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27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 29:31
And when the Lord saw—literally, and Jehovah saw. As Eve's son was obtained from Jehovah (Genesis 4:1), and Jehovah visited Sarah (Genesis 21:1), and was entreated for Rebekah (Genesis 25:21), so here he again interpose…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 29:31-35
Leah and Rachel, or the two wives. I. RACHEL THE BELOVED. "Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah." That Leah was not hated in the sense of being regarded with aversion, the numerous family she bore to Jacob proves; that she…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 29:32
And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben (literally, reuben, Behold a Son! an expression of joyful surprise at the Divine compassion): for she said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my afflicti…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 29:33
And she conceived again, and bare a son (probably the following year); and said, Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated (the birth of Reuben had obviously not answered Leah's expectations in increasing Jacob's lov…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 29:34
And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me,— לָוָה, to join, is the root from which comes לֵוִי. (Levi), her son's name—because I have borne him three sons: theref…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 29:35
And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the Lord. Well she might; for this was the ancestor of the promised seed (Murphy). There cannot be a doubt that her excellence of character as wel…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:1-21
Jacob's flight from Laban. I. THE HOMEWARD DESIRE. The longing to revisit Canaan, which six years previously Laban's exactions and Joseph's birth (Genesis 30:25) had combined to inspire within the heart of Jacob, return…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:1-21
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on 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…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:2
And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, Behold, it (i.e. either Laban or his countenance) was not toward him (literally, with him) as before—literally, as yesterday and the day before. The evident change in Laba…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:3
And the Lord—Jehovah; since the entire journey to Padan-aram had been conducted under his special care, vide Genesis 28:15 (Hengstenberg), and not because the first three verses of this chapter have been inserted or mod…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:4
And Jacob went—being unwilling to approach the house lest Laban should discover his design (Rosenmüller)—and called Rachel and Leah—Rachel may be placed first as the beloved wife of Jacob (Wordsworth, Lange), scarcely a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:5
And said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before (vide supra); but the God of my father—literally, and the Elohim of my father, the term Elohim employed by Jacob not being due to "…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:6
And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. The term Jacob here uses for power is derived from an unused onomatopoetic root, signifying to pant, and hence to exert one's strength. If, therefore, the as…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:7
And your father hath deceived me,— הֵתֵל, the hiph. of תָּלַל, means to rob or plunder (Furst), or to cause to fall, as in the cognate languages, whence to deceive (Gesenius)—and changed my wages ten times;—i.e. many ti…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:8
If he (i.e. Laban) said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages;—by the original contract Jacob had been promised all the parti-colored animals (Genesis 30:32);" here it seems as if Laban, struck with the remarkable incre…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:9
Thus—literally, and (as the result of this)—God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. In ascribing to God what he had himself effected by (so-called) fraud, this language of Jacob appears to s…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:10
And it came to pus at the time that the cattle conceived (this obviously goes back to the commencement of the six years' service), that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams— עַתֻּדים, he-goat…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:11
And the angel of God—literally, the angel (or Maleach) of Elohim, i.e. of the God who was with me and protecting me, though himself continuing unseen—spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I (vide…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:12
And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled. Since all the parti-colored animals had already been removed (Genesis 30:35), this vision mus…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:13
I am the God of Bethel,—the angel here identifies himself with Jehovah (vide Genesis 28:13). Contrary to usual custom, הָאֵל, though in the construct, state, has the art.—where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:14-16
And Rachel and Leah (vide on Genesis 31:4) answered and said unto him (Kalisch overdoes his attempt to blacken Jacob's character and whitewash Laban's when he says that Rachel and Leah were so entirely under their husba…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:19
And Laban went—or, Now Laban had gone, probably,to the other station, which was three days journey from Jacob's flocks (vide Genesis 30:36; and cf. Genesis 31:22)—to shear his sheep. In this work he would probably be de…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:20
And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian,—literally, stole the heart of Laban the Syrian, he deceived his mind and intelligence, like κλέπτειν νόον, Horn; ' II.,' 14. 227 (el. Genesis 31:26, Genesis 31:27); h…