Page:Keil and Delitzsch,Biblical commentary the old testament the pentateuch, trad James Martin, volume 1, 1885.djvu/295

 times; but that the God of his father had stood by him, and had transferred to him their father's cattle, and now at length had directed him to return to his home.

verses 6-8
אתּנה: the original form of the abbreviated אתּן, which is merely copied from the Pentateuch in Exo 13:11, Exo 13:20; Exo 34:17.

verses 9-13
אביכם: for אביכן as in Gen 32:16, etc. - “ Ten times:” i.e., as often as possible, the ten as a round number expressing the idea of completeness. From the statement that Laban had changed his wages ten times, it is evident that when Laban observed, that among his sheep and goats, of one colour only, a large number of mottled young were born, he made repeated attempts to limit the original stipulation by changing the rule as to the colour of the young, and so diminishing Jacob's wages. But when Jacob passes over his own stratagem in silence, and represents all that he aimed at and secured by crafty means as the fruit of God's blessing, this differs no doubt from the account in Gen 30. It is not a contradiction, however, pointing to a difference in the sources of the two chapters, but merely a difference founded upon actual fact, viz., the fact that Jacob did not tell the whole truth to his wives. Moreover self-help and divine help do not exclude one another. Hence his account of the dream, in which he saw that the rams that leaped upon the cattle were all of various colours, and heard the voice of the angel of God calling his attention to what had been seen, in the words, “I have seen all that Laban hath done to thee,” may contain actual truth; and the dream may be regarded as a divine revelation, which was either sent to explain to him now, at the end of the sixth year, “that it was not his stratagem, but the providence of God which had prevented him from falling a victim to Laban's avarice, and had brought him such wealth” (Delitzsch); or, if the dream occurred at an earlier period, was meant to teach him, that “the help of God, without any such self-help, could procure him justice and safety in spite of Laban's selfish covetousness” ( Kurtz). It is very difficult to decide between these two interpretations. As Jehovah’s instructions to him to return were not given till the end of his period of service, and Jacob connects them so closely with the vision of the rams that they seem contemporaneous, Delitzsch’s view appears to deserve the preference. But the עשׂה in Gen 31:12, “all that Laban is doing to thee,” does not exactly suit this meaning; and we should rather expect to find עשׂה used at the end of the time of