Genesis 28:13 - Exposition

And, behold ,—"the dream-vision is so glorious that the narrator represents it by a threefold הִגֵּה (Lange)— the Lord stood above it, —the change in the Divine name is not to be explained by assigning Genesis 28:13-16 to the Jehovistic editor (Tuch, Bleek) or to a subsequent redactor (Davidson), since without it the Elohistic document would be abrupt, if not incomplete (Kalisch), but by recalling the fact that it is not the general pro vide nce of the Deity over his creature man, but the special superintendence of the God of Abraham and of Isaac over his chosen people, that the symbolic ladder was intended to depict (Hengstenberg)— and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:— thus not simply proclaiming his personal name Jehovah, but announcing himself as the Elohim who had solemnly entered into covenant with his ancestors, and who had now come, in virtue of that covenant, to renew to him the promises he had previously given them— the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed —given to Abraham, Genesis 13:15 ; to Isaac, Genesis 26:3 .