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me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a
wife to my son of the daughters of the
Canaanites, in whose land I dwell:
(38) but thou shalt go unto my father's
house, and to my kindred, and take a
wife unto my son.
(39) And I said unto

a ver. 13.

my master, Peradventure the woman
will not follow me. (40) And he said
unto me, The LORD, before whom I walk,
will send his angel with thee, and pros-
per thy way; and thou shalt take a wife
for my son of my kindred, and of my
father's house: (1) then shalt thou be
clear from this my oath, when thou
comest to my kindred; and if they give
not thee one, thou shalt be clear from
my oath.
(42) And I came this day unto
the well, and said, O LORD God of my
master Abraham, if now thou do pros-
per my way which I go: (43) a behold, I
stand by the well of water; and it shall
come to pass, that when the virgin
cometh forth to draw water, and I say
to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little
water of thy pitcher to drink; (4) and 1 Heb. vessels.
she say to me, Both drink thou, and I
will also draw for thy camels: let the
same be the woman whom the LORD hath
appointed out for my master's son.
(45) And before I had done speaking in
mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth
with her pitcher on her shoulder; and
she went down unto the well, and drew
water and I said unto her, Let me
drink, I pray thee. (46) And she made
haste, and let down her pitcher from her

(38) Kindred.-Not the word so translated in verses 4, 7, but that rendered family in chaps. viii. 19, marg., x. 5, xii. 3, &c. Strictly, it signifies a subdivision of a tribe (Numb. i. 18).

(43) The virgin.-Not the word used in verse 16, nor that rendered damsel there and in verse 14, but 'almah, a young woman just ripening for marriage. It is applied to Miriam in Exod. ii. 8, where it is rendered maid, and to the mother of the Immanuel in Isa. vii. 14. (45) Speaking in mine heart.-The Heb. idiom is far more exact and true: namely, before I had done speaking to my heart.

(47) Upon her face.-Heb., upon her nose. This mistranslation explains the strange rendering jewel for the forehead in the margin of verse 22.

(50) Laban and Bethuel.-See Note on verse 28. Even when thus tardily mentioned, the father is placed after the brother; and of this we need look for no further explanation than that by polygamy the father was estranged from his own children, while each separate family held very closely together. Thus when Dinah was wronged, it was two of her mother's sons, Simeon and Levi, who avenged her (chap. xxxiv. 13-25); and so it was Absalom who avenged Tamar

Laban and Rebekah Approve it.

shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also. (47) And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands. (48) And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son. (49) And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.

:

(50) Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. (51) Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the LORD hath spoken. (52) And it came to pass, that,

when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth. (53) And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.

(54) And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morn

(2 Sam. xiii. 22). Still, Bethuel's consent was finally necessary; but as soon as it was given all active arrangements were left to the mother and Laban (verses 53-55), and Bethuel is mentioned no more.

(53) Jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.— Heb., vessels. In ancient times a wife had to be bought (chap. xxxiv. 12), and the presents given were not mere ornaments and jewellery, but articles of substantial use and value. Quickly indeed in a country of such ceremonial politeness the purchase took a more honourable form, but Orientals do not let their courtesy interfere with their interests, and the relatives would take care that the freewill offerings did not fall below the usual standard. These went partly to the bride, and partly to her relatives and as they are described here as going exclusively to the brother and mother, Jewish tradition has invented the story that Bethuel was ill at the time, and died on the day of the servant's arrival. But the manner in which Isaac speaks of him in chap. xxviii. 2 does not allow us to suppose that he was either dead at the time of her departure, or that he was a person of no ability or importance. Possibly, therefore, polygamy had led to the custom of the purchase-presents going to the mother's tent.

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Isaac meeteth her.

Rebekah, and went his way. (62) And Isaac came from the way of the 'well Lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the south country. (63) And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide : and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. (6) And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. (65) For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. (66) And the servant told Isaac all things that he

they blessed Rebekah, and said unto 6 ch. 16. 14. & 25.11. had done. (67) And Isaac brought her

her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.

(61) And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took 2 Or, to pray.

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(55) A few days, at the least ten.-Heb., days or a decade, which Onkelos, Saadja, Rashi, and others translate as in the margin: a year or ten months." But while this rendering has high Jewish authority for it, yet more probably decade was the name for the third part of a month. It would be curious thus to find that the family of Terah, either with or instead of weeks, measured time by periods of ten days, as was certainly the custom of the Egyptians at one period of their history.

SO

(58) Wilt thou go with this man ?-A woman in the East has little choice in the matter of her marriage, and here, moreover, everything was plainly providential, that Rebekah, like her father and brother (verse 50), would have felt it wrong to make difficulties, and she expresses her readiness to go at once, though she will never see her relatives again. Of course there would be some little delay for preparation, but none for leave-taking.

(59) Their sister.-Bethuel may have had other sons, though Laban only is mentioned.

Her nurse.-How dear Deborah was, first to Rebekah, and afterwards to Jacob, may be seen by the lamentation at her death (chap. xxxv. 8).

(60) Thousands of millions.-Heb., thousands of ten thousands. A million was a number which at this early period the Hebrews had no means of expressing. The blessing contains two parts: the first, the hope of fruitfulness founded on the primeval command (chap. i. 28); the second, that of victory in war (see chap. xxii. 17).

(62) The well Lahai-roi.-Hagar's well (chap. xvi. 14), situated in the "south country," that is, the Negeb (see chap. xii. 9). The oasis round it became Isaac's favourite residence (chap. xxv. 11), and was in the neighbourhood of Beer-sheba, where Abraham was dwelling when Sarah died at Hebron (chap. xxiii. 2). The journey of the servant would take some months, and during this time Abraham's herds would be shifted from station to station, but it would be known where he

into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

CHAPTER XXV.) Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was

was from the period of the year. As Isaac was at the station most remote from Charran, Rebekah would have visited all his homes before arriving at Beer-lahai-roi.

(63) To meditate.-Many Jewish commentators translate to pray, and derive one of the three Jewish forms of prayer from this act of Isaac. But though the verb is rare, the substantive is used in Ps. civ. 34 of religious meditation; and this sense well agrees with the whole character of the calm, peaceful Isaac, already marked out as the type of the Lamb dumb before His slayers (chap. xxii. 7).

(64) She lighted off.-Heb., fell: descended hastily from her camel. It is still the custom in the East for an inferior when meeting a superior to dismount, and advance on foot. Rebekah, therefore, would have been thought bold and disrespectful had she not acknowledged the superiority of her lord. Besides beauty, we have already seen in her kindliness of heart, activity, and courageous submission to the guidance of Providence; we now see her modesty and courtesy towards her husband. (65) She took a vail, and covered herself.Brides are usually taken to the bridegroom enveloped in a vail, which covers the whole body, and is far larger than that ordinarily worn. At the present time the bride-vail is usually red, the ordinary vail blue or white. By wrapping herself in this vail Rebekah notified that she was the bride. After marriage it was seldom worn at this early period, and so both the Egyptians and Abimelech saw Sarah's beauty.

(67) Sarah's tent.-So Leah and Rachel had each her own tent (chap. xxxi. 33; but see on verse 28).

XXV.

ABRAHAM'S MARRIAGE WITH KETURAH.

(1) Then again Abraham took a wife.-This rendering implies that Abraham's marriage with Keturah did not take place until after Sarah's death; but this, though probable, is far from certain, as the Hebrew simply says, And Abraham added

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Keturah. (2) And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. (3) And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. (4) And the

sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

(5) And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. (6) But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away

a 1 Chron. 1. 32.

b ch. 23, 16.

The

and took a wife. This statement is altogether indefinite; but as Abraham was 137 years of age at Sarah's death, and lived to be 175, it is quite possible that, left solitary by Isaac's marriage, he took Keturah to wife, and had by her six sons. sole objection is his own statement, in chap. xvii. 17, that it was a thing beyond nature for a man a hundred years old to have a son; how much more improbable, then, must it have become after forty more years had passed by! The argument on the other side, which would infer that the marriage took place in Sarah's lifetime, from the fact that the birth of grandchildren is mentioned in verses 3 and 4, has little weight, as their names might have been subsequently added to bring down the genealogy to a later date.

Jewish commentators cut the knot by identifying Keturah with Hagar, who in the meanwhile had, as they say, set an example of matronly virtue in the manner in which she had devoted herself to the bringing up of Ishmael. But in verse 6 there is an evident allusion to both Hagar and Keturah in the mention of Abraham's" concubines" in the plural; and in 1 Chron. i. 32 the children of Keturah are distinguished from Hagar's one son, Ishmael. To this we must add that as Ishmael was fourteen years old when Isaac was born, he would be now about fifty-four years of age, and his mother have passed the period of life when she could bear six sons.

The position, moreover, of Keturah was entirely distinct from that of Hagar. The latter was Sarah's representative; and her son, if Sarah had remained barren, would have been the heir. Keturah was a secondary wife, whose children from the first held an inferior position in the household. So Bilhah and Zilpah became the substitutes of Rachel and Leah, and therefore their children ranked side by side with Reuben and Joseph, though not altogether on the same level. They were patriarchs, and the progenitors of tribes, even if the tribes sprung from them held a lower rank.

(2) Zimran.-The home of Keturah's descendants is placed by Josephus and Jerome in Arabia-Felix; but the supposed traces of their names are untrustworthy. Midian is the one son of Keturah who had a great future before him, for his race became famous traders (chap. xxxvii. 28); and as they are called Medanites there in the Hebrew, in verse 36, it is probable that Medan and Midian coalesced into one tribe. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, belonged to them (Exod. ii. 15, 16), and, enriched by commerce, they became so powerful as to be dangerous neighbours to the Israelites. (Judges vi., vii., viii.)

Death of Abraham.

from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.

(7) And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. (8) Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. (9) And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; (10) the field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there

Shuah.-From him perhaps descended Bildad the Shuhite, Job's friend (Job. ii. 11). The name in the Hebrew is different from that also rendered "Shuah" in chap. xxxviii. 2.

(3) Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan.—But Sheba and Dedan are also described as the sons of Raamah, the son of Cush (chap. x. 7). We have here proof that these genealogies are to a certain extent geographical, and that whereas these districts at first were peopled by a Hamitic race, they were subsequently conquered by men of the Semitic stock, who claimed Abraham for their ancestor. Most probably, therefore, we ought not to regard Sheba and Dedan as the names here of men. As men they were the sons of Raamah, but when the sons of Jokshan wrested these two countries from the family of Cush, they called them sons of their progenitor, because the dominant portion of the population had sprung from him. They appear as countries in Jer. vi. 20, xlix. 8; Ezek. xxv. 13, xxvii. 15, 22, xxxviii. 13, &c.

Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. These are certainly not the names of men, but of the three tribes into which the Dedanites were divided.

(6) The east country.-By this is meant Arabia and Southern Mesopotamia, where, by their superior vigour and organisation, the descendants of Abraham were able to establish their supremacy over the natives. Burckhardt tells us that the Bedaween still follow Abraham's practice. When their children are grown up, they give each of the younger sons his share of their goods (Luke xv. 12), whereupon they move to a distance, and leave the eldest brother in quiet possession of the home.

(7) An hundred threescore and fifteen years. -As Abraham was seventy-five years of age when he left Haran (chap. xii. 4), his sojourn in Canaan lasted just a century, one quarter of which was spent in the long trial of his faith before Isaac was granted to him. As, however, Esau and Jacob were born when Isaac was sixty years of age (chap. xxv. 26), they would be fifteen at Abraham's death, and probably had often seen their grandfather, and received his blessing.

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(8) Abraham was gathered to his people. -Upon the belief in a future life implied in thes words, see Note on chap. xv. 15, and comp. Heb. xi. 16.

(9) His sons Isaac and Ishmael.-Isaac was now seventy-five years of age, and Ishmael eighty-nine, and the two old men, with their enmity long over, met as friends at their father's burial. While Keturah's sons were apparently sent far away into Arabia, Ishmael at Paran (chap. xxi. 21) would be at no very great

His Burial.

GENESIS, XXV.

was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife. (11) And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his

Generations of Ishmael.

dar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah: (16) these are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their

son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the "well a ch. 16. 14 & 24.62. towns, and by their castles; twelve Lahai-roi.

(12) Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar

the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bare 1 Chron. 1. 29.
unto Abraham: (13) and these are the
names of the sons of Ishmael, by their
names, according to their generations :
the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Heb. fell.
Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, (14) and
Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, (15) Ha-

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(12) These are the generations of Ishmael.— Following the usual rule of this book, Ishmael is not dismissed from the Divine presence without a short record of his history, after which he falls into the background, and the historian proceeds with his main subject, which is the preparation for the forming of that race and nation of whom, according to the flesh, Christ came. These brief notices, moreover, of personages not in the direct line of Christ's ancestry have their value in God's great purpose that the Jewish Messiah should be the Redeemer of the Gentiles also (Rom. x. 12); and consequently from the first their history was not alien from God's counsels.

(13-15) The sons of Ishmael.-Of the Arabian tribes sprung from Ishmael we read of Nebajoth and Kedar in Isa. lx. 7 as pastoral tribes, rich in flocks. Dumah is deemed worthy of a special prophecy (Ib., xxi. 11); while the people of Tema are described there in verse 14 as generous and hospitable, and in Job vi. 19 they appear as active traders. (See also Jer. xxv. 23.) Jetur, Naphish, and other Hagarite tribes, were conquered by Reuben and his allies (1 Chron. v. 19), and Jetur became the Iturea of Luke iii. 1. For the occasional references made to these and other sons of Ishmael in classical writers, the reader may consult Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, or similar works. The abode of the twelve tribes sprung from Ishmael was the northern part of Arabia, whence gradually they extended their influence, and apparently soon absorbed the Joktanites (chap. x. 26-30), themselves a kindred Semitic race. These genealogies would be inexplicable if we did not remember that successive waves of people occupied these lands, and that while the old names remained, the dominant race was new. So the rapid growth of individuals into tribes (as of Midian, chap. XXV. 2) was the result of races of higher civilisation and greater energy subduing feeble and less highly-developed tribes. Hence in verse 16 the sons of Ishmael

princes according to their nations. (17) And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people. (18) And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his

brethren.

are called ". "princes." We gather from this that Ishmael had gathered round him a body of men of the Semitic race, of whom large numbers were constantly on the move towards Egypt (chap. xii. 15), and by their aid had established his rule in Paran, and handed it on to his sons.

(16) By their towns, and by their castles.Towns and castles in the wilderness of Paran there were none, but we know for certain that the first of these words signified an unwalled village. (See Lev. xxv. 31, where it is exactly described; also Ps. x. 8; Isa. xlii. 11.) It was, however, a settled and per manent place of dwelling. The other word rendered here castle, but used as the equivalent of tent in Ps. lxix. 25, is really a cluster of tents, the encampment of a tribe, and movable. It occurs in Num. xxxi. 10; 1 Chron. vi. 54; Ezek. xxv. 4. As is well known, the Arabs are divided into two classes-the dwellers in tents, who are ever moving from station to station, within certain limits, nevertheless, which they seldom pass over; and the agricultural class, who have fixed habitations, are looked upon as inferiors, and probably are the remains of a conquered race. To this day they pay a sort of rent, or black-mail, to the nobler Arabs. We find, then, this distinction already existing when this Toldôth was drawn up; the agricultural Arabs dwelling in unwalled villages, while the nomad tribes pitched now here, and now there, their clusters of black camels'-hair tents. And thus we have in these words proof that Ishmael and his subjects were not all upon the same level; for while he, his sons, and his noblest retainers would dwell in tents, the inhabitants of the villages would be men of inferior origin, compelled to submit themselves to him.

(18) Havilah was far to the south, on the Persian Gulf. (See chap. x. 29.)

Shur. This was their western limit towards Egypt. (See chap. xvi. 7.) In 1 Sam. xv. 7 this same region is assigned to the Amalekites.

As thou goest toward Assyria.-This does not mean that Shur was on the route toward Assyria, but gives the eastern limit of the country inhabited by the descendants of Ishmael.

He died.-But the Hebrew is, he fell-that is, his lot fell; he settled there.

In the presence of.-This means to the east of all his brethren. Just as Assyria was regarded as lying to the north of Palestine, because on starting the traveller journeyed in that direction, so Arabia was considered to be on the east, for a similar reason. (But see Note on chap. xvi. 12.)

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THE TOLDÔTH ISAAC (chaps. xxv. 19—xxxv. 29). THE BIRTH OF ISAAC'S SONS.

(19) Abraham begat Isaac.-The Tôldôth in its original form gave probably a complete genealogy of Isaac, tracing up his descent to Shem, and showing thereby that the right of primogeniture belonged to him; but the inspired historian uses only so much of this as is necessary for tracing the development of the Divine plan of human redemption.

(20) The Syrian.-Really, the Aramean, or descendant of Aram. (See chap. x. 22, 23.) The name of the district also correctly is "Paddan-Aram," and so far from being identical with Aram-Naharaim, in chap. xxiv. 10, it is strictly the designation of the region immediately in the neighbourhood of Charran. The assertion of Gesenius that it meant "Mesopotamia, with the desert to the west of the Euphrates, in opposition to the mountainous district towards the Mediterranean," is devoid of proof. (See Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier, i., p. 304.) In Syriac, the language of Charran, padana means a plough (1 Sam. xiii. 20), or a yoke of oxen (Ibid, xi. 7); and this also suggests that it was the cultivated district close to the town. In Hosea xii. 12 it is said that "Jacob fled to the field of Aram;" but this is a very general description of the country in which he found refuge, and affords no basis for the assertion that Padan-aram was the level region. Finally, the assertion that it is an ancient name used by the Jehovist is an assertion only. It is the name of a special district, and the knowledge of it was the result of Jacob's long-continued stay there. Chwolsohn says that traces of the name 'still remain in Faddân and Tel Faddân, two places close to Charran, mentioned by Yacut, the Arabian geographer, who flourished in the thirteenth century.

(21) Isaac intreated the Lord.-This barrenness lasted twenty years (verse 26), and must have greatly trouebld Isaac; but it would also compel him to dwell much in thought upon the purpose for which he had been given to Abraham, and afterwards rescued from death upon the mount Jehovah-Jireh. And when offspring came, in answer to his earnest pleading of the promise, the delay would serve to impress upon both parents the religious significance of their existence as a separate race and family, and the necessity of training their children worthily. The derivation of the verb to intreat, from a noun signifying incense, is uncertain, but rendered probable by the natural connection of the idea of the ascending fragrance, and that of the prayer mounting heavenward (Rev. v. 8, viii. 4). (22) The children struggled together. -Two dissimilar nations sprang from Abraham, but from mothers totally unlike; so, too, from the peaceful Isaac

for Offspring.

and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. (23) And the LORD said unto her,

Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;

And the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and "the elder shall serve the younger.

(24) And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. (25) And the first came out

two distinct races of men were to take their origin, but from the same mother, and the contest began while they were yet unborn. And Rebekah, apparently unaware that she was pregnant with twins, but harassed with the pain of strange jostlings and thrusts, grew despondent, and exclaimed

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If it be so, why am I thus ?-Literally, If so, why am I this? Some explain this as meaning "Why do I still live? but more probably she meant, If I have thus conceived, in answer to my husband's prayers, why do I suffer in this strange manner? It thus prepares for what follows, namely, that Rebekah wished to have her condition explained to her, and therefore went to inquire of Jehovah.

She went to enquire of the Lord.-Not to Shem, nor Melchizedek, as many think, nor even to Abraham, who was still alive, but, as Theodoret suggests, to the family altar. Isaac had several homes, but probably the altar at Bethel, erected when Abraham first took possession of the Promised Land (chap. xii. 7), and therefore especially holy, was the place signified; and if Abraham were there, he would doubtless join his prayers to those of Rebekah.

(23) And the Lord said unto her. Not by the mouth of Abraham, nor in a dream, but directly, as He spake of old to Adam and Eve. We read of no appearance, as in chap. xvii. 1, nor must we invent one. The manner in which Jehovah thus spake has not been revealed, and it is enough for us to know that Jehovah did speak of old to men. The answer is in the form of poetry :

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"Two nations are in thy womb;

And two peoples from thy bowels shall be separated;
And people shall be mightier than people;
And the great shall serve the small."

The second line shows that even in their earliest
childhood her sons would be unlike in character and
unfriendly in disposition; upon this follows their de-
velopment into hostile nations, and the prediction that
the son who started with the advantages of the birthright,
the stronger physical nature, and superior strength in
men and arms (chap. xxxii. 6), would, nevertheless,
finally hold the inferior position. There can be no
doubt that the secondary cause of the vaster develop-
ment of Jacob was his being placed by Joseph in the
fruitful Delta, where the Israelites were constantly
joined by a stream of Semitic immigrants, whose
movement towards Egypt is a perfectly authenticated
fact of the history of those times. (See chap. xii. 15.)
(25) Red.-Heb., admoni, a secondary reason for the
name Edom. (See verse 30.)

All over like an hairy garment.-Heb., all of him-that is, completely-like a garment of hair: words rendered 66 a rough garment" in Zech. xiii. 4, where it

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