The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 393

tatter lived, but o.Ieo of the present r,ontinu- Abimelech and his ministers first explain ance of tho.t relo.tionship, since Abraham, tho m Dtive which has impelled them to though dead, hnd not censcd to be) : fear not solicit o. renewal of the old alliance-that (cf. eh. xv. I, in which the same encournging the Lord was with thee :-the use of Jeho- admonition is addressed to Abrnha.m after vah instead of Elohim, as in eh. xxi. 22, docs his battle with the kings), for I a.m with not prove that this is a J ehovistic elabor• thee, and will blese thee, and multiply thy ation of the earlier legend. Neither is it seed-a repetition of promises o.lree.dy given necessary to suppose that the term Jehovah to himself ('llide vers. 3, 4)-for my servant is o. Mosaic translation of the epithet em- Abraham's sake-a reason declaring God's ployed by Abimelech (Rosenmiiller). The gracious covenant, and not personal merit, long-continued residence of Abnham in to be the true source of blessing for Isaac. Gerar and Beersheba afforded ample oppor- Ver. 25.-And he (i e. Isaac, in grateful tunity for .Abimelech becoming acquainted response to the Divine Promiser who had with the patriarch's God. The introduction appeared to him) bnilded an altar there,- of Jehovah into the narrative may be noted the first instance of altar building ascribed as a third point of dissimilarity between this to Isaac ; " those erected by his father no and the previous account-and we said, Let doubt still remaining in the other places there be now an oo.th-i. e. a. treaty securetl where he sojourned" (Inglis) - nnd called by an oath or self-imprecation on the trans- upon the name of the Lord,-i. e. publicly gressor (cf. eh. xxiv. 41 ; Dent. x:xix. 11, celebrated his worship in the midst of his 13)-betw:ixt ns, even betwixt us and thee, household ('!lide on eh. xii 7, 8)-and pitched -a farther pa.rticularisation of the parties his tent there (the place being now to him to the covenant for the sake of emphasis- doubly hallowed by the appearance of the and let us make a covenant with thee. The Lord to himself as well as to his father) : phrase "to cut a covenant," here used in a and there Isaac's servants digged a well-a. so-called J ehovistic portion of the history, necessary appendage to a flockmaster's settle- occurs in eh. xxi. 27, 32, which confesseclly ment. belongs to the fundamental document. Ver. 26.-Then (literally, and) Abimelech Ver. 29.-That thou wilt do us no hart, went to him from Gerar, - the object of -literally, if thou wilt do 'IUl evil (sc. thy this visit was to resuscitate the alliance curse come upon thee I) ; the force being to which had formerly existed botween the pre- negative in tho strongest wny possible any decessor of Abimelech and Abrnham (eh. intention of injury (cf. eh. :ui. 23)-as we xxi. 22-32) ; yet the dissimilarity between have not touched thee,-i. e. injured thee ; the two accounts is so great ns to discredit which was not true, as they, through their tho hypothesis that the present is only servants, hnd robbed Isaac of at least two another version of the earlier transaction- wells - and as we have done unto thee and Ahuzzllth one of his friends,-~il»'.'!P.?; nothing but good,-.Abimelech's estimate of his own behaviour, if exceedingly favourablo neither o vvµq,aywyar; avroii (LXX.), nor n to himself, is nt least natural (vicle Prov. 8uito or number of his friends (Onkelos), xvi. 2)-and have sent thee nway in penco nor ono of his friends (A. V.) ; but his friend, (without open violeuce certainly, because of nnd probnbly his privy councillor (Keil, Isaac's yielding, but scarcely without hos- Kalisch, Murphy), whose presence along with tility) : thou art now the blessed of tho tho monarch and his genornl marks the first Lord. Regarded by some ns nn instance of point of difference between the present and adroit and pious flnttory, these wonls nro the former incident-and Phichol (vide eh. perhaps better understood as explaining xxi. 22) the chief ce.pte.in of his army. oithor why Isaac should overlook tho in- Vor. 27. - And Isaac said unto them, jw·ics which thoy hacl done to him (Calvin, 'Wherefore-lW'II;,, contr. from ll~1! ill;>, whnt Bush), or why ho should grant them the is taught I= for what reason (cf. ri µa0wv) oath which they desired (Ainsworth),-he -come ye to me, seeing (liternlly, and) ye requiring no &110.rantee of safety from them, hate me, and have sent me away from yon 1 since Jehovah was on his sido (:riimphy),- While animadverting to the personal hos- or why they hnd been stirre,l up to seok hi11 tility to which he had been subjectccl, lsanc favour nnd nllinnco (Rosenmiiller), so.ye nothing about the wells of which ho Ver. 30.-And he made them a feast,-so had been deprived : a second point of differ- Lot did to the angels (eh. xix. 8). 'l'hero is ence between this and the preceding narra- no mention of nny banquet in the case of tive of Abraham's covenant with the Philis- Abraham's covenant, which mny be noted tine king. os another I_Joint of difference between the Ver. 28.-And thef said, We saw cer- two transactions. A similar entertainment to.inly-litero.lly, seeing we saw, i e. wo accompo.niod Jacob's covenant with Laban essuredly perceived, or, we have indeed dis- (eh. xxxi. 64); while in the Mosaic system Eovered (vide Ewe.Id's 'Heb. Synt.,' § 312). the sacrificial meal formed nn integral part 832 TRE BOOK OF GENESIS. [ctl:. XXVI. 23--95.