Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?
27. steal away from me ] Heb. didst steal me; cf. Gen 31:20.
sent thee away ] The same word as in Gen 12:20, “And they brought him on the way.” The suggestion of a musical accompaniment is rhetorical. The “tabret” ( tph) is the “timbrel” or “tambourine.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 27. I might have sent thee away with mirth] , besimchah, with rejoicing, making a feast or entertainment on the occasion; and with songs, beshirim, odes either in the praise of God, or to commemorate the splendid acts of their ancestors; with tabret, bethoph, the tympanum used in the east to the present day, and there called [Arabic] diff, a thin broad wooden hoop, with parchment extended over one end of it, to which are attached small pieces of brass, tin, c., which make a jingling noise it is held in the air with one hand, and beat on with the fingers of the other. It appears to have been precisely the same with that which is called the tambourine and which is frequently to be met with in our streets. And with harp, bekinnor, a sort of stringed instrument, a lute or harp; probably the same as the Greek kinura, a harp; the name being evidently borrowed from the Hebrew. These four things seem to include all that was used in those primitive times, as expressive of gladness and satisfaction on the most joyous occasions.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me?…. Intimating as if he should not have been against his departure, if he had but acquainted him with it, and the reasons of it; so that he had no need to have used such privacy, and go away like a thief by stealth, as if he had done something he had reason to be ashamed of:
and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth,
and with songs, with tabret and with harp: pretending that he would have given him leave to depart; and not only have dismissed him from his house and service in an honourable way, but very cheerfully and pleasantly: he would have got a band of music, men singers and women singers, and others to play on musical instruments, as the tabret and harp; and so had a concert of vocal and instrumental music, which would have shown that they parted by consent, and as good friends: whether this was an usual custom in this country, of parting with friends, I cannot say, but it seems to be very odd; for usually relations and friends, that have a cordial affection for each other, part with grief and tears: by this Laban appears to be a carnal man, and had but little sense of religion, as well as acted the hypocritical part.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“ So I might have conducted thee with mirth and songs, with tabret and harp, ” i.e., have sent thee away with a parting feast.
Gen 31:28 : an old form of the infinitive for as in Gen 48:11; Gen 50:20.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
27. I might have sent thee away with mirth His previous conduct had given no hopes of any such kind treatment, as Jacob freely intimates, when he comes to respond.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 31:27. With mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp The Easterns in general set out, at least in their longer journies, with music; for, when the Prefetto of AEgypt, whose journal the late Bishop of Clogher published, was preparing for his journey, he complains of his being incommoded by the songs of his eastern friends, who took leave in this manner of their relations and acquaintance before their setting out. This illustrates the complaint of Laban in this verse: Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might, &c.
But the Prefetto takes no notice of a circumstance which frequently attends these travelling eastern songs, though it illustrates another passage of Scripture; and that is, the extemporaneousness of them. A guard of Arab horsemen escorted the gentlemen who visited Palmyra in the year 1751. When the business of the day was over, coffee and a pipe of tobacco, as the ingenious editor of those ruins tells us, p. 33. was their highest luxury; and when they indulged in this, sitting in a circle, one of the company entertained the rest with a song or an anecdote, and the compositions were sometimes extemporary. The extemporary devotional songs then, mentioned by the Apostle, 1Co 14:26 were by no means contrary to the turn of mind of the eastern people. The songs of the Israelitish women, when they came to meet king Saul, after the slaughter of the Philistine by David, seem to have been of the same kind; for they answered one another, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. 1Sa 18:7.
These valedictory songs, however, which the Prefetto takes notice of, are not to be supposed to be a constant prelude to their journies, but only to those of the most solemn kind; there is, therefore, an energy in the words of Laban which ought to be remarked: Why didst thou not tell me, that I might have sent thee away, and taken my leave of my daughters, going such a journey with all due solemnity, according to the custom of my country?
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 31:27 Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?
Ver. 27. That I might have sent thee away with mirth. ] A likely matter! but it is the hypocrite’s best now, to say the best. He durst do no other; for God had overawed him, and put his hook into his nostrils. Hypocrites are likened to “bulrushes,” Isa 58:5 which are green and smooth; and he is curious to a miracle, that can find a knot in them; but within is nothing but a useless and spongy pith. Compared they are also to “vipers,” Mat 3:7 that are painted, as it were, without, but poisonful within: they have their teeth also buried in their gums, saith Pliny, so that one would think them to be harmless beasts, and that they could not bite. So hypocrites seem most innocent. Who would have thought otherwise of Laban, that had not known him, considering his dispute here with Jacob, his protests, afterwards, of deep and dear love to his daughters, and lastly, his attestation and taking God to witness for their good usage, and his heap of stones to witness (together with his heap of words to small purpose), calling it first Jegar-sahadutha, as a witness betwixt man and man; and then Mizpeh, as a watch-tower or witness between God and man? Who could take Laban for less now, than a loving father, yea, and an honest man? But, as the historian a saith of another, so may we of him; Palam compositus pudor, intus summa adipiscendi libido . All this was but blanched hypocrisy, and coloured covetousness, as St Paul calls it. 1Th 2:5
“ Astutam vapido servat sub pectore vulpem .” – Pers.
a Tacit., De Sejano.
with mirth. Laban adds hypocrisy, covetousness, and avarice, to idolatry.
Wherefore: Gen 31:3-5, Gen 31:20, Gen 31:21, Gen 31:31, Jdg 6:27
steal away from me: Heb. hast stolen me, Gen 31:20, *marg.
that I: Pro 26:23-26
with mirth: Gen 24:59, Gen 24:60, Job 21:11-14
tabret: Exo 15:20
Reciprocal: Gen 4:21 – the harp 2Sa 19:3 – steal 2Sa 19:41 – stolen Job 17:6 – as a tabret Job 21:12 – General Isa 5:12 – the harp Isa 30:32 – every place Amo 6:5 – to the
Gen 31:27. I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs Not as Rebekah was sent away out of the same family above one hundred and twenty years before, with prayers and blessings, but with sport and merriment; which was a sign that religion was much decayed in the family.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments