_A.M. 2272. B.C. 1732._ In this chapter we have, (1,) Three instances of communion between God and Jacob. 1, God ordered Jacob to Beth-el, and, in obedience to this order, he purged his house of idols, and prepared for that journey, Genesis 35:1; Genesis 35:2, Jacob built an altar at Beth-el to the... [ Continue Reading ]
_God said, Arise, go up to Beth-el_ This was a word in season to comfort his disquieted mind, and direct him to a safer place. _Make there an altar_ Consider and pay thy vows there, made in the time of thy distress. Jacob had said in the day of his distress, _If I come again in peace, this stone sha... [ Continue Reading ]
_Put away the strange gods that are among you_ This is evidently a mistranslation; the Hebrew אלהי הנכר means, not _the strange gods_ that are among you, but _the gods of the stranger_ that is among you, alluding probably to the captive Shechemite women, who now made a part of his household, or to o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who answered me in the day of my distress_ He considers God's gracious promise then made to him, and the assurance of his favour toward him, and care of him, impressed by God upon his mind, as an answer to his prayers, although he had then seen no success, nor any accomplishment of God's word to hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_They gave unto Jacob all the strange gods_ Rather, _the gods of the stranger; and all their ear-rings_ Either because they had been abused to idolatry and superstition, and were therefore to be destroyed, (Deuteronomy 7:57 and Deuteronomy 12:3,) or for fear they should be so abused. For the Holy S... [ Continue Reading ]
_The terror of God_ A great terror from God; _was upon the cities_ Especially the cities nearest to Shechem, so that, although, humanly speaking, they were able, they were restrained from pursuing or destroying Jacob and his family. Nothing less could have secured them, considering the number, power... [ Continue Reading ]
_He built an altar_ And, no doubt, offered sacrifice upon it, perhaps the tenth of his cattle, according to his vow, _I will give the tenth unto thee._ And _he called the place_ That is, the altar, _El-Beth-el_ The _God of Beth-el._ As when he made a thankful acknowledgment of the honour God had don... [ Continue Reading ]
_Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died_ It appears, on computation, that this event took place not less than a hundred and twenty-five years after Rebekah's marriage with Isaac. No doubt Rebekah was now dead, and this old nurse, who had come with her into Canaan, (Genesis 24:59,) and had tarried with her w... [ Continue Reading ]
He _called his name Israel_ So he had been named by the angel that wrestled with him, (Genesis 32:28,) and the change of his name, then made, is here confirmed and ratified by the Divine Majesty, to encourage him against the fear of the Canaanites, and to assure him that, as he had prevailed over Es... [ Continue Reading ]
_God went up from him_ In some visible display of his glory, which had hovered over him while he talked with him; or by withdrawing the signs of his special presence, as Genesis 17:22, and Judges 13:20; as, on the contrary, God is said _to come down_, not by change of place, but by some signal manif... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Jacob set up a pillar_ When he was going to Padan-aram he set up that stone which he had laid his head on for a pillow; but now he took time to erect one more stately and durable, probably inserting that stone in it. And in token of his intending it for a sacred memorial of his communion with G... [ Continue Reading ]
_As her soul was departing_ בצאת נפשׁה, _when her soul was going out_, namely, of the body: an argument this of the soul's immortality, especially if compared with Ecclesiastes 12:7; from which places collated, we learn both whence it goes, and whither it goes. _She called his name Benoni_ The _son... [ Continue Reading ]
_Rachel was buried in the way to Ephrath_ Not in the city, though it was near; for in ancient times their sepulchres were not in places of resort, but in places separated and out of the cities, Matthew 27:60; Luke 7:12. If the soul be at rest, the matter is not great where the body lies. In the pla... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jacob set a pillar upon her grave_ As a monument, or memorial of her life and death, and as a testimony of her future resurrection. _That is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day_ Unto the time when Moses wrote this book. But it was known to be Rachel's sepulchre long after, 1 Samuel 10:2, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Israel journeyed, and spread his tent_ Though a _prince with God_, yet he dwells in tents; the city is reserved for him in the other world.... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Israel dwelt in that land_ And probably was absent from his family, which might be the unhappy occasion of these disorders. Though, perhaps, Bilhah was the greater criminal, yet Reuben's crime was so provoking, that for it he lost his birthright and blessing, chap. Genesis 49:4. _Israel heard... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jacob came unto Isaac his father_ Probably to dwell with or near him; bringing, it seems, his family with him. We can hardly suppose that this was the first visit he paid him since his return from Mesopotamia. Without question he had often visited him, though the Scripture be silent as to this par... [ Continue Reading ]
_The days of Isaac were a hundred and fourscore years_ He lived the longest of all the patriarchs, even five years longer than Abraham. He was a mild and quiet man, and these qualities probably contributed no little to his health and long life. Isaac lived about forty years after he made his will. W... [ Continue Reading ]