And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him.
God appeared unto Jacob again. God was pleased to make a new appearance to him after the solemn rites of devotion were over. By this manifestation of His presence, God testified His acceptance of Jacob's sacrifice; and, after a confirmation of his new name Israel, which was to be the recognized designation of his posterity in the covenant about to be made, and a continued pledge of its fulfilment in the remote future, renewed the promise of the three-fold blessing guaranteed to Abraham (Genesis 17:6) and Isaac (Genesis 26:2-4) - namely:
(1) The land of Canaan;
(2) A numerous posterity, the chosen seed; and
(3) Salvation through them to the world.
Verse 11. A company of nations. This is considered by some as pointing to the Twelve tribes, by others to the spiritual Israel. But neither interpretation is admissible. х qaahaal (H6950), an assembly, convocation, rendered in our version, "a multitude" (Genesis 28:3; Genesis 48:4). The Septuagint renders it uniformly in these passages as: sunagoogai ethnoon, gathering of nations.] The word which in these promises to Jacob is rendered by 'multitude,' or "company," in our English Bibles, takes its origin and its meaning from a root which properly signifies 'to assemble,' or to 'call an assembly;' and the force of it in these passages seems more properly expressed in the Greek translation of the Septuagint than by any later interpreter. Their translation of this passage is: 'the gathering together of nations shall be from thee;' and the gathering together which is intended, can be no other than the gathering of all nations into one in Christ. But, if I mistake not, this great event is much more expressly mentioned in those passages than it appears to be even in the version of the Septuagint-the Messiah being personally mentioned under the character of 'the Gatherer of nations;' for the word, which the Septuagint renders by 'the gathering together,' and the English translators by 'a multitude' or 'company,' may, by its derivation, either signify the persons of which an assembly is composed-in which sense our English translators understood it-or the act of bringing them together, which is the sense the Septuagint expresses; or it may bear a third sense, which perhaps is of all the most pertinent in the passages in question: it may stand for the person by whose authority the assembly is convened.
The spirit of the expression will be the most striking if the last of these three senses be adopted, that of a person; because with this sense of the word the literal rendering of this passage will be, 'a nation and the gatherer of nations shall arise from thee' (Horsley).
In what was said to Jacob on this occasion, we are informed by Moses (Genesis 12:4) that he was regarded not as an individual, but the ancestor of a race-that what was promised to him was promised to the whole nation that should spring from him. It was a repetition of the promise made to him on his first halting at Beth-el, but with an important change of circumstances. Formerly it was in a dream; now he was fully awake: formerly it was a visionary scene; now it was (Genesis 35:13) an actual reality: formerly he was a fugitive, solitary and destitute; now he was wealthy and at the head of a numerous establishment: formerly he was setting out on a distant journey, and was promised the blessing of protection and a safe return; now that promise had been amply fulfilled: formerly he had been newly recognized as the heir of the promised blessing; now he had reached an advanced stage: for his family was about to be increased by the birth of his twelfth son, thus completing the destined number of heads of the tribes of Israel.
Verse 13. God went up from him. The presence of God was indicated in some visible form, and his acceptance of the sacrifice shown by the miraculous descent of fire from heaven, consuming it on the altar.
Verse 14-15. Jacob set up a pillar, ... The patriarch observed the same ceremony with which he had formerly consecrated the place, comprising a sacramental offering and the oil that he poured on the pillar. In fulfillment of his vow (Genesis 28:22), having now returned rich, he presented a sacrificial gift-a gift of gratitude to the Author of all blessings, which included whatever was given for the support of religion; and he also brought a drink offering. These were poured in libations around the altar, and signified the dedication of the offerer himself to God. The new and significant designation of the spot, which he had conferred on it himself, was now solemnly proclaimed in presence of his whole household. The whole scene was in accordance with the character of the patriarchal dispensation, in which the great truths of religion were exhibited to the senses, and 'the world's gray fathers' taught in a manner suited to the weakness of an infantine condition.