a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
obey
שְׁמַ֣עshe.Ma'
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
voice
בְּקֹלִ֑יbe.ko.Li
H6963
a voice or sound · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
arise
וְק֧וּםve.Kum
H6965
to rise (in various applications · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
flee
בְּרַחbe.rach-
H1272
to bolt · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
Laban
לָבָ֥ןla.Van
H3837
Laban · proper noun, a man's name
brother
אָחִ֖י'a.Chi
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Haran
חָרָֽנָהcha.Ra.nah
H2771
Charan · proper noun, a place name + directional suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 11:31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went for…
Genesis 27:8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
Genesis 27:13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.
Genesis 12:4-5 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of…
Genesis 24:29 And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well.
Genesis 28:7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padan-aram;
Proverbs 30:17 The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall…
Jeremiah 35:14 The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 27:41–end
Here is, I. The malice Esau bore to Jacob upon account of the blessing which he had obtained, Gen 27:41. Thus he went in the way of Cain, who slew his brother because he had gained that acceptance with God of which he had rendered himself unworthy. Esau's hatred of Jacob was, 1. A causeless hatred. He hated him for no other reason but because his father blessed him and God loved him. Note, The happiness of saints is the envy of sinners. Whom Heaven blesses, hell curses. 2. It was a cruel hatred. Nothing less would satisfy him than to slay his brother. It is the blood of the saints that persecutors thirst after: I will slay my brother. How could he say that word without horror? How could he c…
these words of Esau were told Rebekah--Poor woman! she now early begins to reap the bitter fruits of her fraudulent device; she is obliged to part with her son, for whom she planned it, never, probably, seeing him again; and he felt the retributive justice of heaven fall upon him heavily in his own future family.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 27:42
Doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee - מתנחם לך mithnachem lecha, which Houbigant renders cogitat super te, he thinks or meditates to kill thee. This sense is natural enough here, but it does not appear to be the meaning of the original; nor does Houbigant himself give it this sense, in his Racines Hebraiques. There is no doubt that Esau, in his hatred to his brother, felt himself pleased with the thought that he should soon have the opportunity of avenging his wrongs.
John Gill on Genesis 27:43
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice,.... Hearken to what I say, and do according to it, as he had already in many instances, and particularly in a late one, in which he succeeded, and therefore had good reason to attend to her advice and direction, see Genesis 27:13,
and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother, to Haran; where Laban her brother, dwelt.
The Church Fathers
We have heard the words of an intemperance that is drunk with bodily desires; let us consider the deeds of true virtue. Virtue needs nothing but the grace of God. It pursues the only and supreme good, and it is content with that only good from which we receive all things but on which we bestow nothing because it has no need of anything, just as David says, "I have said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord, for you have no need of my goods.' " And what does the Lord need, when he abounds in all things and imparts everything to us, while providing all things without deficiency?
But if needs be, let us learn from Rebekah how to make provision so that enmity does not provoke wrath and wrath rush headlong into fratricide. Let Rebekah come—that is, let us put on patience, the good guardian of blamelessness—and let her persuade us not to give in to our anger. Let us withdraw somewhat further, until our anger is softened by time and we are taken by surprise at having forgotten the wrong done us. Therefore patience is not much afraid of exile but readily enters upon it, not so much to avoid the danger to salvation as to escape giving incitement to wrongdoing. The loving mother too endures the absence of her dearly beloved son and purposes to give more to the one whom she has harmed, while still consulting the interests of both, to render the one safe against fratricide and the other blameless of crime.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Jacob — One who follows on another’s heels; supplanter, (Gen. 25:26; 27:36; Hos. 12:2-4), the second born of the twin sons of Isaac by Rebekah. He was born probably at Lahai-roi, when his father was…
Laban — White. (1.) The son of Bethuel, who was the son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother. He lived at Haran in Mesopotamia. His sister Rebekah was Isaac’s wife (Gen. 24). Jacob, one of the sons of this marriage,…
Haran · .Jacob flees to — .Jacob flees to
Jacob · Esau seeks to kill, es — Esau seeks to kill, es
Rebekah (Rebecca) · Sends Jacob to Laban, her brother — Sends Jacob to Laban, her brother
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Genesis 27:42-43
And these words of Esau... were told to Rebekah. Moses now makes a transition to a new subject of history, showing how Jacob, as a wanderer from his father's house, went into Mesopotamia. Without doubt, it was an exceedingly troublesome and severe temptation to the holy matron, to see that, by her own deed, her son was placed in imminent danger of death. But by faith she wrestled to retain the possession of the grace once received. For, if she had been impelled by a merely womanly attachment to her younger son, it certainly would have been her best and shortest method, to cause the birthright to be restored to Esau: for thus the cause of emulation would have been removed; and he who was burn…
Esau's complaining and weeping were now changed into mortal hatred of his brother. "The days of mourning," he said to himself, "for my father are at hand, and I will kill my brother Jacob." אבי אבל: genit. obj. as in Amo 8:10; Jer 6:26. He would put off his intended fratricide that he might not hurt his father's mind.
Gen 27:42-46
When Rebekah was informed by some one of Esau's intention, she advised Jacob to protect himself from his revenge (התנחם to procure comfort by retaliation, equivalent to "avenge himself," התנקּם, Isa 1:24),
(Note: This reference is incorrect; the Niphal is used in Isa 1:24, the Hithpael in Jer 5:9-29. Tr.)
by fleeing to her brother Laban in Haran, and remaining ther…
Jacob met the Lord on a route that Abraham had taken 125 years earlier. The story recounted in 27:42–33:17 follows a chiastic structure that centers on Jacob’s exile: A: Jacob flees Esau (27:42–28:9) B: Angels of God meet Jacob at Bethel (28:10-22) C: Jacob is exiled in Paddan-aram (29:1–31:55) B’: Angels of God meet Jacob at Mahanaim (32:1-2) A’: Jacob is reconciled to Esau (32:3–33:17).
Rashi on Genesis 27:42
ויגד לרבקה WERE TOLD TO REBEKAH — It was told her by the Holy Spirit what Esau was thinking in his heart (Genesis Rabbah 67:9).
מתנחם לך DOTH COMFORT HIMSELF CONCERNING THEE — He regrets the brotherly relationship existing between you, harbouring thoughts other than those of brotherhood, to estrange himself from you and to kill you. The Midrashic explanation (Genesis Rabbah 67:9) is: In his eyes you are already regarded as dead and he has drunk for you (i. e. because he regards you as dead) the cup of consolation (which it was customary for near relatives of the deceased to drink). But according to the real meaning the word signifies “comforting” — he will comfort himself for the loss of th…
