Genesis chapter 26
26:1-16 A famine in the land: There had been a famine in Abraham's day (12:10). He had not been forbidden to go
down to Egypt as Issac was now being directed by God in verse 2. God forced Issac to trust in His ability to provide,
and not to do the natural thing that everybody else would be doing (42:5). Besides, this was God's promised land for
Abraham and his descendants (verses 3, 4). She is my sister is the very same expression Abraham had used, 12:13
and 20:12, 13. Abimelech was evidently a Philistine dynastic title. This was not the same Abimelech that Abraham had
encountered some 97 years earlier. Issac sowed in the land and received an hundredfold in spite of the famine d
persecution because he obeyed God and was the promised seed.
26:17-33 The Philistines has asked Issac to leave, so he did. The encampments such as Esek ("Contention") and
Sitnah ("Enmity") led to the spacious and fruitful place of Rehoboth ("Plenty of Room"). He had many struggles, but
we can identify with him and hopefully see how God worked in the life of an average man. In Beer-Sheba God
appeared to him and again confirmed the Abrahamic covenant. So he worshiped there by building an altar (12:7, 8;
13:4, 18).
26:34, 35 Esau married two heathen women, which provides additional evidence of his spiritual dullness (24:3).
Genesis chapter 27
27:1-4 I am old: Issac lived still another 43 years (35:28) and he was 137 at this time. That my soul may bless thee:
Issac still favored Esau (25:28). He was apparently ignoring the fact that Esau had bartered his birthright (25:34) and
had married heathen women (26:34). This is quite remarkable in light of the pains his father Abraham had taken to
get a wife for him in chapter 24.
27:5-29 Rebekah favored Jacob (25:28) and instigated the deception in verses 6-29. Jacob had to resort to lying
(verses 19, 24); and Issac allow his senses of touch (verse 22), taste (verse 25), and smell (verse 27) to overrule
what he heard (verse 22). The blessing included both benediction (verse 28) and prediction (verse 29). Jacob would
be the head of Issac's household: let people serve thee...let thy mother's sons bow down to thee.
27:30-46 For he hath supplanted me: The root of supplant is aqab meaning "to take by the heel." Esau was
distressed and saw the event as a repetition of the birthright exchange, a fulfillment of the birth prophecy, and an
explanation for Jacob's name, which forms a pun with supplanter, and is pronounced ya'aqob. There is another pun
with the words for birthright (bekor) and blessing (berakah). The cursed and blessed terminology reminds one of
12:3. Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth should actually be rendered "away from the fatness." Edom
(Esau) is doomed to privation; yet his day will come--it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that
thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. Esau's descendants (the Edomites) would occupy a territory less fertile
than that of Jacob's descendants (Israel). But from time to time they would break loose and assert their
independence (see 2 Chronicles 21:8-10). So Esau hated Jacob...Esau said in his heart...then will I slay my brother:
The sins of all concerned in this matter of the blessing at once began to take their toll. To deliver Jacob from Esau's
vengeance, Rebekah was obliged to deliver her favorite over to her brother Laban, and disguised her intentions with
a lie: I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth.
Genesis chapter 28
28:1-9 God Almighty is translated from El Shaddai (17:1 note). Jacob would certainly need the help of a powerful
tower of strength. Verse 4 explains that the land promised to Abraham in 15:18-21 is now guaranteed to Jacob and
his descendants.
28:10-22 A ladder set up on the earth: This would be better understood as a ramp or staircase. It is related to the
mound thrown up against a walled city (2 Samuel 20:15). The streams of God's angels ascending and descending on
it indicate the appropriateness of this rendering. Jesus took this figure of a means of access between heaven and
earth as a picture of Himself (John 1:51). Jacob's response to this vision (verses 16, 17) suggests that he may have
become a true believer on this occasion. Pillar and oil are the symbols normally used for a memorial (Deuteronomy
27:2-4; Isaiah 19:19) and consecration (Leviticus 8:10, 11). The pillars that were later forbidden were related to Baal
worship (Deuteronomy 12:3) and objects of that worship (Micah 5:13). I will surely give the tenth: This was voluntary
on Jacob's part; God had not commanded it (14:20, where Abram's "tenth" to Melchizedek was also voluntary). It was
not a requirement until the Law was given to Israel; and then two tithes were to be given, not one, as many assume
(the annual tithe for the maintenance of the Levites in Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:21; and one for the Lord's feast in
Deuteronomy 14:22). It may be that every third year the second tithe was not brought to the sanctuary, but was kept
at home and used to feed the Levites and the poor according to Deuteronomy 14:28, 29. If not, then there was a tithe
every third year. Thus, a consistent Israelite might give 23 1/3 percent annually, plus offerings for sin, and so forth.
Genesis chapter 29
29:1-14 People of the east is a reference to his his being near Haran. The son a Nahor as used in relation to Laban
could be confusing, since Laban was actually his grandson (24:15, 29), but son was the usual Hebrew word for such
a relationship; there was no word for grandson or grandfather. Surely thou art my bone and my flesh does not refer
to legal adoption, but relationship by marriage.
29:15-30 Fulfill her week, and we will give thee also indicates that Jacob had to complete the wedding week with Leah
(Judges 14:12, 17) so he could then marry Rachel for whom he would have to serve another seven years. Thus, he
accepts both wives without asking God's direction in the matter. Jacob was not being treated as he had treated his
own brother and father. The deceiver had been out-deceived at last! And he loved Rachel more than Leah: His
parents had made this mistake--they had played favorites. This is a part of the reason that Jacob was in this dreadful
position now. He not only had two wives (bigamy, which was practiced by Cain's descendants, and marrying two
sisters concurrently, which was later forbidden by Mosaic Law in Leviticus 18:18), but he reaped many years of agony
this situation produced.
Genesis chapter 30
30:1-13 When the Lord saw that Rachel was loved and Leah hated, He closed the womb of Rachel and this produced
envy in verse 1. Bear upon my knees does not indicate and adoption rite (48:12; 50:23). It is a welcoming-in at birth
of a new child. In the Hurrian tales the event is associated with birth, the naming of the child, the welcoming into the
family, and the handling by the parents.
30:14-24 Mandrakes: This is an herb of the belladonna family, considered to be an aphrodisiac. It has a yellow fruit
the size of a small apple. Peoples of the ancient Near East attributed sensual desire to this plant and thought it would
aid conception. Note that while Rachel got the mandrakes, Leah received another son! His name was Issachar,
meaning "Reward". And God remembered Rachel (8:1 when God took care of Noah in a supernatural way during the
Flood): Her offspring was Joseph whose name means either "To Take Away" or "To Add." Either God had removed
the reproach of her childlessness or would give her another son. God did give Benjamin much later.
30:25-43 Removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown: Evidently, Jacob relied on a
superstition that the offspring would be influenced by the fears or expectations of the mother during pregnancy
(verses 37, 38). Tests have shown that spotting gives way to solid color in the breeding of goats. Modern genetic
studies on dominance and latency have supported Jacob's method, which at one time seed to link the Bible with
groundless supposition. Jacob's success was also attributed to selective breeding (verses 40-42) in addition to divine
help (31:10-12).
Genesis chapter 31
31:1-24 Laban became openly hostile to Jacob. Therefore God told Jacob to return to the land of Canaan, and I will
be with thee. His wives agrees. They said, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. Laban had changed Jacob's
wages ten times even though God suffered him not to hurt me. Images: Many have supposed that the theft of the
images secured an inheritance for Jacob. In the ancient Nuzi texts the gods were given as part of an inheritance.
However, heirs who did not receive the gods also participated in the division normally granted to the eldest son. The
possession of such gods did not represent an automatic claim to an inheritance. Possibly Rachel took them as an
extra precaution, since she was leaving her homeland and would have little other legal claim to her father's
inheritance. 31:25-55 Jegar-sahadutha and Galeed mean "Heap of Witness," in Aramaic and Hebrew, respectively.
The expression in verse 49 is not meant to convey a benediction, as Christians usually cite it. Rather, it is an
imprecation: "May God destroy you if you cross this boundary!" There s no more mention of Laban in Genesis, and
this records the last contact the patriarchs had with their homeland and relatives.
Genesis chapter 32
32:1-23 Mahanaim was the name given to the place, meaning "Double Camp," possibly a reference to the two camps
or bands of angels, or his camp and the angels' camp. The Jabbok was a tributary of the Jordan, about 24 miles
north of the Dead Sea. The name is related to the Hebrew word for "wrestled" in verse 24, yaboq for "Jabbok," and ye
abeq for "wrestled."
32:24-32 And there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day: The man is identified by some as the
preincarnate Christ, and by others as an angel, a special messenger from God. Some even cite Hosea 12:4 to
support both views! The context favor the angel being the preincarnate Christ (verse 30 and the phrase for I have
seen God face to face). If we assume the diety of the messenger, God allowed Himself to be overcome; and Jacob
was crippled; his thigh was out of joint. The blessing constituted the changing of his name from Jacob, "Heel
Catcher," "Supplanter," or "Deceiver," to Israel, meaning "May God Prevail [for Him]." Thus, he was now recognized
as "Prince with God."
Genesis chapter 33
33:1-20 Jacob took no chances when he saw Esau as he bowed himself to the ground seven times, an action
reserved as a sign of homage, usually before kings, as the Amarna Tablets relate: "At the two feet of my lord, the
king, seven times and seven times I fall." Esau went to Seir (i.e., Edom; Obadiah) and Jacob to Succoth ("Booths")
located east of the Jordan and just north of the Jabbok (32:22). And then he came to Shalem, which some take
adverbially in the sense of "and then Jacob came safely to Shechem." Approximately 10 years may have elapsed in
Succoth before Jacob went to Shechem. Recognizing that he had returned to fulfill the covenant promise (28:15), he
erected an altar as Abraham had on his arrival (12:7). The plot of ground he bought at Shechem was the second
"foothold" of Abraham's family in the Promised Land. Just before he died in Egypt 50 years later, Jacob gave this land
to Joseph (48:22), whose bones were buried there four hundred later (Joshua 24:32). Here also Jacob dug a well that
become the scene of an important episode in the ministry of Jesus 1,900 years later (John 4:5, 6). The name
El-elohe-Israel indicates that Jacob was confessing, using his new name Israel, that El was his God, "a Mighty God is
the God of Israel," in preserving his life as he confronted Esau.
Genesis chapter 34
34:1-32 Dinah must have been 12 to 14 years of age. Even after she had been defiled, Shechem wanted to marry
her (verses 3, 4). His father Hamor approached Jacob in order to arrange the marriage. This proposal was accepted,
provided that Hamor's family submit to circumcision (verse 15). But this idea was a deception on the part of the sons
of Jacob, because they answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully. It was also a demeaning of the rite of
circumcision. The decision was made in the gate of their city (19:1 and Lot) that every male among us be
circumcised. There were circumcised; but on the third day when the men were suffering from fever and inflammation,
Dinah's brothers attacked and killed them (verses 25-27). They also took all their wealth...little ones, and their
wives...captive. Simeon and Levi were the guilty ones, killing all the males (note the condemnation in 49:5-7). Jacob
was alarmed and troubled at their first action; but he did not answer their question, should he deal with our sister as
with a harlot?