Rachel's policy to hide the images. Before CHRIST 1739. ↑ Heb. fell. + Heb. feit. b Exod. 22. 12. Laban+searched all the tent, but found them not. Before CHAP. XXXI. The covenant of Jacob and Laban. 42 Except the God of my father, CHRIST the God of Abraham, and the fear of 1739. Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight. 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 he searched, but found not the images. 36 And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me? 37 Whereas thou hast + searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy houshold stuff? set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us both. 38 This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she 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 thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. 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 daughters, and six years for thy cattle and thou hast changed my wages ten times. saddle, which is of wood, in order to make the sitting more easy. This hiran is made use of as a mattress, when they stop for a night in a place; and it serves them to lodge on, as their wallets serve for cushions, or a bolster. It was probably the hiran, part of the camel's furniture, under which she hid her father's teraphim; and on which she sat, according to their customs, in her tent, and therefore unsuspected. Harmer. In the East, aged and infirm persons travel in double wickerwork seats, placed on the back of a camel, one on each side of the animal; they are formed something like a cradle; and have a back, head, and sides, like a great chair. Under the seat are store-hampers, or baskets, containing those personal necessaries, which may be needed by the traveller on the journey. Under the saddle of each camel is a coarse carpet, to cover them by night. This coarse carpet is the hiran mentioned by Harmer. It is probable that the camel's furniture, on which Rachel was seated, was the vehicle above described. Script. illust. 40.—in the day the drought consumed me, &c.] In Europe the days and nights resemble each other, with respect to the qualities of heat and cold; but it is quite otherwise in the East. In the lower Asia, in particular, the day is always hot: on the contrary, in the height of summer the nights are as cold as at Paris in the month 43 ¶ 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 their children which they have born? 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 for a pillar. 46 And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made an heap: and they did eat there upon the heap. the heap of 47 And Laban called it || Jegar- That is, sahadutha: but Jacob called it Ga- witness. leed. 48 And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed; a beacon, or 49 And Mizpah; for he said, That is, The LORD watch between me and watchtower. thee, when we are absent one from another. of March. I have travelled in Arabia and in Mesopotamia, the theatre of the adventures of Jacob, both in winter and in summer; and have found the truth of what the Patriarch said, That he was scorched with heat in the day, and stiffened with cold in the night. This contrariety in the qualities of the air in twentyfour hours is extremely great in some places, and not conceivable by those that have not felt it: one would imagine he had passed in a moment from the violent heats of summer to the depth of winter. Thus it hath pleased God to temper the heat of the sun by the coolness of the nights; without which the greatest part of the East would be barren and a desert: the earth could not produce any thing. Sir J. Chardin. 42.-the fear of Isaac,] The God whom Isaac feared, that is, worshipped. Bp. Patrick. 45.-set it up for a pillar.] Or monument. This monument must not be supposed to have been a heap of loose stones, for then it could not have continued long in the same position, nor have given a name to the country around it. It was doubtless a regular and permanent building; probably in the figure of a table as they used it the next morning to eat and sacrific upon. Biblioth. Bibl. 47.- Laban called it &c.] The one is a Syriack, the other a Hebrew name; both having the same signification. Bp. Patrick. The covenant of Jacob and Laban. Before CHRIST 1739. Or, killed beasts. GENESIS. 50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee. 51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold this pillar, which I have cast betwixt me and thee; 52 This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. 53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. 54 Then Jacob || offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount. 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. CHAP. XXXII. 1 Jacob's vision at Mahanaim. 3 His mes- Jacob's prayer. 2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place || Mahanaim. be Before CHRIST 1739. || That is, two hosts, or, camps. 3 And Jacob sent messengers fore him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. + Heb. field. 4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: 5 And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight. 6¶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred 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; 8 And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. 9 ¶ And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, a Return unto thy country, a Chap. 31. AND Jacob went on his way, and and to thy kindred, and I will deal the angels of God met him. 13. waters;" and can wind and turn them at his pleasure, inclining them which way soever He will. Bp. Sanderson. Chap. XXXII. ver. 2.—Mahanaim.] That is, two hosts, or camps, the angels probably appearing in two companies: or else it may have respect to the host or camp of Jacob, and the other host of the angels. Bp. Kidder. 3.- unto the land of Seir,] Which Esau, it seems, had conquered in Jacob's absence, according to the blessing of his father," by thy sword shalt thou live." Bp. Patrick. 55. And-Laban rose up, &c.] There is something" the hearts of all the sons of men, as the rivers of or other that restraineth men from doing some evils, to which they have not only a natural proneness, but perhaps withal an actual desire and purpose. When we behold Laban, who had pursued seven days after Jacob in an hostile manner, upon overtaking him, do no more than expostulate with him, and then kiss him, and bless him, and return to his place; and when we behold Esau, who had vowed the death of Jacob, and who went forth to meet him with four hundred men, armed, as it should seem for his destruction, yet run to meet him on his approach, and embrace him, and fall on his neck, and kiss him: it cannot be imagined that such a stop should be made but by the powerful restraint of some superiour and over-ruling hand; nor may we doubt, that every such restraint, by whatsoever second and subordinate means it be furthered, is yet the proper work of God, as proceeding from and guided by his almighty and irresistible providence. It was God, that turned Laban's revengeful thoughts into a friendly expostulation: it was the same God, that turned Esau's inveterate malice into a kind brotherly congratulation. He that "hath set bounds to the sea, which, though the waves thereof rage horribly, they cannot pass," hath in his hands, and at his command, 4.-my lord Esau;] By the Divine direction Jacob was constituted Esau's lord; nor did he forego that prerogative by calling himself Esau's servant. Lord and servant were, as they are now, certain modes of civility. Jacob therefore might address Esau in this manner, without derogating from his own spiritual preeminence: and confining himself to the bounds of nature, might reverence him as his elder brother. Stackhouse. 9. And Jacob said, O God &c.] This should be the practice of Christians, to go immediately to God in all He sendeth a present to Esau. Before CHRIST 1739. CHAP. XXXII. He wrestleth with an angel at Peniel. 10+ I am not worthy of the least | ing, Whose art thou? and whither of all the mercies, and of all the truth, goest thou? and whose are these bewhich thou hast shewed unto thy ser- fore thee? less than all, vant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. + Heb. I am &c. 11 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 the mo+ Heb. upon. ther + with the children. 12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. 13 And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which 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 colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foles. 16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. 17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, say their necessities and dangers: since He will as surely help them, as He did Jacob. Bp. Wilson. 10.— with my staff I passed over &c.] I had nothing but this staff in my hand, when I left my father's house: an humble and very affecting expression of God's mercy to him; and a lesson to the rich, to put them in mind that it is God alone, to whom they stand obliged for all their wealth and riches. Bp. Wilson. 13. — and took of that which came to his hand] What he could first light upon, without any choice: or, it may be, "that which was in his hand," what he had it in his power to offer; namely, the cattle, which are afterwards mentioned; though he had no jewels or precious raiment. Bp. Patrick. 15.-milch camels] Which had lately foaled. Bochart observes out of Aristotle, Pliny, and many other authors, that nothing was more delicious in those countries than camel's milk. Bp. Patrick. 22. the ford Jabbok.] A small river, which is by all agreed to flow from the adjacent mountains of Gilead; but some represent it as running into the sea of Galilee, others into the river Jordan, below or south of that sea. Dr. Wells. 24. And Jacob was left alone;] He stayed alone, in all probability, that he might commend himself and his family to God by earnest prayer. Bp. Patrick. and there wrestled a man with him] That is, an angel in the appearance of a man; called also God. Comp. ver. 28. 30, with Hos. xii. 3, 4. A fair representation of Christ, both GoD and MAN, and "the angel of the covenant," Mal. iii. 1. Bp. Kidder. 18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, 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 ye find him. 20 And say ye moreover, Behold, 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 before him: and himself lodged that night in the company. 22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. Before CHRIST 1739. 23 And he took them, and + sent Heb.caused them over the brook, and sent over that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the + breaking of the day. 25 And when he saw that he pre- the morning. vailed not against him, he touched + Heb. ascending of 25. And when he saw that he prevailed not] Jacob, hearing of his brother Esau's power, and dreading his resentment, addresses himself, for protection in this distress, to the God of his fathers, with all humility and confidence. God hears his prayer, and is pleased to inform him of the happy issue of the adventure by a significative action: the following night he has a struggle with an angel, with whom he is suffered to make his part so good, that from thence he collected God had granted his petition. This information by action, concerning only the individual concerned in it, who little needed to be told the meaning of a mode of instruction, at that time in vulgar use, hath now an obscurity, which the Scripture-relations of the same mode of information to the Prophets are free from, by reason of their being given for the use of the people, to whom they were explained. Bp. Warburton. It was a common custom among Eastern nations, to convey the knowledge of things by actions, as well as words. To this purpose we find Zedekiah "making him horns of iron," thereby to portend victory to Ahab, 1 Kings xxii. 11; and Elisha ordering Joash to "strike the ground with arrows," thence to presignify his triumph over the Syrians, 2 Kings xiii. 18. Nay even Hannibal himself, as Livy tells us, perceiving that his soldiers were not to be encouraged with words, made a publick shew for them, not so much to entertain their sight, as to give them an image and representation of their own condition. In like manner, God made use of this expedient to cure Jacob of his dejection. Stackhouse. Jacob is called Israel. Before CHRIST 1739. GENESIS. The kind meeting of Jacob and Esau. the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26 And he said, Let me go, for b Hos. 12. 4. the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless e Chap. 35. 10. That is, the face of God. me. 27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. c 28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30 And Jacob called the name of the place || Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is pre served. 31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. 32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank. CHAP. XXXIII. 1 The kindness of Jacob and Esau at their meeting. 17 Jacob cometh to Succoth. 18 At Shalem he buyeth a field, and buildeth an altar called El-elohe-Israel. the hollow of his thigh;] The upper part of his thigh, or hip-bone where the joint is. Bp. Kidder. out of joint,] Though Jacob prevailed, yet he met with difficulty and pain to keep him from vaunting his own strength, and being "exalted above measure," 2 Cor. xii. 7. Bp. Kidder. This bodily affliction was left to humble him, and at the same time to testify, that it was not a mere man with whom he strove. Bp. Hall. 28. — thy name shall be called &c.] Not only Jacob; or not so much Jacob as Israel: which name abolished the other in his posterity, who were called Israelites, but never by any name derived from Jacob. Bp. Patrick. Israel:] That is, a prince with God. Bp. Patrick. The latter part of the verse should be thus translated: "for thou hast been a prevailer with God; and with men thou shalt also powerfully prevail." This is the true verbal translation of the Hebrew words, and is agreeable to the Chaldee Paraphrase, the Septuagint, and the Vulgate. Shuckford. and hast prevailed.] St. Jerome understands the 9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast + Heb. unto thyself. 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. 66 be that to thee that is thine. wrestling" of Jacob as figurative of spiritual conflicts, which we are to maintain. Dr. Gray. 30.my life is preserved.] He either alludes to an opinion, that if men saw one of the heavenly ministers, they should die presently: or the words may refer to the principal scope of the combat, which was to confirm Jacob against the fear of Esau. Bp. Patrick. 32. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank,] That sinew or tendon, which fastens the hip-bone in its socket: comprehending the flesh of the muscle connected with it. He that ate of this was to be beaten, as the Jewish masters tell us. Bp. Patrick. The Jews take great care to cut away the sinew of the thigh of such animals as they intend to eat. And in several places of Germany and Italy they will not eat any of the hinder quarter, because great nicety is required in taking away this sinew as it should be done, and few know how to do it exactly. Calmet. Chap. XXXIII. ver. 10. -as though I had seen the Jacob cometh to Succoth. Before CHRIST 1739. + Heb. CHAP. XXXIII, XXXIV. 11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it. 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 overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. 14 Let my 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 the work, &c. children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. according to the foot of and accord ing to the foot of the children. + Heb. set, or, place. + Heb. 15 And Esau said, Let me now + leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, † What Wherefore is needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord. this? [That is, booths. on 16 ¶ So Esau returned that day his way unto Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called || Succoth. face of God,] He regarded Esau's kind reception of him as a token of the Divine favour. Bp. Patrick. 11. — my blessing] That is, my present: as we expound it in the margin of 1 Sam. xxv. 27. Bp. Patrick. 15.-let me find grace in the sight of my lord.] In this also be so kind as to gratify my desires. Bp. Patrick. 16. — Esau returned that day] All things considered, Esau was not that very bad man, which some would make him. His generous and open temper appears in his affectionate deportment towards his brother, and his speedy and utter oblivion of the treatment he had received from him. And though St. Paul calls him a "profane person," and says that he was hated by God;" yet all that he means by the word hated is no more than that God did not shew him the same mark of distinction which he did Jacob: for the Apostle's purpose is to shew, that God had, all along, bestowed the favours, which led to the Messiah, on whom He pleased; on Abraham, not on Lot; on Jacob, not on Esau; as at the time he wrote, the Gentiles were made the people of God, and not the Jews. And he calls him profane for this reason; not because he was more wicked than other men of his age; but because he seems to have been not so mindful of the spiritual promises made to his family, as Jacob was; and consequently was not so fit to be the heir of the mercies peculiar to it. Shuckford, Stackhouse. 17. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth,] Esau invited Jacob to Seir, and offered to conduct him thither; but Jacob had no design to accept the invitation, and yet was afraid directly to refuse it. Shuckford. Dinah is ravished. Before CHRIST 1739. 18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of || Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent Acts 7. 16, before the city. || Called, Sychem. 19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of || Ha-Called, mor, Shechem's father, for an hun- Emmor. dred || pieces of money. 20 And he erected there an altar, and called it || El-elohe-Israel. Acts 7. 16, | Or, lambs. That is. God the God of Israel. Succoth.] So the place was afterwards called: it is situated not far from the Jordan, to the East. Dr. Wells. 19.--an hundred pieces of money.] In the margin it is "lambs." It was probably some sort of coin, which had a lamb stamped upon it, and was originally of the real value of a lamb : and may have been called by that name, as we used to call a certain coin an angel from the stamp which it bore. Stackhouse, Bp. Wilson. 20. And he erected there an altar,] At the same place, where Abraham had built his first altar, chap. xii. 7. Abraham dedicated his "unto the Lord, who appeared unto him;" Jacob his, unto "God the God of Israel," which was the new name that God had given him. The place was at or near Shechem: so that the woman of Samaria might well say as she did to our Saviour, that "their fathers worshipped God in that mount." Shechem seems to have been one of the oldest cities in all Canaan. Dr. Wall. The first thing that good men do, is to provide for the honour and service of God. Bp. Wilson. Chap. XXXIV. The fatal history of Dinah is recorded to convince future ages of this truth; that the sins of impurity are so hateful to God, that they seldom go unpunished in this world; if they do, worse will be their punishment in the next. Bp. Wilson. Ver. 1. - Dinah ·went out to see &c.] When this happened, the Scripture does not inform us. From the exploit of her brothers, she was probably fifteen or sixteen years of age. The occasion of the calamity, Josephus tells us, was a great festival, held at Shechem, which |