Genesis 24

— at the time of the evening, &c.] Dr. Shaw, having described the occupations of the Barbary women during the day, adds, To finish the day, “at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water,” they have still to fit themselves out with a pitcher or a goat’s skin: and tying their sucking children behind them, go in this manner two or three miles to fetch water. Yet, in the midst of all these labours, the women will not lay aside any of their ornaments: neither their nose-jewels, which are still used by the Levant Arabs; nor their bracelets, shackles, or ear-rings, which are all very cumbersome. Dr. Shaw.

— a golden ear-ring] It is the custom in almost all the East, for the women to wear rings in their noses, in the left nostril, which is bored low down in the middle. These rings are of gold; and have commonly two pearls and one ruby between, placed in the ring. I never saw a girl, or young woman, in Arabia or in Persia, who did not wear a ring after this manner in

F 2 The servant’s narrative. Rebekah departeth, Before CHRIST 1837.

LORD, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father’s house:

— gave gifts, &c.] Lest these sons should interfere with Isaac, in his inheritance of Canaan, as they grew up, Abraham portioned them off, and sent them away towards the East; where, settling in Arabia and Syria, they became in time heads of different nations: of which we have footsteps both in sacred and in profane history. Stackhouse.

Genesis 24:6

6. And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou &c.] The steward demanded, whether, if he could not persuade the person, whom Isaac was to marry, to come and dwell with Isaac in Canaan, he might carry him to her, into that country, which Abraham had forsaken. The answer of Abraham is a denial; accompanied with an intimation that he was bound, by express revelation, to let none of his family return, for constant residence,

F The servant’s journey and prayer. Rebekah meeteth him. Before CHRIST 1857. b Chap. 12. 7. & 13. 15. & 15. 18. & 20. 4.

which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, b Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.

Genesis 24:8

8. — Abraham — died] This is said by anticipation, to finish the story of Abraham; for Esau and Jacob were born fifteen years before he died. Bp. Patrick.

— was gathered to his people.] He passed into the state of the dead, following his deceased ancestors. Bp. Kidder. See chap. xlix. 33.

Abraham, from the time of his call, became the great restorer and reviver both of natural and revealed religion to a corrupt world. By his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, and six more, and by his nephew Lot, he spread religion and virtue far and wide, their descendants being numerous as the stars of heaven, and growing up into many and

The generations of Ishmael. Isaac prayeth for Rebekah. Before CHRIST 1882. o Chap. 16. 14. & 21. 62. his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi.

Genesis 24:10

10. — the servant took ten camels] What enables the shepherd to perform the long and toilsome journeys across Africa is the camel, emphatically called by the Arabs, “the ship of the desert.” He seems to have been created for this very trade, endued with parts and qualities adapted to the office he is employed to discharge. The driest thistle, or the barest thorn, is all the food this useful quadruped requires; and even these, to save time, he eats while advancing on his journey, without stopping, or occasioning a moment of delay. As it is his lot to cross immense deserts, where no water is found, and countries not even moistened by the dew of heaven, he is endowed with the power of laying in at one watering-place a store, with which he supplies himself for many days to come. To contain this enormous quantity of fluid, nature has formed large cisterns within him, from which, once filled, he draws at pleasure the quantity he wants, and pours it into his stomach with the same effect as if he then drew it from a spring; and with this he travels patiently and vigorously, all day long, carrying a prodigious load through countries affected with poisonous winds, and parching and never-cooling sands. Bruce.

The common load of the Turkman camel is about 400 pounds on each side: but some will carry a much greater weight. The Arab camel seldom carries more than 250 pounds on each side. They go between two and three miles an hour. The dromedary is a high breed of the Arab camel: it ambles with more agility; and is capable of going as far in one day as the ordinary camels usually go in three or four. Dr. Russell.

Genesis 24:11

11. — he made his camels to kneel down] When a camel is born, the breeders tie his fore feet under his belly, and a carpet over his back. Thus they teach him the habit of bending his knees to rest himself, or to be loaded or unloaded. Calmet.

shew kindness unto my master Abraham. Before CHRIST 1857. c Ver. 43.

Genesis 24:15

15. — Rebekah came out, &c.] Great was the simplicity of these early days, when persons of the best rank, and of the female sex too, did not disdain to be employed in such menial offices. Thus, in the following age, Jacob found his cousin Rachel watering her father’s sheep; and several ages after that, the seven daughters of Jethro, who was a prince as well as a priest of Midian, kept their father’s flocks, and used to draw water for the cattle. So well has Moses expressed that simplicity of manners, which we may observe in Homer, or Hesiod, or any of the most ancient writers. Stackhouse.

— with her pitcher upon her shoulder.] “We came to a well at the foot of a hill, on which there is a village called Perè. The oxen raise the water by a bucket and rope; and the women carry the water in earthen jars up the hill, to water the plantations of tobacco.” Bp. Pococke.

At the foot of the hill is what the monks call the well of Zabulon: the water is drawn by boys in leathern buckets, and carried in jars up the hill on women’s heads. Bp. Pococke.

“The women,” says Dr. Chandler, “resort to the fountains by their houses, each with a large two-handled earthen jar, on the back, or thrown over the shoulder,

Laban entertaineth the servant, who sheweth his message.

her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.

Genesis 24:19

19.—these are the generations of Isaac.] His principal design being to give an account of those descended from Abraham by Isaac, Moses returns to that after a short account of Abraham’s other posterity. Bp. Patrick.

Genesis 24:20

20.—the Syrian of Padan-aram.] Bethuel, as also his son Laban, is called the Aramite or Syrian, not as descended from Aram, or a Syrian by descent; but as living in the country, which fell to the lot of Aram at the first plantation after the flood, and which must accordingly be esteemed a part also of Syria, largely taken to denote all the country of Aram. For he lived at Haran, and so in the north part of Aram-Naharaim, or Mesopotamia, which north part from the fruitfulness of it was particularly called Padan-aram, the word Padan denoting a cultivated fruitful ground. Dr. Wells.

Genesis 24:21

21.—Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, &c.] He prayed, as the Hebrew implies, with earnestness, vehemence, and importunity: being uneasy at her barrenness, on account of the promise of the Messiah. Bp. Patrick. Of all the Patriarchs, none passed so quietly through the world as Isaac: none lived either so privately, or so innocently: neither know I whether he approved himself a better son or husband. For the one, he gave himself over to the knife of his father, and mourned three years for his mother; for the other, he sought not to any handmaid’s bed, but in a chaste forbearance reserved himself for twenty years’ space, and prayed: Rebekah was so long barren. At last, in reward for his piety, she conceived. Bp. Hall.

Genesis 24:22

22.—went to enquire of the Lord.] Either by prayer, or to some holy man, and possibly to Abraham, who was now living. Bp. Kidder.

Genesis 24:23

23.—Two nations] That is, the heads of two nations, the Edomites and Israelites. Bp. Kidder. —two manner of people] Greatly differing in their disposition, manners, course of life, and country; which will make them perpetually disagree. Bp. Patrick. The children struggled together in the womb, which was an omen and token of their future disagreement; and when they were grown up to manhood, they manifested very different inclinations. Esau was “a cunning hunter,” and delighted in the sports of the field; Jacob was more mild and gentle, “dwelling in tents,” and minding his sheep and his cattle. Esau alighted his birthright, and those sacred privileges, of which Jacob was desirous, and is therefore called the profane Esau, Heb. xii. 16; but Jacob was a man of better faith and religion. The like diversity ran through their posterity. The religion of the Jews is very well known: but whatever the Edomites were at first, in process of time they became idolaters. Upon these religious differences, and other accounts, there was a continual grudge and enmity between the two nations. The king of Edom would not suffer the Israelites, in their return out of Egypt, so much as to pass through his territories, Num. xx. 14—21; and the history of the Edomites afterwards is little more than the history of their wars with the Jews. Ep. Newton. —the one people shall be stronger &c.] The family of Esau was for some time the greater and more powerful of the two. But David entirely conquered the Edomites, and made them tributaries. In aftertimes, they were governed for the most part by viceroys or deputies appointed by the kings of Judah. And in the time of the Maccabees they were incorporated into the Jewish church and nation. Bp. Newton. —and the elder shall serve the younger.] In his posterity, not in his own person. Bp. Patrick. The prediction was verified in the descendants of Jacob, then represented by himself, being favoured with some distinguishing prerogatives, both spiritual and

Genesis 24:32

32.—the man took &c.] The weight of these ornaments appear to us rather extraordinary; the ear-ring, or jewel for the face, weighed half a shekel, and the bracelets for her hands ten shekels, which, as Sir J. Claudin justly observes, is about five ounces. Upon which he tells us, “the women wear rings and bracelets of in great weight as this, through all Asia, and even much heavier. They are rather manacles than bracelets.

ban ran out unto the man, unto the well.

Genesis 24:49

49. — that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.] A proverbial speech, signifying, That I may take some other course, as God shall direct, for fulfilling my master’s desire. Bp. Patrick.

Genesis 24:50

50. — we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.] No way contradict it. Bp. Patrick.

Genesis 24:53

53. — the servant brought forth jewels &c.] A gold and silver sarmah, one or two sets of ear-rings, bracelets, and shekels, a gold chain to hang over their breasts, with half a dozen vests, some of brocade, others of rich silk, are usually the wedding clothes of an Algerine lady of fashion. Habits and ornaments of the like kind were given to the bride in the time of Abraham. Thus “a golden ear-ring of half a shekel weight” was given to Rebekah, and “two bracelets for her hands of ten

and sweetish Isaac. CHAP. XXIV, XXV. The death and burial of Abraham. the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

Genesis 24:65

65. — she took a vail.] The Eastern brides are wont to be valed in a particular manner, when presented to the bridegroom. Those that give us an account of their customs at such times, take notice of their being valed all over. Dr. Russell gives us this circumstance in his account of a Maronite wedding, which, he says, may serve as a specimen of all the rest, there being nothing materially different in the ceremonies of the different sects. I suppose that the vail, which Rebekah put on, was such an one as was appropriate to such a solemnity; and that she was presented to Isaac by her name and other female attendants in form. Harmer.

In the summer months, when the Moorish women retire to their country seats, they walk abroad with less caution and reservations; and upon the approach of a stranger, let only their vails fall over their faces, as Rebekah may be supposed to have done upon the sight of Isaac. Dr. Shaw.

Chap. XXV. ver. 6. — sons of the concubines.] Namely, of Hagar and Keturah: who were wives, but of an inferior sort, according to the manner of those times