Genesis 33:19

And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) He bought . . . —Abraham had been obliged to buy land for a burial-place, and we find even then that the field he wanted had an owner who could give him a title to its possession. Jacob a century later finds it necessary to buy even the ground on which to pitch his tent, though his cattle might still roam freely about for pasture. This, however, would certainly not have been required except in the immediate neighbourhood of a town. As he had now recovered from his sprain, he returns to his habits as a nomad, and dwells in a tent. In this, the first parcel of ground possessed by Jacob, the embalmed body of Joseph was buried (Joshua 24:32; see also John 4:5); and it is remarkable that the possession of it was secure, even when the owners were far away in Egypt.

An hundred pieces of money.—Heb., a hundred hesitas. It is plain that the kesita was an ingot of metal of some considerable value, from what is said in the Book of Job (Genesis 42:11), that each of his friends gave the patriarch “one kesita and a nose-ring of gold.” The etymology of the word is uncertain, and apparently all knowledge of its meaning had at an early period passed away, inasmuch as Onkelos and some of the versions translate it lambs, for which rendering there is no support.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

33:17-20 Jacob did not content himself with words of thanks for God's favour to him, but gave real thanks. Also he kept up religion, and the worship of God in his family. Where we have a tent, God must have an altar. Jacob dedicated this altar to the honour of El-elohe-Israel, God, the God of Israel; to the honour of God, the only living and true God; and to the honour of the God of Israel, as a God in covenant with him. Israel's God is Israel's glory. Blessed be his name, he is still the mighty God, the God of Israel. May we praise his name, and rejoice in his love, through our pilgrimage here on earth, and for ever in the heavenly Canaan.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Jacob at length crosses the Jordan, and enters again the land of Kenaan. "In peace." The original word (שׁלם shālēm "safe, in peace") is rendered Shalem, the name of the town at which Jacob arrived, by the Septuagint. The rendering safe, or in peace, is here adopted, because (1) the word is to be taken as a common noun or adjective, unless there be a clear necessity for a proper name; (2) "the place" was called Shekem in the time of Abraham Genesis 12:6, and the "town" is so designated in the thirty-fifth chapter Genesis 35:4; and (3) the statement that Jacob arrived in safety accounts for the additional clauses, "which is in the land of Kenaan," and "when he went from Padan-aram," and is in accordance with the promise Genesis 28:21 that he would return in peace. If, however, the Salim found by Robinson to the west of Nablous be the present town, it must be called the city of Shekem, because it belonged to the Shekem mentioned in the following verse and chapter. "Pitched before the city."

Jacob did not enter into the city, because his flocks and herds could not find accommodation there, and he did not want to come into close contact with the inhabitants. "He bought a parcel of the field." He is anxious to have a place he may call his own, where he may have a permanent resting-place. "For a hundred kesitahs." The kesitah may have been a piece of silver or gold, of a certain weight, equal in value to a lamb (see Gesenius). "El-Elohe-Israel." Jacob consecrates his ground by the erection of an altar. He calls it the altar of the Mighty One, the God of Israel, in which he signalizes the omnipotence of him who had brought him in safety to the land of promise through many perils, the new name by which he himself had been lately designated, and the blessed communion which now existed between the Almighty and himself. This was the very spot where Abraham, about one hundred and eighty-five years ago, built the first altar he erected in the promised land Genesis 12:6-7. It is now consecrated anew to the God of promise.

- Dinah's Dishonor

This chapter records the rape of Dinah and the revenge of her brothers.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. an hundred pieces of money—literally, "lambs"; probably a coin with the figure of a lamb on it.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He bought a parcel of a field for his present possession and use; for the right which he had to it was only in reversion after the time that God had allotted for it.

The children of Hamor, i.e. subjects, called his children to note the duty which they owed to him, and the care and affection that he owed to them. Compare Numbers 11:12.

An hundred pieces of money. The word is used only here, and Joshua 24:32 Job 42:11, and it may signify either lambs, given in way of exchange for it, or pieces of money, which seems more probable, both by comparing Acts 7:16, and because money was come into use in that place and time, Genesis 17:12,13 23:16 47:16, which were called lambs possibly from the fignre of a lamb stamped upon it, as the Athenian money was called an ox for the like reason, and as we call a piece of gold a Jacobus, because the picture of that king is upon it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he bought a parcel of a field,.... Not the whole, but a part of it; this he did, though he was heir of the whole country, because, as yet, the time was not come for him or his to take possession of it:

where he had spread his tent; the ground that it stood upon, and what was adjoining to it, for the use of his cattle: this he bought

at the hand of the children of Hamor; of some one of them, in whose possession it was, and perhaps with the consent of the rest, and before them, as witnesses:

for an hundred pieces of money; Onkelos, the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Samaritan, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it a hundred lambs or sheep, cattle being used to be given in exchange for things in trade and commerce; but as money was in use before the times of Jacob, and Stephen expresses it as a "sum of money", Acts 7:16; and this best agrees with the use of the word in Job 42:11, the only place besides this, excepting Joshua 24:32, in which it is used, it seems best so to interpret it here; and the pieces of money might be such as were of the value of a lamb or sheep, or rather had the figure of one impressed upon them. Laban, from whom Jacob might have them, or his neighbours, and also Jacob himself, being shepherds, might choose thus to impress their money; but the exact value of these pieces cannot be ascertained: the Jewish writers generally interpret them of a "meah", which was the value of one penny of our money, and twenty of them went to a shekel; so that a hundred of these must make a very small and contemptible sum to purchase a piece of ground with.

Geneva Study Bible

And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. the parcel of ground] or “the portion of the field.” Lat. partem agri. For “parcel,” Fr. “parcelle,” from Lat. particula, see Joshua 24:32; Ruth 4:3. Cf. “Many a thousand, Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear” (Shakespeare, 3 Hen. VI, Genesis 33:6).

his tent] Jacob has resumed dwelling in tents, see Genesis 33:17.

the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father] This apparently means the people of the tribe of Hamor; and Hamor was the founder, or chieftain, of the city of Shechem. The confusion between the “sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father,” and “Shechem the son of Hamor,” in Genesis 34:2, caused LXX in this verse to omit “sons of.”

LXX, by rendering Συχέμ for the name of the man, and Σίκιμα (cf. Genesis 12:6) for the name of the city, draws a distinction which it is not always possible to observe in English.

pieces of money] Heb. kesitah. Apparently a ḳesitah was a piece of metal used for money; elsewhere it is mentioned only in Joshua 24:32; Job 42:11. Whether it denotes a small coin, or an ingot, cannot be determined. The versions, LXX, Lat. and Targ. Onkelos, render “lambs1[53]

[53]    LXX (ἑκατὸν ἀμνῶν = “a hundred lambs”) “vel agnos ipsos intellegere potuerunt, vel nummos agnorum imagine signatos.” Schleusner, Lex. Vet. Test., s.v. ἀμνός.

”: Targ. Jon. and Jerus., “pearls.”

The purchase of this plot of ground was historically important. It was the burial-place of the bones of Joseph (cf. Joshua 24:32; Acts 7:16). The possession of such small pieces of territory (cf. the purchase of Machpelah ch. 23) constituted no claim for the possession of the country: the patriarchs were “strangers and sojourners,” Genesis 23:4.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - And he bought a parcel of a field, - literally, the portion (from a root signifying to divide) of the field - where he had spread his tent, - and in which he afterwards sank a well (cf. John 4:6) - at the hand of the children of Homer, Shechem's father (after whom the town was named, ut supra), for an hundred pieces of money - or kesitahs, the etymology of which is uncertain (Kalisch), though connected by some philologists (Gesenius, Furst) with kasat, to weigh; translated lambs (Onkelos, LXX., Vulgate), but believed to have been a certain weight now unknown (Michaelis, 'Suppl.,' p. 2207), or a piece of money of a definite value, perhaps the price of a lamb (Murphy), which, like the shekel, was used for purposes of commercial exchange by the patriarchs (Gesenius) - probably a coin stamped with the figure of a lamb (Bochart, Munter); but coined money does not appear to have been of so great antiquity (Rosenmüller, Wordsworth, Alford). Genesis 33:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

From Succoth, Jacob crossed a ford of the Jordan, and "came in safety to the city of Sichem in the land of Canaan." שׁלם is not a proper name meaning "to Shalem," as it is rendered by Luther (and Eng. Vers., Tr.) after the lxx, Vulg., etc.; but an adjective, safe, peaceful, equivalent to בּשׁלום, "in peace," in Genesis 28:21, to which there is an evident allusion. What Jacob had asked for in his vow at Bethel, before his departure from Canaan, was now fulfilled. He had returned in safety "to the land of Canaan;" Succoth, therefore, did not belong to the land of Canaan, but must have been on the eastern side of the Jordan. שׁכם עיר, lit., city of Shechem; so called from Shechem the son of the Hivite prince Hamor

(Note: Mamortha, which according to Plin. (h. n. v. 14) was the earlier name of Neapolis (Nablus), appears to have been a corruption of Chamor.)

(Genesis 33:19, Genesis 34:2.), who founded it and called it by the name of his son, since it was not in existence in Abraham's time (vid., Genesis 12:6). Jacob pitched his tent before the town, and then bought the piece of ground upon which he encamped from the sons of Hamor for 100 Kesita. קשׂיטה is not a piece of silver of the value of a lamb (according to the ancient versions), but a quantity of silver weighed out, of considerable, though not exactly determinable value: cf. Ges. thes. s. v. This purchase showed that Jacob, in reliance upon the promise of God, regarded Canaan as his own home and the home of his seed. This piece of field, which fell to the lot of the sons of Joseph, and where Joseph's bones were buried (Joshua 24:32), was, according to tradition, the plain which stretches out at the south-eastern opening of the valley of Shechem, where Jacob's well is still pointed out (John 4:6), also Joseph's grave, a Mahometan wely (grave) two or three hundred paces to the north (Rob. Pal. iii. 95ff.). Jacob also erected an altar, as Abraham had previously done after his entrance into Canaan (Genesis 12:7), and called it El-Elohe-Israel, "God (the mighty) is the God of Israel," to set forth in this name the spiritual acquisition of his previous life, and according to his vow (Genesis 28:21) to give glory to the "God of Israel" (as he called Jehovah, with reference to the name given to him at Genesis 32:29), for having proved Himself to be El, a mighty God, during his long absence, and that it might serve as a memorial for his descendants.