4 And give H5414 thee the blessing H1293 of Abraham, H85 to thee, and to thy seed H2233 with thee; that thou mayest inherit H3423 the land H776 wherein thou art a stranger, H4033 which God H430 gave H5414 unto Abraham. H85
And the LORD H3068 appeared H7200 unto Abram, H87 and said, H559 Unto thy seed H2233 will I give H5414 this H2063 land: H776 and there builded H1129 he an altar H4196 unto the LORD, H3068 who appeared H7200 unto him.
Hear H8085 my prayer, H8605 O LORD, H3068 and give ear H238 unto my cry; H7775 hold not thy peace H2790 at my tears: H1832 for I am a stranger H1616 with thee, and a sojourner, H8453 as all my fathers H1 were.
Now the LORD H3068 had said H559 unto Abram, H87 Get thee out H3212 of thy country, H776 and from thy kindred, H4138 and from thy father's H1 house, H1004 unto a land H776 that I will shew H7200 thee: And I will make of thee H6213 a great H1419 nation, H1471 and I will bless H1288 thee, and make H1431 thy name H8034 great; H1431 and thou shalt be a blessing: H1293 And I will bless H1288 them that bless H1288 thee, and curse H779 him that curseth H7043 thee: and in thee shall all families H4940 of the earth H127 be blessed. H1288
And the LORD H3068 said H559 unto Abram, H87 after H310 that Lot H3876 was separated H6504 from him, Lift up H5375 now thine eyes, H5869 and look H7200 from the place H4725 where thou art northward, H6828 and southward, H5045 and eastward, H6924 and westward: H3220 For all the land H776 which thou seest, H7200 to thee will I give it, H5414 and to thy seed H2233 for H5704 ever. H5769 And I will make H7760 thy seed H2233 as the dust H6083 of the earth: H776 so that H834 if a man H376 can H3201 number H4487 the dust H6083 of the earth, H776 then shall thy seed H2233 also be numbered. H4487 Arise, H6965 walk H1980 through the land H776 in the length H753 of it and in the breadth H7341 of it; for I will give H5414 it unto thee.
And he brought him forth H3318 abroad, H2351 and said, H559 Look H5027 now toward heaven, H8064 and tell H5608 the stars, H3556 if thou be able H3201 to number H5608 them: and he said H559 unto him, So H3541 shall thy seed H2233 be. And he believed H539 in the LORD; H3068 and he counted H2803 it to him for righteousness. H6666 And he said H559 unto him, I am the LORD H3068 that brought thee out H3318 of Ur H218 of the Chaldees, H3778 to give H5414 thee this land H776 to inherit H3423 it.
In the same H1931 day H3117 the LORD H3068 made H3772 a covenant H1285 with Abram, H87 saying, H559 Unto thy seed H2233 have I given H5414 this land, H776 from the river H5104 of Egypt H4714 unto the great H1419 river, H5104 the river H5104 Euphrates: H6578 The Kenites, H7017 and the Kenizzites, H7074 and the Kadmonites, H6935 And the Hittites, H2850 and the Perizzites, H6522 and the Rephaims, H7497 And the Amorites, H567 and the Canaanites, H3669 and the Girgashites, H1622 and the Jebusites. H2983
And I will make H6509 thee exceeding H3966 H3966 fruitful, H6509 and I will make H5414 nations H1471 of thee, and kings H4428 shall come out H3318 of thee. And I will establish H6965 my covenant H1285 between me and thee and thy seed H2233 after thee H310 in their generations H1755 for an everlasting H5769 covenant, H1285 to be a God H430 unto thee, and to thy seed H2233 after thee. H310 And I will give H5414 unto thee, and to thy seed H2233 after thee, H310 the land H776 wherein thou art a stranger, H4033 all the land H776 of Canaan, H3667 for an everlasting H5769 possession; H272 and I will be their God. H430
That in blessing H1288 I will bless H1288 thee, and in multiplying H7235 I will multiply H7235 thy seed H2233 as the stars H3556 of the heaven, H8064 and as the sand H2344 which is upon the sea H3220 shore; H8193 and thy seed H2233 shall possess H3423 the gate H8179 of his enemies; H341 And in thy seed H2233 shall all the nations H1471 of the earth H776 be blessed; H1288 because H834 H6118 thou hast obeyed H8085 my voice. H6963
O ye seed H2233 of Abraham H85 his servant, H5650 ye children H1121 of Jacob H3290 his chosen. H972 He is the LORD H3068 our God: H430 his judgments H4941 are in all the earth. H776 He hath remembered H2142 his covenant H1285 for ever, H5769 the word H1697 which he commanded H6680 to a thousand H505 generations. H1755 Which covenant he made H3772 with Abraham, H85 and his oath H7621 unto Isaac; H3446 And confirmed H5975 the same unto Jacob H3290 for a law, H2706 and to Israel H3478 for an everlasting H5769 covenant: H1285 Saying, H559 Unto thee will I give H5414 the land H776 of Canaan, H3667 the lot H2256 of your inheritance: H5159 When they were but a few men H4962 in number; H4557 yea, very few, H4592 and strangers H1481 in it.
Saying, Blessed G3107 are they whose G3739 iniquities G458 are forgiven, G863 and G2532 whose G3739 sins G266 are covered. G1943 Blessed G3107 is the man G435 to whom G3739 the Lord G2962 will G3049 not G3364 impute G3049 sin. G266
That G2443 the blessing G2129 of Abraham G11 might come G1096 on G1519 the Gentiles G1484 through G1722 Jesus G2424 Christ; G5547 that G2443 we might receive G2983 the promise G1860 of the Spirit G4151 through G1223 faith. G4102
Blessed G2128 be the God G2316 and G2532 Father G3962 of our G2257 Lord G2962 Jesus G2424 Christ, G5547 who G3588 hath blessed G2127 us G2248 with G1722 all G3956 spiritual G4152 blessings G2129 in G1722 heavenly G2032 places in G1722 Christ: G5547
By faith G4102 he sojourned G3939 in G1519 the land G1093 of promise, G1860 as G5613 in a strange country, G245 dwelling G2730 in G1722 tabernacles G4633 with G3326 Isaac G2464 and G2532 Jacob, G2384 the heirs with him G4789 of the same G846 promise: G1860 For G1063 he looked for G1551 a city G4172 which hath G2192 foundations, G2310 whose G3739 builder G5079 and G2532 maker G1217 is God. G2316 Through faith G4102 also G2532 Sara G4564 herself G846 received G2983 strength G1411 to G1519 conceive G2602 seed, G4690 and G2532 was delivered of a child G5088 when she was past G3844 age, G2540 G2244 because G1893 she judged G2233 him faithful G4103 who had promised. G1861 Therefore G1352 sprang there G1080 even G2532 of G575 one, G1520 and G2532 him G5023 as good as dead, G3499 so many as G2531 the stars G798 of the sky G3772 in multitude, G4128 and G2532 as G5616 the sand G285 which G3588 is by G3844 the sea G2281 shore G5491 innumerable. G382 These G3778 all G3956 died G599 in G2596 faith, G4102 not G3361 having received G2983 the promises, G1860 but G235 having seen G1492 them G846 afar off, G4207 and G2532 were persuaded of G3982 them, and G2532 embraced G782 them, and G2532 confessed G3670 that G3754 they were G1526 strangers G3581 and G2532 pilgrims G3927 on G1909 the earth. G1093
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 28
Commentary on Genesis 28 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Jacob's Departure from his Parents' House. - Rebekah's complaint reminded Isaac of his own call, and his consequent duty to provide for Jacob's marriage in a manner corresponding to the divine counsels of salvation.
Genesis 28:1-5
He called Jacob, therefore, and sent him to Padan-Aram to his mother's relations, with instructions to seek a wife there, and not among the daughters of Canaan, giving him at the same time the “ blessing of Abraham, ” i.e., the blessing of promise, which Abraham had repeatedly received from the Lord, but which is more especially recorded in Genesis 17:2., and Genesis 22:16-18.
Genesis 28:6-9
When Esau heard of this blessing and the sending away of Jacob, and saw therein the displeasure of his parents at his Hittite wives, he went to Ishmael - i.e., to the family of Ishmael, for Ishmael himself had been dead fourteen years - and took as a third wife Mahalath, a daughter of Ishmael (called Bashemath in Genesis 36:3, a descendant of Abraham therefore), a step by which he might no doubt ensure the approval of his parents, but in which he failed to consider that Ishmael had been separated from the house of Abraham and family of promise by the appointment of God; so that it only furnished another proof that he had no thought of the religious interests of the chosen family, and was unfit to be the recipient of divine revelation.
Jacob's Dream at Bethel. - As he was travelling from Beersheba, where Isaac was then staying (Genesis 26:25), to Haran, Jacob came to a place where he was obliged to stop all night, because the sun had set. The words “ he hit (lighted) upon the place, ” indicate the apparently accidental, yet really divinely appointed choice of this place for his night-quarters; and the definite article points it out as having become well known through the revelation of God that ensued. After making a pillow with the stones ( מאשׁת , head-place, pillow), he fell asleep and had a dream, in which he saw a ladder resting upon the earth, with the top reaching to heaven; and upon it angels of God going up and down, and Jehovah Himself standing above it. The ladder was a visible symbol of the real and uninterrupted fellowship between God in heaven and His people upon earth. The angels upon it carry up the wants of men to God, and bring down the assistance and protection of God to men. The ladder stood there upon the earth, just where Jacob was lying in solitude, poor, helpless, and forsaken by men. Above in heaven stood Jehovah , and explained in words the symbol which he saw. Proclaiming Himself to Jacob as the God of his fathers, He not only confirmed to him all the promises of the fathers in their fullest extent, but promised him protection on his journey and a safe return to his home (Genesis 28:13-15). But as the fulfilment of this promise to Jacob was still far off, God added the firm assurance, “ I will not leave thee till I have done (carried out) what I have told thee .”
Jacob gave utterance to the impression made by this vision as soon as he awoke from sleep, in the words, “ Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew it not .” Not that the omnipresence of God was unknown to him; but that Jehovah in His condescending mercy should be near to him even here, far away from his father's house and from the places consecrated to His worship-it was this which he did not know or imagine. The revelation was intended not only to stamp the blessing, with which Isaac had dismissed him from his home, with the seal of divine approval, but also to impress upon Jacob's mind the fact, that although Jehovah would be near to protect and guide him even in a foreign land, the land of promise was the holy ground on which the God of his fathers would set up the covenant of His grace. On his departure from that land, he was to carry with him a sacred awe of the gracious presence of Jehovah there. To that end the Lord proved to him that He was near, in such a way that the place appeared “ dreadful ,” inasmuch as the nearness of the holy God makes an alarming impression upon unholy man, and the consciousness of sin grows into the fear of death. But in spite of this alarm, the place was none other than “ the house of God and the gate of heaven, ” i.e., a place where God dwelt, and a way that opened to Him in heaven.
In the morning Jacob set up the stone at his head, as a monument ( מצּבה ) to commemorate the revelation he had received from God; and poured oil upon the top, to consecrate it as a memorial of the mercy that had been shown him there ( visionis insigne μνημόσυνον , Calvin ), not as an idol or an object or divine worship (vid., Exodus 30:26.). - He then gave the place the name of Bethel , i.e., House of God, whereas ( ואוּלם ) the town had been called Luz before. This antithesis shows that Jacob gave the name, not to the place where the pillar was set up, but to the town, in the neighbourhood of which he had received the divine revelation. He renewed it on his return from Mesopotamia (Genesis 35:15). This is confirmed by Genesis 48:3, where Jacob, like the historian in Genesis 35:6-7, speaks of Luz as the place of this revelation. There is nothing at variance with this in Joshua 16:2; Joshua 18:13; for it is not Bethel as a city, but the mountains of Bethel, that are there distinguished from Luz (see my Commentary on Joshua 16:2).
(Note: The fact mentioned here has often been cited as the origin of the anointed stones ( βαίτυλοι ) of the heathen, and this heathen custom has been regarded as a degeneration of the patriarchal. But apart from this essential difference, that the Baetulian worship was chiefly connected with meteoric stones (cf. F. von Dalberg, όb. d. Meteor-cultus d. Alten ), which were supposed to have come down from some god, and were looked upon as deified, this opinion is at variance with the circumstance, that Jacob himself, in consecrating the stone by pouring oil upon it, only followed a custom already established, and still more with the fact, that the name βαίτυλοι , Βαιτόλια , notwithstanding its sounding like Bethel , can hardly have arisen from the name Beth-El , Gr. Βαιθήλ , since the τ for θ would be perfectly inexplicable. Dietrich derives βαιτύλιον from בּטּל , to render inoperative, and interprets it amulet.)
Lastly, Jacob made a vow: that if God would give him the promised protection on his journey, and bring him back in safety to his father's house, Jehovah should be his God ( והיה in Genesis 28:21 commences the apodosis), the stone which he had set up should be a house of God, and Jehovah should receive a tenth of all that He gave to him. It is to be noticed here, that Elohim is used in the protasis instead of Jehovah , as constituting the essence of the vow: if Jehovah , who had appeared to him, proved Himself to be God by fulfilling His promise, then he would acknowledge and worship Him as his God, by making the stone thus set up into a house of God, i.e., a place of sacrifice, and by tithing all his possessions. With regard to the fulfilment of this vow, we learn from Genesis 35:7 that Jacob built an altar, and probably also dedicated the tenth to God, i.e., offered it to Jehovah ; or, as some have supposed, applied it partly to the erection and preservation of the altar, and partly to burnt and thank-offerings combined with sacrificial meals, according to the analogy of Deuteronomy 14:28-29 (cf. Genesis 31:54; Genesis 46:1).