The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 575

born, my might, and the beginning of my ren (not in parcnta;c alone, but nlso in strength, the excellency of dignity, and their deeds; e. g. tl1eir mn.ssacre of the the excellency ofpower:-Jacob's patriarchal Shechemites (eh. xxxiv. 26), to which un- benediction takes the form of an elevated doubtedly the next words nllude); instru- poem, or sublime religious hymn, exhibiting ments of cruelty aro in their habitations- the well-known clnsses of parallelism, the literally, instruments of violence their n'"r;:iQ, synthetic, the antithetic,and the synonymous, Hot alone in its separate clauses, but some- n ar.a( X,yoµ. which has been variously rei1- times also in its stanzas or verses. As was dered-(l) their dwellings, or habitations perhaps to be expected, it begins with (Kimchi, A. V., Calvin, Ainsworth) in the Reuben, who is chamcterise,l by a threefold lan,l of thoir sojournings (Onkelos ), fo; which, designation, nz., (1) !)y his position in the however, there does not seem to be much family, as Jacob's firstborn; (2) by his rela- authority ; (2) their machinations or wicked tion to Jacob, as the patriarch's "might," counsels, deriving from ;;;,9, to string to- 0~, or robur virile, and "the beginning" of gether, to take in a net, to ensnare (Nahum his " strength," not " of his sorrow " (Vul. iii. 4), the cogna~ Arabic root signifying to deceive or prac~se stratagems (De Dien, gate, Aquila, Symmachus), though ~~ might Schultens, Castell1, Tayler Lewis, and others); be so translatc,l (cf. eh. xxxv. 18), and the (3) thei: betr?thals, or compacts of marriage, sense would sufficiently accord with the al- connectmg w1th the same root as the pre- lusion of ver. 4, but, as required by the par- cedinf; in the ~ensc o! "bi_nding together" o.llelism, " of liis vigour," ji~ being here (Dath1us, Clencus, Michaelis, Knobel Furst equi.a.lent to O:al (Rosenmiiller, Kalisch, et alii); (4) their rage, as suggested °by th~ unused root i•;;,, to boil or seethe (Kalisch); Keil, • Speaker's Commentary,' et alii); and (3) by the natural prominence which ns (5) their swords, from i~:al = i1i:al, to dia or Jacob's clclest son belonged to him, "the pierce through, cf. µaxa1pa (Vulg;te, Luther, excellency of dignity" or "elevation," i. e. Gesenius, Rosenmilller, Keil, l\Iurphy, and the dignity of the chieftainship, and "the others). The preponderance of authority excellency of po,rnr," or authority, which the appears to be in favour of this last. O my first-born chime,l and recei.cd as his pre- soul, come not thou into their secret;- rogative. Yet tbe natural advantages en- literally, into their =ncil or a,ssembly (i\o, joyed by Reuben as Jar.ob's firstborn were from '11;,!, to set or sit) come not, my soul, or to be taken from him, as the patriarch pro- my s01tl shall 1wt come (cf. Prov. i. 15, 16) ccedecl to announce-Unstable as water,- -unto their assembly, mine honour, be not literally, boiling over like wn,ter, the import thou united :-literally, w-ith or in their a,s. of which is not ejfusus es sicut aqua (Vulgate), but either i{v,6puwi; wi; vowp (LXX.), or sembly or congregaticn 6v~ from ~iJ~, to call lasciviousness (sc. was to thee) as the boiling together: cf. eh. xxviii. 3; xxxv. 11; xlviii. of water (Gesenius, Rosenmilller, Keil, Ka- 4), mine ltonour or gl orv (i. e. the soul as lisch, &c.), the same root in Arabic convey- being the noblest part of man: Ps. xvi. 9; ing the notion of pride, anJ. in Syriac that lvii 9; cviii. 2-thc term •i::,.:;, is parallel of wantonness-thou shalt not excel;- literally, tlwu shalt not have the ii:).~ or ex- with the preceding •~em, do -:Wt ·join (Keil), cellency (,er. 3), i e. the pre-eminence be- or shall not join (K°aliseh)-for in their longing to the firstborn, a sense which the anger they slew e. man,-literally, man, 11 versions have more or Jess successfully ex- collective singular for "men," tho plural pre~sed: µ~ r.fp1<7<7fV<71Ji; (Aquila), oi,ie for, r.E- form of r.:i•l'.t occurring rarely; only in Ps. p1<7<7o,Epor (Symmachus), µri lie/;fo11c (LXX.), cxli. 4; Prov. viii. 4 ; and Isa. liii. 3-and 1wn crcscas (Vulgate)-because thou wentest in their selfwill they digged down II wall up to thy father's bed (vide eh. XXXV. 22; -literally, tltey lwughed ox (LXX., Gescnius, 1 Chron. v. 1); then deflledst thou it :-the Fiirst, Ro~enmiil]er, Keil, I{alisch, Lon~e, ,,erb is used absolutely, as meaning that Gerlach, 'l... Lewis, Murphy, &c., &c.), tllc Reuben hacl clesecrated what ought to hnve singular i11:', the plural of which is only been regarded by him M sacred (cf. Deut. found once, in Hosea. xii. 12, bei11g re- xxvii. 20)-he went up to my couch-lit- tained here to correspond with r.:i•~. The el'ally, 1ny coudi he asc,"1Ulcd; the orJ.er of tlic wor<ls and tile chan~e from the secon<l received renclcring, which is not witl,o:ct to th~ third person hel1 ing to give expres- sanctiou (Onkelos, Targum of Jouatha1•, sion to the horror and indiguation with Syriac, Arabic, Aquila, Symwachus, Vnl- which, even o.t thnt distnnco of time, the gate, Dathius, Calvin), reads i~tti instcaJ. of venerable 1,atriarch coll trmplated the shame- i\l:i, o.nd takes i~ in tho primary sense of ful cleecl. destruere, evertere. Cursed be their anffo·.·, Vers. !i--7.-Simeon and Levi ar~ breth- for il was flerco; and their wrath, for it wt1,;1 VH, XLIX. 1-33.] THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 525