Genesis 31:49

49 and also HaMitzpah [the watchtower], because he said, "May ADONAI watch between me and you when we are apart from each other.

Genesis 31:49 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 31:49

And Mizpah
Which being an Hebrew word, it looks as if the heap had also this name given it by Jacob, which signifies a "watch" or "watchtower"; though, by what follows, it seems to be given by Laban, who could speak Hebrew as well, as Syriac, or Chaldee: for he said, the Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent
one from another;
or "hid one from another" ^F17; when being at a distance, they could not see each other, or what one another did in agreement or disagreement with their present covenant: but he intimates, that the Lord sees and knows all things, and therefore imprecates that God would watch over them both, them and their actions, and bring upon them the evil or the good, according as their actions were, or as they broke or kept this covenant.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (rton) "abscondemur", Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius; "absconditi erimus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Ainsworth.

Genesis 31:49 In-Context

47 Lavan called it Y'gar-Sahaduta ["pile of witness" in Aramaic], while Ya'akov called it Gal-'Ed ["pile of witness" in Hebrew].

48 Lavan said, "This pile witnesses between me and you today."This is why it is called Gal-'Ed

49 and also HaMitzpah [the watchtower], because he said, "May ADONAI watch between me and you when we are apart from each other.

50 If you cause pain to my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, then, even if no one is there with us, still God is witness between me and you."

51 Lavan also said to Ya'akov, "Here is this pile, and here is this standing-stone, which I have set up between me and you.