CHAPTER XXV _Abraham marries Keturah_, 1. _Their issue_, 2-4. _Makes Isaac his heir_, 5; _but gives portions to the sons of his concubines, and sends_ _them eastward from Isaac, to find settlements_, 6. _Abraham's age_, 7, _and death_, 8. _Is buried by his sons Isaac and Ishmael in the cave... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:2. _ZIMRAN_] Stephanus Byzantinus mentions a city in _Arabia_ _Felix_ called _Zadram_, which some suppose to have been named from this son of Keturah; but it is more likely, as Calmet observes, that all these sons of Abraham resided in _Arabia Deserta_; and Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. v... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:3. _SHEBA_] From whom sprang the Sabeans, who robbed Job of his cattle. See _Bochart_ and _Calmet_. _ASSHURIM, AND LETUSHIM, AND LEUMMIM._] We know not who these were, but as each name is _plural_ they must have been _tribes_ or _families_, and not _individuals_. Onkelos interprets... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:4. _EPHAH, AND EPHER, C._] Of these we know no more than of the preceding an abundance of conjectures is already furnished by the commentators.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:5. _GAVE ALL THAT HE HAD UNTO ISAAC._] His principal flocks, and especially his right to the land of Canaan, including a confirmation to him and his posterity of whatever was contained in the promises of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:6. _UNTO THE SONS OF THE CONCUBINES_] Viz., Hagar and Keturah, Abraham gave gifts. Cattle for breed, seed to sow the land, and implements for husbandry, may be what is here intended. _AND SENT THEM AWAY - WHILE HE YET LIVED_] Lest after his death they should dispute a settlement i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:7. _THE DAYS OF THE YEARS, C._] There is a beauty in this expression which is not sufficiently regarded. Good men do not live by _centuries_, though many such have lived several hundred years, nor do they count their lives even by _years_, but by _days_, living as if they were the c... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:8. _THEN ABRAHAM GAVE UP THE GHOST_] Highly as I value our translation for general accuracy, fidelity, and elegance, I must beg leave to dissent from this version. The original word יגוע _yigva_, from the root גוע _gava_, signifies _to pant for breath,_ _to expire, to cease from br... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:9. _HIS SONS ISAAC AND ISHMAEL BURIED HIM_] Though Ishmael and his mother had been expelled from Abraham's family on the account of Isaac, yet, as he was under the same obligation to a most loving affectionate father as his brother Isaac, if any personal feuds remained, they agreed... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:11. _GOD BLESSED HIS SON ISAAC_] The peculiar blessings and influences by which Abraham had been distinguished now rested upon Isaac; but how little do we hear in him of the work of faith, the patience of hope, and the labour of love! Only one Abraham and one Christ ever appeared am... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:12. _THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF ISHMAEL_] The object of the inspired writer seems to be to show how the promises of God were fulfilled to both the branches of Abraham's family. _Isaac_ has been already referred to; God blessed him according to the promise. He had also promised to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:13. _NEBAJOTH_] From whom came the Nabatheans, whose capital was _Petra_, or, according to Strabo, _Nabathea_. They dwelt in _Arabia Petraea_, and extended themselves on the east towards Arabia Deserta. _KEDAR_] The founder of the _Cedreans_, who dwelt near to the _Nabatheans_. The... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:14. _MISHMA, AND DUMAH, AND MASSA_] Where the first and last of these settled is not known; but it is probable that _Dumah_ gave his name to a place called Dumah in _Arabia_. See a prophecy concerning this place, Isaiah 21:11, from which we find that it was in the vicinity of _Mount... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:15. _HADAR_] This name should be read _Hadad_ as in 1 Chronicles 1:30. This reading is supported by more than three hundred MSS., versions, and printed editions. See Clarke on Genesis 25:18. _TEMA_] Supposed to be a place in Arabia Deserta, the same of which Job speaks, Job 6:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:16. _THESE ARE THEIR NAMES_] By which their _descendants_ were called. _Their towns _- places of encampment in the wilderness, such as have been used by the Arabs from the remotest times. Their castles, טירתם _tirotham, their towers_, probably mountain tops, fortified rocks, and fas... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:18. _THEY DWELT FROM HAVILAH UNTO SHUR_] The descendants of Ishmael possessed all that country which extends from east to west, from _Havilah_ on the Euphrates, near its junction with the Tigris, to the desert of _Shur_ eastward of Egypt; and which extends along the isthmus of Suez,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:19. _THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF ISAAC_] This is the history of Isaac and his family. Here the _sixth_ section of the law begins, called תולדת יעחק _toledoth yitschak_; as the _fifth_, called חיי שרה _chaiye Sarah_, which begins with Genesis 23:1, ends at the preceding verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:21. _ISAAC ENTREATED THE LORD FOR HIS WIFE_] Isaac and Rebekah had now lived _nineteen_ years together without having a child; for he was _forty_ years old when he married Rebekah, Genesis 25:20, and he was _threescore_ years of age when Jacob and Esau were born, Genesis 25:26. Henc... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:22. _THE CHILDREN STRUGGLED TOGETHER_] יתרצצו _yithrotsatsu,_ _they dashed against_ or _bruised each other_, there was a violent agitation, so that the mother was apprehensive both of her own and her children's safety; and, supposing this was an uncommon case, she went to inquire o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:23. _TWO NATIONS ARE IN THY WOMB_] "We have," says Bishop Newton, "in the prophecies delivered respecting the sons of Isaac, ample proof that these prophecies were not meant so much of _single_ _persons_ as of _whole nations_ descended from them; for what was predicted concerning _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:24. _THERE WERE TWINS_] תומם _thomim_, from which comes _Thomas_, properly interpreted by the word διδυμος, _Didymus_, which signifies a _twin_; so the first person who was called Thomas or Didymus, we may take for granted, had this name from the circumstance of his being a _twin_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:25. _RED, ALL OVER LIKE A HAIRY GARMENT_] This simply means that he was covered all over with red hair or down; and that this must be intended here is sufficiently evident from another part of his history, where Rebekah, in order to make her favourite son Jacob pass for his brother... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:26. _HIS NAME WAS CALLED JACOB_] יעקב _Yaccob_, from עקב _akab_, to _defraud, deceive_, to _supplant_, i.e., to overthrow a person by _tripping up his heels_. Hence this name was given to Jacob, because it was found he had laid hold on his brother's heel, which was emblematical of h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:27. _A MAN OF THE FIELD_] איש שדה _ish sadeh_, one who supported himself and family by _hunting_ and by _agriculture_. _JACOB_ WAS _A PLAIN MAN_] איש תם _ish tam_, a perfect or upright man; _dwelling in tents _- subsisting by breeding and tending cattle, which was considered in tho... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:28. _ISAAC LOVED ESAU - BUT REBEKAH LOVED JACOB._] This is an early proof of unwarrantable parental attachment to one child in preference to another. _Isaac loved Esau_, and _Rebekah loved_ _Jacob_; and in consequence of this the interests of the family were divided, and the house s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:29. _SOD POTTAGE_] יזד נזיד _yazed nazid_, he boiled a boiling; and this we are informed, Genesis 25:34, was of עדשים _adashim_, what the Septuagint render φακον, and we, following them and the Vulgate _lens_, translate _lentiles_, a sort of pulse. Dr. Shaw casts some light on this... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:30. _I AM FAINT_] It appears from the whole of this transaction, that Esau was so completely exhausted by fatigue that he must have perished had he not obtained some immediate refreshment. He had been either hunting or labouring in the field, and was now returning for the purpose of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:31. _SELL ME THIS DAY THY BIRTHRIGHT._] What the בחרה _bechorah_ or birthright was, has greatly divided both ancient and modern commentators. It is generally supposed that the following rights were attached to the primogeniture: 1. Authority and superiority over the rest of the fam... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 25:34. _POTTAGE OF LENTILES_] Genesis 25:29. _THUS ESAU DESPISED HIS BIRTHRIGHT._] On this account the apostle, Hebrews 12:16, calls Esau a _profane person_, because he had, by this act, alienated from himself and family those spiritual offices connected with the rights of primogenit... [ Continue Reading ]