The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 400

suspicions or allay the disquiet of the aged. The kiss of charity was practised among inYalid, And Isaac said unto J'aoob, Come disciples in the early Christian Church (Rom, near I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my xvi. 16; 1 C0r. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 12; 1 son .'.....the ,CIJ' thing 'l">hich Jacob had sug- Thcss. v. 26 ; 1 Pot. v. 14 ; vide Kitto'e gested as likely to happen (ver. 12)-whether ' Cyclopedia,' ut. Kissing). And he smelled thou be my very son Esau (literally, tM,s, the smell of his raiment,-not deliberatoly, my son Esau) or not. in order to detect whether they belonged Vers. 22, 23.-And 1acob (with o. boldness to a shepherd or a huntsmnn (Tuch), but worthy of a. better ea.use) went near unto accident.ally while in the net of kissing. ls&ac his father; and he (i.e. Isaac) felt him The odour of Esau's garments, impregnatnd (i. e. Jacob), and said, The voice is 1acob's with the fragrance of the aromatic herbs of voice, but (literally, and) the hands are the Palestine, excited the dull sensibilities of the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, nged prophet, suggesting to his mind pic- because his hands were hairy, as his bro- tures of freshness and fertility, and inspiring ther Esau's hands : so he blessed him. him to pour forth his promised benediction Isaac must either have forgotten the heavenly -and blessed him (not a second time, the oracle which announced the destinies of hi$ statement in ver. 23 being only inserted by sons at their birth, and distinctly accorded anticipation), and said,-the blessing, as is the precedence to Jacob, or he must not have usual in elevated pro1>heticutterances, assumes att.ached the same importance to it as R.il- a poetic and a.ntistrophical form (cf. Esau's bekah, or he may have thought that it did blessing, "l"ers. 39, 40)-See, the smell of my not affect the transmission of the covenant son is as the smell of a field-the first clause blessing, or that it did not concern his sons of the poetic stanza. cleo.rly connects with the so much as their descendants. It is hard to odour of Esau's raiment e.s that which had credit that Isaac either did not believe in the opened the fount of prophetic song in Isaac'a Dinne announcement which had indicated breast, so far at least e.s its peculiar form was Jacob as the heir of the promise, or that, concerned ; its secret ins_puation we know believing it, he deliberately allowed paternal was the Holy Ghost operating through Isaac's pa.rti.ality to interfere with, and even en- faith in the promise (vide Heb. xi. 20)- deavour "to reverse, the will of Heaven. which the Lord hath bleBBed. The intro- Vers. 24-26.-And he said (showing that duction of the name Jehove.h instead of a feeling of uneasy suspicion yet lingered in Elohim in this second clause proves that his mind), Axt thou my very son Esau t Isaac did not mean to liken his son to an Luther wonders how Jacob was able to brazen ordinary well-cultivated field, but to "b. field it out ; adding, "I should probably have run like that of Paradise, resplendent with tr11ces away in terror, and let the dish fall ; " but, of the Deity-an ideal field, bearing the same instead of that, he added one more lie to relation to an ordinary one as Israel did to those which had preceded, saying with un- the heathen-a kind of enchanted garden, disturbed composure, I am-equivalent to such as would be realised at a later period in an English yes; upon which the blind old Canaan, as far e.s the fidelity of the peoplo patriarch requested that the proffered dainties permitted it" (Hengstenberg). might be set before him. Having partaken Ver. 28.-Therefore God give thee of the of the carefully-disguised kid's flesh, and dew of hea.ven,-literally, and the Elohim drunk an exhilarating cup of wine, he further will give thee, with an optative sense ; i. e. desired that his favourite son should approach and may the Elohim give thee I The occur- his bed, saying, Come near now, and kiss me, my son-a request dictated more by rence of ci;;i~~~ in what is usually 11ssigned paternal affection (Keil, Kalisch) than by to the Jehovis·t (Tuch, Bleak, Davidson) is lingering doubt which required reassure.nee not to be explained as a special J ehovistic (Lange). formula (Colenso), or as a remno.nt of the Ver. 27.-And he came near, and kissed fundamental Elohistic writing (Knlisch), or him. Originally the act of kissing had a as indicating that the personal God, o.nd not symbolical character. Here it is a sign of Jehovah the God of the covenant, was the affection between a parent and a child ; in eh. source ~f the blessing (Keil, Gosman in xxix. 13 between relatives. It was also a token Lange), or as intimating a remaining doubt of friendship (Tobit vii. 6; x. 12; 2 Sam. as to whether Esau was the choson one of xx. 9; Matt. xxvi 48; Luke vii 45; xv. 20; Jehovah (Lange); but as identifying Jehovnh Acts xx. 87). The kissing of princes was a with Elohim, the a.rt. being the art. o( symbol of homage (1 Sam. x. 1; Pa. ii. 12; reference, as in eh. xxii. 1 (Hengstenberg ; Xenoph., 'Cyrop.,' vii 6, 32). With the cf. Quarry 'on Genesis,'_ p. 483). The bl~s- Persians it was a mark of honour (Xenoph., in~ craved was substantially that of e. fertile 'Agesil,' v. 4). Tho Rabbine permitted soil in Oriental countrios the copious dew only three kinds of kisses - the kiss of de~sited by the atmosphere. supplying t~e reverence, of reception, and of dismiseal placo of rain. Henco ilew 1s employed ID OH, XXVII. 115-29,] THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 339