Genesis 28:2

_ARISE, GO TO PADAN-ARAM, TO THE HOUSE OF BETHUEL THY MOTHER'S FATHER; AND TAKE THEE A WIFE FROM THENCE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF LABAN THY MOTHER'S BROTHER._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

2._Arise, go to Padan-aram_. In the first place, he commands him to take a wife from his maternal race. He might have sent for her by some one of his servants, as Rebekah had been brought to him; but perhaps he took this course to avoid the envy of Esau, who might regard it as a reproach if more solicitude were manifested about his brother’s marriage than about his own....

1-5 Jacob had blessings promised both as to this world and that which is to come; yet goes out to a hard service. This corrected him for the fraud on his father. The blessing shall be conferred on him, yet he shall smart for the indirect course taken to obtain it. Jacob is dismissed by his father with a solemn charge. He must not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan: those who profess religion, should not marry with those that care not for religion. Also with a solemn blessing. Isaac had before blessed him unwittingly; now he does it designedly. This blessing is more full than the former; it is a gospel blessing. This promise looks as high as heaven, of which Canaan was a type. That was the better country which Jacob and the other patriarchs had in view....

Verse Genesis 28:2. _GO TO PADAN-ARAM_] This mission, in its spirit and design, is nearly the same as that in Genesis 24:1, c., which see. There have been several ingenious conjectures concerning the _retinue_ which Jacob had, or might have had, for his journey and by some he has been supposed to have been _well attended_. Of this nothing is mentioned here, and the reverse seems to be intimated elsewhere. It appears, from Genesis 28:11, that he lodged in the open air, with a stone for his pillow; and from Genesis 32:10, that he went _on foot_ with his staff in his hand; nor is there even the most indirect mention of...

- Jacob’s Journey to Haran 3. קהל _qâhāl_, “congregation.” 9. מחלת _māchălat_, Machalath, “sickness, or a harp.” 19. לוּז _lûz_, Luz, “almond.” The blessing of his sons was the last passage in the active life of Isaac, after which he retires from the scene. Jacob now becomes the leading figure in the sacred history. His spiritual character has yet come out to view. But even now we can discern the general distinction in the lives of the three patriarchs. Abraham’s is a life of authority and decision; Isaac’s, of submission and acquiescence; and Jacob’s, of trial and struggle. Genesis 28:1 Isaac has now become alive to the real destiny of Jacob. He therefore calls for

EXPOSITION GENESIS 28:1 AND ISAAC CALLED JACOB (to his bed-side), AND BLESSED HIM,—in enlarged form, renewing the benediction previously given (Genesis 27:27)—AND SAID UNTO HIM, THOU SHALT NOT TAKE A WIFE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF CANAAN (cf. Genesis 14:3). Intermarriage with the women of the land was expressly forbidden to the theocratic heir, while his attention was directed to his mother's kindred. GENESIS 28:2 ARISE, GO TO PADAN-ARAM (_vide _

ARISE, GO TO PADANARAM,.... Of this place, Genesis 25:20; either he is bid to go directly, in haste and alone; perhaps by this time Rebekah had given Isaac some hint of the ill design of Esau against him, which made Isaac the more urgent upon him to be gone, as well as it was high time he had took to himself a wife: TO THE HOUSE OF BETHUEL THY MOTHER'S FATHER; who though now dead in all probability, yet the house and family went by his name: AND TAKE THEE A WIFE FROM THENCE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF LABAN THY MOTHER'S BROTHER: who had daughters unmarried, of which no doubt Isaac and Rebekah had knowledge, a correspondence being kept up between the two families, though at a great distance....

CHAPTER 28 JACOB'S DEPARTURE TO PADAN-ARAM AND HIS VISION _ 1. Isaac sends Jacob away and gives his blessing (Genesis 28:1)_ 2. Esau's action (Genesis 28:6) 3. Jacob's vision and vow (Genesis 28:10) We enter with this upon the interesting wanderings of the third patriarch, Jacob. God was pleased to reveal Himself to the three illustrious men, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as He did not before. In Exodus 3:4 Jehovah reveals Himself to Moses and Jehovah calls Himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This is My name forever.” In Abraham, as we have seen, we have the type of the Father; in

GENESIS 27:46 TO GENESIS 28:9. JACOB IS SENT FROM HOME TO MARRY INTO HIS MOTHER'S FAMILY. The reader may readily suppose that Rebekah uses the unfortunate marriage of Esau as a pretext to hide her real reason for sending Jacob away, which was to baulk Esau of his revenge. But this section comes from P and links on to Genesis 26:34 f. Intermarriage with Canaanites was contrary to the ideals of Judaism; Edom may do such things, but not Israel. When Esau learnt that his father was not pleased with his wives, and in sending Jacob to Laban had given him the blessing of Abraham, he married the daughter of Ishmael, his cousin, though not so pure in breed as his own family, since her grandmother was Egyptian. It is noteworthy that

PADAN-ARAIN the plain of Syria....