Genesis 28:20-21

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 28:16-22

God manifested himself and his favour to Jacob when he was asleep and purely passive; for the spirit, like the wind, blows when and where he listeth, and God's grace, like the dew, tarrieth not for the sons of men, Mic. 5:7. But Jacob applied himself to the improvement of the visit God had made him when he was awake; and we may well think he awaked, as the prophet did (Jer. 31:26), and behold his sleep was sweet to him. Here is much of Jacob's devotion on this occasion. I. He expressed a great... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 28:20

And Jacob vowed a vow ,.... Which is the first vow we read of in Scripture: saying, if God will be with me ; the word if is not a sign of doubting, but is either an adverb of time, and may be rendered, "when God shall be with me" F20 אם "quum", Junius & Tremellius; so Ainsworth. ; or as a supposition, expressive of an inference or conclusion drawn, "seeing God will be with me" F21 Quandoquidem, Tigurine version. ; which he had the utmost reason to believe he would,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 28:21

So that I come again to my father's house in peace ,.... In safety from Esau, and all other enemies, as God promised him he should: then the Lord shall be my God ; not as if he should not be his God if he did not do all this for him; which would savour not only of a mercenary spirit, but of great impiety; neither of which were to be found in Jacob: but the meaning is, that he should not only continue to own him as his God, and to worship him, but having fresh obligations upon him, should... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 28:20

Vowed a vow - A vow is a solemn, holy promise, by which a man bound himself to do certain things in a particular way, time, etc., and for power to accomplish which he depended on God; hence all vows were made with prayer. If God will be with me, etc. - Jacob seems to make this vow rather for his posterity than for himself, as we may learn from Genesis 28:13-15 ; for he particularly refers to the promises which God had made to him, which concerned the multiplication of his offspring,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 28:20

Verse 20 20.And Jacob vowed a vow. The design of this vow was, that Jacob would manifest his gratitude, if God should prove favorable unto him. Thus they offered peace-offerings under the law, to testify their gratitude; and since thanksgiving is a sacrifice of a sweet odour, the Lord declares vows of this nature to be acceptable to him; and therefore we must also have respect to this point, when we are asked what and how it is lawful to vow to God; for some are too fastidious, who would... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 28:21

Verse 21 21.Then shall the Lord be my God. In these words Jacob binds himself never to apostatize from the pure worship of the One God; for there is no doubt that he here comprises the sum of piety. But he may seem to promise what far exceeds his strength; for newness of life, spiritual righteousness, integrity of heart, and a holy regulation of the whole life, were not in his own power. I answer, when holy men vow those things which God requires of them, and which are due from them as acts of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 28:10-22

Jacob at Bethel, or heaven opened. I. THE LONELY SLEEPER . 1. His desolate condition . Exiled from home, fleeing from the murderous resentment of a brother, o'er-canopied by the star-lit firmament, remote from human habitation, and encompassed by a heathen population, on the bleak summit of the Bethel plateau, upwards of sixty miles from Beersheba, the wandering son of Isaac makes his evening couch with a stone slab for his pillow, an emblem of many another footsore and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 28:10-22

Jacob's dream. Where revelations had been vouchsafed it was supposed that they would be repeated. The stony pillow on which the weary head rested may be changed by the visitation of Divine grace into the meeting-place of heaven and earth. The morning beams breaking in upon the shadowy refuge of the night are transfigured into a dream of covenant blessing. The ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reached to heaven. Angels of God on the way of mediation, ascending, descending, carrying... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 28:18-22

The grateful retrospect and the consecrated prospect. I. THE TRUE LIFE is that which starts from the place of fellowship with God and commits the future to him. We can always find a pillar of blessed memorial and consecration. The Bethel . 1. Providential care. 2. Religious privilege. 3. Special communications of the Spirit. God with us as a fact. Our pilgrimage a Bethel all through. II. THE TRUE TESTIMONY that which erects a stone of witness, a Bethel , ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 28:20-21

And Jacob vowed a vow ,—not in any mercenary or doubtful spirit, but as an expression of gratitude for the Divine mercy (Calvin), as the soul's full and free acceptance of the Lord to be its own God (Murphy), as the instinctive impulse of the new creature (Candlish)— saying, If (not the language of uncertainty, but equivalent to "since, ' or "forasmuch as;" Jacob by faith both appropriating and anticipating the fulfillment of the preceding promise) God (Elohim; for the reason of which ... read more

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