Genesis

The Book of Genesis (beginning) is the first of five books known collectively as the Pentateuch, which the many Scriptural references in the later books of the Old Testament as well as those of the New Testament compel us to ascribe to the authorship of Moses. In the Book of Genesis the inspired author presents a record of the origin of the world, of the human race, of the institution of marriage, of the beginning of sin, of the first judgment of God upon a sinful world, of the first preaching of the Gospel, and of the beginning of the chosen race as the bearers of the Messianic prophecies.

Moses

Moses, the author of the Book of Genesis, was the son of Amram, a member of the tribe of Levi, and his wife Jochebed, as recorded in Exodus 2 and Exodus 6. He was born in Egypt, at the time when the rise of a new dynasty had caused the deeds of Joseph to be forgotten and the new Pharaoh had laid upon the children of Israel such intolerable burdens as ever a nation was obliged to bear. By God’s dispensation his own mother became his nurse after his parents had found it impossible to keep him at home any longer, Exodus 2:8-9. In this way Moses was instructed in the history and the religion of his people, and although he afterward, as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, he remained true to Jehovah, the God of his fathers. From the land of Midian, whither Moses had fled from the wrath of Pharaoh, the Lord called him to be the deliverer and the leader of the children of Israel, and he served in this capacity for somewhat more than forty years, until he had brought the people to the boundaries of Canaan, where he appointed Joshua as his successor, went up on Mount Nebo, where God showed him the entire country which his people were to possess, died there, and was buried by the Lord Himself. — Moses probably wrote the Book of Genesis some time during the forty years’ sojourn in the wilderness, and God not only inspired him to write, but also revealed to him most of the matter that is contained in the account, since tradition would, at best, have been extremely unreliable and many events could not have been known but by the special revelation of the Lord.

Contents

The Book of Genesis may be divided according to various points of view. The simplest division is that into two parts, Genesis 1-11 recording the beginnings of all history to the confusion of tongues, and Genesis 12-50 showing how God paved the way for the establishment of the theocracy as it afterward existed for a number of centuries. Some commentators prefer the division into six chief parts, Genesis 1-5 dealing mainly with Adam, Exodus 6-11 with Noah, Genesis 12-24 with Abraham, Genesis 25-27 with Isaac, Genesis 28-36 with Jacob, and Genesis 37-50 with Joseph.

Time

The period of which the Book of Genesis treats begins with the creation of man and ends with the Flood, comprising some 1,700 years. Though there is no valid reason for assuming that the art of writing had not been developed by the people of the world at that time, recent discoveries indicating, rather, that the art of writing was a common accomplishment in the East as early as the time of Abraham, in fact, that large libraries were then in existence, there was no urgent need of recording the Word of God at that time, since the patriarchs lived to a very great age and were able to pass on what God had revealed to them by word of mouth, from generation to generation. The record shows, for instance, that Adam lived for fifty-six years after Lamech, the father of Noah, had been born. This providential arrangement continued for some time after the Flood; for Abraham was born 150 years before the death of Shem and surely profited by his instruction. The period from the Flood till the death of Joseph is that of the patriarchs proper, and covers a space of some six hundred years. At its close the chosen family of Abraham had multiplied into a numerous people.

Christ

The modern student of the Bible will find in the Book of Genesis abundant evidence of the providential working of God in the destinies of mankind. Above all, however, the Christian will follow with the greatest interest the Messianic types and prophecies which appear even thus early in the Holy Scriptures; for just as the entire New Testament looks back to Christ, thus the entire Old Testament looks forward to Christ. Jesus is the center of all divine revelation.

The creation of the world

Verses 1-5

The creation of chaos and light

In the beginning, cp. John 1:1, that is, when time first began, when time was first measured; for as long as God alone existed, there was no time. God created, He brought forth out of nothing, He brought into being something that had not been in existence before, namely, the heaven, or heavens, and the earth, the material out of which they were constructed.

The material substance of which the earth consists was in a state of chaos, the various elements being intermingled in utter disorder.

There was, as yet, no elemental light; the great sea of the chaotic materials was covered with an impenetrable veil of the blackest darkness.

The third person of the Holy Trinity is represented as taking part in the work of creation by way of brooding over the waters, by making use of His divine power in causing the elements to combine in the form which they now have.

God spoke; the almighty Word of God is here introduced, the second person of the Godhead, John 1:3. The creation of the world is a work of the Triune God. By the word of His power He created light, elemental light, brought it into being in the midst of the darkness, commanded it to shine out of darkness, 2 Corinthians 4:6.

The light was good, it was a perfect creature of God’s almighty power; and so God separated between the light and the darkness, so that they were no longer in a chaotic state.

Time had begun for the earth, and therefore the Lord made this rule for the division of light and darkness, as they follow each other in regular order, and did so even before the creation of the light-bodies. He Himself defined the unit of time which He thus ordered.

And there was evening, when the darkness had ruled alone, and there was morning, when God’s almighty power created light and separated it from the darkness. Ever since the first day of the world the regular recurrence of darkness and light marks the period of one day, as we now divide it into twenty-four hours. This is the fundamental meaning of the Hebrew word here used, which must be assumed even Psalm 90:4 (cp. 2 Peter 3:8), where the Lord accommodates Himself to human speech and limitations, for the sake of comparison.

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Verses 6-8

The creation of the firmament

God’s almighty word continued to create on the second day. He caused a firm extension, or expansion, to be fixed in the midst of the waters, in the chaos where liquid and vapor were intermingled with the more solid substances. The purpose of this firmament was to keep separate the waters from the waters, as the text next explains.

Although there is no concrete, visible vault of the sky, yet there is an invisible dividing-wall above the earth, which under ordinary conditions holds back the masses of water in gaseous form which are high above the visible clouds.

God Himself applied the name heaven, or heavens, to the invisible dividing-wall which separates the waters below from the waters above. Thus the work of the second day was accomplished.

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Verses 9-13

The creation of the dry land, herbs, and trees

God here finished His creative work on inanimate matter, when His almighty command bade the waters from below the heavens, below the firmament which He had constructed, be gathered together into a single place, by themselves. In chaos the mixture of solids and liquids had been so complete as to preclude the designation “dry land.” But now both the solids and the liquids were to be separated, so that dry land, as we know it, was visible.

There had been no chemical compound, but a mere mixture of solid and liquid particles in the mass composing chaos. The division took place at God’s almighty command, and the dry land was henceforth known as earth, while the places on the earth’s surface where the waters had come together into large masses were called seas or oceans. And again God saw that the product of His almighty power was good, that it exactly served the purpose for which it was intended.

The dry land having emerged from the waters, it was now possible, by God’s command, for the earth to be clothed with vegetation, with green, tender grass, with small plants bearing seeds, and with trees of all kinds that bear fruit. As the Lord gave to the earth the power to bring forth the plants, so He placed into the plants the power to propagate their kind by bearing seed and fruit.

The mature plants were thus brought into being by the word of God’s power, fully able to reproduce their kind and species by means of seed and fruit. It was not a gradual generation, as under the present laws of nature, but the fully developed specimens were brought forth by the earth as God’s creative work, altogether fit to take their place in the universe. This ended the work of the third day.

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Verses 14-19

The creation of sun, moon, and stars

The Creator brought into being light-bodies of the sky, assigning to them a threefold function: to show the distinction between day and night, to serve as indicators or means for men, enabling them to distinguish between the two divisions of the full day; to serve for signs, not only as in the case of ordinary eclipses, but also as omens extraordinary; and to fix the calendar of the world in general. And not only that:

That is the third function of the heavenly light-bodies, to send forth the light, either their own or that reflected by them, to be light-bearers for the earth. No sooner had God spoken than it was done; for it was not an ordinary work done by Him, but an act of creation.

Although the names are not expressly mentioned, it is obvious that the greater light is the sun, which, by its light and power, governs the day, has the most profound influence upon organic and inorganic life, and the smaller light the moon, which governs the night and the life of the night in much the same way as the sun does by day. Likewise, God on this day filled the immense reaches of the universe with the countless number of stars.

God’s almighty, creative act is again emphasized; for He gave, He put the light-bodies in their proper place, the functions of which are given in the order in which they usually impress men: they give forth light upon the earth; their influence controls day and night, respectively; their rising and setting governs the division of light and darkness. And again, the work of the perfect God was perfect.

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Verses 20-23

The creation of marine animals and birds

At God’s almighty word the waters were to swarm a swarm of living beings, of marine animals, and also of winged animals, characterized by the fact that they fly over the earth on the face of the firmament, that is, on the side which is turned toward the earth. These animals were created in great abundance and are conspicuous to this day by their unusually great number, as careful statistics have shown.

Not only the fishes were made by God to inhabit the seas, but He also created long and huge whales, crocodiles, and other monsters of the oceans and rivers, and every form of marine animal, no matter of what form and nature, with which the waters swarm, and every kind of winged animal, chiefly birds, all of them perfect and exactly adapted to the element in which they found themselves.

As animate beings both the marine animals and those that inhabit the air received a special blessing of the Lord, not in a mere friendly and fatherly greeting, but in the conveyance of the power to reproduce themselves in kind. The fishes were to multiply at such a rate as to fill up all the oceans, and the birds were to become many on the earth.

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Verses 24-25

The creation of the land animals

The seas and the air having been filled with living beings, the earth now received the command to bring forth, to permit to go forth, living beasts: animals such as were easily domesticated, reptiles and creeping beasts, and the game of prairie and forest. Without delay the order was carried into execution, the earth opening or unfolding, as it were, and presenting the animals fully grown.

The making of these animals is represented as having received the special attention of the Lord in forming the game animals of the earth and the domestic animals, mammals, most of them, and the reptiles of the ground each one after its kind, and each one perfect in its own environment.

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Verses 26-31

The creation and blessing of man

Man is the crown of creation; the Triune God held a special council session with Himself, determining to make man in His own image, with a blessed knowledge of the heavenly Father and possessed of a perfect righteousness and holiness. Man was also to have power and government over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the animals in general, in brief, over the whole earth and over every reptile and similar animal that might be creeping on the earth. Thus the relation of man to the animals was clearly stated.

God made an impression of His own essence upon the soul of man, making his intellect keen for the knowledge of Himself, and his will eager to perform only that which was good and righteous. As man and woman, as male and female, God created the two first human beings, the two sexes being a creation of God from the beginning.

Thus was the blessing of the Lord given to man and the power to reproduce his kind according to God’s laws transmitted to him. But the fact that God gives to him the power and government over all the animate and inanimate things of the earth indicates that the propagation of the human race is not the process of mere animal reproduction, for man, as the crown of creation, is living on a higher plane.

Having created man, the human race, and provided for their propagation, God also provides the necessary food to sustain their life, the vegetables and seed-bearing plants and the fruit-bearing trees.

That was the food which the Lord had provided and intended for animals of every description, whether mammals or birds or reptiles or any other kind, namely, the tender green grass and vegetation. It follows, then, that neither did man use animal food before the Fall, nor were there any beasts of prey that stalked their prey; they all lived together in perfect harmony and partook of the food which the Lord provided in richest measure.

This is God’s own opinion and verdict of the entire work of creation as it was before Him at the end of the sixth day: “Good exceedingly.” There was not a single mistake, not even a flaw, in the perfection of God’s work.

The creation of man, paradise, and woman

Verses 1-3

The Sabbath of creation

The actual work of creation had been done in six days, all the created beings in heaven and earth, angels, birds, animals, and men, all organic and inorganic matter having been called into being, and men, beasts, and plants having been endowed with the power to reproduce their own kind.

The work of creation did not extend into the seventh day, but was finished at sundown of the sixth day, which marked the beginning of the seventh. God devoted the seventh day to rest after the creative activity of the preceding days. Not that God was tired out, or that He now turned from the world to devote Himself entirely to the enjoyment of the bliss of heaven, but that the work of creation was finished.

In the blessing of the seventh day as a day of rest for Himself and as a type of the great Sabbath of heaven, Hebrews 4:4, God blessed the entire creation, for His blessing is an imparting of the powers of salvation, of mercy, and of peace. And He hallowed, or consecrated, the day, appointing it for His own rest and intending that the peace of the Sabbath should rest upon the world until the eternal Sabbath would continue this rest, Hebrews 4:9. There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God. God, literally, created His works to make, His divine activity remains in the world in the form of preservation, of providence.

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Verses 4-7

The creation of Adam

The author, having given a short account of the creation, now proceeds to narrate some facts pertaining to it in greater detail. His heading is: This is the further history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, at the time when Jehovah God made earth and heavens. The earth is mentioned first in this case, as the scene of the events about to be related.

This is a description of the earth before Paradise was made. At that time the plants of the field had not yet started to grow, to sprout and to bud; they had not yet matured. There had, till then, been no rain on earth, and the tilling of the soil had not yet begun.

This is the manner in which God provided moisture for the vegetation of the earth at that time, not by means of rain, but by a heavy fog, which arose from the earth and soaked the entire surface of the soil. Having described the earth as the home of man and as the place of his later labors, the author relates the creation of man itself.

This is one distinction of man: Instead of merely being called into being by a word of God’s almighty power, he was formed, as it were, by the finger of God, the material being an earth-clod, dust of the soil. This being done, God blew the breath of life into the figure which He had formed. As the dust, by virtue of the creative omnipotence, formed the figure of a man, it was charged with the living breath and thus became a living soul, named after the more important part of which he consists. The Spirit of God has made us, and the breath of the Almighty has given us life, Job 33:4. This shows the superiority of man over irrational brutes, his being endowed with an immortal soul as well as his being formed in the image of God.

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Verses 8-14

The garden of Eden

Although the entire work of creation was perfect, God chose to do still more for man by planting an enclosed garden, or park, commonly called Paradise, in Eden, a country toward the east. Into this covered and sheltered place the Lord put the man whom He had formed. That was to be his earthly home, a place of wonderful bliss, a fitting vestibule for the eternal home with its unequaled Sabbath rest.

This shows the manner in which the Lord prepared the garden. Jehovah God caused to sprout and grow out of the soil trees of every kind, pleasing to the eye and with fruit that was good for food, the agreeable thus being combined with that promoting health. But, above all, there was in the midst of the garden the tree of life, whose fruit would have given to man perfect health and strength always and thus prepared him for the perfection of eternal life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, placed there for the purpose of testing man; for by obedience to God’s command concerning it Adam would retain his concreated righteousness and holiness and progress to the perfection of heavenly bliss, while by disobedience he would become guilty of sin with all its attendant harm.

This great river thus had its beginning in the land of Eden, flowed through the entire length of the garden, and then divided into four beginnings, or heads of streams, which formed separate arms, or rivers.

Although the garden of Eden was long since destroyed and the entire contour of the country changed by the great Flood, it is probable that we may assume its location to have been in the central tableland of Asia or Armenia. There was the river Pison, the full-flowing, whose place may now have been taken by the Indus or by the Kur. It flowed through a sandy land, where gold in great quantity and of an excellent quality was found, also bdellium, an odoriferous and very costly gum, and onyx, or sardius, a precious stone which had the color of human finger-nails.

This river has been identified most plausibly with the Ganges or with the Araxes, and the country which it watered with Kossaia, which extended in a westerly direction to the Caucasus.

This seems to point quite definitely to the Tigris.

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Verses 15-17

Adam placed into the garden

The earthly home of man being ready, he was placed there by Jehovah God to enjoy the peace and the happiness of the garden, but not in a state of inactivity. He was to be the caretaker of the park, to till and develop it, as well as to keep it, probably with reference to an existing power of evil which has as yet not been mentioned.

This was a very general permission or command: Of every tree of the garden eating thou shalt eat. There were fruit-trees of every kind in the park, and their fruit was at the disposal of man, even the tree of life with the fruit which was intended to sustain him until the Lord was ready to make his body spiritual and to take him up to heaven. But the prohibition was absolute with regard to the tree of knowledge in the midst of the garden. This tree was placed there for the exercise of man’s obedience toward God, and the transgression of God’s command would result in man’s becoming mortal, becoming subject to death. From the day that he would eat of this forbidden fruit, the germ of death would enter his body, and his final dissolution would be inevitable. If man had stood this test, he would have been confirmed in his possession of Paradise, and through his eating of the tree of life he would finally have been enabled, without pain and death, to enter into the life of eternity. Death is the consequence of disobedience, of sin.

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Verses 18-20

The lack of companionship for man

A divine decree introduced the creation of man, a divine declaration precedes that of woman. It is a fundamental truth: It is not good for a man to be by himself, without companionship. The life of the anchorite, of the hermit, of the monk, of the nun, is not in agreement with the principle which governs the world. The normal adult person should seek the companionship of marriage, as the Lord stated that He would make for man a help, or helper, that would correspond to himself, be a counterpart of himself. In further explanation it is stated:

This is a parenthetical remark, preparing for the next paragraph. This the Lord had done after the creation of man: He had taken the beasts of the field and the birds of the air as they had been called into being from the earth by His almighty word and brought them to man, in order to give to the latter the proper opportunity to exercise his brilliant mind by giving to each animal the name which fitted it, which properly applied to it according to its structure and manner of living. And so great was Adam’s understanding, so keen was his mind in penetrating into the marvels of God’s creation that he gave to all animals, to the birds as well as to the game animals of the field, the names which distinguished them with the greatest exactness. But among all these there was not one that was his converse, that corresponded to him, that supplemented him. No animal was fit for intimate companionship with man, owing to the entire dissimilarity of body and spirit.

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Verses 21-25

The creation of woman

Sleep is the natural restorer of man’s bodily and mental vigor and not the result of sin. But here was the unusual factor: God purposely caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, thus taking from him all consciousness of the outside world and of his own life. He then removed one of the man’s ribs, closing up the vacant space with flesh.

Jehovah God literally built the rib which He took from the side of man into a woman. He did not form a second creature out of the dust of the soil, but created woman out of the rib of Adam, because she is destined to enter into an indissoluble communion with man, because she is to stand at his side as his helpmeet, and because God wanted to make of one blood all nations of men, Acts 17:26. The Lord also brought the woman to the man, thus signifying that He, in the manner prescribed by Him, brings man and woman together in holy wedlock.

The eagerness of Adam for proper companionship is here expressed: This finally is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. This is another remarkable instance of Adam’s unusual understanding, which caused him to know at once both the origin and the purpose of the woman whom the Lord brought to him. This was the counterpart of himself for whom he had been longing, her name properly being woman, “maness,” because from the man, out of the man, she was taken.

Whether Adam spoke these words, or whether Moses wrote them in explanation of this wonderful relation which was to obtain between the man and the woman made to be his helpmeet, it was God that inspired them, Matthew 19:5. When, in the manner approved by God, a man has been given the woman whom God has destined for him, then the tie which binds these two together is so close and so indissoluble that the man will sever the former intimate ties of home and be joined with his wife as her husband, under obligation to observe all the duties that this relationship implies, Ephesians 5:29, even as the wife will be guided in her entire life by God’s will, 1 Corinthians 11:8-9, as the helpmeet of the man. Man and wife are supposed to be united by the ties of common interests, sharing weal and woes, joy and sorrow, as though they were one single person. Note that this excludes the idea of polygamy.

There was no necessity for clothes, either physically or morally, before the Fall. Nakedness is here the expression of perfect innocence, since the bodies of both Adam and his wife were sanctified by the Spirit that lived in them. Shame did not enter until sin came into their hearts and caused desires and lusts to corrupt the pure order of God. It should be noted here, as well as throughout these two chapters, that all theories and idle speculations concerning creation, Paradise, the state of man’s integrity must be put aside for the simple truth of Scriptures. What God has not revealed no idle speculation will uncover.

The fall of man and God’s punishment

Verses 1-6

The temptation and fall

In Paradise man had everything that he needed for the proper development of his nature and for the fulfilment of his object in life. But now temptation came to him from outside. Just as in other parts of the Bible animals are characterized by certain physical or mental features, so the serpent is here described as being cunning or crafty by nature, this fact distinguishing it from the other animals of the field.

The devil, or Satan, chief among the fallen angels, made use of the natural cunning of the serpent and spoke out of her mouth in order to seduce man. The words of the Tempter are: Should God really have made such a statement? or: Even if God did make that statement, — intending to add that such a prohibition on God’s part was unbelievable. He is interrupted before he has finished his thought:

The devil had implied that God’s command referred to every tree, to all trees of the garden. This appeared especially in the tone and form of questioning surprise, which was intended to excite doubt. The woman corrected this statement by limiting it: of the fruit of the trees of the garden we eat. That was good enough, as far as it went. But the next words are less positive:

By exaggerating the prohibition of God, the devil intended to shake the woman’s trust in God, to create doubts in her heart concerning the truth of His word. He succeeded inasmuch as the woman allowed herself to be drawn into an argument with the Tempter, not only stating that God had forbidden them to eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, but adding also: And do not even touch it, lest ye die. This exaggeration of God’s command showed that the woman felt it to be harsh and severe, that her love toward God, her trust in God had been undermined. That was the beginning of her sin, the setting aside of God’s Word and command; for doubt, unbelief, is the root of all sin. The devil was alert to take advantage of her weakening:

Not satisfied with having awakened doubt in the woman’s heart, the Tempter now boldly denies the truth of the divine threat and casts suspicion upon the genuineness of the divine love: Ye most assuredly will not die. He insinuates that God is a jealous tyrant, withholding from man some of the advantages to which he was entitled, by means of an empty threat. Instead of becoming subject to death, so the devil asserts, the man and his wife would have their eyes opened for a greater and better understanding of both good and evil. Like untold numbers of tempters since that time, the devil suggested that they would then be able to choose the good and follow it always, while they would certainly shun that which was wicked. But this condition is not brought about by the transgression of God’s commands, for such a course, as in this instance, results in driving the fear, the love, the trust in God away, making the carnal mind enmity toward God.

The evil was done; the woman’s heart was turned from the Lord. The lust appeared in her eyes: she saw what had never struck her before, that good was the tree for food as well as pleasant to the eyes. The striving after a false independence and liberty further incited the desire for the forbidden fruit; the longer she looked, the more desirable it seemed to her to gain understanding of the kind which she deemed hidden from her, to feel the pleasure of possessing forbidden secrets. Thus in the heart of natural man, who has turned from God, there grows every form of evil lust and desire, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. And this lust brings forth sin. The woman took of the fruit and ate. Then, sin having taken her captive, she persuaded her husband to eat of the fruit also. The sinner seeks company and tries to seduce others.

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Verses 7-13

The investigation of God

With their transgression, the eyes of the man and woman were indeed opened, but not in the way that they had supposed. The ignorance of primeval innocence was gone. Whereas they had not been aware of their nakedness before, they now felt shame before each other. Sin had corrupted and defiled their entire nature, like the poison of a serpent which penetrates into every part of the body with the circulation of the blood. In their painful embarrassment they sewed together the large leaves of the paradise fig tree for aprons to gird about their loins. Modesty or bashfulness naturally centers in this part of the body, requiring that the organs through which the impurities of the body are expelled, and which are now defiled for the service of indecency, be covered.

This is related to fit the human understanding, Jehovah God being represented as walking in the garden, at the time when the refreshing wind of evening arose. As soon as they heard His voice calling them in eager search, Adam and his wife hid before the face of God in the midst of the thicket. The sinner has a bad conscience and dreads exposure. But God wanted to visit the sinners that had yielded to disobedience, and perform the work of a true father and educator for them, by making them realize their sin and revealing to them, the way of mercy.

The manner in which God dealt with the transgressors of His commandment is now shown.

It was the call of anxious love as well as of stern justice. God summoned the sinners before His court. Sin is easily done, but not so easily undone, for it weighs down upon conscience as guilt before God, in spite of all attempts at excuse.

Fear, the consciousness of nakedness, shame: they all cried out aloud the guilt of Adam. Though Eve had been the first to sin, the Lord called Adam, because he, as the stronger vessel, was more guilty than his wife; upon him rested the greater responsibility. It was evident that Adam felt the consequences of sin more than its guilt. This state of affairs the Lord proceeds to remedy.

Adam would have remained in the state of blissful innocence if he had not eaten of the forbidden fruit; he would not have known his nakedness. The fact that he was aware of his nakedness was a definite proof of his having transgressed the command of the Lord; for this consciousness came from within and was a mark of his guilt.

This excuse reveals the depravity of Adam’s heart, even at this early stage. For he not only tries to place the blame upon the woman, but there is even a charge against God in the words: The woman whom Thou didst place at my side. He forgets that he had hailed her coming with delight, and herself as a gift of the Lord. He indicates that the entire matter might not have taken this turn if God had not made the woman as his helpmeet. Incidentally, the loss of love which followed the transgression is shown by the fact that Adam does not call her Eva, or wife, but only that woman by his side.

It is a call full of reproach: Wherefore hast thou done this? What a terrible thing to do! How couldst thou be so forgetful of the command!

There is indeed a confession of the fact, but not of the sin, just as in the case of the man. She placed the blame on the serpent as having deceived and seduced her. What was lacking was the smiting upon the breast and the humble prayer: God, be merciful to me, a sinner! We see here the unspeakable baseness of sin, also in its invention of lies and excuses, in order to place the blame on some one else. A proper realization of its power will enable us to understand all the better the glory of God’s mercy in Christ Jesus.

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Verses 14-19

The curse of God

The serpent, which had placed its cunning into the service of the devil, was the first to receive its sentence, and with it Satan, who had hid himself in this form for the purpose of seducing man. The punishment which struck the reptile was only a type of the devil’s punishment. The serpent’s form and means of locomotion were changed in this curse which singled it out from all animals, both those that were eventually domesticated and those that would remain game and predatory animals of the field. Instead of walking upright, the serpent was hereafter to wind itself along in the dust, which it could, incidentally, not avoid swallowing.

What was a curse for the serpent and for the devil, who had used the serpent for his disguise, was a glorious, comforting promise for fallen mankind, the first great Gospel proclamation: And enmity shall I set between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her Seed. This is not a mere reference to the aversion which most men feel for snakes of every kind, as some liberal commentators have it, but sets forth the cardinal truth of the ages. There would be everlasting and uncompromising enmity between the descendants of the woman, on the one hand, and the devil and all satanic powers, on the other. And this enmity, which would show itself in continual warfare, would finally have its culmination in the event that the one great Seed of the Woman, He to whom the entire Old Testament looks forward, would utterly crush the head of the serpent, of Satan, while the latter, in turn, would not be able to do more than crush the heel of the Victor. To overcome the devil, to annihilate his power, that is a feat beyond the ability of any mere man; only God is able to do this. Christ, the promised Seed of the woman, born of the descendants of Eve, and yet the almighty God, is the strong Champion of mankind, who has delivered all men from the power of Satan and all his mighty allies. True, indeed, in doing so His heel was bruised, He was obliged to die, according to His human nature. But deliverance was effected, salvation was gained by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, as the representative of all mankind.

This was the woman’s burden and punishment for her transgression. Whereas without sin the propagation of the human race would have been a welcome, joyful function and all the other work of life a pleasant burden, the troubles and burdens of woman, especially those connected with pregnancy and birth, are most severe. So woman’s nature was weakened as a result of the disturbance of the normal relation between body and soul by sin. Moreover, woman was to be dependent upon man, especially upon her husband; she was to be in submission to him, and he was to exercise authority as ruler in the house. The matter is not one for emancipated women to argue, since the headship of the husband is hereby established until the end of time.

Adam had been the stronger vessel, even before the Fall. He had had the strength to withstand the temptation; he should have held out even after Eve sinned. But he obeyed the voice of his wife and ate of the forbidden tree. Therefore the field, the soil, which had till now brought forth willingly and in rich abundance, was to be stricken with the curse of God, with the result that man would be able to eat the fruit of the soil only with sorrow, with the continual consciousness of the constant application which is now necessary in bringing it to a state of yielding, of the unceasing battle with thorns, thistles, and noxious weeds. Only in the sweat of his face, through the expenditure of the most assiduous toil, is man now able to eat his bread. For with the Fall the curse of God went into effect; the germ of death was placed into the body of man. His body was now mortal, and destined to return to the earth from which it was originally taken. That is the wages and the curse of sin. This curse, moreover, has extended over the entire material world, the result being a degenerating, a brutalizing of all creation, corruption, death, and destruction. If it were not for the fact that the promise of Christ, the Messiah, stands in the middle between sin and punishment, we should be without comfort in the misery, distress, and tribulation of the earth.

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Verses 20-24

Man driven out of paradise

Both Adam and his wife received the first Gospel proclamation in silence; they believed the promise and arose from their fall with due repentance. This is shown even in the name which Adam applied to his wife, calling her “life,” or “source of life,” because she became the mother of the entire human race, whose propagation and life was dependent upon her.

So the first real dress of man was God’s work; He authorized them, He gave them instructions, to make themselves coats of skins, which they were to wear as a covering for their nakedness and as a protection against the rigors of a changed climate. Beginning with this time, then, men were permitted to kill and sacrifice animals for their own use. This act of God, incidentally, serves as a basis for all order and decency in the matter of dress under all circumstances. If the dress of man or woman does not cover their nakedness, but suggests or reveals such charms as have an essentially sensual appeal, then it does not serve the purpose for which the Lord intended it in the beginning, then it becomes a tool in the service of sin.

Here the Triune God is again shown in counsel with Himself. Man had become, in a manner of speaking, like one of the persons of the Godhead. He knew good and evil, although, unfortunately, he was involved in the latter himself, having broken through the bounds set him by the Lord. The sentence of punishment had been spoken, and lest man frustrate its force by partaking of the tree of life as well, the Lord now formally expelled Adam and Eve from the lovely garden which had been their home. The man was destined henceforth to gain his livelihood by the most laborious application to the soil from which he himself had been formed.

After his expulsion, man’s return into the garden was rendered impossible by the fact that God on the east side, the only accessible entrance, stationed cherubim, armed with the flame of a sword that was two-edged and sharp, glittering in the light as the rays struck its brilliant play. To attempt to pass meant certain death. Man would henceforth know of the existence of Paradise, would even know the location of the tree of life, whose supernatural powers had not been removed by God, but man could not return. This fact was to remind him continually of the time of the final perfection, when sin will be destroyed forever, death will be abolished, and the true tree of life will bear fruit for those that partake of salvation throughout eternity, Revelation 20-21.

The story of Cain and Abel

Verses 1-4

The offerings of Cain and Abel

In the order of natural procreation, according to the blessing which the Lord had pronounced upon the man and his wife, Eve gave birth to a son, whom she named Cain (possession). The reason for giving her first-born son this name is shown in her joyful exclamation: I have gotten a man, Jehovah (which is the exact translation). The first Messianic prophecy had been given, and faith in this prophecy lived in the heart of Eve. Although she therefore made a mistake in the person when she believed this son of hers to be the promised Messiah, she showed that her desire was directed toward the man, toward the Seed of the woman, who was to crush the head of the serpent., Adam and Eve were the first sinners, but also the first believers, the beginning of the Church of God on earth. We walk in the footsteps of Eve’s faith.

This was her second child, her second son, whose name Abel (vanity) indicates that she was feeling the vanity of this earthly life and hoped all the more eagerly for salvation.

Thus the two brothers continued in the calling of their father, the younger son devoting himself to the keeping of the smaller domestic animals and the older to the tilling of the soil.

At the end of many days, at the expiration of a long period.

This shows the manner in which the earliest worship of the Lord took place. Both Cain and Abel, having been instructed by Adam in the knowledge of the Lord, brought offerings, or sacrifices, Cain choosing some of the fruits of the field as his gift.

In the very mention of the gift there is an indication of the difference in the attitude of the hearts; for whereas it is said of Cain only in general that he brought of the fruit of the soil, it is stated concerning Abel that he brought of the first-born of his flock, such as were in the best of condition, rich in fat. The gifts thus expressed the difference between Abel’s free and joyful faith and Cain’s legal, reluctant state of heart, Hebrews 11:4; 1 John 3:12.

The Lord searches the reins and the heart. He noted the humble faith of Abel, whose one thought was to give the Lord a proof of the sincere gratitude for all the goodness and mercy which had been vouchsafed him. But God saw also the hypocrisy of Cain’s heart, the fact that he was not interested in the worship which his hands were performing. He therefore indicated His pleasure in the one case and His displeasure in the other, either by some outward sign visible in the smoke of the offering, or by a subsequent rich blessing in the case of Abel, or through the mouth of Adam, as the priest of the family congregation. It is not the outward size of our gifts and offerings which makes them acceptable in the sight of the Lord, but the attitude of our hearts and minds toward God. He wants pure love flowing out of sound faith.

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Verses 5-8

The first murder

This paragraph shows the progress of actual sin, from the evil desire of the heart to the sinful act. Cain was jealous of his brother Abel because of the latter’s humble faith and his consequent acceptance by God. He was angry exceedingly, he was filled with bitter wrath, which was reflected in his face, in the expression of his eyes, in his distended nostrils. He fell to dark brooding and evil plotting.

The Lord’s warning at this time had reference both to the cause and to the possible consequences of Cain’s wrath. He implies, first of all, that the brooding posture assumed by Cain, was unreasonable, foolish, in the circumstances.

The fault lay altogether with Cain himself; for if he had done well, if he had had faith and shown this faith in truly good works, in acceptable offerings, then he would have experienced the appreciation for which he seemed anxious, and could have lifted his countenance in token of a good conscience. If, on the other hand, his sacrifice was not brought in true faith and he was now angry over his rejection, then sin, like a wild, predatory beast, would crouch at the door of his heart, eager for even the slightest opportunity to enter and to work its will.

That is as it should be in the heart of the child of God. Although the desire of sin is always directed against man with the intention of gaining control over him, yet the believer will keep the upper hand, will hold the wrath of the heart back with the firmness of the sanctified mind.

The warning of the Lord was disregarded, deliberately set aside, as he started a quarrel with his brother.

Cain did not try to keep the sinful desire of his heart in subjection, and so the end of the quarrel was murder. Note that the words “his brother” are repeated again and again, in order to emphasize the heinousness of the first murder. In our hearts also evil thoughts are found: murders, with all the jealousy, envy, bitterness, hatred, and anger that this climax of wickedness presupposes, and our constant endeavor must be to conquer the inclination toward all these sins and to keep the example of pious Abel before our eyes.

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Verses 9-15

God’s judgment upon Cain

The arraignment of God in this case is like that against Adam and Eve after their transgression. The Lord confronts the murderer with a direct question regarding the whereabouts of his brother Abel, with the intention of working repentance in his heart.

That is the attitude of the hardened sinner, to deny all responsibility, to challenge the Lord with a bold lie: I don’t know; am I supposed to be my brother’s special keeper and guardian? Sin, wilfully committed, always hardens the heart, until all hope of repentance, of a godly sorrow, is futile.

The great Judge now flatly confronts the murderer with the evidence of his crime: The voice of the blood of thy brother, every single drop of it, is crying to Me from the earth. Blood that is shed in malicious murder may not cry with a voice audible to men, but it cries to God, as the Avenger of all crimes, nevertheless; for murder belongs to the deeds that cry to heaven, a fact which lived in the consciousness of even the heathen nations.

The curse of God rested upon Cain in such a way that it denied him a form of sustenance by way of tilling the ground, the work with which he had till now gained his livelihood. Because the earth had been obliged to open her mouth wide, in the act of swallowing the innocent blood of Abel, therefore the soil now rebelled against the murderer, refusing to serve him as heretofore.

The irrational creature suffers and groans on account of the sin of man. The earth refuses to yield a crop to the murderer, no matter how hard he should attempt to coax it by the most careful tilling. A feeling of inward quaking, of trembling, of restlessness, would result in Cain’s outward fleeing, in a roving without home and without definite relationships. To this day this is the mark of the murderer, for his conscience will give him no rest, but drives him from one city to another, from one country to the next.

Instead of turning to the Lord in true repentance, Cain gives himself up to utter despair, declaring that the guilt of his sin is too great for him to endure, that the punishment meted out to him is too heavy for him to bear. His words imply an accusation against the Judge, who has laid upon him such an unendurable burden.

In bitter resentment the words pour forth from the mouth of Cain, accusing God of denying him as much as a single spot on the face of the earth where his foot might find rest. Moreover, whereas God had formerly revealed Himself also to him in the worship of the family, Cain now was condemned to be hidden from the face of God, in constant danger of the avenger of blood who might arise from among his brothers and sisters. The complaint of Cain was at the same time a plea for some sort of assurance on the part of God respecting his own safety.

That was God’s answer to Cain’s plea, a decree which delivered him to the pains of an evil conscience, after which he may later have welcomed death as a relief. A sevenfold vengeance the Lord threatened to every one who would slay Cain. At the same time the Lord transmitted to Cain some sign, or token, which secured immunity for him against any avenger of blood. Cut off from the companionship of decent human beings, therefore, ostracized so far as the children of God were concerned, Cain became a fugitive and a vagabond, a warning example to all men that would hear of his case that God will not be mocked. Thus the Lord always takes care of His saints, and will avenge their blood upon their enemies. They that trust in Him shall not be ashamed.

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Verses 16-24

The family of Cain

From over against the face of the Lord, from the place where the Lord revealed Himself to His people, Cain, with one of his sisters, who was his wife, journeyed toward the east of the land of Eden, where the garden of the Lord was situated. He cut himself off from all intercourse with the Lord and with His people.

Since of one blood all nations of men are made to dwell on the earth, it was necessary, in the early days, for brothers and sisters to marry. Later, the Lord Himself changed this order, the marriage of close relatives at this time being apparently also against a law of nature. Cain called his first son Enoch (dedication), since he believed that his generation would be built up through this son.

Literally the text has it that Cain was building a city, that is, a fortified enclosure, as a stronghold for his entire family; it was the work of a lifetime, and gave him some sense of security, affording him a shelter whenever his restlessness permitted him to return home.

In each case, of course, only the first-born or the most prominent son is named, the number of offspring being very large, as the entire Bible account indicates.

There is a brief account of the family of Cain:

It was a descendant of Cain that first changed the order of God with regard to monogamy. He married two wives, thus instituting polygamy, by which the purity of marriage was perverted either into wife-slavery or into the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.

Here was the beginning of the nomadic life, with the raising and grazing of cattle and no fixed dwelling-places.

This was the second son of Lamech and Adah whose name has been preserved, the inventor of the zither, a kind of stringed instrument, and the horn, or wind instrument. This, then, was the beginning of musical art.

Tubalcain was the inventor of various sharp tools for cutting metals, especially brass and iron. That was the beginning of crafts in the world. The entire narrative indicates that the minds of the Cainites were directed solely to this world and its enjoyment. Even the names which they gave to their women shows this, for Adah means “the ornamented one,” Zillah “the sweet-sounding one,” and Naamah “the lovely one.” The powers given to man for the ruling of nature were thus abused for the gratification of various personal desires and lusts.

Here is the first instance of the art of poetry, but even this is placed into the service of sin; for this is the form of the poem: —

Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Ye wives of Lamech, listen to my speech;
For a man have I killed for my wound and a young man for my welt;
For sevenfold will Cain be avenged, and Lamech seven and seventyfold.

Thus Lamech boastfully sang in praise of his son’s invention which had enabled him to take quick vengeance on some man with whom he had had a quarrel and who managed to wound him. Far from feeling any remorse over his deed, he glorifies the name of his forefather Cain, whom the Lord had given the assurance that He would avenge him in case any one should dare to harm him, and claims for himself a much greater glory for his murder. That reveals the depravity of the children of the world as it had fully developed in the age of Lamech. And thus today also the culture of the world does not hinder sin, but offers new opportunities to it. Arts and crafts, commerce, industry, they all are in the service of mammon, they all are used to harm one’s neighbor.

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Verses 25-26

Seth and Enos

The names of other children of Adam and Eve are not mentioned, only that of Seth, who took the place of the first-born, and whose name Eve herself explained: “For the Lord has set to me another descendant in the place of Abel, because Cain slew him.” What human wickedness had taken from her in the deed of Cain the divine goodness replaced in the person of Seth.

The family of Seth was the family of believers, and it was during the lifetime of his son Enos that men began formally to proclaim the name of Jehovah, to institute public services for the purpose of worshiping Him in prayer, praise, and the giving of thanks. So the name of the Man, Jehovah, in whom Eve had trusted, was now preached openly; the coming of the Messiah was openly declared. Thus to-day, in the midst of a world steeped in sin, the glorious Gospel of the Savior is proclaimed, and we have comfort in the assurance of our salvation through His power.

Genealogical table from Adam to Noah

Verses 1-8

From Adam to Seth

This Chapter presents a short summary of the history of the believing Adamites in the form of a genealogical table, with a few explanatory notes.

The author here goes back to the history of the creation, Genesis 1:27-28. God created man male and female, and gave him the blessed knowledge of Himself, as well as perfect righteousness and holiness, besides other external advantages which are often included in this image. And even at that time God called man by that name; Adam bore the name “man” and Eve that of “woman,” or “maness.”

Since Adam had lost the perfect image of God in the Fall, it was no longer possible for him to transmit the image of God to his offspring. Seth was born in the image of Adam, and therefore subject to sin and death. Since the Fall all men are conceived and born in sin, and all of them are subject to death and damnation, Romans 5:12. Only through the merits of the one Man, who was in Himself sinless, though burdened with the guilt of all men, are we delivered from the inevitable doom of damnation.

That the patriarchs before the Flood lived to such a ripe old age was probably due to the fact that their bodies were not yet so filled with the many tendencies toward sickness which are now so prevalent; they were physically in much better condition than the people of the present time. Then also, as Luther remarks, God had special thoughts of kindness toward the world in having so many pious, wise, and holy men in the world at one time.

In spite of the remarkably great age which these men reached, the ever-recurring refrain “and he died” reminds us of the fact that death had now entered the world, and that it is man’s inevitable lot to become a prey of the king of terrors so far as the body is concerned, Romans 5:14.

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Verses 9-20

From Enos to Jared

Although there is some distant resemblance between some of the names in this list and those of the Cainites, the meaning which is attached to this fact by enemies of Scriptures as though the two accounts had originally been the same is absolutely without foundation. The children of God and the children of the world at that time were strictly separate.

The ever-recurring circle of birth and death is here brought out with great impressiveness, bidding us so to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

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Verses 21-32

From Enoch to Shem, Ham, and Japheth

Here we have the short account of Enoch and the praise in which the New Testament joins, Hebrews 11:5-6. He walked with God: he was in the most intimate intercourse, in the most confidential relation with God. He clung to the invisible God and walked before Him at all times as though He were present and saw every act, heard every word. To such a degree of perfection did he attain in the course of the three centuries after the birth of Methuselah that God chose to take him from this world with its manifold misery. Without seeing death, he was translated into heaven, according to both body and soul. Although a ripe old age, also in our days, may be considered a gift of God, and is to be accepted with all thanksgiving, yet it is also a great kindness on the part of God if He takes some of His children home in the bloom of their youth or in the fullness of their strength and usefulness. He always knows the best time.

Methuselah thus enjoys the distinction of having reached the greatest age recorded for any human being.

It is seen here that even the patriarchs felt the misery of this earthly life in all its burdensomeness. But incidentally Lamech, in explaining the name Noah which he gave to his son, showed that the Messianic hope was alive in him and in his family. Like Eve, he thought that this son of his was the promised Savior, he that would bring rest. Thus the faith and the hope of the fathers before the Flood were directed toward Christ, and herein they agree with the believers of all times.

With Noah the genealogical table closes; he was the last patriarch before the Flood. His three sons are mentioned because each of them became the ancestor of a separate branch of the human family after the Flood.

The following list will aid in giving a correct idea of the time of the patriarchs before the Flood.

Adam	Created: 1	Died: 930
Seth	Born: 130	Died: 1042
Enos	Born: 235	Died: 1140
Cainan	Born: 325	Died: 1235
Mahalaleel	Born: 395	Died: 1290
Jared	Born: 460	Died: 1422
Enoch	Born: 622	Taken away: 987
Methuselah	Born: 687	Died: 1656
Lamech	Born: 874	Died: 1651
Noah	Born: 1056	Died: 2006

The events preceding the flood

Verses 1-4

The wickedness of men

The Cainites had long since forsaken the Lord and His worship and lived according to the lusts of their mind. But in the course of time this corruption spread also to the families of the pious, to the sons of God, to the believers, showing itself first of all in a laxity of morals. In fifteen centuries a most remarkable increase of the human family took place, and it became increasingly difficult to maintain the discipline which the Lord desired. The men belonging to the tribe of Seth permitted carnal considerations to influence them in the choice of their wives. The daughters of men, those that lived only for this world and made the enjoyment of all that this world offers their end and goal, very naturally made the development of mere physical beauty their aim. This beauty proved the snare which captivated the sons of God, the men from the generation of believers. They took wives to themselves of all that they chose, no longer as pious helpmates in a marriage in chastity and honor, but for the mere gratification of their sensual desires. Thus the corruption of the Cainites was brought into the Church of God before the Flood.

The Spirit of the Lord had been present in the midst of men, in the Word which was preached to them. But this could not remain thus very much longer on account of the wilful defection of men, on account of their deliberate erring. They refused to heed His warnings and reprimands, for they had turned to their carnal desires. So God concluded to give them a final one hundred and twenty years as respite. Noah, as the preacher of righteousness 2 Peter 2:5, was to lift up his voice once more, and if men would not listen to his words, the punishment should come upon them.

The conditions before the Flood are further characterized. Wild, lawless men, tyrants there were on the earth in those days, offspring of marriages that did not meet with God’s approval, children of wild passion, men that defied order and authority and became mighty men, whose names were mentioned with bated breath as those of unparalleled champions and heroes. The whole earth was full of outrage and violence. Cp. Matthew 24:38-39. This is a picture of our own days, of the period immediately preceding the final Judgment, full of the most impressive warning for all that will heed the signs of the times.

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Verses 5-7

God resolves to destroy man

Noah’s preaching had little or no effect. Jehovah saw that in spite of all His efforts to win the hearts of men the wickedness of man in general was increasing. No dam was able to hold back the flood of evil: the entire human race persisted in its mad course toward destruction. Every thought that took form in the heart of every man was wicked all the day long; every one of them was an adept in every form of vice, and all the planning of their hearts was ever directed to that which challenged the righteousness of God.

The utter disgust of Jehovah over the conditions on earth is here expressed in the terms in use among men. So great was the universal wickedness that Jehovah repented of His having made man, who, by the impenitence and the hardness of his heart, was challenging Him to wreak His wrath upon the offenders. But, on the other hand, so great is the mercy of the Lord that the situation caused Him to feel deep grief and concern in His heart; He felt the pain of divine love because of the sin of men. But justice must reign and be carried out.

The sentence of the Lord is comprehensive, referring to the entire sphere in which man is the head and chief. Man, whom He had created, He wanted to destroy utterly from the face of the earth. And the irrational beast that was created for man’s service is also included in his destruction: mammals and reptiles and birds together. Thus the immutable God did not change, neither in His essence nor in His counsels; but He was obliged to apply His punitive justice on account of the change in man which challenged His wisdom, holiness, and righteousness.

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Verses 8-13

God chooses Noah

“In these words there breaks forth from the dark cloud of wrath the mercy which gives security for the preservation and restoration of humanity.” (Keil.) God did not plan an absolute destruction of the entire human race, but only of those that deliberately persisted in their wickedness and would not accept the warning of His Spirit.

That is a summary of Noah’s history: he was a righteous man, upright and just before the eyes of the generations that passed before his eyes. Like Enoch, Genesis 5:22, he was in the most intimate relation with God, on terms of such confidence as to make his performing of the will of God self-evident. As Noah was the last of the patriarchs before the Flood, so he was the first of the line whose descendants after the Flood were the children of Israel, the chosen people of God.

These statements complete the picture drawn in Genesis 6:1-4. Utterly corrupt was the earth before the face of God, like a rotten piece of meat whose very appearance is nauseating. It would have been impossible to hide the conditions from the Lord; He was compelled to intervene with His curse and punishment, because the earth was full of violence and open wickedness. The Lord was a witness of the growing, unspeakable corruption which finally included the entire human race, carnal-mindedness being the governing impulse of every man’s life. All that men had before them and wanted to keep before them was the gratification of their own fleshly desires. Their wickedness was openly perpetrated, and their moral judgment, their conscience, was submerged in their approbation of everything that was evil and corrupt.

As the end of the time of respite approached, God saw that it was useless to extend this period. Its termination meant the end of the world which had reached the limit in wickedness and corruption and was bound for everlasting destruction. The Lord therefore announced that He would destroy men with the earth in the form which it then had, just as one of the consequences of the Flood has been that the earth and the fruits it produces no longer have the strength of the uncorrupted soil, neither does the life of men reach the length which was common with the patriarchs before the Flood. Thus the sentence of the Lord was passed, a word of warning also for our day and age. 1 Corinthians 10:11.

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Verses 14-16

The command to build and equip the ark

Noah and his family alone were exempted from the general destruction. For his preservation he was to build an ark, or ship of refuge, not so much for purposes of navigation, but for the carrying of a very great load. Of gopher-wood the ark was to be built, which seems to have been a cypress-wood, very strong and able to withstand the influence of moisture very well.

These compartments were not large rooms, but small cells, little cabins, intended for the housing of men and beasts. To make the vessel absolutely water-tight, all the seams, both inside and outside, were calked with pitch.

Figuring a Cubit at a foot and a half, the dimensions of the ark were 450 feet in length, 75 feet in width, and 45 feet in height. The cubic contents of the vessel thus exceeded 1,800,000 cubic feet, and afforded ample room for the purpose which the ark was to serve, being able, as has been demonstrated, to carry a cargo greater by one-third than any other form of like cubical content.

The Hebrew text here indicates that an arrangement was made by which light and air could enter the ark, a light-opening, either under the ridge of the roof on one side, extending the entire length of the vessel a Cubit in height, or in the upper deck, thus affording the opportunity for various light-openings in the interior.

This was the entrance which the Lord afterwards closed, opening it again only at the end of the Flood.

There were no individual openings for all these, but they were connected on the inside, probably by stairways, thus affording access to all the cells.

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Verses 17-22

The announcement of the flood

The announcement is very definite: I am bringing the deluge of waters upon (or over) the earth. That is the punishment which the Lord had had in mind all the while, and this is about to be realized in that universal flood. The result would be the destruction of all flesh in which is the breath of life, of all beings that breathe with lungs: all such beings would have to yield up their spirit.

Through Noah and his sons the Lord intended to propagate the human race after the Flood, with a new beginning, on the basis of the covenant which He was now making with him.

This was God’s provision against the total extermination of the animals with the breath of life. A pair of every kind, at the instigation of God, came to the ark and was admitted by Noah. This was true of the larger mammals as well as of the birds and reptiles: they all were to be kept alive in the midst of the general destruction.

The providence of God overlooked nothing that was necessary to keep Noah with his entire cargo of animals alive; an abundant supply of food was laid in.

This was an evidence of Noah’s faith, Hebrews 11:7. For as yet there was nothing to be seen of the Flood, and he was undoubtedly subjected to every form of ridicule. The essence of faith is trust in the Word of God in spite of all the attempts of the enemies to heap scorn upon His promises.

The story of the flood

Verses 1-6

The order to embark

Here is the solemn command of Jehovah with which He announced the coming of the cataclysm; it was the signal of the approaching judgment. Of all the millions of men then living only Noah had been found righteous in the eyes of God.

Here the account is more specific, distinguishing between clean and unclean animals. Cp. Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14. Of clean animals a total of seven of each kind were to be taken into the ark, probably three pairs and a fourth male intended for a sacrificial animal; but with regard to the unclean animals the arrangement by pairs was observed.

So these animals and birds were to be the progenitors of the animal world after the Flood, to restock the earth, which would be rendered desolate by the universal destruction.

First it had been years of respite, but now the time has narrowed down to a few days, thus emphasizing once more the inevitable doom. The destruction was to be brought upon the earth by a flood inaugurated by a steady rain of forty days and forty nights, and it was to include all animate creation, everything that had its own separate existence, all of which was to be blotted out from the face of the earth.

The hundred and twenty years of grace had begun even before his marriage, or at least before the birth of his sons, Genesis 5:32, and the latter were now almost one hundred years old. Thus the entire congregation of believers had dwindled down to eight souls, Methuselah having died in the year of the Flood.

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Verses 7-10

The embarkation

The members of Noah’s household were thus one with him in faith and in obedience, for which reason they all, unlike Lot’s wife, were saved in the catastrophe from the waters of the Deluge, which destroyed all other men.

It was not a mere presentiment of coming danger that prompted the animals to gather about Noah, the clean and the unclean mammals, birds, and reptiles, neither was it a matter of instinct only, but it happened thus by God’s arrangement, and it was He that commanded the animals to assemble at the place where the ark stood ready for occupancy. By pairs they entered into the ark under the direction of Noah, who thus fulfilled the command of God.

Exactly according to the prediction of God, on the seventh day after His final command to Noah, the Flood came upon the earth. God’s promises, whether they concern a blessing or a punishment, can never fail of fulfilment. It is a part of true wisdom in the believers to rely implicitly in His Word.

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Verses 11-16

The flood begins

The exact fixing of the day on which the terrible punishment of God had its beginning serves to emphasize its importance for all time. It was not a small local disturbance which is here recorded, but a universal deluge, a flood which covered the entire earth. It was a miracle of God’s avenging and punitive justice. For all the fountains of the great deep were split open and broke forth: the waters beneath the earth which are otherwise locked and hidden in its depths rushed forth with impetuous force. And the windows of heaven were opened the waters which are ordinarily held back by the firmament set above by the Lord, Genesis 1:6-7, were now released to pour their masses upon the earth. At the same time a rain set in which streamed down without intermission for forty days and forty nights.

Time and again the emphasis is placed upon the exact manner in which the command of God was carried out. All the mammals of every kind, according to genera and species, had assembled, likewise the birds and the reptiles, in the interval of seven days after the Lord’s first announcement. The family of Noah had likewise been obedient to the command of God, to the last letter. The embarkation had thus been completed just as God had outlined it before the Flood began. And the Lord Himself locked the door after Noah. All the clamoring of men for admission after the beginning of the predicted catastrophe would be vain, their repentance would come too late. Let no man be deceived; the same God that brought the Deluge upon a fallen race is living to-day, and He is not mocked. To continue in trespass in the face of the plain words of the Lord is a dangerous proceeding, to say the least. We know that a punishment, even greater and more terrible than the Deluge, is coming at the end of the world. The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men, 2 Peter 3:7. Then will the fire of divine wrath burn through all eternity.

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Verses 17-24

The destruction caused by the flood

It took forty days for the Flood to reach its crest, to come to full development. During this time the ark was lifted up from the dry land where it had been built; high above the earth the vessel of deliverance rode majestically forward.

Greater, farther, and wider the expanse of the waters grew, a limitless ocean where formerly only the dry land had been seen.

The very repetition of similar expressions serves to impress upon the reader the immensity of that waste of waters which stretched out over the whole earth. Finally even the summits of the highest mountains sank beneath the flood of waters, and men and animals that may have sought safety in the mountains perished like the rest.

To think of a partial flood, of a local deluge, with this plain account before us were madness; for if the Deluge, after reaching its crest, stood on the earth for more than one hundred days and the ark did not settle on Mount Ararat until the waters subsided, then it stands to reason that it must have been a great deal higher than 16,000 feet, the height of Mount Ararat, and the fact that water seeks its own level would alone demand our belief in the universality of the Flood. Besides, the expression is very general: The mountains were covered; wherever they were on the entire surface of the earth, they were hidden by this mass of waters sent as a punishment by God.

All animate beings on earth which breathe with lungs and have the ability to move about on the dry land: reptiles, birds, mammals, men, they all had to perish in the great Flood.

As Jehovah had announced, Genesis 7:4, so He carried His threat into execution: every being that has an independent existence and maintains its life by breathing with lungs was destroyed.

In the midst of that fearful waste of waters, in which all living, animate beings of the earth found their grave, and which covered the earth for a full hundred and fifty days after reaching its highest level, only Noah and his family were saved, the water in their case serving as the means of lifting up their vessel and thus preserving their lives. The water of the Deluge, according to Scriptures, is a type of Baptism, 1 Peter 3:20-21. The water of Baptism delivers us and saves us; it washes away the filth of our sins and presents us to God as His children through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Thus there is comfort for us even in this story of death and destruction.

The end of the flood

Verses 1-5

The flood subsides

During those long days when the lowlands and finally even the uplands and the mountains sank from sight in the terrible and limitless waste of waters, Noah’s faith may often have been tried sorely as to whether he and his family would survive the general destruction. But God did not forget His servant, and in due time He gave him proof to this effect. He caused a wind to pass over the earth in order to take up the moisture of the universal ocean, and the waters no longer rose, but settled, began to subside.

God shut up the wells of the great deep and closed the windows of the firmament, so that these sources no longer yielded the limitless masses of water. At the same time the rain was hindered from falling, as it may have done intermittently even after the first forty days of deluge.

The waters literally went back from off the earth going and returning, with a steady appreciable settling, becoming definitely less at the end of one hundred and fifty days, this number including both the beginning and the end of the Flood.

The Lord so arranged matters that the ark settled down, came to a rest, on the mountain range of Ararat, in the highlands of Armenia. This was just five months, or one hundred and fifty days, after the Deluge had commenced. In this mountain range the Great Ararat rises to a height of 16,254 feet, while the Lesser Ararat is about 12,000 feet high. This landing-place of the ark is of the highest significance for the development of humanity, for Armenia lies in the middle of the old continent and approximately at an equal distance from the extremities of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Just as the first cradle of the human race had been somewhere in this neighborhood, thus this country was once more chosen by God as the starting-point for the new human family.

The subsiding of the waters was slow, but steady, until, seventy-three days after the landing of the ark, the summits of the Armenian highlands were visible from Ararat. This was about 223 days after the beginning of the Flood.

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Verses 6-12

The sending of the raven and the dove

Forty days after the summits of the highlands had become visible, Noah opened the window of the ark, that is, he took away the screen from the light-opening and let a raven fly out, his intention being to find out whether it were possible for birds to find the necessary food on the earth by this time. But this experiment was not satisfactory, since the raven went forth and returned, probably feeding on the carrion which he found and then returning for his mate, without, however, becoming an inmate of the ark again.

For his second attempt at finding out how much the waters had decreased on the earth Noah chose a bird of more domestic habits, a dove. For the dove the bleak cliffs were no acceptable roosting-places; so she returned to the shelter of the ark. Noah concluded from this that the waters were still covering the entire lowlands, so he put forth his hand for the dove to alight upon, thus causing her to return into the ark.

Noah continued to give evidence of the patience of faith by once more waiting a full week before he sent out another dove. This dove made a wide flight in search of the plains and did not return until the evening. But the token which she brought was a fair sign of deliverance soon to be expected, for in her bill she carried a leaf, or small twig, of an olive-tree, a species which is found only in the lowlands, has green leaves throughout the year, and is able to endure the action of water for a long time. Thus Noah had proof that the waters had fallen to the level of the olive-trees in the valleys.

The dove, finding both roosting-places and food in abundance, no longer felt the need of returning to the shelter of the ark. The attraction of freedom, under the circumstances, and the new life outweighed the desire to return. The great Flood was a thing of the past.

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Verses 13-19

Noah leaves the ark

Almost three hundred days had now elapsed since Noah and his family had entered the ark, and still he exercised patience, waiting for the earth to regain its solidity and the vegetation to come forth. But several weeks later, the waters of the Flood proper having dried up, Noah took off the roof, or covering, of the ark. It was now plain that the waters were no longer flowing back, and that the ground was in process of becoming dry. And still he waited fifty-seven days until the surface of the ground was fully dry and fit for human and animal habitation, the plants having meanwhile had an opportunity to mature for food.

Noah did not leave the ark by his own arbitrary will, but waited patiently until the Lord expressly gave the command, solemnly naming the individuals that were thus delivered after more than a year spent in the ark.

The animals that had been in the ark with Noah, all the birds and the mammals and the reptiles, were to be the nucleus for, the parent-stock of, a new world of animals. For that reason the Lord even intensified the blessing which He had spoken upon them after their creation, Genesis 1:22 ff. The new generation was to be propagated mightily and grow into very many as soon as possible, for the whole earth was now without living inhabitants with the exception of those saved in the ark.

Noah and his family were obedient, as usual. And as for the animals, down to the smallest reptile that had found shelter in the ark, they were undoubtedly glad to return to the life of freedom which they had enjoyed before the Flood. Thus the Lord, for the sake of Noah, did not fully destroy the earth, but intends to preserve it until He has carried out His work in His Church on earth. Nevertheless, we must not forget that the Deluge is a type and precursor of the last Judgment. When the patience and long-suffering of the Lord will finally have been exhausted, then the day of His wrath will strike the world like a thief in the night.

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Verses 20-22

The promise of God

Noah’s first act after leaving the ark of deliverance was an act of worship. He built an altar, a place of slaying the sacrificial victim, and brought a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. That is a proof of true faith, of true piety, if men wait for the help of the Lord in all patience, even when deliverance seems long in coming, and finally give all praise and thanks to God for the revelation of His goodness in sending help.

When Noah made his offering, the Lord smelled the smell of pleasure, of satisfaction, that is, He accepted the prayers and the disposition of mind which was revealed in this sacrifice in mercy. Therefore He said to Himself, to His heart, He thought within Himself, a conclusion which He afterward revealed to Noah, that He would never again bring such a judgment of total destruction upon the earth within the period which He had fixed for its existence; for the earth will not stand forever, will not last throughout eternity. A day is coming when the almighty Lord will bring upon the world His wrath and the fire of His jealousy to consume the corrupt world. Meanwhile it is His mercy and long-suffering that causes Him to abstain from smiting every living thing. For that which the human heart and mind shapes within itself, what it imagines, what it thinks, what it plans, is evil from the earliest days of youth. Since the Fall all men are naturally depraved and corrupted, inclined only to that which is evil. There is only one way of effecting deliverance from this inherited disposition toward everything that is evil, namely, through the obedience and merit of Jesus Christ the Savior. As for the earth:

That is the promise, that is the order of God, who fixes the laws of nature and, according to circumstances, changes or suspends them as He finds best. The human race, but not the great Creator, is dependent upon the order and upon the laws of nature. The consideration of the goodness and of the patience of God, therefore, should be an earnest incentive to us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

The Covenant of God with Noa & Noah’s Sin

Verses 1-7

God blesses Noah and his sons

This is a repetition and a confirmation of the blessing of creation, Genesis 1:28. As founders of the new human race, Noah and his sons received the assurance of God’s blessing for the propagation of their kind. Note that the blessing of the Lord is incidentally a command; it is His will that the human race should be propagated, that man and woman, in holy wedlock, should be fruitful and multiply. The modern criminal limiting of offspring is a blasphemous perversion of God’s order of creation.

This is an extension and a confirmation of the order of God by which man was given dominion over the animals. Before the Fall all creatures willingly placed themselves under the direction of man, as the lord of creation. But now the fear of man and the dread of man was to keep the animals and the birds and the fishes in check, because sin with its consequences has dissolved the bonds of willing subjection, man having lost his natural power over nature, and nature, in turn, being constantly on the verge of rebellion against man. God gave them under the hand of man, but man is constantly obliged to resort to force to maintain his superiority.

In the early days of the human race God had restricted man to a vegetarian diet, Genesis 1:29, but now everything that lived and moved, all animals, were included in the food which was at man’s disposal. Thus was the eating of flesh formally legalized and, at the same time, commended.

Although the eating of flesh was permitted, yet a restriction is added to the concession, namely, that excluding flesh as food while the living blood was still coursing through the veins, whether this referred to pieces cut out of the living animal or to the eating of blood. This provision was added to prevent man’s degeneration to coarse and brutal barbarism, or even savagery.

While the blood and the life of animals is in the power of man, he is strictly forbidden to shed that of his fellow-man. The blood of every person with reference to his soul (since the life is in the blood) the Lord will require at the hands of man and of every beast. Thus the life of man is here safeguarded against beasts as well as against fellow-men. The killing of every human being will be punished by the Lord, but not directly or immediately, as He had promised in the case of Cain. He that sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed. The punishment of murder is laid into the hands of the government, which shall punish the murderer by requiring his life in exchange for that which he took. This is, as Luther remarks, the first command regarding the authority of the government in the wielding of the sword. In these words the temporal government is authorized, and the authority from God to use the sword is conferred. For in the image of God made He man: murder is a violation of the image of God in man, which the Lord intends to restore in all those that are renewed in faith, and which He wants all men to put on. In a wider sense, therefore, man bears even now the image of God, since he is a rational creature and has an immortal soul.

The emphatic repetition is not without significance, especially in view of the situation as it now exists.

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Verses 8-17

The rainbow a token of the covenant

The Lord here addresses both Noah and his sons, although the latter occupied a subordinate position. He established, set up, confirmed, a covenant, by giving the promise of the covenant, of the realization of future happiness. Not only with Noah, his sons, and their descendants did God establish this league, but also with the irrational beasts, especially those that had found refuge in the ark, with all animate beings over whom He had given them dominion, whether birds, or mammals, or any other beings on the earth.

This is the resolution which God had determined upon within Himself, Genesis 8:21, which He now made known to man as His covenant: there should be no new destruction to cut off all flesh in a sudden catastrophe; the end of the earth should not be brought about through a deluge, to cause the universe to perish.

In confirmation of His words God gave to man a special token, or sign, for everlasting generations, to last as long as the earth stands. This token was to be a reminder of the covenant which the Lord now established between Himself and all living beings. It is the rainbow, God’s bow, which is the sign of His covenant. He did set it in the rain-clouds, thus establishing that law of nature which causes the refraction of the light-rays when they pass through drops of water.

In speech which is modeled strongly after that of men, and by a repetition of thought which emphasizes the bow and the covenant of God and the relation between the two again and again, the Lord impresses the significance of His act upon Noah and his sons. Whenever dark clouds do arise for a rainstorm on the earth, and whenever this beautiful phenomenon of the rainbow appears, then God has given His promise to remember His eternal covenant not to destroy all living flesh with another flood.

Whenever we see the rainbow in the clouds, we should remember the covenant of God toward all flesh, the fact that He is at peace with His creatures, so far as their outward existence is concerned. The token of God’s covenant with which He has connected His promises really guarantees His goodness and grace, possessing power and significance not only for men, but also before God. Every appearance of the rainbow should cause a prayer of thanksgiving to arise to our lips, praising the goodness and mercy of God. It may be remarked in this connection that the changing of the laws of nature indicates that the atmosphere and the climate of the earth before the Flood must have differed materially from that which now obtains, an assumption which is sustained by biological discoveries during the last centuries.

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Verses 18-23

Noah’s sin

Since Noah had no more sons after the Flood, his three sons may be said to have been the progenitors of the human race since that great catastrophe. Attention is called thus early to Canaan, the son of Ham, since he and his descendants entered into very significant relations with the chosen people of God. The entire population of the world may trace its descent from the three sons of Noah.

Noah, as a husbandman, as a tiller of the soil, now devoted himself to the cultivation of the vine: he planted a vineyard. But in making use of the product of his labors he forgot the caution which is essential in the life of every Christian. He drank of the wine, of the fermented juice of the grape, which is here mentioned for the first time, and he partook of the liquor to excess. He became intoxicated and lay in his tent in a drunken stupor, uncovered to the gaze of every passer-by. Scripture is not silent concerning the sins of the believers, but relates many of them for the purpose of warning us against the dangers of sin.

This act on the part of Ham, enjoying the shame of his father in making it a matter of scornful joking over against his brothers, showed both a lack of the proper respect toward his father and a proneness toward indecency, in short, a bold and impious disposition of mind. He had evidently forgotten the earnest piety which he had learned from his father.

Even though Noah had sinned, it was not the business of the sons to make mockery of the fact. Shem and Japheth did what filial reverence demanded of them when they covered the shame of their father without so much as looking at him. Thus they also showed the chasteness of their mind. This behavior may well serve as a lesson for our day and age, when sexual matters are always kept in the foreground, either by prurient speech and behavior or by shameless exposure of nakedness.

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Verses 24-29

The curse upon Canaan

As the intoxication wore off, Noah awoke to soberness and found out what Ham had done, probably by reason of the dress which covered him. It was doubtless with deep humiliation that he became fully aware of the rôle which he had played. But to this was added just anger at the disrespect of Ham.

The curse strikes Canaan, because he followed his father in his sinful, wicked disposition. Therefore his offspring, his whole generation, should be cursed by being servants of servants to the brothers of Ham and their descendants. The sons of Canaan in Palestine were either annihilated or became servants of the children of Israel; and his later descendants in Africa were, for many centuries, the slaves of the Japhetic peoples. It has been only through the power of the Gospel that their lot has been changed, and that they have become partakers of the glories of salvation and of the blessings which attend Christianity.

The Lord Jehovah, the true, living God, was to be the God of Shem. From the descendants of Shem the Lord chose the people to whom He entrusted His oracles, the Messianic prophecies. From the descendants of Shem, from the children of Israel, the promised Seed of the woman, Jesus Christ the Savior, was born.

The blessing of God came upon Japheth and his descendants, chiefly the European nations. They have been spread out far and wide; they have had the destinies of the world in their hands, under God. But the highest distinction of these peoples was that they partook of the blessings of Shem, that they became partakers of the one salvation, in Christ. Like a refrain the fact of Canaan’s servitude is predicted three times, showing that his curse indeed would be heavy and long-enduring.

Holy man though he was, and distinguished above all men of his time, he yet, as a sinner, was subject to death: he went the way of all flesh.

The genealogical tree of the seventy chief nations after the flood

Verses 1-5

The sons of Japheth

The sons of Japheth, who in this chronological table is named first, as the oldest, while in the other table Shem is mentioned first, as the progenitor of the children of Israel:

The descendants of these men have been identified respectively, and with some show of probability, as the Cimmerians of Asia Minor, with whom the Cymry of Wales and Brittany and the Cimbri of ancient Germany are related, as the Scythians of Southern Russia, as the Medes south of the Caspian Sea, as the Graeco-Italian family of nations, and as the Iberians, Georgians, and Armenians of Asia Minor.

The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah, whose descendants were probably the Askanians in Northern Phrygia, the Celts, or Gauls, and the major part of the Armenian nation.

The sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim, from whom the Aeolians of Greece (Thessaly), the ancient Spanish nations, the Cyprians and the Carians, and the Dardanians, or Trojans, are possibly descended.

From the Japhetites there have descended and then have separated themselves the nations along the Mediterranean Sea, each one according to its own language, according to its generations in its nations.

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Verses 6-14

The sons of Ham

Their descendants are to be found later in Ethiopia, Egypt, Libya, and the land of Canaan.

Their descendants afterward lived in Northeastern Africa, in Arabia, and along the Gulf of Persia.

One son of Cush is here singled out on account of his extraordinary ability and mighty conquests. This was Nimrod, whose feats of hunting were not only so unusual as to become proverbial among all the nations of his day, but who also established a great kingdom on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, with Babylon as its capital and other mighty cities, the ruins of which have in part been discovered. But his work was undertaken over against God, in opposition to Jehovah, in the haughtiness and pride of his own mind, a fact which also made him a tyrant toward men, as the text implies.

Out of the land of Babylon Nimrod, not satisfied with his conquests, marched forth into the land toward the north, which was afterwards known as Asshur, or Assyria. Here he built the great city of Nineveh, which consisted of four quarters, Nineveh proper, the southern section, Rehoboth, the eastern section, Calah, toward the north, and Resen, in the center. So great was this complex of cities that it was afterward described as having a circumference of four hundred and eighty stadia, or about fifty-five miles, which agrees well with the account in the book of Jonah, Genesis 3:3.

These nations were afterwards found in Egypt proper, along the Mediterranean toward the northwest and northeast as far as Philistia, and on the islands of the Mediterranean.

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Verses 15-20

The sons of Canaan

This explains the origin of the Phenicians on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, of the Hittites, whose various branches were found throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Canaan, some of them occupying the hill land of Judah in the neighborhood of Hebron, of the Jebusites, who lived in the country where Jerusalem was afterward built, of the Amorites on the mountains of Judah and far beyond the Jordan, of the Girgasites, who may have occupied the country southeast of the Sea of Galilee, of the Hivites, who lived from Gibeon to the foot of Hermon, of the Arkites, north of Sidon, of the Sinites and Zemarites, who lived well into what was later Northern Syria and Cilicia, of the Arvadites, farthest north of all these tribes, of the Hamathites, on the river Orontes. All these tribes and nations came into existence as the children of Canaan left the home of their fathers and sought their own places to live.

These are the general boundaries of the Canaanites, who later gave the children of Israel so much trouble: from Sidon in Phenicia to Gaza in Philistia, and including the country toward the west as far as the later location of the Dead Sea.

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Verses 21-32

The sons of Shem

Shem is here called the father of all the children of Eber, the Hebrews in the wider sense of the word, because Eber, through his sons Peleg and Joktan, was the progenitor of two distinct series of peoples, the Joktanites of Arabia and the Abrahamites, afterward the children of Israel.

The nations, or tribes, which descended from them were afterward found in the Persian country of Elymais, in Assyria, in Chaldea, in Lydia in Asia Minor, and in Syria, respectively.

These names, as found in various accounts, point to the fact that the tribes descending from Aram gradually moved toward the east and northeast.

The two names Salah (sending forth) and Eber (passing over) may indicate that the emigration of tribes in one large movement, as spoken of in the next chapter, took place at this time.

Eber probably took part in the great Babylonian emigration, for he named his older son Peleg (division), with reference, undoubtedly, to the division and confusion brought about in consequence of the interference of God.

Of the thirteen names in this list several have been preserved in various parts of Arabia, and so the Arabians are the Joktanites, descendants of Shem.

This is the Lord’s own genealogical table, and it has not yet been superseded. The most careful work on the part of archeologists has rather confirmed the Biblical account in every item. All the nations of men that dwell on the earth have come from one blood, Acts 17:26.

The confusion of tongues and one line of Shem’s descendants

Verses 1-4

The building of the tower

Much of the explanatory matter in the preceding chapter, as well as the mention of various languages, belongs to a later period of history, being indicated there merely for the sake of offering a complete picture. The story which is now told belongs to a period only about one hundred years after the Flood, if we may assume that it occurred at the time when Peleg was born. At that time all the people of the world still had but one speech and one language.

From the highlands of the Ararat range the survivors of the Flood and their families moved down, by degrees, in an easterly direction until they reached the great plain where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers flow. It is a rich and fertile plain, or was in those days, and the people were constrained to give up their nomadic form of living and establish permanent sites for homes.

Not only Ham and Canaan had meanwhile forsaken the religion of Noah, but other members of his family had likewise turned from the living God to the vanity and pride of their own imagination. This is indicated by the manner of their speech in proposing to build a city and a tower.

Their plans were made with care. Instead of the usual sun-dried brick they proposed to use burnt brick, which would be able to withstand the ravages of the weather so much the better. And instead of merely laying the bricks loosely, they planned to set them firmly by the use of asphalt, which is found in large quantities near the ruins of Babylon. Just what motive prompted them to undertake the building of such a city and tower whose top should reach to the sky is shown in their words: And let us make for us a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth. An arrogant, blasphemous pride was here combined with a cringing fear of the avenging justice of the Lord. They were full of enmity toward God; their purpose was to defy His almighty power and to make this city with its tower the center of the world, to which they might return even if it should happen that the Lord would scatter them into the four winds.

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Verses 5-9

The beginning of the various languages

God could not let this challenge to His almighty government of the world go unanswered. He made arrangements to interfere. For though it was a mighty city which the children of men were building, a city whose dimensions astonish the explorer even to-day, the foundations of whose tower and of the many other architectural adornments are a source of constant surprise, it was but as a grain of dust in the hands of the almighty God.

The Lord first sets forth the situation as He found it: Behold, one people they are, one connection, one association, one community, and one speech they all have. These two factors made the people strong in the pursuit of a common interest. What they had begun to do they would work for with all possible energy; and nothing would be restrained, held back, from them. The result would be the eventual destruction of true freedom, of personal life, and of the plans which God had concerning the Messiah. So God confounded their language, confused their speech, the miracle consisting in an inward process by which the old association of ideas connected with words was taken away, and new and utterly different modes of expression were immediately implanted. The confusion was so complete that the people could no longer understand one another, and all working together was excluded.

That was the consequence of the miracle. A great migration of families and tribes over the whole earth began, by which men were scattered to the four winds. The great project as planned naturally had to be abandoned. Even if some few people, whom we may now term Babylonians, remained in the city, to be conquered afterward by Nimrod, the purpose of the human race in its blasphemous pride was not realized.

Babel means confusion, and the result of the confusion of tongues is before our eyes to this day. The human race is divided, one nation separated from the other by the difference of speech. Even to-day, however, the blasphemous arrogance of mankind is apparent. In the erection of many great buildings, in the invention of many new arts, man is not seeking the welfare of his neighbor and the honor of God, but his own glory. It is necessary, time and again, for the Lord to interfere with a mighty hand, even as the day of the Lord will finally be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and he shall be brought low, Isaiah 2:12.

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Verses 10-26

The generation of Shem

The genealogical table of Shem is now repeated in detail, because the narrative gradually tends toward the story of the people of God, whose progenitor was Abraham, a descendant of Shem through Eber.

Up to this point the ancestry of the Joktanites and of the Abrahamites follows the same line.

A careful comparison of this list with the genealogical table of Genesis 5 shows a very decided shortening of the average life of man after the Flood. While Noah still reached the age of 950 years, the age of man, with Arphaxad, sank down below 500 years; this again, was reduced, with Peleg, to 239 years and with Nahor to 148 years. In the short space of eight generations, therefore, the average age of man was reduced almost to the level which it has maintained since. This was due partly to the change of climate on the surface of the earth, partly to the different mode of living.

That is, the oldest son of Terah was born when he was seventy years old, and three sons are mentioned in this instance, Abram, afterward Abraham, as the father of the Jewish race, Nahor as the grandfather of Rebekah, and Haran as the father of Lot.

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Verses 27-32

The generation of Terah

Haran may have been the oldest son, and his son Lot was nearer to Abraham’s age.

This, then, was the ancestral home of this family of the descendants of Shem.

Marriages of comparatively close relatives were still the rule at that time, for Nahor married his niece, and Abram his half-sister, Genesis 20:12.

But Sarai was barren; she had no child, a fact which was, among the Jews, considered a great calamity, almost a curse, just as the fruitfulness of the mother was considered a great blessing.

These all went forth together, or with one another, under the leadership of Terah and Abram. In the case of Abram, he had, even now, received God’s command to journey forth, Acts 7:3, while in the case of Terah the migration was a part of God’s dispensation, the first step of the journey which would bring Abram to the land of his inheritance.

This notice rounds out the story of Terah, for he evidently died after Abram had gone forth to Canaan. Thus the less important personage is disposed of before the main history proceeds. It is the story of Abraham which now follows, for it was his generation and people that the Lord chose for His own; and from the seed of Abraham, in the fulness of time, the salvation which had been promised to the patriarchs before the Flood was to come upon the whole world.

Abraham’s call; His journey to Canaan and to Egypt

Verses 1-3

God calls Abraham

Here the real story of Abram, or Abraham, begins, to which the author has led up in a very skilful manner. God gave him a command which imposed upon him a threefold renunciation. Abram was to leave his fatherland, both Haran and Ur of the Chaldees being included in Mesopotamia. He was to forsake the members of his tribe, the other Chaldaic descendants of Shem, all of them now addicted to heathenism. He was to go forth even from his father’s house, that of Terah and his family. The expressions are purposely heaped to indicate that it meant for Abram a complete severing of family ties: leaving everything behind that he had ever held near and dear but his wife, he was to journey, as a stranger, into a land which he would see by and by.

Here are promises of both temporal and spiritual blessings. To the first belongs the fact that Abram’s descendants were to be so great in number as to be a great nation. But of far greater importance are the promises that refer to spiritual gifts. For that Abram’s name should be great, that the blessing of the Lord should rest upon him, that he should be distinguished so highly among men as to receive the thankful praises and the blessings of men and be shielded against any curse, that in him should be blessed all the families and tribes of the earth, all mankind: all this does not refer to any mere outward wealth which the Lord intended to shower upon Abram. The blessing rather, as the repetitions and extensions show, Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4, indicated that Abram (or Abraham) was to be a source of everlasting spiritual gifts and blessings through his seed, through one descendant in the great and blessed nation which would call him father, namely, through the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Acts 3:25-26; Galatians 3:16. The prophecy of the Seed of the woman, which had been narrowed down in a general way in the blessing upon Shem, was here given expressly to Abram and to the nation which was to descend from him.

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Verses 4-9

Abraham’s journey to Canaan

Abram put his faith in the promise of the Lord and was obedient to His command, forsaking his fatherland, his acquaintances, and even his nearest relatives, to journey with his wife and his nephew to the new country of which the Lord had spoken.

Accustomed as they were to a nomadic life, they traveled by easy stages, until they came to Canaan, the entire journey being under God’s direction, and therefore successful, Hebrews 11:8. All their wealth in cattle and servants, which they had acquired in Mesopotamia, they brought along with them.

So the caravan of which Abram was the head evidently entered the land of Canaan from the north, through what was afterward Galilee, passing down through the country in which his descendants were later to live, until he reached Sichem, or Shechem, approximately in the center of the land. Here he pitched his tent in a grove, under a terebinth, a tree similar to an oak, which belonged to one Moreh. Cp. Deuteronomy 11:30. And the Canaanite was then in the land. So Abram could not take possession of the land at once, but was only suffered to sojourn there as a stranger, Hebrews 11:9.

Although a member of a race that had forsaken the true God, the call of the Lord had turned the heart of Abram to Him in simple faith. When, therefore, the Lord appeared to him in a vision in Sichem and assured him that the entire land would some time belong to his descendants, Abram believed the Lord and worshiped Him by the erection of an altar.

The geographical notation in many cases is that of the later age, in which the author lived, for the sake of a quicker understanding. Abram’s new encampment was in the hill country of what was afterwards Ephraim, between Ai on the west and Lus, or Bethel, on the east. Here again he inaugurated the worship of the true God by preaching and prayer, for he felt responsible for his whole household and therefore taught also his slaves and house-servants the way of salvation.

Once more he struck his tent and removed with all his possessions to the southernmost district of Canaan, where it borders upon the Arabian desert.

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Verses 10-13

Abraham dissembles in Egypt

The frequent moves of Abram which the text indicate point to a growing scarcity of food; and the famine finally became so heavy that he removed to the land of Egypt with his herds.

The Bible, for our comfort and warning, relates the weaknesses of the saints as well as their acts of faith. Although Sarai was now some sixty-five years old, she still had her youthful bloom and beauty, and, since women in Egypt at that time went unveiled, Abram feared that his wife’s beauty would tempt some powerful Egyptian to covet her for himself and, Abram as the husband being in the way, he would be disposed of by an execution. As his caravan was about to enter Egyptian territory, therefore, Abram arranged with his wife that they be known in Egypt as brother and sister. He felt that the Egyptians might take Sarai from him, but that his own life would be spared through his stratagem and that he would even be treated well for the sake of her whom the people believed to be his sister. This counsel of Abraham was the outgrowth of human weakness and doubt in the divine protection it was an indication of temporary wavering on the part of Abram, for though the declaration was not altogether false, Genesis 20:12, neither was it the whole truth.

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Verses 14-20

Abraham’s stratagem exposed

What Abram had feared came to pass, and at the same time the weakness of his scheme was exposed, for he had apparently not taken into consideration how he could keep his wife for himself and save her honor. The report of Sarai’s beauty soon spread; the Egyptian princes praised her in the presence of Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, and without much ceremony she was taken to Pharaoh’s harem.

These were the rich gifts of Pharaoh to the supposed brother of the woman whom he coveted for his wife, or one of his wives. These presents placed Abram into a peculiar predicament, for he must have felt that he was obtaining them under false pretenses, and yet he could not refuse them without exposing his scheme.

It was, literally, great blows which the Lord inflicted, and apparently of a kind as to shield the honor of Sarai. Cp. Genesis 20:4-6. In some manner also it was revealed to Pharaoh what the real situation was.

When Pharaoh summoned Abram, the reproaches which he heaped upon him were well taken, and Abram was unable to say anything in his defense. The last words of the king were spoken in great anger: Take and go!

The orders of Pharaoh were carried out in the sense in which they were given. His men saw to it that Abram and Sarai and all their possessions were safely, but surely, taken to the borders of the country. It was probably only a kind of reverential fear of the God of Abram which restrained Pharaoh from taking revenge upon Abram in a very summary way. But we see here that the Lord turns even the mistakes and weaknesses of His believers to their advantage, guarding and protecting them against the various dangers into which their own foolishness tends to plunge them. The lesson teaches us that we, as the Lord’s strangers and pilgrims here on earth, should make use of all circumspection, and constantly keep before our eyes the goal which He wants us to reach.

The peaceful settlement between Abraham and Lot

Verses 1-4

Abraham returns to Canaan

Together with Lot, who, as we learn here, had accompanied him into Egypt, Abram now returns to Canaan with all his great possessions, choosing the same route for his return which he had taken in coming down. His first stopping-place was on the great plateau in the southern part of Canaan.

This remark is here inserted in order to explain the difficulty which later arose between him and Lot.

The journey northward naturally had to be made by easy stages, for it was slow traveling with large herds that were dependent for their food upon the pasturage along the way. But the caravans finally reached the neighborhood of their earlier sojourn once more, where their encampment had been before the famine, between Bethel and Ai. It is emphasized in the story that this was the place of the altar which Abram had made at his first stay in that country. That was the important point in the history of Abram, that his experience in Egypt had taught him to turn back to the Lord with all his heart. His desire was now centered in Him who was promised as his descendant, the Messiah, who was to bring blessing and salvation to the world. Therefore Abram again instituted services with prayer and preaching; he set up the worship of Jehovah with his family. He thus confessed the true God and the hope of his heart also before the heathen. Temporal, earthly gain does not constitute the real happiness of the believers, but the fact that they possess Christ and His salvation.

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Verses 5-9

Lot chooses the plain of Sodom

Both Abram and Lot had meanwhile grown immensely wealthy, possessing flocks of sheep and goats and herds of cattle, asses, and camels, together with the necessary slaves of both sexes to take care of the herding and the work in the encampment, which must have had the appearance of a regular tent city. The result was that the land was unable to provide enough food for the two sets of herds and flocks and the households as well; it would not stand for their living together any longer.

Clashes between the herdmen of the two rich men were almost inevitable, since both parties tried to get the best pasturage for their masters. It was an uncomfortable situation, to say the least, and the matter was rendered still more complicated by the fact that the tribe of the Perizzites, of whose descent nothing is known, and the Canaanites were in possession of the best pastures, Lot and Abram being expected to divide between them what was left.

It was impossible, of course, to keep the herdsmen’s feud from the masters, and if the latter had not taken steps to remedy the situation, a feud between families might have resulted, as the words of Abraham indicate. Abram’s main argument is: “For brethren we are.” An altercation, a quarrel, between strangers may yet be understood, even if it cannot be condoned, but between close relatives, never. Although Abram was the older, and Lot’s uncle at that, he gave Lot his choice, declaring himself satisfied to take what remained. The word of Abram has thus rightly passed into a proverbial watchword of the peace-loving and yielding disposition, in all cases when a distinction and separation in the circumstances becomes necessary.

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Verses 10-13

Lot’s choice; the separation

Lot selfishly took advantage of Abram in accepting his offer. He made a careful survey and calculation, and the valley of the Jordan appealed to him, since from the Sea of Galilee down to the Vale of Siddim (later the Dead Sea) it was richly watered, like Paradise, the garden of Jehovah, or like Egypt, whose soil was so rich on account of the annual overflow of the Nile. As far as Zoar, in fact, at the far southeastern side of the valley, the land seemed to be unequaled for richness.

In spite of the fact that Lot acted so selfishly, Abram’s policy resulted in their separating peacefully, like brothers. Lot departed toward the east with his possessions and tented, that is, he journeyed by easy stages, with ever new encampments, until he reached Sodom, where he made his home, while Abram remained in Canaan proper. Lot’s choice may have given evidence of keen business ability, as well as a very selfish disposition, but it certainly was a dangerous choice.

This remark, which ascribes to the inhabitants of Sodom a wickedness in unusual measure, even in the midst of heathendom, not only prepares for the later story of the city’s fate, Genesis 19, but it also throws some light upon the character of Lot, who chose this city for his home. He may have been one with Abraham in faith till now, but apparently avarice had taken hold of his heart, causing him to disregard the great moral dangers of a notoriously wicked city for his children, only for the sake of greater gain. From this time forth the worldly thoughts and inclinations strove in his heart with his faith and reverence for the true God.

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Verses 14-18

God repeats His promise

The separation of Lot from Abram was, in a way, prophetical of the relation which would afterwards obtain between his descendants and those of Abram. And just at this time the Lord repeated His promise to Abram, bidding him look from the place where he then was, almost in the center of Canaan, in every direction, since this entire country was to be the possession of his descendants. Thus Abram, in spirit at least, if not in fact, was to claim the land of Canaan for his posterity.

The double promise, that of possessing the land and that of having such an innumerable offspring, was, of course, addressed to Abram’s faith and had to be accepted by him in faith, Hebrews 11:9-10.

This refers to an ancient custom according to which a person signified his claim to a piece of ground by walking around it. Though Abram did not possess so much as one foot of land, yet God’s promise stood that his descendants should occupy the entire country as their own. All this has a wider significance. For, as one commentator has it, through Christ the promise is elevated out of its temporal form to the dignity of substance; through Him the whole world becomes a Canaan. To the numberless seed of Abram belong all men from all generations of the earth that hold the faith of Abram, or Abraham. Abraham is the father of us all, Romans 4:16. We that believe the promise concerning Christ belong to that great people of believers which has existed since the time of Adam and has its representatives in all nations of the earth.

Abram was obedient to the Lord’s word; he journeyed through the land in the course of the next years. He tented by easy stages until he finally made his home at Hebron, about in the center of the southern part of Canaan. There he lived in the grove of terebinths that belonged to the Amorite Mamre, Genesis 14:13-24. One of his first acts here again was the erection of an altar to the Lord. He could not be without his regular worship, and he and his household met regularly for the service of Jehovah. It would undoubtedly result in much blessing if believers that settle in a new district or city would make the establishment of regular services of worship their first consideration.

The war of the kings and the rescue of Lot

Verses 1-7

The rebellion of the valley kings

Those were the days of the city-states, just before the rise of the great Eastern nations. According to contemporary documents, Amraphel of Shinar is to be identified with Ammu-rabi, or Khammurabi, king of Sumer, who shortly afterward founded the early Babylonian empire; Arioch of Ellasar was probably Eri-Aku, king of Larsa, a south Babylonian city-state; Chedorlaomer was Kudur-Lagamor, a near successor of Simti-Shilkhak, mentioned in ancient records of Elam, or Elymais; and Tidal, king of Goiim, or nations, was Tudhkhulu, king of Gutium, in the southwestern part of what was afterward Amraphel’s territory. These four kings had formed a confederacy for the purpose of extending their power and to that end waged war with the five kings of the vale of Siddim, in the southeastern part of Canaan, where their city-states also formed a confederacy.

At the time when this history was written, the vale of Siddim was no longer in existence, its former fruitful fields being covered by the waters of the Dead Sea. Cp. Genesis 19:24-25.

Chedorlaomer at that time was the head of the northern confederacy, and therefore the rebellion of the southern kings and their refusal to pay tribute is represented as being directed against him.

It was a campaign of revenge and conquest which the kings of the northern, or Babylonian, confederacy undertook under the leadership of Chedorlaomer. Coming down with their armies, they took their way over Damascus and then turned south through the country east of the Jordan. They first gained a decisive victory over the Rephaim, a tribe of giants then living in the highlands of Bashan, their capital being Ashteroth Karnaim, “the two-horned Ashteroth.” They next conquered the Zuzim, also a race of giants, occupying the eastern tableland, south of Bashan and Gilead. Continuing southward, the Babylonian armies overthrew the armies of the Emim, “the terrible ones,” whose capital was Shaveh Kiriathaim, “the dale of the two cities.” The last country to yield to the conquerors was that of the Horim, a race of cave-dwellers south of what was afterward the Dead Sea. Chedorlaomer now turned back toward the west and north, invaded the country afterward occupied by the Amalekites, with the capital Kadesh Barnea, and that of the Amorites, who lived just east of the Sea of the Plain, afterward the Dead Sea. Both nations were conquered by the armies of the northern confederacy. It was the first of a long series of campaigns of conquest that were conducted by the ancient empires of the Euphrates Valley.

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Verses 8-12

The capture of Lot

Flushed with their recent conquests, by which they had eliminated all the possible confederates of the southern confederacy, the kings of the north poured their victorious hordes into the vale of Siddim, near the beautiful Sea of the Plain.

This was the outcome of the battle: the five southern kings were routed by the armies of the north and sought to save their lives. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were familiar with the country and fell into one of the asphalt-pits which abounded in the neighborhood, that is, they quickly hid themselves there, while their allies fled to the secluded canyons of what was afterward the country of Moab, where the many hiding-places prevented their being found by the enemy.

Even in those days the spoils belonged to the victors; they plundered the cities of the conquered armies, down to the last remnant of food, and then marched on.

Thus Lot was obliged to suffer with the godless people among whom he lived, whose city he had chosen for his home. This was to prove an excellent chastisement and correction for him.

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Verses 13-16

Abraham’s march and victory

Abram, living at some distance from the scene of all these happenings, was not aware of the straits into which Lot had fallen, until a fugitive from the battle brought him the news. He was known as the Hebrew, the immigrant from the other side of the Euphrates, and he was still living in the grove of terebinths which belonged to Mamre, the Amorite.

By the time Abram received the news, the enemies had gotten a long start on their way to their home country. But he acted with commendable speed and energy, for it was his brother, his near relative, whose life was in danger. He immediately assembled the slaves that had been born in his house and had been trained in the use of arms, and literally poured them forth in pursuit of the Babylonian armies, in proper battle array. There were three hundred and eighteen of these servants, besides the men of Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, that went with Abram to the extreme northern boundary of Gilead, in Perea, where the city of Dan was afterward situated.

By making use of strategy and with the help of Almighty God, before whom mere numbers are not the deciding factor, Abram was able to put the Babylonian armies to rout and even to pursue them northward from Damascus (literally, on the left hand, as one faces the east), to a little village now known as Hoba.

The whole spoil of the enemy was thus taken from them by Abram’s little army, who thereby, in magnanimous love, rewarded Lot good for evil. Thus true faith produces holy courage and is able to face and to overcome all dangers, if the work in which a believer is engaged is one which meets with the approval of God.

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Verses 17-24

Abraham’s return

The news of Abram’s victory preceded him, for, with all the spoil and the women, he was unable to travel so rapidly as he had hurried in pursuit. The king of Sodom, who had saved his life by his self-possession, went forth to meet the returning victors at a place situated probably on the Kidron, which from that time bore the name “King’s Dale,” 2 Samuel 18:18.

Of this Melchizedek, king of Salem, probably Jerusalem, nothing more is known. Cp. Hebrews 7:3. He seems to have been one of those that clung to the worship of the true God after the majority of the people had plunged into the depths of heathendom; to this God he was a priest. He now showed his appreciation and gratitude toward Abram and his little army by bringing forth bread and wine to refresh and strengthen the weary soldiers.

So Melchizedek transmitted to Abram the blessing of God, of the Most Exalted One, of the Founder and Owner of heaven and earth. And, in turn, he praised the Lord, the Exalted One, to whom the victory of Abram must be ascribed. It was a prayer for prosperity and blessing, in beautiful, poetical form. Melchizedek is a type of Christ, the great High Priest of the New Testament, Psalm 110:4, and the entire 7th chapter of Hebrews is really a commentary on this passage. Abram acknowledged Melchizedek as a priest by giving him tithes of all, Hebrews 7:4. This was the more important transaction at the meeting.

His intention was to repay Abram for the work which he performed in delivering the captive Sodomites, especially the women and children, from the hands of the enemy. He asked only for the souls, the people whom Abram had brought back, proposing that Abram keep the spoil that had originally belonged to the men of Sodom, in return for his victory.

It is a kind, but solemn and emphatic refusal. With a confession in the true God, in whose name he swears, Abram declares that the men belonging to his allies may take advantage of the offer and claim their share of the spoils, and he would be willing to accept what his servants had consumed in food during their campaign; but as for himself, not even a thread or a sandal-strap would he accept from the king of Sodom, lest the latter might afterward boast that Abram owed his riches to him. Abram wanted to be under no obligations to the heathen king. Even so the believers to-day are encouraged to do good also to the unbelievers; but beyond that they should not go, lest their Christianity be endangered.

The blessing upon Abraham renewed

Verses 1-6

God’s promise to Abraham

After these happenings, after Abram had returned to his home at Hebron, the Lord spoke to him in a vision, while Abram was in a state of ecstasy, under the influence of God. Solemnly Jehovah reassures His servant in the face of the many dangers that surround him, in view, also, of the fact that he is still without a child: Do not fear; I am to thee a Shield, thy very great Reward. The Lord promised to defend him in all conflicts and so to bless him as to be his Reward Himself.

The promise which the Lord had given him, Genesis 12:2, seemed a thing of the far-distant past, and Abram’s faith was sorely tried. Time was going on from day to day, from year to year, and still he was childless, without offspring, forsaken. There seemed to be but one conclusion possible, namely, that one of his house-slaves, his steward, Eliezer of Damascus, would be his heir. That is implied in the unfinished sentence, and the repetition of the same thought emphasizes the feeling of desolation which was stealing over the heart of Abram.

Not merely a member of the household of Abram, but his own natural son should be the heir of his goods, which implies that he should also be the heir of the Messianic prophecy.

God’s patience has a wonderful sustaining and strengthening power. In order to impress upon His servant the exact meaning of His promise, the Lord brought him outside and had him look closely at the starry heavens, whether he felt able to count the stars. So great, in brief, would be the number of his descendants. This promise, in the last analysis, is Messianic. Through the one Seed, Christ, all nations on earth were to be blessed, and all men of all nations that have accepted the only salvation, that in Jesus Christ, are the descendants of Abraham in truth; they are the people of God, the spiritual Israel, Romans 4:18.

Cp. Romans 4:5. Abram placed his trust in the promise of the Lord with all it implied, and therefore the Lord accepted him into the covenant of His grace. That is the way of salvation for all sinners, the way of obtaining that true righteousness by which we are justified before God. Christ has earned blessing, salvation, righteousness for all men, and all that accept this promise in faith have these wonderful gifts, are pure, holy, and righteous before God, because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to them.

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Verses 7-12

The covenant sacrifice

In preparing to give Abram a special sign of the covenant’s consummation and to assure him of the fact that his descendants would be the possessors of the land of Canaan, the Lord introduces Himself as He whose conduct in the past is a guarantee of His faithfulness in the future.

This was not a question of doubt, but of a desire for some assurance in the case of this promise which transcended all human understanding. He was asking for a covenant sign.

All of these were sacrificial animals, which, although they were not burned as sacrifices to Jehovah, yet were to be consecrated to Him, Leviticus 1:2-14.

At the direction of God, Abram prepared the sacrificial animals, the heifer, the ram, and the goat being cut in half lengthwise and the several pieces laid over against one another, by pairs, while the birds were not divided. The entire proceeding filled Abram with the deepest awe. When the birds of prey, eagles and vultures, came down to feed on the carcasses, Abram turned them away, drove them off. The ceremonial which was here enacted was that in use from ancient times, the contracting parties passing between the halves of the dead animals to indicate their reconciliation to a unity. The culmination of the strange scene came when, as the sun was setting, Abram was overcome by a deep sleep and a great horror fell upon him.

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Verses 13-21

The founding of the covenant

The Lord Himself gives the explanation of some of the symbolical acts connected with the establishing of the covenant between Him and Abram. The latter should know for sure that his descendants would be strangers in a strange land for a matter of four hundred years, until the Lord Himself would execute judgment in their behalf and bring them out of the house of bondage, not empty, but with considerable property.

Abram himself would not be obliged to share in the afflictions which would come upon his children, but would die in peace, at an advanced age.

The generations at that time were still reckoned at approximately one hundred years, and so four generations would represent, in round numbers, four hundred years. By that time the iniquity of the Amorites, here named as the representatives of all the Canaanites, would be fulfilled, and their annihilation by the children of Israel would come upon them as the judgment of the Lord.

These happenings completed the symbolical events connected with the founding of the covenant between the Lord and Abram. A smoking furnace, like that used in potteries, and a torch, or cresset, passed between the halves of the animals, symbols of the glory of the Lord in fire. The animals thus are a type of the descendants of Abraham, of the children of Israel, as they were tortured almost unto death, especially by the Egyptians. The birds of prey are pictures of these enemies of Israel. That these vultures were driven away indicates that the Lord would deliver His people for the sake of the promise made to Abram. The great darkness and the horror pointed to the severity of the miseries and tribulations which would strike the Israelites. But that finally the glory of the Lord passed between the halves of the animals showed that God would at the last bring help to His people and deliver them from the hands of all their enemies.

These two rivers would be the southern and northern boundary lines of the kingdom of Israel respectively, the brook of Egypt, the Wady el Arisch, or Rhinocolura, and the Euphrates:

The Kenites, in the southeastern part of Canaan, and the Kenizzites, probably west of them, and the Kadmonites, toward the Euphrates.

The Hittites, especially numerous in what was afterward Northern Galilee, and the Perizzites, in what was later Eastern Samaria, and the Rephaims, in the Perean country east of the Jordan.

The Amorites, in the region west of the Dead Sea, and the Canaanites, in the upper valley of the Jordan and in the plain of Sharon, and the Girgashites, west of the Sea of Galilee, and the Jebusites, in what was later Northern Judea. The Lord purposely enumerates peoples living in every part of Canaan, in order to impress upon Abram the completeness of the possession which his descendants would enjoy. His promises never return to Him void, and He has a way of overcoming our weak faith by the perfection of His fulfilment, beyond all that we ask or understand.

The flight of Hagar and the birth of Ishmael

Verses 1-3

Hagar given to Abraham

The fact of Sarai’s barrenness had been mentioned at the time of their coming to Canaan, Genesis 11:30. It is repeated here for the sake of the emphasis upon the miracle which the Lord wrought in her case. Ten years had now passed by, and yet, in spite of the promise, Genesis 15:4, Sarai remained without a child. She therefore became impatient and suggested to Abram that, since the Lord hindered her from bearing, denied her offspring, her Egyptian slave Hagar might be the one through whom she was to have children, that her family might be built up through the slave. According to the custom of the Orient the children of slaves belonged to the master and mistress, Exodus 21:4; 1 Chronicles 2:35.

Although Abram also should have shown more faith and patience, he consented to the plan of his wife, not for fleshly reasons, but with the earnest desire for offspring, for that seed which was to be as the stars of the heaven in number.

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Verses 4-6

Hagar’s pride and flight

The plan of Sarai to which Abram had consented was decidedly human and did not have the divine approval. Hagar having conceived, her mistress was looked down upon in her eyes. The Jews, like the Orientals in general, regarded barrenness as a great evil and a divine punishment, Leviticus 20:20, and fruitfulness as a great good and a divine blessing, Exodus 23:26; Deuteronomy 7:14. Still, the attitude of Hagar was a presumption, since she was not Abram’s second wife, but retained her subordinate position throughout.

This outburst on the part of Sarai was altogether unjustified; what she was suffering came upon her in consequence of her interference with God’s plans. Yet she wanted the wrong and injury which had been heaped upon her to be blamed upon her husband, and even called upon Jehovah to be the judge between them. Sarai’s outburst of temper was probably due to the very indifference which Abram showed with regard to the slave woman, for she wanted him to have seen and rebuked the latter’s insolence, whereas he held that the relations in the household had in no way been altered by the consequence of Sarai’s plan.

This was not evading the responsibility, but insisting upon its remaining where it had been during the entire incident: Hagar was still the slave of Sarai, who might use force in making her conscious of her subordinate position.

The mistress took measures to make the slave woman feel her power, probably by demanding that the latter perform the most menial services in the household, whereas Hagar seems to have occupied a position of some importance before. The proud spirit of the slave refusing to yield to such treatment, she fled from Hebron, willing rather to brave the wilderness than to submit to Sarai’s harsh treatment. Thus the sins and weaknesses of the saints are openly narrated in Scriptures, the story forming a mirror in which we may see our own hearts.

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Verses 7-16

The return of Hagar and the birth of Ishmael

The providence of the Lord was watching over this erring child. The great Angel of the Lord, the Son of God as He often appeared in the Old Testament, went out and found her by a spring of water near Shur, on the way to Egypt, her old home.

From the entire story it is apparent that the angel speaking with Hagar is not an ordinary, created angel, but the Son of God, who even in the Old Testament was near His people and proved a very effective help to the patriarchs of Israel. Upon His calling Hagar by name and demanding an account of her coming and going, the slave gave a truthful answer. She herself was probably a believer in the true God, as a member of Abram’s home congregation.

The Lord having brought Hagar to a sense of her real position in the house of Abram, namely, that she was Sarai’s maid, not Abram’s wife, now bids her return to her duty, to humble herself under her mistress’s hand.

First the call to duty, then the gracious promise, one which was especially welcome to the Oriental mother, and ought to be to the mothers of all time.

Because the fruit of her body was the seed of Abram, Hagar was to return to her mistress, and for the sake of his father the promise of innumerable progeny is given. The very name of her son is given her, namely, Ishmael, “God hears,” because the Lord had heeded the cry of her misery and distress. This son should, moreover, unlike his mother, be free from the oppression of men, as free as the wild ass of the deserts, wild-roving and untamable; and his descendants would be characterized by the ceaseless feuds between themselves and with their neighbors, as they dwelt in the presence of their brethren, of the children of Israel, to whom they were a constant menace and challenge. To this day the Ishmaelites are in unimpaired, free possession of the great peninsula lying between the Euphrates, the Isthmus of Suez, and the Red Sea, whence they have spread over wide districts in North Africa and Southern Asia.

Hagar realized that it was no ordinary angel that had spoken with her, as her confession shows, for she calls Him: Thou art a God that sees me; for His all-seeing eye had not overlooked the helpless and forsaken, even in that remote corner of the desert. She had experienced the goodness and mercy of the Lord; she had had the privilege of seeing and speaking with Him that had looked after her and protected her. The incident even gave a name to the spring in the desert, since it was afterward known as “the well of Him that lives and sees me.” It is located in the wilderness, south of Beersheba.

To the son which Hagar bore after her return to his house, Abram, then eighty-six years old, gave the name Ishmael, the mother undoubtedly having given him an account of the occurrence in the desert which caused her to return. Thus the places and the times which remind us of special acts of God’s goodness and mercy are written in the memories of the believers, and ever and again cause them to break forth in prayers of thankfulness.

The confirmation of God’s covenant

Verses 1-8

The promise renewed

Twenty-four years Abram had now been a stranger in Canaan, thirteen years had elapsed since the birth of Ishmael, and still the patience of Abram and Sarai was sorely tried, still no child came to gladden their hearts. But the Lord now appeared to Abram once more, calling Himself the almighty God, and bidding His servant walk before Him, lead his entire life so as to be without reproach. Every one that is justified by faith will so conduct himself in his entire life and actions as to give all honor to God and to place all trust in Him, even if He should delay in the fulfilment of some promise.

The promise of an innumerable progeny, as based upon the covenant of God, is here repeated and intensified, particular stress being placed upon the exceedingly great number of descendants.

And Abram fell on his face, in the humility of his faith and of overpowering joy.

The covenant was not here established, for it was already in power, but it was now to be realized, the Lord on His part decreeing that Abram was to be the father of a multitude of nations. The almighty Lord always fulfills in due time what He promises to His children.

Thus Abraham is again shown the great nation which through his Seed, the Messiah, was to be gathered out of all nations, the great congregation of all the believers, Romans 4:17. In token of this double promise God changed the name of Abram, “exalted father,” to Abraham, “father of a mass, noise, tumult of nations,” Himself explaining that He had set him to be the father of a multitude of nations.

Tribes and people, exalted, mighty, and rich kings were among the descendants of Abraham; and the promise is again so wide and all-encompassing that it must be taken to include especially the spiritual blessings assured to those who are the descendants of Abraham in faith.

Here also the fact that God, in the realization of the covenant, will be an everlasting Source and Fountainhead of goodness and mercy to the real offspring of Abraham, is emphasized.

The continual repetition of the emphasis upon the everlasting covenant and the everlasting possession shows that the covenant and the promised inheritance included the spiritual seed, the sum total of those that would accept God with the faith of Abraham, and also the heavenly Canaan, with all the blessings assured to us by the merits of Christ, in whom alone God is our God.

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Verses 9-14

Circumcision instituted

The promise of goodness and mercy on the part of God imposes an obligation on man to keep the provisions of His covenant.

So circumcision, the operation by which the foreskin of the flesh is removed, is not a mere hygienic measure, but a religious rite, a part of God’s covenant, a sacrament of His mercy.

Thus circumcision was a sacrament, a means of grace, in the Old Testament, a rite through which the Lord transmitted the blessings of His covenant to the children of Abraham. Its provisions were simple, the act itself being plainly indicated, the purpose being the sign of the covenant, the time being eight days, or the eighth day after birth, the extent making it include not only male children, but also slaves, both those born in the master’s home and those bought elsewhere, and the inviolability of the act being such as to cause every male that had not submitted to this provision of the covenant to be cut off by an act of divine judgment or by an early death. The significance of the sacrament consisted in this, that the descendants of Abraham were to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts, be a holy people unto the Lord, Deuteronomy 10:16. But above all, circumcision was the seal of the righteousness of faith, Romans 4:11, and a type of Holy Baptism, the corresponding sacrament of the New Testament. Through the water of Baptism, as an external sign, the righteousness of God, the forgiveness of sins, is sealed unto us.

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Verses 15-22

A child promised to Sarah

This change of names is significant, for the wife of Abraham, heretofore known as Sarai, “the princely,” “heroine,” was hereafter to be called Sarah, “princess,” as the ancestress of princes and kings. Thus the promise of God narrowed down, first from a member of Abraham’s household to a son of his own body, and now to his own son by Sarah, his wife, not by some slave woman.

The emphasis is expressly laid upon the fact that the happy event of the birth of a son to Sarah is a result of the blessing of God. For whereas this is true in the case of every wife, it was particularly true in the case of Sarah, upon whom the Lord had laid the cross of barrenness.

The marvel of such a promise in the circumstances as Abraham knew them, himself a man of a hundred years and Sarah ninety years old, and yet they should become parents,—this filled him with such awe that he sank to the ground, and with such joy that he was constrained to laugh. He was filled with adoration and praise of the power and mercy of God.

This was not spoken in the fear that the Lord would now cause Ishmael to die, but as a prayer that Ishmael might have part in the blessings of the covenant.

The Lord emphasizes that the son of Sarah should be the bearer of the covenant, he whom Abraham should name Isaac (he that laughs); he was to transmit the Messianic promise to his children after him, a promise which would not concern their temporal welfare so much as their spiritual blessings, and would therefore be of interest also to the spiritual descendants of Isaac.

Ishmael had been begotten after the flesh, and could therefore not be the bearer of the promise, Galatians 4:30. He was to be blessed most richly with blessings of this life: twelve princes were to be his descendants, and the number of his offspring would be exceedingly great.

God had, even now, appointed the time when Isaac should be born. And this child of promise should be the bearer of the Messianic promise. For since it stands to reason and clearly follows from the Scriptural account that Abraham taught all his children the fear of the true God, we must conclude that the special progeny of Abraham and Isaac to which the Lord here refers must be the sum total of that spiritual offspring, all men who by the faith of Abraham become the children of Abraham, Romans 4:11-17.

After God had given all the necessary commands to Abraham, the vision came to a close.

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Verses 23-27

Abraham’s obedience

The prompt and literal obedience which Abraham rendered is an evidence of his faith; for that very day he performed the rite of circumcision upon Ishmael and upon all his men, whether born while in his possession or bought with his money, and upon himself.

Thus was the first congregation under the Old Testament covenant organized.

The visit of the Lord to Abraham

Verses 1-8

Abraham welcomes the Lord and the angels

The Amorite, at Hebron. This was the sixth visit, or appearance, of the Lord to His servant.

It was not a case of a slow approach, but of a sudden appearance. A moment before no one had been in sight, and now three men stood by him, looming over him as he reclined on his chair or couch.

As the strangers were still a few steps away, Abraham, with true Oriental hospitality, ran forward to meet them, and since he recognized in one of them the Lord, he bowed down before them in worshipful homage. Two of the visitors were angels, Genesis 19:1; the third was the Lord Himself, Hebrews 13:2, the Angel of the Lord in the peculiar sense of the word, as it is applied to the Son of God in the Old Testament.

The entire invitation of Abraham shows that this was not a case of ordinary hospitality to passing strangers, but a work of love performed for the Lord. He wanted the favor of the Lord, of which he was sure by reason of the covenant, to abide with him; hence the urgency of the prayer. There is nothing lacking in the cordial nature of the invitation: Let a little water be taken, and wash your feet. The sandals of the travelers having been removed, the house-slaves provided the water for washing off the dust. Under the tree they were then to recline, resting upon their arms as supports, while Abraham hurried to have dinner prepared, the principal meal being eaten at noon, 1 Kings 20:16. He spoke in a deprecating way of the small meal which he was able to offer them: a bit of bread. Yet he hoped that what he had to offer would be sufficient to refresh their hearts before continuing their journey. Thus the assurance that their entertainment would cause neither trouble nor expenditure was intended to remove any hesitation about accepting his hospitality.

They did not want him to go to any trouble; they accepted only with the condition that he would serve but a simple repast.

With three seahs, about three pecks, or thirty liters, of the finest flour Sarah was quickly to bake round, unleavened cakes on the hot stones of the hearth.

Abraham personally selected a young and tender calf from the corral and entrusted it to one of the house-boys, who was to see to its preparation.

Although the meal was simple, it was plentiful. Abraham himself did not sit down with his guests, but stood in order to wait upon them and carry out their slightest wish. The eating of physical food on the part of the heavenly beings was a true partaking of the meal, something like that of the resurrected Christ, Luke 24:41 ff.; but it remains a miracle to our comprehension. The entire incident pointed forward to the time when the Son of God visited His people, lived among them, and, above all, let them see His kindness and His love.

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Verses 9-10

The specific promise of Isaac’s birth

The Lord Himself, as the spokesman, opened the conversation by inquiring after Sarah. Abraham, without the hesitation which the modern perverted life might cause him to feel, could answer that she was inside the tent. Then the Lord announced to him his visit at the same time in the next year, stating that Sarah would then have a son.

They were both beyond the usual age when procreation was normally possible.

After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, as the result of the return to youthful vigor, my lord, my husband, who is the head of the household, being old also? That was not the joyful laughter of faith, as in the case of Abraham, but a sneer of incredulity, of doubt.

Sarah had supposed herself unnoticed, since she was behind the curtain of the tent, and her laughing had been in her heart only. But the omniscient Lord knew her thoughts and reproved her doubts.

The Lord, the almighty God, is nevertheless also the merciful God, for He did not withdraw His promise to visit Abraham and Sarah in the gift of the son whom they had long waited for; there was nothing too difficult for Him to perform.

In her chagrin at being discovered, Sarah hastily denied the charge, but the Lord added a second reproof, convicting her of her falsehood. As the following events showed, Sarah accepted the reproof and turned to the Lord in true faith, for through faith she received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child, Hebrews 11:11. Even now the Word of God reproves the sins and weaknesses of the believers, especially their lack of trusting faith. And we should at all times receive His reprimands with all humility.

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Verses 16-22

The Lord reveals His plan regarding Sodom

The rising of the Lord and His two companions and their looking over into the direction of Sodom was a signal to Abraham that their mission in his house had been accomplished, and so he, as a thoughtful host, accompanied them for some distance.

These words of the Lord were apparently addressed to the angels. The question was whether He should let Abraham know at once that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was an act of His avenging justice. He had destined Abraham to be not only the father of a great and mighty nation, the children of Israel, but also the spiritual father of the true Israel of all times. Besides, Abraham not only led a life conforming to the will of the Lord for himself, but the Lord also knew, in prevenient love, and had chosen him for that purpose, that he would teach his children and all his progeny carefully to keep the way of Jehovah, of true piety, to exercise righteousness and judgment, and the Lord could thus fulfil all His promises upon them. Thus the destruction of Sodom and the surrounding country should be before the eyes of the children of Israel always as a monument of God’s avenging justice, as an example of the end of the wicked. In revealing to Abraham the reason for the destruction of the wicked cities, the Lord wanted Abraham to see the justice of the punishment, which no intercession could hope to turn aside.

The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were of a nature to cry to heaven for revenge and punishment: “The cry about Sodom and Gomorrah — yea, it is great; and their sin — truly it is very heavy!” The Lord’s purpose, therefore, was to convince Himself whether the inhabitants of these cities, according to the cry that had come to Him, had reached the limit of wickedness or not. It was a case of mercy’s meeting together with righteousness.

As the two angels continued their journey toward Sodom alone, Abraham stood before the Lord, his bold attitude signifying that he had an important matter to communicate. As the friend of God, a designation which is shared by all believers, James 2:23, he dared to enter a bold plea in behalf of such children of God as might possibly be found in the doomed cities.

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Verses 23-33

Abraham’s intercession

It was a holy boldness which Abraham here displayed, both in drawing near to the Lord until he stood face to face with Him, and in speaking as he did: Surely Thou wilt not sweep off the righteous with the godless!

The form of the petition is almost presumptuous, but it is the presumption of faith. It is not Abraham’s personal interest in his nephew Lot that prompts him to such boldness, but the belief in the righteousness of God, who surely would not permit the righteous to be slain with the wicked.

This assurance of the Lord encourages Abraham to continue his pleading, although in a lowly, humble form.

This is a glorious example for the believers of all times, for they also are dust as to their origin and ashes as to their end, and yet, as children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, they may freely and boldly speak to their heavenly Father and implore Him with the greatest daring.

The entire prayer is a splendid example of the importunity of the believer’s prayer. Cp. Luke 11:8. That is the chief content of the true intercessory pleading, namely, to ask the Lord for mercy, for forgiveness. Such prayer is well-pleasing to the Lord; for its sake He still preserves the sinful world, giving to the unbelievers time for repentance. The lesson of true prayer cannot be learned too well.

The Lord had patiently and gladly listened to the intercession of Abraham, and it was for his sake that He arranged for the escape of Lot. But so far as the cities were concerned, the measure of their sins was full, their punishment was bound to come. And so the Lord made arrangements to carry out His intention, while Abraham returned to his home near Hebron.

The Destruction of Sodom

Verses 1-3

The arrival of the angels

The two angels, having left Hebron about noon, reached the city of Sodom about sundown. Lot was sitting in the gate, within the arched entrance to the city, where deep recesses on either side furnished seats, and where commercial and political business was transacted. With true Oriental hospitality, Lot arose to meet the approaching travelers, bowing himself down to the ground in token of the fact that they might consider him their servant in the matter of finding them a place of lodging.

In all sincerity, Lot would have accounted it an honor to have the travelers turn aside and enter his house. They were welcome to make use of the comforts of his home, and he would not detain them on the morrow.

Having come to the city for the purpose of investigating conditions thoroughly, the angels would have preferred to remain in the open, wide space just inside the entrance of the city.

Lot did his duty as Oriental host. His invitation becoming so very urgent, the angels consented to remain in his house overnight, where he personally superintended their entertainment. This is one of the instances to which the writer to the Hebrews has reference when he writes: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Hebrews 13:2.

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Verses 4-11

The evil intention of the Sodomites

The evening meal having been eaten, the people of Lot’s household, together with their guests, were about to retire for the night, when they were rudely disturbed. Emphasis is laid upon the fact that all the people, even down to the last man, took part in this shameless demand, openly stating that they wanted to abuse the guests of Lot in a violation of nature which was one of the greatest curses of heathenism, the sin of pederasty. All the men of Sodom were guilty of this lustful abomination, of this demonic error. Cp. Romans 1:27.

This was the consequence of Lot’s having settled in the midst of a godless and wicked people. Lot, having gone out and locked the door behind him in order to protect his guests, confronted a mob that had gone crazy with unnatural lust. His plea, in which he addressed them as brethren and begged them not to act in such a wicked manner, fell on deaf ears.

So sacred were the persons and the lives of his guests in the eyes of Lot that he was willing to set aside even his fatherly feeling and duty and to sacrifice his daughters to the lust of the brutes out in the street, if the latter would but be satisfied. As for the guests, he reminds the mob of the duty of hospitality; for it was in order to be sheltered against danger and wickedness that they had entered his house. To try to hinder a sin by committing sin can never be excused, and the fact of Lot’s offer may be accounted for only by the fact of his extreme consternation.

That is, stand aside, make room for us to enter.

Their coarse objection is that this single man, the one that had come and was living as a stranger among them with their permission, now was passing a verdict upon their behavior, as he had undoubtedly done often before, 2 Peter 2:7-8. Crazed with lust, they now pressed forward to kill Lot and then to carry out their intention upon his guests.

It was a moment of the greatest danger.

The angels interfered when the danger was at its height. With a quick movement they drew Lot into the house and locked the door. And the members of the crazed mob were stricken with blindness; they were deprived of their sight and, at the same time, confused in their minds. Although they continued their efforts to find the door which led through the arched entrance into the interior of the house, they were unable to do so, and finally grew tired and desisted. This incident proved to the angels that all the inhabitants of Sodom were steeped in the vices which cried to heaven, for Sodomitic lewdness cries to heaven, as the sinners of our days will also find out to their eternal sorrow. And let us not forget that there is a sin which is even worse than that of the Sodomites, namely, that of rejecting Christ, His Word, and His grace, Matthew 11:24.

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Verses 12-22

The rescue of Lot

In their capacity of protecting servants to the children of God, the angels now bid Lot bring any relatives that he may have in the city out as quickly as possible, in case there should be a son-in-law, and then any sons and daughters. This order they substantiate with a definite reference to the destruction of the city which they had been given charge of.

The two daughters of Lot were still living in his house, but they were engaged to be married, their husbands-to-be being designated as Lot’s sons-in-law, since before the Lord a valid betrothal is equal to a marriage, so far as its obligation is concerned. Lot urged these two men to flee out of the city, since the Lord was about to destroy it.

They laughed at him for his foolish fears, since they, in their fleshly security, did not believe that the judgment of God was near. Cp. Luke 17:28-29.

The new day dawned, and Lot was still busy with his affairs or felt loath to leave the associations of the city where he had his wealth. But the angels urged him to arouse himself and to lead forth the relatives who were present with him in the house, as there was no time to lose. Lot showed the weakness of the flesh which finds its delight in the things of this world.

Lot was preserved in the general destruction almost by force, since the angels, by virtue of the fact that God intended to spare him in mercy, took hold of him, of his wife, and of his two daughters and drew them out of the city.

The angels, having attended to their duty of bringing the fugitives forth out of the city, left them for other work, and the Lord took charge of their flight by bidding them escape to the mountains in the east, later those of Moab. Leave the valley, look straight ahead of you, hide in the mountains, — those were the orders of the Lord.

Whether the Lord had again joined the angels after Lot had left Sodom, or whether Lot spoke these words to the angels as Jehovah’s representatives before they turned back to their gruesome work, is immaterial. But his prayer shows that fear, confusion, terror had reduced him to a state of gibbering helplessness, which caused him to appeal to the grace and mercy of the Lord in permitting him to flee into the little town of Bela. Lot’s argument was that the city was so very small; surely, to save it from destruction would make little difference.

Thus did the Lord have compassion on Lot’s weakness and magnify His grace upon him, even to the extent of delaying the entire judgment of destruction until Lot reached the haven of Zoar (little). Thus the believers are often full of doubt and timidity when they are placed before the necessity of renouncing everything that this world offers. But God bears patiently with their weakness and helps them in spite of themselves.

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Verses 23-29

The destruction of the cities of the plain

Whether it was mere weariness after a night without rest, or whether the unexampled terror of the impending destruction prevented Lot’s hurrying, — at any rate, the sun had already risen over the earth when Lot reached Zoar, the city of refuge.

The Lord, that is, the Son of God on earth, who had charge of this sentence of wrath, caused fire and brimstone to rain upon the doomed cities from the Lord out of heaven. This is no poetic description of a severe electrical storm, but the narrative of an actual event, of a cataclysm brought upon the sinful cities by a special act of God’s avenging justice.

It was a total destruction of the people with their cities and all their property, 2 Peter 2:6-7. And not only were all things above the ground consumed, together with all vegetation, but the very ground, which contained many asphalt pits and naphtha deposits, was burned out. It seems also that the Sea of the Plain sank together with the surrounding country, forming, with its extension, what is now known as the Dead Sea. To this day that entire country is a picture of utter desolation, with hardly a trace of animal or vegetable life. Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, are an example of warning to the godless of all times. If they will not heed the Lord’s call to repentance, they will find themselves engulfed on the last day in a cataclysm which will be a thousandfold greater than that of the vale of Siddim, casting them into everlasting destruction.

In the case of Lot’s wife female curiosity and the longing for her home in Sodom caused her to lag behind him and finally to look back. This was against the plain command of the Lord, and so His punishment was immediate: she became, she was turned into, a pillar of salt. Cp. Luke 17:31-32. He that has escaped the dangers of this world should not permit himself to be turned back to its vanity.

His anxiety concerning the fate of Lot and of the five cities would not permit him to rest, so he hurried to the place where he had interceded with the Lord on the day before, whence one had a distant view of the former beautiful valley.

He had the evidence of his eyes that the Lord had not even found ten righteous people in the cities.

So it was due not only to his own righteousness, but especially to the intercessory prayer of Abraham that Lot was saved in the midst of the utter destruction which consumed the cities of the valley where he had made his home. Christians must never grow weary in sending their supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks to the Throne of Mercy, 1 Timothy 2:1.

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Verses 30-38

The sin of Lot and his daughters

The terrible catastrophe had completely unnerved Lot, causing him to doubt even the plain promise of the Lord to preserve the city of Zoar for his sake. As soon as possible he left the city and made his home in a cave of the mountains, very likely in what was afterward known as the country of Moab.

Even if it was not lewd voluptuousness which caused the two daughters of Lot deliberately to plan this sin of incest, it shows that they had imbibed freely of the poison of Sodom and were acquainted with the most unnatural vices. The desire for children and for the propagation of their family cannot excuse their revolting act, even if their supposition of the general destruction of men had been true.

Lot was in such a drunken stupor that he was not fully conscious of his actions.

Lot was guilty as well as his daughters, first, because he gave way to dull despair instead of trusting in the Lord, and then also, because he did not watch and pray, but permitted his daughters to make him drunk.

Moab: From father.

Benammi: Son of my generation, begotten of my father.

Thus Moses recorded the origin of the Moabites and Ammonites, which had become mighty nations in his day. Both nations subsequently played an important rôle in the history of Israel, Deuteronomy 2:9-19; Deuteronomy 23:4-5. We hear no more of Lot, since he was no longer of any influence in the history of the chosen people. And still he is mentioned in the New Testament as a type of a just man, 2 Peter 2:7-8, whom Christians, in his righteous acts, may well imitate.

Abraham at Gerar

Verses 1-7

Sarah again in danger

From the grove of Mamre at or near Hebron Abraham gradually journeyed, with all his possessions, to the extreme southern part of Canaan, very likely in search of better pasturage. The region where he tented was, roughly speaking, between Kadesh and Shur, and in his wanderings he encamped also at Gerar, in the land of the Philistines.

As in Egypt, Genesis 12:13, Abraham did not tell the exact and complete truth when he stated that Sarah was his sister. So the king of Gerar, whose standing title was Abimelech, acted in good faith when he added her to his harem. Either the transformation worked in Sarah as a result of God’s promise had renewed her youth, or Abimelech found it to his advantage to be related to the rich Abraham by marriage.

God prevents the greater sin which might have happened as a result of Abraham’s weakness. Appearing to Abimelech in a dream by night, a form of communication which He often adopted, the Lord told him: Behold, thou art destined to die. Sarah was not free to be married; she was literally under her husband as the head of the household; she was a married woman.

It is not only the transgression in deed which makes a person guilty in the sight of God, but even an intention that may result in evil without the knowledge of the person. The majority of the sins of Christians are committed in ignorance. In Abimelech’s case, where the Sixth Commandment had not yet been broken in deed, he defends himself by referring to the plain statements of Abraham and Sarah, on the basis of which he had acted in good faith. Surely the Lord would not slay a people in spite of its righteousness, since he had acted in the guilelessness of his heart and in the purity of his hands; he had not knowingly polluted either his heart or his hands.

The Lord accepted the excuse of Abimelech, incidentally telling him, however, that the sickness which had prevented the king from consummating the supposed marriage had been inflicted from above, to prevent a greater wrong from being committed. Thus the Lord makes use even of misery and tribulation to keep His children from sin and transgression.

If, after this revelation, Abimelech had persisted in keeping Sarah, his sin would have been one of malice, and death would have been the certain retribution, not only his own death, but that of his whole family. By telling Abimelech that he would remain alive only by virtue of the intercession of Abraham, who was one of His own prophets, the Lord showed that He knew the king to be capable of true moral understanding. It is a wise person that permits himself to be governed by God’s directions after some stumble or mistake.

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Verses 8-13

Abimelech reproves Abraham

The sincerity of Abimelech is shown by the fact that he lost no time in righting the unconscious wrong which he had committed. At the very earliest opportunity he informed his servants of the true state of affairs, to whom the effect of his own reverent fear was communicated.

Abimelech’s open stand in this matter, particularly in inquiring of Abraham the reason and the object of his behavior, was well taken, for the king had acted in good faith, a fact that cannot be alleged on Abraham’s side.

He wanted to know what Abraham had had before his eyes, what object he had had in acting as he did.

This was an explanation, an attempted defense, but a questionable excuse at best, that he had not supposed that men feared God in the land of Abimelech, that consequently he feared for his life on account of Sarah, that he had made an agreement with his wife to have her masquerade as his sister. The Lord could very well have protected him and his wife without such questionable means. The Bible does not hide from us the weaknesses and foibles of the saints, but frankly tells them for our warning. If we are honestly engaged in the work of our calling, we need not resort to subterfuges to save our lives. Without the will of God not a hair of our heads may be touched.

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Verses 14-18

The plague removed from Abimelech

The restoration of Sarah with her honor unspotted followed as a matter of course, but the giving of presents in such rich measure was an act of magnanimity on Abimelech’s part, showing that he felt no false resentment.

To offer to Abraham the choice of pasturage in his land in the circumstances was certainly heaping coals of fire on his head.

The goods which Abimelech had given to Abraham were estimated at this sum. Now Sarah was to know that this (or he) was to her a covering of the eyes and to her entire household and to all men; that is, according to some explanations, she was to look upon the gifts as presents of atonement, also with respect to such people in whose eyes she might be covered with dishonor. Or, if the reference is to Abraham, it means that he had wilfully blinded the eyes of Abimelech and all his people in this transaction, and that Sarah should now be reminded, through this present, never again to agree to such a subterfuge. In that way she stood reproved.

That was the manner in which God’s punishment upon Abimelech had begun, by denying offspring to his entire household, for it is in His hands, as the Creator of the universe, to grant the blessing of children. The entire story shows that the Lord holds His protecting hand over His children in the midst of all the temptations of the world, Psalm 105:14-15.

The birth of Isaac and the casting forth of Ishmael

Verses 1-8

Isaac born, circumcised, and weaned

The Lord visited Sarah by doing to her as He had promised, by granting her what she had desired for so many years, a child of her own. Children are a gift of the goodness of God.

God’s promise was literally fulfilled, for at just the time that He had named at His last visit the son of promise was born, a stranger in truth, for Abraham was still sojourning in the land of the Philistines. The birth of Isaac was an act of faith on the part of Sarah, who with all her human infirmities was a true child of the Lord, Hebrews 11:11.

The emphasis is again upon the fact that this was the son of promise, that he was the son of Abraham, not by a servant, but by Sarah, his wife. He complied with God’s command in giving his son the name Isaac (he that laughs), Genesis 17:17-19. As the joyous laughter of Abraham had been caused by the great contrast between the idea and the reality, so the birth was a miracle of God’s mercy, whence the son should always be an object of joyful and grateful contemplation.

It was an occasion of great rejoicing; for Sarah, with reference to the name which the Lord had selected for the child, cried out: “Laughter God has prepared for me; all that hear it will rejoice with me,” full of astonishment at the miraculously given child. Who would ever have thought or dared to express the idea that she should yet have a child of her own to cuddle and to nurse?

So Abraham shared the grateful joy of his wife, making the occasion of his son’s weaning a great festival, with the customary feast. This happened when Isaac was about three years old. This story reminds us of the greater miracle of the birth of Jesus, who also, but in a far more wonderful manner, was born contrary to the course of nature. Isaac, too, is a type of the believers of all time. For just as he was born by virtue of the divine promise, so we are spiritual children of the promise, Romans 9:8; Galatians 4:28; 1 Peter 1:23.

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Verses 9-14

Hagar and ishmael cast forth

It was a jeering laughter, a sneer, which Ishmael affected, perhaps as early as the festival of weaning. Unbelief, jealousy, and pride were aroused in Ishmael by the fact that Isaac was plainly the heir of the household. The mimicking, mocking, ridiculing on the part of Ishmael against Isaac could not long remain hidden from Sarah.

This was not a matter of petty jealousy, but was spoken in agreement with the promise of the Lord. Till now Hagar had been suffered in the house of Abraham, but Sarah’s demand was that the slave be driven forth, that Abraham renounce all connection with her and her son.

His personal affection for his own flesh and blood, and the fact that God had given him special promises concerning Ishmael, Genesis 17:18-20, caused him to hesitate about taking such a step.

It was God who decided the matter, and in Sarah’s favor. Abraham was to set aside personal feelings and considerations, both as to Ishmael and as to Hagar, and heed the voice of his wife. For Isaac was to be the bearer of the Messianic promise; through his lineage the blessing of the Lord was to come upon the nations, in the person of the Messiah. Cp. Romans 9:7-8; Hebrews 11:18. The words of Sarah have a special spiritual meaning, as St. Paul shows, Galatians 4:29: “As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.” Those that are spiritual-minded, the children of God, are derided and persecuted by the carnal-minded, by the children of the world. The will of the Lord is that His children should separate themselves in all spiritual matters from the children of the world, and avoid all the pitfalls which are placed for the unwary feet of such as seek the friendship of His enemies.

For Abraham’s sake even the slave’s son should receive a large share of this world’s blessings.

Abraham, as usual, lost no time in performing his duty, unpleasant as it was. Early the next morning he gave Hagar a supply of bread and a skin filled with water, and thereupon called Ishmael, then a lad of almost seventeen years. When these two had been dismissed, they wandered forth toward the southwest, probably with the intention of reaching the main caravan route toward Egypt. Thus the separation, which had to come sooner or later, had been effected.

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Verses 15-21

Ishmael’s life saved

Apparently Hagar lost her way, or some miscalculation interfered, for the water in the skin was exhausted before she reached a spring. The ensuing suffering soon became so great that the boy was unable to support himself. For a while his mother supported him, drawing him along and half carrying him, in the hope of finding water. But at last she was obliged to let him sink down, her mother-love, however, selecting a shady place under a bush.

Here are further traits of a mother’s undying love. She would not abandon the lad entirely, even if she might have gotten help; she could not bear to see him suffer and probably die before her eyes of thirst. So she sat down at a distance equal to that usually taken by bowmen shooting at a target, and wept out loud in full abandonment to her grief.

In this great extremity Ishmael forgot all his mocking and turned to the prayers which he had learned in his father’s house. In answer to this prayer the Angel of God in the specific sense, the Son of God, who had appeared to her once before, Genesis 16:9-13, bade her not to fear, but to arise, to lift up her son, and to support him, since he was not to die, but to live, and to become the ancestor of a great people.

Help had been so near at hand, but Hagar, in her own exhausted condition, had not noticed the spring which welled forth at a small distance. Now she filled the skin which she carried and refreshed her son, thus saving his life.

Ishmael grew up as a true son of the desert, living in the great wilderness which extends on the southern boundary of Canaan from Egypt to Arabia. The blessing of God rested upon him. He became very skilful with the bow and married an Egyptian woman whom his mother selected for him. This fact, unfortunately, strengthened the heathen element in the Ishmaelites and probably caused their abandoning of the true God in a very short time.

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Verses 22-34

The covenant between Abraham and Abimelech

Abraham was still living in the land of the Philistines, and the latter were unable to deny that a special blessing of God rested upon Abraham. This fact finally prompted Abimelech to propose a covenant between himself and Abraham, in order to secure the friendship of this man for himself and his children. The chief condition was that there was to be no false or double dealing, and Abimelech reminds Abraham of the fact that he had shown merciful kindness to him at the time when he lived in Gerar, Genesis 20:15. His appeal was to Abraham’s generosity, gratitude, and faithfulness.

He was ready to make such a covenant; he had no hopes for the personal possession of Canaan. But before he subscribes to any further promises, he distinguishes between political and private rights.

That was a grievance which required adjustment before any pact could be made.

This explanation, accompanied, as it was, with the order to return the well to its rightful owner, was satisfactory; it showed the fairness of Abimelech in all his doing.

The presents were the token of the covenant on the part of Abraham which was now formally entered upon by both.

This was a special transaction with reference to the well which the servants of Abimelech had taken from Abraham. Abimelech’s surprised question as to the meaning of this action received the answer that the king was to take them from the hand of Abraham for a witness to the latter that he had caused this well to be dug. Not to redeem the well, therefore, but to secure his property against any possible claims in the future Abraham set the seven ewe lambs aside.

With an oath they confirmed their covenant, and therefore the place of their meeting was ever afterward known as Beersheba, “the well of the oath.” It is about twenty-five miles from Hebron, on the road to Egypt, where there are two wells to this day.

The land of the Philistines, that is, to Philistia proper, which was along the Mediterranean Sea.

As he had done in other places, Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:18, so Abraham did here. Having planted a tamarisk, a tree which grew to a remarkable height and furnished a wide shade, he proclaimed there the name of the eternal God, chiefly to his own household, but also to others that might come along this way. This he continued as long as he lived this nomadic life in the territory of the Philistines, for they considered this section a part of the country under their control. That is the chief work of the believers on earth, to praise the name, the mercy, the faithfulness of God and to proclaim His Word. Thus they do what they can to bring all men to the knowledge of the truth.

The sacrifice of Isaac

Verses 1-8

The journey to Moriah

After these happenings at Beersheba God tempted, or tested, Abraham, not by giving him an occasion to sin, James 1:13, but by trying his faith as to its soundness and strength. Upon the Lord’s calling to him, probably in a dream-vision, Abraham promptly signifies his eagerness to hear.

The Lord makes His proposal with deliberate, detailed emphasis. Abraham was to take his son, not Ishmael, but his only son, the darling of his old age, the one whom he loved dearly, namely, Isaac. Him he was to offer up as a sacrifice in the land of Moriah, the mountain range in the neighborhood of what was afterward Jerusalem, on one of the mountains which the Lord would indicate to him.

There is not a word about excitement or turmoil in the heart of Abraham. Quietly and deliberately he made his preparations for a literal fulfilment of God’s command, girding the beast that was to bear the wood for the sacrifice and the food for the trip, ordering two of his young men, probably house-slaves, to accompany him, even splitting the wood which he would need for the sacrifice, and then setting out for Moriah. He did not consult with flesh and blood, for his faith was active in obedience.

The distance from Beersheba to Jerusalem was forty-five to fifty miles and therefore required about two and one-half days of steady traveling.

Although the servants of Abraham were devoted to him, they were hardly prepared to witness the scene which would be enacted on the mountain that lay before them. In spite of the fact that the outcome of his act of worship was hidden from Abraham, his faith clung to the promise of the Lord, accounting that God was able to raise up Isaac, even from the dead, Hebrews 11:17-19. For that reason he confidently says: We shall return to you. True faith trusts in God even when He seems harsh and angry, when the believer feels only His displeasure in his heart; for it is an easy matter for God to replace everything that He sees fit to take away, to bring back even that which was lost.

Abraham personally carried the knife for the slaughter and the fire, a glimmering coal or a bit of tinder wood in a kettle, while he laid the wood on Isaac, who thus became the type of the immeasurably greater sacrifice, Jesus Christ, who likewise bore the wood of His cross willingly and patiently and bore our sins in His body on the cross.

Isaac broke the oppressive silence with a question of childish curiosity. He had noted that everything else had been provided, but the absence of a sheep, a lamb, or a kid which was to serve for the sacrifice caused him to ask. Naturally, the innocent question must have increased the distress of Abraham considerably; but with unwavering steadfastness he walked on.

It was not Abraham’s intention, as Luther remarks, to torture his son with the details of the divine command; and the quiet answer of his father satisfied Isaac.

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Verses 9-14

The interference of God

The detailed narrative again calls attention to the strict obedience of Abraham: the building of the altar, the laying in order of the proper amount of wood for consuming the offering, the binding of Isaac, who is here again designated as his son, and the placing of him on the altar.

This is the climax, the most dramatic moment of the story: Isaac as a patient sacrifice, knowing himself to be the burnt offering which the Lord had provided, and the father ready to slaughter his son.

The Angel of the Lord in the special sense of the word, the Son of God, is here again in evidence, interfering just in time to save the life of Isaac. God had now, by the most severe test which could have been devised, obtained evidence, made manifest by evident proof, discovered by actual experiment, that fearing God Abraham was, that this was the attitude of his mind and heart, since he had not spared even his only son for the sake of his obedience to God. Here also the type of Isaac as foreshadowing the greater sacrifice of the New Testament is emphasized, Romans 8:32.

God here directed the attention of Abraham to the ram in the background, overlooked by him till now, caught in the thicket on the mountainside with his long, crooked horns. Acting upon the suggestion, he made the ram the sacrificial animal in the stead of his son Isaac, the ram thus, as in many of the later sacrifices, being the symbolical representation, taking the place of him who was destined to die. That fact also gave the great value to the sacrifice of Christ, for it was made for us, in our stead.

As Abraham applied to the place of his sacrifice a name which means “the Lord will see or provide,” so men afterward had a proverbial saying based upon this happening, “on the hill where Jehovah is manifested, or revealed,” from which the name Moriah originated.

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Verses 15-19

The blessing of the Lord repeated

A solemn declaration and prophecy, supported by the strongest oath which the Lord may swear, by Himself. The extent of the promise, which points forward to a numberless progeny, to the complete overthrow of all enemies, and especially to the fact that in his Seed, in the one great Seed of the woman, all nations of the earth should be blessed, precludes the understanding of a mere temporal blessing. It is chiefly to this blessing that St. Paul refers when he writes: “He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, ‘And to thy Seed,’ which is Christ,” Galatians 3:16. In Christ all nations of the earth are blessed; in His power the people of God, the spiritual descendants of Abraham, conquer all their enemies. That is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith.

Abraham’s faith had been fully vindicated; his trust had been rewarded in a most wonderful manner. He now, with Isaac, returned to the place where his servants were waiting for him, and together they journeyed back to Beersheba.

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Verses 20-24

The family of Nahor

Of these children of Nahor, Buz is mentioned Jeremiah 25:23 and Job 32:2, and Maachah Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 12:5. The others may, in part, have been fathers of tribes later found in Southern Mesopotamia and Northern Arabia, the country where Job and his children afterward lived. But the chief interest of the list is in the fact that it shows the lineage of Rebekah, who was a legal granddaughter of Nahor and the daughter of Isaac’s cousin.

Sarah’s death and burial

Verses 1-2

The death of Sarah

She thus lived to a ripe old age and saw her son Isaac grow up to full manhood, for the latter was now thirty-seven years old. Meanwhile Abraham had moved back to Hebron.

It appears from Joshua 14:15 and Judges 1:10 that Hebron, one of the very oldest settlements in Canaan, for a while bore the name of its conqueror, Arba of the Anakims, but the original name was restored by the children of Israel. Here Sarah died. And Abraham came, that is, he went about, he made preparations for the customary period of mourning, the lament for the dead.

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Verses 3-9

Abraham negotiates for a burial-place

That Abraham observed the usual period of mourning did not in any way conflict with his faith. Sarah had been his wife, a believer in the true God, in spite of all her weaknesses, the mother of all believing women. He had loved her dearly, as a faithful husband should, and she was his even in death. He now left the tent where Sarah lay in state, and appeared in the gate of the city, the customary assembling-place of the people, where all business was commonly transacted. The children of Heth, the Hittites, were living there, for Hebron was located in Hittite country, although not far from that of the Amorites on the west. As a stranger and a nomad in their midst he now negotiated for a burial-place, first of all for Sarah, his wife.

The narrative presents a beautiful scene of politeness, simplicity, kindness, frankness, humility, modesty, not unmingled with some shades of avarice, as one commentator remarks. Abraham had come to purchase a piece of ground, but with true Oriental ceremoniousness the men of the city drew out the negotiations, paying Abraham the compliment that they considered him a prince of God in their midst, and that he had but to pick out any burial-place which might suit his fancy, and they would feel honored in having him accept it as a gift.

This ceremonial, rising and bowing, on the part of Abraham signified that he deeply appreciated their compliments and their kindness in making such a liberal offer.

Abraham continued to conduct his business with all circumspection and politeness, begging the men present to intercede for him with Ephron, a man of some importance in the community, if that was in agreement with their ideas. For this Ephron was the owner of a piece of ground which contained a cave known as Machpelah, which Abraham thought would suit his purposes very well. For full silver he wanted to buy it, that is, he wanted to pay what the land was worth, since he intended to use it for a perpetual place of burial for his family. Believers will always do well if they do not place themselves under obligations to unbelievers, since the result may often react upon their Christianity.

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Verses 10-16

The purchase of Machpelah

The same Oriental politeness continued to be exercised throughout. The offer of Ephron, the Hittite, made before the ears of all the members of his tribe and of all his fellow-citizens, was hardly intended seriously; for if Abraham had accepted his offer, he would, according to custom, have expected a very rich counter-present, and, in case Abraham chose to purchase the land, Ephron’s offer was designed to prevent any abatement of the price he had fixed in his mind.

He once more gratefully acknowledged the kind intention of the Hittites, also in this offer as made by Ephron; he was not to be outdone in politeness.

The words of Abraham at this point indicate some measure of agitation and a shade of impatience: But if thou — Oh, that thou wouldest listen to me! As he had indicated from the start, he did not want the cave as a gift, but had come prepared to pay for it.

Ephron here named his price: “The field — four hundred shekels silver; between me and thee, what is that?” It is named in courtly terms and intimates an apology for the demand, since Abraham would insist upon having it thus. The silver Shekel being worth about 50 cents, the piece of land with the cave Machpelah cost Abraham two hundred dollars. “A piece of land of so little value could not be the matter of a long transaction between two rich men.”

There were no stamped coins with a fixed value in Canaan at that time, but there seem to have been pieces of silver of a definite weight, which could readily be weighed out. In a transaction such as that recorded here, these pieces were weighed out in order to show that no fraud was being attempted. Abraham weighed out full measure, as it was required with the merchants, in honest business. Christians, as the apostle rightly says, will avoid even the appearance of evil. Abraham here gave evidence of his faith by buying a small piece of land in the country which was promised to his descendants, being sure that the Lord would keep His promise.

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Verses 17-20

The burial of Sarah

The language is that of a formal instrument used in the transfer of real estate; the location of the field is given: before Mamre, over against the grove of Mamre, adjoining the cave Machpelah, which was at one end of it; the description of the property is accurate and includes even the trees on the plot itself and on its borders on every side. The field was thus conveyed to Abraham with all the appurtenances thereof, the record of the transaction being very minute and the witnesses expressly mentioned.

That was the object of the purchase of this field with its cave, which from its name may have had two entrances or been a double cavern.

By burying his wife in Canaan, in the Land of Promise, Abraham confessed that Sarah took part in the promised blessing, that her body was buried in the sure hope of the future resurrection by virtue of the redemption of Christ. In that sense the cemeteries of Christian congregations are truly God’s acres, from which He will, on the last day, gather the harvest of rich fruit.

Eliezer’s journey to Mesopotamia

Verses 1-9

The preparation for the journey

He was now one hundred and forty years old, and felt the coming on of the infirmities of old age. It was necessary for him to provide for Isaac’s marriage before death should overtake him; moreover, the Messianic promise was to be preserved to his family through Isaac and his descendants. In all things the Lord had blessed Abraham, pouring out upon him both temporal and spiritual blessings.

Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, the senior servant in charge of his entire establishment, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, as that member of the body which symbolized posterity, in this case the promised seed, the promise and the hope of Abraham and Israel.

Abraham demanded a solemn oath from Eliezer, in order that this most important mission would be carried out, even if he himself should die soon. By Jehovah, the God of heaven and earth, he had his servant swear, for this was not an ordinary marriage which was contemplated, but a matter of the greatest importance for the kingdom of God, since Isaac was the heir of the divine promise. For that reason also a heathen woman from among the daughters of the Canaanites would not have been acceptable, just as to-day the marriage of a Christian with an enemy of Christ is always ill-advised, to say the least.

The caution of Eliezer in not swearing lightly is to be commended highly, although he did not have the same measure of faith as Abraham, who trusted implicitly in the promise of the Lord.

That would have been a step backward and would have shown mistrust in the words of the Lord.

That was the argument of faith: Jehovah had brought Abraham into the land in which he was now sojourning as a stranger; Jehovah had, with a solemn oath, promised this land to his descendants; therefore Jehovah would crown the servant’s venture in Abraham’s name with success, through the guidance and protection of His angel.

This was for the sake of reassuring the timid servant. If believers, in the name of God, undertake a matter which pleases God, then they may and should trust in the assistance and blessing of the Lord.

Eliezer now knew that he would not be held responsible in case the woman selected by him would refuse to come, and so he no longer hesitated about rendering his oath in this important matter.

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Verses 10-14

The arrival at Haran and the prayer at the well

As Abraham’s chief steward, Eliezer had charge of all his master’s goods; therefore, in order to represent him worthily, he not only started out with a caravan of some size, but he also took along various valuables in the form of costly presents for the possible bride and her parents, which he could back up with his power of attorney extending over all the goods of his master. So he traveled to Mesopotamia, usually stated to have been the country between the Euphrates and the Tigris, but including, in this connection, all the land from the Khabour, an eastern branch of the Euphrates, and the Orontes, in Syria. Haran, as nearly as can be determined, was situated in the headwaters of the Khabour.

Eliezer had made his plans with care. Instead of entering the city and looking for the house of his master’s relatives, he caused his camels to kneel down for a temporary rest. For it was now evening, the time at which the women that draw water go forth. That was and is the special work of the women of the Orient, to fetch water for the household from the well near the village or city. Eliezer knew that there would be an opportunity for observation and for the study of character here which would reveal more than days of polite intercourse.

The prayer is directed to Jehovah in the name of Abraham, because Eliezer was acting as the representative of his master.

It was a simple, childlike prayer which Eliezer addressed to the Lord. He asked that success might come to meet him, that the Lord would send good speed to his plan in pointing out to him that young woman whom He had destined to be the wife of Isaac. The plan of Eliezer aimed to test out especially the humility, the unselfishness, and the willingness to serve in the girls of the city. Note: In a proper marriage it is God who selects the husband and the wife for each other, and this is an act of His kindness. If the blessing and the guidance of the Lord were implored with greater frequency and with greater importunity in the important matter of marriage, there would be fewer unhappy households in the world.

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Verses 15-28

The meeting with Rebekah

All the emphasis is here laid upon the speed with which the Lord heard the prayer of Eliezer. He had not yet finished his prayer when Rebekah, the granddaughter of Nahor, the grandniece of Abraham, appeared.

Rebekah did not let beauty spoil her, nor did the fact that she was a rich man’s daughter cause her to despise manual labor. She personally descended the steps to the well, filled her pitcher with water, and then returned to the head of the path.

This willingness to serve, which did not even balk at the prospect of drawing water for ten camels at the end of a day’s journey, came in literal fulfilment of Eliezer’s prayer. Rebekah’s every act gave evidence of a hospitable kindness which considered the ready serving of a stranger a privilege. This miraculous arrangement of the circumstances was due to the dispensation of God. Many believers have since had the same experience, namely, that the living God hears prayers, often before they themselves have finished imploring Him for help.

The man wondering at her, watching her carefully and almost taken aback at the exactness with which his prayer was fulfilled before his eyes, held his peace to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not. In silence the servant deliberated over the happening, asking himself whether this young woman belonged to the family of his master, whether she was still single, whether she would be willing to go with him, in short, whether the Lord had caused his way to prosper, had given success to his journey.

As a token of his gratitude for her willingness to serve Eliezer the latter took from his presents which he had brought a golden nose-ring, such as the woman of the Orient wears suspended from the middle wall of her nose, and two bracelets of gold, worn upon the wrist, each of five shekels weight (a Shekel being about ten drams avoirdupois).

The presents which Rebekah received at the hand of Eliezer were intended also to make her all the more willing to answer his questions as to her family and as to the possibility of obtaining lodging in her father’s house.

Thus was Eliezer’s first question answered and the fulfilment of his prayer emphasized.

The second question was thus answered with becoming reservation, for she, as the daughter of the house, could not issue a direct invitation. She merely stated, therefore, that she knew chopped straw and other food to be present at home in sufficient quantities.

The obvious guidance and dispensation of the Lord in this matter, in everything pertaining to his journey, so deeply affected Eliezer that he, even in the presence of Rebekah, broke forth in a prayer of thanksgiving which revealed, to some extent, whence he came. The Lord had not withheld His free grace, His faithfulness, mercy, and truth from Abraham. He had only started out on his way, but it was the Lord that had guided him to his destination and to the object of his journey in such a miraculous manner.

Full of astonishment at the prayer of thanksgiving which she heard from the lips of the stranger, Rebekah ran home, naturally seeking for her mother in the women’s part of the house. Throughout the chapter, Rebekah is an example of a God-fearing, pious virgin, whose womanly virtues stand out prominently, just as Eliezer presents the picture of a pious, faithful servant.

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Verses 29-34

Eliezer in the home of Bethuel

Among those that heard the excited report of Rebekah was her brother Laban. A glance at the rich presents which his sister exhibited started Laban, whose later covetousness is hinted at even here, off for the well. He barely stopped long enough to hear the details of the conversation which Rebekah reported. Running out quickly from the city, he found the stranger standing beside his resting camels by the well.

With true Oriental hospitality, even if not unmixed with some selfish motives, Laban invited Eliezer to enter, addressing him as the blessed of the Lord, one upon whom the favor of the Lord rested.

Eliezer accepted the invitation of Laban without delay, came to the house of Bethuel, and saw to it that the straps which held the loads of the camels were properly loosened. Laban, meanwhile, provided food and bedding for the camels and water for the customary washing of the feet before one entered the living quarters of the house.

Oriental custom forbade any reference to the object of a man’s journey until all the physical wants of the traveler had been satisfied. But Eliezer here informed his host that he could not think of eating until he literally had “said his say,” until he had stated the object of his journey. His unselfish faithfulness caused him to place his own comfort after the business of his master.

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Verses 34-49

Eliezer states his errand

After thus introducing himself, Eliezer, in a carefully set speech, announces the object of his coming.

The apparently careless enumeration serves to enhance the impression of great wealth and power.

Sarah, my master’s wife, bare a son to my master when she was old, after the signs of advancing age were in evidence; and unto him hath he given all that he hath. Isaac was the heir of all this great wealth.

He said unto me, The Lord before whom I walk, in the fear of whom he had arranged and led his entire life, will send His angel with thee and prosper thy way, give success to thy undertaking.

If now Thou do prosper my way which I go, if Thou wilt indeed give success to my undertaking.

Even in this part of his speech, by referring to the virgin, in the singular, whom he was expecting to come to the well, the servant directs the attention of his hearers to Rebekah.

Earring here means nosering.

My master’s brother’s daughter in the wider sense, for Rebekah was Nahor’s grandchild. The circumstantial narrative, with the full account of the prayer, was intended to show that Jehovah had really taken the matter out of Eliezer’s hands already, a fact which his hearers would surely have to acknowledge.

Eliezer appeals directly to the kindness and faithfulness which Abraham should surely be entitled to from his relatives. At any rate, he expected them to give him definite information as to their stand in the matter, in order that he might know exactly what course to pursue next. Mark that in a proper and valid betrothal, as Luther here points out, the suit is directed to the parents of the young woman first, and a secret engagement has no validity before God.

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Verses 50-60

Rebekah consents to become Isaac’s bride

The entire matter had so evidently progressed to this point under the direct guidance of the Lord that both Bethuel, the father of Rebekah, and Laban, her brother, could not but recognize the will of Jehovah. They had nothing to say, no change to suggest, Numbers 24:13; 2 Samuel 13:22.

So the first step toward a valid engagement had been taken: Eliezer’s suit for the hand of Rebekah for his master Isaac had been made and accepted. It is the parents that give their children in marriage, Laban here being included in the natural guardians of Rebekah as the older son, to whom the father had entrusted practically the entire management of his affairs.

His first thoughts thus were of gratitude to the Lord, who had given such signal success to his journey, permitting him to accomplish its purpose on the very evening of his arrival. As we see the gracious hand of God directing the affairs of our lives for our benefit, we should make it a practise to thank the Lord for all His goodness toward us.

These were the customary presents to the bride-to-be: various articles of jewelry of gold and silver and costly garments.

The betrothal presents for the family, costly articles, which may have been purchased at a great cost from Phenician or Arabian traders.

Having successfully performed the work which his master had entrusted to him, Eliezer was now free to enjoy the hospitality of his hosts with his men.

The woman whom God had appointed to be the wife of Isaac was now found, but Eliezer, like a faithful servant, with whom the interests of his master always come first, was anxious to deliver the bride-to-be to Isaac and thus complete his mission.

Loving Rebekah as they did, they were anxious to have her stay for at least ten days.

Eliezer, happy over the success of his enterprise, felt that he could not conscientiously consent to a delay, that he must return at once.

The matter was to rest upon Rebekah’s decision.

Her simple, characteristically determined and vigorous answer included both her consent to the marriage with Isaac and her decision as to an immediate departure. Although giving into marriage is the prerogative of the parents, yet the girl should not be forced into a marriage without her consent, as Luther remarks.

Laban again being represented as the chief person acting for Bethuel and his wife, Rebekah is formally dismissed to become the bride of Isaac, to whom she was now bound by her word.

That the number of Rebekah’s descendants might be a countless host and that all her progeny might always be victorious against all their enemies, that was the sincere and loving blessing which the relatives that dismissed her with a heavy heart laid upon her. The work of Eliezer in the suit of Rebekah having begun so auspiciously, God Himself having manifestly blessed the betrothal, it was best to hurry forward to the consummation of marriage, lest evil tongues sow discord.

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Verses 61-67

The marriage of Isaac and Rebekah

Thus the departure of Eliezer with Rebekah took place, Rebekah taking along not only her old nurse, Deborah, Genesis 35:8, but also a number of other slave-girls, her attendants.

It appears from this note that Isaac, at least, if not his father as well, had journeyed down into the southern part of Canaan, near the well of Hagar, Genesis 16:14, probably to inspect the flocks in this part of the country.

For meditation, deliberation, and prayer, very likely also with regard to the very important step, his approaching marriage.

He saw the camels coming, which he probably recognized at once as those belonging to his establishment.

She dropped or sprang down from the camel which she was riding; this action was characteristic of her energy and quick decision. It was customary for a rider to descend from the animal he was riding in meeting some distinguished person.

These words were addressed to Eliezer after she had alighted from the camel.

She drew down the mantle-like veil which covered her head, for it was customary for the bride to appear before the bridegroom veiled.

He rendered a brief report of his journey and its success.

The Lord Himself worked in the heart of Isaac the true bridal love for the woman so evidently destined to be his wife. So he took her to Hebron, to Sarah’s tent, where Abraham’s chief station was located. In this way the grief which had taken hold upon Isaac after the death of his mother was gradually assuaged. Thus the marriage which had begun with God was carried forward under His blessing.

Abraham’s last years, death, and burial, and the sons of Isaac

Verses 1-6

Abraham’s second marriage

This woman was not a concubine during the lifetime of Sarah, but his wife by a second marriage, although she did not hold the status of the mother of the promised Seed, she was not included in the Messianic promise.

The rich blessing of God shows that there was no stain attaching to this second marriage, but that it was entered into in sanctification and honor, for mutual care and assistance and for the procreation of children, the strength of Abraham having been retained in a remarkable manner, even to extreme old age. The children and grandchildren of Keturah, like those of Ishmael, became the forefathers of Arabian tribes, chiefly along the Ailanitic Gulf and northeast of it (Midianites), along the Red Sea, and along the Persian Gulf, most of them commercial nations.

Isaac was the recognized legal heir, who also received the stock of the herds and the essential parts of Abraham’s possessions. He was, moreover, the bearer of the Messianic blessing.

Although neither Keturah nor even Hagar were concubines in the later sense of the term, yet, in comparison with Sarah, the mistress and mother by special divine interposition, they were of secondary rank. Their children, therefore, could not claim an equal division of the property with Isaac, the heir of the promise, whose inheritance the land of Canaan was to be. Abraham simply established Ishmael and all the sons of Keturah with enough property in small herds and flocks, together with the necessary servants, that they had their maintenance. They moved into the country toward the southeast and east, and there grew up into tribes. Among these descendants of Abraham the knowledge of the true God was found for a long time, their spiritual inheritance thus proving of greater value than the temporal gifts.

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Verses 7-11

Abraham’s death and burial

So he lived fully seventy-five years after the birth of Isaac and saw his grandsons grow up to the age of youths, Genesis 25:26. That also is a blessing of the Lord, Psalm 128:6.

Though Abraham did not live as long as his forefathers before him, yet he had had his fill of this world, both in length of life and in its misery and tribulation. His strength failed, he died, he was added to his people; his soul was received into heaven, to join the number of those that had died in the faith of the Messiah. Note that the Bible here plainly teaches the continued existence of the soul after death and implies a state of bliss.

Ishmael, having been notified of the death of his father, came at once to show him the final honors by the side of Isaac. Naturally the burial-place which Abraham himself had purchased with such elaborate ceremonies from Ephron, the Hittite, was the only one that could come into consideration. There the two sons laid the weary body of their father to rest beside the body of Sarah, his wife, where their dust is awaiting the final resurrection. Such a burial, in which the tomb is regarded as a sleeping-chamber, agrees well with the Christian faith in the resurrection of the body.

The welfare and prosperity of Abraham was continued in that of Isaac, who now, as once before, moved to the southern part of Canaan and made his headquarters at the well of Hagar, but retained his principal residence at Hebron, Genesis 35:27.

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Verses 12-18

The generations of Ishmael

We have here the final account of Ishmael and a short summary of his family’s history.

As the Lord had promised Hagar, so it came to pass: twelve princes were begotten of her son Ishmael, twelve mighty sheiks of powerful tribes, the names of some of which were preserved for many centuries. Thus the descendants of Nebajoth and Kedar lived in Arabia Petraea, on the Peninsula of Sinai, and beyond, Isaiah 60:7, the Kadarenes afterward extending toward the east in the direction of Babylonia, Isaiah 42:11; Psalm 120:5. The other Ishmaelitic tribes do not seem to have been so large and mighty, still there are references, also in Scripture, which place them into the great country on the east side of Jordan. Twelve princes they were in their tribes, governing and representing twelve tribes, with their permanent, walled camps, or cities, and their temporary encampments, with their fixed and movable habitations.

Although Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, is represented in Scriptures as a type of the fleshly, the Spirit of God finally gained and kept the ascendancy in him. He also died in the faith and was added to the number of those that trusted in the Messiah and His salvation.

That was the extent of the Ishmaelites’ territory in later years, from the stream of Egypt on the southwest and Havilah in Arabia Deserta on the southeast to the Euphrates on the northeast. So Ishmael, in his descendants, fell upon, settled, took possession of, this country, in the presence of, next to his brethren, on the boundary of the Promised Land.

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Verses 19-23

Isaac’s prayer for Rebekah

The threads of the story concerning Isaac are here gathered together in order to devote a paragraph to the founding of his family. The section of Mesopotamia from which Rebekah hailed is called the plains of Aram, which extended west of the Euphrates.

It is the Lord who grants issue to married people, but the blessing of children, like all other blessings, must be prayed for. Just as Isaac had prayed for a pious wife, so he also prayed for children, and undoubtedly for pious children, just as Luther teaches in his explanation of the Fourth Petition.

This was after pregnancy had advanced to the point that movement was distinctly felt. Fearing that her condition would result in misfortune to herself and probably to the child of promise, Rebekah, rash in her speech and actions, and easily discouraged, cried out: If this be so, what is the object of my still being here? Why should I still be living, with this sore and strange struggle within me? Nevertheless she went to ask the Lord, probably through the ministry of Abraham.

The answer was thus given in rhythmic parallels, the form of Hebrew poetry, stating that the older of the twins, the first-born, would be the servant of the younger. Cp. Romans 9:11-12. The younger, therefore, would be the bearer and heir of the Messianic promise, the spiritual fatherhood of Abraham should be continued in him.

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Verses 24-28

The two sons, Esau and Jacob

So Esau was the first of the twins to be born, and, in allusion to the reddish, thick growth of hair which even then covered his body like a garment of skins, he was given the name, which means “the hairy one.” Thus early his sensual, hard characteristics, his wildness, became evident.

The name signifies “the holder of the heel,” “the cunning one,” because he was supposed to have taken advantage of his brother thus early in life.

The natural wildness of Esau’s character was soon revealed in the fact that he became skilful in the chase, loved to roam across the country far and wide for the mere love of killing game. Jacob was the very opposite, a quiet young man, opposed to all violence, much preferring to remain in the tents and tend to the matters at home.

Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison, literally, game, the result of the chase, was in his mouth, he was very partial to its wild taste; but Rebekah loved Jacob, partly because she remembered the promise of the Lord, partly because of his love for the quiet life of the home.

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Verses 29-34

Esau sells his birthright

Jacob sod pottage, he cooked a dish of lentils; and Esau came from the field, where he had evidently been engaged in his favorite occupation, and he was faint, ravenously hungry after his strenuous exertions.

Edom means “red”. And so great was his craving for food that he was ready to swallow the entire mess of pottage at one gulp, that he could not even think of the name of the vegetables whose sight made him so hungry, but merely referred to that red mess.

This was not a low form of cunning which took advantage of the opponent’s weakness, but the believing Jacob made use of the opportunity to acquire legally what belonged to him by the promise of the Lord.

The character of Esau was evidently such as to make him think lightly of the great privilege of being the first-born, since his question conveys the idea: I’m dying of hunger; and why should I worry about my birthright, anyway? Thus he yielded the entire higher import of his birthright, the specific blessing of Abraham, the inheritance of his posterity, the right and land of the covenant: all for the satisfaction of a moment.

Thus Jacob pursued the advantage which he had gained to the point where he was sure of his gain, for the oath of Esau ratified his promise.

So it was not a mere momentary whim of Esau, for his contempt of his birthright continued even after he had eaten and drunk his fill and was restored to his normal frame of mind. Thus Jacob was filled with a holy seriousness concerning the privileges of the birthright, realizing how much depended upon it in the family of Abraham, while Esau considered the entire matter a joke and acted accordingly. Jacob is a type and example of those that seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first, while Esau represents such as renounce the eternal blessings for the sake of temporal gain and enjoyment.

Isaac in the land of the Philistines

Verses 1-5

The Lord blesses Isaac

The adventures of Isaac, as related in this chapter, have their parallels in the life of Abraham, and show that human nature does not change, but remains selfish and sinful from one generation to the next. A famine having struck Canaan, Isaac found it advisable to journey down to the land of the Philistines, the hereditary title of whose king was Abimelech.

Going to Egypt, evidently, having been the intention of Isaac, since Egypt was the granary of all the surrounding countries, especially in lean years.

Isaac was not to move down into Egypt, because the entire land of Canaan, including the land of the Philistines, was included in the blessing of Jehovah, and was eventually to be the possession of the descendants of Isaac, as the Lord had promised to Abraham with an oath, Genesis 22:16. But in addition to these temporal blessings, the descendants of Isaac according to the promise should also become the bearers of the Messianic hope, according to which all nations of the earth were to be blessed in that one Seed, in the Messiah. All this was a reward for the obedience of faith which Abraham had shown in keeping the charge of God, the special commission entrusted to him, His commandments or express orders, His statutes, certain prescriptions to cover specific cases, and His Law, the great doctrine of moral obligations as it applies to all men.

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Verses 6-16

Rebekah’s danger

Isaac dwelt in Gerar, remaining there after the Lord had appeared unto him.

Rebekah had been a beautiful woman at the time of her marriage, Genesis 24:16, and she had retained her beauty. Isaac was so well aware of this that he, knowingly or unknowingly, followed the example of his father, Genesis 12:11-12; Genesis 20, replying to the questions concerning the woman living with him that she was his sister. This was a foolish and dangerous perversion of the truth, as events showed.

By chance Abimelech, looking out of a window of his palace, became witness of the fact that Isaac, who probably occupied a house with its open court near by, was treating his wife Rebekah with such familiar endearments as are altogether in order between husband and wife, but would hardly be considered permissible between brother and sister.

The reproof which Abimelech administered was well merited on Isaac’s part, and his excuse that he feared to be put to death on her account was very lame. The Lord’s promise is that He will keep those that trust in Him in all their ways, that is, as long as they conduct themselves in conformity with His Word. The weakness of Isaac is related as a warning to us.

The bad experience of the people in the king’s house upon the occasion of Abraham’s sojourn in Gerar, although three-fourths of a century ago, had not been forgotten, hence the strictness of the injunction on Abimelech’s part, which obtained for both Isaac and Rebekah the greatest security, the Lord thus holding His protecting hand over them in spite of their weakness.

That was an extraordinary blessing of the Lord that Isaac literally found a hundred measures for every measure of grain sowed by him.

There was no stop, no interruption in his progress in accumulating wealth.

The Philistines envied him, jealous of the blessing which the Lord poured out upon him.

The hostilities which grew out of the envy in the hearts of the Philistines began with their filling up the wells at Gerar, to which Isaac held title, with earth.

To the act of spite was added the direct expulsion by the Philistine king, the reason being that Isaac had become mightier in wealth and power than the Philistines cared to see. Thus the believers of all times are obliged to endure acts of jealousy and open enmity on account of the blessing which the Lord lays upon them; and they must learn to suffer cheerfully for His sake.

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Verses 17-25

The enmity of the Philistines

He left the city of Gerar and the domain of the Philistines in the narrower sense, putting up his encampment farther to the west, in the undulating country toward the mountains.

The Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham, thus disregarding the covenant which had been made between them and Abraham, Genesis 21:22-30.

Having gone over the field often while his father was yet alive, Isaac was familiar with the entire country.

One which was filled with water from a living spring, not a mere cistern for rain water, as most of the wells were.

Esek means “contention”.

Sitnah means “hatred”. Isaac suffered all this injustice and harm with the greatest patience and forbearance, preferring to endure rather than to inflict injury, as he probably might have done.

Rehoboth means “widths”, “wide expanses”.

This camp was located still farther to the west, and entirely outside of Philistine jurisdiction, on the extreme southern boundary of Canaan.

Beersheba, a matter of some twenty miles to the north.

In the midst of the persecution which Isaac was then enduring this encouragement came with all its uplifting strength. The believers are strangers and pilgrims on earth and as such are subjected to many indignities, but the Lord’s assurance of His everlasting presence is always the one certain prop for their faith.

Isaac here followed the custom of his father Abraham in building an altar and proclaiming the name of Jehovah, in establishing the worship of the true God, not only for his own household, but also for all with whom he came in contact. Every time when believers experience the blessing, protection, and help of the Lord, they turn to Him with all the greater zeal and love and praise His holy name.

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Verses 26-33

The covenant between Isaac and Abimelech

In this case the Philistine king brought not only the general of his army, but also his prime minister, or private counselor.

Though there were evidently selfish motives behind their proposal, since their chief concern was to gain the friendship of Isaac and obtain security for themselves, yet the Lord made use of these motives to shield and protect His servant.

Isaac was fully aware of his power and importance as a wealthy nomad prince, and made use of the situation to his advantage, without letting it appear that he was granting a favor.

They sware one to another, the oath, in this case, including an imprecation; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. Thus was a new covenant established which safeguarded the interests of Isaac.

Apparently the one well which Abraham’s servants had dug, Genesis 21:30, was no longer sufficient for the needs of Isaac’s immense herds, and therefore the report of the servants was highly welcome.

Sheba means “an oath”. History here repeated itself, and the name of the city was given for the double reason, just as the two wells at Bir-es-Saba to this day vouch for the correctness of this account.

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Verses 34-35

The marriage of Esau

Esau gave proof of the state of his mind toward his parents in taking this important step without asking either their counsel or consent. It is strange, indeed, if marriages contracted in this manner turn out well for all concerned.

They were literally a bitterness of spirit to them, they caused them many a bitter hour, their heathen descent itself being mortifying, and their heathen belief and conduct agreeing with their ancestral traditions. Where temporal, fleshly factors are decisive in the matter of marriage, the chances are that true happiness will not live in such a home. Christian young people will not think of entering upon this most important step without the knowledge and consent of their parents.

Isaac blesses his Sons

Verses 1-4

Isaac prepares to bless Esau

Isaac was by this time one hundred and thirty-seven years old, and the infirmities of old age were beginning to show themselves in his failing eyesight; literally, in his eyes becoming weak away from seeing. He now, in a formal and solemn manner, called for Esau, his favorite son.

As a matter of fact, he lived another forty-three years, but the preparations which he made showed the prudence which characterized him. Every believer should set his house in order betimes and be ready to meet death when it comes.

It was not the sudden whim of an old man which was here revealed, but a carefully prepared plan, according to which Esau was to obtain some game by chase and then to prepare the meat in a way of which he knew that it pleased his father. In spite of the divine utterance before the birth of the children, which was undoubtedly known to him, and the careless and almost contemptuous disposal of his birthright by Esau, in spite, also, of the latter’s objectionable marriage to the Canaanitish woman, Isaac persisted in his preference for Esau, even in the very important matter of transmitting the Messianic promise. Even in believers the weakness of the flesh will often grow into a sulky obstinacy in ignoring God’s manifest guidance.

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Verses 5-17

Rebekah arranges to have Jacob blessed first

This overhearing of Isaac’s plan by Rebekah was due to the dispensation of God.

Rebekah made Jacob her confederate by making known to him all that she had found out.

Two good kids of the goats, an ample supply being needed in order to represent venison. Rebekah was also familiar with Isaac’s tastes and knew in what form he preferred his roast venison.

Thus Jacob was given to understand what rôle he was to play in Rebekah’s plan.

This was partly prudence, partly the voice of conscience which told him that he would be making himself a scoffer in the eyes of his old blind father, one making sport of the latter’s infirmity, and the discovery would result in his bringing away a curse instead of a blessing. Out of respect for his mother Jacob does not refer to the wrong itself, but to its dangerous consequences.

Both the blame and the curse which might strike Jacob Rebekah was willing to shoulder, for with her to plan meant to act, to pursue her course to the finish.

They were garments of preciousness, and Rebekah planned to have both the touch and the odor of the garments deceive Isaac.

It seems that Angora goats are here referred to, whose long, silky wool resembled human hair.

Thus Rebekah had taken the matter of the patriarchal blessing into her own hands. She had in mind, of course, the promise which she had received, but her rashness caused her to identify her plan with the plan of God. She felt that she must come to the aid of the divine dispensation, but her manner of acting had neither God’s command nor His promise. It was the mercy of the Lord which afterward turned her human machinations for the best.

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Verses 18-29

Isaac blesses Jacob

Jacob here became guilty of his mother’s deceit in deed as well as in words and intent, for he was not Esau, nor was the meat which he was bringing venison. So far as he was concerned, he was trying to obtain his father’s blessing under false pretenses.

Upon Isaac’s surprised question: How is this? Thou wast quick to find; — Jacob piously refers the supposed luck of his chase to a special blessing of the Lord.

Isaac’s surprise changes into suspicion at the sound of Jacob’s voice and at the indefinite answer which was so unlike Esau’s blunt manner. But it was here that Rebekah’s stratagem proved its worth.

Isaac was much nearer being convinced, but his suspicions were not yet allayed altogether.

Isaac did not know and recognize Jacob for the person who he really was, the hairiness of his wrists making him inclined to think him Esau, so he made ready to bless him, the act being anticipated by the author.

This bold answer settled the doubts of Isaac to such an extent that he was ready for the meal.

Thus Jacob gained his first step.

It was the kiss of the father which was to introduce the blessing.

This was the strategy of Rebekah had placed on him, since their odor was that of the fields and of the chase.

Isaac’s blessing consisted of inspired utterances looking into the future and transmitting the special blessing of the Lord to Jacob.

These were temporal gifts, of great importance in the country which Jacob and his children were to possess. The quantity of the dew, especially during the dry season, determined the fruitfulness of the land. The fat, productive fields of the earth were to be his, the result being a rich yield of grain and new wine.

This part of the blessing describes the position of influence and power which the descendants of Jacob were to occupy. Not only over his brethren, over the people of his own race, including the children of his brother, he was to be lord, but also over strange people and nations. The idea of a world dominion is thus brought out, culminating in the promise that men would be judged according to their attitude toward him and his descendants. Thus the blessing looks forward to the Messiah, the touchstone of the ages, for to this day the right answer to the question: What think ye of Christ? decides the fate of every person in the world.

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Verses 30-40

Esau returns and receives the younger son’s blessing

It was just as Isaac had finished his blessing upon Jacob and the latter had just barely stepped out of the room that Esau returned from the chase.

Esau, for once, was serious, and therefore lost no time in preparing the game which he had shot and taking it in to his father, with the humble request for the promised blessing.

Esau’s simple statement, so obviously the truth, caused the greatest agitation in Isaac’s manner; literally, he trembled a great trembling very exceedingly, and then broke out into various questions as to the identity of the person who had so cleverly obtained the chief blessing from him. But even before Isaac pronounces the name of Jacob, he must state that the blessing of the Lord will remain with him. It was not for him to withdraw the blessing which was in fact that of the Lord, and Isaac now realized that his fleshly preference for Esau could not be defended in the sight of God. No matter in what manner the blessing had been obtained, God had guided the affair so that Jacob now actually was the bearer of the patriarchal succession.

He now realized, when it was too late, what he had lost, what he had formerly foolishly despised. His words seem to indicate that he thought the blessing could still be divided.

That was the human side of the happening, the deception, the error and sin which had crept into the business.

Jacob means “heel-catcher”, “supplanter”. Esau was now in a state of mind which prevented his proper repentance, for there was no excuse for his selling his birthright. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? Just as though Isaac was able to set aside such blessings at will.

This was an attempt to explain the situation to Esau, to make it clear to him that there was only one patriarchal blessing, which included both the promise of the land of Canaan in its most fruitful form and the special lordship with its culmination in the person of the Messiah.

It is to this scene that Hebrews 12:17 refers, for Esau could not persuade his father to reconsider his decision, although he made the effort with tears. His were in this case not tears of true repentance over his sin, but merely of bitterness over the result of his folly. This fact Isaac now understood.

Of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven would Esau’s dwelling-place be, that is, away from the fruitful and fat fields of Canaan. There are some fertile valleys in the northeastern part of Idumea, where Esau and his descendants lived, but the greater part of Idumea is one of the dreariest and most sterile deserts in the world.

War, pillage, and robbery being almost necessary in the barren land which would be his habitation.

History shows that this prophecy was fulfilled. “Edom was at first strong and independent as compared to Israel, slower in its development (Numbers 20:14). Saul first fought against it victoriously (1 Samuel 14:47); David conquered it (2 Samuel 8:14). Then followed a conspiracy under Solomon (1 Kings 11:14), whilst there was an actual defection under Joram. On the other hand, the Edomites were again subjected by Amaziah (2 Kings 14:7; 2 Chronicles 25:11) and remained dependent under Uzziah and Jotham (2 Kings 14:22; 2 Chronicles 26:2). But under Ahaz they liberated themselves entirely from Judah (2 Kings 16:6; 2 Chronicles 28:17). Finally, however, John Hyrcanus subdued them completely, and incorporated them into the Jewish state and people, whilst the Jews themselves, however, after Antipater, became subject to the dominion of an Idumean dynasty, until the downfall of their state.”

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Verses 41-46

Esau’s hatred of Jacob

Having failed in his attempt to change his father’s mind in the matter of the patriarchal blessing, the hatred of Esau turned against Jacob, and he planned to revenge himself by murdering his brother. During the lifetime of his father he did not want to execute this threat, in order not to grieve Isaac. But after the death of Isaac, which seemed to be near, and after the days of mourning for his father, he would have no more scruples in carrying out his design.

So Esau, in carrying out his purpose of revenge, planned to get satisfaction for himself; he thought he would feel better after having murdered his brother.

Rebekah tries to encourage Jacob and to comfort herself by intimating that it would be a matter of only a few days, of a very short time, until the wrath and anger of Esau would die down and be forgotten.

If Jacob should be murdered, the avenger of blood would be set on Esau’s tracks, and he also would thus be lost to his mother. Cp. Genesis 9:6; 2 Samuel 14:6.

The wives of Esau were a bitterness of spirit not only to Rebekah, but also to Isaac, Genesis 26:35, and therefore the mention of this unbearable condition at this time was intended to pave the way for her plan of having Jacob sent to Mesopotamia, out of harm’s way. That the children of God are persecuted by the children of the world is a common experience, but God holds His sheltering and protecting hand over those that are His.

Jacob’s flight and dream

Verses 1-9

Jacob dismissed in peace

What Rebekah had planned came to pass; Isaac saw the point of her objection and took the hint given in her words. Isaac formally called Jacob, welcomed him with all kindness, and then gave him the definite command not to marry a Canaanitish woman.

There was evidently some, at least occasional, communication between the two families of relatives, since Isaac knew of the daughters of Laban.

The words of Isaac unmistakably point to the fact that he now openly recognized Jacob as the chosen heir. The consciousness of his patriarchal calling was awakened in him, and he had the strength to give the blessing of Abraham, which included the Messianic promise, to the son whom he would have rejected, but whom God had chosen.

Bethuel had by this time either died or was no longer actively engaged in business, therefore Laban, Jacob’s uncle, is spoken of as the head of the household.

thus openly acknowledging him as the bearer of the patriarchal blessing.

The daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac, literally, they were evil in his eyes.

Then went Esau unto Ishmael, that is, to the house of Ishmael, the father himself having been dead more than twelve years, and took unto, in addition to, the wives which he had Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. This woman, Genesis 36:2, is called Bashemath, and she was called the sister of Nebajoth, because he was her oldest brother. Esau probably intended to regain the full regard of his father by this act, since this third wife was a descendant of Abraham, but merely betrayed his utter lack of understanding, so far as the relation of the patriarchs to the prophecies of the Lord with regard to the possession of this land was concerned, for Ishmael and his children were not to be heirs with the son of Sarah.

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Verses 10-15

Jacob’s dream at Bethel

He apparently struck this place by chance, although it was a matter of God’s guidance.

The place where this occurred is designated even here in such a manner as to draw attention to its later importance.

This was a wonderful revelation of God, together with a confirmation of the Messianic promise given through the mouth of Isaac. The entire picture shows the uninterrupted communication, the intimate communion between God and the believers on earth. The angels of God accompany the believers and protect them in all their ways, and represent them in their difficulties and tribulations, bringing God’s help and protection down from heaven in return. The ladder stood on the earth, where Jacob lay, apparently all alone and forsaken, with not a foot of ground to call his own, but at its top stood the almighty God, whose promises never fail. It was in one of his first speeches that Jesus referred to this vision of Jacob, John 1:51. In the person of Jesus Christ heaven and earth, God and man, are united in a singular and most marvelous manner, and through Christ, the incarnate Son of God, we enter into communion with God.

In addition to the Messianic promise, which ever afterward was the greatest comfort of Jacob, just as it is the hope of all believers, the Lord gave him an assurance concerning his own personal welfare on his journeys. Jacob was able to rely upon the definite, infallible fulfilment of the Lord’s promises, which are just as certain to-day as they were then and therefore require the same unquestioning acceptance.

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Verses 16-22

Jacob’s vow

The presence of God was in this place, remote as it was from the spot where the true worship of God was fostered, namely, in his father’s house, and he had had no knowledge of it. Jehovah in His merciful grace was near to him, surrounded him even at this distance from his home with His kindness.

He was afraid, filled with reverent awe.

Cp. Exodus 3:5. The associations of this place would ever afterward fill his mind with that holy fear and reverence which sinful creatures are bound to feel in the presence of God.

Where God reveals Himself, whether in a vision or in His Word, there is the place of His habitation, there His grace opens heaven itself to the sinner seeking only His mercy.

He thus observed the usual ceremonies of consecration in setting apart this spot as one hallowed by the appearance of the Lord and setting up the stone which had served as his head-rest as an earnest of the sanctuary to be erected there in the future.

The name Luz was used by the Canaanites to designate both the city and the surrounding country, but the children of Israel, after the conquest, named the district Bethel, after the name that it bore since this happening.

It was not a condition which Jacob here expressed, but a thankful acknowledgment of the divine assurance. By this vow Jacob accepted the promise of the Lord and declared what, in his estimation, was included in it. He had a definite event before his eyes, for the stone which at present served only as a reminder of the miraculous vision, would be replaced by a monument of the presence and dwelling of God with His people, and of the gifts of God which would come to him as a result of that promise he herewith dedicated the tenth part to the Lord in return. That is the proper form of trust in God, to accept His promises in simple faith, and to worship and serve Him in turn.

Jacob’s marriage

Verses 1-8

Jacob arrives in Mesopotamia

Jacob went on his journey, literally, he lifted up his feet, that is, he continued on his trip cheerfully, and came into the land of the people of the East, to Mesopotamia beyond the Euphrates, which lay to the northeast from Canaan. This journey differed somewhat from that of Eliezer, almost a hundred years before, since Jacob, now seventy-seven years old, made the entire distance afoot.

Knowing that he must be near his destination, Jacob took more careful note of his surroundings and saw this well, or cistern, in the field, with a great stone covering its opening.

Thither were all the flocks gathered, there they were driven at stated times during the day; and they, the shepherds, rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well’s mouth in his place. Water was apparently not too plentiful in the neighborhood, and it was necessary to use the greatest care in keeping the available supply pure.

The son of Nahor in the wider sense, for Laban was the grandson of Nahor.

Is he well? “Is there peace to him?” And they said, He is well; and, behold, Rachel, his daughter, cometh, is even now coming.

He assumed that the shepherds would immediately afterwards take them to the enclosure or corral for the night.

This was not an undue assumption of authority on the part of Jacob, but merely a scheme to remove the shepherds, for naturally he would have preferred to meet his cousin, whom he even now regarded as a probable wife, alone, and not in the presence of the slaves.

Ordinarily, therefore, it took two or more men to roll the stone away from the opening of the cistern, and they had received orders to come together at a stated time, lest there be delay and trouble in the care of the flocks.

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Verses 9-14

Jacob meets Rachel

Rachel was a shepherdess of her father, just as the virgin daughters of the Arabians are to this day.

The joy which Jacob felt in reaching his destination in safety after his long, lonely, and dangerous journey through the desert and his delight in meeting his cousin so soon, gave him unusual, heroic strength.

His age and relationship made such an intimate greeting altogether proper, and even now bridal affection may have arisen in his heart, for that was one of the purposes of his journey, to take one of the daughters of Laban for his wife.

Her father’s brother, in the wider sense, that of a close relative.

Rachel was now, in turn, overjoyed, a fact which caused her to seek her father with all haste.

Laban thus offered him a hearty welcome, and Jacob told all that was necessary to explain his journey.

He was satisfied with the account as given by Jacob, for it proved conclusively that the latter was his nephew.

Thus he became acquainted both with the family and with the circumstances of the family. Thus the Lord had guided the steps of Jacob, just as He watches over the steps of all His children on earth. In spite of many hardships and privations they usually manage to find a home and friends, the Lord thus giving evidence of His fatherly care.

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Verses 15-20

Jacob serves Laban for Rachel

Jacob had not been idle during the month after his arrival, but had shown himself so willing and so skilful that Laban was glad to take him into his employ, if they could agree upon terms.

That Jacob would eventually press his suit for one of these Laban knew, and his offer served to pave the way.

Leah was tender-eyed, that is, her eyes were weak and dull, she was no beauty in the sense of the Orient; but Rachel was beautiful and well favored, she had beauty of form and beauty of face, her eyes especially showing a brightness and luster which is regarded so highly in the East.

This service taking the place of the customary dowry and the presents given to the relatives.

Laban acted with assumed indifference, for his selfishness and covetousness expected great gain for himself by this arrangement.

In comparison with the prize which was held out to him at the end of the seven years, all the hardships of the service seemed insignificant. His love for Rachel made him cheerful and joyful, even while he longed for the end of the seven years.

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Verses 21-30

Jacob marries Leah and Rachel

Jacob said unto Laban, at the end of the seven years, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. Note that he calls Rachel his wife, although only engaged to her, for a rightful betrothal is as binding as marriage in the sight of God.

He arranged the customary marriage-festival, making it as splendid as his wealth allowed.

This deception on Laban’s part could be carried out all the more easily, since custom required that the bride be heavily veiled when led to the bridegroom and to the bridal chamber.

This fact is here expressly mentioned on account of later developments.

While the fraud which was practised upon Jacob may, in a sense, be regarded as a just punishment, his reproof of Laban was nevertheless fully justified, and he might well, according to the contract, have dismissed Leah.

Granted that this was an established custom in the place, or district, where Laban was living, his excuse was still a flimsy pretext, for his business would have been to acquaint Jacob with that custom at the time the contract was made. His selfish motives, especially his avarice, here came to the surface, even as it was in evidence more and more in the succeeding years.

The nuptial feast lasting seven days, Jacob was to confirm his marriage with Leah by accepting her as his wife during this time. In the second week he was then given Rachel as his wife, with the understanding that he would serve another seven years for her, thus really paying a greater price than he owed.

On either side, sinful weaknesses had played a rôle, and therefore Jacob’s married life in more than one instance became a school of afflictions.

This fact is also expressly stated on account of later developments.

That bigamy, polygamy, is a perversion of God’s original order, since marriage is to be a monogamy, the union of one man and one woman, appears even here, for it was impossible for Jacob to distribute his affections with impartiality. In spite of the fact, therefore, that the blessing of God upon Abraham made use also of these means to make of the descendants of Abraham a great nation, it is clear, nevertheless, that much of the subsequent trouble was due to this unnatural arrangement.

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Verses 31-35

The first sons of Leah

When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, that is, that she was loved less than Rachel, he opened her womb and thus prepared her for bearing children, which are His blessing. But Rachel was barren, also by God’s dispensation.

Reuben means “behold, a son”!

Since children were so particularly desirable at the time of the patriarchs, Leah, whose love for Jacob was so deep and strong that she had even consented to Laban’s deception, hoped to have her husband’s affection turn to her also.

Simeon means “hearing”. God had heard her prayer for another son, and she believed this to be a guarantee that her husband would eventually love her also.

Levi means “attachment”. From her earlier hope of gaining the full love of her husband and of being on an equality with Rachel before him she now drew back to the hope that he would at least remain attached to her in constant affection.

Judah means “praise of God”, “one for whom one praises God”. Leah now turned entirely away from herself to Jehovah, who now also stopped her bearing for a time, lest she begin to trust in herself. The lesson that all good gifts come down from God and are given by His merciful goodness cannot be learned too well.

The children and the increasing wealth of Jacob

Verses 1-13

The sons of Bilhah and Zilpah

Barrenness was considered a special punishment and curse of God in the Old Testament, especially in the families of the patriarchs, in whose case the longing for the Messiah intensified the desire for children. Rachel, therefore, seeing her sister Leah bearing one son after the other, was filled with envy and impatience, believing, apparently, that all her prayers for offspring were vain. That explains her outburst of temper, which caused her to state that she would die from dejection and grief unless Jacob would manage to bring her children.

The stern reproof of Jacob was fully deserved by Rachel: In the place of God am I supposed to be, who has denied thee children? He was powerless so far as his own strength was concerned, and probably, together with Rachel, did not make a sufficient use of prayer as a power to storm the heart of God.

This was not the manner of faith, but the expedient of the flesh: the children of Rachel’s slave would belong to her mistress, all the more so if Jacob, at Rachel’s suggestion, was the father.

His own condition of mind with regard to his favorite wife’s barrenness and his advancing age, since he was now almost ninety years old, caused Jacob to agree to his wife’s plan.

Dan means “judge”. So Rachel considered the situation as a quarrel between herself and her sister, in which God had now put aside the injustice in giving her a son by proxy.

Naphtali means “one obtained by wrestling”. In the struggle between herself and Leah, yea, between herself and God, Rachel had succeeded in obtaining also this son. Her words indicate her longing to share in the patriarchal blessing, although there is still a measure of self-will in her statement.

Thus Leah followed the example of her sister. The matter was now actually becoming a carnal struggle.

Gad means “good fortune”. She considered the birth of this son a fortunate event to herself.

Asher means “the happy one”. She believed that daughters, women, no matter where they might be, would consider her fortunate and happy in having brought her husband six sons. It seems that the Lord’s blessing did not enter into Leah’s calculations at this time. It was simply a race between herself and Rachel.

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Verses 14-21

The last children of Leah

Little Reuben, at that time about four or five years old, found the berries of the mandrake in the field. These berries are yellow, strong, but sweet-smelling, about the size of a nutmeg, and were generally believed to promote fruitfulness and to take the place of a love-potion.

This shows to what point the mutual jealousy of the two women had grown, in placing their trust even in such supposed remedies.

Thus Leah was smarting under the sense of being unloved or merely suffered as a wife: Is a small matter thy taking of my husband?

So these were the conditions of the trade: Rachel was to have the mandrakes, and she, in return, yielded Jacob to Leah for this one time.

So Leah insisted upon her bargain.

So it was not the natural remedy of the mandrakes which produced fruitfulness, but the blessing of the Lord, the God of creation.

Issachar means “he who brings reward”. She believed this son to be the reward of God for her having yielded her servant to her husband.

Zebulun means “dwelling”. Although this detailed account of the most intimate relations between Jacob and his wives shows the weakness and sinfulness of their natures, yet it was not mere carnal desire and jealousy that filled their hearts, but they always had in mind, more or less distinctly, the Messianic promise and its significance.

Dinah is mentioned here on account of her later history, Genesis 34.

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Verses 22-24

The birth of Joseph

It seems, then, that when all her schemes and stratagems failed, she turned to God in fervent and patient prayer, and that the Lord, in answer, removed her barrenness.

Joseph means “he shall add”. In taking away from Rachel the reproach of her unfruitfulness, the Lord had added to her the hope that He would add a second son. This wish was later fulfilled, Genesis 35:16-18. It is undoubtedly correct to assume, from the subsequent story, that the eleven children of Jacob, from Reuben to Joseph, were born in the seven years after his marriage, not exactly in a chronological succession as narrated, but so that Leah gave birth to her four sons during the first four years. Dan and Naphtali were probably likewise born during this period, the children of Zilpah immediately after, Leah herself again becoming a mother in the sixth and seventh years, and Joseph being born about the end of the seventh year, when Jacob was ninety-one years old. The entire story shows that the fear of the Lord makes for true happiness in the home, for believers rely upon the Lord for all good gifts and gratefully receive them at His hands.

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Verses 25-36

The contract between Laban and Jacob

The fourteen years of Jacob’s service had now come to a close, and, since he did not consider Mesopotamia his home, but a strange country, he longed to go back to his own land, to Canaan. Therefore he asked for his dismissal.

Laban had to concede the faithfulness of Jacob in all his work, particularly since he had, till now, had all the better of the bargain.

Laban couched his request in the most careful language, although he had only selfish motives in asking Jacob to stay.

He appears to yield unconditionally to any demand which Jacob might make, but he was really calculating upon Jacob’s willingness and humility.

The blessing of Jehovah had, literally, followed Jacob’s feet.

There was really a strong hint in these words, telling Laban that he would do well to set him up in the cattle business for himself. But Laban repeated his question.

It was now cunning against cunning, for Jacob declined to trust himself to the generosity of Laban, having learned to read the character of his uncle aright.

The terms of this contract were based upon the fact that the goats in the Orient are usually black or dark-brown, seldom white or speckled with white, the sheep on the contrary usually white, seldom black or speckled. The proposition, therefore, seemed to be very one-sided in favor of Laban.

If Laban should at any time find in his flocks such animals as did not measure up to this description, he was at liberty to accuse Jacob of theft.

He was fully satisfied with a plan which promised to be all in his favor.

Laban took every precaution that he could think of, personally supervising the elimination of all the dark and spotted among the sheep and the light and spotted among the goats.

By putting his own sons in charge of his flocks and by placing such a great distance between the two sets of flocks, Laban thought he had effectually curbed Jacob’s ambition. His entire conduct was that of a selfish, covetous man, who made use of every possible means to reduce Jacob’s wages.

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Verses 37-43

Jacob’s great wealth

Since the bark of the Oriental gum, the almond or walnut, and the maple is dark, while all of them have a white, dazzling wood, they lent themselves very well for this purpose.

The impression which the animals at the time of conception were thus to receive was to be so sudden, deep, and lasting that it would affect the color of their offspring.

The flocks conceived before the rods, while they had their picture before them, and brought forth cattle ring-straked (banded), speckled, and spotted. Jacob’s scheme worked beautifully, causing his flocks to increase very rapidly.

By this second device the black goats and the white sheep were always kept by themselves, nothing in their own herd exciting their attention, whereas the herds of spotted and speckled animals in plain view were bound to make an impression upon the animals at the time of breeding.

Among the rods, in the very midst of the pilled staves. This was in the spring, for the lambs and kids born in the fall were considered the stronger and better.

When the cattle were feeble, in the late fall, when the pasturage was no longer so good, he put them not in; so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. Thus Jacob, with the blessing of God, Genesis 31:12, succeeded in obtaining some of the wages which were so richly due him for his many years of faithful service. He used all his business sagacity in beating his covetous uncle at his own game, but incidentally kept his word not to appropriate so much as one animal that did not belong to him.

All this he acquired, with the blessing of God, in the next six years. Without the blessing of God all wealth is a curse.

Jacob leaves Mesopotamia

Verses 1-16

The plan to flee

That was the voice of envy, which begrudged Jacob the obvious blessing of God, incidentally revealing a very ugly suspicion, as is customary in such cases.

Laban no longer concealed his selfishness and covetousness, with the resulting ill will against Jacob.

Canaan was the land of Jacob’s fathers, Genesis 17:8; Genesis 26:3; there lived his nearest relatives. The Lord therefore not only bade him return, but also assured him of His protection.

Yesterday and the day before, in the first years of Jacob’s service, the gain which Jacob brought him had caused Laban to be kind enough, but now envy had taken possession of his heart also, together with covetousness.

The God whom Isaac, his father, had worshiped, who had revealed Himself in mercy and with the promise of His blessing upon Jacob.

As Jacob had emphasized his faithfulness over against Laban, Genesis 30:30-33, so he could truthfully point to it in the presence of Laban’s daughters, his wives.

This puts another ugly blot upon Laban’s character, for as the contract was made, Genesis 30:34, no changes were looked for. Yet Laban had frequently and in an arbitrary manner altered its provisions in favor of himself.

God suffered Laban not to hurt Jacob, neither in body nor in goods.

When Laban noted that his cattle were bearing in favor of Jacob, according to the original contract, he changed the stipulation from time to time, making it ever more difficult for Jacob to gain, since the provisions were narrowed more with every new agreement.

Jacob thus confesses and acknowledges with thankfulness that it was the Lord who had watched over his interests, turned the evil intention in his favor, and multiplied that part of the flock which was set apart for his wages.

It was, accordingly, the dispensation of God which had governed the increase of Jacob’s flocks, without which even the keenest business sagacity would have availed him nothing.

This is again the Angel of the Lord in a special sense, Jehovah, the Son of God, as He often revealed Himself to His children in the Old Testament.

Apparently Jacob had had a number of visions in the course of the six years, the Lord indicating to him that He was looking out for his interests, but the climax had come in the recent dream.

The Angel of the Lord was identical with the God of Bethel, with the God who revealed Himself at Bethel as exalted above the angels. Jacob had confessed his faith in the true God both by consecrating the place at Bethel and by making his earnest vow.

Jacob thus urged not only the envy and injustice of Laban, but the direct command of God as well, for their immediate flight.

Laban’s treatment of his daughters made it appear that he was glad to get rid of them.

Laban’s conduct toward his daughters made it seem that he considered them sold to Jacob for the fourteen years’ service. And not only that, but the very price, the very money that their services were worth to him, he retained for himself; he devoured their very substance, wherein they received no share.

Laban is an example of a covetous, hard-hearted, and tyrannical man, who has only his own advantage in mind and considers no one else’s rights. It is from people of this stamp that pious, faithful men are obliged to endure much suffering. But God watches over His children and will permit no harm to strike them without His permission.

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Verses 17-24

Jacob flees and is pursued by Laban

Jacob’s plans had evidently been laid and all arrangements made with great care even before he summoned his wives for the conference which decided in favor of immediate flight. The text repeatedly emphasizes the fact that all the wealth in cattle and goods which Jacob had collected and took along with him on his flight was such as he had honestly gotten.

The fact that Laban, with his sons, was keeping the feast of sheep-shearing, which lasted several days, gave Jacob the opportunity which he had sought, for Laban would never have permitted him to go in peace. There is no wrong in fleeing from a tyrant and seeking a place where one may live in peace and security and tend to the works of his calling without interference. That Rachel, although a believer in the true God, stole the images, the small household gods of her father, probably because she feared that Laban might consult them as oracles, shows that she was not yet entirely free from heathen superstition.

Jacob took the opportunity to remove himself and his goods without the knowledge of Laban, 2 Samuel 15:6, neither was the fact told to the older man.

He forded the Euphrates, and then turned directly southwest toward Mount Gilead, on the farther side of the Jarmuk River, southeast of the Sea of Galilee.

Jacob had a start of three days, but he was hampered by his large herds, whereas Laban, with his tribesmen, could travel very rapidly. Still Jacob had made excellent time in the ten days of his journey.

Literally, Laban should, in speaking to Jacob, not pass from good to bad, from a hasty greeting of his daughters and their children to reproaches and other indications of anger. The power of the enemies of God, so far as His children are concerned, is limited by God’s permission.

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Verses 25-35

Laban scolds Jacob

So Jacob had gone into camp on the height of the mountain range of which Mount Gilead was the highest peak, and Laban, in overtaking him with his kinsmen, also pitched his tent.

Laban believed that he would make the greatest impression upon Jacob by feigning outraged fatherly love and acted accordingly, accusing him of leading his daughters off like captives of war, against their will.

In his passionate reproach Laban heaps the expressions which are intended to make Jacob appear as a low sneak, whereas he intimates that his own generosity would not have failed to provide an appropriate farewell festival, with joy and with songs, with drum, or tabret, and with zither.

The entire behavior of Jacob is here labeled downright folly by Laban.

The band which Laban had brought along was indeed large enough to inflict severe harm upon Jacob, and it was only the fear of God’s punishment which deterred him from following his inclination. At this point the animosity of Laban evidently caused him to forget all prudence and to betray his bitterness and his real intention.

Laban means to say that there is some explanation for Jacob’s leaving, even if it was done in secret, but no excuse could be found for the stealing of his gods, of which he now accuses Jacob outright.

That was answering the first question of Laban, as to why Jacob had left Mesopotamia in the manner he did, and it did not reveal the most flattering opinion of Laban. And so far as the accusation was concerned:

The statement shows the emphasis with which Jacob resented the suspicion of thieving which was raised against him. He boldly invited Laban to institute a search in the presence of their kinsmen and declares that the person with whom the images should be found had merited death.

So sure was Laban of his ground that he made his search very thorough. There is an irony in the fact that the idolater searches for his gods and cannot find them.

Rachel put the images under the large saddle with its heavy hangings and deep basket, and sat upon them.

He went over everything in the tent very thoroughly, not only peering around, but even feeling with his hands.

Whether this was actually true or not, she proved herself a worthy daughter of a cunning father, for the ruse served to keep Laban from looking under the saddle which Rachel was using as a couch. At a later period this matter was regulated by law, Leviticus 15:19 ff. Thus the Lord did not permit Jacob, who knew nothing of Rachel’s trick, to be put to shame.

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Verses 36-42

Jacob rebukes Laban

The advantage was now entirely on Jacob’s side, and he lost no time in making use of it, but called Laban to account for his attitude as well as for all his misdeeds, also in coming after him in such a high-handed way.

That the search, undertaken upon suspicion which amounted to a certainty, had yielded absolutely no results made Laban appear foolish in the eyes of both parties.

Rather than go to Laban with a detailed report concerning every loss in the flocks, Jacob voluntarily filled all gaps.

In the Orient, the intense cold of the night corresponds to the burning heat of the day, just as in the Southwest of our country.

As one commentator says: “The strong feeling and the lofty self-consciousness which utter themselves in his speech impart to it a rhythmical movement and poetic forms.”

The fear of Isaac, that is, the God whom Isaac feared, the object of his reverence or veneration, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty.

The service of Jacob in the house of Laban is an example of true faithfulness, which is here throughout contrasted with the selfishness of the older man. A true believer will be diligent, faithful, conscientious, careful not to neglect or to waste aught of the goods entrusted to him, anxious to serve God and his neighbor with the work of his hands.

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Verses 43-55

The covenant on Mount Gilead

Although Laban still speaks with an unwarranted boastfulness, referring to his superior power and assuming rights which he no longer possessed, yet his words also show that Jacob’s rebuke has had its effect. He realizes that any attempt against the life or well-being of Jacob would hurt also his children and grandchildren. At the same time the fear arises in him that Jacob might some day return to Mesopotamia at the head of a mighty band and avenge his wrong.

This proposal was largely an outgrowth of selfishness, but it served the purpose.

Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar, this stone being the monument of the settlement, of the peaceful separation, to which he assented.

Jacob said unto his kinsmen that had come with Laban, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made an heap; and they did eat there upon the heap, which designated the friendly communion.

Both names, the first Chaldean, the other Hebrew, signifying the same: Heap of testimony, or witness.

Mizpah, another name, which was later applied to the location on account of another remark by Laban; for he said, The Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another. Mizpah, or Mizpeh, means watch-tower, for Jehovah was called upon to be the watchman, to watch carefully that all the terms of the agreement should be observed.

The Lord, knowing what the stipulation included, would watch that none of its terms be violated.

If either one should ever have thoughts of vengeance, his way into the country of the other would lead past this place, and the monument of stones would serve to remind him of the covenant.

The God of their father, that is, the God of Terah. Laban, the idolater, is rather indefinite in naming his god, though he tries to find common ground.

Jacob sware by the God whom his father, Isaac, worshiped and whom he knew to be the only true God.

Jacob killed animals for an offering to the true God.

Thus they sealead the covenant with a common meal.

Thus Laban took leave of them in a very tender manner, a contrast to his former harshness.

From the story of this covenant we learn that the believers, so far as it is possible without denying the truth, will try to have peace with all men, even with the unbelievers, which does not change the fact, however, that there is constant warfare on their part against sin.

Jacob at Mahanaim and Peniel

Verses 1-8

The messengers to Esau

Their protection had shielded him on Mount Gilead, and the meeting with them at this time gave him the assurance of their further assistance.

Mahanaim means “double host”. He thus commemorated in the name of the place where he was shown this vision the fact that the army of the Lord joined his own little band for the sake of protection. The camp of the angels may have been invisible to all eyes but his own, but he had received his encouragement nevertheless, and went his way with greater cheer.

As Esau’s family grew, he gradually loosened the bonds which tied him to the home of his parents, since he felt that he really had no part in the patriarchal blessing. He made the wilderness of Zin, with Mount Hor, his home, the level portion of which was known as the fields of Seir.

This message with its humble, almost abject submissiveness was intended to conciliate Esau; it was purposely held like the report of a subordinate to his superior officer, otherwise the details may well have been omitted.

The return of Jacob’s messengers without a friendly greeting was intended by Esau to make an ominous impression. As a princely sheik of the desert he came with his retainers, his sons, his servants, and other adherents, with whose aid he was gradually driving out the Horites from the land of Seir. If nothing else, Esau wanted to have his brother feel his superior power, for this he valued more highly than the promise of a religious dominion in the dim and distant future.

Rebekah, who had not been informed as to a change of mind in Esau, had not called her favorite son back, nor had Esau given any sign that he would now easily be reconciled. Even the believers still have their weak flesh to contend with, and this is very easily discouraged.

This division of the entire caravan into two companies was a precaution intended to save at least one half of his possessions. It shows that Jacob, although in an advanced state of panic, had not lost his natural cunning, overhasty and impatient though it was. The actual experience of danger often causes even firm Christians to forget their simple trust in the Lord’s almighty power for a while.

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Verses 9-12

Jacob’s prayer

This was the proper reaction from the abject fear and panic with which Jacob had been suffering, carrying the matter to the true God in humble prayer. His prayer had the proper form, for he reminded God of His promises, at the same time declaring his own unworthiness so far as all the mercies and all the truth of the Lord were concerned, for his entire possessions twenty years before, when he crossed the Jordan near this point, had consisted of a staff, and now there were two bands of animals and of servants whom he was taking back to his home country.

Upon the children, since a mother will protect her children against the enemy with her body. The situation was so serious in the eyes of Jacob that he utterly despaired of all human help.

Because an attack such as was now threatening him would tend to defeat the divine promise in the patriarchal blessing, therefore Jacob once more reminded the Lord of this promise, Genesis 28:14. Faith clings to the divine promises, and he that prays properly always refers the Lord to His own Word with its many assurances of mercy, blessing, help, and assistance.

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Verses 13-23

The presents to Esau

The prayer had calmed the excited mind of Jacob to such an extent that he now took measures, not to flee, but to meet Esau, and to overcome him with love. The selection and the apportionment of the animals showed Jacob’s experience in cattle-raising, just as the arrangement of each small caravan indicated his wisdom, for he placed the smallest and least valuable animals first, and the more valuable in the rear.

There was literally a breathing space between the various small bands as they traveled along, just enough room to make a new impression every time, and thus to increase the force, the effect of the offered present.

The careful instruction of each servant as to the form of homage which he was to show to Esau, the repetition of the formula which called Jacob a servant and Esau lord, together with the offering of the presents all these were calculated to overcome Esau’s anger gradually.

It was the cumulative effect of the atoning presents that Jacob counted on to make the impression on Esau, the humble mention of the servant Jacob being very effective as the climax.

Jacob called his presents gifts of atonement, for they were intended to cover the face of Esau so that he would no longer see the offense which Jacob had committed against him. Esau’s mind being taken up by the presents, he would no longer think of Jacob’s guilt, but would lift up his face in kindness and receive him with his favor.

Night travel was nothing unusual in the East, so Jacob sent the small bands of presents off to the south at once, probably before nightfall, while he himself remained in camp for a while.

Jacob’s anxiety did not permit him to rest very long. Before the night had advanced very far, he took the members of his family and transferred them to the south side of the Jabbok, at the ford which is about eighteen miles from the Jordan.

So the tents were struck, and the entire caravan was on its way toward the south. Thus Jacob had made all the necessary arrangements, had done what he could to appease his brother, and could await the outcome of his plans with a more confident heart. It is nothing but a matter of simple wisdom to agree with adversaries as soon as possible, to offer them the hand of reconciliation, to appease them with kindness.

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Verses 24-32

The struggle at Peniel

They wrestled until the morning dawned and its brightness arose in the eastern sky. Jacob, having crossed first with his family, returned and sent over his herds in charge of the servants, while he himself remained on the north side of the brook. Suddenly there came upon him a nameless man, and the two engaged in a fierce wrestling-match.

When the unknown man found that he could not overcome the determined resistance of Jacob, He touched the hollow of his thigh, the socket of the hip-joint. And the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. His hip was sprained or paralyzed in consequence of the twisting in the struggle and the touch of the unknown man.

In spite of the sprained hip Jacob persevered in his struggle with the man, of whose identity he became surer every moment. It was the Lord Himself, in human form, who here assumed the rôle of an antagonist to Jacob, and for that reason Jacob insisted upon having His blessing before permitting Him to depart.

From the position of a mere Jacob, holder of the heel, in which capacity he had overcome his brother Esau, he was here advanced to that of Israel, God-wrestler, the captain, or prince, of God, because he had prevailed as a prince in his struggle with the Lord. Lord. Cp. Hosea 12:4-5.

Cp. Judges 13:18. It is not for sinful man to know every name of the great Lord of heaven; besides, the Lord had already indicated His name.

The Lord formally repeated the patriarchal blessing, Genesis 28:13-15, with its Messianic promise.

Peniel means “face of God”. It was not only a bodily struggle, but a spiritual wrestling as well which Jacob was obliged to endure. But he stood the test, he persevered until he had received the Lord’s blessing, until he saw the face of God turned to him in mercy, until his soul was healed of all its fear and terror.

Just as he passed over and away from the place of the night’s wrestling, the sun rose upon him, and with its rising the courage which now possessed his heart sent him forth cheerfully to meet his brother Esau. He had probably taken little notice of his injury in the course of the struggle, but now the sprain caused him to wince and to walk lame.

Thus even in later years the Israelites commemorated the wonderful struggle of their ancestor in setting aside this part of the hip of animals as consecrated to the Lord. Special revelations of God’s goodness and mercy deserve to be commemorated through the ages by those who have received the benefits following from such visitations.

The reconciliation of Esau with Jacob

Verses 1-7

Jacob’s meeting with Esau

Jacob had joined his caravan and continued his march. He no longer looked for the approach of Esau with anxious apprehension, but with cheerful expectation.

The division of the caravan was carefully planned. Jacob “himself, as the head of the family, as its protector and representative, takes the lead; then follow the handmaids with their children; then Leah with hers; and at last, Rachel with Joseph. This inverted order, by which the most loved came last, is not merely chosen from a careful and wise prudence, but at the same time the free expression of the place which they occupied in his affections.”

Jacob bowed himself to the ground seven times, in the Oriental manner, in which men stoop over forward until their forehead practically touches the ground, a sign of the deepest reverence, until he came near to his brother. The sixfold repetition of the deep obeisance was a form of humiliation which indicated that he wanted to atone fully for any offense against his brother Esau, that he was willing to show him the utmost reverence.

If Esau had still been cherishing his old grudge when he left his home, this was now fully overcome and removed by the humility of his brother. His brotherly feeling took hold of him at this point, and in a spontaneous outburst of affection he embraced him and kissed him, whereupon these two gray-headed men, separated for a score of years, are overcome with joy and burst into weeping. In this moment Esau became a different man, who willingly bowed himself under the will of the Lord and showed truly noble traits of character.

Jacob humbly expressed the gratitude of his heart in giving the Lord all honor for His blessings.

They all followed the example of Jacob in his humble behavior toward Esau, thus doing their share in gaining the heart of Esau for Jacob. It is noted particularly that Joseph came near before his mother; he seems to have run ahead in childlike trustfulness in order to meet his uncle first. Altogether, the scene is a fine illustration of the ideal painted by the psalmist: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,” Psalm 133:1.

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Verses 8-15

Jacob presses his gifts upon Esau

Jacob’s answer to Esau’s question as to the meaning of the train of small caravans which he had met is not an act of fawning servility, of cringing humility, but rather an expression by which he hoped to be restored fully to the favor of his brother, somewhat strongly accented, perhaps, after the Oriental manner.

The kindness and courtesy of Esau are now apparent throughout: he addresses Jacob with the tender “my brother,” he gently urges him to keep his unusually large gift, he states that he is provided with all that he needs.

Although colored by Oriental courtesy, the words of Jacob were altogether sincere. He had found favor in the sight of Esau, in the friendly face of his brother he saw again the evidence of God’s friendly watching over his life’s path, all of which filled him with an intense joy.

God’s favor and goodness had blessed Jacob so richly that he had all he needed and to spare. And he urged him, and he took it. Thus the new bond of friendliness and brotherliness was strengthened.

Here Esau offered to accompany Jacob’s caravan in the rôle of protector. This offer was a proof of the genuineness of his reconciliation; he was anxious to have the relation between himself and Jacob restored to the intimacy of their youth and early manhood.

Jacob hoped to visit Sier some day. The objections of Jacob to his brother’s plan were well founded and backed up by his experience in handling cattle for many years. His intention to travel only as fast as the feet of the cattle were able to progress was based upon the fact that a single day’s overdriving, with the attendant total exhaustion, would result in an entire loss.

So Jacob courteously, but firmly, refused even a small company of protecting Bedouins. There was no need of it, and therefore Jacob did not want to bother Esau nor put himself under heavy obligations to him. Jacob knew, for one thing, that the host of the Lord’s angels was with him. But he also did not want to become too intimate with the people of Esau, who undoubtedly did not all share their leader’s sentiments. Christians will try to live peaceably with all men, but they will always avoid an intimate union with such as are distinct from them in spiritual matters.

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Verses 16-20

Jacob returns to Canaan

Esau returned unto Seir, in the valley of Zin, south of the Dead Sea, the country which he had selected for his home.

Succoth means “booths”. Jacob, from the neighborhood of Peniel, turned toward the Jordan, where he built a more permanent encampment, by erecting a house for himself and sheds, or booths, for his cattle. This place probably remained one of his stations for his rapidly growing herds and flocks. Cp. Joshua 13:27; Judges 8:4-5.

After living at Succoth a number of years, until Dinah, his daughter, had become a young woman, during which time Jacob also made a visit to his aged father at Hebron and brought back the old nurse of his mother, Deborah, he finally entered Canaan proper with his family and at least some of his herds and flocks. He came into his home country in good health, as the Lord had promised him, and encamped before the city of Shechem, which the Hivite prince Hamor had built since the time of Abraham, calling it after the name of his son.

Jacob, trusting in the promises of the Lord and preparing for an even more permanent residence in Canaan than Abraham, bought a possession for himself during his lifetime. This piece of land, with the so-called Jacob’s well, is shown to this day at the southeast opening of the valley of Shechem. Jacob paid for this land one hundred pieces of money, the value of which can no longer be determined. Some scholars think that each piece of money was worth as much as a lamb, while others are of the opinion that there was money in those days which, in a crude manner, had the figure of a lamb stamped upon it.

Elelohe Israel means “God, the God of Israel”. That was Jacob’s confession after the many years of travel and sojourn in strange countries: The strong God is the God of Israel. He had experienced the mighty power of God in numerous instances, and was thankful for the days of peace and rest which he now enjoyed. For this reason also his worship, which he formally instituted at Shechem, consisted chiefly in proclaiming the name of this true God. In this all believers, who ever and again enjoy the rich blessings of the Lord in wonderful measure, will cheerfully imitate the aged patriarch.