Chú giải Kinh Thánh

“ Like sword-booty; ” i.e., like prisoners of war (2 Kings 6:22) carried away unwillingly and by force.

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ידי לאל ישׁ : “ there is to God my hand ” (Micah 2:1; cf. Deuteronomy 28:32; Nehemiah 5:5), i.e., my hand serves me as God (Habakkuk 1:11; Job 12:6), a proverbial expression for “the power lies in my hand.”

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“ And now thou art gone (for, if thou art gone), because thou longedst after thy father's house, why hast thou stolen my gods? ” The meaning is this: even if thy secret departure can be explained, thy stealing of my gods cannot.

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“ Except the God of my father...had been for me, surely thou wouldst now have sent me away empty. God has seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and last night He judged it.” By the warning given to Laban, God pronounced sentence upon the matter between Jacob and Laban, condemning the course which Laban had pursued, and still intended to pursue, towards Jacob; but not on that account sanctioning all that Jacob had done to increase his own possessions, still less confirming Jacob's assertion that the vision mentioned by Jacob (Genesis 31:11, Genesis 31:12) was a revelation from God. But as Jacob had only met cunning with cunning, deceit with deceit, Laban had no right to punish him for what he had done. Some excuse may indeed be found for Jacob's conduct in the heartless treatment he received from Laban, but the fact that God defended him from Laban's revenge did not prove it to be right. He had not acted upon the rule laid down in Proverbs 20:22 (cf. Romans 12:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:15).

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When Jacob was left alone on the northern side of the Jabbok, after sending all the rest across, “ there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” נאבק , an old word, which only occurs here (Genesis 32:25, Genesis 32:26), signifying to wrestle, is either derived from אבק to wind, or related to חבק to contract one's self, to plant limb and limb firmly together. From this wrestling the river evidently received its name of Jabbok ( יבּק = יאבּק ).

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The remembrance of this wonderful conflict Jacob perpetuated in the name which he gave to the place where it had occurred, viz., Pniel or Pnuel (with the connecting wound וּ or י ), because there he had seen Elohim face to face, and his soul had been delivered (from death, Genesis 16:13).

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“ For therefore, ” sc., to be able to offer thee this present, “ have I come to see thy face, as man seeth the face of God, and thou hast received me favourably.” The thought is this: In thy countenance I have been met with divine (heavenly) friendliness (cf. 1 Samuel 29:9; 2 Samuel 14:17). Jacob might say this without cringing, since he “must have discerned the work of God in the unexpected change in his brother's disposition towards him, and in his brother's friendliness a reflection of this divine.”

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Blessing: i.e., the present, expressive of his desire to bless, as in 1 Samuel 25:27; 1 Samuel 30:26. הבאת : for הבאה , as in Deuteronomy 31:29; Isaiah 7:14, etc.; sometimes also in verbs ה ל , Leviticus 25:21; Leviticus 26:34. כל ישׁ־לי : “ I have all ” (not all kinds of things); viz as the heir of the divine promise.

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