The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 446

EXPOSITION. root i1~C,. to decline or bend, and hence to CHAPTER XXXII. fix oneself clown or encamp ; meaning either Ver. 1. - And .Jacob (after Lo.ban's de· e. multitudinous host, reading the dual fur n parture) went on hie way (from Galeed and plural (:Malventla), or two bands of angels, lllizpah, in a southerly direction towards the one before, welcoming him tu Canaan, and Jabbok), and the angels of God-literally, another behincl, conducting him from :Meso- the messengers of Elohim. not chance travel- potamia (Jarchi and others), or one on either lers who informed him of Esou's being in side to typify the completeness of bis pro- the vicinity (Aba.rbnnel), but angels (cf. Ps. tection, as in Ps. xx::dv. 8 (Calvin, Bush, civ. 4)-met him. Not necessarily come in Gerlach, 'Speaker's Commeutary '), or, as an opposite direction, fuerunt ei obviam the best expositors interpret, his own com- (Yulgate), but simply fell in with him, pany and the heavenly host (Aben Ezra, lighted on him e.s in eh. xxviii. 11, r,i•VTJV• Clericus, Dathe, Keil, Lange, Rosenmiiller, T7Jf1av nurw (LXX.), forgathered with him Kalisch, Murphy). Mahanaim, afterwards (Scottish); but whether this was in a waking a distinguished city in the territory of Ca,! vision (Kurtz, Keil, Inglis) or a midnight (Josh. xtii. 26), and frequently referred to in dream (Hengstenberg) is uncertain, though subsequent Scripture (2 Sam. ii. 8 ; xvii. 2J., the two former visions enjoyed by Jacob 27 ; xix. 32 ; 1 Kings iv. H), as well as were at night (cf. eh. nriii. 12; xxxi. 10), mentioned by Josephus(' .A.nt.' vii. 9, 8), as Cajetan, approved by rererius, translating a strong nnd beautiful city, hos been ic.lenti- 1.:1 a.s "in him," m11kes it appco.r that the fietl with Mahneh, n deserted ruin six or vision was purely subjective, non fuiase s~ven miles north-west by north of .Aj!O.n 11isione1n corporalem, sed interna,n: the (Mount Gilend), nnd about twenty miles clnuse interpolated by the LXX., ,cai civaf3X•- from the J11bbok (vide 'Robinson,' vol. iii. ,/,n,;, ,1o, 1Tap,µ(30Xi,v 9,oii 1rapµ,(3,/3X7Jniav, App. 166 ; and cf. Tristram, 'The Land of seems rnther to point to on objective maui- Israel,' p. 483); but the narrative aprea~ festa tion. 'l'he appearnnce of this invisible to say thnt Mahanaim lay not north o Ca- host may hnve been designed to celebrate leed, but between that place and Jabbok. Jncob's triumph over Laban, as after Christ's Hence Porter suggests Cernsu, the most victory over Satan in the wilderness angels splendid ruin east of the J ordau, r,nd bortl~r- came and ministered unto him (Rupertus, ing on the Jabbok, as occupying the site ol Wordsworth), or to remind him that he Mahnnaim (vide Kitto's 'Cyclopedia,' a.rt. OWl'd his deliverance to Divine interposition Mnhnnaim, and cf. ' Ho.ndbook for S. and P.' (C11lvin, Bush, Lnnge), but was more pro- ii. 311, seq.). haLly intended to assure him of protection Ver. 3. - And 1acob sent messengers in his approaching interview with Esau (Jo- (with the messengers of Jacob, the messen- sephus, Chrysostom, Rosenmilller, Keil, gers of Elohim form e. contrast which cnn l\Iurphy, 'Speaker's Commentary'), and scarcely have been accidental) before him to perhaps also to give him welcome in return- Esau his brother unto the land of Seir,- iug home again to Cannan (Kurtz), if not in vide on eh. xiv. 6. Seir, nearly equivalent in n,ldition to suggest that his descendants force to Esau (Ewnld),and menning tho rough would require to fight for their inheritance or bristling m,mntain (Gesenius), was origin- (K,1lisch). ally occupied by the Horitcs, but ofterwunls Ver. 2.-And when J"acob aaw them, he became the sent of Esau and his clescendnnts aaid, Thie is God's host :-Malumoh Elo- (Dent. ii. 4; 2 Chron. xx. 10), though as him; i. e. the army (cf. eh. l. !l; Exod. yet Esau had not wit.hdrawn from C,rnnau xiv. 24) or camp (1 Sam. xiv. 15; Ps. xxvii. (eh. xxxvi. 5-8)-the country (literally, 3) of God, ns opposed to the llfahanoth, or Lmuls of Jncob himself (vide ver. 7, 10)- plain or level tract = Patlan ('mde Hos,·a :xii. 13} of Edom, as it was nftermlf<h and he called the name of that placo Mahe.- called. 11aim. -i. e. Two armies or camps, from the Vers. 4. 5.-And he commanded them, SDO THE BOOK OF GENESIS. [c!t, XXXl!. 1-29.