A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Genesis 37

¹ And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. — in Genesis 36:6, we read that Esau went into a land away from Jacob. Upon this follows in Genesis 37:8, “And Esau dwelt in Mount Seir;”

— and now the necessary information concerning the other brother is given to us, “And Jacob dwelt in peace (Jonathan) in the land . . . of Canaan,” which is north of Mount Seir;

² These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought unto his father an evil report about them.

— and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his secondary wives or concubines; Joseph is the favorite of his father, but not of his brethren; especially those born of Leah; retaining the old grudge of their mother perhaps;

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colors.

— a coat of many colours; two explanations are given of this phrase; the first, that it was a long garment with sleeves or fringes; the other, that it was composed of patchwork of various colours; perhaps an upper coat reaching to the wrists and ankles, such as noblemen and kings’ daughters wore.

⁴ And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. — they not only inwardly hated him, but they could not conceal their hatred, but betrayed it by their speech unto him; they could not speak to him on any occasion, but in a cross, surly, ill natured manner;

⁵ And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren; and they hated him yet the more. — as a dream; not understanding it; he told it not with any design to affront them, but as an amusement, and for their diversion, there being something in it odd and ridiculous, as he himself might think;

— and they hated him yet more; not only because he had carried an ill report of them to his father, but still more because of this dream; the meaning of which they at once understood, though he did not, which yet they supposed he did, and that he told them it in a boasting manner, just to irritate them.

⁶ And he said unto them, “Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: — hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed; hear now, immediately, directly, lest they should forget it;

⁷ For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.” — the sheaves which his brethren bound up, they also stood upright, and all around his sheaf, and bowed unto it; so it appeared to him in his dream; so that his brethren hate him still more;

⁸ And his brethren said to him, “Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?” And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. — but this dream was evidently symbolical; its meaning easily discerned, and the brothers became furious;

⁹ And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren and said, “Behold, I have dreamed one dream more; and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.” — yet another dream; this repetition of the same thing in another shape, might have taught them that it was both certain and very observable;

— behold the sun and the moon; his father and mother, here signified by the sun and moon, were not represented in the first dream, because, in the event, his brethren only went at first to Egypt, and there did him obeisance, and it was not till afterward that his father went with them; and even then, both Rachel and Leah had died;

¹⁰ And he told it to his father and to his brethren; and his father rebuked him and said unto him, “What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?”

— shall I, thy mother, and thy brethren, indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee? whereby it plainly shows he understood the meaning of the dream, though he would not seem to countenance it;

— and by the “moon” his wife, by whom is meant Rachel, the real mother of Joseph, who was dead; or rather Leah, who was now Jacob’s only true wife, and the stepmother of Joseph; or else Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid, who since her death was a mother to Joseph; 

¹¹ And his brethren envied him, but his father observed the saying. — and his brethren envied him; notwithstanding all the precaution Jacob took to prevent it; they suspecting and fearing that these dreams portended the pre-eminence of Joseph over them, or however served to fill his mind with the hopes and expectation of it:

— but his father observed the saying; what Joseph had said in relating his dream; he laid it up in his mind and kept it there, often thought of it, and waited to see its accomplishment.

¹² And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. — Shechem belonged to Jacob; part of it by purchase, and the rest by conquest; Jacob’s sons seem to have retained Shechem, by right of their high-handed proceedings; related to Dinah in Genesis 34:27-29.

¹³ And Israel said unto Joseph, “Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send thee unto them.” And he said to him, “Here am I.” — and he said unto him, here am I; showing his readiness to obey his father, though it was a long journey, and he to go it alone.

¹⁴ And he said to him, “Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren and well with the flocks, and bring me word again.” So he sent him out of the Vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. — so he sent him out of the vale of Hebron: the same with the plains of Mamre near the city of Hebron, which was built on a hill: and he came to Shechem: after he had travelled sixty miles.

¹⁵ And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, saying, “What seekest thou?” — and the man asked him, saying, what seekest thou? seeing him walking about, and first looking one way, and then another, concluded he was in search of something, either of some man or of some creature, a sheep or an ox that was lost;

¹⁶ And he said, “I seek my brethren. Tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.” — tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks; in what part of the country they are, what field they are in, how far to it, and which the way.

¹⁷ And the man said, “They have departed hence, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan. — Dothan; this town was twelve miles north of Shechem, and is famous as being the place where Elisha struck the Syrian army with blindness (II Kings 6:13-23);

¹⁸ And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. — when they saw him they conspired against him; it was not in a heat, or upon a sudden provocation, that they thought to slay him, but from malice prepense, and in cold blood;

¹⁹ And they said one to another, “Behold, this dreamer cometh. — this dreamer; Heb, this lord of dreams, or Jonathan identying the brothers as Simeon and Levi, and say, “this master of dreams” cometh, a phrase expressive of contempt.

²⁰ Come now therefore and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, ‘Some evil beast hath devoured him’; and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” — cast him into some pit; partly, as unworthy of burial; partly, to cover their villanous action; and partly, that they might quickly put him out of their sight and minds;

— some evil beast hath devoured him; which would seem plausible, since wild beasts were frequent in those parts, as lions and bears; and we shall see what will become of his dreams;

²¹ And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands and said, “Let us not kill him.” — and Reuben heard it; overheard what they said, not being in the consultation; perhaps knowing his temper and disposition to be more mild and gentle;

— and being the eldest, Reuben knew he had responsibility for all his brothers in general; hence opposed such murderous proposal;

²² And Reuben said unto them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him” — Reuben said unto them, shed no blood that he might free him out of their hands to deliver him to his father again.

²³ And it came to pass, when Joseph had come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him; — that they stripped, Joseph his coat of many colours, that was on him; that with his coat of many colours;

²⁴ and they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. — and the pit was empty, there was no water in it; only serpents and scorpions, as the Targum of Jonathan says;

²⁵ And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry them down to Egypt. — a caravan of Ishmaelites; Dothan was situated on the great caravan line by which the products of India and Western Asia were brought to Egypt.

²⁶ And Judah said unto his brethren, “What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? — one who know about the value of money, asks, what profit is it if (literally, what of advantage that) we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?

²⁷ Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brethren were content. — the brothers readily approved of Judah’s suggestion to dispose of their obnoxious brother as a slave.

²⁸ Then there passed by Midianite merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt. — twenty pieces of silver; the money was probably in rings or pieces (shekels), and silver is always mentioned in the records of that early age before gold;

²⁹ And Reuben returned unto the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. — Reuben returned; evidently he was not present when Joseph was sold to the Midianites; and he rent his clothes; as a token of distress and anguish of mind, of sorrow and mourning;

³⁰ And he returned unto his brethren and said, “The child is no more; and I, whither shall I go?” — the child comparatively to his brethren, as he was just seventeen years old, Genesis 37:2.

³¹ And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid from the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood. — and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; that being, as the Targum of Jonathan says, “like the blood of a man.”

³² And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “This have we found. Know now whether it be thy son’s coat or not?” — under the influence of Satan, men taught themselves to commit one sin, then teaches them to try to conceal it with another; to hide theft and murder, with lying and false oaths:

— an atrocious crime of lying and false oaths are great wickedness, which is dealt with in Zechariah 5 (the flyinf scroll);

³³ And he knew it, and said, “It is my son’s coat. An evil beast hath devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.” — an evil beast hath devoured him; this was natural to conclude from the condition the coat was in, and from the country he was sent into, which abounded with wild beasts;

— and was the very thing Joseph’s brethren contrived to say themselves; and in this view they wished and hoped the affair would be considered, and so their wickedness concealed;

³⁴ And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. — many days; Jacob mourned for Joseph not merely during the usual period, or years, as days sometimes signify; twenty two years, but so long as to move even the hearts of those who had wronged him.

³⁵ And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For I will go down into the grave unto my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. — and all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; his sons must act a most hypocritical part in this affair;

— and as for his daughters, it is not easy to say who they were, since he had but one daughter that we read of, whose name was Dinah: his father wept for him; that is, his father Isaac, as the Targum of Jonathan, he wept for his son Jacob on account of his trouble and distress; as well as for his grandson Joseph; 

³⁶ And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s and captain of the guard. — and the Midianites sold him into Egypt; or Medanites, who sprung from Medan, a brother of Midian, and son of Keturah;

— Potiphar; Captain of the guard; Heb, chief of the slaughterers, by which the LXX understand the slaughterers of animals for food, and translate “chief cook;” other versions understand by it the commander of the king’s body-guard,

Genesis 38

¹ And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned unto a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. — Judah went down from his brethren; withdrew for a time from his father’s family, and got intimately acquainted with one Hirah an Adullamite; of the city of Adullam; a city which afterwards fell to the tribe of Judah;

² And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shua; and he took her, and went in unto her. — an Adullamite; a Canaanitish woman; which was forbidden by his ancestors Abraham and Isaac, and which his father avoided:

— but Jonathan says he proselyted her, her father’s name was Shua, not the name of the woman he married, and he took her; to be his wife, with her father’s consent, but her name wasn’t mentioned, as Shua was the name of her father, as appears from Genesis 38:12;

³ And she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. — he called his name Er; which signifies a “watchman”: but the reason of the name given by the Targum of Jonathan is, “because he should die without children;”

⁴ And she conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. — and she called his name Onan; the first son Judah gave the name to, but his wife named the second child, so called from grief or sorrow; the reason of it, according to the above Targum, was, “because his father would have to mourn for him;”

⁵ And she yet again conceived and bore a son, and called his name Shelah. And he was at Chezib when she bore him. — and called his name Shelah; as she was at Chezib when she bare him; Chezib is the name of a place, by some taken to be the same with Achzib or Ecdippe;

⁶ And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. — and Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn; chose one for him, and presented her to him for his liking, whom he approving of married: whose name was Tamar;

— the Targum of Jonathan says, she was the daughter of Shem; of course “daughter” could mean granddaughter or just principally female from the posterity of Shem;

⁷ And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him. — and Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; that is, exceedingly wicked, as this phrase signifies, Genesis 13:13; perhaps of some unnatural abomination; but what is not mentioned;

⁸ And Judah said unto Onan, “Go in unto thy brother’s wife and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.” — the law later given through Moses, by which the brother of the dead husband was required to marry the widow, 

⁹ And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. — that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give his seed to his brother: lest his brother’s wife he had married should conceive by him, and bear a son that should be called his brother’s, and inherit his estate;

¹⁰ And the thing which he did displeased the Lord; therefore He slew him also. — it was also a sin against the divine institution of marriage and its object of populating the earth, and was therefore punished by the Lord with sudden death.

¹¹ Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow at thy father’s house, until Shelah my son is grown”; for he said, “Lest perhaps he die also, as his brethren did.” And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house. — and Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house; she had dwelt separately in the time of her two husbands, but now by his advice she removed to her own father’s house; 

¹² And in process of time, the daughter of Shua, Judah’s wife, died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. — Time passed; and Judah’s wife, Shua’s daughter, died; and when the time of mourning was over, Judah with his friend Hirah of Adullam went to Timnah for the sheep shearing.

¹³ And it was told Tamar, saying, “Behold, thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”

¹⁴ And she put her widow’s garments off from her and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place which is on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him as wife. — for she saw that Shelah was grown: and she was not given unto him as a wife: to her disappointment;

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot, because she had covered her face.

¹⁶ And he turned unto her on the wayside and said, “Come, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee” (for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law). And she said, “What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?” — when Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; by her posture and the place she was in;

¹⁷ And he said, “I will send thee a kid from the flock.” And she said, “Wilt thou give me a pledge until thou send it?” — a kid from the flock; a goodly price at which her chastity and honour were valued!

¹⁸ And he said, “What pledge shall I give thee?” And she said, “Thy signet and thy bracelets and thy staff that is in thine hand.” And he gave it to her and came in unto her, and she conceived by him. — signet, bracelets, including armlets, were worn by men as well as women among these ancients; the Septuagint version renders, “thy ring”; the ring upon his finger;

¹⁹ And she arose and went away, and laid aside her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. — and she arose and went away; to her father’s house immediately, as soon as ever she had parted with Judah; and lest she should be found out;

²⁰ And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand, but he found her not. — to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand; his signet, bracelets, and staff, or whatever they were: but he found her not; for she had gone from the place where she sat;

²¹ Then he asked the men of that place, saying, “Where is the harlot who was openly by the wayside?” And they said, “There was no harlot in this place.” — and they said, there was no harlot in this place; they had not known any harlot to frequent that place lately, and Tamar sat there so short a time as not to have been observed by them.

²² And he returned to Judah and said, “I cannot find her, and also the men of the place said that there was no harlot in this place.” — there was no harlot in this place; by which it appears, that near the place where Tamar was;

²³ And Judah said, “Let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed; behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.” — Judah said, “Let her have it then. If we keep looking, everyone will shame us. I kept my part of the bargain; I sent the kid goat but you couldn’t find her.”

²⁴ And it came to pass about three months after that it was told Judah, saying, “Tamar thy daughter-in-law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom.” And Judah said, “Bring her forth, and let her be burned.”

— let her be burnt; as being by law, Tamar was condemned by Judah as head of the family, to the punishment usual for adultery.

²⁵ When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man whose these are, am I with child.” And she said, “Discern, I pray thee, whose are these — the signet, and bracelets, and staff.”

²⁶ And Judah acknowledged them and said, “She hath been more righteous than I, because I gave her not to Shelah my son.” And he knew her again no more. — and she said; discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff; which were the things given her as a pledge till she received the kid, the hire she was to have for his lying with her;

— and he knew her again no more; he did not repeat the sin, but abstained from it having, no doubt, true repentance for it;

²⁷ And it came to pass in the time of her travail that, behold, twins were in her womb. — that, behold, twins were in her womb; which the midwife could discover before the birth of either.

²⁸ And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand; and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, “This came out first.” — Tamar bears Perez and Zerah to Judah; but a breach be upon them, or be imputed to them.

²⁹ And it came to pass as he drew back his hand that, behold, his brother came out; and she said, “How hast thou broken forth? This breach be upon thee.” Therefore his name was called Perez [that is, A breach]. — but breach be upon thee; and Pharez was born first;

³⁰ And afterward came out his brother who had the scarlet thread upon his hand, and his name was called Zerah. — and the one with a scarlet thread; his name was called Zarah; 

~ by Joel on September 1, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses