though recognising it, he was willing to let acUy the opposite to that which WELS dcclarod it go :Bless me, even me also, 0 my father, to bo tho lot of Jacob. On the other l1and, And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept it is felt to be somewhat arbitrary to assign (cf. Heb. xii. 17). "'rhose tears expressed, to tho preposition a pnrtitivo sense in ver. indeed, sorrow for his forleiture, but not for 28 and n privativo in ver. 39, Though the sinful levity by which it had been in- called in later times (Mai. i. 3) a. we.ste and curred. They were ineffectual (i. e. they did desolate region, it may not ho.ve been origin- not lead to genuine repentance) because ally so, or only in comparison with Co.naan; Esau was incapable of true repentance" (vide while according to modem travellers the Delitzsch on Heb. xii. 17). glens and mountain terraces of Edom, covered Yer. 39.-And Isaac his father (moved by with rich soil, only want an industrious the tearful earnestness of Esau) answered population to .:onvert the entire region into and said unto him, - still speaking under "one of the wealthiest, a.a it is one of the inspiration, though it is doubtful whether most picturesque, countries in the world." what he spoke was a real, or only an ap- Ver. 40.-And by thy sword shalt thou parent, blessing- (mde infra)- llehold, live,-literally, upon thy sword shalt th011, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the be, i e. thy maintenance shall depend on thy ea.rth, and of the dew of heaven from above. sword; a prediction that Esau's descendants Literally, from (lt,,) the fatness/!3 (or fat should be a warlike and tumultuous people places) of the earth, and from the dew of of predatory habits (cf. Josephus, B. I., iv. heaven; a substantial repetition of the tem- 4)-and shalt serve thy brother ;-a pre- poral blessing bestowed on Jacob (ver. 28), diction afterwards fulfilled (cf. 1 Sam. xiv. with certain important variations, such a.a 47 ; 2 Sam. viii 14 ; 1 Kings x:i. 16 ; 2 the omission of plenty of corn and wine at Kings xiv. 7-10; 2 Chron. XL 22-25)- the close, a.nd of the name of Elohim at the and it shall come to pass when thou shalt commencement, of the benediction (Vulgate, have the dominion, that thou shalt break Luther, Calvin, Amsworth, Rosenmilller, his yoke from oft' thy neck. The verb ,~,. • Speaker's Commentary') ; though, by a.s- used of beasts which have broken the yoke signing to the preposition a privative rather and wander freely about (Gesenius, Furst), than a partitive sense, it is readily_ trans- appears to hint at an incessant restlessness formed into "a modified curse" -behold, au;ay on the part of Edom while under Israel's yoke /!'om thefatness/!3 of the earth, &c., shall thy which should eventually terminate in regain- d'lllelling be, meaning that, in contrast to ing their independence. The exact render- the la.nd of Canaan, the descendants of Esau ing of the clause is obscure1 but perhaps shculd be located in a sterile region (Tuch, means that when Edom shoUld roam about Rnobel, Kurtz, Delitzsch, Keil, Kalisch,Mur- as a freebooter (Lange), or should revolt phy). In support of this latter rendering it is (Alford), or should toss, shake, or struggle urged (1) that it is grammatically admissible ; against the yoke (Vulgate, Keil, Hengsten- (2) that it corresponds with the present aspect berg, • Speaker's Commentary), he should of ldum:ea, which is "on the whole a dreary succeed. Other renderings are, when thou and l!D.productive land;" (3) that it agrees shalt bear rule (Kimchi), when thou shalt with the preceding statement that every repent (Je.rchi), when thou shalt be strong blessing had already been bestowed upon (Samaritan), when thou prevailest (Muryhy), Jacob; and (4) that it explains the play upon when thou shalt truly desire it (Kalisch), the words "fatness" and "dew," which are when thou shalt Eull down (LXX.); because here chosen to describe a state of matters ex- thou art restless (Hii.vernick).
HOMILETICS. Vere. 30-40.-ne stalen blessing: a domesti,c drama.-3. Isaac and Esau, fJ1"the hunter's lamentation. I. Isuc's STARTLING DISCOVERY. 1. Unexpectedly made. The return of Esau from the hunting-field with a dish of venison was a sudden and most unpleasant revelation to the aged patriarch, showing that in some inexplicable manner he had been out-manCJluvred, and, as it were, constrained against his will to bestow the blessing upon Jacob. So in common life it is not unfrequently seen that the u1:::ixpected is that which happens, that wicked schemes prove abortive, that the deceiver is himself deceived-" the engineer hoist on his own petard,"-and ihot men are often made the involuntary and unconscious instruments of furthering the will of Heaven. 2. Tremhlingly received. Apprehending what had taken ploce the blind old invalid " feared a great fear exceedingly/ saddened with an inward horror, uot through disappointment at the failure of his scheme, or indignation nt the wicked c-raft a.nd heartleas duplicity of Rebekah's favourite, but alarm at hie own on. x.xvu. 30-40.] THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 343