nothing but an announcement of his arrival and his great wealth (cf. 3312ff.) The shepherd, with all his success, is at the mercy of the fierce marauder who was to 'live by his sword' (2740).—7. The messengers return with the ominous news that Esau is already on the march with 400 men. How he was ready to strike so far north of his own territory is a difficulty (see p. 415).—8, 9. Jacob's first resource is to divide his company into two camps, in the hope that one might escape while the other was being captured. The arrangement is perhaps adverted to in 338.—10-13. Jacob's prayer, consisting of an invocation (10), thanksgiving (11), petition (12), and appeal to the divine faithfulness (13), is a classic model of OT devotion (Gu.); though the element of confession, so prominent in later supplications, is significantly absent.—12. mother with (or on) children] Hos. 1014; cf. Dt. 226. A popular saying,—the mother conceived as bending over the children to protect them (Tu.).—14a. spent that night there] i.e., at Maḥanaim (v.22). We may suppose (with We. Gu.) that an explicit etymology, based on the 'two camps' (vv.8. 11), preceded or followed this clause.
Vv.10-13 appear to be one of the later expansions of the Yahwistic
narrative, akin to 1314-17 2215-18 263b-5 2814. They can be removed without
loss of continuity, 14a being a natural continuation of 9. The insertion
gives an interpretation to the 'two camps' at variance with
the primary motive of the division (v.9); and its spirit is different from
that of the narrative in which it is embedded. Comp. also (
Hebrew characters) with
2217, (Hebrew characters) with 1610 2217. See Gu. 316.
14b-22. The present for Esau (E).—14. a present] Not
§ 49 e.—8. (Hebrew characters)] [root] (Hebrew characters) intrans. = 'be cramped'; on the form, cf. G-K.
§ 67 p.—(Hebrew characters)] GA om. and transp. (Hebrew characters).—(Hebrew characters)] That
this implies an etymology of Maḥanaim, and that J located the incident
there, cannot reasonably be doubted (as by Ho.). The name is
obviously regarded as a dual (in contrast to v.3), showing that the
current pronunciation is very ancient (Di.).—9. (Hebrew characters)] [E] (Hebrew characters) (masc.),
which is demanded by the context, as well as by prevailing usage
(Albrecht, ZATW, xvi. 52).—11. (Hebrew characters)] 'too insignificant for'; G-K.
§ 133 c.—(Hebrew characters)] The writer apparently locates Maḥanaim in the
vicinity of the Jordan; but the allusion, in an editorial passage, has
perhaps no great topographical importance.
14. (Hebrew characters)] Art. with ptcp. (not pf.); see G-K. § 138 k; Dri. Sam.
