already been seen (note on ch. xxx. 23), that it is not necessary to conclude that Jacob should have wished to leave Laban immediately on the conclusion of his 14 years' servitude. On the contrary, with his children too young to carry on so long a journey, with but little independent substance, and with the fear of Esau before his eyes, it is far more likely that he should have been willing to remain longer in the service of Laban. But, if this be so, we have then an indefinite time left us for this additional sojourn, limited only by the words "when Rachel had born Joseph" (ch. xxx. 25). Jacob may have lived and worked for twenty years longer with Laban, and not have asked for his dismissal, till Joseph was old enough to travel, or at all events till he was born.

As to the second point, almost all commentators take the statements in vv. 38 and 41 as identical, v. 41 being but a repetition, with greater detail, of the statement in v. 38, as appears in the translation of the Authorized Version. It has, however, been suggested by Dr Kennicott, that very probably the twenty years in v. 38 are not the same twenty years as those mentioned in v. 41, and that the sense of the Hebrew would be better expressed as follows, v. 38, "one twenty years I was with thee" (ie. taking care of thy flocks for thee but not in thy house); and (v. 41), “another twenty years I was for myself in thy house, serving thee fourteen years for thy two daughters and six years for thy cattle." This, he contends, is a legitimate mode of rendering the repeated particle (zeh, zeb). Each mention of the twenty years is introduced with the word zeb, "this," which word, when repeated, is used in opposition or by way of distinction (see Ex. xiv. 20; Job xxi. 23, 25; Eccl. vi. 5). He understands Jacob therefore as saying, that he had served Laban fourteen years for his wives, after that he had for twenty years taken care of his cattle, not as a servant but as a neighbour and friend; and then, not satisfied to go on thus without profit, at last for six years more he served for wages, during which short period Laban had changed his hire 10 times.

If this reasoning be correct, and Bp Horsley has said that Dr Kennicott assigns unanswerable reasons for his opinion, then the following table will give the dates of the chief events in Jacob's life.

120

121

130

147

xlvi. I.

Jacob dies, Gen. xlvii. 28.

It is not possible to date accurately the events in ch. xxxiv., xxxviii., but the above that commonly acquiesced in. According to seems a far more probable chronology than the common calculation, Judah and his sons Er and Onan must have been quite children when they married, whereas the assigning 40 instead of 20 years to the sojourn of Jacob in Padan-aram, will allow time for them to have grown up, though even so their marriages must have been for that time unusually early. The common calculation, which makes Jacob 84 at his marriage, whilst his son Judah could not have been more than 20, and his grandchildren Er and Onan not above 15 when they married (see Keil on ch. xxxviii.), must surely require some correction, even allowing for the length of patriarchal lives on the one side and for the early age of eastern marriages on the other.

2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Ma- ! That is, hanaim.

3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

two hosts, or, camps.

† Heb.

4 And he commanded them, say-field.

ing, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:

5 And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.

6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid

CHAP. XXXII. 1. the angels of God met bim] The conjectures of various Jewish interpreters concerning this vision of angels may be seen in Heidegger, Tom. II. Ex. xv. $37. The real purpose of it seems to have been this. When Jacob was flying from Esau's anger into Mesopotamia, he had a vision of angels ascending and descending on the ladder of God. He was thus assured of God's providential care over him, and mysteriously taught that there was a way from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven. Now he is again about to fall into the power of Esau; and so the angels encamped, perhaps on each side of him (Mabanaim, v. 2, signifying "two camps"), may have been sent to teach him, as a similar vision taught afterwards the servant of Elisha (2 K. vi. 16, 17), that, though he was encompassed with danger, there were more with him than could be against him, or, as the Psalmist wrote afterwards, that "the angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them" (Ps. xxxiv. 7). Thus Josephus (‘A. J.' 1. `20) says, "these visions were vouchsafed to Jacob returning into Canaan, to encourage him with happy hopes of what should befal him afterwards," and St Chrysost. ('Hom. 58 in Gen.'), "the fear of Laban having passed away, there succeeded to it the fear of Esau; therefore the merciful Lord, willing that the pious man should be encouraged and his fear dispelled, ordained that he should see this vision of angels."

2. Mahanaim] i.e. "two camps." Some have thought the dual here used for the plural; others that Jacob thought of his own camp and the camp of angels. (So Abenezra, and after him Clericus.) More likely the angels were encamped on the right-hand and on the left, so seeming to surround and protect Jacob (see on v. 1). The place called Mahanaim was in the tribe of Gad, and was assigned to the Levites, Josh. xxi. 38. The name Mah

neb is still retained in the supposed site of the ancient town (Robinson).

3. unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom] It does not follow necessarily from this verse, that Seir had by this time become Esau's permanent place of residence. The historian calls Seir the country of Edom, because it had become so long before Moses wrote. Esau was a great hunter, and very probably a conqueror, who took possession of Seir, driving out or subjugating the Horites. It may have been for this very conquest, that he was now at the head of 400 armed men (v. 6). He had not yet removed his household from Canaan (ch. xxxvi. 6); and did not settle permanently in his newly conquered possession till after his father's death, when, yielding to the assignment made to Jacob by Isaac's blessing, he retires to Idumæa, and leaves Canaan to Jacob (ch. xxxvi. 1—8). (See Kurtz in loc.)

He

7. Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed] Though he had just seen a vision of angels, he was not unnaturally alarmed at the apparently hostile approach of Esau. makes therefore all preparation for that approach, and then takes refuge in prayer. His faith was imperfect, but he was a religious man, and so he seeks in his terror help from God.

9. O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD] This combination of names is natural and exact. He appeals to the Most High as the Covenant God, who had given promises to his fathers, of which promises he himself was the heir, and who had revealed Himself to the chosen

family as the self-existent JEHOVAH, who would be their God. The whole prayer is one of singular beauty and piety.

10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies] Lit. "I am less than all the mercies."

of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

II Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.

12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

13 ¶ And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;

14 Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,

15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty and ten foals.

she asses,

16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.

17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my bro

11. the mother with the children] Lit. "upon the children." Whence some have thought that there was allusion to the mother protecting the child, as a bird covers its young (Tuch, Knobel, Keil), or to the slaying of the child before the parent's eyes, and then the parent upon him (Ros.); but the sense seems correctly expressed by "with," as in Ex. xxv. 22; Num. XX. 11; Deut. xvi. 3; Job xxxviii. 32, &c. (See Ges. Thes.' p. 1027.)

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13. of that which came to his hand] or perhaps that which had come to his hand," ie. into his possession, what he possessed,

20. I will appease him, &c.] The sentence literally rendered would be, "I will cover his face with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face, peradventure he will accept my face." "To cover the eyes or the face" was an expression apparently signifying to induce the person to turn away from or connive at a fault. (Ges. PP. 700, 706.) "To accept or lift up the

ther meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?

18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.

19 And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On_this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.

20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me. 21 So went the present over before my face. him and himself lodged that night in the company.

:

22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.

+ Heb.

face" was equivalent to accepting a person favourably (Ib. p. 915).

Jabbok." The name Jabbok is either derived 22. the ford Jabbok] or "the ford of from bakak, "to pour forth, to gush forth," or from abak, "to wrestle," from the wrestling of Jacob there. It flowed into the Jordan about half way between the Dead Sea and the sea of Galilee, at a point nearly opposite to Shechem. It is now called Zerka, i. e. "blue" (Ges. Thes.' p. 232).

23. the brook] The word signifies either a brook, a torrent, or the bed of a torrent, sometimes dry and sometimes flowing, like the Arabic Wady.

24. Jacob was left alone] He remained to the last that he might see all his family pass safely through the ford, that he might prevent anything being left behind through carelessness; and most probably that he might once more give himself to earnest prayer for God's protection in his expected meeting with his brother Esau.

there wrestled a man with him] He is called "the angel," Hos. xii. 4, and Jacob says of him (v. 30), "I have seen God face to face." The Jews of course believed that he was a created angel, and said that he was the angel of Esau, i.e. either Esau's special guardian angel (cp. Acts xii. 15), or the angel that presided over Esau's country (cp. Dan. x. 13). So Abenezra and Abarbanel. Many Christian commentators also prefer to consider this a vision of a created angel, as thinking it inconsistent with the greatness of the Creator to have manifested Himself in this manner to Jacob. Most of the fathers, however, thought this to have been one of the manifestations of the Logos, of the eternal Son, anticipatory of His incarnation. Theodoret (Qu. 92 in Gen.) argues thus at length. (See also Justin M. Dial.' § 126; Tertull. Contra Marcion.' c. 3; Euseb. 'H. E.' I. 22; August. 'De C. D.' XVI. 39, &c. &c.). From vv. 29, 30, this seems the true opinion. The word for wrestle" (abak) is derived from abak, "dust," from the rolling of athletes in the dust when wrestling with each other.

เ

should he obtain mercy and be received back to his father's house as the heir of the promises? This eventful night, this passage of the Jabbok, was to decide; and the mysterious conflict, in which by Divine mercy and strength he is permitted to prevail, is vouchsafed to him as an indication that his repentance, matured by long schooling and discipline and manifested in fervent and humble prayer, is accepted with God and blessed by the Son of God, whose ancestor in the flesh he is now once more formally constituted.

the hollow of the thigh] The socket of the hip-joint, the hollow place like the palm of a hand (Heb. Caph) into which the neck-bone of the thigh is inserted. The reason of this act of the Angel was very probably lest Jacob revelations;" he might think that by his own should be puffed up by the "abundance of the strength and not by grace he had prevailed with God; as St Paul had the thorn in the flesh sent to him lest he "should be exalted

above measure," 2 Cor. xii. 7. (So Theodoret

in loc.).

26. Let me go, for the day breaketh]

25. when he saw that he prevailed not against him] There must have been some deep significance in this wrestling, in which an Angel, or more probably the God of angels, Himself "the Angel of the LORD," prevailed not against a man. The difficulty of believing that man could prevail against God led to some forced interpretations, such as that of Origen (De Principiis,' Lib. III.), and Jerome (in Epist. ad Ephes.' c. VI.), that Jacob wrestled against evil spirits, and that

the "Man" is said to have wrestled with him in the sense of assisting him, wrestling on his side; an interpretation refuted by the words of the "Man" Himself in v. 28. The mystical meaning of the whole transaction seems probably to be of this kind. The time was an important epoch in Jacob's history. It was a turning-point in his life. There had been much most faulty in his character; which had led him to much trouble, and subjected him to a long penitential and reformatory discipline. He was now returning after an exile, of 20 or more probably 40 years, to the land of his birth, which had been promised to him for his inheritance. It was a great crisis. Should he fall under the power of Esau and so suffer to the utmost for his former sins? or

taken place during the later hours of the night. It was now right that it should be ended: for the time had arrived, the breaking of the day, when Jacob must prepare to meet Esau and to appease his anger. It was for Jacob's sake, not for His own convenience, that the Divine wrestler desired to go. (So Abarbanel, Heidegger, &c. &c.).

except thou bless me] Jacob had plainly discovered that his antagonist was a heavenly Visitor. Though he had been permitted to prevail in the contest, he still desired blessing for the future.

28. Israel: for as a prince hast thou power], The verb Sarah and its cognate Sur signify "to contend with," and also "to be a prince or leader." See Judg. ix. 22; Hos. xii. 4 (Ges. pp. 1326, 1338, Ros. in loc.). It is quite possible that both senses are conveyed by the word, and it might be rendered either, "thou hast contended with God," or "thou hast been a prince with God." The Authorised Version combines both. The best Vss., LXX., Vulg., render, "Thou hast had power with God, and how much more wilt thou prevail with men," which has been followed by many moderns, as Heidegger, Rosenm., &c. The sense is thus rendered more perspicuous, as implying a promise of safety from

Esau. The difficulty, however, of thus explaining the particle Vau before "hast prevailed" is great.

29. Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?] Comp. Judg. xiii. 18, “And the Angel of the Lord said unto him (i.e. Manoah), Why askest thou after my name seeing it is secret?" lit. "wonderful." In the present instance perhaps the words mean, Why dost thou ask my name? as it may be plain to you who I am.'

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30. Peniel i.e. “"the face of God.” Elsewhere it is always Penuel, and the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Vulg. have Penuel here. The LXX, does not give this name itself, but translates it both here and in v. 31. Josephus has Phanuel only. The words only differ by a single line in one letter, and have no difference of meaning. Strabo ('Geogr.' L. XVI. c. 2, §§ 15, 18) mentions a town among the Phoenician cities with a Greek name of the same meaning, viz. Theou prosopon.

32. the sinew which shrank] This is the rendering of LXX., Vulg., Onk. Many Jewish and Christian commentators have rendered it "the nerve of contraction" or "the

A looked, and, behold, Esau came,

ND Jacob lifted up his eyes, and

and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.

2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.

3 And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? + Heb. And he said, The children which God to thee? hath graciously given thy servant.

6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.

7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Ra- + Heb. chel, and they bowed themselves.

8 And he said, 'What meanest thou

What is all this band to

thee?

nerve of oblivion." Whatever be the literal sense of the words, they doubtless mean the "sciatic nerve," the nervus ischiadicus, which is one of the largest in the body, and extends down the thigh and leg to the ankle. The Naseh) to designate the sciatic nerve (see Ros. Arabs still use this same word (Nasheh or in loc., Ges. 'Thes.' p. 924). The custom prevailing among the Jews to this day of abstaining religiously from eating this sinew seems a lasting monument of the historical truth of this wonderful event in the life of Jacob.