35 And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry because I do not get up before you, for I am in the common condition of women. And with all his searching, he did not come across the images.
Get up from your seats before the white-haired, and give honour to the old, and let the fear of your God be before you: I am the Lord.
Give honour to your father and to your mother, so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
Now Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah was past the time for giving birth. And Sarah, laughing to herself, said, Now that I am used up am I still to have pleasure, my husband himself being old?
And if a woman has a flow of blood from her body, she will have to be kept separate for seven days, and anyone touching her will be unclean till evening.
So Bath-sheba went to King Solomon to have talk with him on Adonijah's account. And the king got up to come to her, and went down low to the earth before her; then he took his place on the king's seat and had a seat made ready for the king's mother and she took her place at his right hand.
Children, do what is ordered by your fathers and mothers in the Lord: for this is right.
Servants, take orders from your masters with all respect; not only if they are good and gentle, but even if they are bad-humoured.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 31
Commentary on Genesis 31 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 31
Jacob was a very honest good man, a man of great devotion and integrity, yet he had more trouble and vexation than any of the patriarchs. He left his father's house in a fright, went to his uncle's in distress, very hard usage he met with there, and now is going back surrounded with fears. Here is,
Gen 31:1-16
Jacob is here taking up a resolution immediately to quit his uncle's service, to take what he had and go back to Canaan. This resolution he took up upon a just provocation, by divine direction, and with the advice and consent of his wives.
Gen 31:17-24
Here is,
Gen 31:25-35
We have here the reasoning, not to say the rallying, that took place between Laban and Jacob at their meeting, in that mountain which was afterwards called Gilead, v. 25. Here is,
Gen 31:36-42
See in these verses,
Gen 31:43-55
We have here the compromising of the matter between Laban and Jacob. Laban had nothing to say in reply to Jacob's remonstrance: he could neither justify himself nor condemn Jacob, but was convicted by his own conscience of the wrong he had done him; and therefore desires to hear no more of the matter He is not willing to own himself in a fault, nor to ask Jacob's forgiveness, and make him satisfaction, as he ought to have done. But,
Lastly, After all this angry parley, they part friends, v. 55. Laban very affectionately kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them, and then went back in peace. Note, God is often better to us than our fears, and strangely overrules the spirits of men in our favour, beyond what we could have expected; for it is not in vain to trust in him.