Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 24:31

Charles Ellicott Commentary

Genesis 24:31

1819–1905
Anglican
Charles Ellicott
Charles Ellicott

Charles Ellicott Commentary

Genesis 24:31

1819–1905
Anglican
SCRIPTURE

"And he said, Come in, thou blessed of Jehovah. Wherefore standest thou without? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels." — Genesis 24:31 (ASV)

Come in, you blessed of the Lord. —This hospitality was in the East almost a matter of course, though Laban’s earnestness may have been increased by the sight of his sister’s golden ornaments. More remarkable is it that Laban addresses the servant as “blessed of Jehovah;” for we learn in Joshua 24:2 that the monotheism of Nahor and his family was by no means pure.

Still, neither were they idolaters, and the “other gods” whom they served were probably teraphim, as certainly were the gods of Laban mentioned in Genesis 31:30. Even to the last, these household gods seem to have retained a hold upon the affections of the nation (Hosea 3:4); and probably most uneducated minds, even when their religion is, in the main, true, have nevertheless a tendency to add on to it some superstitions, especially in the way of fashioning for themselves some lower mediator.