Genesis 31:7

_AND YOUR FATHER HATH DECEIVED ME, AND CHANGED MY WAGES TEN TIMES; BUT GOD SUFFERED HIM NOT TO HURT ME._ Changed my wages ten times - i:e., many times: ten, besides signifying a determinate number, frequently stands in Scripture for many (cf. Leviticus 26:26; 1 Samuel 1:8; Ecclesiastes 7:9; Dan. 1:26; Amos 6:9; Zechariah 8:23)....

1-21 The affairs of these families are related very minutely, while (what are called) the great events of states and kingdoms at that period, are not mentioned. The Bible teaches people the common duties of life, how to serve God, how to enjoy the blessings he bestows, and to do good in the various stations and duties of life. Selfish men consider themselves robbed of all that goes past them, and covetousness will even swallow up natural affection. Men's overvaluing worldly wealth is that error which is the root of covetousness, envy, and all evil. The men of the world stand in each other's way, and every one seems to be taking away from the rest; hence discontent, envy, and discord. But there are possessions that will suffice for all; happy they who seek them in the first place. In all our removals we should have respect to the command and promise of God. If He be with us, we need not...

Verse Genesis 31:7. _CHANGED MY WAGES TEN TIMES_] There is a strange diversity among the ancient versions, and ancient and modern interpreters, on the meaning of these words. The Hebrew is עשרת מנים _asereth monim_, which Aquila translates δεκα αριθμους _ten_ _numbers_; Symmachus, δεκακις αριτμω, _ten times in number_; the Septuagint δεκα αμνων, _ten lambs_, with which Origen appears to agree. St. Augustine thinks that by _ten lambs_ five years' wages is meant: that Laban had withheld from him all the party-coloured lambs which had been brought forth for _five years_, and because the ewes brought forth lambs _twice_ in the year, _bis gravidae pecudes_, therefore the number _ten_ is used, Jacob having been defrauded of his part of the produce of _ten_ births. It is supposed that the Septuagint use _lambs_ for _years_, as V...

- Jacob’s Flight from Haran 19. תרפים _t__e__rāpı̂ym_, Teraphim. This word occurs fifteen times in the Old Testament. It appears three times in this chapter, and nowhere else in the Pentateuch. It is always in the plural number. The root does not appear in Biblical Hebrew. It perhaps means “to live well,” intransitively (Gesenius, Roedig.), “to nourish,” transitively (Furst). The teraphim were symbols or representatives of the Deity, as Laban calls them his gods. They seem to have been busts (προτομαί _protomai_, Aquila) of the human form, sometimes as large as life 1 Samuel 19:13. Those of full size were probably of wood; the smaller ones may have been of metal. In two passages...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 31:1 AND HE—Jacob had now served twenty years with Laban, and must accordingly have been in his ninety-seventh or seventy-seventh year (_vide_ Genesis 27:1)—HEARD THE WORDS OF LABAN'S SONS,—who were not at this time only small youths about fourteen years of ago (Delitzsch), since they were capable of being entrusted with their father's flocks (Genesis 30:35)—SAYING (probably in a conversation which had been over. heard by Jacob), JACOB HATH TAKEN AWAY (by fraud is what they meant, an opinion in which Kalisch agrees; but it is not quite certain that Jacob was guilty of dishonesty in acting as he

AND YOUR FATHER HATH DECEIVED ME,.... In the bargain he had made with him about his wages for keeping his cattle the six years past, after the fourteen years' servitude were ended: AND CHANGED MY WAGES TEN TIMES; that is, either very often, many times, as the number ten is sometimes. Used for many, see Leviticus 26:26; or precisely ten times, since he repeats it afterwards in the same form to Laban's face, Genesis 31:41; he had now served him six years upon a new bargain; that he should have all that were of such and such different colours, which were produced out of his flock of white sheep. Laban was at first highly pleased with it, as judging it would be a very good one to him, as he might reasonably think indeed: and it is highly probable he did not attempt any alteration the f

CHAPTER 31 JACOB'S SERVITUDE ENDED AND FLIGHT FROM LABAN _ 1. Laban's behavior and God's commandment (Genesis 31:1)_ 2. The dream vision to return to the land (Genesis 31:11) 3. Jacob's flight (Genesis 31:17) 4. Laban warned (Genesis 31:22) 5. Laban's accusation (Genesis 31:25) 6. Jacob's answer (Genesis 31:31) 7. The covenant between Jacob and Laban ...

JACOB'S FLIGHT. This section is, for the most part, from E, Genesis 31:1; Genesis 31:3 are from J, Genesis 31:18 (after cattle) from P. Jacob realises from the words of Laban's sons (J) and the altered demeanour of Laban himself (E) that his enrichment at Laban's expense is deeply resented. Yahweh also bade him return (J). To his wives he complains of the treatment he has received from their father, which God has nevertheless overruled for his advantage, the God of Bethel who is now summoning him home. They side with Jacob, embittered by Laban's meanness in giving them no part of the bride-price (_mg.)._ So, with their warm encouragement, he sets out with family, flocks, and property, outwitting Laban, who was shee

SUFFERED HIM NOT. Figure of speech _Idioma._ Hebrew did not give him to do me evil. HURT. Hebrew. _ra'a'_. See App-44....

_changed my wages_ The account given in the following passage differs from that in the preceding chapter, Genesis 30:25-31. There Jacob specified the conditions, to which Laban acceded; and then Jacob resorted to artifice, in order to improve his position. Here it is Laban that has specified the wages, and arbitrarily changed them (cf. Genesis 31:41) from time to time. But in every case, by the providence of God, not by Jacob's cleverness, the result has worked out advantageously to Jacob. In ch. 30 we had principally, probably, the narrative of J; in this chapter, that of E is predominantly employed. _ten times_ A phrase used to denote frequency, as in Genesis 31:41;...