Matthew Henry

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”

“For Esau, though married, had not yet removed; and, though he had greatly grieved his parents by his marriage, yet they had not expelled him, but it seems were pretty well reconciled to him, and made the best of it.”

His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.”

“Christ indeed, who is mighty to save, because mighty to bear, has said, Upon me be the curse, only obey my voice; he has borne the burden of the curse, the curse of the law, for all those that will take upon them the yoke…”

So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

“This may be alluded to to illustrate the character of a hypocrite. His voice is Jacob's voice, but his hands are Esau's.”

Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.

“That which in some small degree extenuates the crime of Rebekah and Jacob is that the fraud was intended, not so much to hasten the fulfilling, as to prevent the thwarting, of the oracle of God: the blessing was just going to be put upon…”

May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.

“It must amount to an entail of the promise of the Messiah, and of the church; this was, in the patriarchal dialect, the blessing: something spiritual, doubtless, is included in it.”

Isaac began to tremble violently and said, “Who was it, then, who hunted the game and brought it to me?

“We, by this instance, are taught, [1.] That it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy, Rom. ix. The apostle seems to allude to this story.”

Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.

“Note, The day is coming when those that now make light of the blessings of the covenant, and sell their title to them for a thing of nought, will in vain be importunate for them.”

So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded.

“The charge is like that in 2 Cor. vi. 14 , Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; and all that inherit the promises of the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, must keep this charge, which follows those promises, Save yourselves…”

And may He give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land where you dwell as a foreigner, the land God gave…

“Those that are sojourners now shall be heirs for ever: and, even now, those do most inherit the earth (though they do not inherit most of it) that are most like strangers in it.”

And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.

“All the intercourse between heaven and earth, since the fall, is by this ladder. Christ is the way; all God's favours come to us, and all our services go to him, by Christ.”

Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.

“This promise is sure to all the seed, Heb. xiii. 5 . [6.] Providences seemed to contradict the promises; he is therefore assured of the performance of them in their season: All shall be done that I have spoken to thee of.”

and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.

“This gracious appearance of God to him put a greater honour upon it, and made it more remarkable, than all the almond-trees that flourished there.”

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and…

“He will cheerfully content himself with bread to eat, and raiment to put on; and, though God's promise had now made him heir to a very great estate, yet he indents not for soft clothing and dainty meat.”

He looked and saw a well in the field, and near it lay three flocks of sheep, because the sheep were watered from this well.

“The stone at the well's mouth, which is so often mentioned here, was either to secure their property in it (for water was scarce, it was not there usus communis aquarum--for every one's use ), or it was to save the well from receiving damage…”

When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?”

“He had cheated his own father when he pretended to be Esau, and now his father-in-law cheated him. Herein, how unrighteous soever Laban was, the Lord was righteous; as Judges i.”

Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older.

“We have reason to think there was no such custom of his country as he pretends; only he banters Jacob with it, and laughs at his mistake.”

And once more she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.

“Now will I praise the Lord more and better than I have done. [2.] All our praises must centre in Christ, both as the matter of them and as the Mediator of them.”

When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

“Envy is grieving at the good of another, than which no sin is more offensive to God, nor more injurious to our neighbour and ourselves.”

Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”

“He was angry, not at the person, but at the sin; he expressed himself so as to show his displeasure.”

But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?”

“Note, There may be great sin and folly in the inordinate desire of a small thing. Leah takes this advantage (as Jacob had of Esau's coveting his red pottage) to obtain that which was justly due to her, but to which Rachel would not otherwise…”

Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

“Leah was now blessed with two sons; the first she called Issachar ( a hire ), reckoning herself well repaid for her mandrakes, nay (which is a strange construction of the providence) rewarded for giving her maid to her husband.”

“God has given me a good gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun.

“Jacob had not endowed her when he married her, nor had he wherewithal in possession; but she reckons a family of children not a bill of charges, but a good dowry, Ps. cxiii.”

Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland.

“He retained his affection for the land of Canaan, not only because it was the land of his nativity, and his father and mother were there, whom he longed to see, but because it was the land of promise; and, in token of his dependence…”

Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

“Herein was fulfilled the blessing with which Isaac dismissed him ( ch. xxviii. 3 ), "God make thee fruitful, and multiply thee." Even these small matters concerning Jacob's house and field, though they seem inconsiderable, are improvable for our learning.”

And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.

“He was but a churl at the best, but now he was more churlish than formerly. Note, Envy is a sin that often appears in the countenance; hence we read of an evil eye, Prov. xxiii.”