Genesis 21:22-34 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Bible Study & Commentary

Verses 22-34

Genesis 21:22-Nahum : . Abraham and Abimelech Make a Covenant at Beersheba.— Probably from JE. The analysis is uncertain; perhaps Genesis 21:25 f., Genesis 21:28-Amos :, Genesis 21:32-Nahum : belong to J, the rest to E. One narrative represents Abraham as making a covenant of friendship with Abimelech at the king’ s request, the other as securing a recognition from Abimelech of his claim to the wells of Beersheba. The point of Genesis 21:25 f. is probably that whenever Abraham reproved Abimelech, as he did on various occasions, he could get no satisfaction from him. It does not continue Genesis 21:24, but begins an independent narrative, which is continued in Genesis 21:28-Amos :. The variant in Genesis 26:13-Micah : should be compared. There are two suggestions as to the origin of the name Beersheba. One is that it refers to the seven ewe lambs ( Genesis 21:28-Amos :), the other that it means “ well of the oath” ( Genesis 21:31). The true meaning is probably “ well of seven,” the reference being to the seven wells at Beersheba. A dispute about wells is very common in those regions (p. 32). For seven as a sacred number cf. Numbers 22:41 to Numbers 23:6 *.

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Arthur Samuel Peake (1865-1929) was an English biblical scholar, born at Leek, Staffordshire, and educated at St John's College, Oxford. He was the first holder of the Rylands Chair of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis in the University of Manchester, from its establishment as an independent institution in 1904. He was thus the first non-Anglican to become a professor of divinity in an English university.In 1890-92 he was a lecturer at Mansfield College, Oxford, and from 1890 to 1897 held a fellowship at Merton College.In 1892, however, he was invited to become tutor at the Primitive Methodist Theological Institute in Manchester, which was renamed Hartley College in 1906. He was largely responsible for broadening the curriculum which intending Primitive Methodist ministers were required to follow, and for raising the standards of the training.In 1895-1912 he served as lecturer in the Lancashire Independent College, from 1904 to 1912 also in the United Methodist College at Manchester. In 1904 he was appointed Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis in the (Victoria) University of Manchester. (This chair was in the Faculty of Theology established in that year; it was renamed "Rylands Professor, etc." in 1909.)Peake was also active as a layman in wider Methodist circles, and did a great deal to further the reunion of Methodism which took effect in 1932, three years after his death. In the wider ecumenical sphere Peake worked for the National Council of Evangelical Free Churches, serving as president in 1928, and was a member of the World Conference on Faith and Order held in Lausanne in 1927. He published and lectured extensively, but is best remembered for his one-volume commentary on the Bible (1919), which, in its revised form, is still in use.The University of Aberdeen made him an honorary D. D. in 1907. He was a governor of the John Rylands Library.... Show more

First published in 1919, Peake's commentary of the bible was a one-volume commentary that gave special attention to Biblical archaeology and the then-recent discoveries of biblical manuscripts. Biblical quotations in this edition were from the Revised Version of the Bible.... Show more

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