And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
7. changed my wages ] The account given in the following passage differs from that in the preceding chapter, Gen 30:25-31. There Jacob specified the conditions, to which Laban acceded; and then Jacob resorted to artifice, in order to improve his position. Here it is Laban that has specified the wages, and arbitrarily changed them (cf. Gen 31:41) from time to time. But in every case, by the providence of God, not by Jacob’s cleverness, the result has worked out advantageously to Jacob. In ch. 30 we had principally, probably, the narrative of J; in this chapter, that of E is predominantly employed.
ten times ] A phrase used to denote frequency, as in Gen 31:41, Num 14:22, Neh 4:12, Job 19:3, by a round number; Lat. decem vicibus. But LXX, not understanding the Hebrew word rendered “times” ( mnm), seems to have transliterated it with the rendering , “lambs” (or is this for ?), i.e. “ten lambing seasons.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 7. Changed my wages ten times] There is a strange diversity among the ancient versions, and ancient and modern interpreters, on the meaning of these words. The Hebrew is asereth monim, which Aquila translates ten numbers; Symmachus, , ten times in number; the Septuagint , ten lambs, with which Origen appears to agree. St. Augustine thinks that by ten lambs five years’ wages is meant: that Laban had withheld from him all the party-coloured lambs which had been brought forth for five years, and because the ewes brought forth lambs twice in the year, bis gravidae pecudes, therefore the number ten is used, Jacob having been defrauded of his part of the produce of ten births. It is supposed that the Septuagint use lambs for years, as Virgil does aristas.
En unquam patrios longo post tempore fines,
Pauperis et tuguri congestum cespite culmen,
Post aliquot mea regna videns mirabor aristas?
Virg. Ec. i., ver. 68.
Thus inadequately translated by DRYDEN:
O must the wretched exiles ever mourn;
Nor, after length of rolling years, return?
Are we condemn’d by Fate’s unjust decree,
No more our harvests and our homes to see?
Or shall we mount again the rural throng,
And rule the country, kingdoms once our own?
Here aristas, which signifies ears of corn, is put for harvest, harvest for autumn, and autumn for years. After all, it is most natural to suppose that Jacob uses the word ten times for an indefinite number, which we might safely translate frequently; and that it means an indefinite number in other parts of the sacred writings, is evident from Le 26:26: TEN women shall bake your bread in one oven. Ec 7:19: Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than TEN mighty men the city. Nu 14:22: Because all these men have tempted me now these TEN times. Job 19:3: These TEN times have ye reproached me. Zec 8:23: In those days – TEN men shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew. Re 2:10: Ye shall have tribulation TEN days.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ten times, i.e. ofttimes, as that certain number is commonly used, as Lev 26:26; Num 14:22; 1Sa 1:8; Job 19:3, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And your father hath deceived me,…. In the bargain he had made with him about his wages for keeping his cattle the six years past, after the fourteen years’ servitude were ended:
and changed my wages ten times; that is, either very often, many times, as the number ten is sometimes. Used for many, see Le 26:26; or precisely ten times, since he repeats it afterwards in the same form to Laban’s face, Ge 31:41; he had now served him six years upon a new bargain; that he should have all that were of such and such different colours, which were produced out of his flock of white sheep. Laban was at first highly pleased with it, as judging it would be a very good one to him, as he might reasonably think indeed: and it is highly probable he did not attempt any alteration the first year, but observing Jacob’s cattle of the speckled sort, c. prodigiously increasing, he did not choose to abide by the any longer. Now it must be observed, that the sheep in Mesopotamia, as in Italy x, brought forth the young twice a year so that every yeaning time, which was ten times in five years, Laban made an alteration in Jacob’s wages; one time he would let him have only the speckled, and not the ringstraked; another time the ringstraked, and not the speckled; and so changed every time, according as he observed the prevailing colour was, as may be concluded from
Ge 31:8:
but God suffered him not to hurt me; to hinder his prosperity, or having justice done him for his service; for whatsoever colour Laban chose for Jacob to have the next season of yeaning, there was always the greatest number of them, or all of them were of that colour, whether speckled or ringstraked, &c.
x “Bis gravidae pecudes.—-“, Virgil. Georgic. l. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(7) Ten times.That is, a good many times.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Ten times Probably a round number used for an indefinite number, and equivalent to very frequently, or, as often as possible . Compare Num 14:22; Job 19:3. The manner of Laban’s changing Jacob’s wages was doubtless that indicated in the next verse . “He made repeated attempts to limit the original stipulation by changing the rule as to the colours of the young, and so diminishing Jacob’s wages . ” Keil .
Gen 31:7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
Ver. 7. Changed my wages ten times. ] And ever for the worse. The matter mended, with poor Jacob, as sour ale doth in summer. Laban, the churl, the richer he grew by him, the harder he was to him: like children with mouthfuls and handfuls, who will yet rather spoil all, then part with any. It is the love, not the lack of money, that makes men churls.
suffered him not. Figure of speech Idioma. Hebrew did not give him to do me evil.
hurt. Hebrew. ra’a’. See App-44.
ten times: The Hebrew, asereth monim, is literally, as Aquila renders, “ten numbers;” and Symmachus, “ten times in number;” which probably implies an indefinite number. – See note on Gen 31:41.Lev 26:26, Num 14:22, Neh 4:12, Job 19:8, Isa 4:1, Zec 8:23
God: Gen 31:29, Gen 20:6, Job 1:10, Psa 37:28, Psa 105:14, Psa 105:15, Isa 54:17
Reciprocal: Gen 29:15 – tell me Gen 30:43 – General Job 19:3 – ten times Dan 1:20 – ten
Gen 31:7-8. Hath changed my wages ten times That is, oft-times, as is often the signification of the number ten. It appears that Laban, through envy and covetousness, often broke his agreement made with Jacob, and altered it as he thought fit, and that Jacob patiently yielded to all such changes Then all the cattle bare speckled This seems to put it out of doubt, that, as Jacob says in the following verse, it was indeed God who ordered this matter; for it can scarcely be supposed that any natural causes whatever, without his peculiar providence, could produce so many different changes in a thing of this nature, without once failing.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments