57 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Genesis 31 This chapter relates how that Jacob observing that Laban and his sons envied his prosperity, and having a call from God to return to his own country, acquaints his wives with it; and reports to them Laban's ill usage of him, and the wonderful appearance of God to him, and for him, and his orders to him to depart from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he heard the words of Laban's sons,.... That is, Jacob, as is expressed in the Septuagint and Syriac versions, either with his own ears, overhearing their discourse in their tents, or in the field, or from the report of others, his wives or some of his friends, who thought proper to acquaint him with it; these were the sons of Laban, who had...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Jacob was a very honest good man, a man of great devotion and integrity, yet he had more trouble and vexation than any of the patriarchs. He left his father's house in a fright, went to his uncle's in distress, very hard usage he met with there, and now is going back surrounded with fears. Here is, I. His resolution to return, ver. 1-16. II. His...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban,.... Upon this he observed Laban's looks, that he might gather from thence how he took his prosperity; what were his thoughts about it, and what he might expect from him on that account: and, behold, it [was] not towards him as before; he said nothing to Jacob, nor charged him with robbing of him, or any...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto Jacob,.... In answer to a prayer of his; or seeing what difficulties and discouragements Jacob laboured under, he appeared unto him for his encouragement and instruction how to proceed: return unto the land of thy fathers; the land of Canaan, given to Abraham and Isaac by promise: and to thy kindred: his father and mother,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Jacob sent,.... Having this encouragement and direction from the Lord, which seems to have been given him in the field, while he was attending his flocks, he dispatched a messenger home to his wives, one of his servants or under shepherds. The Targum of Jonathan says it was his son Naphtali, whom he sent, because he was a swift messenger; the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it [is] not towards me as before,.... [See comments on Genesis 31:2]; no notice is taken of what their brethren, the sons of Laban, had said: but the God of my father hath been with me; not only by affording him his gracious presence with him, which supported him under all his troubles; but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And ye know, that with all my power I have served your father. With all faithfulness and uprightness; with all diligence and industry; with all wisdom and prudence; with all my might and main, contriving the best methods, and sparing no pains by day or night to take care of his flocks, and increase his substance: of this his wives had been...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And your father hath deceived me,.... In the bargain he had made with him about his wages for keeping his cattle the six years past, after the fourteen years' servitude were ended: and changed my wages ten times; that is, either very often, many times, as the number ten is sometimes. Used for many, see Leviticus 26:26; or precisely ten times,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If he said thus, the speckled shall be thy wages,.... Sometimes Laban would say to Jacob, only the speckled lambs which the ewes shall bring forth shall be thine hire, and not the spotted; or the ringstraked, or the brown, which according to the bargain should have been his, the one and the other: then all the cattle bare speckled; that season,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father,.... Not all of them, see Genesis 31:19; but a great part of them; his flock was much lessened by those means, and more were taken away, and came to Jacob's share, than if Laban had abode by the original agreement: and gave [them] to me; who has the disposing of all things in the world, whose the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, at the time that the cattle conceived,.... Whether in spring or in autumn cannot be said, for it seems this was twice a year; this probably was at the beginning of the six years' servitude, or just before the agreement was made between Laban and Jacob, and was an instruction to the latter how to make his bargain with the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Angel of God spake unto me in a dream,.... In the same dream before related, and to direct him to observe what was presented to him, and to confirm what he saw, and lead him to the design and use of it. This was not a created angel, but the eternal one, the Son of God, and who is afterwards called God, and to whom Jacob had made a vow,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said, lift up now thine eyes, and see,.... This was all visionary, Jacob was still in a dream; but it was so impressed upon his mind, that he was spoke to, and bid to observe, and take notice, as follows: that all the rams that leap upon the cattle [are] ringstraked, speckled, and grisled; thereby assuring him, that such would be those the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I [am] the God of Bethel,.... The same Angel that appeared to Jacob in a dream, at the beginning of his six years' servitude, now appeared to him at the close of it, declaring himself to be the God of Bethel; or that God that manifested himself to him at Bethel, as Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase the words; for this is a distinct vision from that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him,.... One after another, and their answers agreeing, are put together; it may be Rachel answered in the name of Leah, and for herself, since she is mentioned first, and the verb is singular. The Targum of Jonathan is, Rachel answered with the consent of Leah; [is there] yet any portion or inheritance...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Are we not accounted of him strangers?.... He had not treated them as children, nor even as freeborn persons; but as if they were foreigners that he had taken in war, or bought of others; or at least, that they were born bondmaids in his house, and so had a right to sell them as he had: for he hath sold us; he had sold them to Jacob for fourteen...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For all the riches which God hath taken from our father,.... And given to Jacob for his labour: that [is] ours, and our children's; it belonged to us by the law of nature, before it came into thine hands; and our right unto it is still more manifest, and is confirmed by the service thou hast done for it, by which means it came into thy possession;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Jacob rose up,.... And went with them to Laban's house, where his children were, as is plain from Rachel's theft, Genesis 31:19: and set his sons and his wives upon camels; which were his own, see Genesis 30:43; creatures fit for travelling; on these he set his wives, Rachel and Leah, and his concubine wives, Bilhah and Zilpah; for these went...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he carried away all his cattle,.... His sheep, camels, and asses: the Jews say (y) he had 5,500 head of cattle: and all the goods which he had gotten: all the rest besides his cattle; his menservants, and maidservants, and all his gold and his silver, and whatsoever else he had: the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram: or...