So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that [is] not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.
33. my righteousness ] i.e. my uprightness, honesty, and straightness of dealing.
answer for me ] i.e. “testify with regard to me”; or, better, as in 1Sa 12:3, 2Sa 1:16, “witness against me.”
every one that is not ] Jacob promises that, when Laban visits his flocks, if he shall find among them any quite black goats or white sheep, he is at liberty to regard them as having been stolen by Jacob. He might at once seize them.
The compact was all in Laban’s favour; but neither of the men trusts the other.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When the cattle shall, contrary to their natural and usual course, bring forth young ones of a contrary colour to their own, it will hereby be evident that this is the work of God, who hereby pleads my righteous cause against a cruel and unjust master. Or thus, When thou shall accuse me of doing thee injury, I shall have this manifest and undeniable evidence of my righteousness or innocency, that I have no cattle but of that colour which is by agreement appropriated to me.
When it shall come for my hire before thy face. When it, i.e. my righteousness, shall come to, or upon my reward, i.e. when my righteousness shall appear in the very colour of that cattle which is allotted to me for my reward or hire;
before thy face, i.e. thou being present and diligently observing whether I have any cattle of another colour. But the Hebrew word tabo is also of the second person, and so the sense seems to be this, When thou shalt come upon my hire or reward, to wit, to observe and see whether I have any other cattle than what belongs to me. And so these words come in by way of parenthesis; and the following words, before my face, are to be joined to the former words, thus, so shall righteousness answer for me in time to come (when thou shalt come upon my hire) before thy face. This I prefer before the other, because the phrase of coming upon his hire seems more properly to agree to a person than to his righteousness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come,…. Either by the success I shall have, and the blessing of God upon me, making it prosperous; it will appear in time to come, and to all posterity, that I have most righteously and faithfully served thee: or rather, such a separation being made in Laban’s flock, all the spotted ones being removed, and only white ones left with Jacob to keep; it would be a clear case hereafter, if any such should be found with Jacob, they were not taken from Laban’s flock, but were what in Providence he was blessed with, and came by honestly and righteously:
when it shall come for my hire before thy face; when any spotted ones would be brought forth, it would be plain and manifest to his face, that they belonged to him for his hire or wages; or, as Schmidt, when any complaint should come before Laban concerning his hire, or about any speckled and spotted cattle that were Jacob’s hire, as if he had wronged him of it, the action now done, by making such a separation, would be a sufficient vindication of him, and justify him from such an aspersion:
and everyone that [is] not speckled and spotted amongst the goats,
and brown among the sheep, that shall be accounted stolen with me; if any such were found among those that Jacob should hereafter call his flock, as were without specks and spots, or were not brown, he was content they should be reckoned as stolen, and what he had no right unto.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
33. So shall my righteousness answer for me. Literally it is, “My righteousness shall answer in me.” But the particle בי ( bi) signifies to me or for me (86) The sense, however, is clear, that Jacob does not expect success, except through his faith and integrity. (87) Respecting the next clause, interpreters differ. For some read, “When thou shalt come to my reward.” (88) But others, translating in the third person, explain it of righteousness, which shall come to the reward, or to the remunerating of Jacob. Although either sense will suit the passage, I rather refer it to righteousness; because it is immediately added, “before thee.” (89) For it would be an improper form of expression, “Thou wilt come before thine own eyes to my reward.” It now sufficiently appears what Jacob meant. For he declares that he hoped for a testimony of his faith and uprightness from the Lord, in the happy result of his labors, as if he had said, “The Lord who is the best judge and vindicator of my righteousness, will indeed show with what sincerity and faithfulness I have hitherto conducted myself.” And though the Lord often permits sinners to be enriched by wicked arts, and suffers them to acquire abundant gain by seizing the goods of others as their own: this proves no exception to the rule, that his blessing is the ordinary attendant on good faith and equity. Wherefore, Jacob justly gave this token of his fidelity, that he committed the success of his labors to the Lord, in order that his integrity might hence be made manifest. The sense of the words is now clear, “My righteousness shall openly testify for me, because it will voluntarily come to remunerate me; and that so obviously, that it shall not he hidden even from thee.” A tacit reproof is couched in this language, intimating that Laban should feel how unjustly he had withheld the wages of the holy man, and that God would shortly show, by the result, how wickedly he had dissembled respecting his own obligation to him. For there is an antithesis to be understood between the future and the past time, when he says, “ Tomorrow (or in time to come) it will answer for me,” since indeed, yesterday and the day before, he could extort no justice from Laban.
Every one that is not speckled and spotted. Jacob binds himself to the crime and punishment of theft, if he should take away any unspotted sheep from the flock: as if he would say, “Shouldst thou find with me anything unspotted, I am willing to be charged as a thief; because I require nothing to be given to me but the spotted lambs.” Some expound the words otherwise, “Whatsoever thou shalt find deficient in thy flock, require of me, as if I had stolen it;” but this appears to me a forced interpretation.
(86) In the Amsterdam edition the particle is כי, evidently the printer’s mistake. In Hengstenberg’s edition, it is לי, which looks as if the editor, instead of turning to the original, had, at a venture, translated Calvin’s Latin words mihi, or pro me, into Hebrew. — Ed
(87) Vide Vatablus in Poli Syn.
(88) That is, to see that I receive my reward or wages, at the time when the flock is divided according to our compact. — Ed.
(89) This seems to be the sense in which the English translators understood the passage. “So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it (my righteousness) shall come for my hire (or reward) before thy face.” Coramto. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
33. My righteousness My uprightness in the whole business .
In time to come Hebrews, in the day of to-morrow; meaning, any and every to-morrow. From that day forward there would be no dispute over rights in the cattle, for the colour would decide.
When it shall come Rather, when thou shalt come ( ,) upon my wages before thee; that is, when thou comest to inspect my wages or share in the flock .
Stolen with me That is, Laban will be welcome to look upon all the white sheep and black or brown goats which he finds with Jacob as stolen, and claim them for himself .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 30:33. When it shall come, &c. This may be rendered, according to Le Clerc, when it (my righteousness) shall came before thy face, respecting my reward, or as to the matter of my reward. The righteousness of Jacob is said to be about to come before the face of Laban, because it would be manifest from the sight of that flock, which was to be his reward.
REFLECTIONS.Laban had now experience of his interest in Jacob’s stay, and God’s blessing upon him; and therefore, though he could part with his daughters and grand-children, he is loth to lose so good a shepherd as Jacob, by whose care he had prospered so greatly. He intreats him therefore to stay. Note; Worldly men can give good words to serve their own ends. To engage him, as his family was large, and his possessions small, and Jacob appeared not unwilling to yield if he had a prospect of providing for his family, he consents to Jacob’s proposal, and gives him the speckled and ring-straked sheep for his hire. Thus the matter is put into God’s hands, and Laban has no pretext to dispute the property of Jacob. Learn, 1. How wise and cunning worldly men are for their own interests. 2. How vain their caution, when God designs to frustrate their purposes.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 30:33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that [is] not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.
Ver. 33. So shall my righteousness, &c. ] A good conscience fears no judge; no, not God himself, in some particulars. as Psa 7:3-4 That which Jacob did here was of God. Gen 31:10 It was also a plain bargain between them, and Laban was handled in his kind. Besides, the means Jacob used was not fraudulent, but natural; not depending on man’s skill, but God’s blessing: and all to recover out of the wretch’s hands that which was but due to him for his hard service, and for his wives’ dowry.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
answer. By the Figure of speech Prosopopoeia, righteousness is personified.
in time to come. Hebrew. to-morrow. Figure of speech Antimereia (of Adverb), App-6 = some future day.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
righteousness: Gen 31:37, 1Sa 26:23, 2Sa 22:21, Psa 37:6
answer: Isa 59:12
in time to come: Heb. to-morrow, Exo 13:14
that shall be: Supply the ellipsis by inserting “if found,” after “stolen,” and the sense will be clear.
Reciprocal: Gen 31:32 – before Gen 31:41 – fourteen Jos 22:24 – In time to come Pro 11:6 – righteousness
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
30:33 So shall my {k} righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that [is] not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.
(k) God shall attest to my righteous dealing by rewarding my labours.