36 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water,.... Which she saw not before; not that she was really blind and had her eyes opened, or her sight restored, but they might be holden or restrained by the providence of God, that she should not see it before; or, through inattention and distraction of mind, might not observe it; or her eyes...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God was with the lad,.... To confirm his health, to provide for him the necessaries of life, to protect him from danger in the wilderness where he was, and to prosper and succeed him in temporal things; all which is owing to the providential goodness of God: and he grew; increased in bodily stature, and arrived to manhood; or, "he became...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran,.... So called from Paran, a city in Arabia Petraea; it reached from the wilderness of Shur to Mount Sinai: the account Adrichomius (q) gives of it is this; Paran or "Pharan is a wilderness, very large, desolate, impassable, and without water, containing, from Mount Sinai to Kadeshbarnea, a journey of eleven...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass at that time,.... Not when Ishmael was grown up and married, but when Isaac was weaned and Ishmael was expelled: that Abimelech, and Phichol, the chief captain of his host, spake unto Abraham; Abimelech was king of Gerar, the same that is spoken of in the preceding chapter, and Phichol was the general of his army; these two...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now therefore swear unto me here by God,.... By the true and living God, by whom only an oath is to be taken, who was Abraham's God, and whom Abimelech seems to have known and to have been a worshipper of; and therefore moves for an oath to be taken by him, which he knew would be sacred and binding to Abraham, could he prevail upon him to swear:...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abraham said, I will swear. Sensible of the many favours he had received from Abimelech in times past, and was still indulged with, he very readily agreed to his proposal; and the rather, as he knew by the vision between the pieces, that it would be four hundred years before his posterity should be put into the possession of the land of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water,.... Before he swore and entered into covenant with him, he thought it advisable to inform him of an affair that had happened concerning a well of water, which in those hot and dry countries, as the southern parts of the land of Canaan were, was an affair of great importance; and to make...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing,.... He pleads ignorance; he knew nothing of it before, nor now which of his servants had done it; intimating, that if he could know who it was, he should severely reprimand him for it: neither didst thou tell me: signifying that he was to blame he did not complain of it sooner; and at least...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech,.... In gratitude for former favours he had received from him, in token of the friendship that subsisted between them, and for the confirmation of it; and to show that he was fully satisfied with Abimelech's answer to his complaint, as well as willing to enter into covenant by...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. Separate from the sheep and oxen he gave to Abimelech, and from those that were used in making the covenant.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abimelech said unto Abraham,.... Observing what he had done, and not knowing the design of it: what [mean] these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? he understood what the sheep and oxen were for, that they were presents to him, at least some of them, and the rest were for the solemnizing and ratifying the covenant between them;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said,.... That is, Abraham replied to Abimelech: for these seven ewe lambs shall thou take of my hand; as a present from him, to be retained as his own: that they may be a witness to me that I have digged this well: these were to be a testimony that the well that had been taken away from Abraham was one that he had dug, and was his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore he called that place Beersheba,.... Either Abraham or Abimelech, or both, called it so; or it may be read impersonally, "therefore the place was called Beersheba" (t), for two reasons, one implied, the other expressed; one was, because of the seven lambs before mentioned; so the Targum of Jonathan, "and therefore he called the well the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba,.... Which took its name from the oath annexed to the covenant there made; and which is observed for the sake of what follows, to show that when they finished their agreement, and the ceremony of it, then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol, the chief captain of his host; from the place where they had been...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And [Abraham] planted a grove in Beersheba,.... The Jewish writers (w) are divided about the use of this grove, as Jarchi relates; one says it was for a paradise or orchard, to produce fruits out of it for travellers and for entertainment; another says it was for an inn to entertain strangers in; it rather was for a shade, to shelter from the sun...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days. Even many years, days being sometimes put for years; having entered into covenant with Abimelech, the king of the country, and settled a good correspondence with him, and having his friendship and good will, which commanded respect from his subjects, Abraham sojourned very quietly and...