And [Abraham] planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
33. a tamarisk tree ] The tamarix syriaca. The Heb. word shel puzzled the versions; LXX , Lat. nemus. Tradition probably connected a famous tamarisk, close to the seven sacred springs, with the site of the sanctuary of Beer-sheba; cf. Gen 26:23-25. See, also, for “tamarisk tree,” 1Sa 22:6; 1Sa 31:13.
the Everlasting God ] Heb. El-lm. See notes on Gen 14:18, Gen 17:1. “The God of Ages,” the name which Abraham here identifies in thought and worship with Jehovah. God does not change, though the defective knowledge of Him in early ages makes way in later time for the fuller Revelation to the Chosen Family.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 21:33-34
Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord
Abraham the godly man
I.
HE MAKES PROVISION FOR DIVINE WORSHIP.
1. It was intelligent.
2. It was grateful.
3. It was hopeful.
II. HE IS CONTENT TO BE A STRANGER AND PILGRIM ON THE EARTH (Gen 21:34). (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons
1. Times of peace God makes to]His servants times of plantation. Such leave He giveth His people.
2. What was done by Abraham with Gods approbation might be turned to sin by mans superstition. So the groves.
3. The saints peace with the world sets them more seriously to serve God.
4. The name of Jehovah, even the eternal God, is the saints satisfaction in all plantations (Gen 21:33).
5. God allows His saints sometimes a longer space of respite after troubles than at others. The longest space of quietness below is but a sojourning time of Gods people. They are not at home. Heaven is the place of his rest, and so is to every true believer (Gen 21:34). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Grove sanctuaries
It is very curious to notice how the first sanctuaries seem to have been woods, forests, and groves. And it is equally remarkable to notice how, after they were used for true and spiritual worship, they came to be employed exclusively for idolatry–so much so, that in the rest of this blessed Book you will hear God often commanding them utterly to pull down the groves, because those groves had been made places where idols were worshipped. The brass serpent was made by Gods command, its healing virtue was given by God Himself, and the people were divinely told to look at it. But after it had served its purpose, the same people tried to make a god of it. In this instance men took that which was true and good originally, and made such a bad use of it that God commanded it to be ground to powder as a thing of vanity and as nothing. These grove sanctuaries came to be desecrated, and therefore He commanded them all to be pulled down. One can see in these groves the first idea of a cathedral. Let any one stand in a lofty avenue of oaks, with their branches intertwining and interlacing, and he will see the nave of a Gothic cathedral. The tracery on the roof, the groined arches, the columns, and the pillars with their picturesque capitals, all is but man trying to embody in the stone what nature has so magnificently developed in her forests, and to perpetuate a grove of stone as a memorial still of the first sanctuaries in which men worshipped.
Against the clouds, far up the skies,
The walls of the cathedral rise,
Like a mysterious grove of stone.
Hence, also, the Druids, and the Druid temples, all were instances of the early purpose to which groves and forests were applied, that is, for worship; and when one thinks of the silence and the solemnity of primeval forests, one can see how naturally man would have recourse to them to worship; but when we see how sadly they were abused, one feels how easily the best things may be perverted, and Gods own divine institutions turned into objects of sin and folly. But, blessed be God, neither in this mountain nor in that, neither in grove nor cathedral only, is worship acceptable to God. He is worshipped truly, and the worship is accepted, wherever He is approached in spirit and in truth. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 33. Abraham planted a grove] The original word eshel has been variously translated a grove, a plantation, an orchard, a cultivated field, and an oak. From this word, says Mr. Parkhurst, may be derived the name of the famous asylum, opened by Romulus between two groves of oaks at Rome; ( , Dionys. Hal., lib. ii. c. 16:) and as Abraham, Ge 21:33, agreeably, no doubt, to the institutes of the patriarchal religion, planted an oak in Beer-sheba, and called on the name of Jehovah, the everlasting God, (compare Ge 12:8; Ge 18:1), so we find that oaks were sacred among the idolaters also. Ye shall be ashamed of the OAKS ye have chosen, says Isaiah, Isa 1:29, to the idolatrous Israelites. And in Greece we meet in very early times with the oracle of Jupiter at the oaks of Dodona. Among the Greeks and Romans we have sacra Jovi quercus, the oak sacred to Jupiter, even to a proverb. And in Gaul and Britain we find the highest religious regard paid to the same tree and to its misletoe, under the direction of the Druids, that is, the oak prophets or priests, from the Celtic deru, and Greek , an oak. Few are ignorant that the misletoe is indeed a very extraordinary plant, not to be cultivated in the earth, but always growing on some other tree. “The druids,” says Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. xvii., c. 44, “hold nothing more sacred than the misletoe, and the tree on which it is produced, provided it be the oak. They make choice of groves of oak on this account, nor do they perform any of their sacred rites without the leaves of those trees; so that one may suppose that they are for this reason called, by a Greek etymology, Druids. And whatever misletoe grows on the oak they think is sent from heaven, and is a sign that God himself has chosen that tree. This however is very rarely found, but when discovered is treated with great ceremony. They call it by a name which signifies in their language the curer of all ills; and having duly prepared their feasts and sacrifices under the tree, they bring to it two white bulls, whose horns are then for the first time tied; the priest, dressed in a white robe, ascends the tree, and with a golden pruning hook cuts off the misletoe, which is received into a white sagum or sheet. Then they sacrifice the victims, praying that God would bless his own gift to those on whom he has bestowed it.” It is impossible for a Christian to read this account without thinking of HIM who was the desire of all nations, of the man whose name was the BRANCH, who had indeed no father upon earth, but came down from heaven, was given to heal all our ills, and, after being cut off through the Divine counsel, was wrapped in fine linen and laid in the sepulchre for our sakes. I cannot forbear adding that the misletoe was a sacred emblem to other Celtic nations, as, for instance, to the ancient inhabitants of Italy. The golden branch, of which Virgil speaks so largely in the sixth book of the AEneis, and without which, he says, none could return from the infernal regions, (see line 126,) seems an allusion to the misletoe, as he himself plainly intimates by comparing it to that plant, line 205, c. See Parkhurst, under the word eshel.
In the first ages of the world the worship of God was exceedingly simple there were no temples nor covered edifices of any kind; an altar, sometimes a single stone, sometimes consisting of several, and at other times merely of turf, was all that was necessary; on this the fire was lighted and the sacrifice offered. Any place was equally proper, as they knew that the object of their worship filled the heavens and the earth. In process of time when families increased, and many sacrifices were to be offered, groves or shady places were chosen, where the worshippers might enjoy the protection of the shade, as a considerable time must be employed in offering many sacrifices. These groves became afterwards abused to impure and idolatrous purposes, and were therefore strictly forbidden. See Ex 34:13; De 12:3; De 16:21.
And called there on the name of the Lord] On this important passage Dr. Shuckford speaks thus: “Our English translation very erroneously renders this place, he called upon the name of Jehovah; but the expression kara beshem never signifies to call upon the name; kara shem would signify to invoke or call upon the name, or kara el shem would signify to cry unto the name; but kara beshem signifies to invoke IN the name, and seems to be used where the true worshippers of God offered their prayers in the name of the true Mediator, or where the idolaters offered their prayers in the name of false ones, 1Kg 18:26; for as the true worshippers had but one God and one Lord, so the false worshippers had gods many and lords many, 1Co 8:5. We have several instances of kara, and a noun after it, sometimes with and sometimes without the particle el, and then it signifies to call upon the person there mentioned; thus, kara Yehovah is to call upon the Lord, Ps 14:4; Ps 17:6; Ps 31:17; Ps 53:4; Ps 118:5, c. and kara el Yehovah imports the same, 1Sa 12:17; Jon 1:6, c. but kara beshem is either to name BY the name, Ge 4:17; Nu 32:42; Ps 49:11; Isa 43:7; or to invoke IN the name, when it is used as an expression of religious worship.” CONNEX. vol. i., p. 293. I believe this to be a just view of the subject, and therefore I admit it without scruple.
The everlasting God.] Yehovah el olam, JEHOVAH, the STRONG GOD, the ETERNAL ONE. This is the first place in Scripture in which olam occurs as an attribute of God, and here it is evidently designed to point out his eternal duration; that it can mean no limited time is self-evident, because nothing of this kind can be attributed to God. The Septuagint render the words , the ever-existing God; and the Vulgate has Invocavit ibi nomen Do mini, Dei aeterni, There he invoked the name of the Lord, the eternal God. The Arabic is nearly the same. From this application of both the Hebrew and Greek words we learn that olam and aion originally signified ETERNAL, or duration without end. alam signifies he was hidden, concealed, or kept secret; and , according to Aristotle, (De Caelo, lib. i., chap. 9, and a higher authority need not be sought,) is compounded of , always, and , being, , . The same author informs us that God was termed Aisa, because he was always existing, – , . De Mundo, chap. xi., in fine. Hence we see that no words can more forcibly express the grand characteristics of eternity than these. It is that duration which is concealed, hidden, or kept secret from all created beings; which is always existing, still running ON but never running OUT; an interminable, incessant, and immeasurable duration; it is THAT, in the whole of which God alone can be said to exist, and that which the eternal mind can alone comprehend.
In all languages words have, in process of time, deviated from their original acceptations, and have become accommodated to particular purposes, and limited to particular meanings. This has happened both to the Hebrew alam, and the Greek ; they have been both used to express a limited time, but in general a time the limits of which are unknown; and thus a pointed reference to the original ideal meaning is still kept up. Those who bring any of these terms in an accommodated sense to favour a particular doctrine, c., must depend on the good graces of their opponents for permission to use them in this way. For as the real grammatical meaning of both words is eternal, and all other meanings are only accommodated ones, sound criticism, in all matters of dispute concerning the import of a word or term, must have recourse to the grammatical meaning, and its use among the earliest and most correct writers in the language, and will determine all accommodated meanings by this alone. Now the first and best writers in both these languages apply olam and to express eternal, in the proper meaning of that word and this is their proper meaning in the Old and New Testaments when applied to God, his attributes, his operations taken in connection with the ends for which he performs them, for whatsoever he doth, it shall be for ever – yihyeh leolam, it shall be for eternity, Ec 3:14; forms and appearances of created things may change, but the counsels and purposes of God relative to them are permanent and eternal, and none of them can be frustrated; hence the words, when applied to things which from their nature must have a limited duration, are properly to be understood in this sense, because those things, though temporal in themselves, shadow forth things that are eternal. Thus the Jewish dispensation, which in the whole and in its parts is frequently said to be leolam, for ever, and which has terminated in the Christian dispensation, has the word properly applied to it, because it typified and introduced that dispensation which is to continue not only while time shall last, but is to have its incessant accumulating consummation throughout eternity. The word is, with the same strict propriety, applied to the duration of the rewards and punishments in a future state. And the argument that pretends to prove (and it is only pretension) that in the future punishment of the wicked “the worm shall die,” and “the fire “shall be quenched,” will apply as forcibly to the state of happy spirits, and as fully prove that a point in eternity shall arrive when the repose of the righteous shall be interrupted, and the glorification of the children of God have an eternal end! See Clarke on Ge 17:7; “Ge 17:8“.
1. FAITHFULNESS is one of the attributes of God, and none of his promises can fall. According to the promise to Abraham, Isaac is born; but according to the course of nature it fully appears that both Abraham and Sarah had passed that term of life in which it was possible for them to have children. Isaac is the child of the promise, and the promise is supernatural. Ishmael is born according to the ordinary course of nature, and cannot inherit, because the inheritance is spiritual, and cannot come by natural birth; hence we see that no man can expect to enter into the kingdom of God by birth, education, profession of the true faith, c., c. Those alone who are born from above, and are made partakers of the Divine nature, can be admitted into the family of God in heaven, and everlastingly enjoy that glorious inheritance. Reader, art thou born again? Hath God changed thy heart and thy life? If not, canst thou suppose that in thy present state thou canst possibly enter into the paradise of God? I leave thy conscience to answer.
2. The actions of good men may be misrepresented, and their motives suspected, because those motives are not known and those who are prone to think evil are the last to take any trouble to inform their minds, so that they may judge righteous judgment. Abraham, in the dismissal of Hagar and Ishmael, has been accused of cruelty. Though objections of this kind have been answered already, yet it may not be amiss farther to observe that what he did he did in conformity to a Divine command, and a command so unequivocally given that he could not doubt its Divine origin and this very command was accompanied with a promise that both the child and his mother should be taken under the Divine protection. And it was so; nor does it appear that they lacked any thing but water, and that only for a short time, after which it was miraculously supplied. God will work a miracle when necessary, and never till then; and at such a time the Divine interposition can be easily ascertained, and man is under no temptation to attribute to second causes what has so evidently flowed from the first. Thus, while he is promoting his creatures’ good, he is securing his own glory; and he brings men into straits and difficulties, that he may have the fuller opportunity to convince his followers of his providential care, and to prove how much he loves them.
3. Did we acknowledge God in all our ways, he would direct our steps. Abimelech, king of Gerar, and Phichol, captain of his host, seeing Abraham a worshipper of the true God, made him swear by the object of his worship that there should be a lasting peace between them and him; for as they saw that God was with Abraham, they well knew that he could not expect the Divine blessing any longer than he walked in integrity before God; they therefore require him to swear by God that he would not deal falsely with them or their posterity. From this very circumstance we may see the original purpose, design, and spirit of an oath, viz., Let God prosper or curse ME in all that I do, as I prove true or false to my engagements! This is still the spirit of all oaths where God is called to witness, whether the form be by the water of the Ganges, the sign of the cross, kissing the Bible, or lifting up the hand to heaven. Hence we may learn that he who falsifies an oath or promise, made in the presence and name of God, thereby forfeits all right and title to the approbation and blessing of his Maker.
But it is highly criminal to make such appeals to God upon trivial occasions. Only the most solemn matters should be thus determined. Legislators who regard the morals of the people should take heed not to multiply oaths in matters of commerce and revenue, if they even use them at all. Who can take the oaths presented by the custom house or excise, and be guiltless? I have seen a person kiss his pen or thumb nail instead of the book, thinking that he avoided the condemnation thereby of the false oath he was then taking!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Abraham planted a grove, not so much for shade, which yet was pleasant and necessary in these hot regions, as for religious use, that he might retire thither from the noise of worldly business, and freely converse with his Maker. Which practice of his was afterwards abused to superstition and idolatry, for which reason groves were commanded to be cut down. See Deu 12:3; 16:21.
Called there on the name of the Lord. He thankfully acknowledging Gods great goodness in giving him the favour and friendship of so great and worthy a prince and neighbour.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
33. Abraham planted a groveHebrew,“of tamarisks,” in which sacrificial worship was offered,as in a roofless temple.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And [Abraham] planted a grove in Beersheba,…. The Jewish writers w are divided about the use of this grove, as Jarchi relates; one says it was for a paradise or orchard, to produce fruits out of it for travellers and for entertainment; another says it was for an inn to entertain strangers in; it rather was for a shade, to shelter from the sun in those sultry and hot countries; and perhaps for a religious use, and to be an oratory, as the following words seem to suggest: in the midst of it very likely Abraham built an altar, and sacrificed to the Lord; hence might come the superstitious use of groves among the Heathens; and, when they came to be abused to idolatrous purposes, they were forbidden by the law of Moses, which before were lawful. And, though the name of Abraham is not in the text, there is no doubt but he is designed, and was the planter of the grove, and which is expressed in the Septuagint version, as it is supplied by us. What sort of trees this grove consisted of cannot with certainty be said, very probably the oak. R. Jonah x thinks it may be the tree which in Arabic they call “ethel”, and is a tree like that which is called tamarisk in general it signifies any tree, and especially large trees y;
and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God; who, is from everlasting to everlasting, or “the God of the world” z, the Creator and upholder of it, and the preserver of all creatures in it; him Abraham invoked in this place, prayed unto him, and gave him thanks for all the mercies he had received from him.
w In T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 10. 1. x Apud Kimchi, Sepher Shorash. rad. . y Vid. R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 72. 1. z “Dei seculi”, Pagninus, Hontanus, Calvin; so Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here Abraham planted a tamarisk and called upon the name of the Lord (vid., Gen 4:26), the everlasting God. Jehovah is called the everlasting God, as the eternally true, with respect to the eternal covenant, which He established with Abraham (Gen 17:7). The planting of this long-lived tree, with its hard wood, and its long, narrow, thickly clustered, evergreen leaves, was to be a type of the ever-enduring grace of the faithful covenant God.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
33 And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days.
Observe, 1. Abraham, having got into a good neighbourhood, knew when he was well off, and continued a great while there. There he planted a grove for a shade to his tent, or perhaps an orchard of fruit-trees; and there, though we cannot say he settled, for God would have him, while he lived, to be a stranger and a pilgrim, yet he sojourned many days, as many as would consist with his character, as Abraham the Hebrew, or passenger. 2. There he made, not only a constant practice, but an open profession, of his religion: There he called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God, probably in the grove he planted, which was his oratory or house of prayer. Christ prayed in a garden, on a mountain. (1.) Abraham kept up public worship, to which, probably, his neighbours resorted, that they might join with him. Note, Good men should not only retain their goodness wherever they go, but do all they can to propagate it, and make others good. (2.) In calling on the Lord, we must eye him as the everlasting God, the God of the world, so some. Though God had made himself known to Abraham as his God in particular, and in covenant with him, yet he forgets not to give glory to him as the Lord of all: The everlasting God, who was, before all worlds, and will be, when time and days shall be no more. See Isa. xl. 28.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
33. And Abraham planted a grove. It hence appears that more rest was granted to Abraham, after the covenant was entered into, than he had hitherto enjoyed; for now he begins to plant trees, which is a sign of a tranquil and fixed habitation; for we never before read that he planted a single shrub. Wherefore, we see how far his condition was improved because he was permitted to lead (as I may say) a settled life. The assertion, that he called on the name of the Lord, I thus interpret; he instituted anew the solemn worship of God, in order to testify his gratitude. Therefore God, after he had led his servant through continually winding paths, gave to him some relaxation in his extreme old age. And he sometimes so deals with his faithful people, that when they have been tossed by various storms, he at length permits them to breathe freely. As it respects calling upon God, we know that Abraham, wherever he went, never neglected this religious duty. Nor was he deterred by dangers from professing himself a worshipper of the true God; although, on this account, he was hateful to his neighbors. But as his conveniences for dwelling in the land increased, he became the more courageous in professing the worship of God. And because he now lived more securely under the protection of the king, he perhaps wished to bear open testimony, that he received even this as from God. For the same reason, the title of the everlasting God seems to be given, as if Abraham would say, that he had not placed his confidence in an earthly kings and was not engaging in any new covenant, by which he would be departing from the everlasting God. The reason why Moses, by the figure synecdoche, gives to the worship of God the name of invocation, I have elsewhere explained. Lastly, Abraham is here said to have sojourned in that land in which he, nevertheless, had a settled abode; whence we learn, that his mind was not so fixed upon this state of repose, as to prevent him frown considering what he had before heard from the mouth of God, that he with his posterity should be strangers till the expiration of four hundred years.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 21:33. And Abraham planted a grove.] Properly, the Oriental tamarisk tree or grove. They grow to a remarkable height, and furnish a wide shade. It seems as if this were a religious act, as designed to secure some retired place for worship. Such groves were afterwards forbidden on account of their connection with idolatrous practices. (Deu. 16:21.) The everlasting God. As the peculiar explanation of the name Jehovah. This title is found only in one other place. (Isa. 40:28.) St. Paul uses the equivalent Greek epithet. (Rom. 16:26.)
Gen. 21:34. Many days.] To be understood as representing a considerable period, during which Isaac had time to grow up from a child to such an age as would render him fit to carry the wood for the offering. (Gen. 22:6.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 21:33-34
ABRAHAM, THE GODLY MAN
Abraham was not merely a religious mana man of outward forms and observances; he was eminently a godly man. He believed not only certain truths concerning God, but he believed in Godin a living, personal Being upon whom he had centered his faith and hope. His character in this regard comes out clearly in this short historical notice.
I. He makes provision for Divine worship. Abraham planted a grove in Beer-Sheba, whose grateful shade and seclusion he would use for prayer and worship. And what we are told about the way of his worship shows that it rose above outward forms and ordinances.
1. It was intelligent. He called there on the name of the Lord. The name, as employed by the sacred writers, is not an indifferent symbol, but stands for the reality. Abraham knew the object of his worshipthe faithful, unchangeable God, true to His promises for ever. He was not serving one who inspired only slavish dread, and with whom a breach of ceremony was the highest offence, but a righteous Being who required truth in the heart and the service of love. His piety has no trace of superstition, but is altogether in accordance with the highest reason.
2. It was grateful. The planting of this grove was a kind of special act, in which Abraham was led to review the past with thankfulness. It was an outward monument of the gratitude which he felt in his heart for all Gods mercies. He was like Samuel, when he set up a stone between Mizpeh and Shen, and called it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto the Lord hath helped us. Thankfulness which finds its voice in praise is an essential part of worship. God is always giving to us, and there are times when our grateful sense of His bounty should rise to the surface and occupy our whole soul.
3. It was hopeful. He invoked the name of the Everlasting God. He looked towards the future with confidence, for he knew that God was sufficient in power, and throughout all time. His expectation was from One who could not die, and who could secure for him a portion beyond this passing world. This is not like the hope of the worldly man, which encloses little, and that passing away. Bounded by this world, nothing lies beyond it but a dreary blank. This was the hope of that eternal life in which God would be always blessing him. Union with such a Being implies immortality, as our Lord teaches us in His application of the truth that God was the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. The hope of the righteous man has its substantial ground in his faith in God.
II. He is content to be a stranger and pilgrim on the earth. He sojourned in the Philistines land many days. He was but a stranger there, and only for a short time. He had no permanent possession in the land. It afforded him but a resting place for a whilehis true home elsewhere. In one sense, every man is a pilgrim, for by an inevitable law he is passing on through the world to eternity. But every man does not recognise the fact that this world is not the true home of his soul, and that his mind and heart ought not to rest here. Abraham felt that he was both a pilgrim and a stranger. His strong faith in God was leading him each day to things above and beyond this world.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 21:33. The planting of this longlived tree, with its hard wood and its long, narrow, thickly-clustered evergreen leaves, was to be a type of the ever-enduring grace of the faithful covenant God.(Keil and Delitzsch.)
Abraham was seeking rest and peace, and it was therefore appropriate that he should invoke that name of God which implied His all-sufficiency and unchangeableness.
The consistency of the patriarchs godliness is seen in his making provision for the worship of God at every stage of his pilgrimage.
Gen. 21:34. Moses reports three sacred works of Abraham
1. He laboured.
2. He preached.
3. He bore patiently his long sojourn in a strange land.
Abraham sojourning in the Philistines landan image of the Church in the midst of the world.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(33) And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba.Heb., a tamarisk tree. Under a noble tree of this kind, which grows to a great size in hot countries, Saul held his court at Gibeah, and under another his bones were laid at Jabesh (1Sa. 22:6; 1Sa. 31:13).
And called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.Heb., on the name of Jehovah, El olam (comp. Gen. 4:26). In Gen. 14:22, Abraham claimed for Jehovah that he was El elyon, the supreme God; in Gen. 17:1, Jehovah reveals Himself as El shaddai, the almighty God; and now Abraham claims for Him the attribute of eternity. As he advanced in holiness, Abraham also grew in knowledge of the manifold nature of the Deity, and we also more clearly understand why the Hebrews called God, not El, but Elohim. In the plural appellation all the Divine attributes were combined. El might be elyon, or shaddai, or olam; Elohim was all in one.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
33. Planted a grove So the Vulgate . The Sept . has, a field; Chaldee, a garden; Syriac, a tree . But nearly all recent critics understand by the tamarisk . The planting of this tree is to be regarded as a religious act, and though the patriarch is still a sojourner, he seems to have felt that Beer-sheba was a sort of permanent resting place. “The planting of this long-lived tree, with its hard wood, and its long, narrow, thickly clustered evergreen leaves, was to be a type of the ever-enduring grace of the faithful covenant God.” Keil.
Called there on the name of the Lord Compare Gen 12:8; Gen 13:4; and Gen 4:26; notes .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Abraham planted a Tamarisk tree at Beersheba and called there on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God – El ‘Olam.’
It may be that the Philistines in Gerar worshipped El ‘Olam whom, because of the significance of his name Abraham accepted as being Yahweh for he knew Yahweh to be God from everlasting to everlasting (there was no concept of ‘eternity’. ‘Olam meant from time past to time future), compare El Elyon (Gen 14:22).
The Tamarisk tree was native to the area. It was to mark and possibly to provide shelter over the well. Thus the thirsty passer by, needing water, would see the well was there.
“Called there on the name of Yahweh”. As priest of the tribe he originated cult worship there. It became a shrine to the goodness of God, the central place of worship for his family tribe.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 21:33. Planted a grove Abraham planted this grove, no doubt, to erect an altar there, and to perform the duties of religion. These groves were universal in the Heathen world; nunquam est lucus sine religione, says Servius, there is never a grove, but it is consecrated to religion. The pious fathers of the most early antiquity seem to have chosen groves as their temples and solemn theatres of devotion, to which their silence and natural gloom dispose the contemplative mind. From them the custom seems to have been derived to the heathen world: Pliny tells us, that as groves and trees were the ancient temples, so even in his days, among the country people, where primitive simplicity still remained, it was usual to consecrate to God the most stately tree of the grove. This custom, very likely, began with Abraham, but it soon degenerated into gross and barbarous superstition; on which account groves were prohibited by the Levitical law, and ordered universally to be destroyed. See Exo 34:13; Exo 34:35. Deu 12:3.
Called there In the grove dedicated to the Divine service, he worshipped the Lord, the everlasting God, that Jehovah, who alone enjoys an essential underived existence, without beginning or end of duration, and from whom all other beings are derived; the God, who is, and was, and is to came.
Here for a while he settles in comfort, yet hath not a home, but a lodging; but wherever his abode, there shall be a house of prayer. He plants a grove, a place for contemplation, meditation, and prayer, and probably an open oratory, set apart not only for his own private, but also his family devotions, and those of any of his neighbours who choose to join with him; and the object of his worship is the Everlasting God. Happy they who follow his steps, and find the everlasting arms of this everlasting God under them, as Abraham did!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 21:33 And [Abraham] planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
Ver. 33. Abraham planted a grove. ] That he might have a private place for prayer and meditation. And thus he improved and employed that recent peace he had made with Ahimelech. Oh that God would once more try us, and trust us with the blessing of peace! How should we now prize it, and praise him for it! Bona a tergo formosissima .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
grove. Hebrew. ‘eshel = trees, riot ‘asherah (App-42), but the wood for Gen 22:3 about twenty years later.
the everlasting GOD. This is the Divine definition of Jehovah (Lord), Hebrew. ‘olam = duration, secret and hidden from man. Compare Psa 90:2.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
everlasting God
(1) The Hebrew “Olam” is used in Scripture:
(a) of secret or hidden things (e.g. Lev 5:2 “hidden”; 2Ki 4:27, “hid”; Psa 10:1, “hidest”);
(b) an indefinite time or age Lev 25:32, “at any time”; Jos 24:2 “in old time”). Hence the word is used to express the eternal duration of the being of God, Psa 90:2. “From everlasting to everlasting”), and is the Hebrew synonym of the Greek “aion,” age or dispensation.
(See Scofield “Gen 1:26”), note (4).
(2) The ideas therefore of things kept secret and of indefinite duration combine in this word. Both ideas inhere in the doctrine of the dispensations or ages. They are among the “mysteries” of God Eph 1:9; Eph 1:10; Eph 3:2-6; Mat 13:11. The “everlasting” God (El Olam) is therefore that name of Deity in virtue of which He is the God whose wisdom has divided all time and eternity into the mystery of successive ages or dispensations. It is not merely that He is everlasting, but that He is God over everlasting things. See, for other names of Deity:
(See Scofield “Gen 1:1”) See Scofield “Gen 2:4” Gen 2:7 See Scofield “Gen 14:18” See Scofield “Gen 15:2” See Scofield “Gen 17:1” See Scofield “1Sa 1:3”
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
grove: or, tree, Amo 8:14, The original word eshel, has been variously translated a grove, a plantation, an orchard, a cultivated field, and an oak; but it may denote a kind of tamarisk, as it is rendered by Gesenius, the same with the Arabic athl.
Beersheba: Deu 16:21, Jdg 3:7
called: Gen 4:26, Gen 12:8, Gen 26:23, Gen 26:25, Gen 26:33
on the name: Dr. Shuckford justly contends, that the expression rendered, “he called on the name,” signifies “he invoked in the name.”
everlasting: Deu 33:27, Psa 90:2, Isa 40:28, Isa 57:15, Jer 10:10, Rom 1:20, Rom 16:26, 1Ti 1:17
Reciprocal: Gen 13:1 – the south Gen 14:22 – possessor Gen 21:14 – Beersheba Gen 28:22 – God’s Gen 33:20 – altar Gen 46:1 – Beersheba Lev 17:5 – in the open 2Ch 19:4 – Beersheba Amo 5:5 – Beersheba
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 21:33. And Abraham planted a grove For a shade to his tent, or perhaps an orchard of fruit-trees; and there, though we cannot say he settled, for God would have him while he lived to be a stranger and a pilgrim, yet he sojourned many days. And called there on the name of the Lord Probably in the grove he planted, which was his oratory, or house of prayer: he kept up public worship, in which, probably, some of his neighbours joined with him. Men should not only retain their goodness wherever they go, but do all they can to propagate it, and make others good. The everlasting God Though God had made himself known to Abraham as his God in particular, yet he forgets not to give glory to him as the Lord of all, the everlasting God, who was before all worlds, and will be when time and days shall be no more.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
21:33 And [Abraham] planted a grove in Beersheba, and {n} called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
(n) That is, he worshipped God in all points of true religion.