And his concubine, whose name [was] Reumah, she bore also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
24. Reumah ] The children of the concubine denote a less intimate tribal relationship than the children of the legal wife.
Maacah ] See 2Sa 10:6. A region to the north of Mount Hermon; cf. the mention of the Maacathites in Jos 13:11; Jos 13:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 24. His concubine] We borrow this word from the Latin compound concubina, from con, together, and cubo, to lie, and apply it solely to a woman cohabiting with a man without being legally married. The Hebrew word is pilegesh, which is also a compound term, contracted, according to Parkhurst, from palag, to divide or share, and nagash, to approach; because the husband, in the delicate phrase of the Hebrew tongue, approaches the concubine, and shares the bed, c., of the real wife with her. The pilegesh or concubine, (from which comes the Greek pallake, and also the Latin pellex,) in Scripture, is a kind of secondary wife, not unlawful in the patriarchal times though the progeny of such could not inherit. The word is not used in the Scriptures in that disagreeable sense in which we commonly understand it. Hagar was properly the concubine or pilegesh of Abraham, and this annuente Deo, and with his wife’s consent. Keturah, his second wife, is called a concubine, Ge 26:15; 1Ch 1:32; and Pilhah and Zilhah were concubines to Jacob, Ge 35:22. After the patriarchal times many eminent men had concubines, viz., Caleb, 1Ch 2:46; 1Ch 2:48; Manasses, 1Ch 7:14; Gideon, Jdg 8:31; Saul, 2Sa 3:7; David, 2Sa 5:13; Solomon, 2Kg 11:3; and Rehoboam, 2Ch 11:21. The pilegesh, therefore, differed widely from a prostitute; and however unlawful under the New Testament, was not so under the Old.
FROM this chapter a pious mind may collect much useful instruction. From the trial of Abraham we again see,
1. That God may bring his followers into severe straits and difficulties, that they may have the better opportunity of both knowing and showing their own faith and obedience; and that he may seize on those occasions to show them the abundance of his mercy, and thus confirm them in righteousness all their days. There is a foolish saying among some religious people, which cannot be too severely reprobated: Untried grace is no grace. On the contrary, there may be much grace, though God, for good reasons, does not think proper for a time to put it to any severe trial or proof. But grace is certainly not fully known but in being called to trials of severe and painful obedience. But as all the gifts of God should be used, (and they are increased and strengthened by exercise,) it would be unjust to deny trials and exercises to grace, as this would be to preclude it from the opportunities of being strengthened and increased.
2. The offering up of Isaac is used by several religious people in a sort of metaphorical way, to signify their easily-besetting sins, beloved idols, c. But this is a most reprehensible abuse of the Scripture. It is both insolent and wicked to compare some abominable lust or unholy affection to the amiable and pious youth who, for his purity and excellence, was deemed worthy to prefigure the sacrifice of the Son of God. To call our vile passions and unlawful attachments by the name of our Isaac is unpardonable and to talk of sacrificing such to God is downright blasphemy. Such sayings as these appear to be legitimated by long use; but we should be deeply and scrupulously careful not to use any of the words of God in any sense in which he has not spoken them. If, in the course of God’s providence, a parent is called to give up to death an amiable, only son, then there is a parallel in the case; and it may be justly said, if pious resignation fill the parent’s mind, such a person, like Abraham, has been called to give his Isaac back to God.
Independently of the typical reference to this transaction, there are two points which seem to be recommended particularly to our notice. 1. The astonishing faith and prompt obedience of the father. 2. The innocence, filial respect, and passive submission of the son. Such a father and such a son were alone worthy of each other.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A concubine was an inferior kind of wife, taken according to the common practice of those times, subject to the authority of the principal wife, and whose children had no right of inheritance, but were endowed with gifts. See Gen 21:14; 25:6.
Maachah, a name common both to man, as 2Sa 10:6, and woman, as 1Ki 15:13.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And his concubine, whose name [was] Reumah,…. Not an harlot, but a secondary wife, who was under the proper and lawful wife, and a sort of a head servant in the family, and chiefly kept for the procreation of children; which was not thought either unlawful or dishonourable in those times such as was Hagar in Abraham’s family:
she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah, of whom we have no account elsewhere; only it may be observed, that here Maachah is the name of a man, which sometimes is given to a woman, 1Ki 15:13.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(24) Maachah.This name appears as that of a small Aramaic people, in Deu. 3:14; Jos. 12:5; 2Sa. 10:6.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 22:24 And his concubine, whose name [was] Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
Ver. 24. His concubine. ] Or half-wife, as the word signifies; one that was between a servant and a wife.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Maachah. See Deu 3:14. Jos 12:5. 2Sa 10:6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
concubine: Gen 16:3, Gen 25:6, Pro 15:25
Maachah: He may have been the father of the Macetes, in Arabia Felix: there is a city called Maca towards the straits of Ormus.
Reciprocal: Gen 30:4 – to wife Jdg 8:31 – concubine Jdg 19:1 – a concubine
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
22:24 And his {i} concubine, whose name [was] Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
(i) Concubine is often used to refer to those women who were inferior to the wives.