Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan.
Open map →Two households, two hill countries, and the one with nothing is the one with the promiseGenesis 37:1 · 1 place plottedOne short sentence closes one part of Genesis and opens another. Jacob settles in the land his father Isaac had only passed through as a stranger. It reads like a full stop on a long, wandering life. Yet commentators read very different things into that quiet word "lived."
One verse for a whole life
This one verse holds everything left of Jacob's own story before Egypt. From this point the narrative belongs to his children.
J. N. DarbyHe was told in chapter 35 to go and live at Bethel. Here it says he "lived in the land of his father's sojournings." But the history now is the history of his sons. His history until he went to Egypt is in this one verse.
Settled, and still only a sojourner
The verse says he lived there. But he never owned the land. A sojourner stays in a country that is not his own, and that is all Jacob ever was.
L. M. GrantVerse 1 states a truth of deep significance: "Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan." It had taken him some years to settle there. Yet even while living there, he was still only a sojourner (Heb. 11:9). He did not remain indefinitely, but later went down to Egypt, where he died.
Trace the places named in his last journeys and you notice what he never acquires in any of them.
J. G. BellettThen, in the freedom and strength of all this, our patriarch resumes his journey. He goes from Bethel to Bethlehem. From there he travels by the tower of Edar to Mamre in the south country, where his father Isaac was living. But in none of these places do we read of house or land again. It is the tent, the altar and the pillar, and the journey still going on. Then the burial of his aged father. And at last, one with his fathers, he lives in the land where they had lived before him.
Two readings of his settling
Commentators differ here. One reads the settling as Jacob getting ahead of God's plan. God then corrected him through circumstances.
F. B. HoleThe first verse has told us that he lived in the land where his father had been a stranger. In this he was moving ahead of God's purpose. So God soon allowed circumstances to move him and his sons into Egypt. In that way everything happened that God had foretold to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-14.
Another weighs the Hebrew word itself and refuses to read blame into it. He still notes that God would not let the rest last.
J. N. DarbyJacob's dwelling in the land where his father was a stranger is not, I think, a contrast in evil. Scripture uses the same word yashav (to dwell) of Abraham and Lot together in Canaan, and of Lot in Sodom. He was no longer a wanderer outside the land, but someone living in it. Still, he was more settled than Abraham was — only, when he did settle, God stirred him up out of his rest.
Esau's long list, Jacob's one line
The verse also finishes a section. Genesis 36 has just spent a whole chapter on the line God did not choose, and this arrangement repeats a pattern.
F. B. HoleThe section called "The generations of Esau" begins at Genesis 36:1 and runs to Genesis 37:1. As with Ishmael and Isaac, Scripture mentions the rejected line first, but only briefly, and does not follow its dates. The chosen line comes second, and then enough dates are given to let us follow the passing of the years. This foreshadows a principle of God's ways, stated so clearly: "He takes away the first, that He may establish the second" (Heb. 10:9).
Put the two portions side by side. Their difference in length is the message.
Frederick W GrantThe next chapter follows with a long list of Esau's generations, ripening early into dukes and kings. The world must have its day… In chapter 37 a single verse sets Jacob's portion against all this. Its very shortness speaks volumes to the ear that hears.
Rest that did not end the training
Being in the right place did not mean an easy life ahead. God's dealings with Jacob were not finished.
The Bible TreasuryThe next mention of Jacob is in Genesis 37. There we read that he "lived in the land of his father's sojournings." This was his proper position, the one faith had called him to. Still, after a pause, the discipline goes on. He had to be weaned from depending on anything at all. Though Rachel is gone, her two sons remain, and through them Jacob undergoes a continued crucifixion of his affections.
Summary
- Settled. After years of wandering, Jacob at last lives in Canaan — the land his father had only travelled through as a stranger.
- Sojourned. He owned nothing there — no house, no land, only tent, altar and pillar. In the end he went down to Egypt and died there.
- Stirred. Commentators differ on what the settling meant. Was it a step ahead of God's purpose, or the end of his wandering? They agree on one thing: when he settled, God moved him on.
- Silent. All of Jacob's remaining history before Egypt fits into this one verse; from here the story belongs to his sons.
- Second. Esau's line gets a whole chapter of dukes and kings. Jacob's gets one line. God takes away the first to establish the second.