EXPOSITION. Ver. 13.-A.nd there came one that had simply as his relative (eh. xiii. 8)-w~s takon escaped. Literally, tM f111Juive party, the captive, he-literally, and he-:,armed~lit- article denoting the genus, as in " the Ca.- erally, caused tp pour forth,, Le: drew out in naimite," eh. xii 6 (mde Ewald's 'Hebrew a body, from .a toot signifying "·to pour Syntax,' § 277, a.). And told Abram the out" (Gesenius, Fiii-st); 'from o. root mean- Hebrew. "The immigrant" t'l'a™fluvial,is, ing. to unsheath or dmw out anything ns i, .,,-,par1Jc, from beyond the Euphrates, if from a scabbard, and hence equivalent to applied to the patriarch by the inhabitants e:cpedivit, he got ready •(Onkelos, Swidfas, of Palestine (LXX., Aquila, Origen, Vulgate, Rosenmiiller, Bush, • Speaker's Comm~nt- Keil, Lange, Kalisch); but more probably, if ary '). Kalisch ~onneots ~oth senses with simply inserted by the historian t.o distin- the root. The LXX., Vulgate, and others guish Abram from Mamre the Amorite, "the translate "nwnberedt reading P:!! for PJ! descendant of Eber" (Lyra, DI'Ullius, Calvin, his trained-literally, initw.ted, 'instructed, Bush, Candlish, Murphy, 'Speaker's Com- but not necessarily practised• in arms (Keil) ; mentary;' vi,d,e on eh. x. 21). For he dwelt- perhaps only familiar with domestic duties literally, and (sc. at.that time) he 'ID(J,8 dwell- (Kalisch), since it is the intention of the ·i11g-in the plain - rather " oak grov~s " writer to show that Abram conquered not by (vide eh. xiii 18)--of llamre the Am.onte, axms, but by faith-~ervants, bo:"1 in his ow~ the brother of Eahcol, and brother of Anei;, houae-i. e. the children of his own patr1• concerning whom nothing is certainly known archal family, and neither purchased nor beyond the fact that they were Canaanitish taken in war-three hundred and eighteen chieftains (probably possessing some rem- -which implied a household of probably nant of the true faith, like Melchisedeck) more tha.n a thousand souls-and- along with whom the patriarch entered into an with these and bis allies (vide ver. 24)- offensive and defensive alliance. And theae pursued them-the victorious Asiatics-unto were confederate-literally, l<Yrds of cove- Dan-which is here substituted for its older nant i e. masters or possessors of a treaty (cf. name Laish, for which vi,de Jos.h. J>ix. 47 'lord or possessor of dreams," eh. xxxvii. (Ewald), though regarded by some as. not 19 ; "lords or masters of arrows," 2 Kings the Laish Dan conquered by tho Damtes, i. 8); nndered t1v1•wµ6ra, (LXX.) = lords of the oath, as in Neh. vi 18, lvopiro, (LXX.)- but probably Da~-jaan, ~entio_ned in 2 S~m. xriv. 6 (1-favermck, Keil, Kalisch) ; a~ainst wit Abre.m. which however, is the statement of ,Jose- Ver. 14 .-And when Abram heard that phus ('Ant.,' i. 10), that this Dan was one of his brother -so called as his brother's son, or the sources of the Jordan. l\furphy rega.rda OD, XIV, 13-16.] 'rHE BOOK OF GENESIS. 207
Pan 11s tl10 original <lesignation of tho town, served in tho vilfage Hoba, mentioneil by which was chnngc<l uucfer the Si<lonie.ns to Troilo, a rruarter of a mile to the north ;_( Le.ish (lion), an<l restore<l at the conquest. Damascus" (Keil); or in that of llol,a/,,, two Cloricus suggests that tho Jordan fountain miles outsi<le the walls (Stanley, 'Syria and m11y have been styled Dan, "Judge," an<l Palestine,' 414, k.), or in Burzeh, whcro tho noighbourin~ town Lai~h,, and thnt the there is a Moslem wely, or saint's tomb, callerl Danites, obsorvmg tho comcidence of the the sanctuary of Abraham (Porter's 'Hanrl- former with the name of their own tribe, book,' p. 492). Which is to the left of (i. e. gave it to the city they had conquered. to the north of, the spectator being supposed Alford is doubtful whether Dan-jaan was to look eastwarrl) Dama.sous. The metropolis really different from Laish. of Syria, on the river Chrysorrhoas, in a Ver. 15.-And he divided himself (i. e. largo and fertile plain at the foot of Antili- his forces) age.inst them, he and his serv- banus, the oldest existing eity in the world, ants (along with the troops of his allies), being possessed at the present clay of 150,000 by night, a.nd (falling on them unexpect- inhabitants. edly from different quarters) smote them, Ver. 16.-And he brought back a.II the a.nd pursued them unto Hoba.h. A place goods. Col-harecush. Tho LXX. tr:i.nslate Clwba is mentioned in Judith xv. 6 as r,jv,,r,rov, as if they read l!i:;n for l!i~7- And that to which the Assyrians were pursued by a.lso brought again his brother Lot, and his the victorious Israelites. A village of the goods. Kai 1rcivra rd inrapxovra aurov same na.me existed near Damascus in the (LXX. ). And the women a.lao, and the time of Eusebiu_s, and is "probably pre- people,