Genesis 28:1

1 And so Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded to him, and said, Do not thou take a wife of the kin of Canaan;

Genesis 28:1 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 28:1

And Isaac called Jacob
Or therefore ^F4, because of what Rebekah had said to him, related in the latter part of the preceding chapter, he sent for Jacob to come to him from his tent or apartment where he was, or from the field where he was keeping the flocks; thus paying a great regard to what his wife Rebekah had suggested to him, and which appeared to him very right and reasonable: and blessed him;
he did not send for him to chide and reprove him for his fraudulent dealings with him to get the blessing from his brother, much less to revoke it, but to confirm it; which was necessary to prevent doubts that might arise in the mind of Jacob about it, and to strengthen him against the temptations of Satan; since he was about to be sent away from his father's house solitary and destitute, to go into another country, where he was to be for awhile in a state of servitude; all which might seem to contradict the blessing and promises he had received, and would be a trial of his faith in them, as well as a chastisement on him for the fraudulent manner in which he obtained them: and charged him, and said unto him, thou shall not take a wife of the
daughters of Canaan;
it was time that he was married; for he was now, as the Jewish writers ^F5 say, seventy seven, years of age, which exactly agrees with what Polyhistor ^F6, an Heathen writer, relates from Demetrius, that Jacob was seventy seven years of age when he came to Haran, and also his father Isaac was then one hundred and thirty seven years old; and so it is calculated by the best chronologers, and as he must be, since he was born when his father was sixty years of age, (See Gill on Genesis 27:1); and being now declared the heir of the promised land, it was proper he should marry, but not with any of the Canaanites, who were to be dispossessed of the land of Canaan, and therefore their seed, and Abraham's, to whom it was given, must not be mixed. Isaac takes the same care, and gives the same charge concerning the marriage of his son Jacob, on whom the entail of the land was settled, as his father Abraham did concerning his, ( Genesis 24:3 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (arqyw) "itaque", V. L. Schmidt, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "igitur", Drusius.
F5 Pirke Eliezer, c. 35. Vid. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 2. p. 4.
F6 Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 21. p. 422.

Genesis 28:1 In-Context

1 And so Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded to him, and said, Do not thou take a wife of the kin of Canaan;

2 but go thou, and walk forth into Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house of Bethuel, [the] father of thy mother, and take to thee from thence a wife of the daughters of Laban, thine uncle. (but go thou forth to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, the father of thy mother, and get a wife for thyself from there, of one of the daughters of thy uncle Laban.)

3 Soothly Almighty God bless thee (And may Almighty God bless thee), and make thee to increase, and multiply thee, (so) that thou be into companies of peoples;

4 and God give to thee the blessing of Abraham, and to thy seed after thee, that thou wield the land of thy pilgrimage, which he promised to thy grand-sire. (and may God give thee the blessing of Abraham, and thy descendants after thee, so that thou possessest this land where thou art now living, which he promised to thy grandfather.)

5 And when Isaac had let go Jacob, Jacob went forth, and came into Mesopotamia of Syria, to Laban, the son of Bethuel of Syria, the brother of Rebecca, his mother. (And so when Isaac had let Jacob go, he went forth, and came to Paddan-aram, and to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of his mother Rebecca.)