And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.
3. And the Lord said ] In a dream; cf. Gen 31:11.
the land of thy fathers ] i.e. Canaan, as the country of Abraham and Isaac.
I will be with thee ] The renewal of the promise of the Divine Presence made to Jacob in Gen 28:15; cf. Gen 21:22, Gen 26:24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 3. And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return – and I will be with thee.] I will take the same care of thee in thy return, as I took of thee on thy way to this place. The Targum reads, My WORD shall be for thy help, see Ge 15:1. A promise of this kind was essentially necessary for the encouragement of Jacob, especially at this time; and no doubt it was a powerful means of support to him through the whole journey; and it was particularly so when he heard that his brother was coming to meet him, with four hundred men in his retinue, Ge 32:6. At that time he went and pleaded the very words of this promise with God, Ge 32:9.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
3. the Lord said . . . Return untothe land of thy fathersNotwithstanding the ill usage he hadreceived, Jacob might not have deemed himself at liberty to quit hispresent sphere, under the impulse of passionate fretfulness anddiscontent. Having been conducted to Haran by God (Ge28:15) and having got a promise that the same heavenly Guardianwould bring him again into the land of Canaan, he might have thoughthe ought not to leave it, without being clearly persuaded as to thepath of duty. So ought we to set the Lord before us, and toacknowledge Him in all our ways, our journeys, our settlements, andplans in life.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Lord said unto Jacob,…. In answer to a prayer of his; or seeing what difficulties and discouragements Jacob laboured under, he appeared unto him for his encouragement and instruction how to proceed:
return unto the land of thy fathers; the land of Canaan, given to Abraham and Isaac by promise:
and to thy kindred: his father and mother, and brother, who all dwelt in the land of Canaan at this time, or as many as were living: or “to thy nativity” w, the place where he was born, and to which he must have a natural desire to return: and
I will be with thee; to protect him from any injury that might be attempted to be done unto him, either by Laban or Esau.
w “ad natale solum”, Tigurine version; “ad nativitatem tuam”, Vatablus, Drusius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. And the Lord said unto Jacob. The timidity of the holy man is here more plainly seen; for he, perceiving that evil was designed against him by his father-in-law, still dared not to move a foot, unless encouraged by a new oracle. But the Lord, who, by facts, had shown him already that no longer delay was to be made, now also urges him by words. Let us learn from this example, that although the Lord may incite us to duty by adversity, yet we shall thereby profit little, unless the stimulus of the word be added. And we see what will happen to the reprobate; for either they become stupefied in their wickedness, or they break out into fury. Wherefore, that the instruction conveyed by outward things may profit us, we must ask the Lord to shine upon us in his own word. The design, however, of Moses chiefly refers to this point, that we may know that Jacob returned to his own country, under the special guidance of God. Now the land of Canaan is called the land of Abraham and Isaac, not because they had sprung from it; but because it had been divinely promised to them as their inheritance. Wherefore, by this voice the holy man was admonished, that although Isaac had been a stranger, yet, in the sight of God, he was the heir and lord of that land, in which he possessed nothing but a sepulcher.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) The Lord said unto Jacob.This is probably the revelation, more exactly described in Gen. 31:10-13, as given to Jacob in a dream. It is there ascribed to Elohim, but here to Jehovah. The narrators purpose in this, probably, is to show that while Jacob regarded the providence that watched over him as the act of Elohim, it was really in His character of Jehovah, the covenant-God, that He thus guarded him. (See Note on Gen. 26:29.)
Thy kindred.Heb., thy birthplace, as in Gen. 12:1; Gen. 24:4; Gen. 24:7, &c.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Return This word of Jehovah was as truly a divine call as that which led Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees . It came to him in the field and evidently made a deep impression on Jacob, so that he at once sent for his two wives, and told them all .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 3:6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 31:3 And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.
Ver. 3. Return unto the land of thy fathers. ] Laban’s frowns were a grief to Jacob; the Lord calls upon him therefore to look homeward. Let the world’s affronts, and the change of men’s countenances, drive us to him who changeth not, and mind us of heaven, where is a perpetual serenity and sweetness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Return: Gen 28:15, Gen 28:20, 21-29:15, Gen 32:9, Gen 35:1, Gen 46:2, Gen 46:3, Gen 50:24, Psa 46:1, Psa 50:15, Psa 90:15
land: Gen 31:13, Gen 31:18, Gen 13:15, Gen 26:3-5, Gen 28:4, Gen 28:13, Gen 28:15, Gen 30:25
with thee: Gen 21:22, Gen 26:24, Gen 28:15, Gen 32:9, Isa 41:10, Heb 13:5
Reciprocal: Gen 31:5 – I see Gen 31:27 – Wherefore Gen 31:28 – foolishly Gen 35:3 – was with Gen 35:9 – General Exo 3:12 – Certainly
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 31:3-4. The Lord said unto Jacob, Return God, who orders all things aright, having blessed Jacob with greater substance in the house of Laban than he could have obtained in his fathers house, without great inconveniences, perhaps irreconcilable, fatal hatred between him and his brother Esau, now orders him to return. For, though Jacob had met with very hard usage, yet he would not quit his place till God bid him. The direction he had from Heaven is more fully related to his wives afterward. Unto the land of thy fathers Not which was properly theirs, but only that in which they had sojourned, and which was promised to them in their seed. And, as Jacob was an inheritor of the promise, it was proper that he should sojourn in the land, to keep alive the hopes of it in his posterity. Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to the field That he might discourse with them more privately.