Genesis 28:1

1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, "You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women.

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 ) .


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 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, "You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women.
2 Go at once to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father; and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.
3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and numerous, that you may become a company of peoples.
4 May he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien—land that God gave to Abraham."
5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away; and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.