Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 48:22
Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
22. portion ] Heb. shechem, “shoulder,” i.e. mountain slope. This unusual expression (not elsewhere used in O.T.) for a “ridge,” “saddle,” or “shoulder,” of a hill, is here employed as a play upon the proper name “Shechem.” LXX ; Lat. unam partem. The allusion may no longer be clear; but it evidently refers to the city of Shechem, and has some bearing upon its subsequent position as a principal city in the tribe of Ephraim, and as the site of Joseph’s burial-place.
above thy brethren ] As if the distribution of other portions had already been made.
which I took Amorite ] This allusion to a conquest of Shechem by Jacob has nothing to correspond with it in the earlier narrative. In Gen 33:19 Jacob purchases a parcel of ground at Shechem. In ch. 34 his sons massacre the Shechemites; but on that occasion Jacob condemns their action (cf. Gen 34:30), and departs to dwell elsewhere. Probably we have here some quite distinct tradition of a conquest of Shechem by Jacob, which is connected with a feat of arms. In Jos 24:32 it is combined with the purchase of ground in Gen 33:19. The survival of that tradition appears in St Joh 4:5.
with my sword and with my bow ] In order to avoid the appearance of warlike activity on the part of the peaceful patriarchs, Targ. Onkelos renders “with my prayer and entreaty.” We may compare the strange paraphrase of Jerome, “dabo tibi Sicimam quam emi in fortitudine mea, hoc est, in pecunia quam multo labore et sudore quaesivi” ( Quaest. ed. Lagarde, p. 66). For Abraham as a warrior, see chap. 14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 22. Moreover I have given to thee one portion] shechem achad, one shechem or one shoulder. We have already seen the transactions between Jacob and his family on one part, and Shechem and the sons of Hamor on the other. See Ge 33:18-19, and Ge 34:1-31. As he uses the word shechem here, I think it likely that he alludes to the purchase of the field or parcel of ground mentioned Ge 33:18-19. It has been supposed that this parcel of ground, which Jacob bought from Shechem, had been taken from him by the Amorites, and that he afterwards had recovered it by his sword and by his bow, i. e., by force of arms. Shechem appears to have fallen to the lot of Joseph’s sons; (see Jos 17:1, and Jos 20:7); and in our Lord’s time there was a parcel of ground near to Sychar or Shechem which was still considered as that portion which Jacob gave to his son Joseph, Joh 4:5; and on the whole it was probably the same that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of money, Ge 33:18-19. But how it could be said that he took this out of the hand of the Amorite with his sword and his bow, we cannot tell. Many attempts have been made to explain this abstruse verse, but they have all hitherto been fruitless. Jacob’s words were no doubt perfectly well understood by Joseph, and probably alluded to some transaction that is not now on record; and it is much safer for us to confess our ignorance, than to hazard conjecture after conjecture on a subject of which we can know nothing certainly.
1. ON filial respect to aged and destitute parents we have already had occasion to speak; see Ge 48:11. The duty of children to their parents only ceases when the parents are laid in their graves, and this duty is the next in order and importance to the duty we owe to God. No circumstances can alter its nature or lessen its importance; Honour thy father and thy mother is the sovereign, everlasting command of God. While the relations of parent and child exist, this commandment will be in full force.
2. The Redeeming Angel, the Messenger of the covenant, in his preserving and saving influence, is invoked by dying Jacob to be the protector and Saviour of Ephraim and Manasseh, Ge 48:16. With what advantage and effect can a dying parent recommend the Lord Jesus to his children, who can testify with his last breath that this Jesus has redeemed him from all evil! Reader, canst thou call Christ thy Redeemer? Hast thou, through him, recovered the forfeited inheritance? Or dost thou expect redemption from all evil by any other means? Through him, and him alone, God will redeem thee from all thy sins; and as thou knowest not what a moment may bring forth, thou hast not a moment to lose. Thou hast sinned, and there is no name given under heaven among men whereby thou canst be saved but Jesus Christ. Acquaint thyself now with him, and be at peace, and thereby good shall come unto thee.
3. We find that the patriarchs ever held the promised land in the most sacred point of view. It was God’s gift to them; it was confirmed by a covenant that spoke of and referred to better things. We believe that this land typified the rest which remains for the people of God, and can we be indifferent to the excellence of this rest! A patriarch could not die in peace, however distant from this land, without an assurance that his bones should be laid in it. How can we live, how can we die comfortably, without the assurance that our lives are hid with Christ in God, and that we shall dwell in his presence for ever? There remains a rest for the people of God, and only for the people of God; for those alone who love, serve, reverence, and obey him, in his Son Jesus Christ, shall ever enjoy it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. I do now give to thee the right, and I do prophetically give, and God will really and actually give unto thy son Ephraim, or his and posterity, who shall possess this part over above that portion which shall fall to him by lot. This was all the land which Jacob had in Canaan, which he here gives to Joseph, partly, in testimony of his great affection and obligation to him; partly, as a sign that he did confirm the right of the first-born upon him; and partly, for the confirmation of the faith of Joseph and his brethren, and to oblige them to set up their rest no where but in Canaan.
One portion: the Hebrew word is Shechem, which word indeed signifies a shoulder, as Gen 9:23, and is here put for a part of land which is choice and good, as the shoulder is among the parts of the body. See 1Sa 9:24. And he useth this word, that by allusion he might signify what place he speaks of, even Shechem, as may further appear by comparing Jos 24:32; Joh 4:5. Yea, some would have Shechem here to be the proper name of the place, which might be if the word one were not added to it.
This place is understood, either,
1. Of the future conquest of the land of the Amorites or Canaanities by his posterity, which he here ascribes to himself, and speaks of it in the past time, as of a thing already done, as the manner of the prophets is. But Jacob would not attribute that to his sword, which his posterity deny to be done by their sword, Psa 44:3. And it is manifest that Jacob here speaks of that which was his by a special title, and which in a peculiar manner he gave to Joseph. Or,
2. Of the city and territory of Shechem, whose inhabitants were rooted out by Simeon and Levi, and whose land being void was possessed by Jacob. And this is said to be got by Jacobs sword and bow, because it was got with the sword and bow of his sons Simeon and Levi, and a great number of his family, who doubtless were associated with them in this expedition. But it is not likely that he would take to himself that which he declares his utter abhorrence of, Gen 34:30; 49:5,6, or that he should call that
his sword and his bow here which he calls instruments of cruelty in Simeons and Levis hands, Gen 49:5. Or,
3. Which seems the truest, of that land in the territory of Shechem, which Jacob bought of Hamor, Gen 33:19, which is said to be got by his sword and bow, either,
1. Properly, because he did by force of arms expel those Amorites, who upon his retirement from those parts, after the slaughter of the Shechemites, had invaded his lands, though this story be not elsewhere recorded; as many things are mentioned by the by in some one place of Scripture, without any particular account of the circumstances of them, either there or elsewhere, as Gen 36:24; Deu 2:9-11; Jos 24:11. And though Jacob was a man of peace, yet his sons were warriors; and they by his permission might drive out, by their arms, those straggling Canaanites which had taken possession of his purchase, Jacob being the more willing to recover his right herein, because it was an earnest of his future possession of the whole land. And the neighbouring Canaanites would not concern themselves in the defence of the invaders, both because they were convinced of the right of Jacobs cause, and because they were overruled by Divine Providence, in which Jacob trusted, and of which he had ample experience. Or,
2. Metaphorically, i.e. by his money, which he calls his sword and his bow, not only because money is answerable to the sword and the bow, and all other things, Ecc 10:19, and is a defence, Ecc 7:12, and therefore may well be so called, even as prayers and tears are called the arms of the church, because they serve for the same purpose that arms do against their enemies; but also and principally by way of opposition to the sword and bow of his cruel sons. So the sense may be this, I have given to thee one portion, or one Shechem, not the city of Shechem, which Simeon and Levi took from the hand of the Amorite with their sword and their bow, but a part of the territory of Shechem which I took or received from the hand of the Amorite by my sword and my bow, i.e. by my money, whereby I purchased it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. moreover I have given to theeone portion above thy brethrenThis was near Shechem (Gen 33:18;Joh 4:5; also Jos 16:1;Jos 20:7). And it is probable thatthe Amorites, having seized upon it during one of his frequentabsences, the patriarch, with the united forces of his tribe,recovered it from them by his sword and his bow.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren,…. The word for “portion” is “Shechem”, and which some take to be, not an appellative, as we do, but the name of a city, even Shechem; so the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi interpret it; and though that is not directly meant, yet there is a reference had to it, and it seems to be enigmatically understood; for this portion or parcel spoken of was near to Shechem, and not only that, but the city itself, and all the adjacent country, came to the lot of Ephraim, and were possessed by that tribe:
which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow; not referring, as some think, to the taking and spoiling of the city of Shechem by his sons, and so said to be done by him in them; for Jacob would never make that his act and deed, which he so much abhorred and detested, and still did, as appears by what he says of it in the following chapter; nor was this taken from the Amorite, but from the Hivite, and not by his sword and bow, whether taken literally or metaphorically, and so interpreted of his prayer and supplication, as by Onkelos; but he was so far from assisting in that affair by supplication, that his imprecations fell on Levi and Simeon, for that fact of theirs: if this is to be understood of the city of Shechem, what Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom propose seems most agreeable, that this is said by way of anticipation, the past tense being put for the future; Jacob, under a spirit of prophecy, foreseeing and declaring that his sons, and he in his sons in future time, would take it out of the hands of the Amorites, the principal of the Canaanitish nations, and then it should be given to Joseph’s seed; but the first and special regard is to the part or parcel of ground which lay near Shechem; and this Jacob is said to take by his sword and bow, which some interpret of his money, which were his arms and defence, and which he had got by much labour; and if it could be proved that his money was marked with a sword and bow upon it, as the Persian Darics were with an archer with his bow and arrow, and therefore called sagittaries or archers u, it would countenance this sense; though even then it could not with propriety be said that he by this means obtained it of the Amorite, since he bought it of the children of Hamor the Hivite; but it seems more likely, that after Jacob departed from Shechem to Hebron, the Amorite came and seized on this parcel of ground; which he hearing of, went with his sons and servants, and recovered it out of their hands by his sword and bow; though this warlike action of his is nowhere recorded in Scripture, the Jewish writers w say, that Jacob and his sons had very grievous war with the Amorites on account of the slaughter and captivity of the Shechemites: by giving to Joseph this portion above his brethren, it appears that the birthright was become his, he having the double portion, and indeed all that Jacob had of his own in the land of Canaan; and hence Joseph’s bones were buried here, it being his own ground; see Jos 24:32.
u Vid. Heidegger. Hist. Patriarch. tom. 2. Exercit. 22. sect. 12. p. 690. w Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
22. I have given to thee one portion. In order to increase the confidence of his son Joseph, Jacob here assigns him a portion beyondhis proper lot. Some expound the passage otherwise; as if he called him a double heir in his two sons, thus honoring him with one portion more than the rest. But there is no doubt that he means a certain territory. And John, (Joh 4:5,) removes all controversy; for, speaking of the field adjoining Sychar, which before was called Shechem, says, it was that which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And, in the last chapter of Joshua, (Jos 24:32,) it is said to have come into the possession of the sons of Joseph. But in the word שכם ( shechem,) which among the Hebrews signifies a part, allusion is made to the proper name of the place. But here a question arises; how can he say that he had obtained the field by his sword and by his bow, which he had purchased with money, as is stated before, (Gen 33:19,) and is again recorded in the above mentioned chapter of Joshua? Seeing, however, that only a small portion of the field, where he might pitch his tents, was bought, I do not doubt that here he comprised a much greater space. For we may easily calculate, from the price, how small a portion of land he possessed, before the destruction of the city. He gives, therefore, now to his son Joseph, not only the place of his tent, which had cost a hundred pieces of silver, but the field which had been the common of the city of Sychar. But it remains to inquire how he may be said to have obtained it by his sword, whereas the inhabitants had been wickedly and cruelly slain by Simon and Levi. How then could it be acquired by the right of conquest, from those against whom war had been unjustly brought; or rather, against whom, without any war, the most cruel perfidy had been practiced? Jerome resorts to allegory, saying that the field was obtained by money, which is called strength, or justice. Others suppose a prolepsis, as if Jacob was speaking of a future acquisition of the land: a meaning which, though I do not reject, seems yet somewhat forced. I rather incline to this interpretation: first, that he wished to testify that he had taken nothing by means of his two sons Simon and Levi; who, having raged like robbers, were not lawful conquerors, and had never obtained a single foot of land, after the perpetration of the slaughter. For, so far were they from gaining anything, that they compelled their father to fly; nor would escape have been possible, unless they had been delivered by miracle. When, however, Jacob strips them of their empty title, he transfers this right of victory to himself, as being divinely granted to him. For though he always held their wickedness in abhorrence, and will show his detestation of it in the next chapter Gen 49:1; yet, because they had armed his whole household, they fought as under his auspices. Gladly would he have preserved the citizens of Shechem, a design which he was not able to accomplish; yet he appropriates to himself the land left empty and deserted by their destruction, because, for his sake, God had spared the murderers. (193)
(193) Perhaps this interpretation of a confessedly obscure passage, will be deemed rather ingenious than solid. It is supposed by many, that Jacob refers to some transaction of which no record is preserved. He may, like Abraham, on some occasion, have armed his household to recover from the hands of the Amorites the field of Sheehem, which he had previously purchased. But the whole must be left in hopeless obscurity. Ainsworth thinks that Jacob is speaking proleptically, and representing the future conduct of his children under Joshua, whose sword and bow he here calls his own. But this seems far-fetched. The Chaldee interpretation, that the sword and bow are figuratively used for prayer and supplication, is still more improbable. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) One portion.Heb., one Shechem. In favour of this being the town of Shechem is the fact that it did belong to Jacob (Gen. 37:12, where see Note); also that Josephs embalmed body was deposited there (see Jos. 24:32, where the land is said to have been bought for a hundred kesitas); and, lastly, the testimony of Joh. 4:5, where a parcel of ground at Sychar, close to Shechem, is identified with the ground given by Jacob to Joseph. On the other hand, one Shechem is an unnatural way of describing a town. Shechem also means, as we have seen (Gen. 12:6), the shoulder, and Abul-walid, in his Lexicon, quoting this place, says that both the Hebrews and Arabs gave this name to any elevated strip of ground. This is confirmed by Num. 34:11, &c., though the word actually used, chatef, is different. Probably, therefore, there was a play upon words in calling this plot of hill-ground Shechem, and not chatef, but made with the intention of showing that the town of Shechem was the portion really signified. But what is meant by Jacob having taken it out of the hand of the Amorite by his sword and his bow? Shechem was strictly a town of the Hivites, but as they were but a feeble tribe, the term Amorite may be used to give greater glory to the exploit. In Gen. 15:16, the Amorites, literally mountaineers, are described as owners of the whole country, and probably it was a term loosely applied to all the inhabitants of the uplands, though occasionally used with a more definite meaning (Gen. 15:21). As Jacob so strongly condemns the conduct of Simeon and Levi (Gen. 49:5-7), he can scarcely refer to their exploit, and therefore commentators generally suppose that he used the words prophetically, meaning, which my descendants will, centuries hence, conquer for themselves with their swords and bows. But this is, to take the words of Holy Scripture in a non-natural sense. Jacob was the owner of a strip of this shoulder-land in a way in which he was not the owner of any other portion of land in Canaan, except the cave of Machpelah; and we find him sending his cattle to pasture there when he was himself dwelling far away (Gen. 37:12). And it is quite possible that, after the inhuman treatment of the Hivites at Shechem, the Amorites did gather themselves together to avenge the Wrong, but were deterred by the threatening position taken up by Jacob, or even repulsed in an attack. The latter supposition would best harmonise with the fact that a mighty terror fell upon all the cities round about (Gen. 35:5), and also with the exultant spirit in which Jacob, a pre-eminently peaceful and timid man, here alludes to the one military exploit of his life.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. I have given to thee one portion The word rendered portion is shechem, ( , shoulder,) and may have been employed with some allusion to the town of this name, which was situated in the hill country of Ephraim, (Jos 20:7,) and the place near which Joseph’s bones were buried . Jos 24:32. Here was the “parcel of a field” which Jacob purchased of Hamor, the father of Shechem . Gen 33:19. And this in later tradition was understood to be “the parcel of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph.” Joh 4:5. But this tract, acquired by peaceable purchase, could not have been spoken of by Jacob as having been taken out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. We have no record of any such forcible acquisition of land by the patriarchs . “Any conquest of territory,” says Delitzsch, “would have been entirely at variance with the character of the patriarchal history, which consisted in the renunciation of all reliance upon human power, and a devoted trust in the God of the promises.” Nor could Jacob have here referred to the vengeful slaughter of the Shechemites by Simeon and Levi, (Gen 34:25-29,) which he ever reprobated as accursed and cruel, (Gen 34:30; Gen 49:5-7.) Rationalistic critics, who regard this whole narrative as a prophetic fiction written after the conquest of Canaan, explain it as an invention to account for or justify the double tribe-territory held by the house of Joseph, and find its historical basis in Jos 17:14-18. But a later writer, inventing such a prophetic fiction, would not have used the preterite verb-forms, I have given, and I took; but rather, I give what thou shalt take, or what thy sons shall take . The contest shows the aged patriarch to be speaking with his eye upon the future, and calling things that are not as though they were . The promise of the land of Canaan had been made so repeatedly to the patriarchs (comp . Gen 48:4) that it now rises up as an accomplished fact in Jacob’s prophetic vision, and is spoken of accordingly . The iniquity of the Amorite was not yet full, (see chap . 15:16,) but its punishment is a foregone conclusion in the Divine mind. A like use of the prophetic perfect may be seen in the prophecy concerning Ishmael. Chap. 17:20. Jacob here identifies himself with his descendants, and speaks as doing in person what his posterity will certainly accomplish in the after time.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 48:22. Which I took out of the hand of the Amorite Where are many particulars in the lives of the patriarchs, and of others, which are not related at all in Scripture; and there are some instances of a transient reference to facts of this kind, to things which have been said and done, but are never related. See ch. Gen 36:24. Deu 2:9. Jos 24:11. Act 20:35. Of this sort, I apprehend, is the present passage; at least, we have no mention in Scripture of any portion of land taken from the Amorite by the sword and bow of Jacob. All, therefore, which can be said upon the subject, must be mere conjectures; of which the most probable is, that the parcel of ground near Shechem, which Jacob purchased of Hamor, is here meant; and which, probably, he took or recovered, by force of arms, from the Amorites, who, it seems, had seized on it after his removal to another part of Canaan, ch. Gen 35:1. for this place was the inheritance of Joseph’s sons, Jos 17:1; Jos 17:18; Jos 20:7. It is mentioned as the parcel of ground which Jacob gave to Joseph, Joh 4:5 and thither Joseph’s bones were carried out of AEgypt and buried, Jos 24:32.
REFLECTIONS.The good old Israel was sinking fast under the infirmities of age; the eyes of his body were dim, but the eye of his faith bright and piercing. The sons of Joseph are brought near to him, and they are embraced with tenderest affection, and with deep acknowledgment of God’s goodness. Note; God often exceeds all his people’s hopes, and therefore deserves all their praises. We have here,
1. The blessing pronounced: that God, whose tender mercies he and his fathers had experienced, who had delivered them out of every affliction, and before whom they had walked, should bless the lads, and make them, according to the covenant of promise, a great people. Note; (1.) It becomes us to bear testimony for God in a dying hour, for the encouragement of others, as well as to testify our thankful acknowledgment to him. (2.) They who are redeemed from the evil of sin have no evil to fear in death. (3.) If we desire the blessing of our pious parents upon us, we must be careful to follow their steps.
2. The comfortable parting with Joseph. Note; (1.) When creature-comforts fail, still God is with us; and though the desire of our eyes is by death taken from us, we are encouraged to hope we shall shortly go to them, to this land of our fathers, though they cannot return to us. (2.) Every father may make distinctions in the portions of his children, if all be done with equity and without partiality: peculiar desert should have peculiar reward.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 4:5 .
REFLECTIONS
READER! I would pass by many very sweet and interesting reflections which arise out of this Chapter, to fix my mind upon one most eminently striking, and as important as it is striking: namely, how triumphant must be that glorious principle of faith which animated the Patriarch’s mind at such a distant period before the coming of JESUS; and which enabled him to sing such a song of praise to the GOD which had fed him all his life long, and to the angel which redeemed him from all evil. Oh, my soul! if these all died in faith in a coming Saviour; shall not I, now I have seen him come; having finished transgression, made an end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquity, brought in an everlasting righteousness, and sealed up the vision: shall not I find grace to be the follower of them, who now through faith and patience inherit the promises? Blessed LORD! give me this precious gift of faith. Enable me to see GOD’S CHRIST in this great salvation; and by an ardent lively faith to know my right of appropriation in it. Then shall I be assured, even as Jacob was in a dying hour, that this GOD is my GOD forever and ever, and he will be my guide even unto death.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 48:22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
Ver. 22. I have given thee one portion. ] Joseph had the double portion, as Judah the dignity, from Reuben; who had forfeited both by his incest. And here it appeareth that the right of the firstborn to a double portion was in force and in use before that law; Deu 21:17 as was also the Sabbath, circumcision, and the raising up seed to a deceased brother.
With my sword and with my bow.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
portion. Hebrew. Shechem, Greek. Sychar, see Joh 4:5. Both Abraham and Jacob bought property at Shechem. Gen 23:18, Gen 23:19; Gen 33:18, Gen 33:19; and here supplemental history tells how Jacob recovered it out of the hand of the Amorite who must have seized it. Figure of speech Hysteresis. App-6.
above: i.e. the double portion of the firstborn, which Reuben forfeited. Compare Deu 21:17. Compare 1Ch 5:2. Eze 47:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
given: Gen 33:19, Deu 21:17, Jos 24:32, 1Ch 5:2, Eze 47:13, Joh 4:5
Amorite: Gen 15:16, Gen 34:28, Jos 17:14-18, Jdg 11:23, Amo 2:9
Reciprocal: Jos 5:1 – all the kings 2Ki 6:22 – thy sword 1Ch 1:14 – Amorite
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 48:22. I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren This seems to have been the parcel of ground near Shechem, which Jacob purchased of Hamor, the prince of the country, (Gen 33:19,) and which, it is probable, he took or recovered with his sword and bow, that is, by force of arms, from the Amorites, who had seized on it after his removal to another part of Canaan, although this is not mentioned in Scripture. This parcel of ground he gave to Joseph, as is mentioned, Joh 4:5, of whose sons we find it was the inheritance, Jos 17:1; Jos 20:7. And in it Josephs bones were buried, which perhaps Jacob had an eye to as much as to any thing in this settlement. It may sometimes be both just and prudent to give some children portions above the rest; but a grave is that which we can most count upon as our own in this earth.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
48:22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which {k} I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
(k) By my children whom God spared for my sake.