And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money.
19. the parcel of ground ] or “the portion of the field.” Lat. partem agri. For “parcel,” Fr. “parcelle,” from Lat. particula, see Jos 24:32; Rth 4:3. Cf. “Many a thousand, Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear” (Shakespeare, 3 Hen. VI, Gen 33:6).
his tent ] Jacob has resumed dwelling in tents, see Gen 33:17.
the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father ] This apparently means the people of the tribe of Hamor; and Hamor was the founder, or chieftain, of the city of Shechem. The confusion between the “sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father,” and “Shechem the son of Hamor,” in Gen 34:2, caused LXX in this verse to omit “sons of.”
LXX, by rendering for the name of the man, and (cf. Gen 12:6) for the name of the city, draws a distinction which it is not always possible to observe in English.
pieces of money ] Heb. kesitah. Apparently a esitah was a piece of metal used for money; elsewhere it is mentioned only in Jos 24:32; Job 42:11. Whether it denotes a small coin, or an ingot, cannot be determined. The versions, LXX, Lat. and Targ. Onkelos, render “lambs 1 [53]
[53] LXX ( = “a hundred lambs”) “vel agnos ipsos intellegere potuerunt, vel nummos agnorum imagine signatos.” Schleusner, Lex. Vet. Test., s.v. .
”
: Targ. Jon. and Jerus., “pearls.”
The purchase of this plot of ground was historically important. It was the burial-place of the bones of Joseph (cf. Jos 24:32; Act 7:16). The possession of such small pieces of territory (cf. the purchase of Machpelah ch. 23) constituted no claim for the possession of the country: the patriarchs were “strangers and sojourners,” Gen 23:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 33:19-20
And he bought a parcel of a field
Jacobs faith and piety
I.
HIS FAITH. He bought a parcel of ground as a pledge of his faith in the future possession of that country by his posterity (Gen 33:19). This purchase of a portion of land, concerning which God had promised Abraham that it should be his, showed Jacobs deep conviction that the promise was renewed to him and to his seed.
II. HIS PIETY. This was an evidence of his faith. He gave himself up entirely to God, and this inward feeling was expressed outwardly by acts of obedience and devotion. His piety is seen–
1. In an act of worship. He erected there an altar. This was in keeping with his vow (Gen 28:21).
2. In the use of blessings already given. He called the altar El-Elohe-Israel (Gen 33:20). He now uses his own new name, Israel, for the first time, in association with the name of God. He uses that name which signifies the Mighty One, who was now his covenant God. He lives up to his privilege, uses all that God had given. He had vowed that he would take the Lord to be his God.
3. In the peace he enjoyed. He arrived in peace at his journeys end (Gen 33:18). (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons
1. Jacob and his seed desire to usurp nothing but what they buy from the world.
2. Gods pilgrims mind no great purchase below, but only a place for a tent: a little place.
3. It is lawful for Jacob to deal with Canaanites in just exchanges (Gen 33:19).
4. Saints would not have a house but that God should dwell in 2:5. Succeeding saints repair religion and the means of the exercise of it, set up by progenitors.
6. Altarworship, or worship by Christ, is that which saints have ever practised.
7. True religion is terminated in the Almighty God.
8. Religious worship is the true memorial of Gods making His Church truly Israel (Gen 2:20). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
He erected there an altar
The family altar
By calling this altar El-Elohe-Israel, or God the God of Israel, it was virtually saying, I erect this altar for the worship of my family, to the God with whom I have prevailed in supplication, and who has proved Himself the hearer of my prayer. Such an altar should there be in every household; and, without further special reference to our text, I proceed to the subject I have chosen for this occasion,, namely, that of family worship.
1. We may remark, first, that it is clearly the duty of every family to maintain such worship.
2. We may pass on, therefore, in the second place, to the advantages of family worship. Among its lesser benefits, we may remark in passing that, rightly conducted, it makes a profitable impression upon those out of the family, who may chance to witness it. Family worship is also of unspeakable advantage in maintaining all the other institutions of our holy religion. We can hardly enumerate the advantages of family worship to the household itself. That it draws down the blessing of God upon the domestic circle needs no proof, for we have for our encouragement, not only the general promises made to prayer, but the special assurance that where two or three are gathered together in Christs name He will be with them; and we have farther, the evidence of actual experience. If we value the salvation of our loved ones we shall not neglect this means of securing it. The restraining influence of domestic worship upon all the annoyances and disturbers of domestic peace is most powerful and valuable. Who can kneel down and pray daily before his family against a sin which he habitually commits? How can the inmates of a dwelling cherish unkind feelings towards each other while united in common prayer?
3. We may next notice the manner in which family devotions may best be performed.
4. Our last point will be to notice the objections and difficulties which are commonly opposed to the duty. One may reply, that all these arguments and statements may be very good and true, but that he makes no profession of religion, and it would be improper, therefore, for him to set up family worship. Why so? Is it wrong for him to pray in secret, or in the house of God, or to give his children religious instruction? And why any more so to pray in the family? (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)
Jacobs thankfulness after deliverance
See the practice of faithful men, ever when God hath been merciful to them, and delivered them out of danger. Now Jacob buildeth an altar in the true thankfulness of his soul unto God for this great mercy and deliverance of him from his brother Esau. And he calleth it the mighty God of Israel: giving to the sign the name of the thing which it signified, which is usual in the Scripture. Thus would God it might kindle some heat in our hearts and consciences, to consider ourselves, the dangers we have been in our days, the dangers of the land wherein we inhabit. The dangers of wife, children, and friends, and now our safety and deliverance from all our fears. For this hath the Lord done for us, and whatsoever it is in our eyes, surely it is wonderful even through the world. But where now are our altars? That is, where are our thanks and most grateful songs for our deliverance? We have found mercy as Jacob did; yea, for more, for greater Esaus have come against us, than did against him, not with four hundred men, but many thousands, to captivate us for ever as their slaves when they had slain their fill. And yet we live, and by God only who hath strangely revenged us upon them that would thus have eaten us up. That is, as I say again, we give not thanks for the custom of our time, as he did after the manner of his. At the first peradventure we did, but it was soon at an end. Now are we fallen into a deep sleep again, and both God and His mercy is forgotten. Our danger also, as if it had never been. But in the Lord I beseech you, let us awake again, look upon Jacob here what he cloth, and every man and woman follow his example. Build God an altar, not in earth with lime and stone, but in your heart of most kind and thankful remembrance for all His mercies to the land, to our dread sovereign, to ourselves, our souls and bodies, to our wives and children, to our neighbours and friends, and infinite ways that we cannot name. Bless His majesty for them, and let not the remembrance die, till you die yourself. A thankful heart is all that the Lord seeketh, and it is all that indeed we can do to Him. (Bp. Babington.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. For a hundred pieces of money.] The original, bemeah kesitah, has been a matter of long and learned discussion among critics. As kesitah signifies a lamb, it may imply that Jacob gave the Hamorites one hundred lambs for the field; but if it be the same transaction that St. Stephen refers to in Ac 7:16, it was money, , a sum or price of silver, which was given on the occasion. It has been conjectured that the money had the figure of a lamb stamped on it, because it was on an average the value of a lamb; and hence it might be called a kesitah or lamb from the impression it bore. It is certain that in many countries the coin has had its name from the image it bore; so among our ancestors a coin was called an angel because it bore the image of an angel; hence also a Jacobus, a Carolus, a Lewis, (Louis d’ Or,) a Joe, because certain coins in England, Spain, France, and Portugal, bore on one side the image of the kings of those countries, James, Charles, Lewis, Joseph, or Johannes. The Athenians had a coin called bouv, an ox, because it was stamped with the figure of an ox. Hence the saying in AEschylus:
‘ ,
AGAM. v. 36.
“I must be silent concerning other matters, a great ox has come upon my tongue;” to signify a person who had received a bribe for secrecy, i.e., a sum of money, on each piece of which an ox was stamped, and hence called , an ox. The word opes, riches, is a corruption of the word oves, sheep, because these animals in ancient times constituted the principal riches of their owners; but when other cattle were added, the word pecunia, (from pecus, cattle,) which we translate money, and from which we still have our English term pecuniary, appears to have been substituted for oves, because pecus, pecoris, and pecus, pecudis, were used to signify all kinds of cattle large and small. Among our British and Saxon ancestors we find coins stamped with the figure of an ox, horse, hog, goat, c., and this custom arose in all probability, both among them and other nations, from this circumstance, that in primitive times the coin was the ordinary value of the animal whose image it bore. It is, all circumstances weighed, most likely that a piece of money is here intended, and possibly marked with the image of a lamb but as the original word kesitah occurs only here, and in Jos 24:32, and Job 42:11, this is not sufficiently evident, the word itself being of very doubtful signification. Mr. Parkhurst is of opinion that the kesitah bore the image of a lamb; and that these lamb coins of the ancient Hebrews typified the Lamb of God, who in the Divine purpose was considered as slain from the foundation of the world, and who purchased us unto God with his own blood. The conjecture is at least pious, and should lead to useful reflections. Those who wish to see more on this subject may consult the writers in the Critici Sacri, and Calmet.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He bought a parcel of a field for his present possession and use; for the right which he had to it was only in reversion after the time that God had allotted for it.
The children of Hamor, i.e. subjects, called his children to note the duty which they owed to him, and the care and affection that he owed to them. Compare Num 11:12.
An hundred pieces of money. The word is used only here, and Jos 24:32; Job 42:11, and it may signify either lambs, given in way of exchange for it, or pieces of money, which seems more probable, both by comparing Act 7:16, and because money was come into use in that place and time, Gen 17:12,13; 23:16; 47:16, which were called lambs possibly from the fignre of a lamb stamped upon it, as the Athenian money was called an ox for the like reason, and as we call a piece of gold a Jacobus, because the picture of that king is upon it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. an hundred pieces ofmoneyliterally, “lambs”; probably a coin with thefigure of a lamb on it.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he bought a parcel of a field,…. Not the whole, but a part of it; this he did, though he was heir of the whole country, because, as yet, the time was not come for him or his to take possession of it:
where he had spread his tent; the ground that it stood upon, and what was adjoining to it, for the use of his cattle: this he bought
at the hand of the children of Hamor; of some one of them, in whose possession it was, and perhaps with the consent of the rest, and before them, as witnesses:
for an hundred pieces of money; Onkelos, the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Samaritan, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it a hundred lambs or sheep, cattle being used to be given in exchange for things in trade and commerce; but as money was in use before the times of Jacob, and Stephen expresses it as a “sum of money”, Ac 7:16; and this best agrees with the use of the word in Job 42:11, the only place besides this, excepting Jos 24:32, in which it is used, it seems best so to interpret it here; and the pieces of money might be such as were of the value of a lamb or sheep, or rather had the figure of one impressed upon them. Laban, from whom Jacob might have them, or his neighbours, and also Jacob himself, being shepherds, might choose thus to impress their money; but the exact value of these pieces cannot be ascertained: the Jewish writers generally interpret them of a “meah”, which was the value of one penny of our money, and twenty of them went to a shekel; so that a hundred of these must make a very small and contemptible sum to purchase a piece of ground with.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(19) He bought . . . Abraham had been obliged to buy land for a burial-place, and we find even then that the field he wanted had an owner who could give him a title to its possession. Jacob a century later finds it necessary to buy even the ground on which to pitch his tent, though his cattle might still roam freely about for pasture. This, however, would certainly not have been required except in the immediate neighbourhood of a town. As he had now recovered from his sprain, he returns to his habits as a nomad, and dwells in a tent. In this, the first parcel of ground possessed by Jacob, the embalmed body of Joseph was buried (Jos. 24:32; see also Joh. 4:5); and it is remarkable that the possession of it was secure, even when the owners were far away in Egypt.
An hundred pieces of money.Heb., a hundred hesitas. It is plain that the kesita was an ingot of metal of some considerable value, from what is said in the Book of Job (Gen. 42:11), that each of his friends gave the patriarch one kesita and a nose-ring of gold. The etymology of the word is uncertain, and apparently all knowledge of its meaning had at an early period passed away, inasmuch as Onkelos and some of the versions translate it lambs, for which rendering there is no support.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Bought a parcel of a field Rather, the portion of the field . Abraham’s only purchase of land was a place to bury his dead; Jacob now probably found the land more thickly settled, and found it necessary to buy land in order to dwell in peace. On this same land he dug the famous well at which the Saviour taught the Samaritan woman. Joh 4:5-6; Joh 4:12.
Hundred pieces of money Hebrews, a hundred kesitah. The Sept. and Vulg. render a hundred lambs, a sense, says Gesenius, “which has no support either from etymology or in the kindred dialects, nor is it in accordance with patriarchal usages.” The word means some sort of money, in precious metal, weighed out, as Abraham weighed out the silver for Machpelah, (xxiii, 16,) but the exact value of a hundred kesitah cannot now be ascertained.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 33:19. An hundred pieces of money Or, lambs. There was a coin in those days, which was afterwards used among the Jews, called by the name of its print, which was a lamb.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Observe: though Jacob by God’s blessing was the proprietor in right of inheritance, yet not an inch of the land of Canaan had he in possession. Act 7:5 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 33:19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money.
Ver. 19. For an hundred pieces of money. ] Heb., Lambs, – as a we call angels, Jacobuses, – because stamped with the image of a lamb. So Jos 24:32 , marg.; Job 42:11 .
a Sic pecunia, a pecude.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hamor. Probably a title, like Abimelech and Pharaoh.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Shechem’s
Called “Sychem,” Act 7:16.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
bought: Gen 23:17-20, Gen 49:30-32, Jos 24:32, Joh 4:5, Act 7:16
Hamor: Gen 34:2-31, Act 7:16, Emmor
pieces of money: or, lambs
Reciprocal: Gen 48:22 – given Jos 20:7 – Shechem Jos 21:21 – Shechem Jos 24:1 – Shechem 1Ki 12:1 – Shechem