성경 주석서

The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot [at him], and hated him:

The archers have sorely grieved him. — These were his barbarous brethren, that sold him; his adulterous mistress, that, harlot-like, hunted for his precious life; his injurious master, that, without any desert of his, imprisoned him; the tumultuating Egyptians, that, pined with hunger, perhaps, "spoke of stoning him," as 1 Samuel 30:6 ; and the envious courtiers and enchanters, that spoke evil of him before Pharaoh, to bring him out of favour, as the Jerusalemy Targum addeth. All these "arrow masters," as the Hebrew here hath it, set against Joseph, and shot at him as their butt-mark; willing to have abused him, but that God’s grace, providence, and unchangeable decree (called here Joseph’s "bow" and "strength," Genesis 49:24 ) would not permit them; as those cruel Turks did one John de Chabas, a Frenchman, at the taking of Tripolis in Barbary. They brought him into the town; and when they had cut off his hands and nose, put him alive into the ground, up to the waist, and there, for their pleasure, shot at him with their arrows, and afterwards cut his throat. Turk. Hist., fol. 756.

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But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty [God] of Jacob; (from thence [is] the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

But his bow abode in strength. — He "gave not place to them by subjection, no, not for an hour." Galatians 2:5 "If thou faint in adversity, thy strength is small," saith Solomon. Proverbs 24:10 Joseph did not; but, as it was said of old Rome, Roma cladibus animosior; and as of Mithridates, το φρονημα ην αυτω δει, καν ταις ρυμφοραις . - Plut. he never wanted courage or counsel, when he was at the worst; so neither did Joseph. Virtus lecythos habet in malis. The sound heart stands firm under greatest pressures. 2 Corinthians 1:9 ; 2 Corinthians 1:12 Whereas, if a bone be broke, or but the skin rubbed up and raw, the lighest load will be troublesome. Hang heavy weights upon rotten boughs, they presently break. But Joseph’s were green, and had sap.

By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. — It was said of Achilles, that he was Styge armatus; but Joseph was Deo forti armatus, and thence his safety. He used lfis bow against his adversaries, as David did his sling against Goliath. He slung, saith Bucholcer, perinde ac si fundae suae tunicis non lapillum, sed Deum ipsum induisset ac implicuisset, as if he had wrapped up God in his sling.

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[Even] by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

Who shall help thee. — God hath, God shall, - is an ordinary way of arguing; it is a demonstration of Scripture logic, as Psalms 85:1-4 2 Corinthians 1:10 . Every former favour is a pledge of a future.

With blessings of heaven above, … — God "shall hear the heaven, the heaven shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, wine, and oil": the genealogy of all which is resolved into God. Hosea 2:21-22

With blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. — Yet rather than "Ephraim shall bring forth children to the murderer," the prophet prays God to give them, as a blessing, as some think, "a miscarrying womb, and dry breasts." Hosea 9:13-14 And our Saviour saith, "Woe be to such as are with child, and give suck in those days" of war and trouble. Matthew 24:19

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The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Above the blessings of my progenitors. — Chiefly because Jacob pointed them out the particular tribe whereof, and the very time wherein, Shiloh should come. This mystery was made known to the Church, not all at once, but by degrees. Adam was told "the seed of the woman should break," …; but whether Jew or Gentile, he heard not a word. Abraham, the Hebrew, long after was certified that "in his seed all nations should be blessed"; but of what tribe Christ should come, till now, the world never heard. After this, David was made to know that Christ should be a male; but that he should be born of a virgin was not known till Isaiah’s time. Thus God crumbles his mercies to mankind; and we have his blessings by retail, saith one, to maintain trading and communion betwixt him and us. So the cloud empties not itself at a sudden burst, but dissolves upon the earth, drop after drop.

Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. — "Spiritual blessings in heavenly things," Ephesians 1:3 whereof those temporals afore promised were but types and pledges. Whence David doubts not to argue from temporals to spirituals. Psalms 23:5-6 God in the Church’s infancy fed them and led them along by earthly to heavenly blessing, speaking unto them as they could hear.

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Benjamin shall ravin [as] a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf. — There are that think that this ought to be applied to St Paul the Benjamite; Sunt qui autumant hanc prophetiam Paulo applicari debere. - Bez., Annot. ad Acts 8:3 . who while he was Saul, not content to consent to St Stephen’s death, - though it be all one to hold the sack, and to fill it; to do evil, and to consent unto it, - "he made havoc of the Church," like a ravening wolf; "entering into houses also, and haling men and women to prison." Yea, he lies "breathing out threatenings and slaughter," Acts 9:1 panting and windless, as a tired wolf: and, having recovered himself, is marching toward Damascus for more prey, but, met by the chief Shepherd, of a wolf, he is made a lamb, Isaiah 11:6 not once opening his mouth, unless it were to crave direction; "What wilt thou have me to do Lord?" After which time, he never persecuted the saints so fast, as now he pursues and "presses" hard διωκω , Philippians 3:14 "toward the high prize"; and as mad every whit he is thought to be for Christ, as ever he was against him. 2 Corinthians 5:13 Acts 26:11 The Papists, some of them, have censured him for a hot-headed person, and said that there was no great reckoning to be made of his assertions. Is this blasphemy in the first or second table, say you? Porphyry, the philosopher, could say, that it was pity such a man as Paul was cast away upon our religion. And the monarch of Morocco told the English ambassador in King John’s time, that he had lately read Paul’s Epistles, which he liked so well, that were he now to choose his religion, he would, before any other, embrace Christianity. But every one ought, said he, to die in his own religion: and the leaving of the faith wherein he was born, was the only thing that he disliked in that apostle. Sandys’s Relation of West. Relig. Heyl., Geog., p. 714.

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All these [are] the twelve tribes of Israel: and this [is it] that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

Blessed them; every one according, … — These hard blessings, to some of them especially, hindered not the covenant. Still they were patriarchs, and heirs of the promises. Afflictions, how sharp soever, show us not to be castaways. If a man should be baited, and used as a dog or a bear, yet so long as he hath human shape and a reasonable soul, he will not believe he is either dog or bear. Let not crosses cause us to take up hard thoughts of God, or heavy thoughts of ourselves, as if out of his favour; but account it a mercy rather, that we may scape so; and be "judged" here "of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world." 1 Corinthians 11:32 Jacob is here said to have blessed all his sons. He rather seemed to curse some of them. And for his well-beloved Benjamin, Parum auspicata et honorifica videtur haec prophetia, saith Pareus. But because they were not rejected from being among God’s people, - as Ishmael and Esau were, for less faults perhaps, - though they were to undergo great and sore afflictions, they are said to be blessed, yea, and they shall be blessed, as Isaac said to his whining son, Esau.

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And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that [is] in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

I am to be gathered, … — That is, I am now going to heaven; whereof being so well assured, what wonder though he were so willing to die? "I know that my Redeemer liveth," saith Job; "I know whom I have trusted," saith Paul. And what shall become of my soul when I die, let him see to it, who laid down his life for it, saith Luther. Ipse viderit, ubi anima mea mansura sit qui pro ea sic sollicitus fuit, ut vitam pro ea posuerit. - Luth. Death may kill me, but cannot hurt me, said another. Occidere potest, laedere non potest. This assurance of heaven is, as Mr Latimer calls it, the deserts of the feast of a good conscience. There are other dainty dishes in this feast, but this is the banquet.

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In the cave that [is] in the field of Machpelah, which [is] before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah. — Mercer thinketh that this cave is here so copiously described by Jacob, lest, after so many years’ absence in Egypt, any of them should have forgotten it. As also, lest they should doubt or fear that any one would claim it from them, or not permit them quiet possession thereof.

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