Matthew Poole and continuators on Genesis 33

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

Placing his best beloved in the last and safest place.

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

Exposing himself to the first and greatest hazard for the security of his Wives and Children.

8 And he said, what meanest thou by all this drove, which I met? And he said, These are to▪ find grace in the sight of my Lord.

He knew his meaning before from the servants mouths, but he asks that he might both be more certainly informed of the Truth, and have an occasion for a civil refusal of the gift.

Marginal references: Heb. What is all this [illegible: 1+ letters]and to thee.

9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother: keep that thou hast unto thy self .

I neither need it for my use, nor desire it as a compensation for thy former injuries.

Marginal references: Heb. be that to thee that is [illegible: 1 word].

10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee: If now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God : and thou wast pleased with me.

Or, For I therefore tender it unto thee, and humbly beg thy acceptance of it, because: for the Hebrew Al-cen is used Numb. 14. 43. and elsewhere.

It is in a manner as pleasant a sight to me as the sight of God himself, because in thy reconciled face I see the face and favour of God thus manifested unto me.

11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough: and he urged him, and he took it.

This gift which as I received from Gods blessing, so I heartily give it to thee with my blessing and prayer that God would abundantly bless it to thee. Gifts are oft called blessings, as Ios. 15. 19. 1 Sam. 25. 27. and 30. 26.

Marginal references: Heb. all things.

12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee .

Or rather, beside thee, so as to keep thee company, or to keep pace with thee.

13 And he said unto him, My Lord knoweth, that the children are tender , and the flocks and herds with young are with me : and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.

The eldest of them, Reuben, not being yet fourteen years old.

Or, upon me, i. e. committed to my care, to be managed as their necessities require. See Isa. 40. 11.

14 Let my Lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant, and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me, and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my Lord unto Seir .

We do not read that Iacob did according to this promise or insinuation go to Seir, either therefore he changed his first intentions for some weighty reasons or upon warning from God: Or, he used this onely as a pretence, which we should not too easily believe of so good a man, especially after such dangers and deliverances: or rather he did perform this promise, though the Scripture be silent of it, as it is of many other historical passages, and as it is here concerning Iacobs visiting of his father Isaac, which is not mentioned till ten years after this time, and yet it is utterly incredible that Iacob should be so near to his dear and worthy Father for so long a time together, and not once give him a visit.

Marginal references: Heb. according to the foot of the work▪ &c. and according to the foot of the children.

17 And Jacob journyed to Succoth, and built him an house , and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

Which doubtless was some slight building, because he intended not to stay there.

Marginal references: That is, booths.

18 And Jacob came to Shalem , a City of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-Aram, and pitched his tent before the City .

Most take it for the proper name of a place belonging to Shechem, as it here follows, called Salim, Iohn 3. 23. and Sichem or Sychar, Iohn 4. 5. But others take it for an appellative noun, and render the place thus, he came safe, or whole to the City of Shechem: to note either that he was then cured of the lameness which the Angel gave him: Or rather, to note the good providence of God that had brought him safe in his Person, Family, and Estate, through all his dangers; first from Laban, then from Esau till he came to this place, where it seems he intended to make his abode for a good while, had not the following miscarriages obliged him to remove.

(i. e.) Near to it, but not in it, for the conveniency of his Cattle.

Marginal references: Called Act. 7. 16. Sychem.

19 And he bought a parcel of a field where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechems father, for an hundred pieces of money .

For his present possession and use; for the right which he had to it was onely in Reversion after the time that God had allotted for it.

(i. e.) Subjects, called his Children to note the duty which they owed to him, and the Care and Affection that he owed to them. Compare Numb. 11. 12.

The word is used onely here and Ios. 24. 32. Iob 42. 11. and it may signifie either Lambs, given in way of exchange for it, or pieces of money, which seems more probable, both by comparing Act. 7. 16. and because money was come into use in that place and time, Gen. 17. 12, 13. and 23. 16. and 47. 16. which were called Lambs possibly from the figure of a Lamb stamped upon it, as the Athenian money was called an Oxe for the like reason, and as we call a piece of Gold a Iacobus, because the picture of that King is upon it.

Marginal references: Josh. 24. 32.; called Acts 7. 16. Emor.; Or, lambs.

20 And he erected there an Altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel .

Or, Called upon El-Elohe-Israel, the particle Lo, being redundant, as such pronouns oft are, as Gen. 12. 1. and Ioshua 20. 2.

Marginal references: That is, God the God of Israel.