GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 28

GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 28 (Gen 28:1) And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Those words of Isaac were not his own. His wife had dropped the hint and he was repeating to Jacob what she wanted, yet it was presented as Isaac’s idea. No doubt he complied with the idea, for his wife had not originated from the Canaanites and the wives of Esau were a grief, so it was exactly what should be done whether the idea came from him or another. OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY 2Co_3:14 *(2) Obtaining a family in Padan-Aram Fled to Haran Gen_28:1-2 People who employ a great deal of craftiness in their management of affairs are invariably entrapped in their own net. Life is so complicated, and every matter of conduct has so many issues, that no human brain can possibly foresee every contingency. Rebekah was a clever woman, and quite competent to outwit men like Isaac and Esau, but she had in her scheming neglected to take into account Laban, a man true brother to herself in cunning. She had calculated on Esau’s resentment, and knew it would last only a few days, and this brief period she was prepared to utilize by sending Jacob out of Esau’s reach to her own kin, from among whom he might get a suitable wife. But she did not reckon on Laban’s making her son serve fourteen years for his wife, nor upon Jacob’s falling so deeply in love with Rachel as to make him apparently forget his mother. She knew exactly how much of her mind to disclose so as to lead her husband to adopt her view and plan. She did not bluntly advise Isaac to send Jacob to Padan-aram, but she sowed in his apprehensive mind fears which she knew would make him send Jacob there; she suggested the possibility of Jacob taking a wife of the daughters of Heth. She knew she did not need to tell him where to send. Sure enough, Isaac called Jacob and sent him to his mother’s family to obtain a wife. Esau saw that the daughters of Heth he had married were displeasing to his parents and that they wanted Jacob to marry in the family, so he married wives of Ishmael. He felt that would be according to their desire, it would win their preference, and somehow still obtain a blessing from his father. GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 28—PAGE 1