Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 49:6
O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall.
6. council ] or, as R.V. marg., secret. The word means either a secret confederacy, or its secret purpose. The parallelism of the clauses rather favours the former rendering.
The true spirit of Israel will have nothing to do with the savage policy hatched in the secret conclaves of these two tribes.
my glory ] The word “glory” is used to denote the “soul,” or the “spirit,” as man’s most glorious possession. Cf. Psa 16:9, “my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth”; Psa 30:12; Psa 57:8; Psa 108:2. The LXX, reading the same Hebrew consonants with different vowels, translates “my liver” = “my affections,” and, instead of “united,” renders a slightly different text “contend,” .
a man ] or, as R.V. marg., men.
houghed ] i.e. “mutilated,” by cutting the sinews of the leg. Cf. Jos 11:6; Jos 11:9; 2Sa 8:4. LXX gives an exact rendering . The Old English “hox” is the form found in Shakespeare: Wint. Tale, i. 2, “thou art a coward, Which hoxes honesty behind.”
an ox ] or, as R.V. marg., oxen: so A.V. Instead of the Heb. shor, another reading, shur, “a wall,” is followed by Lat. suffoderunt murum, and by Targ. Onk., Syr. Pesh., Symmachus, and Jerome; probably on account of the apparent contradiction in Gen 34:28-29, where the sheep and oxen are not mutilated, but carried off as booty.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 6. Into their secret council, c.] Jacob here exculpates himself from all participation in the guilt of Simeon and Levi in the murder of the Shechemites. He most solemnly declares that he knew nothing of the confederacy by which it was executed, nor of the secret council in which it was plotted.
If it should be said that the words tabo and techad should be translated in the future tense or in the imperative, as in our translation, I shall not contend though it is well known that the preterite is often used for the future in Hebrew, and vice versa. Taken thus, the words mark the strong detestation which this holy man’s soul felt for the villany of his sons: “My soul shall not come into their secret council. My honour shall not be united to their confederacy.
For in their anger they slew a man] ish, a noble, an honourable man, viz., Shechem.
And in their pleasure] This marks the highest degree of wickedness and settled malice, they were delighted with their deed. A similar spirit Saul of Tarsus possessed previously to his conversion; speaking of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, St. Luke says, Ac 8:1: And Saul was gladly consenting to his death. He was with the others highly delighted with it; and thus the prediction of our Lord was fulfilled, Joh 16:2: Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And it is represented as the highest pitch of profligacy and wickedness, not only to sin, but to delight in it; see Ro 1:32. As the original word ratson signifies, in general, pleasure, benevolence, delight, c., it should neither be translated self-will nor wilfulness, as some have done, but simply as above and the reasons appear sufficiently obvious. They murdered a prince – Hamor, the father of Shechem. Instead of shor, which we have translated a wall, and others an ox, I read sar, a prince, which makes a consistent sense; (see Kennicott’s first Dissertation, p. 56, c.) as there is no evidence whatever that Simeon and Levi either dug down a wall or houghed the oxen, as some have translated the passage; (see the margin😉 on the contrary, the text, Ge 34:28-29, proves that they had taken for their own use the sheep, oxen, asses, all their wealth, their wives, and their little ones.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Their secret; or, counsel, or company, as the word is used, Psa 64:2; Jer 15:17; i.e. do not partake with them in their secret and wicked designs. Hereby he signifies to all posterity, that that bloody enterprise was undertaken without his consent or approbation, and that he could not think of it without detestation, nor let it pass without a severe censure. Or, O my soul, thou wast not in their secret, as the Chaldee, Syriae, and Arabic take it, by a common enallage of the future tense for the past.
Mine honour; either,
1. Properly so called. So the sense is, Let not my honour or good name be bound up with theirs; they gloried in this wickedness, which I abominate, and which indeed is their shame. Or,
2. Improperly; so he understands either,
1. His soul, which is indeed the glory of a man, though I do not remember any place of Scripture where that word must necessarily be so understood. So this is a repetition of the same thing in other words, which is usual in Scripture. Or rather,
2. His tongue, for which the word honour or glory is commonly put, as Psa 16:9, compared with Act 2:26; Psa 30:12; 57:8; 108:1, because the tongue or speech is the glory of a man, by which he is distinguished from unreasonable creatures, and, if well used, it brings much honour to God, and to the man that speaks with it. So the sense is, As my soul did not approve of that wicked action, so my tongue never gave consent to it, nor shall it now by silence seem to own it, but shall publicly witness my abhorrence of it.
In their anger they slew a man, i.e. men, the Shechemites, Gen 34:25,26, the singular number for the plural, as Gen 3:2; 32:5; 1Ch 10:1, compared with 1Sa 31:1. He saith man rather then men, either with respect unto the prince, whose slaughter was principally designed, or to show that they slew them all to a man.
In their self-will: it may note, that this cruelty of theirs was committed,
1. By their own will and choice, not by Jacobs will or consent, which they never asked nor obtained.
2. Without any necessity or sufficient provocation, but merely by their own will and proper motion.
3. Not rashly and hastily, but wilfully and resolvedly, after mature deliberation.
4. Not unwillingly, but cheerfully, and with delight and good will, as that word commonly signifies.
They digged down a wall; not the walls of the city, but of private houses; it may be only of the princes house, who upon the first noise of the tumult might, and probably did, retire and secure himself in some strong room of the house, whose wall they brake down that they might come at him. For neither were the walls of houses or cities so strong then as now many are; nor were Simeon and Levi destitute of fit instruments to break down a wall, which doubtless they brought with them, as easily foreseeing that difficulty in their enterprise. But because the Hebrew word is not shur, a wall, but schor, an ox, others translate the words thus, they houghed, or killed an ox, or bull, meaning Shechem, so called either from his lust, or from his strength and power, from which princes are oft so called, as Deu 33:17; Psa 22:12; 68:30. Or rather thus, they rooted out, or drove away an ox, i.e. the oxen, the singular number for the plural, as before; and under them are comprehended the other cattle of the Shechemites, which they drove away, as we read they did, Gen 34:28. For as the words may bear this sense, so it seems more reasonable to understand them of that which certainly was done by them, than of their breaking a wall, of which we do not read any thing in the history.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
O my soul, come not thou into their secret,…. Their cabinet counsels, combinations and conspiracies; this Jacob said, as abhorring the wicked counsel they had took of slaying the Shechemites; and lest any should think he was concerned in it, or connived at it, he expressed a detestation of the fact on his dying bed: the future tense may be put for the past; and so Onkelos renders it, “my soul was not in their secret”; and so the other two Targums paraphrase it, that when they got and consulted together, his soul was not pleased and delighted with their counsel, but abhorred it; or “my soul shall not come”, which Jarchi thinks prophetical refers to the case of Zimri, the son of Salu, of the tribe of Simeon, as the following clause to the affair of Korah, of the tribe of Levi, as foreseeing and disapproving them, and desiring they might not be called by his name, or his name called upon them, Nu 25:14
unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united; the same thing expressed in different words; by his “honour or glory” he means his soul, the more honourable part of man, or his tongue, with which man glorifies God; and hereby Jacob intimates, that he did not in thought, and much less in express words, give any consent unto, and approbation of the deed of those two sons of his, and that he never was, nor never desired to be with them in their meetings and consultations:
for in their anger they slew a man; Hamor or Shechem, together with all the males of the city; and so “man” may be put for “men”, the singular for the plural, as is frequent. The Targum of Jonathan is, a king and his governor; and the Targum of Jerusalem, kings with governors:
and in their selfwill they digged down a wall; not the wall of the city of Shechem, which does not appear to be walled, by their easy access into it; and if it was, they do not seem to have had proper instruments for such an undertaking, nor a sufficient number for such work, and which would have required longer time than they used, unless it was a poor wall indeed: rather the wall of Shechem’s house, or the court before it, which they dug down, or broke through to get in and slay Hamor and Shechem, and take away their sister; though the word, as here pointed, always signifies an ox; and so the Samaritan and Septuagint versions render it, they hamstringed a bull, or houghed an ox, just in like manner as horses are said to be houghed,
Jos 11:6 and which some understand l figuratively of a prince or ruler; so great personages are called bulls of Bashan,
Ps 22:12 and interpret it either of Hamor or of Shechem, who was a prince among his people, and furious in his lust towards Dinah, and so this clause is much the same with the former: and besides, him they enervated by circumcision, and took the advantage of this his condition at the worst, and slew him, which seems to be the true sense of the text, agreeably to Ge 34:25 but the Jerusalem Targum paraphrases it of Joseph, whom his brethren sold, who was like unto an ox; and so Jarchi interprets it of him, whom they designed to slay, see De 33:17 but it is better to take the words in a literal sense, either of the oxen that Simeon and Levi took from the Shechemites, which they plucked or drove away from their mangers, as some render the words m; and some of them they might hough or hamstring, that they might not get away from them, see Ge 34:28 or rather of Shechem himself, who was , “a prince”, a word which has some likeness and affinity to this in the text.
l R. Jacob Ben Eleazer in Ben Melech, in loc. m “avulserunt boves”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator others, “enervarunt bovem”, Schmidt; so Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(6) Their secret.The word sd used here is literally the little carpet, or cushion, upon which an Oriental sits. Consequently, for two persons to sit upon the same carpet marks a high degree of friendship and familiarity. It would therefore be more exactly translated alliance, or intimacy.
Unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united.For assembly (Heb. congregation), see Gen. 28:3; Gen. 35:11. It means here their union, or confederacy. In the first clause Jacob bids his soul, his true self, not to enter their alliance; here, after the manner of the parallelism of Hebrew poetry, he intensifies the meaning. For by mine honour, he signifies all that gave him dignity and worth in the sight of God and man. And this nobleness would be degraded and lost by union with men banded together for evil.
In their self-will they digged down a wallSelf-will is worse than anger, and signifies that arrogant temper which leads on to wanton cruelty. The last words mean, they houghed an ox. The Vulgand Syriac took it as our version does, and understood it of making a breach in the walls of Shechem; but they had a different reading, shur, whereas the word in the Hebrew is shor, an ox, and it is so rendered by the LXX. The ox was in old times the symbol of majesty, and thus bulls are put for princes in Psa. 22:12; Psa. 68:30. Thus, then, the meaning is, In their anger at the wrong done to their sister they slew Hamor, prince of Shechem, with his people; and from wanton cruelty, without any just cause for indignation, they hamstrung the noblest of their brethren, not killing Joseph outright, but disabling him by selling him into slavery, that he might there perish.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Their secret council Allusion to their private conspiracy to massacre the men of Shechem .
Unite not This uniting in secret assembly is to be punished by dividing and scattering them . Gen 49:7.
My honour Used of the heart or soul, as the noblest and most honourable part of man’s nature . Compare Psa 7:5; Psa 16:9; Psalm 30:13 . But at the same time the ordinary meaning of the word may be here kept prominent: Let not my honour be compromised or tarnished by any union with their counsels .
They slaughtered men Hebrews, a man. The singular, though used collectively, gives peculiar vividness to the thought as conceived in the Hebrew idiom.
They houghed oxen Here, too, the Hebrew employs the singular in the same collective sense. The fact stated illustrates the wanton cruelty of these brothers. The common version, they digged down a wall, follows the Chaldee, Syriac, Vulgate, Aquila, and Symmachus; but the authority of these versions, which have copied from one another, is outweighed by the fact that in all other passages where the Piel of this word ( ) occurs, it means to hamstring or hough an animal . Such uniform usage has greater authority than the testimony of many versions.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 49:6. O my soul, come not thou, &c. Or, into their secret my soul entered not. But our translation is much more emphatic. Jacob, by this pathetic exclamation, testifies the higher detestation of his sons’ barbarity. Their secret, means their wicked designs, which are called their secret, because such designs are commonly carried on with deep secrecy. See Psa 64:2. He goes on, unto their assembly, Mine honour, be not thou united. Mine honour answers to my soul in the preceding line, and, like it, is frequently used in poetry for the pronoun of the first person, Psa 16:9. Grotius explains this:”I have not stained mine honour, or rather, let mine honour never be stained, by joining in their cursed assembly.” The sentiment rises: in the former clause Jacob says, that he would not choose to be concerned in their secret designs: here he declares, that, as he valued his honour and self-approbation, he would shun the very place where they were assembled, for fear of catching the infection.
In their anger they slew a man The singular for the plural; for he means the inhabitants of Shechem, see ch. Gen 34:25. [slew all the males]; as he means the town of Shechem by the wall, which they are said to have digged down.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
Ver. 6. O my soul, come not thou, &c. ] Jacob here meaneth that neither should any, neither would he approve of their perfidy, saith an interpreter. And yet Thuanus writes that the Pope caused the massacre of Paris to be painted in his palace. Another of them highly extolled in his consistory the noble act of Clement the monk, that killed the king of France, comparing it with the work of creation, incarnation, &c. Friar Garnet, our chief gunpowder plotter, had his picture set among the rest of their saints, in the Jesuits’ Church at Rome. And Cornel. a Lapide, upon Apoc. vii. 3, crowns this traitor with fresh encomiastics. a
In their anger they slew a man.
a Jacob Revius, De Vitis Pont., p. 291. Gir. i. Apol. contra Jesuit.
b Answ. to Cathol. Supplic., by Gab. Powel, 885. Val. Max., lib. ix. Turk. Hist., fol. 363.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
my soul = myself. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
secret = council.
unto. Samaritan Pentateuch, The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, Septuagint, and Syriac insert “and” = “and into”.
assembly. Hebrew. kahal = Greek. eeclesia. See Gen 28:3.
digged down a wall. Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint read “hamstrung an ox”. Compare Gen 34:26.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
O my soul: Jdg 5:21, Psa 42:5, Psa 42:11, Psa 43:5, Psa 103:1, Jer 4:19, Luk 12:19
come: Gen 34:30, Psa 5:10, Psa 26:4, Psa 26:5, Psa 28:3, Psa 94:20, Psa 94:21, Psa 139:19, Pro 1:11, Pro 1:15, Pro 1:16, Pro 12:5
secret: Deu 27:24, Psa 26:9, Psa 64:2, Jer 15:17
unto their: Psa 1:1, Psa 26:9, Psa 94:20, 2Co 6:14
honour: Psa 16:9, Psa 30:12, Psa 57:8
a man: Gen 34:25, Gen 34:26, Gen 34:30
digged down a wall: or, houghed oxen
Reciprocal: Gen 4:23 – I have slain a man to my wounding Gen 29:33 – called Num 1:22 – General Job 21:16 – the counsel Joh 18:18 – Peter Tit 1:7 – not selfwilled 2Pe 2:10 – selfwilled
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 49:6. My soul, come not thou into their secret Their cursed plot hatched in secret: far be it from me to approve of their secret designs. And let not mine honour Or good name, be stained by being associated with theirs. Thus he signifies to all posterity that that bloody enterprise was undertaken without his consent, and that he could not think of it without detestation, nor let it pass without a severe censure. For in their anger they slew a man Shechem himself, and many others: and to effect that wickedness they digged down a wall Broke into their houses to plunder them, and murder the inhabitants.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their {d} secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a {e} man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
(d) Or, tongue: meaning that he neither consented to them in word or thought.
(e) The Shechemites Gen 34:26.