several other versions. But the origin- 
 al aumits of a some A'hat different read- 
 ing if a slight change be made in the 
 punctuation. By puttnig the pause af- 
 ter brethren,' instead of after ' live,' a 
 mi.dhr and, we think, a more probable 
 sen-'e is assigned to the words, — ' Let 
 him not live before his brethren ;' i. e. 
 let him be banished from the presence 
 of his brethren ; let him not pitch his tent 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 15i 
 
 33 And Laban went into Jacob's 
 tent, and into Leah's tent, and into 
 the two maid-servants' tents ; but 
 he found them not. Then went he 
 
 among theirs ; let him henceforth bo re- 
 garded as a worthless outlaw from their 
 society. Thus, when Abraham prayed 
 for his son : ' O that Ishmael might live 
 before thee ;' the import of the petition 
 doubtless was, that he might live in the 
 enjoyment of those privileges which 
 pertained to the people who walked and 
 worshipped before God; who were fa- 
 vored with the tokens of his peculiar 
 presence. According to the present 
 translation, not only does the punish- 
 ment denounced seem wholly dispro- 
 portioned to the crime, but it would ap- 
 parently compel us to beUeve that the 
 power of life and death, or the right of 
 inflicting capital punishment, was lodged 
 in the hands of private families, which 
 may well be doubted. On the whole, 
 therefore, as the original will allow of 
 either, we prefer tlie latter mode of in- 
 terpretation, especially as we find it 
 confirmed by most of the versions. Gr. 
 ov ^rjorsTai evavriov tcjv aSeXcpo^v ry^twi', 
 he shall not live before our brethren. Syr., 
 Sam., Arab, the same. Vulg. Necetur 
 coram fratribus nostris, let him he slain 
 before our brethren. This, however, 
 shows the cor.ne^'iOTi rather than the exact 
 sense of the words. The same may be 
 said of Coverdale's version ; ' Let the 
 same die here before our brethren.' 
 
 34. Rachel had taken the images, &c. 
 ' Ladies and sick persons sometimes 
 fide in a sort of covered chair or cradle 
 thrown across tlie back of the camel, 
 uke panniers one on each side. Pro- 
 fessor Paxton, in his excellent 'Illustra- 
 tions of Scripture,' thinks that Rachel 
 hid her father's teraphim in such a cra- 
 dle, in which she had ridden during 
 the day. But it is said that she also sat 
 upon tliem in the tent ; and these cra- 
 dles are never used for seats except 
 
 out of Leah's tent, and entered into 
 Rachel's tent. 
 
 34 Now Rachel had taken the 
 images, and put them in the cam- 
 
 while actually riding, and so singular a 
 circumstance as Rachel's sitting upon 
 them would alone have sufficed to have 
 attracted Laban's suspicion. On the 
 other hand, the common pack-saddle of 
 the camel, as we have already mention- 
 ed (note to chap. 25. 27), is peculiarly 
 appropriated to the purpose of a seat, or 
 rather of a cushion, against which a 
 person seated on the floor may lean. 
 These saddles, which are made of wood, 
 are high, and the concavity usually 
 filled by the back of the camel would 
 have formed an excellent hiding-place 
 for such images as the teraphim. If 
 this does not seem reasonable, we may 
 take the alternative of supposing that 
 Rachel hid the images under the hesdr, 
 which consists of things (carpets, cloaKs, 
 cloths, &c.,) heaped upon the pack-sad- 
 dle to form a comfortable seat for ladies, 
 who do not use the hamper or cradle. 
 These things are always taken off at the 
 end of a day's journey, and being laid 
 on the ground, serve as a sort of mat- 
 tress in the tent, on which a person may 
 sit or lie down while he reclines against 
 the pack-saddle itself. Rachel might 
 easily conceal the images thus ; and 
 there is one reason which perhaps 
 makes it most probable that she did so ; 
 and that is, that it is not customary to 
 take off the pack-saddle at the end of a 
 day's journey, but always to remove 
 the hesdr by which the saddle had been 
 covered. Boothroyd renders the text 
 ' camel's pillion.' Pict. Bible. ^ Search- 
 ed. Heb. "iT-J!^'^ yemash-shesh, felt by 
 handling. His going into and searching 
 Jacobus and the women's tents, after his 
 solemn asseveration of his innocence 
 and ignorance in respect to the missing 
 gods, shows how little confidence he 
 had in his veracity. 
 
152 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 el's furniture, and sat upon thenn. 
 And Laban searched all the tent, 
 but found them not. 
 
 35 And she said to her father, 
 Let it not displease my lord that I 
 cannot ^ rise up before thee ; for the 
 custom of women is upon me. And 
 
 J' Exod. 20. 12. I.8V. 19. 32. 
 
 35. Let it not displease my lord, &c. 
 *■ This apology was very necessary ac- 
 cording to existing usages and feelings 
 in the East, v/hich inculcate the great- 
 est external deference on the part of the 
 children towards their parents. This 
 is particularly the case in Persia, and 
 appears always to have been so. In 
 QuintusCurtius, Alexander is represent- 
 ed as saying to the Queen-mother of 
 Persia, ' Understanding that it is in Per- 
 sia considered a great offence for a son 
 to be seated in the presence of his mo- 
 ther, unless by her permission, I have 
 always in my visits to you remained 
 standing till you authorized me to sit.' 
 In their respective ' Travels in Persia,' 
 both Sir William Ouseley and Mr. Mo- 
 -"5r mention that at an entertainment 
 given to the English ambassador by the 
 Ameen-ad-Dowlah (second vizier), all 
 the persons of distinction at Ispahan 
 joined them at dinner, except the gov- 
 ernor of the city, Abdallah Khan, a per- 
 son scarcely inferior to the minister in 
 wealth and rank, and about thirty 
 years of age. But the minister was his 
 father ; and therefore, instead of occu- 
 pying his proper place among the guests, 
 he stood humbly in the court-yard with 
 the servants ; for a son never sits before 
 his father on anything like a public oc- 
 casion, whatever be his dignity or pow- 
 er. Even the king's eldest son always 
 stands in his presence, and is only re- 
 garded as the first of his servants. 
 Daughters occupy a still humbler place. 
 Strong external indications of respect 
 are also shown to parents among the 
 Bedouin Arabs. Boys never eat out of 
 ttve same di.sh, or even in the presence 
 
 he searched,, hut found not the ira» 
 ages. 
 
 36 *![ And Jacob was wroth, and 
 chode with Laban : and Jacob an- 
 sweredj and said to Laban, What 
 is my trespass? what is my sin 
 that thou hast so hotly pursued after 
 me? 
 
 of their father. Burckhardt says that i* 
 would be reckoned scandalous were 
 any one to say, ' Look at that boy ; he 
 satisfied his appetite in the presence of 
 his father.' The youngest male chil- 
 dren, not more than four or five years 
 of age, are, however, often invited to 
 eat by the side of their father.' Pict. 
 Bible. Although we are not warranted 
 in saying that the reason here alleged 
 by Rachel was fictitious, yet it is cer- 
 tain that our confidence in her sincerity 
 will be weakened just in proportion as 
 we believe her to have been influenced 
 by wrong motives in abstracting the 
 Teraphim. One who could secretly 
 cherish a vile idolatry would no doubt 
 be capable of prevarication. 
 
 35. Jacob was wroth, and cliode with 
 Laban. Heb. ^'I'l yareb, pleaded, strove, 
 or disputed with ; a term mostly applied 
 to judicial or forensic proceedings, and 
 implying a process of earnest argumen- 
 tative reasoning in proof of one's inno 
 cence. During the search, Jacob was no 
 doubt a silent spectator ; and when no- 
 thing was found that could justify the hea- 
 vy charges preferred against him, his spi- 
 rit was deeply stirred within him . Prompt- 
 ed by a just resentment at the unworthy 
 reflections cast upon him, he takes a re- 
 view of his whole conduct towards his 
 father-in-law for twenty years past, and 
 proves that he had been very hardly 
 dealt with, while Laban himself had 
 
 been a great gainer by his services. • 
 
 ^ What is my trespass ? Heb. ^■"X'D 
 pishi ; a term implying guilt of a higher 
 degree than that denoted by the word 
 ' sin.' Thus Job. 34. 37, ' He addeth 
 rehelUcn (S'"Ji5 pesha) iinto his sin.' It 
 
B. C. 1739.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXXf. 
 
 153 
 
 37 Whereas thou hast searched 
 all my stuff; what hast thou found 
 of all thy household stuff] set it 
 here before my brethren, and thy 
 brethren, that they may judge be- 
 twixt us both. 
 
 33 This twenty years have I been 
 with thee ; thy ewes and thy she- 
 
 's for the most part used in this sense of 
 rebellion against God ; hence the import 
 of Jacob's question would seem to be, 
 ' What divine or human law have I vio- 
 lated ?' 
 
 37. That they may judge betwixt us. 
 Heb. liT^^T^ yokihu ; not the word 
 usually rendered judge, but a term sig- 
 nifying to discuss, debate, argue, and thus 
 consequendy to come to a decision re- 
 specting the matter in question. It oc- 
 curs in the following passages, Job 13. 
 3, ' Surely I woidd speak to the Al- 
 mighty, and I desire to reason with 
 God.' Job 32. 12, 'Behold, there was 
 none of you that convinced Job, or that 
 answered his words.' Is. 1. 18, 'Come 
 now, and let us reason together.' 
 
 33. Cast their young. Miscarried ; 
 suffered abortion. T Not eaten. Ja- 
 cob's fidelity in this respect will appear 
 more striking when contrasted with the 
 opposite conduct of shepherds, whose 
 neglected duties and abused functions 
 are so graphically portrayed by the 
 prophet, Ezek. 34. 1 — 5. ' Son of man, 
 prophesy against the shepherds of Is- 
 rael, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus 
 tsaith the Lord God unto the .shepherds ; 
 wo be to the shepherds of Israel that do 
 feed themselves ! should not the shep- 
 herds feed the flocks ? Ye eat the 
 fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, 
 ye kill them that are fed : but ye feed 
 not the flock. The diseased have ye 
 not strengthened, neither have ye heal- 
 ed that wliich was sick, neither have 
 ye bound up that which was broken, 
 neither have ye brought again that 
 which wan driven away, neither have 
 
 goats have not cast their young, 
 and the rams of thy flock have I 
 not eaten. 
 
 39 ' That which was torn of beasts, 
 I brought not unto tliee ; I bare the 
 loss of it ; of ''^ my liand didst thou 
 require it whether stolen by day, or 
 stolen by night. 
 
 ' Exod. 2-2. 10, &c. ^ Exod. 2:. 12. 
 
 ye sought that which was lost ; but with 
 force and with cruelty have ye ruled 
 them. And they were scattered, be- 
 cause there is no shepherd : and they 
 became meat to all the beasts of the 
 field, when they were scattered.' 
 
 39. I hare the loss of it. Heb. nrjIlS^ 
 ahattanah, I expiated, atoned, or satisfied 
 for it ; i. e. I paid for it, as the Gr. ex- 
 pressly renders it, a-rrcrivvvov. The 
 shepherds of the East were accountable 
 for the flocks under their charge. Of 
 this fact, the following extract, cited 
 by Paxton from the Gentoo law, fur- 
 nishes a remarkable proof: 'Cattle 
 shall be delivered over to the cow-herd 
 in the morning; the cow-herd shall 
 tend them ttie whole day with grass and 
 water ; and in the evening shall re- 
 deliver them to the master, in the same 
 manner as they were intrusted to him ; 
 if, by the fault of the cow-herd, any of 
 the catde be lost or stolen, that cow- 
 herd shall make it good. When a cow- 
 herd has led cattle to any distant place 
 to feed, if any die of some distemper, 
 notwithstanding the cow-herd applied 
 the proper remedy, the cow-herd shall 
 carry the head, the tail, the fore-foot, or 
 some such convincing proof taken from 
 that animal's body, to the owner of the 
 cattle ; having done this, he shall be no 
 further answerable ; if he neglects to 
 act thus, he shall make good the loss.' 
 This had probably been an established 
 usage in the East from the earliest pe- 
 riods, but the milder tenor of the divino 
 law subsequendy given dispensed with 
 this rigid requisition. See Ex. 22. 10 — 
 13 
 
154 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 40 Thus I was ; in the day the 
 drought consumed me, and the frost 
 by night : and my sleep departed 
 from mine eyes. 
 
 41 Thus have I been twenty 
 years in thy house : I ' served thee 
 fourteen years for thy two daugh- 
 ters, and six years for thy cattle : 
 
 I ch. 29. 27, 28. 
 
 40. In the day the drought consumed me, 
 &c. ' Does a master reprove his ser- 
 vant for being idle, he will ask, 'What 
 can I do ? the heat eats me up by day, 
 and the cold eats me up by night ; 
 how can T gain strength ? I am like the 
 trees of the field : the sun is on my 
 head by day, and the dew by night.' 
 Roberts. 'Throughout Western Asia 
 there is a much more remarkable differ- 
 ence between the temperature of the 
 day and night than is generally expe- 
 rienced in Europe. The time when 
 this difference is the strongest, is in the 
 months of September, October, Novem- 
 ber, March, April, and May. In the 
 depth of winter, the increased coldness 
 of the day and the diminished coldness 
 of the nights in the midst of summer, 
 render the difference less considerable, 
 although it is still very striking. An 
 idea of this alternation can only be ima- 
 gined by supposing a night of our win- 
 ter temperature following a day warm- 
 er than any that our summers afford. 
 In the summer time the night air 
 is, in the warmest situations, cooler 
 than that of our summer nights, and 
 in other situations often as cool as 
 the nights in our early spring. The 
 night-coolness in the East is, however, 
 felt as a gratification after the intense 
 and relaxing heat of the day, as its bra- 
 cing and reviving influence strengthens 
 the frame to bear the daily heat which 
 would otherwise be scarcely tolerable. 
 But when the nights become positively 
 cold, while the days remain extremely 
 warm, the rapid alternation is most dis- 
 tressing to those who are exposed to its 
 
 and "" thou hast changed my wages 
 ten times. 
 
 42 ° Except the God of my fath- 
 er, the God of Abraham, and ° the 
 Fear of Isaac had been with me, 
 surely thou hadst sent me away now 
 empty, p God hath seen mine af- 
 
 " ver. 7. n pg. 124. 1, 2. o ver. 53 
 
 Isai. 8. 13. p ch. 29. 32. Exod. 3. 7. 
 
 full influence in the open air. Euro- 
 pean travellers feel the effects of thia 
 alternation very sensibly ; the face be- 
 comes very sore, and the skin peels off 
 the eyes also suffer, and the hands and 
 lips are chapped. In many parts ol 
 Asia very severe and even frosty nights 
 are, even in winter, succeeded by very 
 warm days; and it may be said, indeed, 
 that the only experience of what we 
 should call winter weather which the 
 inhabitants obtain, is exclusively du- 
 ring the night time.' Pict. Bible. Mr. 
 Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, lost 
 all his camels by the cold in one night 
 in the deserts of Senaar ; and Volney 
 relates an affecting story of a hapless 
 wanderer who was, like Jacob, frozen 
 by the north wind at night, and burnt 
 by the dreadful heat of the sun by day. 
 Comp. Jer. 36. 30. H My sleep depart- 
 ed from mine eyes. This implies more 
 than that when he lay down at night, 
 and endeavored to compose himself to 
 rest, the effort was vain, as often hap- 
 pens to the sick and the distressed ; viz. 
 that by prolonging his labors into the 
 night season, he voluntarily deprived 
 himself of that repose and refreshment 
 which nature requires. 
 
 42. Except the God of my father, &c. 
 With exemplary humility, and a devout 
 sense of his dependence on the blessing 
 of heaven, Jacob here refers his pros- 
 perity to its true source ; and in so do- 
 ing he administers a keen reproof to 
 Laban. He gives him plainly to under- 
 stand that, notwithstanding all his spe- 
 cious talk about his regard for his chil- 
 dreri, and his sending him away with 
 
B C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 155 
 
 fliction, and the labour of my hands, 
 and t rebuked thee yesternight. 
 
 43 IT And Laban answered, and 
 said unto Jacob, These daughters 
 are my daughters, and these children 
 are my children, and these cattle are 
 my cattle, and all that thou seest is 
 mine ; and what can I do this day 
 unto these my daughters, or unto 
 
 q 1 Chron, 12, 17. Jude 9. 
 
 songs, with tabret, and with harp, yet it 
 was owing to a special interposition of 
 the Almighty that he was not stripped 
 of every thing he had. Laban had 
 TDade a merit of obeying the dream, but 
 »acob was not to be imposed upon by 
 such a shallow pretence. He therefore 
 construes the divine visitation into an 
 evidence of his evil design, one by 
 which God intended expressly to rebuke 
 him, and thus plead the cause of the in- 
 jured. As to the twofold title which 
 he here applies to the Most High, ' The 
 God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac' — 
 the reason assigned for it by Adam Clarke 
 strikes us as extremely plausible, viz. 
 that ' Abraham was long since dead, and 
 God was his unalienable portion forever. 
 Isaac was yet alive in a state of proba- 
 tion, Uving in the /ear of God ; not ex- 
 empt from the danger of falling, there- 
 fore God is said to be his fear ; not on- 
 ly the object of his religious worship in 
 a general way, but that holy and just 
 God, before whom he was working out 
 his salvation with fear and trerabUng — 
 fear, lest he should fall ; and trembUng, 
 lest he should offend.' Thus, Ps. 76. 12, 
 
 * Let all that be round about him bring 
 presents unto him that ought to be fear- 
 ed;' Heb. 'who is a fear.' Is. 8. 13, 
 
 ♦ Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and 
 let him be your fear, and let him be 
 your dread.' 
 
 43. And Laban answered, &c. La- 
 ban, whose spirit was checked before 
 he began, was now confounded. He 
 quite gives up the cause, and wishes to 
 adjust matters in the best way he can. 
 
 their children which they have 
 borne 1 
 
 44 Now therefore come thou, 
 ■■ let us make a covenant, I and 
 thou ; « and let it be for a witness 
 between me and thee. 
 
 45 And Jacob * took a stone, and 
 set it up /or a pillar. 
 
 r ch, 26, 23. • Josh. 24. 27. t ch. 28. 18. 
 
 He cannot help prefacing his wish, how- 
 ever, by another sample of vain boasting 
 and affected generosity. As if he had 
 said, ' Yes, God hath given you many 
 things; but remember they were all 
 mine, and you have obtained them un- 
 der me. Let us have no more disputes, 
 however ; for though I have come sc 
 far, and possess so great a force, ye* 
 how can I find it in my heart to hur" 
 my own children ? Come, therefore, 
 and let us make a covenant, and b« 
 good friends.' It will be observed that 
 he attempts no defence against the 
 charge of having repeatedly altered the 
 terras of contract with .Tacob, nor will 
 conscience allow him to deny his se- 
 cret purpose of sending him away emp- 
 ty. But this strange mixture of ava- 
 rice, cunning, and effrontery is not with- 
 out its parallel in every age and coun- 
 try. 
 
 44. Let us make a covenant. Heb. 
 tl^*l^ nniSi nikrethah berith, let us cut 
 a covenant. As it was usual in the more 
 solemn ratification of covenants for the 
 parties to slay a victim, cut it in twaiyi, 
 and pass between the pieces, the verb 
 ri15 karath, to cut, has been appropria- 
 ted as a proper word to signify the mak- 
 ing of a covenant, even in cases where 
 no blood was shed. A similar mode of 
 expression is found among the Greek 
 classic writers ; reiiveiv opKov temnein 
 orkon, literally, ' to cut an oath,' is used 
 to indicate the act of making what in 
 Hebrew is termed Ti'^^lS berith, or cove- 
 nant. See Gen 15. 18. 
 
 45. Jacc^ took a stone, &c. JacQD 
 
156 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 46 And Jacob said unto his 
 brethren, Gather stones ; and they 
 took stones, and niade an heap: 
 and they did eat there upon the 
 heap. 
 
 47 And Laban called it Jegar- 
 sahadutha : but Jacob called it Ga- 
 leed : 
 
 48 And Laban said, " This heap 
 is a witness between me and thee 
 
 n Josh. 24. 27. 
 
 makes no reply to Laban's boasting, but 
 lets it pass ; and though he had felt so 
 keenly and spoken so warmly, yet he 
 consents to a covenant of peace. His 
 resentment is under the control of his 
 moral principle. He said nothing ; but 
 expressed his mind by actions. Indeed, 
 it would almost seem that in his eager- 
 ness for reconciliation he is beforehand 
 with Laban in the erection of a heap. 
 
 46. Made a heap. Heb. '^:> gal, pro- 
 perly a round heap ; and this heap was 
 probably made for the double purpose of 
 an altar and a table. Jacob's stone or 
 pillar was then perhaps set upon it for 
 a memorial. The incident, however, of 
 their eating together upon the heap is 
 apparently introduced here by anticipa- 
 tion, as it does not seem to have occur- 
 red till after they had ratified the cove- 
 nant ment'o^.ed below. Comp. vv. 53, 
 54. 
 
 47. Called it Jegar-suhadutha. Heb. 
 J^SinniD l^'^ y^gf^^ sahadutha ; a pure- 
 ly Syriac phrase, signifying heap of wit- 
 ness. ^ Galeed. Heb . 15>b3 galeed ; 
 
 compounded of ^3 5"'3?, a heap, and ^'$ 
 ed, witness, testimony, making the epi- 
 thet perfectly equivalent to that bes- 
 towed by Laban. From this circum- 
 stance the mountain and country adja- 
 cent were called ' Galaad' or ' Gilead.' 
 
 49. Mizpah. There were several 
 places of this name in Palestine. The 
 word taken in one form means a high 
 place affording an extensive prospect ; 
 and in another, o vxitch jovjer or beacon, 
 
 this day. Therefore was the name 
 of it called Galeed : 
 
 49 And "" Mizpah ; for he said, 
 The Lord watch between me and 
 thee, when we are absent one from 
 another. 
 
 50 If thou shalt afflict my daugh- 
 ters, or if thou shalt take other wives 
 besides my daughters ; no man is 
 with us ; see, God is witness be- 
 twixt me and thee ; 
 
 X Judg. 11. 29. 1 Sam. 7. 5. 
 
 as in the present text ; whence we may 
 conclude that the names were given to 
 towns in elevated situations, or where 
 watch-towers existed, or where com- 
 memorative heaps had been formed to 
 mark the site of some important occur- 
 rence. A town built near the scene of 
 this transaction between Jacob and La- 
 ban took the name which had been 
 given to the heap of stones. It is men- 
 tioned in Judges 11 and 12; and from * 
 the 29th verse of the latter chapter, it 
 seems to have been called ' Mizpeh of 
 Gilead,' to distinguish it from other towns 
 of the same name. It belonged to the 
 half-tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan, 
 and w-as the residence of Jephthah. In 
 after-times the Ammonites obtained 
 possession of it, and it was in their hands 
 when Judas Maccabeus utterly destroy- 
 ed it with fire. TT When we are ah' 
 
 sent one from another. Heb. iriGD «^^- 
 safher, are hidden. The Lord take cog- 
 nizance of our conduct when we can- 
 not see each other. The language im- 
 plies his firm conviction that in the ab- 
 sence of human witnesses or judges, the 
 Most High would show himself a stern 
 avenger of wrong-doing, whichever 
 were the guilty party; and we may 
 safely afnrm that the power of religion 
 is extremely weak in our minds, if the 
 consideration of the all-seeing eye of 
 Jehovah does not operate more strong- 
 ly to restrain us from evil than the pres- 
 ence of the world of mortal men. 
 
 50. No man is with us. Some have 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 157 
 
 51 And Laban said to Jacob, 
 Behold this heap, and behold this 
 pillar, which I have cast betwixt 
 me and thee ; 
 
 52 This heap &e witness, and this 
 pillar he witness, that [ will not pass 
 over this heap to thee, and that 
 thou shalt not pass over this 
 
 inferred from this, that in making the 
 contract Jacob and Laban withdrew 
 from their several companies, and tran- 
 sacted the business in private, taking 
 God alone to witness it. But it seetns 
 a more natural construction to under- 
 stand this of each other after they had 
 separated ; q. d. ' We are soon to part, 
 and shall neither of us have any third 
 party to see to our performance of our 
 engagements. We are to be mutually 
 thrown upon our honor and fidelity, and 
 shall have nothing to keep us firm to 
 our stipulations but our supreme regard 
 to the presence of a just and holy God.' 
 The sentiment is very striking, as com- 
 ing from the lips of one who was doubt- 
 less an idolater ; but it shows that some 
 knowledge of the true God was exten- 
 sively prevalent at that early period, 
 though in Laban's case it did not avail 
 to extinguish the relics of his idolatrous 
 propensities. Like thousands of others, 
 he 'held the truth in unrighteous- 
 ness.' 
 
 51. This pillar wliich I have cast, &c. 
 Heb. ^rr^^"^ yarithi. fixed, set up, placed. 
 The erection of the pillar is indeed, in v. 
 45, ascribed to Jacob, but Laban may 
 perhaps have claimed the act as his own 
 from his having first suggested it, v. 
 44. At least we know of no other 
 ground on which the assertion could be 
 maintained. 
 
 53. The God of Abraham, &c. judge be- 
 twixt us. Notwithstanding the seem- 
 ingly devout and orthodox vein in which 
 Laban had previously addressed Jacob, 
 he cannot well help manifesting his at- 
 tachment to idolatry. This is evident 
 from the ambiguity of the language in 
 VOL. ir. 
 
 heap and this pillar unto me, for 
 harm. 
 
 53 The God of Abraham, and 
 the God of Nahor, the God of their 
 father, y judge betwixt us. And 
 Jacob ^ svv'are by ^ the Fear of his 
 father Isaac. 
 
 y ch. 16. 5. z ch. 21.23. a ver. 42. 
 
 respect to the being whom he invoked. 
 As we have already noticed, in speaking 
 to Jacob of Jehovah, v. 29, he calls him 
 ' the God of your father,' as if he were 
 not also his God ; and now, in swearing 
 to the solemn covenant which was 
 made between them, he does not ap- 
 pear to have invoked Jehovah as the 
 only true God. He does indeed make 
 mention of the 'God of Abraham,' yet 
 it is in connection with Nahor and their 
 father, that is, Terah ; and we well 
 know that when Abraham was with 
 Nahor and Terah, they were idolaters. 
 This is clearly intimated Josh. 24. 2, 
 'The God of Abraham, of Nahor, and 
 of Terah,' therefore, w-ere words capa- 
 ble of a very ill construction. It is, in 
 fact, little else than swearing by the 
 idols of his Chaldean ancestors, and a 
 virtual reproach of Jacob for having 
 forsaken the religion of his forefathers. 
 Thus strangely do men, whose minda 
 are darkened by superstition, mingle sa- 
 cred things with profane, and adulterate 
 the truth and the worship of Jehovah 
 with the vain figments of human de- 
 vice. ^ Jacob sware by the Fear of his 
 
 father Isaac. Jacob seems evidently 
 aware of Laban's design in thus refer- 
 ring to their early ancestors, and there- 
 fore, that he might bear an unequivocal 
 testimony against all idolatry, even that 
 of Abraham in his younger years, he 
 would swear only ' by the Fear of his 
 father Isaac,' who had never worship- 
 ped any other than the true God. Thus 
 studiously will the pious mind ever for- 
 bear giving countenance to aught that 
 dishonors God, or that would establish 
 a fellowship between him and idols. 
 14 
 
158 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 54 Then Jacob offered sacrifice 
 upon the mount, and called his bre- 
 thren to eat bread : and they did 
 eat bread, and tarried all night in 
 the mount. 
 
 54. Offered sacrifice. Heb. HDt nnT"^ 
 yizbah zebah, slew a slaughter. Laban 
 had before, v. 27. 28, professed his re- 
 gret that he had not an opportunity to 
 enjoy a day of feasting and of mirth at 
 parting with his children. Such a part- 
 ing would hardly have been seemly, even 
 in a family which had no fear of God 
 before their eyes, and Jacob accordingly 
 prepares a religious feast previously to 
 the departure of his father-in-law. To 
 this he invited the whole company, not 
 only his own party, but Laban's also, the 
 effect of the recent happy reconciliation 
 having been to make him regard and 
 address those as 'brethren' vvhom a lit- 
 tle before he could not but look upon 
 as his determined enemies. So season- 
 ably and kindly had God interposed to 
 convert a threatening storm into a de- 
 lightful calm. ' When a man's ways 
 please the Lord, even his enemies shall 
 be at peace with him.' 
 
 55. And early in the morning, &c. 
 ' Early rising is a universal custom. 
 Thus, in every season of the year, the 
 people may be seen at sunrise, strolling 
 in all directions. At the time of the 
 heavy dews, they bind a part of the 
 robe round the liead, which also falls 
 on the shoulders. When a journey has 
 to be taken, were they not to rise early, 
 they would be unable to travel far be- 
 fore the sun had gained its meridian 
 height. They therefore start a Httle 
 before daylight, and rest under the shade 
 during the heat of the day. Here also 
 we have another instance of the inter- 
 esting custom of blessing those who 
 were about to be separated. A more 
 pleasing scene than that of a father 
 blessing his sons and daughters can 
 scarcely be conceived. The fervor of 
 
 55 And early in the morning 
 Laban rose up, and kissed his sons 
 and his daughters, and ^ blessed 
 them : and Laban departed, and 
 '= returned unto his place. 
 
 •> ch. 2y. 1. c ch. 18. 33. & 30. 25. 
 
 the language, the expression of the 
 countenance, and the affection of their 
 embraces, all excite our strongest sym- 
 pathy. ' My child, may God keep thy 
 hands and thy feet !' ' May the beasts 
 of the forest keep far from thee !' ' May 
 thy wife and thy children be preserved !' 
 ' May riches and happiness ever be thy 
 
 portion !' Roberts. IT Laban departed, 
 
 and returned unto his place. That is, to 
 Haran. This parting proved final. We 
 hear no more of Laban, or of the family 
 of Nahor. They might for several ages 
 retain some knowledge of Jehovah ; but 
 mixing with it the superstitions of the 
 country, they naturally would, as there 
 is Httle doubt they did, sink into gross 
 idolatry and be lost among the heathens. 
 'Thus you will often see a man who 
 has descended from religious parents, 
 but whose heart is entirely taken up 
 with the world : he keeps up the forms 
 of godliness, though he denies the pow- 
 er; and mixes with them all the evil 
 that he can rake up from the examples 
 of his forefathers, with considerable ad- 
 ditions of his own. The next genera- 
 ration degenerates still more, having 
 less of the form of religion and more 
 conformity to the world. The third 
 throws off both the form and the power, 
 retaining no vestige of the religion of 
 their ancestors, excepting a few specu- 
 lative notions, learnt from a few old 
 books and sayings, which have no other 
 influence upon them than to enable them 
 to be more wicked than their neighbors, 
 by sinning against somewhat of supe- 
 rior light. How important is it for good 
 men to act in character in their families, 
 inasmuch as every evil which they 
 practise will be re-acted and increased 
 by their carnal posterity.' Fuller. 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXX[f. 
 
 159 
 
 CHAP. XXXH. 
 
 AND Jacob went on hus way, and 
 *tho angels of God met liim. 
 2 And when Jacob saw them, he 
 
 * Pa. 01. 11. Hebr. 1. 14. 
 
 CFIAI'. XXXII. 
 1. The angels of God met him. In 
 •what way this apparition of angels was 
 made to Jacob, whether in vision or to 
 his outward senses, the sacred writer 
 does not inform us. It would, perhaps, 
 be more consonant to the usual analogy 
 of the divine dispensations towards the 
 patriarchs, to suppose the former; yet 
 as God had called Abraham and his 
 posterity to be a pecuhar people, a peo- 
 ple to whom special privileges and pre- 
 rogatives were to be granted, and as 
 they then had no Scriptures contain- 
 ing the will of God, it is perfectly credi- 
 ble that he should communicate with 
 them by the direct ministry of angels, 
 as we know he often did. Some of the 
 Jewish critics indeed, who usually show 
 such an extravagant taste for the false 
 marvellous, are here as much inclined to 
 shrink from the true. They contend 
 that these angels were merely human 
 messengers, who were somehow provi- 
 dentially directed to meet him there, to 
 inform him of his brother Esau's ap- 
 proach. But in that case they would 
 hardly have been called ' the angels of 
 God,' nor would the incident have af- 
 forded sufficient reason for giving a com- 
 memorative name to the place. We 
 can see, moreover, that on the present 
 occasion there was ample cause, if ever, 
 for a visible manifestation of angelic 
 agency. In returning to his native land, 
 Jacob had to pass through the country 
 of Edom, which was in the possession 
 of his brother Esau. As he had left 
 Esau deeply exasperated at being de- 
 frauded of his birthright, and resolved 
 to take his Hfe, he could not but feel 
 an intense anxiety in the thought of j 
 passing unarmed through the territories 
 of a powerful and hostile brother. God's 
 hosts, therefore, now became visible to 
 
 said, This is God's ^ host : and he 
 called the name of that place Ma- 
 hanaiin. 
 
 b Josh. 5. 14. Ps. 103. 21. & 148. 2. Luke 
 2. 13. 
 
 allay the fear of man's hosts. Having 
 just escapedone hostof enemies, anoth- 
 er is coming forth to meet him. At 
 this juncture the heavenly messengers 
 make their appearance, teaching him 
 to whom he owed his late escape, and 
 that he who had delivered, did deliver, 
 and he might safely trust would still de- 
 hver him ; thus making good the pre- 
 vious promise. Gen. 23. 15, 'Behold, I 
 am with thee, and will keep thee in all 
 places whither thou goest, and will 
 brmg thee again into this land.' It does 
 not appear, indeed, that they were 
 charged with any verbal communication, 
 but Jacob would have no difficulty in 
 inferring the object of their mission, viz. 
 to work in his mind an assurance of the 
 over-ruling and protecting providence of 
 God. Thus, too, when the vision of 
 the fiery chariots was vouchsafed to 
 Elisha's servant, it was left to his own 
 mind to draw the proper conclusion 
 from such a cheering spectacle. 
 
 2. Called the name of that place Mahan- 
 aim. Ueb. ti'^DHlO mahanaim, a dual 
 term, implying two hosts or encampments. 
 It would seem that the angels were di- 
 vided into bands, encompassing him, as 
 it were, behind and before ; thus cor- 
 responding with the two hosts of ad- 
 versaries which at the same time, and 
 with almost the same violent designs, 
 were arrayed against him ; the one ha- 
 ving already been sent back without 
 striking a blow, and the other soon to 
 be dealt with in the same manner. 
 This, however, was not expressly re- 
 vealed to Jacob, but merely a general 
 encouragement afforded him, that he 
 might be inspired with confidence in the 
 use of appropriate means for his pres- 
 ervation, a course which the divine in- 
 terpositions are never intended to su- 
 persede. It was, perhaps, in allusion to 
 
160 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 3 And Jacob sent messengers be- 
 fore him to Esau his brother, " unto 
 the land of Seir, -^ the country of 
 Edom. 
 
 <= ch. 33. 14, 16. d ch. 35. G, 7, 8. Deut. 
 2. 5. JosJi. 24. 4. 
 
 this incident that the Psalmist, some 
 ages afterwards, Ps. 37. 7. was prompt- 
 ed to say, ' The angel of the Lord (i. e. 
 the angelry, the coUective muhitude of 
 angels) encnmpeth round about them 
 that fear him.' The Gr. in rendering 
 these two verses, makes use of the term 
 , irape/x^oXr} parenibole, camp — ' And look- 
 ing up he saw the camp (paremhole) of 
 God encamping round about him.' ' And 
 Jacob said when he saw them, this is 
 God's camp (pareTnbole) ; and he called 
 the name of that place camps (parembo- 
 lai).'' This term has been transferred 
 from the Septuagint usage to the Apo- 
 calypse, ch. 20. 9, ' They compassed the 
 camp [paremhole) of the saints about, and 
 (i. e. even) the beloved city,' the camp 
 and the city being one and the same. 
 Near the place where this event occur- 
 red, and probably named from it, after- 
 wards stood the city of 3Iahanaim, Josh. 
 21. 33, inhabited by the priests of the 
 tribe of Levi. It was situated between 
 Mount Gilead and the small river Jab- 
 bok, at the confines of the tribe of Gad, 
 and the half-tribe of Manasseh. It 
 seems to have been a place of great 
 strength, and was therefore selected by 
 Abner as the royal seat of Ishbosheth, 
 son of Saul, during the war between 
 him and David ; and it was probably 
 for the same reason that David himself 
 •withdrew thither during the rebellion of 
 his own son Absalom. We know no- 
 thing of the subsequent history of the 
 town, the precise situation of which has 
 not been ascertained. 
 
 3. Jacob sent messengers. HebD^^j^^^^ 
 makkim, the same word with that ren- 
 dered ' angels' in the first verse. See I 
 Gen. 16. 7. The verb might doubtless j 
 be rendered ' had sent,' i. e. sometime i 
 
 4 And he commanded them, say- 
 ing, ^ Thus shall ye .-;peak unto my 
 lord Esau; Thy servant .facob saith 
 thus, I have sojourned with Laban, 
 and stayed there until now : 
 
 e Prov. 15. 1. 
 
 before this ; for it is quite clear, from 
 comparing v. 6 with the ensuing narra- 
 tive, that the messengers returned 
 wbile Jacob was encamped at the brook 
 Jabbok, where the angels appeared to 
 him. This mission was obviously a 
 measure of wise precaution. Jacob had 
 as yet heard nothing of his brother 
 Esau, except that he had seUled ' in the 
 land of Seir, the country of Edom ;' but 
 knowing what had formerly taken 
 place, and the temper of the man, he is 
 apprehensive of consequences. He 
 therefore resolves on sending messen- 
 gers before him, in order to sound him, 
 and, if possible, to appease his anger. 
 
 IT Unto the land of Seir. At what 
 
 time, or for what special reason Esau 
 had removed to tliis region, we are not 
 informed. It is highly probable, from 
 Gen. 36. 6, 7, that the gradual enlarge- 
 ment of his possessions, and the domes- 
 tic difficulties occasioned by his own 
 and the unfilial deportment of his wives, 
 had rendered his longer residence with 
 his parents impracticable. But howev- 
 er this may have been, we cannot fail 
 to recognise the ordination of heaven in 
 his thus vacating the land of promise, 
 and making room for its destined inher- 
 itor. He acted in the affair with the 
 most absolute freedom, and j-et was 
 bringing to pass the divine counsels at 
 every step. 
 
 4. Thus shall ye speak wito my lord 
 Esau, Sic. We may observe, in these 
 conciliatory instructions to the messen- 
 gers, (1.) That he declines the honor of 
 precedency given in the blessing, call- 
 ing Esau Ids lord. Isaac had said to 
 him, ch. 27. 29, ' Be lord over thy bre- 
 thren, and let thy mother's sons bow 
 down to thee.' But Jacob either tinder- 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 161 
 
 5 And ^ I have oxen, and asses, 
 flocks, and men- servants, and wo- 
 men-servants : and I have sent to 
 tell my lord, that ° I may find grace 
 in thy sight. 
 
 6 IT And the messengers return- 
 ed to Jacob, saying, We came to 
 thy brother Esau, and also ^he 
 
 f ch. 30. 43. e ch. 33. 8, )5. t ch. 33. 1. 
 
 stood it of spiritual ascendancy'-, or, if of 
 temporal, as referring to his posterity, ra- 
 ther than to himself, lie therefore wisely 
 refrains from all ground of offence on 
 that head, anJ, without any derogation 
 from his predicted superiority, assumes 
 the air and language of deference to his 
 brother, just as David did towards Saul, 
 1 Sam. 24.7 — 9, from purely prudential 
 considerations. (2.). lie would have him 
 know that he was not come to claim 
 the double portion^ nor even to divide 
 with him his father's inheritance; for 
 that God had given him plenty of this 
 world's goods without il. Now, as these 
 were things wliich had so greatly pro- 
 voked Esau, a relinquishment of them 
 would tend more than any thing else to 
 conciliate him. 
 
 5. I have oxen and assps, &c. We are 
 not to construe this as language prompt- 
 ed by a spirit of vain or self-nomplaisant 
 ostentation. His design in acquainting 
 Esau with his present prosperous cir- 
 cumstances, was perhaps to intimate to 
 him that he was disinterested hi seek- 
 ing reconciliation, inasmuch as he had 
 now become independent, and there- 
 fore could be under no necessity of suing 
 for his friendship. 
 
 6. We came to thy brother Esau, &c. 
 It cannot be doubted, we think, that the 
 messengers had an interview with Esau, 
 but as they make no report to Jacob of 
 his answer to their message, it is proba- 
 ble that he maintained a guarded re- 
 serve as to the expression of his real 
 sentiments, and merely informed them 
 that he should go for'.h to meet the ad- 
 vancing company wiih a band of four 
 
 Cometh to meet thee, and four hun- 
 dred men with him. 
 
 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid, 
 and ' distressed : and he divided the 
 people that was with him, and the 
 flocks, and herds, and the camels 
 into two bands : 
 
 hundred men, without giving them to 
 understand whether his intentions were 
 hostile or pacific. Perhaps he was not 
 fully resolved in his own mind what re- 
 ception to give his brother. Had his 
 purposes been unequivocally those of 
 an enemy, it is not likely that he would 
 have acquainted Jacob beforehand with 
 his intended movements, but would 
 have come upon him unawares. The 
 space of twenty years would naturally 
 tend to cool down the most violent ha- 
 tred, especially towards an absent ob- 
 ject, and it is not improbable that 
 the message of Jacob now found in 
 Esaii but the feeble relics of an ancient 
 grudge, which, though revived perhaps 
 for a moment, on the intelligence of 
 Jacob's approach, was speedily extin- 
 guished by the exhibition of •brother's 
 kindness. 
 
 7. Greatly afraid and distressed. Ileb. 
 "i^^:'! yetzer, straitened. This term with 
 us is sometimes lightly applied to the 
 state of mind produced by ordinary 
 troubles ; but in the Scriptures it de- 
 notes a sore strait, from which there 
 seems to be no way of escape. This 
 distress would probably be heightened 
 by the recollection of his sin, which had 
 first excited the resentment of Esau. 
 But throughout the whole we must re- 
 cognise the secret working of the Most 
 High. He designed, by suffering his 
 servant to be pressed for a time with 
 this e.xtreme perplexity, to quicken his 
 fervency in prayer. Conscious security 
 begets in the best of men a woful re- 
 missness in this respect. In order, 
 therefore, to prevent the torpidity which 
 
 14=^ 
 
162 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 8 And said, If Esau come to the 
 one company, and smite it, then the 
 other company which is left shall 
 escape. 
 
 9 IT 5^ And Jacob said, ' O God 
 
 k Ps. 50. 15. 1 ch. 28. 13. 
 
 is apt to come over the life of our faith, 
 God is placed oftentimes to suffer us to 
 be harrassed with fears for which there 
 is no real occasion. Our earnest pray- 
 ers may have secured the desired deli- 
 verance, yet the visible display is delay- 
 ed to the last moment, that our graces 
 may receive their fullest exercise. In 
 the mean time we are taught by this 
 incident that the constancy of the chil- 
 dren of God is never so firm but that 
 some carnal misgivings will betray 
 themselves ; and that they who imagine 
 themselves possessed of a confidence 
 void of all distrust, are probably stran- 
 gers to a true faith ; for God does not 
 promise his present aid in order wholly 
 to free us from the dominion of fear, but 
 rather that fear may not prevail and 
 drive us to desperation. Still, our fears 
 often gain an ascendancy for which 
 
 there is no good reason. IT And he 
 
 divided, &e. Although the patriarch 
 was extremely perplexed, and knew not 
 what to think of his brother's intentions, 
 yet he determines to prepare himself for 
 the worst. Though assured, on the 
 whole, of the divine protection, he will 
 neglect no means necessary for his own 
 preservation. First, he divides all his 
 people with the flocks and herds into 
 two parts, that if Esau should come 
 and smite the one, the other might flee 
 and escape. Secondly, he betakes him- 
 self to earnest prayer to God. And 
 lastly, he prepares a large present of 
 cattle, which he sends forward in sepa- 
 rate droves to his brother. ^ Into two 
 
 bmids. Heb. mrn"^ "^I'j'o lishne malm- 
 noth, into two camps, or encampments ; the 
 same word as that employed v. 2. ' This 
 plan seems not to have been first 
 invented by Jacob ; but it may bo con I 
 
 of my father Abraham, and God of 
 my father Isaac, the Lord "> which 
 saidst unto me. Return unto thy 
 country, and to thy kindred, and I 
 will deal well with thee. 
 n» eh. 31. 3, 13. 
 
 jectured that large caravans used at that 
 time to take this precaution against hostile 
 attacks. Sir H. Blount relates in his 
 Travels, that he travelled with a cara- 
 van which had divided itself in like 
 manner into two troops ; one of which 
 that went before, being attacked by 
 robbers, had an action with them, and 
 were plundered, whereas the other es- 
 caped uninjured.' Rosenmuller. 
 
 8. And said. That is, thought, con- 
 cluded with himself See Note on Gen. 
 
 20. 1 1 . IT Shall escape. Heb . n:2 ^^ 5 b 
 
 liphletah, [shall be) for an escaping. Gr. 
 ets TO ao)§£aQai, for a being preserved 
 alive. 
 
 9. And Jacob said, &c. As this is one 
 of the most striking of the scriptural 
 examples of an eminently devout and 
 successful prayer, it claims a very par 
 ticular notice. Observe, (1.) It is not 
 merely commending himself to the di- 
 vine protection. He pleads the pro- 
 mises. He approaches God as the God 
 of his father, and as such a God in cove- 
 nant. This was laying hold of the di- 
 vine faithfulness. It was the prayer of 
 faith ; and though we may not have ex- 
 actly the same plea in our approaches 
 to God, yet we have one that is more 
 endearing and more prevalent. The 
 God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 is a character which excites more 
 hope and in which more great and 
 precious promises have been made, 
 than in any ether. (2.) He addresses 
 him as his own God, pleading what he 
 had promised to hi7n, as well as to his 
 fathers. ' Who saidst unto me. Return,' 
 &c. Jehovah has never made promises 
 to us in the same extraordinary way 
 that he did to Jacob ; but, whatever he 
 has prom,isod to believers in genera! 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 163 
 
 10 I am not worthy of the least 
 of all the " mercies, and of all the 
 truth, which thou hast shewed un- 
 to thy servant : for with ° my staff 
 I passed over this Jordan, and now 
 I am become two bands. 
 
 n ch. 24. 27. Job 8. 7. 
 
 may be pleaded by every one of thera 
 in particular, especially wben encoun- 
 tering opposition in the path of duty. 
 (3.) Another remarkable feature in this 
 prayer, is Ihe deep spirit of self-ahasement 
 which breathes through it. While he 
 celebrates the great mercy and truth 
 of God towards him, he aci^nowledges 
 himself unworthy of the least instance of 
 either. The original is, if possible, still 
 more emphatic ; ' I am less than all the 
 mercies,' &c., as if he not only disclaim- 
 ed the worthiness of merit, but also 
 .that of meetness. In view of his own 
 sinful conduct on a former occasion, he 
 is amazed at the returns of mercy and 
 truth which he had met with from a 
 gracious God. By sin he had reduced 
 himself in a manner to nothing; but 
 God's goodness had made him great. 
 So, do we desire to succeed in our ap- 
 proaches to God, we must be moved by 
 the same spirit of humility ; prostrat- 
 ing ourselves in the dust before him, 
 and esteeming every, even the small- 
 est favor, as an unmerited boon of 
 heaven. (4.) Finally, having in this 
 devout and humble manner prefaced 
 his petition, he now presents it ; ' Deli- 
 ver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my 
 brother,' &c. This was doubtless the 
 petition of a kind husband and a tender 
 father. But it was not as such only 
 that it was presented. It was mainly 
 in the character of a believer in the 
 promises, and one deeply concerned for 
 the divine glory, that it was offered. 
 It was as though he had said, ' If my 
 life, and that of the mother vvith the 
 children be cut off", how are thy pro- 
 raises to be fulfilled ?' It is natural for 
 us, as husbands and parents, to be im - 
 
 Up Deliver me, I pray thee, from 
 the hand of my brother, from the 
 hand of Esau : for I fear him, lest 
 he will come and smite me, and 
 1 the mother vvith the children. 
 
 Ps. 59. 
 
 q Hos. 10. 14. 
 
 portunate with God for the well-being 
 of those who are so nearly related to 
 us ; but the way to obtain mercy for 
 them is to seek it in subordination to 
 the divine glory. 
 
 10. The truth which thou hast shov)ed. 
 Heb. ti^'^y I'l^iA n?jHn haemeth asher 
 asitha, the triUh which thou hast done; 
 from which it appears that truth, in the 
 scriptural sense of the term, denotes 
 something which may be done or acted, 
 as well as spoken. Thus, John 3. 21, 
 ' He that doeth truth cometh to the light.' 
 See also 1 John 1. 6, 3Iic. 7. 20. ' Do- 
 ing truth,' is fulfilling in act whatever 
 is promi.sed or commanded in word. 
 Thus understood, it may be affirmed 
 
 either of God or man. IT With my 
 
 staff, &c. That is, having nothing but 
 a staff when I passed over this Jordan, 
 
 1 am now become so prosperous as to 
 be able to divide my people, and my 
 flock and herds, into these two large and 
 imposing bands. Chal. 'By myself 
 alone, I passed over this Jordan ' 
 
 11. Smite me, and Ihe mother with the 
 children. Literally, ' smite me, even the 
 motlier with the children ;* thus iden- 
 tifying himself with the company of 
 which he was the leader and head. So 
 
 2 Sam. 17. 12. ' And of him, and of all 
 the men that are with him, there shall 
 not be left so much as one ;' i. e. of him, 
 even of all the men that are with him ; 
 spoken of as one body. Thus, loo, Gen. 
 14. 15, 'And he divided him.self;' i. e. 
 his party. The phrase ' to smite, or 
 slay, the mother with the children,' is 
 probably a Jewish idiom for leaving no- 
 thing remaining. Calvin suggests that the 
 e.xpression is taken from a bird-catch- 
 er's seizing and carrying away the 
 
164 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 12 And «■ thou saidst, I will sure- 
 ly do thee good, and make thy seed 
 as the sand of the sea, which can- 
 not be numbered for multitude. 
 
 18 IT And he lodged there that 
 same night, and took of that which 
 
 r ch. 28, 13, 14, 15. 
 
 mother-bird and all her young, thus 
 spoiling the whole nest. But as the 
 hteral rendering is ' the mother upon the 
 children,' it is perhaps rather founded 
 upon what sometimes happens in the 
 sacking of a city, when a devoted moth- 
 er rushes between her child and the im- 
 plement of death about to be plunged 
 into its heart, and is thus massacred with 
 or upon her offspring. Thus, Hos. 10. 
 14, ' The mother was dashed to pieces 
 upon her children.' As Jacob's life was 
 now, as it were, multiplied in the per- 
 sons of so many, dear to him as his own 
 soul, his apprehension increases in pro- 
 portion. 
 
 12. Thou saidst, I will surely do thee 
 good. We do not find these precise 
 words in any of the previous promises, 
 but it is clear that they are Jacob's in- 
 terpretation of the assurance contained 
 ch. 23. 15, ' Behold, I am with thee, and 
 will keep thee in all places whither 
 thou goest.' We may learn, therefore, 
 from this how much is meant when God 
 is said to he with any one. It is virtual- 
 ly a promise to do him good, to bless 
 him, to crown him with prosperity. 
 
 13. Lodged there that night. Jacob 
 and his company seem now to have 
 been north of the small river Jabbok. 
 near to the place where it falls into the 
 Jordan. Here he is said to have lodg- 
 ed that night. Afterwards, v. 22, we 
 read of his 'rising up,' and sending his 
 company ' over the ford.' Probably it 
 was during one single night that the 
 whole of what follows in this chapter oc- 
 curred. In the order of the narrative, 
 hi.s first step is to try the effect of a 
 
 present. "^ Took of that which came 
 
 to his hand This is generally understood 
 
 came to his hand ' a present for 
 Esau his brother ; 
 
 14 Two hundred she-goats and 
 twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes 
 and twenty rams, 
 
 15 Thirty milch camels with their 
 
 « ch. 43.11. Prov. 18. 16. 
 
 to mean that he took of that which, at 
 the time, came most readily to hand ; but 
 the usage of the original makes it doubt- 
 ful whether the true sense of it be not, 
 that he took of that which had come into 
 his hand, which he possessed, which hehad 
 previously acquired. 
 
 14. Two hundred she-goats, &c. The 
 sum total of the cattle selected for this 
 purpose was five hundred and fifty ; a 
 most magnificent present for one in his 
 circumstances. It was a striking proof 
 of his high estimation of the covenant 
 promise, that he was willing, for its sake, 
 to forego so large a part of his posses- 
 sions. We know how tenaciously, for 
 the most part, men cleave to those ac- 
 quisitions which have cost them much 
 labor and care. Yet Jacob here volun- 
 tarily subjects himself to so immense a 
 loss, that he may purchase a secure re- 
 turn to the land of his inheritance. 
 Had he been so disposed, he could ea- 
 sily have retired to some quiet nook, 
 where he could have enjoyed his sub- 
 stance unimpaired. But so highly does 
 he prize the promised blessing, that he 
 is ready, if needs be, to impoverish him- 
 self for the present that he may be un- 
 speakably enriched in his latter end. 
 ' Heaven, he knew, would pay for all. 
 Get but a patriarch's eye to see heaven 
 afar off, and we shall be soon ready to 
 buy it at any rate. The pearl of price 
 cannot be a dear bargain, though we 
 part w'ith all to purchase it.' Trapp. 
 
 15. Thirty milch camels. That is, ca- 
 mels of the most valuable sort. 'The 
 Bedouins ride the male camel in prefer- 
 ence to the female, and the former is 
 also capable of carrying heavier bur- 
 dens, and yet the female is much more 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 B. C. 1739.] 
 
 colts, forty kine and ten bulls, twen- 
 ty she-asses and ten foals. 
 
 16 And he delivered them into 
 the hand of his servants, every 
 drove by themselves ; and said un- 
 to his servants, Pass over before 
 me, and put a space betwixt drove 
 and drove. 
 
 17 And he commanded the fore- 
 most, sayinir, When Esau my bro- 
 ther njeeteth thee, and asketh thee, 
 savinsr. Whose arUhou 1 and whith- 
 
 165 
 
 valuable, on account of her milk, which 
 forms a prominent article in the diet of 
 the Arabs. They drink it either fresh 
 or sour. They are fond of sour milk, 
 and it seems that the milk of the camel 
 turns sour sooner than that of most oth- 
 er animals. Butter and cheese are 
 very seldom made of this milk. It is 
 remarkable that some of the tribes re- 
 fuse to sell milk to the towns-people, 
 the epithet ' milk-seller' being regarded 
 as a term of great opprobrium. It is 
 also observable, that the Arabs not only 
 drink the camels' milk themselves, but 
 give great quantities of it to their horses. 
 Foals also are weaned from their dams 
 in thirty days, and for the next hundred 
 days are fed exclusively on camels' 
 milk ; and during the ensuing hundred, 
 they receive a bucket of milk every 
 evening along with their barley. I'urck- 
 hardt saj'^s that when the Bedouins take 
 colts of two or three years old to sell 
 in Syria, they recommend their animals 
 by protesting (of course falsely) that 
 since they were weaned they have had 
 no other food than camels' milk.' Pict. 
 Bible. 
 
 16. Every drove hy themselves. The 
 droves were arranged in this manner, 
 separated by pretty wide intervals, that 
 Esau's enmity, if he cherished any, 
 might be gradually abated as one mark 
 of kindness after another met him, and 
 also to afford a better opportunity for 
 those in the rear to escape, if those in 
 the van should be attacked. Every 
 
 er goest thou 1 and whose are these 
 before thee ] 
 
 18 Then thou shalt say. They he 
 thy servant Jacob's : it is a present 
 sent unto my lord Esau : and be- 
 hold also he is behind us. 
 
 19 And so commanded he the 
 second, and the third, and all that 
 followed the droves, saying, On this 
 manner shall ye speak unto Esau, 
 when ve find him. 
 
 servant presenting his drove with the 
 same words would strike Esau whh 
 amazement. It would seem as if all 
 the riches of the East were coming in 
 upon him ; and every one concluding 
 by announcing his master as coming be- 
 hind them, would work upon his gene- 
 rosity. He expected, it is likely, a host 
 of armed men, and felt resolved to fight 
 it out ; but instead of an enemy, here is 
 a present worthy of a prince, and the 
 owner coming after it with all the con- 
 fidence of a friend and the kindness of 
 
 a brother. IT Put a space betvnxt drove 
 
 and drove. Heb. ni^ revah, breath, i. e. 
 space or room that shall give freedom 
 to the breath, breathing-space. 
 
 19. On this manner shall ye speak, &,c. 
 'I almost think I hear Jacob telUng 
 his servants what they were to say to 
 Esau. He would repeat it many times 
 over, and then ask, ' What did I say ?' 
 until he had completely schooled them 
 into the story. They would be most at- 
 tentive ; and at every interval, some of 
 the most officious would be repeating 
 the tale. The head servant, however, 
 would be especially charged with, the 
 delivery of the message. When they 
 went into the presence of Esau, they 
 would be very particular in placing 
 much stress on Jacob's saying, ' the 
 present is sent unto my lord!' and this 
 would touch his feelings. Servants 
 who see the earnestness of their master, 
 imitate him in this when they stand be- 
 fore the person to whom they are sent 
 
166 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739 
 
 20 And say ye moreover. Be- 
 hold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. 
 For he said, I will ' appease him 
 with the present that goeth before 
 me, and afterward I will see his 
 face ; peradventure he will accept 
 of me. 
 
 21 So went the present over be- 
 
 t Prov. 21. 14. 
 
 ITiey repeat a number of little things 
 respecting him ; his great sorrow for his 
 offence, his weeping, his throwing him- 
 self into the dust, and his fearful expres- 
 sions. Should the occasion, however, 
 be of a pleasing nature, they mention 
 his great joy, and his great anxiety for 
 an interview. The dependants of 
 Esau, also, would hear the story, and 
 every now and then be making excla- 
 mations at the humiUty of Jacob, and 
 the vaUie of his present. They would 
 also put their hands together in a sup- 
 plicating posture, for Esau to attend to 
 the request He, feeling himself thus 
 acknowledged as lord, seeing the ser- 
 vants of his brother before him, and 
 knowing that all his people had witness- 
 ed the scene, would consider himself 
 greatly honored. In this way many a 
 culprit in the East gains a pardon, when 
 nothing else could purchase it. Should 
 the offender be too poor to send a pres- 
 ent, he simply despatches his wife and 
 children to plead for him ; and they sel- 
 dom plead in vain.' Roberts. 
 
 20. Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind 
 us. He was particular to have this fact 
 distinctly announced, lest Esau should 
 suppose he intended himself to escape. 
 IT For he said. That is, said to him- 
 self. IT / will appease him. Heb. 
 
 t'lDS n^5-5^ dkapperah panav, I xmll cc 
 ver (i. e. pacify) his face ; from '^i^'o ha- 
 phar, to cover, the term usually employ- 
 ed under the law to signify ' making 
 atonement.' Gr. e^i\a(70[xai tov rpoao- 
 TTov avTov, I will propitiate his counten- 
 ance. Chal. ' I will assuage his anger.' 
 IT Accept of me. Heb. ^^S ^',2^^ 
 
 fore mm ; and himself lodged that 
 night in the company. 
 
 22 And he rose up that night, 
 and took his two wives, and his two 
 women-servants, and his eleven 
 sons, " and passed over the ford Jab- 
 bok. 
 
 n Deut. 3. 16. 
 
 yissa pani, will lift up my face. See the 
 import of this idiom explained, Gen. \% 
 21. Thus, Prov. 21. 14, • A gift in se 
 cret pacifeth anger. ^ 
 
 21. Lodged that night. Not the whole 
 of the night, but only a part of it, as 
 will soon appear. 
 
 22. And he rose up and passed over the 
 ford. Having sent off the present, he 
 seems to have tried to get a little rest; 
 but whatever sleep might fall to the lol 
 of the women and children, or rest to 
 the beasts of burden, there was but 
 litde of either for him. Unable to close 
 his eyes, he ' rose up' and having first 
 crossed the ford to ascertain the safety 
 of the passage for the rest of the com- 
 pany, he returned to the northern side, 
 and took his whole family and all that 
 he had, and sent them over the stream. 
 His party having all safely passed the 
 ford, he himself staid behind ; and in 
 this incident we see another proof of 
 the prevalence of his faith ; for, had he 
 been governed by the usual maxims of 
 worldly prudence, he would at this crit- 
 ical junction have remained with the 
 host. For, how did he know but Esau's 
 band might suddenly set upon them 
 when they thought themselves most 
 secure ? But, purposing to devote the 
 rest of the night to fervent prayer, he is 
 not afraid to confide his company to the 
 protection of that God, whose face and 
 favor he desired to seek, assured that 
 the most effectual defence he could af- 
 ford them would be to engage omnipo- 
 tence in their behalf. It is very seldom 
 that our worldly affairs suffer from the 
 time spent in prayer. ^ Jabbok 
 
B, C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 167 
 
 23 And he took them, and sent 
 them over the brook, and sent over 
 that he had. 
 
 This is the name of a brook or small 
 river rising near Rabbah, the chief city 
 of the Ammonites, and emptying into 
 tlie Jordan on its eastern side not far 
 below the lake of Tiberias. As the 
 original is ' Yabbok,' and closely related 
 in its etymology to ' Abak,' wrestled, it 
 is supposed to have derived its name 
 from Jacob's there wrestling with the 
 angel. Mr. Buckingham says that 
 where lie crossed the river it was ten 
 yards wide, and that the stream being 
 deeper than the Jordan, and quite as 
 rapid, was forded with difficulty. The 
 natives call the river ' Nahr-el-Zerkah,' 
 or river of Zerkah, from a neighboring 
 village of that name. 
 
 24. A7id Jacob ivas left alone, and 
 there xvreslled, &c. Heb. pS5^"i yeabek ; 
 a term occurring only here, and appa- 
 rently derived from p^H ob^K dust, and 
 applied to wrestling, from the dust that 
 was excited by the action of the com- 
 batants. In the Grecian games, more- 
 over, it was common for the wrestlers 
 to raise as much dust as possible, both 
 for the purpose of blinding each others' 
 eyes, and for grasping more firmly the 
 naked body, which, in order to make it 
 supple for the occasion, was copiously 
 besmeared with oil. — In the words be- 
 fore us we come upon the narrative of 
 one of the most remarkable and myste- 
 rious incidents recorded in the sacred 
 page. In considering it with some min- 
 uteness, the first and most obvious in- 
 quiry has respect to the Person with 
 whom Jacob wresded, and the second 
 to the nature and object of the Wrestling 
 itself. (1.) As to the person, it will be 
 noticed that in the passage before us he 
 is termed a man ; but in Hos. 12. 4, 
 where the incident is somewhat more 
 fully described, the prophet says of Ja- 
 cob that ' he had power over the angel, 
 
 24 IT And Jacob was left alone , 
 and there * wrestled a man with 
 him, until the breaking of the day. 
 
 » Hos. 12. 3, 4. Eph. 6. 12. 
 
 and prevailed.' This makes it clear 
 it was not a human antagonist with 
 whom Jacob was now called to enter 
 the lists. But we have a farther clue to 
 his identity in the sequel of the present 
 narrative. In giving the reason for 
 calling the name of the place Peniel, v. 
 30, he says, ' for I have seen God face 
 to face.' Here then it is obvious that 
 he who is at one time called 'a man,' is 
 at another called ' the angel,' and again 
 designated by the august tide of ' God ;' 
 leaving us to the inevitable inference 
 that the mysterious wrestler was no 
 other than the divine personage so fre- 
 quendy brought before us under the ap- 
 pellation of ' the Angel' — ' the Angel of 
 the Lord'— 'the Angel of the Cove- 
 nant,' &c. ; that is, in other words, the 
 Son of God appearing m that nature 
 which he afterwards assumed in accom- 
 plishing the work of our redemption. 
 Could there be the least remaining 
 doubt on the subject it is dispelled by the 
 farther statement of Hosea in the pas- 
 sage above cited, v. 4, 5, ' He found him 
 in Bethel, and there he spake with us ; 
 even the Lord of Hosts ; the Lord is his 
 memorial ;' i. e. the name by which he is 
 perpetually to be remembered in con- 
 nection with this event. (2.) As to the 
 true nature and scope of this transaction, 
 although it has been much doubted 
 among commentators whether it were 
 a real event or a vision only, yet the 
 words of the text seem spontaneously to 
 yield the sense of a literal personal en- 
 counter. Left alone in the silence of the 
 night, and in the open field, with his 
 mind deeply exercised with the perils 
 that surrounded him, the patriarch sud- 
 denly feels himself laid hold of by some 
 unknown assailant. It is not unlikely 
 that at the first onset he might appre- 
 hend him to be one of Esau's four hun- 
 
168 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B.C. 1739 
 
 dred men, for he comes upon him not 
 as a friend, but as a foe. Whoever he 
 may be, he at once begins to struggle 
 with Jacob, and apparently aims, by a 
 violent assault, to throw him to the 
 ground. He, on the other hand, defends 
 himself to the utmost of his power. He 
 grasps his antagonist, and exerting all 
 his strength, seems determined not to 
 suffer himself to be thrown. How long 
 the conflict continued before he discov- 
 ered the true character of his opponent, 
 is uncertain; but we are informed that 
 it was not ' until the breaking of the 
 day' that the wrestling ceased, nor even 
 then did the victory declare itself for 
 the divine antagonist. ' He saw that he 
 prevailed not against him.' Such, with 
 the added particulars soon to be detail- 
 ed, was the nature of this mysterious 
 encounter, in which, from the mode of 
 narration, we can scarcely fail to recog- 
 nise a real occurrence, a true and literal 
 act of wrestling ; in a word, as actual a 
 contest as ever took place among the 
 athlete of the Olympic or Isthmian 
 games. This interpretation is confirmed 
 by what is said of the effect of the en- 
 gagement upon Jacob's person. The 
 hollow of his thigh was touched, and a 
 permanent dislocation of the hip joint 
 ensued, which, for aught that appears, 
 attended him through hfe. It is hardly 
 probable that a visionary conflict would 
 thus have resulted in an abiding bodily 
 injury. But while we thus understand 
 the narrative of a real transaction, we 
 are not thereby precluded from assign- 
 ing to it a spiritual, figurative, or symhol- 
 xcal import of the highest moment, both 
 to Jacob and his believing seed in all 
 ages. Indeed, it is not possible to con- 
 ceive how such a pecuhar mode of 
 manifestation could be worthy of the 
 Deity, were it not intended to shadow 
 out some great instructive moral truth 
 or lesson. We have only to revert to 
 the circumstances in which the transac- 
 tion occurred to see that such a purpose 
 was undoubtedly designed by it. Jacob 
 
 was now agitated and distressed in view 
 of the uncertain issue of a meeting with 
 his brother. In his perplexity he had 
 recourse to the throne of grace ; he cast 
 himself entirely by prayer and supplica- 
 tion upon the protection of heaven. In 
 order to calm the disquietude of his 
 spirit, and arm him with all needed con- 
 fidence, God is pleased to inform him hy 
 a significant action of the favorable issue 
 of the affair. As he was permitted to 
 prevail over the Angel, so he should pre- 
 vail over L'sau. Viewing the transac- 
 tion as having a special reference to 
 Esau, we see not why the Angel may 
 not be considered in this respect as sus- 
 taining the person of Esau. This is the 
 opinion of several Jewish commentators, 
 and thus understood, the symbolical strife 
 has a pertinency which is by no means 
 so obvious on any other construction. 
 It is well known that nothing was more 
 common in God's mode of intercourse 
 with the patriarchs and prophets than to 
 impart information to them by means of 
 action as well as words ; and as Jacob's 
 predicted ascendancy over his brother 
 was to be obtained through a series of 
 struggles well represented by wrestling ; 
 as he did, in fact, receive his name from 
 an act appropriate to a wrestler, viz. 
 that of supplanting or tripping up the 
 heels ; we know not by what emblem- 
 atic procedure the grand fact of his 
 prevalence over Esau could be more 
 suitably set forth than that of the jnys- 
 tical athletic strife here described, though 
 its more immediate and special refer 
 ence is to his triumph over Esau's re- 
 sentment on the present occasion. Nor 
 is it, we conceive, a sufficient objection 
 to this, that it makes the divine person- 
 age, while evidently favoring Jacob, to 
 appear at the same time as the represent- 
 ative of an enemy ; for we find, in the 
 commencement of the chapter, that the 
 good angels who appeared to Jacob for 
 his encouragement represented at the 
 same time two hostile bands. Besides, 
 we find, if we mistake not, a striking 
 
B. C. 1739.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 169 
 
 confirmation of this view of the subject 
 in the parallel passage of Hosea before al- 
 tuded to ; ' He took his brother by the heel 
 m the womb, and by his strength he had 
 power with God : yea, he had power over 
 the Angel, and prevailed : he wept, and 
 made suppUcation unto him.' We here 
 Bee the ascendancy of Jacob traced back 
 to its very commencement at the birth 
 of the two brothers, and thence carried 
 forward to the time now mentioned, 
 when he prevailed over Esau in the 
 person of the representative angel, as 
 a pledge of his prevailing over him in his 
 own person, as we learn that he shortly 
 after did. This is indeed called ' having 
 power with God,' because it was by the 
 special favor and blessing of God that he 
 was enabled to come off conqueror over 
 the exasperated feelings of his brother. 
 It was, in fact, a twofold prevalence, the 
 one the type and earnest of the other. 
 'He wept and made supplication;' he 
 threw himself, in all the fervency of the 
 most importunate prayer, upon the mer- 
 cy of God, and God heard him and 
 granted his request. This was prevail- 
 .ng over infinitely superior power, and 
 his prevalence in this case was at the 
 same time an image of his prevailing 
 over Esau ; and we have only to con- 
 sult the details of the ensuing narrative 
 to see how strikingly all the circum- 
 stances of the shadow correspond with 
 those of the substance. As he humbled 
 himself in deep abasement of soul, and 
 implored the favor of the Angel, so he 
 bowed himself seven times to the 
 ground, and by expressions and postures 
 of the profoundest reverence, sought to 
 conciUate his brother. As the symbol- 
 ical Angel, though infinitely stronger 
 than Jacob, suffered himself to be over- 
 come, holding his power in abeyance ; 
 so Esau, though coming against him 
 with four hundred men, a force no doubt 
 vastly superior to that of the patriarch, 
 was in like manner wrought upon, soft- 
 ened, and subdued by the melting im- 
 portunities of his brother, who would i 
 VOL. If. 
 
 not part from him any more than from 
 the Angel without the exchange of a 
 blessing, and who seems, in fact, almost 
 in express words to identify Esau with 
 the divine wrestling Angel, when he 
 says, ch. 33. 10, ' Receive my present at 
 my hand ; for therefore have I seen thy 
 /ace, as though I had seen the face of 
 God, and thou wast pleased with me ;' im- 
 plying, that in the mystical strife which 
 had taken place he had seen his face or 
 person in that of his angelic adversary ; 
 and as he then appeared pleased, i. e. 
 pacified, or conciliated towards him, so 
 he hoped he would be now, and thus 
 turn all the shadowy incidents into a de- 
 lightful reality. But while we consider 
 the above as the legitimate and leading 
 scope of the transaction here recorded, 
 we do not hesitate at the same time to re- 
 cognise another subordinate drift of 
 infinite wisdom in ordering its occur- 
 rence. We believe it was designed, as 
 it has generally been understood, to 
 teach the importance and the efficacy 
 of earnest, fervent, agonizing prayer, 
 particularly in circumstances of afflic- 
 tion and distress. It is, indeed, regard- 
 ed by some as doubtful whether the 
 ' weeping and suppUcation' of which 
 Hosea speaks, took place at the same 
 time witli the wrestling, or whether he 
 refers to the humble and importunate 
 prayer made some hours previous, and 
 contained, v, 9 — 12. But as he undoubt- 
 edly recognised the true character of 
 his divine antagonist before they part- 
 ed, and as he refused to let him go 
 until he had received a blessing at his 
 hand, this is evidently to be considered 
 as implying the essence of a prayer, and 
 that, no doubt, of the most fervent de 
 scription. In order, therefore, to gain 
 an adequate view of the true nature of 
 this mysterious strife, we must look upon 
 it as shadowing forth that secret inward 
 struggle of the soul, which forms the 
 very Ufe of all earnest and prevalent 
 prayer with God. In the athletic exer- 
 cise of wresthng, the highest eflfort of 
 15 
 
170 
 
 GEN'ErSTS^. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 25 And when hs saw that he pre- 
 vailed not against him, he touched 
 the hollow of his thigh : and y the 
 
 y Matt. 26. 41, 2 Cor. 12. 7. 
 
 corporeal prowess is required. Every 
 nerve and muscle of every limb is call- 
 ed into play, and pnt to its utmost ten- 
 sion. The whole energy of the frame 
 is concentrated in the act, and the least 
 relaxation perils the issu« of the con- 
 flict. So also in prayer, Ali the pow- 
 ers of ottr minds, and all the strong- 
 est feelings of our hearts are to be en- 
 listed in this duty. Our earnestness 
 and zeal should be wrought up to the 
 highest pitch of intensity. Precepts, 
 promises, arguments, — whatever can 
 constitute pleas of the most cogent and 
 prevailing nature, should bet)roHght for- 
 ward. We should 'stir ourselves up to 
 take hold on God'.' And oftentimes 
 weeping and supplication, in imitation 
 of Jacob, yea, strong crying and tears, 
 in imitation of the Saviour, should be 
 resorted to. Then it is that we know 
 something of the effectual fervent pray- 
 er of the righteous, which availeth much. 
 Then it is that we feel the deep internal 
 movings of the Spirit, 'which maketh 
 intercession for us with groanings which 
 cannot be uttered.' But this view of 
 the subject will be more fully developed 
 as we proceed. 
 
 25. And when he saw, &c. That is, 
 when the Angel saw. Gr. and Chal. 
 • When he saw that he could do nothing 
 agamst him.' The fact stated is indeed 
 wonderful — Omnipotence unable to van- 
 quish the ' worm Jacob !' But in order 
 to understand it, we must penetrate be- 
 yond the veil of the physical encounter, 
 and direct our view to the hidden spir- 
 ituality that is couched within. The 
 strength by which Jacob sustained the 
 contest with an almighty opponent v/as 
 not the strength of bones and sinews, 
 nor was the non-prevalence of the An- 
 gel any thing else than the inability to 
 withstand the power of an unwaverii^g 
 
 hollow of Jacobus thigh was out of 
 joint, as he wrestled with him. 
 
 faith pleading his own promises. He 
 may be said, therefore, not to have pre- 
 vailed, just as a benevolent man, who 
 is beset by a needy beggar, prteously 
 telling his tale of woe, and clinging to- 
 the skirts of his garment, may be said 
 ' not to prevail' to cast him off, though 
 possessed of far superior physical 
 strength, because he yields to the kind- 
 ly impulses of bis nature. Yet we must 
 not forget that it was all along by the 
 secret ministration of God's Spirit that 
 Jacob was enabled to put forth the mo- 
 ral power which he did in the presenS 
 conflict. The strength by which he 
 prevailed was as truly God's strength,^ 
 as that by which God himself in out- 
 w'ard show contended against him. In- 
 deed, we must consider God in this tran- 
 saction as acting in the double capacity 
 of an adversary and an assistttnt, evincing 
 in the second character greater strength 
 than in the first ; fighting, as it were^ 
 against him with his left hand, and /or 
 him with his right ; putting far greater 
 force into the defence than into the as- 
 sault, and, as Calvin says, ' being str ' 
 ger than himself by yielding the vie' 
 to faith.' Such a mode of represents' 
 appears strange and paradoxical to' 
 who is inexperienced in the warfare 
 the spirit, who has never passed thro- ' 
 the siftings and trials to which God' 
 ten subjects his children. But the' 
 ry teaches a familiar doctrine to tV 
 who haTC waded in the deep wate^ 
 affliction and temptation. They 
 never at a loss to understand, or ' 
 ward to acknowledge, the sou'' 
 which they are indebted for the st 
 that enables them to overcome i-r 
 arduous struggles in which the ■' 
 ty himself seems to come fort'' 
 
 tie array against them . ^ P ^j^g^ 
 
 the hollow nf hJ$ thigh, &c. '^^^ ^^^ , 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXX[f. 
 
 171 
 
 hurt, injured. See note on Gen. 20. 6- 
 What is here termed the ' hollow of the 
 thigh,' is undoubtedly the socket of the 
 hip-joint, though it is not easy to deter 
 mine the precise natureof the injury in 
 flicted. From its being said, v. 32, that 
 the children of Israel ate not of the si- 
 new which shrank, it would seem that 
 one part especially affected was the 
 tendinous ligament connecting the thigh- 
 bone with the hip-joint. But if so, it 
 was probably owing to a dislocation of 
 the thigh-bone. This would naturally 
 be attended with such a violent wrench- 
 ing of the muscles and sinews in the 
 neighborhood, that even after the bone 
 was replaced, it might cause a perma- 
 nently halting or hmping gait. Yet it is 
 highly probable that the effect, in Ja- 
 cob's case, was produced without pain, 
 and was designed to impress him with 
 a profound sense of the divine condes- 
 cension, from the fact that one who had 
 thus shown himself possessed of infinite 
 power, should deign to be prevailed over 
 by a worm of the dust. As Paul, in the 
 abundance of his revelations, 2 Cor. 12. 
 7, received a 'thorn in the flesh,' to 
 humble him, or to prevent undue exalta- 
 tion, so in the present case Jacob receiv- 
 ^ similar token, which it was fitting 
 'ould carry with him to his grave, 
 -his incident cannot be rightly 
 d, except in connexion with the 
 ual bearing of the whole transac- 
 ; in which fight we shall dwell 
 it somewhat more at length. The 
 is is well known, is the foundation, 
 speak, of the edifice of the body, 
 'ocated, the body falls down. A 
 ation of the hip is an extremely 
 ise, only practicable to astonish- 
 •ength, especially in the posi- 
 ■'• •• lich a person must assume in 
 ^^'■' g with another. But this effect 
 ight upon Jacob in the midst of 
 nnter, and the consequence 
 ^. ourse be that he could wres- 
 . ^" ?r. All that remained for 
 ii^g ""^^hold fast to his opponent by 
 
 his arms, to cling to him with all his 
 might, so that his antagonist could not 
 remove from the place without dragging 
 him along with him. Indeed, Jacob 
 could now neither stand nor go ; and 
 the wrestling angel, who had thus de- 
 prived him of his strength, left him no 
 alternative but to hang upon his neck, 
 if he wished to be preserved from fall- 
 ing. And this he appears to have done, 
 retaining his grasp with unflinching te- 
 nacity, as if resolved that nothing should 
 separate him from one who had it in 
 his power to bless him as no other being 
 in the universe could. But passing from 
 the letter to the spirit, and interpreting 
 what is here said of wrestling of the in- 
 ward conflicts of the soul, we remark, 
 that no purpose is more settled in the 
 counsels of heaven, than to beat down 
 the vain self-confidence, which in one 
 form or other is so prone to intrude it- 
 self into the devoutest doings of even 
 the best of men. Some secret reliance 
 upon their own strength, or uprightness, 
 or understanding, mingles with the 
 workings of their hearts, and prevents 
 that entire renunciation of themselves 
 which is essential to their being filled 
 with the fulness of God. But when the 
 Most High begins to wrestle with a 
 soul, that is, to carry on more effectual- 
 ly the work of grace, he struggles with 
 him in such a manner as to abase eve- 
 ry high thing that exalts itself within 
 him, and bring him to the lowest depths 
 of self-abasement and self-annihilation. 
 He will leave him nothing to plead but 
 his pure gratuitous mercy in Christ. 
 He will cause him, by his hidden influ- 
 ences in his heart, to feel that he has 
 no alternative remaining but to embrace 
 with the arms of faith the Son of God, 
 and thus, as a crippled conqueror, to pre- 
 vail. He thus learns to believe from 
 the heart the declaration that ' it is not 
 of him that willeth, nor of him that run- 
 neth, but of God that showeth mercy.' 
 He is thus led into those mysterious pro- 
 cesses of the inward life which may 
 
172 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 26 And ^ he said, Let me go, for 
 the day breaketh : and he said, ^ I 
 
 ''Luke 24. 28. a Hos. 12. 4. 
 
 justly be- called a continual riddle, which 
 cannot be solved without personal ex- 
 perience. In a word, we may see, in 
 this incident of the mystical conflict, 
 how completely the Lord designs to 
 strip the sinner of every relic of self-con- 
 fidence, that he may cast himself, 
 weak, weary, lame, halting, and help- 
 less, into the arms of the all-sufficient 
 Saviour. 
 
 2C). And he said, Let me go, &c. The 
 Angel evidently proved his infinite su- 
 periority to Jacob by depriving him of 
 all power to continue the combat; and 
 yet he enhances the wonders of the 
 scene by saying to the patriarch, ' Let 
 me go,' and thus virtually declaring him- 
 self to be vanquished. How astonishing 
 the procedure ! As long as Jacob pos- 
 sesses strength, he is overcome, and 
 conquers at the moment it forsakes him ! 
 But thus says the Aposde, ' when T am 
 weak, then am I strong.* The Angel's 
 words were obviously designed as a 
 farther trial of the patriarch's faith. As 
 men usually at early dawn, instead of 
 spending the time in prayer, are enjoy- 
 ing their repose, or deem it their duty 
 to enter upon the business of the day, 
 Jacob's divine antagonist would try 
 whether he would yield to natural in- 
 clination and desist, or would hold out a 
 little longer in his supplicatitms. Thus 
 our Saviour seemed by his words to dis- 
 courage the addresses of the Syro-Phe- 
 nician woman. Matt. 15. 22 — 28, when 
 in reality his object was to quicken and 
 animate her to still greater fervency in 
 her intercessions, ' Let me go,' says 
 the wrestHng angel. What life and cour- 
 age must this have imparted to Jacob ! 
 For what did the words imply ? That 
 the Son of God was in his power, and 
 that he would not depart unless Jacob 
 gave his consent to it. This was an ad- 
 vantage too precious to be neglected. 
 Accordingly he makes no account of 
 
 will not Jet thee go, except thou 
 bless me. 
 
 the reason which the Angel urged for 
 his request, 'For the day breaketh.' 
 ' Let it break,' might Jacob have replied, 
 ' What is that to me ? I have a thousand 
 reasons why I will not let thee go ; and 
 even the breaking of the day is one of 
 them. A perilous day is approaching. 
 I am afraid of my brother Esau. I 
 stand in special need of thy blessing. 
 Thou dost well to remind me of it, that 
 
 I may cleave to thee the closer.' 
 
 ^ T will not let thee go, except thou bless 
 me. The highest heroism of faith shines 
 forth in these words. He declares him* 
 self determined to retain his pertinacious 
 hold upon the author of blessing. But 
 could He not easily have shaken him 
 oflJ'? Could He not have dislocated or 
 paralysed his arms, and thus have freed 
 himself from his death-like embrace ? 
 Doubtless his physical power was com- 
 petent to this, but his omnipotence was 
 limited in its operation by his promise 
 to his servant ' to do him good.' He 
 had bound himself to bless him, and his 
 great power could only be exercised 
 towards him in accordance with this en- 
 gagement. Nor did he really desire that 
 Jacob should free him from the obliga- 
 tion to do him good. He rather aimed 
 to have the pleasure of seeing how firm, 
 by his grace, are the hearts of his chil- 
 dren, even when many waters of afflic- 
 tion go over them, and how the seed of 
 God remains in them. It Avas the same 
 kind of pleasure that he experienced 
 when Job exclaimed, ' Though he slay 
 me, yet will I trust in him.' He him- 
 self is the author of this constancy, and 
 hence it is that it is so pleasing in hi'6 
 sight; for he takes pleasure in all hiss* 
 works. And what pleasure does it still 
 afford him, when the Christian does not 
 suffer himself to be dismayed by af^ /r 
 tions and temptations, but even ^nci 
 cleaves to his word and his grace , when 
 every thing seems to go agairist hira? 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 173 
 
 27 And he said unto him, What 
 is thy name ? And he said, Jacob. 
 
 28, And he said, ^Thy name 
 shall be called no more Jacob, but 
 
 b ch. ch. 35. 10. 2 Kings 17. 34. 
 
 27. And he said unto him, What is thy 
 name? This question respecting Ja- 
 cob's name is asked by the Angel, not, 
 of course, because he was previously 
 ignorant of it, but that from the answer 
 he might take occasion to change it, as he 
 immediately did. But not only so. He 
 put the question in order to instruct Ja- 
 cob respecting the signification of his 
 present name, and to lead him to reflect 
 upon the occasion of its being given 
 him. This was at his birth, when he 
 held his twin brother Esau by the heel. 
 His birth reminded him of the divine 
 prediction, ' that the elder should serve 
 the younger.' He might have forgot- 
 ten it, but the Lord had not. He de- 
 signs, therefore, that the patriarch shall 
 derive encouragement from this name. 
 It means supplanter, and was, of course, 
 well adapted to inspire him with confi- 
 dence that Esau should not overcome 
 him. This will account for such an 
 apparently irrelevant mode of replying 
 to his petition. Jacob, no doubt, thought 
 with himself, 'Why this question? J 
 ask for a blessing, and he inquires my 
 name. I should have preferred an im- 
 mediate fulfilment of the desires of my 
 heart.' But God often takes what ap- 
 pears to us a circuitous method of an- 
 swering our requests ; though the result 
 shows that it is the wisest and best. 
 Upon the mention of his name, it is high- 
 ly probable that a new light shone upon 
 it, rendering its import clear and consol- 
 ing to his mind. It reminded him not 
 only of his predicted ascendancy over 
 Esau, but also of all the rich blessings 
 and prerogatives of the covenant estab- 
 lished with his fathers. And what 
 would more tend to cheer and encourage 
 him on this occasion than such refresh- 
 ing recollections ? Yet the ensuing 
 
 Israel: for as a prince hast thou 
 " power with God, and "^ with men, 
 and hast prevailed. 
 
 <: IIos. 12. 3, 4. J ch. 25. 31. & 27. 33. 
 
 words disclose a still deeper drift in the 
 question. 
 
 28. Thy name shall be called no more 
 Jacob, but Israel. ' Israel' signifies ' prince- 
 ly prevailer with God,' one of its com- 
 ponent members signifying the same as 
 the name of ' Sarah,' princess. The 
 proper names occurring in the sacred 
 volume are frequently used to designate 
 the character rather than the common ap- 
 pellation of those to whom they are 
 applied. Thus it was predicted of 
 Christ, that ' his name should be called 
 Wonderful, Immanuel,' &c., Is. 9. 6, and 
 7. 14, of which tlie true interpretation 
 is, that his nature should be wonderful, 
 should be Immanuel, &c. So also our 
 Lord says to his disciples, John 15. 15, 
 ' Henceforth I call you not servants, but 
 I have called you friends,' i.e. I declare 
 you to be friends. Yet we find that in 
 point of mere nominal appellation they 
 were subsequently called 'friends,' as 
 John 18. 36. So in the present case, it 
 is not so much intended that Jacob's or- 
 dinary and familiar title should be su- 
 perseded, as is evident from the subse- 
 quent history, as that he should now be 
 declared to be possessed of a neio char- 
 acter by the significant designation as- 
 signed him. Arab. ' Thy name shall not 
 always be called Jacob only, but Israel 
 likewise.' Hitherto his name Jacob had 
 merely denoted his being a supplanter 
 of his brother, but now he had moreover 
 shown himself a prevailer with God, in 
 token of which it was proper that the 
 name ' Israel' should be given him, as 
 an honorable testimonial of the fact in 
 all ages. It is to be observed, also, that 
 Jacob's posterity, to. whom the same 
 name is applied, are so denominated 
 principally upon the ground of their 
 being supposed to be a praying and 
 
 15* 
 
174 
 
 29 And Jacob asked him, and 
 said, Tell me, I prav Ihee, thy 
 name : and he said, ^ Wherefore is 
 
 eJudg.13. 18. 
 
 prevailing seed, especially liis spiritual 
 seed, Gal. 6. 10, which embraces the 
 Gentiles, who are affiliated by faith. 
 
 IT As a prince hast thou power with 
 
 God. Heb. tliTJ sarilha, i. e. thou 
 hast acted the prince ; thou liast carried 
 thyself prince-like. The same word 
 occurs, Hos. 12. 4, ' He had power with 
 God.' Heb. '^"IJ">1 vayasar, he was a 
 prince with God- In allusion to this 
 transaction, the Most High says by the 
 Prophet, Is. 45. 19, ' I said not to the seed 
 of Jacob seek ye me in vain.' The seed 
 ofJacobis specified rather than the seed 
 of Abraham, from this eminent instance 
 of Jacob's praying and prevailing in a 
 season of extremity, and thus carrying 
 an implication that his 'seed' would in- 
 herit their father's spirit in this respect. 
 As far, therefore, as Christians consti- 
 tute the true Israel of God, they should 
 doubtless deem themselves bound to 
 be distinguished for their perseverance 
 
 and prevalence in prayer. IT A7id 
 
 with man. Doubdess with a more special 
 reference to his prevailing with Esau in 
 their coming niterview, of which, as 
 remarked above, his prevailing with the 
 Angel was a designed earnest and 
 pledge. 
 
 29. Tell me, T pray thee, thy name. It 
 cannot be doubted, from the drift of the 
 narrative, that Jacob was aware that 
 his antagonist was a truly divine per- 
 sonage. Jt was not, therefore, for fur- 
 ther satisfaction on this head that he 
 made the present inquiry. Two reasons 
 may be suggested as having, perhaps, 
 prompted the question. (1.) He may 
 have been desirous of knowing how the 
 Lord ought properly to be called. He 
 was usually called ' Elohim' God, and 
 this title .Jacob himself had recognised 
 at Bethel, and God also ht\d subsequent- 
 ly confirmed it by saying. 'I am the 
 
 GENESIS. [B. C. 1739. 
 
 it ihat thou dost ask after my name 1 
 x\nd he blessed him there. 
 
 God of Bethel.' But when he appeared 
 to Abraham, Gen. 17. 1, and renewed 
 the covenant with him, he denominated 
 himself ' El Shaddai' God allsiifficient, 
 and at other tunes, he was called sim- 
 ply ' El,' the strong One. But these ap- 
 pellations no longer satisfied the patri- 
 arch after his recent experience. He 
 seems to have thought it possible that 
 some other title liaving a special com- 
 memorative reference to this event 
 might be proper, and accordingly 
 wishes to know what it was. But (2.", 
 The import of the quesdon undoubtedly 
 extends beyond the mere name. He wish 
 ed to have a fuller development m words 
 of that divine nature or character which 
 had displayed itself so wonderfully in 
 act. It is as if he had said, ' Lord, how 
 shall I call thee ? I know not what to 
 think, much less to say. Such con- 
 descension as thou hast shown me, who 
 am but dust, is more than my heart 
 could have dared to anticipate. I know 
 and confess that thou hast previously 
 appeared wonderful and gracious to 
 Abraham, to Isaac, and to me also. But 
 what is all this compared to what thou 
 hast now done to me ? Thou disguises! 
 thyself in human flesh and blood ; thou 
 feignest thyself to be my opponent, in 
 order to do me good I Thou even wres- 
 dest with me ! Thou grieve st me only 
 to console me ! Thou breakest down 
 all my strength, in order to declare that 
 thou art in my power. Thou givest mo 
 a new name, which represents me as 
 the conqueror, and thee as the conquer- 
 ed ; which renders that which is impos- 
 sible, real. This is toj wonderful for 
 me ; I cannot attain unto it. Tell me, 
 what is thy name ?' This we may 
 conceive to have been the drift of his 
 inquiry, and under the comparatively 
 dark dispensation of that early period, 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 175 
 
 30 And Jacob called the name of 
 the place Peniel : for ^ I have «een 
 
 rch. 16. IS. Exofi. 24. 11.&33.20. Dent. 
 3.24. 
 
 when the full gospel revelations were 
 •3iot yet made, it was a natural inquiry. 
 In hke manner, and from a similar im- 
 pulse, Manoah, the father of Samson, be- 
 sought the Angel who ' did wondronsly' 
 before him, to tell hira his name, i. e. to 
 •disclose fully his character ; which he 
 ostensibly declined and yet really grant- 
 ed. See Note on Josh. 13. 18. Moses 
 also, Ex. 3. 13, 14, entreated him to tell 
 his nanee, in order that if the children 
 ehould inquire as te the name of the 
 God who had sent him, he naight l>e 
 able to give them an anewer. To which 
 the Lord replied by giving him an inti- 
 mation of his nature; ' I am that I am.' 
 The answer to Jacob is now to be con- 
 sidered. — — IT Wherefore is it that thou 
 dost ask after my name 7 And he blessed 
 him there. As far as the letter of Jacob's 
 inquiry is concerned, the Lord refused 
 to answer it ; and yet we cannot doubt 
 that the patriarch was favored with 
 what was equivalent to a direct and full 
 reply. The truth is, the interrogation 
 Kself of the Angel implies that he had 
 Rmple grounds for drawing the proper 
 inference himself as to the character of 
 the Being with whom he had to do. It 
 was as much as if he had said, 'Canst 
 thou, after such a manifestation, be ig- 
 norant who I am?' But it is highly 
 probable, that in addition to this there 
 was something in the blessing now im- 
 parted which virtually answered his 
 question. Before, when Jacob implored 
 a blessing, he asked the patriarch's 
 name. Now, on the other hand, when 
 Jacob asked his name, he answers by 
 giving liira a blessing. This he was 
 doubtless made to experience internally. 
 His mind was sweetly tranquillized. 
 His former fear departed from his soul, 
 as did the shades of night at that very 
 time before the breaking of tlie day. A 
 
 God face to face, and ray life is pre- 
 served. 
 
 Judg. 6. 22. & 13. 22. Isai. 6. 5. 
 
 heavenly peace descended upon his 
 spirit, such as God alone could create. 
 The wild animals, whose roar maybave 
 preriously grated upon his ear, had re- 
 tired into their caves, and the birds of 
 heaven were chanting their morning 
 hymn. His painful forebodings had 
 dissolved into confident hope. The 
 thought of threatening Esau and his 
 hosts disturbs him now no more. He 
 may come with his four hundred or 
 four thousand men, if he please ; what is 
 that to him ? He knows in whom he 
 has believed. His heart is strengthened 
 by the secret succors of the God of all 
 grace, which are far more effectual 
 than v/ords or more hteral promises. 
 And what could he desire beyond this 
 ineffable inward calm and confidence, 
 to assure him of the nature and attri- 
 butes of Hira with whom he had con- 
 tended? His question was answered 
 in the state of his soul. 
 
 30. And Jacob called the name of the 
 place Peniel. Heb. bit'^^S peniel, i. e. 
 face of God ; called also ' Penuel,' v. 31, 
 a word of precisely the same import. 
 Gr. stJof Qeov, the form or aspect of God, 
 The Lord had blessed Jacob, therefore he 
 let him go. He inwardly felt that though 
 the Lord might visibly disappear from 
 hira, yet he remained with hira and in 
 him. Such, also, was the case of the 
 disciples at the ascension of Jesus. He 
 departed from them bodily, but spirit- 
 ually and essentially he remained with 
 them, and in fact continues with us to 
 the end of the world. Of this we are 
 conscious from his Spirit which he hath 
 given us, and from the consequent peace, 
 joy, and power which we are made to 
 experience. The whole affair deserved 
 a memorial. Jacob instituted this by 
 giving a new and suitable name to the 
 place where such a remarkable event 
 
176 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [{i.e. iim. 
 
 had occurred. Bnt God himself ap- 
 pointed a much more durable one by 
 causing it to be recorded by his servant 
 Moses, and to be called to mind by the 
 prophet Hosea. The patriarch in this 
 acted according to the instinctive prompt- 
 ings of a pious mind. The world 
 abounds with memorable places. The 
 natural man finds those the most inter- 
 esting where nature manifests herself in 
 peculiar splendor and majesty ; where 
 lofty mountains yield delightful pros- 
 pects, and smiling plains exhibit the 
 blessings of heaven ; where majestic 
 rivers roll along, or the wide ocean ex- 
 pands itself before the eye, which seeks 
 in vain its limit. The man of letters and 
 taste lingers with pleasure on the mon- 
 uments of ancient and modern art, ad- 
 miring the magnificence of palaces and 
 the productions of painters and sculp- 
 tors. The historian loses himself in re- 
 flection when visiting the scenes of 
 former important events, the sites of 
 powerful cities, and the fields where 
 great battles have been fought. The 
 Christian also has his memorable pla- 
 ces. Bethlehem, Capernaum, Jerusa- 
 lem, Calvary, and the Mount of Ohves 
 are among them. Tiiough prone to de- 
 generate into superstition, yet the feel- 
 ing which prompts the pilgrim foot to 
 wander over these venerable spots 
 springs from a sacred source. These 
 places are Peniels to believers, revela- 
 tions of the glory of God ; since their 
 faith and love draw nutriment from the 
 recollection of what there took place. 
 And has not every Christian beside his 
 particular Peniels, in which God reveal- 
 ed himself to him in an especial manner 
 — his closet, the sanctuary, a book, a 
 sermon, a company, a solitary hour, 
 which continue consecrated in his grate- 
 ful memory ? He surely can enter into 
 the feelings of Jacob on this occasion. 
 — As to the locality itself, it may bo re- 
 marked, that a city called Penuel was 
 afterward built in this place, the tower 
 of which was demolished by Gideon, be- 
 
 cause the inhabitants refused him bread 
 when in pursuit of the kings, Jiidg. 8. 
 17, though subsequently re-edified by 
 Jeroboam, 1 Kings 12. 25. It belonged 
 to the tribe of Gad, was situated on or 
 near the Jordan, Judg. 8. 4, 8, and was 
 40 miles distant from Jerusalem, in a 
 
 north-eastern direction. IT I have seen 
 
 God face to face. Chal. ' I have seen the 
 Angel of God face to face.' Here we 
 find a complete explanation who it was 
 that wrestled with Jacob, dislocated his 
 thigh, gave him a new name, and bles- 
 sed him. It was no created Angel, but 
 that divine person, the ' Sent of God,' 
 the Messiah that was to be, who in the 
 fulness of time was really manifested in 
 flesh and blood. If we ask by what it 
 was that Jacob perceived with such cer- 
 tainty that it was a divine person with 
 whom he had to do, we answer, he was 
 assured of it in the same mysterious 
 manner as the weeping Magdalen at the 
 sepulchre was assured by the single 
 word ' 3Iary I' that it was not the gar- 
 dener, but Jesus himself, who was com- 
 muning with her ; and as the disciples 
 on the Sea of Tiberias were so per- 
 fectly convinced that it was the Lord 
 that none of them needed to ask him, 
 'Who art thou ?' The Christian's con- 
 viction is something peculiar. It is a 
 consciousness that it is really so; a cer 
 tain confidence, which does not, and 
 cannot doubt ; whilst, on the contrary, 
 a mere human belief thinks it may be 
 so, or may be otherwise. Jacob's words, 
 however, are not to be understood as 
 contravening our Lord's declaration that 
 'no man hath seen God at any time.' 
 This refers to his essence, which is in- 
 trinsically invisible. This Jacob did not 
 see, but only the human form assumed 
 for the occasion. But there is an inward 
 spiritual seeing of God, far superior to 
 the vision of sense ; and this we sup- 
 pose was the privilege of Jacob at 
 this time. Distinguished light had ari- 
 sen upon him by means of this conflict, 
 such as he had never possessed before. 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 177 
 
 31 And as he passed over Pe- 
 nue], the sun rose upon him, and he 
 halted upon his thigh. 
 
 32 Therefore the children of Is- 
 rael eat not of the sinew which 
 
 He became much more intimately ac- 
 quainted with God than previously ; 
 even as when we see the face of some 
 one whom we had only known before 
 from report. It cannot be doubted, there- 
 fore, that this event constituted a new 
 
 era in Jacob's spiritual existence. 
 
 ir My life is preserved. These words, 
 contain, perhaps, an allusion to the 
 prevalent opinion that no man could see 
 God and live. But this is not all. He 
 was delivered. His former state was a 
 perilous and oppressive one — without 
 were fightings, and fears within. Esau, 
 with his four hundred men, terrified 
 him. His faith was weak, his courage 
 small ; joy had departed from him, and 
 clouds of sorrow darkened his soul, 
 which vented themselves in tears. That 
 night had been the most painful and 
 distressing one he had ever spent ; he 
 saw nothing but death before him. It 
 seemed as if God himself had delivered 
 him over to the power of his enemies, 
 in commanding him to return out of 
 Mesopotamia. But now a pleasing re- 
 verse had taken place, and he was as- 
 sured of safety. His confidence in God 
 was quickened, and his whole soul com- 
 manded into a conscious security, in 
 which he could look boldly around him. 
 \l\xx if we would enter into the full mean- 
 ing of his words, we must understand 
 them as equivalent to the declaration, 
 ' I am preserved, and shall be preserv- 
 ed.' The Lord had said to him, 'Thou 
 hast had power ;' or, perhaps more cor- 
 rectly, ' Thou wilt be enabled to pre- 
 vail.' Here then is the echo of faith, 
 ' I am and shall be preserved. Although 
 new tribulations may befal me, accord- 
 ing to the will of God, yet I shall be 
 preserved, and he will at length deliver 
 me from all evil, and bring me to his 
 
 shrank, which is upon the hollow of 
 the thiw-h, unto this day ; because 
 he touched the hollow of Jacob's 
 thi^h in the sinew that shrank. 
 
 glorious kingdom. Of this I am assured, 
 for I know in whom I have believed.' 
 His subsequent history showed that his 
 confidence was well founded. 
 
 31. As he passed over Penuel, the sun 
 rose upon him, &c. This splendid spec- 
 tacle in nature was also an image of 
 what had passed in the soul of the pa- 
 triarch. The night had disappeared 
 A lovely morning dawned. It rose 
 upon him. The Sun of Righteousness 
 the Day-spring from on high, had cheer 
 ed his inward spirit with its inextin- 
 guishable beams. Yet he halted upon 
 his thigh. A memento of humility was 
 impressed upon his person. Every step 
 reminded him of the great mercy of the 
 Lord, and yet of his own nothingness. 
 Every step at once exalted and humbled 
 him. And when others heard his new 
 name, and saw his lameness, they also 
 would be reminded that the Most High 
 condescends more graciously to his peo- 
 ple than they could ever venture to 
 hope. Our own experience in the di- 
 vine life must be very small if we are 
 not often taught the same lesson. 
 
 32. Eat not of the sinew which shrank 
 Or, Heb. fi'UD nasheh, which was remov- 
 ed, or whichforgot its place. Gr. ' The 
 sinew that was benumbed, or waxed 
 feeble.' We have already remarked 
 that this was the sinew that fastened 
 the thigh-bone in its socket, including, 
 probably, the muscles in tlie immediate 
 neighborhood. The abstaining from 
 this part of the flesh of slain animals, it 
 seems from this, was a very ancient 
 custom, and we read a good deal of it in 
 the Hebrew canons ; but as no mention 
 is made of it in the law of Moses, it is 
 very doubtful whether it rested upon 
 divine authority. Yet it may have re- 
 ceived the divine sanction, as being 
 
178 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739 
 
 prompted by pious reverence, and not 
 by motives of mere superstition. At 
 present the Jews do not know what si- 
 new this was, nor even which thigh it 
 was in ; and the etTect of this uncertain- 
 ty is, that they judge it necessary to ab- 
 stain from both the hind-quarters, lest 
 they should inadvertently eat the inter- 
 dicted sinew. They sell those parts to 
 Christians. 
 
 Remarks. We are taught by the 
 preceding narrative, (1) That great trials 
 often befal the people of God when vi the 
 waif of commajided duty. God had com- 
 manded Jacob to enter upon this jour- 
 ney, and had promised to be with him ; 
 yet what ' fightings without and fears 
 within' Came upon him while going for- 
 ward in the way of duty. True, indeed, 
 the gathering clouds, which seemed to 
 threaten a furious storm, were all gra- 
 ciously dispelled, and succeeded by a 
 delightful sunshine and calm ; yet for the 
 time being he was brought into sore dis- 
 tress, and prompted to say, as he did on 
 a subsequent occasion, ' All these things 
 are against me.' So we are not to in- 
 fer that because we are walking in the 
 path which our Heavenly Father points 
 out to us, we may therefore promise 
 ourselves exemption from afflictive tri- 
 als. Indeed, it is not unusual for God 
 to assume most of the character of an 
 enemy towards his children when they 
 are already reduced to the greatest ex- 
 tremities and dangers. It was at such 
 a crisis that the Most High appeared to 
 Jacob as an antagonist, and wrestled 
 with him as if with the most hostile in- 
 tentions. And when did the Saviour 
 himself more bitterly mourn the hidings 
 of his Father's countenance, than at the 
 very time when delivered into the hands 
 of his enemies, and made to feel the 
 pangs of crucifixion ? Let it not be 
 thought strange, then, that our severest 
 outward sufferings should be aggravated 
 by a sense of the divine desertion, even 
 though we may be unconscious of hav- 
 ing wandered from God, or of haying 
 
 particularhi offended him. We may be 
 broken with breach upon breach ; one 
 wave of trouble after another may roll 
 over us ; yet let us not sink in dis- 
 couragement or despair. Let us learn 
 from the cope of Jacob that the most 
 signal mercy may be intended for us, 
 even when every thing around us wears 
 the darkest aspect. 
 
 (2.) The surest leai/ of prevailing with 
 7nan is to prevail with God. It was thus 
 that Jacob obtained the pledge of pre- 
 vailing with his brother. Notwithstand 
 ing the formidable aTray in which Esau 
 came against him, yet, having like a 
 prince prevailed with God, he thereby 
 virtually disarmed and vanquished his 
 menacing adversary. This is, in fact, 
 the grand secret of like success in all 
 cases. What is all human power ? It 
 is entirely at the disposal of God, and at 
 our own, so fiar as by prayer we enlist 
 omnipotence in our behalf. We look 
 abroad, and behold the dangers that 
 threaten ourselves or the church of 
 God ; the enemy coming in like a flood, 
 and our hearts perhaps filled and failing 
 with trepidation. Let us betake our- 
 selves to our closets, and wrestle in fer- 
 vent prayer with Goil, who has the 
 spirits of all flesh under his control. Let 
 us have truly the faith and fervency of 
 wrestling Jacobs, and we may come forth 
 and conclude the work is done. These 
 earnest agonizing supplications, coupled 
 with a uniformly meek and blameless 
 deportment, will assuredly give us the 
 mastery in the end over all opposition, 
 and crown us with the honors o( prevail' 
 ing Israels. 
 
 (3.) Prevailing atlast wiU recompense all 
 our striving. Jacob continued long in 
 wrestling, even xmtil the dawn of 
 day, and perhaps was at times prompted 
 to give over the contest. But how rich- 
 ly did the mercy repay his perseve 
 ranee ! lie then saw what he would 
 have lost had he not vigorously held 
 out to the end. So with us. The bles- 
 sing obtained will pay for all our toil. 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXLII. 
 
 179 
 
 CHAP. XXXin. : their children foremost, and Leah 
 
 AND Jacob lifted up his eyes, ; and her children after, and Rachel 
 and looked, and behold, * Esau | and Joseph hindennost. 
 came, and with him four hundred | 3 And he passed over before 
 men. And he divided the children i them, and ^ bowed himself to the 
 
 unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and 
 unto the two handmaids. 
 
 2 And he put the handmaids and 
 a ch. 32. G. 
 
 CHAP. XXXIII. 
 The chapter before us describes the 
 meeting between the brothers, in refer- 
 ence to which the events related in the 
 preceding chapter tended to create a 
 deep anxiety. But as we there saw how 
 Jacob had power with God, we here 
 discern how he had power with man, 
 according to the promise, ch, 32. 28. 
 He who by a touch di.sjointed Jacob's 
 thigh, could, by a word, have scattered 
 Esau's host^. But we are called to 
 witness a more signal interposition of 
 lieaven. He who has the hearts of ail 
 men in his hand, and turns them as the 
 rivers of water are turned, accompanies 
 and blesses, by his secret, softening 
 influences, the conciliatory measures 
 of Jacob, and fills the alienated heart of 
 Esau with kind and brotherly feelings. 
 How different a result from that which 
 we at first anticipated ! They meet, 
 ihey converse, they love as brethren ! 
 We can only express our admiration at 
 the wonderful power and goodness 
 which thus wrought effectually in the 
 heart of an angry man, converting his 
 long-harbored hatred towards Jacob into 
 the most sincere and tender affection. 
 Instead of an angry and hostile encoun- 
 ter we behold a contention of kindness ! 
 All revengeful sentiments, all cruel pur- 
 poses melted away in the endearments 
 of fraternal love I Let the proud and 
 the vindictive contemplate this delight- 
 ful scene, and say whether it be possible 
 for any gratification of private resent- 
 ment, any triumph of maUcious passion, 
 to yield such pure satisfaction, such hal- 
 
 ground seven times, until he came 
 near to his brother. 
 
 b ch. 18. 2. & 42. 6. &c 43. 26. 
 
 lowed joy, as that which fiUed the bo- 
 soms of these now reconciled brethren. 
 1. And Jacob lifted up his eyes, &c. 
 With what emotions he had before 
 looked forward to the interview, we 
 learn from the preceding chapter, v. 7, 
 where we are told that even at the bare 
 mention of Esau's threatened visit he 
 was 'greatly afraid and distressed.' 
 But now, as the historian relates, ' he 
 looked, and behold, Esau came, and 
 with him four hundred men,' but not a 
 word of his fear. Pie was now suffi- 
 ciendy strong in faith to say with the 
 Psalmist, 'Though an host should en- 
 camp against me, yet will I not be 
 afraid.' He no longer trembled at the 
 issue, and yet we find that he omitted 
 none of those wise precautions which, 
 before receiving the tokens of the di- 
 vine blessing, he had determined to 
 adopt. With the most wary poHcy he 
 carries all his measures into effect. 
 f Handmaids. Chal. 'Concubines,' as 
 one of them is called Gen. 35. 22. 
 
 I 2. Rachel and Joseph hindermost. As 
 these were the most dear to him, he 
 
 : stationed them at the point of apparently 
 
 ' the least danger. Or it may be that he 
 purposed to reserve his choicest trea- 
 sure to the last, and exhibit his beautiful 
 Rachel and his favorite Joseph, after 
 Esau had seen all the rest, in order to 
 make the deeper impression on his 
 
 i mind. 
 
 j 3. Bowed himself to the ground seven 
 times ; i. e. many times ; a definite num- 
 ber for an indefinite. See note on Gen. 
 31. 7. Thus, 1 Sam. 2. 5, ' The barren 
 
180 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B.C. 17.39. 
 
 4 •' And Esau ran to meet him, 
 and embraced him, ^ and fell on his 
 neck, and kissed him: and they 
 wept. 
 
 5 And he lifted up his eyes, and 
 
 c ch. 32. 28. ^ ch. 45. 14, 15. 
 
 hath borne seven ;' i. e. many. Prov. 26. 
 27, ' Believe him not, for there are seven 
 abominations in his heart ;' i. e. a great 
 many. Ps. 119. 164, ' Seven times a day 
 do I praise thee ;' i. e. many times. ' This 
 seems to mean that Jacob, on approach- 
 ing his brother, stopped at intervals 
 and bowed, and then advanced and 
 bowed again, until the seventh bow 
 brought him near to his brother. This 
 was a mark of profound respect ; nor 
 need we suppose there was any simula- 
 tion of humiUty in it, for it was, and is, 
 customary for elder brothers to be treat- 
 ed by the younger with great respect 
 in the East. A similar method of indi- 
 cating respect is still used in approach- 
 ing the king of Persia, and has been 
 thus described by Colonel Johnson : — 
 'We saw the Idng seated upon his 
 throne, in an upper room, open and sup- 
 ported by pillars. When we came to 
 the end of the walk turning toward and 
 fronting the king, we made two low 
 bows, as did also the minister, whose 
 motions we observed and repeated ; then 
 advancing to the first cross-walk, we 
 made another bow ; proceeding thence 
 until we arrived within about fifty yards 
 of the building, we again halted and 
 made two bows. Here we took oflfand 
 left our slippers, and walked in the cloth 
 boots to another turning, and bowed 
 again. We now came to a small door, 
 from which a flight of steps led up to 
 the open room. These were covered 
 •with blue glazed tiles. At the head of 
 the stairs was the door of the king's 
 sitting-room, on advancing to which, 
 fronting the king, we made two bows, 
 rather low, and severally entered the 
 room, keeping close to the w^ill on the 
 left. When we had taken our stations 
 
 saw the women and the children, 
 and said, Who are those with thee? 
 And he said, The children « which 
 God hath graciously given thy ser- 
 vant. 
 
 e ch. 48. 9. Ps. 127. 3. Isai. 8. 18. 
 
 here, we each made a very low bow, 
 and ranged ourselves standing.' (Jour- 
 ney from India to England, p. 166.) 
 Here there were six pauses and nine 
 bows : the number of both diminishes 
 with the increase of rank in the person 
 admitted to an audience.' Pict. Bible. 
 
 4. FtU on his neck, and kissed him, &c. 
 How remarkable the issue of this long- 
 anticipated trouble ! What a dehghtful 
 termination to all Jacob's anxieties and 
 fears ! And how much in it to instruct, 
 to encourage, and to estabhsh the Chris- 
 tian ! Who of this class cannot sympa- 
 thize in Jacob's apprehensions and in Ja- 
 cob's dehverance ? Have we never 
 beheld at a distance some calamity or 
 trial, the approach of which was so ap- 
 palling that we scarce dared to realize it, 
 and yet so certain that we knew it to 
 be inevitable ? And have not our faith- 
 less hearts almost persuaded us that it 
 was in vain even to pray against it; 
 that it was ' hoping against hope' to ex- 
 pect deliverance ? And yet how often 
 has the event been mercifully overruled, 
 and the cloud, apparently black with 
 overwhelming tempest, made to burst 
 in blessings on our heads ! If so, why 
 should not the review of the past fortify 
 us against all gloomy forebodings of the 
 future ? 
 
 5. Who are these with thee 1 Heb. 
 Tb nbii '^/2 fni elleh lak, who are tliese to 
 thee 7 i. e. in what relation do they 
 
 stand to thee ? ^ And he said, The 
 
 children, &c. As Esau's question had 
 respect not to the children only, but to 
 the women also, it is but fair to include 
 bolh in the import of Jacob's answer. 
 As in Gen. 29. 3, ' flocks' does by impli- 
 cation include 'shepherds,' so here, in 
 like manner, 'children' virtuallyincludes 
 
B. C. 1739.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 181 
 
 6 Then the handmaidens came 
 near, they and their children, and 
 they bowed themselves. 
 
 7 And Leah also with her chil- 
 dren came near, and bowed them- 
 selves ; and after came Joseph near 
 and Rachel, and they bowed them- 
 selves. 
 
 ' women,' or ' wives.' We cannot fail to 
 notice in this reply Jacob's habitual re- 
 cognition of the hand of God in the or- 
 dinary concerns of life. He acknow- 
 ledges that God had not only given, but 
 graciously given, him all the children 
 which now stood before his brother. It 
 is one of the signal effects of a truly de- 
 vout spirit to discern the present direct 
 operation of divine power and goodness, 
 where the mass of men discover only 
 the working of the established laws of 
 nature. 
 
 6. The hand-maidens came near — and 
 lowed themselves. One cannot help ob- 
 serving how strikingly the deportment 
 of Jacob's family was in unison with his 
 own. Thus Esau would perceive that 
 all his brother's people, as well as him- 
 self, were ready to do him reverence. 
 Had any of them failed in this respect, 
 it might have counteracted all the good 
 effects of his own ingratiating conduct. 
 How happy is it when the example of 
 the head of a family is w-orthy to be 
 followed, and is followed I Had Esau 
 been possessed of Jacob's spirit, he 
 could hardly have refrained from say- 
 ing, when the companies thus present- 
 ed themselves, 'The Lord be gracious 
 unto you, ray children !' But Esau ap- 
 pears to have been less susceptible to 
 those more refined emotions, those cour- 
 tesies of the Spirit ; and we may rejoice 
 that his reception of them was as kind 
 as it was. We often have occasion to 
 be thankful for civiUties, where we find 
 nothing like religion. 
 
 7. And after came Joseph near and Ra- 
 chel. In the former clause Leah is 
 mentioned before her children, but here 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 8 And he said. What meanest 
 thou by <■ all this drove which I met 1 
 And he said, These are ^ to find 
 grace in the sight of my lord. 
 
 9 And Esau said, 1 have enough, 
 my brother; keep that thou hast 
 unto thyself. 
 
 fch. 32. IG. gch. 32. 5. 
 
 Joseph is named before Rachel, to indi- 
 cate the high place which he held in his 
 father's affections. 
 
 8. What meanest thou by all this drove, 
 &c. Heb. )r\^V\ n:n:on ^5 "^b "^"^ mileUa 
 kol hammahaneh hazzeh, what (is) all this 
 camp to thee? — alluding to the drove 
 which had been sent on before, and 
 which, with its drivers, seemed like 
 the entire encampment of a nomade fa- 
 mily. The answer is, ' To find grace 
 in the sight of my lord.' This would 
 express how high a value he set upon 
 his favor, and how much he desired to 
 be reconciled to him. Of course nothing 
 would more directly tend to conciliate 
 him. The title, ' my lord,' with which 
 he salutes him, and which he studiously 
 repeats in the following conversation, 
 was no doubt more efficacious than the 
 present itself, in winning his heart. It 
 would go to satisfy him that his object 
 was not to claim that kind of pre-emi- 
 nence upon which he himself appears 
 to have set so high a price, as it teaches 
 us the propriety of conceding all that we 
 can to others for the sake of making or 
 preserving peace, and smoothing the in- 
 tercourse of life. The Christian's in- 
 heritance will leave him riches enough, 
 and his prerogatives honor enough, af- 
 ter all the abatements that his generosi- 
 ty prompts him to make. 
 
 9. Keep that thou hast unto thyself. 
 Heb. 'lb 'I — i^ 'lb '^n'' y<^hi leka asher 
 lak, let that he to thee which is thine. Chal. 
 ' Much good may it do thee, that which 
 is thine.' No doubt a high spirit of in- 
 dependence breathed through this an- 
 swer of Esau. Whatever effect Ja- 
 cob's present had had upon him, he 
 
 If) 
 
1«2 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739 
 
 10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray 
 thee, if now I have found grace in 
 thy sight, then receive my present 
 at my hand : for therefore I ^ have 
 seen thy face, as though I had seen 
 the face of God, and thou wast 
 pleased with me. 
 
 11 Take, I pray thee, ^ my bles- 
 sing that is brought to thee ; because 
 God hath dealt graciously with me, 
 
 b ch. 43. 3. 2 Sam. 3. 13. & 14. 24, 2-^, 32. 
 Matt. 18. 10. ' Judg. 1. 15. 1 Sam. 25. 27. 
 & 30. 26. 2 Kings, 5. 15. 
 
 would not be thought to be influenced 
 by any motive of that kind in his treat- 
 ment of the donor ; especially as he pro- 
 fesses to have enough of his own. His 
 possessions were to be earthly and tem- 
 poral, and with them his spirit corres- 
 ponded. 
 
 10. Jacob said, Nay, I pray tliee, Sec. 
 Notwithstanding his refusal, Jacob con- 
 tinues to urge his present upon him, not 
 as if he thought he needed it, but as a 
 token of his good will, and of his desire 
 to be reconciled. He did not, indeed, 
 make use of this terra, nor of any other 
 that might lead to the recollection of 
 their former variance. He did not say 
 that he should consider the acceptance 
 of his present as a proof that he was 
 cordially reconciled to him ; but what 
 he did say, though more delicately ex- 
 pressed, was to the same effect ; and his 
 anxiety on this head will be at once ex- 
 plained by a reference to Eastern cus- 
 toms. ' Not to receive a present, is at 
 once to show that the thing desired will 
 not be granted. Hence, nothing can be 
 more repulsive, nothing more distress- 
 ing, than to return the gifts to the giver. 
 Jacob evidently labored under this im- 
 pression, and therefore pressed his broth- 
 er to receive the gifts, if he had f^und 
 favor in his sight.' Roberts IT There- 
 fore have I seen thy face., &c. We have 
 already given, ch. 32. 24, what we con- 
 ceive to be the true import of these 
 words, and to that explanation we refer 
 the reader. We can understand it only 
 
 and because I have enough : ^ and 
 he urged him, and he took ii. 
 
 12 And he said, Let us take our 
 journey, and let us go, and I will go 
 before thee. 
 
 13 And he said unto him, My 
 lord knoweth that the children are 
 tender, and the flocks and herds 
 with young are with me, and if men 
 should over-drive them one day, all 
 the flock will die. 
 
 ^ 2 Kings 5. 23. 
 
 in allusion to the mystical encountet 
 with the Angel, whose face or person 
 he beheld as the representative of Esau, 
 and in whose propitiousness towards him 
 he read a pledge of Esau's own favora- 
 ble regard. What other sense can be 
 assigned to the expression, ' Thou wast 
 pleased with me,' than that he was 
 pleased in the person who represent- 
 ed him ? Yet it is not necessary to sup- 
 pose that Jacob's language was intelli- 
 gible in its full extent to Esan. 
 
 11. Take my blessing. That is, my 
 gift ; which will be a .source of blessing 
 to thee. From this the usage became 
 common, of denominating a gift, or an 
 act of liberality, 'a blessing.' Thus, 1 
 Sam. 25. 27, ' And now this blessiiig^ 
 which thine handmaid hath brought;' 
 i. e. this gift. 2 Kings 5. 15, ' Now, 
 therefore, I pray thee,»take a blessing 
 of thy servant ' 2 Cor. 9- 5, ' That they 
 would go before unto you, and make up 
 beforehand your bounty.' Gr. ' Your 
 blessing.^ IT I have enough. The ex- 
 pression is rendered in our version in 
 the same way with that of Esau, v. 9, 
 but they differ in the original. Esau 
 says 2"| "1^ "jn yesh li rah, Ihavemuch; 
 but Jacob ^^ lb 'il^'^ ?/<^sh U hoi, I have 
 all. ' Jacob had all, because he had the 
 God of all.' Trapp. 
 
 12, 13. Let us take our journey, &o 
 Esau here proposes to accompany his 
 b'-other through the country, not only in 
 token of his cordial reconciliation, but al- 
 so as a kind of escort or guard to him and 
 
B.C. 1739. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXtit. 
 
 133 
 
 his family. The proposal was doubtless 
 very friendly and very honorable, but 
 Jacob very wisely declines it. We say 
 wiseli/^ for, notwithstanding their present 
 amity, they were so essentially differ- 
 ent in their spirit, habits, manners, and 
 occupations, that in all probability little 
 happiness would have accrued from 
 their intimate association. Esau, as we 
 have seen, was a man of the world, Ja- 
 cob a man of God. Still they were [ 
 brothers, and children of the same pa- j 
 rents ; it was unquestionably their duty j 
 to know, and to love, and to be kindly I 
 affeotioned one towards another ; but j 
 they were not called upon to live in ihej 
 closest bonds of intimacy, to travel in 
 the same road, or to intermingle in the 
 same company. Jacob was therefore 
 discreet in resolutely declining the offer 
 of Esau. He would do better to pursue 
 his journey alone, refusing even the re- ! 
 tinue whh which Esau would have 
 honored him, and which would have ill 
 assorted with the plain and simple man- 
 ners of the patriarch. They might 
 properly embrace for a few moments, 
 or act aflfectionately for a passing hour ; 
 but if they had attempted to sojourn to- 
 gether, the enmity so early planted be- 
 tween the seed of the woman and the 
 seed of the serpent, would in all likeli- 
 hood have broken forth. Esau would 
 once more have hated Jacob, or the 
 spiritually-minded man of God have 
 been drawn from his allegiance by his 
 more worldly-minded brother. The 
 Scriptures are full of examples where 
 the want of such prudence as Jacob 
 now manifested has produced these un- 
 happy effects ; and not the Scriptures 
 only, but the world also, teems with il- 
 lustrations of the same kind. Christians 
 are indeed commanded, in virtue of 
 their holy calling, to ' seek peace and 
 ensue it ;' ' as much as heth in them 
 to Uve peaceably with all men ;' but they 
 are not commanded to unite companies, 
 to contract intimacies, to league them- 
 selves closely with any, but such ' as 
 
 are of the household of faith.' Daily 
 experience demonstrates, by the broken 
 friendships, the unhappy intimacies, and 
 the miserable marriages which abound, 
 the truth of the sacred maxim, that ' two 
 cannot walk together except they be 
 agreed.' Scarcely any thing is more 
 dangerous or entangling to Christians, 
 especially to youthful Christians, than 
 close alliances with those who cannot 
 fully appreciate the motives from which 
 thej'- act ; who can but little sympathize 
 in their hopes and joys, their troubles 
 and fears. From an amiable desire of 
 conciHating the good-will, or perhaps of 
 being useful to those with whom they 
 associate, they are apt to begin by giving 
 up what they consider the non-essentials 
 of religion ; but as they advance they find 
 that one concession makes way for anoth- 
 er, till, partaking with them first in what is 
 indifferent, or perhaps in itself innocent, 
 tliey are gradually led on to things that 
 are inexpedient, and finally to that which 
 is absolutely sinful. Let us watch, then, 
 with ceaseless vigilance, against all un- 
 due compliances of this nature, and, 
 while kind and courteous to all, remem- 
 ber that we are a chosen generation, a 
 peculiar people, a holy priesthood, or- 
 dained to shine as lights in the world, 
 and to benefit it rather by forsaking its 
 
 dominant course than following it. 
 
 IT My lord knoweth that the children are 
 tender. There is no reason to doubl 
 that the motive here alleged by Jacob 
 for declining his brother's invitation 
 was a true and real one, and as such it 
 was strikingly expressive of his gentle- 
 ness as a shepherd and his tenderness 
 as a father. Yet it is not to be ques- 
 tioned that other considerations, which 
 he did not see fit to mention, were prev 
 alent in his own mind against it. We 
 are not required, in accounting to the 
 world for our declining their overtures, 
 to state all the reasons which govern 
 our decisions. It is enough if we can 
 state those wliich will satisfy their judg- 
 ment without offending their self-lovo. 
 
184 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 14 Lot iny lord, I pray thee, pass 
 over before his servant : and I will 
 lead on softly, according as the 
 cattle that goeth before me and the 
 children be able to endure ; until I 
 come unto my lord ^ unto Seir. 
 
 15 And Esau said, Let me now 
 
 1 ch. 32. 3. 
 
 IF With young. The original rilb>> 
 
 cHoth, signifies both those which are 
 ' great with young,' as Ps. 71.71, and 
 those which actually have young, as 1 
 Sam. 6. 7, where the phrase ' milch kine,' 
 is the same as that here rendered ' with 
 
 yotmg.' Chal. ' Giving suck.' IT Are 
 
 with me. Heb. ^ibs? alai, (are) upon me ; 
 i. e. are devolved upon ray care ; their 
 
 welfare rests with me. IT If men 
 
 should over-drive, them, &c. ' Their 
 flocks,' says Chardin, speaking of those 
 who now live in the East after the pa- 
 triarchal manner, ' feed down the places 
 of their encampments so quick, by the 
 great numbers which they have, that 
 they are obliged to remove them too of- 
 ten, which IS very destructive to their 
 flocks, on account of the young ones, 
 which have not strength enough to fol- 
 low.' 
 
 14. I will lead on softly. Heb. 
 ^t25tb nbnsni^ ethnahalah leifti, I luill 
 gently lead — softly; a very emphatic 
 phrase as appHed to the office of a shep- 
 herd, and apparently alluded to in the 
 parallel expression of the prophet, Is. 40. 
 11, speaking of Christ as the great 
 Bishop and Shepherd of souls ; ' He 
 shall feed his flock like a shepherd ; he 
 shall gather the lambs with his arm, 
 and carry them in his bosom, and shall 
 gently lead C^TXl'^ yennehal) those that 
 
 are with young.' IT According as the 
 
 cattle and the children be able to endure. 
 Heb. ' According to the foot of the 
 work — and according to the foot of the 
 children.' That is, according to the 
 pace of the cattle and children, or ac- 
 cording to the rate at which they were 
 
 leave with thee some of the folk 
 that are with me : And he said, 
 What needeth it 1 ™ Let me find 
 grace in the sight of my lord. 
 
 16 IT So Esau returned that day 
 on his way unto Seir. 
 
 °> ch. 34. 11. & 47. 25. Rutli. 2. 13. 
 
 naturally able to go without being un- 
 duly pushed. Gr. 'According to the 
 leisure of the progress .' Cattle are here 
 by a figure of speech called ' work' be- 
 cause they were the objects Gfv>ori, be- 
 cause Jacob's labor was bestowed in 
 feeding and tending them. See Note on 
 ch. 31. 17, 18, where the eastern mode 
 
 of travelUng is fully described. • 
 
 IF Until I come, &c. From which it 
 would seem that he then had the idea 
 of visiting Esau at his residence in 
 Mount Seir ; but we do not learn from 
 his subsequent history that he ever ac- 
 tually fulfilled this intention. He may 
 have been providentially prevented, as 
 Paul was from taking his proposed jour- 
 ney into Spain, Rom. 15. 34. Yet the 
 silence of the sacred writer is not proof 
 positive that the visit was never made. 
 We have no express account of his 
 visiting his father Isaac for several years 
 after his return to Canaan, and yet we 
 cannot but admit a strong presumption 
 that he did, especially as we find Debo- 
 rah, Rebekah's nurse, in Jacob's family 
 at the time of her death, whither she had 
 doubtless been transferred from Isaac's, 
 15i Letme now leave with thee, &c. Heb, 
 n3*2i< atzigah, I will place, station, set. 
 Esau's first proposal being dechned, he 
 next offers to leave a part of his men as 
 an escort or guard to Jacob's company. 
 But this also he respectfully declines, on 
 the ground of its being unnecessary ; 
 adding ' Let me find grace in the sight 
 of my lord,' which is probably tanta- 
 mount to saying, ' Let me have thy fa- 
 vor, and it is all I desire,' Gr. ' It ia 
 enough that I have found grace in thy 
 
B. C. 1739.] 
 
 CHx\PTER XXXIII. 
 
 185 
 
 17 And Jacob journeyed to " Suc- 
 coth, and built him an house, and 
 made booths for his cattle : there- 
 fore the name of the place is called 
 Succoth. 
 
 n Josh. 1 J. 27. 
 
 18 IT And he came to ° Shalem, a 
 city of p Shechem, which is in the 
 land of Canaan, when he came 
 from Padan-aram ; and pitched his 
 tent before the city. 
 John 3. 23. p Josh. 24. 1. Judg. 9. 1. 
 
 sight.' The spirit of piety shrinks from 
 the thought of subjecting friends to un- 
 necessary trouble ; and how little do 
 they need a convoy of creatures who 
 are enabled to assure themselves, with 
 Jacob, of the constant presence and 
 protection of Jehovah ? 
 
 17. Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and 
 built him a house. ' Dr. Boothroyd con- 
 curs in this rendering ; but we consider 
 that the phrase translated ' built him a 
 house,' means no more than that .Tacob 
 erected his tent at this place. We have 
 already indicated the usage of calling a 
 tent a house (note on ch. 27. 15), and 
 we find that Gesenius concurs in the 
 opinion, that the word 'r^p'2 beth certain- 
 ly means a tent in this place. The 
 very name given to the place, which 
 means ' tents' or ' booths,' and the fact 
 that Jacob made no long stay there and 
 never returned, would alone suffice to 
 render it probable that tliis is the true 
 meaning. It seems to be recorded as a 
 singular circumstance, that Jacob erect- 
 ed booths for his catde. His motive 
 does not appear; but it was, and is, 
 unusual in the blast to put the flocks and 
 herds under cover. They remain night 
 and day, winter and summer, in the 
 open air. The number of booths neces- 
 sary for the purpose must have given a 
 singular appearance to his encampment, 
 occasioning the circumstance to be com- 
 memorated in the name given to the 
 spot, and to the town which was built 
 there at a subsequent period. The 
 maps place Succoth south of the Jabbok, 
 in the angle formed by this river and 
 the Jordan, and at a distance nearly 
 equal from either river. It was includ- 
 ed in the territories of the tribe of Gad. 
 The inhabitants provoked Gideon in the 
 16* 
 
 same way as the men of Penuel had 
 done, and in revenge he, on his re- 
 turn, ' tore the flesh' of the principal 
 persons of the town with thorns and 
 briars. The Jews say that the name of 
 Darala was given to Succoth at some 
 subsequent period.' Pict- Bible. 
 
 18. And Jacob came to Shalem. ITeb. 
 Cb'J shalem. It so happens that the 
 original word is the same with that sig- 
 nifying well, whole, safe, in peace ; and con- 
 sequenUy it is so rendered by the Chal. 
 and several of the other ancient versions, 
 implying that Jacob arrived at Sechem 
 safe and unharmed as it respected his 
 apprehended danger from Esau. The 
 Gr., on the other hand, renders the pas- 
 sage like the Eng. version, as the name 
 of a city. It might possibly have been 
 the place afterwards called Salim, near 
 Enon, where John baptized, John 3. 
 23 ; but as there is a difficulty in under- 
 standing how this could be called ' a city 
 of Shechem,' the weight of opinion 
 among commentators preponderates in 
 favor of the former rendering ; and in 
 this we on the whole concur. This ren- 
 dering also gives additional propriety 
 and force to the phrase ' when he came 
 from Padan-aram.' It is a declaration 
 to the honor of him who had said, ' Be- 
 hold, I am with thee, and will keep thee 
 in all places whither thou goest, and 
 will bring thee again into this land.' 
 He arrived in peace at his journey's end, 
 notwithstanding all the difficulties and 
 dangers which had threatened him in 
 the way. It would seem that Jacob's 
 original intention was to have passed 
 round the Dead Sea, through the prov- 
 ince of Seir, the country of Esau, with- 
 out crossing the Jordan, perhaps with a 
 view to return to Beer-sheba, the resi- 
 
186 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1739. 
 
 19 And ' he bought a parcel of a 
 field, where he had spread his tent, 
 at the hand of the children of Ha- 
 
 q Josh. 24, 3-2. John 4. 5. 
 
 dence of Isaac ; though even in that 
 case his route was extremely circuitous ; 
 but, for reasons not disclosed, he sudden- 
 ly altered his course, and passing the 
 Jordan, penetrated at once into the 
 land of Canaan. 
 
 19. And he bought a parcel of afield. 
 Or, as the Heb. might with equal pro- 
 priety be rendered, ' a portion of the 
 country.' This field, it seems. Gen. 4S. 
 22, was taken from him by the Amor- 
 ites, and he was under the necessity of 
 recovering it 'by his sword and his 
 bow ;' after accomplishing which he be- 
 queathed it to his son Joseph. The 
 transaction has doubdess something of 
 a singular air, as the whole land was 
 made over to Abraham and his descen- 
 dants by promise ; but he probably 
 made the purchase under the influence 
 of the same motives which governed 
 Abraham himself in purchasing the field 
 and cave of Machpelah, viz. as a pledge 
 of his faith in the future possession of 
 the land. Nor is the remark of Fuller 
 on this passage without weight ; ' I have 
 sometimes thought that this parcel of 
 ground might be designed to exhibit a 
 specimen of the whole land of Canaan. 
 When the Most liigh divided to the na- 
 tions their inheritance, Deut. 32. 8, he 
 marked out an allotment for the children 
 of Israel; but the Canaanites taking 
 possession, of it were obliged to be dis- 
 possessed by the rightful owners with the 
 
 sword and the bow.' H Forahiindred 
 
 pieces of money. Heb. rit2"'JL"p kesilah, 
 lamb, but here to be rendered in the 
 plur. 'lambs,' by which is probably 
 meant a kind of coin with the image of 
 a lamb stamped upon it. The phrase 
 is entirely similar to the usage among 
 ourselves when we speak of ' a hundred 
 eagles;' meaning thereby a hundred 
 
 mor, Shechem's father, for a hun- 
 dred pieces of money. 
 
 20 And he erected there an altar, 
 and ' called it El-Elohe-Israel. 
 r ch. 35. 7. 
 
 pieces of the coin so denominated. ' The 
 primitive race of men being shepherds, 
 and their wealth consisting in their cat- 
 de, in which Abraham is said to have 
 been rich, for greater convenience me- 
 tals were substituted for the commodity 
 itself. It was natural for the represen- 
 tative sign to bear impressed the object 
 which it represented ; and thus, accord- 
 ingly, the earliest coins were stamped 
 with the figure of an ox or a sheep.' 
 Maurice Ltd- Antiquities. Thus the an- 
 cient Athenians had a coin called Povs 
 ox, because it was stamped with the 
 image of an ox. Hence the saying in 
 ^Eschylus, Agam. v. 30, 'I must be si- 
 lent concerning other matters ; a great 
 ox walks upon my tongue ;' impljang 
 that he had received a bribe for secrecy. 
 Thus, too, the Latin word for moneri, pe- 
 cunia, is derived from pecus, cattle, from 
 the image stamped upon it. The cus- 
 tom no doubt arose from the fact that 
 in primitive times the coin was the or- 
 dinary value of the animal whose image 
 it bore. 
 
 20. Erected there an altar, and called 
 it El-Elohe Israel. That is, ' God, the 
 God of Israel.' Having at length fixed 
 upon a place of a somewhat permanent 
 residence, the patriarch, after the pious 
 example of Abraham and Isaac, again 
 establishes the public worship of God. 
 For although we must believe that wher- 
 ever they were they were strict in the 
 discharge of the more private duties of re- 
 ligion, yet they seem to have felt them- 
 selves called to a more open and formal 
 recognition of Jehovah in all cases where 
 a moro fixed abode rendered it practica- 
 ble. This was important, not only in or- 
 der to preserve the leaven of piety in his 
 family, which might otherwise be in 
 danger of relapsing into the general 
 
C. C. 1732.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 187 
 
 A 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. 
 
 ND ^ Dinah, the daughter of 
 Leah, which she bare unto Ja- 
 
 a ch. 30. 21. 
 
 heathenism, but also to testify most ef- 
 fectually against the corrupt systems of 
 worship by which he was surrounded. 
 Though the ShecUemites and the neigh- 
 boring nations doubtless had altars, yet 
 Jacob refused to worship upon them, 
 and by setting up one of his own, dis- 
 tinctly proclaimed that he acknowledged 
 and served another God, and would have 
 no fellowship with their vile idolatries. 
 This was a conduct worthy of the pi- 
 ous patriarch after the many signal 
 deliverances he had experienced. It 
 was a kind of preliminary dedication of 
 the land of promise to God.' It was as 
 if he had taken possession of it in the 
 name of the God of Israel, by setting up 
 his standard in it, and said, ' Whenever 
 this whole country shall come into the 
 hands of my posterity, let it in this man- 
 ner be devoted to God. It is the first 
 time also, in which he is represented as 
 availing himself of his new name, and of 
 the covenant blessing conferred upon him 
 under it. The name given to the altar 
 was no doubt designed to be a memorial 
 of both ; and whenever he should pre- 
 sent his offerings upon it, it would tend 
 to revive all th jse sentiments which he 
 had felt when wrestling wilii GodatPe- 
 niel. In like manner it were well for 
 us if every important event in our lives 
 were distinguished by renewed resig- 
 nations of ourselves to God. Such times 
 and places would serve as memorials of 
 mercy, and enable us to recover those 
 thoughts and feelings which we e.Ype- 
 rienced in our happiest days. 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. 
 The arrival of Jacob, after an absence 
 of more than twenty years, in the land 
 of Canaan, promised fair for a holy and 
 iiappy residence in it. A guardian pro- 
 vidence had protected and delivered 
 
 cob, b went out to see the daugJiters 
 of the land. 
 
 » Tit. 2. 5. 
 
 him from his avowed enemies, from La- 
 ban, and from Esau. He had purchased 
 an estate, he liad spread his tent, he had 
 erected his altar, and apparently his 
 ' mountain stood strong.' But alas ! the 
 removal of foreign troubles is quickly 
 succeeded by domestic ones ; and we 
 are called to contemplate the patriarch 
 under a greater affliction than any of 
 which the record has heretofore been 
 given. His only daughter, prompted 
 by female vanity, curiosity, or some 
 other motive equally censurable, ven- 
 tures unattended beyond the verge of 
 parental superintendance, and falls a 
 victim to her temerity ! But it was not 
 only the blighted innocence and blasteil 
 character of Dinah that made the heart 
 of Jacob to bleed. A wound, no less 
 deep, was inflicted by the treachery and 
 the barbarity of his sons Levi and Sim- 
 eon, in tlie execution of their bloody 
 purpose of revenge. Surely the waters 
 of a full cup are wrung out to the aged 
 patriarch. The lives of few men on re- 
 cord present a greater complication of 
 distress than fell to the lot of Jacob. 
 As a son, a servant, a husband, a fatlier, 
 in youth, in manhood, in old age, he is 
 unremittingly afflicted. Xo sooner is 
 one difficulty surmounted, one woe 
 past, than another and a greater over- 
 takes him. How justly and how affec- 
 tingly does the poor old man at last clo.se 
 the bitter recapitulation of his misfor- 
 tunes by saying, ' All these things are 
 against me !' But we come to the con 
 sideration of the details. 
 
 1. And Dinah — went out to see the 
 daughters of the land. Gr. KarajiaQtiv 
 to knouj, learn, her.ome acquainted with , 
 in other words, to observe their man 
 ners, customs, and fashions. Josepluiv 
 in speaking of this event says, ' Now a* 
 the Shechemites were keeping a festi- 
 
188 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [13. C. 1732. 
 
 2 And when Shechem the son of 
 Hamor the Hivite, prince of the 
 country, •= saw her, he '^ took her, 
 and lay with her, and defiled her. 
 
 ch. 6. 2. Judg. ]4. 1. 
 
 d ch. 20. 2. 
 
 val, Dinah went into the city to see the 
 finery of the women of the country.' 
 This may possibly have been the occa- 
 sion of her going out, but from Scriptu- 
 ral usage we rather infer that the words 
 imply not a single ir^tance of going out, 
 but that she did it repeatedly, that she 
 was in the habit of going out. On these 
 visits she had attracted the notice of 
 Shechem, who, by often seeing and 
 meeting with her, had at length con- 
 ceived a passion for her, which he was 
 led to abuse to the vilest purposes. The 
 circumstances must have been peculiar 
 indeed, to lead to such a result on a first 
 interview, especially when we consider 
 what is said of Shechem's subsequent 
 attachment. A sudden deed of violence 
 of this kind would be but little apt to 
 give rise to a genuine and permanent 
 affection, and yet such an affection he 
 appears to liave entertained for Dinah. 
 If our view of the matter be correct, 
 the evil had not been one of sudden 
 but of gradual, and perhaps scarcely 
 perceptible growth ; and it affords 
 a melancholy illustration of the truth, 
 that in relation to morals there are 
 scarcely any actions that are triflmg 
 and insignificant. The greatest private 
 and public calamities, when traced up 
 to their proper source, are often found 
 to commence in some little error, inad- 
 vertence, or folly, which at the time 
 may have been overlooked or neglected, 
 "^'et nothing is trifling that is fraught 
 with momentous consequences ; and it 
 is no doubt true, that from the first trans- 
 gression down to the present day, female 
 disgrace and ruin have, in thousands of 
 instances, begun in the seemingly harm- 
 less desire to see and to be seen. It 
 was to the gratification of the vain and 
 idle wish to see something new that 
 
 3 And his soul clave unto Dinah 
 the daughter of Jacob, and he loved 
 the damsel, and spake kindly unto 
 the damsel. 
 
 Dinah fell a sacrifice. Her curiosity 
 was indulged at the expence of her vir- 
 tue and her peace. Nor at this time is 
 the danger to female innocence from 
 this source at all diminished. Tiie on- 
 ly wisdom is in keeping within the 
 bounds of due restraint. Let the habit 
 be formed of lightly forsaking the sanc- 
 tuary of home, and human foresight can- 
 not set limits to the possible or probable 
 consequences. Many a broken heart, 
 and many a weeping family, bear wit- 
 ness to the perils of going heedlessly be- 
 yond the bounds of the tutelary influ- 
 ences of a mother's eye, or a father's 
 or brother's care. — The events related 
 in this chapter could not have happened 
 till Jacob had lived six or seven years in 
 the neighborhood of Shechem ; for in a 
 less time than this the two brothers could 
 not have arrived at man's estate, nor 
 Dinah herself have attained a marriage- 
 able age. 
 
 2. When Shechem the son of Hamor, 
 &c. His being the prince, or the son of 
 the prince, of the country, no doubt 
 gave him advantages for accomplishing 
 his purpose, of which he did not fad to 
 avail himself In the eyes of an artless, 
 inexperienced girl, professions coming 
 from such a source would have more 
 effect, and, unhappily, men of rank and 
 opulence are too apt to think themselves 
 entided to do any thing to which their 
 
 inclination prompts them. IT Defiled 
 
 her. Heb. Hi^'^ yaenneh, humbled her ; 
 a word similarly applied elsewhere, as 
 Deut. 21. 14. Judg. 19. 24. 2 Sam. 13. 
 12, 14. Ezek. 22. 10, 11. 
 
 3, 4. And his soul clave unto Dinah, 
 &c. The possession of its object, in- 
 stead of extinguishing, served but to 
 increase the passion of Shechem ; and 
 though his proposal of honorable mar- 
 
B. C. 1732.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 189 
 
 4 And Shechcm e spake unto his 
 father Hamor, saying, Get me this 
 damsel to wife. 
 
 5 And Jacob heard that he had 
 defiled Dinah his daughter : now 
 his sons were with his cattle in the 
 
 e Judg. 14. 2. 
 
 riage did not wipe away the stain of 
 guilt from his character as a seducer, yet 
 it was not only soothing to her, but 
 tended in some degree to repair the 
 wrong done to her and to her family. 
 Indeed, if we except the leading step in 
 this transaction, the conduct of the 
 young prince was generous and noble 
 throughout, and such as loudly to re- 
 prove the cool, cruel, remorseless se- 
 ducers of a christian age, who often 
 leave the hapless victim of their arti- 
 fices to shame, wretchedness, and de- 
 spair. Still the sequel shows that no- 
 thing could retrieve the mischief of the 
 first false step. That which was done 
 last ought to have been first; and be- 
 cause it was not, the delinquent must 
 suffer. A willingness to make amends 
 for sin will not avert its legitimate con- 
 sequences. ^ Spake kindly unto the 
 
 damsel. Heb ^^ ^^^j ^,'ZI'^ yedahher al 
 leb, speak to the heart ; i.e. spake in a 
 manner calculated to soothe, comfort, 
 and console ; Chal. ' Spake consolations 
 to the heart.' Vulg. ' Comforted her 
 with sweet words.' Thus, Is. 40. 2, 
 ' Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.' 
 Ileb. ' Speak to the heart of Hos. 2. 
 14, ' I will allure her into the wilderness, 
 and speak comfortably to her.' Heb. 
 * Speak to her heart.' So where in the 
 Gr. of John 11. 19, it is said that 'many 
 of the Jews came to Martha and Mary 
 to comfort them concerning their bro- 
 ther,' the Syr. renders it ' came to speak 
 vnth their hearts concerning their bro- 
 ther.' IT Get me this damsel to wife. 
 
 From this it appears that even among 
 the heathen of that period children were 
 in the habit of consulting their parents 
 in reference to the choice of a wife. 
 
 field : and Jacob ^ held his peace 
 until they were come. 
 
 6 IT And Hamor the father of 
 Shechem went ont unto Jacob to 
 commune with him. 
 
 7 And the sons of Jacob came 
 
 f 1 Sam. 10. 27. 2 Sam. 13. 22. 
 
 5. And Jacob heard, &c. The news 
 of his daughter's dishonor and detention 
 soon reached the ears of Jacob, and as 
 a father and a saint he could not but 
 feel deeply ; yet we are told that he 
 ' held his peace, till his sons returned ; 
 by which is meant, not that he was en- 
 tirely silent, saying nothing about it in 
 his family, which would be inconceiv- 
 able under the circumstances, but that 
 he took no measures in respect to it, he 
 forbore all action. This is the sense of 
 the original term in several other pas- 
 sages, denoting rather a refraitiing from 
 action than from utterance, equivalent to 
 remaining still, quiet, inert. Thus, Ex. 
 14. 14, ' The Lord shall fight for 3'ou, 
 and jeshalUiold your peace (tTI^^Inn) j' 
 i. e. be quiet. 2 Kings 19. 11, ' Why are 
 ije the la.U (S"i"i;"i"in';) to bring the king 
 back from his house ?' i. e. why are ye 
 remiss or negligent in bringing, &c. Ps. 
 83. 1, ' Keep not thou silence, O God ; 
 hold not thy peace ("Jinn b'HO, and be 
 not still, O God ;' i. e. do not forbear to 
 act. Ps. 50. 3, ' Our God shall come and 
 shall 710^ keep silence ("J"in"' bi<) ;' i- o. 
 shall not remain inactive. But Jacob did 
 not foresee the issue, or he would pro- 
 bably have taken the affair into his own 
 hands, and acted upon it at once. As it 
 wasjhovvever, he did better in thus 'ruling 
 his spirit' than did his sons who took the 
 
 city. Prov. 16. 32. IF His sons were 
 
 with his cattle in the field. Probably at 
 the distance of one or two days' journey, 
 as it was then customary to take a wide 
 range in the pasturage of cattle, and as 
 we have seen before, field is synony- 
 mous with extensive tract of country. 
 
 6, 7. And Hamor went out, &c. Ac- 
 companied by his son Shechem, as ap- 
 
190 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1732. 
 
 out of the tield when they heard it : 
 and the men were grieved, and they 
 2 were very wroth, because he ^ liad 
 
 g ch. 49. 7. 
 Judg. 20. 6. 
 
 2Sam. 13. 21. b Josh. 7. 15. 
 
 pears from v. 11. It had been well if 
 he and Jacob had seuled it, and this to 
 all appearance they might have done, 
 had it not been for the sudden return of 
 the young men, wlio seem to have come 
 upon the parties, all glowing with re- 
 sentment, while they were engaged in 
 the negotiation. This was unfortunate. 
 Had Jacob and Hamor conversed the 
 matter over by themselves, or Jacob 
 and his sons by themselves, their anger 
 might have been abated, and the whole 
 affair perhaps amicably adjusted. But 
 all meeting together, the expression of 
 their inward feelings in their full force 
 was suppressed ; and such feelings 
 when suppressed, like the subterranean 
 fires, will find some outlet, and most 
 commonly issue in a fearful explosion. 
 Such was the case in the present in- 
 stance. Though the young men said 
 but little, yet a deep smothered indig- 
 nation is implied in the words which 
 
 describe their emotions. IT Were 
 
 grieved. Heb. in^l^ri*^ yithatzebu, vex- 
 ed, pained, afflicted. Gr. Karavvyrjaav, 
 were pricked in their hearts ; the same 
 word that occurs Acts 2. 37, ' When 
 they heard this they were pricked 
 (KaTEvvyriaav) in their hearts, and said 
 unto Peter,' &c., though, of course, the 
 nature of the feelings in the two cases 
 was not the same, the hearts of the one 
 class being pierced with resentment, of 
 the other with compunction. ^ Be- 
 cause he had wrought folly in Israel. Ra- 
 ther, ' Because folly had been wrought 
 in Israel ;' the active for the passive, an 
 idiom already explained. See Note on 
 Gen. IG. 14. This is the first instance 
 on record where the family of Jacob is 
 designated by the distinguished patro- 
 nymic title of 'Israel,' which after- 
 wards became the dominant appellation 
 
 wrought folly in Israel, in lying with 
 Jacob's daughter; > which thing 
 ought not to be done. 
 
 i DeiU. 23. 17. 2 Sam. 13. 12. 
 
 of his posterity. The word 'folly' in 
 Scriptural usage, implies not so much 
 a conduct marked by stupidity, simplici- 
 ty, or weakness of intellect, as an act, 
 or series of actions, of shameless turpi- 
 tude committed against the Divine pre- 
 cept, attended with scandal and perpe- 
 trated with a reckless indifference to 
 consequences. The ' fool' of the Scrip- 
 tures, therefore, is not by interpretation 
 a simpleton, but a si7iner ; and 'folly,' 
 instead of mental infirmity, is moral delin- 
 quency, and that of an aggravated char- 
 acter. This remark should be especial- 
 ly borne in mind in reading the book of 
 Proverbs. It is not unlikely that from 
 the present example the phraseology 
 here employed became pro\'^rbially ap- 
 plied to express the same sinful conduct. 
 Thus Tamar replied to her brother 
 Amnon, 2 Sam. 13. 12, 'Nay, my bro- 
 ther, for no such thing ought to be done 
 in Israel: do not thou this/o%. Thou 
 shalt be as one of the fools in Israel !' 
 Deut. 22. 21, ' They shall stone her with 
 stones that she die ; because she hath 
 wrought folly in Israel.' It cannot be 
 doubted that there was cause for great 
 displeasure ; and provided it had been 
 directed against the sin, frankly avowed, 
 and kept within due limits, great dis- 
 pleasure ought to have been manifested. 
 To take advantage of a thoughtless, un- 
 protected female, and consummate her 
 ruin, was inexpressibly base. It was 
 destroying the happiness not of one indi- 
 vidual only, but of a whole family 
 That her seducer endeavored afterwards 
 to repair the wrong, is true ; but, as in 
 all similar cases, the injury was abso- 
 lutely irreparable ; and therefore we do 
 not wonder that it excited a deep re- 
 sentment in the breasts of her dishonor- 
 ed relatives. But their resentment was 
 
8. C. 1732.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 191 
 
 8 And Hamor communed with us, and take our daughters unto 
 
 them, saying, The soul of my son 
 Shechem longeth for your daugh- 
 ter : I pray you give her him to 
 wife. 
 
 9 And make ye marriages with 
 us, and give your daughters unto 
 
 faulty in assuming the cliaracter of a 
 
 you. 
 
 10 And ye shall dwell with us : 
 and ^ the land shall be before you : 
 dwell and ' trade ye therein, and 
 "' get you possessions therein. 
 
 k ch. 13. 9. & 20. 15. 1 ell. 42. 34. 
 ■n ch. 47. 27. 
 
 thought of passing any censure or pen- 
 
 bloody vindictiveness. It was proper i alty upon the offender, nor is a word of 
 that they should be ^riei-gfi; it was not apology or regret expressed to Jaco'^ 
 unnatural that they should be xoroth ; on the score of what had happened. 
 
 and it was much to their honor that they 
 were disposed to brand the violator of 
 chastity with infamy, and to speak of it 
 as a ' folly which ought not to be done ;' 
 for heathen and wicked men in all ages 
 have been prone to account it but a 
 trifling ofl^ence. But was it for the sin 
 committed against God, or only for the 
 shame visited upon tbe family, tliat they 
 were enraged ? Here, alas, they failed ; 
 and their failure here paved the way 
 for their subsequent atrocious wicked- 
 ness — a conduct which elicited from the 
 dying lips of their father the prophetic 
 denunciation. Gen. 49. 7, ' Cursed be 
 their anger, for it was fierce, and their 
 wrath, for it was cruel : I will divide 
 them in Jacob, and scatter them in Is- 
 rael.' 
 
 8. And Hamor communed with them, 
 saying, &c. There is an air of candid, 
 friendly, upright, and generous dealing 
 in the proposals of Hamor, that strongly 
 wins upon us. They indicate a dispo- 
 sition to make an honorable reparation 
 of the injury done to Jacob and his fa- 
 mily, and we would fain hope that his 
 terms might be acceded to, and the dis- 
 grace thus obliterated as far as possible, 
 forever. But on a closer inspection, we 
 perceive that there was sometliing 
 wrong in the line of conduct pursued by 
 Hamor and Shechem. (1.) The out- 
 rage of the son had been of a very ag- 
 gravated character, and such as merited 
 a severe punishment. But it does not 
 appear from the narrative that either 
 Hamor or the men of Shechem had once 
 
 (2.) They still detained Dinah, who 
 ought at once to have been restored to 
 her parents. Till they had done this, 
 they had no reason to expect any thing 
 like reconciliation on the part of Jacob 
 or his sons. But it is probable that the 
 young man's being of so honorable a fa- 
 mily, and the sin of which he was guilty 
 so common in the country, made them 
 think these punctilios might be dispens- 
 ed with in the present instance. And 
 being wholly under the influence of 
 sensual and worldly motives, they are 
 prepared to profess any religion, or pro- 
 lane any institution, however sacred, so 
 they can accomplish their selfish ends. 
 From these causes, therefore, it is not 
 so much to be wondered at that the af- 
 fair terminated so unhappily as it did. 
 The whole subsequent proceeding, on 
 the part of Hamor and his son, was vitia- 
 ted by this error in the outset. 
 
 IT Longeth. The original is a word ex- 
 pressive of the most intense affection, 
 though not the same with that, v. 3, 
 rendered ' clave unto.' But the two 
 combined go to show the truth and ar- 
 dor of Shechera's attachment to the 
 maiden. The Hebrew is more a lan- 
 guage of emotion than of thought, and 
 expresses all the various kinds and de- 
 grees o{ passion with an emphasis pecu- 
 liarly its own. 
 
 9, 10. Make ye marriages with us, &c. 
 Their uninstructed minds could not en- 
 ter into the reasons of such an exclusive 
 policy in this respect as the Israelites 
 felt constrained to adopt. It no doubt 
 
192 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1732. 
 
 11 And Shechem said unto her 
 father, and unto her brethren, Let 
 me find grace in your eyes, and 
 what ye shall say unto me, I will 
 give. 
 
 appeared to them as a very needless, if 
 not an absurd singularity ; and in the 
 true spirit of an unbelieving world, they 
 endeavor to break down what they 
 would deem the narrow spirit of caste, 
 by nolding out to them those induce- 
 ments o( gainful traffic which they are 
 sensible they could not themselves with- 
 stand in similar circumstances, and 
 which, alas, are usually but too potent 
 in overcoming the scruples of the pro- 
 fessed people of God. 
 
 11. Let me find grace in your eyes. 
 That is, by having my request granted. 
 
 12. Ask me never so much dowry and 
 gift. Heb. n^?2 "^bsj l^in harhu alai 
 meod, multiply upon me exceedingly. It 
 is supposed that there was a distinction 
 between the 'dowry' and the 'gift;' 
 that the former was the marriage-por- 
 tion, which was settled upon the wife, 
 and remained her's after her husband's 
 death ; while the ' gift' was merely a 
 present made at the time of the be- 
 trothing, as a pledge of plighted faith. 
 Of this nature, probably, were the jew- 
 els of silver and gold brought to Rebe- 
 kah by Abraham's servant, Gen. 24. 53. 
 ' In some previous notes we have had oc- 
 casion to allude to the dower and pre- 
 sents required of the bridegroom on his 
 marriage, but have referred to this place 
 for a more detailed statement. Sub- 
 ject to the exceptions to which every 
 general position is incident, we think 
 it may be safely stated, — that among 
 all savage and barbarous people — 
 and therefore in the early history of 
 every nation which afterwards became 
 civilized — the father of a girl, in relin- 
 quishing her to a husband, conceives he 
 has a right to receive a compensation 
 for losing the benefit of her services, as 
 well as for the trouble and expense of i 
 
 12 Ask me never so much " dow- 
 ry and gift, and I will give according 
 as ye shall say unto me : but give 
 me the damsel to wife. 
 
 1 Exod. 22. 16, 17. Deut. 22. 29. 1 Sam 
 18.25. 
 
 bringing up and providing for her wanii 
 The principle is still the same, whether, 
 as among the Bedouins, the sum exact-' 
 ed be called the 'price' of the woman, 
 or is merely described as a 'gift' or 
 ' present' to the father. The antiquity 
 of this usage will appear from various 
 passages in the book of Genesis; al- 
 though the only instance in which a 
 provision for the female is overlooked, 
 is that of Jacob's engagement wilh La- 
 ban. The classical scholar is aware of 
 numerous allusions to this custom. In 
 one passage of the Iliad an accomplish- 
 ed lady is valued at four oxen. In an- 
 other place, Agamemnon is made to say, 
 that he would give one of his daughters 
 to Achilles without exacting the least 
 present in return. Homer never men- 
 tions any thing as given to the bride, 
 but always the presents which the 
 bridegroom makes to the lady's father. 
 It is also related by Pausanias, that 
 when Danaus found himself unable to 
 get his daughters married, he caused it 
 to be made known that he would not 
 demand any presents from those who 
 would espouse them. (See Goguet, 
 ' Origine des Lois,' tome ii. p. 60, where 
 these instances are adduced.) It would 
 too much extend this note, to multiply 
 examples from the early history of na- 
 tions, and from existing practices in the 
 world. It may suffice to state general- 
 ly, that, under sundry modifications, 
 the principle of paying the father for 
 his daughter is distincdy recognized 
 throughout Asia, even where the father 
 actually receives nothing. We shall 
 confine our instances to the Bedouins. 
 Usages diflfer considerably in this and 
 other points, among the Arabian tribes ; 
 and travellers have too hastily conclud- 
 ed that the customs of one tribe repre- 
 
B. C. 1732.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 193 
 
 13 And the sons of Jacob answer- 
 ad Shechem and Hamor his father 
 
 anted those of the entire nation. The 
 inciple of payment is indeed known 
 t J all the tribes, but its operation va- 
 les very considerably. Among some 
 very important tribes it is considered 
 disgraceful for the father to demand 
 the daughter's 'price,' (JiakJc el bint), 
 nor is it thought creditable to re- 
 ceive even voluntary presents ; among 
 other tribes the price is received by the 
 parent, but is made over to the daugh- 
 ter, constituting her dower. Among 
 other tribes, however, the price is rigid- 
 ly exacted. The price is generally paid 
 in cattle, and is sometimes so considera- 
 ble, as to render it an advantageous cir- 
 cumstance when there are many daugh- 
 ters in a family. Five or six camels are 
 a very ordinary payment for a person 
 in tolerable circumstances, and, if the 
 man can afford it, and the bride is much 
 admired or well connected, fifty sheep 
 and amare or foal are added.' Pirt Bible. 
 13. The sons of Jacob answered deceit- 
 full]/, &c. In the language of the 
 Psalmist, Ps. 55. 21, 'The words of their 
 mouths were smoother than butter, 
 but war was in their hearts ; their words 
 were softer than oil, yet were they 
 drawn swords.' But before character- 
 izing the conduct of his sons as it de- 
 serves, we cannot but advert to that of 
 Jacob himself on this occasion. It was 
 certainly lacking in the vvisdom and 
 firmness that might have been expected 
 from him. He allowed his sons too 
 much to take the lead in the transac- 
 tion. It was very proper for the bro- 
 thers to consider themselves as in a 
 sense the guardians of their sister's hon- 
 or ; but not in such a way as to super- 
 sede the authority or silence the coun- 
 sel of their father. The answer to the 
 question, whether Dinah should be 
 given in marriage to Shechem belonged 
 to the parents, and not to the brothers. I 
 VOL. II. 
 
 ° deceitfully, and said, Because he 
 had defiled Dinah their sister : 
 
 o 2 Sam. 13. 24, &c. 
 
 Age and infirmity may perhaps be 
 pleaded as an apology for the patriarch's 
 yielding so much to the headstrong pas- 
 sions of his sons, but the sequel shows 
 that it was a concession which ought 
 at all hazards to have been avoided. 
 But how did they demean themselves ? 
 They listened to Hamor's and She- 
 chem's proposals with much apparent 
 coolness, and the studied quiet of their 
 manner probably gave no intimation of 
 the deep and deadly purposes of revenge 
 which they inwardly cherished. Under 
 the calm exterior which they now as- 
 sumed, they were entertaining one of 
 the most wicked and diabolical schemes 
 that ever entered into the heart of man. 
 Not satisfied with confining their re- 
 venge to the guilty party, they resolve 
 to embrace the whole city within the 
 scope of their bloody retribution, and 
 knowing that they were too few to 
 effect this without stratagem, they de- 
 vise a plan of first disabling and then 
 slaying them. The execution of this 
 project was marked, (1) by the vilest 
 hypocrisy. They pretended to have 
 scruples of conscience about connect- 
 ing themselves with persons who were 
 uncircumcised. Could this difficulty be 
 removed, they intimate that there would 
 be no bar in the way to the projected 
 union. Now, although there is no evi- 
 dence that such a law was at this time 
 established in Jacob's family, yet it is 
 true that marriages with the neighbor- 
 ing heathen were discouraged ; and if 
 they had sincerely aimed in this way to 
 bring them off from their idolatrous 
 practices, and to cast in their lot with Is- 
 rael, the measure would have been more 
 excusable. But it is clear they had no 
 such design. The interests of rehgion 
 did not enter into their thoughts ; and 
 consequently their proposition was 
 marked, (2) by \\\e grossest profaneness 
 17 
 
194 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1132. 
 
 14 And they said unto them, We 
 cannot do this thing, to give our 
 sister to one that is uncircumcised : 
 for p that 7cere a reproach unto us : 
 
 15 But in this will we consent 
 unto you : If ye will he as we be, 
 that every male of you be circum- 
 cised ; 
 
 p Josh. 5. 9. 
 
 They knew that if the Shecheraites 
 were persuaded to submit to circum- 
 cision, it would be a niere farm, leaving 
 them, as to their relation to God, just 
 where they were before. They knew 
 that both the prince and his people were 
 altogether ignorant of Jehovah, and des- 
 titute of the smallest wish to be interest- 
 ed in the covenant made by God with 
 Abraham ; and yet they propose that 
 all the males should receive the seal of 
 this holy covenant ; and that too, not in 
 order to obtain any spiritual benefit, but 
 solely with a view to carnal gratifica- 
 tion ! What a profanation was this of 
 God's sacred ordinance ! What awful 
 impiety, in recommending to them such 
 a method of attaining their ends ! But 
 this is not all. The measure was con- 
 ceived, (3) in the spirit of the most sav- 
 age cruelty. That a motive of revenge 
 should excite them to murder the per- 
 son more immediately irapUcated in the 
 offence, was possible enough. But that 
 it should prompt them to involve a mul- 
 titude of innocent persons in the same 
 ruin, and that at a time when they 
 were making the most painful sacrifices 
 to conciUate their favor ; this almost 
 exceeds belief. Yet such was their 
 inhuman plot, which they too success- 
 fully carried into effect ! What amaz- 
 ing depravity does it argue first to form 
 such a horrid purpose, and then to cover 
 it with the cloak of religion ! What had 
 they to do to talk of conscience, when 
 they could deliberately contrive a plan 
 
 for murdering a whole city ! ^ And 
 
 said, Because he had defiled Dinah their 
 
 16 Then will we give cur daugh- 
 ters unto you, and we will take 
 your daughters to us, and we will 
 dwell with you, and we will become 
 one people. 
 
 17 But if ye will not hearken 
 unto us, to be circumcised ; then 
 v/ill we take our daughter, and we 
 will be orone. 
 
 sister. We take these words as design- 
 ed to render a rexrson for the deeehful- 
 ness to which, it is said in the preceding 
 clause, that they had recoui~se. ' They 
 said,' i. e. they justified the matter by 
 saying to themselves that Shechem had 
 acted the part of a vile deceiver in be- 
 traying their sister's innocence, and hav- 
 mg thus forfeited all right to trath and 
 sincerity from others, it was perfectly 
 lawful for them to retaliate upon him 
 with equal duphcity. It was no doubt 
 a very natural^ but at the same time a 
 very sinful logic, by which they cams 
 to this conclusion. 
 
 14. We cannot do tJiis thing. 'Can 
 not' is here used as frequently else 
 where in the sense of 7noral and not ?ja- 
 tural inability. ' We cannot, for it would 
 be contrary both to custom and can- 
 on.' Thus, Gen. 43. 32, * Because the 
 Egyptians might not eat bread with the 
 Hebrews, for that is an abomination 
 unto the Egyptians.' This, though cor 
 rect, is rather a paraphrase than a trans- 
 lation, for the original has it ' cannot eat ;' 
 i. e. cannot without violating law or 
 usage. 
 
 15 — 17. In this will we consent. That 
 is, on the condition.- TT Vv'e will take 
 Qur daughter. They here speak as iii 
 the person of Jacob, for she was his 
 daughter only, and not theirs. So above, 
 V. 8, where Hamor says, ' The soul of 
 my son longeth for your daughter,' the 
 Heb. suffix for your is plural, as if she 
 were the daughter of the whole compa- 
 ny. Targ. Jon. 'We will take our 
 daughter by violence.' 
 
C. 173-2.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 195 
 
 IS And their words pleased Ha- 
 mor, and Shechem, Hamor's son. 
 
 19 And the young man deferred 
 not to do the thing, because he had 
 deliofht in Jacob's daughter : and 
 he 2vas ' more honourable than all 
 the house of his father. 
 
 ^ 20 *ir And Hamor and Shechem 
 his son came unto the gate of their 
 city, and communed with the men 
 of their city, saying, 
 
 21 These men are peaceable with 
 us, therefore let them dwell in the 
 
 q 2 Chron. 4. 9. 
 
 18. Their toords pleased Hamor and 
 Shechem. Heb. ' Were good in the eyes 
 of:,' by which is meant, not that the 
 conditions, in themselves considered, 
 were pleasing, but they were willing on 
 the whole to agree to them ; the advan- 
 tages they promised themselves by 
 complying were sufficient to counter- 
 balance all objections. 
 
 19. Deferred not to do the ihhig. De- 
 ferred not consenting to it ; for he cer- 
 tainly deferred actually doing it till he 
 had obtained the concurrence of his 
 countrymen. 
 
 20. 21. Came unto the gate. To the 
 place of public convocation, where the 
 citizens assembled to deliberate upon 
 matters of general interest, correspond- 
 ing to the halls, council-chambers, or 
 town-houses, of modern times. When, 
 therefore, our Saviour says that ' the 
 gates of hell shall not prevail against his 
 church,' his meaning is, that the coun- 
 sels, plots, and policies of hell, shall not 
 prevail against it ; employing a figure of 
 speech by which the place of counsel 
 
 stands for the counsels themselves. 
 
 IT Communed ivifh the men of the city, 
 saying, &c. The deceitful proposal suc- 
 ceeds with Hamor and Shechem, and 
 they at once undertake to persuade the 
 citizens to a compliance ; not as a matter 
 of principle, but of policy; a measure 
 which would contribute to the public 
 good. No little art is discoverable in 
 
 land, and trade therein : for the 
 land, behold, it is large enough for 
 them : let us take their daughters 
 to us for wives, and let us give them 
 our daughters. 
 
 22 Only herem will the men con- 
 sent unto us for to dwell with us, to 
 be one people, if every male among 
 us be circumcised, as they are cir- 
 cumcised. 
 
 23 ShaU not their cattle, and their 
 substance, and every beast of theirs 
 be ours 1 only let us consent unto 
 them, and they will dwell with us. 
 
 the arguments employed for this pur- 
 pose. The principal prominence is giv- 
 en to those considerations which were 
 merely secondary, while the main point, 
 the circumcision, comes in as a little 
 by-clause, a slight condition, to which 
 they could not reasonably object. This 
 was approaching worldly men through 
 the most effectual avenue. Appeals to 
 their interest usually succeed where 
 their principles are addressed in vain. 
 Yet we are not to lose sight of the over- 
 ruling hand of Providence in the dire 
 result. The licentious outrage of She- 
 chem called for punishment, and his 
 own and his people's readiness to pro- 
 fane and prostitute a sacred ordinance 
 for the mere purpose of worldly gain, 
 could not but provoke the displeasure of 
 heaven. As there was no human au- 
 thority to call them to an account for 
 their conduct, God was pleased to visit 
 their iniquity upon them in an extraor- 
 dinary way, and while the instruments 
 were acting from the most culpable 
 motives, still the righteous retributions 
 of Providence were taking efTect. One 
 wicked spirit of man was made to chas- 
 tise another. 
 
 23. Shall not their cattle, &c. — he ours. 
 Be more likely eventually to become 
 ours. It does not appear that his drift was 
 to insinuate that they could possess 
 themselves of Jacob's riches dishonestly ; 
 but they doubtless appealed to merce- 
 
196 
 
 gp:nesis. 
 
 [B. C. 1732. 
 
 24 And unto Hamor, and unto 
 Shechem his son, hearkened all that 
 >■ went out of the gate of his city : 
 and every male was circumcised, 
 all that went out of the gate of his 
 city. 
 
 25 IF And it came to pass on the 
 
 r ch. 23. 10, 
 
 nary motives in speaking with the She- 
 chemites, and moreover gave them to 
 understand that the measure was rather 
 one of Jacob's seeking than their own. 
 But if they thus deceived their fellow- 
 citizens, they were soon still more sadly 
 deceived themselves. 
 
 24. And unto Hamor — hearkened all 
 that went out, &c. There is scarcely a 
 more singular fact in all history than the 
 ready compUance of the whole inhabit- 
 ants of Shechem with the proposal here 
 made to them. The operation in adult age 
 is peculiarly painful, and so far as they 
 regarded it as implying a change in their 
 religion, the incident is equally remarka- 
 ble ; for we know the tenacity with which 
 men cleave to their estabUshed modes of 
 faith and worship — a principle distinctly 
 recognised by the Most High himself, 
 speaking by the mouth of his prophet, 
 Jer. 2. 10, 11, ' For pass over the isles of 
 Chittim, and see ; and send unto Kedar 
 and consider diligently, and see if there 
 be such a thing. Hath a nation chang- 
 ed their gods, which are yet no gods V 
 In accounting for such a step on the 
 pari of the Shechemites, w^e may doubt- 
 less allow much to the hope of gain, and 
 much to the reverence of their rulers ; 
 but we must go beyond this, and ac- 
 knowledge a secret permitted infatua- 
 tion upon their minds, in order that their 
 connivance at a gross iniquity might be 
 suitably punished. And punished it 
 assuredly was, in a way to make the 
 ears of every one that heareth of it to 
 tingle. 
 
 25. It came to pass on the third day, 
 when they were sore. Chal. ' When their 
 pains were sorest upon them.' Thus 
 
 third day, when they were sore, 
 that two of tlio sons of Jacob, ' Si- 
 meon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, 
 took each man his sword, and came 
 upon the city boldly, and slew all 
 the males. 
 
 26 And they slew Hamor and 
 s cli!' 49. 5, 6, 7. 
 
 taking advantage of the disabled state 
 of their victims, whose wounds, like all 
 others, were most severe and painful on 
 the third day. The whole transaction 
 in this instance was undoubtedly con- 
 ducted without Jacob's knowledge or 
 consent. See his emphatic self-acquittal. 
 
 Gen. 49, G, with the note. "tF Simeon 
 
 and Levi. These were the uterine 
 brothers of Dinah, and might naturally 
 be expected to be most prompt in aveng- 
 ing her wrongs. Though these two 
 only are mentioned, yet there is no 
 doubt that they were assisted by a band 
 composed of their brethren, domestics, 
 or other associates. It is in entire ac- 
 cordance with the general usage of the 
 Scriptures to speak of that being done 
 by one or two, in which one or two are 
 the prime movers, leaders, or overseers, 
 though many subordinate agents are 
 employed. In view of Levi's participa- 
 tion in this horrid deed, the divine cle- 
 mency, in making his the priestly tribe, 
 is strikingly displayed. We should 
 rather have expected that some lasting 
 stigma would have been affixed to the 
 posterity of one who had covered Viis 
 own name so deep with infamy. Rut 
 we learn from it how, where sin has 
 abounded, grace often much more 
 abounds; and we gather also hence a 
 fresh proof of the veracity of Moses. 
 Himself a Levite, he does not spare the 
 character of his progenitor. In all the 
 simplicity of truth, he gives an unvar- 
 nished statement of atrocities which 
 have reflected everlasting disgrace upon 
 the memory of the founder of his line. 
 Would an impostor have done this ? 
 26. With the edge of the sword. Ileb 
 
B. C. 1732.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI V. 
 
 197 
 
 Shecliem his son with the edge of 
 the sword, and took Dinah out of 
 Shechem's hou?e, and went out. 
 
 "27 The sons of Jacob came upon 
 the slain, and spoiled the city ; be- 
 cause they had defiled their sister. 
 
 28 They took their sheep, and 
 their oxen, and their asses, and that 
 which ivas in the city, and that 
 which was in the field. 
 
 29 And all their wealth, and all 
 
 i'^n '^ib lephi hareb, by the mouth of the 
 sword ; whence the sword is said to ' de- 
 vour.' *J Came upon the city boldly. 
 
 Ileb. ntJlS bntah, m confidence. Tliis 
 may refer either to the manner oj the at- 
 tack, which is favored by the Gr. aa(pa- 
 Xo)f undauntedly, securely ; or to the 
 state of the city, as understood by the 
 Chal. 'The city which dwelt confident- 
 ly.' But their fancied security was an 
 idle dream, from which they were awa- 
 kened by the terrors of a merciless mas- 
 sacre. The story teaches us, with af- 
 fecting emphasis, how one sin leads on 
 to another, and, hke flames of fire, 
 spreads desolation on every side ! 
 Dissipation leads to seduction ; seduc- 
 tion produces wrath ; wrath thirsts for 
 revenge ; the thirst of revenge has re- 
 course to treachery ; treachery issues 
 in murder ; and murder is followed by 
 lawless depredation I Were we to trace 
 the history of ilUcit commerce between 
 the sexes, we should perhaps find it, 
 more than any other, terminating in 
 blood. We may read this warning truth, 
 not only in the history of David and his 
 family, but in what is constantly occur- 
 ring in our times. The murder of the in- 
 nocent offspring by the hand of the 
 mother, or of the mother by the hand of 
 the seducer, or of the seducer by the 
 hand of a brother or of a supplanted rival, 
 are events which too frequently fall un- 
 der our notice. Nor is this all, even in 
 the present world. 3Iurder seldom es- 
 »^apes detection ; a public execution, 
 
 17* 
 
 their little ones, and their wives 
 took they captive, and spoiled even 
 all that was in the house. 
 
 30 And Jacob said to Simeon and 
 Levi, ' Ye have " troubled rfle, "" to 
 make me to stink among the inhab- 
 itants of the land, among the Ca- 
 naanites and the Perizzites : y and 
 I being few in number, they shall 
 gather themselves together against 
 
 t ch. 49. 6. » Josh. 7. 25. ^ Exod. 5. 
 21. 1 Sara. 13. 4. y Deut. 4. 27. Ps. 105. 12. 
 
 therefore, may be expected to close the 
 tragic scene. 
 
 29. All their wealth. Heh.}i^nhayil, 
 a word of large import in the original 
 comprehending everything in which a 
 man's strength, power, or ascendancy 
 consists; being applied to prowess of 
 body, Eccl. 10. 10; to an army of men, 
 1 Sam. 10. 26 ; to worldly riches, Prov. 
 10. 15; and to the rampart of a city, 
 Nah. 3. 8. The Chal. renders it ' riches', 
 and the Gr. aoi^ara bodies, a term equiv- 
 alent to serr)anfs, as is clear from Rev. 
 18. 13 — ' and beasts, and sheep, and hor- 
 ses, and chariots, and slaves (crw/iara) and 
 
 souls of men.' IT Spoiled even all that 
 
 was in the house. Took as a spoil all that 
 was in the houses ; ' house' being here 
 a collect, sing, for the plur., just as ' lit- 
 Ue ones' is in the original in the singu- 
 lar (rjt:) taph. 
 
 30 And Jacob said to Simeori and Le- 
 vi, &c. It is some relief to find the good 
 old man expressing his disapprobation 
 of these bloody proceedings. Yet it is 
 a natural query why he manifested so 
 little apparent concern for their sin, as 
 sin, dwelling entirely upon the conse- 
 quences. Why did he not reproach 
 them, in the name of the God whom they 
 professed to serve, with their cruelty, 
 their perfidy, their rapacity ? Why 
 does he give way so entirely to thoughts 
 of his own calamity, and speak as if 
 they had destroyed him instead of the 
 Shechemites ? No doubt his real drift 
 i was, by this very mode of address, to 
 
193 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [J3. C. 1732. 
 
 me, and slay me, and I shall be des- 
 troyed, I and my house. 
 
 work upon their compunctions and 
 bring them to a proper acknowledg- 
 ment of what they had done. He 
 knew they were so hardened in wick- 
 edness that nothing but consequences, 
 and such as affected their safety too, 
 would make them feel. Unlike Abraham 
 and Isaac, who had demeaned them- 
 selves peaceably wherever they had 
 pitched their tents, and by their good 
 conduct had not only gained the respect 
 of the heathen, but recommended true 
 religion, he had now, in consequence of 
 his close connexion with such sons of 
 Belial, rendered himself odious to the 
 neighboring Canaanites. And what else 
 could he anticipate, but that they should 
 combine against them, and cut them 
 off root and branch ? This, we say, 
 was calculated to rouse them from their 
 guilty apathy, and when they saw that 
 they w-ere likely to plunge their aged 
 father and themselves inlo one common 
 perdition, to lead them to call upon God 
 for that mercy to which they had so 
 
 little claim. ^ Make me to stinJc. This 
 
 is the literal and highly expressive sense 
 of the original, but most of the ancient 
 versions resolve the phrase into less 
 figurative terms. Chal. 'Ye will occa- 
 sion or put enmity between me and the 
 Canaanites.' Syr. ' Ye have offended 
 me to bring evil between me and the 
 inhabitants.' Arab. 'Ye have rendered 
 me infamous, and corrupted my condi- 
 tion with respect to the Canaanites,' 
 Vulg. ' Ve have made me odious to the 
 Canaanites.' 'Of a man who has lost 
 his honor, whose fame is entirely gone, it 
 is said, ' Ah ! he has lost his smell — 
 where is the sweet smell of former 
 years ?' ' Alas !' says an old man, ' my 
 
 smell is forever gone.' ' Roberts. 
 
 IT Troubledme. Thatis,not only by griev- 
 ing and disquieting my spirit, but by put- 
 ting me in danger of being destroyed by 
 those with whom I have liitherto lived in 
 
 31 And they said, Should he deal 
 with our sister as with an harlot 1 
 
 peace. Thus Achan is said to have 
 ' troubled' Israel, and was himself 
 ' troubled ;' i. e. destroyed, Josh. 6. 18, 
 and 7. 25. Thus, Prov. 15. 27, ' He 
 that is greedy of gain troubleth his own 
 house ; but he that hateth gifts shall 
 hve.' Here, ' troubling one's house' is 
 opposed to 'living,' which makes it 
 
 equivalent to ' to destroy.' IT I being 
 
 few in number. Heb. "-itC^a '^^,)2 ^ISi 
 ani metlie mispar, I men of number. An- 
 other instance of an individual being 
 identified with his party so as to consti- 
 tute a kind of plurality of denomination. 
 The phrase ' few in number,' or ' men 
 of number,' signifies capable of being 
 numbered. It arose probably from the 
 language of the promise made to .\bra- 
 ham, that he should be the father of a 
 s^ed which could not be numbered. 
 The opposite of this, of course, is a com- 
 pany which can be numbered, and there- 
 fore comparatively /ei«. 
 
 31. Should he deal with our sister as 
 with an harlot ? We see little in this an- 
 swer to their father's reproof, but the 
 workings of offended pride and unyield- 
 ing obstinacy. They would not have 
 felt any displeasure against Shechem 
 had he dealt with any other female, or 
 any number of them, as harlots ; but 
 that he should offer an indignity to their 
 sister, this was the offence — an offence 
 inexpiable by any thing less than the 
 blood of all that were, even in the most 
 distant way, connected with him. So 
 much more sensibly are men prone to 
 feel for an affront to their own honor 
 than to that of God. Again, how shock- 
 ing is the relentlessness which they 
 evince. We might reasonably expect, 
 that after a little reflection these bloody 
 murderers would be filled with remorse. 
 But all sense of guilt, yea, all regard for 
 their own and their father's safety, seem- 
 ed to he totally banished from their 
 minds. Instead of regretting that they 
 
B. C. 1732.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 199 
 
 CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 AND God said unto J acob, Arise, 
 go up to * Beth-e], and dwell 
 there : and make there an altar un- 
 
 a ch. 28. 19. 
 
 tiad acted so treacherous and cruel a 
 part, they vindicate theifiselves without 
 hesitation, and even tacitly condemn 
 their father as manifesting less concern 
 for his daughter than they had shown 
 for their sister. We can scarcely con- 
 ceive a more awful instance than tliis, 
 of the power of sin to blind the under- 
 standing and to harden the heart But 
 <3aily experience shows that vvhen<mc€ 
 the conscience is seared, there is no 
 iniquity too gross to be palliated or 
 ♦ustified. 
 
 Remarks- Two additional reflec- 
 Hons are suggested by the present nar- 
 »ative. 
 
 (1.) How astGnishinghj may the judg- 
 ment of men he tuarped by partiality and 
 fself-love! These men could see evil in 
 the conduct of Shechem, and yet justify 
 their own ; though theirs was beyond 
 all comparison more vile and horrible 
 than his. Yet is this an uncommon 
 spectacle ? If the world behold any 
 thing amiss in the conduct of a person 
 professing religion, with what severity 
 will they condemn it, even though they 
 tliemselves are living in tlie unrestrain- 
 ed commission of a thousand sins ! And 
 even professors of godliness themselves 
 are too apt to be officious in puUing out 
 a mote from their brother's eye, while 
 they are inattentive to the beam that is 
 in their own eye. Let us learn rather 
 to exercise forbearance towards the 
 faults of others and severity towards 
 our own. 
 
 (2.) How certainly will there he a day of 
 future retribution. Here we behold a 
 whole city of innocent men put to death, 
 and their murderers going away unpu?i- 
 ished. But let us not on this account 
 arraign the dispensations of Providence. 
 In thi) last day these apparent inequali- 
 
 to God, b that appeared unto thee 
 -= when thou fleddest from the face 
 of Esau thy brother. 
 
 b ch. 28. 13. 
 
 ch.27. 43 
 
 ties will be rectified. It will then in- 
 fallib-Iy go well with the righteous and 
 ill with the wicked. The excuses which 
 men now make, will then be of no 
 avail . Every transaction shall then ap- 
 pear in its proper colors ; and every 
 man receive aeeording to what he has 
 done in the body, whether it be good or 
 evil. 
 
 CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 1. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go 
 up to Beth- el, &c. The events which 
 had recently occurred at Shechem 
 would no doubt render it unsafe for Ja- 
 cob to remain longer in that place or its 
 vicinity. Indeed it would scarcely have 
 been surprising to hear of a confederacy 
 among all the neighboring clans to ex- 
 terminate such a band of robbers and 
 murderers from the face of the earth — 
 men who would perpetrate, in a time of 
 profound peace, an atrocity unheard of 
 even among the cruel practices of war. 
 Jacob was undoubtedly aware of his 
 danger, and deeply exercised on account 
 of it ; and it pleased God in the midst of 
 his bitter and perplexing reflections 
 again to appear, and give him directioas 
 what to do. Of the manner in which 
 the present communication was made 
 to him, nothing is said : but the purport 
 of it was that he should remove to Beth- 
 el, situated about thirty miles south of 
 Shechem, build there an altar, and per- 
 form the vow v.hieh he had previously 
 made. Gen. 28. 20, 22. It was now 
 about thirty years since that vow was 
 made ; Jacob had dwelt eight or ten in 
 Canaan since his return from Padan- 
 aram, and had now attained to one hun- 
 dred and six years of age ; yet for some 
 reason unexplained he had hitherto de- 
 layed to pay it. Possibly he may have 
 
200 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1732. 
 
 2 Then Jacob said unto his 
 ^household, and to all that were 
 with him, Put away 'the strange 
 
 d ch. 18. 19. Josh. 24. ]5. ^ cli. 31. 19, 34. 
 Josh. 24. 2, 23. 
 
 been culpably remiss in this matter, and 
 the remark of a Jewish commentator 
 may be well founded, that God permit- 
 ted the ravishment of Dinah as a pun- 
 ishment to Jacob for his criminal delay, 
 just as he met 3Ioses with alarming to- 
 kens of his displeasure, Ex. 4. 24, for hav- 
 ing sinfully deferred the circumcision 
 of his child. But without assuming to 
 pronounce upon this point, we cannot but 
 advert to the mild and affecting tone of 
 the expostulation here addressed to Jacob 
 — one that reminds him not so much of 
 the neglect of the servant, as of the mer- 
 cy of the master. He does not say, 
 ' Build an altar to the God whom thou 
 hast promised, and hast disappomted ;' 
 but unto the ' God who appeared unto 
 thee when thou fleddest from the face 
 of Esau thy brother.' There must have 
 been something peculiarly touching in 
 the recollections awakened by these 
 ■words; and that their due effect was 
 not lost upon Jacob, appears from the 
 fact that he made immediate prepara- 
 tions for the accomplishment of his 
 vow. 
 
 2. Jacoh said unto his household, &c. 
 No sooner is Jacob admonished to go to 
 Bethel, than he feels the necessity of a 
 household reformation, and orders it to 
 be at once entered upon. His first in- 
 junction is, that the strange gods among 
 them should be put away. This was 
 acting faithfully and conscientiously 
 towards the members of his numerous 
 family ; but who would have believed 
 that such a command could have been 
 necessary? Did he then know of the 
 corrupt practices of his family, and had 
 he connived at them? Was this the 
 first time that his voice had been raised 
 against them? We know not how to 
 avoid the inference that this was the 
 
 gods that are among you, and be 
 '^clean and change your garments: 
 
 f Exod. 19. 10. 
 
 case. We fear that eyen Jacob partook 
 so largely of the infirmities of fallen na- 
 ture, that he had failed to discharge his 
 duty in this respect; that even though 
 the honor of God was at stake, he had 
 been unwiUing to incur the resentment 
 or the complaints of those that were 
 dear to him ; and had accordingly, after 
 finding that the teraphim were in Ra- 
 chel's possession, tolerated an evil which 
 he ought promptly to have checked in 
 its very outset. We are glad, how- 
 ever, to find him at length resolved to 
 ' put them away,' though the command 
 carries an implication of his own 
 
 crime as well as that of his family. 
 
 IT Strange gods. Heb. '^^jH ^tibi< elohe 
 hannekar, gods of the stranger ; i. e. gods 
 of strangeor foreign nations. Gr. 'Foreign 
 gods.' Chal. 'Idols of peoples.' Allusion 
 IS perhaps had not only to the idolatrous 
 images stolen from Laban, but to those 
 also which might have been brought in 
 among the spoils of the captured She- 
 chemites. Accordingly the Targ. Jon. 
 terms them ' the gods which thou didst 
 receive from the house of tVie idols of 
 
 Shechem.' H Be clean arid change 
 
 your garments. Targ. Jon. 'Cleanse 
 yourselves from the pollutions of the slain 
 to whom 3'ou have come nigh,' This 
 outward purification and change of rai- 
 ment was enjoined as indicative of that 
 internal cleansing of the soul which is 
 always requisite to the acceptable wor- 
 t^hip of God, and which the recent de- 
 filement of his house, by the double 
 stain of idolatry and murder, rendered 
 still more indispensably necessary. See 
 Ex. 19. 10, 15; Lev. 15. 18. It does not 
 appear that this ceremony was express- 
 ly commanded to Jacob, but a certain 
 intrinsic decorum commended it to his 
 judgment. From a similar sense of Hi-' 
 
B. C. 1732.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 201 
 
 3 And let us arise, and go up to 
 Beth-el ; and I will make there an 
 altar unto God, » who answered me 
 in the day of my distress, ^ and was 
 with me 'in the \yay which I went. 
 
 t ch. 32. 7, 24. 
 & 31. 3, 42. 
 
 Ps. 107. 6. 
 
 ch. 28. 20. 
 
 ness Mosps directed those who had 
 been concerned in the affair of the 
 golden calf at Horeb to Ex. 33. 4, 5, to 
 put off their ornaments, that their out- 
 ward attire might correspond with the 
 required humihty of their spirit. With 
 men of somewhat crude conceptions of 
 spiritual things, such an outward change 
 would help them to discern more clear- 
 ly the offensive nature of idolatry, and 
 though true penitence is seated in the 
 heart, yet its external indications react 
 upon and quicken the inward sentiment. 
 3. Who answered me in the day of my 
 distress. Chal. ' Unto God who received 
 ray prayer in the time of my tribulation, 
 and his word was my help in the way 
 which I went.' God's 'answering his 
 people is his efficaciously hearing them, so 
 as actually, by word or deed, to grant 
 their request. Thus he is said to ' an- 
 swer by fire,' 1 Kings 18. 24, when by 
 that token he testified his approbation 
 of his worshippers. He ' answers' also 
 in the actual bestowment of blessings ; 
 Is. 41. 17, ' When the poor and needy 
 seek water, and there is none, and 
 their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord 
 will hear them.' Heb. ' Wdl answer 
 them r' i. e. will supply their wants. 
 Also by dehvering them from danger ; 
 Ps. 22. 21, ' Save me from the lion's 
 mouth, for thou hast heard me from the 
 horns of the unicorn.' Heb. ' Hast an- 
 swered me.' In using ttiese words Ja- 
 cob seems to have endeavored to im- 
 press upon his household his own senti- 
 ments. What had been a mercy to him 
 was a mercy to them, and they were 
 bound so to consider it. By putting them 
 in mind, moreover, of God's answering 
 him in the day of his distress, ntf would 
 
 4 And they gave unto Jacob all 
 the strange gods which were in their 
 hand, and all their ' ear-rings which 
 loere in their ears ; and Jacob hid 
 them under ^ the oak which was by 
 Shechem. 
 
 • Hos. 2. 13. ^ Josh. 24. 26. Judg. 9. (>. 
 
 not only excite them to gratitude for the 
 past, but kindle a hope also that Heaven 
 would disperse ihe cloud that hung over 
 them now, on account of the late impure 
 and bloody transaction. 
 
 4. Ear-rings which were in their ears. 
 This may be meant of the gold and 
 silver ear-rings in the ears of the idols; 
 but if intended of those worn in the ears 
 of the women, they were probably 
 taken from the idols, and so by associa- 
 tion might themselves become a source 
 of idolatry, or at least of superstitious 
 reverence. They were therefore to be 
 abolished as among the appendages of 
 a forbidden worship. Deut. 7. 2.5, ' The 
 graven images of their gods shall ye 
 burn with fire ; thou shall not desire the 
 silver or the gold that is on them, nor 
 take it unto thee lest thou be snared 
 therein ; for it is an abomination to the 
 Lord thy God.' Hence the Jewish 
 canon : ' It is commanded to destroy 
 idolatry and the ministerial instruments 
 thereof, and whatsoever is made for the 
 same ; and it is forbidden to have any 
 use or profit by any of these things.' 
 Considering the evils which prevailed 
 in Jacob's family, and the bewitching 
 nature of idolatry, it is somewhat sur- 
 prising to observe the readiness with 
 which they now complied with his 
 commands. But undoubtedly the whole 
 air, manner, and language of Jacob on 
 this occasion was decided, and such as 
 convinced his household that he was 
 engaged in earnest in a very solemn 
 duty, in which it would be dangerous 
 for them not to unite. The incident 
 teaches us that where our spirit is right, 
 we have great access to the hearts of 
 others. Duties difficult and hopeless ir^ 
 
202 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1732. 
 
 5 And they journeyed : and ^ the 
 terror of God was upon the cities 
 that were round about them, and 
 
 1 Exod. 15. IG. & 23. 27. & 34. 24. Deut. 
 
 prospect are rendered easy and success- 
 ful the moment we have sufficient faith 
 to attempt to carry them into execution. 
 Where a reproof or remonstrance is of- 
 fered in a truly Christian temper, and 
 the general deportment of the speaker 
 IS in accordance with his words, men 
 will often listen much more willingly 
 than we anticipate. Although no in- 
 stantaneous effect should be produced, 
 yet some arrow may be fixed in the 
 conscience which is never afterwards 
 extracted. Some seeds may be sown 
 in the memory which, after lying dor- 
 mant for a long time, may at last ' take 
 root downwards and bear fruit upwards,' 
 when the sower who went forth to sow 
 the seed has long since been called to 
 his reward. Let us consider this, and 
 be more studious to improve the offered 
 
 opportunities of doing good. ^ Hid 
 
 them under the oak which was by She- 
 chem. It was under this same oak that 
 Joshua afterwards set up a stone of 
 watness, upon the occasion of his having 
 convened the people at Shechem, and, 
 probably in memory of this very trans- 
 action of Jacob cleansed them of their 
 idols, and hrouP^'it them renewedly into 
 a solemn covenint with God. Josh. 24. 
 25, 26. As the oak, among the Canaan- 
 ites, was dedicated to religious purposes, 
 Deut. 12. 2, he might have supposed 
 that the sacredness of the depository 
 would be likely to guard them from 
 being discovered or disturbed. If it be 
 asked why Jacob did not burn instead 
 of burying them, it may be answered, 
 that perhaps he might in the first in- 
 stance have caused them to pass through 
 The fire, but as metallic substances are 
 not consumed, but merely transformed 
 .-)y the action of fire, he would still have 
 had the material on his hands to be dis- 
 posed of some other way ; and as dead 
 
 they did not pursue after the sons 
 of Jacob. 
 
 11. 25. Josh. ! 
 Chron. 14. 14. 
 
 9. & 5. 1. 1 Sam. 14. 15. 2 
 
 bodies, and every thing foul, loathsome, 
 and abominable, was buried out of sight, 
 he seems properly to have taken the 
 same course with these idols and their 
 appendages. It would seem, moreover, 
 that the procedure afterwards enjoined 
 under the Mosaic law, Deut. 7. 25, was 
 now acted upon by the patriarch, and 
 perhaps generally considered obligatory 
 in similar circumstances ; ' The graven 
 images of their gods shall ye burn with 
 fire ; thou shalt not desire the silver or 
 the gold that is on tliem, nor take it unto 
 thee, lest thou be snared therein : for it 
 is an abomination to the Lord thy God.' 
 5. The terror of God vns upon the 
 cities, &c. That is, was made to be. The 
 Heb. H'TI hayah, and the Gr. eyevcTo, fre- 
 quently express, not the simple fact of 
 being, but being in consequence of ac 
 tive causation or efficiency. Thus, 
 Ezek. 37, ' And the hand of the Lord 
 was upon me ;' i. e. was efficaciously 
 made to be upon me. Rev. 1. 10, 'I was 
 in the Spirit on the Lord's day ;' i. e. I 
 was made to be in the Spirit, by a strong 
 supernatural impulse. The phrase * ter 
 ror of God' is probably equivalent to a 
 mighty terror, an astounding dread ; be- 
 ing an instance of the idiom mentioned 
 in the note on Gen. 23. 6. Otherwise 
 we may understand it with Ainsworth 
 of a terror sent of God. Had it not been 
 for such a supernatural panic, the neigh- 
 boring clans might easily have combin- 
 ed, and faUing upon Jacob's company, 
 have put them all to death, by way of 
 avenging the massacre of the Shechem- 
 ites. The kind care which God evinced 
 towards the family on this occasion 
 would appear to have been no less con- 
 trary to the parents' fears, than to the 
 deserts of his ungodly children, and its 
 being extended to them for his saJce, 
 must have had the effect, one would 
 
B. C. 1732.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 '2m 
 
 G IT So Jacob came to *" Luz, 
 which is in the land ot Canaan 
 (that is Beth-eJ) he and all the peo- 
 ple that were with him. 
 
 7 And he ° built there an altar, 
 and called the place El-beth-el ; be- 
 cause ° there God appeared unto 
 
 m ch. 28. 19. 22. n Eccles. 5. 4. 
 o ch. 23. 13. 
 
 think, to abase their proud spirits, and 
 make them feel how much they were 
 indebted to the divine clemency. 
 
 6. Jacob came to Luz. ' Luz' is the 
 Heb. term for almond-tree, and the place 
 was perhaps so called from this species 
 of tree growing abundantly in that re- 
 gion. See Note on Gen. 28. 19. From 
 this it appears that Bethel had not yet 
 become the common name of the place, 
 though it was thirty years since it had 
 been bestowed by Jacob. But he then 
 did it as a private individual, in memory 
 of a special manifestation made to him- 
 self. From the time of this his second 
 sojourn there, we may suppose that the 
 name ' Bethel' came gradually into 
 vogue, and was at length firmly estab- 
 lished. 
 
 7. El-Beth-el. That is. The God of 
 Bethel. He had before called it simply 
 Bethel, house of God ; but now, with a 
 view to impart a still greater degree of 
 sanctity to every association connected 
 with the place, he again affixes the 
 common title of God to the name. Still 
 we cannot but consider it as doubtful 
 whether the present rendering affords 
 us precisely the sense of the original. 
 According to the distinction of the He- 
 brew accents, the first ' El' is separated 
 from the rest of the word, as if the wri- 
 ter meant to say, ' And he connected 
 the name of El (God) with the place, to 
 wit, by calling it ' Beth-el' or house of 
 God.' This is at once intelligible and 
 pertinent ; but what shall we understand 
 by a title, of which the literal translation 
 is either ' God-liouse-of-God,' or ' God- 
 of-the-house-of-God ?' On the whole, 
 
 him, when he fled from the face of 
 his brother, 
 
 8 But p Deborah, Rebekah's 
 nurse, died, and she was buried 
 beneath Beth-el, under an oak: 
 aud the name of it was called AI- 
 lon-bachuth. 
 
 P ch. 24. 59. 
 
 we have little doubt that the first 
 ' El' does not belong to the name of 
 the place, especially as we have no evi- 
 dence that it was ever subsequently 
 called any thing but * Beth-el.' -IT Be- 
 cause God there appeared unto him. Heb. 
 tD^nbbtH I'^bi^ ib^S niglu ehuv ha-ela- 
 him, the Elohim were revealed to him. 
 As ' Elohim' is here contrary to general 
 usage, connected with a verb plural, it 
 is doubtful whether it be not intended 
 as a designation of the angels seen in 
 Jacob's vision. So at least it is under- 
 stood by the Chal., which renders it, 
 * Because there the angels of God ap- 
 peared to him.' The Gr., however, 
 renders it, as in the Eng. version, * Be- 
 cause there God appeared to him.' Va- 
 tablus, Michaelis, and several other 
 critics of note, agree with the Chal., 
 though RosenmuUer doubts whether 
 ' Elohim' by itself ever signifies angels, 
 8. But Deborah, RehehaKs nurse, died. 
 ' Deborah ;' i. e. a bee. From the res- 
 pect paid to her memory, we may fair- 
 ly infer that Deborah was a venerable 
 matron of exemplary piety. If we sup- 
 pose her to have been fifty years of age 
 when she left Mesopotamia with Re- 
 bekah, she could not have been far 
 from a hundred and eighty at this time. 
 On what occasion she was transferred 
 from Isaac's to Jacob's family we are 
 not informed. She might have been 
 sent to him on his return from Syria, af- 
 ter leaving Laban, when to his young 
 and growing family her services would 
 
 have been pecuharly acceptable. 
 
 IT And she was buried, &c. The death 
 of an aged servant, when her work waf 
 
204 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 17:32. 
 
 9 IF And ' God appeared unto 
 Jacob again when he came out of 
 Padan-aram ; and blessed him. 
 
 10 And God said unto him, Thy 
 name is Jacob : ■" thy name shall 
 not be called any more Jacob, = but 
 Israel shall be thy name ; and he 
 called his name Israel. 
 
 11 And God said unto him, * I am 
 q Hos. 12. 4. r ch. 17. 5. « ch. 32. 28. 
 
 « ch. 17. 1 : 48. 3, 4. Exod. 6. 3. 
 
 done, would not ordinarily excite much 
 regret. To have afforded her a decent 
 burial was all that in raost cases would 
 be thought of. But Jacob's family were 
 so much affected by the event, as not 
 only to weep over her grave, but to call 
 the very tree under the shadow of 
 which fshe was interred, 'Allon-ba- 
 chulh,' the oak of weeping. It is the 
 more singular, too, that the family that 
 wept over her was not that in which 
 she had spent what we should call her 
 best days ; but one that had merely ta- 
 ken her under their care in her old age. 
 We may suppose, however, that the 
 sorrow expressed on this occasion was 
 prompted not only by the recollection 
 of her character, but also of her office, 
 as having been ' Rebekah's nurse.' The 
 text seems to lay an emphasis on 
 these words. We are told, ch. 29. 10, 
 that the sight of the daughter of Laban, 
 'his mother's brother,' and even of his 
 sheep, had interested Jacob's heart ; 
 much more would the burial of his 
 nurse. In weeping over her grave he 
 would seem to be weeping over that of 
 his beloved parent, and paying that trib- 
 ute of affection to her memory, which 
 Providence had denied him at the time 
 of her decease. 
 
 9. And God appeared tinto Jacob again, 
 &c. We are not probably to under- 
 stand from this that the divine manifes- 
 tation here spoken of occurred at the 
 time of his return from Padan-aram, or 
 immediately after it ; but he has refer- 
 ence to the present time, and it is so 
 spoken qf in order to distinguish it from 
 
 God Almighty : be fruitful and mul- 
 tiply : " a nation and a company ol 
 nations shall be of thee, and king/ 
 shall come out of thy loins. 
 
 12 And the land ''' which I gave 
 Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will 
 give it, and to thy seed after thee 
 vviU I give the land. 
 
 » ch. 17. 5, 6, 16. & 28.3. & 48. 4. 
 ^ ch. 12. 7. & 13. 15. & 26. 3, 4. & 28. 13. 
 
 the former appearance of God to him at 
 the same place, recorded Gen. 28. He 
 appeared to him at Bethel when he was 
 going to Padan-aram, and now he ap- 
 peared to him again on the same spot 
 when he was come out of Padan-aram. 
 He had indeed, in the interval, testified 
 in various ways his ever-present aid to 
 his servant, and fulfilled his promise of 
 being with him wherever he went, but 
 up to this time he had not so clearly 
 and so signally manifested himself as on 
 
 this occasion. IT And blessed him. 
 
 Confirmed afresh all his previous prom- 
 ises of blessing. 
 
 10 — 12. God said unto him, Thy name, 
 &c. The whole account contained in 
 these verses, of the appearance of 
 God to Jacob, and of his consequent 
 conduct, describes nothing more than 
 a solemn and mutual renewal of 
 the covenant already established. There 
 is nothing material now said or done, 
 but what had been said or done before. 
 (1.) God had before said. Gen. 32. 23, 
 that his name should no more be called 
 Jacob, but Israel, i. e. that he should 
 mainly be called Israel. This honor is 
 here renewed. (2.) God had before de- 
 clared that the promises made to Abra- 
 ham should be fulfilled in his posterity. 
 This declaration is here renewed, and 
 prefaced with an assertion of his ov.n 
 all-sufficiency to fulfil them. (3.) When 
 God had before appeared to him, he set 
 up a pillar of stone, and poured oil upon 
 it, and called the name of the place 
 Bethel, Gen. 23. 13, 14. This ceremony 
 he now renewed, with the addition of a 
 
C. C. 1732.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 205 
 
 13 And God " went up from him, 
 in the place where he talked with 
 him. 
 
 14 And Jacob y set up a pillar in 
 the place where he talked with him, 
 even a pillar of stone : and he pour- 
 ed a drink-offering thereon, and he 
 poured oil thereon. 
 
 : ch. 17. 22. 
 
 y ch. 23. 18. 
 
 drink-offering, for which in his first 
 journey he probably had not the mate- 
 rials. These incidents may teach us 
 that the most precious favors of heaven 
 often come to us, not in the form of 
 blessings or promises entirely new, but 
 in the repetition or revival of those 
 which we have already experienced in 
 times past. And so, on the other hand, 
 it may be that the most acceptable man- 
 ner in which they can serve God will 
 be, not by engaging in something unat- 
 tempted before, but by ' doing our first 
 works,' by reminding ourselves of our 
 covenant vows, and seeking anew that 
 spiritual communion which is the life of 
 
 our .souls. IT A nation and a company 
 
 of nations. Or, Heb. ' A nation, even a 
 church of nations.' Gr. ' Nations and 
 synagogues of nations.' Chal. 'People 
 and a congregation of tribes shall be of 
 thee, and kings reigning over peoples.' 
 
 IT To thee and to thy seed ; i. e. to 
 
 thee, even to thy seed. The patriarchs 
 are thus frequently identified with their 
 posterity. See Gen. 13. 15. The key to 
 the interpretation of this promise is fur- 
 nished us by such passages as the fol- 
 lowing. Josh. 5. 9, — ' the land which the 
 Lord svvare unto their fathers that he 
 would give us.' 
 
 13. And God went up from him, &c. 
 This implies a visible manifestation in 
 the symbol of his presence. Chal. 
 ' The glory of the Lord went up.' Arab, 
 and Ethiop. 'The light or splendor of 
 God went up.' See the explanation in 
 the Note on Gen. 17. 22. 
 
 14. And Jacob set up a pillar, &c. If 
 the pillar which he had formerly erect- 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 15 And Jacob called the name of 
 the place where God spake with 
 him, 2 Beth-el. 
 
 16 IT And they journeyed from 
 Beth-el ; and there was but a little 
 way to come to Ephrath : and Ra- 
 chel travailed, and she had hard la- 
 bour. 
 
 I ch. 23. 19. 
 
 ed were now standing, the setting up ^ 
 new one would seem to have been un- 
 necessary, as the remaining rites could 
 have been easily performed upon that. 
 The probabihty is, that as several years 
 had elapsed, the first erection had gone 
 wholly to decay, or become so much 
 dilapidated as to require to be set up 
 up anew ; and this we suppose Jacob 
 now to have done. He then poured 
 upon it a libation of wine and oil, and 
 bestowed again the name of Bethel as 
 a memorial of his faith and gratitude, 
 and with a design to have the appellation 
 perpetuated to the latest generations. 
 
 [6. And they journeyed. The Gr. 
 here inserts in addition the final clause 
 of v. 21, rendering it, 'And Jacob jour- 
 neyed from Bethel, and pitched his tent 
 beyond the tower of Edar,' The reas- 
 on of this will shortly be explained. 
 
 IF But a little way. Heb. fli^n Ti^lii 
 kivrath haaretz, a little space of ground. 
 The same word in the original. Gen. 48. 
 7, is rendered in the Gr. ' Hippodrome,' 
 or the length of a horse-race cou rse, which , 
 Michaehs says, among the people of the 
 East was about a mile. This agrees 
 very nearly with what travellers have 
 reported of the distance of Rachel's 
 
 tomb from Bethlehem. IT Ephrath; 
 
 I. e. fruitful; called also here ' Ephra- 
 ta.' See below, on v. 19. H" And Ra- 
 chel travailed, &c. Jacob's sojourn at 
 Bethel was no doubt one of tlie pecu- 
 liarly bright spots in his history. The me- 
 mory of former merciful visitations was 
 here graciously revived to him; his fa- 
 mily and household were brought in ap- 
 parent sincerity to the worship of the 
 18 
 
206 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 17 And it came to pass when she 
 was in hard labour that the midwife 
 
 true God ; and, in addition to this, the 
 comforts of worldly prosperity were 
 mingled in his cup. But an event soon 
 occurred, which taug;ht him how close- 
 ly connected, in this vale of tears, are 
 our sorrows and our joys. Bethel be- 
 held him at the summit of worldly hap- 
 piness. Bethlehem, the next town 
 through which he passes, sees him in 
 the depths of affliction, mourning the un- 
 timely death of his beloved Rachel. 
 The history does not expand itself here, 
 but simply relates the fact that she died 
 in giving birth to a son ; and the inci- 
 dent recalls, with painful vividness, the 
 passionate exclamation she had before 
 uttered, ' Give me children, or else I 
 die.' Her prayer was heard, but at the should 
 expense of her life ! Alas ! how often 
 .should we be ruined at our own request, 
 if God were not more merciful to us 
 than we are to ourselves ! 
 
 17. And it came to pass, &;c. The 
 words now uttered by the midwife 
 seem to have had allusion to what was 
 said by Rachel herself on a former oc- 
 
 said unto her, Fear not 
 have this ison also. 
 
 [B. C. 1732 
 
 ; "^ thou shall 
 
 a cli. 30. 24. 1 Sam. 4. 20. 
 
 my sorrow, she expires ! The circum- 
 stances were very similar to those of 
 the death of Phineas' wife, 1 Sam. 4. 
 20, 21, 'And about the time of her 
 death, the women that stood by her 
 said unto her, Fear not ; for thou hast 
 borne a son. But she answered not, 
 neither did she regard it. And she 
 named the child Ichabod, saying. The 
 
 glory is departed from Israel.' ^ His 
 
 father called him Benjamin. Heb. 
 'I'^^D'^iH binyamin, son of the right hand ; 
 implying that he should be peculiarly 
 near and dear to his father, as is evident 
 from the Scriptural usage of the phrase 
 'right hand.' Thus it is the especial 
 prerogative of the Saviour that he 
 it at the right hand of God,' Ps. 
 110. 1; parallel to which it is said, Ps. 
 80. 17, ' Let thy hand be upon the man 
 of thy right hand, upon the son of man 
 whom thou madest strong for thyself.' 
 So when we are commanded to cut off 
 the offending right hand, it is the same 
 as requiring us to resign whatever is 
 most dear and precious to us, if it be 
 
 casion. At the birth of her first son, inconsistent with our higher interests. 
 Gen. 30. 21, she called him Joseph, a j The former name, though very appro- 
 name which has the import of adding, \ priate at the time, yet, if continued, 
 'for she said, the Lord shall add to me | would tend perpetually to revive the 
 another son.' Her words, if now report- ! recollection of his beloved wife ; and of 
 ed to Jacob, with the recollection of the ' such a monitor he did not stand in need, 
 above prophetic hint, would work ten- 1 The grief of a good man under the loss 
 derly upon his feelings, and render his , of earthly com.forts may be very deep 
 loss more affecting. But they appear i and unfeigned, yet it is unbecoming 
 to have had no influence on Rachel, such a man to pore over his afflictions 
 Life was ebbing too rapidly to permit with cherished melancholy. We should 
 her to rejoice even in the acquisition i aim rather to surround ourselves with 
 she had so long and so ardendy desired, the mementos of our mercies than of our 
 Neither the recollections nor the pros- o#icf/o7is, and to divert our thoughts from 
 pects of worldly blessings avail much to the objects taken away, and direct them 
 gladden the chamber of sickness and of | to those that are left. Above all, let us 
 death. Rachel has the sentence of guard against setting our hearts unduly 
 death in herself, and makes no answer ; 
 but, turning her dying eyes towards the 
 child, and calling him ' Ben-oni,' son of\ made a source of suffpi-ing and sorrow 
 
 on any treasure upon the earth, lest what 
 we reckon ^^adding\.o our jo>"S should be 
 
B. C. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 207 
 
 18 And it came to pass as her 
 soul was in departing, (for she died,) 
 that she called his name Ben-oni : 
 but his father called him Benj imin. 
 
 19 And ^ Rachel died, and was 
 
 18. As her soul was in departing. Heb. 
 (1^53 t^m'^^^betzelh naphshah, in the going 
 out of her soul, or life. Gr. ev tm a^pievai 
 avrriv rnv xl/vxiv, in her sending out her 
 life. The language legitimately implies 
 no more than the departing or ceasing 
 of the vital principle, whatever that be. 
 In hke manner, when the prophet EH- 
 jah stretched himself upon tl\o dead 
 child, 1 Kings 17. 21, and cried three 
 times, saying, ' O Lord my God, let this 
 child's soul come unto him again,' he 
 merely prays for the return of his physi- 
 cal vitality. See Note on Gen. 9. 4. 
 
 19. Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. Eph- 
 rath, or Ephrata, was the old, and Beth- 
 lehem the later name of this town. 
 'Bethlehem' means 'house of bread;' 
 but we do not know on vvhat occasion 
 it was imposed. The town was in the 
 allotment of the tribe of Judah, being 
 situated about six miles south of Jerusa- 
 lem, on the road to Hebron. It was a 
 city in the lime of Boaz, Ruth 3. 11. 4. 
 1, whose grandson was Jesse, the father 
 of David, who was born and reared 
 there ; in consequence of which the 
 place is very freqnendy distinguished as 
 'the city of David.' It was one of the 
 cities fortified by Rehoboam. But its 
 greatest and most holy distinction re- 
 sults from its having been the appoint- 
 ed birth-place of our Saviour. The 
 town is called sometimes in the Old 
 Testament ' Bethlehem-Judah,' to dis- 
 tinguish it from another Bethlehem, 
 mentioned, in Josh. 19. 15, as a city of 
 Zebulun. Its ancient name is nearly 
 preserved to this day, it being now call- 
 ed Beit-Lahhm. The modern Bethlehem 
 is a village covering the ridge of a hill 
 on the southern .si(ie of a deep and ex- 
 
 buried in the way to <= Ephratli, 
 which is Beth-lehem. 
 
 20 And Jacob set a pillar upon 
 her {rrave : that is the pillar of Ra- 
 chel's grave '^ unto this day. 
 
 c Ruth. 1. 2. & 4. 11. Micah 5. 2. Matt 
 2. 6. d 1 Sam. 10. 2. 2 Sam. 18. 18. 
 
 tensive valley, and containing about 
 three hundred inhabitants, the greater 
 part of whom gain their hvelihood by 
 making beads, carving mother-of-pearl 
 shells viith sacred subjects, and manu- 
 facturing small tables and crucifixes, all 
 of which are eagerly purchased by the 
 pilgrims who annually resort thither. 
 Jerome, one of the Christian fathers 
 passed a great part of his life in this 
 place ; and in the grotto shown as his 
 oratory, he is said to have translated 
 that version of the Bible which has been 
 adopted by the church of Rome, and is 
 called the Vulgate. He died at the ad- 
 vanced age of ninety-one, A. D. 422- 
 
 20. The pillar of RacheVs grave unto 
 this day. That is, to the time when 
 Moses wrote this history ; nearly three 
 hundred years after the event ; and 
 that it remained for a long time after 
 this, even to the days of Saul, we 
 have indubitable proof from the sa- 
 cred narrative, 1 Sam. 10. 2, 'And 
 when thou art departed from me to-day, 
 then shalt thou find two men by Ra- 
 chel's sepulchre, in the border of Benja- 
 min at Zelzah.' It is by no means im- 
 probable that the very spot is stdl cor- 
 rectly designated at the present day, 
 although the monument now visible is 
 confessedly a Turkish structure. ' The 
 Turks have generally enclosed the real 
 or supposed sepulchres of the chief char- 
 acters of the Old Testament in some 
 building or other: that which covers 
 the tomb of Rachel is of a very humble 
 description. It is a small square build- 
 ing surmounted by a dome, and resem- 
 bling the common tombs of sheikhs and 
 saints in Arabia and Egypt. Mr. Buck- 
 ingham, who has particularly described 
 
208 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [13. C. 1729 
 
 21 ^ And Israel journeyed, and 
 spread his tent beyond * the tower 
 of Edar. 
 
 e Mic. 4. 8. 
 
 it, says, 'We entered it on the south 
 side by an aperture through which it 
 was difficult to crawl, as it has no door- 
 way ; and found on the inside a square 
 mass of masonry in the centre, built up 
 from the floor nearly to the roof, and of 
 such a size as to leave barely a narrow 
 passage for walking round it. It is plas- 
 tered with white stucco on the outer 
 surface ; and is sufficiently large and 
 high to inclose within it any ancient 
 pillar that might have been found on the 
 grave of Rachel.' As this interior cen- 
 tral mass is certainly different from 
 any thing we have ourselves ever wit- 
 nessed in such structures, we are dis- 
 posed to concur with Mr. Bucking- 
 ham in thinking it probable that it was 
 originally intended to inclose a pillar, or 
 fragment of one, which tradition had 
 pointed out as the pillar of Rachel's 
 grave ; and that the present structure 
 was afterwards built over the whole by 
 the Mohammedans, who do not yield to 
 the Jews or Christians in their venera- 
 tion for such places. The precincts of 
 the sepulchre are now used by the 
 Turks as a cemetery. The desire which 
 these people feel that their ashes may 
 rest in this spot is described by Mr. 
 Came (' Recollections of the East,' p. 
 160.) as 'singular and extreme.' He 
 adds, 'All round this simple tomb lie 
 thickly strewn the graves of the Mus- 
 sulmans. No slender pillars of wood or 
 stone, with inscriptions in letters of gold, 
 are here ; not a single memorial which 
 this people are otherwise so fond of 
 erecting in their cemeteries. It seems to 
 be sufficient that they are placed be- 
 neath the favorite sod : the small and 
 numerous mounds, over which the sur- 
 vivor sometimes comes and weeps, 
 mark the places of their graves.' ' Pict. 
 
 mie. 
 
 22 And it came to pass, when 
 Israel dwelt in that land, that Reu- 
 
 21. Israel journeyed, and spread his 
 tent beyond the tower of Edar. Heh. 
 11'$ bl^'O mi^dal eder, toiver of the 
 flock; as the same phrase is rendered, 
 Mic. 4. 8, 'And thou, O tower of the 
 flock, (Heb. ' Migdal Eder,') the strong 
 hold of the daughter of Zion.' It is 
 supposed that towers were made for 
 the use of the shepherds in watching 
 their flocks by night ; and Jerome, who 
 had collected a great many ancient tra- 
 ditions on the spot, affirms that it was 
 at tiiis place, near Bethlehem, that the 
 shepherds were abiding in the field, 
 keeping watch over their flock by night, 
 when the angels announced the birth of 
 the Messiah. And it is well worthy of 
 note that the Targ. Jon. paraphrases the 
 words of Moses thus ; ' And Israel went 
 forward and pitched his tabernacle be- 
 yond Migdal Eder, the place whence 
 the 3Iessias is to be revealed in the end 
 of days.' Others, however, from the 
 passage of Micah above cited, in which 
 it is identified with ' the strong hold of 
 Zion,' consider it as a denomination of 
 Jerusalem itself, whither the tribes of 
 Israel were wont to repair three times 
 in a year as a flock to their fold, or to the 
 tower of their shepherd ; or, with Light- 
 foot, of some place in the immediate 
 vicinity. The Sept. version, as already 
 remarked, has inverted the order of the 
 history, and made the encampment of 
 Jacob beyond the tower of Edar to be 
 previous to his arrival at Ephrata. This 
 may have been because the translators 
 considered Jerusalem, or some place in 
 its near neighborhood, to have been the 
 site of the tower, in which case it was 
 necessary that one travelling from Beth- 
 el to Bethlehem should pass the tower 
 on his way. We are of opinion, on the 
 whole, that they are correct in their to- 
 pography, though their license of trans- 
 
B. C. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV, 
 
 ben went and '' lay with Bilhah his 
 
 father's concubine : and Israel 
 
 f ch. 49. 4. 1 Uhron. 5. 1. 2 Sam. 16. 22. 
 
 position is scarcely pardonable. We 
 would accordingly render the verse 
 thus ; ' For Israel Aa^Z journeyed, and had 
 spread his tent beyond the tower of 
 Eder;' i. e. supposing the starting point 
 to have been Bethel, and the direction 
 southward. This makes the scope of 
 the writer to be, to state how it happen- 
 ed that Jacob was at Ephrata when Ra- 
 chel died. After leaving Bethel, he grad- 
 ually advanced in a southern direction, 
 fixing himself at intervals at different 
 points as the prospect of pasturage in- 
 vited, and as his company increased he 
 continued to ' spread his tent ;' i. e. to 
 cover more and more ground, till at 
 length, by extension and advancement, 
 he had passed beyond Jerusalem and 
 the ' tower of Edar' which lay in his 
 route, and was in the immediate vicin- 
 ity of Bethlehem Ephrata when Rachel 
 died. 
 
 22. And it came to pass, &c- The 
 pious patriarch, in removing from one 
 scene of sorrow, finds himself suddenly 
 m another. A more heart rending event 
 than even the death of his favorite wife 
 is here related, — one at the recital of 
 which we are ready to pronounce Ra- 
 chel blessed in having been laid in the 
 grave previous to its occurrence. Reu- 
 ben, his eldest son, ' the beginning of his 
 strength, and the excellency of his dig- 
 nity,' he who enjoyed the highest pre- 
 rogatives among his brethren, degrades 
 and dishonors himself by the commis- 
 sion of a crime of the deepest die, ' such 
 as is not so much as named among the 
 Gentiles.' Had such a wrong been 
 done to the aged patriarch by a stran- 
 ger and a foreigner, a person of another 
 stock, we can easily paint to ourselves 
 and justify, the mingled emotions of 
 grief and indignation which the act 
 must have excited in his besom. But 
 
 heard it. Now 
 were twelve : 
 
 &20. 3. 1 Cor. 5.1 
 
 209 
 
 the sons of Jacob 
 
 what is this compared to the anguish of 
 recognising the guilty perpetrator in 
 one of his own household, in his own, 
 his eldest son : It is as unnecessary, 
 however, as it is painful, to dwell on 
 this overwhelming blow to the domestic 
 peace of Jacob. It was done in secret ; 
 but ' Israel heard of it 5' and not only so, 
 but God so ordered it that this flagrant 
 deed of sin should be heard of, not by 
 Jacob only, but by all that read the sa- 
 cred story to the end of time. If tempt- 
 ed, therefore, to sin with the hope of 
 concealment, let us be warned by this 
 example, remembering that ' there is 
 nothing covered, that shall not be reveal- 
 ed ; neither hid, that shall not be known.' 
 In the Heb. there is an abrupt breaking 
 off in the midst of the verse, with along 
 empty space between this and the final 
 clause, together with an extraordinary 
 mark [0] in the word ' heard' to prompt 
 attention. Grief is sometimes most em- 
 phatically expressed by silence, and this 
 perhaps may be intended to be intimated 
 by certain significant signs inserted into 
 the sacred text. It does not appear that 
 any notice in the way of punishment 
 was taken of Reuben's conduct at this 
 time, but we afterwards learn, Gen. 
 49. 4, that he lost the birthright in con- 
 sequence of it Judgment never fails in 
 the end to wait upon transgression. By 
 his conduct, however, in reference to 
 his brother Joseph, Gen. 37. 20, 22, he 
 seems to have obtained, in behalf of his 
 posterity at least, a mitigation of his 
 punishment; for 3Ioses, in bles.sing the 
 tribes, said of him, ' Let Reuben live 
 and not die, and let not his men be 
 few.' Yet even here he does but live. 
 No idea is suggested that he should 
 ever excel, and witji this the history oi 
 his tribe, in after-ages, perfectly ac 
 cords. 
 
210 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1729. 
 
 23 The sons of Leah ; s Reuben, j 
 Jacob's first-born, and Simeon, and 
 Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and 
 Zebulun : 
 
 24 Tl)e sons of Rachel ; Joseph, 
 and Benjamin : 
 
 25 And the sons of Bilhah, Ra- 
 chel's handmaid ; Dan, and Naph- 
 tali: 
 
 26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's 
 handmaid ; Gad, and Asher. These 
 are the sons of Jacob, which were 
 born to him in Padan-aram. 
 
 6 ch. 46. 8. Exod. 1. 2. 
 
 23 — 26. As the history henceforward 
 is occupied chiefly with the ' sons of Ja- 
 cob,' as the fathers of the twelve tribes 
 of Israel, the writer here, at the outset, 
 briefly recapitulates their names, which 
 are grouped together, not in the order of 
 their birth, but according to their mater- 
 nal parentage . It may perhaps appear 
 strange that they should all be said to 
 have been born in Padan-aram, when it 
 is clear from this cliapter that Benjamin 
 was born in Canaan. But according to 
 a common usage of the sacred writers, 
 that is sometimes affirmed of a compa- 
 ny or nurrtber taken collectively, which, 
 though it holds good of the major part, 
 cannot be predicated of each individual, 
 considered separately. Thus, when our 
 Saviour said to his disciples. Mat. 19. 
 28, ' Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones 
 judging the twelve tribes of Israel,' it is 
 manifest that Judas, one of the twelve, 
 is to be excepted. So, John 20. 24, 
 Thomas is called one of //ic twelve, though 
 in reaUty, as Judas was now dead, there 
 were but eleven, and Mark accordingly 
 mentions the latter number, 3Iark IG. 
 14, ' Afterward he appeared unto the ele- 
 ven as they sat at meat.' In like man- 
 ner Paul, Heb. 11. 1 — 13, having recited 
 a list of the ancient worthies, says v. 
 13, 'these oZZ(Zie<i in faith.' whereas it 
 is expressly asserted, v. 5, that one of 
 them, Enoch, did not die, but was trans 
 lated. 
 
 27 IT And Jacob came unto Isaac 
 his father unto ^ Mamre, unto the 
 ' city of Arbah (which is Hebroji) 
 where Abraham and Isaac sojourn- 
 ed. 
 
 28 And the days of Isaac were 
 an hundred and fourscore years. 
 
 29 And Isaac gave up the ghost 
 and died, and ^ was gathered unto 
 his people, being old and full of days : 
 and 1 his sons Esau and Jacob buried 
 him. 
 
 h ch. 13. 18. 23. 2, 19. i Josh. 14. l'>. 
 
 15. 13. k ch. 15. 15. 2o. 8. i ch. 25. 9. 
 49.31. 
 
 27 — 29. Before the sacred writer pro- 
 ceeds with the history of Jacob's twelve 
 sons, particularly as involved in that of 
 Joseph, he pauses a little upon two oth- 
 er subjects, that the thread of the story 
 may not afterwards be broken. One of 
 these is the conclusion of Isaac's life at 
 the age of 180 ; and the other, contained 
 in the thirty-sixth chapter, a brief sketch 
 of the family and the temporal prosperi- 
 ty of Esau. Had the death of Isaac 
 been introduced in the proper order of 
 time, it would have fallen in the midst 
 of the history of Joseph ; but it occurred 
 about twelve or fifteen years after his 
 being sold into Egypt. Esau and Ja- 
 cob were 120 years of age at the death 
 of their father, and from their uniting, 
 as Isaac and Ishmael had done on a sim- 
 ilar occasion, in performing the funeral 
 obsequies of their father, it is to be in- 
 ferred that the reconciliation between 
 them was cordial and lasting. T^ti 
 event itself occurred A. M. 2283, and 
 after the flood 632 years. 
 
 CHAP. XXXVI. 
 The present chapter is occupied with 
 a somewhat detailed account of the posj- 
 terity of Esau, called from him Edovu 
 i/es, inserted mainly for the purpose of 
 showing the accomplishment of the pro- 
 mises made to Isaac respecting him, 
 Gen. 27. 39, 40. The promise of tempo- 
 ral prosperty wos made to Esau when 
 
B. C. 1796.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 211 
 
 CHAP. XXXVI. 
 
 NOW these are the generations 
 of Esau, * who is Edom. 
 2 ^ Esau took liis wives of the 
 daughters of Canaan ; Adah, the 
 
 ach. 25. 30. "ch.SG. 34. 
 
 the spiritual blessings were secured to 
 Jacob ; and it is remarkable that on the 
 score of worldly distinction he flourish- 
 ed in his lifetime, and for several gene- 
 rations, far beyond his brother. While 
 the latter was a servant in Padan-aram, 
 he estabhshed his dominion in Mount 
 Self ; and while the descendants of the 
 one were groaning under Egyptian 
 bondage, those of the other were form- 
 ed into an independent kingdom, and had 
 eight kings in succession ' before there 
 reigned any king over the children of 
 Israel.' But the notice here taken of 
 Esau is like an honorable inscription on 
 his tombstone. It is a kind of final 
 leave taken of him and of his posterity, 
 for we hear no more of them but as 
 enemies of the chosen people. He is 
 presented to our view for a moment, as 
 surrounded with a glare of earihly glo- 
 ry, but as there is nothing stable with- 
 out the pale of tlie kingdom of God, the 
 curtain speedily drops upon all his splen- 
 dor and pomp, and it is seen no more. 
 The spirit of inspiration pausing for a 
 moment to show that no word of (iod, 
 however slight, fails of its elTert, imme- 
 diately passes to its main drift, and directs 
 our view to the rriore abiding and truly 
 glorious concerns of the line of Jacob. 
 
 1. These are the general ions of Esau. 
 Heb. rillblri ioledofh, births ; i. e. oc- 
 currences, memorable events, matters 
 of record. See this sense of the origi- 
 nal confirmed in the Note on Gen. 2. 4. 
 
 IT ]Vho is Edom. It is wortliy of 
 
 notice that in four different places in 
 this chapter Esau is expressly and em- 
 phatically identified with Edom. This 
 latter name, as we have seen, Gen. 25. 
 24 — 34, was given him with a latent 
 reference to his sanguinary disposition, 
 
 daucrhter of Elon the Hittite, and 
 " AhoUbamah the daughter of Anah 
 the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite ; 
 3 And *^ Basheniath, Ishmael's 
 daughter, sister of Nebajoth. . 
 
 • ver. 25. 
 
 and as this was notoriously the charac- 
 ter of the Edomites, especially towards 
 Israel, it would seem as if the Holy 
 Spirit of set purpose dwelt upon that 
 appellation in order that its significancy 
 might make a deep impression upon the 
 reader. 
 
 2. Esau took his wives of the daughters 
 of Canaan. Not the daughters, i. e. the 
 descendants of the country called Ca- 
 naan, but of the person of that name, 
 the head and founder of the Canaanitish 
 race. Gr. a;ro rcuy OvyarF.poiv twv Xava- 
 vaia)v,ofthe daughters of the Canaaniies. 
 
 IT Adah, the daughter of Elon, &e. 
 
 Itis to be observed that Moses here gives 
 the three wives of Esau different names, 
 when he comes to speak of the posteri- 
 ty ho had by them. We might infer 
 from this that he had more than three ; 
 especially as the fathers of the two for- 
 mer are called also by other names; 
 as for instance his first wife Judith, the 
 daughter of Beer the Hivite, is here call- 
 ed Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hit- 
 tite ; the second, viz. Bashemath, the 
 daughter of Elon, is again called Ahoii-. 
 baraah, the daughter of Anah, the 
 daughter of Zibion the Hittite ; the last 
 called, ch. 2S. 9, 3Iahalath, is here call- 
 ed Bashemath. But the true solutionis 
 no doubt to be found in the fact that 
 the two last are names of the same per- 
 son, as in both places she is called the 
 daughter of Ishmael, and the sister of 
 Nebaioth ; the same therefore may be 
 supposed of the other two. They were 
 probably sometimes called by the one 
 they had in Idumea and Arabia, as Mi- 
 chaelis conjectures, and sometimes by 
 the other which was given to them in 
 Palestine. It was no uncommon thing 
 for woiren in those davs to be distin- 
 
212 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1740. 
 
 4 And * Adah bare to Esau, Eli- 
 phaz ; and Bashemath bare Reuel ; 
 
 5 And Aholibamah bare Jeush, 
 and Jaalam, and Korah : these are 
 the sons of Esau, which were born 
 unto him in the land of Canaan. 
 
 6 And Esau took his wives, and 
 his sons, and his daughters, and all 
 
 e 1 Chron. 1. 35. 
 
 guished by a plurality of names. Thus 
 Sarah was called also Iscah ; and Maa- 
 cha, the daughter of Abishalom, 1 Kings 
 15. 2, is called elsewhere, 2 Chron. 13, 
 2, Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel. 
 Compare Gen. 26. 34, with this passage. 
 
 4. Adah hare to Esau, Eliphaz. As 
 this Eliphaz had a son named Teman, 
 V. 11, ■• Eliphaz, the Temanite,' mention- 
 ed in Job, may have been a grandson or 
 some other descendant of this son of 
 Adah. 
 
 6. And Esau took his wives, &c. Rath- 
 er, ' had taken,' i. e. previous to Jacob's 
 
 coming. IT All the persons, &c. Heb. 
 
 tlTiliSD naphshoth, souls. Gr. coixara, 
 bodies. Upon this peculiar usage of the 
 Hebrew we have had occasion to re- 
 mark before. See Note on Gen. 34. 
 29. In like manner Rom. 13. 1, ' Let 
 every soul be subject to the powers 
 that be ;' i. e. let every person. The 
 same phraseology, it appears, still pre- 
 vails in the East. ' Has a man gone to 
 a distant place, it is said, ' Viravan, and 
 all the souls of his house, have gone to 
 the far country.' ' Plave you heard that 
 the old man and thirty souls have gone 
 on a pilgrimage ?' ' Sir, I can never 
 get rich, because I have fifteen souls 
 who daily look to me for their rice.' 
 
 Roberts. IT And went. Rather, ' had 
 
 gone.' ^ Into the country. Or more 
 
 properly, in an indefinite sense, ' into a 
 land or country.' Chal. ' To another 
 land ;' as if the design were to intimate 
 that he had no fixed destination in leav- 
 ing his native land. He went forth to 
 ^eek such a residence as might appear 
 fo hira most eligible, and pitched upon 
 
 the persons of his house, and his 
 cattle, and all his beasts, and all his 
 substance which he had got in the 
 land of Canaan ; and went into the 
 country from the face of his brother 
 Jacob, 
 
 7 *■ For their riches w^ere more 
 than that they might dwell togeth- 
 
 fch. 13.6,11. 
 
 Mount Seir, because that region promis- 
 ed to answer his expectations. The Gr. 
 renders it, ' And Esau journeyed from 
 
 the land of Canaan.' IT From the face 
 
 of. Or, Heb. ^;550 mippene, from be- 
 fore ; i. e. before his arrival ; the pro- 
 vidence of God so ordering it, that as Ja- 
 cob gradually advanced to take posses- 
 sion of his promised inheritance, Esau 
 should gradually Avithdravv to make 
 room before him. It is not necessary 
 to suppose that they actually made the 
 experiment of living together before 
 they separated and entered upon their 
 appropriate provinces. God foresaw, 
 and thus enabled Moses to state, what 
 would have been the result, and therefore 
 so overruled events as to preclude an 
 experiment being made. Neither is it 
 necessary to suppose that Esau retired 
 from Canaan and took possession of 
 Mount Seir with the least design of ma- 
 king room for his brother, and thus giv- 
 ing scope for the fulfilment of the di- 
 vine promises and predictions. But 
 God overrules by a secret influence the 
 movements of men, so that they are 
 made blindly to accomplish his purpos- 
 es, even while intent upon seeking their 
 own private ends. Let us learn, there- 
 fore, to discern with the eye of faith the 
 occult workings of a wise and a kind 
 providence in the midst of the evil coun- 
 sels of wicked men, and in those events 
 which to human view appear to be pure- 
 ly fortuitous. 
 
 7. For their riches ivere more than that 
 they might dwell together. The same 
 thing, as we have before seen, Gen. 13. 
 6, 11, had happened to Abraham and 
 
B.C. 1740.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 213 
 
 er: and e the land wherein they 
 were strangers could not bear them, 
 because of their cattle. 
 
 8 Thus dwelt Esau in ^ mount 
 Seir : ' Esau is Edom. 
 
 9 IT And these are the genera- 
 tions of Esau the father of the 
 Edomites, in mount Seir : 
 
 10 These are the names of 
 Esau's sons ; ^ Eliphaz the son of 
 Adah the wife of Esau ; Reuel the 
 son of Bashemath the wife of Esau. 
 
 11 And the sons of Eliphaz were, 
 Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, 
 and Kenaz, 
 
 12 And Timna was concubine to 
 
 E ch. 17. 8. 29. 4. h ch. 32. 3. Deut. 
 
 2. 5. Josh. 24. 4. ' ver. .1. "'I Cliron. 1. 
 35, &c. 
 
 Lot. Yet who would have thought that 
 the fulfilment of Esau's blessing, by his 
 increase in worldly wealth, would be 
 one of the means by which the promise 
 to Jacob was accomplished, that he 
 should have the land of Canaan for his 
 own. Does not this result teach us 
 that the prosperity of our neighbors, so 
 far from being a detriment to ourselves, 
 is one of the ordinary means by which 
 God contrives to promote our manifold 
 
 advantages ? IT The land wherein they 
 
 were strangers. ITeb. tn'^'ll^'^ f "^li* 
 eretz megurehem, the land of their sojourn- 
 in gs. 
 
 8. Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir. Or, 
 more properly, 'in the mount, or moun- 
 tains, of Seir ;' ' Seir' being the name of 
 a man, one of the race of the Horites, from 
 whom the whole mountainous region was 
 called. It was the purpose of God from the 
 beginning that this region should revert 
 to Esau for a possession. Josh. 24. 4, 
 ' And I give unto Esau mount Seir to 
 possess it.' Deut. 2. 5, ' Meddle not 
 with them ; for I will not give you of 
 their land, no, not so much as a foot- 
 breadth ; because I have given mount 
 Seir unto Esau for a pos.session.' For 
 an extended geographical account of 
 Mount Seir, see Pictorial Rihle in loc. 
 
 Eliphaz, Esau's son ; and she bare 
 to Eliphaz, ^ Ainalek : these were 
 the sons of Adah, Esau's wife. 
 
 13 And these are the sons of 
 Reuel ; Nahath, and Zerah, Sham- 
 mah, and Mizzah : these were the 
 sons of Bashemath, Esau's wife. 
 
 14 IT And these were the sons of 
 Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, 
 the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's 
 wife : and she bare to Esau, Jeush, 
 and Jaalam, and Korah. 
 
 15 IT These were dukes of the 
 sons of Esau : the sons of Ehphaz, 
 the first-born son of Esau ; duke 
 Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, 
 duke Kenaz, 
 
 1 Exod. 17. 8, 14, Numb. 24. 20. 1 Sara. 
 15. 2, 3, &c. 
 
 IF Esau is Edom ; i. e. Esau is the 
 
 same man who is elsewhere called 
 Edom ; or taking the names collectively, 
 it maybe paraphrased, ' Edomites is but 
 another name for Esauites.' Targ. Jon. 
 ' And he (Esau) is the prince of the Idu- 
 means.' 
 
 9. Esau the father of the Edomites. 
 Heb. CTTi^ ^^^ ohi edom, the father of 
 Edom ; but nothing is more common 
 with the sacred writers than to denomi- 
 nate a tribe or nation from its founder. 
 The classical names for Edom and 
 Edomites are Idumea and Idumeans. 
 
 15. These were the dukes of the sons of 
 Esau. That is, governors, chieftains, 
 princes ; an order of rulers inferior to 
 kings, and such as are at present deno- 
 minated in the East emirs. The English 
 word ' duke' must not here be taken as 
 implying any thing like the order of no- 
 bility with which in modern times we 
 usually associate it, but rather in the 
 sense of the hatindux. leader, from which 
 duhe is derived. The original t|lb5% 
 alluph, from the same root with tjvii 
 aleph the first or leading letter of the 
 Heb. alphabet, properly signifies a chief 
 leader, conductor, guide ; as also occa- 
 sionally chllinrch, or captain of a thou- 
 SfiJid, no (Iduht from the use of tibj^ 
 
214 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1740. 
 
 16 Duke Korah, duke Gatam, 
 and duke Amalek : these are the 
 dukes that came of Eliphaz, in the 
 iand of Edom : these were the sons 
 of Adah. 
 
 17 IT And these are the sons of 
 Reuel, Esau's son ; duke Nahath, 
 duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke 
 Mizzah : these are the dukes that 
 came of Reuel, in the land of Edoin : 
 these are the sons of Basheniath, 
 Esau's wife. 
 
 18 U And these are the sons of 
 Aholibamah, Esau's wife : duke 
 Jeush, duke Jaalarn, duke Korah : 
 these loere the dukes that came of 
 of Aholibamah the daughter of 
 Anah, Esau's wife. 
 
 aJeph as a numeral for a thousand. The 
 Chal. renders it ' Rabba,' a master ; the 
 Gr. fiyEficov, hegemon, a governor or presi- 
 dent. Still it would seem from the usage 
 of the Hebrew that there is a sense ad- 
 ditional to that o( rilling involved in the 
 term jTi'ib^ alluph. The verbal root 
 Clbii alaph has the import of teaching, 
 and also of being closely connected, asso- 
 ciated, familiarly intimate, and legiti- 
 mately implies rather the relation of a 
 master to his disciples, or of a friendly 
 leader to his devoted followers, than 
 that of a ruler to his subjects ; intima- 
 ting that the government was mild and 
 patriarchal rather than despotic. Schul- 
 tens remarks that nothing is more fre- 
 quent in Arabic than to designate a mas- 
 ter, chieftain, lord, prefect, or even 
 king, by a term signifying associate or 
 companion. Thus it is a common idiom 
 to speak of the master of a flock as a 
 companion of the flock, the governor of 
 a city as the companion of the city, and 
 the ruler of a district as the companion 
 of a district; a mode of speech which 
 he thinks is founded upon the close re- 
 lation conceived to exist between rulers 
 and subjects. With these hints before 
 us we are prepared better to enter the 
 
 19 These are the sons of Esau 
 (who is Edom) and these are their 
 dukes. 
 
 20 IT "'These are the sons of 
 Seir " the Horite, who inhabited the 
 land ; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibe- 
 on, and Anah, 
 
 21 And Dishon, and Ezer, and 
 Dish an : these are the dukes of the 
 Horites, the children of Seir in the 
 land of Edom. 
 
 22 And the children of Lotan 
 were Hori, and Heman : and Lo- 
 tan's sister rvas Timna. 
 
 23 And the children of Shobal 
 were these ; Alvan, and Manahath, 
 and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 
 
 m 1 Chron. 1. 38. n ch. 14. 6. Deut. 2. 
 12, 22. 
 
 spirit of the following passages where 
 the same word occurs. Ps. 55. 12, 13, 
 ' It was not an enemy that reproached 
 me, &c., but it was thou, a man mine 
 equal, my guide ("^^I^^S^ alluphi), and 
 mine acquaintance.' Prov. 2. 16, 17, 
 ' To deliver thee from the strange w^o- 
 man, &c., which forsaketh the guide 
 (v)lbH allnph) of her youth.' Prov. 16. 
 28, ' A whisperer separateth cldef friends 
 (Slbn)' ' i- e. he will, if listened to, 
 separate parents from their children, 
 husbands from their wives, and subjects 
 from their rulers. The same phrase 
 in the original occurs Prov. 17. 9, though 
 rendered ' very friends,' where Diodati's 
 Italian version gives 'conductor,' which 
 he explains in a note by ' a most trusty 
 friend, who is one's usual counsel- 
 lor in any difficulty and perplexity,' 
 referring to Mic. 5. 7, ' Trust ye not in 
 a friend, put ye not confidence in a 
 guide (fjlbb^ alluph).' On the whole, 
 therefore, we gather from the word the 
 sense oi precedency or ruling, but at the 
 same time so connected with that of fel- 
 lowship and mutual confidence as to di- 
 vest it of every offensive idea of rigid 
 and arbitrary lordship, which is still 
 odious in the East. 
 
B. C. 1740.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 215 
 
 24 And these are the children of 
 Zibeon ; both Ajah, and Anah : this 
 was thatAn?Lh. that found ° the mules 
 "Lev, 19. 19. 
 
 24. Anah that found the mules in the 
 vnlderness. Heb. ti^)^'^ yemim, occur- 
 ring only here. This is one of the pre- 
 eminently doubtful passages of holy 
 writ. Jerome says that in his time there 
 were as many opinions concerning it, 
 as commentators, and the variety of 
 versions to which it has given rise, 
 would seem to confirm the remark. 
 The Gr. leaves the word untranslated, 
 in the form of lantiv iamein, as not know- 
 ing what to render it. The Chal. trans- 
 lates by b^'i'°ii3 gibbaraya, giants, as if 
 confounding the original uath ' Emim,' 
 one of the Heb. terms for giants. The 
 Sam. has ' Emim,' understanding it of a 
 warhke people bordering upon the Ho- 
 rites. The Syr. has ' raaye,' waters, 
 and in like manner the Vulg. from the 
 fancied affinity which C'i?2'^ yemim 
 bears to tS" yam, the sea, and tD^>2 may- 
 im, waters, translates it ' aquas calidas,' 
 hot ortepid waters; as if Anah had discov- 
 ered, in the parched and barren wilder- 
 ness, several springs of that description. 
 Amidst these discordant opinions we 
 .shall not assume the province of decid- 
 ing, but state the evidence of the two 
 most probable, leaving it to the reader 
 to adopt that which seems to him to 
 carry the most weight with it. (1.) The 
 most accredited rendering among the 
 Jews is that of mules, which is adopted 
 also by our English version. By those 
 that hold to this opinion it is contended 
 that the real object of Anah's discovery 
 was the method of breeding mules, from 
 the hitherto unknown conjunction of 
 the horse and the ass. The fact is now 
 well known, that mules are the mongrel 
 product of a cross-breed propagation, 
 and consequently were not created 
 among the animal tribes with which the 
 Most High originally stocked the earth ; 
 for to all the creatures which he at first 
 
 in the wilderness, as he fed the ass- 
 es of Zibeon his father. 
 
 brought into being, he gave the capacity 
 and the command to increase and multi' 
 ply. Gen. 1. 22, 2S, and this increase 
 was to be made in each of the different 
 species, according to its kind. Gen. 1. 
 24. But as mules are not possessed of 
 this property of sui generis propagation, 
 the inference is necessarily drawn that 
 they were not originally created ; and 
 Anah, therefore, by some accidental 
 circumstance, or perhaps under the 
 prompting of some impure and licen- 
 tious motives, might have been the first 
 who discovered this unnatural mode of 
 engendering between animals of differ- 
 ent races. Accordingly some have 
 supposed that his conduct in the affair 
 was criminal, and that Moses intended 
 to censure his miguided and preposte- 
 rous ingenuity, in that, instead of being 
 satisfied with the numerous flocks and 
 herds bestowed by the bounty of Pro- 
 vidence on his family, he contrived to 
 originate a new and spurious breed of 
 animals, unknown to nature, and con- 
 trary to the laws of her operations. 
 But, on the other hand, it must be con- 
 fessed that Bochart, in his Hierozoicon, 
 reasons very forcibly against this inter- 
 pretation. His objections are thatj^^'I'^ 
 matza, found, never signifies to invent, 
 but rather to meet with, to happen on, or 
 to encounter — that mules are never call- 
 ed 'Q'^Jz'^ yemim in the Scriptures, but 
 tsTTit) peredim — that Anah fed asses 
 only, and not horses — and that there is 
 no mention made of mules in Palestine 
 till the days of David. From the whole 
 he concludes that a formidable people 
 called Emim are meant, with whom 
 Anah fought ; and he quotes in confir- 
 mation a number of passages in the sa- 
 cred writers where the same form of 
 expression, he or they found, signifies 
 the onset to battle, as Judg. 1. 5. 1 Sam 
 
216 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1740. 
 
 25 And the children of Anah were 
 these : Dishon, and Aholibamah 
 the laughter of Anah. 
 
 26 And these are the children of 
 Dishon ; Hemdan, and Eshban, and 
 Ithran, and Cheran. 
 
 27 The children of Ezer are 
 
 31. 3. 1 Kings 33. 24. 2 Chron. 22. 8. 
 Num. 35. 27, etc. His arguments, how- 
 ever, on the whole, go more strongly to 
 refute the adverse position, than to estab- 
 lish his own, and therefore the current of 
 opinion among modern commentators 
 sets rather in favor of, (2.) The Vulgate 
 rendering of warm springs. This view 
 of the subject is presented most strong- 
 ly in the words of Mr. Bryant, in his 
 • Observations upon some passages of 
 Scripture,' p. 26. 'Why the word U"^'^"^ 
 yemim, is here rendered mules, I know 
 not ; and why in some other versions it 
 is expressed giants. It manifestly de- 
 notes waters ; and it is so translated in 
 the Syr. version ; and by aquas calidas 
 in the Vulgate. The account given in 
 Scripture is short, and was well under- 
 stood by the persons to whom it is ad- 
 dressed, and undoubtedly related to wa- 
 ter. The circumstance mentioned must 
 have been of consequence, otherwise 
 there would have been no necessity to 
 specify the person by whom it was ef- 
 fected. We should therefore read, that 
 instead of 7nules Anah found out water 
 in the wilderness : but to what does the 
 history amount ! Every known spring 
 must have had somebody to have disco- 
 vered it ; so that Anah, if this be all, 
 did no more than hundreds had done 
 before. But to me there seems to be 
 something of more importance in the 
 account than at first appears, and for that 
 reason the name of the person is re- 
 corded, as being of moment to those 
 who lived in the vicinity of Edom, and 
 were acquainted with the rites of Mid- 
 ian. It is to be observed, that the sa- 
 cred writer, in speaking of Anah's first 
 discovery of these waters, does not in- 
 
 these : Bilhan, and Zaavan, and 
 Akan. 
 
 28 The children of Dishan are 
 these ; Uz, and Aran. 
 
 29 These are the dukes i/za^ came 
 of the Horites ; duke Lotan, duke 
 Shobal, duke Ziheon, duke Anah, 
 
 form us when or where he was feeding 
 his father's asses ; but only that the 
 event took place as he was feeding 
 them. This may be found of some mo- 
 ment. I imagine that the latent purport 
 of the history is this. As Anah was at- 
 tending these animals in the desert, he 
 observed that faculty with which they 
 were endued, of snuffing the moisture 
 of the air, and being by these means 
 led to latent waters. Accordingly, 
 either by the intimation of those which 
 he fed, or by the traces of the wild 
 brood, he was brought to the knowledge 
 of these resources.' This interpretation 
 is perhaps, of the two, entided to prefer- 
 ence ; especially as it is said by travel- 
 lers that springs of that description do 
 actually exist in that region to the pres- 
 ent day. Five or six miles south-east 
 of the Dead Sea, towards Petra, and 
 consequently in or near the region in 
 which the Seirites, and afterwards the 
 Edomites dwelt, is a place celebrated 
 among the Greeks and Romans for its 
 warm baths, and called by them Callir- 
 hoe. But it is scarcely to be expected 
 that the passage will ever be cleared of 
 all uncertainty. 
 
 29. These are the dukes that came of 
 Horu among their dukes, &c. Heb. 
 Ctl'^S^i^b lealuphehem, according to their 
 dukes, i. e. according to their dukedoms. 
 Thus, ' king' is frequently used in Scrip- 
 ture for ' kingdom,' particularly with the 
 prophets. Is. 23. 15, 'Tyre shall be 
 forgotten seventy years, according to 
 the years of one king ;' i. e. of one king- 
 dom ; viz. that of Babylon. Dan. 7. 17, 
 ' These great beasts are four kings 
 which shall arise out of the earth.' 
 This is interpreted by the Holy Spirit 
 
B. C. 1740.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 217 
 
 30 Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, 
 duke Dishan : these are the dukes 
 that came of Hori, among their 
 dukes in the land of Seir. 
 
 31 IT And P these ere the kings 
 that reigned in the land of Edom, 
 
 P 1 Cliron. 1. 43. 
 
 himself of kingdoms ; v. 23 : ' The fourth 
 beast shall be the fourth Ji'mgdom upon 
 earth.' Thus, also, Rev. 17. 42, ' And 
 the ten horns which thou saw^st are ten 
 kings ;' i. e. ten kingdoms. So where 
 it is said, 2 Kings 11. 19, ' And he sat in 
 the throne of the kings,'' another pro- 
 phet, in allusion to the same event, 
 says, 2 Chron. 23. 20, ' And set the king 
 upon the throne of the kingdom^ This 
 peculiarity of dictien is very important 
 to be borne in mind in the interpretation 
 of prophecy. These seven sons of Seir 
 possessed their dukedoms or chieftain- 
 ships simultaneously in different parts 
 of the land, instead of succeeding each 
 other, like the kings mentioned below. 
 
 31. These are tke kings that reigtied, 
 &c. before there reigned any king over the 
 children of Israel. Wiiether these kings 
 were descendants of Esau or of Seir, 
 it is impossible to say. As the two ra- 
 ces seem to have been mingled togeth- 
 er, they might have been the blended 
 issue of both. But a point of still great- 
 er moment, and equally difficult of so- 
 lution, is to account for the expression 
 * before there reigned any king over the 
 children of Israel.' It is objected, that 
 as this implies that there vas a king 
 reigning in Israel at the time the present 
 record was written, and as there was no 
 king thus reigning till some centuries 
 after the death of Moses, therefore Mo- 
 ses himself could not have been its au- 
 thor. To this it may be replied. 
 (1.) That there is nothing incredible in 
 the supposition of Moses having written 
 It ; however, it may be said that this is 
 cutting the knot, instead of untying it. 
 Not to remark that the word ' king' may 
 be taken in a general sense for any ciief 
 
 VOL. rr. 
 
 before there reigned any king over 
 the children of Israel. 
 
 32 And Bela the son of Beor 
 reigned in Edom : and the name of 
 his city was Dinhabah. 
 
 33 And Bela died, and Jobab the 
 
 ruler or governor, as in Deut. 33. 5. Judg. 
 17. 6. Ps. 119. 46. Luke 22. 25. Acts 9. 
 15., it is certain that Moses had before, 
 Gen. 35. 11. recorded the prediction 
 that ' kings should come out of the 
 loins' of Jacob, and why may he not 
 have been prompted by inspiration to 
 foretel, in this incidental way, the fulfil- 
 ment of this promise? But although 
 this be a satisfactory reply, yet, (2.) It 
 can scarcely be .doubted by any one 
 who compares the account contained 
 V. 31—43 with 1 Chron. 1.43—54, that 
 the one has been taken from the oth- 
 er ; and the probability we think is much 
 stronger that the genealogy in Ge- 
 nesis is a copy from that in Chronicles, 
 than that the reverse is the case. It is 
 unquestionable that similar interpola- 
 tions are made also by later writers, and 
 we see no reason why this may not be 
 regarded as one ? — As such things are 
 usually estimated among men, it must 
 have been trying to the seed of Jacob, 
 groaning in Egyptian bondage, to 
 know that the descendants of Esau had 
 in the mean time become great and 
 powerful, and had the royal dignity es- 
 tablished among them. But though the 
 honors of Esau's race blossomed early, 
 they soon decayed ; while, on the other 
 hand, the issue of Israel eventually rose 
 into a pre-eminence, which, either tem- 
 porally or spiritually, was designed to 
 be everlasting. — —IT Over the children of 
 Israel. Heb. ii^'I'Ji 'I'ib Hvne Yisrael, 
 to the sons ^ ox children of Israel; i. e. 
 for or among tl^em; for their advan- 
 tage. Gr. ev larparj},, in Israel. Very 
 nice distinctions are often made in the 
 original by the use of the minor words 
 and connectives, which are lost sight 
 19 
 
^18 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1740 
 
 son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in 
 his stead. 
 
 34 And Jacob died, and Husham 
 of the land of Temani reigned in 
 his stead. 
 
 35 And Husham died, and Hadad 
 the son of Bedad (who smote Mid- 
 ian in the field of Moab) reigned in 
 his stead : and the name of his city 
 was Avith. 
 
 36 And Hadad died, and Samlah 
 of Masrekah reigned in his stead. 
 
 37 And Samlah died, and Saul 
 of Rehoboth by the river reigned in 
 his stead. 
 
 38 And Saul died, and Baal- 
 hanan the son of Achbor reigned in 
 his stead. 
 
 39^ And JBaal-hanan the son of 
 Achbor died, and ^ Hadar reigned 
 in his stead : and the name of his 
 city was Pau ; and his wife's name 
 was Mehetabel, the daughter oi 
 Matred, the daughter of Mezahab, 
 
 40 And these are the names ot 
 •■ the dukes that came of Esau, ac= 
 cording to their families, after then 
 places, by their names ; duke Tim- 
 nah, duke Alvah, duke Jetheth, 
 
 41 Duke Ahulibamah, duke Elah^ 
 duke Pinon, 
 
 42 Duke Kenaz, duke Teman,. 
 duke Mibzar, 
 
 43 Duke Magdiel, duke Tram; 
 these 5e the dukes of Edom, accord- 
 
 q 1 Chron. 1. 50. 
 
 ] ClMon. 1.51. 
 
 of in a version. This h particularly 
 the case in regard to terms and phra- 
 ^5es which relate to government, where 
 the idea of absolute despotic rule finds 
 but little countenance from the insti- 
 tutions of the Israelites. Thus, in 
 like manner, it would seem that the 
 popular title of the present monarch of 
 France, to wit. King of the French, was 
 preferred to that of King of France, be- 
 cause it carried with it a more distinct 
 recognition of the will of the people in 
 conferring the office upon him. 
 
 34. Land of Temani. That is, of the 
 Temanites ; who derived their name 
 from the /^andson of Esau called duke 
 Teman, v. 15. From this region came 
 Eliphaz, the Temanite, one of the three 
 friends of Job. 
 
 40. These are the names of the dukes, 
 &c. From a view of the whole chapter 
 it would seem that the government of 
 the Edomites was at first ducal ; that is 
 to say, patriarchal, in which families 
 are governed by heads or chiefs, very 
 much after the manner of the clans in 
 the highlands of Scotland, or the Indian 
 tribes of our own country ; that in pro- 
 cess of time as the people increased, a 
 change took place^ and a dynasty of 
 eight kings succeeded. As a new enu- 
 
 meration of dukes occurs from v. 40 to 
 the end of the chapter, some have in- 
 ferred from this that another change 
 took place, by which the government of 
 dukes was again restored. Certain it isv 
 that upon Israel's coming out of Egypt 
 mention is made Ex. 15. 15, of the ' dukes 
 of Edom,' and while passing through the 
 wilderness they sent to the 'king of 
 Edom,' Numb. 20. 14, from which it ap- 
 pears that the royal dynasty was then 
 in power. And as these eight kings are 
 said to have reigned before any king 
 reigned in Israel, v. 31, it is perhaps to 
 be inferred that such a change as thafi 
 suggested above had taken place. Yet, 
 on the other hand, if we regard v. 31 — 
 39 as an interpolation, then the portion 
 from V. 10 to the end of the chapter is 
 to be taken in immediate connexion 
 with V. 29, and understood as a contin- 
 uation of that account, the former part 
 giving us a list of the Horite dukes, and 
 itie latter of those of the Hue of Esau. 
 
 43. In the land of their possession. 
 That is, the land of their firm, fixed, 
 abiding possession. The expression 
 conveys a tacit allusion to the contrast 
 between the mode of Esau's and of Ja- 
 cob's possessing severally their respect- 
 ive inheritances. The one is represented 
 
B. C. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 219 
 
 ing to their habitations, in the land ( 
 oAheir possession : he is Esau, the 
 father of the Edomites. 
 
 as holding his by a permanent tenure, 
 and therefore it is called the landofhispos- 
 sessio7i, whereas, when Canaan is spoken 
 of as the allotment of Jacob, it is term- 
 ed the land of his sojourning. And so of 
 Abraham and Isaac. They were pil- 
 grims and not possessors. 
 
 CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 We here enter upon one of the most 
 remarkable and interesting portions of 
 the whole mass of sacred history. The 
 life and fortunes of Joseph, embracing, 
 with the exception of two chopters, the 
 residue of the book of Genesis, or about 
 one-fourth of the whole, form a story 
 of unrivalled attraction, whether we 
 consider the simplicity and beauty of 
 the narrative, the toucliing pathos of 
 the events related, or the vastly import- 
 ant moral lessons which it teaches. 
 Viewed as an illustration of the doc- 
 trine of a particular Providence, bring- 
 ing to pass the grandest resuhs from the 
 most apparently trivial events, nothing 
 can be more significant or striking. It 
 has all the effect of a pictorial delinea- 
 tion. While the recital flows on with 
 all the charm of a highly- wrought tale of 
 fiction, we are still assured of the tnith 
 and reality of every incident, and feel 
 that we are contemplating an epitome 
 of the dispensations of that overruling 
 Power which is ' wonderful in counsel 
 and mighty in operation' — which con- 
 trols the free and voluntary action of 
 intelhgent creatures, even when prompt 
 ed by a spirit of malevolence and rebel- 
 lion, so as to render them subservient 
 to the accomplishment of those very 
 plans which they are intent upon de- 
 feating, while the guilt of the agents 
 remains resting upon them in all its 
 unabated aggravations. But while this 
 is doubtless the most important aspect 
 
 CHAP. XXXVII. 
 
 A ND Jacob dwelt in the land 
 ■lA. "wherein his father was a 
 stranger, in the land of Canaan. 
 
 a ch. 17. 8. & 23. 4. &: 3G. 7. Hebr. 11. 9. 
 in which the history of Joseph is to be 
 viewed, it is still worth while to observe 
 that merely as a human composition, 
 as a specimen of simple, graceful, elo- 
 quent, and pathetic narrative, it is uni- 
 versally conceded that it has no parallel. 
 We find in it all that gives beauty to the 
 finest drama — a perfect unity of design ; 
 a richness and variety of incident in- 
 volving the plot in obscurity, yet grad- 
 ually drawing to its intended de- 
 velopment ; and the whole issuing 
 happily, rewarding pre-eminent virtue 
 with appropriate honors and blessings, 
 and visiting iniquity with deserved hu- 
 miliation and punishment. It is a story 
 which persons of all ages, and minds of 
 all orders, peruse with equal interest ; 
 and the degree of secret moral influence 
 which the spotless example of Joseph 
 has exercised upon countless numbers 
 of the readers of the Scriptures, can 
 never be appreciated till the day of the 
 revelation of all things. We behold in 
 him one who in every period of hfe, in 
 every change of condition, in every va- 
 riety of relation, secures our confidence, 
 our respect, our love. In adversity, we 
 see him evincing the most exemplary 
 patience and resignation ; in temptation, 
 the most inflexible firmness ; in exalta- 
 tion, the most unaffected simplicity, 
 integrity, gentleness, and humility. 
 Whether as a son, a brother, a servant ; 
 a father, a master, a ruler, we behold 
 him exhibiting a deportment equafly 
 amiable and praiseworthy ; and the 
 respect which we entertain for the sa- 
 gacity of the statesman and the penetra- 
 tion of the prophet, mingles with our 
 profound admiration of the purity of the 
 saint. But we leave it to the sequel to 
 disclose, in all their richness, these inter- 
 esting traits of biography and history. 
 1. Jacob dwelt in the land where his fa- 
 
220 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1729. 
 
 2 These are the generations of 
 Jacob: Joseph being seventeen 
 years old, was feeding the flock 
 with his brethren, and the lad was 
 
 with the sons of Bilhah, and with 
 the sons of Zilpah, his father's 
 wives : and Joseph brought unto 
 his father ^ their evil report. 
 
 6 1 Sam. 2. 22, 23, 24. 
 
 fker was a stranger. Heb. '^"|"|3?2 f-^S*^ 
 I'-^v^ bearetz megure nbk\ in the land of 
 his father's sojourning ; where ' fa- 
 ther's may be taken as a collect, aing. 
 including Abraham as well as Isaac. 
 The character of sojourners' was com- 
 inon to the patriarchs, and as Jacob 
 dwelt in the same country with his 
 forefathers, he dwelt in the same way, 
 and under the influence of the same mo- 
 tives. This he afterwards confessed to 
 Pharaoh. Though he had bought a 
 small piece of ground in the country, yet 
 he still was, and counted himself, a 
 stranger and a sojourner in the land of 
 Canaan. Heaven was the country 
 which he regarded as his possession, his 
 inheritance, his home. 
 
 2. These are the generations of Joseph. 
 Tleb r.nbir: toMoth, births.- I e. the 
 family history. That the original signi- 
 fies something more tlian mere genealo- 
 gy, is obvious from the matter which the 
 history contains, although it can hardly 
 be taken in the extended and general 
 sense of our word hislonj. When the sa- 
 cred writer, therefore, says, ' these are 
 the generations of Jacob,' he may either 
 refer to what goes before, implying that 
 these were the principal events in the per- 
 sonal and domestic history of Jacob, of 
 which, being about to pass to another 
 subject, he says no more at present ; 
 or it may refer to what follows, in 
 which case the sense will be that this 
 is the family history of Jacob, an ac- 
 count of the most important incidents 
 that befel his house, but more especial- 
 ly in respect to Joseph, who hencefor- 
 ward becomes the prominent theme of 
 the story. The date of this narrative is 
 to be placed twelve years before Isaac's 
 death, when he was 168 years old, and 
 Jacob 108 ; for if Joseph were 39 when 
 
 Jacob was 130, (compare Gen, 41. 46, 
 with 45. 2. and 47. 9,) it will follow that 
 Joseph was born when Jacob was 91, 
 and consequently when he was 17 his 
 father was lOS. But when Isaac died 
 at the age of 180, Jacob was 120, as he 
 was born when Isaac was 60 ; therefore 
 Joseph's age of 17, and Jacob's of 108, 
 will bring the date of his being sold into 
 Egypt, twelve years prior to the death 
 
 of Isaac ^ Joseph being seventeen 
 
 years old, was feeding the flock, &c. Heb. 
 ■^^rS 1"in^ r.i^ n"*! M"^n hay ah roeh 
 e.lh ehav hatztzon, literally, was tending, 
 or acting the shepherd over, his brethren 
 in the flock. However uncouth to our 
 ears the phraseology, this is undoubted- 
 iy the exact rendering, and the import 
 of the words we take to be, that Joseph 
 was charged with the superintendence 
 of his brethren, particularly the sons of 
 Bilhahand Zilpah. Whether this was ow- 
 ing merely to the fond favoritism of his 
 father, or to his superior fidelity, capa- 
 city, and diligence in the discharge of 
 his duties, we know not; but we can- 
 not but infer from the text that such 
 was the fact, that in some way the 
 management and direction of the flocks 
 and their keepers was entrusted to him. 
 If so, his making report to his father of 
 the conduct of his brethren, instead uf 
 being an act of officious intermeddling, 
 was in fact but the discharge of an im- 
 portant part of his duty ; ' for it is 
 required in stewards that a man be found 
 faithful.' From the Note on Gen. 29. 3, 
 it will be seen that the term ' flocks,' as 
 used by the sacred writers, frequently 
 carries with it by implication the idea of 
 ' shepherds' or ' keepers,' to whose care 
 they were consigned. See the Note 
 
 also on Gen. 47. 6. IT And the lad was 
 
 with the sons of BilhaJi. Heb. ^3>: ^Tll 
 
B. C. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIT. 
 
 221 
 
 vehu naar, and he a lad. From a careful 
 inspection of the original we are persua- 
 ded that the exact shade of meaning is 
 not represented here by the rendering 
 of our version. The definite article ' the,' 
 as well as the supplemental word 'was,' 
 we conceive to have been introduced 
 without authority, as there is nothing to 
 countenance them in the Hebrew. The 
 correct translation is doubtless the fol- 
 lowing ;' ' Joseph being seventeen years 
 old, was tending his brethren among the 
 flocks, and he a (mere) lad, (even) the 
 sons of Bilhah, &c.' The mention of 
 his youth is brought in parenthetically, as 
 something peculiarly worthy of notice, 
 while the clause ' with the sons of Bil- 
 hah,' &c. is designed to Hmit and speci- 
 fy the term ' brethren' going before. As 
 this construction, however, is somewhat 
 new, and as it can be established only by 
 an appeal to the common diction of the 
 sacred writers, we shall briefly advert to 
 a few passages which go strongly to 
 confirm it. The common translation, 
 it will be observed, renders I'lns^ t^&4 
 eth ehav, by with his hrelhren. Hut the 
 particle rs* eth very generally follows 
 the verb Hi'"! raah, as the sign of the ac- 
 cusative, and not as a preposition. Thus 
 Gen. 30. 36, ' And Jacob '^5^2 fii^ nS"l 
 fed the flocks of Laban.' 2 Sam. 7. 7, 
 'Whom I commanded ^'^'^ fiH. f'^'^'^ib 
 to feed my people I-srael.' Jer. 23. 2, 
 'Thus saith the Lord God of Israel 
 against the pastors -itlS' Tii^ fS^lu ihat 
 feed my people.' Indeed, in no other in- 
 stance throughout the Bible, if the 
 present be excepted, does ^j^ follow h3>"I 
 as a preposition. Again, according to 
 the established version, "^j^t^lD n5"l 'roeh 
 halztzon signifies to feed or tend the flock, 
 as if ,'-;5>"i governed its accusative by 
 the interposition of the particle 'zh. But 
 this is contrary to usnge in every in- 
 stance in the Heb. Scriptures except 
 two, and those are undoubtedly cases 
 precisely parallel to the present, in 
 which the particle signifies in or among. 
 The first occurs 1 Sam. 16. 11, 'There 
 19-^ 
 
 remaineth yet the youngest, and be- 
 hold, he '^HiZn n5>^ keepeth the sheep.' 
 The second is found 1 Sam. 17. 34, 
 ' And David said unto Saul, Thy ser- 
 vant ']54^n l^l^i^b u^n |-;5>T kept his 
 father's sheep.' In both these cases 
 we doubt not the true rendering is 
 that David performed the office of a 
 shepherd-overseer in or among the flocks, 
 just as we say of a military officer, 
 he commanded in the army. As to 
 the true meaning of u^'-\, it will be 
 found that all the Lexicons give it the 
 sense of overseeing, governing, presiding 
 over, superintending, and such, we can- 
 not question, is its import here, in res- 
 pect to Joseph. This circumstance, in 
 all probability, first prompted the envious 
 feelings of his brethren, which were 
 greatly enhanced by the incident men- 
 tioned below. IF Brought unto his 
 
 father their evil report. That is, an evil 
 report concerning them. It may be re- 
 marked, too, that the Heb. has CiT^Si^ 
 ahihem, their father, instead of T^!35^ ahiv, 
 his father, as our translators have ren- 
 dered it. Heb. Ti':^'^ ari^T t^,J* ^t^h dib- 
 batham raah. The original n^-j dihbah, 
 signifies a report of infamy, scandalous 
 information. The term is in itself pe- 
 culiarly expressive and emphatic, but it ^^ 
 has here an augmented sense by the 
 addition of the epithet n2''"l raah, evil, 
 as if it was intended to convey the idea 
 of some ])eculiar, flagrant, enormous 
 act of wickedness, the report of which 
 Joseph carried to his father. Chal. 
 'Their evil accusation.' What this 
 conduct was, we are not informed. 
 The silence of the sacred oracles 
 has veiled it from human view till 
 the judgment day. SulHce it for us 
 to know, that the feelings of Joseph 
 were wounded by the bad behaviour 
 of his brethren, and that he could 
 not rest easy without disclosing the par- 
 ticulars to his father. In this he is to 
 be commended, as it was in fact per- 
 forming a kind and brotherly ofHce. 
 Though a child should not be indulged 
 
222 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1729. 
 
 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more 
 than all his children, because he was 
 
 by his parents in reporting every trivial 
 tale to the disadvantage of his brothers 
 or sisters, yet some offences are so gross 
 that they ought not to be concealed. 
 Parents should be made acquainted 
 with them that they may correct them, 
 or if that cannot be, that they may, as 
 far as possible, counteract their ill ef- 
 fects. The witnesses of evil conduct 
 often contract no small part of its crim- 
 inality by neglecting or refusing to 
 make it known. 
 
 3. Now Israel loved Joseph more than 
 all his children, because, &c. Joseph 
 held this high place in his father's affec- 
 tions, not only because he was the first- 
 born son of his best beloved wife, and the 
 child of many prayers, but because he 
 was the son of his old age. This latter 
 expression, however, as used in the 
 original, is not of very definite import, 
 nor if taken as usually understood, is it 
 easy to see precisely the ground of the 
 assertion. Benjamin was much more 
 the son of his old age than Joseph ; and 
 it cannot well be supposed that Joseph 
 ^ was younger than Zebuluu and Dinah. 
 In fact, Jacob was an old man before 
 any of his children were born. How 
 then is the language to be understood? 
 The original 1^ '□'^2pt p hen zekunhn lo, 
 is literally rendered son of old age to hhn, 
 which in the Chal. is paraphrased by 
 ' wise son,' taking the phrase ' son of 
 old age,' to be equivalent to ' son of wis- 
 dom,' the ideas offline and wisdom being 
 intimately related. In this case the 
 idiom is to be considered the same 
 with that which appears in the expres- 
 sions, 'son of wickedness,' 'son of per- 
 dition,' 'son of strength,' 'son of peace.' 
 According to this the idea is, that Jo- 
 seph, even in his early years, had the 
 wisdom of a sage ; and perhaps, as 
 hinted above, it was on this account 
 that he U'as preferred to the office 
 
 <= the son of his old age : and he 
 made him a coat of many colours. 
 
 c ch. 44. 20. 
 
 of superintendent over his brethren. 
 For ourselves, although the common 
 interpretation does no violence to the 
 original, we feel strongly inclined to fa- 
 vor this sense of the phrase. It afftirds 
 a more worthy reason for Jacob's loving 
 him so intensely than the time of his 
 birth. The time of birth would proba- 
 bly have ingratiated the oldest son, ra- 
 ther than the youngest but one or two, 
 with his father, had not Reuben been 
 utterly unvvorthj'' of Jacob's fondness 
 Certain it is, that Joseph was very wise 
 in his early years ; and it is no less cer- 
 tain that a wise son makes a fond as 
 
 well as a glad father. IT He made 
 
 him a coat of many colors. That is, or- 
 dered or procured it to be made ; not 
 that he did it by his own personal act. 
 See Note on Gen. 3. 21. But there is 
 great doubt as to the garment itself, nor 
 cotdd the common reader imagine to 
 what a vast variety of interpretations the 
 expression 'coat of many colors' has 
 given rise. The Heb. phrase is TZ'T!2 
 ^■^wS fcethoneth passim, properly signi- 
 fying coat of pieces. The Chal. has ' tu- 
 nic of strips or shreds.' Gr. xi-wi^a 
 TToiKiXov, parti-colored or variegated coat. 
 Vulg. ' Tunicam polymitam,' embroidered 
 coat. Syr. ' Fringed tunic' The phrase 
 occurs only liere and 2 Sam. 13. 18, 
 ' And she had a garment o^ divers colors 
 (Heb. t^C5 T^rl: coat of pieces) upon 
 her : for with such robes were the king's 
 daughters that were virgins apparelled ;' 
 from which it is plain that it was a gar- 
 ment worn as a mark of distinction. 
 But whether the common rendering 
 ' coat of many colors,' gives the true im- 
 port of the original, may justly be doubt- 
 ed. As the Heb. has simply ' coat of 
 pieces,' it is a matter of inference only 
 
 I to suppose that these ' pieces' were of 
 different ' colors,' although not improba- 
 
 I ble that this was the case. But it would 
 
I C. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 4 And when his brethren saw 
 that their father loved him more 
 than all his brethren, they ^ hated 
 
 d ch. 27. 41. & 49. 23. 
 
 be important to ehow that th« art of in- 
 .'terweaving a piece in various colors was 
 at this lirae actually discovered. Judging 
 from the information offered by the pre- 
 sent passage, we should rather infer that 
 it was not ; for the peculiar term d^D5 
 pieces here employed, makes it probable 
 that the agreeable efiect resulting from a 
 ■combination of colors was obtained, if at 
 all,bypateh-WGrkinthefirstinstance,and 
 in after-times by being wrought with a 
 needle. Such variegated garments were 
 ne doubt worn as they still are in the 
 East at this day, but as to Joseph's 
 coat, Braunius, in his great work ' On 
 the Dress of the Jewish Priests,' eon- 
 tends that it was a long robe reachiHg 
 to the ankles and wrists, and that the 
 word ' pieces' refers, not to the body of 
 the garment, but solely to the borders 
 of the skirts and sleeves, which were 
 furnished with an ornamental fringe, 
 composed, perhaps, of parti-colored 
 'pieces.' The body of it was probably 
 while, corresponding with the 'stole,' 
 of which see Note on G«n. 27. 15. This 
 ooat we cannot but regard, like the 
 ^ goodly raiment' of Jacob, as a badge of 
 the birthright, which we are expressly 
 taught, 1 Chron. 5. 1, having been for- 
 feited by Reuben, was traGsferred to 
 Joseph ; and we regard it as highly pro- 
 bable that it was this circumstance, 
 more than any other, which inflamed 
 the envy of his brethren ; so that as 
 Esau, under the galling sense of his lost 
 siiperiority, laid wait for the life of his 
 brother Jacob, in hke manner the bre- 
 thren of Joseph plotted against his inno- 
 cent blood. The birthright-robe we 
 have before ventured to consider as an 
 emblem of the resurrection-garments of 
 the saints, and we suppose that a direct 
 allusion to the dipping of Joseph's coat 
 m the blood of tke kid is made ia the 
 
 him, and could not speak peaceably 
 unto him. 
 
 expression. Rev. 7. 14, ' These are they 
 which came out of great tribulation, and 
 have washed their robes, and made them 
 white in theblood oftJieLamb^' orGr. ' fcr/ 
 the blood of the Lamb ;' i. e. by pa- 
 tiently suffering even unto the shedding 
 of tlveir own blood in the cause of the 
 Lamb, and by the merits of the Lamb's 
 blood, they have entitled themselves to 
 be clothed with the white robes, indica- 
 tive of the spiritual and eternal blessings 
 which belong to ' the general assembly 
 and church of the_^rs^-Z»or7j, whose names 
 are written in heaven.' 
 
 4. They hated Jiim. This result showed 
 that Jacob acted unwisely in distinguish- 
 ing Joseph from his brethren by this 
 mark of hi.s regard. It seemed to be 
 a palpable, invidious, and premature 
 taking away of the birth-right from 
 Reuben and giving it to the first- 
 born of his beloved wife. The birth- 
 right was indeed to be Joseph's; and 
 it was due to him as the eldest son of 
 Racliel, when the first-born son of Leah 
 had forfeited it. But, as might have 
 been expected, Joseph was at once ex- 
 posed to the envy of his brethren by 
 this mark of his father's fondness ; and 
 the effects of that envy cost the good 
 old man many years of pungent afflic- 
 tion. Parents indeed cannot well avoid 
 loving most affectionately those chil- 
 dren who best deserve their love, nor is 
 it wrong they should. But they have 
 great need of caution lest by impru- 
 dent testimonies of their regard, they 
 injure instead of benefitting the children 
 whom they love. Joseph might have 
 lived happily in his father's house with- 
 out being clothed with a garment oi 
 divers colors, but he could not wear it 
 ithout encountering the hatred of all 
 s brethren. Yet let us not blame 
 Joseph for accepting this token of his 
 
224 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1729. 
 
 5 IT And Joseph dreamed a 
 dream, and lie told ii his brethren : 
 and they hated him yet the more. 
 
 father's love. It was not his province 
 to affect wisdom superior to that of his 
 aged parent, nor would it have become 
 him to suspect all the evil that was in 
 the hearts of his brethren. Only the 
 bad are ready to suspect that others are 
 bad, till experience makes them ac- 
 quainted with the corruption that 
 
 abounds in the world. IT Could not 
 
 speak peaceahh/ unto him. That is, they 
 could not through the moral inability 
 growing out of the extreme aversion of 
 their hearts towards him. Thus 3Iat. 
 12. 34, ' How can ye, being evil, speak 
 good things ?' It is evident at a glance 
 that an inability hke this is utterly inex- 
 cusable, and the more so in proportion 
 to the real worth and excellence of the 
 person towards whom the hatred exists. 
 How aggravated then is the guilt of that 
 inability which prevents sinners from 
 loving and serving God ! The expression 
 ' could not speak peaceably unto him,' 
 does not, as with us, imply that they were 
 continually quarreling with him, but they 
 could not accost him in a friendly man- 
 ner ; they could not uish him well, norhes- 
 tow upon him the usual salutations which 
 were every where current among those 
 who were not openly and avowedly at 
 variance with each other. The original 
 is lib — b leshalom, to peace, and the 
 Eastern mode of salutation still is n~"^ 
 'T^ Shalom leka, peace he to thee. (Arab. 
 salam) ; and as the invocation of peace 
 comprehends all kinds of blessings, tem- 
 poral and spiritual, hence they are care- 
 ful not to utter it to those to whom they 
 do not wish well, as is often the case 
 with the Turks towards the Christians, 
 and the witholding it may generally be 
 considered as a mark of hostilitj,', and an 
 evidence that when an opportunity oc- 
 curs they will not scruple to do you an 
 injury. Viewed in this light, the refu- 
 sal of Joseph's brethren to exchange 
 
 6 And he said unto them, Hear, 
 I pray yoii^ this dreanr> which I have 
 dreamed : 
 
 with him the common civilities of friends 
 and acquaintances showed a very alien- 
 ated and exasperated stale of heart. 
 And this circumstance, taken in connex- 
 ion with the sequel of their conduct, af- 
 fords a most impressive commentary 
 upon the baleful effects of envy, and 
 the importance of checking it in the 
 germ. lis fruits, when they have had 
 time to ripen, are always deadly. Jo- 
 seph's brethren, when first seized with 
 this fiendisli passion, did not proceed at 
 once to the extremes of cruelty. They 
 could not, indeed, 'speak peaceably' to 
 him, but they entertained no thoughts of 
 lulling him till their envy bad by indul- 
 gence attained a greater degree of 
 strength. Gradually, however, their 
 malice assumed a deeper hue, and from 
 the character of their intentions they 
 contracted the guilt of murder before 
 they had shed it. In the sight of men 
 ihey were chargeable with intended 
 murder when they cast Joseph into the 
 pit ; but in the sight of God they were 
 chargeable with this crime as soon as 
 they began to hate. Joseph ; for ' he that 
 hateth his brother in his heart, is a mur- 
 derer.' 
 
 5. And Joseph dreamed a dream, &:e. 
 We take this verse to be a general and 
 summary declaration of that which is 
 particularly detailed in the ensuing ver- 
 ses ; just as we understand Gen. 1. 1, as 
 a summary of the six days' work after- 
 ward minutely described. We thus 
 avoid the appearance of repetition in 
 the sacred writer. .Toseph was destined 
 to high honor before he came into the 
 world, and it pleased God now to favor 
 him with a presage of his exaltation in 
 a dream that made a deep impression on 
 his mind. This might be expected to 
 be the case with a dream supernatural- 
 ly imparted. Dreams coming from God 
 to announce future events would of 
 
B. C. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 225 
 
 7 For * behold, ^we were^ binding 8 And his brethren said to him, 
 
 Shalt thou indepd rei^n over us 1 or 
 shalt thou indeed have dominion 
 over U3 ] And they hated him yet 
 the more for his dreams and for his 
 words. 
 
 sheaves in the field, and lo, my 
 sheaf arose, and also stood upri^^ht ; 
 and behold, your sheaves stood 
 round about, and made obeisance 
 to my sheaf. 
 
 <= ch. 42. 6, 9. & 43. S'l. & 44. 14. 
 
 cour.se differ in thia re.spect from such 
 as were mere illusions of the fancy. 
 When God spake to men in theae noctur- 
 nal visitations, he usually made his voice 
 to be recognized as his, and distinguish- 
 ed from the wild reveries of a wander- 
 ing imagination, if in no other way, at 
 least by the effects which they produ- 
 ced upon the minds of the subject of 
 them. Tn the present instance, the 
 Most High, by pre-intimating in dreams 
 what he was about to effect, would 
 make it clear, when the course of events 
 came afterwards to be reviewed, that 
 nothing had happened fortuitously, but 
 every thing in pursuance of a previous 
 plan, liowever intricate and perplexed 
 the steps by which it was brought 
 about. Whether Joseph acted wisely 
 in telling his dream, may be question- 
 ed ; but it was evidently done in all the 
 simplicity of a child-like heart, without 
 the remotest idea of inflaming a resent- 
 ment already too strong. But as the 
 dream was obviously suggested hy God 
 himself, so we cannotdoubt that Joseph 
 was secretly directed by an overruling 
 Providence in relating it For although 
 his brethren made a very bad use of it, 
 yet that use of it, such as it was, tended 
 without their knowledge, and against 
 their inclination, to its fulfilment. God I 
 overrules not only the imprudence ofi 
 his friends, but the wickedness of his ! 
 enemies, to the accomplishment of his 
 
 own pleasure. ^ They haled him yet 
 
 the more. The scope of the dream, 
 whatever might be the particular man- 
 ner of its fulfilment, evidently pointed 
 to some kind of future advancement 
 and ascendancy destined for Joseph, and 
 It is not unlikely that his brethren had 
 
 a secret persuasion that it was prophet- 
 ic. The idea, therefore, that God, as 
 well as Jacob, had determined to honor 
 him, provoked them the more. Such 
 were the operations of malice in Cain 
 towards Abel, in Esau towards Jacob, 
 in Saul towards David, and in the 
 Scribes and Pharisees towards the Lord 
 of glory. 
 
 7- Behold, we were hindin/r sheaves, <fcc. 
 The imagery employed in this dream 
 was not drawTi from objects or occupa- 
 tions with which Jacob's sons, a family 
 of nomades, were most familiar, nor did 
 Joseph himself yet know that his exalt- 
 ation was to be procured by the inter- 
 pretation of another dream respecting 
 the fruits of the earth, or that his breth- 
 ren were to bow down to him for a sup- 
 ply of that precious commodity. The 
 propriety and beauty of the images used 
 in the lansruage of prophecy, are best 
 understood when the prophecies are ac- 
 complished. 
 
 8. And his hrethren said to him, Shalt 
 thou, &.C. The general signification of 
 this dream was very obvious. Joseph's 
 brethren undoubtedly perceived it at 
 once, as clearly as Joseph himself, if 
 not more so. ' What,' say they, ' do 
 you imagine that all of us will ever bow 
 down to you? Shall we be subject to 
 our own younger brother ? Has he the 
 presumption to hope that we ever shall ?' 
 Moved with the same indignant feel- 
 ings with which our Saviour informs 
 us that he himself would be received, 
 they say, in effect, 'We will not have 
 this man to rule over us.' Such is our 
 native pride and stoutness of spirit, that 
 we cannot bear the thought of being 
 subject to tho.se who have been our 
 
223 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1729. 
 
 9 IT And he dreamed yet anoth- 
 er dream, and told it his brethren, 
 and said, Behold, I have dreamed a 
 dream m.ore : and behold *" the sun 
 and the moon and the eleven stars 
 made obeisance to me. 
 
 10 And he told it to his father, 
 
 f ch. 46. 20. 
 
 equals or inferiors. But let us remem- 
 ber that 'promotion cometh not from 
 the south, nor from the east, nor from 
 the west ; it is the Lord that putteth 
 down one, and setteth up another ; and 
 who shall stay his hand, or say unto 
 him, Whatdoest thou ?' 
 
 9. He dreamed yet another dream. This 
 second dream, which is evidently of the 
 same import with the first, though rep- 
 resenting his exaltation by brighter co- 
 lors, was vouchsafed, doubtless, with a 
 view to confirm the certainty oi the event 
 predicted. The same reason was after- 
 ward assigned by Joseph for the dupli- 
 cation of Pharaoh's dreara, Gen. 41. 32, 
 ' And for that the dream was doubled 
 unto Pharaoh twice ; it is because the 
 thing is established by God ;' i. e. most 
 firmly fixed in tlie divine determination. 
 If the narrator was envied by his breth- 
 ren when they heard the former dream, 
 it was to be expected that their spirits 
 would be kindled into rage when they 
 heard this also. 'God speaketh once, 
 yea twice, unto men ; but man perceiv- 
 eth it not.' Here we find men so far 
 from perceiving what God said, when 
 they heard it twice, that they were fill- 
 ed with the blackest malice against the 
 child who told them what God had spo- 
 ken to him. Hatred and envy turn 
 good into evil, and fill the minds of wick- 
 ed men with an irreconcileable aversion 
 to the word and the providence of God. 
 If Joseph's dreams had been the mere 
 rovings of the fancy in sleep, they were 
 not worth the minding ; but if they were 
 indeed from God, and signified the fu- 
 ture advancement of Joseph, his breth- 
 ren sinned not only against the lad, but 
 
 and to his brethren : and his fither 
 rebuked him, and said unto him, 
 What is this dream that thou hast 
 dreamed? Shall I and thy mother 
 and ff thy brethren indeed come to 
 how down ourselves to thee to the 
 earth ' 
 
 g ch. 27. 29 
 
 against the Lord himself, when they 
 were displeased with them. What 
 were they that they should resist or 
 make light of the counsels of the Most 
 
 High ? ^ The sun and the moon and 
 
 the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 
 Rather, ' eleven stars' simply. There 
 is nothing in the original to require or 
 warrant the use of the article ' the' in 
 our translation. The scope of the 
 dream was in the main the same with 
 that of the former. But in order to se- 
 cure greater regard to the oracle, the 
 scenery is laid in heaven. Joseph's 
 brethren had made hght of the vision of 
 the sheaves growing upon the earth ; 
 God now directs their view to the lumi- 
 naries above, as something which would 
 more forcibly seize their attention and 
 inspire reverence. 
 
 10- And his father rebuked him, and 
 said unto him, &c. .Tacob himself no 
 doubt entertained different views from 
 his sons concerning Joseph's dreams, 
 though he seems, from motives of poli- 
 cy, to have affected to treat them with 
 contempt. It is said in immediate con- 
 nexion, V. 11, that 'his father observed 
 the saying ;' i. e. pondered the dreams 
 in his heart. He thought it possible, if 
 not certain, that they came from God ; 
 and if so, they merited the closest at- 
 tention; for God says nothing that is 
 false or unimportant. In his reproof, 
 therefore, he meant not so much to 
 check vanity or ambition in Joseph 
 himself, as to dispel the hostile feeling.s 
 of his other children, who were filled 
 with indignation against him. But it 
 may be questioned whether in thus ap- 
 parently siding with them, he took the 
 
B. C. 1729.1 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 11 And ^ his bretliren envied 
 him ; but his father • observed the 
 saying. 
 
 12 U And his brethren went to 
 feed tJieir father's flock in She- 
 chem. 
 
 b Acts 7. 9. I Dan. 7. 23. Luke 2. 19. .51. 
 
 fairest or wisest method to allay the 
 fierce passions that threatened the re- 
 pose and safety of his favorite son. He 
 seems rather to have given too much 
 countenance to their ill nature and to 
 have furnished them with a fair pretence 
 for alleging that Joseph's dreams were 
 the fruit of his own pride, and not the 
 
 dictates of the Spirit of God. -IT Shall 
 
 land thy mother and thy brethren how 
 down to thee ? A very natural exposi- 
 tion is here given of the dream in such 
 a manner as to suggest that it could not 
 he accomplished. The head of a fami- 
 ly might, in figurative language, be rep- 
 resented hy the sun ; the mother and 
 mistress of a family by the moon ; and 
 Ihe children of a family by the stars. 
 Thus Achmet, the Persian, in his Oneir- 
 ocriticon, or work on the interpretation of 
 dreams, explained according to the sense 
 of the ancient Persian and Grecian magi, 
 says, ' If any one dream that he com- 
 mands all the stars, (it signifies) that he 
 will rule over all people.' (Held eg. Hist. 
 Pat. vol. 2. p. 583). But according to 
 this interpretation, it had the appearance 
 of absurdity. Joseph would not wish 
 nor expect that his father should do him 
 obeisance. It would be strange too if 
 his brethren, who were all older than 
 himself, did all bow down to him ; and it 
 was impossible that his mother could do 
 it, who was already in her grave. But it 
 is not necessary to the accomplishment 
 of a dream, that every object which pre- 
 sented itself to the fancy should have 
 something correspondent to it in the 
 event, but only that the general idea 
 should agree with what was afterwards 
 to happen. Thus in parables, it would 
 be unreasonable to seek a distinct 
 
 227 
 
 13 And Israel said unto Joseph, 
 Do not thy brethren feed the flock 
 in Shecliem? Come, and I will 
 send thee unto them. And he said 
 to him, Here am I. 
 
 14 And he said to him, Go, I 
 pray thee, see whether it be well 
 
 meaning for every circumstance em- 
 ployed in stating and adorning them. 
 It is certain that Rachel could not bow 
 down to Joseph, nor is it absolutely cer- 
 tain that any of Jacob's wives went 
 down with him to Egypt ; but it is cer- 
 tain that Jacob himself paid homage to 
 Joseph, Gen, 43. II, before he knew 
 that he was alive, and that after he did 
 know it he depended upon him for sup- 
 port. This was suflicient to justify the 
 pertinency of the dream. The words 
 of God, if rightly understood, will be 
 found faithful and true ; but we are not 
 to think that he is under any obligation 
 to verify the comments which we may 
 put upon them. IT Observed the say- 
 ing. Heb. ^mn TiSi ^)2n shamar eih 
 haddahar, kept the word, or the matter ; 
 i. e. laid it to heart, reflected deeply 
 upon it. Thus it is said of Mary, the 
 mother of Jesus, Luke 2. 19, 51, ' But 
 I\rary kept all these things, and pondered 
 them in her heart.' So also, Dan. 7, 
 28, ' As for me, Daniel, my cogitations 
 much troubled me, and my countenance 
 changed in me ; but I kept the matter in 
 my heart.' 
 
 12. Went to feed their father's flock in 
 Shechem. The vale of Hebron, where 
 Jacob now was, did not perhaps con- 
 tain sufficient pasturage for his flocks. 
 It was at or near Shechem that Jacob 
 had formerly bought a piece of ground. 
 Gen. 33. 19, the right to which he 
 doubtless still retained ; and this was 
 probably the reason of sending hither 
 his flocks, though the distance from 
 Hebron was sixty miles. 
 
 14. See whether it he well with thy bre- 
 thren. Heb. tDlblU tlX flit"! ^emA eth 
 shaJom, see the peace, or the welfare ; i. e. 
 
228 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B.C. 1729. 
 
 with thy brethren, and well with 
 the flocks ; and bring me word 
 again. So he sent him out of the 
 vale of ^ Hebron, and he came to 
 Shechem. 
 
 15 IF And a certain man found 
 him, and behold, he icas wandering 
 in the field: and the man asked 
 him, saying, What seekest thou 1 
 
 k ch. 35. 27. 
 
 16 And he said, I seek my breth- 
 ren : ^ tell me, I pray thee, where 
 they ieed. their flocks. 
 
 17 And the man said, They are 
 departed hence : for I heard them 
 say, Let us go to Dothan. And 
 Joseph went after his brethren, and 
 found them in '" Dothan. 
 
 18 And when they sav/ him afar 
 
 ' Cant. 1, 7. m 2 Kinps G. 13. 
 
 go and see how it fares with thy bre- 
 thren and the flocks. Though enter 
 taining a peculiar regard for the best of 
 his sons, yet the w-elfare of all of them 
 was dear to Jacob, and from former oc- 
 currences. Gen. 34. 25 — 31, he would 
 naturally suppose that Shechera would 
 be a place of dangerous neighborhood. 
 The former inhabitants of the place had 
 indeed been destroyed, but the memory 
 of that bloody transaction no doubt still 
 lived over that whole vicinity, and no- 
 thing was more natural, under these cir- 
 cumstances, than the father's anxiety 
 respecting his children. He accord- 
 ingly sends Joseph to bring him intelli- 
 gence of their condition. How little did 
 either father or son think of the conse- 
 quences of that paternal mission ! Jo- 
 seph leaves his father's house never, 
 never, to return to it more ! Who can 
 tell what a day may bring forth ? The 
 last meeting, the last parting ; the last 
 coming in and going out ; the last time 
 of speaking and of hearing ; the last of 
 every thing will soon overtake us all! 
 
 15. A certain man found him, &c. Jo- 
 seph did not find it so easy as he had 
 supJDOsed to gain the intelligence which 
 liis father desired. His brethren were 
 not in Shechem ; but he did not return 
 to tell his father that they could not be 
 found. He knew the patriarch's anx- 
 iety, and felt himself interested in the 
 welfare of his brethren. He therefore 
 holds on his way in quest of them, and 
 after wandering about for some time in 
 the field, that is, in the reglonor country 
 adjacent to Shechera, he falls in with a 
 
 stranger, one acquainted w'ith the fami- 
 ly, who informs him that they had in all 
 probability gone to Dothan. Thither, 
 accordingly, he goes without delay, and 
 there meets with his brethren, though 
 he found too mucli reason, for the pres- 
 ent, to lament his success. But of this 
 more in the sequel. Dothan was situa- 
 ted from eight to twelve miles north 
 of Samaria (Sebaste), which was six 
 miles beyond Shechem, in going from 
 Jerusalem ; so that it was about seven- 
 teen miles north of Shechem, and near 
 Mount Gilboa, making the whole dis- 
 tance from Hebron at least seventy 
 miles. ■ 
 
 IS. And when they saw him afar off, 
 &c. — they conspired against him. Heb. 
 I^S^rr^ yithnakkelu, they craftily conspi- 
 red. Gr. e-ovnpcvovTo, they malignantly 
 plotted. The original Term occurs also 
 Ps. 105. 25, in reference to the conduct 
 of the Egyptians towards Israel; 'He 
 turned their hearts to hate his people, 
 to deal suhtilly C-'Z'T^n hithnakkel) with 
 his servants.' So also Num. 25. 18, res- 
 pecting the insidious plots of the Midian- 
 ites ; ' For they vex you with their wiles 
 (Sn'^bw^n heniklehem) wherewith they 
 have beguiled you (ibSl nikkela).' We 
 read of very cruel actions performed, in 
 different ages, by the degenerate sons 
 of Adam, but it would not be easy to 
 find a parallel in history to the cruel in- 
 tentions and the cruel conduct of Jo- 
 seph's brethren. Cain was of that wick- 
 ed one, and slew his brother, and has 
 left a name of infamy to all the genera- 
 tions of mankind. But where shall we 
 
JB. K.. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 229 
 
 offj even before he came near un- 
 to them, ° they conspired against 
 him to slay him. 
 
 19 And they said one to another, 
 Behold this dreamer cometh. 
 
 n 1 Sam. 19. 1. ?3. 31. 13. & 37. 12, 32. 
 fo 94. 21. Matt. 27. 1. Mark 14. 1. John 
 11.53. Acts 23. 12. 
 
 find nine men conspiring at once to kill 
 a brother — a brother whose amiable 
 qualities deserved their warmest love 
 — a brother who tenderly loved them, 
 and was in the very act of showing his 
 love to them at the time when their fu- 
 ry broke loose upon him ! Joseph had 
 too good reason, as David afterwards 
 had, to say in the person of Christ, ' For 
 my love they are mine adversaries.' 
 The bare sight of him at a distance, re- 
 kindles all the foul passions that had be- 
 fore rankled in their breasts, and though 
 crime is usually gradual in approaching 
 its crisis, yet here the very first proposal 
 is murder ! Joseph, on the other hand, 
 little thinking what they were plotting 
 against him, draws nigh, in the fulness 
 of his affectionate heart, overjoyed af- 
 ter ail his wanderings and anxieties, to 
 catch a sight of his brothers, with their 
 tents and their flocks, afar ofT. IIow 
 easy is it to imagine the tear of tender- 
 ness falHng from his eye, while he de- 
 livers his father's greeting, and tells the 
 tale of his disappointments and mistakes 
 on the road, and to see his countenance 
 flushed with delight at the thought of 
 being again among friends, of having 
 once more a protector. But alas ! what 
 a fearful revulsion were his feelings des- 
 tined soon to experience ! What pangs, 
 like those of death, must have pierced 
 him, when, instead of meeting the kind 
 reception which he had anticipated, he 
 finds himself attacked by assassins in 
 the persons of brothers ! 
 
 19. Behold this dreamer cometh. Heb. 
 Til^^bf^n 'b'$'2 ^cLol hahalomoth, lord or 
 master of dreams ; a phraseology imply- 
 ing habitual usage or addictedness. See 
 Note on Gen. 14. 13. It was, therefore, 
 VOL. II. 
 
 20 ° Come now therefore, and 
 let us slay him, and cast him into 
 some pit ; and we will say, Some evil 
 beast hath devoured him ; and we 
 shall see wiiat will become of his 
 dreams. 
 
 o Prov. I. 11, IG. & 6, 17. 8c 27. 4. 
 
 a contemptuous and taunting epithet, 
 implying not merely the simple fact of 
 his dreaming dreams, but his making, 
 as it were, a trade of it. So his breth- 
 ren in Jacob's prophecy, Gen. 49. 23, 
 are called ' lords of arrows,' Eng. ' ar- 
 chers,' from their habitual evil practices 
 against Joseph. But why were they 
 so much piqued at his dreams ? Had 
 they deemed them no more than mere 
 illusions of the brain, the wandering 
 images which float through the mind in 
 the hours of sleep, thsy would doubtless 
 have suffered them to pass away from 
 their memories like other vanities of 
 which they took no account. But it is 
 plain that they considered them as inti- 
 mations of the purpose of heaven, and 
 as such they were bent upon frustrating 
 them. Instead of merely aiming to 
 hmnble the arrogance of a presumptu- 
 ous boy, who fondly dreamed of rising 
 into honors above his equals or superi- 
 ors, they in reality declare their inten- 
 tion to thwart the counsels of Omnipo- 
 tence. We may be amazed at such 
 hardihood, but as long as we have upon 
 record the infatuation of Pharaoh, of 
 Saul, of Herod, and of the conspiracy 
 of the Jews against Christ, we cannot 
 deem it incredible. 
 
 20. Let us slay him, and cast him into 
 some pit, &c. This is their device for 
 securing themselves from the reproach 
 of the world and the indignation of their 
 father. But wliere were they to find a 
 pit deep enough to hide their crime from 
 
 the eye of the All-Seeing ? "T And 
 
 we will say, &c. Lying seldom fails to 
 accompany other sins. One sin needs 
 another to guard it from detection ; and 
 he who can commit any gross crime 
 20 
 
230 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1720 
 
 21 And p Reuben heard it, and 
 he delivered him out of their hands ; 
 and said, Let us not kill him. 
 
 '22 And Reuben said unto them, 
 
 p ch. 42. 22. 
 
 Shed no blood, hut cast him into 
 this pit that is in the wilderness, 
 and lay no hand upon him ; that he 
 micrht rid him out of their hands, to 
 deliver him to his father aofain. 
 
 will not scruple to utter a hundred lies 
 to protect himself from the shame to 
 which his conduct exposes him. If we 
 would avoid the temptations to the lying 
 lips which God abhors, let us beware of 
 other sins. 
 
 21. And Reuben heard it, and he deliv- 
 ered him out of their hands. The word 
 'delivered,' in this connexion, is design- 
 ed to express the intention rather than 
 the act of delivering him. He resolved 
 within himself to deliver him ; or at 
 least to do his utmost towards it. This 
 is an idiom of frequent occurrence in 
 Hebrew. Thus Josh. 24. 9. ' Then Ba- 
 lak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, 
 arose and warred against Israel.' But 
 we do not find, from any part of the 
 history, that Balak engaged in actual 
 conflict with Israel. He is said, there- 
 fore, to have warred against them, be- 
 cause he intended it, because he cher- 
 ished a hostile purpose, and made his 
 preparations accordingly. Thus too, 
 Ex. 6. IS, 'And the magicians did so 
 with their enchantments ;' i e. attempt- 
 ed to do so. i^ee Note in loc. Ps. 63. 
 4, (Heb.) 'They that destroy me are 
 mighty ;' i. e. (Eng.) they that would 
 destroy me. Ezek. 24. ]3, 'Because 
 I have purged thee, and thou wast not 
 purired ;' i. e. I u^ould have purged thee. 
 Gal. 5. 4, 'Christ is become of none 
 effect unto you, whosoever of you are 
 justified by the law ;' i. e. who would 
 be justified, who seek to be justified. 
 
 ^ And said; i. e. said to himself. 
 
 This verse, v,'e apprehend, expresses 
 merely what passed in Reuben's mind: 
 the next acquaints us with what he 
 
 said to his brethren. ^ Let us not 
 
 nil him. Heb. w£; -.2^; t<V lo nalkenii 
 nephesh, let lis not smite him {as to his) 
 soul ; i. e. his life: so a? to take awav 
 
 his life. In like manner, Jer. 40. 14, 
 'Dost thou certainly know that Baahs 
 the king of the Ammonites hath sent— 
 to slay thee: (Ileb. '^'^^ "irZub ?t7mA: 
 kotheJca nephesh, to smile thee as to thy 
 soul or life). Comp. in the original 
 Deut. 19. 6, 11. Num. 35. 11, 15. Lev. 
 24. 17, 18. Gen. 19. 17. 
 
 22. And Reubni said unto them, Shed 
 no blood, &c. From what vi-e have for- 
 merly read of Reuben, Gen. 35. '22, we 
 should not perhaps be surprised to find 
 him foremost in any scene of wicked- 
 ness that might be projected by the sons 
 of Jacob. But let not the worst of men 
 be held worse than they really are. We 
 here behold him the only dissentient in 
 this council of blood. He was no doubt 
 sincerely anxious to save Josepii, for the 
 sake of his father whose life he knew was 
 bound up in that of the lad. Having for- 
 merly himself pierced the heart of his 
 father with a v>"ound which could never 
 be healed, charity requires us to suppose 
 he had repented of his wickedness, and 
 now wishes to make his father all the 
 compensation in his power. He could 
 not undo what had been done, but it 
 would certainly be doing an eminent 
 .'service to Jacob, could he save the life 
 of his best-belovod sou. But Reuben 
 knew that it would be of no avail to 
 protest with a loud voice against the 
 meditated crime. Though he was the 
 elder brother, and his opinion on that 
 I account entitled to the greater weight, 
 yet he sees them so madly resolved 
 I upon their purpose that it would be in 
 ; vain directly to remonstrate against it. 
 I He therelbre takes a way that appears 
 to him more effectual to defeat its 
 execution. He pretends not to oppose 
 the pi-ojoctod measure, but alleges that 
 it would be unnatural to Iny hajids np 
 
B. C. 172L).j 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVLl. 
 
 231 
 
 23 IT And it came to pass when 
 Joseph was come unto his brethren, 
 that they stript Joseph out of his 
 
 on him, and proposes to put iiim into a 
 pit, whence he might be prevented mak- 
 ing his escape til! he died. We should 
 hardly have thought that his proposi- 
 tion would be acceded to. It was evi- 
 dently worse to kill him with hunger in 
 a pit, by a lingering death, than to dis- 
 patch him at once. They could not 
 think their guilt would be diminished by 
 this barbarous mode of perpetrating the 
 crime. But as they would thus spare 
 their eyes the sight of blood shed by 
 their own hands, they suffer their in- 
 fatuated minds to be imposed upon by 
 this false show of mercy, and by an act 
 which really made their crime greater, 
 rendered their remorse for the present 
 less. So strangelydoes wickedness blind 
 men's minds to the plainest truths ! But 
 the result was that Reuben prevailed to 
 
 obtain a respite for Joseph. ^ That 
 
 lie might rid him, &c. That is, in order 
 that; to the end that. The drift of his 
 counsel was, that at some convenient 
 opportunity he might restore him to his 
 father. 
 
 23. Thei/ stripped Joseph out of his 
 coat, &e. All that had hitherto taken place 
 occurred as Joseph was approaching. 
 No sooner does he arrive than they dis- 
 cover the foul passions which had poison- 
 ed their hearts. With relentless hands 
 they fall upon him, and disrobe him of his 
 odious coat of many colors. How dearly 
 did he purchase this honor, bestowed 
 upon him by his father ! They no 
 doubt considered it as an insult to them- 
 selves, that he came to thom decked 
 with this trophy of his superior standing 
 in the patriarch's regard. But if they 
 had any reason to be offended, why 
 was not their father the object of their 
 resentment ? The truth is, their treat- 
 ment of him on account of his coatwas 
 an aggravation of their guilt, though 
 they might have supposed an extenua- 
 
 coat, his coat of mariy colours that 
 was on him. 
 
 24 And they took him, and cast 
 
 tion or justification. His robe, the evi- 
 I dence of Jacob's tender regard, might 
 have reminded them that to murder Jo- 
 seph was in effect to murder their fa- 
 ther. If it would not deprive him of 
 life, it would deprive him of the comfort 
 of life, and fill up the rest of his days 
 with bitterness and sorrow. 
 
 21. Cast him into a pit. The original 
 word is sometimes rendered 'cistern,' a 
 term applied to hollow reservoirs excava- 
 ted out of the solid rock for the purpose of 
 holding rain water, or to natural cavities 
 ccmtaining fountains, which were often 
 walled up with stone to prevent the wa- 
 ter from escaping. Tliese 'pits' or 'cis- 
 terns,' from earthquakes or other acci- 
 dents, were sometimes broken, so that 
 they could no longer answer the end for 
 which they were constructed. In allu- 
 sion to this it is said, Jer. 2. 13, 'They 
 have hewed them out pits, (Eng. 'cis- 
 terns,') broken pits, which can hold no 
 water.' In such cases they were often 
 employed as prisons or dungeons for the 
 confinement of criminals. It was into 
 a vault of this kind that the prophet 
 Jeremiah was thrust, at the instigation 
 of his enemies, Jer. 33. 6. And such, 
 doubtless, was the ' pit' or ' cistern' into 
 which Joseph was now put by his bre- 
 thren. From such receptacles figura- 
 tively considered, does the Lord deliver 
 his people. Zech. 9. 11, 'I have sent 
 forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein 
 is no water.' In view of this horrid 
 cruelty how clear is it that the demons 
 of envy and revenge had taken posses- 
 sion of their hearts. In vain he weeps, 
 in vain he prays, in vain employs the 
 tender names of father and brother to 
 win their pity. For it was at this time, 
 as they afterwards confessed in the 
 Egyptian prison. Gen. 42. 21, that they 
 ' saw the anguish of his soul, when he 
 besought them, and they would not 
 
232 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1729. 
 
 him into a pit: and the pit was 
 empt}'-, there was no water in it. 
 
 25 "^And they sat down to eat 
 bread : and they Hfted up their eyes 
 and looked, and behold, a company 
 
 1 Prov. 30. 20. Amos. 6. G. 
 
 hear.' Now too it was that Reuben 
 shrunk from his own counsel and inter- 
 ceded in his behalf, saying, ' Do not sin 
 against the child.' But all is unavail- 
 ing. They immure him in the pit, and 
 leave him, without raiment, food, or 
 drink, to his fate. But Joseph would 
 learn, in this dreary cavern, to bear those 
 other sufferings that were allotted to 
 him. He was sold to foreign merchants. 
 He was carried into a strange land, to 
 be again sold as a slave. He was cast 
 into a prison where he lay for several 
 years. But the remembrance of the pit 
 wherein was no water, and of his fruit- 
 less cries for relief, would make him 
 think, under all these circumstances of 
 distress, that it was not so bad as it 
 might have been, and as it once actually 
 was. 
 
 25. They sat down to eat bread. This 
 denotes something more than the par- 
 taking of an ordinary repast. As the 
 children of Israel after forming the gol- 
 den calf in the wilderness, are said to 
 have '^sat dovm to eat and rose up to 
 play,' or, j«i other words, to have given 
 themselves up to revelling and riot, so 
 in the present case, in order to stifle the 
 workings of conscience in their bosoms, 
 Joseph's brethren probably sat down to 
 a joyous feast, eating, drinking, and 
 making merry, regardless of the tears 
 and anguish of the victim of their envy. 
 In allusion to his unfeeling conduct of 
 Joseph's brethren, the prophet, Am. 6. 
 6, utters a severe denunciation against 
 those who 'eat the lambs out of the 
 flock, and the calves of the midst of the 
 stall, who drink wine in bowls, and 
 anoint themselves with the chief oint- 
 ments ; hut are not grieved for the afflic- 
 tion of Joseph.' The sacred historian 
 
 of •■ Ishmaelltes came from Gilead, 
 with their camels bearing spicery, 
 and ' balm, and rnyrrli, going to car- 
 ry it down to Egypt. 
 
 r ver. 23. 3G. 
 
 8 Jer. 8. 23. 
 
 in recording this atrocious conduct of 
 Joseph's brethren, affixes a brand of 
 perpetual infamy upon the founders of his 
 race. In this he gives a proof of his fidel- 
 ity, which is in itself an irrefragable proof 
 of inspiration. An impostor would have 
 spared the reputation of his ancestors. 
 
 ^ Beheld a company of Ishmaelites. 
 
 Heb. Q"ib5<2??2'iJ"' tT]"]^ orchath yish- 
 maelim, a wayfaring band of Ishmaelites ; 
 i. e. a caravan. Gr. oSoiropoi l(X[xar]\iTat, 
 journeying Ishmaelites. dial. ' A troop 
 of Arabians.' The probability is that it 
 is the same company of men who are 
 here called ' Ishmaelites ;' in v. 28, 
 Midianites,' and in v. 36, (Heb.) ' Meda- 
 nites ;' this diversity of appellation be- 
 ing designed to intimate that they were 
 a mixed people, made up of different 
 races, and perhaps for that reason called 
 in the Chal. ' Arabians,' which signifies 
 mixed. 'Here,' says Dr. Vincent, 
 (Com. and Nav. of the Anc. vol. 2. p. 
 262), 'upon opening the oldest history 
 in the world, we find the Ishmaelites 
 from Gilead conducting a caravan loaded 
 with the spices of India, the balsam and 
 myrrh of Iladramaut; and in the regu- 
 lar course of their traffic proceeding to 
 Egypt for a market. The date of this 
 transaction is more than seventeen cen- 
 turies before the Christian era, and not- 
 withstanding its antiquity, it has all the 
 genuine features of a caravan crossing 
 the Desart at the present hour.' The 
 route of these Ishmaelites towards 
 Egypt may be easily traced. They 
 pas.sed the Jordan, which is fordable in 
 many places during the summer months, 
 then took their way through the valley 
 of Jezreel or Esdraelon, which lay but 
 little northward from Dothan — a valley 
 running from east to west, and leading 
 
JS. C. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 233 
 
 26 And Judali said unto his bre- \ slay our brother, and ' conceal his 
 thren, What profit is it if we blood? 
 
 «ch. 4. 10. vev.20. Job. 16. 18. 
 
 from the Jordan, in tlie most convenient 
 way, to the shores of the Mediterranean. 
 Hence they could journey in the safest 
 and most speedy manner to Egypt. 
 Had they taken the other route through 
 Hebron, where Jacob hved, the bre- 
 thren of Joseph would scarcely have 
 thought of selling him to the Ishmael- 
 ites. As to the articles which they 
 were now carrying to Egypt, we may 
 remark that the word translated spicery 
 (rSsilar neTcolh) is supposed to signify a 
 peculiar species of resinous gum called 
 ' Styrax' or 'Storax.' This is the most 
 fragrant of all the solid resins, and in- 
 deed of all known vegetable substances. 
 It is obtained from a tree of the same 
 name, said still to grow most plentifully' 
 in Syria, Cilicia, and Pamphilia. The 
 pure native juice, floVv ing from incisions 
 made in the trunk of the tree, and call- 
 ed 'storax in the tear,' is rarely met 
 with, as the odoriferous parts are soon 
 dissipated by evaporation. The com- 
 mon storax obtained of the druggists is 
 mixed with saw-dust enough to thicken 
 it and reduce it to a consistent mass. 
 Its use is entirely limited to that of a per- 
 fume. The ' balm ;' i. e. balsam, is usually 
 called in the Scriptures ' balm of Gilead.' 
 This is also obtained from a tree by in- 
 cision of the trunk or branches, and is 
 sometimes termed 'opobalsam;' i. e 
 the pitch of the balsam bush or tree. 
 The balsam tree which yielded it, 
 though not a native of Judea, was cul- 
 tivated in great perfection on the plain 
 of Jericho, in the neighborhood of the 
 Jordan, having been introduced, accord- 
 ing to Josepiius, in the reign of Solo- 
 mon, by the queen of Sheba, from. 
 Arabia Felix. The genuine balm was 
 produced in small quantities, and was 
 exceedingly valuable. Pliny says that 
 ' when iMexander the Great was in 
 Palestine, a spoonful of balm was all 
 20* 
 
 that could be collected on a summer's 
 day, and in the most plentiful year the 
 great royal park of these trees yielded 
 only six gallons, and the smaller only 
 one gallon. It was consequently so 
 dear that it sold for double its weight 
 in silver.' According to Mr. Bucking- 
 ham, since the conquest of Palestine by 
 the Romans, the balsam tree has entire- 
 ly disappeared ; not one is now to be 
 found. Its production appears to be 
 confirmed principally to Arabia. It is 
 chiefly used in the East as a cosmetic, 
 though occasionally given as a medi- 
 cine. 'Myrrh ;' alias ' Ladanum ;' is a 
 gum-resin which exudes from a shrub, 
 the Cistus Ladaniferus, abounding in 
 Arabia, Candia, and in some parts of the 
 Archipelago. The best sort is in dark- 
 colored masses of the consistence of 
 hard wax, which grows softer when 
 handled. It has an agreeable smell, 
 and a light, pungent, bitter taste. Grand 
 Cairo in Egypt is still the grand mart 
 for the myrrh trade. It is used both as 
 an aromatic and a medicine. The prac- 
 tice of embalming in Egypt probably 
 created a market for all these diflferent 
 kinds of spices. 
 
 26. And Judali said unto his brethren. 
 What profit, &c. The passing by of the 
 caravan of Ishmaelites at this particular 
 jucture, is to be attributed to that over- 
 ruling Providence which was secretly 
 bringing its purposes to pass by the un- 
 witting and unwilling agency of the va- 
 rious actors employed. The same di- 
 vine Providence inspired Judah with 
 tlie proposal to sell Joseph to these trav- 
 elling merchants, and disposed thehearts 
 of his brethren to approve of the sug- 
 gestion. We do not read that Judah at 
 first opposed the motion for killing Jo- 
 seph, but it may be supposed that he 
 soon relented, and proposed to have the 
 ser.tence of death exchanged for a sen- 
 
234 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [13. C. 1729 
 
 27 Come, and let us sell hira to 
 the Ishmaelites, and " let not our 
 hand be upon him ; for he is ^ our 
 brother, and y ouc flesh : and his 
 brethren were content. 
 
 28 Then there passed by ^ Mid- 
 ianites, merchant-men ; and they 
 drew and lifted up Joseph out of the 
 
 "ISam. 18. 17. xch.42.21. 
 y ch. 29. 14. » Judg. 6. 3. ch. 45. 4, 5. 
 
 tence of perpetual slavery. This meas- 
 ure he broaches by asking what profit, 
 that is, what advantage, there would be 
 in killing Joseph and concealing . his 
 blood. ' Our hands will still be stained 
 with blood, though he should die of 
 starvation.' Yet there may have been, 
 as others suggest, a mixture of cove- 
 tousncss in the proposal, though we 
 imagine his drift is mainly to intimate 
 that it would be better to sell him than to 
 slay him. If a balance were struck, 
 the advantage would be found to be in 
 the issue on the side of his preservation. 
 It was well that this consideration had 
 some degree of influence upon their 
 hard hearts. Their consciences and 
 their feelings told them that -they ought 
 not to kill Joseph. But their envy told 
 them that they must at least sell him, 
 that they might remove him to a distance 
 from themselves and their father's house. 
 Their consciences had leave to dictate 
 as far as their envy would permit, and 
 no farther. 
 
 27. His brethren were content. Heb. 
 15?;^"I."^ yishmeu, hearJcened ; which in 
 the original is equivalent to consented 
 and obeyed. 
 
 23. Then there passed by Midianites, 
 merchant-men. The proposal of Judah 
 and the deliberations of his brethren 
 probably took place in the interval be- 
 tween their fir.st espying the caravan and 
 its coming up. These words bring the 
 parties together. It cannot be doubted 
 that these Midianites are the same com- 
 pany as that before alluded to under the 
 title of Ishmaelites. See Note on v. 
 
 pit, ^ and sold Joseph to the Ish- 
 maelites for ^twenty pieces of sil- 
 ver : and they brought Joseph into 
 Egypt. 
 
 29 IT And Reuben returned un- 
 to the pit ; and behold, Joseph was 
 not in the pit: and he = rent his 
 clothes. 
 
 " Ps. 105. 17. Acts 7. 9. b Matt. 27. 9. 
 c Job 1.20. 
 
 25. ^ Sold Joseph — -for twenty pieces 
 
 of silver. The value of this sum waa 
 about five dollars of our money. A 
 goodly price at which to value the son 
 of a patriarch ! How many thousand 
 pieces of silver would Jacob have given 
 for his redemption, had he known that 
 his beloved son was become a slave ? 
 But we cannot forget that he who was 
 infinitely greater than Joseph, was sold 
 by one of his brethren, and of his disci- 
 ples, for a price not much greater. 
 
 29. And Reuben returned unto the pit^ 
 &c. From this it is evident that Reu- 
 ben was absent when Josepti was sold, 
 and consequently did not consent at the 
 time to the deed, however he might 
 have done so aftervvard, in order to con- 
 ceal his fate from hi.s father. He had 
 perhaps withdrawn himself from his 
 brethren with the design of going by a 
 circuitous route to the pit, taking him 
 from thence, and sending him home in 
 safety to his father. His intentions 
 were good, and his plan seemed to be 
 well concerted, but it was not success- 
 ful. It was not by Reuben that Joseph 
 was to be delivered. He must yet pass 
 through a deep scene of affliction, be- 
 fore he obtains that glory for which he 
 was destined. God often blasts those 
 designs that are formed for the good ot 
 his people, not because he frowns upon 
 them, but because the whole work is 
 not yet accomplished which he intends 
 to accomplish by their afflictions. They 
 must pass from one trouble to another, 
 that they may be made meet for those 
 honors and felicities that God ha.s in 
 
B. C. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 235 
 
 30 And he returned unto his bre- 
 thren, and said, The child ^ is not : 
 and I, whither shall I go ? 
 
 31 And they took ^ Joseph's coat, 
 and killed a kid of the goats, and 
 dipped the coat in the blood : 
 
 32 And they sent the coat of Tna- 
 ny colours, and they brought it to 
 
 1 ch. 42. 13, 36. Jer. 31. 15. « ver. 23. 
 
 store for them. ^ And he rent his 
 
 clothes. As Reuben appears to have 
 loved and sincerely pitied the child, it 
 was natural that he sliould mourn bit- 
 terly on finding his plan defeated. Jo- 
 seph, he tliinks, is now lost to his father 
 forever, and he pictures to himself the 
 anguish of that new affliction which 
 threatened to fall upon the good old 
 man after the severe griefs which he 
 had already sustained from his own mis- 
 behavior and that of his brethren. He 
 pours out his bitter complaints to bis 
 hard-hearted brethren, but to little pur- 
 pose. They could not well undo what 
 was done, nor had they any wish to 
 undo it. At another time Reuben will 
 be better heard bj?- them, when their 
 consciences are awakened to take a 
 just and painful review of their conduct, 
 Gen. 42. 22. 
 
 31, 32. And they tool: Joseph's coat, 
 &c. Though they feel not for Joseph 
 nor for Reuben, yet they have some 
 concern for themselves. They know 
 that they must again meet their father, 
 and to him some reason must be as- 
 signed for the non-appearance of his be- 
 loved son. If the truth be told, how 
 can they escape his resentment ? They 
 therefore make lies their refuge. They 
 dip the variegated coat in the blood of 
 a kid, and, as if not daring themselves 
 to witness the effect upon their father's 
 breaking heart, send it to him with the 
 message, 'Know now whether this be 
 thy son's coat or no.' They pretended 
 not to know with certainty what they 
 knew too well, and insult their fatlier 
 with a question which one would almost 
 
 their father ; and said. This have 
 we found ; know now whether it be 
 thy son's coat or no. 
 
 33 And he knew it, and said, It 
 is my son's coat ; an <" evil beast 
 hath devoured him : Joseph 'is with- 
 out doubt rent in pieces. 
 
 f ver. 20. ch. 44. 28. 
 
 think was designed to upbraid him with 
 the envied mark of his partiality to Jo- 
 seph IT And they brought it. That 
 
 is, not the sons themselves in their own 
 persons, for it is said that they ' sent' it ; 
 but it was carried by their agents, as 
 men are said to do that which they pro- 
 cure or order to be done- 
 
 33. And he knew it, and said, &c. How 
 exquisitely cruel the conduct of these men 
 to their venerable father, who loved 
 them so much better than they deserv- 
 ed ! With what anguish did they rend 
 his soul! He knew too well the coat 
 of his beloved boy, and the conclusion 
 to which he came was the most natural 
 that could be. There appeared to be 
 no reason for calling it in question. It 
 would have been a flagrant breach ot 
 charity to suspect the truth, while there 
 was no evidence on which suspicion 
 could rest. He can only sit down un- 
 der the overwhelming conviction that 
 his dear child has been torn to pieces 
 by ravenous wild beasts ! What were 
 all his former afflictions compared with 
 this ? They were griefs that admitted 
 of consolation. They were more direct- 
 ly from the hand of Cod ; they were in 
 the course of nature ; they might be 
 cured or endured. But tliis wound 
 w.Ts mortal. It defied medicine ; it re- 
 fused assuaging; it mocked at length of 
 time. He would be continually prompt- 
 ed to say with Reuben, 'The cliild is 
 not; and I, whitl.ier shall I go ?' In 
 view of such accumulated misery rend- 
 ing the heart of the father, we cannot 
 but feel that it was a gracious Provi- 
 dence which liad previously taken 
 
236 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1729. 
 
 34 And Jacob ^ rent his clothes, 
 and put sackcloth upon his loins, 
 and mourned for his son many days. 
 
 35 And all his sons and all his 
 daughters ^ rose up to comfort him ; 
 
 gver.29. 2Sam.3.31. •> 2 Sam. 12. 17. 
 
 but he refused to be comforted ; 
 and he said, Fur ' I will go down 
 into the grave unto my son mourn- 
 ing. Tlius his father wept for him. 
 
 1 c.h. 42. 38. & 44. 29, 31. 
 
 away the mother from the evil to come. 
 The sight of Joseph's vesture dipped in 
 blood, if it had not proved at once fatal, 
 would at least have been attended with 
 pang.s more agonizing than those which 
 had ushered him into life. Our sympa- 
 thy, indeed, in reading the story, is re- 
 lieved of its pungency by knowing that 
 Jacob's sorrows were founded on a mis- 
 take, as he himself afterwards learned ; 
 and the incident may serve to show that 
 the sorest griefs of God's people, often 
 have no other than imaginary grounds. 
 But they are no less wisely or kindly 
 ordered on this account. The present 
 concealment of many things contributes 
 not aUttle to the augmentation of future 
 
 joys. ^ Joseph is inthout doubt rent in 
 
 pieces. The original here is very ener- 
 getic, and may be literally rendered 
 'rent, rent in pieces is Joseph.' 
 
 34. Rent Jiis clothes and put sacJicloth 
 upon his loins. These were among the 
 well-known modes of expressing grief 
 among the ancient orientals. The 
 ' sackcloth' was a coarse rough garment, 
 made sometimes of C!?mels' hair. Rev. 
 G. 12 ; and from its being said to have 
 been ' put on the loins,' it was probably 
 worn inwardly, next the skin, both as a 
 sign and an instrument of humiliation. 
 It was made in the form of a sack with 
 arm-holes. After every allowance on 
 the score of his poignant sorrow, we 
 cannot still avoid the impre.«sion that 
 Jacob, on this occasion, scarcely be- 
 haved like him.self. Although he had 
 borne many afflictions of the most 
 grievous kind with unshaken fortitude, 
 yet he is here quite unmanned, and 
 mourns for Joseph almost like one that 
 had no hope. He speaks of going to the 
 grave mourning and weeping through 
 
 the whole remainder of his life. Emi- 
 nent saints may be sometimes over- 
 whelmed with sorrow, but they do not 
 demean themselves like saints when 
 they speak of their affliction.s as if they 
 were insupportable. God had before 
 this dispelled many dark clouds from 
 Jacob's horizon, and he ought not to 
 have given way to such deep despon- 
 dency now. But we would not sit in 
 severe judgment upon the deportment 
 of a father, whose heart was crushed by 
 such a blow as had now fallen upon 
 Jacob. We are yet in the flesh, and 
 know not what infirmities we should 
 betray were the hand of God laid 
 thus heavily upon us. IT Mourn- 
 ed for )iis son many days. It was 
 not till twenty-two years after this 
 that Jacob heard of Joseph's being 
 alive ; and though it cannot be sup- 
 posed that he was equally afflicted 
 during that whole period, yet the whole 
 of it might be termed a mourning period ; 
 and nothing can show more clearly the 
 hard-hearted cruelty of his sons, than 
 the fact of their so long withholding 
 from him the truth, when their conceal- 
 ment of it was the occasion of so much 
 mental sufTering. 
 
 35. All his S071S and all his daughters 
 rose up to comfort him. That is, under- 
 took to comfort him ; engaged in the 
 work of consolation. See Note on the 
 phrase 'to rise up,' Gen. 22. 3. The 
 phraseology implies that a special effort 
 was made on the part of his family to 
 dispel the gloom which had settled on 
 his spirits and probably threatened his 
 life. It is an indirect but very expressive 
 mode of suggesting to us the greatriesi 
 of his sorrow. As he had but one 
 daughter (Dinah), by the term 'daugh- 
 
B. C. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 237 
 
 36 And ^ the Midianites sold him 
 
 into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer 
 
 k ch. 39> 1. 
 
 ters' here must be understood his daugh 
 ters-in-lavv, together with his grand- 
 daughters, if he had any. Jacob's sons 
 acted very hypocritically when they 
 endeavored to comfort him. They 
 were themselves the wild beasts that 
 had devoured Joseph. Had they been 
 sincere, they would have confessed 
 the truth, and tried every possible 
 means to find out their brother, that 
 they might redeem him from slavery. 
 As it was, he refused to be com.forted. 
 He did not know what they had done 
 against Joseph, but he was not ignorant 
 of their ill-will towards him ; and this 
 probably was a chief reason why he 
 turned a deaf ear to all that they could 
 say for his comfort. We may suppose 
 too that he was the more inconsolable 
 from thinking that he had reason to re- 
 flect with remorse upon himself for 
 sending him away without attendants 
 to travel where he would be exposed to 
 
 wild beasts.: -IT I will go down into the 
 
 grave unto my son mourning. Heb. 
 n^j^'J skeolah, to Sheol ; i. e. to the 
 state of the dead, to the invisible world. 
 Gr. aJr/j, Hades. Vulg. Infernum, hell. 
 The word in the original is entirely dif- 
 ferent from that usually rendered grave^ 
 which is ^np keher. Here the Heb. is 
 bli^-3 sheol^ from ^5^"^ shaal, to ask, hav- 
 the import of craving, requiring, insatia- 
 bly longing, from its being one of the 
 four things which Solomon says are 
 never satisfied, Prov. 30. 15, 16. Though 
 sometimes translated 'grave,' sometimes 
 'pit,' and sometimes 'hell,' still it legi- 
 timately denotes the state of the dead in 
 general, without implying either the 
 place of torment or the place of bliss. 
 Jacob surely did not suppose that Joseph 
 had gone to the abodes of wo, nor did 
 he expect to follow him thither. — Jacob 
 renounced the hope of seeing any more 
 good in this world, when his choicest 
 
 of Pharaoh's, ana captain of the 
 guard. 
 
 comfort in life was taken away. Ho 
 had the prospect of no days of gladness, 
 when Joseph, the joy of his heart, was 
 torn in pieces by wild beasts. But he 
 did notknow what joys were yet before 
 him in the recovery of his long-lost 
 son. We know not what joys or what 
 sorrows are before us in the coming 
 periods of our existence. It is rash, 
 therefore, to prejudge the allotments of 
 Providence, to infer the permanence of 
 what we now feel. At any rate, we 
 have no reason to despond while God's 
 throne continues firm and stable in 
 heaven. 
 
 36- And the Midianites sold him into 
 Egypt. Heb. ai3~[?2n hammedajiim, the 
 Medanites, These were the descen- 
 dants of Medan, the son of Abraham, 
 Gen. 25. 2. Both these and the Midian- 
 ites seem to have lived intermingled 
 with the Ishmaelites, by which general 
 name they are called, v. 25. — Little did 
 the Egyptians dream that their future 
 lord was come to be sold in their noim- 
 try, when the 3Iidianites brought down 
 Joseph to be exposed to sale. Still 
 less did they know the dignity and glory 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he was 
 brought into their country by another 
 Joseph, and by Mary his wife. Time 
 brings the real characters and dignity of 
 some men to light. There are still more 
 whose real glory will remain unknown 
 
 till the last day. T Unto Potiphar, an 
 
 officer of Pharaoh's. Heb. 'Q^^^'O saris, 
 an eunuch. But as he had a wife, the 
 hteral sense can hardly hold in this in- 
 stance. The reason of this application 
 in the passage before us is probably to 
 be traced to the fact that the word di- 
 verged from its original import oi keeper 
 of the harem, and came gradually to de- 
 note officers, or court-ministers in gene- 
 ral. ^ Captain of the guard. Heb. 
 
 fi'^^Swtl "y^sarhattahbahim, prince of the 
 
238 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1729. 
 
 A 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIII. 
 
 ND it came to pass at that 
 time, that Judah werxt down 
 
 slaughter-men or executioners. The na- 
 ture of the office designated by this 
 term is not very obvious. By some it 
 IS taken as equivalent to captain of the 
 body-guard, or palace-guard of the king, 
 who were always ready to execute his 
 orders upon rebels or other malefactors, 
 upon whom the royal indignation might 
 fall. Such a guard is always in attend- 
 ance upon oriental monarchs, and the 
 head of them might very properly be 
 styled the ' prince of the executioners.' 
 By others a hint is taken from the Gr. 
 which renders it af)%(/*a^£ipos, chief cooJi, 
 and the original supposed to mean eith- 
 er one that had charge of the king's ta- 
 ble, or the president of the sacrifices. 
 But whatever his office was, he now 
 bebarae the master of one who was one 
 day to become his lord. What Joseph 
 now thought of his dreams, it is impos- 
 sible to say ; but certainly he was un- 
 der a great temptation to think that the 
 word of the Lord had failed forever- 
 more. Yet it is wrong to judge of God's 
 word by his providence ; let us rather 
 judge of his providence by his word. 
 We must not think that the promise of 
 a crown o.^ glorv is made void because 
 we are at present subjected to the cross. 
 Many promises have seemed to be for- 
 gotten by the promiser, and yet have 
 been exactly fulfilled in their season. 
 
 from his brethren, and ^ turned in 
 to a certain Adullamite, whose name 
 ivas Hirah. 
 
 a ch. 19. 3. 2 Kings 4. 8. 
 
 CHAP. XXXVIII. 
 
 The story of Joseph is interrupted at 
 this point for the purpose of introducing 
 some particulars in the family history of 
 Judah, which are mainly important as 
 having a bearing on the genealogy of our 
 Lord. The Saviour was to derive his 
 origin from the tribe of Judah, and the 
 spirit of inspiration sees fit to afford us the 
 means of most exactly authenticating his 
 human extraction, even though some 
 
 links in the chain were far from being of 
 ! a reputable character. But we learn 
 fromthis that Christ derives all his glory 
 from himself and not from his ancestry, 
 and that his condescension is the more 
 to be admired, the lower he descended 
 in tne scale of worldly honor in taking 
 our nature upon him. 
 
 L It came to pass at that time. That 
 is, not at or about the time of Joseph's 
 being sold into Egypt, but, in a larger 
 sense, in the interval between Jacob's 
 return from Mesopotamia and the 
 events recorded in the foregoing chap- 
 ter. For it appears, on examining the 
 age of Joseph, as shown in different 
 passages of the history, that he was 
 about thirty-nine years old when Jacob 
 and his family went down into Egypt. 
 And it is stated. Gen. 40. 8, 12, that 
 Pharez, the son of Judah, whose birth 
 is mentioned at the end of this chapter, 
 had at that time two sons born to him, 
 Hezron and Hamul. But as Joseph was 
 seventeen when he was sold into 
 Egypt, this leaves only the space of 
 twenty-two years for Judah to beget 
 three sons, to have them grow up and 
 be married, and their wife Tamar to 
 have sons and grandsons. This period 
 is evidendy too short for the occurrence 
 of all these events, and we are therefore 
 necessitated to refer the commence- 
 ment of them at least as far back as 
 to about the lime of Jacob's coming to 
 Shechem, Gen. 33. 18. ; but the inci- 
 dents are related here, because there 
 was no more convenient place for them. 
 In like manner, according to Aben-Ez- 
 ra, the phrase ' at that time,' Deut. 10. 
 8, is used in the same large and inde- 
 finite sense ; for the historian having 
 mentioned, v. 7, that they came to Gud- 
 godah, goes on to say that ' at that time 
 the Lord separated the tribe of Lev to 
 
B. C. 1729.1 
 
 CHAPrER XXXVIII. 
 
 239 
 
 2 And Judah ^ saw there a daugh 
 ter of a certain Canaanite, wliose 
 name was " Shuah ; and he took 
 her, and went in unto her. 
 
 3 And she conceived, and bare a 
 eon ; and he called his name '^ Er. 
 
 4 And she conceived again, and 
 bare a son ; and she called his 
 name « Onan. 
 
 .5 And she yet again conceived 
 and bare a son ; and called his name 
 
 !> ch. 34. 2. c 1 Chrnti. 2. 3. <! ch 46. 12. 
 x\uiiib.25. 19. ech. 46. 12. Numb. 26. 19. 
 
 bear the ark of the covenant,' whereas 
 it appears elsewhere that this separation 
 took place on the second year from 
 their coming out of Egypt, which was 
 forty years before their arrival at Gud- 
 godah. Le Clero also remarks that 
 several instances occur in the New Tes- 
 tament where the phrases ' then' — ' in 
 those days' — 'at that time' — must be 
 taken with very considerable latitude of 
 meaning. Apparent difficuUies and 
 discrepancies of this nature arise of ne- 
 cessity from the very structure of the 
 Mosaic books, which are by no means 
 a systematically connected history of 
 the world, from the creation to the times 
 of Moses himself; but rather a series of 
 detached accounts, with one grand bond 
 of connexion running through them all, 
 viz. their relation to the chosen seed and 
 the promised Messiah. Whatever is 
 written we may assure ourselves is 
 true, and might no doubt he shown to be 
 perfectly consistent, were we sufficient- 
 ly acquainted with all the circumstan- 
 ces. IT Judah went dA)wnfro;n his breth- 
 ren, &,c. Here was the beginning of evil. 
 Whatever were his motives, he now 
 leaves a family and a spot where the 
 true God was known and honored, and 
 wandering towards the south, enters the 
 house of a native Canaanite, with whom 
 he forms an intimate acquaintance. 
 And not content with sojourning 
 amongst idolaters, he must needs mar- 
 ry into one of their families. Though 
 
 ' Shelah : and he was at Chezib, 
 when she bare him. ' 
 
 6 And Judah s took a wife for Er 
 his first-born, whose name was Ta- 
 mar. 
 
 7 And h Er, Judah's first-born, 
 was wicked in the sight of the 
 Lord ; > and the Lord slew him. 
 
 8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go 
 in unto ^ thy brother's wife, and 
 
 fch. 46. 12. Numb. 26. 20. g ch. 21. 21. 
 h ch. 46. 12. Numb. 26. 19. J 1 Chron. 2. 3, 
 ^Deut.25. 5. Matt. 22. 24. 
 
 he had joined in objecting to his sister's 
 marriage with Shechem, yet he makes 
 no scruple of taking this Canaanitish wo- 
 man to be his wife ; and that without at 
 all consulting his father. In all this his 
 conduct to human view was that of one 
 who, weary of the restraints of rehgion, 
 had yielded hirnself too much to the 
 control of his evil propensities. Tlis 
 children were such as might be expect- 
 ed from such a parentage. 
 
 5. And lie was at Chezib when she bare 
 him. Called also Achzib, Josh. 15. 44, a 
 place that fell to the tribe of Judah. Gr. 
 Xaa/3i, Chasbi. The original ^'iti hezib^ 
 comes from the root itj hazab, to lie, 
 hence the prophet 3Iicah, ch. 1. 14, by 
 a play upon words alludes to it thus. 
 The houses of Achzib shall be a lie to 
 the Kings of Israel. (Heb. ^fiii^ ^'^TlTii 
 akzib leakzdb).'' 
 
 7. And the Lord slew him. It is clear 
 that he was cut off by some special 
 stroke of divine judgment on account of 
 his highdianded wickedness. The lan- 
 guage is not usually applied even to 
 those who die by sudden death in the 
 prime of their days. The character 
 given of Er fixes upon him the brand 
 of some enormous guilt, the punishment 
 of which was to be read in the manner 
 of his death. He was too wicked to 
 live ; and God took the work of ven- 
 geance immediately into his own hand. 
 
 8. Marry her, and raise up seed to thy 
 brother. That is, raise up offspring. The 
 
240 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 TB. C. 1727. 
 
 marry her, and raise up seed to thy 
 brother. 
 
 9 And Onan knew that the seed 
 should not be ^ his : and it came to 
 pass, when he went in unto his bro- 
 ther's wife, that he spilled it on the 
 ground, lest that he should give 
 seed to his brother. 
 
 10 And the thing which he did 
 
 1 Deut. 2j. g. 
 
 original word for marry (ti'i yabbem) is 
 not the ordinary Heb. term, used to sig- 
 nify the forming of the marriage con- 
 nexion. It is a term of restricted im- 
 port, being applied exclusively to mar- 
 riage with a brother's widow. It is a de- 
 nominative verb from the noun Q^n 
 yabam, hushancCs brother, corresponding 
 with which we have filZH"^ yebemeth, 
 brother's wife. The requisition of Judah 
 here is remarkable, as affording us the 
 earliest trace of the singular law after- 
 wards incorporated into the Jewish code, 
 and frequently termed by modern writ- 
 ers the Levirate-law, from the word 
 Levir, which, though it appears not in 
 the ancient classic authors, but only in 
 the Vulgate and the Pandects, is really 
 an old Latin word, and is explained by 
 Festus to signify a husband's brother. 
 By this law, which is expressly given, 
 Deut. 25. 5, when a man died without 
 issue, his brother was obliged to marry 
 the widow he had left, and that with 
 the express view, that the first son pro- 
 duced from such marriage should be 
 ascribed, not to the natural father, but to 
 his deceased brother, and become his 
 heir. In every other case marriages of 
 this description were absolutely forbid- 
 den. See Note on Ruth, 4. 10. A fur- 
 ther account of the Levirate-law may 
 be seen in Michaelis' Comment, on 
 Laws of Moses, vol. 2. p. 21—23. 
 
 9, 10. It came to pass when he icent 
 in, &c. The motive of Onan's perverse 
 conduct is clearly intimated in the first 
 
 displeased the Lord : wherefore lie 
 slew •" him also. 
 
 11 Then said Judah to Tamar 
 his daughter-in-law, ° Remain a 
 widow at thy father's house, till 
 Shelah my son be grown ; (for he 
 said. Lest peradventure he die also 
 as his brethren did) : and Tamar 
 went and dwelt °in her father's 
 house. 
 
 ^ ch. 46. 12. Numb. 2G. 19. » Ruth, 1. 13. 
 Lev. 22. U. 
 
 clause of the verse. He was actuated 
 by a fixed and apparently a malignant 
 opposition both to his brother's interests, 
 and his father's will. Although fully 
 aware of the strong instinctive desire in 
 the hearts of all men to have their name 
 and their lineage preserved when they 
 are no more., yet he sets himself with 
 unfeeling pertinacity against the com- 
 mon usage, which, in the defect of one's 
 own issue, provided for such an exigen- 
 cy. Suppose that his lot and that of 
 his brother had been reversed — that he 
 had died and Er survived — would he not 
 have accounted it a favor to have his 
 line perpetuated in this way by the sub- 
 stituted seed of his brother? Viewed 
 in this light, how ungenerous, invidious, 
 and mean does his conduct appear ? 
 Such a conduct, moreover, in the pre- 
 sent instance was peculiarly aggravated 
 from the fact, that the 3Iessiah was 
 to descend from the stock of Judah, and 
 for aught he knew, from himself, as we 
 know he certainly did from this very 
 Tamar, Mat. 1. 3. Was it not then 
 doing despite to the covenant-promise 
 thus to crush in embryo the most sacred 
 hopes of the world ? Did he not act an 
 impious as well as unbrotherly part 1 
 Can we wonder, therefore, that ' the 
 thing which he did displeased the Lord,' 
 so that ' he slew him also ?' 
 
 11. Then said Judah to Tamar, &.C. 
 This injunction would seem to intimate 
 that Tamar was not to consider herself 
 free to marry into another fansily, so 
 
B. C. 1727.J 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 241 
 
 12 IF And in process of time, the 
 daughter of Shuah, Judah's wife 
 died : and Judah p was comforted, 
 and went up unto his sheep-shear- 
 ers to Timnath, he and his friend 
 Hirah the Adullamite. 
 
 13 And it was told Tamar, say- 
 ing. Behold tliy father-in-lav/ goeth 
 up "J to Timnath, to shear his sheep. 
 
 p 2 Sam. 13. 39. q Josh. 15. 10, 57. Judg. 
 14- 1. 
 
 long as Judah saw fit to retain her under 
 his control, which he here did with the 
 promise of bestowing her in due lime 
 upon his youngest son. In this he was 
 probably sincere i for we have no evi- 
 dence that he did not intend to give her 
 in marriage according to his word. But 
 he delayed the solemnization of it appa- 
 rently from the vague apprehension of 
 some strange fatality attending the 
 conjugal bed of his daughter-in-law, 
 against which his son could better guard 
 when he became fully grown. In this 
 he was evidently mistaken, imputing to 
 an innocent woman a calamity which 
 had befallen him solely on account of 
 the flagrant wickedness of liis children. 
 His delaj'', however, proved too severe 
 a trial to Tamar's patience, and she was 
 prompted to resort to the stratagem re- 
 lated, V. 12 — 23. However culpable 
 this expedient may be deeTned when 
 viewed by the light of the Gospel, it is 
 probable that according to the notions 
 and manners of the age, she considered 
 herself justified in doing as she did. Ju- 
 dah's conduct does not admit of the 
 same palliation ; for in vv. 23, 26, he 
 acknowledges it to have been morally 
 wrong. 
 
 12. And in process of time. Heb. 
 13*^)3^0 lil'^T va-yirhu hayamim, and 
 ihe days were multiplied. Meaning prob- 
 ably that several years had elapsed. See 
 
 Note on Gen. 4. 3. ^ Was comforted. 
 
 That is, had passed through the usual 
 ceremonies of mourning, and become 
 restored to his ordinary state of mind. 
 
 VOL. IN 
 
 14 And she put her widow's 
 garments off from her, and covered 
 her with a vail, and wrapped her- 
 self, and ' sat in an open place, 
 which is by the way to Timnath : 
 for she saw * that Shelah was grown, 
 and she was not given unto him to 
 wife. 
 
 e PfOV. 7. 12. 
 
 ver. 11, 26. 
 
 IF He and his friend Hirah. As the 
 
 season of sheep-shearing among the Is- 
 raelites was one of great festivity, it 
 seems to have been customary for them 
 to invite their friends to be present on 
 the occasion. Thus, 2 Sam. 13. 23, 
 ' And it came to pass after two full 
 years, that Absalom had sheep-shearers 
 in Baal-hazor, which is beside Ephraim ; 
 and Absalom invited all the king's sons.' 
 Timnath was a city in the tribe of Ju- 
 dah, Josh. 15. 57, not far from the sea, 
 Ror far from Adullam.. It was for a long 
 time in possession of the Philistines. 
 
 11. Covered her ivith a veil. As we 
 have no historical documents, except the 
 present, extending back to this ancient 
 period, wc know not how far the inci- 
 dents here mentioned were common in 
 those days. But thus much it seems fair 
 to infer from vvhatis here said ; that there 
 were public v/omenof this description ; 
 that they generally veiled themselves ; 
 satin public places by the highway side ; 
 
 and received a certain hire. IT Satin 
 
 ^an open place. Heb. Q^i^^JJ V1r&'2l>^he- 
 thah enayim, at the opening, or door of 
 the eyes, or of the two fountains. A very 
 obscure expression, and variously ren- 
 dered in the old versions. (1.) TheGr. 
 takes the last word as a proper name, 
 
 I and gives irpog raig TruXatj Kivav, at the 
 gates of Enan. This is approved by 
 Le Clerc, who thinks she sat at the gate 
 of a little town called Enayim from two 
 fountains that happened to be near. 
 This opinion is favored also by Gese- 
 
 Inius. '2,) Others take the phrase to 
 21 
 
242 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B.C. 1727. 
 
 15 When Judah saw her, he 
 thought her to be a harlot ; because 
 she had covered her face. 
 
 16 And he turned unto her by 
 the way, and said, Go to, I pray 
 thee, let me come in unto thee ; 
 (for he knew not that she was his 
 daughter-in-law ;) and she said, 
 What wilt thou give me, that thou 
 mayest come in unto me 1 
 
 17 And he said, " I will send thee 
 a kid from the flock : and she said, 
 ^ Wilt thou give me a pledge, till 
 thou send it ? 
 
 18 And he said. What pledge shall 
 I give thee ? And she said, ^ Thy 
 signet, and thy bracelets, and thy 
 staff that is in thy hand : and he 
 gave it her, and cam-e in unto her, 
 and she conceived by him. 
 
 u Ezek. 16. 33. w ver. 20. ^- ver. 2.5. 
 
 signify literally the opening of the eyes, 
 and to indicate a place conspicuous to 
 ike eyes of all that passed by, or one of 
 large prospect, commanding an exten- 
 sive view on every side. (3.) Several 
 of the Jewish interpreters understand it 
 of a place where two ways meet, where 
 the traveller had to turn his eyes in two 
 directions in order to determine which 
 to choose. But the Hebrew generally 
 terms such a place the mother of the way, 
 or the beginning of two ways, as Ezek. 
 21. 24, upon which see the commenta- 
 tors. (4.) RosenmuUer gives the pre- 
 ference to a fourth rendering, viz. the 
 opening of two fountains, i. e. a place 
 where two fountains burst forth. But as 
 it is by no means clear that the Heb. 
 word for opening ever signifies issuing, 
 we are compelled to regard this con- 
 struction as doubtful as any of the rest, 
 and to say of the whole that they are 
 unsatisfactory. It is happily one of 
 those critical points of minor moment 
 which we can afford to leave unsolved. 
 15—22. When Judah saw her, &c. 
 The narrative reflects greatly on the 
 character of Judah, in whom it might 
 
 19 And she arose and went away 
 and y laid by her vail from her, and 
 put on the garments of her widow- 
 hood. 
 
 20 And Judah sent the kid by 
 the hand of his friend the Adullam- 
 ite» to receive Ins pledge from the 
 woman'^s hand : but he found her 
 not. 
 
 21 Then he asked the men of 
 that place, saying, Where is the 
 harlot that was openly by the way- 
 side 1 And they said. There was no 
 harlot in this place. 
 
 22 And he returned to Judah^ 
 and said, I cannot find her ; and al- 
 so the men of the place said, that 
 there was no harlot in this place. 
 
 23 And Judah said. Let her take 
 it to her, lest we be shamed : be- 
 
 7 ver. 14. 
 
 have been expected that the memory of 
 the past, if not a more advanced age, 
 would have cooled or extinguished the 
 fires of unholy passion. On the contra- 
 ry, it would seem that he was transport- 
 ed beyond the bounds, not of reason and 
 religion only, but even of sense ; for he 
 evidently did not recognise the voice of 
 Tamar, though he must have been fa- 
 miliar with her for years. No doubt 
 God had suffered bim to fall under 
 somewhat of a judicial infatuation, as a 
 punishment ofbis perverseness ; for how 
 else should he have been so precipitate 
 as to give into the hands of a strange 
 woman a pledge for the kid, which she 
 would naturally consider far more valua- 
 ble than the kid itself, and therefore be 
 very certain to retain ? ' He appears,' 
 says Calvin, sternly, ' to have been de- 
 prived of all discretion ; nor are these 
 facts recorded by Moses to any other 
 end than to show us how the just judg- 
 ment of heaven had darkened the mind 
 of this miserable man, who by heaping 
 sins upon sins, had quenched the light 
 of the Spirit.' 
 23 Let ler tale it to her, lest toe le 
 
B. C. 1727.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 243 
 
 hold, I sent this kid, and thou hast 
 not found her. 
 
 24 IT And it came to pass about 
 three months after, that it was told 
 Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter- 
 
 shamed. Heb. tlib iT^TO *^5 P^n nihyeh 
 labuz, lest we he for a contempt. The mean- 
 ing is, let her take or keep the pledge to 
 herself; let us give ourselves no farther 
 concern about it. I have acted up to 
 my agreement by sending the kid, but 
 as she is not to be found, it will be bet- 
 ter to hush up the affair entirely, as 
 otherwise we shall expose ourselves 
 to scorn and derision for being outwitted 
 and deceived by a harlot. He had rather 
 lose the bracelets and the signet than 
 run the risk, by making much ado about 
 it, of blazoning abroad his own scandal. 
 ' Judah now fears lest he shall be beaten 
 with his own staff, lest his signet shall 
 he used to seal his reproach ; resolving 
 not to know them, and wishing they 
 were unkno wn of others. Nature is not 
 more forward to commit sin, than wil- 
 ling to hide it.' Bp. Hall. This fear 
 of shame, this anxious wish to guard 
 against publicity being given to a 
 vile act. shows that God has infixed in 
 the minds of men an instinctive con- 
 demnation of it, a sentiment which must 
 have violence done to it before the 
 deed can be perpetrated. 
 
 24. Let her behurnt. It is to be borne 
 in mind that the crime for which Taraar 
 was adjudged to this severe punishment, 
 was not fornication, but adultery ; she 
 being considered the wife of Shelah, 
 though the marriage had not yet taken 
 full effect. Except in the case of a 
 priest's daughter who was to be burnt. 
 Lev. 21. 9, the usual punishment under 
 the Law of this crime was stoning, Deut. 
 22. 23, 2L As the former law could 
 not apply to Tamar, Michaehs supposes 
 that the sentence here passed upon her 
 by Judah is to be understood of posthu- 
 mous burning — that she was first to be 
 
 in-law hath ^ played the harlot ; 
 and also, behold, she is with child 
 by whoredom. And Judah said, 
 Bring her forth, *and let her be 
 burnt. 
 
 ' Judg. 19. 2. > Lev. 21. 9. Deut. 22. 21. 
 
 stoned to death and then burnt. This 
 idea he thinks strongly supported by 
 what is related of the fate of Achan, 
 Josh. 7. 15 and 25, as also by the drift of 
 John, 8. 5—7, when the Jews say of the 
 woman taken in adultery, that ' Moses 
 in the law commanded that such should 
 be stoned ;' and our Saviour himself re- 
 cognising that mode of punishment says, 
 ' He that is without sin among you, let 
 him first cast a stone at her.' From this 
 it would seem that s<07im^ and nolhurn- 
 ing, was the ordinary practice of the 
 Jews in such cases in our Saviour's 
 time. Yet in the present instance the 
 language of the text is so expHcit and 
 unqualified, that we do not feel it safe 
 to depart from it, especially as we find 
 the punishment of burning inflicted 
 upon the wife of Samson, Judg. 15. 6, 
 who had married another man, and 
 learn, moreover, Jer. 29. 22, 23, that the 
 King of Babylon roasted two Jews in 
 the fire for committing adultery. These, 
 it is true, w-ere not Jewish instances, 
 but they show that that punishment for 
 that crime prevailed more or less among 
 other nations, and the probabihty, there- 
 fore, is, that it obtained among the 
 chosen people also. In later times, in 
 Europe, the punishment of burning has 
 been mostly confined to offences of a 
 religious character, particularly heresy. 
 But it is now almost every where dis- 
 used, having been banished by the 
 more humane and merciful codes which 
 have sprung up under the g'enume influ- 
 ences of Christianity. The question 
 has been asked, how Judah came to 
 possess the power which is imphed in 
 his passing such a sentence upon his 
 daughter-in-law ? Were parents, in the 
 patriarchal times, invested with the 
 
244 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 25 When she was brought forth, 
 she sent to her faiher-in-law, say- 
 ing, By the man Vv'hose these are, 
 ami with child: and she said, 
 ^ Discern, I pray thee, whose are 
 these, nhe signet, and bracelets, 
 and staff. 
 
 b ch. 37. 23. c ver. 18. 
 
 power of life and death over their fami- 
 lies ? To this we answer, that although 
 there is no doubt that fathers in the 
 East have always governed their wo- 
 men, children, and slaves with a far 
 more despotic authority than is usual in 
 the West, yet we are not probably to 
 understand Judab's words in the text as 
 implying any thing more than that he con- 
 sented that the ordinary law in such cases 
 should go into effect. As he was dwel- 
 ling among the Canaanites merely as a 
 sojourner, w^e can scarcely conceive 
 him to be here speaking in a judicial or 
 magisterial character, but as a private 
 citizen, simply saying that he not only 
 had nothing to object to her being dealt 
 with after the usual manner, but that as 
 a friend of good order in society, he 
 could not but approve of it. No doubt 
 there were then public courts and tri- 
 bunals before which such cases were 
 tried, and when Judah says, ' Bring her 
 forth, &c.' it is equivalent to expressing 
 his willingness that she should, like 
 other criminals, be arraigned and pun- 
 ished according to her deserts. Yet, as 
 not unfrequently happens, in thus con- 
 senting to the sentence passed upon 
 her, he was really condemning himself. 
 25. By the man whose these are, &c. 
 It is obvious that Tamar might before 
 this have exposed Judah, had she been 
 so inclined. But she defers it, probably 
 under a secret prompting of the Spirit 
 of God, till matters come to a crisis when 
 she can make the disclosure to the most 
 effect. In this, however, it does not ap- 
 pear that she was influenced by vindic- 
 
 [B. C. 1727. 
 
 26 And Judah <^ acknowledged 
 them, and said, ' She hath been more 
 righteous than I; because that <" I 
 gave her not to Shelah my son: 
 and he knew her again & no more. 
 
 27 '^ And it came to pass in the 
 
 d ch. 37, 33. e 1 Sam. 24. 17. f ver. 14. 
 g Job. 34. 31,32. 
 
 own conduct; while God, in the mean 
 time, was carrying on his purpose to 
 bring the offender, by this means, to a 
 penitent confession of his fault. In fact, 
 Tamar appears to have managed the 
 affair with great delicacy. Instead of 
 boldly summoning him into her presence, 
 and requiring of iiim to stand forth as her 
 accuser before the judges, she does not 
 even name him, nor seek an interview, 
 but sends to him the pledged articles, 
 leaving it to his own conscience to re- 
 buke him before God. Jt is well when 
 injured innocence can rest satisfied with 
 the vindication of itself, without pursu- 
 ing the offending party to the extreme 
 point of justice or revenge. In many 
 cases much may be left to the inward 
 self-inflicted corrections of an ingenuous 
 mind. 
 
 26. Judah acknowledged them, and 
 said, &c. Heb. 'i^i yokker, knew, dis- 
 cerned, recognised; the same word in 
 the original with that which occurs 
 above, v. 25, and is rendered ' discern.' 
 
 ^ She hath been more righteous than 
 
 I. That is, less culpable. The conduct 
 of neither had much to commend it, on 
 the score o( righteousness, nor does he 
 perhaps intend to say that she had in this 
 matter committed a less sin than him- 
 self, but that his wrong-dcring in another 
 instance had beeii the occasion of hers, at 
 tliis time. This fact gave her the advan- 
 tage ; it attached more blame to his con- 
 duct, in common estimation, however 
 it might be in the sight of God, than to 
 hers. He had broken his word to her, 
 but she had kept her faith with him. 
 
 live feelings towards Judah, or that she ' living patiendy in a state of widowhood, 
 had any wish to hold him up to public I year after year, till she saw no prospect 
 abhorrence, but sirnply to vindicate her of her hopes being reaUsed. ' God will 
 
15, C. 1727.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 245 
 
 lime of her travail, that behold, twins 
 were in her womb. 
 
 28 And it came to pass when she 
 travailed, that the one put out Ms 
 hand ; and the midwife took and 
 bound upon his hand a scarlet 
 thread, saying, This came out first. 
 
 find a time to bring his children on their 
 knees, and to wring from them penitent 
 confessions ; and rather than he will not 
 have them soundly ashamed, he will 
 make them the trumpets of their own 
 
 reproach.' Bp. Hall. IT He knew her 
 
 again no more. This seems to be insert- 
 ed as a sort of seal and assurance of the 
 sincerity of Judah's repentance. A gen- 
 uine sorrow for sin is inconsistent with 
 again relapsing into it. 
 
 28. And it came to pass when she tra- 
 vailed, &c. The circumstance here 
 mentioned is extraordinary, and shows 
 her parturition to have been hard and 
 perilous. But it is not, perhaps, a matter 
 of surprise, that in the righteous provi- 
 dence of Ciod she should have been thus 
 chastened for her waywardness ^ that 
 a sinful conception should be followed 
 
 by a bitter travail. ^ The midwife 
 
 look and hound, &c. This was done to 
 distinguish the first-born, as many im- 
 portant privileges belonged to primo- 
 geniture. The word here rendered 
 'Icarlet,' (^^'i^^ shani), .signifies a worm- 
 color, coming from an excrescence made 
 in a kind of oak, by a fly, as the com- 
 mon galls are produced. The color 
 was a beautiful crimson, and retained 
 its lustre for ages. 
 
 29. How hast thou broken forth ? &c. 
 Ileb. r^"iD \172 mahparatzta. Wheth- 
 er these are to be understood as the 
 words of Tamar or the midwife is not 
 clear. They seem to be an exclama- 
 tion of wonder that when Zarah was 
 apparently upon the point of being born 
 first, Pharez had, as it were, forced his 
 way through his brother, as if he had 
 broken through an fntervening wall, 
 
 91* 
 
 29 x\nd it came to pass as he 
 drew back his hand, that behold, 
 his brotiier came out ; and she said, 
 How hast thou broken forth 1 this 
 breach he upon thee : therefore his 
 name was called '' Pharez. 
 
 •> ch. 46. 12. Numb. 26. 20. ] Chron. 2. 
 4. Matt. J. 3. 
 
 and preceded him in birth. It plainly 
 denotes something extraordinary in the 
 manner of his emerging into hfe, and 
 from the renderings of the ancient ver- 
 sions it would seem that the circum- 
 stance was considered like Jacob's tak- 
 ing Esau by the heel, as portending 
 something important in his future for- 
 tunes. Gr. ' Why is the partition divid- 
 ed for thee ?' Chal. ' What great strength 
 was in thee that thou hast prevailed?' 
 Targ. Jon. 'With how great strength 
 hast thou prevailed ! — and thine it is to 
 prevail, for it shall come to pass that 
 thou shalt possess the kingdoms.' Arab. 
 ' How hast thou prevailed ! — thy strength 
 is upon thee.' These versions no doubt 
 recognise a mystical import in the 
 words, as pointing mainly perhaps to 
 David and the Messiah, who both des- 
 cended in a direct line from Pharez. 
 
 ■^ This breach he upon thee. Ileb. "V^'j'^ 
 yiS aleka paretz. That is, the breach 
 is thine ; thou hast made it ; and thou 
 shalt carry the memorial of it upon thee. 
 By breach or eruption has thy birth been 
 marked ; breach or eruption shall be thy 
 name. At the same time it may be re- 
 marked, that if the sense of prevalence 
 be rightly attributed to the root in the 
 former clause, it may also be retained 
 here, and then the words may be un- 
 derstood as a prophetic announcement, 
 Xh^Uhe pre-eminence, the ascendancy, or in 
 other words, the chief distinction of 
 the birthright, should pertain to Pharez 
 over his brother. Accordingly, the 
 Jewifch writers say, ' In Pharez the 
 strength of David's house was portend- 
 ed : and therefore from him proceedeth 
 the kingdom of the hou.se of David.' See 
 
246 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1729. 
 
 30 And afterward came out his 
 brother that had the scarlet thread 
 upon his hand ; and his name was 
 called Zarah. 
 
 A 
 
 CHAP. XXXIX. 
 
 ND Joseph was brought down 
 to Egypt : and ^ Potiphar, an 
 
 ch. 37. 36. Ps. 105. 17. 
 
 Ainsworth in loc. This interpretation 
 affords a reason for the particular men- 
 tion of an incident which otherwise we 
 should scarcely have thought worthy of 
 a place in the sacred record. 
 
 CHAP. XXXIX. 
 
 The sacred writer now resumes the 
 suspended history of Jo.seph, and it 
 would seem as if the leading event of 
 this chapter, viz. the signal triumph of 
 Joseph's virtue, were designed to be set 
 in contrast with the opposite weakness 
 of his brother Judah, detailed in all its 
 humihating particulars in the preceding. 
 Of the various incidents of his lot in 
 Egypt prior to his temptation, litde is 
 said, and nothing at all of the grief of mind 
 which he undoubtedly felt, both on his 
 own and his father's account. The 
 thoughts of the distress which his mys- 
 terious absence must have occasioned to 
 the heart of his doting fadier, no doubt 
 constituted one of the sharpest pangs 
 that pierced his own. But apart from 
 this, his affliction was very severe. A 
 youth of seventeen, accustomed to eve- 
 ry indulgence, suddenly torn away from 
 his paternal home, enslaved to all ap- 
 pearance for life, and that among a na- 
 tion of idolaters wholly ignorant of the 
 God of his fathers — what allotment can 
 we conceive more bitter and trying to 
 the spirit of an affectionate and pious 
 child like Joseph ! Yet from all that 
 can be inferred from his history, he 
 bore his sufferings with the most exem- 
 plary meekness, presenting at this time 
 
 officer of Pharaoh, captain of the 
 guard, an Egyptian, ^ bought him of 
 the hands of the Ishmaelites, which 
 had brought him down thither. 
 
 2 And *= the Lord was with Jo- 
 sepli, and he was a prosperous 
 man : and he was in the house of 
 his master the Egyptian. 
 
 b ch. .37. 23. c ver. 21 . ch. 21. 22. & 2(5. 24, 
 28. & 28. 15. 1 Sain. 16. 18. & 18. 14, 28. 
 Acts 7. 9. 
 
 the spectacle of a mind unsubdued by 
 the deepest distress, as he afterwards 
 did of one uncorrupted by the highest 
 elevation. In humble submission to the 
 will of God and the calm of an unruffled 
 conscience, he found a balm for the 
 wound of the arrows with which the 
 cruel archers so sorely grieved him. 
 
 1. Aiid Joseph was brought down to 
 Egypt. Heb. l^^n hurad. was made to 
 descend. For the reason of this pecu- 
 liar diction in reference to a journey to 
 Egypt, see Note on Gen. 12. 10. In 
 order to view aright a dispensation of 
 Providence which involved the selling 
 and removal of Joseph, as if he had 
 been a beasi or a captive taken in war, 
 we must advert to his own interpreta- 
 tion of the affair at a subsequent period, 
 Gen. 45. 5, 7, ' Now, therefofe, be not 
 grieved nor angry with yourselves that 
 ye sold me hither — for God sent me be- 
 fore you to preserve to you a posterity 
 in the earth, and to save your lives by 
 a great deliverance.' All the ways of a 
 good man are ordered of the Lord, and 
 his eyes are upon his people for good at 
 the very times when they seem to be 
 forgotten. 
 
 2. And the Lord was with Joseph, &c. 
 Chal. 'The Word of the Lord was his 
 help.' From this source he had an infal- 
 lible security of happiness. Though 
 withdrawn from under the shadow of a 
 fond father's wing, though a stranger 
 in a strange land, and subject to the ca- 
 price of a heathen master, yet he was 
 blessed. How could it be otherwise, 
 
B. C. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 247 
 
 3 And his master saw that the 
 Lord was with him, and that the 
 
 when ' the Lord was with him ?' — when 
 he enjoyed the preeence, the protection, 
 the favor of the Lord Almighty ? We 
 are too ready, when met by adverse 
 events, or when not speedily delivered 
 from our afRictions, to doubt of God's 
 favor ; as if outward prosperity were a 
 sign of his love, and adversity a sure 
 sign of his hatred. But how clear is the 
 Scripture declaration, that 'whom the 
 Lord loveth he chasteneth, even as a fa- 
 ther the son in whom he delighteth.' 
 God could easily have restored Joseph 
 at once to his father's bosom, yet he 
 did it not, but left him many years in a 
 state of slavery, where ' the iron enter- 
 ed his soul.' Let us cease then to 
 judge of his ways by ours. Though all 
 his dispensations towards his people are 
 prompted by infinite love, yet his love 
 does not sliow itself in the way of the 
 weak, fond favoritism of inany earthly 
 parents, who spare their cliildren the 
 present smart, even at the expense of 
 the future joy. Joseph might have 
 been raised at once to all the dignity 
 which he afterwards possessed, but 
 where then would have been the pre- 
 cious fruits of meekness and continence, 
 <}f wisdom and patience, which were ma- 
 turing under his unparalleled trials? 
 
 IT And he was a prosperous man. Heb. 
 n"'bl2?3 CIA ish matzliah, a man caus- 
 ing to prosper. This may be understood 
 aetivelj'-, viz. that Joseph was a man 
 making Potiphar's house to prosper, and 
 this is perhaps more in accordance with 
 the ordinary usage of the word. See 
 my Note on Ps. L 3. Yet it will admit 
 of the sense ordinarily put upon it, that 
 the Lord made Joseph to succeed and 
 prosper in all his undertakings, so that 
 he soon obtained the esteem, the love, 
 and the confidence of his master. Pros- 
 perity is not always a sign of God's spe- 
 cial favor, yet his hand is always to be 
 
 Lord ^ made all tliat he did to pros- 
 per in his hand. 
 
 I Pa. 1. 3 
 
 recognised in it by his people, upon 
 whom he confers it when he sees it 
 would be better for them than adversi- 
 ty, or when, by means of it, he purposes 
 to make them blessings to others. 
 From Joseph's prosperity we draw one 
 very interesting inference, viz. that he 
 submitted himself cheerfully to his lot ; 
 that he studied to make himself not 
 only useful, but agreeable to his mas- 
 ter ; that instead of sinking into a torpid 
 melancholy under his sudden change of 
 condition, he applied himself with alac- 
 rity and spirit to the discharge of his 
 duties, as a diligent servant ; for in no 
 other way would it seem possible for 
 him to have commended himself so ef- 
 fectually to the good graces of Potiphar. 
 No doubt in all this the joy of the Lord 
 was his strength. He saw the love of 
 God mitigating and sweetening his sor- 
 rows, and the more clearly we can dis- 
 cern the same love ruling in the events 
 of our lives, the greater pleasure shall 
 we take in the discharge of our duties. 
 
 IT And he was in the house of his 
 
 master the Egyptian. That is, he pa- 
 tiently continued in the house, or family, 
 faithfully discharging the duties of a 
 household servant, without attempting 
 to escape, distinctly recognising the 
 hand of providence in his present lot. 
 
 3. And his master saw that the Lord 
 was with him. The prosperity of Joseph 
 was manifest. The blessing of God 
 upon his labors was so conspicuous, that 
 his master him.self observed and ac- 
 knowledged it. It is not probably to be 
 understood that Potiphar knew God by 
 the name of ' Jehovah,' or called him 
 so. But he saw that Joseph was the 
 object of supernatural care and favor ; 
 and this Moses, and not Potiphar, as- 
 cribes to its true source. He prospered 
 because Jehovah, and not any imagina- 
 ry deity, blessed hira. This is a cir- 
 
248 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B.C. 1729. 
 
 4 And Joseph * found gi-ace in 
 his sight, and he served him : and 
 be made him ^ overseer over his 
 house, and all that he had he put 
 into his hand. 
 
 5 And it came to pass from the 
 
 e ch. 18. 3. & 19. 19. ver. 21. f Gen. 2-1. 2. 
 
 cumstance not a little to Joseph's 
 credit, inasmuch as it imphes that he 
 made no secret of his religion. Had he 
 dissemhled on this score, had he dis- 
 guised his real faith, and apparently 
 countenanced the Egyptian idolajries, 
 he certainly could not have looked for 
 those tokens of the divine favor which 
 he received. We must suppose, there- 
 fore, that he firmly, though probably 
 without ostentation, avowed himself a 
 worshipper of Jehovah, and as his con- 
 duct in every other respect was per- 
 fectly exemplary and satisfactory to 
 Potiphar, he made no objection to it. 
 This affords a most encouraging exam- 
 ple to religious servants to recommend 
 the gospel by their fidehty and diligence. 
 Servants, it is true, cannot command 
 success and prosperity ; and God does 
 not absolutely bind liimself to grant 
 success to the best-conducted affairs. 
 But it is undoubtedly the duty of ser- 
 vants to study to promote the prosperity 
 of their masters, and to seek the divine 
 blessing upon all the interests entrusted 
 to them ; and from the example of Jo- 
 seph we learn what fruits they may ex- 
 pect to reap from such deportment. 
 The circumstances are moreover an 
 admonition to all Christians to be faith- 
 ful to their heavenly Master, even 
 when there are no religious friends 
 about them to watch over them. 
 
 4. And he served him, &c. Ileb. 
 iri^ riTU'i yesharelh oiho, ministered io 
 him; not as a slave, but as a steward. 
 The ensuing clause is explanatory of 
 the phrase. He ' ministered,' by acting 
 in the capacity of an ' overseer.' He had 
 before served him menially ; but this 
 
 time tJiat he had made him overseer 
 in his house, and over all that he 
 had, that ^ the Lord blessed the 
 Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake ; 
 and the blessing of the Lord vv^as 
 upon all that he had in the house, 
 and in the field. 
 
 g di. 30. 27. 
 
 kind of service was the first step of his 
 preferment. The Gr. has cvapsarrjaev 
 avTM, he pleased him, which lacks the 
 
 requisite precision. IT And he made 
 
 him overseer. Rather, '■for he made him 
 overseer.' The words are designed to 
 explam the manner in which he minis- 
 tered to liim. The original has here but 
 a single word '-^''^ptj'^yaphJdd^sigmfying 
 literally to maJ;e io visit ; i. e. to clothe 
 with a visitorial or superintending pow- 
 er. The Gr. renders it KareaTiiaEf, con- 
 stituted him over his house, parallel to 
 which the Evangelist says, ' Of a truth 
 I say unto you that he will inaJie him 
 ruler {Gr. Karaarrjaei, will constitute him) 
 over all that he hath ;' i. e. he will 
 honor him as Potiphar did Joseph. The 
 meaning is, that he made him his chief 
 steward ; and it is the business of a 
 steward to have charge of a household 
 establishment. Having been faithful 
 over a few things, he is now made ruler 
 over many things. Thus was God grad- 
 ually fulfilling his own word, ' Them that 
 honor me I will honor,' and at the samt 
 time bringing about his ultimate pur 
 poses of mercy to the house of Jacob. 
 
 5. And it came to pass from the time^ 
 &c. The blessing of heaven previous 
 to Joseph's advancement to the steward- 
 ship had rested more especially upon 
 himself and his doings. He had been 
 made to prosper in a signal manner, and 
 Potiphar was constrained to acknow- 
 ledge it. But now from this lime the 
 blessing of the Lord was upon Poti- 
 phar, upon all that he had, whether 
 in the house or the field, but still for 
 Joseph's sake. As Potiphar had shown 
 himself disposed to favor the Lord's 
 
B. C. 1729.] 
 
 6 And he left ail that he had in 
 Joseph's hand; and he knew not 
 aught he had, save the bread which 
 he" did eat : and Joseph ^ was a 
 goodly person, and well favoured. 
 
 7 IF And it came to pass after 
 these things, that his master's wife 
 cast her eyes upon Joseph : and she 
 said, ' Lie with me. 
 
 8 But he refused, and said unto 
 
 CHAPTER XXX!X. 
 
 249 
 
 J> 1 Sara. 16. 12. 
 
 2 Sam. 13.11. 
 
 servant, the Lord will repay his kind- 
 ness by favoring and blessing hira. 
 How desirable is it to be connected 
 with those who are beloved of God ! 
 How highly are they to be prized, whe- 
 ther as servants or as friends ! The 
 kindness of the Most High towards his 
 people overflows to all with whom they 
 are related. Pious stewards, and pious 
 servants of every class, are a blessing to 
 their raasiters, not only because they 
 are faithful, and manage their affairs 
 vv-ith discretion, but because they draw 
 down the special blessing of God upon 
 the households to which they belong. 
 Masters may learn hkewise from this 
 passage, what treatment is due to faith- 
 ful servants. They ought to trust, to 
 honor, and to love them. When men 
 are precious in God's sight they are 
 honorable, whatever be their station in 
 life. If they are at present undervalued 
 or despised by men, they are honored 
 by angels ; and when God, by signal 
 proofs of his favor, makes it known that 
 he loves them, he will make them hon- 
 orable in the eyes of those who former- 
 ly despised them. Christian masters 
 who do not honor faithful servants, do 
 what in them lies to falsify the words 
 of Solomon, Prov. 27. 18, ' As he who 
 keepelh the fig-tree shall eat the fruit 
 thereof, so he that waiteth on his mas- 
 ter shall be honored.' 
 
 6. Kneu) not aughl he had, save the 
 bread which he did eat. Heb. ^J^i j^^ 
 in>^ n?21H>2 io yada meumuh iilo, knew 
 
 his master's wife, Behold, my mas- 
 ter wotteth not what is with me in 
 the house, and he hath committed 
 ail that he hath to my hand. 
 
 9 There is none greater in this 
 house than I ; neither hath he kept 
 back any tiling from me, but thee, 
 because thou art his wife : ^ how 
 then can I do this great wickedness, 
 and ^ sin against God ] 
 
 1^ Prov. 6. 23, 3e. i ch. 23. G. Lev. G 
 
 2. 2 Sam. 12. 13. Ps. r»l. 4. 
 
 not any thing with him. That is, he took 
 no cognizance or care of any thing that 
 was entrusted to Joseph ; he required 
 him not to render an account of his ex- 
 pences or receipts ; he left every thmg 
 to his exclusive management ; he sur- 
 rendered every thing so entirely into 
 his hands, that he took no care for any 
 thing but to eat and drink what was set 
 before him. This was the highest pos- 
 sible expression of confidence, and how 
 well it was bestowed is evident from the 
 
 sequel. ^ Goodly and well-favored. 
 
 The former of these words has refer- 
 ence to the form or shape of the whole 
 person, the latter to the countenance. 
 Beauty of person and face is a quality 
 which gains love, and ought to make the 
 possessor of it thankful ; but it easily 
 proves a snare to the possessor himself 
 or to others. It was Joseph's comfort 
 that he was beloved by his master, but 
 it was his misfortune that he was too 
 well beloved by his mistress. He had 
 an attractive countenance that she could 
 not behold without conceiving a regard 
 for him, which proved for a time preju- 
 dicial to Joseph, but infinitely more pre- 
 judicial to herself. 
 
 7 — 9. And it cams to pass after these 
 things, &o. A new and severe trial is 
 now appointed for Joseph. Raised by 
 his good conduct to a high post of honor 
 and trust, possessing the unlimited con- 
 fidence and approbation of his master, 
 we are ready to congratulate him upon 
 his happy lot, and could fain wish to 
 
250 
 
 (ii^lNL^SiS. 
 
 [13. C. 1729 
 
 see him continued long and uninterrupt- 
 edly in the enjoyment of it. But God 
 only knows what degree of trouble is 
 necessary for his people, or how long it 
 is proper they should continue un- 
 der its pressure. When we should plead 
 for rest and peace, he often sees fit to 
 summon us to labor and conflict ; and 
 in tracing the course of his providence, 
 nothing is more obvious than that sea- 
 sons of advancement and prosperity are 
 usually the seasons when the most vio- 
 lent temptations befal his children. So 
 it was with Joseph, From a quarter 
 whichhe httle expected, a storm of temp- 
 tation was coming upon him which 
 threatened to make shipwreck of all 
 that w-as precious and dear to him, in 
 time and eternity. But by the grace of 
 God he was enabled to resist. the fierce 
 assauh, and to baffle a plot against his 
 innocence more formidable than the 
 cruel machinations of his brethren 
 against his life. He achieved a victory 
 over himself, such as has seldom been 
 witnessed in this fallen vi^orld. And 
 nothing related of him speaks more 
 highly for the lessons of piety and puri- 
 ty, of honor, integrity, and universal 
 rectitude with which his mind had been 
 early imbued, than his conduct on this 
 occasion. His unprincipled mistress 
 lost to the modesty and every other vir 
 tue of her sex, cast an eye of unhallow 
 ed desire upon the amiable inmate of 
 hfer house, and by various wanton looks 
 and gestures signified too plainly the 
 criminality of her intentions. It is not 
 perhaps to be understood by the clause 
 *she said, &c.' that her vile solicitation 
 was actually expressed in so many 
 words. But this was the language of 
 her conduct, and conduct in the eye of 
 the Scriptures is virtual speech. Thus, 
 Eccl. 10. 3, 'When he that is a fool 
 walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth 
 him, and he sailh to every one that he 
 IS a fool ;' i. e. his conduct declares him 
 to be a fool. See Note on Gen. 15. 1. 
 But however this may be, the narrative 
 
 is too plain to admit a doubt that her de 
 meanor towards Joseph was marked by 
 a most shameless effrontery. Not 
 only was the sacredness of the marriage 
 compact lost sight of, but all the decor- 
 ous, timid reserve which distinguishes 
 the sex, except among the most aban- 
 doned, had disappeared. Alas, how few 
 young men w^ould have resisted the 
 strong temptation which Joseph was 
 now called to encounter ! How easily 
 did his brother Judah, in a more advan- 
 ced period of life, fall before a tempta- 
 tion, w^hich, in the comparison, was very 
 small ! But the lure in Joseph's case 
 was unavailing. He held fast his integ- 
 rity, and woiild not let it go, for his 
 heart was strongly fortified by the fear 
 of God, and he was powerfully support- 
 ed by that grace ' w-hich is able to keep 
 us from falling, and to present us fault- 
 less before the divine glory with ex- 
 ceeding joy.' IT But he refused, and 
 
 said, &c. He not only refused to com- 
 ply with his mistress, but gave his rea- 
 sons for refusing ; and these reasons 
 were well adapted to cure her of her 
 madness, had it not been incurable. He 
 begins by a modest but severe remon- 
 strance, exactly suited to his situation. 
 Without expressly adverting to the 
 wickedness of the tempter, or reproach- 
 ing her with the indelicacy, the infideli- 
 ty, and the baseness of her proposal, he 
 confines himself to what respected his 
 own obligation, and what would be Jiis 
 own sin. He alludes to the responsible 
 station to which he had been raised by 
 his master, and intimates that his obli- 
 gation was in exact proportion to the 
 trust reposed in him. 'He hath com- 
 mitted all that he hath to my hand ; 
 there is none greater in this house thar. 
 I.' Confidence will always beget in e. 
 well-disposed mind a disposition to re 
 pay it with fidelity ; and one who be- 
 trays trust is justly regarded as a fla 
 grant transgressor of the laws of society 
 Joseph displays the lofty integrity of 
 his soul by pleading this consideration- 
 
B. C. 1721).] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 251 
 
 10 And it came to pass, as she 
 
 Men of perverse minds would have been 
 emboldened by the very idea which ex- 
 ercised such a restraint upon the mind 
 of Joseph. But not so with the noble- 
 spirited captive in the house of Potiphar. 
 To the glory of Joseph it is recorded 
 that the very largeness of the trust and 
 authority reposed in him, witheld him 
 from the guilty abuse of it. It is ob- 
 vious that he was influenced by other 
 motives, but he dwells at greatest length 
 upon this, because the force of it would 
 be best understood and perhaps felt, by 
 his mistress. How base was her conduct, 
 when she tempted her husband's favorite 
 servant to betray him in the most cruel 
 manner, and to repay the greatest fa- 
 vors with an irreparable shame ! But 
 he pleads also the obligation arising 
 from the generosity and kindness of his 
 master, who had witheld nothing from 
 him but her, and that because she was 
 his wife. These words ought to have 
 pierced her heart like daggers. She 
 was his wife, and a man's wife ought to 
 be his alone, and not another's with 
 him. The most confidential servant, 
 the most esteemed friend, must consid- 
 er a man's wife as a sacred reservation, 
 and regard and treat her as his exclusive 
 treasure. The more favored they are 
 in other respects, the more careful must 
 ihey be to hold this possession inviola- 
 ble. A man's wife is a part of his own 
 flesh. To separate between one's soul 
 and body is scarcely a greater injury 
 than to separate between parties thus 
 closely related. This Joseph deeply felt 
 and strongly urged. Penetrated with a 
 sense of the favors heaped upon him, he 
 would not behave in a manner so unwor- 
 thy of them. And if Joseph, a poor slave, 
 had such a grateful sense of Potiphar's 
 favors, how monstrously ungrateful was 
 the wife of his bosom, who wished to 
 repay his love with the blackest stain to 
 his honor ! But he rises to a considera- 
 tion of still higher and holier import. 
 'How can I do this great wickedness, 
 
 spake to Joseph day by day, that he 
 
 and sin against God ?' It will not only 
 be treachery to my master on earth, 
 but daring wickedness against my mas- 
 ter in heaven. The offence against 
 Potiphar would be very inexcusable, 
 but it was a small thing compared with 
 the offence which would have been 
 given to God. God is our maker and 
 our judge ; and if honor required Jo- 
 seph to be faithful to his master, much 
 more did religion, which ia a far strong- 
 er principle than honor, oblige him to be 
 faithful to God. If gratitude bound 
 him not to sin against the former, how 
 much more strong ought that feeUng to 
 be towards God ? If the reverence 
 which he owed to his master's station, 
 ought to secure him from insult, how 
 much more ought the majesty of God to 
 restrain every offence against Him ! 
 It is all-important that in circumstances 
 of temptation we should fix our eye up- 
 on the evil to which we are tempted. 
 If we suffer our thoughts to dwell on its 
 agreeableness, as Eve did in regard to 
 the forbidden fruit, its sinfulness will 
 insensibly diminish in our sight, many 
 specious pleas and excuses vnW. suggest 
 themselves, and we shall in all likeli- 
 hood be carried away by it. But if we 
 direct our view steadfastly to the holy 
 will of God, and the strong obligations 
 we are under to him, that which would 
 otherwise appear a little thing will be 
 accounted what it truly is, a great wick- 
 edness, and we shall revolt at the idea 
 of sinning against God. This was the 
 view of things which weighed with Jo- 
 seph, and he therefore speaks as if it 
 had been impossible (or him to bring him- 
 self under the guilt of such atrocious in- 
 gratitude, injustice and impurity. He 
 could not do it without at once divest- 
 ing himself of piety as well as of hu- 
 manity, and therefore his language is 
 that of unconquerable reluctance to such 
 
 10. As she spake to Joseph day by day, 
 Slc. Had Joseph resisted but a single 
 
252 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1729. 
 
 hearkened not unto her, to lie by 
 her, or to be with her. 
 
 11 And it came to pass about 
 this time, that Joseph went into the 
 house to do his business ; and there 
 was none of the men of the house 
 there within. 
 
 assault from this source in the manner 
 related above, it would still have been 
 a most signal triumph of principle over 
 passion, of the fear of God over the 
 promptings of evil. But it enhances 
 greatly the merit of Joseph's constancy, 
 that it was proof against an oft-repeated 
 and long-continued solicitation to sin. 
 We all know the effect of persevering 
 importunity in any thing. We know- 
 that it is not every one who withstands 
 a temptation In the first instance, that 
 holds out to the end. Eve repelled the 
 tempter on the first onset, but was car- 
 ried away by the second. Samson re- 
 fused for a longtime to satisfy Delilah's 
 insidious questions, but at last the 
 mighty man was conquered by the tears 
 and importunities of a fair woman. 
 And thus in all ages sinners refuse for a 
 time to comply with the great enemy 
 of souls, but at last, tired of resistance, 
 they yield to the destroyer, and plunge 
 themselves in aggravated guilt and mis- 
 ery. But Joseph stood firm against a pro- 
 longed series of urgent temptations. None 
 of the tempter's arts or blandishments 
 succeeded in inducing him to swerve 
 from his integrity ; nor if she could have 
 given him all the treasures of Egypt, as 
 the price of his virtue, could she have 
 accomplished her object. The inward 
 operation of faith, love, fear, and duty 
 were more than a match for the seduc- 
 tive influences which bore upon him 
 from without. But doubtless where Jo- 
 seph stood, thousands would have fal- 
 len. T He hearkened not unto her to 
 
 lie by her, or to he with her. This passage 
 affords an instance of a very important 
 shade of meaning being lost to the Eng- 
 lish reader, by the translators' not hav- 
 
 12 And "" she caught him by his 
 garment, saying, Lie with me : and 
 he left Lis garment in her hand, 
 and fled, and got him out. 
 
 13 And it came to pass, \vhen 
 she sav/ that he had left his gar- 
 
 mProv. 7. 13, &c. 
 
 ing adverted to, perhaps not being ac- 
 quainted with, the genuine force of the 
 original. When we read that Joseph 
 refused to hearken to his mistress's soli- 
 citations, or ' to be with her,' we natu- 
 rally understand the meaning to be, 
 that he declined being in her company, 
 that he shunned her presence, and es- 
 pecially that he avoided, as much as 
 possible, being alone with her. All this 
 may indeed have been so ; we think it 
 very probable that it was ; still this 
 does not by any means represent the 
 true sense of the original phrase. The 
 ' or' is not found in the Hebrew, and its 
 insertion in our translation prevents the 
 precise drift of the writer from being 
 apprehended. The true rendering 
 results from the omission of the particle 
 — ' he hearkened not unto her to He by 
 her to be with her' — and the import of 
 'being with her' unquestionably is, 
 being united, and as it were identified 
 with her, so as in a sense to co-exist 
 with her by a constructive reciprocation 
 of being. This sense is clearly devel- 
 oped by the words of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 
 6. 16, 17, 'What? know ye not that he 
 which is joined to an harlot is onebody 7 
 for two, sailh he, shall be one flesh. 
 But he that is joined to the Lord is one 
 spirit.'' To be with one, therefore, in this 
 sense, is, in the eye of the Scriptures, 
 to have a community of being. This is 
 the nature of the conjugal union, which 
 is trenched upon and invaded by every 
 act of unlawful commerce, such as that 
 meditated by Potiphar's wife. 
 
 11 — 13. And it came to pass about this 
 time, &c. Undoubtedly in most cases 
 it would be the duty of one circum- 
 stanced as Joseph was to seek safety by 
 
B. C. 17:29. J CUAFJ^Kil XXXlX 
 
 in her hand, and was fled 
 
 253 
 
 ment 
 forth, 
 
 14 That she called unto the men 
 of her house, and spake unto them, 
 saying-, See, he hath hrought in an 
 Hebrew unto us to mock us : he 
 came in unto me to he with me, 
 and 1 cried with a loud voice : 
 
 flight. Some kinds of temptations are 
 to be boldly encountered, whatever 
 may be the result. Others are to be 
 overcome only by removing ourselves 
 bej'ond their reach. But in Joseph's 
 case this would appear to have been 
 impossible. He was a bought servant, 
 however exalted, and therefore was not 
 at liberty to leave. Nor could he speak 
 on the subject to his master without 
 ruining his peace forever. He, there- 
 Tore, keeps the whole matter a profound 
 secret to himself, and goes steadily for- 
 ward in the discharge of his duties, in- 
 wardly leaning upon God for support in 
 the conflict. On one occasion the busi- 
 ness of his calHng brought him alone 
 into her presence. She suffered not the 
 opportunity to pass neglected. She re- 
 newed her solicitations ; and finding 
 that words vi'ere vain, proceeded to 
 further extremities. Joseph was now in 
 a critical situation. By his superior 
 strength or swiftness, it was indeed pos- 
 sible for him to escape from the presence 
 of this wicked woman ; but how will it 
 be possible for him to escape the effects 
 of her fierce resentment ? He, however, 
 did not at this time think of her resent- 
 ment? His engrossing care is to get 
 away from her hated presence. In so 
 doing he left his garment in her hand. 
 The danger incurred by this was very 
 obvious. Her resentment might im- 
 prove it as the instrument of his destruc- 
 tion ; or if she endeavored, for her own 
 sake, to conceal it, an accident might 
 probably discover it, and raise very 
 dark suspicions against him. But con- 
 vinced that sin was an infinitely worse 
 evil than disgrace or death, he is deter- 
 VOL. II. 
 
 15 And it came to pass, when he 
 heard that I lifted up my voice and 
 cried, tliat he left his garment with 
 me, and fled, and got him out. 
 
 16 And she laid up his garment 
 by her, until his lord came home. 
 
 17 And she " spake unto him ac- 
 
 nExod. 23. 1. Ps. 120. 3. 
 
 mined to fly at all hazards. The conse- 
 quences were such as might be expect- 
 ed from a lascivious and abandoned 
 woman. Disappointed and defeated in 
 her vile intentions, the demon of lust is 
 suddenly converted into that of rago 
 and revenge. She could not ruin Jo- 
 seph's soul, but she will, if possible, 
 ruin his body, and will spare no lies or 
 hypocrisy to attain her purpose. Jo- 
 seph himself, in his haste to escape, has 
 furnished her with the means ; and her 
 genius is fruitful in expedients to im- 
 prove them. ' This second time is Jo- 
 seph stripped of his garnieht : before in 
 the violence of envy, now of lust ; be- 
 fore of necessity, now of choice ; before 
 to deceive his father, now his master; 
 for, behold, the pledge of his fidelity, 
 which he left in those wicked hands, is 
 made an evidence against him of that 
 which he refused to do. Therefore, did 
 he leave his clonk, because he would 
 not do that of which he is accused and 
 condemned, because he left it. What 
 safety is there against great adversaries, 
 when even arguments of innocence are 
 used to convince of evil ? Lust is a des- 
 perate madness when it is opposed ; no 
 hatred burns so furiously as that which 
 arises from the quenched coals of love.' 
 Bp. Hall. 
 
 14 — 17. She called unto the men of her 
 house, &c. If we were amazed, in read- 
 ing the foregoing narrative, to find this 
 woman so brazen-faced, we are now 
 astonished at her infernal artifices. She 
 scrupled at nothing that was wicked. 
 She not only dissembles and lies, but 
 she plots the destruction of the best of 
 I men, for no other reason but his incom- 
 9r> 
 
254 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 172y. 
 
 cording to these words, saying, 
 Tlie Hebrew servant which thou 
 hast brought unto us, came in unto 
 me to mock me : 
 
 18 And it came to pass as I lifted 
 up my voice and cried, that he left 
 his garment with me, and fled out. 
 
 19 And it came to pass, when 
 his master heard the words of his 
 wife, which she spake unto him, 
 
 parable virtues. She first calls the ser- 
 vants and makes bitter complaints to 
 them, as if her lord had intended to af- 
 front her by bringing the young Hebrew 
 into the bouse. That she should ex- 
 press herself in language so disrespect- 
 ful to her husband, half attributing the 
 pretended insult to him, shows the es- 
 trangement of her heart from its proper 
 object, and nothing could have tended 
 more directly to set the servants 
 against their master. But all manner of 
 minor wickednesses are apt to cluster 
 about a larger, and so it was here. 
 From her own account, Joseph was a 
 monster of iniquity, and herself a pat- 
 tern of purity. And it must be admitted 
 that the presumptive evidence against 
 him was very strong, and her language 
 was calculated to inflame their an- 
 ger towards him. By employing the 
 plural ' us'—' hath brought in an Hebrew 
 unto us to mock hs' — she no doubt in- 
 tended to represent the alleged wrong 
 as done against the whole house, that 
 she might enUst them more fully in her 
 interest in seeking revenge. 'Jf he 
 dare be so bold with me, what baseness 
 and villany would he not practise 
 against any of you ?' In all this we are 
 reminded of the inspired portraiture of a 
 woman of this description. ' And I find 
 more bitter than death the woman 
 
 saying, After this manner did th}; 
 servant to me ; that his ° wrath was 
 kindled. 
 
 20 And Joseph's master took 
 him, and p put him into the "» prison, 
 a place where the king's prisoners 
 were bound: and he was there in 
 the prison. 
 
 Prov. 6. 34. 35. p Ps. 105. 18. 1 Pet. Si. 
 19. 1 ch. 40. 3, 15. & 41. 14. 
 
 this wicked woman is permitted to suc- 
 ceed. By her lying speeches, by her 
 fiendish art, she deceives her husband 
 and draws him unwittingly into a part 
 nership of her guilt. The man whom 
 no consideration of pleasure or advan- 
 tage could for a moment allure from the 
 path of rectitude, is accused of attempt- 
 ing to seduce his mistress, and the ac- 
 cusation is believed! The story was 
 plausible, and if Potipharhad heretofore 
 had no reason to doubt his wife's fidel- 
 ity, it is not perhaps surprising that he 
 should have believed it ; and believing it, 
 he could not but be roused to the highest 
 pitch of indignation on account of it. 
 Vet, on the other hand, there were 
 some things calculated, on closer inspec- 
 tion, to throw suspicion upon his wife's 
 story. It was in itself very unlikely 
 that Joseph should have left his garment 
 in the hands of his mistress to be a wit- 
 ness against himself, if he had really in- 
 sulted her. His strength was superior 
 to hers, and he could, no doubt, have 
 recovered the robe had he been so dis- 
 posed, even against her efforts to retain 
 it. No explanation, therefore, but the 
 true one could reasonahli/ account for 
 the incident. But Potiphar was not in 
 a mood to be swayed merely by what 
 was reasonable. His wife's stalementa 
 raised a storm of passion in his breast, 
 
 hose heart is snares and nets, and her i which prevented him from listening to 
 
 hands as bands : whoso pleaseth God 
 shall escape from her; but the sinner 
 shall be taken by her.' 
 
 19, 20. When 7iis master heard the 
 
 the voice of equity and truth. In all 
 this he plainly did wrong. He paid too 
 much deference to his wife. He ought 
 not to have believed her words against 
 
 words of his xmfe, &c. The scheme of Joseph, without investigating the affair 
 
B. C. 1729.J 
 
 CliAPTKR XXXIX. 
 
 255 
 
 more thoroughly. A man ought indeed 
 to love his wife as a part of himself, but 
 however dear she may be to him, truth 
 and justice ought to be still dearer. 
 The consivleration of Joseph's long and 
 faithful services, and his unexception- 
 able deportment iiitberto, was certainly 
 entitled to some weight in opposition to 
 her testimony. But to all pleas from 
 this quarter he seems to have been en- 
 tirely deaf, and accordingly, without 
 further ceremony Joseph is immured in 
 prison, to be dragged forth in due time 
 to still severer punishment. Truly has 
 the wise man said, Prov. 6. 26, that ' the 
 adulteress will huntfor the precious life.' 
 Joseph, in the mean time, sterns meek- 
 ly and silently to have submitted to his 
 hard lot. Had he told his own story, 
 could he have expected it to gain cred 
 it ? Who would have believed that a 
 young man could have exhibited such 
 a rare instance of self-denial? And 
 how could a husband be expected to 
 believe that his own wife was so utterly 
 abardoned as the truth would have 
 made her out to be ? It is indeed pos- 
 sible that he may have wislied and en- 
 deavored to disabuse Potiphar's mind by 
 stating the truth, but that the lordly 
 Egyptian was too much fired with an- 
 ger to give an ear to what he could say 
 in his own behalf. Yet, as nothing is 
 said of Joseph's reply, we think it more 
 likely that he chose rather to incur his 
 master's displeasure, and sink under the 
 weight of a false accusation, than to 
 vindicate his honor by exposing the 
 shame of a bad woman. So that he 
 was consulting his master's peace of 
 mind at the very time that he was con- 
 demning him to the horrors of a gloomy 
 dungeon. As to the preservation of his 
 life and the clearing up of his injured 
 character, that he Will leave to God, in 
 whose hands his breath is, and whose 
 are all his w-ays. Except in the case of 
 the Saviour himself, where do we find 
 a magnanimity that is a parallel to this ? 
 IT Put him. into t/ic prison. Heb. 
 
 ino Ti'-'ln ^i^ el heth sohar. It would 
 seem that Moses himself thought that 
 the word -ino sohar, which occurs only 
 in this and the two succeeding verses, 
 and in ch. 40. 3, 5, stood in need of some 
 kind of explanation of his immediately 
 adding — 'a place where tlie king's pris- 
 oners were bound.' It properly signi- 
 fies roundness, and the piirase ' house of 
 roundness,' or 'round-house' probalily 
 implies an edifice mostly subterranean, 
 of which the roof or vault rising imme- 
 diately from the surface of the ground, 
 vvas round or shaped Hke an inverted 
 bowl. This place is afterwards called a 
 'dungeon,' ch. 41. 15, and it appears 
 from the reports of eastern travellers 
 that dungeons so constructed, with an 
 aperture at the top, through which the 
 prisoners were let down, are still found 
 in different parts of Asia. Comp. Jer. 33. 
 
 6. IT Where the king's prisoners were 
 
 bound. Heb. fi'^'IIG!^ Hbl^H '^'Tl05% 
 as ere hammelek asurim, where the bound- 
 ones of the king were bound. The terra is 
 derived from "^l^Jj^ asar, to bind, to re- 
 strain, and here imphes those who were 
 restrained of their hberty. Whether 
 in ordinary cases their limbs were literal- 
 ly bound in addition to their being con- 
 fined, is not clear, but we learn else- 
 where that this was the case with Jo- 
 seph, at least in some part of his impris- 
 onment ; Ps. 105. 18, ' Whose feet they 
 hurt with fetters ; he was laid in iron.' 
 Thus far then the accursed stratagem 
 has succeeded. The exemplary He- 
 brew youth, the faithful steward, the 
 pattern of purity, the humble fearer of 
 God, the heir of a glorious promise, 
 the future lord of Egypt, is consigned to 
 the dreary walls of a prison. His feel- 
 ings under this affecting reverse of con- 
 dition must have been most pungently 
 distressing. A stranger in a strange 
 land, without a friend to sympathise 
 with him or intercede for him, with 
 what a heavy heart must he have en- 
 tered the gloomy abode which not his 
 crimes but his virtues had opened for 
 
256 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1729. 
 
 21 IT But the Lord was with Jo- 
 seph, and shewed him mercy, and 
 
 him ! With what unutterable emotions 
 would he think of home and exclaim, 
 • O if my poor father knew of this !' 
 Again, with what deep anxiety would 
 ho reflect upon the mysterious ways of 
 Providence. Kow difficult, with his 
 imperfect light and knowledge, to re- 
 concile an inflexible adherence to right, 
 with the hard lot which he was now 
 called to experience. But .still, in the 
 midst of alli and over all, his faith tri- 
 umphed, and with meek submission to 
 the divine will he bows to the severity 
 of the stroke. It is doubtless somewhat 
 burprising that his master, having so 
 much power in his hands, should have 
 satisfied himself with the punishment of 
 imprisonment, instead of putting him at 
 once to death. We know that 'jealousy 
 is the rage of a man, and that he will 
 not spare in the day of vengeance ;' but 
 we know too that jealousy and every 
 other passion is under the control of the 
 Most High, who mightily restrains them, 
 and binds them to a compliance with 
 the purposes of his will. Potiphar's 
 former regard for Joseph may have so 
 far operated upon his mind as to prevent 
 him from ordering his instant execution, 
 and he may have entertained some 
 faint doubts of his wife's veracity. But 
 whatever motives witheld him from 
 proceeding to extremities, certain it is 
 that he was under the overruling influ- 
 ence of God, whose set time for Joseph's 
 dissolution was not yet come. He had 
 much to do in this world before he ob- 
 tained his dismission to another. He 
 was to become ' the shepherd and the 
 stone of Israel.' He was to he the lord 
 of Pharaoh's house, according to the 
 dreams which came to him from hea- 
 ven. He was to become the father of 
 two powerful tribes in Israel. He was 
 to see good and glorious days on earth ; 
 and he could not perish while the pro- 
 
 '' gave him favour in the sight of the 
 keeper of the prison. 
 
 r Exod. .•?. 21. & 11. 3. & 12. 36. Ps. 106. 
 46. Prov. 16. 7. Acts 7. 9, 10. 
 
 mises he had received were yet unac- 
 complished. All the powers of dark- 
 ness combined would find themselves 
 unable to put one of God's servants to 
 death, whilst any part of his work on 
 earth remained unperformed. It was 
 not Joseph's death, but his imprisonment, 
 that was to be the means of his eleva- 
 tion ; and Potiphar, and even Potiphar's 
 wife, served providence in all the evil 
 which they did to Joseph. Whilst they 
 were most egregiously violating God's 
 commandments, they were fulfilling his 
 counsels. What can man do against 
 God ? Not only the righteous and the 
 wise, and their works, but the unrigh- 
 teous, the unwise, and the worst of their 
 works, are in his hand. 
 
 21. But tlie Lord was viith Joseph, &c. 
 Joseph is incarcerated, but God, who 
 had dehvered him from the pit, accom- 
 panies him to the prison, and when the 
 iron entered his soul, he prevented him 
 from sinking under his calamities. 
 Where providence leads us into diffi- 
 culties and hardships, grace can sustain 
 us under them ; and if we suffer for 
 righteousness's sake, as Joseph did, we 
 may be assured that it will be so. All 
 will be right at last. Nothing shall 
 eventually harm us, if we be followers 
 of that which is good. It was not long 
 before Joseph obtained favor in the eyes 
 of the keeper of the prison, as he 
 had before done in those of Potiphar. 
 While we cannot doubt thai his charac- 
 teristic meekness and modesty tended 
 strongly to work upon the kindly dis- 
 positions of the jailer, there is reason to 
 think that Potiphar's rage had become 
 softened ; for the jailer could not, we 
 should suppose, have treated Joseph 
 with so much humanity without Poti- 
 phar's leave. Upon calm reflection, he 
 might see reason to think that the ac- 
 cusation against Joseph was not to be 
 
B, C. 1729.] 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 257 
 
 22 And the keeper of the prison 
 « committed t© Joseph's hand ailtlie 
 s cli. 40. 3, 4. 
 
 credited, and yet he might think it im- 
 prudent to hherate him from confine- 
 
 ment.— 
 
 -•r Shewed him mercy. Heb. 
 5^ tj^l vayet alauv hesed, extend- 
 
 ed kindness to him. It is certain that the 
 original word IDPI hesed, usually carries 
 with it the idea oi gratuitous benefaction, 
 and we know not that it is at ViW forcing 
 a practical inference from the words, to 
 say that they were intended to inti- 
 mate, that Joseph could not claim the 
 favor which was shewn him in prison 
 as the reward of merit. Even when 
 God delivers us from unrighteous vio- 
 lence, or uids us in a good cause, we are 
 not at liberty to refer his dealings to the 
 discharge of a debt which he owes ns. 
 
 ![ Keeper of the prison. Heb. '•|"l' 
 
 'nnO m"^ sar beth suher, captain of the 
 round-house. 
 
 22. Committed to Joseph's hand all 
 the prisoners, &c. It was scarcely to be 
 expected tbat a poor prisoner, condemn- 
 ed to a dungeon for one of the worst of 
 crimes, should find sucli favor with his 
 keeper. The calling of a jailer is not 
 peculiarly favorable to the kindlier sen- 
 sibilities. It is a business which implies 
 sternness and severity. But tbere is a 
 power in true moral excellence to con- 
 ciliate and captivate, even where it does 
 not convert ; and the hearts of the keep- 
 ers of prisons are in tlie hands of the 
 Lord, as well as the hearts of other men. 
 Paul had much favor shewn him in 
 bonds and imprisonments, for which 
 Christians in every age ought to be 
 thankful to God. He was in prisons 
 oft, but his keepers allowed him paper 
 and ink, with which those epistles were 
 written that will be read with pleasure 
 and edification while the world stands. 
 Onesimus, and probably others, were 
 begotten by Paul in his bond.'. The 
 folfovving remarks, from Jamieson's 
 ' F.astern Manners illustrative of Old 
 
 22-^ 
 
 prisoners that were in the prison 
 and whatsoever they did there, he 
 was the doer of it. 
 
 Testament History,' p. 93 — 97, on the 
 general police of prison establishments 
 among the Orientals, will perhaps throw 
 some hght on this part of the narrative. 
 'In pas.sing through the cities and villa- 
 ges of Asiatic countries, one looks in 
 vain for the gloomy and sequestered 
 building, whose massy walls and grated 
 windows point it out as the cheerless 
 residence of the sons of crime ; and talk 
 to a native of the East, of the personage 
 who, with awful importance in his face, 
 and a ponderous key at his side, is mas- 
 ter or porter at the gate, and he will 
 tell you that such a character and such 
 an edifice are there altogether unknown. 
 Scarcely, indeed, is there any point in 
 which the notions and practices of the 
 people of the East differ so essentially 
 from ours as in those which relate to the 
 treatment of criminals : for while in Eu- 
 rope there are places reared for the con- 
 finement of offenders, and officers spe- 
 cially appointed to have the custody of 
 them, the houses of the highest and 
 greatest persons in the East, are not 
 unfrequently dedicated to the purposes 
 of a prison, and men who fill public and 
 official stations of the greatest dignity, 
 perform the duties of an office which, 
 in our estimation, is the most ignoble. 
 From the earliest times, the jails in the 
 East have been of this description, and 
 under the care of persons of elevated 
 rank : and as it is highly probable that 
 the place of Joseph's confinement was 
 some dungeon, or secluded part of the 
 house of Potiphar, who was the princi- 
 pal state officer of Egypt at the time, 
 the knowledge of this circumstance 
 furnishes a natural way of accounting 
 for the freedom allowed to Joseph by 
 i the deputy jailor, who might have ac- 
 cess to know his entire innocence of the 
 charge that led to his being incarcerat- 
 eu • and who, from, his impression of the 
 
258 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [U. C. 1729 
 
 23 Thckeeper of the prison look- 
 ed not to any thing that icas under 
 his hand ; because • the Lord was 
 t vcr. 2, 3. 
 
 virtuous and honorable character of the 
 young Hebrew was persuaded he ran 
 no risk in allowing his prisoner to go at 
 large. Such discretionary power, no 
 doubf, belonged to the Egyptian turn- 
 key, as it does still to all jailers of the 
 East, who, without being bound by any 
 rules, such as prevail in Europe, or 
 being obliged to place their prisoners 
 in certain cells, according to the magni- 
 tude of their ofTences, are required sim- 
 ply to produce them when culled for by 
 the king or the judges, and are left to 
 the exercise of their own discretion to 
 determine whether the intermediate 
 treatment of the persons under their 
 custody, shall be of a mild or a severe 
 character. If the jailer be a man of a hu- 
 mane disposition, he will accordingly 
 extend to tliem every indulgence, and 
 keep them under no greater restraints 
 than are absolutely necessary to the 
 right discharge of his duties ; whereas, 
 if he be a cruel or unjust person, he has 
 the power of annoying them in every 
 possible way, with a view to extort a 
 bribe from them or their friends. Of 
 the former kind of treatment, Rauwolff 
 gives a beautiful instance that came 
 within his knowledge at Tripolis in 
 Syria, lie had some friends confined to 
 the prison of that city, to whom he was 
 allowed access at all hours. Sometimes 
 he was permitted to remain with them all 
 night, and there was no part, either of the 
 jail itself, or of the extensive gardens 
 connected with it, over which the in- 
 dulgent keeper did not give him and his 
 friends the privilege of walking ; they 
 were even entertained in the jailor's 
 own apartment, treated as members of 
 his own family, and enjoyed such un- 
 restricted liberty of doing whatever, and 
 going wherever they pleased, that Rau- 
 wolff could see no difference between 
 
 with him : and tliat which he 
 the LoKD made ii to pjosper. 
 
 did, 
 
 their condition and his own. A very 
 different treatment was experienced by 
 an Armenian merchant, who is men 
 tioned by Chardin as having been 
 thrown into prison for some cause or 
 other. So long as his money lasted, 
 and he possessed the means of satisfying 
 the cupidity of the jailer, he met with 
 the greatest humanity and kindness, 
 but the moment that his resources fail- 
 ed, and on his adversary who purstied 
 him presenting a handsome bribe to the 
 jailer, he experienced an abatement of 
 the kind attentions of his keeper. His 
 privileges were first abridged ; he was 
 then subjected to close confinement, 
 and treated with so great rigor, that he 
 was not allowed any water but once in 
 the twenty-four hours, and that, too, in 
 the sultriest season of the year; and, 
 last of all, he was thrown into an un- 
 wholesome dungeon, to complete the 
 catastrophe which all this inhumanity 
 was designed to hasten.' ^ What- 
 soever they did there he was the doer 
 of it. That is, it was done by his di- 
 rection and authoritj'. dial. 'And 
 all that was done there was done ac- 
 cording to his word.' Thus Pilate is 
 said to have given the body of Christ 
 unto .Foseph, Mark 15. 45, when he 
 commnnded it to be given, 3Iat. 27. 58. 
 23. Looked 7w! to any thing, S:c. Ileb. 
 n'^'^i^'^ b- r5< r;i^'*l roeh eth kol vieu- 
 mah, saw not any thing ; i. e. did not at- 
 tend to or concern himself with any 
 thing that was under his (Joseph's) hand. 
 Nor did he call him to account, or ques- 
 tion him in any way as to his manage- 
 ment of whatever was submitted to his 
 control. So unlimited was the trust re- 
 posed in him. Let a man be inflexibly 
 honest and true, and he will never have 
 reason to accuse the world of want of 
 confidence. Disb.onestv begets distrust. 
 
B. C. 1720.] 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 259 
 
 against two 0/ his officers, against 
 
 f,^^..^ --- the chief of the butlers, and 
 
 that the * butler of against the chief of the bakers. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 A ND it came to pass after these 
 -^ things, that the *t ' 
 the king of Egypt and his baker 
 had offended their lord the king 
 of Egypt. 
 
 2 And Pharaoh was ^ wroth 
 
 a Xeh. 1. il. b Prov. IG. \i. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 The present chapter carries us for- 
 ward another decided step towards the 
 winding up of that wonderful drama, 
 in which Joseph was at this time such 
 a prominent but unconscious actor. 
 The all-wise Jehovah is laying his 
 plans, marshaUing his forces, prepar- 
 ing his instruments, at very different 
 times, and in very different places. The 
 envy of Jacob's sons, the lascivious- 
 ness of Potiphar's wife, the disobedi- 
 ence of Pharaoh's servants, the anger 
 of the king himself— all meet by a 
 strange concurrence of circumstances, 
 in one point, the elevation of Joseph to 
 the right hand of the llirone 1 Remove 
 but one link, and the chain is broken 
 asunder. Take away but a single stone, 
 and the whole fabric falls to the ground. 
 
 1. And it carae to pass after these 
 things, &c. Heb. n'Z'i^n ^'^""ili^" '^,n^ 
 ahar haddeharlm haelleh, after these 
 
 uords. See note on Gen. 15. 1 IT 
 
 Butler ; i. e. cup-bearer; one who us- 
 ed to give the cup into the king's hand, 
 V. 13. Thus the word is translated 
 Neh. 1. 11, ' For I was the king's cup- 
 hearer.^ The Gr. renders it aox^irnvo- 
 ■X^ooi chief wine-pourer, implying him 
 who had charge of the rest, which, as 
 appears from v. 2, is the true meaning. 
 
 ^ Baker. Gr. aoyi(7iTo-:Toio<; chief 
 
 bread-maker. ^ Had offended. Heb. 
 
 ll^I^n hate-u, had sinned {against). 
 We are not informed either of the 
 names or the crimes of these two ser- 
 vants of the king of Egypt ; nor have 
 we any wish to know, either the one 
 
 3 "^Andhe put them inward 
 in the house of the captain of the 
 guard, into the prison, the place 
 where Joseph was bound. 
 
 c ch. 39. 20, 23. 
 
 or the other. We feel no interest in 
 what concerns them any farther than 
 as iheir lot was connected with that of 
 Joseph. One of them came to an un- 
 timely end, and perhaps deserved it. 
 The other deserved not to have his 
 name recorded. He escaped the sword 
 of Pharaoh ; but his name, if it had 
 been handed down to us, would never 
 have been mentioned with honor, for 
 he could receive favors without return- 
 ing them when it was in the power of 
 his hand to do it. He could suffer an 
 innocent youth to languish in prison, 
 without endeavoring to procure his re- 
 lease, although he could have told a 
 story that would probably have gained 
 him his liberty. He did indeed tell 
 this story to the king a long time after- 
 wards, but at a season when he hoped 
 to recommend himself, by doing what 
 he long before ought to have done in 
 gratitude to Joseph. 
 
 2. T\'as wroth against two of his offi- 
 cers. That is, against the two above- 
 mentioned, who are designated in the 
 original by the term eunuchs ; but this 
 as we have seen, is a term of large 
 import in the East. 
 
 3. He put them in ward. That is, 
 in custody. It often happens to the 
 righteous according to the wish of 
 the wicked. Here we find two men, 
 who sinned against their lord, the 
 king of Egypt, confined in the same 
 prison with Joseph. Yet the same 
 prison is not the same thing to a good 
 and to a bad man. The two offenders 
 tremble in anxious dread of some wors? 
 
260 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [S. C. 1718. 
 
 4 And the captain of the guard 
 charged Joseph with them, and 
 he served them ; and they con- 
 tinued a season in ward. 
 
 5 TJ And they dreamed a dream 
 both of them, each man his 
 
 punishment ; and the consciousness of 
 their demerit, if they were really guilty, 
 was more painful to them than the 
 irons were to Joseph, though they en- 
 tered into his soul. It takes away the 
 sting of such calamities, to have the 
 testimony of a good conscience. 
 
 4. Charged Joseph with them. Heb. 
 tD^» fjDl"' riJi npS"' yiphkod eth 
 Yoseph ittam, made Joseph to risit 
 them; a phrase, as before remarked, 
 equivalent to investing one with author- 
 ity. IT. Served them. Heb. ^|-|'J1 
 
 SlTiH yeshareth otham, ministered to 
 them; i. e. by supplying them with 
 food and other necessaries. The cap- 
 tain of the guard had the command of 
 the royal prison ; and as this title is 
 more than once before given to Poti- 
 phar, it is probable he is the person 
 here alluded to. If so, he was in all 
 hkelihood now convinced of Joseph's 
 innocence, and therefore loosed his fet- 
 ters, though he did not dismiss him 
 from confinement. But why did he 
 not release Joseph entirely from the 
 prison, if he thought him fit to be trust- 
 ed with the care of other prisoners 1 In 
 this his conduct is inexplicable. If Jo- 
 seph was guilty of the crime imputed 
 to him, the closest imprisonment was 
 too good for him. But if the accusa- 
 tion were false, he ought to have been 
 brought forth with honor, and to have 
 received a compensation for the injury 
 done to him by his master and mis- 
 tress. It is possible that private rea- 
 sons, springing from a mistaken sense 
 of honor, or a too partial regard to 
 his wife, operated to overbalance the 
 consideration of justice. But though 
 
 dream in one night, each man 
 according to the interpretation 
 of his dream ; the butler and the 
 baker of the king of Egypt, which 
 ivere bound in the prison. 
 
 Joseph had been unjustly enslaved, 
 unjustly imprisoned, and unjustly de- 
 tained in prison, yet he declined not 
 the work enjoined by his master, even 
 though that master confessed, by the 
 trust reposed in him, that he deserved 
 very different treatment. He was a 
 better man than the men whom he 
 served, and could not but have some 
 intimations in his own mind that he 
 should one day be exalted above them, 
 yet at this time he cheerfully perform- 
 ed to them every service in his power. 
 Let us learn from him cheerfully to ac- 
 commodate ourselves to those circum- 
 stances in which divine providence is 
 pleased to place us. They are unwor- 
 thy to be exalted, who cannot bear to 
 be humbled. 
 
 5. And they dreamed a dream both 
 of them. Dreams for the most are 
 worthy of httle attention on any other 
 account than as they indicate the pres- 
 ent state of the body or mind. Yet 
 God, who spake in divers manners to 
 the fathers by the prophets, was pleas- 
 ed occasionally to speak to other men 
 than the prophets by dreams and vis- 
 ions. We read in the following chap- 
 ter of a prophetical dream presented to 
 the imagination of Pharaoh, king of 
 Egypt. Here we have an account of 
 a prophetical dream sent to two of 
 Pharaoh's servants, men who were 
 probably ignorant of the Most High. 
 But the fancies as well as the hearts of 
 those that know not God, are as much 
 under his control, as the hearts of the 
 saints, and he makes what impres- 
 sions upon them he pleases. When 
 dreams had such an origin there is no 
 
B. C. 1718.] 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 261 
 
 6 And Joseph came in unto 
 them in the morning, and looked 
 upon them, and behold, they 
 were sad. 
 
 doubt that there was some peculiar 
 impression made upon the dreamer's 
 mind which enabled him to refer it to 
 its proper source. These poor men 
 had often dreamed upon their beds, but 
 none of their dreams had taken such 
 hold of their spirits as these. By a 
 secret suggestion from above, they 
 were convinced that their dreams vjere 
 supernatural, and portended something 
 that was to happen to them, though 
 what it was they were as ignorant of 
 
 OS before their dreams. IT Each man 
 
 according to the interpretation of his 
 dream. That is, answering to the 
 event. The expression implies that the 
 dreams were not vain, empty, and un- 
 meaning, as dreams usually are, but 
 each of them highly significant, and 
 capable of a sound interpretation, which 
 Joseph gave. See Note on Josh. 24. 5, 
 where the peculiar force of this phrase- 
 ology is clearly explained. 
 
 6. BeJiold they were sad. Gr. Tcrepa- 
 yfievoi troubled. The original t2iti>T 
 zoaphimy legitimately implies both 
 mental vexation and irritation, and a 
 sombre, lowering countenance. It oc- 
 curs elsewhere four times, and is ren- 
 dered, Dan. 1. 10, ' worse liking;' i. e. 
 worse looking; Prov. 10. 3, 'fret- 
 ting;' 2 Chron. 16. 19, 'wroth.' Su- 
 pernatural dreams seem usually to have 
 left an impression upon the minds of 
 their recipients amounting to a violent 
 agitation. Thus, Dan. 2. 1, 'Nebu- 
 chadnezzar dreamed dreams wherewith 
 his spirit was troubled, and his sleep 
 brake from him.' So also the dream 
 of Pilate's wife. Matt. 27. 19. We see 
 from this what access God has to the 
 spirits of men, and how easily he can 
 
 7 And he asked Pharaoh's offi- 
 cers that loere with him in the 
 ward of his lord's house, saying. 
 Wherefore look ye so sadly to- 
 day ? 
 
 arm their imaginations against their 
 own peace. He can at pleasure send 
 a secret panic into our souls and scare 
 us, as he did Job, with dreams and vis- 
 ions, and even fill our days and nights 
 with terror by presages and forebodings 
 of uncertain evils. Let us then endeav- 
 or to preserve a pure conscience and a 
 clear judgment, that we may neither 
 fear where no fear is, nor be shaken in 
 our minds by the apprehension of those 
 evils that cannot be avoided. 
 
 7. And he asked Pharaoh's officers, 
 &c. Their melancholy and dejected 
 appearance excited his sympathy, and 
 he kindly inquires into the cause of it. 
 It was not from an impertinent curios- 
 ity that he proposed the question, but 
 being habitually pitiful, courteous, and 
 kindly afTectioned, he would fain 
 know what ailed them, that he might 
 administer all the comfort in his power. 
 Joseph indeed had private griefs of his 
 own of no common character, and we 
 might be prompted to ask, why he 
 was not as sad in heart and aspect as 
 the two servants of Pharaoh. But he 
 had a source of calm and even cheerful 
 resignation to the will of God, to which 
 they were strangers, and so far from 
 sinking under the weight of his calam- 
 ities, or being absorbed in his own 
 troubles, he generously proposes to aid 
 his fellow-prisoners in bearing the bur- 
 den of theirs. IT Wherefore look yc 
 
 so sadly to day? Heb. ^j^i^g 'STMZ 
 Q'l^"! maddua penekem raim, where- 
 fore are your faces evil? Gr. 
 aKvOp'jira from aKvOpos grim and wi// 
 countenance ; i. e. sad, gloomy, morose, 
 desponding. The same word occurs 
 in a similar sense in the New Testa- 
 
262 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B.C. 1718. 
 
 8 And they said unto him, 
 ^We have dreamed a dream, and 
 there is no interpreter of it. And 
 
 d ch. 41.15. 
 
 ment, Mat. 6. 16, ' When ye fast, be 
 not as the hypociltes, of a sad coun- 
 tenance' (Gr. aKvQpoTToi,) Luke 24. 17, 
 'What manner of communications are 
 these that ye have one to another, as 
 yc walk and are sad7^ (Gr. <TKvdpo7:oi.) 
 And as 'evil' signifies sad, so on the 
 other hand 'good' is sometimes used in 
 the sense of cheerful or merry. Thus, 
 Est. 1. 10, ' On the seventh day when 
 the heart of the king was merry with 
 wine.' Heb. ' good with wine.' Is. 65. 
 14, ' Behold my servants shall s'mgfor 
 joy of heart.' Heb. ' for goodness of 
 heart.' 
 
 8. There is no interpreter of it. He 
 found upon inquiry that they had each 
 had a dream which, from the circum- 
 stances attending them, and the im- 
 pression left upon their spirits, they 
 considered extraordinary. Both of 
 them dreamed, and both in one night. 
 The dreams of both also related to their 
 past employments, and they could not 
 resist the belief that they were omin- 
 ous of something which was to happen 
 to them. But what it was they could 
 not divine, and having neither any in- 
 terpreter at hand to instruct them, nor 
 the liberty of resorting to one, they 
 were exceedingly dejected. So miser- 
 able a thing is it to stand in dread of 
 uncertain evils. When men know the 
 worst of what they have to fear, they 
 will makeup their minds and fortify 
 their spirits to bear the expected shock. 
 But when they apprehend themselves 
 exposed to some dreadful evils without 
 knowing distinctly what they are, how 
 does the heart sink in the prospect ! 
 Here we have a proof of the inestima- 
 ble value of our religion, that it furnish- 
 es us with effectual antidotes against 
 
 Joseph said unto them, * Do not 
 interpretations belong to God? 
 Tell me ihem, I pray you. 
 
 e ch. 41. 16. Dan. 2. 11, 28, 47. 
 
 every sorrow, and every fear. The 
 butler and baker would have thought 
 themselves happy could they have pro- 
 cured an interpreter to set their minds 
 at rest about their dreams. But, alas ! 
 what could they reasonably expect 
 from such interpreters of dreams as 
 Egypt afforded 'I Were they sure that 
 the interpreters would not impose upon 
 them some groundless imaginations of 
 their own hearts 7 Or if their dreama 
 portended some great evils, had the in- 
 terpreters any power to avert them, or 
 to furnish them with any adequate sup- 
 port under them 7 How vain are the 
 wishes and hopes of minds unenlight- 
 ened by revelation ! IT Do not inter- 
 pretations belong to God ? Gr. ' la 
 not the manifestation of it by God 7' 
 Chal. * Surely from before God is the 
 interpretation of a dream.' By this 
 question, which was a tacit reproof to 
 his companions, Joseph aimed to call 
 off their thoughts from the lying pre- 
 tensions of false prophets, diviners, and 
 magicians, and to lead them to place 
 their hope in the true God, who alone 
 knows what is to befal any of his crea- 
 tures, who alone can avert the evils 
 which we dread, or turn them to our 
 
 comfort. IT Tell me them, / pray 
 
 you. Let it not be set down to the ac- 
 count of an undue presumption in Jo- 
 seph that he here seems to claim for 
 himself the prerogative which he had 
 just before ascribed exclusively to God. 
 He merely intimates hereby that God 
 would make him an organ, by which 
 to impart to them the information they 
 so much desired. It is probable that 
 when he first put the question to them 
 respecting the cause of their sadness he 
 thought nothing of dreams or their so- 
 
B. C. 171S.J 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 263 
 
 9 And the chief butler told his 
 dream to Joseph, and said unto 
 him, In my dream, behold, a vine 
 ivas before me ; 
 
 10 And in the vine were three 
 branches: and it was as though 
 it budded, and her blossoms shot 
 forth ; and the clusters thereof 
 brought forth ripe grapes : 
 
 11 And Pharaoh's cup was in 
 mine hand : and I took the grapes, 
 and pressed them into Pharaoh's 
 cup, and I gave the cup into 
 Pharaoh's hand. 
 
 lution, but that now all of a sudden he 
 was conscious of an extraordinary 
 prophetic impulse upon his spirit, en- 
 abling him to act the part of an inter- 
 preter. Yet he required that the dreams 
 should first be made known to him. 
 God could easily have saved him the 
 trouble of learning from the men what 
 they had dreamed. The same Spirit 
 that taught him to interpret could have 
 made known to him the dreams, as we 
 know was the case with Daniel in the 
 court of Nebuchadnezzar. But in this 
 instance the dreams had not been for- 
 gotten by the dreamers, and God does 
 not impart that knowledge supernat- 
 urally which can be acquired by the 
 ordinary methods. It was sufl&cient 
 for Joseph to be enabled to show the 
 meaning of the dreams when informed 
 what they were. And even this was 
 ultimately rather for his own sake than 
 for theirs. 
 
 9. Behold a vine was before me, <^c. 
 It was not strange that a butler, de- 
 prived of his office and his liberty, 
 should dream of wine, and grapes, and 
 cups, and of putting a cup into his 
 master's hand. Had Joseph been left 
 wholly to the direction of his native 
 sagacity, he would have told the butler 
 that his dream was the pure effect of 
 his waking thoughts ; that he had often I 
 
 12 And Joseph said unto him, 
 '"This is the interpretation of it: 
 The three branches ^are three 
 days : 
 
 13 Yet within three days shall 
 Pharaoh '^lift up thine head, and 
 restore thee unto thy place: and 
 thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup 
 into his hand, after the former 
 manner when thou wast his but- 
 ler. 
 
 f ver. 13. ch. 41. 12, 25. .ludg. 7. 14. Dan. 
 2. 36. & 4. 19. g ch. 41. 26. h 2 Kings 25. 
 27. Ps.3. 3. Jer. 52. 31. 
 
 anxiously wished for restoration to his 
 former ofiice ; and that his fancy, in the 
 time of sleep, had gratified him with 
 the enjoyment of his desires. But we 
 shall soon see that there were other 
 particulars in the dream which would 
 have completely b?ffled his unassisted 
 reason. 
 
 10. In the vine icere three branches. 
 Heb. tJ^'^-IS sarigim. By this term is 
 undoubtedly meant three little shoots 
 just perceptible and budding on the 
 bark of the stalk. It was from these 
 that the clusters grew. The design is 
 to intimate the rapidity of the growth. 
 The phraseology in the original is in 
 like manner exceedingly brie^ broken, 
 
 and abrupt. IT Her blossoms shot 
 
 forth. The wonder of the dream was 
 that the vine came so soon to maturity ; 
 that a process which usually requires 
 the space of several months was ap- 
 parently completed in as many mo- 
 ments. He had scarcely time to con- 
 template its germinating buds before 
 he beheld the perfect flower, and this 
 with equal suddenness gave way to the 
 ripened clusters. 
 
 12, 13. This is the interpretation of it, 
 &c. The general interpretation given 
 by Joseph of the dream is quite obvious, 
 and one that in all likeUhood would 
 have suggested itself to any of the pro- 
 
264 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 LB. C. 1718 
 
 fessed oneirocriilcs whom the butler 
 might have consulted. He would na- 
 turally infer that the man was very de- 
 sirous of being restored to his oflSce, 
 and he would be very apt to say that 
 such was the drift of the dream. Still 
 it would have been a mere guess. 
 Nothing short of divine inspiration 
 could have assured Joseph that the 
 dreajn was to be realized. But there 
 was another circumstance which left 
 no room to doubt whether the interpre- 
 tation was only a happy conjecture or 
 a divine discovery. The time was spe- 
 cified. The three branches were three 
 days. What human sagacity could 
 have divined that the branches of the 
 vine had any reference to time7~or, if 
 they had, whether three days, or three 
 months, or three years, were meant. 
 Anacharsis the Scythian said that a 
 vine had three branches, the first of 
 which produced pleasure, the second 
 intoxication, the third remorse. Might 
 not some such interpretation of the 
 three branches have appeared as nat- 
 ural as that which Joseph gave? But 
 it was wisely ordered that one part of 
 the dream should require a divinely in- 
 spired interpreter. It was God's de- 
 sign to assure the butler that Joseph 
 obtained his wisdom, not from man, 
 but by revelation from above. And as 
 to Joseph himself, he would certainly 
 have acted a very foolish part had he 
 explained the three branches of three 
 days that were to elapse before the ful- 
 filment of the dream, unless he had 
 been well assured that God spake by 
 his mouth. That he was well assured 
 of the truth of his prediction, appears 
 still more clearly from the request 
 which he made to the butler. This re- 
 quest must have exposed him to con- 
 tempt, if his prediction had not been 
 
 verified by the event. IT The three 
 
 branches are three days. That is, sig- 
 nify three days; a very important sense 
 
 of the substantive verb are, is, afibrd- 
 ing a clue to the real import of numer- 
 ous passages like the following; Rev. 
 1. 20, 'The seven candlesticks which 
 thou sawest are (i. e. signify) the seven 
 churches;' Rev. 17.9, 10, 'The seven 
 heads are (signify) seven mountains, 
 and there (or, they) are seven kings;' 
 i. e. kingdoms; by which is implied 
 that the 'heads' and the 'mountains' 
 were equivalent symbols, both signify- 
 ing 'kingdoms.' Luke 22. 19, 'This is 
 my body;' i. e. signijies my body; an 
 interpretation subversive of the doc- 
 trine of transubstantiation. So v. 20, 
 'This cup is (signifies) the New Testa- 
 ment in my blood.' Gen. 28. 22, 'And 
 this stone shall be (shall signify) God's 
 
 house.' IT Shall lift up thine head. 
 
 This implies more than the mere fact 
 of releasing from bondage. It is equiv- 
 alent to promoting, preferring, raising 
 to honor, or in this case restoring to a 
 former office. Thus, Ps. 3. 3, 'But 
 thou Lord art a shield for me, my 
 glory, and the lifter up of mine head.^ 
 Jer. 52. 31, 'Evilmerodach, king of Bab- 
 ylon, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, 
 king of Judah, and brought him forth 
 out of prison.' This, from v. 32, seems 
 to be equivalent to ' setting his throne 
 above the throne of the kings that were 
 with him in Babylon.' The phrase 'to 
 lift up the head' is used also in the sense 
 of reckoning, enumerating, or taking 
 the sum, as in a census. Thus, Ex. 30. 
 12, 'When thou takest the sum of the 
 children of Israel.' Heb. ' When thou 
 liftest up the headJ Understood thus, 
 the import of the present passage i» 
 this; 'In the review or survey of tht 
 officers of the court, thou shalt be 
 enumerated and have a place as for- 
 merly.' Gr. 'Pharaoh shall remember 
 thy principality.' Chal. 'Shall re- 
 member thee.' 
 
 14. Think on me when it shall be 
 well with thee. Heb. ^nx l2n^2T 
 
B. C. 1718.1 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 265 
 
 14 But i think on me when it 
 shall be well with thee, and ^ shew 
 .kindness 
 and 
 
 Pharaoh, and bring me out of this 
 house : 
 
 i Luke 23. 42. k Josh. 2. 12. 1 Sam. 20. 
 14, 15. 2 Sam. 9. 1. 1 Kings 2. 7. 
 
 , I pray thee, unto me, 
 make mention of me unto 
 
 zckartani itteka, remember me iclth 
 thee. In the enjoyment of the sweets 
 of recovered liberty, do not forget me. 
 Although Joseph patiently bore his 
 confinement, yet he earnestly desired 
 deliverance, and felt entirely justified in 
 using all proper means for obtaining it. 
 The terms in which the request is made 
 are exceedingly tender and pathetic, 
 and they recognise one of the great 
 principles by which God is governed in 
 visiting afiiictions upon men. It is 
 that they may be able to enter into the 
 feelings of those who are in trouble, 
 and hiay be ready to weep with those 
 who weep, and to dry up their tears by 
 offices of kindness. The chosen peo- 
 ple were required to shew kindness to 
 the stranger, because they knew the 
 heart of a stranger, from what they 
 themselves had suffered as strangers in 
 the land of Egypt. So here Joseph 
 might presume that the butler, who 
 had known the heart of a prisoner, 
 would kindly remember and intercede 
 for his poor companion in bonds. He 
 could not indeed by his ov/n authority 
 bring Joseph out of prison, but he 
 might, by his influence with Pharaoh, 
 obtain his release. We may do much 
 good by the hands of others, where our 
 own personal power cannot be put 
 forth, and in so doing we not only 
 make a debtor of him to whom the 
 benefit is shewn, but of him also who 
 is excited by us to perform the benefit. 
 Indeed the last is, of the two, more in- 
 debted to us than the first; for 'it is 
 more blessed to give than to receive.' 
 
 IT Make mention of me to Pha- 
 
 2?> 
 
 15 For indeed I was stolen 
 away out of the land of the He- 
 brews : ' and here also have I 
 done nothing that they should put 
 me into the dungeon. 
 
 1 cb. 39. 20. 
 
 raoh. Let him know that I foretold 
 thine advancement, by giving thee a 
 true interpretation of thy dream. Such 
 a proof of wisdom more than human 
 might of course be expected to gain 
 the favor of the king, as soon as it 
 should be represented to him. Pha- 
 raoh might have his dreams as well as 
 his servants, and he might be glad to 
 have a man in his court who could 
 one day perhaps perform for him a 
 similar useful and acceptable service. 
 
 ?[ And bring me out of this house. 
 
 That is, cause me to brought out; a 
 common idiom. See Note on Gen. 
 xli. 13. Gr. 'Thou shalt bring me out 
 of this prison.' 
 
 15. For indeed I icas stolen away^ 
 &c. Heb. ^r*"3 S33 gunnob gun- 
 jiabti, stealing I icas stolen. The but- 
 ler might perhaps have been afraid to 
 recommend Joseph to the favor of 
 Pharaoh, because he might think that 
 his imprisonment was the just punish- 
 merxt of his crimes. Joseph, to ob- 
 viate this suspicion, tells him, that 
 neither his slavery nor his imprison- 
 ment were the just reward of his own 
 conduct. He was by birth an Hebrew, 
 and had been stolen away from his 
 native country. But was this a true 
 statement of the matter of fact 1 Did 
 not the IshmaeUtes buy him? True 
 indeed, they did ; but it was of them 
 that had no right to sell him; them 
 that had as it were, robbed him of him- 
 self ; and therefore he was in reality 
 stolen. The charge holds good of his 
 brethren. Such all will admit, would 
 be the purchase by a kidnapper of a 
 
266^ 
 
 ^E-NESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1718. 
 
 16 When the chief baker saw 
 that the interpretation was good, 
 he said unto Joseph, I also was 
 in my dream, and behold, / had 
 three white baskets on mine head : 
 
 child from an unprincipled nurse ; and 
 such is the purchase of slaves to this 
 day on the coast of Africa, But while 
 Joseph afSrms himself to havs been 
 stolen from his country, he does not 
 tell by whom. Deeply as his brethren 
 had injured him, he does not choose to 
 publish their fault. In employing the 
 term stolen without any particulars, he 
 seems generously to have intended to 
 throw a veil over their iniquitous con- 
 duct ; and the same noble spirit is dis- 
 covered in what he says of his treat- 
 ment in Egypt. "Wishing only to jus- 
 tify hunself, and not to criminate others, 
 he forbears to relate by what wicked 
 arts his mistress had procured his im- 
 prisonment, or to vent any reproaches 
 upon her. He is content with simply 
 asserting his innocence. Any thing far- 
 ther was in fact unnecessary. Within 
 three days he was to receive a virtual 
 testimonial from God himself; for if he 
 were the man his mistress represented 
 him to be, was it supposeable that God, 
 who bates all wickedness, would have 
 given him the knowledge of those se- 
 crets that were hidden from other men ? 
 Yet who can help admiring the exam- 
 ple here displayed of forbearance, under 
 the foulest and most injurious treat- 
 ment ! If ever a human being had oc- 
 casion to complain of wrong and to 
 expose the most crying injustice, it 
 was Joseph in view of his present hard 
 lot. Yet waving the prerogatives of 
 injured innocence he meekly commits 
 himself to him that judgeth righteous- 
 ly, and leaves it to infinite Wisdom to 
 vindicate and deliver him as it should 
 
 seem to him good. ^ Out of the 
 
 land of Ihc Hebrews, That is, the land 
 
 17 And in the uppermost bas- 
 ket there was of all manner oi 
 bake-meats for Pharaoh: and the 
 birds did eat them out of the bas- 
 ket upon mine head. 
 
 of the descendants of Abraham, the 
 Hebrew. It is by faith founded on the 
 divine promises, that he gives it this 
 appellation, as the country then gene- 
 rally went by the name of the 'land o5 
 
 Canaan.' ^ Into the dungeon. Heb. 
 
 ^\M'2 babbor, into the pit, or cistern ; the 
 same word as that apphed to the pit 
 into which Joseph was cast by hi& 
 brethren. It is to be inferred from the 
 narratrve that the gift of prophecy 
 vouchsafed to Joseph was bestowed 
 only at particular times, for though he 
 could foretel the deliverance of the but- 
 ler from prison he was not enabled to' 
 foresee his own. 
 
 16, 17. When the chief baksr saw, 
 &c. The chief butler v/a» now a hap- 
 py man. It is true, he might still be in 
 some d3ubt what credit was due to the 
 young man who gave him such hope&. 
 But men are strongly disposed to be- 
 lieve what they wish to be true. The 
 exposition of the dream was at least 
 very plausible. The young man spoke 
 like one assured of the truth of what 
 he said; and his countenance helped 
 to procure credit to the truth of his 
 words. At any rate, the terrors raised 
 by the dream were at an end. If any 
 thing was portended by it, it was good 
 and not evil. The countenance of the 
 butler was brightened, as if a warrant 
 had already been issued from the court 
 for his liberation, and his companion in 
 misery ardently wished to participate 
 in his good fortune. Seeing that tho 
 interpretation of the butler's dream was 
 good, that is, that it carried an air of 
 intrinsic plausibility, and that it por- 
 tended good, he is induced to relate hia 
 own dream also, in hopes that it might 
 
B. C. 1718.] 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 267 
 
 receive as favourable a solution. We 
 naturally desire to be as happy as our 
 neighbours, especially if they were once 
 as unhappy as ourselves, and it is hard 
 not to give way to the promptings of 
 that hope, which is the great sweeten- 
 er of the miseries of life. Yet it will 
 be our wisdom to suppress those eleva- 
 tions of hope which may terminate in 
 cruel disappointment. Let us remem- 
 ber thai divine providence is under no 
 obligation to be equally kind to us all, 
 and that prosperity and adversity, life 
 and death, are distributed to men by 
 One who has a right to do what he will 
 ^vith his own. Whilst then we hope 
 for the best, let us fear the worst, and 
 be prepared for any event that may oc- 
 cur, for any ddings that we may hear. 
 
 ^ 1 also was in my dream. I was 
 
 transfused, as it were, into a dreaming 
 
 state. IT Three white baskets on 
 
 minehead. Heb. 'I'ln '^'^'0 salle hori ; 
 a phrase of very doubtful import. Lex- 
 icographers and critics differ greatly as 
 to the signification of the latter term 
 1"in hori; some understanding it of 
 the baskets themselves, others of the 
 contents of the baskets. In the for- 
 mer case, it is to be referred to the root 
 Tin horoxhury conveying the sense of 
 the Lat. /oramen, a hole, an aperture, 
 a perforation, and to be understood of 
 the holes or interstices in the twigs of 
 which the baskets were composed. In 
 other words, the phrase implies that 
 the baskets were made of wicker-work, 
 reticulated hke nets. On the second 
 supposition, the root is Tin havar, to 
 he white; and ^"^n hori is then taken 
 to imply the white loaves, rolls, or cakes 
 contained in the baskets. This is con- 
 firmed by most of the ancient versions. 
 Gr. ' Three baskets of fine bread.' 
 Chal. ' Three baskets full of the princi- 
 pal (or best) bread.' Targ. Jon. 'Three 
 baskets of pure bread.' Vulg. 'Three 
 baskets of fine flour.' But as it is l 
 said in the next verse that the upper- j 
 
 77iost of the three baskets contained all 
 the various work of the baker, tho 
 whole three could not be very well 
 named, from the eatables which they 
 contained, baskets of white bread. On 
 the whole, therefore, the former render- 
 ing seems most to be preferred, and 
 this is countenanced by Symmachus, 
 who gives Tpia Kava Qa'iva three baskets 
 of branches. Jarchi combines the two 
 senses, explaining the phrase of wicker- 
 baskets, made of twigs which were 
 white from having the bark peeled off. 
 But this seems far-fetched and forced. 
 The little importance of the subject 
 would perhaps have excused still less 
 being said upon it. The dreamer in this 
 case, however, had very Httle reason to 
 hope for a favourable interpretation of 
 his dream. It was a very difTerent one 
 from that of the butler. The butler 
 pressed the grapes into the king's cup, 
 and put it into his hand ; bui the bake- 
 meats which the chief baker carried in 
 his basket never went to the king'3 
 table ; they were eaten from off his 
 head by the hungry birds. Yet the 
 poor man hoped his dream might have 
 as favourable a meaning given to it as 
 his neighbor's. We have no reason to 
 be surprised at his vain expectation. 
 How often do we see sick persons 
 promising themselves life, when their 
 physicians see nothing but symptoms 
 
 of their approaching death. IT All 
 
 manner of bake-meats. Heb. ' Of all 
 manner of food of Pharaoh, the work 
 of a baker.' It is giving the original 
 too restricted a sense to confine it to 
 that of baked meats, unless meats he 
 taken in the old English sense of meals, 
 as explained in Gen 4. 3. The term 
 means properly baked food in general. 
 Gr. 'Of all kinds which Pharaoh did 
 eat of the work of the bread-maker.' 
 Chal. 'All which was made by tho 
 baker's art.' 
 
 18, 19. This is the interpretation 
 thereof. As far as their baskets wera 
 
iJtS 
 
 GEi\E:SlS. [B. C. 1718. 
 
 18 And Joseph answered, and 
 said, »" This is the interpretation 
 thereof: The three baskets are 
 three days : 
 
 m ver. 12, 
 
 concerned the interpretation agreed 
 with that of the dream of tlie but- 
 ler. How anxiously did the poor baker 
 wait for the next words of the inter- 
 preter! How fondly did he hope that 
 the third day might bring the same 
 happy changeof circumstances to him- 
 self, which was already promised to 
 his companion ! But alas ! his hope 
 was soon turned to despair. TT Pha- 
 raoh shall lift up thine head from off 
 thee. The expression in the original is 
 the same as that respecting the butler, 
 V. 13, implying that he also should be 
 reckoned among the officers, but inti- 
 mating by the additional phrase, 'from 
 off thee,' that the enumeration would 
 be fatal to him. It is probable that be- 
 heading in the first instance is the pun- 
 ishm.ent here predicted, after which his 
 decapitated body was to be hung up 
 'on a tree,' i. e. a gallows-tree, gibbet, 
 or cross, to become prey to carniverous 
 birds. The flesh with which the birds 
 were to bj fed, was not of his bake- 
 meats, but of his own body. If 'hope 
 deferred maketh the heart sick,' how 
 dreadful is it to have hope entirely ex- 
 tinguished. Yet such was the melan- 
 choly lot of the baker when he heard the 
 interpretation of his dream. Although 
 he did not kpow what was meant by 
 it till this moment, yet the words of 
 Joseph must have carried conviction 
 with them to a man already possessed 
 with the firm belief that his dream was 
 significant of what was to befall him. 
 Whether he were to suffer justly or un- 
 justly, we are not informed ; but as 
 his death was so near, it was perhaps 
 an advantage to him to know it. Had 
 
 19 "Yet within three days 
 shall Pharaoh lift up thine head 
 from off thee, and shall hang thee 
 on a tree; and the birds shall eat 
 thy flesh from off thee. 
 
 n ver. 13. 
 
 he been rightly affected, he had now 
 an opportunity of learning at the hand 
 of a servant of God, what kind of prep- 
 aration it behoved him to make for 
 death. At any rate, let it not be thought 
 any disparagement to the kindly feel- 
 ings of Joseph that he thus plainly de- 
 clared a message of such terrible im- 
 port to a fellow-creature. It was no 
 doubt a source of inexpressible grief to 
 him, io be obliged to be the organ of 
 such heavy tidings. But a necessity 
 was laid upon him to interpret the dream. 
 He had in effect promised to do it. 
 Had he now refused to satisfy the ba- 
 ker's desire, his silence would either 
 have been an acknowledgment of the 
 falsity of the claims, or it would have 
 been Httle better than the words in 
 which the fatal sentence was pronoun- 
 ced. But if he broke silence at all he 
 must tell the truth. He could not but 
 speak what was made known by God 
 to be communicated to his compan- 
 ions; and the unfortunate man must 
 at any rate have heard his sentence 
 within three days at farthest, even 
 though Joseph had been silent. Be- 
 sides this, there was no doubt another 
 reason why Joseph declared plainly 
 what he had learned from God. He 
 wished to have it known among the 
 Egyptians that interpretations belonged 
 to the God of the Hebrews, and that 
 he alone could shew things that wero 
 to come to pass, Joseph afterward re- 
 ceived the name of Zaphnath-paaneah, 
 the revealer of secrets ; but it was his 
 desire to have it known, that his God 
 was the fountain of all his knowledge, 
 that confidence in any other God, or 
 
B. C. 1718.] 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 269 
 
 20 11 And it came to pass the 
 third day, which was Pharaoh's 
 °birth-day, that he p made a feast 
 unto all his servants : and he 
 1 lifted up the head of the chief 
 butler and of the chief baker 
 among his servants. 
 
 21 And he «• restored the chief 
 
 o Mat. 14. C. p Mark 6. 21. 
 Mat. 25. 19. r ver. 13. 
 
 q ver. 13, 19. 
 
 in any other way of coming to the 
 knowledge of futurity, but by revela- 
 tion from him, was vain and idle. IT 
 
 Tlie birds shall eat thy Jlesh from off 
 thee. The terror of approaching death 
 would be aggravated to the poor man, 
 by the prospect of the indignities with 
 which his body was to be treated. 
 Here we have an infinite advantage 
 over the benighted heathen. Our reli- 
 gion furnishes us with effectual conso- 
 lation, not only against the fear of 
 death, but against all that the wrath of 
 man can do against either our bodies 
 or our names, after the stroke of death. 
 VVe read of the bodies of the saints 
 having been cast out to the wild beasts 
 of the earth, and to the fowls of heav- 
 en. But were the bodies of Christians 
 to be swallowed up by the most abhor- 
 red of God's creatures, they sleep in 
 Jesus, and God will bring them with 
 him at the day of his appearance and 
 kingdom. 
 
 20. And it came to pass, &c. It is a 
 custom of long standing with kings 
 and other great men, particularly in 
 eastern countries, to celebrate their birth- 
 days with feasts and gladness. And 
 we have all reason to rejoice at the re- 
 membrance of our birth into the world, 
 if our lives have been employed for the 
 purposes for which they were given. 
 Yet Job, the most patient of men, was 
 at a certain period of his life over- 
 whelmed with such dreadful calamities, 
 that he cursed the day of his birth, and 
 23* 
 
 butler unto his butlership again; 
 and « he gave the cup into Pha- 
 raoh's hand : 
 
 22 But he t hanged the chief 
 baker, as Joseph had interpreted 
 to them. 
 
 23 Yet did not the chief butler 
 remember Joseph, but "forgat him. 
 
 s Neh. 2. 1. t ver. 19. u Job 19. 14. Ps, 
 31, 12. Eccl. 9. 15, 16. Ames 6. 6. 
 
 the night in which it was said, 'There 
 is a man-child brought into the world.' 
 Let us endeavour so to live, that we 
 may always rejoice in our existence. 
 It is not improbable that Pharaoh, on 
 this festive occasion, wished to perform 
 some signal act of grace, that all his 
 people might rejoice in the clemency of 
 his government. With this view he 
 lifted up the head of the chief butler, by 
 raising him again to his former station. 
 But at the same time to warn his ser- 
 vants against provoking his displeas- 
 ure, he lifted up the head of the chief 
 baker in a very different sense, by de- 
 priving him of life. What reason he 
 had to make this difference between 
 his two servants, we cannot say ; but 
 we know that he fulfilled the will of 
 God, and verified the prediction of his 
 servant Joseph. 
 
 21. And he restored the chief butler, 
 &c. ' The desire accomplished is 
 sweet to the soul.' The chief butler's 
 deliverance would give him double joy, 
 when he considered that his fate might 
 have been the same with that of his 
 unhappy companion. Pain and fear 
 are the objects of great aversion while 
 they are present, but some of the 
 sweetest pleasures of life would be want- 
 ing if they were never felt. 
 
 22. He hanged the chief baker, aa 
 Joseph had interpreted to them. If 
 both these men's dreams had portend- 
 ed pardon, the interpretation given by 
 Joseph might have been considered 
 
270 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1718. 
 
 merely as a lucky conjecture. Tt was 
 reasonable to suppose that on the ap- 
 proaching festivity of the king's birth- 
 day, he would signahze his clemency 
 by some acts of grace to offenders. But 
 who could have foreseen that he would 
 make one of his servants to feel the se- 
 verity of his displeasure on the happy 
 day, whilst he pardoned the other ; or 
 that he would execute his displeasure 
 by hanging his dead body on a tree 
 and exposing it as a prey to the fowls 
 of heaven 1 Every circumstance tend- 
 ed to estabUsh the credit of Joseph, 
 as a man that enjoyed intercourse with 
 heaven; and just in proportion to the 
 evidence on this score, was the inex- 
 cusableness of the Egyptians in refu- 
 sing to acknowledge the God of heav- 
 ed and earth. In like manner the per- 
 fect accomplishment of the various 
 prophecies of the Scriptures leaves us 
 without excuse if we withhold our be- 
 lief of its divine inspiration. 
 
 23. Yet did not the chief butler re- 
 member Joseph. We should now have 
 expected to read of the chief butler's 
 intercession to the king in behalf of the 
 amiable and injured youth at whose 
 hands he had received so signal a fa- 
 vour. True indeed it was Pharaoh 
 and not Joseph who had delivered him 
 from prison, but how could he drop 
 from his memory the high obligations 
 under which he lay to one who had, by 
 interpretinghisdreams,relieved his mind 
 of the tormenting apprehensions which 
 had preyed upon it 1 Every thought of 
 his former unhappy condition, and of 
 its joyful reverse, we should suppose, 
 would have reminded him of his prison- 
 companion. Yet alas, for the black in- 
 gratitude of the human heart !— no soon- 
 er is he released from prison than he 
 loses all remembrance of his kind ben- 
 efactor! No doubt, in the first tran- 
 sports of his joy, at learning the im- 
 port of his dream, he intended to show 
 his gratitude to the Hebrew youth. But 
 
 becoming soon swallowed up in his 
 own concerns, he forgot one who had 
 turned his sorrow into joy and glad- 
 ness, and left him for two long years 
 to pine amidst the horrors of solitary 
 confinement, and to feel the pang of 
 unmerited neglect. How strangely 
 does prosperity intoxicate the mind, 
 and what callousness does it some- 
 times bring over the finer feelings of 
 our nature ! How common is it for 
 persons in high life to forget the poor, 
 even those to whom they have been 
 under the greatest obligations! The 
 ingratitude of the butler was marked 
 by a special enormity. Even had he 
 owed nothing to Joseph, it was cer- 
 tainly a duty imposed by the laws of 
 humanity to do what he could for his 
 relief, when he knew him to be un- 
 justly enslaved and imprisoned. But 
 he was utterly mexcusable, after what 
 Joseph had done for him, when he did 
 not so much as open his mouth to Pha- 
 raoh on his behalf. Our own instinc- 
 tive sense of right, teaches us to repro- 
 bate his conduct. His memory will 
 be held in detestation while the world 
 lasts. The word of God has recorded 
 his infamy, that others may be warn- 
 ed to shew proper returns of gratitude 
 to their benefactors. As for ourselves, 
 we can indeed be under no apprehen- 
 sions that the book of God will trans- 
 mit our character to future ages. The 
 chief butler felt just as little fear of that 
 perpetual dishonor to which his mem- 
 ory was to be subjected by a book that 
 should be read to the end of the world. 
 But let us not forget that there is anoth- 
 er book of God which contains the rec- 
 ord of every individual's life — a book 
 which shall be opened before the as- 
 sembled world ! What confusion v>'ill 
 then cover the faces of those who shall 
 be found to have been insensible to the 
 favors done them, either by their fel- 
 low-men or their Maker ! If all men 
 abhor those who return not good for 
 
n C. 1715.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLl. 
 
 271 
 
 A 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 ND it came to pass at the end 
 of two full years, that Plia- 
 
 food, when it is in the power ef their 
 band to do it ; how black is our ingrat- 
 itude if we are net penetrated with 
 ardent love to him, who not only pitied 
 as in our io>v estate, but wrought re- 
 demption for us by a life of eorrow, 
 and by an accursed death 1 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 1. 11 came to pass at the end cf two 
 full years, that Pharaoh dreamed. 
 Whether we are to date the two full 
 years from the time that Joseph was 
 put into the prison, or rather from the 
 time that the butler was taken out of 
 it, which was the event last spoken of, 
 the mention of the time is designed to 
 point out the length of Joseph's con- 
 finement. Two years of imprisonment 
 svill appear a much longer time to one 
 who has not learned to bear the evils 
 of life with an uncommon degree of 
 fortitude. In fact, it is not so much 
 the intenseness of our trials, as the 
 duration of them, that is the greatest 
 test of our patience. Even those who 
 liavebeen taught of God are strongly 
 tempted, under long continued afflic- 
 tions, to weary of the Lord's correc- 
 tion. In regard to Joseph, too, it is to 
 be recollected, that he was now in the 
 vigor and prime of life, the period 
 which to men in ease and health is the 
 most pleasant of all others; for he was 
 thirty years eld v*^hen his troubles came 
 to an end. He might think it a severe 
 allotment to live all the best of his 
 days in a prison, when he had done 
 nothing to deserve it; and the prison 
 would be the more wearisome to him, 
 chat his hopes of deliverance founded 
 upon God's word and providence seem- 
 ed to fail forevermore. From the gift 
 of. interpretation bestowed upon him, 
 
 raoh dreamed : and behold, he 
 stood by the river. 
 2 And behold, there came up 
 
 as well as from his own youthful 
 dreams which remained uninterpreted, 
 he could scarcely doubt that something 
 extraordinary was intended for him, 
 yet how severely was he tried by being 
 suffered to languish week after week, 
 and month after month, in his dreary 
 prison house. But though the butler 
 had forgotten him, God had not; and 
 his plans were ripening apace for his 
 servants' deliverance. The clouds 
 which have so long darkened his pros- 
 pects are just beginning to disperse, 
 end a brighter and more cheering ho- 
 rizon about to open upon him. Though 
 he v/ould gladly have been indebted 
 both to Pharaoh and the butler for his 
 release, yet God will so order it that he 
 shall be obliged to neither of them. 
 Kings are hable to hunger and thirst, 
 like other men ; kings must sleep, and 
 their sleep may be disturbed by dreams, 
 like that of other men ; and here we 
 find the sovereign of Egypt induced, 
 from the effect of his nocturnal visions, 
 to send for Joseph for his own sake, ia 
 order to receive a favor from him in- 
 
 etead of conferring one upon him. 
 
 5r Behold, he stood by the river. Gr. 
 Mtro errravai he thought he stood. The 
 river meant was the Nile, so called by 
 v/ay of emphasis without specification, 
 as being of course understood when 
 mentioned in connexion with Egypt. 
 In like manner the Euphrates, from its 
 celebrity, is called simply 'the river:' 
 Ps. 72. 8, 'He shall have dominion 
 from sea to sea, and from the river unto 
 the ends of the earth.' As rain never 
 falls in Egypt, and the fertility of the 
 soil has in all ages depended upon the 
 annual overflow of the Nile, we may 
 hence see the propriety of associating 
 the images of plenty and famine, im 
 
272 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1715, 
 
 out of the river seven well-fa- 
 voured kine and fat-fleshed ; and 
 they fed in a meadow. 
 
 3 And behold, seven other kine 
 came up after them out of the 
 river, ill-favoured and lean-flesh- 
 ed ; and stood by the other kine 
 upon the brink of the river. 
 
 4 And the ill-favoured and 
 lean-fleshed kine did eat up the 
 seven well-favoured and fat kine. 
 So Pharaoh awoke. 
 
 the dream of Pharaoh, with the river 
 of Egypt. 
 
 2. Behold, there came wp out of the 
 river, &c. This dream would appear 
 at first view to be but a jumble of in- 
 coherent ideas, which no wise man 
 would retain in his memory. What 
 other man ever thought, even in a 
 dream, of kine, which are not carni- 
 verous animals, or of ears of corn, eat- 
 ing one another? Yet it is certain that 
 this dream was of God, and that it was 
 an intimation of future events of ex- 
 ceedingly important consequences bofh 
 to the Egyptian nation, and to all the 
 neighboring nations, and even to the 
 church of God. 'God's ways are not 
 our ways,' nor ought we to measure 
 his providential administration by our 
 own rules. He is governed by his good 
 pleasure as to the subjects of divine 
 revelations. The men of his counsel 
 are indeed for the most part devout and 
 holy men, but worldly minded kings 
 and princes have sometimes for wise 
 purposes been favored with com.muni- 
 cations from above, though usually 
 wrapped in a dark veil of symbols and 
 allegories. It v/as not the will of God 
 that Pharaoh should understand his 
 own dream, till it was explained by a 
 heaven-taught interpreter. If the mean- 
 ing had been so plain, that it could have 
 been explained by the wise men of 
 Egypt, the design for which it was sent 
 
 5 And he slept and dreamed 
 the second time: and behold, 
 seven ears of corn came up upon 
 one stalk, rank and good. 
 
 6 And behold, seven thin ears 
 and blasted Avith the east wind 
 sprung up after them. 
 
 7 And the seven thin ears de- 
 voured the seven rank and full 
 ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and 
 behold, it icas a dream. 
 
 to Pharaoh would have been defeated. 
 It was for Joseph's sake, and for the 
 sake of his father's house, that Pha- 
 raoh dreamed, and that his dream re- 
 quired such an interpreter as Joseph. 
 
 ^ Behold, there came up. Heb. 
 
 ribS^' T\2.'r\ hinneh oloth, behold, com- 
 ing up. The Hebrew has peculiar life 
 and animation in its descriptions, ami 
 more than any other language pictures 
 things as at present living, moving, 
 and acting. See note, on Gen. 46.8. 
 
 H In a meadow. Heb. IHi^D baahu, 
 
 among the sedge; i. e. in the low 
 marshy places by the river's brink, 
 v/here reeds and sedges grow. The 
 original "ij-jj^ aim occurs only here, and 
 Job 8. 11, where it is translated ^a^; 
 'Can the rush grow up without mire? 
 can the Jlag grow without water?' Je- 
 rome says in his Hebrew Questions on 
 Genesis, 'I have heard that by the 
 Egyptians every thing green which 
 grows in marshes or swamps is called, 
 in their language, by this name.' 
 
 5 — 7. Dreamed the second time. For 
 the reason of this see Note on v. 32. 
 
 IT Rank ayid good. That is, fat 
 
 and plump. Gr. 'Choice and well- 
 seeming.' — Blasted with the east wind. 
 A hot and scorching wind which in 
 eastern regions is most pernicious to 
 corn and fruits. Its usual effects may 
 be in some measure learned from Ezek. 
 19. 12, and Hos. 13. 15; but it will be 
 
B. C. 1715.J 
 
 CHAPTER XLl. 
 
 273 
 
 8 And it came to pass in the 
 morning, '^that his spirit was troub- 
 led ; and he sent and called for 
 all ^ the magicians of Egypt, and 
 
 a Dan. 2. 1. &4. 5, 19. b Exod. 7. 11, 22. 
 Isa. 29. 14. Dan. 1. 20. & 2. 2. & 4. 7. 
 
 necessary to have recourse to the ac- 
 counts of modern travellers to com- 
 plete the picture. See 'Scripture Illus- 
 trations,' p. 348. TT Devoured. This 
 
 word in the original is not the same 
 with that applied above to the kine, v. 
 4, and there rendered 'did eat up ;' nor 
 is it intended to imply the action of 
 eating or sicallowing on the part of 
 the ears, but merely that of abolishing, 
 consuming, or making way with. In 
 this sense the term occurs, Job 2. 3, 
 'Thou movedst me against him to de- 
 stroy him without a cause.' Heb. ' to 
 devour him.' Prov. 1. 12, 'Let us 
 swallow them up alive ; i. e. let us ut- 
 terly make way with them. 2. Sam. 
 20. 19, 'Why wilt thou swallow up the 
 inheritance of the Lord?' i. e. waste 
 away, destroy. In some manner not 
 precisely defined, the rank and full 
 ears were abolished, consumed, or 
 made to vanish into the thin and 
 
 blasted. TT Behold it was a dream ; 
 
 or, 'behold the dream;' i. e. though 
 his sleep departed from him his dream 
 did not; it still remained with him, 
 causing a painful perplexity to his 
 mind. 
 
 8. His spirit was troubled. Heb. 
 tDTStn tippaem, was smitten as with a 
 hammer; i. e. thrown into a violent 
 consternation. But why was Pha- 
 raoh's spirit troubled by a dream 1 
 Might not his princely education have 
 set him above the credulous fears of 
 the vulgar, who are often tormented 
 by the illusions of their own fancies? 
 We may admit that in Egypt both 
 princes as well as common people 
 were like the Athenians, in later time?, 
 in all things toe superstitious.' It 
 
 all the <= wise men thereof: and 
 Pharaoh told them his dreams; 
 but there was none that could in- 
 terpret them unto Pharaoh. 
 
 c Matt. 2. 1. 
 
 was their common custom to pay a 
 senseless regard to dreams and omens. 
 But at this dme the trouble of the king 
 had an adequate cause. His dream 
 was from God. God impressed it upon 
 his mind that it was a dream out of 
 the ordinary course, and that it was 
 significant of some very important 
 events, but what those events were he 
 could not guess. God has the spirits 
 of the weakest, the wisest, the great- 
 est, the bravest of manldnd, under his 
 control, and can fix what convictions 
 and terrors he pleases in the minds of 
 those who may affect to laugh at vul- 
 gar prejudices. Was there ever a more 
 undaunted courage than ?\''ebuchadnez- 
 zar possessed? And yet God could 
 make him afraid like a grasshopper by ' 
 the visions of his head upon his bed. 
 He that made the proud leviathans of 
 the world, can make his sword to ap- 
 proach unto them, and to pierce them 
 with deep wounds which none but 
 
 himself can heal. IT He sent and 
 
 called for all the magicians of Egypt, 
 &c. Heb. tD'^;:3r2*in hartumim, a word 
 of which the derivation is unknown, 
 and consequently the true import not 
 satisfactorily determined. The Gr. 
 renders it e^riynrai expositors; i. e. pro- 
 fessed interpreters of hidden things. 
 From Ex. 7. 11, it appears that th^ 
 used 'enchantments,' or incantations, 
 and this is in effect all that is known 
 respecting them. We can only say in 
 general of such terms magicians, wise 
 men, astrologers, sorcerers, &c. that 
 they denote a class of men who laid 
 claim to supernatural skill in certain 
 occult arts and sciences, in interpreting 
 dreams and oracles, explaining signs. 
 
274 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1715. 
 
 and unriddling mysteries, but as to the 
 exact shades of difference by -which 
 their several meanings are to be dis- 
 criminated from each other, they have 
 never been settled with certainty. It 
 may be conceded that if Pharaoh's 
 opinion of this class of men had been 
 just, he was wise in seeking information 
 from them of what it so much con- 
 cerned him to know. If God is pleased 
 to speak to us, it is our duty to seek 
 the knowledge of what he says, and to 
 borrow from others that wisdom 
 which we have not in ourselves. If 
 there be any that may be reasonably 
 presumed to know the mind of God 
 better than ourselves, we sin against 
 our own souls, if we refuse to avail 
 ourselves of their superior light. But 
 it was the unhappiness of the king of 
 Egypt that his magicians knew as lit- 
 tle as he did himself of God and of his 
 will. Their high reputation was found- 
 ed on ignorance and imposture. Ac- 
 cordingly, though he told them his 
 dream, which he perfectly recollected, 
 yet none of them could explain it to 
 him. Unlike the wise men of Baby- 
 lon whom Nebuchadnezzar summoned 
 to his aid on a like occasion, and who 
 confidently premised to unravel the 
 king's dream as soon as it was made 
 known to them, the magicians of 
 Egypt, when Pharaoh's dream was 
 rehearsed in their ears, did not pretend 
 to know the meaning of it. All their 
 combined wisdom durst not pretend to 
 penetrate the secrets of divine provi- 
 dence, to which it referred. Consider- 
 ing the antiqdty of the symbolical 
 mode of instruction in Egypt, it is 
 somewhat surprising that the magi- 
 cians did not so much as assume to 
 understand the king's dream. Oxen 
 or ears of corn are very natural em- 
 blems of fertility, since corn is produced 
 by the labors of oxen. Kine and ears 
 of corn on the brink of the river, might 
 very naturally have been supposed to 
 
 denote the increase of the fruits of the 
 earth, for which the Egyptians were 
 indebted to the overflowings of the 
 river. If fat kine and full ears of corn 
 on the banks of the Nile, were fit em- 
 blems of an abundant harvest, lean 
 cattle and thin ears might have been 
 justly considered as emblems of a very 
 scanty produce. But it seems either 
 that such thoughts did not enter their 
 minds, or that they did not know what 
 to think of the number of the kine and 
 of the ears of corn. And here we can 
 see how wisely it was ordered that the 
 butler was permitted to behave so un- 
 gratefully to Joseph as not to mention 
 his interpretation of the dreams in the 
 prison. For that interpretation, had it 
 been known, might have served as a 
 key to the wise men to open Pharaoh's 
 dream, and thus the honor of expound- 
 ing it would not have been reserved for 
 Joseph. The three branches on the 
 vine and the three baskets on the head 
 of the baker, were three days. By a 
 parity of reasoning, the seven kine and 
 the seven ears might denote, not seven 
 days, but seven years. We say, not 
 seven days, because there could not be 
 merely seven days of plenty or famine, 
 either from the labors of the kine, or 
 from the abundance or scarcity of the 
 waters of the Nile. But the plenty or 
 scarcity of the years can be known be- 
 forehand with certainty, from the rise 
 of its waters in the season when it 
 overflows its banks. As it is not prob- 
 able that the magicians and wise men 
 of Egypt would have scrupled a lie to 
 advance or preserve their credit, it may 
 still appear wonderful that they did 
 not agree to give some pretended sig- 
 nification of the king's dream, although 
 they could not satisfy their own minds 
 about it. All that we can certainly 
 afiirm is, that God, by his overruhng 
 influence upon their minds, constrained 
 them to acknowledge their ignorance. 
 Had they undertaken to foret«l from the 
 
B. C. 1715.J 
 
 CHAt>TER XLl. 
 
 2t6 
 
 9 Tf Then spake the chief 
 butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I 
 do remember my faults this day : 
 
 10 Pharaoh was ^ wroth with 
 his servants, ^ and put me in ward 
 in the captain of the guard's 
 house, both me, and the chief 
 baker: 
 
 11 And ^ we dreamed a dream 
 in one night, I and he: we dream- 
 ed each man according to the in- 
 terpretation of his dream. 
 
 d ch. 40, 2, 3. e ch. 39. ^. f ch. 40. 5. 
 
 dream what was to happen, the event 
 might have made them liars, and it 
 might appear wiser to confess their ig- 
 norance for once, than to undergo the 
 risk of confutation from facts which 
 would have covered their pretended art 
 wuh perpetual infamy. Even liars, if 
 not infatuated, will be cautious to avoid 
 those falsehoods which may soon be 
 detected. 
 
 9. I do remember my faults this day. 
 At length the butler is reminded that 
 there is such a person in existence as 
 Joseph. When he thinks he may ad- 
 vance his own credit with the king, by 
 commending his comforter, he faithful- 
 ly relates what he knew to his advan- 
 tage. His delay, however, takes away 
 in great measure the credit of his ben- 
 efaction. 'I remember my faults this 
 day;' that is, the offences for which he 
 had been imprisoned, and of which for 
 the sake of conciliating favor, he now 
 declares himself guilty, and not so 
 much the 'fault' of having so long 
 neglected the request of Joseph. He 
 ought indeed to have remembered his 
 fault against Joseph and against God, 
 whose goodness he concealed when he 
 ought to have pubHshed it. But this 
 fault seems to have made little or no 
 impression on his mind. His former 
 faults he acknowledged in deference to 
 the king. If he had not confessed that 
 
 12 And there was there with 
 us a young man, an Hebrew, 
 e servant to the captain of the 
 guard : and we told him, and he 
 »» interpreted to us our dreams ; to 
 each man according to his dream 
 he did interpret. 
 
 13 And it came to pa|s, » as he 
 interpreted to us, so it was : me 
 he restored unto mine office, and 
 him he hanged. 
 
 ch. 37. 
 
 h ch. 40. 12, &c. i ch, 40. 23. 
 
 he v/as guilty of that crime which was 
 the cause of his imprisonment, he 
 would have seemed to call in question 
 the king's justice in imprisoning and 
 his mercy in sparing him. He there- 
 fore makes this acknowledgment 
 frankly, and thereby teaches us, when 
 we mention our chastisements, to con* 
 fess those sins by which we have de- 
 served them. 
 
 13. Me he restored unto mine office^ 
 and kim he hanged. This is under- 
 stood by many commentators of Pha- 
 raoh, but we think it much more cor- 
 rectly referred to Joseph. It is exceed- 
 ingly common for the Scriptures to 
 speak of things as if done by those 
 persons who merely say that they are 
 or shall be done. Thus Rev. 11. 5, 'If 
 any man will hurt them (the two witnes- 
 ses) fire proceedeth out of their mouth, 
 and devoureth their enemies, and they 
 have power to shut heaven that it rain 
 not during the days of their prophecy.* 
 See this phraseology more fully illus- 
 trated in the Note on Gen. 27. 37. The 
 chief butler now told Pharaoh what he 
 ought to have told him two years be- 
 fore. Yet if he had then given the ao 
 count which he now gave of Joseph, 
 the event might have been very differ- 
 ent. The king might have taken hiiii 
 out of prison, but not to reign. He 
 might have been numbered with th« 
 
276 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1715. 
 
 14 T[ "^ Then Pharaoh sent and 
 called Joseph, and they i brought 
 him hastily •" out of the dungeon : 
 
 k Ps. 105. 20. 1 Dan. 2. 25. m 1 Sam. 2. 8. 
 Ps. 113. 7, 8. 
 
 Other wise men of Egypt, who were 
 reputed sknful magicians or interpre- 
 ters of dreams. Perhap.s he might 
 have been called upon to interpret Pha- 
 raoh's dreams in preference to any of 
 them, and yet his real superiority to 
 them not be discovered ; for they might 
 pretend that they could have interpret- 
 ed the dream as well as the young 
 Hebrew, if Pharaoh had given them the 
 opportunity. Whereas as matters stood, 
 they were under the necessity of con- 
 fessing that Joseph and Joseph's God 
 were above them. 
 
 14. They brought him hastily out of 
 the dungeon. Heb, inS'^l*' yeritzu- 
 hu, caused him to run. Neither the 
 hatred of an imperious mistress, nor 
 the wrath or policy of Potiphar could 
 detain Joseph in prison, when the 
 time came that the word of the Lord 
 had sufficiently tried him in that sore 
 affliction. And now that time was 
 come— the time when the patience of 
 the pious youth was to be abundantly 
 rewarded, and his sorrows and perplex- 
 ities to give place to joy and praise. 
 Many and many a time during the 
 course of two years had he wondered 
 why the God of his fathers and his 
 own God had left him so long a pris- 
 oner, but the day had at length arrived 
 when this part of the mystery of prov- 
 idence was to be cleared up ; when he 
 was to forget his misery, or remember 
 it only as waters that pass away. 
 ^What thou knowest not now, thou 
 shalt know hereafter,' said Jesus to 
 Peter. Often are believers in God fill- 
 ed with amazement at those dispensa- 
 tions of providence which they will one 
 day call back to their minds with won- 
 
 and he shaved himself, and 
 changed his raiment, and came 
 in unto Pharaoh. 
 
 15 And Pharaoh said unto Jo- 
 
 der and thanksgiving. The cause ol 
 the haste with which Joseph was 
 brought out of prison, was probably 
 not only the desire to relieve the king 
 as speedily as possible from his anxi- 
 ety, but also a lively interest in the fate 
 of Joseph, whose character was no 
 doubt by this time generally known 
 and appreciated. It is probable that the 
 word ' dungeon' in this place is not to 
 be strictly understood ; for Joseph being 
 charged with the oversight of the other 
 prisoners seems sometime before this 
 to have been set free from the horrors 
 of that close confinement in the dun- 
 geon of the prison, to which he wa3 
 first doomed by the rage of his master. 
 His situation, however, till this time had 
 been very unpleasant. He was not suf- 
 fered to leave the walls of his prison; 
 and his person bore upon it the usual 
 badges of deep affliction. Tt is said of 
 Mephibosheth, 2 Sam. 19. 24, that he 
 had not washed his clothes, nor wash- 
 ed his feet, nor trimmed his beard from 
 the lime that David left Jerusalem, be- 
 cause of Absalom, till he returned 
 again in peace to his house. By these 
 signs of grief he expressed his concern 
 for the afflictions of his royal benefac- 
 tor. By like signs Joseph expressed 
 his humiliation of spirit under those 
 afflictions which divine providence had 
 laid upon him. But now when called 
 before the king, he laid aside his mourn- 
 ing apparel, and shaved himself, that 
 he might appear with decency and due 
 respect in the royal presence. Doubt- 
 less when he exchanged his prison-gar- 
 ments for such as were worn in king's 
 palaces, his heart rejoiced less in the 
 change of his circumstances, than in 
 
B. C. 1715.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLT. 
 
 277 
 
 seph, I have dreamed a dream, 
 and there is none that can inter- 
 pret it: n and I have heard say of 
 thee, that thou canst understand 
 a dream to interpret it. 
 
 n verse 12, Ps. 25. 14. Dan. 5. 16. 
 
 the favour of God who had ' put off his 
 sackcloth and girded him with glad- 
 Eess to the end that his glory might 
 sing praise to the Lord.' 
 
 15. / have dreamed a dream, and 
 there is none that can interpret it. 
 When Nebuchadnezzar heard that his 
 wise men could not tell him the dream 
 which he had forgotten, he issued 
 orders to put them all to death, with- 
 out inquiring whether any other man 
 could be found, who could do what the 
 magicians could not. The king of 
 Egypt behaved very differently. He 
 did not talk of putting the magicians to 
 death. All that he did against them 
 was, to publish their incapacity to per- 
 form what they were understood to 
 profess, and to seek that information 
 elsewhere which ihey confessed them- 
 selves unable to give. Joseph had 
 now an opportunity which he did not 
 suffer to pass unimproved, of shewing 
 forth the superiority of his own God to 
 the gods of Egypt and of pouring con- 
 tempt upon the boasted wisdom of the 
 magicians. IT TJiou canst under- 
 stand a dream to interpret it. Heb. 
 *1S15^ ^tl&5 Dlin 55?3rn tishma ha- 
 lom liphtor oiho, thou wilt hear a 
 dream to interpret it. 'Hear' in the 
 sense of ' understand' is of very com- 
 mon occurrence in the Hebrew. See 
 Note on Gen. 11. 7. 
 
 16. It is not in me. Heb. ^"^SJ^i 
 biladai, without me ; i. e. it does not 
 pertain to me. Gr. 'Without God 
 welfare shall not be answered to Pha- 
 raoh.' Chal. 'Not from my wisdom, 
 but from before the Lord shall welfare 
 be answered to Pharaoh.' Vulg. 'With- 
 
 16 And Joseph answered Pha- 
 raoh, saying, ° It is not in me : 
 P God shall give Pharaoh an an- 
 svv^er of peace. 
 
 o Dan. 2. 30. Acts 3. 12. 2 Cor. 3. 5. 
 40, 8. Dan. 2. 22, 28, 47. &. 4. 2. 
 
 pch. 
 
 out me shall God answer prosperous 
 things to Pharaoh.' Arab. 'Without 
 my knowledge God shall answer,' &c. 
 The self-renouncing spirit of this reply 
 is very remarkable. Like Daniel be- 
 fore Nebuchadnezzar, he expressly dis- 
 claims all ability of himself to unfold 
 the secret counsels of heaven, or ex- 
 ercise that wisdom for which Pharaoh 
 seems very willing to give him credit. 
 The same humility has been in every 
 age a distinguishing ornament of all 
 God's faithful servants. Never were 
 their hearts haughty, or their eyes 
 lofty, nor did they deal in matters too 
 high for them. Whatever gifts or 
 graces they possessed, they have al- 
 ways been prompt to refer to the free 
 and sovereign bestowment of the Most 
 High. No man is fit to declare the 
 counsels of God, who is not deeply sen- 
 sible of his own unfitness without re- 
 ceiving light and help from above. Jo- 
 seph, though conscious that it was not 
 in himself to interpret the king's dream, 
 yet was fully persuaded that God by 
 him would satisfy his demands, and 
 his words are expressive of his wishes 
 and expectations. Pharaoh was dis- 
 quieted from the apprehension of some 
 evil portent in the dream. Joseph 
 hoped there was no ground for his ap- 
 prehensions. He had reason to believe 
 that the dream was sent to Pharaoh in 
 mercy to him as well as to himself, 
 and therefore before knowing what the 
 dream was, he soothes the mind of 
 Pharaoh by giving him hope that ho 
 would not find the interpretation so un- 
 pleasing as he feared it might be. The 
 interpreters of God's mind must, like 
 
278 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. I-J-IS. 
 
 17 And Pharaoh said unto Jo- 
 seph, "J In my dream, behold, I 
 stood upon the bank of the river : 
 
 18 And behold, there came up 
 out of the river seven kine, fat- 
 fleshed, and well-favoured ; and 
 they fed in a meadov/ : 
 
 19 And behold, seven other 
 kine came up after them, poor, 
 and very ill-favoured, and lean- 
 fleshed, such as I never saw in 
 all the land of Egypt for badness: 
 
 20 And the lean and the ill-fa- 
 voured kine did eat up the first 
 seven fat Idne : 
 
 21 And when they had eaten 
 them up, it could not be known 
 that they had eaten them ; but they 
 
 a ver. 1. 
 
 were still ill-favoured, as at the 
 beginning. So I awoke. 
 
 22 And I saw in my dream, 
 and behold, seven ears came up 
 in one stalk, full and good : 
 
 23 And behold, seven ears, 
 withered, thin, and blasted with 
 the east wind, sprung up after 
 them: 
 
 24 And the thin ears devoured 
 the seven good ears: and 'I told 
 this unto the magicians ; but there 
 teas none that could declare it 
 to me. 
 
 25 1[ And Joseph said unto 
 Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh 
 is one : « God hath shewed Pha- 
 raoh what he is about to do. 
 
 Micaiah, 1 Kings, 22. 14, say nothing 
 to please man, without warrant from 
 God ; yet they will be glad when they 
 can give comfort to the disquieted. 
 Messages of peace, and not of gyil, 
 are always productive of most pleasure 
 to themselves. 
 
 17 — 24. And Pharaoh said, &c. So 
 firm was the hold wbich the dream had 
 taken upon Pharaoh's mind that he 
 had accurately retained it in all its mi- 
 nutest particulars. The language in 
 which he describes the unsightly appear- 
 ance of the ill-favored kine is stronger 
 than that which Moses had used in 
 giving an account of the dream at the 
 beginning of the chapter. In the pres- 
 ent recital he says, what he had not 
 mentioned before, that their appearance 
 had not at all altered for the better, af- 
 ter they had eaten up the well-favored 
 kine. 'And when they had eaten them 
 up, it could not be known that they 
 had eaten them.' Heb. 'And when 
 they (the eaten) came into the inward 
 parts of them (the eaters), it could not 
 be known/ &c Chal. * And it was not 
 
 r ver. t 
 Rev. 4. 1. 
 
 Dan. 4. 7. s Dan. 2. 28, 29, 45. 
 
 known that they had entered into their 
 bowels.' This signified that notwith- 
 standing the gathered abundance of the 
 years of plenty, yet it should be so far 
 from affording a competent supply fo? 
 all the subsequent years, that it should 
 all be consumed, and still leave the 
 people in a destitute and famishing con- 
 dition ; so much so that it could be 
 hardly realized that they had been so 
 liberally furnished. It was happy for 
 Pharaoh and for Egypt, that the magi- 
 cians confessed their incapacity to in- 
 terpret this dream. Had they pretend- 
 ed to give some meaning to it out ot 
 the imagination of their own hearts, it 
 is probable that he would have rested 
 satisfied with it and sought no farther. 
 Consequently when the seven years ol 
 plenty came, the abundance might have 
 been spent in dissipation, and no pro- 
 vision made against the long and terri- 
 ble famine. But when he was convin- 
 ced that the mind of God was not with 
 the magicians, he was forced to seek 
 for light where he could find it. 
 
 25. The dream of Pharaoh is one. 
 
B. C. 1715. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 279 
 
 26 The seven good kine are 
 seven years ; and the seven good 
 ears are seven years : the dream 
 is one. 
 
 27 And the seven thin and ill- 
 favoured kine that came up after 
 them are seven years ; and the 
 seven empty ears blasted with 
 the east wind shall be « seven 
 years of famine. 
 
 2S ' This is the thing which I 
 have spoken unto Pharaoh : what 
 
 t 2 Kings 8. 1. v ver. 25. 
 
 That is, one in scope, drift, design ; 
 though two-fold in visionary represen- 
 tation. IT God hath shewed Pha- 
 raoh. The first thing to he considered 
 about the dream was, whether it had 
 any meaning, or was a mere illusion of 
 the brain, like a thousand other wan- 
 derings of fancy in the time of sleep, 
 which pass through the mind and are 
 forgotten when one awakes. Pharaoh 
 was already himself firmly persuaded 
 that his dream had an important mean- 
 ing, and Joseph assures him that he 
 was not mistaken. He no doubt felt 
 happy in seizing this opportunity to 
 speak of his own God, the Ruler of the 
 world, to Pharaoh, and particularly to 
 proclaim his providence and foreknowl- 
 edge. He knew that events would 
 soon confirm his words, and that Pha- 
 raoh's mind was already prepared to 
 receive it. It was certainly a point of 
 infinite importance, when different gods 
 were worshipped by different nations 
 of the world, to know what proofs of 
 godhead any of them had given. The 
 God who governs the world, and who 
 is able to foretell what is to happen 
 hereafter, must be the true God. And 
 if any man can make known those fu- 
 ture events which depend on the sov- 
 ereign pleasure of God, he must derive 
 liis information from God himself^ 
 
 God is about to do he shev,/eth 
 unto Pharaoh. 
 
 29 Behold, there come "^ seven 
 years of great plenty throughout 
 all the land of E^ypt : 
 
 30 And there shall y arise af- 
 ter them seven years of famine ; 
 and all the plenty shall be for- 
 gotten in the land of Egypt; and 
 the famine * shall consume the 
 land : 
 
 X ver. 47. y ver. 54. z ch. 47. 13. 
 
 When Joseph, therefore, professes to 
 declare from God himself what he was 
 about to do, and when every thing 
 happened according to his predictions, 
 it was undeniably evident that the God 
 whom Joseph worshipped was the Ru- 
 ler of the universe, and that Joseph re- 
 ceived from him that wisdom in which 
 he so far excelled all the magicians and 
 wise men of Egypt. Thus the true 
 God left not himself without a witness 
 in the most famous kingdom of the 
 world, at a time when the grossest 
 darkness enveloped most of the Geniile 
 nations. 
 
 28. T%is is the thing which 1 have 
 spoken unto Pharaoh^ &c. Joseph 
 again tells Pharaoh that God was both 
 the revealerand the doer of those things 
 that were pre-signified by the dreams. 
 We need often to be put in mind that 
 God is both the speaker of his word 
 and the doer of his works. Had Pha- 
 raoh heard Joseph interpret his dream 
 without remembering that God reveal- 
 ed his intentions by him, he would not 
 have made the proper improvement of 
 what was said to him. He was dis- 
 posed to believe v.'hat was said, but he 
 would have given that praise to Joseph 
 which was due to God. We can never 
 make the proper use of what befals us, 
 &T what we see around ks, unless we 
 
280 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 LB. C. 1715. 
 
 31 And the plenty shall not be 
 known in the land by reason of 
 that famine following: for it shall 
 be very grievous. 
 
 32 And for that the dream, was 
 
 remember that all things are under the 
 direction of a supreme intelligence, 
 which is working its own wise and 
 gracious purposes in the midst of hu- 
 man agencies and events. 
 
 29, 30. Behold there come, &c. 
 In Egypt plenty or scarcity were sup- 
 posed to depend upon the river Nile. 
 When, in the season of its inundation, 
 it rose only twelve cubits, a famine was 
 the consequence ; scarcity, if it rose 
 only thirteen ; a competency, if it rose 
 fourteen or fifteen; great plenty, if it 
 rose still higher. The Egyptians idol- 
 ized their river, as if it could have afford- 
 ed them a plentiful crop without the 
 agency of God. They alleged that 
 other nations might perish with hun- 
 ger, if their gods should forget to send 
 them rain ; whereas they were not de- 
 pendent upon such a contingency. 
 From Pharaoh's dream, compared with 
 the accomplishment, it was plain that 
 Egypt depended as much as other 
 countries upon God. The seven years 
 of great plenty were to be the fulfil- 
 ment of the word of God, and the 
 work of his providence All the waters 
 of the river were his, as well as the 
 
 rains of heaven. IT The famine 
 
 shall consuvxe the land. That is, as 
 rightly pharaphrased by the Chal., 
 ' shall consume the people of the land.' 
 In like manner v. 36, Joseph recom- 
 mends that food be laid up in store, 
 ' that the land perish not through the 
 famine ;' i. e. the people of the land. 
 See also Note on Gen. 47. 13. 
 
 31. It shall be very grievous. Heb. 
 ^^^?3 ^SS ^ated mcod, very heavy. 
 There was ofSinarily less fear of a fam- 
 ine in Egypt than in any other eountry 
 
 doubled unto Pharaoh twice ; it 
 is because the *thing ?*5 establish- 
 ed by God, and God Avill shortly 
 bring it to pass. 
 
 aNum. 23. 19. Isa. 46. 10, 11. 
 
 under heaven. When there was fam- 
 ine in Canaan in the days of Abraham, 
 there was plenty in Egypt ; and so es- 
 tablished was its character in this re- 
 spect, that it was frequently called the 
 granary of the world. Yet Joseph here 
 foretells that there should not only be 
 a grievous famine in Egypt, but a fam- 
 ine so terrible that all the luxuriant 
 plenty of the former fruitful years should 
 be forgotten as if it never were ; and it 
 was to continue, not for one or two, 
 but for seven years ! What prospect 
 could be more dreadful 7 What event 
 could afford more demonstrative evi- 
 dence of the outstretched hand of om- 
 nipotence'? 
 
 32. And for that the dream was doub- 
 led, &c. — it is because the thing is es- 
 tablished by God. Heb. ii^in "IIIDU 
 nakon haddabar, the word is frmly 
 prepared. It was repeated in order to 
 intimate its absolute certainty and its 
 speedy accomplishment. The passage 
 affords us a general hint as to the rea- 
 son of things being occasionally re- 
 peated in the Scriptures. It is for the 
 sake of greater assurance. When God 
 speaks but once, he certainly deserves 
 credit, for he cannot lie ; but knowing 
 how slow of heart we are to believe, 
 he often repeats the same important 
 truths. While therefore it is impious 
 to disbelieve any of his words, it is 
 more than double impiety to disbelieve 
 him when he speaks not once but twice. 
 What excuse then can be made for 
 our conduct, if we refuse to believe 
 when he speaks not once or twice, but 
 a hundred and a thousand times? 
 Would not Pharaoh have been inexcu- 
 sable, if ho had disbelieved ordisregard^* 
 
B. C. 1715.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 281 
 
 33 Now therefore let Pharaoh 
 look out a man discreet and wise, 
 and set him over the land of 
 Egypt. 
 
 34 Let Pharaoh do this, and 
 
 ed the double admonition given him in 
 his sleep, when it was explained by 
 Joseph 7 Will not our folly be a 
 thousand times less capable of apol- 
 ogy, if we disregard any of the admo- 
 nitions of the Bible, so often sounded 
 n our ears by the ministers of the 
 A'ord 1 
 
 33. Now therefore let Pharaok look 
 nit, &c. Having made the matter 
 >lain, and so relieved the king's mind, 
 le does not conclude without offering 
 I word of advice ; the substance of 
 N'hich was, to provide from the surplus 
 )f the seven good years, for the supply 
 )f the seven succeeding ones. There 
 s perhaps an appearance of imperti- 
 lence in Joseph's giving his advice 
 leemingly unasked. But the narrative 
 is concise, and no doubt imperfect. It 
 is natural to suppose that after hearing 
 the interpretation of the dream, in re- 
 spect to which no one of the counsel- 
 lors seems to have entertained any 
 doubt, it would at once become a mat- 
 ter of grave consideration, what meas- 
 ures were proper to be taken in conse- 
 quence of it. On this occasion Joseph 
 probably proffered his advice. He had 
 before said, ' God will give Pharaoh an 
 answer of peace ;' but if it had been 
 impracticable to obviate the bad effects 
 of a seven years' famine, the answer 
 would have been a message of evil, 
 and not of peace. Seven years of 
 prosperity cannot compensate seven 
 j'ears of adversity, but by furnishing 
 beforehand the means of averting the 
 horrors of starvation. The good coun- 
 sel v/hich Joseph adds to the interpreta- 
 tion of the dream makes the answer of 
 God an answer of peace and not of 
 
 let him appoint officers over the 
 land, and '' take up the fifth part 
 of the land of Egypt in the seven 
 plenteous years. 
 
 b Prov. 6. 6, 7, 8. 
 
 e\il. It may be justly questioned 
 whether Pharaoh would have made 
 any good improvement of his dreams, 
 if Joseph had merely interpreted them, 
 without speaking of the use that ought 
 to.be made of the divine discovery. 
 God reveals nothing before it happens 
 without some good end in view. The 
 intention of prophecies concerning 
 judgments to come, is to excite those 
 threatened with them to take proper 
 measures for averting them. The 
 grand purpose of God in Pharaoh's 
 dreams was not to gratify a vain curi- 
 osity about the future, but to procure 
 deliverance and honor to Joseph, and 
 to preserve Egypt, and the family of 
 Jacob, and the countries around from 
 destruction. Joseph's advice tended 
 to secure this result. 
 
 34. Let him appoint officers over the 
 land. Heb. C^TpS ■pekidim, visiters 
 or overseers. The original term T^pQ 
 pakid is in several instances rendered 
 by the Gr. of the Sept., and thence 
 transferred into the Gr. of the New 
 Testament, cTTicrKonos overseer, from 
 which f'omes the Eng. word 'bishop,' 
 its usual representative in the writings 
 of the Apostles. This word has in 
 some way become appropriated as a 
 title of ecclesiastical officers, though the 
 genuine import of the original is a per- 
 son charged xcith the oversight and 
 management of any business ichatever^ 
 rchether sacred or civil. Thus Num. 
 81. 14; 2 Kings 11. 16, 'Captains of 
 the arm.y,' is in the original 'Pakids,' 
 or ^bishops of the army;' and 2 Chron. 
 34. 12, 17, ' Overseers of them that 
 did the work,' is 'bishops of them that 
 did the work.' If the translators of 
 
282 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1715. 
 
 35 And ''let them gather all 
 the food of those good years that 
 come, and lay up corn under the 
 hand of Pharaoh; and let them 
 keep food in the cities. 
 
 36 And that food shall be for 
 
 c vcr. 43. 
 
 the Eng. Bible had not been warped by 
 the circumstances in which they were 
 placed, their usual fidelity to the ori- 
 ginal would doubtless have led them 
 to render this word by its plain corres- 
 ponding term ' overseers.' In like man- 
 ner ' Ecclesia' would have been render- 
 ed 'congregation' or 'assembly' in- 
 stead of 'church.' It is surely taking 
 unwarrantable liberties with the oracles 
 of God to affix in a version a technical 
 character to words and phrases which 
 are not thus marked in the original.— 
 But we have more pleasure in remarks 
 of another kind. When a famine was 
 foreseen at the end of seven years of 
 plenty, it was not enough for the 
 royal mandate to forewarn the people 
 that they should lay up a store of food 
 against the calamitous period. Not 
 one, perhaps, in ten, or in a hundred, 
 would have made a proper use of the 
 warning. Blany would have turned 
 into money the superfluous product of 
 the year, to gratify their avarice, and 
 left the days of famine to provide for 
 themselves. The greater part would 
 have abused the bounties of providence 
 by spending them upon their lusts, 
 and the whole nation must have been 
 exposed to extreme misery, if the king 
 had not taken effectual measures of 
 prevention. To this purpose he was 
 advised to choose a wise and able min- 
 ister, who should employ officers under 
 him, to collect a fifth part of the crop 
 during all the years of plenty, to be 
 
 reserved for the years of famine. 
 
 IT Let him take up a ffth part of the 
 land. Heb. Y"-|it t"6^ C):n hivimesh 
 
 store to the land against the seven 
 years of famine, which shall be 
 in the land of Egypt; that the 
 land '^perish not through the fam- 
 ine. 
 
 d ch. 47. 15, 19. 
 
 eth eretz, let him Jive or quinquate the 
 land; as to tithe or decimate is to take 
 a tenth part. The meaning is, not to 
 take a fifth part of the land itself, 
 which would have been a gross op- 
 pression, but to purchase at a fair price 
 a ffth part of the produce of the soil, 
 to be sold again to the people during 
 the years of scarcity. As they might 
 be induced to sell to foreigners, prob- 
 ably the main end of the policy pro- 
 posed was to secure the purchase of 
 the fifth part of their surplus grain to 
 the king, for the future benefit of the 
 people, before they should have dis- 
 posed of any portion of it to others. 
 
 35, 36. Let them gather, &c. The 
 various admonitions in the Scriptures 
 against an undue anxiety to lay up 
 treasures on earth, are not intended to 
 prohibit us from providing in a time of 
 plenty for a time of scarcity, as far as 
 it can be done without neglecting the 
 necessary duties of charity and piety. 
 It was well ordered by the providence 
 of God, for the safety of the people, 
 that the years of famine were preceded 
 by the years of plenty. Had the seven 
 years of famine come before the years 
 of plenty, few men would have been 
 left to enjoy them. But from the years 
 of plenty a sufficiency could be reserved 
 to maintain life with comfort during 
 the years of death that succeeded. 
 How great is the divine goodness that 
 provides so liberally for man and beast, 
 and which tempers those calamities 
 that are allotted to mankind with such 
 undeserved mercy, that even in days of 
 famine, few perish with hunger. When 
 
B. C. 1715.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 283 
 
 37 T[ And nhe thing was good 
 in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in 
 the eyes of all his servants. 
 
 38 And Pharaoh said unto his 
 
 e Ps. 105. 19. Acts 7. 10. 
 
 the earth does not bring forth her usual 
 increase, he finds out means to mitigate 
 or relieve the distress of his creatures, 
 
 and especially of his own people. 
 
 IT Lay up corn under the hand of Pha- 
 raoh. That is, i. e. let this be done in 
 the name and under the authority .of 
 Pharaoh, and when collected let it be 
 considered as a public store' to be dis- 
 posed of in the different districts by the 
 king's officers appointed for that pur- 
 pose. Chal. 'Under the hand of Pha- 
 raoh's officers.' IT Let them keep 
 
 food in the cities ; i. e. let them make 
 depositories or granaries of food in the 
 different cities, from whence it could 
 be more conveniendy distributed. 
 
 37. Ayid the thing icas good, &c. It 
 is not always that the great men of the 
 world will thank their inferiors for the 
 proffer of their advice. They are back- 
 ward to receive any thing from others 
 v,'hich implies a deficiency of wisdom 
 or any thing else in themselves. But 
 Pharaoh was not too great or too in- 
 fallible in his own esteem to take ad- 
 vice kindly from a poor prisoner, the 
 slave of one of his servants. There is 
 no man so wise as not to need counsel, 
 but sometimes one wise counsellor is 
 better than a thousand ; and happy is 
 he who can honor and avail himself 
 of wise suggestions, come from what 
 quarter they may. Some credit is un- 
 doubtedly due to Pharaoh and his ser- 
 vants on this occasion. It is a sign of 
 great wisdom to be able to give the 
 best counsel; but it is a sign of wisdom 
 also to appreciate such counsel when 
 given, and to be ready to follow it. 
 
 38. And Pharaoh said unto his ser- 
 vants, &c. The advice of Joseph was 
 
 servants, Can we find such a one 
 as this is, a man fin whona the 
 spirit of God is 1 
 
 f Numb. 27. 18. Job 32. 8. Prov. 2, G. 
 Dan. 4. 8, IS. & 5. 11, 14. & 6, 3. 
 
 so evidently good, and the measures he 
 proposed so plainly conducive to the 
 public safety, that we do not wonder 
 at Pharaoh's willingness to comply 
 with it. But it is a matter of surprise 
 to find Joseph himself proposed to be 
 employed to execute his own counsel, 
 and to hear the high commendations 
 bestowed upon him by the king. It 
 was only on that very day that he had 
 been taken from a prison in which he 
 had long been confined as an evil-doer. 
 And yet now he is to be raised to the 
 highest subordinate office in the king- 
 dom, as a man that had not an equal 
 in the earth, and in whom was the 
 
 spirit of the holy God ! IT In whom 
 
 the spirit of God is. Chal. 'In whom 
 is the spirit of prophecy from before 
 the Lord.' Perhaps as Pharaoh was 
 an idolater, and probably ignorant of 
 the true God, a more correct rendering 
 would be, 'In whom is the spirit of 
 the gods.' This is paralleled by an 
 expression in the similar history of 
 Daniel, ch. 5. 14, 'I have even heard 
 of thee that the spirit of the gods is in 
 thee.' Also v. 11, 'There is a man in 
 thy kingdom in M'hom is the spirit of 
 the holy gods.' But it is not necessary 
 for us to know what idea Pharaoh at- 
 tached to his own words in this ex- 
 pression. It was plain to him that 
 Joseph could not have discovered the 
 import of the dreams by his own sa- 
 gacity. He was sensible chat a divine 
 person or a divine influence had en- 
 lightened his mind and given him this 
 extraordinary knowledge. His pro- 
 posal therefore to honor Joseph was 
 a virtual honoring of the God whom 
 he served. His affairs, he was con- 
 
2S4 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1715. 
 
 39 And Pharaoh said unto Jo- 
 seph, Forasnuich as God hath 
 shewed tliee all this, tJiere is none 
 so discrtp' and Avise as thou 
 art : 
 
 vinced, would be most likely to pros- 
 per in the hands of a man whom God 
 loved and taught. 
 
 39. F'orasmuc'h as God hath shared 
 thee all this. Wo see in Joseph a stri- 
 king illustration of the truth of the 
 promise, ' Those that honor me, I will 
 honor.' Joseph honoured God before 
 Pharaoh, and God honored Joseph in 
 the sight of Pharaoh. The king be- 
 stowed upon him the highest commen- 
 dations and the highest honors. A Ut- 
 ile time ago he was traduced as one of 
 the vilest of men. Now the king hon- 
 ors him as a man of incomparable 
 worth. We may learn from this not 
 to be greatly dejected by reproach, nor 
 pufled up by praise. The best of men 
 have passed through good report and evil 
 report. There is no doubt that Joseph 
 wore his honors as meekly as he had 
 sufTered his hardships patiently.— It is 
 not unlikely that Joseph took this oc- 
 casion to say much more on the being, 
 power, and perfections of the true God, 
 of his providence and the manner in 
 which he was to be worshipped, than 
 is here recorded. The Seriptme nar- 
 rative, studious of all possible brevity, 
 often leaves many things to be suppli- 
 ed by fair inference that are not ex- 
 pressly stated. See on Gen. 24. 10. 
 So in this very connexion, though 
 Pharaoh appealed directly to his cour- 
 tiers on the propriety of appointing Jo- 
 seph to the main charge of public af- 
 fairs, notliing is said of their reply. Yet 
 as the measure went into effect, who 
 can doubt that they assented to it and 
 expressed their assent 7 At the same 
 time it is very possible that nothing is 
 
 40 e Thou shall be over mine 
 house, and accordinix unto thy 
 word shall all my people be ru- 
 led: only in the throne will I be 
 greater than thou. 
 
 sr Ps. 10:<. Cl, CO. Acts 7. 10. 
 
 said of their reply, because they were 
 in fact a little jealous of the young for- 
 eigner, and came into the proposal with 
 rather a bad grace. Such we learn 
 were the fet lings of the Babylonish no- 
 bles towards Daniel on a somewhat 
 similar occasion. See Dan. 6. 
 
 40. 'iTiott shall be over mine hmise, 
 &c. The Psalmist in speaking of Jo- 
 seph's elevation, Ps. 105. 21, 2% says, 
 ' He made him lord of his house, and 
 ruler of all his substance: to bind his 
 princes at hs pleasure; and teach his 
 senators wisdom.' In receiving this 
 dignity, he was the first to reap the 
 fruit of those wise instructions which 
 he had given to Pharaoh. Men are usu- 
 ally disposed to put honor upon those 
 by whom, under God, they are made 
 
 wiser and better. IT According tnito 
 
 thy icord shall all my people be ruled. 
 Heb. nj23? ^5 p::."^ '^■^5 ^5 al -pika 
 yishak kol atmni, at ihy mouih shell 
 all my people kiss. At thy word or 
 command they shall kiss their hand in 
 token of reverence, submission, and 
 obedience. Thus, Job 31. 27, 'If mine 
 heart hath been secretly enticed, or my 
 mouth hath kissed mine hand ;' i. e. as 
 a mark of worship or adoration. Con- 
 sult also 1 Sam. 10. 1 ; 1 Kings 19. IS; 
 Ps. 2. 12. Gr. ' At thy mouth shall all 
 my people obey.' Chal. ' At thy com- 
 mand shdl all my people be governed.' 
 'In Ps. 2. 12, it is written, 'Kiss the 
 son, lest he be angry, and ye perish 
 from the way.' Bishop Patrick says 
 on this, ' Kiss the son ; that is, submit 
 to him, and obey him.' Bishop Po- 
 cocke says, 'The Egyptians, on taking 
 any thing from the hand of a superior, 
 
B. C. 17 Jo.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 41 And Pharaoh gaid unto Jo- 
 
 seph. See, I have *» «et thee over 
 all ifie land of Egypt. 
 
 42 And Pharaoh » took off his 
 ring from his hand, and put it 
 
 h Dan. 6. 3. i Ettb. 3. 10. & S. 2, ?. 
 
 or that is sent from him, kiss it ; and 
 aj8 the highfeBt respect, put it to their 
 foreheads.' It is tlierefore probable 
 that Pi^iaraoh meant, that all should 
 fnx'jrn.it to i(jhii^\ that all fchould obey 
 hirn, and pay hirn reverence, and that 
 only on the throne he himself would be 
 ^eat^r. When a great man causes a 
 ^^ift to be lianded to an inferior, the lat- 
 ter will lake it, and put it on the ri|:ht 
 cheek, so as to cover the eyes ; then 
 on the left ; after which he will kiss it- 
 This is done to show the great Euperi- 
 ority of the donor, and that he on whom 
 i\ifi gift is bestowed is his dependant, 
 and greatly re%'erences him. When a 
 rnan of rank is angry with an inferior, 
 the latter will be advised to go and kiss 
 his feet, which he does by totiching bis 
 feet with his hands, and then kisnng 
 thern. When the 3Iohammedans meet 
 each other after a long absence, the inferi- 
 or will touch the hand of the superior, 
 and then kiss it. All then were to kis» 
 Joseph, and acknowledge bira as their 
 
 ruler.' Roherta. 1 Cjnly in OuUiroru 
 
 ■will I be greatfT than ttum. Thou 
 fehalt have no superior but myself only. 
 Pharaoh did not probably say this be- 
 cause he thought it necessary to prnt 
 Joseph in mind of his inferiority to him- 
 self. His design was not so much to 
 caution Joseph against aspiring to an 
 equality with himself; as to authorize 
 him to claim a Euperiorlty to every 
 other subject, however noble in birth 
 or high in ofi5.ce. 
 
 41. / /utre Btt Uuf, (rctr^ &c. He^. 
 "m nathatti, 1 haze gixeri.; L e. con- 
 stituted, fixed, established. See Note 
 oa Gen. 1. 17. Tlie suddenness of Jo- 
 
 upon Joseph's hand, and ' array- 
 ed hirn in vestures of fine linen, 
 i and put a gold chain aix>ut his 
 ner:k : 
 
 k ;:;:-h. 8. 15. 1 Dan. 5. 7, 29, 
 
 seph's advancement is one of the most 
 remarkable circumstancea in the whole 
 hietory. We can indeed see that jyt 
 was on the whole very wisely ordered 
 in providence that Pharaoh should in- 
 vest his servant with the power of gor- 
 emrnent, as soon as he had formed the 
 resolution- If a few days or weeks had 
 been suffered to elapse the king mi^it 
 have found it less easy to execute hia 
 intentions. His other ofl&cers might, 
 on reflection, have felt piqued at Jo- 
 seph's being raised over their heads to 
 oSl(x. and endeavored to prerent iL 
 But apart from this, such sodden mn- 
 I tations of fortune are not unustial in 
 I the East. Tnere the distribution of 
 public honors is not made in the same 
 slow and tedious manner as with no. 
 In consequence of all the power de- 
 pending on the will of a smgle indirid- 
 uai the wheel of fortune often revolves 
 with such rapid movement, that he 
 who is lowest to-day may be upper- 
 most to-morrow. And so little does 
 meanness of condition prove an obsta- 
 cle to the rise of the man whom the 
 king intends to honor, that many of 
 the greatest offices who have figured 
 m Oriental history, onoe bore the name 
 and character of slaves. MaHJet, in 
 his letters on E^ypt, mentions that 
 whffli he was in that country, tha-e 
 was an ranoch who bad raised one of 
 his slaves to the rank of prince ; and 
 Niebuhr relates the case of another, 
 who had raised so many of his crea- 
 tures to places of power, that of the 
 dghteen beys who in his time ruled 
 over Egypt, eight had been his dares; 
 and of the seven agas or lieat^uutts of 
 
286 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1715. 
 
 the great body of milida, five had once 
 belonged to his household. 
 
 42. Pharaoh took off" his ring from 
 his harAy &c. ' This was, no doubt, 
 a principal circumstance in Joseph's 
 investiture in the high office of chief 
 minister to the king of Egypt. In- 
 vestiture by a ring is not unknown 
 in the history of Europe during the 
 middle ages. But the present ring 
 vvas undoubtedly a signet, or seal-ring, 
 which gave validity to the documents 
 to which it was aflBxed, and by the de- 
 livery of which, therefore, Pharaoh del- 
 egated to Joseph the chief authority in 
 the state. The king of Persia in the 
 same way gave his seal-ring to his suc- 
 cessive ministers Haman and Morde- 
 cai; and in Esther 8. 8, the use of such 
 a ring is expressly declared: 'The 
 writing which is written in the king's 
 name, and sealed with the king's ring, 
 may no man reverse.' The possession 
 of such a ring therefore gave absolute 
 power in all things to the person to 
 whom it was entrusted. This may in 
 some degree be understood by the \]3e 
 of a seal among ourselves to convey 
 validity to a legal instrument or public 
 document; and still more perhaps by 
 the use of the Great Seal, the person 
 who holds which is, at least nominally, 
 the second person in the state. But 
 our usages do not perfectly illustrate 
 the use of the seal as it exists in the 
 East, because we require the signature 
 in addition to the seal ; whereas in the 
 East, the seal alone has the effect which 
 we give to both the seal and the signa- 
 ture. People in the East do not sign 
 their names. They have seals in which 
 their names and titles are engraven, 
 and with which they make an impres- 
 sion with thick ink on all occasions for 
 which we use the signature. To give 
 a man your seal, is therefore to give 
 him the use of that authority and pow- 
 er which your own signature possesses. 
 This explains the extraordinary anxi- 
 
 ety about seals which is exhibited in 
 the laws and usages of the East. It 
 explains Judah's anxiety about the sig- 
 net which he had pledged to Tamar, 
 (ch. 38,) and it explains the force of the 
 present act of Pharaoh. In Egypt, the 
 crime of counterfeiting a seal was pun- 
 ished with the loss of both hands. In 
 Persia, at the present day, letters are 
 seldom written, and never signed by 
 the person who sends them ; and it will 
 thus appear thnt the authenticity of all 
 orders and communications, and even 
 of a merchant's bills, depends wholly 
 on the seal. This makes the occupa- 
 tion of a seal-cutter one of as much 
 trust and danger as it seems to have 
 been in Egypt. Such a person is 
 obliged to keep a register of every seal 
 he makes, and if one be lost, or stolen 
 from the party for whom it was cut, 
 his life would answer for making an- 
 other exactly like it. The loss of a 
 seal is considered a very serious calam- 
 ity; and the alarm which an Oriental 
 exhibits when his seal is missing can 
 only be understood by a reference to 
 these circumstances. As the seal-cut- 
 ter is always obliged to annex the 
 real date at which the seal was cut, the 
 only resource of a person who has lost 
 his seal is to have another made with 
 a new date, and to write to his corres- 
 pondents, to inform them that all ac- 
 counts, contracts, and communications 
 to which his former seal is affixed, are 
 null from the day on which it was lost. 
 That the ring, in this case, was a sig- 
 net appears from other passages, which 
 describe it as used for the purpose of 
 sealing. It would seem that most of 
 the ancient seals were rings ; but they 
 were not always finger-rings, being 
 often worn as bracelets on the arm. 
 Indeed, it is observable, that no where 
 in the Bible is a signet expressly said 
 to be worn on the finger^ but on the 
 hand, as in the present text; and al- 
 though this may denote the finger, we 
 
B. C. 1715.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLT. 
 
 287 
 
 may understand it literally, as of a ring 
 worn on the wrist. Finger seal-rings 
 are now, however, more usual than 
 bracelets ; and very often seals are not 
 used as rings at all, but are carried in a 
 small bag in the bosom of a person's 
 dress, or suspended from his neck by a 
 silken cord. They are and were, 
 whether rings or otherwise, made of 
 gold or silver, or even inferior metals, 
 such as brass. But an inscribed stone 
 is frequently set in the metal ; and that 
 this custom was very ancient appears 
 from Exod. 28. 11, and other places, 
 where we read of 'engraving in stone 
 like the engraving of a signet.' The 
 mtelligent editor of Calmet (Mr. C. 
 Taylor) is mistaken in his explanation 
 that such seals, used as stamps-manual 
 to impress a name with ink upon paper, 
 must have the characters raised, as in 
 our printing and wood-engraving, and 
 notindaited as in our seals. The fact is, 
 that they are cut in the same fashion as 
 our seals ; and the thick ink being lightly 
 daubed with the finger over the surface, 
 the seal is pressed upon the paper, 
 where it leaves a black impression, in 
 which the characters are left white 
 or blank.' Pid. Bible. 
 
 Seal Rings. 
 '—Vestures of fine linen. Heb. "ni^^ 
 
 IJJ'iJ bigde she^. Gr. (xroXrjv Pvacivri 
 
 stole or robe of bysse. This * shesh' or 
 ' bysse' was a cloth made either of silk 
 or of the most beautiful and delicate 
 species of cotton, such as was employ- 
 ed in the finest fabrics of the loom. 
 The garments to which the term * bys- 
 
 se' is applied, were long robes of the 
 most exquisite white, and worn by 
 priests and kings as a badge of the 
 royal and sacerdotal ofSce. ' This also 
 was probably part of the investiture of 
 Joseph in his high office. A dress of 
 honor still in the East accompanies 
 promotion in the royal service ; and 
 otherwise forms the ordinary medium 
 through which princes and great per- 
 sons manifest their favor and esteem. 
 In Persia, where perhaps the fullest 
 efFect is in our own time given to this 
 usage, the king has always a large 
 wardrobe from which he bestows dres- 
 ses to his own subjects or foreign am- 
 bassadors whom he desires to honor. 
 These dresses are called 'Kelaats;' 
 and the reception of them forms a dis- 
 tinction, which is desired with an ear- 
 nestness, and received with an exulta- 
 tion only comparable to that which ac- 
 companies titular distinctions or insig- 
 nia of knighthood in Europe. They 
 form the principal criterion through 
 which the public judge of the degree of 
 influence which the persons who re- 
 ceive them enjoy at court, and there- 
 fore the parties about to be thus honor- 
 ed exhibit the utmost anxiety that the 
 kelaat may, in all its circumstances, be 
 in the highest degree indicative of the 
 royal favor. It varies in the number 
 and quality of the articles which com- 
 pose it, according to the rank of the 
 person to whom it is given, or the de- 
 gree of honor intended to be afforded ; 
 and all these matters are examined and 
 discussed by the public with a great de- 
 gree of earnestness. Besides the robes 
 occasionally bestowed by the king and 
 princes, the former regularly sends a 
 kelaat, once a year, to the governors 
 of provinces, who are generally royal 
 princes. At the distance of every few 
 miles from every provincial capital, 
 there is usually a town or village called 
 ' Kelaat,' which name it derives from 
 its being the appointed place to which 
 
IBS 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1715. 
 
 43 And he made him to ride 
 in the second chariot which he 
 had: "^ and they cried before him, 
 
 m Esth. 6. 9. 
 
 the governor proceeds in great state 
 from his city, attended by great part of 
 its population, to be invested with the 
 dress of honor thus sent him from the 
 king. The occasion is attended with 
 great rejoicings ; and is of so much im- 
 portance, that it is postponed until 
 the arrival of what the astrologers de- 
 cide to be a propitious day, and even 
 the favorable moment for investiture is 
 determined by the same authorities. A 
 common Persian kdaat consists of a 
 vesture of fine stuff, perhaps brocade ; 
 a sash or girdle for the waist, and a 
 shawl for the head ; and when it is in- 
 tended to be more distinguishing, a 
 sword or dagger is added. Robes of 
 rich furs are given to persons of dis- 
 tinction. A kdaat of the very richest 
 description, consists, besides the dress, 
 of ihe same articles which Xenophon 
 describes as being given by the ancient 
 princes of Persia, namely : — a horse 
 with a golden bridle, a chain of gold, 
 (as in this kelaat which Pharaoh gave 
 to Joseph,) and a golden sword — that 
 is, a sword, with a scabbard ornament- 
 ed with gold. The chain of gold now 
 given is, however, part of the fiirniture 
 of the horse, and hangs over his nose. 
 Joseph's chain of gold was, however, 
 a personal ornament : it had thus early 
 become a mark of official disUnction, 
 and remains such to this day among 
 different nations. It is also observable 
 that Xenophon mentions bracelets 
 among the articles in the ancient Per- 
 sian kelaat. Bracelets are not now 
 worn by Persians, and are therefore 
 not given ; but we have already inti- 
 m^ed that the 'ring,' mentioned in the 
 piece/^ag tejsit, may be understood as 
 
 Bow the knee : and he made him 
 ruler " over all the land of Egypt. 
 
 n ch. 42. 6. & 45. 8, 26. Acts 7. 10. 
 
 well to signify a bracelet as a finger- 
 ring.' Pid, Bible. 
 
 43. J3ow the knee. Heb. '^-l^5^^ 
 ahrek; a word of which the meanmg 
 is doubtful. The Chal. renders it, 
 'This is the father of the king;' from 
 'Ab,' father, and 'Rek,' king^ equiva- 
 lent to the Latin 'Rex ;' in accordance 
 with which we see that Joseph himself 
 subsequently declares, Gen. 45. 8, that 
 ' God had made him di father to Pha- 
 raoh.^ The Jems. Targ. in like man- 
 ner paraphrases it, 'God save \\\e fa- 
 ther of the king, the master of wisdom 
 and tender in years.' Others, howev- 
 er, on very plausible grounds suppose 
 it to be the Egyptian form of a word 
 originally Hebrew, viz : ' Habrak,' sig- 
 nifying to kneel down. Indeed Wilkin- 
 son remarks that it is the word used at 
 the present day by the Arabs when re- 
 quiring a camel to kneel down and re- 
 ceive its load. So an Egyptian name 
 is given to Joseph, v. 4, 5. The Egyp- 
 tian dialect seems to have resembled 
 the Chaldee in making use of the letter 
 5^ a (e) for H h as in Is. 63. 3, we have 
 ^nbi53K egalti for inbii^n higalti, 
 by Chaldaism. The Gr. omits it, giv- 
 ing simply, 'And a crier cried before 
 him.' Happily the moral reflections to 
 which the incident gives rise do not de- 
 pend upon an accurate knowledge of 
 the meaning of the term. In our ig- 
 norance of that we can still feel, tha\ 
 the constant changes taking place in 
 the world are an admonition not to set 
 our affections on things below. If we 
 are great and rich and admired by all 
 to-day, we know not what a sad re- 
 verse may take place to-morrow ; and 
 we know certainly that all those things 
 
B. C. 1718.1 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 289 
 
 44 And Pharaoh said unto Jo- 
 seph, I am Pharaoh, and without 
 thee shall no man lift up his hand 
 or foot in all the land of Egypt. 
 
 45 And Pharaoh called Jo- 
 
 011 which the lovers of the present 
 world value themselves, will soon come 
 to an end. But there are pleasant as 
 well as afflictive changes. The man 
 who at present wears rags may one day 
 be clothed in sumptuous apparel. But 
 let us not forget that a change of in- 
 finitely greater moment in the state of 
 the soul passes upon all the redeemed 
 of the Lord. Our natural condition 
 Under the power of sin, is incomparably 
 more wretched than that of Joseph 
 v/hen the iron entered his soul. The 
 garments of praise and salvation with 
 v/hich every believer in Jesus is array- 
 ed, infinitely excel in beauty those per- 
 ishing ornaments with which the kings 
 of the East were accustomed to deck 
 their favorites. When Christ gives 
 liberty to the captives he bestows upon 
 them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy 
 for mourning, the garment of praise for 
 the spirit of heaviness. But it is only 
 at the resurrection that the contrast be- 
 tween our native character and condi- 
 tion and that which is wrought in vir- 
 tue of Christ's atonement, shines forth 
 in its full relief Joseph doubtless felt 
 heartfelt hvely emotions of gratitude to 
 Pharaoh, when his prison-garments 
 were exchanged for royal vestments. 
 But at that blissful period 'we shall 
 greatly rejoice in the Lord, our souls 
 shall be joyful in our God; for he hath 
 clothed us with the garments of salva- 
 tion, he hath covered with the robes of 
 righteousness, as a bridegroom adorn- 
 eth himself with ornaments, and as a 
 bride decketh herself with her jewels.' 
 44. Without thee shall no man lift 
 up his hand or foot in all the land of 
 Egypt. A proverbial mode of expres- 
 25 
 
 seph's name Zaphnath-paaneah ; 
 and he gave him to wife Asenath 
 the daughter of Poti-pherah priest 
 of On : and Joseph went out over 
 all the land of Egypt. 
 
 sion conveying to Joseph the grant cf 
 the most extensive power and authoritf 
 as a minister of Pharaoh. It seems to 
 be spoken in reply to some expressed 
 reluctance on the part of Joseph to ac- 
 cept of all that honor and power which 
 the king wished to confer. He might 
 fear that the royal favor would exprse 
 him to envy, and perhaps the king to 
 reproach. But here Pharaoh virtui' ly 
 assures him that his authority shall be 
 submitted to universally by all classes 
 of men and in all kinds of relations, 
 small as well as great. He that re- 
 sisted the authority of Joseph virtually 
 resisted the authority of Pharaoh. It 
 would avail no one any thing to say 
 that he would not degrade himself to 
 be the subject of an upstart slave. 
 Let him be called by what name he 
 would, still he was invested by Pha- 
 raoh with his own authority. The 
 ring from his finger, the robes of state 
 conferred on him, the proclamation to 
 bow the knee before him, were public 
 testimonies of the fact. Why then 
 should he be afraid or unwilling to 
 enter upon his new office 1 
 
 45. Called his name Zaphnath-paan- 
 eah. We have already had occasion to 
 remark Gen. 17. 5, that it was not unu- 
 sual in ancient times to give new names 
 to persons on particular occasions. 
 Thi^s was often done to indicate their 
 coming under new masters, as 2 Kings 
 23. 34. 2 Chron. 36. 4. Daniel L 7 ; but 
 in the present case it was altogether 
 honorary, and designed as a token of 
 the high esteem in which he was held 
 by the king, and a just expression of 
 the great obligations under which he 
 had laid the whole nation. The term 
 
290 
 
 GENESIS'. 
 
 [B. C. 1715, 
 
 itself is probably Egyptian, luke 'Abrek' 
 in a preceding verse, and is of equally 
 doubtful import. It is usually under- 
 stood to mean 'revealer of secrets' on 
 the authority of most of the ancient 
 versions, though Jerome refers it to a 
 Coptic origin and^enders ' savior or de- 
 liverer of the world.' Farther re- 
 searches into these ancient languages, 
 which are now going on among the 
 learned in Europe, may perhaps event- 
 ually make us acqiiainfed with its true 
 
 sense. If Cfave him to xdfe Asenath, 
 
 &.C. We know nothing more than we 
 are here told of Asenath, or of Poti- 
 pherah her father. But it is plain that 
 Pharaoh intended by this connexion to 
 honor Joseph and to strengthen his in- 
 terest among the important families in 
 the kingdom. We are not warranted 
 in condemning the step on the part of 
 Joseph, because we know not how far 
 religion had at this lime degenerated in 
 Egypt. Jethro's daughter was not re- 
 jected by Moses because Jethro was 
 priest of Midian. If Poti-pherah was 
 as bad as heathen priests often were, 
 his daughter might, nevertheless, be a 
 woman well disposed to receive the 
 truth from Joseph. We have no evi- 
 dence that she was a worse woman 
 than Joseph's own mother, who was 
 not free from a tincture of idolatry, at 
 least when she came with Jacob from 
 Mesopotamia. Suppose Joseph to 
 have married a wife trained up in su- 
 perstition and idolatry, when it was not 
 perhaps in his power to have obtained 
 a better, his example will be no excuse 
 to those Christians who yoke them- 
 selves with infidel or graceless women 
 when there is no necessity for it. We 
 have reason to believe that one who so 
 habitually acknowledged God in all his 
 ways, did not neglect to acknowledge 
 him in a matter of so much importance 
 as the present ; and why may not God 
 have seen fit in his sovereign pleasure 
 to bestow Joseph upon Asenath as the 
 
 means of bringing her to the knowl- 
 edge of himself? But although we 
 are not particularly solicitous to free 
 Joseph from the imputation of a fauli' 
 which there is no evidence of his hav- 
 ing committed, yet it may not be amiss 
 to present the reader with the very 
 plausible hypothesis of Mr. Sharon 
 Turner in his ' Sacred History of the 
 World.' We give it in his own words i 
 'In ancient days, we learn from Juba, 
 the African prince and historian, that 
 the Arabs peopled part of Egypt from 
 Meroe to Syene, and built the city of 
 the Sun. Pliny has preserved this re- 
 markable but little noticed fact: 'Ju- 
 ba says that the city of the Sun, which 
 was not far from Memphis in Egypt, 
 has had the Arabs for its founders ; and 
 that the inhabitants of the Nile, from 
 Syene up to Meroe, are not Ethiopian 
 people, but Arabs.' (Pliny, 1. vi., c. 34.) 
 He says of this Juba, as noting hia 
 good authority, ' In this part it pleases 
 us to follow the Roman arms and king 
 Juba, in his volumes written to Caius 
 Caesar, of the same Arabian expedition/ 
 This important passage of Juba bears, 
 I think, upon the history of Joseph, 
 and explains why he married the 
 daughter of a priest at Heiiopolis or 
 On. Being an Arabian colony, it would 
 not have then in it the base supersti- 
 tions of Egypt, but would have, at that 
 period, retained enough of the Abra- 
 ham.ic or patriarchal religion to make a 
 female there more near to his own 
 faith and feelings than any other part 
 
 of Egypt.' ^ Priest of On; or, 
 
 Heb. ' Prince of On ;' which the im- 
 port of the original '^ni kohen will ad- 
 mit. The priests of Egypt really con- 
 stituted the grandees or nobility of the 
 kingdom. On was called also 'Aven/ 
 Ezek 30. 17, and was one of the oldest 
 cities in the world, situated in the land 
 of Goshen, on the east side of the 
 Nile, about five miles above modem 
 Cairo. It was called by the Greeks 
 
B. C. 1715.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 291 
 
 46 1[ And Joseph was thirty 
 years old when he « stood before 
 Pharaoh king of Egypt : and Jo- 
 seph went out from the presence 
 
 o 1 Sam. 16. 21. 1 Kings 12. 6, 8. Uan. 1. 19. 
 
 ' Heliopolis ;' i. e. ciiy of the sun, and 
 by the Hebrews ' Beth Shemesh ;' i. e. 
 house of the sun, Jer. 43. 13. Eighteen 
 centuries ago this city was in ruins 
 when visited by Strabo. At present, 
 almost the only monument of its for- 
 mer grandeur is a column of granite 
 seventy feet high, and covered with 
 hieroglyphics, of which a particular 
 description is given by Dr. Clarke. Jo- 
 sephus says this city being in the land 
 of Goshen was given to the family of 
 Jacob, when they first came to sojourn 
 
 in Egypt. IT Joseph went out over 
 
 the land of Egypt. A brief mention 
 of the incident more fully detailed in 
 the next verse. 
 
 46. And Joseph was thirty years old, 
 &,c. As he was seventeen years of 
 age when he was sold into slavery, 
 thirteen years of course were spent in 
 that afflictive condition, of which prob- 
 ably three at least were passed in the 
 walls of a prison. He no doubt had 
 cherished the hope of being much soon- 
 er delivered from his troubles and re- 
 stored to the arms of his affectionate 
 father. But it was happy for him that 
 he did not know beforehand when God 
 would be pleased to give him the ex- 
 pected end of his sorrows. Thirteen 
 years of suffering would have been 
 fearful in prospect. But the retrospect 
 was pleasant, when there was no 
 dread of their return. The remem- 
 brance of grief turned into joy gives a 
 rich compensation for its bitterness. 
 Though light is always pleasant, it is 
 doubly so after darkness. He was 
 now raised to a place of rank and dis- 
 tinction. He had the honor of stand- 
 
 of Pharaoh, and went throughout 
 all the land of Egypt. 
 
 47 And in the seven plenteous 
 years the earth brought forth by 
 handfuls. 
 
 ing before the king ; yet it was a great- 
 er honor to him that he gave to the 
 king every reason to be satisfied with 
 his conduct. Considering his age and 
 the condition from which he had been 
 raised, it would not have been unnat- 
 ural that he should have shewn some 
 of the effects which sudden elevations 
 are apt to produce. But he who ena- 
 bled him to repel temptation and to en- 
 dure affliction, enabled him also to bear 
 the glory that was conferred upon him 
 with humility. He made no sinecure 
 of his oflSce, nor did he spend his days 
 in pleasure, receiving the compliments 
 of the friends whom his prosperity 
 procured. He was, and he felt himself 
 to be, exalted to power for the good 
 and the safety of the people, and he 
 entered at once upon the active dis- 
 charge of the duties of his station. He 
 went through all the land of Egypt, 
 not to shew his greatness, but to see 
 with his own eyes what was to be 
 done, to issue the proper orders, and to 
 see their execution. If the kindness of 
 his former master had been a powerful 
 motive with him to resist the solicita- 
 tions of his abandoned mistress, the 
 still greater favors received from Pha- 
 raoh were a sufficient motive, if he 
 needed a motive, to the most unwearied 
 activity and diligence in securing the 
 country against the evils of the threat- 
 ened famine. 
 
 47. The earth brought forth by hand- 
 fuls. That is, in vast abundance; one 
 kernel yielding a whole handful, or 
 each stalk producing as much corn as, 
 popularly speaking, the hand could 
 grasp. This, or even more than this 
 
292 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1712. 
 
 48 And he gathered up all the 
 food of the seven years Avhich 
 were in the land of Egypt, and 
 Jaid up the food in the cities : the 
 food of the field which was round 
 about every city, laid he up in 
 the same. 
 
 49 And Joseph gathered corn 
 p as the sand of the sea, very 
 much, until he left numbering ; 
 for it was without number. 
 
 p. ch. 22. 17. Judges 7. 12. 
 Ps. 78. 27. 
 
 1 Sam. 13. 5. 
 
 productiveness, is not at this day un- 
 usual in Egypt. Mr. Jowett, in his 
 'Christian Researches,' states that 
 when in Egypt he plucked up a few 
 stalks out of the cornfields. ' We count- 
 ed the number of stalks which sprout- 
 ed from single grains of seed, carefully 
 pulUng to pieces each root, in order to 
 see that it was one plant. The first 
 had seven stalks ; the next three ; then 
 eighteen; then fourteen. Each stalk 
 would bear an ear.' The annexed cut 
 represents a species of wheat which 
 now actually grows in Egypt. 
 
 Egyptian Wheat. 
 
 48. And he gathered up all the food, 
 Ac. The report of Pharaoh's dream, 
 
 50 '3 And unto Joseph were 
 born two sons before the years of 
 famine came : which Asenath the 
 daughter of Poti-pherah priest of 
 On bare unto him. 
 
 51 And Joseph called the name 
 of the first-born Manasseh ; For 
 God, said he, hath made me for- 
 get all my toil, and all my fa- 
 ther's house. 
 
 q ch. 4C. 20. & 48. 5. 
 
 and of the interpretation, must have 
 spread through all the land of Egypt, 
 with the account of Joseph's advance- 
 ment ; and many of the people would 
 undoubtedly see that it was for their 
 interest to be frugal and provident, and 
 would act accordingly. But as the 
 years of plenty would not soon come 
 to an end, many would no doubt think 
 it unnecessary to be in haste to make 
 provision for days of famine that were 
 yet at a considerable distance. Of this 
 Joseph was well aware. He foresaw 
 that a great part of the inhabiiants ot 
 the land must perish, unless he pre- 
 vented the danger by his own care. 
 Accordingly he gathered up all the food 
 of the seven years, and laid it in the 
 cities which he made depots for the sur- 
 rounding country. He left great abun- 
 dance for present use. That which 
 was laid up was the fifth part, accord- 
 ing to his own suggestion and the 
 royal mandate ; and this was laid up 
 and carefully preserved in the store- 
 houses which he had caused to be pre- 
 pared for its reception. 
 
 50, 51. Unto Joseph were born two 
 sons, &c. These sons, as is usual in 
 the Scriptures, are significantly named, 
 the names being expressive of the state 
 of his mind in his present situation. 
 We commonly look no farther than 
 the instruments employed by provi- 
 
!?-. C. 1708.] 
 
 52 And the name of the second 
 called he Ephraim : For God hath 
 caused me to be "" fruitful in the 
 land of my affliction. 
 
 53 ly And the seven years of 
 plenteousness that was in the 
 land of Egypt, were ended. 
 
 r ch. 49. 22. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 54 5 And the seven 
 
 293 
 
 dence in conferring benefits or inflict- 
 ing evils upon us. But Joseph saw 
 that all his adversities and all his pros- 
 perity came from God. He was grate- 
 ful to Pharaoh, but he was grateful 
 chiefly to God, for the happy change 
 in his condition. God had made him 
 to forget all his toil, and his father's 
 house, and therefore he named his first 
 son Manasseh, which signifies forget- 
 ting or making to forget. He did not 
 mean by this, however, that his re- 
 membrance of his toil was obliterated 
 from his mind. His mention of it 
 when he gave the name to his son, 
 was a proof that in one sense he still 
 remembered it. It was in fact his duty 
 to remember it. How could he have 
 retained just impressions of the divine 
 goodness, if he had forgotten the evils 
 from which he was delivered 7 But in 
 another sense he forgot his misery. He 
 did not so cherish the recollection as to 
 allow it to embitter his present enjoy- 
 ment. The memory of his troubles 
 was comparatively lost in the happiness 
 by which they were succeeded. So 
 also of what he says about his father's 
 house. He had not literally forgotten 
 his father nor the kindness showered 
 upon him from the days of his child- 
 hood. Neither had he literally ceased 
 to remember the cruel treatment of his 
 brother; but he ceased to lay it to 
 heart; the painful remembrance of the 
 past was expelled from his mind, when 
 his adversity was changed into pros- 
 perity. 
 
 52. 77ie name of the second called h" 
 25=^ 
 
 years of 
 dearth began to come, t accord- 
 ing as Joseph had said: and the 
 dearth was in all lands; but in 
 all the land of Egypt there was 
 bread. 
 
 s Ps. 10.3. 16. Acts 7. 11. t ver. 30. 
 
 Ephraim. That is, fruitful, as he 
 himself immediately after explains it. 
 He had formerly been like a heath in 
 the desert, but now he was like a tree 
 planted by the rivers of water, which 
 brings forth abundance of fruit and 
 whose leaf does not wither. This 
 happy change he ascribes to the divine 
 goodness. Perhaps it was owing to a 
 suggestion from above that the name 
 'Ephraim' was given to Joseph's sec- 
 ond son, rather than his first. As far 
 as we know, he had no more children 
 of his own body, but he was fruitful 
 in his remote progeny, especially by 
 Ephraim, and we find a striking allu- 
 sion to this name in the blessings of 
 Jacob; 'Joseph is a fruitful bough, 
 even a fruitful bough by a well, whose 
 branches run over a wall.' See Note 
 on Gen. 49. 22. 
 
 53. The seven years of plenteousness 
 were ended. When the people heard 
 that the days of plenteousness were to 
 be seven years, thousands would no 
 doubt be strongly tempted to say to 
 their souls, 'Eat, drink, and be merry; 
 to-morrow shall be as this day, and so 
 shall the next and many following 
 days and years be, and much more 
 abundantly.' But the day of prosperity 
 was now at an end and the days of 
 adversity had arrived. The end of all 
 the changing things in this world of 
 change will soon come, and then the 
 beginning of them will appear lilce 
 yesterday when it is past. 'A perpe- 
 tuity of bliss is bliss,' and that only. 
 
 54, And the seven years of dearth 6e= 
 
294 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 170a 
 
 55 And when all the land of 
 Egypt was famished, the people 
 cried to Pharaoh for bread : and 
 Pharaoh said unto all the Egyp- 
 tians, Go unto Joseph; what he 
 sailh to you, do. 
 
 gan to co7ne, &c. Time to come will 
 at last be time present, and the evils 
 threatened by God will fall heavily up- 
 on those who use not the proper means 
 of averting them. Joseph could look 
 forward with a steady eye and without 
 terror to the days of famine, which 
 came at the time specified and were as 
 grievous as he had predicted. When 
 they came he knew that his wisdom 
 ■would be acknowledged by all the land 
 of Egypt, and by all the people of the 
 surrounding countries. It was wisely 
 ordered that the scarcity should extend 
 to the neighboring lands; for the great 
 end for which God is represented, Ps. 
 105. 16, as 'calling for it,' v/asto bring 
 Jacob's sons, and eventually his whole 
 family to Egypt ; which end would 
 not otherwise have been answered. 
 
 55. The people cried to Pharaoh for 
 bread. Although there was abundance 
 of corn in the land of Egypt, the peo- 
 ple of the country were ready to per- 
 ish for want. What was the reason 
 of this? Had they not been forewarn- 
 ed that the terrible famine was com- 
 ing? Joseph had indeed gathered up 
 the fifth of the corn, yet enough was 
 left not only to supply the present 
 wants of the people, but to lay up for 
 themselves against the famine. But 
 they wanted Joseph's prudence. Unlike 
 the ant, they made not in the summer 
 due provision for the winter. Yet like 
 the reckless Egyptians how many that 
 are destined to live for ever in another 
 world neglect in the proper season to 
 
 lay up treasures in heaven? ^ Go 
 
 unto Joseph; what he saith unto you^ do. 
 
 56 And the famine was over 
 all the face of the earth: and Jo- 
 seph -opened all the store-houses, 
 and '' sold unto the Egyptians ; 
 and the famine waxed sore in the 
 land of Egypt. 
 
 V ch. 42. 6. & 47. 1 1, ai. 
 
 If any of the people had refused to go 
 to Joseph, they would have despised 
 not Joseph only, but the king also who 
 had clothed him with power, and would 
 have deserved to want that susten- 
 ance which he alone could give. And 
 are not the despisers of our great Re- 
 deemer in like manner despisers of his 
 Father, who has set him as King in his 
 holy hill of Zion ? If we need food 
 for our souls, to whom are we lo have 
 recourse, but to Jesus whom God has 
 appointed as the sole dispenser of that 
 bread which nourisheth unto everlast- 
 ing life ? Those who will not come to 
 him for the bread of life, are despisers 
 of their own mercies. They must per- 
 ish, and their blood shall be upon their 
 own heads. 
 
 56. The famine was over all the face 
 of the earth. An expression to be taken 
 of course with some limitation. Egypt 
 and the countries bordering upon it, 
 Canaan, Syria, and Arabia are undoubt- 
 edly meant. The incident can scarcely 
 fail to remind us of the distinguished 
 advantages which we derive, under 
 providence, from the improvements of 
 modern times in the art of navigation. 
 Were a great scarcity to occur amongst 
 us we should expect relief from other 
 countries by sea. Unless a famine 
 should pervade the whole globe at the 
 same time, we should have little doubt 
 of obtaining from some quarter or 
 other, without leaving our homes, at 
 least a partial supply for our wants. 
 In the days of Joseph, when the fam- 
 ine was sore through all the adjacent 
 countries, the people, ready to perish 
 
B. c. ros.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLH. 
 
 295 
 
 67 * And all countries came corn ; because that the famine 
 into Egypt to Joseph for to buy was so sore in all lands, 
 
 X Deut. S.28. 
 
 with hunger, were under the necessily 
 of travelling to Egypt to procure corn. 
 The Egyptians themselves were ex- 
 osmpted from the labor of travelling to 
 a distant land, for there were store- 
 houses scattered through all the coun- 
 try; but they were compelled to part 
 with their money for food. But for 
 this they had only themselves to blame. 
 Joseph did not compel them to sell any 
 more corn than they v.'ere willing to 
 sell, nor any more than they would 
 probably have wasted in riot, if they 
 had not sold it. And now he demand- 
 ed no greater price than in the present 
 circumstances he had a right to claim. 
 It was not necessary to inform us that 
 Joseph did not oppress the people in 
 his dealings with them. The people 
 themselves were v/itness to his up- 
 rightness when they afterwards said, 
 '^ Let us find favor in the sight of our 
 lord, for thou hast saved our lives.' 
 Joseph's prudence is evident also in 
 another respect. Had he thrown open 
 his store-houses before the Egyptians 
 felt the pressure of hunger, they might 
 Boon have wasted the fruits of his 
 provident care. They would have con- 
 sumed those precious products of the 
 earth, that would afterwards be neces- 
 sary for themselves. Joseph therefore 
 acted as one who knew that we are 
 too little disposed to set a value on our 
 blessings, till we have felt the want of 
 them. Hunger, though very unpleas- 
 ant, is often more useful than fulness 
 
 of bread. IT Joseph opened all the 
 
 store-houses. Heb. *i"i'j^ ^13 rii< ntlC'^ 
 ^Mj yiphtah eth kol asher bahem, 
 opened all wherein (was) ; i. e. wherein 
 corn was ; implying that it was dealt 
 oai with a generous liberality from 
 
 every place of deposit. IT And sold 
 
 unto the Egyptians, Heb. "^io*! 
 yishbor, broke; a term so applied be- 
 cause food breaks the fasting and hun- 
 ger of men. Thus Ps. 104. 11, 'by 
 means of water the wild asses quench 
 their thirst.' Heb. 'l^:i:*i yishberu, 
 break their thirst. 
 
 57. And all countries came info 
 Egypt, &c. AH that a man hath will 
 he give for his life, and for those things 
 that are necessary to preserve life. He 
 will travel into the most distant regions, 
 rather than perish with hunger in the 
 land of his nativity. He will brave the 
 perils of the sea. He will not esteem 
 any trial too great to be endured, any 
 danger too fearful to be encountered, 
 to avoid the horrors of starvation. 
 Why then do men grudge a little labor, 
 or a little expense for what is no less 
 necessary for our souls, than the bread 
 that perisheth is for our bodies 1 
 
 CHAPTER XLir. 
 
 The progress of extents is bringing us 
 still nearer the grand crisis which God 
 had designed from the beginning in re- 
 ference to Jacob's family. With this 
 view the scene now shifts from Egypt 
 to Canaan, which we find visited also 
 with the common calamity. Even 
 that land whose characteristic it was, 
 that it flowed with milk and honey, 
 was made to feel the effects of famine, 
 and Jacob, the heir -of promise, with his 
 numerous household are represented as 
 ready to perish for lack of food. This 
 was a new trial to the faith of the pa- 
 triarch, who had so long been a man 
 of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 
 But enabled as we are to contemplate 
 the issues of these events together with 
 
296 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 LB. C. 1707. 
 
 N 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 OW when ^ Jacob saw that 
 there was corn ia Egypt, Ja- 
 
 a Acts 7. 12. 
 
 their commencements, we can see how 
 wisely every step was ordered to ac- 
 comphsh the destined end. The dis- 
 tress occasioned by the famine would 
 no doubt tend to bring down the high 
 spirit of Jacob's sons and prepare them 
 for that scene of overwhelming humil- 
 iation which awaited them in Egypt. 
 Seeing their children crying far bread 
 with none to give them, conscience 
 would unquestionably awaken the bit- 
 ter memory of guilt long past, and 
 bring before them the time when they 
 resolved, in cold blood, to starve an in- 
 nocent brother to death. But there 
 was still a farther design in all this. 
 It was the will of God that Jacob should 
 go down with his whole family to the 
 land of Egypt, where his seed were to 
 be oppressed till the time of their glori- 
 ous deliverance ; and considering the 
 patriarch's great age and his hereditary 
 attachment to the land of promise, we 
 can see that under the influence of or- 
 dinary motives he would not have 
 been induced to leave it. But it did not 
 come within the plan of the divine pro- 
 ceedings to exercise any force upon Ja- 
 cob's will. Whatever he did, he was 
 to do it freely and rationally. Precisely 
 such a train of events as that here re- 
 lated was adapted, as every one can see, 
 with infinite wisdom to bring about the 
 designed result. — But we proceed to the 
 details. 
 
 1. Now when Jacob saw, &c. That 
 is, learnt, understood, received infor- 
 mation. The word 'see' is often equiv- 
 alent to understand or to have a per- 
 ception of a thing, whether by means of 
 the sense of seeing or any other. Thus, 
 Ex. 20. 18, 'And all the people saw the 
 thunderings.' Rev. 1. 12, 'And I turn- 
 
 cob said unto his sons, Why do 
 yc look one upon another? 
 
 2 And he said, Behold I have 
 
 ed to see the voice that spake with me,' 
 In this sense of understanding is the 
 language of the EvangeUst to be inter- 
 preted, John 1. 18, 'No man hath seen 
 God at any timej' i. e. hath fully and 
 perfectly known him ; hath duly ap- 
 prchended his nature. This made ii 
 necessary that ' the only begotten 
 Son, which is in the bosom of the Fa- 
 ther, should declare him.' IT That 
 
 there teas corn in Egypt. Heb. '^:;"C3 
 sheber, breaking; so called for the rea- 
 son given above. Gen. 41. 56. Gr. 
 TTjoacrsf o selling. Chal. 'That corn was 
 
 sold.' ^ Why do ye look one upon 
 
 another ? Gr. ' Why are ye slothful V 
 Vulg. 'Why are ye negligent 7' Syr. 
 ' Do not be afraid.' Why spend that 
 time in painful anxiety which might 
 have been better employed 1 None of 
 them proposed an effectual remedy for 
 relieving the present distress. They 
 all looked at one another as if each ex- 
 pected that the other would suggest 
 something for their common benefit. 
 But they were all equally at a loss 
 what to say or do. Jacob however had 
 been too long schooled in the ways of 
 God to expect, under any pressure of 
 aflaiction, that a miracle would be 
 wrought to give rehef, when lawful and 
 practicable means are in our power. 
 He therefore rouses his hesitating sons 
 from their torpor, and proposes an im- 
 mediate journey into Egypt to purchase 
 corn. As there is no necessity so 
 strong as that of hunger, whatever re- 
 pugnance they may have felt, from the 
 haunting recollections of the past, to 
 going down to Egypt, the country to 
 which Joseph had been sold, it was at 
 length overruled, and they determined 
 to go. 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 297 
 
 heard that there is corn in Egypt : 
 get you down thither, and buy 
 for us from thence ; that we may 
 ^ live, and not die. 
 
 3 i And Joseph's ten hreth- 
 
 b ch. 43. 
 
 Ps. 118. 17. Isa. 1. 
 
 2. Behold, I have heard that there is 
 corn in Egypt, &-c. If Jacob had heard 
 from common report that there was 
 corn in Egypt, why had he not heard 
 from Joseph himself? Why did this 
 favorite son delay a moment to inform 
 his mourning father of the happy 
 change in his circumstances'? While 
 he was a slave or a prisoner, it was not 
 probably in his power to send him ti- 
 dings of his fate. But when he had 
 become lord of all Egypt, he certainly 
 had it in his power to send as many 
 messengers as he pleased. Surely, it 
 will be said by some, he had but Utile 
 regard to his father's comfort, when he 
 left him seven years ignorant of what 
 had befallen his best-beloved son. But 
 let us not be precipitate in forming a 
 judgment to the disadvantage of such 
 a man as Joseph. He doubtless often 
 thought of his beloved father, and 
 would have been very happy to com- 
 municate any pleasure to a parent 
 whom he so dearly loved. But there 
 is a time for every thing. It is very 
 possible that the news of Joseph's ex- 
 altation would have given more pain 
 than pleasure to the good man, when 
 informed of the circumstances that 
 brought it about. The highest earthly 
 grandeur of one son might not have 
 compensated the grief which he would 
 feel for the wickedness of the others. 
 The time might come when Joseph 
 would be enabled to inform his father 
 of his glory to more advantage, and 
 with less risk of making him unhappy. 
 At any rate, we cannot doubt that Jo- 
 seph was directed in all his movements 
 
 ren went down to buy corn in 
 Egypt. 
 
 4 But Benjamin,Joseph's broth- 
 er, Jacob sent not with his breth- 
 ren : for he said, " Lest peradven- 
 ture mischief befall him. 
 
 c ver. 38. 
 
 by the overruling providence of God. 
 And how do we know that he had not 
 a revelation of the mind of God as to 
 the way and the time of conveying that 
 information to his father which he cer- 
 tainly wished to communicate? IT 
 
 That we may live and not die. The 
 patriarch uses strong language to shew 
 his sons the necessity of going down 
 to Egypt to buy food. He sets life 
 and death before them ; not their own 
 life or death only, but the life or death 
 of the whole family. The Lord was 
 the God of their life ; but they could 
 not properly trust him for preserving it 
 without using the appropriate means. 
 But in humble dependence on the divine 
 blessing they might set their faces 
 cheerfully to the pains and perils of a 
 long journey, and a protracted separa- 
 tion from their father, their wives, and 
 their children. And that man deserves 
 not the gift of life, who would not put 
 himself to expence, who would not toil, 
 who would not even risk his life when 
 necessary, for those to whom he is 
 indebted, or who are indebted to him, 
 for life. 
 
 3, 4. And Joseph's fen brethren went, 
 &c. They are called * Joseph's breth- 
 ren' and not Jacob's sons, because Jo- 
 seph is at present the principal charac- 
 ter in the story. But Benjamin is 
 called Joseph's brother in a stricter 
 sense. One mother brought them both 
 into the world, and Jacob's fond at- 
 tachment to Benjamin was in part the 
 effect of his grief for the loss of Jo- 
 seph. Benjamin became to him a sec- 
 ond Joseph, and the other brethren ap- 
 
298 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707 
 
 6 And the sons of Israel came 
 to buy corn among those that 
 came : for the famine was ^ in 
 the land of Canaan. 
 
 6 And Joseph icas the govern- 
 or * over the land, and he it v:as 
 that sold to all the people of the 
 land : and Joseph's brethren came, 
 and f bov»ed down themselves be- 
 
 d Acts 7. 11. e ch. 41. 41. fch. 37. 7. 
 
 pear to have taken no exception to their 
 father's preference in this instance. It 
 is likely they had already felt so bitter 
 remorse for their wrongs to Joseph 
 and the grief they had caused to their 
 father, that he might safely have given 
 Benjamin a coat of many colors with- 
 out at all exciting their envy. The sad 
 effects of former sins sometimes pre- 
 vent men from involving themselves 
 in the guilt of new ones. 
 
 6. Joseph was the governor over the 
 land. Heb. '[3"'^'^ shallit from the 
 root t;ViI3 shalat, to have dominion^ 
 from which comes "^ItsVlJ shilton, one 
 that hath power, Eccl. 8- 4, and also the 
 Chal. 'ItsV*^ sfioltan, pr-ince, to which 
 we are evidently to trace the Arabic 
 and Turkish 'sultan,' the title of the 
 ihief ruler of the Ottoman empire, 
 otherwise denominated the Grand 
 Seignior. The term has gradually 
 passed from implying a subordinate to 
 signifying a supreme ruler. The time 
 was when Joseph's brethren were men 
 of high respectability in the land of 
 Canaan, whdst Joseph himself was a 
 slave or a prisoner in the land of Egypt. 
 Now, by a signal reverse, Joseph was 
 governor over all the land of Egypt, 
 while they appeared before him as hum- 
 ble suppliants, almost craving as an 
 alms those supplies of food for which 
 they were both able and willing to pay 
 
 the price demanded. IT He it was 
 
 that sold, &c. Heb. ^^iE^n ham 
 mdshhir, that caused to break, or to 
 
 fore him iL'ith their faces to the 
 earth. 
 
 7 And Joseph saw his breth- 
 ren, and he knew them, but made 
 himself strange unto them, and 
 spake roughly unto them ; and he 
 said unto them, Whence corne 
 ye? And they said, From the 
 land of Canaan to buy food. 
 
 sell ; i. e. that supermtended the sel- 
 ling. We cannot suppose that Joseph, 
 in person, sold all the corn that was 
 carried out of the land of Egypt ; but 
 it IS probable that he exercised an 
 active and vigilant control over the 
 selling, and he may have given more 
 special attention to the travellers from 
 Canaan, than to those of other coun- 
 tries, because the easiest entrance into 
 Egypt, for an enemy, was from Ca- 
 naan. IT Bowed down themselves. 
 
 Where now were the lofty looks and 
 the contemptuous tone with which 
 they said to him, after he had told them 
 one of his dreams, ' Shalt thou indeed 
 reign over us, or shalt thou have do- 
 minion over us V Are these the men 
 who said too on another occasion, 
 ' Come, let us slay him, and cast him 
 into some pit, and we will say, some 
 wild beast hath devoured him, and wo 
 will see what will become of his 
 dreams.' They did not indeed slay 
 him, but they took a method which 
 they hoped would be no less effectual 
 to hinder the accomplishment of his 
 dreams. And yet the remote conse- 
 quence of their measures was the very 
 thing which they hoped to prevent. 
 They did not know how wonderful is 
 the Lord of hosts in counsel, and how 
 excellent in working, and how easily 
 he can accomplish his purposes by the 
 very means which are used to prevent 
 their accomplishment. 
 1 7. Made himself strange imto them. 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 8 And Joseph knew his breth- 
 ren, but they knew not him, 
 
 9 And Joseph ^ remembered 
 
 g ch. 37. 5, 9. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIT. 
 
 299 
 
 and spake roughly unto them, Heb. 
 mcp Dri)^ "IjT^ yedabher iltam ka- 
 shoth, spake hard things with them. 
 Although Joseph knew his brethren, 
 yet he affected not to know them. Al- 
 though he still loved them, he addres- 
 sed them harshly. It would be an in- 
 jury to Joseph's memory to suppose 
 that his rough treatment of them was 
 the effect of a revengeful spirit. He 
 never thought of revenging himself on 
 any of the persons who had dealt un- 
 kindly or unjustly with him in his low 
 estate. "VVe shall afterward find, that 
 even when his heart melted for the dis- 
 tress of his brethren, he still continued 
 to deal roughly with them. What 
 then were his motives for assuming 
 this stern demeanor! Partly, no 
 doubt, to obtain a much-desired infor- 
 mation in respect to his father and his 
 father's family, without prematurely 
 making himself known; and partly, to 
 humble them by affliction, and bring 
 them to a sense of the evil of dealing 
 unjustly and harshly with himself. 
 He was like a wise father, who thinks 
 it necessary to correct his son, although 
 he feels in his own bosom more dis- 
 tress than the object of his chastise- 
 ment. 'Judge not according to the 
 appearance, but judge righteous judg- 
 ment.' Kindness must sometimes put 
 on an angry aspect, as on the other 
 hand hatred too often wears smiles on 
 its countenance. 
 
 8. Joseph knew his brethren, hut they 
 knew not him. It is not difficult to see 
 how this might have been the case. 
 Joseph would naturally conjecture that 
 W.'j brethren, like others in the land of 
 Canaan, would be compelled to come 
 down to Egypt, to buy food. But his 
 
 the dreams which he dreamed of 
 them, and said unto them Ye are 
 spies; to see the nakedness of 
 the land ye are come. 
 
 brethren never imagined that Joseph 
 was to be lord of Egypt. Besides, it 
 was now a long time since they had 
 seen him ; and they were then grown 
 to man's estate, while he was but a 
 lad. In the interval between that time 
 and the present, he had endured much 
 affliction, by which his countenance 
 would be in some degree altered, and 
 his habit and dress must have been 
 greatly changed by his exaltation, 
 while his brethren retained the man- 
 ners and costume to which they had 
 been accustomed in their early years. 
 They had, moreover, as Fuller re- 
 marks, only one face to judge by, 
 whereas he had ten, the knowledge of 
 any one of which would lead to the 
 knowledge of all. Something too may 
 perhaps be attributed to the effect of 
 their feelings. While Joseph had often 
 thought of his brethren, and called to 
 mind the features of their counte- 
 nances, he was probably banished 
 from their remembrance. It would 
 have been very unpleasant to them to 
 think of one whom they had treated 
 with such unnatural cruelty. They 
 willingly forgot the features of a man 
 of whom they could not think without 
 pangs of sorrow. Yet though they 
 did not remember his face, they could 
 not forget their guilt. We shall soon 
 see that in a day of distress they re- 
 membered it with horror. 
 
 9. Joseph remembered the dreams 
 which he dreamed. It is not to be sup- 
 posed that Joseph had ever really for- 
 gotten his dreams ; but as God is said 
 to remember his covenant or his prom- 
 ise when he begins to put them in exe- 
 cution, so this was an evident remem' 
 brance on the part of Joseph, implying 
 
300 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707 
 
 10 And they said unto hinri, 
 Nay, my lord, but to buy food are 
 thy servants come. 
 
 1 1 We are all one man's sons , 
 we arc true men ; thy servants 
 
 are no spies. 
 
 that he now began to put his dreams in 
 a process of fulfilment. See Note on 
 
 Gen. 8. 1. IT Ye are spies. Heb. 
 
 trJi fb^"!!^ meraggelim attevi, ye 
 are footing it ; i. e. going Irom place to 
 place, traversing the country. The 
 Hebrew has no other term to answer 
 to the Eng. 'spy' than the present. 
 The conduct of Joseph in this affair 
 has been variously viewed. Some 
 have supposed it impossible to exempt 
 him from the charge of culpable dis- 
 simulation, when he alleged that his 
 brethren were spies. His words ex- 
 press, it is said, a suspicion which cer- 
 tainly did not enter into his mind \ and 
 file apology made for him is. that he is 
 nowhere represented as a perfect man ; 
 and although his departure from strict 
 veracity is inexcusable, yet the good- 
 ness of his motives goes very far to 
 extenuate the dehnquency of the step. 
 But to this it may be replied, that Jo- 
 seph speaks designedly under an as- 
 sumed character; and why such a 
 character might not be assumed for 
 the purpose for which Joseph had re- 
 course to it, it is not easy to see. If it 
 was lawful for the sacred writers and 
 for the Savior to speak parables or al- 
 legories, why might it it not be lawful 
 for Joseph to act one? His brethren 
 it is true were, for the present, led into 
 a mistake as to the matter of fact, but 
 no wrong was done them, they were 
 defrauded of nothing, and no doubt 
 when they themselves came to look 
 back upon it afterward, they would ac- 
 knowledge that the whole affair had 
 been managed with the most entire in- 
 nocence, as well as with the most con- 
 summate skill. IT To see the naked- 
 ness of the land. That is, the exposed- 
 ncsa of the land; as a man unarmed 
 
 or a city without walls or garrison i? 
 said to be ' naked.' Chal. ' The weak- 
 er places.' Others take it to mean the 
 barrenness and destitution of the land 
 occasioned by the failure of the crops. 
 In either case the charge would simply 
 be that they had come to see what 
 prospect there would be of invading it 
 with advantage in the present distress. 
 ' We may here remark, that such an 
 imputation as this remains to this day 
 that to which a stranger is continually 
 exposed in the East. The Orientals 
 generally have no idea that people will 
 make a journey unless from urgent ne- 
 cessity, or on gainful speculations; and 
 if, therefore, a person does not travel in 
 a mercantile character, or on some 
 public business, he is invariably consid- 
 ered as a spy — more especially if he 
 turns aside or stops to examine any re- 
 markable object, or is discovered in the 
 act of writing, or making observations 
 of any kind. Curiosity, or the desire 
 of collecting information, are motives 
 perfectly incomprehensible to them, 
 and are always treated as shallow and 
 childish pretences. They ask triumph- 
 antly whether you have no trees, birds, 
 animals, rivers, or ruins at home to en- 
 gage your attention, that you should 
 come so far to look for them.' Pict. 
 Bible. 
 
 10- They said unto him, Nay, my 
 lord, &c. The conduct of Jacob's sons 
 in the affair of the Shechemites shews 
 them to have been ordinarily men of 
 spirit, yet they here behave themselves 
 humbly and submissively to the man 
 who endeavored to fix upon them a 
 groundless imputation. They modest- 
 ly and respectfully disowned the charge, 
 and if they cherished any resentment, 
 it was swallowed up by fear, as thg 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 301 
 
 12 And he said unto ihem. 
 Nay. but to see the nakedness of 
 the land ve are come. 
 
 13 And they said, Thy ser- 
 vants are twelve brethren, the 
 sons of one man in the land of 
 Canaan: and behold, the young- 
 est is this day with our father, 
 and one ^ is not. 
 
 14 And Joseph said unto them, 
 That is it that I spake unto you, 
 saying, Ye are spies : 
 
 h ch. 37. 30. & 14. 20. Lam. 5. 7. 
 
 man with whom they had to do was 
 the lord of the country. 
 
 11. We are allontmar^s sons. This 
 was calculated to give satisfaction in 
 reply to the charge, because it was not 
 to be supposed that one man would 
 suffer ten of his sons, to engage at once 
 in a business so full of perils as that of 
 spies, or that so many brethren would 
 risk the almost total extirpation of 
 their father's house at one blow. It 
 requires a man of a very daring spirit 
 to venture his own life in so desperate 
 an enterprise ; but who would venture 
 in it at once his own life and the life 
 
 of almost all that are dear to him ? 
 
 IT Wt are true men, dec. We are what 
 we claim to be, and have assumed no false 
 character. Had they really been spies, 
 they would have lied when they pre- 
 tended to have come to buy com. But 
 from this charge they could clear them- 
 selves with a good conscience. 
 
 12, 13. And he said unto ihem, Nay, 
 &c. As this is a mere repetition of 
 what he affirms, v. 9, it is to be justi- 
 fied on the same grounds. IT T"ny ser- 
 vants are twelve brethren, &c. Joseph 
 gains his end by persisting in his charge. 
 They did not at first declare all the 
 truth. By pressing the allegation, he 
 elicits from them several interesting 
 items of information which they would 
 probably otherwise hav© concealed. He 
 
 26 
 
 15 Hereby ve shall be proved : 
 i By the life' of Pharaoh ye shall 
 not go forth hence, except your 
 youngest brother come hither. 
 
 16 Send one of you, and let 
 him fetch your brother, and ye 
 shall be kept in prison, that your 
 words may be proved, whether 
 there he any truth in you : or 
 else, by the life of Pharaoh, sure- 
 ly ye are spies. 
 
 i ISam.]. 26. & 17. 55. 
 
 has the satisfaction of learning that his 
 father is yet alive, and that Benjamin 
 is his favorite, as he himself had been. 
 Moreover, that his brethren treated 
 their father with the respect which he 
 so well deserved, might be inferred 
 from the manner in which they spoke 
 of him, and from their leaving Benja- 
 min to comfort him in their absence. 
 They did not indeed speak the truth 
 when they said, ' One is not ;' but it is 
 probable they said what they thought 
 might be true. Still this does not 
 wholly free them from the guilt of false- 
 hood. A man lies not only when he 
 affirms what he knows to be false, but 
 also when he affirms what he does not 
 know to be true. We may indeed de- 
 clare what seems to us only probable, 
 but let it be uttered in language expres- 
 sive of uncertainty. In the country 
 where they dwelt, no doubt the common 
 opinion was that Joseph had been torn 
 to pieces by wild beasts. His brethren 
 knew this to be false, but they did not 
 think it prudent to contradict it, lest 
 their own wickedness should be expo- 
 sed ; and they had so often spoken of 
 Joseph's death, that they now almost 
 believed their own lie. If we would 
 keep clear of the way of lying, let us 
 do nothing that needs concealment. 
 
 14—16. That is it that 1 spake unto 
 you, dto. This confirms what I before 
 
302 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 17 And he put them all togeth- 
 er into ward three days. 
 
 18 And Joseph said unto them 
 
 said. Joseph here intimates that they 
 had as yet said nothing that gave him 
 sufficient reason to alter his opinion. 
 They had indeed said something in their 
 own defence that might be true, but he 
 wished to have better evidence of the 
 truth of it. He now proposes to put 
 them to the proof. Let them bring 
 that younger brother of whom they 
 spake, and he will believe that they 
 were what they called themselves, and 
 not spies. He is willing to admit that 
 it was not probable that one man would 
 send all his sons into a foreign country 
 on the perilous errand of spies. The 
 only question then was whether they 
 were really the sons of one man. Let 
 them bring their other brother, and Jo- 
 seph will believe them. ^ By the 
 
 life of Pharaoh, This was doubtless a 
 common form of asseveration among 
 the Egyptians, equivalent to the phrase, 
 ' As the Lord liveth,' ' As thy soul liv- 
 eth,' &c. among the Hebrews, which 
 we no where learn to have been sinful. 
 Joseph adopted the phraseology com- 
 mon in the country in order the better 
 to keep up his mask. Had he said, 
 * As the Lord liveth,' his speech would 
 probably have betraj'ed him. ' Swear- 
 ing by the life of a superior or respect- 
 ed person, or by that of the person ad- 
 dressed, is a common conversational 
 oath in different parts of Asia. In Per- 
 sia, although the force of the expression 
 is precisely the same, its form is varied 
 to swearing by the head, particularly 
 by the head of the king. 'By the king's 
 head, by his death, or by his soul !' are 
 expressions which are continually heard 
 in that country, and are used even by 
 the king, who generally speaks of him- 
 self in the third person. The Persians 
 also swear by their own heads, and by 
 
 the third day, This do^ 
 ^for I fear God: 
 
 k Lev. 25. 43. Neh. 5. 15. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 and live ; 
 
 those of the persons to whom they 
 speak. Pharaoh's swearing by him* 
 self, in chap. 4L 44, 'I am Pharaoh,' 
 seems to receive some illustration from 
 the practice of the Persian king.' Pid. 
 Bible. 
 
 17. Put them. Heb. t)Ci4*^ye-e5op/z, 
 collected or gathered them. It seems 
 they did not consent to the terms pro- 
 posed. None of them would consent 
 to go and bring down Benjamin if all 
 the rest, as Joseph proposed, were to 
 be kept imprisoned till their return. He 
 therefore, with great apparent severity, 
 puts them all into custody for three 
 days. All this w^as with a view to the 
 end which he wished to have accom- 
 plished. It was doubtless wath reluc- 
 tance that he threw into prison those 
 men who had thrown himself into the 
 pit and sold him into Egypt. But he 
 hoped thai imprisonment by the gov- 
 ernor of Egypt would awaken their 
 consciences to a sense of the great ini- 
 quity of selling their brother into that 
 country, where God was now rendering 
 their sins into their own bosom. 
 
 18. And Joseph said unto them the 
 third day, &c. After a period suffi- 
 ciently long for them to reflect serious- 
 ly on what they had done, and what 
 they should do, Joseph pays them a 
 visit, and in a temper of more apparent 
 mildness, assures them he has no de- 
 signs upon their lifCj nor any wish to 
 hurt their family ; and ventures to give 
 a reason for it which to them must 
 have appeared no less surprising than 
 satisfying, 'I fear God.' It is indeed 
 somewhat doubtful in what sense they 
 would understand him. The same word 
 in the original may either signify one 
 God or more gods than one; and they 
 might suppose that he had reference to 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIl. 
 
 103 
 
 19 If ye be true men^ let one 
 of your brethren be bound in the 
 house of your prison: go ye, car- 
 ry corn for the famine of your 
 houses : 
 
 20 But i bring your youngest 
 brother unto me : so shall your 
 words be verified, and ye shall 
 not die. And they did so. 
 
 1 ver. 34. ch. 43. 5, & 44. 2.3. 
 
 the gods of Egypt. But even in this 
 case, they would be induced to place 
 more confidence in him, when they 
 understood that he was impressed with 
 reverence for the gods whom he wor- 
 shipped. It was some degree of secu- 
 rity to them that they would not long 
 be ill treated. But on the other hand, 
 if they understood it of the true God, 
 they would be still more encouraged. 
 ' If he knows and serves the God of 
 our fathers, surely we have no injus- 
 tice to fear at his hands, nor will he 
 withhold food from a starving family.' 
 It was his wish to make his brethren 
 know and feel what an evil and bitter 
 thing it was to be guilty of inhuman 
 conduct toward the innocent. But it 
 was his wish also not to forfeit en- 
 tirely their confidence; for if they 
 did not trust his word, they would 
 not be induced to do wh^t he desired. 
 It was perhaps owing" to the distrust 
 which his severity inspired that they 
 were unwilling to send for their young- 
 er brothec He therefore utters an 
 expression which would go gready to 
 calm their apprehensions of the issue. 
 The assurance that he feared God was 
 equivalent to saying that he would deal 
 justly and truly with them. Thus 
 wisely did he temper goodness with 
 severity; awakening their fears by his 
 apparent harshness, and yet affording 
 them a gleam of hope just sufficient to 
 keep their minds from sinking. God 
 makes use of methods very similar to 
 bring sinners to repentance. 
 
 21 ]f And they said one to an- 
 other, "> We are verily guilty 
 concerning our brother, in that 
 we saw the anguish of his soul, 
 when he besought us, and we 
 would not hear ; n therefore is 
 this distress come upon us. 
 
 ra Job 36. 8. 0. Hos. 5. 15. n Pi-ov.21. 13. 
 Matt. 7, 2. 
 
 19, 20. If ye be true men, &c. Here 
 is a relaxation of the terms first pro- 
 posed. In the first instance he pro- 
 posed that one of their number should 
 be sent for Benjamin, and all the rest 
 confined till his return. Here he pro- 
 poses that one should be confined, and 
 all the rest despatched to their father's 
 house. This would naturally give 
 them a Httle farther reviving in their 
 
 bondage. IT And they did so. That 
 
 is, agreed to do so. 
 
 21. And they said one to another, Wc 
 are verily guilty, &c. While Joseph, 
 the better to conceal himself, speaks 
 and acts like a real Egypdan, God em- 
 ploys his affected sternness and sever- 
 ity to awaken their slumbering con- 
 sciences and to shew them to them- 
 selves. Though they were chargeable 
 with many other sins, particularly Sim- 
 eon and Levi, yet the treatment to 
 which they were subjected, brought to 
 remembrance in a special manner their 
 sin against their brother. This was an 
 atrocious iniquity of which they were 
 the most of them equally guilty. Con- 
 science with unerring certainty refers 
 their punishment to their crime, and 
 charges it upon them with fearful dis- 
 tinctness. Their full hearts now begin 
 to utter themselves, and as if they read 
 in each other's looks that the same 
 thoughts were in all their minds at the 
 same time, no sooner does one break 
 silence than they all immediately join 
 in ascribing the evil whifli had befallen 
 them to its true source. They woiJd 
 
304 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 22 And Reuben answered them, 
 saying, ° Spake I not unto you, 
 saying. Do not sin against the 
 child; and ye would not hear? 
 therefore behold also his blood is 
 P required. 
 
 23 And they knew not that Jo- 
 
 och. 37. 21. p ch. 9. i 
 2 Chron. 24. 22. Ps. 9. 12, 
 
 . 1 Kings 2. 32 
 Luke 11. 50, 51. 
 
 not hear Joseph in his distress, and 
 now they could not be heard. They 
 had thrown him into a pit, and now 
 are themselves thrown into prison. It 
 would be well for us if we could enter- 
 tain the same views of sin in the time 
 of temptation that we are likely to 
 have after it is committed, or at the 
 time when trouble brings it home to 
 our consciences. But alas ! we suffer 
 ourselves to be blinded to the conse- 
 quences of our conduct till we discover 
 it in the fearful retributions of a guilty 
 conscience and an angry providence. 
 
 22. And Reuben answered them, say- 
 ing, &.C. The convictions described in 
 the preceding verse were heightened by 
 the reproaches of Reuben, who teaches 
 them to expect blood for blood. Of 
 him it might be truly said on this occa- 
 sion, 'There is that speaketh like 
 the piercings of a sword.' 'Reuben 
 was that, methinks, to his brethren, 
 which conscience is to a sinner; re- 
 monstrating at the outset, and when 
 judgment overtakes him, reproaching 
 him and foreboding the worst of con- 
 sequences.' Fuller. Reuben could 
 not indeed take it upon him to reflect 
 with severity upon his brethren because 
 he himself was guiltless; for he was 
 not. But we do not blame him for 
 helping forward the painful convictions 
 of his brethren. It was fit that they 
 should be made to feel the stings of 
 conscience; and it was proper that he 
 should be the remembrancer of their 
 crime, because he had warned them 
 against it. And how utterly inexcusa- 
 
 seph understood them; for he 
 spake unto them by an interpreter. 
 24 And he turned himself about 
 from them, and wept; and re- 
 turned to them again, and com- 
 muned with them, and took from 
 them Simeon, and bound him be- 
 fore their eyes. 
 
 ble do his words represent the deed. 
 ' Spake I not unto you saying, Do not 
 sin against the child.' What apology 
 could they offer? Did they consider 
 his telling his dreams an insult? He 
 was but a child. Had they a right to 
 destroy a youth of seventeen years of 
 age because he had not all the wisdom 
 and caution of a man of thirty ? Sure- 
 ly those ought never to be fathers who 
 know not how to make allowance for 
 the inexperience of youth. IT Be- 
 hold also his blood is required. But 
 why does he say that Joseph's blood 
 was required? They had shed no 
 blood. But they at first intended to 
 have killed Joseph, and this purpose 
 was murder in the sight of God, though 
 not of so black a kind as the actual 
 shedding of his blood would have 
 been. To form a wicked purpose and 
 afterward rehnquish it, is less criminal 
 than to hold 'it fast till it be accom- 
 plished; yet the purpose is marked in 
 the book of God's remembrance, and 
 can only be pardoned through the great 
 atonement. Reuben, however, may 
 have charged his brethren with the 
 guilt of blood, because there was rea- 
 son to believe that death had been the 
 consequence of their barbarous treat- 
 ment of Joseph. From his not having 
 been heard of for the space of more 
 than twenty years, it was highly prob- 
 able that their inhuman conduct had 
 exposed him to those hardships and 
 sorrows which had brought him to an 
 untimely grave. 
 23, 24. He spaki unto them by an *n- 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 25 T[ Then Joseph commanded 
 to fill their sacks with corn, and 
 to restore every man's money 
 into his sack, and to give them 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 305 
 
 terpreter. Heb. ^r'2^2 ^^^^2^ ham- 
 melitz benotham, an interpreter (was) 
 between them. That is, he had all 
 
 along hitherto spoken to them by an 
 interpreter, though at this particular 
 time he appears not to have been pres- 
 ent. As affecting as was the scene 
 now described, Joseph stood by and 
 heard and understood it all without 
 their suspecting it. But such words 
 were too much for the heart of man, at 
 least such a man as he was, to bear, 
 and thQ pretended Egyptian becomes, 
 in spite of himself, a real Israelite. His 
 bosom swells, his features change, and 
 the tear starts to his eye. In order to 
 prevent a premature discovery he is 
 constrained to retire, and compose his 
 feelings. As soon as he was able to 
 dry up his tears and control his emo- 
 tions, he returned to them again, and 
 after some further conversation, put- 
 ting on an air of stern authority, he 
 took Simeon and bound him before 
 their eyes. As Sinieon had given proof 
 on a former occasion that he was ca- 
 pable of atrocious wickedness, there 
 are perhaps plausible grounds for be- 
 lieving that his hands were chief in the 
 trespass against Joseph. If so, his 
 being bound would tend to humble 
 lym, and heighten the fears of all the 
 rest, as beholding in it the righteous 
 judgment of God. Still we cannot 
 think that this was done in a vindictive 
 spirit on the part of Joseph. The 
 measure was adopted with a view to. 
 the good of Simeon and the rest of his 
 brethren. He bound him in prison, 
 but he did it to set him free from the 
 far worse chains of his own fierce pas- 
 sions. His other brethren, moreover, 
 needed severe rebukes, but no verbal 
 26* 
 
 provision for the way: and qthus 
 did he unto them. 
 
 26 And they laded their asses 
 with the corn, and departed thence. 
 
 q Matt. 5. 44. Rom. 12. 17, 20, 21. 
 
 reproofs were so likely to subdue their 
 haughty spirits, as the sight of the dis- 
 tress of their brother and companion 
 in iniquity. In the judgment of char- 
 ity he hoped their repentance was sin- 
 cere ; but farther proofs of it were re- 
 quisite before he could place entire con- 
 fidence in them. The skilful surgeon 
 sometimes finds himself compelled to 
 give pain by making deeper incisions 
 than others would deem necessary. 
 
 25. Joseph commanded to Jill their 
 sacks with corn, &c. Like all the rest 
 of Joseph's proceedings this also was 
 prompted by love, but love operating at 
 present in away to perplex, confound, 
 and dismay them. He heaped coals of 
 fire upon their heads by furnishing 
 them out so liberally with provision for 
 their families and themselves, while for 
 prudential reasons he caused their 
 money to be secretly returned. His 
 generosity could not bear the appear- 
 ance of taking money of his father for 
 the corn which he sold. What he 
 thought ii necessary to take with the 
 one hand, he restored with the other. 
 But was it generosity to give away the 
 king's money 7 Or did he not know 
 that the clandestine restoration of his 
 brethren's money would cause them 
 deep distress when they discovered iti 
 As to the first point, we need not spend 
 many words in vindicating Joseph 
 from the suspicion of dishonesty. He 
 was not a man to be guilty of embez- 
 zling the public funds. He used no 
 more discretionary power than his 
 master authorized him to do. The 
 money put into his brothers' sacks 
 might be his own private property; or 
 if it belonged to the king, the emolu- 
 ments of Ins office would no doubt en- 
 
S06 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 27 And as ''oneof them open- 
 ed his sack to give his ass prov- 
 ender in the inn, he espied his 
 money : for behold, it was in his 
 sack's mouth. 
 
 ch. 43, 21. 
 
 able him to put the price into the king's 
 treasury. As to the effects of the step 
 upon tlie minds of his brethren, it 
 would doubtliss fill them with fearful 
 misgivings and dread ; but such ap- 
 pears to have been his intention from 
 the beginning. If his brethren had 
 known all they would nat have felt as 
 they did ; but neither would they have 
 been brought to so right a state of 
 mind, nor have been prepared, as they 
 were, for that which followed. In like 
 manner when God designs to bring a 
 sinner to a right mind, he often sees fit 
 to lead him into dark and intricate situ- 
 ations, of which he shall be utterly un- 
 able to see the design ; to awaken by 
 turns his fears and his hopes; bring 
 his sin to remembrance; and to cause 
 him to feel his danger, and his utter in- 
 sufficiency to deliver his soul. But 
 what he knows not now he will know 
 hereafter. 
 
 27. In the inn. Heb. 'y\''^J2'2 bam- 
 malon, in the lodging-place, from "^li 
 to lodge for a night. By this is not to 
 be understood an inn like those that 
 are common with us, nor, probably, 
 even a chan or caravanserai; which 
 we can hardly suppose to have been in 
 use at this early period. The word 
 properly implies no more than a mere 
 stopping-place, or camping- ground ; a 
 place where travellers were in the habit 
 of stopping to bait or rest themselves 
 and their asses, or to tarry over night. 
 Even at the present day there are no 
 places of entertainment in the particu- 
 lar desert o\er which they had to 
 pass. 
 
 28 And he said unto his 
 brethren, My money is restored ; 
 and lo, it is even in my sack: 
 and their heart failed them., and 
 they were afraid, saying one to 
 another, What is this iliat God 
 hath done unto us? 
 
 28. My money is restored, &c 
 Whatever satisfaction they may have 
 felt in the idea of getting out of the 
 reach of the lord of Egypt, who had 
 causelessly taken them for spies, and 
 confined them in prison, it is all sud- 
 denly damped by the untoward event 
 here mentioned. It instantly occurred 
 to them that it would be construed to 
 their disadvantage ; and that to their 
 other crimes those of theft and ingrati- 
 tude must now be added. Their minds 
 were now^ in such a state as to render 
 them peculiarly liable to the impres- 
 sions of fear. A guilty conscience is 
 sure to represent the most trifling 
 occurrence as a subject of alarm, or as 
 an omen of destruction. They had, 
 however, learned one good lesson from 
 the past, viz. that all their troubles and 
 dangers were to be referred to a righte- 
 ous Providence. 'What is this that 
 God has done unto us T They do not 
 reproach the cruel governor of Egypt, 
 notwithstanding from his treatment of 
 them they no doubt suspected some ill 
 design against them. But overlooking 
 second causes they attribute directly to 
 the judgments of God what had now 
 befallen them. It seemed to them that 
 he was still pursuing them in a myste- 
 rious way, and with a design to require 
 their brother's blood at their hand. 
 He had led them and brought them 
 into darkness and not into light, and 
 what might be the end of his dispensa- 
 tions towards them they were utterly 
 at a loss to conceive. Confident they 
 are that he has not yet done with 
 lum. ^ Thfir heart failed them. 
 
B. C. 1707. 
 
 CHAPTER XLTl. 
 
 307 
 
 29 1[ And ihey came unto Ja- 
 cob their father unto the land of 
 Canaan, and told him all that be- 
 fell unto them, saying, 
 
 30 The man who is the lord of 
 the land, ' spake roughly to us, 
 and took us for spies of the 
 country. 
 
 31 And we said unto him, We 
 are true men; we are no spies : 
 
 32 We he twelve brethren, sons 
 of our father : one is not, and 
 the youngest is this day with our 
 father in the land of Canaan. 
 
 33 And the man, the lord of the 
 country, said unto us, » Hereby 
 shall I know that ye are true 
 men: leave one of your brethren 
 here witb me, and take food for 
 the famine of your households, 
 and be gone : 
 
 s ver. 7. t vcr. 15, 19, 20. 
 
 Heb. CSb 2S2'^1 vayetze libbam, and 
 their heart icent forth. Thus Cant. 
 5. 6, ' My soul failed when he spake.' 
 Heb. ' went forth.' The Gr. here ren- 
 ders by E^ecTTi ri Kap6ta, their heart vias 
 astonished. Chal. 'The knowledge 
 of their heart departed.' Arab. 'Their 
 hearts were much disturbed.' 
 
 29—31. And they came unto Jacob, 
 &c. Arriving at their father's house, 
 they relate to him all that had befallen 
 them in Egypt. The rough treatment 
 they had received ; the suspicion which 
 had fallen on them ; the defence they 
 had made; the terms on which they 
 had been suffered to return, to wit, 
 that they should leave Simeon and bring 
 down Benjamin. Their narrative must 
 have given their father a very bad idea 
 of the lord of the land. They said no- 
 thing of him but the truth, and yet Ja- 
 cob must have formed an opinion far 
 remote from the truth. Joseph m.ust 
 have appeared to him as an insolent, 
 overbeoring tyrant, that made use of 
 
 34 And bring- your youngest 
 brother unto me : then shall I 
 know that ye are no spies, but 
 that ye are true men : so will I 
 deliver you your brother, and ye 
 shall '' traffiek in the land. 
 
 35 If And it came to pass as 
 they emptied their sacks, that be- 
 hold, * every man's bundle ot 
 money loas in his sack ; and 
 when both they and their father 
 saw the bundles of money, they 
 were afraid. 
 
 36 And Jacob their father said 
 unto them. Me have ye y be- 
 reaved of my children: Joseph 
 is ftot, and Simeon is not, and 
 ye will take Benjamin away: 
 all these things are against 
 me. 
 
 V ch, 34, 10. X ch. 43, 21. y ch. 43. 14. 
 
 his power to crush poor men under his 
 feet. ' Surely,' might the patriarch 
 have said, ' the fear of God is not be- 
 fore the eyes of this man, who shows 
 so Httle regard to the comfort, the 
 liberty, the lives of his fellow-men.' 
 Yet Joseph's conduct towards his 
 brethren was full of wisdom and mer- 
 cy. He dealt hardly with them, that 
 he might do them good. So far is the 
 appearance from always correspond- 
 ing with the reality of things. ' Judge 
 nothing before the time.' 
 
 35. It came to pass a^ they emptied 
 their sacks, &c. They appear to have 
 concealed the mysterious circumstance 
 of the money being found by the way 
 in their sacks. But they might have 
 thought that their father would have 
 blamed them for not returning with it 
 when they were only a day's journey 
 from Egypt, and therefore agreed to 
 say nothing about it. Hence it is that 
 they are represented, on 'opening their 
 sacks, as discovering the money m a 
 
308 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 manner, as if they knew nothing about 
 it before, and as sharing in the surprise 
 and apprehensions of their father. 
 
 36. Me have ye bereaved, &c. These 
 words are expressive of that despond- 
 ing and querulous spirit which is apt 
 to find place in the heart even of a 
 good man in the day of darkness. It 
 should be remembered, however, that 
 words expressive of the passionate 
 workings of the mind are usually to be 
 understood with a hmitation of their 
 import. When Jacob says that he was 
 bereaved of his children, the meaning 
 is, that he was bereaved of two or 
 three of them. When he speaks of his 
 sons then present, as if they had* be- 
 reaved him of his children, he does not 
 mean that they had murdered them or 
 sold them into a strange land. He 
 means that by their unwise conduct 
 they had had some agency, they had 
 been instrumental, in bringing the ca- 
 lamity upon him. If they had not 
 rambled about with their flocks from 
 one place to another, Joseph might 
 not have met with those wild beasts 
 that tore him in pieces. If they had 
 not, by some imprudent conduct, exci- 
 ted suspicion in the mind of the hard- 
 hearted governor of Egypt, Simeon 
 would not have been kept in prison. 
 If they had not spoken to the governor 
 about their younger brother, he might 
 have still been left at home when they 
 returned to buy more corn. Jacob, 
 however, spoke more truth than he 
 was aware of in the words, 'Me have 
 ye bereaved of my children.' They 
 had sold Joseph into Egypt, and Sime- 
 on's imprisonment was the conse- 
 quence of that criminal conduct. But 
 as we have no good reason to think 
 that Jacob suspected them to be guilty, 
 his words are to be considered as an 
 angry reflection, which the distress of 
 his mind drew from his lips rather than 
 his heart. Yet it is proper to remark 
 ^at some commentators suppose that 
 
 his words on this occasion betray a 
 lurking suspicion that thoy had been 
 accessory to Joseph's death; and that 
 on account of this secret misgiving, he 
 was unwilling to trust Benjamin in 
 their hands. But whether he meant to 
 reflect on his sons or not, his language 
 no doubt savors too much of com- 
 plaint. But he speaks in the anguish 
 of his soul, and we cannot help allow- 
 ing for the pungency of his emotions. 
 
 IT Joseph is not, and Simeon is not. 
 
 More is said than was meant, and 
 more was meant than was true, in 
 these words. The patriarch knew that 
 Simeon was not dead, as far as his 
 information reached, but he was almost 
 given over as a dead man by his father, 
 though he had not any sufl&cient rea- 
 son to do it. God might soften the 
 heart of the governor of Egypt, and 
 induce him to spare and release Sime- 
 on. But we often make our burdens 
 heavier than they ought to be, by ad- 
 ding to them the weight of our own 
 gloomy apprehensions ; or we repre- 
 sent them heavier than we feel them to 
 be, by words that convey more mean- 
 ing than they ought. IT A^id ye will 
 
 take Benjamin away. True; they 
 would take him away to Egypt, but 
 not out of the world. To go a long 
 journey w^as a different thing from dy- 
 ing. He might indeed be exposed to 
 some danger from the treatment of the 
 unfeeling lord of Egypt, but will so 
 good a man as Jacob make himself 
 and his house miserable, because a 
 favourite son may be lost, when he 
 was not exposed to greater danger than 
 his brethren? Even those who are 
 eminent fearers of God, are too often 
 deprived of a great part of the happi- 
 ness they might enjoy, through the 
 
 infirmity of their faith. If All these 
 
 things are against me. How did Jacob 
 know this 1 Because his feelings, his 
 affections, and the general sense of 
 mankind, told him it was a great mise- 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 309 
 
 37 And Reuben spake unto his 
 father, saying, Slay my two sons, 
 if I bring him not to thee : deliv- 
 er him into mine hand, and I will 
 bring him to thee again. 
 
 38 And he said, My son shall 
 
 ry to lose a son, especially the best and 
 most beloved of sons. But in fact the 
 very reverse was the case, as Jacob af- 
 terward found Joseph was sent before 
 him into Egypt to provide sustenance 
 for his family. Simeon was hound in 
 prison to mortify his haughty spirit. 
 "Benjamin was tn be taken away that 
 he might find Joseph alive and happy. 
 A great portion of our present trouble 
 arises from our not knowing the whole 
 truth. 
 
 37. And Reuben spake unto his fa- 
 ther, saying, &c. However well meant, 
 this was a rash speech on the part of 
 Reuben. When men use this kind of 
 language, their words are scarcely to be 
 understood in the hteral sense. They 
 are only strong assertions, tinctured 
 with somewhat of a profane levity of 
 mind. It does not become the lips of 
 a serious man to say, ' I will give you 
 leave to take away my life unless I do 
 this or that.' How do we know what 
 we shall be able to do a day or an hour 
 hence'? Reuben no doubt had reason 
 to hope that his brethren would not 
 treat Benjamin as they had treated Jo- 
 seph. He had reason to hope that the 
 lord of Egypt would keep his promise. 
 But was he so sure of both these things, 
 and of meeting with no bad accident in 
 the journey, that he could warrantably 
 pledge the life of his two sons for Ben- 
 iamin's happy return 7 He knew that 
 Jacob would not take him at his word ; 
 but what if God should, by some un- 
 toward event, make him sensible that 
 he had spoken the language of virtual 
 impiety 7 
 
 not go down with you ; for » his 
 brother is dead, and he is left 
 alone ; ^ if mischief befall him by 
 the way in the which ye go, then 
 shall ye "■ bring down my gray 
 hairs with sorrow to the grave. 
 
 a ver. 13. & ch. 37. 33. & 44. 28. b ver. 
 4, & ch. 44. 29. c ch. 37. 35. & 44. 31. 
 
 38. M>/ son shall not go down with 
 you ; Jbr his brother is dead, &c. But 
 had Jacob no more than two sons 
 when Joseph was alive? How was 
 Benjamin left alone 7 Had he no broth- 
 ers yet living 7 Why does Jacob thus 
 make such a distinction between the 
 children of Rachel and his other chil- 
 dren, as might kindle up envy among 
 his household 7 It is well for us that 
 polygamy is so strictly interdicted un- 
 der the gospel dispensation. It seems 
 to have required more than all the wis- 
 dom of Abraham or Jacob to govern 
 with impartiality a family born of dif- 
 ferent mothers. And those fathers 
 who have children by different wives 
 in succession have need to pray for 
 wisdom to rule their houses in such a 
 manner,, that while they show their 
 paternal fondness to the children of the 
 one, they do no injustice in word or 
 deed to those of the other. IT If mis- 
 chief befall him, &c. He puts them 
 in mind of his gray hairs, which al- 
 ways constitute a claim for reverence, 
 but more especially from children. It 
 was natural that he should make the 
 strongest possible appeal to the filial 
 sentiments of his children, to spare him 
 the crushing sorrow which he saw hke- 
 ly to overwhelm him, yet in saying he 
 should die of grief he went beyond the 
 bounds of a reasonable apprehension. 
 Was Benjamin his God, his life, his 
 only hope, his single joy 7 As God 
 had supported him under the loss of 
 one son could he not make him to sur- 
 vive the loss of another? Rutin this 
 Jacob utters the language of human 
 
310 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 CHAPTER XLllI. 
 
 AND the famine was ''sore in 
 the land. 
 
 2 And it came to pass, when 
 they had eaten up the corn which 
 they had brought out of Egypt, 
 their father said unto them, Go 
 again, buy us a little food. 
 
 3 And Judah spake unto him, 
 saying, The man did solemnly 
 protest unto us, saying, Ye shall 
 
 a ch. 41. &i, 57. 
 
 infirmity, and all that are human will 
 be slow to condemn in him what they 
 would probably evince in themselves. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 1, 2. And the famine was sore in the 
 land, &c. The relief obtained by the 
 first journey to Egypt was soon ex- 
 hausted, and as nothing of the native 
 productions of Canaan could be added 
 to it to make it last the longer, it is easy 
 to see that they must have been again 
 reduced to the greatest extremities. The 
 fact of Simeon's continued confine- 
 ment in Egypt would quicken Jacob's 
 proposal that they should go thither for 
 a new supply of food. They had in- 
 deed met with difficulties and danger 
 in their former journey, but great difii- 
 culties and dangers must often be en- 
 countered to prevent worse. Let it not 
 be thought an hard matter that the ser- 
 vice of Christ often requires peculiar 
 hardships and hazards. The world re- 
 quires as great sacrifices as Christ, and 
 is far less able to recompense them. In 
 laboring for the meat that endureth to 
 everlasting life, we seldom meet with 
 such diflSculties and perils as are often 
 encountered in laboring for the meat 
 
 that perisheth. IT Had eaten up. 
 
 That is, had nearly consumed. It is 
 not to be supposed that they would 
 wait till their former stock was entirely 
 exhausted before sending for another 
 
 not see my face, except your 
 ^' brother be with you. 
 
 4 If thou wilt send our brother 
 with us, we will go down and 
 buy thee food: 
 
 5 But if thou wilt not send 
 hirji we will not go down : for 
 the man said unto us, Ye shall 
 not see my face, except your 
 brother be with you. 
 
 b clL 42. 20. & 44. 23. 
 
 supply. In like manner, 1 Kings 6. 1, 
 ' And it came to pass in the four hunn* 
 dred and eightieth year, &c. (Heb.) 
 that he built the house of the Lord ;' 
 i. e. (Eng.) began to build. hnkeB. 6, 
 ' They inclosed a great multitude of 
 fisheSj and their net brake;' i. e. began 
 to break, was on the point of breaking. 
 John 2. 3, 'And when they wanted 
 wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto 
 him, They have no wine ;' i. e. when 
 their wine was on the point of failing. 
 
 3. Judah spake unto him, sayings 
 &,c. The former difficulty respecting 
 the younger brother here recurs. They 
 cannot, must not, go without him. 
 Reuben had tried to gain Jacob's con- 
 sent to the step, but without success. 
 Judah, a man much superior to Reuben 
 in prudence and activity, attempts the 
 difficult task and gains his point. In 
 order to this he tells him that the man 
 who ruled over Egypt did not merely 
 say, but solemnly protest, to them that 
 they should not again 'see his face, nor 
 traffic in the land, unless they brought 
 with them their younger brother. He 
 therefore intimates that if Jacob did not 
 wish them to go in vain to Egypt ; if 
 he did not desire them to confirm the 
 unjust suspicions that had been enter- 
 tained of them, he must not refuse to 
 
 part with Benjamin. IT T%e man 
 
 did solemnly protect. Heb. ^yn IS-NI 
 ha-cd he-id, protesting protested; i. e. 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 311 
 
 6 And Israel said, Wherefore 
 dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell 
 the man whether ye had yet a 
 brother? 
 
 7 And they said, The man ask- 
 ed us straitly of our state, and of 
 our kindred, saying, Is your fa- 
 ther yet alive, have ye another 
 brother? and we told him accord- 
 ins: to the tenor of tliese words: 
 
 protested solemnly and earnestly, even 
 with an oath. See Gen. 42. 15. 
 
 4, 5. If thou wilt send our brother, 
 &c. It is right indeed that children 
 should obey their parents in the Lord, 
 but parents should take heed they en- 
 join not upon their children that which 
 is unjust, unreasonable, or impractica- 
 ble. Under the circumstances Judah 
 >vas no doubt justifiable in making con- 
 ditions with his venerable father. The 
 command of Jacob was not simply to 
 go to Egypt, but to go and procure corn 
 from Egypt. This was impracticable 
 unless Benjamin went along with his 
 brethren. 
 
 6, 7. J'l'Tierefore dealt ye so ill with 
 vie, &/C. The foregoing decided state- 
 ment of Judah brings forth another ob- 
 jection, or rather complaint, on the part 
 of Jacob, to which his sons reply in a 
 very becoming manner. Children are 
 bound to bear with the infirmities of 
 aged parents, and particularly with 
 what they say under the pressure of 
 extraordinary affliction. Though Ja- 
 cob's reflections were somewhat severe 
 and sullen, yet they do not ask him, 
 where was the great criminality of tel- 
 ling any man that they had another 
 brother 1 They do not recriminate and 
 tell him that he sought occasion to re- 
 proach them without any shadow of 
 ground. They calmly remind him 
 thai they were under a necessity of 
 informing the man concerning their 
 younger brother, and that it was im- 
 
 Could we certainly know that he 
 would say, Brinj^ your brother 
 down ? 
 
 8 And Judah said unto Israel 
 his father, Send the lad with me, 
 and we will arise and go ; that 
 we may live, and not die, both 
 we, and thou, and also our little 
 ones. 
 
 possible for them to foresee the use 
 that would be made of the information. 
 When the governor of Egypt interro- 
 gated them so sternly, some answer 
 they must give. They could not remain 
 silent without strengthening the suspi- 
 cions entertained of them. If then they 
 were under a necessity of answering these 
 questions they were bound to speak the 
 truth. Interest as well as duty forbids 
 men to lie, for a lie is always liable to 
 detection. And men exposed to dan- 
 ger from unjust suspicions ought above 
 all other men to adhere to strict vera- 
 city. If one lie be found in their mouth, 
 twenty more will probably be imputed 
 
 to them. IT Asked us straitly. Heb. 
 
 ^i^'U ilK'U shaol sha-al, asking asked, 
 
 '\I According to the tenor. Heb. 
 
 ^'D b5> al pi, according to the mouth ; 
 i. e. according as the nature of his ques- 
 tions required. Gr. Kara rrjv eirepwrrjatv 
 Tavrrjv according to this asking. ' Send 
 a messenger with a message to deliv- 
 er, and ask him on his return what he. 
 said, and he will reply, * According to 
 
 your mouth." Roberts. IT Could 
 
 we certainty know ? Heb. 5>n3 3>in^n 
 hayadoa neda, knowing could we know ? 
 8. Send the lad with me, &c. How 
 forcible are right words ! Jacob could 
 not resist the force of Judah' s argu- 
 ment. He loved Benjamin dearly, but 
 he loved all his other children, and all 
 his little grand-children ; and surely, 
 Judah intimates, he would not suffer 
 them all to perish with hunger, that he 
 
312 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 9 I will be surety for him ; of 
 mine hand shalt thou require him : 
 *=if I bring him not unto thee, 
 and set him before thee, then let 
 me bear the blame for ever : 
 
 10 For except we had linger- 
 ed, surely now we had returned 
 this second time. 
 
 cch.44. 32. Philem. 18, 19. 
 
 might have the pleasure of enjoying 
 the company of Benjamin. Grant 
 that he stood in fear of Benjamin's 
 life if he went down into Egypt ; yet 
 the danger was greater on the other 
 side. He was more lilcely to die if he 
 did not go to Egypt ; and it is more 
 painful to die by hunger, than by some 
 fatal accident on a journey. But in 
 fact the danger of perishing in the 
 course of the journey appeared to Ju- 
 dah only imaginary. The peculiar 
 usage of the Heb. in regard to ' lad' as 
 explained Gen. 22. 5, is here to be borne 
 in mind. Benjamin was now at least 
 thirty years of age ; and had children 
 of his own, yet he is here called 'a 
 lad,' because he was the youngest of 
 all the sons of Jacob, and, in the lack 
 of Joseph, the favorite of his aged 
 father. 
 
 9. 1 will he surety for him. Judah 
 must have known that his brethren 
 were quite different men from what 
 they once were, when he professed his 
 willingness to become surety for Ben- 
 jamin ; nor did he entertain so bad an 
 opinion of the governor of Egypt, as 
 his father seems to have done. He 
 could not certainly say that either him- 
 self or Benjamin would return in safety 
 from Egypt ; but he saw that it was 
 less unsafe to venture the journey than 
 lo stay at home; and was disposed to 
 commit the result to God. It might 
 indeed appear that a more conditional 
 mode of speech would have been more 
 
 11 And their father Israel said 
 
 unto them. If it must he so now, 
 do this ; take of the best fruits 
 in the land in your vessels, and 
 ^ carry down the man a present, 
 a little « balm, and a little honey, 
 spices, and myrrh, nuts, and al- 
 monds : 
 
 d ch. 32. £0. Prov. 18. 16. e ch. 37. 25. 
 Jer. 8. 22. 
 
 decorous ; one that should have con- 
 formed to the scriptural direction, 
 ' Say, if the Lord will, we shall live 
 and do this or that ;' but it is not ne- 
 cessary always to use these express 
 words. They are often to be under- 
 stood where they are not expressed. 
 Judah certainly knew that it depended 
 entirely on the will of God whether 
 he or his brother should live another 
 hour. In proffering to become surety 
 for Benjamin, he took it for granted 
 that his father would attach no blame 
 to him for what could neither be fore- 
 seen nor avoided. "^ Let me bear the 
 
 blame. Heb. ^ 'iiTiiit:!! hatathi leka, 
 1 will be a sinner to thee ; i. e. I will 
 consent to be reputed guilty of viola- 
 ting my plighted faith. In the same 
 sense the word occurs, 1 Kings 1. 21, 
 ' Otherwise it shall come to pass that 
 I and my son Solomon shall be count- 
 ed offenders.^ Heb. ' Shall be sinners.' 
 10. Except we had lingered, «fec. 
 Jacob's fondness for Benjamin was so 
 excessive that he suffered his affections 
 to overbear his judgment. Simeon 
 was in consequence detained much 
 longer in prison than he might have 
 been ; and the family of Jacob was 
 reduced to a stinted allowance of pro- 
 vision. Had he suffered Benjamin to 
 leave him some time before, they might 
 all by this time have returned to their 
 father's house. Men blinded by affec- 
 tion too often disappoint themselves, 
 and by needless and unwise delays cut 
 
B. 0. 17070 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 313 
 
 12 And take double money in 
 your hand ; and the money ^ that 
 was brought again in the mouth 
 
 f ch, 42. 25, 35. 
 
 themselves off from the enjoyment of 
 much happiness that they might other- 
 wise have secured to themselves. 
 
 11. Jf it must be so now, do this, &c, 
 Jacob's reluctant consent is at length 
 wrung from him by imperious neces- 
 sity. He who a short time before had 
 said, ' My son shall not go down with 
 you,' is now upon the v/hole constrain- 
 ed to part with him. A rash man will, 
 at all hazards, obstinately persist in a 
 course once determined upon, but a 
 wise man will yield to reason, be it 
 from a servant, from a son, from a 
 wife, or from any other person, how- 
 ever mferior to himself in station, in 
 good sense, or piety. The manner in 
 which the pstriarch acquiesces is wor- 
 thy of remark. It is not the sullen 
 consent of one who yields to fate 
 while his heart rebels against it. No ; 
 he yields in a manner worthy of a man 
 of God ; proposing first that every 
 possible means should be used to con- 
 cihate the man, the lord of the land, 
 and then committing the issue of the 
 whole to God. He recollected the ef- 
 fect of a present in appeasing his 
 brother Esau's anger tvhen coming 
 against him with a formidable host. 
 He had it not in his power, perhaps, or 
 it was not convenient, to send so rich 
 a present to Egypt. But it would 
 seem that the land of Canaan still 
 produced some precious commodities 
 not to be found in Egypt, or not to be 
 found there in such perfection. Of 
 these he collects some of the choicest 
 specimens and sends them down to 
 Egypt where, in a time of famine, they 
 would no doubt be very acceptable ; at 
 any rate they would be viewed as a 
 great token of resnect. IT Of the best 
 27 
 
 of your sacks, carry it again in 
 your hand ; peradventure it was 
 
 an oversight : 
 
 fruits of the land. Heb. f'^H^n h^faS^a 
 mizzimrath haaretz, of the song, mu- 
 sic, or melody of the land ; a strong 
 metaphorical expression, by which the 
 fruits of the earth are named from the 
 songs and praises by which the gather- 
 ing them in at harvest was accompa- 
 nied. Others, however, with less rea- 
 son suppose the import to be that of 
 fruits of so excellent a quahty as to be 
 especially worthy of being praised, ft 
 to be celebrated in songs and hymns. 
 
 12. Take double money in your hand. 
 Heb. nri;;?^ t]Ci keseph mishnch, sil- 
 ver or money of repetition. The origi- 
 nal does net necessarily imply a double 
 amount of money to that first taken, 
 but may be understood simply of an- 
 other or second sum in respect to the 
 first. But on the whole the idea seems 
 to be that they v/ere to take back the 
 money whicli* had been put in the 
 sacks, together v/ith as much more; 
 
 and this would be double money. ^ 
 
 Peradventure it teas an oversight. It 
 was difficult to say how the money 
 had come into the mouth of their sacks. 
 Perhaps it was wilfully put in for some 
 bad purpose. So Jacob feared when 
 he first saw it. Perhaps it was an 
 oversight. So now he thought or wish- 
 ed to think, like a man who in doubtful 
 matters comes to that conclusion which 
 is most conducive to his peace. But if 
 it were an oversight, he will take no ad- 
 vantage of it. No man of integrity 
 will take an unrighteous advantage of 
 the mistakes of those with whom he 
 deals. Nothing is more palpably in- 
 consistent with the great rule of doing 
 to other men as you would that they 
 should do unto you. Besides, it would 
 have been very unsafe for Jacob's sons 
 
314 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B, C. 1707- 
 
 13 Take also your brother, and 
 arise, go again unto the man : 
 
 14 And God Almighty give 
 you mercy before the man, that 
 
 to have taken advantage of an over- 
 sight in the present case. It might 
 have confirmed the suspicions or 
 awakened the resentment of the lord 
 of Egypt. But it is never safe to do 
 any injustice while God reigns in heav- 
 en, who will never suffer any man 
 with impunity to go beyond or defraud 
 his brother. 
 
 13. Take, also your brother, &c. 
 This was the greatest trial of all, but 
 Jacob determines to submit to it. We 
 must obey necessity, and ought to do 
 it without repining. No doubt at the 
 first proposal Jacob would as soon 
 have sent Benjamin to the lions' dens. 
 The wild beasts that tore Joseph in 
 pieces did not seem more formidable to 
 the dejected mind of the patriarch, than 
 the man who had entertained such un- 
 just suspicions concerning his sons, 
 and who had probably put money into 
 their sacks for no good purpose. But 
 deep religious principle triumphs over 
 the struggles of nature. Thus we 
 sometimes see an affectionate relative, 
 who, in the first stages of a dangerous 
 disease, thought it impossible to sustain 
 the loss of a beloved object, gradually 
 reconciled; and at length witnessuig 
 the dying pangs with tranquil resigna- 
 tion. 
 
 14. God Almighty give you mercy be- 
 fore the man, &c. However a good 
 man may guide his affairs with dis- 
 cretion, yet he will not trust to his own 
 prudence. When he has done every 
 thing proper to be done, he will com- 
 mit the event to God, and lift up his 
 soul to him in prayer for a blessing on 
 the result. Thus did Jacob on a for- 
 mer trying occasion, and thus did he 
 now We may observe the language 
 
 he may send away your other 
 brother, and Benjamin: e If I be 
 bereaved of my children^ I am 
 bereaved. 
 
 g Esther 4. tS. 
 
 in which he expresses himself. Ho 
 does not load the cruel man, who had 
 treated his children so rigorously, with 
 any railing accusations before the Lord. 
 All that he asks is, not that the man's 
 injustice should be turned upon his 
 own head, or that the arm which had 
 oppressed his family should be broken ; 
 but that his heart might be inclined to 
 pity a poor distressed family, and let 
 the oppressed go free. Jacob well 
 knew that the hearts of kings and 
 their ministers are in the hand of the 
 Lord ; and that whatsoever a man de- 
 vises, the Lord directs his steps. His 
 prayer which was addressed to the 
 Almighty or All-sufficient God of 
 Abraham, was no doubt acceptable, 
 because offered to a covenant God in 
 true faith ; but yet it is clear that it 
 was founded on a mistake. He prayed 
 for the turning of the man's heart in a 
 way of mercy, when in fact his heart 
 did not need turning. Yet Jacob 
 thought it did, and had no means of 
 knowing otherwise. The truth of 
 things may sometimes be concealed 
 from us to render us more importunate, 
 and though G:i)d could easily pour the 
 light of certainty on our minds, yet he 
 sees that it is better for us to abide for 
 a time in darkness. But another re- 
 markable feature of the prayer is the 
 rcdgnation which breathes forth in the 
 closing sentence, ' If I be bereaved, I 
 am bereaved.' This is equivalent to 
 the expression occurring Est. 4. 16, 'If 
 I perish, I perish.' It is as if he had 
 said, ' I commit the event unreservedly 
 to God. If it seem good imto him to 
 bereave me of my children, the will of 
 the Lord be done ; I have nothing to 
 say The Lord gave, and the Lore 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 315 
 
 15 T[ And the men took that 
 present, and they took double 
 money in their hand, and Benja- 
 min ; and rose up, and went 
 down to Egypt, and stood before 
 Joseph. 
 
 16 And when Joseph saw Ben- 
 jamin with them, he said to the 
 
 laketh away.' When God's people 
 under their trials are brought to this 
 submissive frame of spirit it is no un- 
 usual thing for him to spare them the 
 crisis which they dreaded, and to restore 
 the beloved object of their affections 
 which they had virtually resigned. 
 
 16. When Joseph saw Benjamin^ 
 &c. They arrive in Egypt without 
 having met with any thing memorable 
 in their journey. Here they are again 
 introduced to Joseph, who looking 
 upon them discovers his brother Benja- 
 min. We can easily conceive that in this 
 interview his eyes would be in danger 
 of betraying his heart : and it was prob- 
 ably in some measure in consequence 
 of this that he instantly gave orders to 
 his steward to take the men home to 
 his house, and prepare a dinner which 
 he would partake with them at noon. 
 This would give him time to compose 
 himself; but there is no doubt he had 
 a farther drift in the measure. He not 
 only desired the pleasure of meeting and 
 conversing at his own table with his 
 youngest brother, but he wished more- 
 over, to observe the conduct of the 
 rest of his brethren toward Benjamin, 
 and to discover whether peculiar honors 
 conferred upon him would excite that 
 envy to which himself had owed so 
 many days of grief. Joseph was not 
 a man who would form an unreason- 
 able suspicion of any person, but after 
 what had already happened, it was a 
 matter of common prudence to obtain 
 good proof of his brethren's reforma- 
 tion. This was desirable not only for 
 
 ^ ruler of his house, Bring these 
 men home, and slay, and make 
 ready : for these men shall dine 
 with me at noon. 
 
 17 And tiie man did as Joseph 
 bade : and the man brought the 
 men into Joseph's house. 
 
 h ch. 24. 2. & 39. 4. & 44. 1. 
 
 his own sake, but for theirs, and for 
 the sake of his father, who was soon 
 to hear how wickedly they had be- 
 haved, and who would be greatly con- 
 soled if he heard that they now be- 
 haved in a very different way under 
 
 like temptation. IT Slay, and make 
 
 ready. Heb. riDtO MStO tehoah tebah, 
 slay a slaughter. This indicates ex- 
 traordinary preparations. Flesh is not 
 in common use among the Orientals, 
 and such an order would not be given 
 unless an entertainment of more than 
 usual sumptuousness was to be served 
 
 up. IT Dine with me. Heb. '1^55^1 
 
 "^^J^ yokelu itti, eat with me. 
 
 17. The man did as Joseph bade^ 
 &c. It would no doubt astonish the 
 ruler of Joseph's house to hear that 
 these strangers, the brothers of Simeon 
 the prisoner, were to have the honor of 
 dining with his master, the lord of 
 Egypt. Had he not known the defe- 
 rence due from servants to masters, he 
 would probably have desired to know 
 the reason of so strange a proceeding; 
 why the governor made such a differ- 
 ence between those men and the many 
 thousands of strangers that came to 
 the country to buy corn. But like a 
 steward that knew his duty, he forbore 
 all inquiries and entered at once upon 
 the execution of his master's order. 
 Heads of households may often have 
 reasons for their commands which 
 they are not required, and which it 
 would not be proper, to communicate 
 even to the most confidential of their 
 domestics. — Joseph's house was un- 
 
316 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 18 And the men were afraid, 
 Decause ihey were brought into 
 Joseph's house; and they said, 
 Because of the money that was 
 returned in our sacks at the first 
 
 doubtedly more like a magnificent pal- 
 ace than Uke the humble dwellings lo 
 ■which his fathers had been accustomed 
 for more than two hundred years. But 
 perhaps he was not happier in it than 
 Abraham, and IsaaCj had been in their 
 tents. The happiness of all these men 
 flowed from their hopes. It was of no 
 very great consequence to them wheth- 
 er they dwelt in palaces of cedar and 
 marble, or in tents of rafters and goat- 
 skins, for they knew that in this world 
 they had no continuing city, but they 
 sought one to come, whose builder and 
 maker was God. 
 
 18. And the men were afraid, &c. 
 Things still wear to these brethren a 
 mysterious and confounding aspect. 
 That which was meant in love, they 
 construed as a design to ensnare and 
 enslave them. Their accusing con- 
 sciences represented every thing to 
 them through a disheartening medium. 
 Yet according to the prevailing custom 
 of the East, the very fact that they 
 had been invited to Joseph's table was 
 in itself an encouraging circumstance. 
 Though the Orientals are for the most 
 part a revengeful people, yet if you eat 
 with them, you are thenceforward sure 
 of having their protection. Even 
 should you have done them the great- 
 est injury, yet you need be under no 
 apprehension from their resentment. 
 The Egyptians are not, perhaps, so 
 celebrated for their attention to the 
 rites of hospitaUty as their nomade 
 neighbors the Arabs, yet it was incred- 
 ible that such a man as the governor 
 of Egypt, whose character for probity 
 ■was very high, should invite men to 
 his house with the intention of taking 
 advantage and robbing them of their 
 
 time, are we brought in ; that he 
 may seek occasion against us, 
 and fall upon us, and take us for 
 bondmen, and our asses. 
 
 asses or of making them slaves. But 
 in their present state of mind they 
 scarcely knew what other construction 
 to put upon it. So unhappy a thing is 
 it to have guilt lying upon the con- 
 science. It deadens the enjoyments 
 of life and embitters its sorrows. It 
 raises fearful apprehensions on the 
 slightest occasions, and continually 
 arrays the Most High in an aspect of 
 wrath. If we wish to be happy let us 
 seek the removal of that never-fail- 
 ing source of misery. IT That he 
 
 may seek occasion against us. Heb. 
 T.'^'bV bbnr.nb Uhitkgolel aUnu, to 
 roll himself upon us, or against us ; 
 i. e. by violent oppression; crushing us 
 like a stone rolling down a precipice. 
 Gr. 'That he may bring a false accusa- 
 tion against us.' Chal. 'That he may 
 domineer over us.' Thus, by a similar 
 metaphor, Prov. 26.27, 'He thatro//e^-'i 
 a stone, it will return upon him ;' i. e. 
 he that does violent wrong to another, 
 or spreads a slanderous report concern- 
 ing him, will find it to recoil upon him- 
 self. ' To say a man rolls himself upon 
 another, is the eastern way of saying 
 \\e falls upon him. Is a person beaten 
 or injured by another: he says of the 
 other, 'He rolled himself upon me.' 
 Of the individual who is always trying 
 to live upon another, who is contmually 
 endeavoring to get something out oi 
 him, it is said, 'That fellow is for ever 
 rolling himself upon him.' So, also, 
 ' I will not submit to his conduct any 
 longer; I will beat him, and roll my- 
 self upon him.' Has a man commit- 
 ted an offence, he is advised to go to 
 the offended, and roll himself upon 
 him. A person in great sorrow, who 
 is almost destitute of friends, asks in 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 317 
 
 19 And they came near to the 
 steward of Joseph's house, and 
 they communed with him at the 
 door of the house, 
 
 20 And said, 
 indeed down at 
 buy food : 
 
 O sir, « we came 
 the first time to 
 
 ch. 42. 3, 10. 
 
 his distress,. 'Upon whom shall I roll 
 myself 7' When men or women are 
 in great misery, they wring their hands 
 and roll themselves on the earth. De- 
 votees roll themselves round the tem- 
 ple, or after the sacred car.' Roberts. 
 
 19, 20. Communed with him at the 
 door of the house, &c". They would not 
 venture into the house till they had en- 
 deavored to banish from his mind the 
 suspicions w4iich he miglit perhaps en- 
 tertain of their behavior. They were 
 afraid of sharing the fate of Simeon, 
 or, what was Uttle better, of being 
 made slaves, to the ruin of the fami- 
 lies which they had left at home, un- 
 less they could satisfy the ruler of Jo- 
 seph's house concerning their inno- 
 cence. They lost no time therefore in 
 explaining their own behavior, and rec- 
 tifying misapprehension if any existed, 
 in the minds of Joseph and of his ser- 
 vants. They had no good reason to 
 believe that these Egyptians were their 
 adversaries, but they could not go into 
 Joseph's house with pleasure till they 
 were assured that neither he nor his 
 people had any thing to lay to their 
 charge. The richest feast will afford 
 little gratification to a troubled mind. 
 'Who, in India, has not seen similar 
 scenes to this? When people come 
 from a distance to do business, or to 
 have an interview with a person, they 
 do not (if it can be avoided) go to him 
 at once, but try to find out the head 
 servant, and after having made him 
 some little present, try to ascertain tho 
 
 21 And k it came to pass, when 
 we came to the inn, that we open- 
 ecte our sacks, and behold, everij 
 man's money was in the mouth of 
 his sack, our money in full weight : 
 and we have brought it again in 
 our hand. 
 
 k ch. 42. 27, 35. 
 
 disposition of his master, what are his 
 habits, his possessions, and his family. 
 Every thing connected with the object 
 of their visit is thoroughly sifted, so 
 that when they have to meet the indi- 
 vidual, they are completely prepared 
 for him.' Roberts. 
 
 21. It cavie to pass, tchen we came to 
 the inn, &c. It was well judged in 
 them to volunteer the mention of this 
 matter, that if any thing was afterward 
 said about it by Joseph, they might ap- 
 peal to the steward, and he could testi- 
 fy in their behalf that, without any 
 accusation they had of their own ac- 
 cord related the whole business to him, 
 and returned the money= The best 
 apology of innocence arraigned is a 
 
 plain statement of facts. IT We 
 
 opened our sacks. We do not read that 
 they opened more than one of their 
 sacks when they came to the inn. We 
 cannot say, however, that they gave a 
 false account of the matter. It is pos- 
 sible that they might open more sacks 
 than one at the inn, though it is not 
 said so ; or, the words may signify 
 that they began the opening of the 
 sacks at that place, though they did 
 not finish it till they came to their 
 father's house. In like manner, it 
 seems pretty clear that when Paul pro- 
 fessed to give an account before Agrip- 
 pa of the words that Jesus spoke to 
 him in the way to Damascu.s, he re- 
 cited not only what was spoken to him 
 in the way, but likewise the words 
 which Jesus spoke to him at Damas- 
 
318 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 22 And other money have we 
 brought down in our hands to 
 buy food : we cannot tell who pyt 
 our money in our sacks. 
 
 23 And he said, Peace be to 
 
 cas, by the mouth of Ananias. Yet 
 no man will say that Paul gave a 
 wrong statement of facts. The words 
 spoken at Damascus were a continua- 
 tion, and a full exphcation of what 
 was said to him in the way. Acts, 
 26. 3—18. 
 
 22. We cannot tell, &c. This part 
 of the address was discreetly ma.fiaged. 
 Next in importance to the duty of ad- 
 hering strictly to the truth in all our 
 attempts to plead our own cause, is 
 the rule that requires us to say simply 
 what is fit and expedient to be said, 
 and nothing more. So far are we from 
 being required to say all we think, that 
 the truth imprudently uttered may 
 sometimes be little better than a lie. 
 A wise man, instead of uttering all his 
 mind, will keep it in till afterward. 
 There was a suspicion in the minds of 
 Jacob's sons, that the money was put 
 into their sacks by one of Joseph's ser- 
 vants ; perhaps by the man himself to 
 whom they were now speaking ; but 
 it would have been very foolish to ex- 
 press their suspicion. It might have 
 kindled up resentment in his mind ; 
 and therefore they say they do not 
 know who did it. It was true they did 
 not know. They only guessed the 
 truth. They wisely forbore therefore 
 any insinuations, and their readiness to 
 make restitution when no man asked 
 it of them, gave the steward reason to 
 believe they were honest men. 
 
 23. And he said, Peace be to you, 
 fear not, &c. The answer of the stew- 
 ard is very remarkable. Had he been 
 himself in the secret he could scarcely 
 have spoken more suitably. There is 
 no reason to suppose that he knew 
 
 you, fear not: your God, and the 
 God of your father, hath given 
 you treasure in your sacks : 1 had 
 your money. And he brought 
 Simeon out unto them. 
 
 these were Joseph's brethren ; yet he 
 knew that they were his countrymen, 
 and perceiving the interest which he 
 took in them, and the air of mystery 
 which attended his conduct towards 
 them, he would be at no loss to con- 
 clude that there was no ill design 
 against them. He may have known 
 that the money was returned by Jo- 
 seph's order, and he knew his master 
 too well to suppose that any injury 
 would accrue to the men on account of 
 what had been done by his direction. 
 His whole address leads us to infer 
 that he had learnt much from his mas- 
 ter. He recognises the God of the He- 
 brews as the God of providence, al- 
 though when he tells them to dismiss 
 their fears, inasmuch as their God and 
 the God of their fathers had given them 
 this treasure in their sacks, he does not 
 mean that God had put it into their 
 sacks without the intervention of man; 
 but simply that the matter had been 
 overruled so that they should come by 
 
 it by honorable means. ^ I had 
 
 your money. Heb. i;54 Jta t^tClD 
 kaspekem ba eai, your money came to 
 me. That is, you cannot be called to 
 account for the money, for I had it. 
 Whatever became of it afterwards, I 
 hereby acknowledge the receipt of it 
 for the corn. You are credited with 
 payment in full; therefore give your- 
 selves no uneasiness on that score. In 
 all this we cannot but recognise the 
 fruits of Joseph's instructions to his 
 steward. Happy was he in being in 
 the service of such a man. Joseph, no 
 doubt, delighted to speak of his God, 
 and the God of his fathers, and his 
 steward appears to have learnt his sen- 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 319 
 
 24 And the man brought the 
 men into Joseph's house, and 
 i gave them water, and they 
 washed their feet ; and he gave 
 their asses provender. 
 
 1 ch. 18. 4. <fe 24. 32. 
 
 timents and his language. Many have 
 received their knowledge and impres- 
 sions of religion in families where di- 
 vine providence placed them as ser- 
 vants, and they would not have ex- 
 changed the benefits derived from that 
 servitude for all the riches of the earth. 
 If masters and mistresses were more 
 faithful to their domestics, doubtless 
 they would more frequently find them- 
 eelves the instruments of eternal good 
 to their souls. — But the steward, to 
 render the ten brethren still more at 
 ease, brings forth Simeon from his con- 
 finement, and as this would naturally 
 be understood as having been done in 
 pursuance of Joseph's order, it would 
 be regarded as a proof of his being sat- 
 isfied. To Simeon himself the pleas- 
 ure of being released and of beholding 
 his brethren, was a rich compensation 
 for the pain of confinement, but a still 
 richer did he receive from the happy 
 effects of his afHiction, if he made that 
 improvement of it which Joseph in- 
 tended, and which reason and religion 
 prescribed. His brethren, on the other 
 hand, were happy to find him restored 
 to their society. They remembered 
 their father's words, 'Joseph is not, 
 and Simeon is not, and ye will take 
 Benjamin away.' Although they had 
 no hope of ever being able to restore 
 Joseph, they pleased themselves with 
 the hope of hearing their father in a 
 few days blessing God, and thanking 
 them for bringing up Simeon and Benja- 
 min again to his arms. The irretrieva- 
 ble loss of Joseph would be thought 
 of by their father with the less regret, 
 when two other sons were restored to 
 
 25 And they made ready the 
 present against Joseph came at 
 noon: for they heard that they 
 should eat bread there. 
 
 26 *[[ And when Joseph came 
 home, they brought him the pres- 
 ent which was in their hand into 
 
 his arms, about whose fate he was long 
 in suspense. Thus the clouds which 
 had hitherto darkened their horizon, 
 began in a very slight degree to break 
 away, but some time was yet to in- 
 tervene before the full noonday light 
 burst upon them. 
 
 24, 25. And the man brought the 
 men into Joseph^ s house, &c. While 
 Joseph was occupied in his various 
 concerns, and thinking how he should 
 conduct himseJf toward his brethren, 
 they were busy in washing and dres- 
 sing themselves to appear before him, 
 and in preparing the present which 
 they had brought him. Though they 
 were in a great measure relieved from 
 their painful apprehensions by the 
 courtesy of the ruler of Joseph's 
 house, yet they were still anxious about 
 the reception they should meet with 
 from his master. They could not un- 
 derstand for what reason they were 
 singled out from all other strangers to 
 the honor of dining with him. But 
 whatever might be his reasons for in- 
 viting them to his table, they hope 
 their present will recommend them to 
 his favor, and that it may be accepta- 
 ble they know it should be given with 
 a good grace. We may imagine them, 
 therefore, drawing forth from their bag- 
 gage the balm, and the honey, the pre- 
 cious fruits, the spices, and the gums, 
 which they had brought, arranging 
 them in proper order, and consulting 
 with what bodily posture and what 
 form of words they should beg his ac- 
 ceptance of them. 
 
 26. And when Joseph came home, 
 &c. Joseph knew that the present 
 
320 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 the house, and ""bowed them- 
 selves to him to the earth. 
 
 27 And he asked them of their 
 welfare, and said. Is your father 
 ■well, the old man" of whom ye 
 spake ? Is he yet alive ? 
 
 23 And they answered, Thy 
 servant our father is in good 
 health, he is yet alive: ''and 
 
 m ch. 37. 7, 10. 
 07. 7, 10. 
 
 n ch. 42. n, 13. o ch. 
 
 was an evidence rather of their fear 
 than of their love. But he could ex- 
 cuse that fear which his own policy 
 had occasioned. He hoped soon to 
 gain his brethren's love by discovering 
 his own. In the mean time, as it was 
 obvious that his brethren were acting 
 with the concurrence and by the di- 
 rection of their father, how would Jo- 
 seph's heart be melted at the thought 
 that his anxious father was now, with- 
 out knowing it, attempting to soften 
 his heart in the same method as he 
 had long before done that of Esau, by 
 a rich present! But there was still 
 more in the incident than a proof of Ja- 
 cob's wish to conciliate the lord of 
 Egypt. The giving of costly pres- 
 ents was and ever has been in that 
 quarter of the world, the usual token 
 of homage to superiors. As this pres- 
 ent came from Jacob by the hand of his 
 sons, Joseph's dream might now be 
 considered as verified, that the sun, 
 moon, and eleven stars did obeisance to 
 him. When his brethren bowed down 
 themselves to the earth before him, 
 they humbly solicited his favor for 
 their father as well as for themselves. 
 What the import of this gesture was, 
 we may learn from Isaiah's predictions 
 concerning the homage that was to be 
 paid by the Gentiles to Zion and her 
 king. —Is. 45. 14.— 60. 14.— 49. 22, 23. 
 27, 28. And he asked them of their 
 tcelfare. Heb. Cl^sb leshalom, to 
 
 they bowed down their heads, 
 and made obeisance. 
 
 29 And he lifted up his eyes, 
 and saw his brother Benjamin, 
 p his mother's son, and said, Is 
 this your younger brother, "J of 
 whom ye spake unto me? And 
 he said, God be gracious unto 
 thee, my son. 
 
 p ch. 35. 17, 18. q eh. 42. 13. 
 
 peace ; i. e. as to their peace or welfare, 
 as explained above in the note on Gen. 
 
 29.6. ^ Is your father well 7 Heb. 
 
 tlD''lS^ tDlVl'H ha-shalom abikem, is 
 there peace to your father? The pre- 
 sentation of the gifts in the name of 
 Jacob would naturally pave the way to 
 some inquiries respecting him ; and it 
 is observable how adroitly he supports 
 the character which he had assumed, 
 that of an Egyptian nobleman, who 
 remembered what they had said about 
 a venerable old man, of whose welfare 
 he now politely asks. They in their 
 answer give Joseph the intelligence 
 that would most delight his heart, and 
 at the same time by calling their father 
 his ' servant,' and a second time bowing 
 and doing obeisance, they may be said 
 again to have confirmed the previous 
 fulfilment of the dream. 
 
 29, 30. He lifted up his eyes and saio 
 his brother Benjamin. He seems to 
 have noticed Benjamin before upon his 
 first arrival, v. 16, but perhaps distrust- 
 ing his command of his feelings, he 
 seems in the interval to have put him- 
 self especially on his guard. But now 
 the sight of him again awakens too 
 many tender recollections to be resist- 
 ed. His countenance brought to mind 
 their common mother and her prema- 
 ture loss. He thought of the partial 
 affection of their kind father, and 
 of the present anxiety and distress 
 of the venerable man. He reverted to 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 321 
 
 30 And Joseph made haste ; 
 for ""his bowels did yearn upon 
 his brother : and he sought lohere 
 to weep; and he entered into his 
 chamber, and * wept there. 
 
 31 And he washed his face, 
 and went out, and refrained him- 
 self, and said, Set on t bread. 
 
 r 1 KiiiEis 3. 26. s ch. 42. 24. t ver. 25. 
 
 his own strange eventful history, and 
 thence to the exposedness of his be- 
 loved brother to dangers that had al- 
 most proved fatal to himself. The 
 consequence was a rush of emotions 
 upon his mind too powerful to be sup- 
 pressed. After uttering a benediction 
 which under the disg-uise of a good 
 wish from a stranger, was in reality 
 the effusion of a bursting heart, he was 
 obliged to retire in order to throw a 
 veil over those feelings which must 
 otherwise have betrayed the secret that 
 for the present he designs to keep. He 
 withdraws therefore to give vent to 
 his tears in a private place; and how- 
 ever bitter were the tears which he had 
 formerly shed when exiled from all 
 that was dear to him on earth, he now 
 shed tears of joy of proportionable 
 sweetness. His grief for what was 
 past was now swallowed up in the ex- 
 tacy of what was present, and what 
 
 was to come. IT His hoioels did 
 
 yearn upon his brother. Heb. ll^^D 
 nikmeru, did burn, were kindled. 
 Thus Hos. 11.8, ' Mine heart is turned 
 within me, my repen tings are kindled 
 (Tn;^52 nikmeru) together.' The term 
 occurs elsewhere only 1 Kings 3. 2. 
 Sam. 5. 10. Gr. and dial. 'Were 
 turned.' Vulg. ' Were moved.' 
 
 31. And he washed his face, &c. 
 Having recomposed himself, he returns 
 to the company, and resuming the 
 Egyptian, conmiands the entertain- 
 ment to be served up, during which he 
 has sufficient self-command to do the 
 
 32 And they set on for him- 
 self, and for them by themselves, 
 and for the Egyptians which did 
 eat with him, by themselves : be- 
 cause the Egyptians might not 
 eat bread with the Hebrews ; for 
 that is ^an abomination unto the 
 Egyptians. 
 
 V ch. 46. 34. Exod. S. 26. 
 
 honors of it in the most becoming 
 manner. Throughout the whole scene 
 Joseph wins equally upon our love and 
 our respect. We love him for the 
 warm sensibility of his heart, and we 
 respect him as one who knows both 
 when and where to weep, and who 
 could refrain himself, and appear cheer- 
 ful when it v.'as fit. While tears shed 
 on proper occasions throw a grace over 
 the manliest character, we should still 
 bear it in mind that there is not only 'a 
 time to weep, but also a time to laugh ; 
 a time to embrace and a time to refrain 
 from embracing,' and that he whose 
 tears are not in some measure under 
 the control of his judgment, is rather a 
 child than a man. 
 
 32. And they set on for him by him- 
 self, &c. Heb. I^I'j::;-! yasimu^ they 
 set, placed, stationed ; i. e. not so prop- 
 erly the dishes, as the tables, or the gen- 
 eral eating apparatus. One was set for 
 himself, one for the strangers, and one 
 for the Egyptians. This was undoubt- 
 edly a device to stimulate their curiosi- 
 ty in respect to himself. That the 
 Egyptians and Hebrews should eat 
 apart they could easily account for; 
 but who or what is the man ? Is he ■ 
 not an Egyptian? Yet if he be, why 
 eat by himself? Surely he must be a 
 
 foreigner. IT The Egyptians might 
 
 not eat bread with the Hebrews. Heb. 
 'llbil'^ iti /o yukelun, were not able to 
 cat ; i. e. it was contrary to established 
 usage, and this usage carried with it 
 such a binding authority to their con- 
 
322 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 33 And they sat before him, 
 the first-born according to his 
 birth-right, and the youngest ac- 
 cording to his youth : and the 
 men marvelled one at another. 
 
 34 And he took and sent mess- 
 
 sciences that they felt a moral inability 
 to disregard it. See Note on Gen. 29. 
 8. The reason of this it is, at the 
 present day, extremely difficult to ascer- 
 tain. Some, following the interpreta- 
 tion of the Chaldee, suppose that the 
 Hebrews were accustomed to eat the 
 animals which the Egyptians worship- 
 ped as gods. But it is not certain that 
 at this early period brute-worship was 
 established in that country, and we can- 
 not at any rate suppose that any of the 
 Egyptian gods were served up at that 
 table where the Egyptians sat as 
 guests. It is perhaps more probable 
 that the Hebrews were reckoned im- 
 pure by the Egyptians because they 
 did not observe those ceremonies in 
 eating, which made a part of the re- 
 ligion of Egypt. It is well known that 
 most ancient heathen nations were 
 wont to honor their gods at their tables 
 by observances, which they thought 
 no religious person would neglect. We 
 pity their bhndness, but we read in 
 their conduct a rebuke of multitudes in 
 christian lands, who show less respect 
 at their tables to the God of all their 
 mercies, than the heathen showed to 
 these vanities, that could neither do 
 good nor evil. 
 
 33. And they sat before him, the first- 
 born according to his birthright, &c. 
 Not only was the order of the tables, 
 but the order also in which they them- 
 selves were seated, a matter of sur- 
 prise to Joseph's brethren. They were 
 astonished to find every man placed 
 according to his age. Who can this be, 
 they would say to themselves, that is 
 
 es unto them from before him: 
 but Benjamin's mess was xfive 
 times so much as any of theirs. 
 And they drank, and were merry 
 with him. 
 
 X ch. 45. 22. 
 
 so well acquainted with our ages as to 
 be able to adjust our places in this man- 
 ner 1 Surely it must be some one who 
 knows us, though we know not him. 
 Or is he a diviner? Who or what can 
 he be? They might well be said to 
 have marvelled at one another. It 
 was marvellous that they did not hence 
 suspect who he really was. 
 
 34. And he took and sent messes wn- 
 to them from before him, &c. It was, 
 and still is, the custom in the countries 
 of the East, for the master of the house 
 to testify his regard for his guests, by 
 sending messes to them of that food 
 which is served up for himself. Mr. 
 Carne remarks that being hospitably 
 entertained by an Egyptian Aga, he 
 received from his host the choicest 
 pieces of meat, which he took up with 
 his fingers and placed before the guest ; 
 and that on another occasion, when 
 stopping for the night in an empty 
 khan or inn, one of the travellers, wish- 
 ing to give him a proof of his respect, 
 threw him a piece of meat, though at 
 the distance of several yards. There 
 is no reason to suppose that Benjamin 
 ate more than the rest, but Joseph sent 
 him the large mess as a mark of spe- 
 cial favor. In this it is probable that 
 it was his real design to try whether 
 the superior honors conferred upon 
 Benjamin would kindle up envy in 
 their breasts against him. Joseph had 
 had too good reason to know, that men 
 are naturally envious of the distinctions 
 bestowed upon those whom they are 
 accustomed to consider as their equals 
 or inferiors. He would have proof 
 
B. C. 1707.J 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 J23 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 A ND he commanded the stew- 
 -^ ard of his house, saying, Fill 
 the men's sacks with food, as much 
 as they can carry, and put every 
 man's money in his sack's mouth. 
 
 (herefore that his brethren had subdued 
 ;he envious dispositions they formerly 
 cherished, if they should still retain the 
 ',varm affection of brothers to Benja- 
 min, after he had been distinguished 
 with peculiar honors by the lord of 
 
 Egypt. IT They drank, and were 
 
 merry with him. Heb. 1?a3> I^S^"^ 
 yishkeru immo, drank largely with 
 him ; i. e. freely, but not to intoxication. 
 The original ^i'tU shakar properly 
 means to drink abundantly, to drink 
 to exhilaration or merriment ; but as it 
 appears from Gen. 40. 11, that the 
 Egyptians were accustomed at this 
 time to drink the fresh juice of the 
 grape before it had fermented and thus 
 generated alcohol, they were in little 
 danger of intoxication even from the 
 largest quantity they could drink of 
 such a harmless beverage. The term 
 is elsewhere employed to signify that 
 cheerful enjoyment of God's good crea- 
 tures which is perfectly consistent with 
 the laws of the strictest sobriety. Thus, 
 Cant. 5. 1, ' Drink, {iT\'J2 shethu) yea, 
 drink abundantly ("1*1^^ shikru), O 
 beloved.' Here the two words in the 
 original are the very same as those 
 used in the passage before us, and sure- 
 ly our blessed Lord would not borrow 
 images from the vile debaucheries of 
 revellers and drunkards to illustrate his 
 grace and kindness to the persons 
 whom he loves. Thus too in the ac- 
 count of the marriage-feast at Cana of 
 Galilee, John 2. 10, when Jesus turned 
 water into wine, the word which we 
 render 'have well drunk' (^£0i«t0w<7j) 
 answers in meaning to the Heb. word 
 used in this place. But it would be 
 
 2 And put my cup, the silver 
 cup, in the sack's mouth of the 
 youngest, and his corn money : 
 and he did according to the word 
 that Joseph had spoken. 
 
 blasphemy against Christ to allege that 
 he turned water into wine to supply 
 the extravagant cravings of a licentious 
 appetite. In like manner, it would be a 
 violation of that respect which we owe 
 to Joseph's memory, to suppose that 
 he either encouraged or allowed an ex- 
 cessive use of liquor at his table. He 
 would certainly much rather have ex- 
 posed himself to the censure or dis- 
 pleasure of the noblest guests, by re- 
 straining debauchery, than to the dis- 
 pleasure of the Most High God, by giv- 
 ing countenance to those fleshly indul- 
 gences which his law condemns ; and 
 so would any right-minded man. God 
 is a gracious Master. He allows a 
 cheerful use of the good things of this 
 life, but his goodness is abused and in- 
 sulted, if we take occasion from his 
 Hberality to fulfil the lusts of the flesh. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 1, 2. And he commanded the steward 
 of his house, saying, &c. Joseph here 
 has recourse to another expedient still 
 longer to detain his brethren and more 
 effectually to bring them to a proper 
 spirit. His immediate object in the 
 present step seems to have been to try 
 still farther their temper towards Ben- 
 jamin. If they discovered little or no 
 concern for his affliction, it would be 
 too evident that they still lived under 
 the influence of that selfish and envi- 
 ous spirit which prompted them to sell 
 himself in to Egypt. But if they should 
 discover a strong desire to preserve 
 Benjamin, it might be presumed that 
 their dispositions were improved, and 
 that they could entertain the afFection 
 
GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 3 As soon as the morning was 
 Jight, the men were sent away, 
 they, and their asses. 
 
 4 And when they were gone 
 out of the city, and not yet far 
 off, Joseph said unto his steward, 
 Up, follow after the men ; and 
 
 of a brother towards one v/hom their 
 father loved above themselves. But 
 while we can easily see why Joseph 
 put the silver cup into Benjamin's sack, 
 it is not so easy to conjecture the rea- 
 sons for his ordering each man's mon- 
 ey to be put in the mouth of his sack. 
 Joseph, no doubt, would have scorned 
 the idea of requiring the ordinary price, 
 or any price, for that food with which 
 he wished to sustain his father's house- 
 hold ; but his generous intentions do 
 not account for a manner of restoring 
 their corn-money, which he foresaw 
 would fill them with amazement and 
 distress. The pain of such uneasiness 
 as they would feel, was too high a 
 price for the money which Joseph re- 
 stored. The reason of the proceeding 
 probably was, that they might have 
 no grounds to suspect Benjamin as the 
 real thief of the cup. While he wished 
 to have a pretence for detaining Benja- 
 min, he did not wish that they should 
 have reason to suspect that he was 
 really guilty. His desire was to find 
 nis brethren disposed to defend Benja- 
 min in a just cause, from that oppression 
 to which he seemed to be exposed. If 
 there had been too great appearance of 
 guilt in their eyes, they might have 
 been excused if they had left him to 
 the just punishment of his crime. In 
 all this Joseph's conduct was governed 
 by the circumstances under which it 
 occurred. It will not justify us for re- 
 sorting to like measures when there is 
 not the like occasion. We are not to 
 devise methods to explore the secret 
 principles by which our friends are ac- 
 
 when thou dost overtake them, 
 say unto them, Wherefore have 
 ye rewarded evil for good ? 
 
 5 Is not this it in which my 
 lord drinketh, and whereby in- 
 deed hedivineth? ye have done 
 evil in so doing. 
 
 tuated, when they have given us no 
 good reason to form suspicions con- 
 cerning them. 
 
 3. As soon as the inorning was light, 
 &c. Joseph's brethren, being early 
 dismissed, set out on their journey 
 with cheerful spirits. Simeon is re- 
 stored, Benjamin is safe, and they are 
 well laden with provision for the fam- 
 ily. They would now be ready to an- 
 ticipate the pleasure of seeing their 
 father, and of easing his anxious heart. 
 But the most beautiful morning may 
 soon be overcast with dark clouds. 
 Joseph was preparing for them grief 
 and fear, although he intended good 
 and not harm. Let us never be too 
 confident that to-morrow will be as 
 this day, or that this day will be serene 
 and bright till the evening. 
 
 4, 5. Ajid uhen they were gone out of 
 the city, &c. Scarcely have they left 
 the precincts of the city, when the 
 steward overtakes them, and charges 
 them with the heinous crime of having 
 stolen his lord's cup, by which we are 
 to understand, according to the force 
 of the original, a large deep goblet, out 
 of which the wine was poured into the 
 drinking-vessel. This was a crime 
 which would have been highly offen- 
 sive at any time, but pre-eminently so 
 after the generous treatment they had 
 
 now received. ^ Whereby indeed he 
 
 divineth. Heb. 1^ m2"> rn2 nahesh 
 yenahesh bo, searching maketh search 
 by it; i.e. learns experimentally by 
 means of it. The original term THD 
 nahash, from which comes the Heb. 
 word for serpent, Gen. 3. 1, signifies 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 325 
 
 6 T[ And he overtook them, 
 and he spake unto them these 
 same words. 
 
 7 And they said unto him, 
 Wherefore saith my lord these 
 words ? God forbid that thy ser- 
 vants should do according to this 
 thinff: 
 
 primarily a close scrutinizing search, 
 and secondarily the practice of div- 
 ination or augury. The use of the 
 term by the steward does not imply 
 that Joseph ordinarily made use of the 
 diviner's art ; but as it had probably 
 been attributed to him, on account of 
 his great wisdom, by the Egyptians, 
 he merely takes advantage of the fact 
 to accomphsh a particular purpose, 
 without leaving us any ground to infer 
 that the popular impression was either 
 true or false. In addressing Joseph's 
 brethren in this manner, we think it 
 probable that the steward alluded to 
 the circumstances that occurred at the 
 entertainment the day before. It is 
 natural to suppose that he would have 
 had his cup before him on that occa- 
 sion if ever, and as he had appeared to 
 discern their relative seniority by some 
 supernatural means, we may easily 
 conceive that the -steward's phrase 
 would convey to them the impression, 
 that it was owing to some mysterious 
 magical virtue in the cup. All this 
 could no doubt be said without any 
 impeachment of his piety, and we have 
 therefore no occasion to resort to any 
 of the various renderings which have 
 been suggested in order to save the 
 credit of Joseph as an upright man. 
 It was certainly as harmless a device 
 as that of his feigning to be a stranger 
 to his brethren and keeping them so 
 long in ignorance of his real character. 
 6. And he overtook them, &c. What 
 Joseph designed by this step it was 
 perhaps impossible for the steward to 
 guess, but he was persuaded that his 
 2^ 
 
 8 Behold, * the money which 
 we found in our sacks' mouths, 
 we brought again unto thee out 
 of the land of Canaan : how then 
 should we steal out of thy lord's 
 house silver or gold ? 
 
 ach. 43. 21. 
 
 master was too good a man to enlist 
 him in an iniquitous scheme. Men of 
 know^n integrity enjoy this privilege, 
 that their character in the main se- 
 cures them against suspicions of dis- 
 honesty, even when they behave in 
 such a way as might expose other 
 men to suspicion. Relying on the jus- 
 tice and wisdom of his master, there- 
 fore, the steward dexterously seconded 
 his designs, and appeared so much in 
 earnest, that no doubt seems to have 
 been entertained of his sincerity by 
 Joseph's brethren. But they thought 
 themselves able to give satisfactory evi- 
 dence of their integrity. 
 
 7, 8. God forbid that thy servants 
 should do, &c. The sons of Jacob 
 were chargeable in the sight of God 
 with many sins. They were conscious 
 of as great crimes as this which was 
 now laid to their charge, or rather of 
 crimes vastly greater, and yet they 
 were thunderstruck at the present ac- 
 cusation, and expressed the utmost 
 abhorrence of such a conduct. *God 
 forbid,' or Heb. ' Far be it from thy 
 servants, that they should do according 
 to this thing.' Could they be so base 
 and so wicked as to steal a favorite 
 cup from the great man who had treat- 
 ed them with such distinction 7 Was 
 it possible that they should abuse his 
 goodness to an opportunity of pilfering 
 the most precious furniture of that 
 table at which they had been honored 
 with a place? In order to strengthen 
 their denial, they appeal to a fact with 
 which the steward was well acquaint- 
 ed, viz. their having brought again the 
 
326 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707 
 
 9 With whomsoever of ihy 
 servants it be found, ^ both let 
 him flie, and we also will be my 
 lord's bond-men. 
 
 10 And he said, Now also let 
 it be according unto your words : 
 he with whom it is found shall 
 be my servant ; and ye shall be 
 blameless. 
 
 11 Then they speedily took 
 
 b ch. 31. 32. 
 
 money which they had found in their 
 sacks. Did this conduct comport with 
 the character of thieves 1 It is the great 
 advantage of those whose past con- 
 duct has been unreproachable that they 
 can produce it as a witness in their 
 favor when falsely accused or unjustly 
 suspected. In all their late intercourse 
 with Joseph their behavior had been 
 upright and honorable. Through some 
 oversight their money had been re- 
 stored to them, which they brought 
 back and returned when it was not 
 sought. How, then, could it be be- 
 lieved that they would now seize upon 
 what had never belonged to them, 
 especially when they had no reason to 
 expect that they would escape detec- 
 tion, disgrace, and punishment? A 
 good name justly acquired will repel 
 groundless charges that might other- 
 wise be of the most serious injury to 
 our reputation. 
 
 9. With whomsoever, &c. Jacob's 
 sons could confide in one another. 
 Notwithstanding all that was past, yet 
 they were all persuaded that none of 
 them would degrade themselves so far 
 as to put their hands upon what was 
 not their own. They were so confi- 
 dent of one another's integrity, that 
 ihey could risk their own liberty upon 
 it. They unanimously doomed the 
 thief, and themselves to slavery, if he 
 was found among their number. Yet 
 they were doubtless too rash in proffer- 
 
 down every man his sack to the 
 ground, and opened every man 
 his sack. 
 
 12 And he searched, and be- 
 gan at the eldest, and left at the 
 youngest : and the cup was found 
 in Benjamin's sack. 
 
 13 Then they <= rent their 
 clothes, and laded every man his 
 ass, and returned to the city. 
 
 c ch. 37. 29, 34. Num. 14. 6. 2 Sam. 1. 11. 
 
 ing to subject themselves to such a 
 penalty. It was indeed brotherly con- 
 duct to express such a firm confidence 
 in one another's innocence, but the 
 money which they had formerly found 
 in the mouths of their sacks, might 
 have taught them, that the cup in ques- 
 tion might likewise have been put into 
 the sack of one of them, without any 
 fault on his part. He that is hasty 
 with his tongue, often erreth. 
 
 10. And he said, Now also Id it be, 
 &c. The steward takes the sons of 
 Jacob at their word, so far only as jus- 
 tice allowed. He will have the sacks 
 searched, that it may be known wheth- 
 er any of them had taken the cup ; but 
 he will not, as they proposed, punish 
 the innocent with the guilty, nor will 
 he punish the guilty so rigorously as 
 they proposed. When others speak 
 rashly, we ought not to take advan- 
 tage of their rashness, for we ourselves 
 have no doubt often come under en- 
 gagements without due deliberation, ol 
 which others, if they had been dis- 
 posed, might have availed themselves 
 greatly to our injury. 
 
 11. Then they speedily took down, 
 &c. With the steward's proposal they 
 readily acquiesce and with indignant 
 sensations unlade every man his beast, 
 in order to disprove the charge. A 
 few moments, they thought, would be 
 sufficient for the full proof of their in- 
 nocence. But their faces were covered 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 327 
 
 14 T[ And Judah and his breth- 
 ren came to Joseph's house, (for 
 he was yet there:) and they ''fell 
 before him on the ground. 
 
 d ch. 37. 7. 
 
 with shame when they saw vyhat they 
 did not expect to find. 
 
 12, 13. The cup was found in Ben- 
 jamin's sack. Joseph's steward might 
 have begun with the sack of the young- 
 est, and saved himself the trouble of 
 searching so many sacks in vain ; but 
 he thought it necessary still to put on 
 the appearance of justice, although he 
 knew he could not deceive the breth- 
 ren, nor is it likely that he wished them 
 to be deceived. Ten out of eleven are 
 clear, and enjoy the triumph of a good 
 conscience ; but lo, in the sack of the 
 youngest the cup is found 1 How soon 
 was their joy turned into mourning, 
 and their cheerful hopes into dismal 
 fears! And what shall they now do 7 
 There was apparent danger in their re- 
 turning to the city. Snares, it was too 
 obvious, were laid for Benjamin. And 
 what if all of them should be involved 
 in these snares 7 Was it not safest to 
 leave Benjamin to his fate, and to se- 
 cure themselves by a speedy flight 7 
 But their bowels yearned over their 
 poor brother, and over their father, who 
 would be inconsolable under his loss. 
 Rather than see the misery of their 
 father, they will return, and try what 
 can be done to save Benjamin. Thus 
 they might not only make some httle 
 compensation to their father for be- 
 reaving him of Joseph, but they would 
 also, by shewing themselves so deeply 
 interested in Benjamin's misfortune 
 dissipate Joseph's remaining doubts 
 concerning them, and in a great meas- 
 ure repay him for all the injuries he 
 had experienced at their hands. 
 
 14. And Judah and his brethren 
 came to Joseph's house, &c. Joseph 
 
 15 And Joseph said unto them, 
 What deed is this that ye have 
 done? wot ye not that such a 
 m.an as I can certainly divine ? 
 
 probably remained at his house anx- 
 iously expecting their return, and the 
 first thing they did upon their arrival 
 was to fall down prostrate before him, 
 doing obeisance again in the name of 
 their father and their own. Judah is 
 particularly mentioned because it was 
 he who had persuaded Jacob to send 
 Benjamin into Egypt, and he would 
 feel that the chief responsibility rested 
 upon him. But neither he nor his 
 brethren seem capable of uttering a 
 word. They can only wait in their 
 humble posture to hear what is said to 
 them. 'Thu?,' says an ancient father, 
 ' they bow down to him whom they 
 sold into slavery lest they should bow 
 down to him.' 
 
 15. Wot ye not that such a man as 1 
 can certainly divine? Here again it 
 would seem that Joseph avails himself 
 of the reputation in which he was pop- 
 ularly held. We cannot understand it 
 as implying a claim on his part to the 
 character of a real diviner. It is very 
 possible that the Egyptian language 
 had not words to distinguish between 
 the pretended arts of their diviners, and 
 the true gift of prophecy, with which 
 the Hebrew patriarchs were blessed. 
 As the prophets of Baal and the proph- 
 ets of Jehovah are called by the gene- 
 ral name of prophets, so the Egyptians 
 might give to such a prophet as Joseph 
 appeared to be, the same appellation 
 which they gave to their own pretend- 
 ed prophets. Joseph, therefore, when 
 he ostensibly laid claim to what was 
 called divination in Egypt, did not 
 mean that he was a diviner of the same 
 kind with those of Egypt, but simply 
 one that had the gift of discovering 
 
328 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 16 And Judah said, What shall 
 we say unto my lord ? what shall 
 we speak ? or how shall we clear 
 ourselves? God hath found out 
 the iniquity of thy servants: be- 
 hold ^ we are my lord's servants, 
 both we, and he also with whom 
 the cup is found. 
 
 e ver. 9. 
 
 things hidden from other men. Was it 
 not to be supposed that he who could 
 foretel that seven years of plenty would 
 be followed by seven years of famine, 
 could also discover the pilferer of the 
 cup out of which he drank 7 How 
 vain then would it be to think of 
 escaping with his property in their 
 hands undetected? It is plain, how- 
 ever, that he is merely carrying on to 
 its final developement the trial which he 
 was making of the temper of his 
 brethren. He put on a stern aspect, 
 and upbraided them with a pretended 
 crime, but it was to give them occasion 
 to show forth their innocency and their 
 repentance. 
 
 16. And Judah said, &c. It was 
 no doubt by common consent that Ju- 
 dah took the lead and acted as spokes- 
 man on this occasion. No wonder 
 that he was at a loss what to say. 
 How could he justify or excuse Benja- 
 min without seeming to criminate the 
 governor, whose favor it was so neces- 
 sary to court? But if he confessed 
 that his brother were guilty of the base- 
 ness imputed to him, how could he, in 
 view of such black ingratitude, claim 
 any favor for him? His perplexity 
 was indeed excruciating. On the one 
 hand, appearances were so strongly 
 against Benjamin as to warrant his de- 
 tention, and yet how could they return 
 without him? What can he say or 
 do? He can only suggest that it is 
 a mysterious providence, in which it 
 appears to be the design of God to 
 
 17 And he said, ^ God forbid 
 that I should do so : but the man 
 in whose hand the cup is found, 
 he shall be my servant; and as 
 for you, get you up in peace unto 
 your father. 
 
 f Prov. 17. 15. 
 
 punish them for their former crimes. 
 In saying ' God hath found out the in- 
 iquity of thy servants,' he does not 
 mean to plead guilty to the present 
 charge, nor make a definite acknowl- 
 edgment of any particular offence, 
 but to say in general, that it was in 
 consequence of former misdeeds that 
 God had suffered them to fall into this 
 unhappy predicament, and to express 
 a willingness that he should punish 
 them in this way, if he saw fit. They 
 well knew that they had sold Joseph 
 for a slave, and filled up many of the 
 years of their father's life with bitter 
 anguish, and they admit that it were a 
 righteous thing with God to make 
 them all slaves for crimes which their 
 consciences charged upon them, but 
 of which they supposed Joseph to be 
 profoundly ignorant. If Joseph had 
 really been the character which he ap- 
 peared to be, such an answer would 
 have gone far towards disarming him 
 of his resentment. The simple and 
 genuine utterance of the heart is the 
 most irresistible of all eloquence. 
 
 17. And he said, God forbid that 1 
 should do so, &c. The words both of 
 Joseph and the steward, v. 10, declare 
 their detestation of extending punish- 
 ment beyond the offence or the of- 
 fender. Joseph had no complaint 
 against Benjamin's brethren, and there- 
 fore they might return in peace to their 
 father. But what an alternative was 
 this! Better all be detained than he; 
 for it will m all probability be the death 
 
B. C. 1707.J 
 
 PTF.R XLIV 
 
 329 
 
 18 T[ Then Judali came near 
 unto him, and said, O my lord, 
 let thy servant, I pray thee, speak 
 a word in rny lord's ears, and 
 s let not thine anger burn against 
 thy servant: for thou art even as 
 Pharaoh. 
 
 19 My lord asked his servants, 
 saying. Have ye a father, or a 
 brother ? 
 
 g ch. 18. 30, 3-2. Exod. 32. 22. 
 
 of their father. Joseph, however, had 
 the pleasure to find that his permission 
 to return was not accepted. 
 
 18. Judah came near unto him and 
 said, &c. The surety here becomes 
 the advocate, and presents one of the 
 most powerful pleas ever uttered. 
 Though he knew nothing of the schools 
 or the rules of the rhetoricians, yet no 
 orator ever pronounced a more moving 
 oration. His good sense, and his affec- 
 tion for his venerable father, taught 
 him the highest strains of eloquence. 
 Learning that one only of their num- 
 ber was to be detained he conceives a 
 hope of releasing' Benjamin, and ac- 
 cordingly forms his speech with the 
 most admirable adroitness to compass 
 this end with the governor of Egypt. — 
 'A company of people have always 
 some one among them, who is known 
 and acknowledged to be the chief 
 speaker ; thus, should they fall into 
 trouble, he will be the person to come 
 forward and plead with the superior. 
 He will say, 'My lord, I am indeed a 
 very ignorant person, and not worthy 
 to speak to you : were I of high caste, 
 perhaps my lord would hear me. May 
 I say t^yo or three words?' (some of 
 the party will then say, 'Yes, ^es, our 
 lord will hear you.') He then pro- 
 ceeds: — 'Ah, my lord, your mercy is 
 known to all ; great is your wisdom ; 
 you are even as a king to us : let, then, 
 your servants find favor in your sight.' 
 28* 
 
 20 And we said unto my lord, 
 We have a father, an old man, 
 and ^ a child of his old age, a 
 little one : and his brother is dead, 
 and he alone is left of his mother, 
 and his father loveth him. 
 
 21 And thou saidst unto thy 
 servants, » Bring him down unto 
 me, that T may set mine eyes up- 
 on him. 
 
 h ch. 37. 3. i ch. 42. 15, 20. 
 
 He then, like Judah, relates the whole 
 affair, forgetting no circumstance which 
 has a tendency to exculpate him and 
 his companions ; and every thing which 
 can touch the feelings of his judge will 
 be gently brought before him. As he 
 draws to a conclusion, his pathos in- 
 creases, his companions put out their 
 heads in a supplicadng manner, accom- 
 panied by other gesticulations; their 
 tears begin to flow, and with one voice 
 they cry, 'Forgive us, this time, and 
 we will never offend you more.' Bob- 
 
 eris. IT 1'hou art even as Pharaoh. 
 
 That is, invested with all but royal 
 authority ; having the power to punish 
 and to pardon; standing in the place 
 of Pharaoh, and therefore to be equally 
 reverenced. 
 
 19 — 21. Mj/ lord asked his servants, 
 &.C. Judah, it will be observed, closes 
 his pathetic address, v. 33, with the re- 
 quest to be permitted to remain instead 
 of Benjamin. In order to introduce 
 and enforce this petition, he here enters 
 upon a detailed statement of facts suf- 
 ficient to have moved a heart of stone. 
 Some of these facts Joseph had heard 
 before, when his brethren had no such 
 purpose as the present to serve by re- 
 lating them. He had been informed 
 by them that they had a younger broth- 
 er, the only surviving son of a much- 
 boloved mother, and therefore doubly 
 dear to his gray-haired father. If Jo- 
 seph then had any regard for venerable 
 
330 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 170? 
 
 22 And we said unto my lord, 
 The lad cannot leave his father: 
 for if he should leave his father, 
 his father would die. 
 
 23 And thou saidst unto thy 
 servants, ^ Except your youngest 
 brother come down with you, ye 
 shall see my face no more. 
 
 24 And it came to pass, when 
 we came up unto thy servant my 
 father, we told him the words of 
 my lord. 
 
 25 And 1 our father said, Go 
 again, and buy us a little food. 
 
 26 And we said. We cannot 
 go down : if our youngest brother 
 
 k ch. 43, 3, 5. 1 ch. 43. 2. 
 
 age, any pity for an old man whose life 
 was bound up in the life of his son, he 
 would not bereave him of the solace of 
 
 his declining days. IF Bring him 
 
 down unto me that I may set viine eyes 
 upon him. Gr. ' And I will have a care 
 of him.' The phrase ' to set one's 
 eyes upon a person,' is evidently synon- 
 ymous, in the following passages, with 
 * exercising a tender care towards him.' 
 Jer, 39. 12, ' Take him and look well to 
 him, alid do him no harm ;' Heb. 'set 
 thine eyes upon him.' Jer. 40. 4, ' If it 
 seem good unto thee to come with me 
 into Babylon, come; and I will look 
 well unto thee ;' Heb. 'I will set mine 
 eyes upon thee.' ' Has a beloved son 
 been long absent, does the father anx- 
 iously desire to see him, he says, ' Bring 
 him, bring him, that the course of mine 
 eyes may be upon him.' ' Ah, mine 
 eyes, do you again see my son 1 Oh, 
 mine eyes, is not this pleasure for you 7' 
 Hoberts. 
 
 22. "^The lad cannot leave his father. 
 That is, his father cannot consent to 
 part with him. The inability was 
 rather on the part of Jacob tlian of 
 Benjamin; but the idea is sufficiently 
 obvious. He is called a ' lad' from his 
 
 be with us, then will we go down 
 for we may not see the man's 
 face, except our youngest brother 
 be with us. 
 
 27 And thy servant my father 
 said unto us. Ye know that •" my 
 wife bare me two so7is: 
 
 28 And the one went out from 
 me, and I said, " Surely he is torn 
 in pieces; and 1 saw him not 
 since: 
 
 29 And if ye ° take this also 
 from me, and mischief befall 
 him, ye shall bring down my 
 gray hairs with sorrow to the 
 grave. 
 
 mch. 46. 19. n ch, 37. 33. o ch. 42. 30, 33 
 
 being the youngest of the brethren, 
 though he was now married and had 
 ten children, Gen. 46. 21. So the three 
 companions of Daniel, Shadrach, Me- 
 shach, and Abednego, though old 
 enough to be 'set over the affairs of 
 the province,' yet are spoken of as the 
 three children who were cast into the 
 fiery furnace. See Note on Gen 22. 5. 
 27 — 29. Ye know that my wife bare 
 me, &c. Sorrow is ever entitled to 
 respect. No one possessed of the com- 
 mon feelings of humanity but will be 
 disposed to alleviate the grief of him 
 whom God has wounded by singular 
 afflictions. He must have the spirit of 
 a fiend who wilfully doubles those sor- 
 rows of an innocent man M'hich are 
 already great. It is a dreadful afflic- 
 tion to have one of two favorite sons 
 torn in pieces by wild beasts. The 
 person who, without indispensable ne- 
 cessity, bereaves him of the other is 
 more merciless than the beasts of prey 
 which deprived him of the first. Judah 
 was far from thinking that the brother 
 supposed by the father to be torn of 
 wild beasts, was the very man before 
 whom he was now pleading with such 
 affectio .ate earnestness. Yet it is ob- 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 331 
 
 30 Now therefore when I come 
 to thy servant my father, and the 
 lad be not wiih us; (seeing that 
 p his life is bound up in the lad's 
 life ;) 
 
 31 It shall come to pass, when 
 he seeih that the lad is not with 
 Its, that he will die: and thy ser- 
 vants shall bring down the gray 
 hairs of thy servant our father 
 with sorrow to the grave. 
 
 32 For thy servant became 
 surety for the lad unto my lather, 
 
 p 1 Sam. 18. 1. 
 
 servable that lie said nothing but what 
 was true, ahhough he did not tell all 
 the truth. It was not to be expected 
 that he would tell how Benjamin's 
 brother was lost. He only told his 
 father's opinion concerning it, and that 
 was enough to melt any man's heart 
 into compassion for a father bereaved 
 in such a cruel manner of one son, and 
 trembling in apprehension of the loss 
 of another. He had indeed many 
 other sons left, but none of them by 
 the best-beloved of his wives. When 
 he lost the son whom he believed to 
 have been the prey of ravenous beasts, 
 his body was not so much enfeebled by 
 the infirmities of age. But in his pres- 
 ent state of weakness, it was impossi- 
 ble, to all appearance, that he could 
 survive a second shock more grievous 
 than the first. 
 
 30, 31. Seeing that his life is bound 
 up in the la is life. Or, Heb. TI^Sw 
 TiJ5"^ rr^lEp naphsho keshurah be- 
 napsho, his soul is bound up in his {the 
 lad's) soul. Gr. ' His soul hangeth on 
 this nan's soul.' Chal. 'His (Benja- 
 min's) soul is beloved unto him as his 
 own soul.' If we love our lives or if 
 we regard the commandment which 
 requires us to use all lawful endeavors 
 to preserve them, let us beware of im- 
 moderate attachment to any worldly 
 
 saying, ^If I bring him not unto 
 thee, then I shall bear the blame 
 to my father for ever. 
 
 33 Now therefore, I pray thee, 
 'let thy servant abide instead ot 
 the lad a bond-man to my lord ; 
 and let the lad go up with his 
 brethren. 
 
 34 For how shall I go up to 
 my father, and the lad be not 
 with me ? lest peradventure I see 
 the evil that shall come on my 
 father. 
 
 qch. 43.9. r Eiod. 32. 32. 
 
 object. If our lives are bound up in 
 any created enjoyment in this change- 
 able world, we subject not only our 
 peace and comfort, but our lives them- 
 selves, to great hazard. Jacob's lifd 
 was bound up in the life of Benjamin, 
 and therefore there was great danger, 
 if any mischief had befallen tbe young 
 man, that his father's precious life 
 would have been cut oft^ by inconsola 
 ble grief. Many parents have, without 
 intending it, shortened their days, by 
 giving an unbounded scope to parental 
 fondness. We pity them, but we can- 
 not commend them. They reap ac- 
 cording to that they have sown. 
 
 33, 34. Let thy servant abidt instead 
 of the lad. Judah became bound to re- 
 store Benjamin to his father, and he 
 wishes to perform his word although 
 by his fidelity he should make himself 
 a slave for life. He that sweareth to 
 his own hurt, and changelh not, is a 
 man of tried integrity. Comparatively 
 but little praise is due to him who keeps 
 his promises when he has no tempta- 
 tion to break them. But that man is 
 a lover of truth and righteousness, who 
 prefers a pure conscience, not only to 
 gold and silver, but to his pleasure, his 
 family, his liberty, and his life. It is 
 probably to be inferred that Judah had 
 not at this time a wife, as otherwise it 
 
332 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1707. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 THEN Joseph could not refrain 
 himself before all them that 
 stood by him; and he cried, 
 
 would not have been his duly to come 
 under engagements that might sepa- 
 rate him from her. He had three chil- 
 dren, but these he might safely leave to 
 the care of his father and his brethren, 
 especially his younger brother, whose 
 liberty he was willing to redeem with 
 his own. There was no duty that im- 
 periously prohibited him from taking 
 the place of his unfortunate brother. 
 He was so far master of his own liber- 
 ty that he could warrantably put him- 
 self in Benjamin's room if the govern- 
 or gave his consent. But let it not be 
 thought from this that Judah was in- 
 sensible to the sweets of liberty. Lib- 
 erty was no doubt dear to him, but his 
 father's comfort was dearer. Much 
 rather would he have chosen to con- 
 tinue in Egypt as a slave, excluded 
 from the society of his father, his 
 brethren, his children, than to return 
 without Benjannn, and see the grief 
 that would soon put an end to his 
 father's life. Such an example of fiUal 
 affection has strong claims to our at- 
 tention. Those children who have yet 
 the pleasure of seeing their fathers in 
 the land of the living, may hence learn 
 what value to put upon this blessing 
 and what regard they ought to pay to 
 the happiness of those that brought 
 them into the world. Shall they not 
 do what they can to make the lives of 
 those men pleasant, without whom 
 they themselves would not have tasted 
 the pleasure of living? Let them not 
 say that their fathers have not treated 
 them with that kindness which he 
 shows some of their brothers or sis- 
 ters; that he has his favorites in the 
 family. Judah saw plainly that Ben- 
 jamin was loved far above himself, or 
 
 Cause overy man to go out from 
 me: and there stood no man with 
 him, while Joseph made himself 
 known unto his brethren. 
 
 any of his brethren by the same moth- 
 er. Jacob made no secret of his pa- 
 rental tenderness for Benjamin. Yet 
 Judah is so far from repining at the 
 superiority of his father's regard for 
 Benjamin, that he is willing to become 
 a slave for him, because his father 
 would be less hurt by his misfortunes 
 than by Benjamin's. How different 
 was the spirit which he now discover- 
 ed, from that which appeared in the 
 sons of Jacob when they sold Joseph 
 into Egypt because their father loved 
 him better than themselves ! Now 
 Judah is willing himself to become a 
 slave in Egypt for Benjamin simply for 
 the reason that his father loved Benja- 
 min better than himself! Blessed be 
 God, that though that which has been 
 done cannot be undone, yet the doers 
 of evil may be made in God's sight as 
 though they had not done it ! ' If any 
 man be in Christ he is a new creature.' 
 Let not penitents be upbraided with 
 their old sins. They are not what they 
 once were ; and when their iniquities are 
 
 sought for they shall not be found. U 
 
 The evil that shall come ripon my fa 
 ther. Heb. ^::i^ rii 5<::)2"' '"iIL'i^ asher 
 yimtza eth abi, uhich shall Jind my 
 father ; i. e. which shall befall or in- 
 vade my father. Thus, 1 Chron. 10. 3, 
 'And the battle went sore against 
 Saul, and the archers hit him.' Heb. 
 found him.' Ps. 116.3, ' The sorrows 
 of death compassed me, and thepains 
 of hell gat hold upon me.' Heb. 
 '■found me.' 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 The present chapter brings us at 
 length to the winding up of this 'strange 
 eventful history.' The purposes of Jo 
 
B. C. 1707.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 333 
 
 2 And he wept aloud ; and the 
 Egyptians and the house of Pha- 
 raoh heard. 
 
 3 And Joseph said unto his 
 
 seph, or rather of that providence 
 whose minister he was, in subjecting 
 the sons of Jacob to such a series of 
 trials and vexations, are answered, nd 
 all things are now ready for the final 
 grand discovery. The speech of Judah 
 recorded in the last chapter had evi- 
 dently penetrated the heart of Joseph. 
 He had heard enough, and more than 
 enough, to satisfy him that his breth- 
 ren sincerely loved Benjamin and their 
 father. The affectionate manner in 
 which Jacob was mentioned ; the un- 
 feigned earnestness expressed to save 
 him from the impending blow ; the 
 generosity of Judah's offer to put him- 
 self in Benjamin's place; all this as- 
 sures him that time, affliction, and a 
 sense of duty, had introduced another 
 and happier spirit into the family. Jo- 
 seph's heart accordingly was strongly 
 agitated by the tenderest and most 
 powerful emotions, filial and fraternal 
 love, compassion, joy, and grief. He 
 could contain himself no longer. He 
 felt that he must give way to the 
 insuppressive burst of nature, and no 
 longer defer the pleasure which he 
 should both give and receive while he 
 stood revealed before his brethren as 
 the LONG-LOST Joseph. 
 
 1. Cause every man to go out from 
 me. The curiosity of the domestics 
 must have been greatly excited by the 
 unaccountable peculiarity of his be- 
 havior to those strangers from Canaan, 
 but he does not choose to have any 
 spectators to the tender scene before 
 him, except those who were to be actors 
 in it. The heart does not like to have 
 it3 stronger emotions exposed to the 
 view of many witnesses. Moreover, 
 
 brethren, »I am Joseph ; doth my 
 father yet live ? And his breth- 
 ren could not answer him; for 
 they were troubled' at his presence. 
 
 a Acts 7. 13. 
 
 had his servants been present they 
 must soon have learned what treat- 
 ment Joseph once received from his 
 brethren; and it was not to be expect- 
 ed that they would so easily forgive the 
 injuries done to their lord, as their lord 
 himself could do. Joseph with his 
 characteristic generosity determines at 
 once to spare the feelings of his breth- 
 ren and consult their reputation, by 
 having all spectators removed. 
 
 2. And he wept aloud. Heb. '■,n''- 
 '^ID^D Ijjp tl&i yitten eth kolo bivki, 
 gave forth his voice in weeping. 'In 
 this way do they speak of a person 
 who thus conducts himself: 'How 
 loudly did he give forth his voice and 
 weep.' 'That child is for ever giving 
 fortli its voice.' This violence of their 
 sorrow is very great, and their voice 
 may be heard at a considerable dis- 
 tance.' Roberts. Joseph probably was 
 scarcely able to articulate the orders 
 for all his servants to leave the pres- 
 ence-chamber, when the uncontrollable 
 emotions that wrought in his bosom 
 found vent in a flood of tears. Had 
 he been less moved these tears might 
 have flowed in silence. But he broke 
 forth in a loud weeping, so that the 
 Egyptians from without heard him. 
 But if their minds were filled with 
 amazement, and a desire to know the 
 cause of this strange affair, how must 
 his brethren within have been over- 
 whelmed with surprise to witness such 
 a burst of sorrow from him, who, but 
 a while before, was all sternness and 
 severity ! But the mystery is soon to 
 be solved. 
 
 3. And Joseph said unto his breth- 
 ren, &c. We can easily conceive that 
 
334 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1706. 
 
 4 And Joseph said unto his 
 brethren, Come near to me, I 
 pray you: and they came near: 
 and he said, I am Joseph your 
 brother, '' whom ye sold into 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 b cb.37.28. 
 
 Joseph's voice must for a time have 
 been so obstructed by his feehngs as 
 to render articulation impossible. But 
 when at length he found the power of 
 utterance, his first astounding words 
 were, I AM JOSEPH ! ! ! and in the 
 next breath pours out his heart in the 
 tender enquiry, Doth my father vet 
 LIVE? — after which we may suppose 
 his voice again smothered in sobs, and 
 a fresh flood of tears streaming from 
 his eyes. His brethren, on the other 
 hand, struck dumb with astonishment, 
 oppressed with shame, stung with re- 
 morse, petrified with terror, are unable 
 to utter a word. Had their brother 
 been actually dead, and risen again and 
 appeared before them, their feelings 
 would scarcely have been different 
 from what they were. The rush of 
 thoughts which would at once crowd 
 in upon their minds, is past description. 
 They were covered with confusion on 
 frnding themselves in the presence of 
 the man whom they had hated without 
 a cause, and upon whom they had 
 heaped such accumulated wrongs. 
 Yet the words, the looks, the gushing 
 tears of their brother indicate any thing 
 but a purpose of vengeance, and the 
 encouragement they would take from 
 those outward signs is strongly con- 
 firmed by what immediately follows. 
 
 4, 5. And Joseph said unto his breth- 
 ren, Come near me, &c. His brethren 
 being unable to make any reply, their 
 silence affords to Joseph an opportuni- 
 ty to administer to them the strongest 
 of all consolation. A spirit less mag- 
 nanimous than his might have been 
 
 5 Now therefore •= be not griev- 
 ed, nor angry with yourselves, 
 that ye sold me hither : ^ for God 
 did send me before you to pre- 
 serve life. 
 
 c Isa. 40. 2. 
 Ps. 105. 16, 17. 
 
 2 Cor. 2. 7. d ch. .50. 20. 
 2 Sam. 16. 10, 11, Acts 4. 24. 
 
 disposed, in the midst of all its sympa- 
 thy, to enjoy the triumph which he 
 now had over them and to make them 
 feel it. But he has made them feel 
 sufl5ciently already; and having for- 
 given them in his heart, he remembers 
 their sin no more, but is full of tender 
 solicitude to calm their troubled spirits. 
 He bids them approach him and again 
 assures them that he is their brother — 
 the brother whom they sold into Egypt. 
 This painful event he seems to have 
 mentioned, not in order to stir up new 
 anguish in their minds, but for the sake 
 of convincing them that it was he him- 
 self, their brother Joseph, and not an- 
 other; and lest the mention of it 
 should be taken as a reflection, and so 
 add to their distress, he immediately 
 follows it up with a dissuasive from 
 overmuch sorrow ; ' Now therefore be 
 not grieved nor angry with yourselves,' 
 &c. In this soothing and tender strain 
 did he pour balm into their wounded 
 hearts. A less delicate mind would 
 have talked oi forgiving them ; but he 
 entreats them to forgive themselves, 
 as though his forgiveness was out of 
 the question. There was indeed suffi- 
 cient reason for them to be grieved and 
 to be angry with themselves, but Jo- 
 seph knew that at present their grief 
 might be carried to a dangerous excess. 
 So long as he had reason to think that 
 his brethren were not sufficiently sen- 
 sible of the atrocity of their guilt, he 
 treated them with a severity which 
 brought their sin to remembrance in 
 all its aggravations. But when he saw 
 them deeply humbled and overwhelm- 
 
B. G. 1706.J 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 335 
 
 6 For these two years hath 
 the famine been in the land : and 
 yet there are five years, in the 
 which there shall neither he ear- 
 inof nor harvest. 
 
 ed with confusion, he administered sea- 
 sonable consolation. They were not 
 to consider their crime too gredt to be 
 forgiven, either by that God or that 
 brother whom they had offended. In- 
 deed his main object seems now to be 
 to bring them to eye the hand of an 
 overruUng providence in all that had 
 happened, so as to be reconciled to the 
 event, though they might weep in se- 
 cret places for the part which they had 
 
 acted. IT God did send me before 
 
 you to preserve life. We know that 
 the righteous God hates all sin with 
 a perfect and irreconcilable hatred ; but 
 it is his prerogative to bring good out 
 of evil, and no sin can be committed 
 without his knowledge, or in opposition 
 to his holy counsels. Sinners are as 
 really the ministers of his providence 
 as saints, and he glorifies himself by 
 the wickedness which he hates and 
 punishes, as well as by that holiness 
 which he loves and rewards. When 
 Joseph was sold into Egypt by the 
 envy of his brethren, God by his secret 
 working sent him thither, that he might 
 both attain the grandeur which they 
 were endeavoring to counteract, and 
 might be the happy instrument of sa- 
 ving many lives, not only the lives of 
 his father's family, but of the whole 
 nation of Egypt, and of muhitudes in 
 the neighboring countries. Let us not 
 then in thinking of our misfortunes or 
 our blessings lose sight of the great 
 Author of our being and the manager 
 of our concerns. Instead of feeling ir- 
 ritation of spirit against those who 
 have been the instruments of our mis- 
 eries, or lavishing all our gratitude on 
 those to whom we have been indebted 
 
 7 And God sent me before 
 you, to preserve you a posterity 
 in the earth, and to save your 
 lives by a great deliverance. 
 
 for favors, let us raise our minds te 
 him who has said, ' I form light, and 
 create aarkness; I make peace and cre- 
 ate evil; I the Lord do all these things.' 
 This was a lesson which Joseph had 
 learned. He was instructed to ac- 
 knowledge and revere God's providence 
 in all that befel him, and would have 
 his brethren share with him in these 
 pious sentiments. Seeing the hand of 
 God in his afflictions, and seeing good- 
 ness and mercy in them all, he could 
 not only cheerfully forgive those who 
 were his instruments in bringing him 
 low, but endeavor also to revive their de- 
 jected spirits by turning their attention 
 to the gracious operations of providence 
 bringing much good to themselves and 
 to many others, out of their own bad 
 conduct. What we have done, we can- 
 not undo ; nor can we prevent the nat- 
 ural tendency of sin to produce the 
 most miserable effects to ourselves and 
 others; but we shall ever find abun- 
 dant cause of thanksgiving that a gra- 
 cious God has, in innumerable instan- 
 ces, counteracted that tendency, and 
 preserved us from the pain of seeing 
 misery diffused around us as the fruit 
 of our doings. Yet for our humiliation 
 let us remember that the nature of sin 
 is not altered by the use that God 
 makes of it. Poison does not cease to 
 be poison, because it may enter into the 
 composition of healing medicines. ' If 
 our unrighteousness commend the right- 
 eousness of God, what shall we say? 
 Is God unrighteous who taketh ven- 
 geance 1 God forbid ; for then how 
 shall God judge the world V 
 
 6, 7. Yet there are five years in, th» 
 which, &c. As Joseph's brethren were 
 
336 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. G. 1706. 
 
 S So now it was not you that 
 sent me hither, but God : and he 
 hath made me * a father to Pha- 
 
 e ch. 41. 43. Judg. 17. 10. Job 29. 16. 
 
 little capable of speaking at present, he 
 himself continued the discourse. To 
 divert their minds from terror, and still 
 more strongly to reassure their confi- 
 dence, he goes on to speak of the still 
 farther provision that it was necessary 
 to make against the rigor of the fam- 
 ine, of which only two out of seven 
 years had now elapsed. These two 
 years were but the beginning of sor- 
 rows. They were to be followed by 
 other five, every one of which would 
 be more grievous than the former, in 
 which there was to be neither earing, 
 i. e. plowing, nor sowing through the 
 greater part of the fertile country of 
 Egypt. The reason of this would be, 
 that there was to be no crop during 
 that time, and of course men would not 
 break up the ground, nor cast that seed 
 into the earth which would produce 
 no increase. Hope is necessary as a 
 stimulus in every human pursuit ; and 
 it is the will of God that 'he that plow- 
 eth should plow in hope, and that he 
 that thresheth in hope should be par- 
 taker of his hope ;' i. e. should realise 
 the object of his hope. He repeats 
 what he had already said respecting 
 the divine purpose in sending him be- 
 fore them, that it might make a deeper 
 impression on their hearts. Whatever 
 might be the pressure of the famine, 
 God designed not only to preserve the 
 hves of those who then existed, but to 
 preserve also a posterity in the earth 
 for Abraham and Jacob. If Isaac had 
 perished on Mount Moriah, what 
 would have become of the promise to 
 Abraham? If Jacob's sons had died 
 of hunger, what would have become of 
 the promise to Jacob, that in his seed 
 
 raoh, and lord of all his house, 
 and a ruler throughout all the 
 land of Egypt. 
 
 9 Haste ye, and go up to my 
 
 all the nations of the earth should be 
 blessed? Let us learn from this to be 
 thankful to God for those mercies to 
 our fathers, by which they were pre- 
 served from destruction. They were 
 upheld for our sakes as well as their 
 own. None are suffered to die till they 
 have brought into existence those who 
 were to proceed from their loins. Let 
 us remember too that while the daily 
 preservation of our lives is a great mer- 
 cy, yet some deliverances are so singu- 
 larly great on account of the greatness 
 of the danger from which they preserve 
 us, or the singular circumstances at- 
 tending them, that they ought to be 
 especially remarked and celebrated. 
 
 8. It was not you that sent me hither, 
 but God. That is, it was not you sole- 
 ly; it was not so much you as God. 
 Similar absolute for comparative ex- 
 pressions frequently occur. Thus, Ex. 
 16. 8, 'Your murmurings are not 
 against us, but against the Lord ;' i. e. 
 rather against the Lord than against 
 us. Prov. 8. 10, 'Receive my instruc- 
 tion, and not silver ;' i. e. rather than 
 silver. John 6. 38, ' I came not to do 
 mine own will, but the will of him that 
 sent me ;' i. e. not my will only. John 
 5. 45, ' Do not think that I will accuse 
 you to the father;' i. e. that I only will 
 accuse. Words have not always the 
 same meaning when uttered by differ- 
 ent speakers. Had such words as 
 these been spoken by Joseph's breth- 
 ren, we should justly have thought 
 they were uttering a lie, and almost a 
 blasphemous lie, by endeavoring to 
 transfer their criminal conduct to God. 
 Adam said nothing but what was strict- 
 ly true when ho said, 'The woman 
 
B. C. 1706.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 337 
 
 father, and say unto him, Thus 
 saith thy son Joseph, God hath 
 made me lord of all Egypt ; come 
 down unto me, tarry not : 
 
 10 And fthou shalt dwell in 
 the land of Goshen, and thou 
 shalt be near unto me, thou, and 
 
 fch,47. 1. 
 
 whom thou gavest to be with me, she 
 gave me of the fruit, and I did eat ;' yet 
 in these words we discover the corrupt 
 disposition of the speaker. He wished 
 to transfer his own guilt to his wife, 
 and almost charged divine providence 
 with it. It was saying in effect, that 
 if God had not bestowed upon him a 
 wayward wife he might still have been 
 innocent and happy. Tiius if Joseph's 
 brethren had said, 'It was not we that 
 sent you hither, but God,' we might 
 justly have pronounced them guilty of 
 daring impiety. But when Joseph is 
 the speaker, we recognise the drift of 
 the words at once, and see that they 
 are free from any exceptionable mean- 
 ing. His object is to intimate that his 
 coming to Egypt was more God's work 
 than theirs; that they were but instru- 
 ments overruled by him for the ac- 
 complishment of his own purposes; 
 that consequently he entertained no 
 harsh sentiments of their conduct, but 
 considered it, and all the efiects of it, 
 as a step of divine providence for his 
 good. Their intention was no doubt 
 evil, but his thoughts were so much 
 occupied with God's intentions, that he 
 forgot theirs. It is indeed wonderful 
 that the Lord of hosts permits so much 
 evil in the world, but no less wonder- 
 ful that he controls, directs, limits, and 
 overrules it, so as to make it redound 
 
 to his glory. TT He hath made me a 
 
 father to Pharaoh. However much 
 Joseph was indebted to the king of 
 Egypt, he was infinitely more indebted 
 to the God of heaven. It was God 
 90 
 
 thy children, and thy children's 
 children, and thy flocks, and thine 
 herds, and all that thou hast: 
 
 11 And there will I nourish 
 thee, (for yet there are five years 
 of famine;) lest thou, and thine 
 household, and all that thou hast 
 come to poverty. 
 
 that brought him to the knowledge of 
 Pharaoh, and gave him favor in his 
 sight. It was God that exalted him, 
 and endowea him with knowledge, and 
 wisdom, and authority, to be an emi- 
 nent benefactor to Pharaoh and his king- 
 dom. He looked beyond his brethren 
 to God when he thought upon his af- 
 flictions, and beyond Pharaoh to God 
 when he thought of his exaltation. 
 Thus he bears his sfSiction with meek- 
 ness and his elevation with humility. 
 
 9. Haste ye, and go up, &c. It is 
 not surprising that Joseph was now 
 impatient to communicate to his fa- 
 ther the happy tidings of his life and 
 his glory in Egypt. From prudential 
 reasons he had hitherto done violence 
 to his feelings in witholding informa- 
 tion that would have cheered the heart 
 of his father to its core. Now every 
 thing was removed out of the way 
 w^hich might render it unadviseable to 
 make Jacob acquainted with his condi- 
 tion ; and providence had so ordered 
 matters that he could entertain a rea- 
 sonable hope of prevailing upon him 
 to come down to Egypt. We too often 
 mar our pleasures by too much precipi- 
 tancy in enjoying them. By patience 
 and prudence we make sure of enjoy- 
 ing them with a far better relish. 
 
 10, 11. Thou shalt drcell in the land 
 of Goshen, &c. Joseph speaks as if 
 he had all power in the land of Egypt, 
 and ^yould take it upon him to assign 
 one of the best and most convenient 
 districts in that land to his father. 
 But this intimation would probably 
 
33S 
 
 GEI^ESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1706, 
 
 12 And behold, your eyes see, 
 and the eyes of my brother Ben- 
 jamin, that it is 8 my movUh that 
 speaketh unto you. 
 
 g-ch.42.2?. 
 
 be less gratifying to the good old man 
 than the prespect of being near to his 
 beloved son. From the words of Ju- 
 dah, Joseph had learned what bitter 
 griefs his father had endured by his 
 own separation from him. He rejoiced 
 greatly that God had now put it into 
 his power to compensate his father for 
 all those floods of tears wbidi he had 
 shed on his behalf. What happiness 
 might father and son now expect to 
 enjoy together, should Providence spare 
 their lives ! Jacob could not certainly 
 wish for a greater felicity than to be 
 with Joseph, till the time should come 
 when angels should carry him to Abra- 
 ham's bosom, which was far better. 
 
 12. And behold, your eyes see, &c. 
 What the brethren of Joseph now 
 heard and saw was so passing strange, 
 that it was no doubt difficult for them to 
 believe their own eyes and ears. They 
 would be apt to question whether all 
 was true, whether they were not in a 
 dream, or imposed upon in some mys- 
 terious way. To obviate these misgiv- 
 ings, Joseph calls upon them to notice 
 him more particularly, and see whether 
 they could not recollect the features of 
 his face and the sound of his voice; 
 especially as he was now speaking to 
 them without an interpreter. Even 
 Benjamin, who was but a child when 
 Joseph left Canaan, could not but 
 know that it was Joseph who was 
 speaking to them. It is probable, how- 
 ever, that they were quite as much un- 
 der the influence of shame as of uncer- 
 tainty. They could not doubt on the 
 whole that it was really the mouth of 
 Joseph that spake with them, nor 
 
 13 And ye shall tell my father 
 of all my glory in Egypt, and of 
 all that ye have seen: and ye 
 shall haste, and ^ bring down, 
 my father hither, 
 
 h Acta 7. 14. 
 
 could they well dsubt his kindness-. 
 But they still found it difficult to be- 
 lieve that he retained no resentment at 
 all on account of their cruel usage to- 
 wards him. They were conscious that 
 they deserved severe rebuke and punish- 
 ment y and they also probably felt that 
 they could not from their hearts have 
 forgiven one who had treated them a» 
 they had treated Joseph. It has been 
 frequently observed that it is mucb 
 easier to forgive the injuries done to us, 
 than to believe that the injuries which 
 we have done to others are forgiven. 
 
 13. Ye shall tell my father of all my' 
 glory, &c. But what shall we think 
 of Joseph's motive in thus speaking of 
 his own grandeur? Are we to suppose 
 that he was vainly puffed up by a 
 fleshly mind 7 Far from it. His uni- 
 formly meek and humble deportment 
 at once contradicts the idea. But he 
 v/as extremely anxious to turn away 
 the thoughts of his brethren from that 
 wretched state to which they had de- 
 signedly reduced him, to the happy 
 state to which they had undesignedly 
 advanced him. He wished to have 
 them persuade themselves that the 
 sense of their past wrongs was buried 
 in the joy of his exaltation. Again, he 
 desired his father might be informed of 
 his glory in Egypt, because he knew it 
 would afford him unspeakable pleasure 
 and open his mouth in praise to that 
 God who had been so gracious to him 
 in the person of his son. An affection- 
 ate son takes great pleasure in giving 
 pleasure to his father. A lover of God 
 takes pleasure in telling what God has 
 done for him, that his friends may 
 
B. C. 1706.] 
 
 14 And he fell upon his broth- 
 er* Benjamin's neck, and wept. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 magnify the Lord with him. Joseph 
 had perhaps still another end in view 
 in desiring his brethren to tell his 
 father of his glory. This part of the 
 message might give them the hope of 
 finding forgiveness with their father. 
 When he learned what they had done 
 against their brother, he must have 
 been shocked at their unnatural bar- 
 barity ; but by hearing of Joseph's 
 glory, he could perceive that God had 
 sent him into Egypt by their hands to 
 accomplish his prophetical dreams. 
 The grace of God, in giving such a fa- 
 vorable issue to Joseph's afflictions, 
 would reconcile Jacob to the men who 
 had brought those afflictions upon 
 
 him. H Ye shall haste and bring 
 
 down my father hither. Though Jo- 
 seph now saw that his brethren could 
 not forgive themselves for what they 
 had done against him, yet he lets them 
 know that they have it in their power, 
 in some degree to compensate his for- 
 mer miseries, by using their influence 
 along with his to hasten down their 
 father to Egypt. One of his griefs had 
 been that in Egypt he could not see 
 his father's face; but for the pleasure 
 of again beholding him, he would ac- 
 count himself indebted to his brethren, 
 if they could prevail upon him to make 
 no tarrying save what he would 
 find to be absolutely necessary. His 
 father's great age also, and the conse- 
 quent uncertainty of life, made him 
 still more anxious that the removal 
 should take place with the least possi- 
 ble delay. 
 
 14. He fell upon his brother Benja- 
 min's neck, and wept. Joseph's bow- 
 els had yearned over his brother Ben- 
 jamin at the time when he stood 
 arraigned before him as a thief, and so 
 confounded with the charge that he 
 
 and Benjamin 
 neck. 
 
 wept upon 
 
 339 
 
 his 
 
 could not utter a word in his own de- 
 fence. But now, when there was no 
 farther occasion for concealing what 
 was in his heart, his afTection broke 
 forth in all its force. Words were in- 
 sufficient to express half the tender- 
 ness of his soul. He sprung into 
 Benjamin's embraces, and held him 
 fast, and was relieved from an oppres- 
 sion of joy by a fresh flood of tears. 
 Benjamin was no doubt little less 
 transported than Joseph. The transi- 
 tion from emotions of the most 
 gloomy character to the sweetest joys 
 that mortality can taste, was almost 
 too much for him to bear. But tears 
 came likewise to his relief. He wept 
 upon Joseph's neck. Though many 
 years had since elapsed, yet he could 
 remember how pleasant his brother 
 Joseph had been to him before the 
 time that he was supposed to have 
 been torn in pieces by the beasts of 
 prey. He was not then too young to 
 feel the loss of such a brother. He 
 had moreover, doubtless, when stand- 
 ing by his father's knee, often heard 
 him speak of the amiable qualities and 
 the unhappy fate of Joseph. He no 
 more expected to see him in the land 
 of the living, than he did to see his 
 fathers Abraham and Isaac raised up 
 again from their graves in the cave of 
 Machpelah. What overwhelming joy 
 poured into his heart, when that crafty 
 tyrant who would fain have made him 
 a thief and a slave, was found to have 
 no existence, and his own much-la- 
 mented brother appeared in his place ! — 
 as if the lions which had devoured him 
 had rendered up their prey, and bone 
 had come again to its bone ! Cases 
 have been known where life has been 
 unable to sustain the impetuous tide 
 of joy which filled the bosom, when 
 
340 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. mA 
 
 15 Moreover, he kissed all his 
 brethren, and wept upon them: 
 and after that his brethren talked 
 with him. 
 
 16 II And the fame thereof 
 was heard in Pharaoh's house, 
 saying, Joseph's brethren are 
 come: and it pleased Pharaoh 
 well, and his servants. 
 
 17 And Pharaoh said unto Jo- 
 
 those friends who had been supposed 
 dead were found to be alive. We 
 should not have wondered had Benja- 
 min died with joy or fainted in Jo- 
 seph's presence. But the tears which 
 he wept unloaded his heart of its ex- 
 cess of transports. 
 
 15. Moreover, he kissed all his breth- 
 ren. Benjamin did not monopolise 
 the love of Joseph. His brethren were 
 all dear to him, and he greatly desired 
 a place in their hearts. Though from 
 delicacy he had said nothing of forgiv- 
 ing them, yet he would now express 
 as much or more by his actions, and 
 his affectionate kisses accompanied by 
 tears were sure tokens that all their 
 offences were to him as if they had 
 never been committed. This appears 
 more than any thing else to have re- 
 moved their terror, so that now they 
 are sufficiently composed to talk with 
 him. How different their converse 
 now from that which they had recent- 
 ly held at the governor's table ; where 
 he avoided every thing which might 
 have betrayed an intimate acquaintance 
 with their family, and where Ihey were 
 especially guarded in their answers to 
 his questions, that they might not dis- 
 cover any of those family secrets 
 which were so httle to their credit ! 
 
 16. Audit pleased Pharaoh icell and 
 his servants. Heb. 'i:"'^?:: it2"'"i1 
 {1515 va-yitab be-ene Paroh, and it 
 was good in the eyes of Pharaoh. As 
 Joseph was in Pharaoh's eyes such a 
 
 seph, Say unto thy brethren, 
 This do ye; lade your beasts, 
 and go, get you unto the land of 
 Canaan ; 
 
 IS And take your father, and 
 your households, and come unto 
 me : and I will give you the 
 good of the land of Egypt, and 
 ye shall eat ' the fat of the land. 
 
 i ch. 27. 2S. Numb. IS. 12, 29. 
 
 wonderful man, he may have supposed 
 that his family were also remarkable 
 for wisdom above the mass of man- 
 kind, and that if settled in his country, 
 they might be in some way a signal 
 
 blessing to it. Conscious that it had 
 already received from Joseph greater 
 benefits than he was able to repay, he 
 is resolved that the whole family shall 
 partake of his gratitude and bounty. 
 In this it appears he had the consent 
 and approbation of his 'servants,' or 
 officers. This is perhaps more to be 
 wondered at than that the king himself 
 should be inclined to favor him. The 
 servants of princes are seldom dis- 
 posed to look kindly upon those that 
 are raised above themselves, especially 
 if foreigners. Joseph's merits indeed 
 were such that they could not but be 
 universally acknowledged. Yet the 
 spirit which is in man lusteth so 
 strongly to envy, that Joseph's continu- 
 ed good standing in the court of Pha- 
 raoh must be considered as a singular 
 testimony to the wisdom and blame- 
 lessness of his deportment to all 
 around him. 
 
 17, 18. And Pharaoh said unto Jo- 
 seph, &c. In other affairs Pharaoh 
 appears to have left nearly every thing 
 to Joseph. But in the present case, in 
 order to spare his feelings in haiing to 
 invite his own relations, as it were, to 
 another man's house, as well as to ex- 
 press his gratitude to so great a bene- 
 factor, the king comes forward and 
 
B. C. 1706.] 
 
 19 Now thou art commanded, 
 this do ye; take your wagons 
 out of the land of Egypt for your 
 little ones, and for your wives. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 brins: 
 
 341 
 
 issues the requisite orders himself. His 
 orders are extremely liberal, as he will 
 not only afford suf5cient means of 
 sustenance to old and young amongst 
 them, but they shall eat of the fat of 
 the land. We cannot but applaud this 
 royal munificence, though we feel that 
 it was little to what Joseph had done 
 for Pharaoh's kingdom. Yet it is 
 pleasant to see a conduct so different 
 from that of the king of Egypt in the 
 following age, who remembered not 
 Joseph. The present sovereign enter- 
 tained such a sense of obligation to 
 Joseph as to be glad of an opportunity 
 for extending his goodness to all the 
 kindred of a public benefactor. 
 
 19. Now thou art commanded, &c. 
 Pharaoh not only fermils, but com- 
 mands Joseph to furnish every conven- 
 lency for the accommodation of his fa- 
 ther's family, that they might not find 
 any embarrassment to retard their jour- 
 ney to Egypt. For this purpose they 
 were to take wagons along with them 
 to Canaan to bring down the patriarch's 
 household. This was a mode of trav- 
 elling to which Jacob had been but 
 little used. As at that day, so at the 
 present, wheel-carriages are almost 
 wholly unknown in the country of 
 Palestine, as may be learned from the 
 following note from the Pictorial 
 Bible : ' The Hebrew word seems to 
 be fairly rendered by the word ' wag- 
 on.' A wheel-carriage of some kind 
 or other is certainly intended ; and as 
 from other passages we learn that they 
 were covered, at least sometimes, the 
 best idea we can form of them is, that 
 they bore some resemblance to our 
 tilted wagons. With some small ex- 
 29* 
 
 your father, and 
 
 and 
 come. 
 
 20 Also regard not your stuff: 
 for the good of all the land of 
 Egypt IS yours. 
 
 ceptlon, it may be said that wheel-car- 
 riages are not now employed in Africa 
 or Western Asia ; but that they were 
 anciently used in Egypt, and in what is 
 now Asiatic Turkey, is attested not 
 only by history, but by existing sculp- 
 tures and paintings. It would seem 
 that they were not at this time used 
 in Palestine, as when Jacob saw them 
 he knew they must have come from 
 Egypt. Perhaps, however, he knew 
 this by their peculiar shape. The only 
 wheel-carriages in Western Asia with 
 which we are acquainted are, first, a 
 very rude cart, usually drawn by oxen, 
 and employed in conveying agricultu- 
 ral produce in Armenia and Georgia ; 
 and then a vehicle called an Arabah, 
 used at Constantinople and some other 
 towns towards the Mediterranean. It 
 is a light covered cart without springs, 
 and being exclusively used by women, 
 children, and aged or sick persons, (see 
 v. 19.) would seem both in its use, and 
 as nearly as we can discover, in its 
 make, to be no bad representative of 
 the wagons in the text. No wheel- 
 carriage is, however, now used in a 
 journey.' 
 
 20. Regard not your stuff. Heb 
 Cnn bi^ fii3">5 enekem al tahos, 
 let not your eye spare. Frugality is 
 certainly a christian virtue, yet there 
 are times and cases when the ordinary 
 rules of frugality ought to be set aside. 
 Pharaoh did not wish Jacob''s sons to 
 encumber themselves with all that 
 stuff which might have been useful to 
 them had they remained in Canaan. 
 He desired them to leave behind such 
 articles of furniture as were of little 
 value or difficult of conveyance, giving 
 
342 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1706. 
 
 21 And the children of Israel 
 did so : and Joseph gave them 
 wagons, according to the com- 
 mandment of Pharaoh, and gave 
 them provision for the way. 
 
 22 To all of them he gave each 
 man changes of raiment: but to 
 Benjamin he gave three hundred 
 
 'pieces of silver, and ^five changes 
 of raiment. 
 
 23 And to his father he sent 
 after this manner ; ten asses 
 laden with the good things ot 
 Egypt, and ten she-asses laden 
 with corn and bread and meat for 
 his father by the way. 
 
 k ch. 43. 34. 
 
 them to understand that they should 
 be no loser? when they arrived in 
 Egypt. Joseph had already made the 
 king rich, and was every day increas- 
 mg his riches, and it would be no sensi- 
 ble diminution of his wealth to enrich 
 the whole family of Joseph's father to 
 the extent of their needs and desires. 
 If the good of all the land of Egypt was 
 before these men, what inducements 
 had they to encumber themselves with 
 the furniture of their tents, or to be 
 vexed on account of any thing that 
 might be left behind them, or damaged 
 in their journey ? And why should 
 those who have all the riches of the 
 better country before them, give them- 
 selves any disquiet about the perishing 
 things that belong to the earthly house 
 of this tabernacle 7 The heirs of heav- 
 en are rich in the midst of poverty; 
 although they have nothing, they pos- 
 sess all things. Never let them give 
 less credit to the promises of their 
 heavenly Father, than Jacob's sons 
 gave to the kmg of Egypt. 
 
 21. And the children of Israel did so. 
 That is, resolved to do so ; saw fit to 
 comply wath this injunction. They 
 could not be said to have done all that 
 was comprised in the order till they had 
 actually brought their father and their 
 families to Egypt. But such a phrase- 
 ology is common to express the jmr- 
 pose of an action, or series of actions, 
 afterwards performed. It is very prob- 
 able that the commandments of Pha- 
 raoh were the suggestion of Joseph 
 
 himself, for Pharaoh commanded him 
 to do for his brethren what he express- 
 ed his intention of doing when Pharaoh 
 knew not that his brethren were come. 
 
 22. He gave each man changes of 
 raiment. It is still a common custom 
 in the East with rich men, to testify 
 their love for their friends, or their es- 
 teem for strangers, by presents of gar- 
 ments. As the fashion of clothes 
 never changes with them as with us, 
 ihey do not become useless as long as 
 they last, if proper care be taken of 
 them. Joseph by giving five changes 
 of raiment to his brother Benjamin vir- 
 tually published to his brethren the 
 superior regard which he entertained 
 for him as the son of his mother, as 
 well as of his father. In this he was so 
 far from showing any disrespect to his 
 other brethren, that he paid them a 
 compliment which we cannot doubt 
 was very grateful to them. He showed 
 his confidence in their good dispositions 
 toward Benjamin. Had he not firmly 
 believed that there was now a complete 
 revolution in their temper, he would not 
 have honored him with such an open 
 testimony of his partial fondness ; and 
 this they could not fail to perceive. 
 
 23. To his father he sent after this 
 manner, &c. It was no doubt a pleas- 
 ure to Jacob to partake of the fruits ol 
 the attention and kindness of his long- 
 lost Joseph. Yft we may safely sup- 
 pose he derived more pleasure from Jo- 
 seph's goodness to his brethren, than 
 from the presents sent to himself. He 
 
B. €. 1706.3 
 
 CHAPTER XLV, 
 
 343 
 
 24 So he s«nt his brethren 
 away, and they departed: and he 
 said unto them, See that y^e fall 
 not out by the way. 
 
 25 ^ And they went ,up out of 
 Egypt, and came into the land of 
 Canaan uato Jacob their father, 
 
 had no reasan to doubt of Joseph's 
 warm filial affection, but it would fill 
 him with joy unspeakable to find his 
 son exhibiting the l>ighest pattern of 
 jTieekness, and of the forgiveness of 
 injuries, thai the world had ever yet 
 beheld. The greatest pleasure of an 
 ^ged saint is to see his children walking 
 in the truth and bringing forth fruits of 
 dghteousness to the praise of the glory 
 of God. Joseph did not send this 
 large supply to his father to enable hiKi 
 •to continue longer in the land of Ca- 
 naan, for he hoped soon to have him 
 with himself.; but while the additional 
 •quantity and value of the gifts served 
 as a token of his pecuhar affection, as 
 did the five-fold mess to Benjamin, it 
 was probably no more than v/as requi- 
 site as a supply for their wants on the 
 way to Egypt. 
 
 24. See that ye fall net cut by tke way. 
 Heb. ITj'^n b^ al tirgezu, be nc4 
 stirred i i.e. do not fall into conten- 
 tions ; do not give w€.y to criminations 
 and recriminations. The original word 
 may signify any strong commotion of 
 mind, under the influence dtlier of fear, 
 or grief, or anger. Gr. *Do not be 
 angry.' Chal. 'Do noi contend.^ They 
 were in effect forbidden to accuse each 
 other with respect to the past. Joseph 
 had seen the violent agitation of their 
 minds, both when they were put in 
 prison, and when he made himself 
 known to them. He had already heard 
 from Reuben some severe reflections 
 on his brethren, and he was afraid lest 
 they should either feel more uneasiness 
 than he wished them to do, or exas- 
 perate one another by reflections on I 
 
 26 And told him, saying, Jo- 
 seph is yet alive, and he is gov- 
 ernor over all the land of Egypt. 
 1 And Jacob's heart fainted, for 
 he believed them not. 
 
 27 And they told him all the 
 
 1 Job. 29. 24. Ps. 126. 1. Luke 2i. 41, 44. 
 
 their former conduct. As Joseph was 
 now a happy man, he desired to make 
 all his brethren happy, and to preserve 
 them from any thing that would make 
 them unhappy, and ipartioularly from 
 quarrels among themselves. In the 
 course of their long journey their con- 
 versation would turn naturally on the 
 remarkable events that had taken place, 
 and without a strong guard both on 
 their hearts and their lips they v/ould 
 be in danger of conceiving mutual re- 
 sentments, hurtful to their comfort and 
 their peace. If he had forgiven them 
 all, it was highly reasonable that they 
 should forgive one another. Joseph 
 therefore was a peace-maker both by 
 precept and example. 
 
 25, 26. And they went up out of 
 Egypt, &c. Jacob was no doubt look- 
 ing and longing for their return, and 
 the sight of them as they came up fill- 
 ed him with ineffable delight, Simeon 
 and Benjamin were both in the com- 
 pany. His soul was filled with the 
 praises of that goodness which had 
 preserved them in the way which they 
 went, and restored them safe to his 
 arms. But he was soon made to un- 
 derstand that materials existed for 
 thanksgiving beyond what he had ever 
 imagined. Yet it can scarcely be sup- 
 posed that the main tidings were an- 
 nounced so suddenly as is here related. 
 They would naturally endeavor to 
 break the force ctf the transports ef joy 
 into which he would be thrown, by 
 gradually imparting their intelligence. 
 Yet whatever was the mode of annun- 
 ciation, it was not to be expected that 
 Jacob could hear the tidings without 
 
344 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1706. 
 
 words of Joseph, which he had 
 said unto them: and when he 
 saw the wagons which Joseph 
 had sent to carry him, the spirit 
 of Jacob their father revived : 
 
 28 And Israel said. It is 
 enough : Joseph ray son is yet 
 alive : I will go and see him be- 
 fore I die. 
 
 being wrought up to a pitch of over- 
 whelming joy. We are not surprised 
 therefore to hear it said that Jacob's 
 heart fainted on the reception of the 
 news, and that he considered it too 
 good to be tr-ie. H His heart faint- 
 ed. Heb. yz^ 35^ yaphog libbo, his 
 heart was weakened. Gr. e^eaTn tt} 
 Siavoia, he was astonished in his mind. 
 Chal. ' And those words were waver- 
 ing in his mind.' The meaning plain- 
 ly is, that the report agitated his mind 
 to such a degree that his frame could 
 scarcely sustain the shock. There 
 seemed to be certam proof both that 
 Joseph was dead, and that he v/as not 
 dead. There was an inexplicable mys- 
 tery in the affair, and the extremes of 
 joy and grief seized on the old man. 
 His soul was enfeebled in his weak, 
 body by his conflicting emotions. 
 
 27. Tlie spirit of Jacob revived. If 
 Jacob upon the first report of the ti- 
 dings brought by his sons was so over- 
 powered as almost to lose for a time 
 the possession of his faculties, he did 
 not remain long in that state, but was 
 soon able to attend to the account 
 which his sons gave him of their jour- 
 ney, and of the invitation sent to him 
 to Egypt. This account they were 
 able to confirm by pointing him to the 
 wagons which they had brought with 
 them. The sight of these forbade his 
 doubting any longer. Surely his sons 
 had not collected so many wagons to 
 impose an incredible falsehood upon 
 him, and one so dishonorable to them- 
 eelves. The proof was complete. His 
 apprehensions were banished. ' His 
 spirit revived,' and joy without meas- 
 ure took possession of his soul. 
 
 28. And Israel said, It is enough^ 
 &c. What he had heard and seen was 
 enough not only to remove his doubts, 
 but to heal his wounded heart, to set 
 all right, to solve all mysteries, and to 
 satisfy his soul. ' I have full evidence 
 that Joseph is alive. I could not be 
 better assured of the fact, if I saw him 
 with mine own eyes; and my joy is 
 full. All the happiness that the world 
 can give is mine. I have no more 
 wishes on this side of the grave.' The 
 words remind us of what was said by 
 the father of the prodigal son, when he 
 returned to the paternal roof. ' This 
 my son v/as lost, and is found ; he was 
 dead, and is now alive.' It will be ob- 
 served that nothing is said of his recep- 
 tion of the gifts, nor is it intimated that 
 he was particularly affected by the re- 
 port of his son's glory in Egypt; it 
 was enough for him that he was alive. 
 This was at present his grand absorb- 
 ing consolation ; and though the sight 
 of Benjamin an hour before tliis time 
 would have appeared to him a suffi- 
 cient happiness for this world, yet now 
 he enjoys not only that, but cherishes 
 the hope of seeing and embracing onco 
 more the son whose loss he had mourn- 
 ed year after year in bitterness of souL 
 ' I will go and see him before I die.' 
 His beloved Rachel would be again 
 alive to him, when blessed with the 
 sight of his lost and best-beloved son. 
 Trials might have to be undergone, and 
 dangers to be encountered, by a body 
 exhausted by age and grief, before he 
 can set his eyes on Joseph; but what 
 will not Jacob do, or suffer, or risk to 
 obtain another sight of that son whom 
 his soul loved 7 That love which is as 
 
B. C. 1706.1 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 345 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 A ND Israel took his journey 
 ■^ with all that he had, and 
 came to * Beer-sheba, and offered 
 sacrifices ^ unto the God of his 
 father Isaac. 
 
 ach. 21. 31, 33. & 28. 10. 
 & 28. 13. <fe 31. 42. 
 
 b ch. 26. 24, 25. 
 
 Strong as death would reconcile him to 
 death when once again he had feasted 
 his eyes upon its precious object. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 1. Aiid Israel took his journey with 
 all that he had, &c. That is, with all 
 his household; for it seems reasonable 
 to suppose that he complied with Pha- 
 raoh's intimation, and left his various 
 heavy furniture and utensils behind 
 him. The step which he was now 
 about to take was obviously one of the 
 utmost importance both to himself and 
 his posterity; and we cannot suppose 
 that so good a man would enter upon 
 such an undertaking without solemnly 
 mvoking the divine blessing. But 
 though he had doubtless privately corn- 
 mined his way to God from the first, 
 yei he seems to have had some special 
 reasons for deferring his public devo- 
 tions till he should arrive at Beersheba. 
 This was a memorable spot. It was 
 rendered so by the sojournings there of 
 Abraham and Isaac, and himself also, 
 and by the many testimonies there re- 
 ceived of the favor and protection of 
 their covenant God. This therefore he 
 selects as the place for the offering up 
 of his solemn sacrifices, a place lying 
 on the borders of that land of promise 
 which he was now leaving for ever, and 
 where so many familiar objects and 
 sacred -recollections would aid the de- 
 vout sentiments of his heart. In his 
 approaches to God he did not forget to 
 avail himself of the covenant made 
 with his fathers and of the promises 
 already on record. In hke manner it 
 
 2 And God spake unto Israel 
 " in the visions of the night, and 
 said, Jacob, Jacob! and he said, 
 Here am. I. 
 
 3 And he said, I am God, '^ the 
 God of thy father: fear not to go 
 
 cch. 15. 1. Job. 33. 14, 15. d ch. 23. 13. 
 
 is both wise and pleasant for us to 
 avail ourselves of the remembrance of 
 our pious ancestors when we plead 
 with God for special mercies. It is 
 sweet to a devout mind to be able to 
 say, 'He is my God, and I will exalt 
 him ; my father's God, and I will build 
 him an habitation.' Jacob no doubt 
 greatly longed to see Joseph, but hia 
 most ardent passions were under the 
 control of religious principle, and he 
 would rather have died without seeing 
 Joseph in this world, than go to see 
 him without the comfortable assurance 
 of having the divine blessing in so 
 doing. Nor did he value the delay in 
 his journey necessary to secure this 
 blessing. ' He that believeth shall not 
 make haste.' 
 
 2. And God spake unto Israel, &c. 
 The historian in this and in the fore- 
 going verse calls Jacob by the name of 
 Israel, an appellation which appears 
 gradually to have come into use, and 
 which from its associations was well 
 calculated to afford him encourage- 
 ment in every season of distress. The 
 Most High, however, visiting him in 
 the visions of the night, here called 
 him by his first and ordinary name 
 'Jacob,' perhaps to put him in mind of 
 what he was in himself He was now 
 indeed honored with a very glorious 
 title, but he must not forget that he 
 was only Jacob when God met with 
 him in his early days. He might have 
 been exalted above measure with the 
 revelations made to him, if he had for- 
 gotten what he once was. The ad- 
 dress which God here makes to his ser- 
 
346 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1706. 
 
 down imo Egypt ; for I will there 
 * make of thee a great nation : 
 
 4 f I will go down with thee 
 into Egypt; and I will also 
 
 ech.12.2. Deut.26.5. f ch.2S.15.&48. 21. 
 
 vani undoubtedly had reference to 
 Jacob's design in offering the sacrifices. 
 Accordingly we learn from the tenor of 
 the answer that his object was to ob- 
 tain some clear testimony of the divine 
 approbation of the step he was about 
 to take. This is abundantly afforded 
 him in what follows. 
 
 3, 4. 1 am God, the God of thy fa- 
 ther. As such the patriarch sought 
 Jehovah, v. 1, and as such he found 
 him. He well knew that Isaac had 
 ever found God faithful to all his gra- 
 cious engagements, and nothing would 
 yield him stronger consolation than to 
 be assured that the same loving-kind- 
 ness and truth would be extended to 
 him also. This language, accordingly, 
 was a virtual renewal of the covenant 
 of Abraham, and would leave nothing 
 to be desired on the score of assurance. 
 
 IT Fear not to go down into Egypt. 
 
 The seasons when God administers his 
 comforts to his people, are generally 
 those in which they stand in the great- 
 est need of them. At this time Jacob 
 greatly needed support to his heart in 
 view of his journey to Egypt. He per- 
 haps saw little difficulty in his way 
 when he first thought of it. His joy 
 at hearing of Joseph's life and glory 
 was so rapturous that all obstacles 
 were overlooked. But when he delib- 
 erated coolly on the subject, it present- 
 ed itself in new lights. In the first 
 place, his father Isaac in a time of fam- 
 ine had been warned not to go down 
 to Egypt. Was it then lawful for 
 him 1 .Secondly, he was doubtless ac- 
 quainted with the prediction that his 
 seed were to be afBicted in Egypt. 
 Might not his going thither tend to 
 
 surely s bring thee up again . 
 and ^ Joseph shall put his hand 
 upon thine eyes. 
 
 g ch. 15. 
 h ch, 50. 1. 
 
 16. & 50. 13, 24, 25. Exod. 3. 8, 
 
 hasten that dreaded crisis? Thirdly, 
 he may have been apprehensive that 
 by thus removing to a foreign country 
 his posterity would not only be de- 
 prived of the land of promise, but be in 
 imminent danger of being corrupted by 
 the prevailing idolatry of Egypt. On 
 all these accounts it was very desirable 
 that he should have a clear warrant 
 from heaven as to the measure con- 
 templated, and God is pleased to re- 
 move all his latent misgivings, and in- 
 timates that Egypt was to be the 
 cradle of that great nation which was 
 to descend from his loins. How stri- 
 kingly this promise was verified we 
 may learn from the fact that the sev- 
 enty souls which went down into Egypt 
 increased in the space of two hundred 
 and fifteen years, to about eighteen 
 hundred thousand. But the Lord not 
 only thus removes his doubts as to 
 the path of duty, but assures him 
 moreover that he would go with him 
 thither as he had been with him hither- 
 to. If so, no enemies would be able to 
 destroy him, no accident to harm him. 
 
 ^ I will surely bring thee up again. 
 
 The Lord does not say that he would 
 bring him up again as soon as the re 
 maining years of the famine were end- 
 ed, nor even that he would bring him 
 up alive. Indeed, the contrary might 
 be inferred from the very words of 
 the promise ; for he was to remain 
 there till he had become a great nation, 
 and it cannot be supposed that he ex- 
 pected or wished to live till that prom- 
 ise was accomplished. The words 
 were fulfilled to the letter when Jacob's 
 dead body was brought up from Egypt. 
 But this was a small thing. It waa 
 
B. C. 1706.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLVl. 
 
 347 
 
 5 And i Jacob rose up from 
 Beer-sheba : and the sons of Israel 
 carried Jacob their father, and 
 their little ones, and their wives, 
 in the wagons ^ which Pharaoh 
 had sent to carry him. 
 
 6 And they took their cattle, 
 and their goods which they had 
 
 i Acts 7. 15. k ch. 45. 19, 21. . 
 
 only a pledge of the fulfilment ef the 
 promise in its larger and truer sense; 
 for it was to be in the person of his 
 seed that Jacob was to be brought up 
 to possess the earthly inheritance. In 
 his own person he was received into 
 the inheritance of the saints in light, 
 
 IT Joseph shall put his hand upon 
 
 thine eyes. That is, shall stand by the 
 bed-side in the hour of thy dissolution, 
 and perform the last office of filial 
 piety in closing thine eyes. Such a 
 promise was not only an assurance, 
 that God in love to him would order 
 the circumstances of his latter end to 
 his own satisfaction, but that he and 
 Joseph should not be again separated. 
 Long had this dear son been lost to 
 him, though still alive, but now he 
 learns that Joseph is to survive him, 
 and that he should enjoy his society 
 till death. No parent now knows 
 whether any of his dearest friends will 
 live to close his eyes. Parents have 
 been often known to lament that they 
 had lived so long in a valley of tears to 
 bemoan the loss of those whose youth 
 and vigor promised a long continuance 
 of life. Jacob was almost the only fa- 
 ther who could certainly say that he 
 would not live to mourn over the best 
 beloved of his children. David knew 
 that Solomon would outhve him, but 
 he saw the miserable end of another 
 son not less dear to his heart. 
 
 5. And Jacob rose up from Beer- 
 sheba, &c. Jacob, though doubtless 
 refreshed and strengthened by the late 
 
 gotten in the land of Canaan, and 
 came into Egypt, i Jacob, and all 
 his seed v/ith him ; 
 
 7 His sons, and his sons' sons 
 with him, his daughters, and his 
 sons' daughters, and all his seed 
 brought he with him into Egypt. 
 
 I Deut. 26. 5. Josh. 24. 4. Ps. 105. 23 
 Isa. 52. 4. 
 
 manifestation, was unable to travel on 
 foot to a distant country, as he had 
 done in the days of his youth. In this 
 emergency a kind providence furnishes 
 him with suitable vehicles to carry him 
 to Egypt, and his children were careful 
 to perform for him every office that 
 could make his journey pleasant. This 
 was a debt of kindness which was just- 
 ly owed to Jacob from his sons. They 
 were little children at the time of his 
 last long journey, and he prayed and 
 wrestled with God for them when they 
 were in danger, and used all possible 
 means to appease their enraged uncle, 
 and moved slowly along the road as 
 the women and children were able to 
 bear. Now Jacob was himself a child 
 in strength, and his vigorous children 
 recompensed their father's tender care 
 by their care of him on the journey. 
 
 6. They took their cattle and their 
 goods, &c. The mention of their bring- 
 ing their * goods' with them may strike 
 the reader as inconsistent with what 
 we have said in v. 1, respecting their 
 compliance with Pharaoh's injunction 
 as to their ' stuff.' But the truth is, 
 the original words for goods and sivf 
 are different and doubtless have a dif- 
 ferent import ; so that they might have 
 left their stuff, their coarser and more 
 cumbrous utensils behind them, while 
 their goods, their more choice, precious, 
 and costly effects, they may have ta- 
 ken with them. 
 
 7. His sons, and his sons^ sons with 
 him, his daughters^ &c. Jacob had 
 
348 
 
 GENESIS. [B. C. 1706 
 
 ^ S And "' these are the names 
 of the children of Israel, which 
 came into Egypt, Jacob and his 
 sons : " Reuben, Jacob's first- 
 born. 
 
 9 And the sons of Reuben ; 
 Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, 
 and Carmi. 
 
 10 TI And ° the sons of Simeon ; 
 Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, 
 and Jachin, and Zohar, and 
 Shaul the son of a Canaanitish 
 woman. 
 
 m Ex. 1. 1. & 6. 14. n Numb. 26. 5. 
 1 Chron. 5. 1. o Ex. 6. 15. 1 Chron. 4. 24. 
 
 but one daughter, Dinah, but the term 
 may here include his daughters-in-law, 
 or it may be used indefinitely, as 'sons,' 
 V. 23, signifies one son. In like man- 
 ner it is said that the malefactors who 
 were crucified with Christ, reviled him, 
 when it appears from another Evan- 
 gelist that but one of them is intended. 
 It was said in the previous verse that 
 Jacob's sons carried him in the wag- 
 ons which they had brought from 
 Egypt. Here we are told that Jacob 
 brought all his sons, and his sons' sons 
 with him into Egypt. The two passa- 
 ges together form one of those insinu- 
 ating modes of expression not unusual 
 in the Scripture, the drift of which is to 
 iir brm us that while his sons took all 
 tl e trouble of the journey upon them- 
 selves, their father kept all the author- 
 ity in his hands and was looked upon, 
 out of respect to his age, as the proper 
 controUing head of the expedition. This 
 precedency none of his sons grudged 
 to their venerable father. They were 
 happy to be under his direction, and 
 considered him as the bond of their 
 union. See Note on Gen. 11. 31. 
 
 8 — 14. These are the names of the 
 children of Israel, &c. We have here 
 a list of Jacob's descendants who went 
 
 11 Tl And the sous of p Levi, 
 Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 
 
 12 Tl And the sons of 'i Judah; 
 Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and 
 Pharez, and Zarah: but ""Er and 
 Onan died in the land of Canaan. 
 And nhe sons of Pharez were 
 Hezron, and Hamul. 
 
 13 T[ t And the sons of Issa- 
 char; Tola, and Phuvah, and 
 Job, and Shimron. 
 
 14 Tl And the sons of Zebulon ; 
 Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. 
 
 p 1 Chron. 6. 1, 16. q 1 Chron. 2. 3. & 4. 
 21. r ch. 38. 3, 7, 10. s ch. 33. 29. 1 Chron. 
 2, 5. I 1 Chron. 7. 1. 
 
 with him into Egypt, the leading de- 
 sign of which is, by the contrast be- 
 tween their present small number and 
 their subsequent amazing increase, to 
 illustrate, in the most striking manner, 
 the truth of the divine prediction and 
 promise made to Abraham, Gen. 15. 5. 
 The different rate of increase of the 
 chosen seed at different periods of the 
 430 years is very remarkable, and such 
 as must greatly have tried the faith of 
 the patriarchs. For twenty-five yeara 
 after the promise, Abraham had no 
 child. When Isaac was at length born, 
 he lived to the age of forty before he 
 was married. Here were sixty-five 
 years elapsed and but a single one of 
 that seed which was to be as the stars 
 of heaven for multitude. Isaac finally 
 married, and twenty years pass by be- 
 fore he has a child, by which time 
 Abraham has reached the age of a hun- 
 dred and sixty. Jacob is born, and 
 about eighty years of his life elapse be- 
 fore he becomes a father. So that for 
 one hundred and sixty five, years after 
 the date of the promise, only two indi- 
 viduals, Isaac and Jacob, appeared as 
 its fruits. But now the promised seed 
 began to increase rapidly in number. 
 Early in life each of Jacob's sons had 
 
B. C. 1706.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 349 
 
 15 These be the sons of Leah, 
 which she bare unto Jacob in 
 Padan-aram, with his daughter 
 Dinah : all the souls of his sons 
 and his daughters ivej-e thirty and 
 three. 
 
 16 If And the sons of Gad; 
 " Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, 
 and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and 
 Areli. 
 
 17 ![ ^ And the sons of Asher; 
 Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and 
 Beriah, and Serah their sister. 
 And the sons of Beriah ; Heber, 
 and Malchiel. 
 
 18 y These are ihe sons of 
 
 u Numb. 26. 15, &c. x 1 Chron. 7. 30. 
 y ch. 30. 10. 
 
 Bons born to them, and some of them, 
 were grandfathers when they had arri- 
 ved at middle age. God will hasten 
 his word in his own time, and not 
 
 sooner. IT Which came into Egypt. 
 
 The original here affords us a specimen 
 of that graphic power for which the 
 Hebrew is so remarkable, and which 
 IS so often lost to the mere readers of 
 versions. Although the historian is 
 describing an event long since past, 
 and might therefore have been expect- 
 ed to employ a verb in the past tense, 
 /et instead of IJ^^ ^uJj!^ asher ba-u 
 which came, he makes use of the pres- 
 ent participle d^i^-H habba-im, which 
 were going, a phraseology that depicts 
 the scene as actually transpiring before 
 us. We see them, as it v/ere, in the 
 very act of emigration. See my Note 
 
 on Gen. 41. 2. Ps. 3. 6. IT v. 10, 
 
 SJiaul the son, &c. One of Simeon's 
 sons, in distinction from the rest, is 
 said to have been by a Canaaniiish wo- 
 man. This circumstance would not 
 have been mentioned, if if had not been 
 an uncommon thing in the hol^ family 
 to marry the daughters of Canaan. 
 Tho fact, therefore, is a kind of dis- 
 30 
 
 Zilpah, ^ whom Laban gave to 
 Leah his daughter : and these she 
 bare unto Jacob, eve7i sixteen 
 souls. 
 
 19 The sons of Rachel, ^Ja- 
 cob's wife ; Joseph, and Benjamin. 
 
 20 1[ ^ And unto Joseph in the 
 land of Egypt were born Manas- 
 seh and Ephraim, which Asen- 
 ath the daughter of Poti-pherah 
 priest of On bare unto him. 
 
 21 Tl" ''And the sons of Benja- 
 min loere Belah, and Becher, and 
 Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, <^Ehi, 
 and Rosh, ^ Muppim, and Hup- 
 pim, and Ard. 
 
 z ch. 29. 24. a ch. 44. 27. b ch. 41. SO. 
 c 1 Chron. 7. 6. & 8. 1. d Numb. 26. 38. 
 e Numb. 26. 39. 
 
 graceful brand fixed upon the memory 
 of Simeon, for having violated the usage 
 and the precept which in this respect 
 governed the chosen race. Again, in 
 the list of Judah's family we have an 
 account of two young persons who left 
 their carcases in Canaan ; Er and 
 Onan, it is said, died in the land of 
 Canaan, Why then do we hear of 
 them in this place which is occupied in 
 an account of those who went down 
 with Jacob, and not of what happened 
 in Canaan? We must not suppose 
 there are any useless repeUtions in the 
 Bible. The story of Er and Onan is 
 recalled to mind, that we may not for- 
 get how dangerous it is to provoke the 
 Lord. They were very young persons 
 when they perished in their iniquity. 
 Let net the young take liberty to sin 
 in the presumptuous hope that they 
 will repent and find mercy when they 
 are old. What if God should suddenly 
 cut them off from life before the time 
 come that they have set for repentance, 
 and make them a warning to others 
 that their time is not in their own 
 hands? 
 
 15. These be the sons of Leah, &c. 
 
350 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1706. 
 
 22 These are the sons of Ra- 
 chel, which were born to Jacob ; 
 all the souls icere een. 
 
 23 II f And the sons of Dan ; 
 Hushim. 
 
 24 ll e And the sons of Naph- 
 lali ; Jahze I, and Guni, and Je- 
 zer, and Shillem. 
 
 25 ^^ These are the sons of 
 Bilhah^ > which Laban ga e unto 
 Rachel his d ughter, and she bare 
 these unto Jacob: all the souls 
 tcere seven. 
 
 26 ''A 1 the souls that came 
 
 f 1 Chron. 7. 12. 1 Chron. 7. 13. h ch. 
 30. 5, 7. i ch. 29. 29. k Ex. 1. 5. 
 
 Leah was the literal mother of the six 
 heads of families in Israel mentioned 
 above ; but is only by a Heb. usage 
 that she is called the mother of those 
 who descended from them. In like man- 
 ner we must allow something for idiom 
 when we are told that they were born 
 in Padan-aram. It is only in the sense 
 of her having borne them in the per- 
 sons of their fathers that the words 
 hold true, for they were all born in 
 Canaan. It is an instance of the same 
 usage by which Levi is said to have 
 paid tithes in the loins of his father 
 Abraham. See also Note on Gen. 24. 
 
 5, IT With his daughter Dinah. It 
 
 is worthy of note, that Dinah is men- 
 tioned alone in this connexion. All 
 Leah's sons were heads of families and 
 fathers of tribes in Israel. But poor 
 Dinah was only an aunt, not a mother, 
 in Israel. She had taken a false step 
 m her youth, which clouded all her fu- 
 ture days. From yielding too much to 
 the impulses of a girlish curiosity, she 
 had become the victim of the seducer. 
 From that time she appears to have hved 
 desolate in her father's house. To what 
 misery do the rash and thoughtless often 
 subject themselves through the whole 
 onrsc of their lives by one imprudent 
 
 with Jacob into E^ypt, which 
 came out of his loins, besides 
 Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls 
 were threescore and six ; 
 
 27 And the sons of Joseph 
 which were borne him in Egypt, 
 were two souls : ^ all the souls 
 of the house of Jacob, which came 
 into Egypt, were threescore and 
 ten. 
 
 2S Tl And he sent Judah before 
 him unto Joseph, "^ to direct his 
 face unto Goshen ; and they came 
 " into the land of Goshen. 
 
 1 Deut. 10. 22. 
 nch.47. 1. 
 
 Acts 7. 14. m ch. 31.21. 
 
 piece of conduct ! IT All the souls of 
 
 his sons and daughters were thirty and 
 three. Or rather according to the Heb., 
 'AH the souls, (including) sons and 
 daughters, were thirty and three.' The 
 number is made out by including Ja- 
 cob himself and excluding Er and 
 Onan, who were now dead, as was 
 also Leah herself. 
 
 26, 27. All the souls that came uiih 
 Jacob into Egypt, &o. There is an 
 apparent discrepancy between this ac- 
 count of Piloses and that of Stephen, 
 Acts 17. 4, in regard to the numbers 
 here mentioned. But Stephen in ma- 
 king his statement, followed the Sept. 
 which has seventy-five. This arose 
 from their adding five sons of Ephraim 
 and Manasseh, born in Egypt, on the 
 authority of 1 Chron. 7. 14—20. So 
 that in fact both accounts are true. 
 Bloses says that all the souls he had 
 reckoned were seventy; but he does 
 not say there were no more; the Sept. 
 adds the names of five more, and then 
 says that all the names reckoned were 
 seventy five, which is true if the book 
 of Chronicles be true. Though there 
 is a variation therefore, there is no con- 
 tradiction. But the Sept., it may be 
 remarked, is several times quoted by 
 
B. C. 1706.1 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 351 
 
 29 And Joseph made ready his 
 chariot, and went up to meet Is- 
 rael his father to Goshen; and 
 presented himself unto him : and 
 he ° fell on his neck, and wept on 
 his neck a good while. 
 
 o ch. 45, M. 
 
 the New Testament writers, even when 
 it varies from the Hebrew text. The 
 number seventy in v. 27, is made out 
 by including those who are excluded 
 in V. 26. 
 
 28. And he sent Judah before him, 
 &c. Drawing nigh to Egypt, or to 
 the royal city, Judah is sent before to 
 apprise Joseph of bis father's arrival. 
 Jacob could not travel with such speed 
 as he desired to see the son so dear to 
 his heart, but doubted not that when 
 he heard of his approach he would 
 come forth to meet him. Thus they 
 would both gain som.e hours of happi- 
 ness. Besides, it was obviously prop- 
 er that the house of Pharaoh also 
 should have warning of the approach 
 of such a large company before they 
 made their appearance. IF To di- 
 rect his face. Heb. ivfc^ Ti^inb ^e/io- 
 rothlephanav, to teach or inform before 
 him. This may be understood both of 
 Judah' s informing Joseph of his fa- 
 ther's arrival, and also of Joseph's 
 'teaching,' or 'giving information,' rel- 
 ative to the location of Jacob and his 
 family in the land of Goshen. Chal. 
 ' That he might make preparation be- 
 fore him.' 
 
 29. And Joseph made ready his cha- 
 riot. Heb. iri^2"i^ '"iw^*i yesorvier- 
 kavto, bound his chariot; i. e. bound or 
 harnessed the horses to the chariot. 
 The term ' chariot' is taken in a large 
 sense embracing both the vehicles and 
 the horses by which they were drawn. 
 Joseph sent wagons only for his father 
 and hi.i father's house, but made ready 
 
 30 And Israel said unto Jo- 
 seph, pNov/ let me die, since I 
 have seen thy face, because thou 
 art yet alive. 
 
 31 And Joseph said unto his 
 brethren, and unto his father's 
 
 p Luke 2. 29, 30. 
 
 a chariot for himself. This proceeded 
 not from a spirit of vain ostentation, 
 but it was proper that Joseph should 
 appear with an equipage suited to the 
 station to which the king had advanced 
 him. Particular situations in life often 
 impose that upon humble minds which 
 they would not covet of their own ac- 
 cord. ^Presented himself to him; 
 
 Heb. Ti^S^ Jft'^'i yera elav, uas seen 
 or appeared to him. The expression 
 implies that this was done as an act of 
 special honor and reverence to his 
 father, as the term is thai which is 
 used in the law for men's appearing or 
 presenting themselves before the Lord, 
 Thus Ex. 23. 17, ' Three times in the 
 year all thy males shall appear (Heb. 
 nHT^ yeraehf shall be seen) before the 
 
 Lord God.' IT Fell on his neck and 
 
 wept, &c. The indefinite form of the 
 expression leaves us at liberty to refer 
 the ' he' either to Jacob or to Joseph, 
 or to both, as no doubt the falling on 
 the neck was mutual. It would be a 
 vain and useless attempt to describe 
 the pleasure that both father and son 
 received and gave while thus locked in 
 a tender embrace. Their emotions 
 were too strong for utterance, and they 
 could only express them by their min- 
 gled tears. How richly was Joseph 
 now compensated for all the bitter 
 tears which the envy of his brethren, 
 and the rage of his mistress had ex- 
 torted from his eyes. Pleasant were 
 the moments when he wept on the 
 neck of Benjamin ; but his pleasure 
 seems to nave been still greater when 
 
352 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1706. 
 
 house, ^ I "vvill go up, and shew 
 Pharaoh, and say unto him, My 
 brethren, and my father's house, 
 which were in the land of Ca- 
 naan, are come unto me : 
 
 q ch. 47. 1. 
 
 he wept on his father's neck, as it is 
 here said that he wept on it ' a good 
 while.' 
 
 30. And Israel said unto Joseph, 
 Now* let me die, &c. The good old 
 man is now so filled to overflowing 
 with happiness, that the thoughts of 
 death came to him as a kind of rehef. 
 Having enjoyed as much as he could 
 desire in this world, it is not surprising 
 that he should now wish to go to an- 
 other. Although life was more pleas- 
 ant to Jacob than it had been for many 
 past years, yet pleasant as it had be- 
 come, he would have parted with it 
 without sorrow, because the pleasure 
 he experienced would not admit of the 
 approaches of sorrow. As a man that 
 has found a precious treasure which he 
 did not expect, would not feel much 
 pain in losing a small sum of money, 
 because his gain exceeds his loss ; so 
 Jacob, had he died at this time, would 
 have thought the loss of his own life 
 a small matter, when he had gained a 
 more precious life than his own. His 
 joy was no doubt the greater in pro- 
 portion to his previous mourning. 
 Having in his own mind so long num- 
 bered Joseph with the dead, the sight 
 of him living was Uttle short of receiv- 
 ing him from among the tenants of the 
 tomb. Who can wonder therefore that 
 he should have virtually exclaimed, 
 like good old Simeon, ' Lord, now let 
 thy servant depart in peace, for mine 
 eyes have seen thy salvation.' How 
 httle did he think that he had seventeen 
 years of life yet before him in this 
 world ! 
 
 31. And Joseph said unto his breth- 
 
 32 And the men are shep- 
 herds, for their trade hath been 
 to feed cattle ; and they have 
 brought their flocks, and their 
 herds, and all that they have. 
 
 re7i, &c. Though Joseph no doubt 
 continued for some time in sweet con- 
 verse with his father, yet he did not 
 overlook his brethren. They were all 
 welcome, and he behaved in such a 
 manner as to make them feel that they 
 were welcome to Egypt, to partake in 
 his prosperity. They were shepherds 
 compelled to leave their own country. 
 Joseph was the lord of Egypt, yet he 
 was not ashamed to acknowledge his 
 relation to them, either before the peo- 
 ple or before the king. His heart was 
 not exalted above his brethren by the 
 superiority of his station, nor alienated 
 from them by their malicious conduct 
 toward himself. It was a proper token 
 of respect to the king, as well as to his 
 brethren, to inform Pharaoh that they 
 were come to his country, from the 
 land of Canaan, at his desire. Pha- 
 raoh told Joseph that in the throne 
 himself only was to be greater, and 
 Joseph did not forget the respect to so 
 kind a sovereign and benefactor. 
 
 32. The men are shepherds, &c. 
 Joseph well knew how greatly shep- 
 herds were detested by the Egyptians, 
 and yet he would not conceal from the 
 king that he was spnmg from a race 
 of shepherds. His credit was loo well 
 established to be affected by the knowl- 
 edge of this connexion, and it was 
 necessary that his brethren's occupa- 
 tion should be known to the king that 
 he rright assign them a convenieni 
 dwelUng for their flocks and herds. 
 And here it is observable with what 
 ' meekness of wisdom' Joseph demean- 
 ed himself in this affair. Most men in 
 cimilar circumstances would have been 
 
B. C. 1706.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 353 
 
 33 And it shall come to pass, 
 when Pharaoh shall call you, 
 and shall say, "■ What is your oc- 
 cupation? 
 
 34 That ye shall say, Thy ser- 
 vants' * trade hath been about cat- 
 
 r ch. 47. 2, 3. s ver. 32. 
 
 for introducing their relations as speed- 
 ily as possible into posts of honor and 
 profit, lest they should disgrace him. 
 But Joseph's ambition runs not in that 
 channel. He seeks not high things for 
 his relations, but is more concerned for 
 their purity than for their outward dig- 
 nity. He was aware that they would 
 be in danger fiom contact with an 
 idolatrous nation, and therefore sought 
 . to secure them a place as free as pos- 
 sible from the evil influences to which 
 they would be expos;d in a court. 
 This was probably one ground of the 
 frankness which he proposed to assume 
 in addressing the king. 
 
 33. And it shall come to pass, &c. It 
 was to be expected that Pharaoh would 
 call fur Joseph's brethren, and con- 
 verse with them His long friendship 
 for Joseph would make him desirous of 
 seeing his brethren, and perhaps of 
 honoring them with employment in 
 his service. It was fitting therefore 
 that they should be prepared by pre- 
 vious instructions for such an inter- 
 view. First impressions concerning 
 them on the king's mind might be very 
 useful or hurtful to their interests. Jo- 
 seph knew that an inquiry as to their 
 occupation would naturally be made. 
 The king would not ask them whether 
 they had amj occupation, for that they 
 had some, and had not been tiirough 
 life eating the bread of idleness, he 
 would take for granted. But he would 
 wish to know ^chat their occupation 
 was. Accordingly Joseph says in ef- 
 fect, ' I will go before you and tell the 
 30* 
 
 tie t from our youth even until 
 now, both we, cmcl also our fa- 
 thers : that ye may dwell in the 
 land of Goshen ; for every shep- 
 herd is " an abomination unto the 
 Egyptians. 
 
 t ch. 30. 35. & 34. 5. «fe 37. 12. u en. 43. 32. 
 Exod. 8. 26. 
 
 king that you are shepherds, and have 
 been so all your lives, and your fathers 
 before you. This will prevent his ma- 
 king any proposals for raising you to 
 posts of honor in the state; and he will 
 at once feel the propriety of assigning 
 you a part of the country which ia 
 suited to the sustenance of your flocks 
 and herds, and where you may live by 
 yourselves uncontaminated by Egyp- 
 tian customs. And when you come 
 before the king, and he shall ask you 
 of your occupation, then do you con- 
 firm what I have said of you. And as 
 the employment of a shepherd is mean- 
 ly accounted of in Egypt, and those 
 that follow it are despised and reckoned 
 unfit for public offices, this will deter- 
 mine the king to say nothing on that 
 subject, but to grant you a place in 
 Goshen.' Thus, while men in general 
 are pressing after the highest stations 
 in life, and sacrificing every thing to 
 obtain them, we see a man who had 
 for nine years occupied a place of emi- 
 nence, and felt both its advantages and 
 its disadvantages, carefully directing 
 his dearest friends and relations in an- 
 other course of life, as far more produc- 
 tive of peace and happiness. Every 
 wise man will consider that situation 
 as best for his children and friends, 
 which will be esteemed best on a death- 
 bed, or in another world. 
 
 34. Every shepherd is an abomina- 
 tion unto the Egyptians. It is not 
 clear whether we are to regard these 
 as the words of Joseph, urging the fact 
 stated as an argument with his brethren 
 
354 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1706. 
 
 to induce them to follow his advice, or 
 as the words of Moses giving a reason 
 for Joseph's counsel. The fact itself 
 is a very remarkable one, and one for 
 which various causes have been as- 
 signed by historians and commenta- 
 tors. As we have no authentic history 
 of the Egyptians at this early period, 
 except what we find in the Bible, it is 
 no wonder that the solutions proposed 
 still leave the subject a theme for con- 
 iecture. By some it has been supposed 
 that this abhorrence of shepherds was 
 occasioned by cruel depredations com- 
 mitted in Egypt at a former period by 
 an army of nomade Cushites called 
 the ' shepherd-kings,' who came from 
 Arabia, and overrun nearly the whole 
 country, and who afterwards withdrew 
 to Palestine, where they became the 
 Philistines. Others have conceived 
 that the cause was to be sought for in 
 the animal worship of the Egyptians, 
 which naturally rendered them averse 
 to persons who fed on creatures which 
 they consid.ered sacred. But it is by 
 no means certain that the Egyptians 
 as a people practised this superstition, 
 or that its influence upon the rearing 
 or rearers of cattle was very marked. 
 ' Of the larger cattle, the cow alone 
 was considered sacred. We doubt if 
 any strong objection on its account 
 could have arisen against the nomade 
 shepherds, as they never kill cows for 
 food, and rarely even oxen ; and it does 
 not appear that they often offered 
 cows in sacrifice, for in all the Old Tes- 
 tament previously to the exodus from 
 ■t^gypt) we read of only one heifer sac- 
 rificed, Gen. 15. 9. The Egyptians did 
 not worship bulls or oxen ; the wor- 
 ship of the bull Apis being restricted to 
 an individual animal : other bulls were 
 used in sacrifices, and are so represent- 
 ed in sculptures. The priests them- 
 selves ate beef and veal without scru- 
 ple. There was even a caste of herds- 
 men among the Egyptians, and herds 
 
 of black cattle are represented in 
 sculptures and paintings, some of 
 which are preserved in the British 
 Museum. The ox was used as food, 
 and in agricultural labor, and in the 
 same ancient remains is continually 
 represented as drawing the plough. 
 Even Pharaoh himself was a proprie- 
 tor of cattle see ch. 47. 6, and wished 
 to have men of ability to superintend 
 them; and he would scarcely have 
 offered this employment to the brothers 
 of his chief minister, if the employ- 
 ment of rearing cattle had in itself 
 been considered degrading. We con- 
 clude, however, that so far as the 
 hatred of the Egyptians to shepherds 
 arose from their religious prejudices, it 
 was connected almost entirely with the 
 cow — the only pastoral animal which 
 they generally considered sacred. Any 
 objection connected with sheep and 
 goats could only have operated locally, 
 since the Egyptians themselves sacri- 
 ficed or ate them in different districts. 
 We are therefore inclined, following out 
 a hint furnished by Heeren, to considei 
 that the aversion of the Egyptians was 
 not so exclusively to rearers of cattle 
 as such, as to the class of pastors who 
 associated the rearing of cattle with 
 habits and pursuits which rendered 
 them equally hated and feared by a 
 settled and refined people like the 
 Egyptians. We would therefore un- 
 derstand the text in ihe most intense 
 sense, and say that ' evej-y nomade 
 shepherd was an abomination to the 
 Egyptians ;' for there is no evidence 
 that this disgrace attached to those cul- 
 tivators who, being proprietors of lands, 
 made the rearing of cattle a principal 
 part of their business. The nomade 
 tribes, who pastured their flocks on 
 the borders or within the limits of 
 Egypt, did not in general belong to the 
 Egyptian nation, but were of Arabian 
 or Lybian descent; whence the preju- 
 dice against them as nomades was 
 
B. C. 1706.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 353 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 'T^HEN Joseph ^ came and told 
 ^ Pharaoh, and said, My father 
 and my brethren, and their flocks, 
 and their herds, and all that they 
 
 a ch. 46. 31. 
 
 superadded to that against foreigners in 
 general. The turbulent and aggres- 
 sive disposition which usually forms 
 part of the character of nomades— and 
 their entire independence, or at least 
 the imperfect and uncertain control 
 which it is possible to exercise over 
 their tribes — are .circumstances so re- 
 plete with annoyance and danger to a 
 carefully organized society like tbat of 
 the Egyptians, as sufficiently to ac- 
 count for the hatred and scorn which 
 the ruhng priestly caste strove to keep 
 up against them ; and it was probably 
 in order to discourage all intercourse 
 that the regulation precluding Egyp- 
 tians from eating with them was first 
 established.' Pld. Bible. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 1. Then Joseph cavie and told Pha- 
 raoh, &c. Joseph, in the height of his 
 prosperity, did not forget that he had a 
 superior. Dearly as he loved his father 
 and his brethren, he did not settle them 
 in the possessions which he intended 
 for them without Pharaoh's consent. 
 He probably might, by his own author- 
 ity, have placed them in Goshen, but 
 he wisely desired that the king himself 
 should allot them their habitation. 
 Servants ought not to be forward in 
 exercising that power with which they 
 are entrusted, either for their own per- 
 sonal benefit, or for that of their rela- 
 tions. Those are most likely to retain 
 their power, and enjoy it w'ith the least 
 envy, who use it with modesty and 
 moderation. Joseph throughout this 
 transaction showed himself wholly 
 
 have, are come out of the land of 
 Canaan; and behold, they arc 
 m ^ the land of Goshen. 
 
 2 And he took some of his 
 brethren, even five men, and <= pre- 
 sented them unto Pharaoh. 
 
 b ch. 45. 10. & 46. 28. c Acts. 7. 13, 
 
 unlike multitudes who readily make 
 promises both to God and man, but 
 either forget to perform them, or take 
 their own time for it. He immediately 
 performs what he had promised to his 
 father and brethren. Happy as he 
 was in their company, he did not in- 
 dulge himself in the pleasure of talking 
 or of eating and drinking with them, 
 while they continued without a settle- 
 ment, but at once takes ihe proper steps 
 to procure for them the desired place of 
 abode in Egypt. To this end he men- 
 tions that they were already in that 
 part of the country with their flocks 
 and herds ; hoping that this might in- 
 duce the king to consent to their re- 
 maining there. 
 
 2. And he took some of his brethren, 
 even five men, &c. Heb. (Ilip?^ mik- 
 tzeh, a determinate part. The original 
 word, though signifying an end, an ex- 
 tremity, is derived from a root frequent- 
 ly used in the sense of cutting off, 
 making an abscission of a certain 
 definite portion of any thing. In this 
 case, the definite number of five were 
 cut off, as it were, from the whole 
 number of Joseph's brethren, for the 
 purpose of being presented to Pharaoh. 
 Gr. 'Of his brethren he took five men.' 
 He did not single out such of his 
 brethren as made the finest appearance, 
 or were best qualified to shine in the 
 presence of a king, but took five of 
 those that most readily occurred to 
 him without selection. Such appears 
 to be the import of the phraseology in 
 the original. He was an honest man 
 and wished Pharaoh to form no other 
 
356 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1706. 
 
 3 And Pharaoh said unto his 
 brethren, ^ What is your occupa- 
 tion? And they said unto Pha- 
 raoh, * Thy servants are shep- 
 herds, both we, and also our 
 fathers. 
 
 4 They said moreover unto 
 Pharaoh, fFor to sojourn in the 
 land are we come : for thy ser- 
 vants have no pasture for their 
 flocks, s for the famine is sore in 
 the land of Canaan : now there- 
 fore, we pray thee, let thy ser- 
 
 d ch. 46. 33. e ch. 46. 31. f ch. 15. 13. 
 Deut.26. 5. g ch. 43. 1. Acts 7. 11. 
 
 opinion concerning his brethren than 
 what they would be able to support. 
 Joseph did not at this time take all his 
 brethren with him to court, as it was 
 no doubt necessary that a part of them 
 should remain to take care of their 
 father, and of their little ones, and their 
 substance. 
 
 3, 4. And Pharaoh said unto his 
 brethren, &c. The king's interroga- 
 tion corresponded precisely with what 
 Joseph had anticipated, and their an- 
 swer accorded with their previous in- 
 structions. It was an answer which 
 left them no room to hope for any 
 higher place than to be rulers over his 
 cattle. Their brother was in a very ex- 
 alted station, but they did not envy 
 him, or wish to share in his grandeur, 
 but readily complied with his advice, 
 by tehing the king what had been their 
 former occupation. They inform him, 
 moreover, that they had not come to 
 take up their perpetual residence in 
 Egypt. They did not propose to be- 
 come naturaUzed in his kingdom, 
 but wished only to be accounted as 
 strangers and sojourners there, whose 
 necessities had drawn them thither 
 for a time, with their flocks and herds, 
 but wno still had the intention of event- 
 ually returning again to the land of 
 
 vants ^ dwell in the land of Go- 
 shen. 
 
 5 And Pharaoh spake unto Jo- 
 seph, saying, Thy father and thy 
 brethren are come unto thee: 
 
 6 » The land of Egyp'^ is be- 
 fore thee ; in the best of the 
 land make thy father and breth- 
 ren to dwell; "^in the land of 
 Goshen let them dw^ell ; and if 
 thou knowest any men of activi- 
 ty among them, then make them 
 rulers over my cattle. 
 
 h ch. 46. 34. i ch. 20. 15. k ver. 4. 
 
 their inheritance. They had left it for 
 a season ; they could not dwell in it 
 without losing all their cattle, for 
 which they could with difficulty find 
 subsistence for the two former years. 
 In five years more a great part of the 
 cattle of Canaan was likely to perish; 
 yet they would not on any account re- 
 nounce their final interest in that 
 good land of promise. This land 
 might not always secure its inhabi- 
 tants against famine. It might be 
 more grievously afflicted than other 
 lands, but it was the land which the 
 God of their fathers had spied out for 
 them and given them for an everlast- 
 ing inheritance ; and there were their 
 hearts. IT Thy servants are shep- 
 herds. Heb. '^H!Z nS-'^ Toeh tzon, a 
 feeder of sheep ; either the collect, sing. 
 for the plural, or to be understood dis- 
 tributively, 'every one of thy servants 
 is a feeder of sheep.' 
 
 5, 6. And Pharaoh spake unto Jo- 
 seph, saying, &c. The men had now 
 presented to Pharaoh their humble pe- 
 tition. They were but shepherds, and 
 the offspring of shepherds, a set of 
 men whom Pharaoh was taught by 
 his education to abhor. But they were 
 Joseph's brethren, who was not 
 ashamed to acknowledge his relation 
 
B. C. 1706.J 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 357 
 
 7 And Joseph brought in Ja- 
 cob his father, and set him before 
 
 to them. He could not despise men 
 so nearly related to the saviour of his 
 country. A truly royal liberaUty there- 
 fore breathes through his reply to their 
 request, which he makes in his address 
 to Joseph. All that they had sought 
 was a hberty to sojourn in the land of 
 Goshen. The king ordered Joseph 
 to assign them a dwelling-place in the 
 best part of that province. If one 
 district in the land of Egypt were 
 better than another, there let the house 
 of Joseph's father be placed. A truly 
 grateful man will take pleasure to 
 oblige, not only those who have done 
 him eminent services, but also those 
 who are related to them by blood, or 
 
 connected by friendship. IT If thou 
 
 knowest any men of activity, &c. Heb. 
 i'^n "^IL'-J^ anshe hayil, men of ability, 
 or prowess ; implying both strength 
 of body and competent gifts of mind ; 
 men of active habits, and of prudence, 
 diligence, capacity, &c. See Note on 
 Gen. 24. 29. The purport of Phara- 
 oh's reply to Joseph was this: — 'As 
 to promoting your brethren, it does not 
 seem to suit their calling or their incli- 
 nations, to be raised in the m.anner 
 which I might have purposed in their 
 behalf. I will therefore leave it to you 
 to make them happy in their own way. 
 If there be one or more of them better 
 qualified for business than the rest, let 
 them be appointed chief of my herds- 
 men.' IT Rulers over my cattle. 
 
 Heb. n;p?3 "^I^T sare mikneh. ' Cat- 
 tle' here is used in the compre- 
 hensive sense assigned to ' flocks,' 
 Gen. 29. 3, including their keepers. 
 The office in question is undoubtedly 
 that which in 1 Sam. 21. 7, is assigned 
 to Doeg, and expressed by the phrase 
 'chiefest of the herdmen.' The origi- 
 nal word fpr 'rulers' is properly pre- 
 
 Pharaoh : and Jacob blessed Pha- 
 raoh. 
 
 fects, presidents, princes, importing g^oz?- 
 ernors of men, and not of brute beasts. 
 Accordingly it is well rendered by 
 the Arab. ' Make them princes or rulers 
 over those who are set over my herds.' 
 See Note on Gen. 37. 2. 
 
 7. And Joseph brought in Jacob his 
 father, and set him before Pharaoh. 
 Heb. luT^Jcy^ yaamidehu, vtade him 
 to stand, placed, stationed him. This 
 reference to the original at once cor- 
 rects the error of Fuller's remark, that 
 ' when the young men were presented, 
 they stood before him ; but Jacob, in 
 honor of his years, and in compassion 
 of his infirmities, is placed upon a 
 seat J Such a posture would be wholly 
 inconsistent with the oriental ideas of 
 etiquette, unless in consequence of a 
 special invitation, and that from the 
 sovereign himself, and not from a min 
 ister or attendant. Joseph was not 
 ashamed of his brethren, or of their oc- 
 cupations, still less was he ashamed to 
 call himself the son of Jacob. To be 
 the son of this man, he accounted a 
 greater honor than to be next to Pha- 
 raoh in the throne of Egypt, and 
 wished his own children rather to have 
 part with the sons of Israel, than with 
 the posterity of Potipherah, priest of 
 On, though doubtless one of the great- 
 est families of Egypt. Here, as a to- 
 ken of respect, he introduces his ven- 
 erable father to the royal presence, 
 when the first object that meets his 
 eye is Pharaoh sitting in his kingly 
 robes before him. The sight of a 
 prince who had shown such kindness 
 to him and his family in a time of dis- 
 tress, calls forth the most lively sensa- 
 tions of gratitude which he is prompt- 
 ed to express by a solemn blessing. 
 As the patriarch was habitually under 
 the influence of an eminently pious 
 
158 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1706. 
 
 8 And Pharaoh said unto Ja- 
 cob, How old art thou ? 
 
 9 And Jacob said unto Phara- 
 oh, 1 The days of the years of 
 my pilgrimage are an hundred 
 and thirty years : ^" few and evil 
 
 I Hebr. 11. 9, 13. Ps. 39. 12. m Job 11. 1. 
 
 spirit, and accustomed in all circum- 
 stances to lift up his heart to God, it 
 cannot be doubted that on the preseut 
 occasion he blessed Pharaoh with a 
 very devout frame of mind. There 
 was none now living upon earth to 
 whom he reckoned, himself so much 
 indebted, as to the monarch who had 
 raised his beloved son from a dungeon 
 almost to a throne. He saw the kind 
 providence of God to himself in what 
 Pharaoh had done for Joseph, and if 
 we are to bless even them that curse 
 us, how fervently ought we to pray 
 for them who do us good, that the 
 Lord may render their benefits into 
 their own bosoms sevenfold. The 
 word which we render blessed is some- 
 times used to denote an ordinary salu- 
 tanon. But the salutations used among 
 the pious Hebrews were real prayers 
 addressed to God for the welfare ot the 
 person saluted. When one said to an- 
 other, 'Peace be to thee,' or, 'The 
 Lord be with thee,' he expressed his 
 desire in a short prayer to God, for the 
 best blessings to his friend or neigh- 
 bor. How befitting, how affecting, how 
 richly significant, was the present invo- 
 cation, we shall see by adverting to the 
 relation of the parties. The Apostle, 
 Heb. 7. 7, lays it down as a truth, 
 ' beyond contradiction, that the less is 
 blessed of the better,' or greater. In 
 one respect Pharaoh was greater 
 than Jacob ; but in another Jacob was 
 far greater than he, and as he well 
 knew It, he thought it no presumption 
 to act on such a principle. He was a 
 
 have the days of the years of my 
 life been, and n have not attained 
 unto the days of the years of the 
 life of my fathers in the days of 
 their pilgrimage. 
 
 n ch. 25. 7. & 35. 
 
 son of Abraham, whose peculiar honor 
 and prerogative it was, that he and his 
 posterity should be blessings to man- 
 kind ; ' I will bless thee, and thou shah 
 be a blessing.' He was also himself 
 a man who, ' as a prince, had power 
 with God and men and prevailed.' 
 The blessing of such a man was of no 
 small account ; for God would not 
 suffer his words to fall to the ground. 
 
 8. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, 
 HoiD old art thou? It would seem 
 that Pharaoh was not so much struck 
 with the blessing, as with the venera- 
 ble aspect of Jacob, and therefore pro- 
 ceeded to inquire his age. There were 
 probably at this time older men than 
 Jacob, but few, if any, that appeared 
 to be older. Much had he suffered in 
 the whole course of his life ; and much 
 had he suffered of late years from grief 
 and anxiety. Many more years of life 
 spent in ease and prosperity would 
 have made less impression on his per- 
 son, than a few years of such sorrows 
 as had taken possession of his mind 
 since Joseph was torn from him, — sor- 
 rows that were redoubled when Benja 
 min seemed to be in danger of coming 
 like his brother, to an untimely end. 
 He therefore looked perhaps older than 
 he really was. When we see the 
 marks of old age, we are desirous to 
 know the number of years that one 
 has lived. This is an innocent curiosi- 
 ty and may not be altogether useless. 
 There are duties owing to the aged; 
 and the older a man is, we should ba 
 the more careful to perform them. 
 
B. C. 1706.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 359 
 
 He is nearer to that period of existence 
 when he must be removed beyond the 
 reach of our kind oflSces, so that if 
 we are not careful at present to perform 
 the duties we owe to our aged friends, 
 relatives, and neighbors, we are almost 
 sure that death will soon render the 
 wrong irreparable. But it is to be regret- 
 ted that a bad use is often made of our 
 knowledge of the great age of others. 
 We think that we may live as long as 
 they have lived, and thus are encour- 
 aged to defer our preparation for our 
 latter end to a period of life which we 
 may never reach ; or if we should 
 reach it, we may find ourselves less 
 disposed to it than we are at present. 
 But after all it is a matter of small 
 importance to us to know how old are 
 our acquaintances ; though it may be 
 of great use to know and consider how 
 old we are ourselves. The days that 
 aie past may be lost, and worse than 
 lost to us, but they are marked down 
 in a book that shall one day be opened. 
 What good have we left undone that 
 ought to have been done? What 
 good things have we so negligently 
 performed, that they might about as 
 well have been left undone 7 Have 
 we not lost many of our days 1 What 
 if they are all lost days'? What if all 
 that has hitherto been done by us, 
 should be produced against us in the 
 day of trial to our condemnation 7 
 What need have we to redeem our 
 time ! Although we are yet young, 
 we know not how few days may be 
 left for what has hitherto been neglect- 
 ed ; if we are old, we know that our 
 days will not be many. 
 
 9. And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, 
 The days of the years, &c. The an- 
 swer of the patriarch is very pathetic 
 and impressive. We see in it a charming 
 example of spirituality, and how such 
 a slate of mind will find a way of in- 
 troducing religion, even in reply to the 
 most simple and common questions, i 
 
 How often do we go into the company 
 of persons of distinction, and come 
 away without once thinking of making 
 use of the opportunity to say some- 
 thing 'which shalt minister grace to 
 the hearers.' Nay, it would seem to 
 be almost rude to attempt it. But 
 wherefore 7 Because of our want of 
 spiriiual-mindedness. We may admit 
 indeed that great prudence and discre- 
 tion are needed to make such allusions 
 effective ; and we may grant, more- 
 over, that aged persons, like Jacob, 
 may properly use more freedom in this 
 respect than younger Christians, for it 
 is naturally felt that ' days should speak, 
 and multitude of years should teach 
 wisdom;' but there can be no doubt at 
 the same time, that, whatever be our 
 age, if our spirits were more imbued 
 with a sense of divine things, we should 
 think of the most common concerns of 
 life in a religious way ; and so thinking of 
 them, it would be natural to speak of 
 them. Jacob here, in answer to this 
 simple question, without any force or 
 awkwardness introduces several im- 
 portant truths which could hardly fail 
 to make an impression on the mind of 
 Pharaoh. He insinuates to him that 
 he and his fathers before him were 
 strangers and pilgrims on the earth; 
 that their portion was not in this world, 
 but in another ; that the life of man, 
 though it be extended to a hundred and 
 thirty years, was but a few days ; that 
 these few days were mixed with evil ; 
 all which, if the king properly reflected 
 on it, would lead him to set light by 
 the earthly glory which surrounded 
 him, and to seek a crown which fadeth 
 not away. It is admirable to see how 
 all these sentiments could be suggested 
 in so prudent, so modest, so natural, 
 and so inoffensive a manner. In speak- 
 ing as he did of the days of the years 
 of his pilgrimage Jacob used the lan- 
 guage which he had learned from his 
 fathers. He speaks of their pilgrimage 
 
360 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1706. 
 
 as well as his own, and we learn from 
 Paul, that they confessed themselves 
 strangers and pilgrims on the earth, 
 who were seeldng a better country. In 
 this sense, we all ought to consider 
 ourselves as pilgrims, on our journey 
 to another world, towards which we 
 should travel as those who look for a 
 continuing city, whose builder and ma- 
 ker is God. IT Few and evil have the 
 
 years, &c. Few and many are relative 
 terms. In our period of the world, an 
 hundred and thirty years make a life 
 of extraordinary length. But Jacob 
 counted his years few, because they 
 came far short of the days of many of 
 his ancestors. Yet when he was a 
 child in his father's house, an hundred 
 and thirty years would appear to him 
 a very long space of time; but now 
 when they were gone, they appeared 
 but as a few days. Let us attend to 
 the testimony of this competent wit- 
 ness. Those years that appear'many 
 in prospect, dwindle down to a few 
 days when we look back upon them. 
 Let us not say, therefore, that we have 
 yet many days of life before us, and 
 that we will eat and drink and be mer- 
 ry. We know not when our souls 
 shall be required of us. But we know 
 though we should live an hundred 
 years twice told, and should rejoice in 
 them all, yet they will appear when at 
 an end, but as yesterday when it is 
 past ! But Jacob's days were not only 
 few, they were evil also. Certain it 
 is, that many of the days of his life 
 were spent in grief. Besides the years 
 of bitterness that he spent in lamenting 
 Joseph's unhappy fate, and the other 
 deaths in his family, the sins of his 
 children were the cause, not of days, 
 but of years of sorrow. They were so 
 heinous, that the bitter remembrance 
 of them must have kept possession of 
 his mind till his dying day. But to 
 what purpose did he speak of the ca- 
 lamities of his life in his intercourse 
 
 with Pharaoh? Not to bespeak the 
 pity of that prince, after all the assur- 
 ances of kindness that he had received 
 from him. Far less did Jacob intend 
 to express any dissatisfaction with the 
 dealings of providence towards him. 
 He did not envy his fathers the length 
 of their hves or their comparative ex- 
 emption from evil. His aim was un- 
 doubtedly rather to administer a sea- 
 sonable hint to Pharaoh of the great 
 truth, that ' man that is born of woman 
 is of few days and full of trouble.' He 
 had seen it expedient often to speak to 
 his sons of the evil days that he had 
 seen, and might very justly suppose 
 that a hint on this subject would be 
 useful to the king of Egypt. His situ- 
 ation in life precluded the probability 
 that he would ever receive many ad- 
 monitions on this head from other 
 sources, and as the opportunity was 
 afforded to Jacob of administering a 
 seasonable hint, he wisely avails him- 
 self of it. Yet the thought is so obvi- 
 ous that one would scarcely think that 
 it needed a patriarch to suggest it to a 
 king. We certainly must be great 
 strangers to the world and to ourselves, 
 if we have not yet learned a lesson for 
 which we have more than ten thousand 
 instructions. But there is one ccun 
 terbalancing view. Since there is so 
 much evil mingled with human life, we 
 ought rather to rejoice than to mourn 
 that our days are few. If nothing, in- 
 deed, were to be expected beyond the 
 grave, we would choose rather to en- 
 dure all the evils of life a great while 
 longer, than to lose our present exist- 
 ence. But if an eternity of joy in the 
 presence of Christ awaits us, why 
 should we regret the brevity of our hfe 
 of sorrows 1 
 
 10. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, &c. 
 As Jacob blessed Pharaoh when he 
 came into his presence, so he again 
 blessed him when he went out of it. 
 From their mutual treatment of each 
 
13. C. 1706. 
 
 CHAPTER XL VII. 
 
 361 
 
 10 And Jacob « blessed Pha- 
 raoh, and went out from before 
 Pharaoh. 
 
 11 U And Joseph placed his fa- 
 ther and his brethren, and gave 
 them a possession in the land of 
 Egypt, in the best of the land, in 
 
 other, we may learn that it is a good 
 thing to do good to good men. They 
 will return in prayers and blessings, if 
 they cannot do it otherwise, the favors 
 done to them in their persons and fam- 
 ilies. The prayer of such a wrestler 
 with God as Jacob availeth much. 
 Whether Pharaoh ever saw him again, 
 or whether he profited at all by the 
 interview, we are not informed. If the 
 words which he heard produced their 
 right effect, upon his mind, he would 
 look back to this meeting, short as it 
 was, as one of the most interesting 
 events of his life. 
 
 11. And Joseph placed his father, 
 &c. Heb. i'lri"" yosheb, seated, caused 
 to dwell. Had Joseph given them a 
 possession in the best part of the land, 
 without express orders from Pharaoh, 
 it might have given to the Egyptians 
 an occasion of evil speaking not only 
 against himself but against his father's 
 house. But when Pharaoh command- 
 ed him to place them in the best part 
 of the country, he not only had a right, 
 but counted it his duty to give this tes- 
 timony of his affection to his father. 
 How richly was Joseph repaid for all 
 his sufferings, when he was made a 
 father not only to Pharaoh and the 
 Egyptians, but to all his father's house ! 
 
 12. And Joseph nourished his father 
 and his brethren, &c. Heb. ^^^S'^ 
 yekalkel, sustained, fostered. The Gr. 
 renders it by (.airoiuTOEi esitometrei, he 
 gave them their measure of com, (or 
 portion of meat, taking ' meat' in the 
 old sense of ' meal.') A kindred term 
 
 31 
 
 the land of PRameses, •' as Pha- 
 raoh had commanded, 
 
 12 And Joseph nourished his 
 father, and his brethren and all 
 his father's household, with bread 
 according to their families. 
 
 p Ex. i. 11. & 12. 37. q ver. 6. 
 
 o-iroj^terpioi, portion of meat, occurs 
 Luke 12. 42, where allusion is doubtless 
 had to the exaltation and stewardship of 
 Joseph here recorded; 'And the lord 
 said. Who then is that faithful and wise 
 steward whom his lord shall make ru- 
 ler over his household to give them their 
 portion of meat in due season V It is 
 needless to inquire at whose expense 
 Joseph afforded such large supplies to 
 his father's family. He was first just, 
 and then generous. He was entitled 
 te a large revenue, Vv'hich would enable 
 him to practise liberality to a great ex- 
 tent. It is plain, from what we have 
 already seen, that he used no more free- 
 dom than he was expressly warranted 
 to do with the king's property under 
 his management. In thus performing 
 this ofl5ce of filial and fraternal care to- 
 wards his father's house, he made good 
 the title ascribed to him in Jacob's 
 blessing. Gen. 49. 24, of ' Shepherd 
 
 and Stone of Israel.' IT According 
 
 to their families. Heb. t]L2ri "^5^) 
 lephi hattaph, according to the mouth 
 of the little ones. That is, either ac- 
 cording to the number, the census, of 
 their families, small as well as great, 
 in which sense the original of the word 
 'mouth' occurs. Gen. 50.21. Ex. 12. 
 3 ; or, according to the manner of lit- 
 tle children, whose food is put into their 
 mouths lovingly, tenderly, carefully. 
 It denotes that Joseph acted the part 
 of a nursing-father to Jacob's house. 
 Probably both ideas are included in the 
 phrase. Thus, as the Psalmist says of 
 David, Ps. 78. 72, 'He fed them ac- 
 
362 
 
 OETJKSr^. 
 
 [B. C. 1702". 
 
 13 ^ And there was no bread 
 in all the land; for the famine 
 -ujas very sore^ '"so that the land 
 of Egypt, and all the land of Ca- 
 naan, fainted by reason of the 
 famine. 
 
 14 " And Joseph gathered up 
 all the money that was found 
 in the land of Egypt, and in the 
 land of Canaan, for the corn 
 
 r ch. 41. 30. Acts 7. 11. s ch. 41 5&. 
 
 cording to the integrity of his heart j 
 and guided them by the skilfulness of 
 Ms hands.' 
 
 13. And there was no bread, &c. 
 That is, no food ; by which is meant 
 there was comparatively none ; the 
 population were reduced to the greatest 
 straits. The narrative beginning here 
 and ending v. 23, cornea in parentheti- 
 cally, as a kind of episode informing us 
 of the state of things in Egypt, during 
 Ibe remaining five years of famine un- 
 der Joseph's administration. The scar- 
 city was so extreme that to purchase 
 the necessaries of life, the inhabitants 
 were compelled to part with nearly all 
 their possessions. What reason have 
 we to bless God, that we have seldom 
 or never known by experience the hor- 
 rors of famine, or even the anxiety of 
 fear about the indispensable means of 
 
 Eving ! IT TTie land— fainted. That 
 
 is, the people of the land, as the Chal. 
 renders it. Arab. ' The inhabitants of 
 the land were brought to poverty.' 
 The Syr. however has, ' The land was 
 desolate or wasted.^ Gr. t^eXnTc failed, 
 fainted. The meaning undoubtedly is 
 that the inhabitants both of Egypt and 
 Canaan were so completely prostrated 
 by the common calamity, that they 
 sunk spiritless and iJiert into utter de- 
 spondency. They were like a person 
 in whom animation is suspended. 
 
 14. Joseph gathered up all the mon- 
 «y, &c. Probably better rendered, 'had 
 
 which they bought: and Joseph 
 brought the money into Pharaoh's 
 house. 
 
 15 And when money failed in 
 the land of Egypt, and in the 
 land of Canaan, all the Egyp- 
 tians came unto Joseph, andsaid,^ 
 Give us bread : for t why should 
 we die in thy presence ? for the 
 money faileth. 
 
 t ver. 1^. 
 
 gathered up.' So in the last clause 
 • had brought,' instead of ' brought.' It 
 was after they had parted with their 
 money that they were reduced to such 
 extremities. Nothing of extortion on 
 the part of Jos?ph is to be inferred 
 from these words. The people oi 
 Egypt and Canaan were willing to give 
 all their money for corn, and were glad 
 that they had money to give in ex- 
 change for what was so necessary to 
 their comfort, and even to their exist- 
 ence. Of what use is money, but to- 
 procure the things that we need 7 Do 
 we grudge to pay for what we cannot 
 want ? We have great reason to thank 
 God if in times of scarcity corn can 
 still be had for money, and money can 
 be had to purchase corn. When it is 
 said that all the money of the country 
 was received by Joseph, the meaning 
 probably is, that the greater part was 
 brought to him for corn. None was 
 left in the hands of the common peo- 
 ple, and little in the hands of the most 
 affluent. But Joseph did not enrich 
 himself with that money which came 
 abundantly into his hands. He brought 
 it into Pharaoh's house, reserving noth- 
 ing for himself but the lawful and 
 known reward of his labor. Though 
 he had ample opportunities clandes- 
 tinely to appropriate the public revenue, 
 yet he knew that an all-seeing eye was 
 upon him and abhorred the thought of 
 sinning against God. What would 
 
I.e. 1702. J 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 363 
 
 16 And Joseph said, Give 
 your cattle ; and I will give 
 you for your cattle, if money 
 foil. 
 
 17 And they brought their cat- 
 tle unto Joseph : and Joseph gave 
 
 /bousanda of gold and silver have avail- 
 ed him, if he had brought upon himself 
 that curse which cleaves to the work- 
 ers of unrighteousness 7 
 
 15. And when jnoney failed, &c. 
 The Egyptians felt the famine very 
 severely, but were not reduced to the 
 same pitiable distress with the Canaan- 
 ites, who had no Joseph among them 
 to buy up stores of food against the 
 time of pressing need. The Egyptians, 
 however, no doubt deserved to feel the 
 effects of famine, from not having been 
 careful to lay up provision for them- 
 selves, when they should have known 
 that the famine was coming. As in 
 the plague of hail predicted by Moses, 
 those of the Egyptians who feared the 
 Lord secured their cattle and servants 
 against it, while others lost both, so it 
 is very probable that some of the Egyp- 
 tians had taken warning and laid up 
 corn for themselves. The far greater 
 part, however, no doubt either disre- 
 garded the prediction, or trusted to Jo- 
 seph to provide for their necessities. 
 They now, therefore, reap the conse- 
 quences of their improvidence. Still 
 they were not obliged to starve, though 
 their money was gone. There was 
 bread, and to spare, in the king's gra- 
 naries, and ihe disposal of it was com- 
 mitted to Joseph ; and to him they ap- 
 ply, in their straits, with something of 
 a tone of remonstrance. ' Why should 
 we die in thy presence ? The corn col- 
 lected in the store-houses will be use- 
 less without eaters, and the king will 
 be a king no longer if his subjects all 
 die.' 
 
 16, 17. Joseph said, Give your cattle. 
 
 them bread in exchange for 
 horses, and for the flocks, and for 
 the cattle of the herds, and for 
 the asses; and he fed them with 
 bread, for all their cattle, for that 
 year. 
 
 &c. But v/as not Joseph taking ad- 
 vantage of their necessities, in propo- 
 sing to furnish bread to them on such 
 hard conditions? Was it not enough 
 for them to part with all their money, 
 without being compelled to dispose of 
 their horses and asses, their kine and 
 their sheep? To this question the an- 
 swer is easy. We are well assured 
 that Joseph was not an extortioner. 
 How could that man be an extortioner, 
 who would rather expose himself to 
 the danger of an ignominious death, 
 than sin against God by yielding to the 
 blandishments of an artful woman? 
 How could that man be an oppressor 
 of the Egyptians whom the people ac- 
 knowledged with common consent as 
 the preserver of their hves ? Nor should 
 it be forgotten that the corn was not 
 Joseph's but Pharaoh's; and it is re- 
 quired in stewards, that a man be found 
 faithful. If we should happen, in a 
 time of scarcity, to be entrusted with 
 the disposal of another man's corn, 
 should we give it away gratuitously to 
 those who should come and tell us 
 that their money was all spent? 
 Should we not rather ask them if they 
 had no cattle, or any thing else as 
 good as money ? Or if they should 
 have nothing at all to give in exchange 
 for the necessaries of life, should we 
 on that account feel bound to give 
 them what is not our own ? Let Jo- 
 seph be judged by the same rule. The 
 truth is, it was in all probability an act 
 of kindness on the part of Joseph to 
 propose the measure he did ; for as tho 
 people were now destitute of suste- 
 nance for their cattle, or the means of 
 
364 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1702. 
 
 13 When that year was ended, 
 they came unto him the second 
 year, and said unto him, We will 
 not hide it from my lord, how that 
 our money is spent ; my lord also 
 hath our herds of cattle : there is 
 not aught left in the sight of my 
 lord, but our bodies and our lands : 
 
 procuring it, their herds and flocks 
 would otherwise have been in danger 
 of perishing. In this, as in many pas- 
 sages of the scriptures, it is to be recol- 
 lected that the inspired writer does not 
 relate all the incidents that actually 
 occurred. Consequently we are often 
 required to infer the propriety or wis- 
 dom of particular measures from the 
 general character of the agents. No 
 man can pretend to say what circum- 
 stances, known or unknown to us, 
 came under consideration in determi- 
 ning this point. Joseph knew them all, 
 and was as well qualified as he was 
 entitled to give his opinion in the king's 
 council. For although he was prime 
 minister, we have no reason to think 
 that he would venture upon measures 
 of great importance, without the opin- 
 ion of other counsellors of the king. 
 He was too wise a man to think of 
 monopolising wisdom to himself, or to 
 expose himself needlessly to envy or 
 reproach. We must not think then 
 that Joseph did not consider the case 
 of the poor, or that he exacted of them 
 more than was meet. While it was no 
 ,<iss just to take their cattle than their 
 mon'ey, we have every reason to be- 
 lieve that the policy was one of the 
 
 most generous benevolence. IT J^ed 
 
 them. Heb. GDnj*! ycnahalem. led 
 them. It is a metaphorical expression 
 taken from the office of a shepherd 
 who conducts his flocks to the fount- 
 ains and pastures where they may be 
 fed and refreshed ; for in this occupa- 
 tion, a leader is a provider. The term 
 
 19 Wherefore shall we die be- 
 fore thine eyes, both we and our 
 land ? buy us and our land for 
 bread, and we and our land will 
 be servants unto Pharaoh : and 
 give us seed, that we may live, 
 and not die, that the land be not 
 desolate. 
 
 occurs Ps. 23. 2, ' He makeih me to lie 
 down in green pastures : he Icadeth me 
 ("^jini"^ yenahaleni) beside the etill 
 waters.' Is. 49. 10, 'They shall not 
 hunger nor thirst; neither shall the 
 heat nor sun smite them : for he that 
 hath mercy on them shall lead them 
 (cin^i yenahalem), and by the springs 
 of water shall he guide them.' The 
 Gr. has e^edpEipev, nourished, and the 
 VDlg. 'sustentavit,' sustained. But 
 the feeding and sustaining was the e^ect 
 of the leading which is implied in the 
 native force of the term. 
 
 18. Wheyi that year teas ended, &c. 
 By this is meant, not the second year 
 from the commencement of thcfamine, 
 but from the failing of their money. It 
 is only extreme necessity that will ex- 
 tort confessions of poverty from those 
 who have all their days been blest, 
 in the main, with abundance. Yet to 
 this hard necessity were the Egyptians 
 now reduced, though it would seem 
 from their language that if they could 
 have hidden the truth of their condi- 
 tion awhile longer from Joseph they 
 would. But it was useless to struggle 
 any longer with the dire calamity that 
 pressed them down, nor will they suf- 
 fer a feehng of pride or self-reliance to 
 prevail with them to conceal their dis- 
 tress from one who was able and wil- 
 ling to relieve them. With how much 
 greater confidence may we have re- 
 course to Jesus in all our distresses ! 
 'He will deliver the needy when he 
 crieth, the poor also, and him that hath 
 no helper : He will spare the poor and 
 
B. C. 1701.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 365 
 
 20 And Joseph bought all the 
 land of Egypt for Pharaoh ; for 
 the Egyptians sold every man his 
 field, because the famine prevail- 
 ed over them: so the land became 
 Pharaoh's. 
 
 needy, and will save the souls of the 
 needy.' 
 
 19. Buy us and our land for bread. 
 ' Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath 
 will he give for his life.' How precious 
 are the fruits of the earth I We know 
 not the value of them, because we 
 have seldom or never known want. 
 A man will give not only all that he 
 has, but himself also, for the staff of 
 life. Such bargains indeed are not 
 known among us, because it is our 
 happiness to live in a land of liberty 
 and a land of plenty; but we may 
 justly ask ourselves, if men pinched 
 with poverty, were so willing to part, 
 not only with their land, but with their 
 liberty, for that meat which perisheth; 
 what value should we set on that meat 
 which enduretli unto everlasting life! 
 With what cheerfulness ought we to 
 devote ourselves to the service of him 
 who hath given his own flesh to be the 
 
 food of our souls ? IT Give us seed 
 
 that ICC may lire and not die. It was 
 not therefore merely for sustenance, 
 but also for sowing, that they desired 
 seed. Their idea perhaps was that of 
 a merely ie?nporary alienation of them- 
 selves and their lands; and in this case, 
 they would intimate that they needed 
 seed to sow the ground that they might 
 thereby produce the means of after- 
 ward redeeming themselves and their 
 property. As they were now in the 
 seventh year of the famine, they solicit 
 seed for the next year's crop. They 
 speak of the 'land's dying,' as well as 
 themselves ; but this can only be un- 
 derstood in the sense of lying barren 
 and desolate. The phrase is cquallv 
 31* 
 
 21 And as for the people, he 
 removed them to cities from one 
 end of the borders of Egypt even 
 to the other end thereof 
 
 22 ^ Only the land of the 
 
 V Ezra 7. 24. 
 
 figurative with that which follows, in 
 which the land is spoken of as biing a 
 ' servant.' 
 
 20. Joseph bought all the land of 
 Egypt, &c. Though it is often said 
 that n;? injury can be done to a man 
 with his own consent, yet the saying 
 needs limitations, for there are certain- 
 ly many cases in which great injury 
 may be done to men with their own 
 consent. If the Egyptians had offered 
 themselves as slaves to Pharaoh when 
 there was no valid reason for it, Joseph 
 could not righteously have accepted of 
 the proffer. But it was surely better 
 for them to sell themselves and their 
 land to Pharaoh, thali to want bread. 
 We shall see from a subsequent note 
 that Joseph's conduct in this transac- 
 tion can be still more satisfactorily vin- 
 dicated. 
 
 21. He removed them to cities. The 
 meaning of this passage we conceive 
 to be simply this; that as the nume- 
 rous cities and villages throughout the 
 whole extent of the land were convert- 
 ed into granaries and depots of corn 
 from which the people were to be sub- 
 sisted, Pharaoh ordered the people to 
 be removed from the country and gath- 
 ered into these cities for the conve- 
 nience of distributing to them their 
 portion of meat. This arrangement 
 went into effect 'from one end of the 
 borders of Egypt even to the other end 
 thereof.' This was all the translation 
 that took place. When the famine 
 ceased they were sent back with seed 
 tc sow their former fields. The phrase 
 without impropriety might be rendered 
 ' had removed.' If this be correct, their 
 
366 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1701 
 
 priests bought he not ; for the 
 priests had a portion assigiied 
 them of Pharaoh, and did eai 
 their portion which Pharaoh gave 
 
 petition for seed was in fact a petition 
 that the regulation fixing them in cities 
 might be abolished. This would per- 
 haps have been a dangerous policy, had 
 not Joseph been confident that his 
 measures were such as would not only 
 bear the strictest scrutiny, but could 
 not excite discontent among the mul- 
 titude. The want of bread, especially 
 when the measures of government 
 have been supposed to be the cause of 
 it, strongly tends to excite nations to 
 sedition. But Joseph had no fear of 
 disturbances arising from this source. 
 He cared not how many of the people 
 were assembled in one place. Though 
 when they met together from difft-rent 
 points of the country, their ordinary 
 subject of discourse would be the dis- 
 tress which had compelled them to sell 
 their lands, the miseries of the famine, 
 and the methods taken by government 
 to relieve them ; yet Joseph had no 
 apprehensions that the tendency of 
 such discourse would be prejudicial 
 either to himself or to the king. Let 
 us all endeavor so to act on every oc- 
 casion, that we may have no reason to 
 fear the scourge of the tongue. If our 
 conduct be truly worthy of commen- 
 dation, we may hope either that the 
 voice of reproach will not be heard or 
 that it will soon be put to silence, 
 
 22. Only the land of the priests 
 bought he not. Joseph has been 
 charged in this affair with showing an 
 undue and blameable partiality for this 
 clnss of persons, and thus favoring an 
 odious system of priestcraft. But let 
 it be observed that the sacred writer 
 here speaks not of Joseph, but of Pha- 
 raoh. Joseph was not the one who 
 assigned to the priests their revenue; 
 
 them; wherefore they sold not 
 their lands. 
 
 23 Then Joseph said unto the 
 people, Behold, I have bought 
 
 and how is he to be blamed for allow- 
 ing them to retain that portion which 
 Pharaoh had allotted, and of which it 
 does not appear that he could justly 
 have deprived them 1 The reason why 
 the generosity of Pharaoh to the priests 
 is here mentioned, is to account for Jo- 
 seph's not buying their lands, when he 
 bought the lands of the other Egyp- 
 tians. It is strange if good men must 
 be censured for what they do not do, as 
 well as for what they do. The Egyp- 
 tian priests, according to the constitu- 
 tion of the kingdom, were obliged to 
 provide all sacrifices, and to bear all 
 the charges of the national religion, 
 which in those days was not a little 
 expensive. Add to this, that the priests 
 of Egypt were the whole body of the 
 nobility of the land ; that they were 
 the king's counsellors and assistants in 
 all the affairs that concerned the pub- 
 lic; were joint agents with him in some 
 things, and in others, his directors and 
 instructers. They were moreover the 
 professors and cultivators of astrono- 
 my, geometry, and other useful sci- 
 ences; they were the keepers of the 
 public registers, memoirs, and chron- 
 icles of the kingdom ; and in a word, 
 under the king they were the supreme 
 magistrates, and filled all the prime 
 oflBces of honor and trust. Consider- 
 ing them in all these characters, we 
 cannot but admit that Pharaoh might 
 justly suppose that their allowance was 
 not disproportioned to their station, 
 and consequently that they might 
 properly be exempted from the burdens 
 imposed upon the mass of the people. 
 See the Noto in the Pictorial Bible on 
 this passage. 
 
 23. Josej^h said unto the people, 6cc. 
 
S. €. 1701.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLVri. 
 
 367 
 
 ¥ 
 
 ou this day and your land for 
 haraoh: lo, here is seed for 
 you, and ye shall sow the land. 
 
 24 And it shall come to pass 
 in the increase, that ye shall give 
 -the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and 
 four parts shall be your own, for 
 seed of the field, and for your 
 food, and for them of yourhouse- 
 .holds, and for food for your little 
 ones. 
 
 These v/ords, though plainly recogni- 
 sing the fact of their servitude, must 
 have had a pleasant sound in the ears 
 of the Egyptians. Six years had 
 lapsed in v/hich it had been useless to 
 sow. The tillers of the earth and the 
 earth itself had long languished under 
 the effects of their suspended labor. 
 But now they are told that this period 
 j.9 drawing to an end and that the work 
 of agriculture is to be resumed. The 
 people having been long sustained with- 
 out the ordinary labors of the seed- 
 time and harvest, must now again 
 labor or perish. When men are able 
 to work, and can do it profitably, they 
 ought to starve, if their hands refuse 
 to labor. 
 
 24 — 26. Ye shall give the fifth fart 
 unto Pharaoh. Joseph had bought all 
 the land except that of the priests, and 
 the people had voluntarily become 
 Pharaoh's servants. He might there- 
 fore have retained the whole in strict 
 justice ; and his reserving only a fifth 
 part of the increase for the king, and 
 remitting the rest to be their ov/n, was 
 an act of liberality and of good policy. 
 Though Egypt was always a despotic 
 country, yet as far as appears this fifth 
 pan was all the tax that the people 
 were required to pay to the govern- 
 ment, and a fifth of the produce is 
 much less than the amount of all the 
 taxes in many countrie.s that boast of 
 
 25 And th€y said, Thou hast 
 saved our lives : * let us find 
 grace in the sight of my lord, 
 and we will be Pharaoh's ser- 
 vants. 
 
 26 And Joseph made it a law 
 over the land of Egypt unto 
 this day, that Pharaoh should 
 have the fifth part j y except the 
 land of the priests only, ichich 
 became not Pharaoh's. 
 
 X ch. 33. 15. y ver. 22, 
 
 their liberty. The people also had vol- 
 untarily sold themselves for Pharaoh's 
 servants or bondmen ; but this part of 
 the bargain must have been, to a cer- 
 tain extent at least, remitted, for Jo- 
 seph says, V. 24, 'four parts shall be 
 your own,' which is not consistent 
 with a state of absolute slavery. And 
 when they still say, v. 25, ' we will be 
 Pharaoh's servants,' they meant that 
 they would own him for their lord, that 
 they would occupy the lands as his 
 tenants and tributaries, on the condi- 
 tion that they should give a fifth part 
 of the produce as a yearly tax— a con- 
 dition with which, as it would seem, 
 they were perfectly satisfied; so that 
 there is not the smallest reason for 
 accusing Joseph of injustice or cruelty 
 
 in this transaction. ^ Joseph mads 
 
 it a laic. The law v/as no doubt made 
 by the king, with the advice of his 
 counsellors ; but the honor of it is 
 given to Joseph because he was its 
 chief and first adviser. Men of great 
 influence have it in their power to do 
 much good by other hands than their 
 own. And the good they do by others, 
 as well as by themselves, if done from 
 proper motives, will redound to their 
 praise and honor and glory in the day 
 of Christ's appearing. 
 
 27. And Israel dwelt, &c. The sa- 
 cred writer here again resumes the 
 thread of the history of Israel It is 
 
368 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 27 1[ And Israel ^ dwelt in the 
 land of Egypt, in the country of 
 Goshen ; and they had posses- 
 sions therein ; and "^ grew, and 
 multiplied exceedingly. 
 
 z ver. 11. ach. 46. 3. 
 
 not of great importance to determine 
 whether by the name 'Israel' in this 
 place we are to understand Jacob him- 
 self, or his family, now beginning to 
 multiply into the great nation after- 
 ward known for many ages by the 
 glorious name of their progenitor. It 
 is, however, most natural to under- 
 stand the name in this connexion, of 
 the whole family, as the plural num- 
 ber is used concerning Israel in the 
 last clause of the verse. Jacob's seed 
 could not yet possess the land promised 
 to their father. When they came into 
 Egypt, they were only three score and 
 ten men; but the good man not only 
 knew by the promise that their number 
 would increase till they became a great 
 nation, but his eyes saw the promise 
 going into its accomplishment. They 
 grew and multiplied exceedingly before 
 as well as after his death. The fulfil- 
 ment of God's precious promise in the 
 numbers of his descendants, was more 
 pleasant to him than the joy of seeing 
 a numerous family around him. He 
 saw the glory of the mercy and truth 
 of God, which hath hitherto followed 
 him all the days of his life, and he be- 
 Heved that they would shower down 
 blessings on his seed through all gen- 
 erations. In the mean time it was a 
 comfort to him that his family had a 
 separate settlement, and was not scat- 
 tered among the worshippers of false 
 gods. He might perhaps have an oc- 
 casional misgiving as to the influence of 
 the bad example of the Egyptians upon 
 his seed when he was taken away, but 
 a prevaiung confidence in the promises 
 would prevent its permanently afiect- 
 ing his peace. 
 
 28 And Jacob lived in the land 
 of Egypt seyenteen years : so the 
 whole age of Jacob was an hun- 
 dred forty and seven years. 
 
 28. Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 
 seventeen years. It is highly probable 
 that when Jacob came into Egypt he 
 thought himself near to the end of his 
 life, yet his term was lengthened out 
 by the space of seventeen years. Ma- 
 ny have lived longer in the world than 
 they expected ; but many more have 
 died sooner. Job said, ' mine eye shall 
 no more see good,' yet he lived an hun- 
 dred and forty years longer, and spent 
 them all in prosperity. The man in 
 the parable, on the other hand, who 
 said he had stored up goods for many 
 years, lived not to enjoy them a day ' 
 longer. It is highly probable that Ja- 
 cob's coming to Egypt was the means 
 of prolonging his life. He was worn 
 out with grief in Canaan, but in Egypt 
 he saw Joseph, and, what v;as still bet- 
 ter, he saw the loving-kindness of the 
 Lord in the life, and prosperity, and 
 piety of Joseph, and all this had a 
 kindly physical efiect upon his aged 
 frame. A cheerful heart does good 
 like a medicine, and it may be pre- 
 sumed that the last seventeen years ol 
 the patriarch's life were his happiest 
 
 years. IF The whole age of Jacob 
 
 icas an hundred and forty and seven 
 years. Heb. ' The days of the years 
 of his life.' Jacob informed Pharaoh 
 that he had not attained to the days ol 
 the years of his fathers. Isaac lived to 
 the age of an hundred and eighty ; 
 Abraham to the age of an hundred a.nd 
 seventy-five. Jacob's life was shorter 
 than theirs, but he lived as long as he 
 wished in the land of his pilgrimage. 
 The vicinity of his beloved son was a 
 support to his declining years, yet it 
 would give him little pain to leave Jo- 
 
B. C. 1689.1 
 
 29 And the time ^ drew nigh 
 that Israel must die: and he call- 
 ed his son Joseph, and said unto 
 him, If now I have found grace 
 in thy sight, ^ put, I pray thee, 
 thine hand under my thigh, and 
 "^ deal kindly and truly with me ; 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 369 
 
 b Deut. 31. 14. 1 Kings 2. 1. 
 d ch. 24. 49. 
 
 c ch. 24. 2. 
 
 seph, that he might go to Abraham and 
 Isaac, and, what was far better, to God 
 himself the fountain of felicity, 
 
 29, 30. And the time dreic nigh, etc. 
 * Israel must die.' The man who had 
 power over the angel and prevailed, 
 must die. Abraham was dead, Isaac 
 was dead, and he was not to be more 
 privileged than his fathers. Still less 
 can ice look for any exemption on this 
 score. Our death is every day making 
 a nearer approach to us. To-day we 
 are twenty-four hours nearer to our 
 latter end than yesterday, and three 
 hundred and sixty-five days nearer to 
 it than we were a year ago. At all 
 times we are inexcuseable if we en- 
 deavor not to be found ready ; but those 
 are more than doubly inexcuseable 
 who are warned by the growing infir- 
 mities of age that death is approach- 
 ing, if they neglect to prepare for the 
 
 solemn event. IT He called his son 
 
 Joseph, &c. Israel was not like too 
 many of us, who putaway the thoughts 
 of death, when the decay of our bodies 
 warns us of our approaching end. 
 When the days were drawing near that 
 he must die, he sent for his son Joseph 
 to inform him of his wishes concern- 
 ing the disposal of that body which 
 was to be left behind him on earth. 
 His injunctions on this head he pre- 
 faces with the somewhat remarkable 
 expression, 'If now I have found grace 
 in thy sight.' Was this the language 
 of a father lo a son 1 As children are 
 not to lay up for the parents, but the 
 
 •= bury me not, I pray thee, in 
 Egypt : 
 
 30 But <■ I will lie with my 
 fathers, and thou shalt carry me 
 out of Egypt, and ebury me in 
 their burying-place. And he said, 
 I will do as thou hast said. 
 
 e ch. 50. 2o. f 2 Sam. 19. 37. g ch. 49. 29 
 & 50. 5, 13. 
 
 parents for the children, so should not 
 children rather entreat the favors of 
 their parents, than parents of their 
 children? Yet parents on some occa- 
 sions may find it proper rather to en- 
 treat than to command their children. 
 Jacob did not forget that Joseph was 
 in high office under Pharaoh and that 
 he too was a husband and a father. 
 Consequently he fell that he had no 
 right to demand any thing from him 
 that he could not perform consistently 
 
 with the duties of these relations. IF 
 
 Put thine hand under my thigh. See 
 
 Note on Gen. 24. 2. ^ Bury me not 
 
 in Egypt, &c. Why was the good 
 patriarch so averse to a sepulchre in 
 Egypt? W^hy did he so earnestly wish 
 to lie in death with his fathers? He 
 certainly knew that dead bodies cannot 
 enjoy the pleasure of fellowship with 
 those whom they once most dearly 
 loved. He knew that the way to 
 heaven, at the resurrection, was equal- 
 ly near from Egypt as from Canaan ; 
 nor is it likely that he thought, with 
 some of his modern descendants, of 
 Canaan as the common rendezvous of 
 the just, at the time when their happi- 
 ness was to be completed. But it is 
 still natural to desire to be joined in 
 burial with those friends who were 
 dear to us. Although we know that 
 we can have no converse with them in 
 that house of silence, yet it gives us 
 some pleasure, while we yet live, to 
 think that our dust shall mingle with 
 the dust of those whom we love. Ja? 
 
370 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 Lt^. C. 1689 
 
 31 And he said, Swear unto 
 me : and he sware unto him. 
 
 cob doubtless had all the sensibilities 
 of a man on this score, but still it sure- 
 ly was not this which constituted his 
 chief inducement to wish that he might 
 be buried in Hebron. Had he been 
 buried in Egypt, he might have hoped 
 to have his dust united with that of 
 persons no less beloved by him than 
 his father, and no less worthy of his 
 love. But the Apostle acquaints us 
 with the secret of his injunction when 
 he tells us, Heb. 11. 22, that 'by faith 
 Jacob gave commandment concerning 
 his bones.' He believed the promise, 
 that the land of Canaan should be giv- 
 en to him in the persons of his seed. 
 By having his dead body conveyed to 
 that land, he published to his seed, and 
 to the world, that he believed and em- 
 braced the promise ; that he was well 
 satisfied, both with the country and 
 with the security given him for the pos- 
 session of it, although he was but a 
 strangerand sojourner in it during his 
 own life, and was laid under a neces- 
 sity of leaving it before the end of his 
 life. In this emphatic declaration of 
 his faith, he had in view also the bene- 
 fit of survivors. He hoped that when 
 they heard of his anxiety to have his 
 body carried to Canaan, they would 
 all be excited to consider that land as 
 their country, and to set a high value 
 on the promise which secured it to 
 
 them as their perpetual heritage. IT 
 
 And he said, 1 will do as thou hast 
 said. The true spirit of filial deference 
 will not only prompt children to obey 
 their parents in the Lord, but to give 
 them all reasonable satisfaction of their 
 intentions to comply with their wishes, 
 especially in those things on which their 
 hearts are set. Joseph might indeed 
 have done what his father now request- 
 
 And ^ Israel bowed himself upon 
 the bed's head. 
 
 h ch. 48. 2. 1 Kings 1 47. Heb. 11. 21. 
 
 ed, yet if he had declined 'promising to 
 do it, Jacob must have died without the 
 pleasure of hoping that he should sleep 
 in the same burying-place with his 
 fathers. 
 
 31. And he said, Sicear unto me, &c. 
 Why did Jacob require an oath from 
 Joseph 7 Did he not think his son's 
 word as good as any oath that could 
 be sworn 7 Certainly Jacob's demand 
 of an oath was not for the confirma- 
 tion of his own belief of Joseph's word, 
 but rather to give Joseph a powerful 
 argument with Pharaoh to obtain leave 
 for burying his father in Canaan. It 
 might have been hoped that Pharaoh 
 would not have refused any favor to 
 Joseph that he might think proper to 
 ask. Yet it is easy to conceive that 
 he might have feared the loss of such 
 an excellent servant, in case he should 
 be seized with a desire of ending his 
 days where he had spent the sweetest 
 time of life, and under this apprehen- 
 sion might have hesitated in granting 
 him leave to revisit the scenes of his 
 early years. To have his father's dy- 
 ing request, therefore, fortified by an 
 oath would constitute a strong plea for 
 procuring Pharaoh's consent. Joseph 
 accordingly sware, because he wished 
 to give his father all the satisfaction he 
 desired, or could desire, about a matter 
 in which he appeared so deeply inter- 
 ested. IF Israel bowed himself upon 
 
 the bed's head. Heb. iriiT.U'i yishtahu, 
 worshipped, the term usually employed 
 to signify worship or reverence, by 
 bowing down toward the earth, or even 
 to the earth. In some cases it seems 
 to denote an act of worship without 
 the inclination of the body, as 1 Kings 
 1. 47, where it is said of David, in ex- 
 treme old age, and confined to his bed, 
 
B. C. 1689.J 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 371 
 
 * And the king bowed himself upon the 
 bed;' i. e. worshipped God while in a re- 
 cumbent posture on his bed. This in- 
 terpretation might not unnaturally be 
 given to the words in the passage be- 
 fore us, were it not that the Gr. version 
 has rendered it, ' bowed himself upon 
 the top of his staff,' {pa(i6ov, rabdon,) 
 and that this rendering has been adopt- 
 ed and apparently sanctioned by the 
 Apostle, Heb. 11. 21, « By faith Jacob, 
 when he was a dying, blessed both the 
 sons of Joseph ; and worshipped, (lean- 
 ing) upon the top of his staff.' The 
 reason of this diversity of rendering is 
 that the same Heb. word, according as 
 it is pointed in one or the other of two 
 methods, signifies either bed or staff; 
 nt3?3 mittah implying the former, and 
 nt3?3 matteh the latter. The only ques- 
 tion therefore is, whether the present 
 vowel-pointing of the Heb. or the Sept. 
 mode of reading the Heb. is to be pre- 
 ferred. Upon this point Prcf. Stuart, 
 in his Commentary on the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, vol. ii. p. 269, remarks : 
 ' I have no hesitation in preferring the 
 latter punctuation ; for what is the head 
 of a bed in the Oriental country, where 
 the bed itself is nothing more than a 
 piece of soft carpeting thrown down 
 upon the floor 1 And what can be the 
 meaning of Jacob's bowing himself 
 upon the head of his bed 7 For (1.) 
 There is no evidence that Jacob was 
 upon the bed when Joseph paid him 
 the visit here recorded. It was after 
 this that Jacob was taken sick, Gen. 
 48. 1, and sat up on his bed when Jo- 
 seph came to visit him. Gen. 48. 2. (2.) 
 An infirm person, lying upon a bed, if 
 he assumed a position such as to how 
 himself, would sit upon the middle of 
 the bed and not upon the head of it. 
 (3.) In all the Scriptures, the head of 
 a bed is not once mentioned ; and for 
 a good reason, as the oriental bed had 
 strictly speaking no head. For these 
 reasons I must regard Jacob as lean- J 
 
 ing upon the the top of his staff fox sup- 
 port, when he conversed with his con 
 Joseph; than which nothing can be 
 more natural for a person of his very 
 advanced years. In this position he 
 was when Joseph sware to him that 
 he would comply with the request 
 which he had made, in respect to his 
 burial. This was so grateful to his 
 feelings, that he spontaneously offered 
 up his thanks to God for such a favor, 
 q. d. he worshipped upon the top of his 
 staff; i. e, leaning upon the top of his 
 staff, he offered homage or thanks to 
 God ; just as David * worshipped upon 
 his bed ;' i. e. did homage, or paid rev- 
 erence to God, while on his bed.' The 
 dying patriarch was revived by the du- 
 tiful behavior of his dear son, and his 
 soul was filled with gratitude to that 
 God whose mercy he saw sweetening 
 the last days of his hfe. Could he but 
 be prompted to acts of praise and ado- 
 ration 1 He was now indeed too feeble 
 to perform his devotions in the man- 
 ner to which he had been accustomed, 
 and which would have been most 
 agreeable to him. He could not go to 
 an altar built for sacrifices of praise ; 
 but he exerted all the vigor left him, 
 with the help of his staffj on which he 
 leaned, and performed his devotions in 
 such a posture as showed his reverence 
 and joy. In the faith of the promise he 
 worshipped God, and gave glory to 
 him for giving him the promise; for 
 the many assurances he had received 
 of the truth of that promise; for all 
 the joy and comfort derived from it in 
 the course of his pilgrimage ; and for 
 the happy prospects before him. He 
 blessed God that the land of Canaan 
 was to be the everlasting possession of 
 his seed; that both himself and his 
 fathers had been enabled through life 
 to exhibit a lively pattern of faith in 
 the promise ; and that he was now to 
 be joined with his blessed progenitors, 
 not merely in burial, but in possession 
 
372 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 16S9. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIIT. 
 
 AND it came to pass after these 
 things, that one told Joseph, 
 Behold, thy father is sick : and 
 he took with him his two sons, 
 Manasseh and Ephraim. 
 
 2 And o?2e told Jacob, and said, 
 Behold, thy son Joseph cometh 
 
 of the better country, the heavenly 
 Canaan. 
 
 unto thee : and Israel strengthen- 
 ed himself, and sat upon the bed. 
 3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, 
 God Almighty appeared unto me 
 at ^Luz in the land of Canaan, 
 and blessed me, 
 
 a ch. 28. 13, 19. & 35. 6,9, &c. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIIL 
 
 1. It came to pass after these things, 
 that one told Joseph, &,c. Heb. ^'nvt^'^l 
 vayomer, it was told; an instance of 
 the impersonal idiom, precisely equiva- 
 lent to the on dit of the French, and 
 the mansagt of the Germans, of which 
 a full exemplification is given in the 
 Note on Gen. 16. 14. Although Jacob 
 had sent for his son Joseph under an 
 impression that he had not long to live 
 yet it seems that he was still sustained 
 sometime longer under the decays of 
 nature, till now at length we are in- 
 formed that he is seized with sickness 
 which in all probability issued in his 
 death. Joseph hearing of his sickness, 
 delayed not to visit him. Children 
 ought at all times to honor their parents ; 
 but sickness or the approaches of death 
 call upon them for more than ordinary 
 testimonies of affection and sympathy. 
 Although Joseph's love to his father, 
 was suflBcient to" draw him to his bed- 
 side, yet at this time he no doubt had 
 also in view his own spiritual advantage 
 and that of his two sons whom he 
 took with him. He knew that from 
 his father's lips they would hear words 
 full of grace, and adapted to make an 
 indelible impression upon their hearts. 
 He had probably moreover a strong 
 inward persuasion that the time was 
 now come for himself and his sons to 
 receive the parting patriarchal benedic- 
 tion. 
 
 2. Behold thy so7i Joseph cometh unto 
 thee, &c. The news of Joseph's com- 
 ing revived the spirit of his aged father. 
 We all know that the mind has a pow- 
 erful influence on the body, and that 
 strong passions sometimes communi- 
 cate to it an extraordinary degree of 
 strength. Jacob felt his strength re- 
 turn to him when he heard Joseph's 
 namC; and exerted all his vigor to re- 
 ceive him with proper marks of grati- 
 tude and affection. 
 
 3. And Jacob said unto Joseph, 
 &.C. ThQ. grand drift of Jacob's ad- 
 dress to Joseph was to establish his 
 faith m God's word, and to guard him 
 against the temptations of Egypt. 
 With this view he begins with an ac- 
 count of the remarkable manifestation 
 of God's favor to him at Luz or Bethel. 
 This was an event which to the last 
 day of his life he could not forget. 
 He had doubtless spoken of it to Jo- 
 seph long before this time, but the 
 recollection afforded him so much plea- 
 sure, that he now reverts to it again, 
 as if he wished Joseph never to forget 
 it. He was exalted to great honor and 
 power in Egypt, and he might need 
 a preservative against the seductions 
 of his present station. He might be 
 tempted to think it better to enjoy the 
 dignities of Egypt, than to suffer re- 
 proach with the servants of God. Ja- 
 cob therefore calls back his thoughts 
 to the vision of Bethel, and recounts 
 the glorious promises there made to 
 him and his seed, as an offset to tha 
 power of these temptations. Joseph 
 
B. C. 1689.1 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIIL 
 
 373 
 
 4 And said unto me, Behold, 
 I will make thee fruitful, and 
 multiply thee, and I will make of 
 thee a multitude of people ; and 
 will give this land to thy seed 
 after thee, ^ for an everlasting 
 possession, 
 
 b ch. 17. 8. 
 
 was high in favor with an earthly 
 king, but what was the favor of Pha- 
 raoh to the grace of God ! It was a 
 great distinction to be the lord of 
 Egypt, but it was incomparably greater 
 to be a favored servant of the Most 
 High, and to be assured of those bles- 
 sings which should proceed from his 
 special love. As God had appeared to 
 Jacob at Bethel by the name of ' God 
 Almighty,' it was natural that he 
 should love to recal this name, and to 
 dwell upon it as conveying a pledge of 
 the fulfilment of all the divine prom- 
 ises, whatever apparent obstacle might 
 stand in the way. 
 
 4. And he said unto me, &c. Upon 
 comparing these words of Jacob with 
 the account of what God said to him 
 at Luz on the two occasions mention- 
 ed Gen. 28. 13—15, and 35. 12, though 
 we find a promise given him of a very 
 numerous seed, and the land of Ca- 
 naan for an inheritance, yet nothing is 
 said of the perpetuity of this inherit- 
 ance. Yet we have no reason to think 
 that Jacob added any unwarrantable 
 comments of his own to the faithful 
 and true sayings of God. He knew 
 how to compare spiritual things with 
 spiritual. By the words which were 
 spoken to him, he was assured that 
 the blessing of Abraham was to come 
 upon him, and upon his posterity: and 
 he knew that by the covenant made 
 with Abraham, the land of Canaan 
 was secured for ever to his seed. The 
 term 'for ever,' it is true, is to be un- 
 32 
 
 5 11" And now, thy " two sons, 
 Ephraim and Manasseh, which 
 were born unto thee in the land 
 of Egypt, before I came iinto 
 thee into Egypt, are mine : as 
 Reuben and Simeon, they shall 
 be mine. 
 
 c ch. 41. .50. & 46. 20. Josh. 13. 7. & 1 1. 4. 
 
 derstood sometimes in a hmited sense. 
 The earthly Canaan was secured by 
 promise to the seed of Abraham, till 
 the time came when God should cre- 
 ate, as it were, a now world, by intro- 
 ducing a new dispensation of grace 
 among them. Jacob understood the 
 promise to mean that for a long series 
 of ages his seed should possess the 
 land under the divine protection. 
 Some of his descendants have given 
 more latitude to the expression, and 
 understand the promise of an ever- 
 lasting inheritance in Canaan to signi- 
 fy, that they should dwell in it as long 
 as the earth endures. Consequently 
 they, and those who hold the same 
 opinion, believe that though the Jews 
 have now lived in exile for seventeen 
 hundred years yet the day is coming 
 when they shall be re-instated in their 
 ancient possessions and enjoy them 
 undisturbed to the end of the world. 
 As to this expectation see Note on 
 Gen. 17. S. 
 
 5. And noxD thy two sons are mine. 
 That is, I adopt them and consider 
 them as my own immediate offspring ; 
 I will have them reckoned, not as 
 grandsons, but as sons, each of them 
 constituting a distinct tribe, and rank- 
 ing as co-heirs with the rest of thy 
 brethren. The grounds of this pro- 
 ceeding are explained, 1 Chron. 5. 1, 2, 
 ' Now the sons of Reuben, the first- 
 born of Israel, (for he was the first- 
 born ; but forasmuch as he defiled his 
 father's bed, his birthright was given 
 
374 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 \B. C. 1639. 
 
 6 And ihine issue, which thou | the name of their brethren in 
 begettest after them, shall he their inheritance, 
 thine, aiid shall be called after 
 
 unto the sons of Joseph, the sons of 
 Israel : and the genealogy is not to be 
 reckoned after the birthright. For Ju- 
 dah prevailed above his brethren, and 
 of him came the chief ruler, but the 
 birthright was Joseph's :)' &c. Thus 
 Joseph, who otherwise would have ob- 
 tained but a single share of the inher- 
 itance, obtained the double portion 
 which would have fallen to Reuben 
 had he not forfeited his birthright. Jo- 
 seph, accordingly, in the subsequent 
 history, is reckoned as two tribes in- 
 stead of one; Josh. 14. 4; Num. 1.32, 
 34, Rev. 7. 6, 8. It might have seem- 
 ed hard to Reuben, had not his repent- 
 ance for his sin been sincere, that al- 
 though he had been Joseph's only 
 friend in his distress, his birthright was 
 to be transferred to Joseph. Yet this 
 was somewhat counterbalanced by the 
 manner of expression with which his 
 father assigned the double portion to 
 Joseph;— 'Thy two sons shall be 
 mine ; as Reuben and Simeon, they 
 shall be mine.' Reuben and Simeon 
 had been offenders, but still they were 
 to have a portion in Israel, and were 
 to be fed with the heritage of Jacob. 
 The kindness shown to the two young 
 men would be a powerful attraction to 
 their hearts, and a means of persuad- 
 ing them that it was more for their in- 
 terest to cast in their lot with the peo- 
 ple of the God of their father, than 
 with the family of Potipherah, the 
 priest of On. They might have hoped 
 to rise to great distinction in Egypt, if 
 they were willing to conform to the 
 manners of that country. But they 
 were taught by their venerable grand- 
 sire, that a part in the inheritance of 
 the seed of Abraham was incompara- 
 bly to be preferred to a kingdom in any 
 
 part of the world. United with them 
 they might suffer loss, reproach, and 
 affliction, but they would have an 
 abundant compensation for all that 
 they might lose or be called to endure. 
 
 6. TTiinc issue which thou begettest 
 after them, &c. It does not appear 
 that Joseph ever begat any more sons, 
 but Jacob was careful to settle his af- 
 fairs with sufiicient precaution, and to 
 cut off as much as possible all occasion 
 of dispute from his children, when 
 himself should be laid in the dust. 
 Many fatal contentions might have 
 been completely obviated, if parents 
 had always been equally careful to 
 provide against every danger of con- 
 tention amongst their offspring. Jacob 
 spake under the direction of the Spirit 
 of God, but the Spirit was given him 
 only by measure. It was not given 
 him to know whether Joseph should 
 have any more sons of his own body 
 than Manasseh and Ephraim ; but it 
 was made known to him, that Joseph 
 should have a very numerous seed by 
 these two sons. This sufficed him; 
 and he left directions, that if Joseph 
 should have any more immediate sons, 
 they should take their stations in Israel 
 under the banners of JManasseh and 
 
 Ephraim. IT Shall be called after 
 
 the name of their brethren. The mean- 
 ing is, that in the division and distri- 
 bution of the promised land, they 
 should be incorporated into the body, 
 and comprehended under the name, of 
 one or other of the two brethren abov 
 mentioned, and should not, like then! 
 constitute distinct tribes by them 
 selves. It was not usual, indeed, fo 
 children to be called by the name ol 
 their brethren ; but in the present in 
 stance, as Ephraim and Mannsseh had 
 
B. C. 16S9. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 375 
 
 7 And as for me, when I came 
 from Padan, ^ Rachel died by me 
 in the land of Canaan, in the 
 wav, when yet there was but a 
 little way to come unto Ephrath: 
 and I buried her there in the way 
 of Ephrath, the same is Beth- 
 lehem. 
 
 8 And Israel beheld Joseph's 
 sons, and said, Who are these ? 
 
 9 And Joseph said unto his 
 
 d ch. 35 9, 16, 19. 
 
 been adopted in the place of Joseph, it 
 was ordered that in case Joseph should 
 have additional issue, they should be 
 reputed as the seed of the two brethren 
 who represented his person. 
 
 7. As for me, xohen 1 came from Pa- 
 dan, &c. By what train of thought 
 may we suppose that Jacob was led at 
 this time to speak of Rachel and her 
 burial? Probably the sight of these 
 dear children of Rachel brought their 
 beloved mother to his mind, and he 
 mentions her that he might add an- 
 other motive of attachment to Canaan, 
 the land where her dust reposed. 
 What could more endear the land of 
 promise to Joseph and his descend- 
 ants, than the recollection that their 
 mother Rachel, as well as their father, 
 was buried in it? But in addition to 
 this he probably intended to hint at the 
 reason of translating the birthright 
 blessing from Reuben to Joseph; for 
 Reuben's incest with Bilhah happened 
 at the place, and near the time, of 
 Rachel's death, before Jacob had ceased 
 to mourn for her. This was well 
 known to the family, so that he needed 
 not explicitly to say that this was the 
 reason of the step, as he would easily 
 draw the inference himself. Perhaps 
 too, he would hereby express a hope 
 that the issue which he might have 
 expected from Rachel, but for her 
 untimely death, would now be made 
 
 father, ^ They are my sons, 
 whom God hath given me in 
 this j)lace. And he said. Bring 
 them, I pray thee, unto me, and 
 f I w^ill bless them. 
 
 10 (Now g the eyes of Israel 
 were dim for age, so 'that he could 
 not see:) and he brought them 
 near unto him ; and '■ he kissed 
 them, and embraced them. 
 
 ech. 33. 5. fch. 27. 4. gch.27. 1. hcl-.. 
 27.27. 
 
 up in these two sons of Joseph. It 
 is obvious that Jacob's address 
 was admirably calculated to produce 
 its designed effect — to induce Jo- 
 seph and his family to sit loose to 
 Egypt. 
 
 8, 9. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, 
 &c. What is said in the immediate 
 connexion of Jacob's defective eye- 
 sight, requires us to understand ' be- 
 holfi' here in the sense explained in 
 the Note on Gen. 42. 1, to which 
 the reader is referred. The lot of 
 Isaac and of Jacob was alike in 
 this, that they are so dim-sighted 
 when they were old, that they could 
 not distinguish the well-known faces 
 of their own children. But it was 
 their happiness that when they could 
 not discern visible objects, they beheld 
 the things which were not seen. The 
 presence of his grandsons fills Jacob's 
 heart with tenderness toward them, 
 for their father's sake, and for the sake 
 of the hopes of which they were heirs ; 
 and though he had before adopted 
 them, yet he wished to give them the 
 blessing, not only of a father, but of a 
 patriarch. We cannot bestow such 
 blessings on our children as did Isaac 
 and Jacob on theirs. But nature dis- 
 poses us to love them, and grace teach- 
 es us to show our love in earnest prayer 
 for their welfare. Let young children 
 behave in such a manner as to entitle 
 
376 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 11 And Israel said unto Jo- 
 seph, » I had not thought to see 
 thy face : and lo, God hath shew- 
 ed me also thy seed. 
 
 i ch. 45. 26. 
 
 them to the blessings of their parents. 
 There is a promise of long life and 
 prosperity to the children that honor 
 their parents. This promise encoura- 
 ges parents to plead for the divme favor 
 to dutiful children. 
 
 10. Now the eyes of Israel icere dim, 
 &c. Heb. *1~33 kabedu, uere heavy. 
 We have already seen a proof that the 
 eyes of Israel were dim. But we shall 
 soon see a proof that he saw what 
 none else could see. He saw future 
 things in the light of God. The eyes 
 of his mind were enlightened to behold 
 the gracious works of his God, in ful- 
 filling his promises to himself, and to 
 his father. This is a consolation under 
 the loss of sight granted to few, but all 
 believers, by the aid of that revelation 
 which God has imparted, can behold 
 those future things in which they are 
 
 most deeply interested. IT He brought 
 
 them near unto him, &c. Joseph 
 brought near his two sons with great 
 pleasure to Jacob. It is likely that 
 when he brought them with him, he in- 
 tended to ask a blessing for them, and 
 now he brings them forward to receive 
 a richer blessing than he expected. 
 How happy were these two young 
 men! They might have been Egyp- 
 tian princes ; but they accounted it a 
 far greater happiness to be sons of Ja- 
 cob, and children of the covenant made 
 with Abraham. The embraces and 
 kisses of the good old patriarch were 
 far superior in value to all the honors 
 which the King of Egypt could confer. 
 Happy too was the dying patriarch. 
 He was not only assured of heaven to 
 himself, but assured likewise that Jo- 
 seph, and that Joseph's seed, should 
 
 12 And Joseph brought them 
 out from between his knees, and 
 he bowed himself with his face 
 to the earth. 
 
 be blessed on earth. If his former 
 days were few and evil, his last days 
 were crowned with good. God can 
 make those days which are commonly 
 accounted the evil days of life, the 
 best of all our days. 
 
 11. I had not thought to see thy face, 
 &c. The pleasures and the bitterness 
 of life, in their succession, greatly en- 
 hance one another. Sorrow succeed- 
 ing joy is doubled, and so are joys suc- 
 ceeded by sorrows. When Jacob was 
 blessed with the embraces of the sons 
 of Joseph, he thought of the time when 
 Joseph himself was not; 'I had not 
 thought to see thy face, and lo ! God 
 hath showed me thy sons.' What 
 would he not once have given to see 
 the face of Joseph, without any sons 
 to perpetuate his name? And now 
 God had given him a sight, not only of 
 his son, but of his son's sons ! Joseph 
 was now doubled to him in these chil- 
 dren that were to be the fathers of a 
 numerous race. It is no wonder there- 
 fore that we hear him blessing God for 
 showing him such unexpected tokens 
 of his favor before he left the world. 
 The good man is preparing joys for 
 those hours, in which they who have 
 their portion in this life must bid an 
 eternal adieu to all pleasure. When 
 the patriarch says, ' God hath caused 
 me to see thy seed,' he seems almost 
 to have forgotten that he had lost his 
 sight. He spoke as if he had been 
 able not only to embrace his sons, but 
 to feast his eyes with their blooming 
 countenances. The sense of his infir- 
 mities and griefs was lost in the fulness 
 of his joys. 
 
 12. Joseph brought them out from 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XL VIII. 
 
 377 
 
 13 And Joseph took them both, 
 Ephraim in his right hand toward 
 Israel's left hand, and Manasseh 
 in his left hand toward Israel's 
 right hand, and brought //ie?rt near 
 unto him. 
 
 14 And Israel stretched out his 
 right hand, and laid it upon 
 Ephraini's head, who icas the 
 
 between, hie knees. That is, Jacob's 
 knees, who had brought them near to 
 embrace them. Joseph wished to sta- 
 tion his sons in such a manner that 
 his father's right hand, esteemed a 
 token of greater honor, and therefore 
 conveying the main blessing, might 
 rest on the head of Manasseh, the 
 
 eldest. IT Bmred himself. Not only 
 
 in token of his respect to his ftuher, but 
 out of reverence to the divine blessing 
 about to be pronounced. The Gr. ren- 
 ders it Kp'jaE><vvri'ray they howed, i. e. all 
 three, which is highly proba!)le. 
 
 13. And Joseph ivok them both, &c. 
 Joseph observed the ordinary rules of 
 etiquette in presenting his eldest son 
 to Jacob's right hand. The sons of 
 Jacob no doubt sat by him according 
 to their birthright, when they ate with 
 him. It was natural for Joseph to 
 think that his own eldest son should 
 stand at Jacob's right hand to receive 
 the blessing. He knew indeed that 
 Jacob himself had obtained the birth- 
 right from Esau, and he knew that the 
 same prerogative had been transferred 
 from Reuben to himself; but Manas- 
 seh had done nothing to forfeit the pri- 
 mogeniture. Joseph therefore behaved 
 with entire propriety when he placed 
 him at Jacob's right hand, which was 
 ever accounted the most honoiable po- 
 sition. God might give the chief bles- 
 sing to whom he pleased. But Joseph 
 pays a proper regard to the rights of 
 nature, till he is assured that they were 
 set aside by God. 
 33* 
 
 younger, and his left hand upon 
 Manasseh's head, "^guiding his 
 hands wittingly ; for Manasseh 
 was the lirst-born. 
 
 15 1[ And 1 he blessed Joseph, 
 and said, God, '^ before whom my 
 fathers Abraham and Isaac did 
 walk, the God which fed me all 
 ray life long unto this day, 
 
 tver. 19. IHeb. 11.21. mch. 17. 1. &24.40. 
 
 14. And Israel stretched out his right 
 hand, (fee. The imposition of hands 
 was designed for different purposes on 
 different occasions. When Jacob laid 
 his hands upon the heads of Joseph's 
 sons, he marked them out as the per- 
 sons whom lie solemnly blessed in the 
 name of the Lord. He taught them in 
 £0 doing that the God who spake by 
 the significant actions, as well as the 
 mouth, of their venerable father, would 
 crown them with loving-kindnesses and 
 tender mercies, with the blessing which 
 was to come upon the head of Joseph, 
 and upon the crown of the head of 
 him who was separated from his breth- 
 ren. If he had not acted by the direc- 
 tion of the divine spirit, he would no 
 doubt have complied with the wishes 
 of Joseph, by giving the preference to 
 his first-born, as he may be supposed 
 to have loved Manasseh as dearly as 
 Ephraim. But he moved his hands, 
 and spake v/ith his tongue, as he was 
 moved by the Holy Ghost. As a man 
 and a father, he would have been of 
 the same mind with Joseph ; but as a 
 prophet he must give the richest bles- 
 sing to him who was to partake niost 
 
 richly of the blessings of heaven. IT 
 
 Guiding his hands xoittingly. Heb. 
 I'll"' riii '^■:2''0 sikkeleihyadauv,made 
 his hands uise. The appearance was 
 as if his hands knew what they were 
 about ; they seemed to move them- 
 selves intelligently; they performed the 
 office of the eye. 
 
 15, 16. And he blessed Joseph^ &c. 
 
378 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 16 The angel " which redeem- 
 ed me from all evil, bless the 
 lads ', and let ° my name be named 
 
 n ch. 23. 15. & 31. I ', 13, 2i. Vs. 34. 22. 
 & 121. 7. o Amos 9. 12 Acts. 15. 17. 
 
 That is, he blessed Joseph in blessing 
 his sons ; very much as Ham was 
 cursed in the curse of Canaan. The 
 phraseology recognises a peculiar iden- " 
 tity between father and son, such as 
 we have before had occasion to advert 
 to. This could be no ground of regret 
 or disaffection on the part of Joseph. 
 A truly good and pious parent will feel 
 as thankful to God for blessings be- 
 stowed upon his children, as for his 
 own personal blessings In invoking 
 the blessing it will be observed that he 
 speaks of God as the God 'before 
 whom his fathers Abraham and Isaac 
 walked;' that is, walked in a uniform 
 course of holy obedience. They en- 
 deavored to approve themselves to 
 him, and depended on him as their 
 shield and salvation. Their devout de- 
 portment did not indeed of itself pro- 
 cure the blessing to their posterity, yet 
 the faith which they exercised must 
 and did evince itself in holiness of life; 
 and the words of Jacob no doubt con- 
 tain an implicit admonition to his sons 
 to follow the example of those pious 
 patriarchs, if they desired to be blessed 
 with faithful Abraham. Jacob might 
 properly have added his own name to 
 the names of Abraham and Isaac. Bat 
 perhaps he did not deem it necessary, 
 as his own mode of life had been 
 well know^n to Joseph and his sons. 
 Or, what is still more probable, he may 
 have thought, on account of his mis- 
 carriages, that his name was not wor- 
 thy to be ranked with the names of 
 those holy patriarchs who were to be 
 held in everlasting remembrance. But 
 if so, he stood alone in his opinion. 
 No man ever thought him inferior to 
 
 on them, and the name of my 
 fathers Abraham and Isaac : and 
 let them grow into a multitude 
 in the midst of the earth. 
 
 Isaac, or greatly inferior to Abraham. 
 
 IT The God ichich fed me all my 
 
 life long. Heb. I'^nji n5~in haroeh 
 othi, ichich acted the shepherd towaj-d 
 me. His meaning is, that the Lord had 
 been his shepherd, and had kept and 
 led him, as well as supplied all his 
 wants. And he acknowledges that 
 this kind care had been exercised tow- 
 ard him not only during the latter 
 portion of his life, but all his life long. 
 The Lord fed him when he was in his 
 father's house. The Lord fed him 
 when he procured his food by toil at 
 Laban's house. The Lord fed him even 
 when in Egypt his beloved son supplied 
 all his wants. In whatever way we 
 obtain the necessaries and comforts of 
 life, God is the giver of them ; and we 
 ought at all times to be penetrated with 
 a sense of that goodness which follows 
 us all the days of our lives, which has 
 preserved us from so many evils and 
 loaded us with so many benefits. Sec- 
 ond causes should not be suffered to 
 veil from our view the primary source 
 
 of all our blessings. IT The angel 
 
 ichich redeemed me from all evil. The 
 angel which redeemed and delivered 
 Jacob from all evil, was not a created 
 angel. He is clearly identified with 
 the 'God' who is mentioned in the 
 preceding verse. The God who fed 
 him, and the Angel who redeemed him, 
 are but one undivided object of his 
 prayers, when he seeks the best bles- 
 sings upon the young men whom he 
 so dearly loved. As to the real char- 
 acter of this glorious personage, else- 
 where called ' the Angel of the cove- 
 nant,' see Note on Gen. 16. 7. The 
 title is no doubt here given him with 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 379 
 
 special reference to his interposition in 
 delivering him from ihe wrath of Esau, 
 on his return from Mesopotamia, Gen. 
 32 and 33. But it is not perhaps put- 
 ting undue stress upon Jacob's words 
 to understand them as implying that 
 Jacob was redeemed by this Angel from 
 far worse evils than men ever had it in 
 their power to inflict. He was redeem- 
 ed from all his iniquities and from their 
 penal consequences. The Angel- Jeho- 
 vah of the Old Testament is the Sa- 
 vior-Christ of the New, and who but 
 he has been in every age the Redeemer 
 
 of lost men 1 IT Let my name be 
 
 named on t/iem, &c. Heb. N"lp"^ 
 ^J21I2 Dn3 yikkare bahem shemi, let 
 my name be called upon them. That 
 is, let them not only be called 'Israel,' 
 and thus become entitled to all the 
 blessings connected with that favored 
 name, but lot them also esteem very 
 highly the privilege of being counted 
 in the covenant line of Abraham and 
 Isaac, the venerable fathers of a cho- 
 sen seed. He would not have them 
 take the name of the mother's family, 
 though to the Egyptians it appeared a 
 far greater name than Abraham's or 
 Jacob's. Calling one by the name of 
 another was generally a sign of adop- 
 tion, and this was very pertinent in 
 respect to the name of Jacob himself, 
 but not so much so in respect to those 
 of Abraham and Isaac, for the sons of 
 Joseph needed no adopuon to make 
 them children of these heads of their 
 race. For the most part by a name's 
 being called upon any one, is to be un- 
 derstood his being enrolled and incor- 
 porated in the stock, community, so- 
 ciety, or polity which is considered as 
 in some way originating from or gov- 
 erned by the person whose name it is 
 made to bear. Thus God's people are 
 said to have his name called on them, 
 Deut. 23. 11, 'And all the people of the 
 earth shall see that thou art called by 
 the name of the Lord.' Heb. 'That 
 
 the name of the Lord is called upon 
 thee.' Thus too of a wife, Is. 4. 1, ' In 
 that day seven women shall take hold 
 of one man saying, We will eat our 
 own bread, and wear our own apparel ; 
 only let us be called by thy name, to 
 take away our reproach.' Comp. 2 
 Chron. 7. 14. Ja. 14. 9., in both which 
 cases the Heb. phraseology is the 
 same. Compare also Is. 4. 1. Dan. 9. 
 19. 1 Kings 8. 43. Jer. 7. 10, 11. The 
 patriarch's words no doubt have ref- 
 erence rather to the high appreciation 
 and the real enjoyment of the priri- 
 leges and distinctions connected with 
 their pedigree, than to the mere nom- 
 inal title by which they should ordinar- 
 ily be known. He expresses his desire 
 that they may be in deed and in truth 
 what they were by lineal descent. Al- 
 though he did not glory in the flesh, 
 yet he justly esteemed his God, and 
 the covenant of his God, the glory of 
 his family ; a glory which it would 
 have been both foolish and impious in 
 the higliest degree to exchange for any 
 thing in earth or heaven. Such honor 
 have all the saints. They are not all 
 Israel that are of Israel, but believing 
 Gentiles are a part of the Israel ot 
 God. The name of Christ himself is 
 named upon them. Let us all endeav- 
 or to be an honor and a praise to that 
 worthy name by which we are called. 
 
 -IT Let them grow into a multitude. 
 
 Heb. i:i~I"i yidgu, let them multiply 
 Ukejish. According to the purport oi 
 this prophetic blessing, the issue of 
 Joseph, by his two sons, amounted in 
 the time of Moses, to 85,200; a num- 
 ber surpassing that of any of the rest 
 of the tribes. 
 
 17, 18. When Joseph saw, &c. — it 
 displeased him. The ways of God are 
 often so strange that his own people 
 may be displeased with them. When 
 the Lord smote Uzza, it is said that 
 David was 'displeased' because the 
 Lord had made a breach upon them. 
 
380 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 17 And when Joseph saw that 
 his father p laid his riglit hand 
 upon the head of Ephraim, it 
 displeased him : and he held up 
 his father's hand, to remove it 
 from Ephraim's head unto Ma- 
 nasseh's head. 
 
 18 And Joseph said unto his 
 father, Not so, my father: for this 
 
 p ver. 14. 
 
 It is proper however that we should 
 satisfy ourselves as to their real mo- 
 tives before we bring the fact against 
 them as a heavy charge. Such feel- 
 ings sometimes arise from misappre- 
 hensions of the intent of the divine 
 proceedings. Had Joseph thought that 
 his father guided his hands wittingly 
 by divine direction, when he gave 
 Ephraim the preference, he undoubted- 
 ly would have found no fault with it, 
 but would have adored that sovereign- 
 ty which gave the preference to the 
 youngest, while it conferred rich bles- 
 sings on both. He did not know that 
 his father's hands, as well as his 
 tongue, were guided by the Holy 
 Spirit ; and if he mistook the elder for 
 the younger, Joseph ascribed it to ac- 
 cident or to a blameless infirmity. Jo- 
 seph had in fact no intention to find 
 fault, but to set him right. His dis- 
 pleasure was not a sullen rude dissatis- 
 faction at his father's conduct. Joseph 
 was incapable of such an unnatural 
 deportment toward such a father. Nor 
 can we certainly infer from the incident 
 that like Isaac he loved the first-born 
 better than the youngest. But as the 
 Heb. expresses it, ' it was evil in his 
 eyes,' i. e. not conformable to his views 
 of propriety, that an honor, which he 
 w'ould naturally expect, should be with- 
 held from the eldest, and bestowed on 
 the youngest, who did not expect it, 
 and who would not have been hurt in 
 
 is the first-born ; put thy right 
 hand upon his head. 
 
 19 And his father refused, and 
 .aid, "i I know it, my son, I know 
 it : he also shall become a peo- 
 ple, and he also shall be great : 
 hut truly "" his younger brother 
 shall be greater than he, and his 
 seed shall become a multitude of 
 nations. 
 
 q ver. 14. r Numb. 1. 33, 35. & 2. 19. 21 
 Deut. 33. 17. Rev. 7. 6, 8. 
 
 his feelings by the want of it. But it 
 is remarkable in how many instances 
 in the sacred history the precedency 
 accrued to the youngest instead of the 
 eldest. Thus Abel was preferred to 
 Cain, Shem before Japheth, Abraham 
 before Haran, Isaac before Ishmael, 
 Jacob before Esau, Judah and Joseph 
 before Reuben, Ephraim before Manas- 
 seh, Moses before Aaron, and David 
 before his brethren. God will bestow 
 his blessings according to his own 
 will. We ought to have our hearts 
 filled with thanksgivings, if he gives 
 us an inheritance among his chosen, 
 although he gives to others a larger 
 share in that inheritance. If the first 
 are made last, and the last first, what 
 have we to say? ' Even so, Father, 
 for so it seemed good in thy sight.' 
 
 19. And his father refused, and said, 
 &c. Notwithstanding Joseph was 
 displeased with Jacob, and Jacob re- 
 fused to comply with Joseph's wishes, 
 yet there was no interruption of the 
 kindest feelings on eitber side. We 
 may sometimes refuse to grant requests 
 to those we love simply because we 
 love them; as on the other hand we 
 may sometimes grant them for the di- 
 rectly opposite reason. Yet when we 
 refuse to comply with the requests ol 
 our children and friends, \\e ought to 
 do it jn a friendly manner. Jacob did 
 not hurt the feelings of Joseph by re- 
 fusing to remove his hand from the 
 
B. C. 1689.J 
 
 20 And he blessed them that 
 day, saying, • In thee shall Israel 
 
 s Ruth 4. 11. 12. 
 
 head of Ephraim to Manasseh. 'I 
 know it my son, I know it. The po- 
 sition of my hands is not accidental 
 and unmeaning, but intentional and 
 significant. You have no reason to be 
 jealous for the honor of your first-born. 
 He is dear to me ; he is a favorite 
 of heaven ; he shall be great, though 
 his youngest brother shall indeed be 
 greater ; but the greatness of Manas- 
 seh will not be lessened in reality, or in 
 the estimation of the wise, by the su- 
 perior greatness of Ephraim.' One rea- 
 son why the Most High does not fol- 
 low the rules which men would pre- 
 scribe to him in the distribution of his 
 favors undoubtedly is, that we may 
 learn not to glory in the flesh, but in 
 the Lord. Were he to dispense his 
 bounties according to such rules as 
 might appear reasonable to us, high 
 thoughts of human worth would be 
 apt to be cherished, and losing our im- 
 pressions of divine sovereignty, we 
 should be tempted to 'sacrifice to our 
 own net, and burn incense to our own 
 
 drag.' IT He also shall become a 
 
 people, and he also shall be great. Gr. 
 vipu)dri(y£Tai shall be extolled. So strong- 
 ly does the spirit within us lust to envy, 
 that we need often to be reminded that 
 whatever be our lot we have, on the 
 score of mercy, all that we can claim 
 and a great deal more. Though others 
 perhaps no better than we, may enjoy 
 many comforts and honors of which 
 we are destitute, yet we on the other 
 hand may abound in blessings which 
 others, better than ourselves, may lack. 
 Ephraim was to be greater than Ma- 
 nasseh ; but had Manasseh any rea- 
 son to be disquieted 7 He too was to 
 be great, though not so great as his 
 brother. Jacob taught him to consid- 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 bless 
 
 381 
 
 , saying, God make thee as 
 Ephraim and as Manasseh : and 
 he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 
 
 er what was promised to himself, that 
 he might not envy his brother, but 
 thank that God who had dealt won- 
 
 drously with them both. IF His 
 
 seed shall become a multitude of na- 
 tions. Heb. Q^ill^n i*b?2 melo hag- 
 goyivi, a fulness of nations. Thus, Is. 
 31. 4, ' When a multitude of shepherds 
 is called forth.' Heb. 'A fulness of 
 shepherds.' In allusion, probably, to 
 this form of expression, the Apostle 
 say.s, Rom. 11.25, 'Until the fulness 
 of the Gentiles be come in.' We must 
 take the word 'nation' in a peculiar 
 sense in this passage. It does not im- 
 ply a separate people, for they still re- 
 mained a component part of the race 
 of Israel ; but the idea conveyed by 
 the word is, that they were to become 
 a very numerous and powerful part 
 of the nation. Accordingly we find 
 that at the first numbering of Israel in 
 the wilderness 'the children of Ephraim 
 exceeded those of Manasseh by up- 
 wards of eight thousand ; and in later 
 times it is clear that Ephraim was the 
 chief of the ten tribes that separated 
 themselves from the children of Judah. 
 We have no account of the compara- 
 tive numbers of the tribes; but we 
 know that Ephraim was frequently the 
 royal tribe and that it gave a name to 
 the whole kingdom. When Manasseh 
 and Ephraim were thus assured that 
 their seed would be very numerous, 
 they would at least be apt to feel 
 that it would be of immense advantage 
 to them to keep their place among the 
 sons of Jacob. What pleasure could 
 they have enjoyed in the prospect of 
 thousands and millions of Egyptian 
 idolaters deriving from them their ori- 
 gin? But it must have given them 
 great satisfaction to leave an inherit- 
 
382 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 21 And Israel said unto Jo- 
 seph, Behold, I die; but t God 
 
 t ch. 46. 4..&5G. 24. 
 
 ance among God's chosen to a multi- 
 tude of nations. 
 
 20. He blessed them that day, saying, 
 &c. Jacob not only assured Joseph 
 that he should be the father of two 
 tribes in Israel, but assured him like- 
 wise that neither of them should be 
 smaller than the other tribes. They 
 were to hold such a rank in Israel, that 
 when one man blessed another, he 
 should desire no better a model of bless- 
 edness than Ephraim and Manasseh. 
 The descendants of Israel in wishing 
 happiness to others, shall use this say- 
 ing derived from thee, namely, ' God 
 make thee,' &c. This form of bles- 
 sing, it seems, is still in use among the 
 Jews to this day. We have a speci- 
 men of such a form of blessing in the 
 book of Ruth, ch. 4. 4, 'The Lord 
 make the woman that is come to thine 
 house like Rachel, and like Leah, which 
 two did build the house of Jacob ; and 
 let thine house be like the house of 
 Pharez, which Tamar bare unto Judah, 
 of the seed which the Lord shall give 
 thee of the woman.' Manasseh had 
 no reason to repine, but much reason 
 to rejoice in the prospect of a seed 
 which should make his name famous 
 in Israel as a pattern of benediction. 
 Yet Jacob again intimates that Ephraim 
 wars to be greater than Manasseh. As 
 Jacob laid his right hand upon the 
 head of the younger, contrary to Jo- 
 seph's declared intention, so he names 
 Ephraim before Manasseh. But why 
 does the venerable patriarch give so 
 man'y indications of the superior glory 
 of the younger son ? Was he not afraid 
 of awakening the jealousy of the elder ? 
 Did he not remember what he had suf- 
 fered for giving such a manifest superi- 
 ority in his affection to Joseph 1 All 
 
 shall be with you, and bring you 
 again unto the land of your fa- 
 thers. 
 
 that we can say is, that it seemed good 
 to God not only to give the superiority 
 in his providence to Ephraim, but to 
 signify his purpose beforehand to the 
 heads of these tribes; and we may 
 learn, from the frequent repetition of 
 this instance of divine sovereignty, that 
 it is the will of God to have his sover- 
 eignty known and acknowledged by 
 
 his people. IT And he set Ephraim 
 
 before Manasseh. That is, by the fact 
 of pronouncing the above blessing up- 
 on Ephraim, he virtually assigned to 
 him the pre-eminence. 
 
 21. Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, 
 I die, &c. The good patriarch had 
 suffered many sore calamities in the 
 course of his life. He had been tossed 
 with many tempests, but was now 
 comforted by the sight of a peacefd 
 haven. He could speak of his death 
 without fear or sorrow. The joys ol 
 death far overbalance its sorrows to 
 those who, like the ancient patriarchs, 
 are seeking the better country. Jacob 
 by thus speaking of his death prepares 
 Joseph for that stroke of affliction 
 which he might perhaps soon expect. 
 We have heard of his transports when 
 his father came down to live with him 
 in Egypt. Seventeen years had now 
 passed delightfully away in the vicinity 
 of his father. But now the day ap- 
 proaches when Israel must no more be 
 seen by his affectionate son. It was 
 needless to conceal from him what he 
 would ere long see with his own eyes; 
 but his father teaches him how to en- 
 dure the shock. «r 1 die ; but God 
 
 shall be with you, &c. Joseph's heav- 
 enly father could not die. His earthly 
 father was about to leave him ; but the 
 God of his father, who was his own 
 God, would never leave him. If the 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 383 
 
 22 Moreover " I have given lo 
 thee one portion above thy breth- 
 ren, which 1 took out of the hand 
 
 V Josh. 24. 32. 1 Chron. 5. 2. John 4. 5. 
 
 Lord be with us, he will abundantly 
 compensate the want of all earthly 
 friends. Jacob however had not re- 
 gard to Joseph alone in these words. 
 He was aware that they would lose in 
 him not only a father, but a ruler, a 
 guide, an instructer, an intercessor with 
 God on their behalf ' But God shall 
 be with you,' says the patriarch, 'he 
 will be with thee and with thy breth- 
 ren. He will preserve and bless you, and 
 in his own time will bring you agaiu 
 into the land of your fathers.' He 
 probably knew that it was determined 
 by God that his seed should live a long 
 time in Egypt and there be brought 
 low by affliction, before they obtained 
 their settlement in Canaan. But al- 
 though they were to be afflicted, yet 
 the Lord was to be their protecter. As 
 to the manner of their deliverance Ja- 
 cob was not instructed to give them 
 any information. Neither Jacob nor 
 his sons knew any more on this head 
 than Abraham was enabled to inform 
 them, viz. that God would judge the 
 land where they were oppressed, and 
 would bring them out with great sub- 
 stance. Their business at this time 
 was to believe and embrace the prom- 
 ise, to account themselves strangers 
 when they were at a distance from the 
 land of promise, and leave the manner 
 of us accomplishment to God. ' Hath 
 he said and shall he make it good V — 
 We have no account of the reasons 
 why Jacob did not prepare to return to 
 the land of his fathers, after the days of 
 famine were at an end. Perhaps he 
 thought that it might appear an un- 
 grateful requital to Pharaoh for all his 
 favors, to speak of returning to the 
 land of Canaan as soon as the famine 
 
 "" of the Arnorite with my sword 
 and with my bow. 
 
 X ch. 15. 16. & 34. ^. Josh. 17. 14, Ac. 
 
 was over; or the distresses of Canaan, 
 after plenty was restored to Egypt, 
 might render it inconvenient for Jacob's 
 family to take up their residence in it; 
 or the remembrance of the odium rais- 
 ed against him for the slaughter of the 
 Shechemites, or other circumstances 
 unknown to us, might render it more 
 eligible to continue in the land of Egypt, 
 than to return to the land of his fathers. 
 But whatever were the reasons which 
 governed his conduct in this respect, 
 he still retained his attachment to the 
 good land which God had promised, 
 and was deeply anxious to have this 
 attachment perpetuated in the hearts 
 of his seed. 
 
 22. Moreover 1 have given to tfiee, 
 &.C. That is, I have declaratively or 
 prophetically given ; I hereby an- 
 nounce to thee that thou shalt come 
 into the possession of it. In like man- 
 ner the divine assurance so often made 
 to the patriarchs, 'I have given thee 
 this land,' is to be interpreted, ' I will 
 
 give it thee.' ^ 0?ie portion. Heb. 
 
 ~ni^ t32"J shekcm chod, one shoulder. 
 The Heb. term is the same with the 
 name of the city of ' Shechem,' and 
 was perhaps designed to hint at some- 
 thing peculiar in the site of the city, as 
 for instance an elevated or protuberant 
 piece of ground, on which or near 
 which it was situated. It is supposed, 
 moreover, by some critics that there is 
 a designed paranomasia, a play upon 
 words, as there is no doubt that the 
 place referred to is in the district of 
 ' Shechem' mentioned. Gen. 33. 18, on 
 which see Note. Others again contend 
 that it is spoken prophetically, in ac- 
 cordance with the well-known idiom 
 by which a person is said to do thai 
 
384 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 168n 
 
 which he only predicts. He might in- 
 deed have spoken of this conquest in 
 the prophetical style, as if it had al- 
 ready heen effected, to express his full 
 persuasion that the land would be sub- 
 dued by his posterity. Yet this sense 
 seems on the whole, too remote from 
 the more obvious meaning of the words. 
 The more probable construction is that 
 which takes the words as asserting an 
 historical fact. We know that Jacob 
 bought a portion of ground of the men 
 of Shechem, Gen. 33. 18—20. When 
 he left that place it is not unlikely that 
 the Amorites mvaded and took posses- 
 sion of it ; and that Jacob, by divine 
 direction, had subsequently driven them 
 out with an armed force of children 
 and servants, and perhaps of allies. 
 These incidents, it is true, are not re- 
 corded by the sacred writer, but they 
 may have occurred without having 
 been mentioned in their proper place. 
 According to the Greek version of the 
 Sept. Shechem was the place which 
 Jacob gave to Joseph. It is certain 
 that the place was at least near She- 
 chem, for we read John 4. 5. that when 
 Jesus was passing through Samaria 
 he came to a city called Sychar, ' near 
 to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave 
 to his son Joseph.' It appears also 
 from Josh. 16. 1. & 20. 7, that it came 
 eventually into the hands of Joseph's 
 sons, the Ephraimites. It is not to be 
 supposed that Jacob thought of retain- 
 ing this place in undisturbed posses- 
 sion, for his son Joseph, either as his 
 purchase or as his conquest. It was 
 certain that it would be occupied by the 
 Canaanites, who would reckon them- 
 selves entitled to keep possession of it 
 as long as they were able. It was to 
 be reconquered, as well as other parts 
 of the country, before the children of 
 Joseph could obtain possession of the 
 legacy. Nor could it be valuable for 
 its extent to a man who was lord of 
 Egypt. Yet on another account it 
 
 would be of high value in Joseph s 
 eyes. It was the gift of his father, 8 
 gift of special love, a gift bestowed bj 
 him on his death-bed, at the time when 
 he wished to leave the last token of his 
 affection to his favorite son. As sucL 
 it would be highly valued by Joseph 
 and his posterity, and v/ould constitutf 
 another strong bond of attachment tc 
 the promised land. And when in af 
 ter ages the tribes came to take posses 
 sion of their several inheritances thr 
 families of Ephralm and Manasseh 
 would have a more powerful stmiului 
 to a vigorous effort in driving out iho, 
 people of Canaan, who then held a ter 
 ritory which had been expressly sccu 
 red to them by the last will and testa 
 ment of their venerated sire. Mor^ 
 than two hundred years passed awaj 
 before the children of Israel obtainec 
 possession of this portion of grounc 
 which Jacob left them. Yet at las* 
 they obtained it and were happy in it,. 
 as a testimony of the special love o 
 their father. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 No characters of the ancient period.^ 
 of the world appear more venerable to 
 us than those of the three great patri- 
 archs of the chosen nation. W^e are 
 highly instructed and edified by then 
 history ; and had they left any writings 
 behind them, they would have been 
 read with the greatest avidity. But 
 God was not pleased to honor them 
 with a name in the list of the holy wri- 
 ters. We have reason however to be 
 thankful that so many of their words 
 are recorded in the inspired volume. 
 The present chapter consists chiefly of 
 the words of Jacob, although Moses 
 was the writer of them. It might be 
 called the book of the prophecies of Ja- 
 cob ; and it contains as large a portion 
 of the oracles of God as the book of 
 the prophecies of Obadiah, or the Epis- 
 tle of Jude. In the 105th Psalm Abra- 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 385 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 A ND Jacob called unto his 
 -^ sons, and said, Gather your- 
 selves together, that I may ^ tell 
 
 a Deut. 33. L Amos 3. 7. 
 
 :iam, Isaac, and Jacob, are called 
 prophets;' and we know that the 
 word of the Lord came to Jacob at 
 different periods in the course of his 
 life. But his dying words are the most 
 memorable of his prophecies. Under 
 the full conviction of their solemn im- 
 port and the earnest hope that his last 
 sayings would make a happy impres- 
 sion on their minds, all his sons were 
 summoned together to hear him. Liv- 
 ing and dying, it was his anxious wish 
 to be useful to them ; and in his death, 
 as well as in his life, he sets us an ex- 
 ample which we should endeavor to 
 imitate. God grant that when our 
 time comes that we must die, we may 
 be enabled to say something to sur- 
 viving friends that will be remembered 
 by them with advantage. We are not 
 of course to expect the prophetic affla- 
 tus on our death-bed. But if we die 
 in faith, we may leave an useful testi- 
 mony behind us of the pleasantness 
 and peace of the ways of religion. The 
 peculiar character and great impor- 
 tance of the contents of this chapter, 
 together with the intrinsic difficulties 
 of the interpretation, no doubt warrant 
 a more minute and critical investiga- 
 tion into the meaning of terms than 
 will be found to mark most of our pre- 
 ceding annotations. To such an at- 
 tempt it is important to premise the 
 following remarks: (L) That these 
 blessings or announcements have re- 
 spect mainly to the posterity, and not to 
 the persons, of the twelve sons of Ja- 
 cob. (2.) That, consequently, the 
 materials of a just interpretation are to 
 be sought for in the subsequent history 
 0^ these tribes. It is only from the 
 33 
 
 you that which shall befal you 
 ^ in the last days. 
 
 b Deut. 4. 30. Numb. 24. 14. Isai. 2. 2. 
 & 39. 6. Jer. 23. 20. Dan. 2. 28, 29. Acts 
 
 2. 17. Hebr. 1. 2. ' 
 
 documents furnished in the sacred 
 record, that the leading character- 
 istic traits, and the most important 
 events related of each tribe, can be de- 
 termined, and the appropriateness of 
 the predictions clearly made out. (3.) 
 That the fulfilment of these blessings is 
 to be traced not in any one event, or in 
 any single period of time, but in a con- 
 tinuous and progressive series of ac- 
 compUshments, reaching down to the 
 latest era of the Jewish pohty. (4.) 
 That the peculiar phraseology in which 
 the blessings are couched, has, in most 
 cases, a verbal allusion to the names 
 bestowed upon the twelve phylarchs, 
 or princes of tribes, at their birth— a 
 circumstance not indeed obvious to 
 the Eng. reader, but palpable to one 
 who consults the original. 
 
 1 . Jacob called unto his sons. That 
 is, by despatching messengers for that 
 purpose to the different parts of Go- 
 shen in which his sons resided. The 
 words contained in this and the ensu- 
 ing verse constitute the message which 
 was to be delivered to them. The 
 style of the summons was such as to 
 acquaint them with the object for 
 
 which they were to be convened. 
 
 ^\ That 2 may tell you that which shall 
 befal you in the last days. Heb. 
 Q"'73'^rT tl'^inj!^- baaharith hayamim, 
 in the sequency or posteriority of days ; 
 or as Faber significantly, but some- 
 what uncouthly renders it, in the aft&r- 
 hood of days. Gr. eKca-x^a-wv rj^cpuv 
 in the last days. Chal. 'In the end of 
 days.' Arab. ' After these days.' The 
 phrase does undoubtedly in some in- 
 stances, in the prophetic writings, im- 
 ply the time subsequent to the appear- 
 
385 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 16S9; 
 
 2 Gather yourselves together, 
 and hear, ye sons of Jacob j 
 
 ance of Christ in the flesh, or what is 
 famiharly termed the gospel dispensa- 
 tion ; but in the present connexion we 
 Ere probably to take it as simply equiv- 
 alent to hereafter, afterward, in fu- 
 ture; denoting not a precise or limited 
 period, but an indefinite tract of subse- 
 quent time, even the whole extended 
 interval between the deliverance from 
 Egypt and the coming of the Shiloh in 
 the person of the Saviour. Thus that 
 which m Acts 2. 17, is rendered, 'It 
 shall come to pass in the last days,' is 
 in Joel 2. 28, ' It shall ccme to pass 
 afterward.' Farther instances of the 
 Hsage of the original, which is gener- 
 ally rendered ' in the latter time,' may 
 be seen, Num. 24. 14. Deut. 4. 30. 
 Dan. 2. 28. « I will tell you what shall 
 befal you in the latter days.' They 
 were all to be in their graves before the 
 last days, and yet the things foretold 
 were to befal them. This is on the 
 ground of the intimate relation or con- 
 structive identity of fathers and chil- 
 dren so often recognised in Scripture. 
 They could not but reckon themselves 
 deeply interested in the fortunes of 
 their children at the distance of many 
 generations, and were bound to give 
 thanks to God for all the good and 
 great things which he had promised to 
 do for the latest of their posterity. 
 We cannot know what will happen 
 in the last days to our posterity, or 
 whether we shall have a posterity on 
 the earth at the distance of an hundred 
 years or of one year. But if we can 
 commit our own souls and bodies with 
 confidence to God, we may look for 
 good things in every generation to the 
 church of Christ, in which we hope 
 our own seed will be included, if a seed 
 is left to us on the earth. If such 
 
 and <^ hearken unto Israel youF 
 father. 
 
 c Ps. 34. IJ 
 
 hopes enable us to look forward with 
 cheerfulness to future times, it will be 
 oar hearts' desire and our earnest en- 
 deavour to communicate the knowl- 
 edge and the love of pure and unde- 
 filed religion to the children whom 
 God is pleased to give us. We shall- 
 thus resemble Jacob as fathers, if not 
 as prophets. 
 
 2. Gather yoursehes together, and 
 hear, &.c. If all parents are entitled 
 to respect from their children, such a 
 man as Jacob, who received from God 
 the glorious name of Ishael for him- 
 self and his seed, might expect a very 
 high degree of reverence from the men 
 who had the honor to call themselves 
 his children. Sueh a father deserved 
 at all times to be heard with attention 
 by his sons, but most of all at this 
 time. He was going from them to 
 God. He spake by divine inspiration 
 of things most deeply interesting to 
 them. He was about to leave them 
 his dying benedictions; and how un- 
 grateful as well as stupid must they 
 have been, if they had not given the 
 most diligent heed to the things that 
 proceeded from his lips ? True, he was 
 about to utter propiietic oracles in 
 which there was much that was dark 
 and hard to be understood, much that 
 they probably were entirely at a loss at 
 present to understand. But they no 
 doubt learnt enough from them to es- 
 tablish greatly their faith and hope in 
 their father's God, and to assist them 
 in preparing their children after them 
 to meet those happy or disastrous 
 events of which they had a dim but 
 assured foresight. So let us regard the 
 prophecies of Scripture with profound 
 reverence. Let us beware of thinking 
 those parts of the sacred volume use- 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 387 
 
 3 ^ Reuben, ihou art ^ 
 first-boriij my might, ^ and 
 
 my 
 the 
 
 d ch. 29. 32. e Deut. 21. 17. Ps. 78. 51. 
 
 less of which we cannot fully compre- 
 hend the meaning. The prophecies 
 concerning the Messiah and the first 
 advent were but imperfectlj' under- 
 stood by the ancient church. Yet 
 many thousands in Israel were saved 
 by the faith of them. Surely the sons 
 of Jacob could not be under more sa- 
 cred obligations to listen to the predic- 
 tions of their father though dignified 
 with the name of Israel, than we are 
 to attend to the revelation made to us 
 by the Lamb in the midst of the 
 throne, who hath prevailed to open the 
 sealed book and to loose the seven 
 seals thereof. 
 
 3. Reuben, thou art my Jirst-born, 
 iny viight, &c. Heb. ^n!D kohi. The 
 original term n3 boah implies that de- 
 gree of bodily vigor which results 
 from the full proportion and the healthy 
 state of the Jluids of the system, or 
 an abundance of moisture, in opposi- 
 tion to a dry, withered, and conse- 
 quently languid state of the animal 
 economy. This sense of the word is 
 illustrated by the Psalmist's use of it, 
 Ps. 22. 15, ' My strength (inz) is dried 
 up as a potsherd, and my tongue 
 cleaveth to my jaws.' It is employed 
 to express the highest state of corpo- 
 real vigor in the case also of Caleb, 
 Josh. 14. 11, 'As yet I am strong this 
 day as I was in the day that Moses 
 sent me; as my strength, ("Tl^) was 
 then, even so is my strength (TI3) 
 now.' It is here used, by a common 
 figure of speech, for the first effect of 
 his physical strength, or the child be- 
 gotten in the flower and prime of his 
 manhood. A similar usage occurs in 
 Job 31. 39, where the 'fruits' of the 
 earth are made to stand by metonymy 
 for the vegetative principle from which ; 
 
 beginning of my strength, the 
 excellency of dignity, and the 
 excellency of power: 
 
 they spring; 'If I have eaten the 
 fruits (ni) thereof without money.' 
 By the Gr., Choi., and most of the 
 ancient versions it is rendered 'strength.' 
 
 IT The beginning of my strength. 
 
 Heb. i^Tii iTPaS^I reshith oni, equiv- 
 alent to the first fruits of my potency, 
 an expression very nearly synonymous 
 with the preceding, and rightly render- 
 ed by the Gr. ap-^^rj tskvcjv jaov the be- 
 ginning of my children — the begin- 
 ning not only in the order of nativity, 
 but in the grade of eminence. A sim- 
 ilar denomination is given to the first- 
 born, Deut. 21. 17, ' Giving him a 
 double portion of all that he hath ; for 
 he is the beginning of his strength, 
 (i:&5 nTi4"l) the right of the first- 
 born is his.' Ps. 105. 36, 'He smote 
 all the first-born in their land, the chief 
 of all their strength,^ (I'it tT^iDSiS). 
 
 IT 77(6 excellency of dignity and 
 
 poicer. Heb. ^l^^•J "ifT^ yether scaithy 
 the abounding excellency of eminence; 
 in allusion to the honor of the priest- 
 hood, involved in the birthright, as 'the 
 excellency of power' has respect to the 
 right of dominion, another branch of 
 the same distinction. The Heb. word 
 nii'13 seaith translated dignity, proper- 
 ly implies elevation, and is the term 
 employed in reference to Cain, Gen. 4. 
 7, ' And if thou doest well shalt thou 
 noi he accepted!' (rS^'L') or rather, 'If 
 thou doest well, is there not elevation?' 
 i. e. shalt thou not be entitled to all the 
 prerogatives of the birthright? The 
 pertinency of the ancient Targums to 
 this point is very striking. Chal. 
 'Thou wert to have received three por- 
 tions, the birthright, (i. e. the double 
 portion,) the priesthood, and the king- 
 dom; but because,' &c. Jerus. Targ. 
 •And for the ein of my son Reuben, 
 
388 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1680 
 
 4 Unstable as water, ^ thoii 
 shalt not excel ; because thou 
 
 fl Chron. 5. 1. 
 
 the birthright is given to Joseph, the 
 kingdom to Judah, and the priesthood 
 to the tribe of Levi.' This interpreta- 
 tion is so fully confirmed by 1 Chron. 
 5. 1, 2, that we cannot doubt of its cor- 
 rectness. IF Excellency of poicer. 
 
 Heb. tv> "itll ydher oz, the abound- 
 ing excellency of strength or 'puissance. 
 The original is derived from a root sxg- 
 Tiify'mg strong, Jjrm, hard, valid; and 
 is repeatedly applied to kings and king- 
 doms, as characteristic of that prevail- 
 ing strength by which dominion is 
 usually obtained and upheld. Thus, 
 Ps. 99. 4, 'The king's strength also 
 loveth judgment.' Ps. 110. 2, 'The 
 Lord shall send the rod of thy strength 
 out of Zion : rule thou in the midst of 
 thine enemies.' Is. 30. 2, ' That walk 
 to go down into Egypt to strengthen 
 themselves in the strength of Pha- 
 raoh.' The terms 'dignity' and 'power' 
 therefore are rightly interpreted, the 
 one of the sacerdotal, the other of the 
 regal prerogative, included in the birth- 
 right. Arab. ' Excelling in nobility 
 and excelling in magnificence.' Reu- 
 ben's exclusion from this honor was 
 in punishment for his grievous offence 
 against his father; and he was express- 
 ly informed by his father's dying words, 
 what glory his posterity might have 
 enjoyed, if his transgression had not 
 robbed them of the privileges which 
 would otherwise have fallen to their 
 lot. Reuben was probably pardoned 
 by God. But for his own humiliation, 
 and for a warning to other men, it was 
 expedient to give him this solemn re- 
 buke ; and to put him in mind of what 
 he had forfeited, not to himself only, 
 but to his posterity. 
 
 4. Unstable as xcater. Hcb. tUS 
 
 s wentest up to thy father's bed; 
 then defiledst thou it: he went 
 up to my couch. 
 
 g ch. 35. 22. 1 Chron. 5, 1. Deut. 27. 20. 
 
 t-'^ZS pahaz kammayim. Gr. E^v0pi- 
 aag o's ijo p thou hast been insolently 
 injurious as water, i. e. as water that 
 overflows its banks. Chal. 'But be- 
 cause thou hast followed thine own 
 will as water poured out.' Sam. and 
 Syr. 'Thou hast been violent and flow- 
 ed down like water.' The allusion is 
 to Reuben's incestuous connexion with 
 Bilhah, his father's concubine; Gen. 
 35. 22. The original word fnS pahaz 
 in its primitive sense signifies a precip- 
 itate motion, as of a stream breaking 
 through impediments, or running down 
 a declivity. Its derivates have the im- 
 port of rash, light, dissolute, licentious. 
 Thus, Judg. 9. 4, 'Abimelcch hired vain 
 and light persons;'' Heb. f^Tnt) vo- 
 hazim. Zeph. 3. 4, ' Her prophets are 
 light and treacherous persons ;' Heb. 
 Q'^TmS pohazim. It is a term well 
 adapted to express both the unbridled 
 lawlessness of Reuben's conduct in the 
 indulgence of his passions, and the ef- 
 fect of it in suddenly and irretrievably 
 casting him down from his birthright. 
 The force of a great current of water, 
 when the barriers that restrained it are 
 removed, is irresistible. Such is the 
 force of conniption in men destitute of 
 religious principle. Yet nothing is 
 weaker than water in small quantities. 
 It has no principle of coherence or sta- 
 bility. Such is the weakness of men 
 who walk after their own lusts. They 
 have no power to resist the most per- 
 nicious temptations, or the most inor- 
 dinate and detestable impulses of their 
 own corrupt minds. Whether the in- 
 stability or the impetuosity of water is 
 principally intended by the term, it is 
 perhaps impossible, and not very neces- 
 sary, to determine.' Perhaps both ideas 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 are included. Reuben's wickedness 
 was a plain evidence of his own la- 
 mentable weakness, and of the dread- 
 ful power of corruption within him. 
 He had as Uttle power to restrain his 
 lusts as water has to preserve itself 
 from falling to the ground, when it is 
 poured from the vessel that contains 
 it. He rushed on to the commission 
 of a crime which was to load him with 
 guilt and infamy, with the irresistible 
 impetus of a mighty river when it 
 comes up over all its channels, and 
 goes up over all its banks, Is. 8. 7. To 
 gratify a momentary inclination he 
 violated all the laws of honor, of nat- 
 ural affection, of God, and of man. 
 He might have seen, if his eyes had 
 not been blinded by the deceitfulness 
 of sin, that by going up to his father's 
 couch he would purchase a moment's 
 pleasure at the expense of everlasting 
 disgrace to himself, of enduring an- 
 guish to a venerable father, of a griev- 
 ous stain to his posterity, and of the 
 vengeance of heaven upon his immor- 
 tal soul, if sovereign mercy should not 
 
 be pleased to interpose. IT Thou 
 
 shall not excel. Chal. ' Thou shalt not 
 have profit nor receive the excellent 
 portion.' Sam. 'Think not thyself ex- 
 cellent.' Syr. ' Thou shall not stand.' 
 All these various renderings concur in 
 expressing the main idea, viz. that 
 Reuben had cut himself off from all 
 prospect of holding that pre-eminence 
 in Israel to which he would otherwise 
 have been entitled. Accordingly we 
 learn from the sacred narrative that 
 this tribe, which was few in number, 
 and reproached for their pusillanimity 
 by Deborah, never distinguished them- 
 selves by any noble exploits. None 
 of the ancient heroes whose names are 
 yet famous belonged to this tribe. 
 Neither the priesthood nor the royalty 
 was given to the tribe of the first-born 
 of Jacob. Though there were kings 
 of the different tribes, yet none, as far 
 33* 
 
 as we know, of the tribe of Reuben. 
 There were doubtless many of the 
 sons of Reuben who found favor with 
 God, 1 Chron. 4. 5, but none of them 
 obtained such glory in this world as 
 many of the other tribes obtained. 
 
 IT Because thou wentest up to thy 
 
 father's bed. He ought, above all his 
 brethren, to have been a defence to his 
 father against any invader of his honor 
 or his property. But there was not 
 one of the thirteen children of Jacob 
 that inflicted more painful wounds on 
 their father's heart. The injury done 
 to Joseph was not so irreparable. The 
 murder of the Shechemites was in- 
 deed not less but more criminal, and 
 yet it was not such a direct outrage 
 against the man whom of all others 
 on earth he was bound to reverence. 
 It was a violent assault upon the ten- 
 derest point of his honor. It was an 
 outrageous attempt to tear away from 
 him a part of his own flesh, and make 
 it the fuel of everlasting burning. He 
 corrupted Bilhah, whom Jacob was 
 bound to love as a part of himself, and 
 involved her in such wickedness as 
 that which brought down fire and 
 brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. 
 Could Reuben then expect the first 
 place of honor in his father's family? 
 He had reason to wonder that he was 
 not turned out of it with disgrace, and 
 set up, like the sinners of Sodom, a 
 monument of wrath to all generations. 
 Still it should be remembered that Ja- 
 cob spoke the language of indignation 
 concerning the shameful conduct of 
 Reuben, not because he hated, but 
 rather because he loved this unnatural 
 son. He acted toward him the part of 
 a faithful friend, as well as a wise fa- 
 ther, when with his dying breath he 
 endeavored to pierce his heart with a 
 just sense of the enormity of his guilt, 
 He was certainly struck with bitter re- 
 morse long before this time. It is to 
 be hoped that he had exercised repent- 
 
390 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 5 yi ^ Simeon and Levi are | assembly', " mine honour, be not 
 i brethren; ^instruments of cruel- thou united : for ^ in their anger 
 ty are in their liabitations. they slew a man, and in their 
 
 6 O my soul, i come not thou self-will they digged down a 
 into their secret ; ■" unto their wall. 
 
 h ch. 29. 33, 34. i Pro v. IS. 9. k ch. 34. 
 25. 1 Prov. 1. 15, 16. m Ps.26. 9. Eph. 5. 11. 
 
 Ps. 16. 9. & 30. 12. & 57. S. o ch. 34. 26. 
 
 anee unto life. But afler such a trans- 
 gression it became him all the days of 
 his hfe to remember with shame, how 
 he had disgraced himself, how he had 
 lacerated the heart of his father, and 
 especially how presumptuously he had 
 sinned against God. The mourning of 
 the true penitent is not at an end when 
 he has obtained a good hope through 
 grace that iniquity shall not be his 
 
 ruin. IT He went up to my couch. 
 
 Heb. fl'^y alak. If the verb ' went 
 up' legitimately refers to Reuben, Jacob 
 must be conceived as abruptly turning 
 from him, under the influence of strong 
 mdignation, and addressing himself to 
 his other sons. The Gr. however 
 changes the person and renders it, 'On 
 which f/(ou wen test up.' So also the 
 Chal. ' "When thou wentest up to my 
 couch.' Ainsworth, Venema, and 
 others, support a different construc- 
 tion. They consider the proper sub- 
 ject of ' went up' to be ' excellency' in 
 the preceding verse, and would render 
 the passage thus ; 'Thou shalt not ex- 
 cel, because thou wentest up to my bed ; 
 then thou defiledst my couch ; it (thine 
 excellency) has vanished away.' This 
 sense of the Heb. verb to ascend, to go 
 up, is confirmed it is said by the follow- 
 ing instances of its occurrence, Ex. 16. 
 14. ' When the dew that lay was gone 
 up;' i. 6. had vanished. Jer. 43. 15, 
 'Moab is spoiled and gone up ;' i. e. has 
 entirely disappeared. The whole may 
 be paraphrased thus: 'Thou, Reuben, 
 art my first-born, the son begotten in 
 the prime and vigor of my days, and 
 inheriting by birth all the privileges of 
 
 primogeniture. But to thy shame and 
 my own grief, this favored distinction 
 thou hast forfeited. Thine ungoverned 
 passions have hurried thee down, Ida 
 a rushing torrent, from the height o 
 thine hereditary honors, and now notb 
 ing awaits thee but comparative degra 
 dation among thy brethren. Thinl 
 not to excel ; for from the time of thy 
 foul invasion of the sanctity of a fa- 
 ther's bed all thy fair prospects of pre- 
 eminence vanished into air, hke the 
 dew and the vapors of the morning.' 
 
 5. Simeon and Levi are brethren. 
 Reuben was not the only great offend- 
 er in Jacob's family ; his two next sons 
 were guilty of a crime still worse, if 
 possible, than Reuben's. If it did not 
 wound their father in a part so tender, it 
 gave him not less pain, and exposed 
 him to greater mischief If a merciful 
 providence had not wonderfully pre- 
 served him he and all his family must 
 have been destroyed, in consequence of 
 the revenge of the enraged Canaanites. 
 ' Simeon and Levi are brethren ;' i. e. 
 not only by nature, but by character, 
 and disposition ; possessed of a con- 
 genial spirit. jNIoses and Aaron were 
 brethren, but m a very different sense. 
 They were brethren not only in the flesh, 
 but in the Lord, and in the noblest vir- 
 tues. Simeon and Levi were brethren 
 in wickedness. This was evinced 
 by their being associated in the ne- 
 farious murder of the Shechemites ; 
 and it is the uniform tradition of the 
 Jews that Simeon and Levi were the 
 principal movers of the wicked con- 
 spiracy against Joseph. From their 
 
e. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 393 
 
 standing next to Reuben in the order of 
 ■seniority these tv/o would have been 
 the fairest candidates to have had the 
 ■entire honors lost by Reuben conferred 
 upon thern, but in consequence of their 
 malconduct they are wholly passed by, 
 and Judah and Joseph sheeted as the 
 objects of the honorary distinction. 
 For this reason ihey are the only ones 
 of the number besides Reuben who are 
 addressed in the second person ; all 
 the rest being spoken of in the third. 
 Seldom hare tv,'o children of the wick- 
 ■ed one perpetrated actions more horri- 
 ble than did these tv/o sons of Jacob ; 
 and their relation to Jacob was a very 
 ^eat aggravation of their wickedness. 
 They were trained up in the knowledge 
 •of God; they were circumcised in the 
 flesh of their foreskin .; yet they were 
 brothers in fraud and violence, in 
 treachery and murder. Let all associ- 
 ates in sin consider the detestation 
 which Jacob, and which the Spirit of 
 God, expresses against confederacies 
 in evil. Let them take no comfort 
 from the thought that each of them is 
 no worse than his companions- What 
 will it avail one in the world of woe to 
 know that he has associates in tor- 
 ment? ^ Instruments cf cruelty 
 
 are in their habitations. Heb. ^i^D 
 CrT^rii;:^ Ccn beU kamas mtktro- 
 thehem, rendered in the margin, ' their 
 swords are v/eapons of violence;' the 
 reason of which is that the Heb. n^-!^ 
 mekarah has apparently so close an 
 aflBnity with the Gr. jxa-)(^aifa machara, 
 £Word, that the translators supposed 
 the latter to have been derived from the 
 former, and therefore afforded a clue 
 to the proper rendering. But in no 
 other instance has it the remotest rela- 
 tion to such a sense, nor is there any 
 thing in fact besides the outward form 
 of the words which could lead to the 
 supposition of a kindred import be- 
 tween them. Neither is there author- 
 'ty for rendering it 'habitation,' as is 
 
 done in the Eng. version. The weight 
 of evidence in respect to the origin of 
 the word is in favor of its derivation 
 from "CJa makar, to sell, a term which 
 easily yields the sense of bartering, 
 bargaining, compact. Thus the Gr. 
 translates it, 'They finished the ini- 
 quity of their chosen counsel' Sam. 
 * They consummated the wickedness of 
 their conventions;' (i. e, compacts.) 
 Jer. Targ. ' Their counsel.' The cor- 
 rect rendering of the sentence probably 
 is, 'Instruments of violence are their 
 bargainings, or covenants ;'' i. e. they 
 abuse their compacts to the injury of 
 others in such a manner as to render 
 them the means or instruments of the 
 most outrageous violence. In this case 
 the allusion we conceive is both to then- 
 treacherous compact with the She- 
 chemites, and to the cruel covenant by 
 which Joseph was sold to the Midian- 
 ites. Gen. 37. 27, ' Come let us sell him. 
 (1j'"-'^3 nimkerenu) to the Midian- 
 ites.' As Reuben was not present at 
 this transaction, we may suppose that 
 Simeon and Levi acted the principal 
 part in the plot, though first suggested 
 by Judah, Gen. 37. 23—29. 
 
 6. O my soul, come not thou into 
 their secret. Heb. fci^ri bi^ DTDS 
 besodam al tabo^ into their secret thou 
 shalt not come. That is, into their se- 
 cret assembly, their conclave, their 
 place of private deliberation. Thus, 
 Ps. 64. 2, ' Hide me from the secret 
 counsel of the wicked ;' Heb. 'From 
 the secret of the wicked.' Ps. 89. 7, 
 ' God is greatly to be feared in the as- 
 sembly of the saints;' Heb. 'In the 
 secret of the saints.' Jer. 15. 17, 'I sat 
 not in the assembly of the mockers ;' 
 Heb. 'In the secret of the mockers.' 
 Gr. 'Into their counsel let not my soul 
 come.' Chal. 'My soul was not in 
 their secret.' Targ. Jon. 'In their 
 : counsel my soul had not complacen- 
 j cy.' Arab. ' Into their conspiracy my 
 I soul did not enter.' The Sam., Syr., 
 
392 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689, 
 
 and Jerus. Targ. also render it in the 
 past. The future form of expression 
 in the original undoubtedly warrants 
 our established mode of rendering, and 
 yet it is a natural enquiry why the -past 
 tense is not employed ; why Jacob 
 does not say ' came not in' instead of 
 ' shall not come in?' The drift of the 
 words is undoubtedly to disclaim all 
 participation in the bloody deed to 
 which he alludes. But while he would 
 tlius unequivocally disown all concert 
 and connexion with his perfidious sons 
 in that transaction, view^ed as a past 
 fact, he adopts a phraseology implying 
 that he had the same views of it now 
 as he had then. Time had not in the 
 least changed his feelings in regard to 
 it. His soul revolted with the same 
 holy abhorrence of the act now as it 
 did then. It was a conduct which he 
 could neither now nor ever regard but 
 with shuddering and indignation. It 
 was therefore equivalent to saying, 
 ' Let me never be considered as asso- 
 ciating myself with the plotters of such 
 nefarious wickedness. Let not my 
 name suffer by my paternal relation to 
 such ruthless assassins. Let it never 
 for a moment be supposed that I could 
 sanction such a fiendish confederacy 
 as theirs.' He thus felicitates himseh" 
 that he can leave the world guiltless of 
 all connivance at the horrid crimes of 
 these two sons. Parents may be 
 taught by this to beware of bringing 
 the guilt and dishonor of their chil- 
 dren's sins upon themselves by justify- 
 ing or extenuating them. Shall sin 
 cease to be sin because our children 
 nave committed it 7 Though our chil- 
 dren are dear to us, yet the law of God 
 ought to be dearer. If v/e love them 
 let us endeavor to make them sensible 
 of the evil of their conduct. When 
 parents discover a becoming detesta- 
 tion of the offences of their children, 
 they redeem at least their own credit. 
 Why should any man expose himself 
 
 to be charged with a share in that guilt 
 
 which he detests ? -TI Unto their as- 
 
 sc7nbbj, mine honor, be not thou united. 
 Heb. '^~12'D kehodi, my glory. This 
 may be of equivalent import with the 
 former expression, ' my soul;' but it is 
 mere probably used to signify ' tongue,' 
 which is sometimes called 'glory.' 
 Thus, Ps. 16. 9, ' Therefore mine heart 
 is glad, and my glory rejoiceth ;' ex- 
 plained by the Apostle, Acts 2. 26, 
 ' Therefore did mine heart rejoice, and 
 my tongue was glad.' Gr. ' And in 
 their contentions let not my inward 
 parts contend.' Chal. 'In their con- 
 gregations let not my glory be conven- 
 ed.' Syr. ' In their assembly I have 
 not fallen from my glory.' Targ. Jon. 
 ' And when they were assembled against 
 Shechem to destroy it, my soul did 
 not unite itself Simeon and Levi no 
 doubt held several secret consultations 
 between themselves, or with other per- 
 sons whom they took into a partner- 
 ship in their guilt, for they could not 
 perpetrate their daring enterprise with- 
 out the aid of many other hands than 
 their own. It is not to be questioned 
 that some, perhaps the greater part of 
 their brethren, were drawn into the 
 horrid conspiracy. These v/ere indeed 
 less guilty than the contrivers of the 
 wickedness, but they were far from be- 
 ing guiltless. Let us beware of ima- 
 gining that we are free from the blame 
 of a bad action because we were tempt- 
 ed by other men to do that which we 
 should not otherwise have done. Per- 
 haps Adam might not have eaten of 
 the forbidden fruit, if Eve had not 
 tempted him ; and Eve might have re- 
 tained her innocence, if she had not 
 been seduced by the serpent. Yet nei- 
 ther Adam nor Eve was suffered to 
 
 remain in Paradise. IT In their anger 
 
 they sleio a man. Heb. *i;j"ii^ ish, aman^ 
 or perhaps more properly the man, one 
 who was in a high sense and emphafi- 
 cally a7nan;as theHeb. Q'^J^ is/iisnot 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 393 
 
 unfrequently used to signify an honor- 
 able vian'mcomradisunction fromQTi^ 
 adam, a common or inferior mail. In 
 this sense the term is here usually under- 
 stood by commentators to have refer- 
 ence to Hamor or Shechem, slain by 
 Simeon and Levi. Others understand 
 it as a collective singular for the plural, 
 implying a great number of men slain 
 on the occasion referred to. Without 
 absolutely excluding the above sense, 
 we are rather inclined to interpret it of 
 Joseph, called emphatically a man or 
 'he man from his pre-eminent worth. 
 That the word is sometimes employed 
 in this emphafical sense is clear from 
 repeated instances of scriptural usage. 
 Thus, Jer. 5. 1, 'Run ye to and fro 
 through the streets of Jerusalem, and 
 see now, and know, and seek in the 
 broad placts thereof, if ye can find a 
 man ('::'^5*), if there be any that exe- 
 cuteth judgment, that seeketh the truth.' 
 i. e. a real man, one truly entitled to 
 the appellation. Comp. Ezek. 22. 30. 
 And thus the Psalmist in express ref- 
 erence to Joseph, Ps. 105. 17, ' He sent 
 a man (lU'^it) before them, even Jo- 
 seph, was sold for a servant.' Indeed 
 it is somewhat remarkable how fre- 
 quently in the foregoing history this 
 term is applied by way of emphasis to 
 Joseph. Thus, ch. 42. 30, ' Tfie man, 
 who is the lord of the land, spake 
 roughly to us,' &c., v. 33, 'And the 
 man, the lord of the country, said unto 
 us,' &c., ch. 43. 3, 'And Judah spake 
 unto him, saying, The man did sol- 
 emnly protest unto us,' &c., v. 7, 'And 
 they said, TTie man asked us straitly 
 of our state,' &c. This 'man' his two 
 brethren intentionally slew ; their con- 
 duct toward him was prompted by 
 murderous motives ; and they are 
 therefore charged with the deed. This 
 is more especially attributed to Snneon 
 and Levi for the reason, we believe, 
 that they were the prime instigators of 
 the bloody project v/hich as we have 
 
 before remarked, Gen. 37. 20, is the gen- 
 erally admitted tradition of the Jews. 
 
 IT In their self-will they digged 
 
 down a wall. The original term for 
 'self-will' ("jiv-i ratzon) signifies rather 
 pleasure, delight, a strong comylacency 
 in or propensity toward an object, and 
 is designed we think to express rather 
 the willingness and desire whijch would 
 have prompted such an action, than 
 the obstinacy with which they actually 
 accomplished it. This will appear 
 more clearly in the sequel. The mar- 
 ginal reading, it will be observed, is, 
 ' In their self-will they houghed oxen.' 
 Understood in reference to the affair of 
 the Shechcmites, this of course will be 
 interpreted of the carnage and desola- 
 tion which marked that fearful scene. 
 They not only murdered the inhab- 
 itants, but with savage fury butchered 
 or disabled the cattle. The Heb. 
 phrase is "iiD Tlp2> ikkeru shor, where 
 "iia shor, ox is written with precisely 
 the same letters as ^"m shur, wall, all 
 the difference being in the vowel-points. 
 As the word here is shor, ox, and not 
 shur, wall, it ought doubtless so to be 
 rendered, as indeed it is by several oi 
 the ancient versions. Thus the Gr. 
 'In their lusting they cut the ham- 
 strings of the bull.' Sam. 'In their 
 pleasure they houghed the ox.' As the 
 whole structure of this address of Ja- 
 cob to his sons is poetical we are in- 
 clined to consider the 'ox' as a sym- 
 bolical term for Joseph. In this inter- 
 pretation we are countenanced by the 
 language of Moses in the parallel ben- 
 ediction, Deut. 33. 17. Speaking ot 
 Joseph ; ' His glory is hke the firstling 
 of his bullock; and his horns are like 
 the horns of unicorns.' Thus also the 
 Jerus. Targ. 'In their wilfulness they 
 sold Joseph their brother, who is liken- 
 ed to an ox.' In the elevated and fig- 
 urative style of prophecy, for reasons 
 soon to be given, Joseph might be 
 styled an 'ox,' and his brethren may 
 
394 
 
 GENESiS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 7 Cursed he their anger, for it 
 was fierce : and their v\^rath, for 
 
 be said to have done what in them lay 
 to ' hough the ox,' when they sold him 
 into Egypt, and thus endeavored to 
 frustrate the fulfilment of his dreams. 
 This was their ' self-will,' i. e. their 
 zoilliiigness, their desire, that which 
 they would have been pleased to do. In 
 accordance with this interpretation, it 
 has been maintained by several learned 
 commentators that the Egyptian god 
 Apis or Serapis, who was worshipped 
 under the form of an 'ox,' was no 
 other than Joseph, the son of Jacob, 
 whose eminent services to that nation 
 led them at length to preserve and 
 honor his memory by enrolling him 
 among their deities. That the 'ox' 
 would be a suitable hieroglyphic for 
 such a benefactor will be evident if we 
 bear in mind the fact of his interpreta- 
 tion of Pharaoh's dreams of the fat 
 and lean kine, and consider the ser- 
 viceableness of this animal in plough- 
 ing the field for the production of corn, 
 and in treading it out preparatory to 
 its being ground and converted into 
 bread. All these circumstances would 
 render the 'ox' a very apt emblem of 
 one who like Joseph had sustained the 
 office of provider of food. And we 
 see not why the spirit of prophecy, 
 which deals in the most figurative 
 terms, might not have given this sym- 
 bolical denomination to Joseph in allu- 
 sion to this very fact. It is also wor- 
 thy of notice that the Egyptian Apis 
 was anciently represented bearing a 
 bushel on his head, indicating, in all 
 probabihty, the circumstance of Jo- 
 seph's having distributed the corn by 
 measure to the necessities of the peo- 
 ple. Finally, as a confirmation of this 
 view of the subject, it may be observed 
 that 'bulls,' in Scripture, are interpret- 
 
 it was cruel: pI will divide them 
 in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. 
 
 p Josli. 19. I. & 21. 5, 6, 7. 1 Ghron. 4. 24, 39. 
 
 cd in several instances by some of the 
 ablest critics as a figurative expression 
 for nobles, potentates, great men. Thus, 
 Ps. 22. 12, 'Many bulls have compass- 
 ed me; strong bulls of Bashan have 
 beset me round.' Ps. 68. 30, ' Rebuke 
 the company of spearmen and the 
 multitude of bidls, with the calves of 
 the people ;' i. e. leaders and followers. 
 7. Cursed be their anger, for it uas 
 fierce ; and their xcrathfor it was cruel. 
 That is, detestable be their anger and 
 wrath. Let it be an abhorrence to all 
 flesh. There is a kind of anger which 
 deserves not to be cursed, but to be 
 blessed. Such was the anger of Moses 
 when he came down from the mount, 
 and seeing the idolatries of the camp 
 of Israel, broke the tables of the law 
 which he held in his hands. Such was 
 the anger of Phineas when he pierced 
 the bodies of Zimri and Cozbi with his 
 javehn, in his zeal for the Lord. But 
 the anger of Simeon and Levi was 
 entitled neither to commendation nor 
 apology. On the contrary, what re- 
 bukes and execrations were merited by 
 their fierce rage which involved them 
 in the guilt of such an atrocious mas- 
 sacre ! Had they gone down to the 
 pit, would they have deserved more 
 pity than Dathan and Abiram ? Yet 
 they were spared, and had reason to 
 be thankful that their father, as the 
 organ of the Spirit, cursed only their 
 anger, and not their persons. He en- 
 tertained no hatred against them, he 
 laved their souls, and therefore declared 
 their anger to be execrable, that they 
 might think of it with remorse, and 
 implore that mercy which could alone 
 free them from the guilt they had in- 
 curred. The severe reprehensions tha 
 humble us are far better than the ap- 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 8 If ^ Judah,thou art he whom 
 thy brethren shall praise ; >" thine 
 
 q ch. 29. 35. Deut. 33. 7. r Ps. 13, 4a 
 
 plause that foments our pride and 
 self-complacency. Sharp rebuke is 
 necessary for those who have greatly 
 
 offended. IT 1 will divide thein in 
 
 Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. That 
 is, I predict or announce that they 
 shall be divided. Thus Ezek. 43. 2, 
 * When I came to destroy ihe city,' i. e. 
 to foretel its destruction. See Note on 
 Gen. 19. 13. The words are properly 
 the words of God spoken by the mouth 
 of Jacob. He assigned the posterity 
 of Simeon and Levi their dwelling in 
 Israel, but to testify his abhorrence of 
 their iniquity, their descendants were 
 to be divided or scattered through the 
 land. The other tribes were to have 
 their inheritance in a chosen tract suf- 
 ficient to contain their whole number, 
 that they might live commodiously to- 
 gether, and be ready to give mutual as- 
 sistance to their brethren when it 
 should be necessary. But the tribes 
 of Simeon and Levi were to be dis- 
 persed into different parts of the coun- 
 try, and their friends and brethren 
 might live at such a distance as to be 
 unable to unite for their general ben- 
 efit. The tribe of Simeon, as we 
 learn from Josh, 19, v/as in great meas- 
 ure merged in that of Judah ; • And 
 their inheritance was within the inher- 
 itance of the children of Judah ;' while 
 that of Levi had their cities assigned 
 them in the midst of the other tribes, 
 all over the land of Canaan, Josh. 21. 
 2, 3, &c. The dispersion of Levi, how- 
 ever, in consequence of their commend- 
 able zeal on a particular occasion, Ex. 
 32. 26—29, was converted to a blessing 
 by their having had the honor of the 
 priesthood conferred upon them, in 
 consequence of which they became 
 
 hand shall be in the neck of thine 
 enemies; » thy father's children 
 shall bow down before thee. 
 
 s ch. 27. 29. 1 Chron. 5. 2. 
 
 teachers of the law, in the schools and 
 synagogues of Israel. Deut. 33. 10, 
 'They shall teach Jacob thy judg- 
 ments and Israel thy law; they shall 
 put incense before thee, and whole 
 burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.' The 
 Jerus. Targ. thus paraphrases the pas- 
 sage ; ' I will therefore divide the tribe 
 of Simeon, that they may become 
 scribes and teachers of the lav/ in the 
 synagogues of Jacob, but the tribe of 
 Levi will I distribute that they may 
 preside in the assemblies among the 
 sons of Israel.' 
 
 8. Judah, ihoii art he whom thy 
 brethren shall praise.' Heb. rmn"^ 
 "^^nii y\^^^ nrst yehudah attak 
 yoduka aheka. Of all the sons of Ja- 
 cob who now received a blessing only 
 Judah and Joseph are expressed in the 
 second person ; the rest are all spoken 
 of in the third. This is because the 
 principal prerogatives were to redound 
 to them. The phraseology of the 
 original is so constructed as to involve 
 a paranomasia, or what would be term- 
 ed in English a play upon words, in 
 respect to the name of Judah, which 
 signifies praise or confession. It is as 
 if he had said, ' Judah, praised is thy 
 name, and praised shalt thou be.' A 
 more exact rendering is, ' Thou art he 
 whom thy brethren shall confess;' i. e. 
 shall acknowledge as superior; shall 
 recognise and honor as possessing the 
 regal part of the birthright. Jerus. 
 Targ. 'Judah, to theo shall all thy 
 brethren confess, and by thy name 
 shall all the Jews (Judeans) be called.' 
 From him too the land of Canaan was 
 called JudcEa. A far more unportant 
 reason, however, for the 'praise' or 
 ' confeesion' which is here prophetically 
 
396 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 9 Judah is * a lion's whelp ; 
 from the prey, my son, thou art 
 
 t Hos. 5. 4. Rev. 5. 5. 
 
 gone up : "'he stooped down, he 
 couched as a lion, and as an old 
 lion : who shall rouse him up? 
 
 V Numb. 23. 24. & 24. 9. 
 
 secured to Judah was, that not only 
 the royal house of David descended 
 from him, but that he was the progeni- 
 tor according to the flesh of the Mes- 
 siah, whose kingdom is everlasting. 
 Heb. 7. 14, ' For it is evident that our 
 Lord sprung out of Judah, of which 
 tribe Moses spake nothing concerning 
 
 priesthood.' TT Thine hand shall be 
 
 in the neck of thine enemies. The in- 
 trepid and successful bravery of the 
 men of Judah was often the subject of 
 admiration. As soon as the tribes of 
 Israel sent forth separate armies against 
 the Canaanites, the tribe of Judah 
 gained a high distinction which was 
 well maintained in succeeding genera- 
 tions. The fiercest giants about the re- 
 gion of Hebron could not stand before 
 Caleb and his brave associates. David 
 was of the tribe of Judah. By him 
 was the kingdom of Israel raised to a 
 pitch of power and glory which made 
 his name great in distant lands. Put- 
 ting the hand in the neck is obviously 
 a figurative expression, importing con- 
 quest, or forcing the enemy to turn 
 from their victors and quit the field. 
 It is a very significant metaphor. The 
 idea conveyed by it is that of a person 
 turning to flee, and his pursuer putting 
 his hand upon the back of his neck or 
 his shoulders to arrest his flight and 
 secure him ; thus at once showing his 
 own superiority and the weakness of 
 his enemy. The enemies of Judah 
 were more especially overthrown and 
 brought into complete subjection under 
 David, who, evidently referring to this 
 prophecy, says Ps, 18. 40, 'Thou hast 
 also given me the neck of mine enemies, 
 that I might destroy them that hate 
 me*' ^ Tliy father's children shall 
 
 horo down before thee. That is, they 
 shall acknowledge thee as exalted to 
 the highest dignity among them, and 
 entertain towards thee the most pro- 
 found reverence. This was the su- 
 premacy which for the present pertain- 
 ed to Joseph, but eventually the per- 
 manent pre-eminence was to redound 
 to Judah ; and this prediction began to 
 be accomplished when he took prece- 
 dency of the other tribes in leading the 
 armies of Israel, after the death of 
 Joshua, Judg. 1. 1. It was also still 
 more fully confirmed at a subsequent 
 period, 1 Chron. 5. 2, ' For Judah pre- 
 vailed above his brethren, and of him 
 came the chief ruler.' But its complete 
 accomplishment was to be realised only 
 in Christ, m that transcendant dignity 
 with which he is invested as King of 
 kings and Lord of lords. Its ultimate 
 spiritual fulfilment is to be seen sym- 
 bolically represented in Rev. 5. 5 — 8, 
 where, when the Lion of the tribe of 
 Judah takes the sealed book, the whole 
 host of heavenly worshippers are dis- 
 covered in prostrate adorations at his 
 feet. 
 
 9. Judah i» a lion's whelp, &c. As 
 the lion is the king of beasts, so this 
 animal forms a very suitable emblem 
 by which to represent the king among 
 the tribes; and it is to this passage that 
 we are to trace the denomination, 
 ' Lion of the tribe of Judah,' so em- 
 phatically applied to Christ, The Heb. 
 has several distinct words to designate 
 the different species, or rather the dif- 
 ferent ages and degrees of strength and 
 fierceness of the lion, three of which 
 occur in this verse, denoting the diifer- 
 ent grades in the principality of Judah, 
 Ho is first compared to the I'l:} gur, 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 397 
 
 the little lion or the lion's whelp, imply- 
 ing that his predicted dominion should, 
 m its commencement, be small, being 
 exercised by petty rulers, such as the 
 judges Othniel, Ibzan, and others, who 
 succeeded Joshua ; a state of the ad- 
 ministration of Israel that continued 
 with occasional changes to the time of 
 David and Solomon, when their ene- 
 mies were all subdued, and the people, 
 enriched by their spoils, were dwelling 
 in quiet and enjoying unexampled pros- 
 perity in the land of their fathers. This 
 triumphant and peaceful state is shad- 
 owed out by the r!"'''.>5 aryeh, the full 
 grown lion, in the vigor of his strength, 
 more strictly applicable to David, and 
 of the i5"iD^ labi, the old lioness, an 
 emblem of Solomon, couchant in her 
 den after being satiated with prey, and 
 giving herself to that repose which no 
 one could disturb without awakening 
 her most tremendous rage. In allu- 
 sion to this the prophet in addressing 
 Jerusalem says, Is. 29. 1, 'Wo to Ariel, 
 to Ariel, the city where David dwelt.' 
 'Ariel' signifies 'lion of God,' and this 
 figurative appellation is bestowed upon 
 that city from its being the residence of 
 David, the place ' where the lion, even 
 the old lion, walked, and the lion's 
 whelp, and none made them afraid ; 
 where the lion did tear in pieces enough 
 for his whelps, and strangled for his 
 lionesses, and filled his holes with 
 prey, and his dens with ravin,' Nah. 2. 
 10, II. In this metaphorical picture, 
 the infancy, youth, and maturity of the 
 tribe of Judah are characterised with 
 precision and perspicuity, under figura- 
 tive representations, in a most remark- 
 able manner. From the first it should 
 be powerful ; but this initial, rather 
 than positive power, should only afford 
 promise of what it would be; like a lion's 
 whelp, that only gives indications of 
 those formidable qualities with which 
 it shall eventually be endowed. It 
 should afterward become a community 
 34 
 
 composed of brave and enterprising 
 members, the terror of its enemies; 
 like a full-grown lion, which all other 
 animals hold in fear on account of ita 
 known might and indomitable spirit. 
 And finally as a lioness accompanied 
 by her yoimg becomes to the last de- 
 gree fierce and intractable, it should be 
 dreaded by all the surrounding nations. 
 Hence it is supposed by Hales and 
 others that a lion was the standard of 
 
 Judah. IT From the prey, my son, 
 
 thou art gone up. In allusion, says 
 Bochart, to lions which having secured 
 their prey in the plains, return satiated 
 to their lairs in the mountains. Through- 
 out the whole of the present chapter 
 the patriarch utters himself under the 
 strong impulse of the spirit of proph- 
 ecy, but the blessing of Judah seems 
 conceived in a higher strain than any 
 of the others, probably from the fact 
 of the Messiah's being its grand bur- 
 den. The interpreter therefore finds it 
 difficult to confine the application of 
 these prophetic symbols merely to the 
 temporal achievements and victories 
 of the tribe of Judah in the persons of 
 its heroes and kings. The theme 
 swells under his contemplation, and he 
 is insensibly led by the language now 
 cited to trace the spiritual career of 
 ' David's greater son,' while he warred 
 successfully with the powers of dark- 
 ness during his ministry on earth, des- 
 poiling his most potent adversaries, 
 and dividing the spoil with the mighty, 
 till, rising from the dead, he at length 
 ' went up' in a triumphant ascension 
 from the field where his victories had 
 been won, like the lion returning to his 
 lair gorged with prey, and sat down at 
 his father's right hand, in a rest which 
 no enemy can presume to invade but 
 at his utmost peril. Accordingly it 
 will be remarked that Christ is not 
 called the 'Lion of the tribe of Judah,' 
 until after his ascension to heaven. 
 This passage is thus paraphrased in 
 
3^8 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1GS9 
 
 10 ^ The sceptre shall not de- 
 part from Judah, nor y a lawgiver 
 ^ from between his feet, s- until 
 
 X Numb. 24. 17. Jcr. 30. 21. Zcch. 10. 
 11. y Ps. 60. 7. & 108. 8. or, Numb. 21. IS. 
 z Dcut. 28. 57. a Isai. 11. 1. & 62. 11. Ezek. 
 21. 27. Dan. 9. 25. Matt. 21. 9. Lu-ke 1. 
 o2, 33. 
 
 the Chal. of Onkelos; ' He shall have 
 dominion in the beginning, and in the 
 end the kingdom of the house of Judah 
 shall be magnified : for from the judg- 
 ment of death thou hast rid thy soul, 
 O my son : (referring perhaps to the 
 resurrection of Christ:) he shall rest 
 and dwell in strength as a lion, and as 
 a courageous lioness, and there shall 
 be no kingdom that shall stir him.' 
 Compare the prediction of Balaam, 
 Num. 23. 24, ' Behold the people shall 
 rise up as a great lion, and hft himself 
 up as a young lion : he shall not lie 
 down till he eat of the prey and drink 
 the blood of the slain.' 
 
 10. The sceptre shaU not depart from 
 Judah, &c. Heb. t:n'J ~ilO"i ^i '^o?/a- 
 surshehet. Gr. *A prince shall not fail 
 from Judah, nor a captain out of his 
 loins, until the things come that are 
 laid up for him.' Chal. 'One having 
 principahty shall not be taken from the 
 house of Judah, nor a scribe from his 
 children's children, until the Messiah 
 come, whose the kingdom is.' Jerus. 
 Targ, 'Kings shall not fail from the 
 house of Judah, nor skilful doctors of 
 the law from their children's children, 
 till the time when the king Messiah 
 shall come.' Syr. 'The sceptre shall 
 not fail from Judah, nor an expounder 
 from between his feet.' Sam. ' The 
 sceptre shall not be taken away from 
 Judah, nor a leader from his banners, 
 until the Pacific shall come.' Arab. 
 'The rod shall not pass away from Ju- 
 dah, nor a lawgiver from under his 
 rule, until he shall come whose he is.' 
 The Heb. word for sceptre £23^3 sheb&i 
 
 Shiloh come: ^' and unto him 
 shall the gathering of the pec 
 pie be. 
 
 b Tsai. 2. 2. & 11. 10. &42. 1, 4. & 49. 6, 7, 
 22, 23. & 55. 4, 5. & 60. 1, .3, 4, 5. Hag. 2. 7 
 Luke 2. 30, 31, 32. 
 
 is used with such latitude, by the sacred 
 writers, as to render its import here 
 somewhat doubtful ; though it will be 
 perceived that the ancient versions, as 
 now cited, are very unanimous in affix- 
 ing to it the sense of authority, juris- 
 diction, rule. It signifies primarily a 
 rod or staj: Thus Ex. 21. 20 ; ' If a 
 man smite his servant or his maid with 
 a rod (tJ-C).' Prov. 23. 13, 'If ihoii 
 beatest him (thy son) with the roa 
 (t^rir) he shall not die.' Is. 28. 27, 
 ' But the fitches are beaten out with a 
 staflj and the cummin with a rod^ 
 (t:-r).' In Lev. 27. 32, ' Whatsoever 
 passeth under the rod'— it is spoken of 
 the long rod, or stafi; which the herd- 
 man or shepherd carried in his hand, 
 for the purpose of keeping his flock in 
 order; and when covered with paint, 
 for marking every tenth. As some 
 kind of rod or wand was anciently 
 borne by magistrates as a badge of au- 
 thority, the word, at length, by a usual 
 figure of speech, came to be employed 
 as indicative of official poicer or author- 
 ity. Thus Amos 1. 5, 'I will cut off 
 him that holdeth the sceptre (r^^r) 
 from the house of Eden ;' i. e. him that 
 exercises jurisdiction; v. 8, 'and him 
 that holdeth the sceptre from Ashke. 
 Ion.' Ps. 45. 6, ' The sceptre i'oy^) 
 of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.' 
 Hence, by a natural transition, it was 
 applied to the officers themselves, who 
 were distinguished by this mark of dis- 
 tinction. Thus, 1 Chron. 17. 6, ' Spake 
 I word to any of the judges of Israel 
 saying,' &c. This is rendered in the 
 parallel passage, 2 Sam. 7. 7, 'Spake I 
 
B. C. 16S9.J 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 399 
 
 a word with any of the tribes of Israel 
 OitiTU"! 'it22';U shibte Yisrael) saying,' 
 &c. Tills leads us to notice a third 
 import of the term, more usual per- 
 haps than any other, viz. that of 
 'tribe,' usually rendered in the Gr. 
 (TKT}i:Tpov sceptre, or (pv\n tribe. Thus 
 Num. 18. 2, 'Thy brethren also of the 
 tribe nr^^D matieh of Levi, of the tribe 
 {t:2r) of tiiy father.' Exod. 24. 4, 
 'And (Moses) builded an altar under 
 the hill, and twelve pillars, according 
 to the twelve tribes {'^.'^:zz:) of Israel.' 
 Judg. 20. 12, ' And the tribes (vj::-:;) 
 of Israel sent men through all the 
 tribe (t2*r) of Benjamin.' The 
 grounds of this application of the term 
 are perhaps to be traced to the circum- 
 stance mentioned. Num. 17. 2, 3, &c., 
 • Speak unto the children of Israel, 
 and take of every one of them a rod, 
 according to the house of their fathers, 
 of all their princes according to the 
 house of their fathers twelve rods : 
 write thon every man's name upon his 
 rod.' These rods, corresponding in 
 number with the number of the tribes, 
 were laid up by Moses in the taberna- 
 cle, when it was discovered in the 
 morning that Aaron's rod had budded. 
 From this incident, it is not unlikely 
 that the 'tribes' were called from the 
 Heb. word for 'rods.' And this we 
 consider as, on the whole, the leading, 
 though not the exclusive sense of the 
 term in the passage before us, which 
 we take to be equivalent to tribeship, 
 implying that the tribe of Judah, as a 
 tribe, should continue, and continue in 
 the exercise of its wonted iribiial an- 
 ihoritij till the coming of the Messiah, 
 however the other ten tribes might be 
 scattered by conquest or captivity. In 
 this sense every tribe had a sceptre, 
 and this promise to Judah that his 
 sceptre should not depart, amounts to 
 a declaration that the sceptres of the 
 other tribes should depart. All the 
 other tribes were to have a sceptre as .' 
 
 well as Judah, but Judah's sceptre 
 should continue longer with him than 
 his brothers' sceptres should with them. 
 Accordingly we learn from history 
 that Judah never lost his tribe, the 
 greatest care having been exercised to 
 preserve distinct this tribe and its fami- 
 lies. Thus, in the days of Saul the 
 men of Judah were numbered apart, 
 1 Sam, 11. 8 ; the same also was the 
 case in the time of David, 2 Sam. 
 24. 9. Prophets also were employed 
 to record the genealogies of this tribe 
 under the kings, 2 Chron. 12. 15, and 
 13. 22, and the same care appears to 
 have been exercised during the captivi- 
 ty in Babylon, for while there was dif- 
 ficulty in making out the genealogies 
 of some of the other tribes there was 
 none in regard to this, Ez. 2. 62 ; Neh. 
 7. 64. And while in fact a large por- 
 tion of the other ten tribes never re- 
 turned at all to the land of their fathers, 
 Judah, with Benjamin its accessory, 
 returned with its integrity unbroken, 
 and so remained till the birth of Christ, 
 the whole nation as well as the land 
 itself receiving its denomination from 
 Judah, the one being called ' Jews,' the 
 other ' Judasa.' Thus it was that the 
 sceptre, or the tribual constitution, did 
 not depart from Judah before the pre- 
 dicted era. It is abundantly evident, 
 however, that both the sceptre and 
 what is called the lawgiver are long 
 since lost in Judah ; that the tribe of 
 Judah has lost the record of its geneal- 
 ogies ; and that none can discriminate 
 the true descendants of the patriarch 
 Judah from the descendants of Benja- 
 min or of the other patriarchs. Either 
 then this word of promise to Judah 
 has failed forevermore, or Shiloh is 
 come, and it is vain to look for another 
 
 Messiah. II Nor a lawgiver from 
 
 betwecnhisfect. Heb. '[^pTMZ mehokeky 
 a writer of statutes ; i. e. a scribe, an 
 expounder or interpreter of the law, 
 such as were the scribes under the 
 
400 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 New Testament; not a legislator in 
 the strict sense of the word, for the 
 power of making laws for the people 
 of Israel was never delegated by 
 the Most High to any man or num- 
 ber of men ; this he always reserved 
 in his own hands. It is a great error 
 to suppose that the tribe of Judah was 
 ever invested with a legislative author- 
 ity over the other tribes, or in fact over 
 itself. It governed itself by laws al- 
 ready enacted. 'Lawgiver' is here a 
 collective term for the teachers of the 
 law, a body of men which we learn 
 continued in Israel as long as the na- 
 tional polity of that people subsisted. 
 This office was performed by the 
 priests and Levites, from whom were 
 the lawyers and scribes so often men- 
 tioned in the Evangelists, and it is 
 worthy of note that they are particu- 
 larly mentioned as adhering to tiie 
 house of Judah and being associated 
 with it. Thus, 2 Chron.' 11. 13, 14, 
 •And the priests and the Levites that 
 were in all Israel resorted to him out 
 of all their coasts. For the Levites 
 left their suburbs and their possessions, 
 and came to Judah and Jerusalem.' 
 The kings of Judah moreover took 
 especial care that the priests and Le- 
 vites should be distributed as instruc- 
 ters of the people throughout the seve- 
 ral cities of the kingdom. 2 Chron. 
 17. 9, 'And they taught in Judah, and 
 had the book of the law of the Lord 
 with them, and went throughout all 
 the cities of Judah, and taught the peo- 
 ple.' This order of men continued du- 
 ring the period of the captivity, Ez. 2. 
 36, 40; Neh. 8. 9, and ch. 12, and 
 down to the date of the Saviour's 
 manifestation, as is evident from al- 
 most every page of the Gospels. The 
 original term is rendered by the Gr. 
 'president;' by the Chal. 'scribe;' by 
 the Jerus. Targ. 'skilful doctors of the 
 law;' by the Targ. Jon. 'teaching 
 scribes.' IT Prom between his feet. 
 
 This has sometimes been interpreted as 
 a paraphrastic phrase for 'being born 
 of;' or as synonymous with 'out of 
 the loins,' ' out of the thighs.' See 
 Deut. 28. 57. But as the law-teachers 
 here spoken of sprung not from the 
 tribe of Judah, but from that of 
 Levi, this explication does not appear 
 tenable. We therefore understand the 
 phrase as importing merely that this 
 class of men should occupy a station 
 subordinate to that of the personified 
 authority of the tribe. The allusion is 
 perhaps to the fact of princes, judges, 
 and other dignitaries having a scribe or 
 secretary sitting at their feet, or in a 
 place below the level which they occu- 
 py themselves. To be ' at the feet' of 
 a person, is a scriptural expression for 
 being subservient to him, or obsequious 
 to his will. Thus, E.x. 11. 8, 'Get thee 
 out, and all the people that follow thee;'' 
 Heb. ' that are at thy feet.'' This Aben 
 Ezra interprets as meaning ' which are 
 in thy power, or at thy disposal. Deut. 
 11. 6, 'And all the substance that was 
 in their possession;' Heb. 'at their 
 feet ;' Ab. Ez. ' which obeyed them.' 
 Judg. 8. 5, ' Give, I pray you, loaves of 
 bread unto the people that folloic me ;' 
 Heb. 'that are at my feet.' The fol- 
 lowing passage may be adduced, as at 
 once an illustration and a fulfilment of 
 the meaning of the phrase ; 2 Chron. 
 34. 30, 'And the king went up into the 
 house of the Lord, and all the men of 
 Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusa- 
 lem, and the priests and the Levites, 
 great and small : and he read (i. e. 
 caused the priests and the Levites to 
 read) in their ears all the words of the 
 book of the covenant that was found 
 in the house of the Lord.' Here the 
 'lawgiver' may be conceived as sitting 
 'at the feet' of the supreme authority, 
 and acting in his appropriate capacity 
 
 of public teacher. H Until the Shi- 
 
 loh come. As this is admitted by all 
 believers in revelation as a clear pre- 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 401 
 
 diction of the Messiah, by which word ! 
 it is in fact rendered by the chief of the 
 ancient Targumists, we shall waive 
 the recital of the various opinions re- 
 specting the origin and literal import of 
 the title ' Shiloh,' and give that only 
 which appears to rest on the best au- 
 thority. This is, that it is derived 
 from nbtU shalah, to be quiet, easy, se- 
 cure, and in Hiph. to make quiet, to 
 pacify ; in which case ' Shiloh' signi- 
 fies the Tranquillizer, the Pacificator, 
 the Giver of -peace, a title pre-eminently 
 apphcable to Him by whom the proc- 
 lamation of ' peace on earth and good 
 will to men' is made, and the end of 
 whose mission into the world was that 
 he might restore 'peace' between the 
 offended Majesty of heaven and a race 
 of creatures who had incurred the 
 
 guilt of rebels. ^ Unto him shall the 
 
 gathering of the nations be. Heb. 
 ^.np'i yikkehath, obedience, adherence^ 
 or obsequiousness. Gr. 'And he shall 
 be the expectation of the nations, or 
 the Gentiles.' Chal. 'And him shall 
 the people obey.' Syr. ' And him shall 
 peoples wait for.' Sam. and Arab. 
 ' And to him shall the people be con- 
 gregated.' This prediciion is alluded 
 to by Isaiah 11. 10, whose words are 
 thus quoted by Paul, Rom. 15. 12, 
 'And again, Esaias saiih, There shall 
 be a root of Jesse and he that shall 
 rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him 
 shall the Gentiles trust.' We now see 
 the excellency of the blessing given to 
 Judah, He was to be the father of the 
 Shiloh; and till the Shiloh came, this 
 tribe was to be the most glorious of all 
 the tribes of Israel. The great burden 
 of Judah' s blessing was the promise of 
 the Messiah. It was expected that he 
 would bring wiih him the richest bles- 
 sings to men, and in particular to his 
 own people. It was the joy of the 
 ancient patriarchs that the Shiloh was 
 to proceed from them. It was their 
 joy that a large part of their natural 
 34- 
 
 seed should be blessed in him ; but it 
 was the completion of their joy that to 
 him the gathering or the obedience of 
 the nations should be. Abraham and 
 his seed were the heirs of the world, 
 and they were then put in possession 
 of their inheritance, when the Gentiles 
 were made to rejoice with his people in 
 the supremacy of the same Lord, 
 whose dominion was to extend from 
 sea to sea, and from the river to the 
 ends of the earth. Do w^e think Judah 
 a happy man when he heard his 
 father's prophetical blessing'? Do we 
 think the tribe of Judah happy because 
 they were heirs of the blessing? But 
 are not we also happy, when the bles- 
 sing of Jacob and Abraham comes 
 upon us through Jesus Christ? Have 
 we yielded the obedience of faith to the 
 great Redeemer? He came unto his 
 own, and his own received him not ; 
 but to as many as receive him, 
 whether Jews or Gentiles, he gives 
 power to become the sons of God. 
 The whole blessing of Judah had a fa- 
 vorable aspect toward us, when it was 
 predicted that this tribe should be pre- 
 served and blessed with distinguishing 
 honors till the Shiloh came. The 
 Lord had in view not only the honor 
 and advantage of his highly favored 
 people of Israel, and of the tribe of Ju- 
 dah in particular, but the salvation of 
 the Gentiles, who were to be gathered 
 in to Shiloh. For our sakes Israel and 
 Judah enjoyed the divine protection till 
 Christ came that we might be saved by 
 hiis obedience to the death. The whole 
 train of providential administration in 
 the world, and especially towards the 
 chosen people was directed towards 
 the redemption and salvation of men aa 
 its object. What despisiers then are 
 we of our own mercies if we refuse to 
 join the concourse that is flocking to 
 the standard of the Shiloh ? 
 
 11. Binding Ids foal unto the vinCj 
 &c. It has been generally supposed 
 
402 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 11 'Binding his foal unto the 
 vine, and his ass's colt unto the 
 
 c 2 Kings 13. 32. 
 
 that the spirit of inspiration here makes 
 sudden transition from the spiritual 
 to the temporal prerogatives of Judah, 
 and that ihis part of the prophecy is to 
 be interpreted of the exceeding fertil- 
 ity of his inheritance in the land of 
 Canaan, particularly in the production 
 of the vine. So luxuriant should be 
 the growth of vines in his allotment, 
 that it should not be unusual for men 
 to bind their young asses to them as 
 they do in other countries to any kind 
 of barren timber, nor would they heed 
 their eating their tender shoots and 
 leaves, any more than if they were 
 grass. And not only so ; wine was 
 to be produced in such rich abundance, 
 that the people might 'wash their 
 garments in wine and their clothes in 
 the blood ei grapes,' as if it had been 
 so much water. Of course the lan- 
 guage is to be understood as a hyper- 
 bolical expression for the most teeming 
 fecundity of soil. In support of this 
 exposition, reference is had to the mam- 
 moth cluster of grapes which grew at 
 Eschol, in the tract assigned to Ju- 
 dah, which was carried back 'on a 
 EtafT between two' as a specimen of 
 the growth of the country. Num. 13. 
 23. We do not feel prepared absolute- 
 ly to reject this interpretation, and yet 
 we cannot refrain from suggesting, (1) 
 That it has somewhat the air of an un- 
 natural transition to pass so abruptly 
 from the lofty spiritual theme of the 
 Slessiah in the preceding verse to so 
 petty a subject as the natural qualities 
 of the soil which Judah was to inherit 
 in Canaan. It would seem that such 
 a descent could not be made without 
 doing violence to the spirit of prophecy. 
 (2) A more formidable objection arises 
 from the fact that the orammafica! 
 
 choice vine; he washed his gar- 
 ments in wine, and his clothes in 
 the blood of grapes : 
 
 structure of the passage requires that 
 the participle 'binding' should be refer- 
 red to the nearest antecedent substan- 
 tive, which is not 'Judah,' but 'Shiloh.' 
 Let this be understood as the true con- 
 struction and the whole flows natural- 
 ly as a continuous description of the 
 attributes of the main subject of the 
 oracle. Viewing Christ then as the 
 grand burden of the prediction, is it the 
 excess of spiritualizing interpretation 
 if, with Calovius, we regard this high- 
 wrought language as implying that he 
 should 'bind,' by the cords of faith, 
 hope, and charity, to the ' vine' of the 
 Jewish church, that ' vine which was 
 brought out of Egypt,' the people of 
 the Gentiles, here shadowed forth un- 
 der the image of an ass's colt, who had 
 hitherto never been brought into sub- 
 jection to the divine law, even as the 
 young ass upon which our Lord rode 
 into Jerusalem, and to which some have 
 thought, not improbably, that here was 
 a prophetic allusion, had never before 
 been subjected to a rider 7 By some of 
 the Jewish writers it is taken as an in- 
 timation of the lowliness of the Mes- 
 siah's advent. Thus, in the treatise 
 entitled ' Bereshith Rabba,' speaking of 
 this passage it is said, 'It showeth us 
 that when Christ shall come to save 
 Israel, he shall make ready his ass, and 
 ride upon him, and come unto Israel 
 with poverty.' We give the above in- 
 terpretation, not as actually adopting _ 
 it, but as one that harmonises some- 
 what happily with the general highly 
 sublimated and mystical strain of the 
 patriarchal predictions in the rest of 
 the chapter. IF He washed his gar- 
 ments in icine, &c. If the preceding 
 clause be explained in the sense sug- 
 j;V!5ted, this v/e are naturally required 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 40: 
 
 12 His ^ eyes shall be red with 
 wine, and his teeth while with 
 
 milk. 
 
 d Prov. 23. 29. 
 
 to refer to the glorious career of the 
 Savior's victories, so that the tv^'O 
 members of the verse present, con- 
 trasted in strong relief, his state of hu- 
 miliation with that of his subsequent 
 exaltation, when he had successfully 
 avenged himself of his adversaries. 
 His garments therefore are in fact 
 washed in blood of a deeper stain than 
 that of the grape, as we maj' learn 
 from the passages by which this is to 
 be illustrated. Is. 63. 1—3, 'Who is 
 this that Cometh from Edom with 
 dyed garments from Bozrah? this that 
 is glorious in his apparel, travelling -in 
 the greatness of his strength? I that 
 speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 
 Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, 
 and thy garments like him that trcad- 
 eth in the wine-fat? I have trodden 
 the wine-press alone, and of the peo- 
 ple there was none with rne : for I will 
 tread them in mine anger, and trample 
 them in my fury; and their blood shall 
 be sprinkled upon my garments, and 1 
 will stain all my raiment.' See to the 
 same effect Rev. 14. 20, and 19. 13. 
 Jerus. Targ. 'How beautiful is the 
 King Christ that shall spring up of the 
 house of Judah. He shall gird his 
 loins, and shall go forth to war against 
 his enemies. He shall kill kings and 
 princes, making the rivers red with the 
 blood of their slain, and the hills white 
 with the fat of their mighty men: his 
 garments shall be imbrued in blood, 
 and he like to one pressing clusters of 
 grapes.' 
 
 12. His eyes shall be red with wine, 
 &c. Or, Heb. 'His eyes shall be red- 
 der than wine, and his teeth whiter 
 than milk.' This is the rendering of 
 
 13 T[ f Zebulun shall dwell at 
 the haven of the sea; and he shall 
 be for an haven of ships ; and 
 his border shall be unto Zidon. 
 
 e Deut. 33. 18, 19. Josh. 19. 10, 11. 
 
 the Gr., Arab., Syr., Sam., and Vulg. 
 But if taken according to the common 
 version, the more obvious sense un- 
 doubtedly is, as hinted above, that the 
 descendants of Judah should inherit 
 so fruitful a country as to enable them 
 to drink wine and milk in such quanti- 
 ties, that their eyes should assume the 
 sparkling ruby tint of the one, and 
 their teeth the immaculate whiteness 
 of the other. But would it have been 
 a blessing to Judah to have his eyes in 
 the literal sense of the expression 'red 
 with wine?' Very far from it; but it 
 was a blessing to him to have a land 
 so rich, that he might drink wine in as 
 great abundance as the laws of tem- 
 perance would admit. When it is said 
 that he should wash his garments in 
 wine, it certainly is not meant that he 
 would actually make use of wine in- 
 stead of water to wash his clothes. 
 This would have been a grievous abuse 
 of a product of divine bounty which 
 might have been turned to a better ac- 
 count. But would it not have been a 
 still more grievous abuse of it to make 
 a means of destroying our own under- 
 standings, and deforming the native 
 expression of our faces 7 — for the word 
 here used to denote ' redness' is used 
 in Prov. 23. 29, (and no where else in 
 the Scriptures,) as a description of the 
 detestable effects of drunkenness. The 
 language of Jacob, therefore, is doubt- 
 less to be understood merely as hyper- 
 bolical or oratorical. 
 
 13. Zebulun khall dicell at the haven 
 of the sea, &c. Heb. D"^^^ C]inb 
 "^5!:;^ lehoph yammim yishkon, shall 
 dwell in tents, or shall tabernacle at the 
 shore of the sea, Jacob does not pro- 
 
404 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 nounce the blessings upon his sons in 
 the order of their birth, as in that case 
 Zebulun would hold the tenth place 
 instead of the fifth, which belonged to 
 Issachar; but he classes the sons of 
 Leah together, and then passes to 
 those of the concubines. Moses, Deut. 
 33. 18, and Joshua, Josh. 19. 10—17, 
 observe the same order in regard to 
 these two brethren. Another reason 
 perhaps of Zebulun's being named be- 
 fore Issachar is tiie fact that the dis- 
 trict of this tribe lay north of that of 
 Issachar. As Zebulun received his 
 name from the 'habitation' or 'cohab- 
 itation' of which he was the cause in 
 respect to his parents, so here the bles- 
 sing begins with an allusion to his 
 •dwelling.' The word rendered 'ha- 
 ven' occurs elsewhere five times, in 
 each of which instances it is rendered 
 either 'sea-shore,' or 'sea-coast,' and 
 properly implies 'a maritime region' 
 rather than a 'haven,' or 'port.' This 
 is to be inferred also from the use of 
 the term ^ptl"^ yislikon, he shall taber- 
 nacle, as dwelling in tents is not a 
 mode of habitation adapted to a sea- 
 port, but to the interior of a country ; 
 although it is unquestionable that a 
 portion of the tribe occupied the havens 
 upon the coast, and addicted them- 
 selves to sea-faring pursuits. This 
 prophetic designation, uttered two hun- 
 dred and fifty years before the event 
 took place, corresponds with remark- 
 able exactness with the geographical 
 character of the lot of Zebulun in Ca- 
 naan. It extended from the vicinity of 
 the Mediterranean sea on the west to 
 the lake of Genesaret on the east, and 
 lay therefore very commodioualy for 
 the purposes of trade and navigation. 
 Gr. ' Zebulun shall be a maritime dwel- 
 ler.' Moses, accordingly, in the par- 
 allel blessing, Deut 33. 18, adopts a 
 kindred language; 'And of Zebulun he 
 said, Rejoice Zebulun in thy going out ;' 
 . e. in thy voyages, in thy trading ex- 
 
 peditions. Nothing but the inspiration 
 of the speaker can account for this 
 clear and accurate designation of the 
 country which Zebulun was to occupy 
 in Canaan. Jacob says concerning 
 the inheritance of this tribe what would 
 not have been true had it been said of 
 any other of the inheritances of the 
 twelve tribes, except Asher, and yet 
 was strictly true concerning them, that 
 they should dwell at the haven of the 
 sea, and enjoy the advantages of com- 
 modious harbors in the neighborhood 
 of the ancient city of Zidon. How 
 could Moses too, when he committed 
 this prophecy to writing, have known 
 that it would be verified 1 In no other 
 way but by his faith in the word of 
 God. There could be no artifice used 
 to effect an agreement between the lots 
 used in the division of the land, and 
 the prophecies of Jacob or Moses. 
 But the whole disposing of the lot is of 
 the Lord. ^ His border shall be un- 
 to Zidon. Heb. y^^-S, "bV in^Dl'i 
 yarkatho al 1''zidon, his side shall be 
 towards or over against, Zidon. It 
 did not extend to it. From the ac- 
 count of the inheritances of the tribes, 
 Josh. 19, it appears that Asher bordered 
 on great Zidon, and that the tribe of 
 Zebulun was separated by Asher from 
 that noted city; yet we have no reason 
 to doubt that the blessing of Zebulun 
 was more distinctive of that tribe than 
 it could have been of that of Asher, 
 which probably did not avail itself so 
 much of its maritime situation or of 
 the neighborhood of Zidon. Those 
 who lived in the days of the judges 
 and kings of Israel, knew better than 
 we do, how exactly the ancient predic- 
 tions concerning the natural seed of 
 Abraham were accomplished. But we 
 know enough of their accomplishment, 
 to fill us with wonder and praise ; and 
 to banish all doubts concerning the 
 divine original of the word of proph- 
 ecy. It may here be remarked that 
 
B. C. 16S9.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 405 
 
 14 If Issachar is a strong ass, 
 couching down between two bur- 
 dens : 
 
 15 And he saw that rest was 
 ffood, and the land that it was 
 
 Zebulun bordered not only on the great 
 sea, which we call the Mediterranean, 
 but on another sea frequently spoken 
 of in the gospel, the sea of Tiberias, 
 where our Lord found several of the 
 men whom he called to the glorious 
 office of apostleship. It is probable 
 that some of the apostles were sons of 
 Zebulun. 
 
 14. Issachar is a strong' ass, &c. 
 Heb. D13 ^J2T^ ham or garem, strong- 
 boned ass, or lit. a?? ass of bone. Issa- 
 char being principally engaged in hus- 
 bandry, is fitly compared to a strong 
 ass, a patient drudging animal, capable 
 of enduring the severest labor without 
 suffering any diminution of strength or 
 hardihood ; as Judah had been com- 
 pared to a lion, to denote the courage 
 and resolution of that tribe. Asses 
 were not so contemptible animals in 
 the eyes of the Jews as thpy are 
 amongst us. We are not therefore to 
 suppose that Issachar was vilified by 
 this comparison, any more than Dan 
 was by being called a serpent, or Ben- 
 jamin by being likened to a wolf. The 
 peculiar habits of the ass are familiar 
 to all ; the drift therefore of the com- 
 parison can be mistaken by none. 
 The qualities of this animal are pa- 
 tience, gentleness, great capability of 
 endurance, laborious exertion, and a 
 meek submission to authority. Issa- 
 char therefore the progenitor of a race 
 singularly docile, and distinguished for 
 their patient industry, is exhibited un- 
 der the similitude of the meekest and 
 
 most laborious of quadrupeds. 
 
 IT Couching doxcn between two burdens. 
 Heb. C^nBrr^on '^^n f zn robetz bain 
 ham.tnishpctayim. The original word 
 
 pleasant; and bowed ^his shoul- 
 der to bear, and became a servant 
 unto tribute. 
 
 f 1 Sam. 10. 9 
 
 nC'iJ^ rendered burdens is probably 
 to be referred to the root ns'ii: to stick 
 up, to be prominent ; hence the sub- 
 stantive n5'ir?2 niay signify any kind 
 of prominence. The two panniers of 
 the laden ass form prominences, stick- 
 ing up on each side above the back of 
 the animal when lying down, which is 
 the posture here described. This ex- 
 pression, as applied to a region of coun- 
 try, would naturally be supposed to 
 imply two very marked and conspicu- 
 ous Hmits. as for instance two ranges 
 of mountains inclosing a valley, and 
 by a very remarkable coincidence the 
 tribe of Issachar received for its lot, in 
 the distribution of the land, the fertile 
 and delightful vale of Esdraelon, lying 
 between ranges of hills, in the peaceful 
 and industrious occupancy of which 
 they might very justly be likened to an 
 ass reposing between his protuberant 
 panniers. ' Here, on this plain,' says Dr. 
 Clarke, ' the most fertile part of all the 
 land of Canaan, which, though a soli- 
 tude, we found like one vast meadow 
 covered with the richest pasture, the 
 tribe of Issachar 'rejoiced in their 
 tents.' ' As the blessings of several 
 of the other sons have respect to the 
 geog.raphical features of their destined 
 inheritance, it is natural to Idbk for 
 something of the same kind in that of 
 Issachar, and viewed in this light the 
 words yield a clear and striking sense, 
 the appropriateness of which to the 
 matter of fact is obvious to every eye. 
 Chjl. ' Issachar rich in substance, and 
 his possession shall be between iho 
 bounds.' Syr. 'Issachar a gigantic 
 man, lying down between the paths.' 
 Targ. .Ton. ' He shall lie down between 
 
40b 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 16 II g Dan shall judge his peo- 
 ple, as one of the tribes of Israel. 
 
 17 i^Dan shall be a serpent by 
 
 g Deut, 33. 22. Judg. 18. 1, 2. h .Tiidg. 13. 27. 
 
 the limits of his brethren.' Jerus. 
 Targ. ' And his boundary shall be situ- 
 ated between two limits.' 
 
 15. And he saw that rest teas good, 
 &c. That is, he saw that his place of 
 rest was good; that a singularly eligi- 
 ble tract had fallen to his lot. It is by 
 no means clear that Jacob intended a 
 censure on the posterity of Issachar, 
 though many commentators under- 
 stand it to the disparagement of this 
 tribe, as if they were to be addicted to 
 ignominious ease. The Gr. renders 
 the passage, ' Having seen the rest 
 that it was excellent, and the land that 
 it was fat, he subjected his shoulder to 
 labor, and became an husbandman.' 
 Surrounded by the other tribes, and 
 seeing his portion of the good land that 
 it was very fertile, he devoted himself 
 to the labors of husbandry. Accord- 
 ingly Josephus says of Issachar's in- 
 heritance, ' It is fniitful to admiration, 
 abounding in pastures and nurseries 
 of all kinds, so that it would make 
 
 any man in love with husbandry.' 
 
 IT Became a servant unto tribute. Heb. 
 ^i2V 0^3^ ^n"^ yehi lemas obed, became 
 to the drudgery of a servant ; i. e. sub- 
 mitted to the drudgery of a servant ; a 
 farther illustration of his habits of as- 
 siduous toil. It does not imply the 
 payment of tribute-money, but the 
 yielding up of the body to hard service. 
 The leading idea undoubtedly is that 
 the tribe of Issachar was to be distin- 
 guished, not for commercial pursuits or 
 warlike prowess, but for patient de- 
 votedness to the culture of the soil.. 
 Some indeed have supposed that" the 
 patriarch meant to insinuate that they 
 should be willing to purchase exemp- 
 
 the way, an adder in the path, 
 that biteth the horse-heels, so 
 that his rider shall fall back- 
 ward. 
 
 tion from war by a heavy tribute ; but 
 the words do not necessarily imply it, 
 nor does it appear that they ever de- 
 chned the mihtary services to which 
 they were called. They are commend- 
 ed by Deborah for the prompt pres- 
 entation of themselves in the war with 
 Jabin, Judg. 5. 15, and in the days.of 
 David an honorable testimonial is given 
 to their character, 1 Chron. 12. 32. 
 
 16. Dan shall judge his people. Heb. 
 •^"iT*! y^ Dan yadin, the judger shall 
 judge ; an instance of the paranomasia, 
 or play upon verbal affinities. The pre- 
 diction points to a leading characteristic 
 in the tribe of Dan, to wit, that of 'judg- 
 ing,' or acdng the part of a deliverer, in 
 the person of some eminent individual, 
 a descendant of this tribe. This, it can- 
 not be doubted, was fulfilled mainly in 
 Samson, the most illustrious son of the 
 tribe of Dan, who Judg. 15. 20, ^judged 
 Israel twenty years.' Chal. 'In the 
 tribe of Dan there shall be chosen 
 and raised up a man, and in his 
 
 days his people shall be delivered.' 
 
 ^ As one of the tribes of Israel. 
 This clause affords grammatically a 
 choice of interpretations; either that 
 Dan should judge his people as one of 
 the other tribes should judge them, al- 
 luding perhaps tacitly to Judah, who 
 was usually to hold the pre-eminence; 
 or, that he should, at some time or 
 other, judge the whole people of Israel 
 as though they constituted but one 
 tribe. The latter, we apprehend to be 
 the true sense, as it is expressly affirm- 
 ed that Samson 'judged Israel'— not 
 the tribe of Dan — ' twenty years.' 
 Thus the Targ. Jon. 'And it shall 
 come to pass that from the house of 
 
B.C. 1689. j 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 407 
 
 18 ' I have waited for thy sal- 
 vation, O Lord ! 
 
 i Ps. 25. 6. & 119. 166, 174. Isai. 25. 9. 
 
 Dan a man shall arise who shall judge 
 his people with the judgments of truth ; 
 and at the same time all the tribes of 
 Israel shall obey him.' Most of the 
 other ancient versions, however, put 
 the former construction upon the 
 words. 
 
 17. Dan shall be a serpent by (he 
 teat/, &c. The obvious import of this 
 is, that although Dan in the person of 
 his future representative should be re- 
 nowned as a warrior, yet he should 
 not accompUsh his victories so much 
 by open bravery and the direct force of 
 arms as by subtilty and stratagem, 
 surprising the enemy by unexpected 
 assaults, as a serpent concealed by the 
 way-side suddenly darts upon the un- 
 wary traveller. We have only to con- 
 sult the history of Samson's warfare 
 with the Philistines to see how striking- 
 ly this predicted character was then 
 realized. The original word for adder 
 (']5"'i:'J shephiphon) Bochart shows 
 satisfactorily to signify the Cerastes, or 
 arrow snake, (serpens jaculus,) a ser- 
 pent of the viper kind, which, lurking 
 in the sand and wheel-tracks in the 
 road, unexpectedly bites not only the 
 traveller but the beast on which he 
 rides ; thus described by an ancient 
 poet : 
 
 ' Straight on onward spires he glides. 
 
 And bites the horse's leg, or cattle's sides.' 
 — IT That biteth the horse's heels ; i. e. 
 that overthroweth the house-pillars ; 
 a singularly beautiful and striking sym- 
 bol of the transaction recorded Judges 
 16. 27—30, ' Now the house was full of 
 men and women ; and all the lords of 
 the Philistines were there ; and there 
 were upon the roof about three thou- 
 sand men and women. And Samson 
 
 19 1[ k Gad, a troop shall over- 
 come him : but he shall overcome 
 at the last. 
 
 kDeut. 33. 20. 1 Chron. 5. 18. 
 
 took hold of the two middle pillars 
 upon which the house stood. 
 And he bowed himself with all his 
 might; and the house fell upon the 
 lords, and upon all the people that 
 were therein. So that the dead which 
 he slew at his death were more than 
 they which he slew in his life.' Chal. 
 'There shall be a man v.'ho shall be 
 chosen and rise from the house of Dan, 
 whose fear shall come upon the peo- 
 ple, and he shall valiantly smite the 
 Philistines, as a serpent, as an adder 
 he shall lie in wait by the path, he 
 shall slay the mighty men in the camp 
 of the Philistines, horsemen and foot- 
 men, and shall weaken their horses 
 and chariots, and cast down their 
 riders backward ;' Jerus, Targ. 'And 
 he shall be like a serpent who lies in 
 the path, and like a basilisk who 
 watches in the division of the roads, 
 and he shall smite the horse in his 
 heel, so that his rider shall think to 
 turn backward ; this shall be Samson 
 the son of Manoah, whose fear shall be 
 upon his enemies, and his dread upon 
 his haters, for he shall slay kings with 
 princes.' 
 
 18. I have waited for thy salvation, O 
 Lord. What are we to understand by 
 this salvation 7 Or why does Jacob 
 express his longings after God's salva- 
 tion at this time, when he had blessed 
 only a part of his sons, and was about 
 to bless the rest of them 1 It seems 
 to be an exclamation prompted by the 
 spirit of prophecy from a foresight of 
 the sudden and untimely death of 
 Samson, and the consequent evils and 
 disasters which would thence ensue, 
 (see Josh. 19. 47; Judg. 1. 34, with 
 Judg. 18. 30, and 1 Kings 12. 29,) not- 
 
408 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 withstanding which Jacob is inwardly 
 constrained on this occasion to declare 
 his firm belief and his earnest expecta- 
 tion of that eternal deUverance which 
 was to be wrought by the Messiah. 
 Accordingly the Chal. paraphrases the 
 passage thus; *I expect thy salvation, 
 
 Lord, said our father Jacob. I look 
 not for the salvation of Gideon, be- 
 cause it is a temporal salvation, nor for 
 the salvation of Samson, the son of 
 Manoali, because it is transitory; but 
 
 1 look, for the redemption of Christ, the 
 son of David, who is to come to call 
 to himself the children, whose salva- 
 tion my soul desireth.' This sudden 
 ejaculation, abruptly introduced as it 
 is, serves no doubt to point out to us 
 the predominant state of Jacob's mind. 
 It shows that his heart was set on the 
 promised salvation. It had been the 
 object of his most delightful contem- 
 plations, and his most ardent desires 
 through the course of his life. It was 
 all his desire, and all his joy in his 
 last hours. His thoughts turned to it 
 as the thoughts of a miser are ever 
 turning to his treasure. We have in- 
 deed to wait for this salvation, but not 
 in the same sense as did the pious pro- 
 genitor of Israel. The Savior for 
 whom the ancient patriarchs waited 
 and longed, has long since come into 
 our world and obtained eternal redemp- 
 tion for us. Still, however, we must 
 wait for the son of God from heaven, 
 who is our deliverer from the wrath 
 to come. Whilst we hve, and when 
 we die, let us wait for him, and our 
 hope will not be in vain. 'It is a good 
 thing that a man should both hope and 
 quietly wait for the salvation of God.' 
 
 19. Gad, a troop shall overcome him. 
 Heb. i;-n3^ m"l3 "73 Gad gedud 
 yegudenUi the troop, a troop shall-xcith- 
 iroop-overcome him ; a possible allu- 
 sion to the name given to Gad at his 
 birth. Gen. 30. 11. The drift of the 
 oracle is to preintimate the fact, abun- 
 
 dantly verified by the history, that this 
 tribe should be annoyed, wasted, and 
 sometimes brought into subjection by 
 the predatory bands of Ammonites, 
 Philistines, Hagarenes, and other hos- 
 tile powers boidering upon their ter- 
 ritories. Judg. 10. 8, ' And thai year 
 they (the Philistines and Ammonites) 
 vexed and oppressed the children of 
 Israel eighteen years, all the children 
 that were on the other side of Jordan 
 in the land of the Amorites, which is 
 in Gilead.' Jer. 49. 1, ' Concerning the 
 Ammonites, thus saith the Lord; Hath 
 Israel no sons 7 hath he no heir? why 
 then doth their king inherit Gad, and 
 his people dwell in their cities T Sam. 
 ' Gad, a troop shall waste him, and he 
 shall waste at last.' Arab. ' Gad shall 
 break the rear of whatsoever army shall 
 
 be gathered against him.' IT But he 
 
 shall overcome at the last. These 
 words do not mean that the Gadites 
 were to be exempted from the general 
 calamity when God should cast Israel 
 out of his sight, but that they were to 
 be often delivered from their enemies, 
 and blessed with victory in the conclu- 
 sion of wars in which at the beginning 
 they were beaten by their enemies. 
 The following passage from the subse- 
 quent history illustrates in part the 
 prediction. 1 Chron. 5. 18—22, 'The 
 sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and 
 
 half the tribe of Manasseh 
 
 made war with the Hagarites, with 
 Jetur, and Nephesh, and Nodab. And 
 they were helped against them, and 
 the Hagarites were delivered into their 
 hand, and all that were with them ; for 
 they cried to God in the battle, and he 
 was entreated of them ; because they 
 
 put their trust in him For 
 
 there fell down many slain because the 
 war was of God.' That this tribe were 
 of a warlike character is evinced by 
 the language of the historian, 1 Chron. 
 12. 8, 'And of the Gadites there sepa- 
 rated themselves unto David into the 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX, 
 
 409 
 
 20 IT 1 Out of Asher his bread 
 shall be fat, and he shall yield 
 royal dainties. 
 
 1 Deut. 33. 24. Josh. 19. 24. 
 
 hold to the wilderness men of might 
 and men of war fit for the battle, that 
 could handle shield and buckler, whose 
 faces were like the faces of lions, and 
 were as swift as roes upon the moun- 
 tains.' This throws light upon the 
 parallel benediction of Mose-s, Deut. 
 '33.20, 'Blessed is he that enlargeth 
 Gad ; he dwelieth as a lion, and teareth 
 the arm with the crown of the head.' 
 
 20. Out of Asher his bread shall be 
 fat. It might have been said of Asher, 
 as well as cf Zebulun, that he should 
 dwell at the haven of the sea, and his 
 border should reach to Zidon, Josh. 19. 
 28, 29. But it is probable that he did 
 not avail himself of his maritime posi- 
 tion so much as Zebulun; The extra- 
 ordinary fertility of his soil might ren- 
 der him less heedful of the advantages 
 of his situation for trade. The name 
 'Asher' has the import of 'felicity, 
 blisSj prosperity' in reference to which 
 the Jerus, Targ. and that of Jon. ren- 
 der it : 'O happy Asher, how fat is thy 
 land ! and his land shall supply the 
 delicacies of the kings of the sons of 
 Israel !' The obvious import of the 
 language is, that Asher's inheritance 
 should be such as to evince that the 
 name given him was well founded. 
 For he should not only enjoy the rich 
 products of a fertile land, teeming with 
 every thing that could contribute not 
 only to the sustenance, but to the com- 
 fort of hfe, but should be able also, 
 from his ample stores, to supply those 
 luxurious articles which are sought to 
 grace the tables of kings. The Heb. 
 word for fut (r;;>2'L' shemanak) is 
 closely related to "^fz":^ shemen, oil, and 
 therefore, in the corresponding bles- 
 sing uttered by Moses, Deut 33. 24, it 
 8 said, 'He shall dip his foot in <?i7.' 
 
 21 H "^ Naphtali is an hind let 
 loose : he giveth goodly words. 
 
 m Deut. 33. 23. 
 
 * Bread,' as before remarked, is used 
 for all kinds of food, and ' fat' for the 
 best or most excellent of any thing. 
 The silence of the Scriptures else- 
 where in relation to the region occu- 
 pied by Asher, prevents us from con- 
 firming this prediction in detail, as we 
 have been enabled to do most of the 
 others. We therefore merely give the 
 Chal. paraphrase of this verse: 'The 
 land of Asher shall be the best, and he 
 shall be nourished with the dainties of 
 kings.' Consequently he would be 
 able to afford such dainties to kings. 
 
 21. Naphtali is a hind let loose. A 
 
 * hind' is the mate or female of the 
 stag; an animal of an elegant shape, 
 and noted for the nimbleness with 
 which it leaps among the mountain 
 rocks, and the swiftness of its course 
 on the level plain ; in allusion to which 
 the Psalmist says, Ps. 18. 33, 'The 
 Lord maketh my feet like hind's feet, 
 and causeth me to stand 'upon the 
 high places.' Its timid and shrinking 
 nature renders it an unapt emblem of 
 warlike qualities ; and except in one 
 eminent instance it does not appear 
 that the tribe of Naphtali, of which it 
 is here the representative, was ever 
 distinguished by any heroic achieve- 
 ments; and even on that occasion, 
 Judg, 4. 6—16, Barak, who is princi- 
 pally aimed at in the prediction, be- 
 trayed at first the timorousness of the 
 deer, and needed the masculine prompt- 
 ings of Deborah to rouse him to ac- 
 tion. Judg. 4. 8, 'And Barak said 
 unto her, If thou wilt go with me, 
 then I w^ill go : but if thou wilt not go 
 with me, then I will not go.' When 
 once embarked in the cause, however, 
 he evinced a noble intrepidity, and the 
 alacrity with which he, with his ton 
 
41t> 
 
 GENESIS, 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 22 ^ Joseph 15 a fruitful bough, 
 even a fruitful bough by a well, 
 
 thousand men 'at his feet,' descended 
 from Mount Tabor, like a deer leaping 
 down the declivities, and met and dis- 
 comfited the hosts of Sisera, extort- 
 ed from Deborah the warmest com- 
 mendations. They were then ' a people 
 that jeoparded their lives unto the death 
 in the high places of the field.' The 
 original for ' let loose' is properly 'sent 
 forth,' implying rather the dispatching 
 of a messenger than the freeing of a 
 prisoner. The propriety of the expres- 
 sion may be seen from the following 
 incident in the history; Judg. 4. 6, 
 'And she sent and called Barak, the 
 son of Abinoam, out of Kadesh-Naph- 
 tali, and said unto him, Hath not the 
 Lord God of Israel commanded, say- 
 ing, Go and draw toward Mount Ta- 
 bor, and take with thee ten thousand 
 men of the children of Naphtali and 
 of the children of Zebulun.' This was 
 
 his mission. IT He giveth goodly 
 
 words. Heb. *1B:!3 'i'l?2H i'mre sha- 
 pher, he giveth sayings of fairness, 
 elegance, or grace. Tlie allusion we 
 suppose to be to the splendid triumph- 
 al song which was sung by Deborah 
 and Barak conjointly in celebration of 
 the victory obtained over Jabin and 
 Sisera, a poem which ranks high 
 among the finest specimens of lyrical 
 composition to be found in any lan- 
 guage. Judg. 5, ' Then sang Deborah 
 and Barak the son of Abinoam on that 
 day, saying, Praise ye the Lord for the 
 avenging of Israel,' &c. Jerus. Targ. 
 'And when he opened his mouth in 
 the congregation of Israel, his tongue 
 was sweet as honey.' The parallel 
 blessing of Moses, Deut. 33. 23, is in 
 different phraseology: 'O Naphtali, 
 satisfied with favor, and full with the 
 blessing of the Lord !' 
 22. Joseph is a fruitful boughy &c. 
 
 ichose 
 wall : 
 
 branches rua over ibe 
 
 Heb. ri"lS 11 ^^^ porath, son of a 
 fruitful {vine), or a son of fructify- 
 ing. As Jacob alludes to the names 
 of Judah, Dan, and Gad, in the bles- 
 sings which he pronounces upon them, 
 so the readers of the Heb. text will 
 perceive an allusion to the name of 
 Ephraim in the blessing pronounced 
 upon Joseph, tTiD porath and &">~iJ:s^ 
 Ephraim coming from the common 
 root n"li3 parah, to be fruitful. Chal. 
 'A growing son is Joseph, a son who 
 shall be blessed as a vine that is plant- 
 ed by a fountain of waters.' Gr. 'A 
 son increased.' A similar expression, 
 significant of fecundity, occurs Ps. 
 128. 3, ' Thy wife shall be as a fruitful 
 vine by the sides of thine house : thy 
 children like olive-plants round about 
 thy table.' In the Heb. idiom, what- 
 ever proceeds or emanates from any 
 thing, is said to belts 'son,' or 'daugh- 
 ter.' Thus, Gen. 18. 7, ' a calf is call- 
 ed 'the son of the herd;' Job 41. 28^ 
 ' arrows,' ' the sons of the bow,' or^ 
 Lam. 3. 13, ' sons of the quiver;' Job. 
 5. 7, 'sparks,' ' the sons of the burning 
 coal,' &c. So in the present case, the 
 ' son of a fruitful vine' is a ' bough' or 
 ' branch' of the vine, which discloses 
 the grounds of the rendering in the 
 Eng. version. The drift of the bles- 
 sing is to announce the prolific charac- 
 ter of the seed of Joseph, the numer- 
 ous issue that should proceed from his 
 
 two sons. IT A fruitful bough by a 
 
 well. Jerus. Targ. ' I liken Joseph, 
 my son, to a vine planted by a well of 
 waters, that sendeth out her roots to 
 the deep.' By the mention of the ' well' 
 beside which Joseph's progeny were 
 to grow up, we are reminded of the 
 famous 'well of Sychar, near to the 
 parcel of ground that Jacob gave to 
 bis son Joseph,' John 4. 5. Sychar is 
 
B. C. 1689.J 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 411 
 
 23 The archers have n sorely 
 grieved him, and shot at him, 
 and hated him : 
 
 n ch 37. 4, 24, 23. & 39. 20, & 42. 21. Ps. 
 1 18, 13. 
 
 the same as Shechem, of which Jacob 
 says, Gen. 48. 22, * Moreover I have 
 given to thee one portion above thy 
 brethren, which I took out of the hand 
 of the Amorite with my sword and 
 with my bow.' This was the place of 
 which the Evangelist says, 'Now Ja- 
 cob's icell was there ;' and to this well 
 we conceive the patriarch, or the Spirit 
 that spake in him, alludes in the words 
 before us, a uell in the midst of his in- 
 heritance.- IT Whose branches run 
 
 over the wall. Heb. t",*i;3 banoth, 
 daughters. ' The daughters (each) run- 
 neth over the wall ;' the subject plural, 
 the verb singular. By the ' daughters,' 
 here, is meant the young and tender 
 branches, as the stronger and more 
 vigorous are before called 'sons.' All 
 this falls very naturally on an eastern 
 ear. Joseph was the fruitful bough of 
 Jacob, and being planted near a well, 
 his leaf would not wither, and he 
 would bring forth his fruit in his sea- 
 son. Great delight is taken in all 
 kinds of creepers, which bear edible 
 fruits, and the natives allow them to 
 run over the walls and roofs of their 
 houses. The term ' branches' in the 
 verse is in the margin rendered 'daugh- 
 ters;' and it is an interesting fact, and 
 one which will throw light on some 
 other passages, that the same term is 
 used here to denote the same thing. 
 * That man has only one Chede, i. e. 
 branch, daughter.' ' The youngest 
 Chede (branch) has got married this 
 day.' ' Where are your branches 7' 
 'They are all married.' 'What a 
 young branch to be in this state ! — 
 how soon it has given fruit!' When 
 a mother has had a large family, ' That j 
 
 24 But his bow abode in 
 strength, and the arms of his 
 hands were made strong by the 
 
 o Job 29. 20. Ps. 37. 15. 
 
 branch has borne plenty of fruit.' A 
 husband will say to his wife, who is 
 steril, 'Of what use is a branch which 
 bears not fruit T The figure is much 
 used in ^oeixy.— Roberts. The symbol 
 of the branches overtopping the wall 
 upon which they are trained, is equiva- 
 lent to the former, denoting the vast 
 increase of the posterity of Joseph, of 
 which the following passages furnish 
 an account : Num. 1. 33, 35 ; Josh, 
 ch. 16 and 17. Moses says of them, 
 Deut. 33. 17, 'They are the ten thou- 
 sands of Ephraim, and the thousands 
 of Manasseh.' Chal. 'Two tribes 
 shall come forth of his sons, and they 
 shall receive their portion and inherit- 
 ance.' The emblem of the ' vine run- 
 ning over the wall' aptly denotes a 
 population svi'elUng beyond the com- 
 pass of the bounds which they were to 
 occupy. How strikingly this was ful- 
 filled in the case of Joseph, may be 
 seen from the ensuing narrative. Josh. 
 17. 14 18, ' And the children of Jo- 
 seph spake unto Joshua, saying. Why 
 hast thou given me but one lot and one 
 portion to inherit, seeing I am a great 
 people, forasmuch as the Lord hath 
 blessed me hitherto 7 And Joshua an- 
 swered them, If thou be a great people, 
 then get thee up to the wood country, 
 and cut down for thyself there in the 
 land of the Perizzites and of the giants, 
 if Mount Ephraim be too narrow for 
 thee. And the children of Joseph said, 
 The hill is not enough for us. » • And 
 Joshua spake unto the house of Jo- 
 seph, even to Ephraim and Manasseh, 
 saying, Thou art a great people, and 
 hast great power : thou shalt not have 
 one lot only. But the mountain shall 
 
412 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 hands of p the mighty God of Ja- 
 cob : (*» from thence ■■ is the shep- 
 herd • the stone of Israel) : 
 
 p Pg. 132. 2, 5. q ch. 45. 11. & 47. 12. A 
 
 50. 21. r Ps. 80. 1. s Isai. iiS. 16. 
 
 be thine ; for it is a wood, and thou 
 shall cut it down: and the outgoings 
 of it shall be thine.' Thus that part 
 of the birthright which consisted in 
 the ' double portion,' still accrued to 
 Joseph. 
 
 23, 24. T%e archers have sorely 
 grieved him. Heb. r:"!2n "'^^2 baale 
 hitzim, lords of arrows, or arrow-mas- 
 ters. See Note on Gen. 14. 13. Gr. 
 'Against whom they that consulted 
 gave reproaches, and the archers laid 
 wait for him.' Chal. ' And strong men, 
 men of dissension, straitened him, and 
 took revenge of him, and provoked 
 him.' The prophecy here points to 
 Joseph in person, from whose history 
 its fulfilment appears evident. He was 
 aimed and shot at, as it were, by the 
 bitter and reviling words of his breth- 
 ren, and still more deeply wounded by 
 their cruel treatment. He was sold 
 into Egypt through envy, and impris- 
 oned by a lie. His virtue was violently 
 assaulted by his mistress, his inno- 
 cence wronged by his master, and his 
 patience severely tried by the ingrati- 
 tude of a fellow- prisoner. Yet 'his 
 bow abode in strength.' The divine 
 favor forsook him not. He was pre- 
 served and relieved by the mighty God 
 of Jacob, by whom he was delivered 
 when his death was designed ; pre- 
 served chaste when tempted to sin ; 
 rendered prosperous from the depth of 
 his affliction ; and finally advanced to 
 great dignity, and made an instrument 
 of most signal good to others. Thus 
 his 'bow abode in strength,' denoting 
 an unconquered perseverance in a par- 
 ticular state or condition. Chal. ' And 
 the prophecy was fulfilled in them, for 
 
 25 t Even by the God of thy 
 father, who shall help thee, " and 
 by the Almighty, ^ who shall 
 
 t ch. 28. 13, 21. & 35. 3. & 43. 23. u ch. 
 17. 1. &35. 11. JC Deut. 33. 13. 
 
 that he observed ihe law in secret, and 
 
 set his hope constant.' ^ And the 
 
 arms of his hands were made strong. 
 The idea of strength, solidity, firmness, 
 which is afiixed by some lexicographers 
 to the original word for ' made strong,' 
 (-it&i yaphozu) is altogether seconda- 
 ry, the primitive root of the term signi- 
 fying ' fine gold.' It occurs Ps. 19. 10, 
 'More to be desired are they than gold, 
 yea ' than much fine gold, (Heb. 
 TD paz).' Ps. 21. 3, 'Thou setlest a 
 crown of pure gold (t5) on his head,' 
 Prov. 8. 19, 'My fruit is better than 
 gold, yea, than_^ne §"oW(TS).' The verb, 
 therefore, which is of the kind called 
 denominative, or formed from a noun, 
 'signifies to ' make strong' only so far 
 as it implies the rendering a substance 
 of the hardness and consistence of 
 pure gold. But it is probable that the 
 sense given of the word by some of the 
 Jewish critics is the most correct, viz., 
 'to make golden,' or ' to gild,' in allu- 
 sion to the ornaments of gold which 
 were put upon the hands of Joseph by 
 Pharaoh, Gen. 41. 42. This, though 
 done by Pharaoh, is referred to the 
 hands of the mighty God of Jacob, 
 because it was brought about by his 
 overruUng providence. Chal. 'There- 
 fore gold was put upon his arms ; 
 he strengthened and confirmed his 
 kingdom, which was given him from 
 before the most mighty One of Ja- 
 cob.' IT From thence is, &c. ; i. e. 
 
 from that time, and fi'om that cause, he 
 became, or was made the feeder or 
 sustainer of his brethren ; a stay, a 
 support, a rock of defence to his father 
 and his family. It is a thankful recog- 
 nition of Joseph's kindness to his father 
 
B. C. 1689-1 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 413 
 
 bless thee with blessings of 
 heaven above, blessings of the 
 deep ihat lieih under, blessing 
 of the breasts and of 
 womb : 
 
 26 The blessings of thy father 
 have prevailed above the bles- 
 sings of my progenitors, ^ unto 
 the ' the utmost bound of the ever- 
 y DeuL 33. 15. Hab. 3 6. 
 
 and family in keeping and feeding 
 them, even as a shepherd does his 
 sheep ; by which he became the found- 
 ation or hasis^ as it were, of the house 
 of Jacob, which he preserved from 
 perishing. Accordingly, the Apocry- 
 phal writer, in Eccles. 49. 1-5, in his 
 praises of Joseph, says, 'Neither was 
 there a man bom like unto Joseph, a 
 governor of bis brethren, and a stay of 
 the people.' In consequence of Jo- 
 seph's persevering constancy in up- 
 rightness, his ' arms,' under the provi- j 
 dence of God, were ' gilded' with the 
 insignia of office, and he was thence 
 enabled to stand to his fathers famish- j 
 ing house in the relation of a bounti- 
 ful provider, a kind pastor, and a pow- 
 erful protector. 
 
 25. Even by the God of thy father. 
 Rather, ' Even from the God of thy 
 father.' The design is to designate the 
 source from whence the accumulated 
 blessings of Joseph were to flow. 
 The patriarch would have them traced 
 up to their fountain-head in the abound- 
 ing goodness of the God of heaven and 
 
 earth. T TP ho shall bless thee uith the 
 
 blessings of heaven abate ; i. e. \v-ith 
 the rain and dew distilling from the 
 clouds of heaven and rendering thy 
 land fnaitful, called Ezek. 24. 26, 
 ' Showers of blessing.' So Deut. 33. 
 13, ' And of Joseph he said, Blessed of 
 the Lord be his land, for the precious 
 things of heaven, for the dew and for 
 the deep that coucheth beneath, and 
 for the precious fruits brought forth by 
 the sun, and for the precious things put 
 forth by the moon.' Chal. ' Blessings of 
 the dew which descendeth from heaven 
 above, and which ascend out of the 
 depths of the earth beneath." When God 
 35* 
 
 destroyed the old world, the windowgof 
 heaven were opened to pour down in- 
 cessant showers of rain for its destruc- 
 tion, and the fountains of the great 
 deep were broken up, that the waters 
 from below calling to the waters above, 
 might leave no hope of escape for 
 guilty mortals. But when blessings 
 were promised to Joseph, he was as- 
 sured that the Lord would open the 
 windows of heaven to pour down the 
 rain in its season, in his land, and that 
 it should be refreshed and fructified by 
 springs issuing from the bowels of the 
 earth, which is the import of the phrase, 
 ' the deep that Heth under.' The earth 
 shall rise up against the wicked, and the 
 heavens shall reveal their iniquity ; but 
 heaven and earth, and the waters be- 
 low the earth shall combine, under the 
 control of divine providence, to furnish 
 blessings to God's people. It may in- 
 deed be said that the blessings here 
 promised are not the best of blessings ; 
 that they were only such as God often 
 bestows on the objects of his displeas- 
 ure. But the blessings of the present 
 life are dehghtful when viewed as ex- 
 pressions of the favor of God, and the 
 promise of such blessings might be 
 very useful to the family of Joseph, as 
 a means of counteracting the tempta- 
 tions of prosperity in Egypt, especially 
 the prospects of gra-ndeur arising from 
 their connexion with the house of Pot- 
 ipherah, priest of On. They might 
 have hoped to be princes in Egypt, if 
 they had separated their interests from 
 the family of Jacob ; but they had a 
 surer prospect, even of temporal pros- 
 perity from the promise of the God of 
 
 their fathers. T Blessings of the 
 
 breast and of the icomb. That is, of a 
 
414 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 Listing hills ; 'they shall be on 
 the head of Joseph, and on the 
 
 z Deut. 33. 16. 
 
 numerous posterity, the opposite of 
 which is ' a miscarrying womb and 
 dry breasts,' spoken of by the prophet, 
 Hos. 9. 14. 
 
 26. The blessings of thy father have 
 prevailed, &c. Or, Heb. 'The bles- 
 sings of thy father are strong upon (i. e. 
 in addition to) the blessings of my 
 progenitors.' This is the more genu- 
 ine force of the preposition rendered 
 ' above.' The meaning probably is, 
 thai the blessings of Jacob when su- 
 peradded to those of his forefathers 
 formed, as it were, a blessing cumula- 
 tive that made it emphatically strong 
 and prevalent. It was not the blessing 
 of a single individual, but the united 
 blessing of Abraham, Isaac, and Ja- 
 cob, all lighting together upon the head 
 of Joseph. Thus the Chal. ' The bles- 
 sings of thy father shall be added upon 
 the blessings wherewith my fathers 
 
 blessed me.' "^ Unto the xitmost 
 
 bound of the everlasting hills. It is 
 difficult in the multiplicity of senses 
 given to these words, to determine 
 which is the true. Some take the ori- 
 ginal phrase to be equivalent to ' the ut- 
 most limit of the duration of the ever- 
 lasting hills ;' implying the perpetuity 
 of these blessings; that their continu- 
 ance should run parallel with that of 
 the earth itself. Gr. ' With the bles- 
 sings of the eternal hills.' Perhaps a 
 different rendering of the original will 
 give a siill more accurate view of the 
 meaning. The Heb. mi^n taavah ren- 
 dered utmost bound usually signifies 
 desire or desirable things. In this 
 sense it may be a continuation of the 
 blessings recited in the former verse — 
 'unto the desire (i. e. the desired pro- 
 ducts) of the everlasting hi'Is.' Moses 
 
 crown of the head of him that 
 was separate from his brethren. 
 
 himself leads us to this sense, when in 
 blessing the tribes of Israel Deut. 33. 
 15, he invokes for Joseph substantially 
 the same blessings that Jacob did. Af- 
 ter having spoken of the precious 
 things of heaven, and of the deep that 
 coucheth beneath, of the precious 
 things brought forth by the sun, and of 
 the precious things put forth by the 
 moon, he adds, ' the chief things of the 
 ancient mountains, and the precious 
 things of the lasting hills.' There 
 were many precious fruits brought forth 
 by the mountains of Palestine. When 
 Moses expresses his earnest desire that 
 a rich share of these might be granted 
 to the tribes that sprung from Joseph, 
 he seems to repeat Jacob's blessing in 
 
 a richer variety of expression. IT On 
 
 the crown of the head of him xcho was 
 separate from his brethren. Or, ' the 
 Nazarite of his brethren ;' the original 
 for 'Nazarite' being derived from ^T3 
 nazar, to separate. Joseph may be 
 said to have been ' separated' from his 
 brethren, not in consequence of the 
 Nazarite's vow, for this profession had 
 not yet been instituted, though perhaps 
 prophetically alluded to in these words, 
 but because that God by his providence 
 did separate and set him apart from 
 the rest, and advanced him to decided 
 pre-eminence over them. According- 
 ly the Gr. renders it, 'upon the head 
 of his brethren over whom he ruled.' 
 Certain it is that the word "it: nezer is 
 used for a crown put upon the heads of 
 kings and priests. Ps. F9. 39, 'Thou 
 hast profaned his crown ("it3) by cast- 
 ing it to the ground.' Ps. 132. 13, 
 ' His enemies will I clothe with shame; 
 but upon himself shall his crown ("iT]) 
 flourish.' The allusion is perhaps to 
 
8. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX, 
 
 415 
 
 27 IT Benjamin &hall ^ravin 
 €is a wolf; in the morning he 
 shall devour ihe prey, *J and at 
 night he shall divide the spoil. 
 
 a Jud^. 20. 21, 25. Ezek. 22. 25, 27. 
 b Numb. 23. 24. Esther 8. U. Ezek 39. 
 10. Zech. 14. 1, 7. 
 
 sojne liind of -crovm, tiara, -or head- 
 dress as an outward badge of Joseph's 
 lordship over the Egyptians and over 
 hjs brethren- The same phrase Deut. 
 33. 16. is rendered by the Gr. So^acOeig 
 ev a6e\(poiq glorified arnong his brethren ; 
 and the Targum of Jonathan gives an 
 equivalent sense, 'The man who was 
 prince and ruler in Egypt, and who 
 shone in the glory of his brethren;' 
 i. e. in the glory and honor which he 
 enjoyed among them, 
 
 27. JBenjamin shall ravin as a icolf. 
 That is, shall tsar his prey in pieces. 
 As Judah is likened to a lion, Issacliar 
 to a strong ass, Dan to a serpent, and 
 Naphtah to a hind let loose, so Benja- 
 jamin is here compared to a ravenous 
 •wolf, to denote the warlike character 
 of this tribe, their activity, courage, 
 and success in their conflicts with the 
 enemies of Israel. Although the im- 
 age is not on the whole disparaging, 
 for the Most High himself in allusion 
 to his judgments against his enemies is 
 compared to a leopard and a bear, 
 Hos. 13. 7, 8, yet it probably betokens 
 a degree of fierceness and rapacity, not 
 to say cruelty, which would be a stain 
 upon the memory of this tribe with 
 succeeding generations. This is evinced 
 in the history of the transaction record- 
 ed Judg. 19 and 20 ; in that of Saul, 
 who was of this tribe ; and of his de- 
 scendants, who v/ere so long opposed 
 to the accession of the house of David 
 
 to the throne. ^ In ihe morning— 
 
 and at night. That is, all the day 
 long ; denoting their pertinacious ad- 
 dictedness to wailike practices. Som£ 
 
 28 T[ All these are th« twelve 
 tribes of Israel : and this is it 
 that their father spake unto them, 
 and blessed them: everyone ac- 
 cording to his blessing he blessed 
 them. 
 
 have supposed that these expressions 
 pointed to the early and latter periods 
 of their history as a tribe, which is not 
 improbable. They should continue 
 their rapacity and violence from the 
 morning or commencement of the 
 Jewish state to the night or end. 
 
 28. All these are the twelve tribes of 
 Israel. This phraseology confirms the 
 remark made above that the blessings 
 of Jacob had respect rather to the 
 twelve tribes than to their heads and 
 founders in the person of his sons. 
 The present also is the first mention 
 which occurs in the sacred writers of 
 the twelve tribes of Israel. Henceforth 
 they are either expressly mentioned or 
 plainly referred to throughout the 
 Scriptures. The heads of these tribes 
 are now with their dying father, hear- 
 ing from his mouth such a portion of 
 the mind of God respecting the future 
 destinies of their seed, as he thought 
 fit to declare. Should the term ' bles- 
 sed' be considere'd as inappropriate in 
 reference to Reuben, Simeon, and Le- 
 vi, it is still to be remembered apart 
 from the fact that general assertions are 
 often made of a whole body which do 
 not apply to every individual, that they 
 were favored with a part in the inher- 
 itance of Jacob. Reuben was not to 
 excel, but he was to have a place and 
 a name in Israel. Simeon and Levi 
 were to be divided and scattered, but 
 still among the chosen seed where their 
 lot could and would be turned into 
 a blessing. Even the reproofs, threat- 
 enings, and chastisements which do us 
 good arc to be accounted as real bles- 
 
416 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 29 And he charged them, and 
 said unto them, I " am to he gath- 
 ered unto my people : ^ bury me 
 with my fathers ^ in the cave 
 that is in the field of Ephron the 
 Hittite, 
 
 30 In the cave that is in the 
 field of Machpelah, which is be- 
 fore Mamre, in the land of Ca- 
 
 c ch. 15. 15. & 25. 8. 
 19, 37. e ch, 50. 13. 
 
 d ch. 47, 30. 2 Sam. 
 
 sings which we ought to receive with 
 thankfulness. ^ Every one accord- 
 ing to his blessing. As Joseph's inter- 
 preting according to the dreams of his 
 fellow-prisoners implies an interpreta- 
 tion corresponding with the fulfilment 
 of the dreams, so here Jacob's bles- 
 sing his sons * according to the bles- 
 sing' of each, signifies that his words 
 were verified in the actual accomplish- 
 ments which took place in regard to 
 every one of them. It was a sublime 
 source of joy to Jacob on his death-bed, 
 that he would leave blessings to all his 
 seed. The greatest evils that Jacob 
 saw in his life were the wicked actions 
 of some of his children. Yet how 
 rich was the mercy of God to himself, 
 as well as to them, that after all that 
 most of them had done to provoke the 
 Lord to anger, he was authorised to 
 bless them ! 
 
 29. And he charged them, and said, 
 &c. Jacob had before. Gen. 47. 30, 
 given a charge to Joseph and exacted a 
 solemn promise from him to bury him 
 not in Egypt, but i« the land of Ca- 
 naan, and in the cave of Ephraim the 
 Hittite. Joseph's promise was no 
 doubt in itself sufficient to satisfy the 
 mind of his father. He knew that Jo- 
 seph was too honest to violate his en- 
 gagements, too affectionate to neglect 
 a father's dying charge, and too pow- 
 erful in Egypt to find any great diffi- 
 culty in performing what he had prom- 
 
 naaii f which Abraham bought 
 with the field of Ephron the Hit- 
 tite, for a possession of a bury- 
 ing-place. 
 
 31 (s There they buried Abra- 
 ham and Sarah his wife ; ^ there 
 they buried Isaac and Rebekah 
 his wife ; and there I buried 
 Leah.) 
 
 f ch. 23. 16. 
 35. 2a 
 
 g ch. 23. 19. & 25. 9. h ch. 
 
 ised. But the good man wished that 
 all his sons should take part in his fu- 
 neral, and that all of them should 
 know his earnest desire to be buried in" 
 
 Canaan. T" 1 am to he gathered unto 
 
 my people. Heb. t\0i!i'2 ne-esaph, J am, 
 gathered, or rather 1 am being gather- 
 ed ; the present with the import of the 
 future, a very frequent idiom in the He- 
 brew. On the import of the phrase see 
 
 Note Gen. 25. 8. IT Bury me; 
 
 i. e. entomb m.e. 
 
 30. In the cane which is in the field of 
 Machpelah. It cannot be supposed 
 that the sons of Jacob were ignorant 
 of the place where the remains of 
 Abraham were deposited. Why then 
 did Jacob recite thus minutely the situ- 
 ation of the burying-place and the cir- 
 cumstances of the purchase ? It was no 
 doubt in order to intimate that he 
 shared the faith of Abraham, who, by 
 buying it, clearly showed that he re- 
 garded the possession as a pledge that 
 his seed should one day, according to 
 promise, become the actual inheritors 
 of the land. Jacob undoubtedly loved 
 Rachel with warmer affection than his 
 fathers Abraham or Isaac. Yet it was 
 not his wish to be buried with her, but 
 with his fathers in the sepulchre which 
 they had purchased. He hoped to see 
 Rachel as well as Abraham in heaven. 
 But Abraham had testified his faith in 
 the divine promises by the purchase he 
 had made of the burying-place of Mach- 
 
B. C. 16S9.] 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 417 
 
 32 The purchase of the field 
 and of the cave that is therein, 
 was from the children of Heth. 
 
 33 And when Jacob had made 
 an end of conimandino: his sons, 
 
 pelah, and Jacob would show that he 
 was not lacking in the same pious con- 
 fidence. His command therefore to 
 his sons was a public profession that he 
 also lived and was now dying in the 
 same faith by which his venerable pro- 
 genitors had embraced the promise. 
 What was said by Paul of Joseph may 
 with equal propriety be said of Jacob, 
 that 'by faith he gave commandment 
 concerning his bones.' 
 
 32. The purchase of the field, &c. 
 The transaction between Abraham and 
 the sons of Heth was public and well- 
 known ; it was confirmed by the modes 
 used in the country for ascertaining the 
 transference of property. Jacob's sons 
 therefore had no reason to fear that they 
 would meet with any opposition from 
 the people of the land, when they car- 
 ried their father's body to the place 
 where his forefathers were buried. Both 
 Abraham and Jacob knew of course 
 that the whole land of Canaan was to 
 be theirs, but they claimed no right 
 from that promise to seize upon any 
 part of it as their exclusive property. 
 When they found it proper to secure 
 any spot of ground for themselves, 
 they bargained for it, and paid the 
 price in current money of the mer- 
 chant. The time was not yet come 
 for possessing the land by the right 
 which the divine grant gave to their 
 posterity. 
 
 33. And when Jacob had made an 
 end, dec. It would seem that Jacob's 
 decease followed very close upon his 
 utterance of these dying benedictions, 
 and it is somewhat surprising that he 
 should have been able to speak so 
 many and so excellent things, and fin- 
 
 he gathered up his feet into the 
 bed, and yielded up the ghost, 
 and i was gathered unto his 
 people. 
 
 i ver. 29. 
 
 ish them almost in the moment of his 
 death. But he was no doubt supernat- 
 urally strengthened for the occasion, 
 though it may be supposed that when 
 the unwonted vigor created by the 
 prophetic afflatus subsided, a reaction 
 took place, and nature sunk almost at 
 once under the transition. But it mat- 
 tered Uttle at v;hat particular hour this 
 solemn event befel the aged saint. 
 Death was no new subject to him ; 
 salvation not an untried theme ; the 
 grave no strange country ; heaven not 
 an unlooked-for home. He had waited 
 for the Angel of the Covenant, who 
 had redeemed him from all evil, and 
 the summons, when it came, found him 
 ready and willing to enter into the 
 eternal presence. His work was done ; 
 his last blessings and behests had 
 been pronounced; his last accents of 
 prayer and praise breathed out ; and 
 he had now nothing to do but ' to gath- 
 er up his feet into his bed,' and cheer- 
 fully to resign his spirit into the hand 
 of his Father and his God. He was 
 gathered to his people according to his 
 own expectation and his hope. He 
 had lived out fifteen years of his life 
 with Abraham. With his father Isaac 
 he had lived somewhat near a hundred, 
 and seventeen with Joseph in Egypt. 
 But henceforth we contemplate him liv- 
 ing m a happier world through endless 
 ages, with Christ which is far better. 
 Let us live by faith, as the patriarchs 
 did, and we also shall be gathered to 
 them when we die. How wretched 
 will be our lot, if we see millions with 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and our- 
 selves cast out into outer darkness! 
 But how excellent and exta tic will be 
 
418 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 AND Joseph *fell upon 
 father's face, and ^ wept i 
 him, and kissed him. 
 
 ach. 46. 4. b 2 Kings 13. 14. 
 
 his 
 
 our joys, if admitted to those blessed 
 regions, where our fellowship with 
 Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and 
 with an innumerable multitude of saints 
 and angels, will make but a small part 
 of our happiness ! 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 We have reached at length the con- 
 cluding portion of the patriarchal his- 
 tory. We have followed the progress 
 of Jacob's life through the protracted 
 period of one hundred and forty-seven 
 years, and have seen him meekly and 
 calmlybowing to the universal law which 
 remands our dust to its kindred dust. 
 We are now called to contemplate those 
 tokens of affection and veneration which 
 were evinced for his memory by his 
 surviving family and the people with 
 whom he sojourned. The death of a 
 parent is at all times an event peculiar- 
 ly affecting. The source of our ov/n 
 life appears to us thereby, as it were, 
 dried up. While our parents live, we 
 seem to have a kind of barrier betwixt 
 us and the grave ; but that being re- 
 moved the destroyer appears advan- 
 cing upon us with hastier strides. If 
 we look forward, there is nothing inter- 
 posed for our defence; if backward, 
 our very children are pressing upon 
 our heels and ready to lay their hands 
 upon our eyes. Joseph now ftlt the 
 full force of these impressions. His 
 father, his guide, his best friend on 
 earth was now no more numbered 
 among the living. No more was he 
 to behold that venerable countenance ; 
 no more to hear those words of truth 
 
 2 And Joseph commanded his 
 servants the physicians to "^em- 
 balm his father: and the physi- 
 cians embalmed Israel. 
 
 c vcr. 26. 2 Chron. 16. 14. Matt. 26. 12. 
 Mark 14. 8. & 18. 1. Luke 21. 1. John 12. 7. 
 & 19. oD. 40. 
 
 and wisdom which had so often pro- 
 ceeded from his lips. But though ha 
 could not preserve his father alive, or 
 redeem him from death, yet he will 
 spare no trouble or expense in obeying 
 his dying charge. The highest respect 
 we can pay to the dead is to fulfil their 
 desires expressed by them during their 
 lives. The sequel informs us of the 
 exemplary conduct of Joseph in this 
 particular. 
 
 1. Joseph /ell wpon his father' s face 
 and wept, &c. 'Joseph,' said God to 
 Jacob at Beersheba, ' shall put his 
 hands upon thine eyes.' This no 
 doubt Joseph had done though we are 
 not expressly informed of it; and now 
 w^hen he saw that his father was a 
 lifeless carcase, he gave way to the ex- 
 cess of his grief, embracing and kissing 
 it with passionate endearment. Hard 
 indeed must be our hearts if we do not 
 mourn when our fathers die; but let 
 us beware of enhancing our sorrows 
 on that occasion by the recollection 
 of any thing unfilial or ungrateful in 
 our deportment towards them whilst 
 alive. Let us beware of thus laying 
 up for ourselves materials of grief 
 which will not admit of comfort. Jo- 
 seph could never have forgiven himself 
 had he been conscious of embittering 
 his father's days, by despising his 
 counsels or disregarding his welfare in 
 his lifetime. We are not told what 
 Reuben or Simeon or Levi felt on the 
 present occasion. Their sensibilities 
 were not so strong as those of Joseph, 
 but their self-reflections must have 
 been bitter. Joseph's tears were at- 
 
B. C. 1689.1 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 419 
 
 3 And forty days were fulfilled 
 for him ; for so are fulfilled the 
 days of those which are embalm- 
 
 tended with secret consolation. Their 
 griefs were tinctured with the most 
 painful and tormenting recollections. 
 Yet it may be hoped that theirs was a 
 sadness of the countenance by which 
 the heart was made bitter, 
 
 2. Joseph commanded his servants 
 the physicians, &c. Heb. D'^KD'H 
 ropheim, from J^B^ to heal. Gr. evra- 
 (piaaras embalmers. The business of 
 embalming was performed by those 
 who were physicians by profession. 
 The process of embalming among the 
 ancient Egyptians is thus described by 
 Herodotus, b. ii., c. 86—8, ' The body 
 was given to the embalmers, who first 
 took out the brains and entrails and 
 washed them in palm wine impregna- 
 ted with strong astringent drugs; after 
 which they began to anoint the body 
 with the oil of cedar, myrrh, cinna- 
 mon, and cassia; and this lasted thirty 
 days. They next put it into a solution 
 of nitre (saltpetre) for forty days long- 
 er, so that they allowed seventy days 
 to complete the embalming; after 
 which they bound it up in swathes of 
 linen besmeared with gum. Being 
 then able to resist putrefaction, it was 
 delivered to the relatives, inclosed in a 
 v/ooden or paper case somewhat re- 
 sembling a coffin, and laid in the cat- 
 acomb or grave belonging to the fam- 
 ily, where it Vv'as placed in an upright 
 posture against the wall.' The Jewish 
 method was not dissimilar. When the 
 principle of life was extinguished, and 
 the eyes were closed in death, the first 
 funeral office among the Jews was the 
 ablution of the corpse in a warm infu- 
 sion of camomile flowers and dried 
 roses. See Acts 9. 37. After washing 
 the corpse ihey embalmed it, by laying 
 all around it a large quantity of costly 
 
 ed : and the Egyptians ^ mourned 
 for him three score and ten days. 
 
 d Numb. 20, 29. Dcut. 34. a 
 
 spices and aromatic drugs, in order 
 to imbibe and absorb the humors, 
 and by their inherent virtues to pre- 
 serve it as long as possible from putre- 
 faction and decay. Thus Nicodemus 
 brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, 
 about an hundred pounds weight, to 
 perform the customary office to tho 
 deceased Savior. This embalming 
 was usually repeated for several days 
 together that the drugs and spices thus 
 applied might have all their efficacy in 
 the exsiccation of the moisture and the 
 future conservation of the body. They 
 then swathed the corpse in hnen rolls 
 or bandages, closely enfolding and en- 
 wrapping it in that bed of aromatic 
 drugs in which they had surrounded it. 
 The Egyptian custom of embalming 
 the dead arose from the doctrine of 
 their religion, that after a period of three 
 thousand years' migration through the 
 bodies of various animals, the soul 
 again returned to the original body it 
 had at first occupied, and that provided 
 the body remained unmutilated, the 
 spirit entered its former habitation, and 
 both, thus reunited, were immediately 
 made happy ; but if, on the contrary, 
 the body was destroyed or defaced, the 
 soul, as well as any remnants of the 
 body which might remain, shrank at 
 once into annihilation. 
 
 3. I<^orty days were fulfilled for him. 
 That is, forty days were occupied in 
 the process of embalming the body. 
 Considerable time was necessary for 
 the drugs to operate, so as to produce 
 the designed effect upon the body, to 
 preserve it from corruption. The sev- 
 enty-five days mourning of the Egyp- 
 tians, mentioned in the ensuing clause 
 of the verse, is to be understood as in- 
 cluding the forty days of embalming. 
 
420 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. G. 1689. 
 
 4 And when the days of his 
 mourning were past, Joseph spake 
 unto * the house of Pharaoh say- 
 ing, If now I have found grace in 
 your eyes, speak, I pray you, in 
 the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 
 
 5 ' My father made me swear 
 
 e Esther 4. 2 f ch. 47. 29. 
 
 The whole i3 spoken of together as a 
 mourning period. This long mourning 
 for the death of Jacob was a great 
 honor done to the venerable patriarch, 
 chiefly for the sake of his son. All the 
 Egyptians saw how dear Jacob was to 
 their lord, and thought ihey could not 
 pay a more respectable token of res- 
 pect to him than by mourning for his 
 father. When good and great men 
 die it is proper that the general heart 
 of the community should feel the stroke 
 of providence. But when we wear 
 mourning apparel, our clothes will rise 
 up in judgment against us, if we do 
 not call to mind our own mortal con- 
 dition, and think seriously of our own 
 dissolution. Our bodies are not made 
 of brass, any more than the bodies of 
 those whom we profess to deplore, A 
 loud voice comes from their graves, 
 proclaiming that to-morrow, or when a 
 few more years are gone, we must be 
 with them. Shall we not then prepare 
 for the decease which we must so soon 
 accomplish 7 Was so much time, and 
 pains, and expense employed on a dead 
 body, to preserve it from the natural 
 consequences of death 7 What excuse 
 is left for us if we bestow not as much 
 time and care to secure ourselves 
 against the terrible consequences of 
 death to both body and soul 7 Yet are 
 there not those who act as if they 
 thought that less time v/as necessary 
 to prepare for heaven, than the Egyp- 
 tian physicians thought necessary for 
 seasoning the dead body of a man, to 
 preserve it from putrefaction ? 
 
 saying, Lo, I die : in my grave 
 s which I have digged for me Id 
 the land of Canaan, there shall 
 thou bury me. Now therefore 
 let me go up, I pray thee, and 
 bury my father, and 1 v/ill come 
 again. 
 
 g 2 Chron. 16. 14. Isaiah 22. 16. Mat. 27. GO, 
 
 4. Joseph spake unto the house of 
 Pharaoh, sarjing, &c. Joseph was 
 lord of all the land of Egypt, and yet 
 he was Pharaoh's servant; he did not 
 forget his condiiion amidst all his gran- 
 deur. He certainly had sufficient credit 
 with his sovereign to obtain permission 
 to bury his father in Canaan with- 
 out solicitation from other favorites. 
 Yet he disdains not to use the inter- 
 est of other servants in his favor ; and 
 for this it is probable he had a spe- 
 cial reason on the present occasion. 
 Princes in the East have often discov- 
 ered an irreconcilable aversion to any 
 thing that wears a gloomy appearance, 
 or that puts them in mind of death. 
 We learn from the book of Esther, ch. 
 4.2, that it was in her time the custom 
 that 'none might enter into the king's 
 gate clothed with sackcloth,' for which 
 reason Mordecai was excluded from 
 the royal presence so long as he wore 
 mourning apparel. The Father of mer- 
 cies, on the other hand, looks with a 
 compassionate eye on mourners when 
 they come into his presence. But a 
 wise man will be cautious of obtruding 
 his sorrows on his fellow-men, without 
 
 knowing their dispositions. IT Unto 
 
 the house of Pharaoh. Gr. ivvacrrai 
 potentates, chief officers, or in other 
 words, to the principal men of his 
 court. The same word in the Greek of 
 the New Testament, Acts 8. 27, is 
 rendered eunuch. See Note on Gen. 
 37. 36. 
 
 5. My father made me sioear. Heb. 
 '^U^^^ilUn kishbianif sware me. On 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 42. 
 
 6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, 
 and bury thy father, according as 
 he made thee swear. 
 
 7 Tl And Joseph went up to 
 
 this phraseology see Note on Gen. 24. 3. 
 The Egyptians were very jealous of 
 the honor of their country, which they 
 esteemed ' the glory of all lands.' 
 They might have thought that Joseph, 
 who had received such honors in their 
 land, did not discover a grateful sense 
 of their favors, if he had carried his 
 father's body to be buried in another 
 land, without giving a good reason for 
 it. The old man had himself more- 
 over been treated with great generos- 
 ity by Pharaoh. Did his son grudge 
 his body to that land which had sup- 
 plied his numerous family with food, 
 when he could find none in the land 
 of Canaan? Joseph wished to ob- 
 viate any such reflections, and there- 
 fore produced reasons for his request, 
 which he knew would satisfy the 
 king's mind, and the minds of his 
 people. Jacob had digged a grave for 
 himself in the land of Canaan, and in 
 that place of it, where his father, and a 
 part of his own family, had been buried. 
 He had not only expressed a strong 
 desire to be buried in that grave, but he 
 had brought his son Joseph under the 
 sacred engagement of an oath, to do 
 what he desired. ' Now therefore,' 
 says Joseph, 'let me go up, I pray 
 thee, and bury my father, and I will 
 come again.' He was sure the reasons 
 given would not only procure the king's 
 consent to his proposal, but would 
 banish every suspicion of disrespect in 
 making it. He would not be account- 
 ed deficient in his affection to his 
 king and benefactor, because he was a 
 dutiful son who paid a regard to his 
 father's dying wishes. He would not 
 be esteemed a disloyal subject, because 
 36 
 
 bury his father: and with hira 
 went up all the servants of Pha- 
 raoh, the elders of his house, and 
 all the elders of the land of 
 Egypt, 
 
 he desired leave to perform a solemn 
 oath. On the contrary, he would have 
 lost all credit with the Egyptians them- 
 selves, if he had acted otherwise than 
 he did. Nor would his father be 
 thought ungrateful to a king and na- 
 tion from whom he had received such 
 favors, when he desired to lie in death 
 with his forefathers, in the grave which 
 
 he had provided for himself. ^ 
 
 Which 1 have digged. That is, pro- 
 cured to be dug, or rather hewed out. 
 It may seem strange that Jacob should 
 have been in such haste to dig a grave 
 for himself, more than seventeen years 
 before he died. But it seems from 
 other passages to have been customary 
 for men in those early times to have 
 places of sepulture prepared some time 
 before their death. Comp, 2 Chron. 16. 
 14, and Mat. 27. 60. It is possible that 
 Job may allude to something of this 
 nature when he says ch. 17. 1, 'The 
 graves are ready for me.' But apart 
 from this, it is not unlikely that Jacob 
 did not expect to live so long as he did. 
 His heart almost died within him when 
 he was made to believe that Joseph 
 was torn in pieces by wild beasts ; and 
 although he had met with fewer evds 
 in the course of his life than he did, yet 
 he might have dug a grave for himself 
 without the imputation of folly or mel- 
 ancholy. The most healthy and pros- 
 perous ought to remember that they 
 will one day need a grave ; and it will 
 not impair our cheerfulness to think 
 of our latter end, if we entertain the 
 well-grounded hope of happiness be- 
 yond the grave. 
 
 6. Pharaoh said, Go up, &c. Tha 
 answer of Pharaoh shows at least a 
 
423 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1639. 
 
 8 And all the house of Joseph, 
 and his brethren, and his father's 
 
 great reverence for the solemnity of an 
 oath. He puts his compliance with 
 Joseph's request especially upon this, 
 that his father had 'made him swear.' 
 An oath was a solemn thing and must 
 be observed. The name of God must 
 not be taken in vain. Those Chris- 
 tians who disregard the obligations of 
 an oath are worse than multitudes of 
 the heathen. The foundations of hu- 
 man society are subverted when oaths 
 are treated with contempt. 
 
 7. And Joseph went up, &c. -Al- 
 though all Egypt may be said to have 
 done Jacob honor at his death, and his 
 funeral ceremonies were magnificent 
 beyond a parallel in history, except per- 
 haps in the case of Alexander the 
 Great, yet there is no doubt that it was 
 not in consequence of any wish on his 
 part. He simply desired to be carried 
 by his sons and buried in the land of 
 promise. His desire was that of faith, 
 and not of vain-glorious display. But 
 God sometimes so orders events that 
 those who who are least covetous of 
 worldly distinction shall either in their 
 lives or at their death be crowned with 
 a large share of it. When men, like 
 Solomon, seek that supremely which 
 God approves, he not unfrequently 
 adds to it the inferior honors to which 
 they are indifferent. The eclat which 
 now marked the funeral obsequies of 
 Jacob was principally for Joseph's sake, 
 and it shows in what esteem he was 
 held in Egypt. Whatever modern cav- 
 illers have said to throw discredit upon 
 his conduct as prime minister in the 
 court of Pharaoh, the facts recorded 
 make it clear, that he was considered at 
 the time as one of the greatest benefac- 
 tors to the country. ^ With him 
 
 -went up all the servants of Pharaoh. 
 That is, a very large proportion of 
 
 house: only their little ones, and 
 their flocks, and their herds, they 
 left in the land of Goshen. 
 
 them. Thus Mat. 3. 5, ' There went 
 out to him Jerusalem and all Judea;' 
 by which is meant a great many from 
 
 all quarters. ^ All the ciders of 
 
 the land. The counsellors, senators, 
 court-officers. See Note on Gen. 24. 2. 
 So great a cavalcade attending Jacob 
 to his long home, through a part of 
 two different countries, would spread 
 the fame of the good man, and revive 
 the remembrance of him in the land of 
 Canaan. And it was much for the in- 
 terest of religion that his name should 
 be known. In his life he had eminent- 
 ly displayed the virtues by which re- 
 ligion is recommended. Let us endeav- 
 or always so to demean ourselves that 
 those who remember our names when 
 we are in the dust, may find no pre- 
 tence to speak evil of us, or of the 
 ways of God on our account. 
 
 8. All the house of Joseph, and his 
 brethren, &c. Joseph's brethren no 
 doubt cheerfully concurred with him 
 in doing hnnor to their father and in 
 obeying his last injunction. They had 
 been fully persuaded that he did them 
 no injustice in valuing and loving Jo- 
 seph so much more than themselves. 
 The grief with which they were pen- 
 etrated for the loss of their best friend 
 would be enhanced by the bitter reflec- 
 tion that they had brought accum.u- 
 lated sorrows upon his grey hairs, but 
 as they could assure themselves of his 
 forgiveness, and hope for that of heav- ' 
 en, they would find comfort in then 
 mourning. They left their little ones 
 and their flocks and herds in Egypt, 
 with the requisite number of women 
 and servants to take care of them, be- 
 cause the time determined by God foi 
 their final departure from that country 
 had not yet arrived by about two hun 
 dred vears. 
 
n. O. 1689.1 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 423 
 
 9 And there went up with 
 him both chariots and horsemen: 
 and it was a very great company. 
 
 10 And they came to the 
 threshing-floor of A tad, which ?5 
 beyond Jordan, and there they 
 
 9. There went up uith him both char- 
 iots and horsemen. Htb. '^"^ rekeb, 
 chariot, or rather chariotry, col. sing, 
 for phir. a great muhitude of chariots. 
 In hke manner Ps. 63. 17, ' The chari- 
 ots of God are twenty thousand.' 
 Heb. ~2'l chariotry. Jacob, who was 
 wilhng to be a servant in Syria, and 
 'for a wife kept sheep,' surely never 
 affected splendor in his life-time. Yet 
 he is honored with a funeral as splen- 
 did as if he had been a king. A com- 
 mentator in remarking upon it says, 
 'The mourning retinue was composed 
 of an itinerant national multitude, 
 which swelled like a flood and moved 
 like a river.' Such honors to a man 
 after his death can be of no value to 
 him. It was the happiness of Jacob 
 that his dead body was under the pro- 
 tection of his God, to be raised again 
 in glory and incorruption at the last 
 day, Luke 20. 37. Yet the affectionate 
 heart of Joseph was soothed by the 
 sight of so large a concourse of the 
 first men of Egypt. His grief was 
 mitigated by the respect paid to his 
 father's memory, and to himself; and 
 may it not be hoped that the discourse 
 of some of the company was turned, 
 by the occasion, to the character of Ja- 
 cob, and to those marvellous events 
 which had procured him so much con- 
 sideration from the king of Egypt 1 If 
 so. notwithstanding that Calvin, in 
 the sternness of his critical judgment, 
 thinks there was even on the part of 
 Joseph an undue display of the tokens 
 of grief on this occasion, may it not 
 be supposed that the cause of true re- 
 ligion was promoted by the eercmonies 
 
 " mourned with a great and very 
 sore lamentation : » and he made 
 a mourning for his father seven 
 days. 
 
 h 2Sam. 1. 17. 
 Job. 2. 13. 
 
 Acts 8. 2. i 1 Sam. 31. 13. 
 
 attendant upon the funeral? 1[ j,t 
 
 teas a very great company. Heb. nin^^n 
 "iii?2 TS!^ hammahaneh kabed meocl, 
 the encamping host icas very heavy. 
 Thus the like phrase 1 Kings, 3. 9, 
 (Heb.) 'a mighty people' is expounded 
 in 2 Chron. 1. 10, ' a great people.' 
 
 10. They came to the threshing Jioor of 
 Atad. Heb. -!i::i>n ']'^3 goren ha-a- 
 tad. As the latter word in the original 
 has the definite article prefixed 'the 
 Atad,' and as it properly signifies a 
 thorn, briar, or bramble bush, it is 
 questionable whether the correct ren- 
 dering be not, 'they came to the plain 
 or area of the thorn bush :' i. e. to a 
 once open champaign tract now grown 
 over, or it may be, compassed about 
 and hedged in, with thorns. It was 
 undoubtedly an extensive level plat oi 
 ground, like the spots which were pre- 
 pared for threshing-floors, or it may 
 have been a place formerly used for 
 that purpose. At any rate it was a 
 spot sufiiciently large for a camping 
 ground for the whole host. While the 
 main body of the cavalcade remained 
 here, the remains of Jacob were proba- 
 bly conveyed by a select company to 
 the place of sepulture. The threshing- 
 floor of Atad might have been a more 
 proper place than the field of Ephron, 
 for this solemn mourning in Ca- 
 naan. What if the inhabitants of the 
 country where a part of Jacob's prop- 
 erty lay, had looked with an evil eya 
 on such a large company of men con- 
 tinuing seven days amongst them? 
 They would have had a better pretenca 
 for supposing that some bad design 
 was in agitation, than Joseph had to 
 
424 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 11 And when the inhabitants 
 of the land, the Canaanites. saw 
 the mourning in the floor of Atad, 
 they said, This is a grievous 
 mourning to the Egyptians : 
 wherefore the name of it was 
 called Abel-mizraim, which is 
 beyond Jordan. 
 
 12 And his sons did unto him 
 according as he commanded 
 them : 
 
 13 For •'his sons carried him 
 
 k ch. 49. 29, 30. Acts 7. 16. 
 
 impute bad designs to his brethren, 
 when they came to Egypt to buy corn. 
 In every part of his conduct Joseph 
 demeaned himself wisely. While his 
 heart was pierced with sorrow, he 
 did not forget those rules by which at 
 other limes he acted to prevent mis- 
 chief. 
 
 11. And when the inhabitants of the 
 land, &c. The Canaanites were evi- 
 dently astonished at the expression of 
 the overwhelming sorrow evinced by 
 the Egyptians and that for seven days 
 together. Surely, they would say, 
 this man must have been greatly rev- 
 erenced or greatly beloved in Egypt. 
 Probably never before had they wit- 
 nessed such cries of grief uttered, never 
 so many tears shed, for a single man. 
 Their emotions on the occasion prompt- 
 ed a significant name for the place, by 
 which it was afterwards known. They 
 called it ' Abel-mizraim,' the mourning 
 of the Egxjptians. It may be well for 
 us to bear in mind, when we mourn to 
 an uncommon degree for the death of 
 beloved friends, that our deportment 
 will probably be observed. Let us 
 consider whether we are honoring our 
 
 profession by our sighs and tears. 
 
 ^ Which is beyond Jordan. Heb. 
 ITl^n 1'2^^ beaber ha-yarden. Most 
 interpreters, following Jerome who has 
 
 into the land of Canaan, and bu- 
 ried him in the cave of the field 
 of Machpelah, which Abraham 
 1 bought with the field for a 
 possession of a burying-place 
 of Ephron the Hittite, before 
 Mamre. 
 
 14 ][ And Joseph returned into 
 Egypt, he and his brethren, and 
 all that went up with him to bu- 
 ry his father, after he had buried 
 his father. 
 
 1 ch. 2.3 16. 
 
 ' trans Jordanem,' render this ' beyond 
 Jordan,' which is adopted in our Eng. 
 version. If this be correct, it must be 
 understood relatively to the place 
 where Moses wrote, which is presumed 
 to have been in the wilderness east of 
 the Jordan. Consequendy the thresh- 
 ing-floor in question must have been 
 on the west of the Jordan. Jerome 
 accordingly remarks ' that there was 
 in his time a place two or three miles 
 from Jericho called Bethagla (rT^^ 
 nb^y beth-aglah) i. e. place of circuit- 
 ing, or where persons walked round in 
 a circuit after the manner of mourners. 
 Rosen muller, however, observes that 
 the original "i^JJD beaber may as prop- 
 erly be rendered 'in trajectu,' at the 
 passage of the Jordan, without defining 
 on which side of the river the place 
 was situated. But in either case, the 
 inference is, that the route taken from 
 Egypt was not the direct route through 
 the land of the Philistines, but the 
 more circuitous one through a part of 
 Arabia, and the land of Moab and Am- 
 mon. This, Leclerc suggests, may 
 have been owing to the apprehended 
 hostility of the Philistines or the Edom- 
 ites, or both. 
 
 14. And Joseph returned, &c. AS' 
 the time for the fulfilment of the 
 promise respecung the egress of the 
 
B. C 16S9.J CHAPTER L. 
 
 15 ^ And when Joseph's breth- 
 ren saw that their father was 
 dead, '" they said, Joseph will 
 
 m Job 15. 21, 22. 
 
 children of Israel from Egypt had not 
 yet arrived, they now returned to the 
 place of their former dwelling to wait 
 the unfolding of the plans of provi- 
 der^e. Our duties to deceased friends 
 and relatives terminate at their gra\es. 
 We return from their funerals to reflect 
 upon the time when the same mourn- 
 ful offices will be performed for us that 
 we have performed for them, and to 
 enter upon that work which we yet 
 have the power to do for the living. 
 
 15. And when Joseph's brethren sair, 
 &c. The heart of man is by nature 
 vindictive. It was a just observation 
 of Saul to David, 1 Sam. 24. 19, 'If a 
 man find his enemy will he let him go 
 well away?' Hence when men have 
 injured any person, they hate him, be- 
 cause they think he must of necessity 
 have become their enemy ; and if they 
 are within the reach of his person, 
 they fear him, because they conclude 
 that he will avail himself of any favor- 
 able opportunity to revenge himself 
 upon them. It was thus with Joseph's 
 brethren. Their thoughts* being no 
 longer occupied with the pomp and 
 ceremonies of the funeral, are naturally 
 turned into another channel. Busy 
 conscience again begins to work, and 
 to fill them with forebodings of ven- 
 geance from the hand of Joseph. 
 Though his veneration for his father 
 may have restrained his hands till this 
 time, yet now doubtless he will review 
 the past and decide that their sin is too 
 great to be forgiven. These unreason- 
 able suspicions were perhaps infused 
 into their minds from what they 
 felt in themselves. For a far less in- 
 jury than they had done to Joseph, 
 36* 
 
 425 
 
 peradvcnture hate us, and will 
 certainly requite us all the evil 
 which we did unto him. 
 
 16 And they sent a messenger 
 
 some of them had destroyed a whole 
 city. It is probable too that this ap- 
 prehension was strengthened by the 
 recollection of what their father Jacob 
 had suffered from the vindictive spirit 
 of Esau; 'The days of mournirrg for 
 my father are at hand, and then I will 
 kill my brother Jacob.' But they 
 knew that Esau relented before his 
 father's death. Why did they suppose 
 Joseph to be a second Esau, or worse 
 than Esau? Surely his former behav- 
 ior might have banished all such 
 thoughts from their minds. But their 
 present dejection of spirits at their 
 father's death disposed them to enter- 
 tain dismal thoughts, which would not 
 probably have been admitted at another 
 time. Their affliction and fear brought 
 their sin again to remembrance, and 
 renewed their apprehensions of ven- 
 geance. ' He will certainly requite us 
 all the evil which we did unto him.' 
 The light of conscience tells us that 
 we deserve to be requited according to 
 our works ; and it is so common for 
 men to requite their enemies in this 
 way, as soon as it is in their power, 
 that it is difficult for us to believe that 
 any will act otherwise, when they can 
 do it with safety to themselves. But 
 however rare, the world yet affords 
 instances of men who love their ene- 
 mies and bless those that curse them. 
 We do great injustice to a true Chris- 
 tian, if we think him no better than 
 other men. Though there is indeed 
 flesh as well as spirit within him, yet he 
 has learnt to render to no man evil for 
 evil. 
 
 15. TTiey sent a messenger unto Jo- 
 seph. Heb. £icni in "WJ:"^ yetzavvu 
 
426 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1G89. 
 
 unto Joseph, saying, Thy father 
 did command beiore he died, 
 saying, 
 
 17 So shall ye say unto Jo- 
 seph, Forgive, I pray thee now, 
 the trespass of thy brethren, and 
 
 el Yoseph, they commanded to Joseph. 
 The original has nothing respecting 
 ' messengers,' except by iniphcation. 
 The various versions for the most 
 part understand that messengers were 
 employed, but we are incUned to be- 
 lieve from V. 17, that they addressed 
 him themselves, in a personal inter- 
 view. The word 'command,' in the 
 sacred idiom, often signifies efficacious- 
 ly to procure any thing to be done. 
 Thus, Ps. 42. 8, ' The Lord will com- 
 viand his loving kindness.' Lev. 25. 
 21, 'He will command his blessing;' 
 i. e. he will effectually secure the be- 
 stowment of his blessings. So in the 
 present case the legitimate meaning 
 we suppose to be that they command- 
 ed Joseph by laying upon him the 
 command of their father. This is upon 
 the supposition that such a command 
 was actually given by Jacob, which 
 we cannot deny without questioning 
 the veracity of his sons; yet the pre- 
 vious history gives us no account of 
 this alleged injunction ; and it must be 
 admitted as strange in the extreme 
 that Jacob should not have given Jo- 
 seph this charge in person, instead of 
 communicating it to him by proxy. 
 Had he supposed that Joseph retained 
 any secret resentments, he would cer- 
 tainly have endeavored to extinguish 
 them, or to guard against their conse- 
 quences in one of his last interviews 
 with him. He spake twice to him, 
 and once to all the brethren, about his 
 burial in the land of Canaan. The 
 conciliation of their minds to one an- 
 
 their sin ; " for they did unto 
 thee evil : and now, we pray 
 thee, forgive the trespass of the 
 servants of ° the God of thy 
 father. And Joseph wept when 
 they spake unto him. 
 
 n Pi-ov. 28. 13. o ch. 49. 25. 
 
 other, had any estrangement been sus- 
 pected, would have been a more im- 
 portant subject for his last charge. *It 
 is to be feared, therefore, that the ten 
 brethren took an unwarrantable liberty 
 with their father's name, and uttered 
 to Joseph a forged injunction. But a 
 guilty conscience has often urged sin- 
 ners to use still more unjustifiable arti- 
 fices. The plea they urged, however, 
 was in itself well adapted to compass 
 the end proposed. They plead the dy- 
 ing request of their father. What more 
 cogent argument could be used with a 
 pious mind than this 7 The dying re- 
 quest of a friend is sacred; and how 
 much more that of a parent, a parent 
 of such pre-eminent worth as Jacob ! 
 
 17. Forgive, I pray thee, the trespass, 
 &c. They make an mgenuous confes- 
 sion of their offence. They could not 
 do less if they expected to be forgiven, 
 for it was too well knov^n to be con- 
 cealed. Ahhough the words of the 
 peution were probably not the words 
 of Jacob, yet Joseph knew that they 
 expressed what would have been his 
 father's mind had he left such a com- 
 mand as his brethren alleged. And 
 undoubtedly such was his regard for 
 his father, that he would have forgiven 
 his brethren for his sake, even had 
 nobler motives been wanting. But his 
 forgiveness would not have been cir- 
 cumscribed within the limits of his 
 father's life. As we have already seen 
 in reference to another matter, his 
 I father's will was sacred with him 
 I when the old ni«n was not alive to 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 427 
 
 18 And his brethren also went 
 and p fell down before his face : 
 
 pch. 37. 7, 10. 
 
 thank him. But his brethren unite 
 their own most humble and earnest 
 entreaties with the alleged command of 
 their father. However strong may be 
 our propensity to revenge, the entreat- 
 ies of a penitent offender will disarm 
 us. It is scarcely possible for a man 
 to revenge himself on one who lies 
 prostrate at his feet. But there is a 
 peculiar delicacy in the address which 
 they make to Joseph. In speaking to 
 him of Jacob, they do not designate 
 him as their father, but as his; ^Thy 
 father did command.' This by ap- 
 pealing to his filial reverence, would 
 bring the request home with more 
 power to his heart. But there was 
 etill another motive to weigii with Jo- 
 seph. His brethren sought his for- 
 giveness on the ground also that they 
 were 'the servants of the God of his 
 father;' and however much he felt 
 bound to do for his father, he felt con- 
 strained to do incomparably more for 
 his father's God. Joseph himself was 
 a servant of God, and was therefore 
 bound to forgive his fellow-servants. 
 They had indeed in some instances 
 been very imdutiful to God, but they 
 served a God who pardons iniquity, 
 transgression, and sin ; and why should 
 not he? He himself needed remission. 
 Although an eminently holy man, yet 
 the debt for which he needed and re- 
 ceived forgiveness from God, was, to 
 that debt which his brethren owed 
 him, as ten thousand talents to two 
 
 hundred pence. ff Joseph wept uhen 
 
 they spake unto him. Considering 
 how long his brethren had forbore to 
 humble themselves aright, Joseph 
 might well have upbraided them, both 
 with their former cruelty, and their 
 subsequent impenitence ; or he might 
 
 and they said, Behold, we be thy 
 servants. 
 
 have imposed conditions upon them, 
 as Solomon afterwards did on Shimei; 
 or he might have pardoned them in 
 kind and condescending terms. But 
 the way in which he expressed his for- 
 giveness was more eloquent and con- 
 vincing than any words which human 
 ingenuity could ever have devised ; 
 'Joseph wept when they spake unto 
 him.' Had he been of a haughty 
 spirit, or had he not fully understood 
 their motives, he would have been 
 angry with his brethren instead of 
 weeping with them. He had already 
 from his heart forgiven them, and had 
 given them abundant proofs that their 
 conduct was erased from his memory. 
 Did they imagine that he was for sev- 
 enteen years playing the part of a 
 hypocrite, with words of kindness in 
 his mouth, with gifts in his hand, and 
 malignity in his heart? Were vile 
 suspicions of his sincerity all the re- 
 turn they made to him ? But the truth 
 doubtless is, that Joseph imputed their 
 appeal, not to ingratitude, or to any 
 habitual disbelief of his sincerity, but 
 to the grief and fear occasioned by the 
 new situation in which their father's 
 death had placed them. Appreciating 
 their feelings, the softer emotions ope- 
 rated on his heart and moved him to 
 tears. 
 
 18. His brethren also uent and fell 
 down before his face. This was the 
 final and complete fulfilment of the 
 dreams of Joseph announcing the sub- 
 jection and homage of his brethren. 
 It was none the less striking becauto 
 it occurred in the m'dst of a scene 
 of deep and sympathetic tenderness. 
 They had been effectually subdued and 
 humbled, and we cannot imagine a 
 greater contrast than that which wc 
 
428 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689. 
 
 19 And Joseph said unto them, 
 ^ Fear not : ' for am I in the place 
 of God 'I 
 
 20 ' But as for you, ye thought 
 
 q ch. 45. 5. r Deut. 32. 35. Job. 34. 29. 
 Rom. 12. 19. Heb. 10. 30. 2 Kings 5. 7. 
 6 Ps. 56, 5. Isai. 10. 7, 
 
 evil against me ; hut t God meant 
 it unto good, to bring to pass, as 
 it is this day, to save much peo- 
 ple alive. 
 
 tch. 45. 5, 7 Acts 3. 13, 14, 15. 
 
 witness between the men indignantly 
 listening to the relation of Joseph's 
 dreams, and the men unconsciously 
 bringing them to pass. Thus God 
 with infinite ease abases the high, and 
 exalts the lowly. Perhaps they would 
 have behaved in a manner still more 
 agreeable to Joseph, had they placed 
 all that confidence in him to which j 
 his generosity entitled him ; yet we are 
 pleased to see them act like men dis- | 
 posed to accept the punishment of their | 
 iniquity and to humble themselves un- 
 der the mighty hand of God. 
 
 19. Fear not : for am I in the place 
 of God? These words seem to signi- 
 fy that God is to be regarded as the 
 great avenger of sin, and that Joseph 
 was not so presumptuous as to put 
 himself in the place of him to whom 
 vengeance belongeth. He was indeed 
 a magistrate to whom the sword v.^as 
 given to execute vengeance upon evil 
 doers. Yet he could not execute ven- 
 geance as a magistrate upon his breth- 
 ren for an ofience committed against 
 himself long before he was raised to 
 that high station. The invitation which 
 he gave them to come and dwell with 
 him was an implied promise that he 
 would not use his authority against 
 them, but treat them as if they had 
 never offended him. * Vengeance is 
 mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord.' 
 What can be more presumptuous than 
 for a man to usurp the prerogatives of 
 the Judge of all the earth? Yet this 
 prerogative is usurped by every man 
 who gives indulgence to an unforgiving 
 spirit. — The above interpretation gives 
 
 a clear and consistent sense, yet there 
 is no doubt that the original rnrn 
 "1:^ Q"'nb!* ha-thahath Elohim ani, 
 will admit of the rendering Am 1 under 
 God 7 q. d. ' Am I or am I not under 
 God 7 Am I not as much his subject 
 as you are? If so, how can I punish 
 you for that which he hath turned into 
 good? It is plain that his providence 
 has sent me by your agency to Egypt, 
 not to destroy \ ou, but to save your 
 lives. How then shall I make use of 
 the advantages aiforded me to execute 
 a mean vengeance for injuries done to 
 myself? Surely I should thus incur 
 the guilt of fighting against God, and 
 of abusing his great goodness to the 
 service of sin.' Let us consider then, 
 when strongly solicited to avenge our- 
 selves, whether we are or are not under 
 God. When we presumptuously vio- 
 late his law by executing that ven- 
 geance which he forbears or prohibits, 
 do M'e not in effect say that we are 
 above him? 
 
 20. Ye thought evil against me, hut 
 God meant it unto good. In using this 
 language Joseph by no means intended 
 to upbraid his brethren with what they 
 had thought against him. His men- 
 tion of their intentions was only de- 
 signed as a contrast to the gracious in- 
 tentions of God. In what he said on 
 the same subject on a former occasion 
 Gen. 45. 5, 7, he made no allusion at 
 all to the wickedness of their thoughts. 
 At that time they were less able to bear 
 it. But before their father's death they 
 had time to be assured that he could 
 mean nothing that was unkind. After 
 
B. C. 1689.J 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 21 Now therefore fear ye not : 
 ''I will nourish you, and your 
 
 vch. 47. ]2. Matt. 5. 44. 
 
 SO many proofs that he still loved them, 
 notwithstanding all that they had done 
 and intended, they might bear the hint 
 that he now gave them. All that he 
 could intend by it was, to acknowledge 
 what was too plain to be denied, and 
 to say in substance that what he had 
 told them seventeen years before, he 
 still adhered to, and that the same con- 
 siderations which induced him to pass 
 by their offence then, induced him to 
 do it still. He savv that God's thoughts 
 were thoughts of mercy and kindness 
 both to himself and his brethren ; and 
 under this conviction, how could he be 
 guilty of so great a wickedness as to 
 destroy or injure those very persons 
 whom God had exalted him to preserve 
 and protect 7 Let us think of Joseph's 
 words when we are called to suffer in- 
 jurious treatment from others. What- 
 ever our Heavenly Father permits to 
 befal us, he intends it for good, if we 
 love him. And shall we not bless him 
 for his kind intentions? But if we 
 bless God, do not let us curse the in- 
 struments whom he employs for our 
 good. They may have thought evil 
 against us, but that evil will not light 
 upon us. It will rather recoil upon 
 themselves. They deserve our pity. 
 The displeasure of God will be suflficien t- 
 ly heavy for them without our dis- 
 pleasure. Is it not enough for us that 
 all the evil should be theirs, and all the 
 good our own? Let us not then by 
 indulging a vindictive spirit take effec- 
 tual measures to rob ourselves of all 
 the good that we might derive from 
 what is evil to them, and share with 
 them in their sin and its consequences. 
 
 IT God meant it — as it is this day, 
 
 to sate much ■people alive. The Egyp- 
 tians were saved alive : the house of 
 
 little ones, 
 them, and 
 them. 
 
 429 
 
 And ho comforted 
 spake kindly unto 
 
 Jacob was saved alive ; the seed that 
 was to spring from Joseph was pre- 
 served from extinction in the loins of 
 their progenitors. The wisdom and 
 goodness of divine providence in over- 
 ruling the bad intentions of Joseph's 
 brethren to merciful ends were clearly 
 illustrated. Although their sin was 
 not lessened by its happy consequen- 
 ces, yet these consequences were more 
 than sufficient to preserve the mind ol 
 Joseph from irritation, and to set the 
 minds of his brethren at rest from any 
 fears of his resentment. Their busi- 
 ness therefore was not to give way to 
 groundless apprehensions, but to hum- 
 ble themselves for their iniquity, and to 
 adore the kindprovidence which brought 
 so much good to themselves, to their 
 children, and to the world out of their 
 sins. 
 
 2L Now therefore fear ye not : 1 
 will nourish you, &c. Again Joseph 
 intreated and exhorted them to confide 
 in his love, and to banish their fears. 
 He was vexed to see them unhappy. 
 He wished them to be as happy as 
 himself, and at the same time exempt- 
 ed from those cares which were insep- 
 arable from his station. Do we say 
 that we forgive those who have offend- 
 ed us? We say well ; but how do we 
 verify our words ? Are we ready to 
 perform offices of kindness and chari- 
 ty to them as we have opportunity ; to 
 comfort them when oppressed with 
 grief; to supply their necessities when 
 in want ; to assist them in whatever 
 they need ? Such were the ways by 
 which Joseph assured his brethren of 
 his good will to them after their of- 
 fences. He was not, like many, for- 
 ward in promising and slow in per- 
 1 forming. He was equally prompt in 
 
430 
 
 22 H 
 Egypt, 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1689, 
 
 And 
 he, 
 
 Joseph dwelt in 
 and his father's 
 
 both. IT He comforted them and 
 
 spake kindly unto them. Heb. '^Dl'i 
 CDb b3> ycdabber al libham^ spake to 
 their heart. On the force of this ex- 
 pression see Note on Gen. 34. 3. Al- 
 though words without deeds are but 
 wind, yet words of kindness to which 
 deeds correspond are precious to those 
 who are prepared to value them ; and 
 euch were Joseph's on this occasion. 
 
 22. Joseph dwelt in Egypt, &c. 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by faith 
 sojourned in the land of promise as in a 
 strange land, dwelling in tabernacles. 
 The life of Joseph was very different 
 from that of his fathers. He lived in 
 a sumptuous palace, honored by the 
 whole nation of Egypt, and by the 
 surrounding nations, as the wisest and 
 one of the greatest of men. Yet he 
 lived in his palace by faith, as his 
 fathers had done in their tents. 
 Amidst all his hooor and affluence, he 
 valued the promise of Canaan more 
 than all the treasures of Egypt, and 
 looked forward with joyful anticipation 
 to the time when in the persons of his 
 seed he should become the actual pos- 
 sessor of that rich inheritance. Yet 
 at present Mie dwelt in Egypt, he, 
 and his father's house.' Why was 
 this "7 Not surely for the sake of the 
 honors and pleasures which the court 
 of Egypt could afford him, but rather 
 because it was the will of God that he 
 should dwell there to be a father to 
 Pharaoh, and to be the shepherd of Is- 
 rael. The people of Canaan were no 
 doubt by this time multiplied to such a 
 degree that the family of Jacob would 
 not easily have found a place to live 
 together a pastoral life as one great 
 family. The report that the whole 
 land was expected by Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob to be the inheritance of their 
 
 house : and Joseph lived an hun- 
 dred and ten years. 
 
 seed, was perhaps now current in Ca- 
 naan, and this would natural expose 
 them to the jealousy and hostility of 
 the original inhabitants. And as the 
 iniquities of these heathen tribes were 
 not yet full, any attempt to take forci- 
 ble possession of the country would 
 have been premature. But whatever 
 were the motives which determined 
 the children of Israel to prolong their 
 residence in Egypt, we know that their 
 abode in that land had been fore-ap- 
 pointed for them by God, for his own 
 glory and for their good. It was not 
 hid from Abraham when God promised 
 him the land of Canaan for his seed, 
 that he and his seed should be sojourn- 
 ers in a land that was not theirs, foi 
 the space of fotir hundred and fifty 
 years. The one half of this time they 
 abode in Canaan as in a strange land, 
 the other half of it in the land of 
 Egypt. This prediction they no doubt 
 regarded as equivalent to a divine di- 
 rection for their longer stay. IF He 
 
 and his father^ s house ; of which he had 
 now become the head, for Reuben had 
 forfeited his birthright. When heads 
 of families die, it is happy if some 
 member of the family remains who is 
 able and willing to discharge the du- 
 ties of a head to a headless house. 
 The elder brother, if of proper age, 
 ought to be a father to the younger, 
 and the younger ought to pay him 
 that deference which is due to his age, 
 his qualifications, and his endeavors to 
 promote the common welfare. IT Jo- 
 seph lived an hundred and ten years. 
 He was shorter lived than his father 
 Jacob, whose days had been fewer 
 than those of any of his progenitors 
 from the days of Adam. But if men's 
 lives were to be measured by their 
 good works and usefulness, Joseph 
 
B. C. 1689.] 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 431 
 
 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's 
 ';hildren ^ of the third genera- 
 tion: y the children also of Ma- 
 
 X Job 42. 16. y Numb. 32. 39. 
 
 liacl lived longer than the greater part 
 of them. Although he might still have 
 been very useful had he lived as long 
 as either of his three illustrious prede- 
 cessors, yet all the great work allotted 
 liim was finished, and the set time was 
 come when he died, that he should go 
 to a better world to receive his reward. 
 Some, even after the time of Joseph, 
 lived much longer. Levi, Amram, Pto- 
 ses, and Aaron, all lived longer than 
 Joseph ; but his days were many com- 
 pared with the days that ire may ex- 
 pect to live on earth. Do we wish to 
 protract the term of our pilgrimage on 
 earth, and approximate the period of 
 these good men of ancient times 7 Let 
 us be sober, be temperate, be cheerful, 
 that we may not shorten our days by 
 the indulgence of our appetites and pas- 
 sions. We may not live as many years 
 as Joseph, because God may not have 
 occasion for our services so long in the 
 world ; but what though the number 
 of our days be cut off in the midst, if 
 the residue of them be made up in the 
 better country 7 
 
 23. Joseph saw Ephraim's children 
 of the third generation. Although Jo- 
 seph was displeased when he saw 
 Ephraim put before Manasseh, yet 
 when he knew the mind of God, he 
 was well pleased with the preference 
 given to his younger son; and it was 
 one part of his happiness that he saw 
 the children of Ephraim to the third 
 generation. He could not expect to 
 see with his own eyes the full accom- 
 plishment of a promise relating to the 
 latter days, yet he saw the earlier stages 
 of it. One generation after another 
 grows up under his eye to praise the 
 Lord, and to enjoy the privileges of 
 
 chir, the son of Manasseh, 
 ' were brought up upon Joseph's 
 knees. 
 
 z ch. 30, 3. 
 
 his church. Of what incalculable 
 value is length of days to a man bo 
 well quahfied and so well inclined to be 
 useful I It was not necessary to tell 
 us that Joseph was careful to transmit 
 the privilege and the love of religion 
 to the generations that followed him. 
 His faith in the promise, and his desire 
 of a rich share in the inheritance of Ja- 
 cob, leave us no room to doubt of his 
 care to train up hia children, and his 
 children's children, in the way in 
 which they should go. IT The chil- 
 dren also of Machir — uere brought up 
 upon Joseph's knees. Heb. X^'^'^ 
 P0"l1 "IjI^ ^^ yidledu al birke 
 Yoseph, were bom upon Joseph's 
 knees; implying not only that they 
 were laid at birth and afterwards 
 nursed and dandled on his knees, but 
 also that they were in a sense consid- 
 ered as his own, inasmuch as Ephraim 
 and Manasseh had been adopted in 
 their father's place, Gen. 48. 5, and 
 thus Joseph maybe said to be brought 
 one generation nearer to his grand- 
 children. While therefore he had the 
 pleasure of beholding the multipUca- 
 tion of his family by Ephraim, he 
 found no reason to fear that Manasseh 
 would be forgotten by God. What he 
 saw with his eyes was only a confirma- 
 tion of what he had heard with his 
 ears, that though Ephraim was to be 
 greater than Manasseh, yet Manasseh 
 also was to be great. If children's 
 children are the glory of old men, 
 they were so in a very eminent degree 
 to Joseph, who was assured that the 
 blessings of divine goodness should 
 descend upon his head in the persons 
 of his descendants. 
 
 24. Joseph said unto his brethren, •. 
 
432 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1635. 
 
 24 And Joseph said unto his 
 brethren, I die; and » God will 
 surely visit you, and bring you 
 out of this land, unto the land 
 ^ which he sware to Abraham, to 
 Isaac, and to Jacob. 
 
 a ch. 15. 14. & 46. 4. & 48. 21. Exod. 3. 
 16, 17. Hebr. 11. 22. b cb. 15. 14. «fe 26. 3. 
 & 35. 12. & 46. 4. 
 
 die, &c. Dying men are often very 
 unwilling to believe what all by-stand- 
 ers cannot but see. They take hold of 
 every shadow of appearance to flatter 
 themselves with vain hopes of living 
 sometime longer in this world. But 
 Joseph was not afraid to die, or to ob- 
 serve the symptoms of his approach- 
 ing dissolution. He had lived in such 
 a manner, as when death came he 
 wished to have lived, and he held fast 
 in death that hope which had animated 
 his soul amidst all the afflictions of 
 
 life. IT God will surely visit you. 
 
 Heb. IpD"! "7pQ pakod yiphkod, visit- 
 ing will visit. By this is virtually im- 
 plied an antecedent season of afflic- 
 tion ; for ' visiting' implies ' deliver- 
 ance,' and before they could be delivered 
 they must be in distress. It is clear that 
 when Joseph was dying his thoughts 
 were not engrossed by his own con- 
 cerns, although he was on the borders 
 of the everlasting world. His mind 
 was at perfect ease concerning his own 
 state. But he did what he could to 
 console the hearts of his brethren, and 
 of all his father's house, whom his 
 death was depriving of their best earth- 
 ly friend. He let them know that 
 they had a far better friend in heaven, 
 who could not die, and who would 
 surely visit them and bring them again 
 out of Egypt. The death of our wor- 
 thy friends is just cause for sorrow, but 
 not of despondency. Brittle cisterns 
 at best, they are now broken cisterns, 
 in which no water is left; but the 
 fountain of living water is never ex- 
 
 25 And " Joseph took an oath 
 of the children of Israel, saying, 
 God will surely visit you, and ye 
 shall carry up ray bones from 
 hence. 
 
 c Exod. 13. 19. Josh. 24. 32. Acts 7. 16. 
 
 hausted. When Joseph tells his sur- 
 viving children that God will surely 
 visit them and bring them out of that 
 land, he does not refer them to any 
 new discoveries made to himself, out 
 to the well-known promise made to 
 Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. 
 When there was no written word of 
 God, his afflicted people found a suf- 
 ficient ground for their faith and hope 
 in the sure promises handed down from 
 father to son. How superior are our 
 privileges, who enjoy that precious 
 volume filled with promises as the 
 
 heaven is with stars! ^ The land 
 
 which he sware to Abraham, &c. How 
 wonderful is the condescension of God 
 in confirming his promises by an oath! 
 Had he merely promised without 
 swearing, ought he not to have been 
 trusted 7 But when to silence all the 
 whispers of our unbelieving hearts, he 
 engages upon oath to do what he has 
 said, we cannot refuse our assent to 
 his word without making him worse 
 than a liar. ' Which he sware !' Why 
 are not the hearts of stubborn sinners 
 terrified when they hear God swearing 
 that he will never forget any of their 
 works, and that they shall not enter 
 into his rest? Why are not the hearts 
 of trembling sinners emboldened to 
 flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope 
 set before them, when they hear the 
 Lord saying, * As I live, saith the Lord 
 God, I have no pleasure in the death of 
 the wicked, but that he should turn 
 and live V 
 25. Joseph took an oath of the chil 
 
B. C. 1635.] 
 
 26 So Joseph died, being an 
 hundred and ten. years old : and 
 
 CHAPTER L. 433 
 
 they d embahned hinn, and he 
 was put in a coffin in Egypt. 
 
 (I ver. 2. 
 
 dren of Israel. How naturally do we 
 imitate the example of men whom we 
 revere! Jacob expressed his faith in 
 God's promise, by taking an oath from 
 Joseph that he would carry up his 
 dead body to the land of Canaan, and 
 bury it there. Joseph in like manner 
 took an oath of the sons of Jacob be- 
 fore he died. He did net expect that 
 any of his brethren then living would 
 live long enough to carry up his bones 
 at the departure from Egypt to Ca- 
 naan, and he did not expect to be 
 buried in Canaan before that time ; yet 
 he took an oath from them, that when 
 that happy period should arrive, his 
 bones should not be left behind. He 
 hoped that such a sense of the sacred 
 obligation of an oath would remain 
 amongst them, that none would pre- 
 tend to excuse themselves from the 
 performance of what he had enjoined 
 on tlie ground of never having as- 
 sumed the obligation in their own per- 
 sons. IT God rcill surely visit you, 
 
 and ye shall carry icp my bones from 
 hence. ' Therefore I require an oath of 
 you that when God performs his oath, 
 you will carry up my bones hence.' 
 He would have them learn from the 
 divine faithfulness to be faithful them 
 selves. Though Joseph had lived but 
 a short time in Canaan, having spent 
 the greater part of his life in Egypt 
 surrounded by riches and honor, yet 
 he never considered Egypt, but Ca- 
 naan, as his home. It was consequent- 
 ly his desire that his bones should lie, 
 not with the dust of the princes of 
 Egypt, but in the land which God had 
 given by covenant to his fathers. If it 
 be asked why did he not require his 
 bones to be carried up immediately 
 upon his death, it mav be answered 
 37 
 
 that a speedy removal of his remains 
 might have been construed into a con- 
 tempt of the land of Egypt, and so 
 have brought evil upon his brethren. 
 It might also be a temptation to them 
 to attempt a premature migration from 
 the land of their present sojourning. 
 A wise man's heart discerneth both 
 time and judgment. 
 
 26. So Joseph died. All his grand- 
 eur, and riches, and goodness could 
 not save him from the hands of the 
 last enemy. And yet it is a certain 
 truth that 'righteousness delivereth 
 from death.' His death was not his 
 destruction. He died that he might 
 live a better life than he could live on 
 earth. It was superfluous to say of 
 him, as was said of Lazarus, that 
 'angels carried him to Abraham's 
 bosom.' Blessed are the dead v/ho die 
 in the Lord. Joseph died at the age of 
 an hundred and ten. Some of these 
 years v.-ere spent in grief; more of 
 them in joy. But when he entered 
 into the eternal world, he found that 
 the years spent in grief had been as 
 necessary for him, and were as pro- 
 ductive of benefit, as the years in 
 which he had seen prosperity. He 
 had not lived so long as his father, but 
 he had lived to bring forth much fruit 
 unto God ; and without this what 
 would it have availed him, what will 
 it avail us, to live as long as Methu- 
 selah? — Joseph's death occurred A. M. 
 2369, 64 years before the birth of Moses, 
 and 144 before the dehverance from 
 Egypt. ^ They embalmed hivi. Jo- 
 seph had caused this ceremony to be 
 performed for his father, not merely be- 
 cause he wished to do all the honor to 
 the patriarch's body which was usually 
 paid to the remains of great men in 
 
^4 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 [B. C. 1635. 
 
 Egypt, but because it was necessary in 
 order to preserve it from corruption, till 
 it could be carried to the place of sep- 
 ulture. The same reason existed for 
 dealing in a similar manner with the 
 body of Joseph. He was accordingly 
 embalmed and put in a cofl&n, but not 
 buried. Where the body was kept in 
 the interval prior to the exodus from 
 Egypt we are not informed ; but being 
 dead, he yet spake to the Israelites. 
 His venerable mummy, waiting foi 
 the time of its removal, cried aloud to 
 his kinsmen, * Here is not your rest ; 
 you are in a strange land; but God 
 will surely visit you and bring you into 
 the land which he sware to your fa- 
 thers to give you.' Joseph's dying 
 
 hopes were not disappointed. When 
 Moses left Egypt in haste, neither the 
 hurry of the departure, nor the im- 
 mense load of business and care which 
 then Jay upon his mind made him for- 
 get the bones of Joseph. He would 
 have thought himself guilty of the 
 basest ingratitude, and even of perjury, 
 if the oath made to the dying patriarch 
 had not been observed. Not one, it 
 may be presumed, of those persons to 
 whom the oath had been administered, 
 was then in the land of the living. 
 But the oath which they had sworn 
 survived their own dissolution, and 
 lived in its binding power upon the 
 consciences of their descendants. 
 
INDEX 
 
 SUBJECTS AND PHRASES. 
 
 Abimehch^ import of the name, 
 
 Abraham^ name explained, 
 
 Abyss, term explained, 
 
 Abrek, or bow the knee, meaning of the term considered, 
 
 Accepting the face, what meant by it, 
 
 According to the mouth of, what meant by the phrase, 
 
 Adam, import of the name, 
 
 how he is said to have begotten a son in his own likeness, 
 
 Adultery, how punished, 
 
 Almighty, or All-sufficient, Shaddai, a title of the Most High, 
 
 Altars, definition and use of, 
 
 And, equivalent to even, 
 
 Angel of the Lord, who intended by the phrase, 
 
 used as a personification of an event of providence, 
 
 who redeemed Jacob from evil, who. 
 
 Animal food, not an ordinary diet among the Orientals, 
 Animals, brought to Adam to be named. 
 Appearing, what meant by it when applied to God, 
 
 to Abraham and tho patriarchs, 
 
 — — before the Lord, 
 
 Antediluvians, considerations on their great age, 
 
 Aram, the same as Syria, 
 
 Ararat, mountains of, where situated, 
 
 Archers wounding Joseph, how phrase to be explained, 
 
 Ark, Noah's account of the construction o^ 
 
 Ass, wild, described, 
 
 B. 
 
 Babel, (Babylon,) confusion of tongues at, 
 Baker and butler, nature of their offices, 
 
 their dreams, how interpreted by Joseph, 
 
 Baskets, seen in the baker's dream, of what kind, 
 Banquet, used in the sense of drinking, 
 
 
 Vol. Page 
 
 
 1. 33r 
 
 I. 
 
 194, 270 
 
 
 I. 29 
 
 
 H. 287 
 
 
 I. 313 
 
 n. 
 
 356, 311 
 
 
 I. 109 
 
 'S, 
 
 I. 109 
 
 
 n. 243 
 
 
 I. 268 
 
 
 I. 147 
 
 
 I. 219 
 
 
 I. 260 
 
 
 n. 35 
 
 
 n. 378 
 
 
 I. 286 
 
 
 I. 64 
 
 
 n. 202 
 
 
 I. 200 
 
 
 H. 345 
 
 
 I. Ill 
 
 
 n. 17 
 
 
 I. 140 
 
 
 H. 412 
 
 
 I. 124 
 
 I. 
 
 177-179 
 
 
 n. 259 
 
 
 n. 260 
 
 
 H. 267 
 
 I. 303 
 
 n. 124 
 
436 INDEX OF SUBJECTS A^'D PHRASE3. 
 
 Barter, how carried on in ancient times, II. 
 
 Bearing upon the knees, what to be understood by, 
 Beasts, clean and unclean, grounds of the distinction of, 
 Before the Lord, the sense of the phrase, 1. 
 
 Begin, sometimes means to continue an action,. 
 Being with one, peculiar force of the expression, 
 Believing in God, the phrase explained as applied to Abraham, 
 Benediction, prophetical, why accompanied with eating and drink- 
 ing, 
 Benjamin, import of the name. 
 Bethel, why called Beth-aven, 
 
 in what sense called God's house, 
 
 Bethlehem, account of the modern, 
 
 Birth- day f casts, common in ancient times. 
 
 Birthright, in what it consisted, II. 
 
 Bishop, peculiar sense of the original term, 
 
 Bless, what the term imports, 
 
 Blessing, used in the sense of gift, or an act of liberality, 
 
 Blindness, applied to signify the effects of vertigo of the brain, 
 
 Bottles, eastern, described, 
 
 Bowing down, common token of respect in the East, 
 
 Bowing upon the bed's head, phrase considered, 
 
 Bracelets, eastern ornament described, 
 
 Branches, term used for wives and children, 
 
 Bread, a general term for food, 
 
 Breath of life, phrase explained. 
 
 Bricks, what kind employed in the building of Babylon, 
 
 Brother, used for kinsman, 
 
 Building one's house, equivalent to raising up children, 
 
 Burnt-offerings, nature of, 
 
 Burying-place, what implied by the purchase of one, II. 
 
 nature of the most ancient. 
 
 Butter, the use of it as an article of diet in the East, 
 By the life of Fharaoh, the oath considered, 
 
 C. 
 
 Cain and Abel, account of their respective offerings, I. 
 
 explanation of the sentence of the former, I. 
 
 Cakes, how speedily baked in the East, 
 
 Calling upon the name of the Lord, what meant by it, 
 
 CameVs milk, great use made of in the East, 
 
 Cannot, used not unfrequently to express moral inability, 
 
 Casting out the bondwoman, what meant by the expression. 
 
 Cattle and beast, distinction of, 
 
 Cave of Machpelah, account of, 
 
 Change of garments, when and why enjoined, 
 
 Changes of raiment, a common present in the East, 
 
 Cherubims, account of and how to be viewed. 
 
 Vol. Page. 
 
 24, 
 
 25 
 
 II. 
 
 12& 
 
 I. 
 
 132 
 
 172, 
 
 218 
 
 I. 
 
 160 
 
 II. 
 
 252 
 
 I. 
 
 242 
 
 II. 
 
 65 
 
 II. 
 
 206 
 
 II. 
 
 112 
 
 II. 
 
 113 
 
 II. 
 
 207 
 
 II. 
 
 269 
 
 67, 
 
 68 
 
 II. 
 
 281 
 
 I. 
 
 39 
 
 II. 
 
 182 
 
 I. 
 
 306 
 
 I. 
 
 353 
 
 II. 
 
 24 
 
 II. 
 
 370 
 
 II. 
 
 43 
 
 II. 
 
 44 
 
 I. 
 
 353 
 
 I. 
 
 53 
 
 I. 
 
 181 
 
 II. 
 
 19 
 
 I. 
 
 257 
 
 I. 
 
 147 
 
 . 22, 
 
 27 
 
 I. 
 
 287 
 
 II. 
 
 302 
 
 . 96, 
 
 97 
 
 . 9S-104 
 
 I 
 
 285 
 
 II 
 
 . 165 
 
 II 
 
 . 117 
 
 I 
 
 . 351 
 
 I 
 
 40 
 
 11 
 
 24 
 
 IT 
 
 200 
 
 II 
 
 342 
 
 I 
 
 92 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS AND PHRASES, 437 
 
 Vol. Page. 
 
 Childy used in the sense of lad, siHpling, I. 354 
 
 Children of the East, what people intended by the phrase, II. 55 
 
 Circumcision, nature and origin of the institution, I. 272 
 
 Coat of many colors, what to be understood by Joseph's, II. 222 
 
 Coats, how God is said to have made for our first parents, I. 88 
 
 Command, peculiar sense of the term, II. 426 
 
 Commanding one's household, what implied by it, I. 295 296 
 
 Communing with a servant, common in the East, II. 317 
 
 Comparative, for absolute expressions, not unfrequent in the 
 
 Scriptures, II. 336 
 
 Concubine, what kmd of connexion implied by the term, I. 257 II. 17 
 
 Corrupting, ascribed to God in the sense of destroying, I. 124 
 
 Corruption, how ascribed to the earth, I. 123 
 
 Counting for righteousness, lAiXd^SQ ex'^laXned, . 1.243 
 
 Covenant, scriptural sense of the term, I. 128 
 
 Covenant of salt, what I. 328 
 
 Covering of the eyes, how Abraham was a to Sarah, I. 344 
 
 Creation, the true import of the term I. 27 
 
 Cursing, how to be understood when spoken of God, I 81 
 
 in what sense the serpent was cursed, I. 82 
 
 in what sense the ground, I. 86 
 
 Cutting off a soul, what implied in that punishment, I. 277 
 
 Cutting a covenant, what meant by, I. 254 
 
 D. 
 
 Day, in what sense the term used in the Mosaic narrative, I. 31 
 
 in what sense said to be great, II. 116 
 
 Dead man, used for one in imminent danger of death, I. 337 
 Dead woman, in what sense Rachel affirmed that she should be 
 
 one, II. 128 
 
 Deborah, how honored as a nurse, II. 203 
 Deios, their copiousness in the East, II. 92, 154 
 
 Die, how Adam was to in the day of his disobedience, I. 63 
 
 Digging a grave for one's self, custom in relation to, II. 421 
 Dividing one's self, in military movements, what meant by it, 
 
 Diviner, in what sense this character is ascribed to Joseph, II, 324 
 
 Drawing water, performed by females in the East, II. 37 
 
 Dreams, repetition of, what meant by, II. 226 
 
 anciently a mode of divine communication, I. 337 
 
 Drinking, at feasts, how the phrase to be understood, II. 323 
 
 Duke, true sense of original term, II* 213 
 
 Dwelling in tents, how affirmed of Jacob, 11. 64 
 
 E. 
 
 Ear-rings, eastern described, 11. 42 
 
 Eating the forbidden fruit, design of the prohibition considered, 1. 62 
 
 Eber, why Shera called the father of his children, I. 175 
 
 Edar, tower oC passage resoecuiig explained, H. 203 
 
 S7* 
 
Vol. Page. 
 
 I. 55- 
 
 -61 
 
 II. 63, 
 
 67 
 
 II. 
 
 32 
 
 I. 
 
 240 
 
 II. 
 
 203 
 
 11. 
 
 419 
 
 I. 
 
 84 
 
 I. 
 
 112 
 
 I. 
 
 113 
 
 II. 
 
 293 
 
 II. 
 
 63 
 
 I. 
 
 60 
 
 L 
 
 87 
 
 I. 
 
 85 
 
 438 jy.DEX OF StJBJECTS AND THRASES. 
 
 Eden, garden of, locality attempted to be fixed, 
 
 Edom, import of the name, 
 
 Elder, term explained as a title of office, 
 
 Eliezer, how the name Lazarus formed from, 
 
 El-Bethel, meaning of the phrase, 
 
 Embalming, how and by whom performed, 
 
 Enmity, how put between the seed of the serpent and the seed of 
 
 the woman, 
 Enoch, what meant by his walking with God, 
 
 views of his translation, 
 
 Ephraim and Manasseh, import of the names, 
 Esau, import of the name^ 
 Ethiopia, same as Cush, 
 Eve, import of the name, 
 
 how her desire was to be to her husband, 
 
 Everlasting covenant, everlasting possession, how the phrase to 
 
 be understood, I. 271 
 
 F. 
 
 Fainting, how spoken of a land, II. 362 
 
 how of the heart, II. 344 
 
 Fall, how the term applied to Ishmael, II. 59, 60 
 Falling out by the way, what meant by the expression, II. 343 
 Father of many nations, in what sense Abraham was to be, I. 269 
 Fatness of the earth, how used as a symbol of spiritual blessings, II. 92 
 Fear of Isaac, in what sense God so termed, II. 154 
 Firmament, true sense of the term, I. 33 
 First-born, how Esau affirmed himself to be, II. 89 
 Finding grace or favor in one's sight, what I. 312 
 Fifth part of the land, what meant by Joseph's taking it, II. 282 
 Find, peculiar sense of the original term, II. 215, 232 
 Flocks, term sometimes includes keepers, II. 115 
 Foot, peculiar usage of the term in Hebrew, II. 135 
 For ever, with what hmitation the term used, I. 220 
 Fulfilling one's "xeek, what meant by the expression, II. 125 
 Fall of davs, what the import of the phrase as applied to Abra- 
 ham, 11. 56 
 
 G. 
 
 Gates, how said to be possessed, 
 
 usual place of ratifying contracts. 
 
 Gates of hell, how said not to prevail against the church. 
 
 Gathered to one's fathers, what meant by being. 
 
 Generations, original term how used. 
 
 Getting a man from the Lord, how Eve's words respeeting to be 
 
 understood, 
 Getting or making souls, what meant by the expression, 
 Gia-ntSf the antedilunan, torm explained, 
 
 11. 
 
 15 
 
 II. 
 
 25 
 
 II. 
 
 195 
 
 II. 
 
 57 
 
 I. 
 
 51 
 
 I. 
 
 n 
 
 I. 
 
 198 
 
 I. 
 
 lis 
 
IKDEX OF SUCJECTS AND PHRASES. 439 
 
 Gilead, mount, account of the region so called, 
 Give, used in Heb. for set, appoint, constitute, 
 Giving up the ghost, phrase explained, 
 Glory, used sometimes for the tongue, 
 
 used occasionally as synonymous with riches, 
 
 Go, or walk, used in the sense of constantly increase, 
 God, the import of the title both in Heb. and Eng., 
 — — in what sense frequently affixed to other words, 
 Going childless, phrase explained, 
 
 Going down, how attributed to God, 
 
 Going down into the grave mourning, what meant by it, 
 
 God forbid, true force of the expression, 
 
 God^s being with one, what meant by it, 
 
 Goodly raiment, given by Rebekah to Jacob, what, 
 
 Goelism, ancient usage explained, 
 
 Governor, origin and import of the original word, 
 
 Grave, origin of the term., 
 
 Greater, used in Heb. for elder, 
 
 Grizzled, origin and meaning of the term. 
 
 Groves, anciently used as places of prayer, 
 
 H. 
 
 Hated, equivalent to loved less, 
 Hearing a voice, what the sense of the expression, 
 Hearken, used in the sense of to obey, 
 
 Hebrew, whether the original language, and whence the name de- 
 rived, 
 
 why Abraham so called. 
 
 Heaven, scriptural sense of the term. 
 Help meet, phrase explained, 
 
 Hospitality, a distinguished virtue of eastern nations, 
 Host of the heavens and earth, what meant by the phrase, 
 Hunter, a mighty, in what sense Nimrod so called, , 
 
 I. 
 
 Jf, sometimes equivalent to a negative^ 
 
 Image, how man was made after God's, 
 
 Impersonal modes of expression common in the scriptures, 
 
 Inheriting one, what meant by, 
 
 Jnn, term sometimes signifies merely lodging-place^ 
 
 Inquiring of the Lord, how done in ancient times, 
 
 Isaac, import of his name, 
 
 Ishmael, the import of his name, and the prediction respecting him 
 
 considered, 
 Israel, import and application of the name, 
 
 Jacob, import of the name, II. 63 
 
 Vol. Pajie. 
 
 TI. 
 
 146 
 
 I. 
 
 43 
 
 II. 
 
 56 
 
 II. 
 
 392 
 
 II. 
 
 139 
 
 II. 
 
 75 
 
 I. 
 
 26 
 
 II. 
 
 23 
 
 I. 
 
 240 
 
 I. 
 
 296 
 
 II. 
 
 237 
 
 I. 
 
 299 
 
 I. 
 
 358 
 
 II. 
 
 68 
 
 I. 
 
 153 
 
 II. 
 
 298 
 
 II. 
 
 23 
 
 II. 
 
 84 
 
 II. 
 
 141 
 
 I. 
 
 366 
 
 II. 
 
 126 
 
 I. 
 
 358 
 
 I. 
 
 257 
 
 I. 
 
 177 
 
 I. 
 
 227 
 
 I. 
 
 27 
 
 I. 
 
 64 
 
 I. 
 
 282 
 
 I. 
 
 45 
 
 I. 
 
 171 
 
 I. 
 
 237 
 
 I. 
 
 41 
 
 II. 
 
 372 
 
 I. 
 
 241 
 
 II. 
 
 306 
 
 II. 
 
 62 
 
 I. 
 
 279 
 
 I. 262—266 
 
 II. 
 
 173 
 
440 INDEX OF SUBJECTS AND PHRASES. 
 
 Vol. Page- 
 
 Jehovak-jireh, import of the phrase explained, II. 13 
 
 Joseph, charged with oversight of his brethren, 11. 220 
 
 how he brought his brethren's evil report, * II. 221 
 
 how a son of Jacob's old age, II. 222 
 
 ■ how the ox a symbol of, II. 394 
 
 his conduct vindicated in reference to the Egyptian priests, II. 366 
 
 his dissimulation with his brethren justified, II. 300 
 
 his conduct in marrying Asenath considered, II. 290 
 
 how he is said to have remembered his dreams, II. 
 
 how likened to a fruitful bough by a well, II. 410 
 
 Judge, in what sense the original term used, II. 129 
 
 K. 
 
 Keeping covenant, what meant by the phrase, I. 272 
 
 Kesitah, name of a Jewish coin, II. 1S6 
 
 Keturah, at what time she was married to Abraham, II. 53 
 
 Kissing, a token of subjection, II. 284 
 
 Knowing, applied to God in the sense of making known, II. 12 
 
 Knowledge, implies practical feeling and experimental sense, I. E6 
 
 L. 
 
 Lad, in what sense term used in the scriptures, II. 12 
 
 Ladder, Jacob's vision of the, considered, II. 106 
 
 Last days, import of the phrase, II. .335 
 Laughing, by what motives prompted in Abraham and Sarah, I. 279, 290 
 
 Learning by experience, what meant by the phrase, II. 134 
 
 Leading, used in the sense of providing, II. 360 
 
 Lead on softly, phrase explained, II. 184 
 
 Lentiles, w^hat and how dressed, II. 69 
 
 Levlraie law, the nature of, II, 240 
 
 Liberality, large professions of, common among the Orientals, II. 26 
 
 Lifting up the feet, Tphvase how used, II. II4 
 
 Lifting up the head, what implied by it, II. 264 
 
 Lifting up the hand, equivalent to swearing, I. 237 
 
 Life and soul, terms used synonymously, I. 151 
 
 Lighting of from a camel, as a mark of respect to a superior, II. 52 
 Lighting upon a place, how far the idea of chance involved in the 
 
 expression, II. 105 
 
 Lightly, used in the sense of easily, II. 74 
 
 Lights, how made on the fourth day, J, 35 
 
 how serve for signs, seasons, &c., I. 36 
 
 Looking behind, what implied in the commend given to Lot, I. 311, 326 
 
 Lord, title of honor in the East, II. 25 
 
 Lord God, import of the title, I. 51 
 
 Loud weeping, common among the Orientals, II. 333 
 
 M. 
 
 Magicians, of Egypt, what class of men to be under8too4 by tba 
 
 ternJi IL 273 
 
INDEX or srnjECT? AND PHRASES. 
 
 441 
 
 Mahanaim, what the origin and import of the name, 
 Man^ Adam, import of the name, 
 Mandrakes, what plant probably intended by, 
 Mark, set upon Cain, phrase explained. 
 Marriages, how negotiated in the East, 
 Marry, used in the sense of betroth, 
 Melchizedek, view of his person and character, 
 Mesopotamia, geographical account of, 
 Ministering to one, what implied by the expression, 
 Mocking, how affirmed of Ishmael, 
 Moriah, land of, what region intended thereby. 
 Mountain, often equivalent to a mountainous region^ 
 Moving creature, true import of original term, 
 Mules, account of Anah's finding in the wilderness, 
 
 N. 
 Nakedness of the land, what meant by the phrase, 
 Naming a name upon one, what meant by it. 
 Nations, how said to be blessed in Abraham's seed, 
 Nimrod, import of his name, and his general character consid- 
 ered, 
 Noah, import of his name and various events of his history, 
 ■ — his cursing of Canaan considered, 
 his predictions respecting Shem and Japhelh explained, 
 
 which of his sons the eldest, 
 
 Nomade tribes, how they become settled cultivators, 
 Nuptial benediction, form of among the ancient Hebrews, 
 Nurses, highly valu.d and honored among the eastern nations, 
 
 • O. 
 
 Oath of execration, what meant by, 
 
 Observe a saying, import of the expression, 
 
 Of, used for concerning, respecting, 
 
 Onan, his sin and punishment, .. ] 
 
 Only son, equivalent to beloved son. 
 
 Opening of the eyes, of our first parents in consequence af sin, 
 
 of Hagar in the wilderness. 
 
 Overseeing, how expressed in the origina), 
 Ovens, of the East, how constructed, 
 
 r. 
 
 Paradise, origin of the term, 
 
 Peace, how term employed in eastern salutations, 1 
 
 Peleg, how the earth divided in his days, 
 
 Perfection, in what sense ascribed to men, 
 
 Pharaoh, a title rather than a name, 
 
 his conduct in taking Sarah from her husband considered, 
 
 Pillar of salt, what meant by the expression, 
 
 Vol. Paga. 
 
 II. 
 
 159 
 
 I. 
 
 41 
 
 II. 
 
 131 
 
 I. 
 
 104 
 
 II. 
 
 48 
 
 I. 
 
 303 
 
 1. 233, 
 
 237 
 
 II. 
 
 101 
 
 II. 
 
 243 
 
 11. 
 
 6 
 
 I. 
 
 226 
 
 I. 
 
 37 
 
 II. 
 
 21.=S 
 
 II. 
 
 300 
 
 11. 
 
 379 
 
 II. 
 
 16 
 
 I. 171- 
 
 -173 
 
 I. 114- 
 
 -167 
 
 I. 
 
 162 
 
 I. 163, 
 
 164 
 
 I. 
 
 175 
 
 II. 
 
 74 
 
 II. 
 
 50 
 
 II. 
 
 50 
 
 11. 
 
 81 
 
 II. 
 
 227 
 
 I. 
 
 335 
 
 I. 339, 
 
 343 
 
 II. 
 
 5 
 
 I. 76, 
 
 78 
 
 I. 
 
 353 
 
 II. 
 
 243 
 
 I. 
 
 251 
 
 I. 
 
 54 
 
 I. 116, 
 
 224 
 
 I. 
 
 176 
 
 I. 
 
 122 
 
 I. 
 
 205 
 
 I. 
 
 205 
 
 I. 328 
 
Vol. Page. 
 
 II. 
 
 231 
 
 II. 
 
 64 
 
 11. 
 
 237 
 
 II. 
 
 66 
 
 I. 
 
 235 
 
 I. 
 
 223 
 
 II. 
 
 182 
 
 J I. 
 
 349 
 
 II. 
 
 257 
 
 11. 
 
 69 
 
 11. 
 
 247 
 
 I. 
 
 340 
 
 442 INDEX OF SUBJECTS AND PHRASES. 
 
 Pi7, into what kind of one Joseph cast, 
 
 Plain man, how to be understood of Jacob, 
 
 Potiphar, what office he held in Pharaoh's court, 
 
 Pottage, what kind of food meant by term. 
 
 Possessor of heaven and earth, how this title applied to God, 
 
 Predatory xcarfare, of the Arabs described. 
 
 Present, what implied by not receiving one in the East, 
 
 Present tense, used for the past, 
 
 Prisons, in the East, general police of, 
 
 Profane, epithet how applied to Esau, 
 
 Prosperous man, how affirmed of Joseph, 
 
 Prophet, original import of the term. 
 
 Putting the hand-under the thigh, in taking an oaih, what meant 
 
 by it, ' ir. 32 
 
 R. 
 
 Rachefs grave, state of in modern times, II. 207 
 
 Rainbow, appointed a sign of the covenant wiih Noah, I. 157 
 
 Rehekah, her counsel to Jacob considered, II. 66 
 
 Remembering Noah, how affirmed of God, I. 139 
 
 Repenting, how ascribed to God, I. 120 
 
 Requiring the blood of one's Ufe, what meant by it, I. 152 
 
 Return, in what peculiar sense the term used in scripture, I. 289 
 
 Respect, shewn by parents to children in the East, II. 152 
 
 Reuben, how the excellency of dignity and of power, II. 367 
 
 Rich, how the epithet to be understood in reference to Abraham, I. 210 
 
 Riding upon camels, particulars in respect to II. 151 
 
 Rising up, peculiar sense of the term in the scriptures, II. 7 
 
 Rolling one's self upon another, import of the phrase, II. 316 
 
 Ruins, of ancient Babylon, I. 1S6 
 
 Riders over cattle, p\\T-??e exi)hmcd, II. 357 
 
 S. 
 
 Sackcloth, putting on an expression of grief, II. 236 
 
 Sacrifices, animal, the original institution of, I. 69 
 
 Sanctify, force of the term explained, I, 47 
 
 S'crory wee/, what meant by, II. 84 
 
 Sarai, Sarah, import of these names, I. 278 
 
 Say, used in the sense of willing, purposing, decreeing, I, 29 
 
 also in the sense of thinking, concluding, I, 343 
 
 Sceptre, in what sense used in the scriptures, II. 393 
 
 Seal rings, nature and use of'in the East, II. 286 
 
 Seas, symbolical use of the term, I. 34 
 
 Secret, sometimes used for secret assembly, II. 391 
 
 See, used in the sense of understand, perceive, ■ II. 296 
 
 used in the sense of looking out, providing, II. 10 
 
 Seers, ancient name of prophets, I. 32B 
 
 Sending away with songs and mirth, usual in the East, II. 143 
 
nWEX OF SUBJECTS AND PHRASES. 443 
 
 Vol Page. 
 
 Serpent, origin and import of the term, I. 70 
 
 his agency in the fall considered, I. 74 
 
 Servants, a title of ecclesiastical officers I], 31 
 
 Servant of servants, phrase explained, I. 1.63 
 
 Serving for a wife, eastern customs in respect to, II. 121 
 
 Setting the eyes upon one, what meant by the expression, II. 330 
 
 Setting one's face to go, what implied by the phrase, II. 146 
 
 Seven, peculiar use of the number, I. 46 II. ISO 
 
 Siven eice- lambs, why employed in taking an oath, I. 363 
 
 Seven years' service of Jacob with Laban, how to be understood, II. 120 
 
 Seventy days, a period of mourning, II. 419 
 
 Sewing fg-leaves together, mode of explained, I. 79 
 
 Sheba, why the well of that name so called, II. 82 
 
 Shedding man's blood, penalty of it considered, I. 1B4 
 
 Sheep- shearing, a season of festivity among the Israelites, II. 241 
 
 Shepherds, in the East accountable for their flocks, II. 153* 
 
 why an abomination to the Egyptians, II. 353 
 
 Shekel, origin and import of the term, I. 344 
 
 Shiloh, its import as a title of the Messiah, II. 400 
 
 Shoe-latchet, what meant by terra, I. 237 
 
 Sinew which shrank, what it was and how forbidden to be eaten, II. 177 
 
 Sister, in what sense the term used by the Hebrews, I. 204 
 
 Abraham's conduct in calling Sarah so considered, I. 204 
 
 Sitting in the gate, import of the expression, I. 302 
 
 Sitting in an open place, how spoken of Tamar, II. 242 
 
 Slaves, called servants in the scriptures, I. 229 
 
 their condition in the East, I. 229 II. 212 
 
 Sodom and Gomorrah, destruction of considered, I. 315 — 328 
 
 Song of the land, import of the phrase as applied to fruits, II. 313 
 
 Sons of God and daughters of men, what two classes meant by, I. 116 
 
 Soul, used in the sense of person, I. 236 II. 212 
 
 also in the sense of tvill, desire, IL 24 
 
 Spirit, the Lord's, striving with man, what implied in the phrase, L 117 
 
 Spirit of God, in what sense the phrase used by Pharaoh, II. 283 
 
 Speaking good or bad to one, what meant by, II. 147 
 
 Stealing the heart, the phrase how used in the scriptures, II. 146 
 
 Stolen, in what sense affirmed of Joseph, II. 265 
 
 Stones, why placed upon the mouth of wells, II. 115 
 
 custom as to rolling away, II. 116 
 
 Straw and provender, how prepared for horses in the East, II. 45 
 
 SluJ" and goods, distinction between, II. 347 
 
 Subduing tht earth, what meant by it, II, 
 
 Sultan, origin and import of the title, JI. 295 
 
 Swearing, term peculiarly used in Hebrew, II. 36 
 
 T. 
 
 Tabret, what kind of instrument meant by, II. 148 
 
 Tempt, how God is said to his creatiares, IL 
 
444 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS AND PHRASES. 
 
 Ten times, definite for an indefinite number of times, 
 
 Tender-eyed, epithet how applied to Leah, 
 
 Tents, Oriental described, 
 
 — ■ term sometimes used for house, 
 
 • term used for occupants of tents, 
 
 Teraphim, what supposed to be. 
 
 Tithes, first intimation of in the scriptures, 
 
 how given by Jacob, 
 
 Touch, equivalent to hurt, injure, 
 
 Trained servants, what meant by Abraham's, 
 
 Travelling, usual eastern mode of, 
 
 Tree, used as a noun of multitqde. 
 
 Trees of life, and of knowledge of good and evil, what meant by, 
 
 U. 
 
 Unstable as water, how affirmed of Reuben, 
 Ur of the Chaldees, modern name of, 
 
 Vegetable diet, originally appointed for man. 
 
 Veils, Oriental customs in respect to wearing, 
 
 Venison, in what sense term used, 
 
 Vision, of God, how made to ancient patriarchs and prophets, 
 
 Visit, how spoken of God's dispensations, 
 
 Voice qf the Lord, what meant by the phrase. 
 
 Vows, under what circumstances to be made, 
 
 W. 
 Walking, used in the sense of increasing, 
 Washing the feet, a common act of civility performed for guests, 
 Waters, of the deluge, how assuaged by the wind, 
 Water, how drawn and carried by females in the East, 
 — living or springing, what meant by, 
 Weaning, peculiar import of the original term, 
 Wells, often filled by enemies in the East, 
 Wheat, the peculiar kind of that grows in Egypt, 
 Whales, what meant by the term. 
 
 Wilderness, of the East, how described by travellers, I. 
 
 Windows of heaven, term explained. 
 With young, phrase how used in the scriptures, 
 Women, employed as keepers of sheep in the East, 
 Word and thing, expressed in Heb. by common terra, 
 Vl^orks, of God, how very good, * 
 
 Worship, used for civil reverence and homage, 
 
 Vol. PagB. 
 
 II. 
 
 140 
 
 II. 
 
 120 
 
 II. 
 
 64 
 
 II. 
 
 185 
 
 I. 
 
 212 
 
 II. 
 
 144 
 
 I. 
 
 236 
 
 II. 
 
 114 
 
 II. 
 
 74 
 
 I. 
 
 228 
 
 II. 
 
 143 
 
 I. 
 
 57 
 
 I. 55 
 
 ,56 
 
 II. 
 
 388 
 
 I. 
 
 188 
 
 I. 
 
 42 
 
 II. 
 
 32 
 
 II. 
 
 66 
 
 I. 
 
 239 
 
 I. 
 
 346 
 
 I. 
 
 79 
 
 11. 
 
 112 
 
 I. 
 
 79 
 
 I. 
 
 284 
 
 I. 
 
 139 
 
 II. 
 
 41 
 
 II. 
 
 77 
 
 I. 
 
 349 
 
 II. 
 
 75 
 
 II. 
 
 292 
 
 I. 
 
 38 
 
 355—356 
 
 I. 
 
 135 
 
 II. 
 
 184 
 
 IL 
 
 , 117 
 
 I. 
 
 238 
 
 I. 
 
 43 
 
 I. 
 
 283 
 
 Young man, what sense often attached to the phrase, 
 
 I. 238 
 

BS1235.B9781852V.2 
 
 Notes, critical and practical on the 
 
 Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00041 7545