Reconciliation between

1

2

(8) What meanest thou by all this drove... Heb., What is all this camp of thine that I met? From the time of Jacob's coming to Mahanaim, the word mahaneh, "camp," is used in a very remarkable way. It is the word translated bands in chap. xxxii. 7, and company in verses 8, 21. It is the proper word for an encampment of pastoral people with their flocks, and might be used not unnaturally of the five droves; for they would remind Esau of the cattle driven in at evening to the place where they were to pass the night.

(10) For therefore I have seen thy face.-The latter half of the verse would more correctly be translated, inasmuch as I have seen thy face as one seeth the face of Elohim, and thou hast received me graciously. To the Hebrew the thought of God was not terrifying, and so the vision of God's face was the sight of something good and glorious. There is much of Oriental hyperbole in comparing the sight of Esau to the beholding of the face of Deity, but it clearly conveyed the idea that Esau was using his power as generously and lovingly as is the wont of God; and God was so much nearer to the Hebrew in those simple days than he is to men now that science has revealed to them the immensity of His attributes, that there was no irreverence in the comparison.

The behaviour of Esau is very generous. He wished to spare his brother so large a present, and therefore leads the conversation to it, knowing, of course, what was the meaning of the five herds, as their drivers had delivered to him Jacob's message. To have refused it, however, would have been a mark of hostility, especially as Jacob represented it as the gift of an inferior for the purpose of obtaining the favour of one from whom he had feared danger. But Esau expostulates with his brother. He too was rich, and Jacob should keep what was his own. But Jacob still urges its acceptance as the proof of goodwill, magnifies the value of Esau's favour, and declares that by God's goodness he has still abundance, even after giving his brother so princely a present. It is called a "blessing because it was considered lucky to receive a gift, and of all good-luck God was the giver. (Comp. 1 Sam. xxv. 27, xxx. 26.)

(13) Flocks and herds with young.-Heb., that give suck. Thompson (Land and Book, p. 205) infers from this that it was now winter, and thinks that this is confirmed by Jacob making folds for his cattle at

Jacob and Esau.

(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. (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. (15) And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, 5 What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord. (16) So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.

(17) And Jacob journeyed to Succoth,

Succoth. If so, more than six months would have elapsed since Jacob's flight from Haran; but the conclusion is uncertain, and Jacob probably halted at Succoth because of his lameness.

-Rather,

(14) According as the cattle according to the pace-Heb., foot-of the cattle that is before me, and according to the pace of the children. Joseph was only six or seven years old; and Leah's two younger sons, and probably Zilpah's, were too tender to endure much fatigue.

Unto Seir.-This implies a purpose of visiting Esau in his new acquisition, not carried out probably because Esau did not as yet settle there, but returned to Hebron to his father.

JACOB'S SETTLEMENT IN CANAAN.-DINAH'S WRONG, AND THE FIERCE VENGEANCE OF SIMEON AND LEVI (chap. xxxiii. 17—xxxiv.).

(17) Succoth. That is, booths. There are two claimants for identification with Jacob's Succoth, of which the one is in the tribe of Gad, on the east of the Jordan, in the corner formed by that river and the Jabbok; the other is the place still called Sakût, on the west of the Jordan, but as it lies ten miles to the north of the junction of the Jordan and Jabbok, it is not likely that Jacob would go so far out of his way. Jacob built him an house, and made booths for his cattle.-This is something quite unusual, as the cattle in Palestine remain in the open air all the year round, and the fact that the place retained the name of the booths shows that it was noticed as remarkable. But the fact, coupled with the right translation of verse 18, is a strong but undesigned testimony to the truth of the narrative. Jacob had been pursued by Laban, and suffered much from anxiety and the labour attendant upon the hurried removal of so large a household. Delivered from danger in the rear, he has to face a greater danger in front, and passes many days and nights in terror. At last Esau is close at hand, and having done all that man could do, he stays behind to recover himself, and prepare for the dreaded meeting next day. But instead of a few calm restful hours he has to wrestle fiercely all night, and when at sunrise he moves forward he finds that he has sprained his hip. He gets through the interview with Esau with much feeling, agitated alternately by fear, and

Sychem.

Emmor.

a Parcel of Land.

of money. (20) And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel.

5

6 her.

hope, and joy, enduring all the while his bodily pain as best he can, and then, delivered from all danger, he breaks down. The word "journeyed" simply means that he broke up his camp from the high ground where he had met his brother, and went into the corner close by, where the two rivers would both protect him and provide his cattle with water and herbage. And there he not only put up some protection, probably wattled enclosures made with branches of trees, for his cattle, but built a house for himself-something, that is, more solid than a tent; and there he lay until he was healed of his lameness. The strained sinew would require some months of perfect rest before Jacob could move about; but it was healed, for "Jacob came whole and sound to the city of Shechem." (See next verse.)

(18) Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem.-The Sam. Pent. has shalom," safe"; but shalem is right, and means whole, sound. Onkelos, however, followed by most modern commentators, renders it in peace, but this too would not mean peaceably, but that his troubles were now at an end, and his lameness cured. Philippsohn's rendering, however, is more exact, namely, wohlbehalten, in good condition. Rashi also, no mean authority, sees in it an allusion to the cure of Jacob's lameness. As Shechem was a man, his city would not be Shalem, but that called after his own name. In chap. xii. 6 it is called Sichem," where see Note. Sichem was probably the old name, but after the cruel fate brought upon it by Shechem's misconduct the spelling was modified to suit the history. In the land of Canaan.· Jacob therefore had now crossed the river Jordan, and so far completed his homeward journey. Probably as soon as he had recovered from his lameness he visited his father, but as his possessions were large, and Esau was the chief at Hebron, there was no room at present for him to dwell there, nor in fact was this possible until Isaac's death. But as we find Deborah with them soon afterwards, it is plain that he had gone to visit Isaac, and, finding his mother dead, had brought away with him her beloved

nurse.

(19) He bought -Abraham had been obliged to buy land for a burial place, and we find even then that the field he wanted had an owner who could give him a title to its possession. Jacob a century later finds it necessary to buy even the ground on which to pitch his tent, though his cattle might still roam freely about for pasture. This, however, would certainly not have been required except in the immediate neighbourhood of a town. As he had now recovered from his sprain, he returns to his habits as a nomad, and dwells in a tent. In this, the first parcel of ground possessed by Jacob, the embalmed body of Joseph was buried (Josh. xxiv. 32; see also John iv. 5); and it is remarkable

ters of the land. (2) And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and 'defiled her. (3) And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter

that the possession of it was secure, even when the owners were far away in Egypt.

An hundred pieces of money.-Heb., a hundred kesitas. It is plain that the kesita was an ingot of metal of some considerable value, from what is said in the Book of Job (chap. xlii. 11), that each of his friends gave the patriarch one kesita and a nose-ring of gold.' The etymology of the word is uncertain, and apparently all knowledge of its meaning had at an early period passed away, inasmuch as Onkelos and some of the versions translate it lambs, for which rendering there is no support.

(20) He erected there an altar.-Abraham had already built an altar in this neighbourhood (chap. xii. 7), and Jacob now followed his example-partly as a thanksoffering for his safe return, partly also as taking possession of the country; but chiefly as a profession of faith, and public recognition of the new relation in which he stood to God. This especially appears in his calling the altar “ El, the Elohim of Israel." Of course the title of Jehovah could not be used here, as the altar had a special reference to the change of Jacob's name, and was an acknowledgment on his own part of his now being Israel, a prince with El, that is, with God.

(1) Dinah

XXXIV.

went out to see the daughters of the land.-Those commentators who imagine that Jacob sojourned only twenty years at Haran are obliged to suppose that he remained two or more years at Succoth, and some eight years at Shechem, before this event happened, leaving only one more year for the interval between Dinah's dishonour and the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites. But even so, if Dinah was now not more than fourteen, there would be left a period of only nine years, in which Leah has to bear six sons and a daughter, with a long interval of barrenness, during which Zilpah was given to Jacob and bears two sons. But besides this impossibility, Jacob evidently remained at Succoth only until he was shalem, sound and whole from his sprain, and Dinah's visit was one of curiosity, for she went "to see the daughters of the land," that is, she wanted, as Abravanel says, to see what the native women were like, and how they dressed themselves. Josephus says that she took the opportunity of a festival at Shechem; but as neither her father nor brothers knew of her going, but were with their cattle as usual, it is probable that with one or two women only she slipped away from her father's camp and paid the penalty of her girlish curiosity. But she would feel no such curiosity after being a year or two at Shechem, so that it is probable that her dishonour took place within a few weeks after Jacob's arrival there. So, too, Hamor's words in verses 21 and 22 plainly

of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. (4) And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. (5) And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come.

(6) And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. (7) And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done. (8) And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. (9) And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. (10) And ye shall dwell

with us and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. (11) And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. (12) Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give

show that Jacob was a new comer; for he proposes that the people should I let them dwell in the land," and therefore consent to the condition required by them that the Hivites should be circumcised. It would have been absurd thus to speak if Jacob had already dwelt there eight years with no apparent intention of going away.

(5) Jacob heard.-As Dinah did not return home (verse 26), her father probably learned her dishonour from the maidservants who had gone out with her. But "he held his peace," chiefly from his usual cautiousness, as being no match for the Hivites, but partly because Leah's sons had the right to be the upholders of their sister's honour.

(7) He had wrought folly in Israel.-The great anger of Jacob's sons agrees as completely with the general harshness of their characters as the silence of the father with his habitual thoughtfulness; but it was aroused by a great wrong. The use, however, of the term Israel to signify the family of Jacob as distinguished from his person belongs to the age of Moses, and is one of the proofs of the arrangement of these records having been his work. In selecting them, and weaving them together into one history, he would add whatever was necessary, and in the latter half of this verse we apparently have one such addition.

(10) Ye shall dwell with us.-Hamor proposes that Jacob's family shall abandon their nomad life, and settle among the Hivites, and trade with them, and get possessions, not merely of cattle and movable goods, but

The Craft of her Brothers.

according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.

(13) And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister: (14) and they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us: (15) but in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; (16) then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. (17) But if will not ye hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.

(18) And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor's son. (19) And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father. (20) And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, (21) These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large

of immovable property. He wished the two clans to coalesce into one community.

(12) Dowry and gift. The word rendered dowry (mohar) is the price paid to the parents and relatives of the bride, though taking the form of a present. The gift (matthan) was the present made by the bridegroom to the bride herself. Besides this, her relatives were expected to give her presents, and with some tribes of Arabs it is usual even to make over to her the dowry.

(13, 14) And said . . . and they said.-These are two different verbs in the Hebrew, and should be translated and spake (because he had defiled Dinah their sister), and said. The intermediate words are parenthetical, and there is no reason for translating spake by plotted, laid a snare, as Gesenius and others have done.

(18) Their words pleased Hamor.-We gather from this that circumcision was a rite not only well known, but regarded as something honourable; for otherwise they would not so readily have submitted to a thing so painful.

- In a

(21) Let us take their daughters . . young community, such as this of the Hivites at Shechem appears to have been, the addition of a large number of women was a valuable increase of their strength, and one that brought the promise also of future extension. Jacob's men were also chiefly of the Semitic stock, and therefore possessed of high physical and mental endowments; and as they were rich in cattle

a ch. 49. 6.

of the gate of his city.

and other wealth, their incorporation with the people of Shechem would raise it to a high rank among the petty states of Canaan. There was much plausibility, therefore, in Hamor's proposal and arguments.

(25) Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren. As born of the same mother, they, with Reuben and Judah, were especially bound to espouse their sister's cause, but the method they took was cruel in the extreme. And it seems that these two were the leaders in the plot, having probably excluded Reuben from it, as a man of feeble character and opposed to bloodshed (chap. xxxvii. 22); and Judah, as one too honourable to take part in so nefarious a transaction. Long afterwards Jacob speaks of it in terms of the strongest reprobation (chap. xlix. 5-7). In executing their cruel deed, they would command the services of the more active and fierce portion of Jacob's servants; but they must have been not boys, but men of ripe manhood, before they could have had influence or power enough for so terrible an exploit.

(27) The sons of Jacob.-After slaying Hamor and Shechem, the two brothers "took Dinah and went out." It was after this that Jacob's sons generallythough not without exceptions, for several of them were still very young-joined in seizing the spoil.

66

(29) Their little ones.-Heb., their taf. (See Note on chap. xvii. 13.) How erroneous is the translation little ones" may be seen from Num. xxxi. 17, 18, which in the Heb. is, "Now, therefore, kill every male in the taf and all the taf of women that are unmarried." It would be monstrous to suppose that boys were to be put to death, and men escape, nor would little girls be likely to be married. In 2 Chron. xxxi. 18 the taf is distinguished both from the sons and daughters; and so also in chap. xx. 13, where we read "their tafs and their children. The LXX. have altered the order here, but otherwise translate correctly their persons, that is, their property in men - servants and maid

Jacob's Wrath against his Sons.

servants, as opposed to their cattle and their wealth in goods. In chap. 1. 8 the LXX. translate clan, and in verse 21 household. The slaves thus seized would form the most valuable part probably of the spoil.

(30) Ye have troubled me.-Jacob's timidity led him to think first of the danger that would result from the conduct of his sons, and only afterwards of the cruelty and treacherousness of their deed. He commented upon this on his dying bed in words of fitting reprobation, but his reproof now is singularly weak, and the retort of his sons just. If the danger were all, this could have no weight when a shameful wrong had been done; but in avenging this wrong they had committed a crime of a deeper dye

XXXV.

JACOB RETURNS TO BETH-EL AND HEBRON.-DEATH OF ISAAC.

(1) Arise, go up to Beth-el.-The position of Jacob at Shechem had become dangerous; for though the first result of the high-handed proceeding of Simeon and Levi was to strike the natives with terror (verse 5), yet reprisals might follow if they had time to learn the comparatively small number of Jacob's followers. It was necessary, therefore, to remove; but besides this, Beth-el was the goal of the patriarch's journeyings. He had made a solemn vow there on his journey to Padanaram, and though forty-two years had elapsed, it had not been forgotten (see chap. xxxi. 13); and the Divine command to go thither was the outward authorisation of what his own conscience dictated. On this account we

cannot believe that he had remained long at Shechem. Nomads are singularly leisurely in their movements. There is nothing of the rush and hurry of city life in their doings or purposes. They are capable of a great effort occasionally, but then relapse into their usual slowness. And so, when Jacob found good pasture and