ปฐมกาล 28:18 วิจารณ์

We have here, I. Jacob parting with his parents, to go to Padanaram; the charge his father gave him (Gen 28:1, Gen 28:2), the blessing he sent him away with (Gen 28:3, Gen 28:4), his obedience to the orders given him (Gen 28:5, Gen 28:10), and the influence this had upon Esau (Gen 28:6-9). II. Jacob meeting with God, and his communion with him by the way. And there, 1. his vision of the ladder (Gen 28:11, Gen 28:12). 2. The gracious promises God made him (Gen 28:13-15). 3. The impression this made upon him (Gen 28:16-19). 4. The vow he made to God, upon this occasion (Gen 28:20, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 28 In this chapter an account is given of the charge Isaac gave to Jacob not to marry a Canaanitess, but to go to Padanaram, and take a wife from his mother's family, and of his blessing him before he sent him away, Gen 28:1; of the notice that Esau took of this blessing and charge, which led him to take a wife of the family of Ishmael, Gen 28:6; of the dream of the ladder, which Jacob had in his way to Haran, Gen 28:10; of the blessing which God conferred upon him there, Gen 28:13; of the awfulness of the place upon his awaking, and of his erecting a pillar in it, and giving a name to it, Gen 28:16; and of the vow he made to God, should he be supplied with the necessaries of life, and be kept in safety by him, Gen 28:20.

And Jacob rose up early in the morning,.... In order to proceed on his journey, being comfortably refreshed both in body and mind: but first he took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar; not for a statue or an idol to be worshipped, but for a memorial of the mercy and goodness of God unto him, see Jos 4:3; indeed, among the Heathens, stones, even rude and unpolished ones, were worshipped as gods; and this was the ancient custom among the Greeks, and which, as Pausanias (l) says, universally obtained among them: and poured oil upon the top of it; which he had brought with him for necessary uses in his journey, or fetched from the neighbouring city; the former is most likely: and this he did, that he might know it again when he returned, as Aben Ezra remarks, and not for the consecration of it for religious use; though it is thought, by some learned men (m), that the Phoenicians worshipped this stone which Jacob anointed; and that from this anointed stone at Bethel came the Boetylia, which were anointed stones consecrated to Saturn and Jupiter, and others, and were worshipped as gods; the original of which Sanchoniatho (n) ascribes to Uranus, who, he says, devised the Boetylia, forming animated stones, which Bochart renders anointed stones; and so Apuleius (o), Minutius Felix (p), Arnobius (q), and others, speak of anointed stones, worshipped as deities; and hence it may be through the early and ancient abuse of such pillars it was, that they were forbidden by the law of Moses, and such as the Heathens had erected were to be pulled down, Lev 26:1. (l) Achaiaca sive, l. 7. p. 441. (m) Bochart. Canaan. l. 2. c. 2. col. 707, 708. Marsham. Chronicon, p. 56. & alii. (n) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. p. 37. (o) Florida, c. 1. (p) Octav. p. 2. (q) Adv. Gentes, l. 1. p. 2.

As for the oil that Jacob poured upon the pillar, he either had it with him or he had brought it out of the village. In the oil that he poured upon the stone, he was depicting the mystery of Christ who was hidden inside it.

Now Jacob called that place Bethel; and Jacob raised up there a pillar of stone as a testimony, and he poured oil over it. Our father Jacob did this too in symbol, anticipating that stones would receive anointing, for the peoples who have believed in Christ are the stones that are anointed, just as John says of them: “From these stones God is able to raise up children for Abraham.” For in Jacob’s prayer the calling of the nations was symbolized.

Since he had been granted wonderful favors by way of the vision, [Jacob] wished to make the place memorable by a name and to keep the memory fresh for future ages. He set up the stone as a monument, poured oil on it (this, after all, was probably all he had with him, traveling as he was like this), and to the loving God he offered a prayer characterized by complete good sense.

In a dream Jacob saw a ladder, and on this ladder he saw angels ascending and descending; and he anointed the stone that he had placed at his head. You have heard that the Messiah is the Christ; you have heard that the Christ is the Anointed. For he did not place the anointed stone so that he might come and adore it; otherwise it would be idolatry and not a representation of Christ. Therefore a representation was made, so far as a representation needed to be made, and Christ was represented. The stone was anointed. Why a stone? “Behold, I lay in Zion a chosen stone, precious; and he who believes in it shall not be confounded.” Why anointed? Because [the name] “Christ” [is derived] from [the word] chrisma.

On the other hand the stone also had been erected and honored as a symbol of Christ and had been sprinkled with oil. The Immanuel was anointed by God the Father “with the oil of gladness above his fellows.” Then he was raised from the dead, even though he had descended to death voluntarily. And that is, I believe, the meaning of erecting the stone.

In order that what we have mentioned above may adhere more firmly to your pious hearts, we will briefly repeat what was said. Blessed Isaac, as we said, sending his son away was a type of God the Father; Jacob who was sent signified Christ our Lord. The stone that he had at his head and anointed with oil also represented the Lord our Savior. The ladder touching heaven prefigured the cross; the Lord leaning on the ladder is shown to be Christ fastened to the cross. The angels ascending and descending on it are understood to be the apostles, apostolic men and all doctors of the church. They ascend by preaching perfect truths to the just; they descend by telling the young and ignorant what they can understand. For our part, brothers, we who see fulfilled in the New Testament all the truths which were prefigured in the Old should thank God as well as we can because he has deigned to give us such great gifts without any preceding merits on our part. With his help let us labor with all our strength so that these great benefits may not bring us judgment but progress. Rather, let us be zealous to live spiritually and always to engage in good works in such a way that when the day of judgment finds us chaste, sober, merciful and pious, we may not be punished with wicked sinners. But with the just and all who fear God we will merit to arrive at eternal bliss: with the help of our Lord who together with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns world without end. Amen.

The stone under Jacob’s head is the Lord, upon whom we ought to support ourselves with all our concentration, the more so insofar as it is surely clear to us that without him we can do nothing.Jacob anointed the stone and set it up as a mark, because a true Israelite understands that our Redeemer was anointed by the Father with the oil of gladness above his fellows. From this ointment (that is, chrism) Christ received his name, and the mystery of his incarnation is the mark of our redemption. It is good that when the stone was anointed on the earth and raised up as a mark, the Lord was revealed in heaven, for undoubtedly he appeared in time as a man among men while he remained eternal with God the Father. When death was overcome “he ascended over the heaven of heavens to the east,” remaining with us as a mark of our salvation “for all days, up to the consummation of the world.” He who transferred the body he had assumed from earth to heaven was the One who filled earth, and heaven as well, with the presence of deity.

Isaac directs Jacob to take a wife from the family of Laban, Gen 28:1, Gen 28:2; blesses and sends him away, Gen 28:3, Gen 28:4. Jacob begins his journey, Gen 28:5. Esau, perceiving that the daughters of Canaan were not pleasing to his parents, and that Jacob obeyed them in going to get a wife of his own kindred, Gen 28:6-8, went and took to wife Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael his father's brother, Gen 28:9. Jacob, in his journey towards Haran, came to a certain place, (Luz, Gen 28:19), where he lodged all night, Gen 28:10, Gen 28:11. He sees in a dream a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, on which he beholds the angels of God ascending and descending, Gen 28:12. God appears above this ladder, and renews those promises which he had made to Abraham and to Isaac, Gen 28:13, Gen 28:14; promises Jacob personal protection and a safe return to his own country, Gen 28:15. Jacob awakes, and makes reflections upon his dream, Gen 28:16, Gen 28:17. Sets up one of the stones he had for his pillow, and pours oil on it, and calls the place Beth-el, Gen 28:18, Gen 28:19. Makes a vow that if God will preserve him in his journey, and bring him back in safety, the stone should be God's house, and that he would give him the tenths of all that he should have, Gen 28:20-22.

And Jacob - took the stone - and set it up for a pillar - He placed the stone in an erect posture, that it might stand as a monument of the extraordinary vision which he had in this place; and he poured oil upon it, thereby consecrating it to God, so that it might be considered an altar on which libations might be poured, and sacrifices offered unto God. See Gen 35:14. The Brahmins anoint their stone images with oil before bathing; and some anoint them with sweet-scented oil. This is a practice which arises more from the customs of the Hindoos than from their idolatry. Anointing persons as an act of homage has been transferred to their idols. There is a foolish tradition that the stone set up by Jacob was afterwards brought to Jerusalem, from which, after a long lapse of time, it was brought to Spain, from Spain to Ireland, from Ireland to Scotland, and on it the kings of Scotland sat to be crowned; and concerning which the following leonine verses were made: - Ni fallat fatum, - Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem, - regnare tenentur ibidem. Or fate is blind - or Scots shall find Where'er this stone - the royal throne. Camden's Perthshire. Edward I. had it brought to Westminster; and there this stone, called Jacob's pillar, and Jacob's pillow, is now placed under the chair on which the king sits when crowned! It would be as ridiculous to attempt to disprove the truth of this tradition, as to prove that the stone under the old chair in Westminster was the identical stone which served the patriarch for a bolster. And poured oil upon the top of it - Stones, images, and altars, dedicated to Divine worship, were always anointed with oil. This appears to have been considered as a consecration of them to the object of the worship, and a means of inducing the god or goddess to take up their residence there, and answer the petitions of their votaries. Anointing stones, images, etc., is used in idolatrous countries to the present day, and the whole idol is generally smeared over with oil. Sometimes, besides the anointing, a crown or garland was placed on the stone or altar to honor the divinity, who was supposed, in consequence of the anointing, to have set up his residence in that place. It appears to have been on this ground that the seats of polished stone, on which the kings sat in the front of their palaces to administer justice, were anointed, merely to invite the deity to reside there, that true judgment might be given, and a righteous sentence always be pronounced. Of this we have an instance in Homer, Odyss. lib. v., ver. 406-410: - Εκ δ' ελθων, κατ' αρ' ἑζετ' επι ξεστοισι λιθοσιν, Οἱ οἱ εσαν προπαροιθε θυραων ὑψηλαων, Δευκοι, αποστιλβοντες αλειφατος· οἱς επι μεν πριν Νηλευς ἱζεσκεν, θεοφιν μηστωρ αταλαντος. The old man early rose, walk'd forth, and sate On polish'd stone before his palace gate; With unguent smooth the lucid marble shone, Where ancient Neleus sate, a rustic throne. Pope. This gives a part of the sense of the passage; but the last line, on which much stress should be laid, is very inadequately rendered by the English poet. It should be translated, - Where Neleus sat, equal in counsel to the gods; because inspired by their wisdom, and which inspiration he and his successor took pains to secure by consecrating with the anointing oil the seat of judgment on which they were accustomed to sit. Some of the ancient commentators on Homer mistook the meaning of this place by not understanding the nature of the custom; and these Cowper unfortunately follows, translating "resplendent as with oil;" which as destroys the whole sense, and obliterates the allusion. This sort of anointing was a common custom in all antiquity, and was probably derived from this circumstance. Arnobius tells us that it was customary with himself while a heathen, "when he saw a smooth polished stone that had been smeared with oils, to kiss and adore it, as if possessing a Divine virtue." Si quando conspexeram lubricatum lapidem, et ex olivi unguine sordidatum (ordinatum) tanquam inesset vis prasens, adulabar, affabar. And Theodoret, in his eighty-fourth question on Genesis, asserts that many pious women in his time were accustomed to anoint the coffins of the martyrs, etc. And in Catholic countries when a church is consecrated they anoint the door-posts, pillars, altars, etc. So under the law there was a holy anointing oil to sanctify the tabernacle, laver, and all other things used in God's service, Exo 40:9, etc.

JACOB'S DEPARTURE. (Gen. 28:1-19) Isaac called Jacob and blessed him--He entered fully into Rebekah's feelings, and the burden of his parting counsel to his son was to avoid a marriage alliance with any but the Mesopotamian branch of the family. At the same time he gave him a solemn blessing--pronounced before unwittingly, now designedly, and with a cordial spirit. It is more explicitly and fully given, and Jacob was thus acknowledged "the heir of the promise."

Jacob set up a stone, etc.--The mere setting up of the stone might have been as a future memorial to mark the spot; and this practice is still common in the East, in memory of a religious vow or engagement. But the pouring oil upon it was a consecration. Accordingly he gave it a new name, Beth-el, "the house of God" (Hos 12:4); and it will not appear a thing forced or unnatural to call a stone a house, when one considers the common practice in warm countries of sitting in the open air by or on a stone, as are those of this place, "broad sheets of bare rock, some of them standing like the cromlechs of Druidical monuments" [STANLEY].

In the morning Jacob set up the stone at his head, as a monument (מצּבה) to commemorate the revelation he had received from God; and poured oil upon the top, to consecrate it as a memorial of the mercy that had been shown him there (visionis insigne μνημόσυνον, Calvin), not as an idol or an object or divine worship (vid., Exo 30:26.). - He then gave the place the name of Bethel, i.e., House of God, whereas (ואוּלם) the town had been called Luz before. This antithesis shows that Jacob gave the name, not to the place where the pillar was set up, but to the town, in the neighbourhood of which he had received the divine revelation. He renewed it on his return from Mesopotamia (Gen 35:15). This is confirmed by Gen 48:3, where Jacob, like the historian in Gen 35:6-7, speaks of Luz as the place of this revelation. There is nothing at variance with this in Jos 16:2; Jos 18:13; for it is not Bethel as a city, but the mountains of Bethel, that are there distinguished from Luz (see my Commentary on Jos 16:2). (Note: The fact mentioned here has often been cited as the origin of the anointed stones (βαίτυλοι) of the heathen, and this heathen custom has been regarded as a degeneration of the patriarchal. But apart from this essential difference, that the Baetulian worship was chiefly connected with meteoric stones (cf. F. von Dalberg, @fcb. d. Meteor-cultus d. Alten), which were supposed to have come down from some god, and were looked upon as deified, this opinion is at variance with the circumstance, that Jacob himself, in consecrating the stone by pouring oil upon it, only followed a custom already established, and still more with the fact, that the name βαίτυλοι, Βαιτόλια, notwithstanding its sounding like Bethel, can hardly have arisen from the name Beth-El, Gr. Βαιθήλ, since the τ for θ would be perfectly inexplicable. Dietrich derives βαιτύλιον from בּטּל, to render inoperative, and interprets it amulet.)