And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
41. The days of mourning, &c.] Cf. Gen 50:3-4; Gen 50:10. The meaning is obvious. Esau says in his heart, “Isaac my father is on the point of death: no sooner shall he die, than I will take revenge. Even while the customary mourning is going on, I will slay Jacob.” Before seven days have elapsed (cf. Gen 50:3) he will have had his revenge. For “say in one’s heart,” cf. Gen 8:21, Gen 24:45 (J).
Very improbable is the interpretation which makes “the days of mourning, &c.” mean “the days of mourning by my father,” i.e. “for the death of Jacob.”
then will I slay ] The word “then” is simply “and” in the original. The clause is consecutive. There is no adverb defining the point of time. But the idiom emphasizes the dependence of the second clause upon the first.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 27:41-45
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing.
—
Esaus resentment
I. IT WAS CARNAL.
II. IT WAS OVER-RULED FOR GOOD. (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons
1. Esaus wicked hypocrites hate always bitterly those whom God loves dearly.
2. Gods blessing on His own is the cause why the wicked do so much hate and curse them.
3. The hearts of the wicked are meditating mischief, and their tongues belching it out against the righteous.
4. Pretended mourning for the dead is the hypocrites cloak for the death of the living.
5. Mischievous hypocrites in the Church, stick not to hasten the death of parents when they hinder from their ends.
6. Resolutions of the wicked are for the slaughter of the righteous and blessed, were it in their hands. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Providence ordereth the counsels of the wicked to be revealed that they may be prevented.
2. God maketh sometimes the instruments of their straits to be instruments of deliverance to His. So Rebekah was to Jacob.
3. It is but meet that such who bring into danger should be solicitous to prevent it.
4. Timely advice for safety should be taken with greatest heed, as given with greatest care.
5. The murder of the innocent is the comfort of the cruel and wicked man. Revenge comforts the hypocrite, when no harm is done to him (Gen 27:22).
6. The mothers voice must be heard when it tends to the good of children.
7. Flight from danger into exile is many times the lot of persecuted saints.
8. God can make the wickeds habitations sometimes shelters to His people (Gen 27:43.)
9. Gracious parents and children would part but for a little time if it might be.
10. Time wears out anger and memory of all pretended injuries in the wicked (Gen 27:44).
11. Tender mothers long to preserve the lives of children, evil and good.
12. To be childless, or bereft of all, is an evil deprecated by the saints (verse Jer 31:15). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 41. The days of mourning for my father are at hand] Such was the state of Isaac’s health at that time, though he lived more than forty years afterwards, that his death was expected by all; and Esau thought that would be a favourable time for him to avenge himself on his brother Jacob, as, according to the custom of the times, the sons were always present at the burial of the father. Ishmael came from his own country to assist Isaac to bury Abraham; and both Jacob and Esau assisted in burying their father Isaac, but the enmity between them had happily subsided long before that time.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Esau hated Jacob; and this hatred was hereditary, extending to their posterity also. See Eze 35:5; Amo 1:11; Oba 1:10.
Esau said in his heart, within himself; although he could not contain it there, but declared his intentions to some of his confidants, by which means it came to Rebekahs ear.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
41. Esau hated JacobIt isscarcely to be wondered at that Esau resented the conduct of Jacoband vowed revenge.
The days of mourning for myfather are at handa common Oriental phrase for the death of aparent.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him,…. It being a better blessing than his; giving him a better country, and greater plenty of good things, a larger dominion, and even dominion over him and his seed; for as for the promise of the Messiah, and spiritual blessings, he seems to have no concern about them, only temporal ones:
and Esau said in his heart; within himself, but he did not long keep it there, but told somebody of it; or otherwise, how should Rebekah be informed of it, as afterwards related? what he said follows,
the days of mourning for my father are at hand, then will I slay my brother Jacob: that is, the time of his father’s death was drawing nigh, when there would be a mourning for him for some days; at which time, or at the end of it, he proposed to pick a quarrel with Jacob about his title to his father’s substance, and in the quarrel kill him, and so regain the birthright and the blessing; and Jacob dying unmarried, and without issue, would defeat both the oracle of God, and the prophetic benediction of his father; but he failed in all, the time of his father’s death was not so near as he imagined, for he lived forty three years after this; and this design of his being discovered, was the occasion of Jacob’s going to Haran, where he married two sisters, and by them and their maids had a numerous offspring, whereby both the oracle and the blessing had their accomplishment. Esau seems to have retained some affection for his father, and therefore put off the execution of this wicked design until his death, being unwilling to grieve him, but had no regard for his mother, who he knew loved Jacob better than he, and was assisting to him in getting the blessing from him. Schmidt gives a sense of this passage different from all interpreters, and renders the words, “the days of my father’s mourning will draw nigh”; not in which his father would be mourned for, being dead, but in which his father, being alive, would himself mourn for his son Jacob, being slain by Esau; and accordingly he renders the next clause, “for I will slay my brother Jacob”; and that will make him mourn, and perhaps die of his grief; and so he shows an ill will to his father because he confirmed the blessing to Jacob, as well as to Jacob because he had it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Esau’s complaining and weeping were now changed into mortal hatred of his brother. “ The days of mourning, ” he said to himself, “ for my father are at hand, and I will kill my brother Jacob.” : genit. obj. as in Amo 8:10; Jer 6:26. He would put off his intended fratricide that he might not hurt his father’s mind.
Gen 27:42-46 When Rebekah was informed by some one of Esau’s intention, she advised Jacob to protect himself from his revenge ( to procure comfort by retaliation, equivalent to “avenge himself,” , Isa 1:24),
(Note: This reference is incorrect; the Niphal is used in Isa 1:24, the Hithpael in Jer 5:9-29. Tr.)
by fleeing to her brother Laban in Haran, and remaining there “ some days, ” as she mildly puts it, until his brother’s wrath was subdued. “ For why should I lose you both in one day? ” viz., Jacob through Esau’s vengeance, and Esau as a murderer by the avenger of blood (Gen 9:6, cf. 2Sa 14:6-7). In order to obtain Isaac’s consent to this plan, without hurting his feelings by telling him of Esau’s murderous intentions, she spoke to him of her troubles on account of the Hittite wives of Esau, and the weariness of life that she should feel if Jacob also were to marry one of the daughters of the land, and so introduced the idea of sending Jacob to her relations in Mesopotamia, with a view to his marriage there.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Jacob’s Life Threatened by Esau. | B. C. 1760. |
41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob. 42 And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran; 44 And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother’s fury turn away; 45 Until thy brother’s anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day? 46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?
Here is, I. The malice Esau bore to Jacob upon account of the blessing which he had obtained, v. 41. Thus he went in the way of Cain, who slew his brother because he had gained that acceptance with God of which he had rendered himself unworthy. Esau’s hatred of Jacob was, 1. A causeless hatred. He hated him for no other reason but because his father blessed him and God loved him. Note, The happiness of saints is the envy of sinners. Whom Heaven blesses, hell curses. 2. It was a cruel hatred. Nothing less would satisfy him than to slay his brother. It is the blood of the saints that persecutors thirst after: I will slay my brother. How could he say that word without horror? How could he call him brother, and yet vow his death? Note, The rage of persecutors will not be tied up by any bonds, no, not the strongest and most sacred. 3. It was a politic hatred. He expected his father would soon die, and then titles must be tried and interests contested between the brothers, which would give him a fair opportunity for revenge. He thinks it not enough to live by his sword himself (v. 40), unless his brother die by it. He is loth to grieve his father while he lives, and therefore puts off the intended murder till his death, not caring how much he then grieved his surviving mother. Note, (1.) Those are bad children to whom their good parents are a burden, and who, upon any account, long for the days of mourning for them. (2.) Bad men are long held in by external restraints from doing the mischief they would do, and so their wicked purposes come to nought. (3.) Those who think to defeat God’s purposes will undoubtedly be disappointed themselves. Esau aimed to prevent Jacob, or his seed, from having the dominion, by taking away his life before he was married; but who can disannul what God has spoken? Men may fret at God’s counsels, but cannot change them.
II. The method Rebekah took to prevent the mischief.
1. She gave Jacob warning of his danger, and advised him to withdraw for a while, and shift for his own safety. She tells him what she heard of Esau’s design, that he comforted himself with the hope of an opportunity to kill his brother, v. 42. Would one think that such a bloody barbarous thought as this could be a comfort to a man? If Esau could have kept his design to himself his mother would not have suspected it; but men’s impudence in sin is often their infatuation; and they cannot accomplish their wickedness because their rage is too violent to be concealed, and a bird of the air carries the voice. Observe here, (1.) What Rebekah feared–lest she should be deprived of them both in one day (v. 45), deprived, not only of the murdered, but of the murderer, who either by the magistrate, or by the immediate hand of God, would by sacrificed to justice, which she herself must acquiesce in, and not obstruct: or, if not so, yet thenceforward she would be deprived of all joy and comfort in him. Those that are lost to virtue are in a manner lost to all their friends. With what pleasure can a child be looked upon that can be looked upon as no other than a child of the devil? (2.) What Rebekah hoped–that, if Jacob for a while kept out of sight, the affront which his brother resented so fiercely would by degrees go out of mind. The strength of passions is weakened and taken off by the distances both of time and place. She promised herself that his brother’s anger would turn away. Note, Yielding pacifies great offences; and even those that have a good cause, and God on their side, must yet use this with other prudent expedients for their own preservation.
2. She impressed Isaac with an apprehension of the necessity of Jacob’s going among her relations upon another account, which was to take a wife, v. 46. She would not tell him of Esau’s wicked design against the life of Jacob, lest it should trouble him; but prudently took another way to gain her point. Isaac saw as uneasy as he was to Esau’s being unequally yoked with Hittites; and therefore, with a very good colour of reason, she moves to have Jacob married to one that was better principled. Note, One miscarriage should serve as a warning to prevent another; those are careless indeed that stumble twice at the same stone. Yet Rebekah seems to have expressed herself somewhat too warmly in the matter, when she said, What good will my life do me if Jacob marry a Canaanite? Thanks be to God, all our comfort is not lodged in one hand; we may do the work of life, and enjoy the comforts of life, though every thing do not fall out to our mind, and though our relations be not in all respects agreeable to us. Perhaps Rebekah spoke with this concern because she saw it necessary, for the quickening of Isaac, to give speedy orders in this matter. Observe, Though Jacob was himself very towardly, and well fixed in his religion, yet he had need to be put out of the way of temptation. Even he was in danger both of following the bad example of his brother and of being drawn into a snare by it. We must not presume too far upon the wisdom and resolution, no, not of those children that are most hopeful and promising; but care must be taken to keep them out of harm’s way.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 41-46:
Bitter rage smoldered in Esau’s heart, against Jacob. He determined to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac died and the mourning period passed. Evidently he did not keep his plans secret, for Rebekah learned of them. She proceeded to warn Jacob of the threat, and advised him to flee to Haran, to her brother Laban, and remaining there until Esau’s fury cooled. In order to secure Isaac’s blessing, and to divert suspicion from Esau, Rebekah resorted to yet another subterfuge. She used as a pretext her concern that Jacob might marry one of the “daughters of Heth,” and thereby corrupt the purity of the Abrahamic lineage. Heth was a great-grandson of Noah through Ham and Canaan (Ge 10:15). He was progenitor of the great Hittites. For centuries all records of these people were lost; but archaeologists have confirmed through recent discoveries that they are considered with the Babylonians and the Egyptians as among the greatest peoples of the time.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
41. And Esau hated Jacob. It hence appears more clearly, that the tears of Esau were so far from being the effect of true repentance, that they were rather evidences of furious anger. For he is not content with secretly cherishing enmity against his brother, but openly breaks out in wicked threats. And it is evident how deeply malice had struck its roots, when he could indulge himself in the desperate purpose of murdering his brother. Even a profane and sacrilegious contumacy betrays itself in him, seeing that he prepares himself to abolish the decree of God by the sword. I will take care, he says, that Jacob shall not enjoy the inheritance promised to him. What is this but to annihilate the force of the benediction, of which he knew that his father was the herald and the minister? Moreover, a lively picture of a hypocrite is here set before us. He pretends that the death of his father would be to him a mournful event: and doubtless it is a religious duty to mourn over a deceased father. But it was a mere pretense on his part, to speak of the day of mourning, when in his haste to execute the impious murder of his brother, the death of his father seemed to come too slowly, and he rejoiced at the prospect of its approach. (50) With what face could he ever pretend to any human affection, when he gasps for his brother’s death, and at the same time attempts to subvert all the laws of nature? It is even possible, that an impulse of nature itself, extorted from him the avowal, by which he would the more grievously condemn himself; as God often censures the wicked out of their own mouth, and renders them more inexcusable. But if a sense of shame alone restrains a cruel mind, this is not to be deemed worthy of great praise; nay, it even betrays a stupid and brutal contempt of God. Sometimes, indeed, the fear of man influences even the pious, as we have seen, in the preceding chapter, Gen 26:1, respecting Jacob: but they soon rise above it, so that with them the fear of God predominates; while forgetfulness of God so pervades the hearts of the wicked, that they rest their hopes in men alone. Therefore, he who abstains from wickedness merely through the fear of man, and from a sense of shame, has hitherto made but little progress. Yet the confession of the Papists is chiefly honored by them with this praise, that it deters many from sin, through the fear lest they should be compelled to proclaim their own disgrace. But the rule of piety is altogether different, since it teaches our conscience to set God before us as our witness and our judge.
(50) The Greek translateth, ‘Let the days of my father’s mourning be nigh, that I may kill Jacob my brother;’ so making it a wish for his father’s speedy death; and the Hebrew also will bear that translation.” — Ainsworth.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 27:45. Why should I be deprived also of you both in one day? If Esau killed Jacob, she must lose them both, for the avenger of blood would punish Esau with death.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 27:41-46
ESAUS RESENTMENT
I. It was carnal. There is a proper resentment which comes of righteous indignation against evil and wrong. It is a noble sentiment in us when we stand up for truth and the law of God, as against the errors and oppositions of unrighteous men. But Esau did not rise to this moral nobility. He only regarded his own personal interests. It was something done against himself that he resented, and not something done against the interests of Gods righteous rule in the world. Yet there was much apparent justice on Esaus side of this conflict. He was the acknowledged firstborn; he had obeyed the last request of his father. Now there was a bold and heartless attempt to deprive him of his proper rights, against common usage and natural law. His right was unquestionable, and we may well suppose that any jury of his fellow men would support him in the assertion of it. He had his fathers real intention on his side, which might be supposed to cancel any foolish deed he had done in a moment of temptation. Why then should he patiently endure the opposition of his brother? But his conduct was altogether selfish. He had no large and generous views, no regard for the interests of Gods kingdom in the world. He was not seeking true repentance, for then he would have humbled himself for his sin. He would have humbly tried to know what the will of the Lord was, and have been willing to accept a share in the covenant blessing on any terms. The Old Testament regards all human conduct as having relation to the will and pleasure of God, and to be hereby estimated. In this light Esaus conduct must be considered as carnal, and not spiritual.
II. It was overruled for good. Esaus enmity against his brother had the effect of promoting the further separation between the church and the world. Jacob is preserved from alliance by marriage with the ungodly. He is put in the way of contracting a better marriage than Esau, such as would ensure the purity and nobility of the chosen race. Rebekah contrives not only to save Jacob from his brothers anger, but also to save him from falling into the same sin of an ungodly marriage. Thus human passions, and the conflict of private and selfish interests are made to work out the designs of God.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 27:41. Whatever feeling of commiseration or sympathy we may hitherto have cherished for Esau in seeing him supplanted by the subtlety of Jacob, it is all banished from our bosoms when we behold him inwardly cherishing the most malignant passions, and cooly anticipating the time when he can imbue his hands in the blood of his brother. His guilt in this assumes an awfully atrocious character. His hatred was of the same nature as that of Cain towards Abel, and of Saul towards David, being directed against him, principally on account of his having been a special object of the Divine favour. Under these circumstances, the attempt to take Jacobs life was virtually waging war with the high purposes of heaven, and an attempt to frustrate the decree of God by a stroke of his sword. The same spirit of hatred seems to have been perpetuated in his posterity against the seed of Jacob. As nothing but the death of Jacob could comfort Esau, so nothing could satisfy his descendants but to see Jerusalem razed to its foundations.(Bush.)
He who cannot feel indignant at some kinds of wrong has not the mind of Christ. Remember the words with which He blighted Pharasaism, words not spoken for effect, but syllables of downright, genuine anger. Very different from this was Esaus resentment. Anger in him had passed into malice; private wrong had been brooded on till it had become revenge, deliberate and planned vindictiveness. Turn once more to the life of the Redeemer; you find scarcely a trace of resentment for injury done merely to himself. Wrong and injustice he felt; but that it was done to Him added nothing to His feeling.(Robertson.)
Jacob was held back by respect for his father, but he had no consideration for the grief of his mother.
Gen. 27:42. The unhappy mother begins to reap according as she had sown. The safety of her favourite can only be secured at the price of his banishment. We see from this that though their imposition succeeded, yet it was a success that embittered the whole life both of Jacob and his parents. Rebekah, the contriver of the fraud, was deprived of her favourite son, probably for the rest of her days. Instead of the elder serving the younger, Jacob was now a banished stranger, a wandering fugitive, in continual terror of his enraged brother. The retributive justice of Heaven is seen pursuing him at every step.
1. He who had imposed upon his father is himself imposed upon by his uncle in the circumstances of his marriage.
2. The continual jealousies and hatred between his wives must have reminded him of his own want of paternal affection.
3. Continual feuds prevailed among his own children.
4. He was himself the dupe of an imposture more successful even than that by which he had deceived his father. Joseph, his beloved son, was sold by his brethren, and stated to have been slain. The rest of the life of Jacob was signalised by scenes of domestic trouble and vexation, which had their origin in the unhappy step we are now considering.(Bush.)
Gen. 27:43-44. These few days proved to be a period of twenty years. How little we can do towards the disposal of the times and events of our life!
Gen. 27:45. Rebekahs repentance is changed into an atonement by the heroic valour of her faith.(Lange.)
But why does Rebekah fear a twofold bereavement? It is indeed possible that she may have apprehended that a murderous attack from Esau upon his brother might arouse him in self-defence, so that it should be only at the expense of the aggressors life that he should lose his own. But a more probable explanation is the following:If Esau had killed Jacob, he would have been liable either to have been punished with death, according to the law (Gen. 9:6), or to have been driven into exile like Cain, where he would have been virtually lost to her for ever.(Bush.)
And he forgets what thou hast done to him. With this she both acknowledges Jacobs guilt, and betrays a precise knowledge of Esaus character. Let us not despair too soon of men. Are there not twelve hours during the day? The great fury and fiery indignation pass away with time.(Luther.)
Gen. 27:46. It would appear that Rebekah was here framing an excuse for Jacobs departure, and concealing the true cause. It was expedient before Jacobs departure to obtain his fathers concurrence. But in order to do this, she passes over the true reason of the proposed journey in silence, knowing that he, as well as herself, had been grieved by Esaus wives, she now pretends to fear that Jacob may form a similar connection, and makes this the ostensible reason why he should go immediately to Padanaramviz., that he might take a wife from among their relations in that country. She does not propose it directly, but merely in the form of a bitter complaint of the conduct of Esaus wives. But this policy completely answered its end, as is clear from the next chapter.(Bush.)
How sagacious this pious woman: she conceals to her husband the great misfortune and affliction existing in the house, so as not to bring sorrow upon Isaac in his old age.(Luther.)
IMPORTANT REFLECTIONS SUGGESTED BY THE FOREGOING NARRATIVE
I. The history furnishes an admonitory lesson to parents. Parents complain of their children when, perhaps, the fault is to be traced mainly to themselves. They have indulged an early partiality, founded upon no just reasons, which has been productive on both sides of the worst effects. Let them guard with anxious vigilance against the symptoms of a week favouritism towards their children. A wise Providence often points out the sin in the punishment, and teaches parents discretion in the discharge of their duties by setting before their eyes the bad effects which flow from the want of it.
II. We may learn from this history not to make the supposed designs of God the rule of our conduct. We say, supposed designs, because as to us they can be only supposed. It may please God to foretell future events, but it is not, therefore our duty by crooked means to bring them to pass. God does not give prophecy for a rule of action. He will accomplish His own purposes in His own way. We are to follow what is fair and just, and honourable, and leave the consequences to God.
III. We are reminded that the way to success and to prosperity in our undertakings is often not that which appears the shortest, or even the surest. Jacob was, indeed, for the time being, successful in his fraudulent device; but what fruits had he of his triumph? He sowed the wind, and reaped the whirlwind. Soon was he forced to fly from his brothers wrath, and years of trouble followed his departure from the parental mansion. Had he permitted God to accomplish His declaration in His own way; had his conduct towards his brother been kind and affectionate, and free from guile, we cannot doubt that his history would have been far different. The true source of prosperity is the blessing of God, and this cannot be counted upon except in strict adherence to the principles of rectitude. A man is exposed to temptation; some great advantage offers itself; a little art or deceit in supplanting another is thought indispensable; excuses are not wanting to justify the act. But what, in general, is the result? Either his arts recoil against himself, and he is utterly disappointed of his aim; or if he apparently succeeds, his success is rather a curse than a blessing. Our highest wisdom and our surest safety lie in the course of plain, simple, undeviating integrity.
IV. We are taught that regret is often unavailing to restore an offender to the privileges of innocence. Esau, having sold the birthright and lost the blessing, discovered his error too late. The blessing once gone was gone for ever; and tears, and prayers, and exclamations were in vain employed to recover it. Let us learn, then, that however momentous the consequences depending upon a single wrong step, they may be irretrievable. Regret, however bitter; entreaty, however urgent, may come too late. In vain shall we look for our former peace of mind, the sweets of conscious innocence, and the fruits of pleasing hope. We may seek for them with tears, but they will not be found. Let us not by yielding to temptation, cast away our confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.(Bush.)
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
JACOB IS SENT AWAY BY HIS FATHER AND MOTHER TO HARAN.
(41) The days of mourning for my father are at hand.Esau evidently expected that his fathers death was near, and such also was Isaacs own expectation (Gen. 27:2); but he recovered, and lived for more than half a century. Perhaps on this account another translation has been suggested, namely, Days of mourning for my father are at hand: for I will slay Jacob. But there is no support for this in the Hebrew, and it represents Esau as utterly inhuman; whereas, with all his faults, he had a warm, loving heart. Genesis 28 ought to have begun here, as the break at the end of Gen. 27:46 is very injurious to the meaning.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
JACOB’S DEPARTURE TO HARAN, Gen 27:41-45.
41. Esau said Esau was one of those ingenuous, open natures, which show themselves out spontaneously . He could not keep his dark purpose a secret .
Mourning for my father He loved his father and would not grieve his heart; so he purposes to defer his vengeance until after his father is dead . He seems to have no such care about grieving his mother, the partial friend of Jacob .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then will I slay my brother Jacob.” ’
As we have seen earlier, Isaac thought he was near death, and it is clear Esau thought likewise. ‘The days of mourning for my father are at hand’ means exactly this. (Probably no one thought that Isaac would linger on another twenty years or more. But he did, and by the time he died all the differences had been settled).
Thus Esau decides to wait until then before carrying out his plan to kill Jacob. He does not want to distress his father. But he clearly lets his thoughts be known, for word gets back to Rebekah and she decides to send Jacob to a place of safety.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Esau’s Hatred of Jacob
v. 41. And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, the days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob. v. 42. And these words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah; and she sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. v. 43. Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban, my brother, to Haran; v. 44. and tarry with him a few days, until thy brother’s fury turn away; v. 45. until thy brother’s anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him; then I will send, and fetch thee from thence. v. 46. And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Gen 27:41
And Esau hated Jacoba proof that he was not penitent, however disappointed and remorseful (cf. Oba 1:10, Oba 1:11; 1Jn 3:12, 1Jn 3:15)because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him:notwithstanding the fact that he too had received an appropriate benediction; a display of envy as well as wrath, another proof of his ungracious character (Gal 5:21; Jas 4:5)and Esau said in his heart,i.e. secretly resolved, though afterwards he must have communicated his intention (vide Gen 27:42)The days of mourning for my father are at hand. The LXX. interpret as a wish on the part of Esau that Isaac might speedily die, in order that the fratricidal act he contemplated might not pain the old man’s heart; another rendering (Kalisch) understands him to say that days of grief were in store for his father, as he meant to slay his brother; but the ordinary translation seems preferable (Rosenmller, Keil, Murphy, et alii), that Esan only deferred the execution of his unholy purpose because of the near approach, as he imagined, of his father’s death. Isaac, however, lived upwards of forty years after this. Then will I slay my brother Jacob. That which reconciled Isaac and Ishmael (Gen 25:9), the death of a father, is here mentioned as the event which would decisively and finally part Esau and Jacob. Esau’s murderous intention Calvin regards as a clear proof of the non-reality of his repentance for his sin, the insincerity of his sorrow for his father, and the intense malignity of his hate against his brother.
Gen 27:42
And these (literally, the) words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah:not likely by revelation, but by some one to whom he had made known his secret purpose (Pro 29:11)and she sent and called Jacob her younger son (to advise him of his danger, being apprehensive lest the passionate soul of the enraged hunter should find it difficult to delay till Isaac’s death), and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. Literally, behold thy brother Esau taking vengeance upon thee (the hithpael of meaning properly to comfort oneself, hence to satisfy one’s feeling of revenge) by killing thee. The translations (LXX.) and minafur (Vulgate), besides being inaccurate, are too feeble to express the fratricidal purpose of Esau.
Gen 27:43-45
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice;i.e. be guided by my counsel; a request Rebekah might perhaps feel herself justified in making, not only by her maternal solicitude for Jacob’s welfare, but also from the successful issue of Her previous stratagem (vide on Gen 27:8)and arise, flee thouliterally, flee for thyself (of. Gen 12:1; Num 14:11; Amo 7:12)to Laban my brother to Haran (vide Gen 11:31; Gen 14:1-24 :29); and tarry with him a few days,literally, days some. The few days eventually proved to be at least twenty years (vide Gen 31:38). It is not probable that Rebekah ever again beheld her favorite son, which was a signal chastisement for her sinful ambition for, and partiality towards, Jacobuntil thy brother’s fury turn away; until thy brother’s anger turn away from thee,the rage of Esau is here described by two different words, the first of which, , from a root signifying to be warm, suggests the heated and inflamed condition of Esau’s soul, while the second, , from , to breathe through the nostrils, depicts the visible manifestations of that internal fire in hard and quick breathingand he forget that which thou hast done to him,Rebekah apparently had conveniently become oblivious of her own share in the transaction by which Esau had been wronged. Then will I send, and fetch thee from thencewhich she never did. Man proposes, but God disposes. Why should I be deprived also of you both in one day? I.e. of Jacob by the hand of Esau, and of Esau by the hand of the avenger of blood (Gen 9:6; cf. 2Sa 14:6, 2Sa 14:7; Calvin, Keil, Rosenmller, Kalisch), rather than by his own fratricidal act, which would forever part him from Rebekah (Lange).
Gen 27:46
And Rebekah said to Isaac (perhaps already discerning in the contemplated flight to Haran the prospect of a suitable matrimonial alliance for the heir of the promise, and secretly desiring to suggest such a thought to her aged husband), I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth:referring doubtless to Esau’s wives (cf. Gen 26:35)if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me? Literally, for what to me life, i.e. what happiness can I have in living? It is impossible to exonerate Rebekah altogether from a charge of duplicity even in this. Unquestionably Esau’s wives may have vexed her, and her faith may have perceived that Jacob’s wife must be sought for amongst their own kindred; but her secret reason for sending Jacob to Haran was not to seek a wife, as she seems to have desired Isaac to believe, but to elude the fury of his incensed brother.
HOMILETICS
Gen 27:41-46
The stolen blessing: a domestic drama.-4. Rebekah and Esau, or fratricide frustrated.
I. THE MURDEROUS DESIGN OF ESAU.
1. The ostensible reason. “Because of the blessing wherewith his father had blessed Jacob.” No argument can justify willful and deliberate homicide; least of all an excuse so lame and feeble as that of Esau. The blessing Jacob had obtained was one which he himself had formerly despised and practically sold; If Jacob had been guilty of stealing it from him, as he imagined, it was only what he had been attempting to do with reference to Jacob. Besides, in so far as the blessing was an object of desire to Esau, viz; for its material advantages, he had himself received a blessing not greatly dissimilar. There was therefore no sufficient cause for Esau’s hostility towards his brother.
2. The impelling motive. “Hate”the essential spirit of murder (Mat 5:22; 1Jn 3:15). Esau’s causeless hatred of Jacob was typical of the world’s enmity against the Church: in its ground, the Church’s enjoyment of the blessing; in its spirit, bitter and implacable; in its manifestation, persecution and oppression (1Jn 3:13).
3. The decorous restraint. “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother.” Wicked men who resist all the influences of piety are not always able to surmount the barriers of public opinion. Though Esau had no scruples on the score of conscience as to killing Jacob, he had some scruples on the ground of decency as to doing it while his father lived. Persons who have no religion not infrequently do homage to the appearance of religion.
4. The providential discovery. Though Esau originally resolved on Jacob’s murder in secret, he appears to have inadvertently disclosed his purpose to another, who forthwith communicated his intention to Rebekah. Those who have secrets to keep should tell them to no one; but Divine providence has wisely and mercifully arranged that guilty secrets should be ill to keep. “Murder will out.”
5. The inglorious defeat. The information brought to Rebekah enabled her to counterwork Esau’s design, and thus a second time was Esau outwitted by a woman. It is obvious that some sons are not so clever as their mothers.
II. THE PRUDENT COUNSEL OF REBEKAH.
1. Hastily formed. The shrewd sagacity of Isaac’s wife at once perceived an outlet from the snare. The woman’s wit that had cheated Isaac was not likely to be baffled with blustering Esau. Calling Jacob from the herds, she told him of his brother’s murderous design, and detailed her own scheme for his protection.
2. Clearly explained. He should immediately betake himself to Haran, and seek shelter for a season beside his uncle Laban and his cousins. Though Rebekah does not mention the propriety of looking for a wife, it is apparent that the possibility of Jacob’s finding one was present to her thoughts.
3. Skillfully urged. Arguments were not long in coming to Rebekah’s aid.
(1) His brother’s anger would soon burn out.
(2) His absence accordingly would not require to be long.
(3) If he did not go he was certain to be killed, in which ease Esau would fall a victim to judicial retribution, and she, a heart-broken mother, would be deprived of both her sons in one day.
(4) She was his mother, and her advice should be received with filial reverence and submission.
4. Adroitly carried through. Securing her son’s compliance, there was still the difficulty how to obtain the assent of Isaac. This she does by leading Isaac himself to suggest the propriety of Jacob’s going north to Padan-aram in search of a wife; and to this she turns the thoughts of Isaac by expressing the hope that Jacob will not imitate his brother by marrying daughters of the land, a calamity, she informs her husband, which would render her already miserable life scarcely worth retaining. It was prudent in Rebekah to direct the mind of Isaac to the propriety of getting Jacob married, but there is not wanting a trace of that craftiness which was Rebekah’s peculiar infirmity.
Learn
1. That the world’s hostility to the Church is wholly unreasonable and unjustifiable.
2. That wicked devices against God’s people are sure eventually to be overturned.
3. That bad men sometimes wear a semblance of religion.
4. That good mothers grieve for the wickedness of bad, and work for the safety of good, sons.
5. That while wicked matches in their children are a burden to gracious parents, it should be a parent’s aim to secure pious wives for their sons, and Christian husbands for their daughters.
HOMILIES BY F. HASTINGS
Gen 27:46
Rebekah, the disappointed.
“What good shall my life do me?” Rebekah as a mother doubtless promised herself much joy in her children. They grew up. Esau becomes wayward, Jacob becomes a wanderer. Rebekah yielded to favoritism (Gen 27:13), and schemed to carry her point. She cherished a treacherous spirit, and led Jacob to sin. She was ambitious not for herself, but for Jacob. This is like woman; she lives in others. She was reckless as to results, but when they came she found them bitter. “She loved Jacob more than truth, more than God.” This was idolatry. No wonder she utters the exclamation, “What good shall my life do me?” She was a disappointed woman. Her favorite son was in hiding from the wrath of a wronged brother, and Esau was indifferent towards her and angry. If life is not to be a disappointment we must beware of
I. UNSCRUPULOUS SCHEMING.
II. AFFECTIONS THAT CARE MORE FOR HAPPINESS THAN HONOR
III. OF IDOLATRY, COVETOUSNESS, AND NEGLECT OF GOD‘S CLAIMS.
IV. OF IGNORING THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS.
V. OF IGNORANCE AS TO THE TRUE ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS.
Rebekah began well. Her advent unto the encampment was a “comfort” to Isaac. She seems to have been “weary of life,” and asks “what good it shall do her.” Some who ask at this day “whether life is worth living” may find a suggestion in Rebekah’s conduct as to the reason wherefore they ask the question.M.P
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Gen 27:41. The days of mourning are at hand In this however he was mistaken, as Isaac lived forty years after: he was also happily prevented from executing his wicked purpose by his mother’s care, who sent away her son Jacob to Laban, designing soon to fetch him back from thence, Gen 27:45 though in this she was disappointed, Jacob continuing with Laban above twenty years. She seems to have been a very tender mother, anxious for the welfare of her sons, though most engaged to Jacob, probably by the goodness and humanity of his behaviour, as well as the knowledge she had of the Divine preference of him. Houbigant translates mithnachem leca, thinks, or meditates concerning thee to kill thee: which he thinks much more natural than doth comfort himself, and which he avers is more agreeable to the Hebrew.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Oba 1:10 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 27:41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
Ver. 41. And Esau hated Jacob, &c. ] Because God said, “Jacob have I loved.” And, as all hatred is bloody, he resolves to be his death. “The righteous is abomination to the wicked,” saith Solomon. Pro 29:27 Moab was irked because of Israel, or, did fret and vex at them, Num 22:3-4 who yet passed by them in peace. But the old Serpent had set his limbs in them, transfused his venom into them: hence that deadly hatred that is and will be betwixt the godly and the wicked. Pliny speaks of the scorpion, that there is not one minute wherein he doth not put forth the sting: so doth that serpentine seed, acted by Satan. The panther so hates man, that he flies upon the very picture of a man, and tears it to pieces. So doth Satan and his imps upon the image of God, in whomsoever they find it. They “satanically hate me,” saith David Psa 35:19 of his enemies. And seest thou thy persecutor full of rage? saith Bernard; know thou, that he is spurred on by the devil that rides him, a that acts and agitates him. Eph 2:2
And Esau said in his heart.
The days of mourning for my father.
I will slay my brother.
a Scito quia ab ascensore suo daemone perurgetur. – Bern.
b Vindicabo me afferendo Patri luctum caede fratris. – Luth.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 27:41-45
41So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. 43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! 44Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides, 45until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
Gen 27:41 The Septuagint translates this verse as a wish by Ishmael for Isaac to die (i.e., Isaac thought he was going to die; that is why he gave the patriarchal blessing, cf. Gen 27:2), but this seems to be totally out of context. Esau seems to really love Isaac.
Gen 27:43 Once Rebekah hears Esau’s plans to take revenge on Jacob she commands Jacob to act.
1. “obey” (lit., “hear so as to act”), BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal IMPERATIVE
2. “arise,” BDB 877, KB 1086, Qal IMPERATIVE
3. flee (lit. go), BDB 137, KB 156, Qal IMPERATIVE
She sends him back to her family in Haran. The trip had two purposes.
1. get him away from Esau and allow Esau’s anger to calm (cf. Gen 27:44-45)
2. get a wife from her family (cf. Gen 27:46), not from the Canaanites as Esau had done (cf. Gen 26:34-35; Gen 27:46)
Gen 27:44-45 Here is a series of phrases by Rebekah which seem to imply that she will call Jacob home very quickly. In reality, Jacob will stay for over 20 years and probably will never see his mother again. Isn’t it ironical that, although Jacob received both the birthright and the inheritance, he had to flee for his life and Esau enjoyed both of them for over 20 years. I feel sorry for Rebekah who had to stay with an old, crippled man whom she had deceived and an older son who felt betrayed.
Gen 27:45 “Why should I be bereaved of both of you in one day” This can be interpreted in two ways: (1) that Esau would kill Jacob and then the closest kin would act as a go’el and kill Esau (cf. Gen 9:6) or (2) that Jacob, though a homebody, was also a very strong man, which was obvious from his description of his shepherding duties with Laban (cf. Gen 31:38-42), and later his wrestling with the angel (cf. Gen 32:24-32), and probably the two brothers would kill each other if they fought.
at hand. Isaac mistaken, verses: Gen 27:1, Gen 27:2. Esau mistaken here.
hated: Gen 4:2-8, Gen 37:4, Gen 37:8, Eze 25:12-15, Eze 35:5, Amo 1:11, Amo 1:12, Oba 1:10-14, 1Jo 3:12-15
The days: Gen 35:29, Gen 50:3, Gen 50:4, Gen 50:10, Gen 50:11, Deu 34:8, 2Ch 35:24, Psa 35:14
then: Gen 32:6, 2Sa 13:28, 2Sa 13:29, Psa 37:12, Psa 37:13, Psa 37:16, Psa 140:4, Psa 140:5, Psa 142:3, Pro 1:12, Pro 1:13, Pro 1:16, Pro 6:14, Ecc 7:9, Oba 1:10, Eph 4:26, Eph 4:27, Tit 1:15, Tit 1:16, Tit 3:3, 1Jo 3:12-15
Reciprocal: Gen 23:2 – mourn Gen 29:31 – was hated Gen 31:18 – for to go Gen 33:1 – Esau came Gen 33:9 – my brother Gen 35:1 – when thou Gen 50:15 – their father Lev 19:17 – hate Num 20:20 – Thou shalt Deu 26:5 – ready Jos 9:22 – Wherefore 2Sa 11:26 – she mourned 2Sa 13:32 – determined Pro 16:7 – he Pro 18:19 – brother Jer 49:7 – Edom Mar 6:21 – when Eph 4:31 – with 1Jo 3:15 – hateth
Gen 27:41-42. Esau said in his heart What he afterward uttered in words, The days of mourning for my father are at hand According to the course of nature. Isaac, however, lived forty-four years after this. Thy brother doth comfort himself With thoughts of revenge, (which is sweet to all enraged mind,) and with hopes of recovering his birthright.
27:41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; {l} then will I slay my brother Jacob.
(l) Hypocrites only abstain from doing evil for fear of men.
JACOBS FLIGHT AND DREAM
Gen 27:41 – Gen 28:1-22
“So foolish was I and ignorant: I was as a beast before Thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee.”- Psa 73:22
IT is so commonly observed as to be scarcely worth again remarking, that persons who employ a great deal of craft in the management of their affairs are invariably entrapped in their own net. Life is so complicated, and every matter of conduct has so many issues, that no human brain can possibly foresee every contingency. Rebekah was a clever woman, and quite competent to outwit men like Isaac and Esau, but she had in her scheming neglected to take account of Laban, a man true brother to herself in cunning. She had calculated on Esaus resentment, and knew it would last only a few days, and this brief period she was prepared to utilise by sending Jacob out of Esaus reach to her own kith and kin, from among whom he might get a suitable wife. But she did not reckon on Labans making her son serve fourteen years for his wife, nor upon Jacobs falling so deeply in love with Rachel as to make him apparently forget his mother.
In the first part of her scheme she feels herself at home. She is a woman who knows exactly how much of her mind to disclose, so as effectually to lead her husband to adopt her view and plan. She did not bluntly advise Isaac to send Jacob to Padan-aram, but she sowed in his apprehensive mind fears which she knew would make him send Jacob there; she suggested the possibility of Jacobs taking a wife of the daughters of Heth. She felt sure that Isaac did not need to be told where to send his son to find a suitable wife. So Isaac called Jacob, and said, Go to Padan-aram, to the house of thy mothers father, and take thee a wife thence. And he gave him the family blessing-God Almighty give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee-so constituting him his heir, the representative of Abraham.
The effect this had on Esau is very noticeable. He sees, as the narrative tells us, a great many things, and his dull mind tries to make some meaning out of all that is passing before him: The historian seems intentionally to satirise Esaus attempt at reasoning, and the foolish simplicity of the device he fell upon. He had an idea that Jacobs obedience in going to seek a wife of another stock than he had connected himself with would be pleasing to his parents; and perhaps he had an idea that it would be possible to steal a march upon Jacob in his absence, and by a more speedily affected obedience to his parents desire, win their preference, and perhaps move Isaac to alter his will and reverse the blessing. Though living in the chosen family, he seems to have had not the slightest idea that there was any higher will than his fathers being fulfilled in their doings. He does not yet see why he himself should not be as blessed as Jacob; he cannot grasp at all the distinction that grace makes; cannot take in the idea that God has chosen a people to Himself, and that no natural advantage or force or endowment can set a man among that people, but only Gods choice. Accordingly, he does not see any difference between Ishmaels family and the chosen family; they are both sprung from Abraham, both are naturally the same, and the fact that God expressly gave His inheritance past Ishmael is nothing to Esau-an act of God has no meaning to him. He merely sees that he has not pleased his parents as well as he might by his marriage, and his easy and yielding disposition prompts him to remedy this.
This is a fine specimen of the hazy views men have of what will bring them to a level with Gods chosen. Through their crass insensibility to the high righteousness of God, there still does penetrate a perception that if they are to please Him there are certain means to be used for doing so. There are, they see, certain occupations and ways pursued by Christians, and if by themselves adopting these they can please God, they are quite willing to humour Him in this. Like Esau, they do not see their way to drop their old connections, but if by making some little additions to their habits, or forming some new connection, they can quiet this controversy that has somehow grown up between God and His children, -though, so far as they see, it is a very unmeaning controversy, -they will very gladly enter into any little arrangement for the purpose. We will not, of course, divorce the world, will not dismiss from our homes and hearts what God hates and means to destroy, will not accept Gods will as our sole and absolute law, but we will so far meet Gods wishes as to add to what we have adopted something that is almost as good as what God enjoins: we will make any little alterations which will not quite upset our present ways. Much commoner than hypocrisy is this dim-sighted, blundering stupidity of the really profane worldly man, who thinks he can take rank with men whose natures God has changed, by the mere imitation of some of their ways; who thinks, that as be cannot without great labour, and without too seriously endangering his hold on the world, do precisely what God requires, God may be expected to be satisfied with a something like it. Are we not aware of endeavouring at times to cloak a sin with some easy virtue, to adopt some new and apparently good habit, instead of destroying the sin we know God hates; or to offer to God, and palm upon our own conscience, a mere imitation of what God is pleased with? Do you attend Church, do you come and decorously submit to a service? That is not at all what God enjoins, though it is like it. What He means is, that you worship Him, which is a quite different employment. Do you render to God some outward respect, have you adopted some habits in deference to Him, do you even attempt some private devotion and discipline of the spirit? Still what He requires is something that goes much deeper than all that; namely, that you love Him. To conform to one or two habits of godly people is not what is required of us; but to be at heart godly.
As Jacob journeyed northwards, he came, on the second or third evening of his flight, to the hills of Bethel. As the sun was sinking he found himself toiling up the rough path which Abraham may have described to him as looking like a great staircase of rock and crag reaching from earth, to sky. Slabs of rock, piled one upon another, form the whole hillside, and to Jacobs eye, accustomed to the rolling pastures of Beersheba, they would appear almost like a structure built for superhuman uses, well founded in the valley below, and intended to reach to unknown heights. Overtaken by darkness on this rugged path, he readily finds as soft a bed and as good shelter as his shepherd-habits require, and with his head on a stone and a corner of his dress thrown over his face to preserve him from the moon, he is soon fast asleep. But in his dreams the massive staircase is still before his eyes, and it is no longer himself that is toiling up it as it leads to an unexplored hill-top above him, but the angels of God are ascending and descending upon it, and at its top is Jehovah Himself.
Thus simply does God meet the thoughts of Jacob, and lead him to the encouragement he needed. What was probably Jacobs state of mind when he lay down on that hill-side? In the first place, and as he would have said to any man he chanced to meet, he wondered what he would see when he got to the top of this hill; and still more, as he may have said to Rebekah, he wondered what reception he would meet with from Laban, and whether he would ever again see his fathers tents. This vision shows him that his path leads to God, that it is He who occupies the future; and, in his dream, a voice comes to him: “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land.” He had, no doubt, wondered much whether the blessing, of his father was, after all, so valuable a possession, whether it might not have been wiser to take a share with Esau than to be driven out homeless thus. God has never spoken to him; he has heard his father speak of assurances coming to him from God, but as for him, through all the long years of his life he has never heard what he could speak of as a voice of God. But this night these doubts were silenced-there came to his soul an assurance that never departed from it. He could have affirmed he heard God saying to him: “I am the Lord God of thy father Abraham. and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it.” And lastly, all these thoughts probably centred in one deep feeling, that he was an outcast, a fugitive from justice. He was glad he was in so solitary a place, he was glad he was so far from Esau and from every human eye; and yet-what desolation of spirit accompanied this feeling: there was no one he could bid good-night to, no one he could spend the evening hour with in quiet talk; he was a banished man, whatever fine gloss Rebekah might put upon it, and deep down in his conscience there was that which told him he was not banished without cause. Might not God also forsake him-might not God banish him, and might he not find a curse pursuing him, preventing man or woman from ever again looking in his face with pleasure? Such fears are met by the vision. This desolate spot, unvisited by sheep or bird, has become busy with life, angels thronging the ample staircase. Here, where he thought himself lonely and outcast, he finds he has come to the very gate of heaven. His fond mother might at that hour, have been visiting his silent tent and shedding ineffectual tears on his abandoned bed, but he finds himself in the very house of God. cared for by angels. As the darkness had revealed to him the stars shining overhead, so, when the deceptive glare of waking life was dulled by sleep, he saw the actual realities which before were hidden.
No wonder that a vision which so graphically showed the open communication between earth and heaven should have deeply impressed itself on Jacobs descendants. What more effectual consolation could any poor outcast, who felt he had spoiled his life, require than the memory of this staircase reaching from the pillow of the lonely fugitive from justice up into the very heart of heaven? How could any most desolate soul feel quite abandoned so long as the memory retained the vision of the angels thronging up and down with swift service to the needy? How could it be even in the darkest hour believed that all hope was gone, and that men might but curse God and die, when the mind turned to this bridging of the interval between earth and heaven?
In the New Testament we meet with an instance of the familiarity with this vision which true Israelites enjoyed. Our Lord, in addressing Nathanael, makes use of it in a way that proves this familiarity. Under his fig-tree, whose broad leaves were used in every Jewish garden as a screen from observation, and whose branches were trained down so as to form an open-air oratory, where secret prayer might be indulged in undisturbed, Nathanael had been declaring to the Father his ways, his weaknesses, his hopes. And scarcely more astonished was Jacob when he found himself the object of this angelic ministry on the lonely hill-side, than was Nathanael when he found how one eye penetrated the leafy screen, and had read his thoughts and wishes. Apparently he had been encouraging himself with this vision, for our Lord, reading his thoughts, says: “Because I said unto thee, When thou wast under the fig-tree I saw thee, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these-thou shalt see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”
This, then, is a vision for us even more than for Jacob. It has its fulfilment in the times after the Incarnation more manifestly than in previous times. The true staircase by which heavenly messengers ascend and descend is the Son of man. It is He who really bridges the interval between heaven and earth, God and man. In His person these two are united. You cannot tell whether Christ is more Divine or human, more God or man-solidly based on earth, as this massive staircase, by His real humanity, by His thirty-three years engagement in all human functions and all experiences of this life, He is yet familiar with eternity, His name is “He that came down from heaven,” and if your eye follows step by step to the heights of His person, it rests at last on what you recognise as Divine. His love it is that is wide enough to embrace God on the one hand, and the lowest sinner on the other. Truly He is the way, the stair, leading from the lowest depth of earth to the highest height of heaven. In Him you find a love that embraces you as you are, in whatever condition, however cast down and defeated, however embittered and polluted-a love that stoops tenderly to you and hopefully, and gives you once more a hold upon holiness and life, and in that very love unfolds to you the highest glory of heaven and of God.
When this comes home to a man in the hour of his need, it becomes the most arousing revelation. He springs from the troubled slumber we call life, and all earth wears a new glory and awe to him. He exclaims with Jacob, “How dreadful is this place. Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.” The world, that had been so bleak and empty to him, is filled with a majestic vital presence. Jacob is no longer a mere fugitive from the results of his own sin, a shepherd in search of employment, a man setting out in the world to try his fortune; he is the partner with God in the fulfilment of a Divine purpose. And such is the change that passes on every man who believes in the Incarnation, who feels himself to be connected with God by Jesus Christ; he recognises the Divine intention to uplift his life and to fill it with new hopes and purposes. He feels that humanity is consecrated by the entrance of the Son of God into it: he feels that all human life is holy ground since the Lord Himself has passed through it. Having once had this vision of God and man united in Christ, life cannot any more be to him the poor, dreary, commonplace, wretched round of secular duties and short-lived joys and terribly punished sins it was before: but it truly becomes the very gate of heaven; from each part of it he knows there is a staircase rising to the presence of God, and that out of the region of pure holiness and justice there flow to him heavenly aids, tender guidance, and encouragement.
Do you think the idea of the Incarnation too aerial and speculative to carry with you for help in rough, practical matters? The Incarnation is not a mere idea, but a fact as substantial and solidly rooted in life as anything you have to do with. Even the shadow of it Jacob saw carried in it so much of what was real that when he was broad awake he trusted it and acted on it. It was not scattered by the chill of the morning air, nor by that fixed staring reality which external nature assumes in the gray dawn as one object after another shows itself in the same spot and form in which night had fallen upon it. There were no angels visible when he opened his eyes: the staircase was there, but it was of no heavenly substance, and if it had any secret to tell, It coldly and darkly kept it. There was no retreat for the runaway from the poor common facts of yesterday. The sky seemed as far from earth as it did yesterday, his track over the hill as lonely, his brothers wrath as real; -but other things also had become real; and as he looked back from the top of the hill on the stone he had set up, he felt the words, “I am with thee in all places whither thou goest,” graven on his heart, . and giving him new courage; and he knew that every footfall of his was making a Bethel, and that as he went he was carrying God through the world. The bleakest rains that swept across the hills of Bethel could never wash out of his mind the vision of bright-winged angels, as little as they could wash off the oil or wear down the stone he had set up. The brightest glare of this worlds heyday of real life could not outshine and cause them to disappear; and the vision on which we hope is not one that vanishes at cockcrow, nor is He who connects us with God shy of human handling, but substantial as ourselves. He offered Himself to every kind of test, so that those who knew Him for years could say, with the most absolute confidence, “That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Lifedeclare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
Jacob obeyed a good instinct when he set up as a monumental stone that which had served as his pillow while he dreamt and saw this inspiring vision. He felt that, vivid as the impression on his mind then was, it would tend to fade, and he erected this stone that in after days he might have a witness that would testify to his present assurance. One great secret in the growth of character is the art of prolonging the quickening power of right ideas, of perpetuating just and inspiring impressions. And he who despises the aid of all external helps for the accomplishment of this object is not likely to succeed. Religion, some men say, is an inward thing: it does not consist of public worship, ordinances, and so forth, but it is a state of spirit. Very true; but he knows little of human nature who fancies a state of spirit can be maintained without the aid of external reminders, presentations to eye and ear of central religious truths and facts. We, have all of us had such views of truth, and such? corresponding desires and purposes, as would transform us were they only permanent. But what a night has settled on our past, how little have we found skill to prolong the benefit arising from particular events or occasions. Some parts of our life, indeed, require no monument, there is nothing there we would ever again think of, if possible; but, alas! these, for the most part, have erected monuments of their own, to which, as with a sad fascination, our eyes are ever turning-persons we have injured, or who, somehow, so remind us of sin, that we shrink from meeting them-places to which sins of ours have attached a reproachful meaning. And these natural monuments must be imitated in the life of grace. By fixed hours of worship, by rules and habits of devotion, by public worship, and especially by the monumental ordinance of the Lords Supper, must we cherish the memory of known truth, and deepen former impressions.
To the monument Jacob attached a vow, so that when he returned to that spot the stone might remind him of the dependence on God he now felt, of the precarious situation he was in when this vision appeared, and of all the help God had afterwards given him. He seems to have taken up the meaning of that endless chain of angels ceaselessly coning down full of blessing, and going up empty of all but desires, requests, aspirations. And if we are to live with clean conscience and with heart open to God, we must so live that the messengers who bring Gods blessings to us shall not have an evil report to take back of the manner in which we have received and spent His bounty.
This whole incident makes a special appeal to those who are starting in life. Jacob was no longer a young man, but he was unmarried, and he was going to seek employment with nothing to begin the world with but his shepherds staff, the symbol of his knowledge of a profession. Many must see in him a very exact reproduction of their own position. They have left home, and it may be they have left it not altogether with pleasant memories, and they are now launched on the world for themselves, with nothing but their staff, their knowledge of some business. The spot they have reached may seem as desolate as the rock where Jacob lay, their prospects as doubtful as his. For such a one there is absolutely no security but that which is given in the vision of Jacob-in the belief that God will be with you in all places, and that even now on that life which you are perhaps already wishing to seclude from all holy influences, the angels of God are descending to bless and restrain you from sin. Happy the man who, at the outset, can heartily welcome such a connection of his life with God; unhappy he who welcomes whatever blots out the thought of heaven, and who separates himself from all that reminds him of the good influences that throng his path. The desire of the young heart to see life and know the world is natural and innocent, but how many fancy that in seeing the lowest and poorest perversions of life they see life-how many forget that unless they keep their hearts pure they can never enter into the best and richest and most enduring of the uses and joys of human life. Even from a selfish motive and the mere desire to succeed in the world, every one starting in life would do well to consider whether he really has Jacobs blessing and is making his vow. And certainly every one who has any honour, who is governed by any of those sentiments that lead men to noble and worthy actions, will frankly meet Gods offers and joyfully accept a heavenly guidance and a permanent connection with God.
Before we dismiss this vision, it may be well to look at one instance of its fulfilment, that we may understand the manner in which God fulfils His promises. Jacobs experience in Haran was not so brilliant and unexceptionable as he might perhaps expect. He did, indeed, at once find a woman he could love, but he had to purchase her with seven years toil, which ultimately became fourteen years. He did not grudge this; because it was customary, because his affections were strong, and because he was too independent to send to his father for money to buy a wife. But the bitterest disappointment awaited him. With the burning humiliation of one who has been cheated in so cruel a way, he finds himself married to Leah. He protests, but he cannot insist on his protest, nor divorce Leah; for, in point of fact, he is conscious that he is only being paid in his own coin, foiled with his own weapons. In this veiled bride brought in to him on false pretences he sees the just retribution of his own disguise when, with the hands of Esau he went in and received his fathers blessing. His mouth is shut by the remembrance of his own past. But submitting to this chastisement, and recognising in it not only the craft of his uncle, but the stroke of God, that which he at first thought of as a cruel curse became a blessing. It was Leah much more than Rachel that built up the house of Israel. To this despised wife six of the tribes traced their origin, and among these was the tribe of Judah. Thus he learned the fruitfulness of Gods retribution-that to be humbled by God is really to be built up, and to be punished by Him the richest blessing. Through such an experience are many persons led: when we would embrace the fruit of years of toil God thrusts into our arms something quite different from our expectation-something that not only disappoints, but that at first repels us, reminding us of acts of our own we had striven to forget. Is it with resentment you still look back on some such experience, when the reward of years of toil evaded your grasp, and you found yourself bound to what you would not have worked a day to obtain?-do you find yourself disheartened and discouraged by the way in which you seem regularly to miss the fruit of your labour? If so, no doubt it were useless to assure you that the disappointment may be more fruitful than the hope fulfilled, but it can scarcely be useless to ask you to consider whether it is not the fact that in Jacobs case what was thrust upon him was more fruitful than what he strove to win.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary