Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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praying for it; for men ought always to pray, and not to faint (Lu 18:1), to pray without ceasing, and knock till the door be opened, He prayed for his wife; some read it with his wife. Note, Husbands and wives should pray together, which is intimated in the apostle's caution, that their prayers be not hindered, 1Pe 3:7. The Jews have a tradition that Isaac, at length, took his wife with him to mount Moriah, where God had promised that he would multiply Abraham's seed (Ge 22:17), and there, in his prayer with her and for her, pleaded the promise made in that very place.
2. God heard his prayer, and was entreated of him. Note, Children are the gift of God. Those that continue instant in prayer, as Isaac did, shall find, at last, that they did not seek in vain, Isa 45:19.
21 And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren:
and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, if it be
so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord.
That they were prophesied of before they were born, and great mysteries were wrapped up in the prophecies which went before of them, Ge 25:22, 23. Long had Isaac prayed for a son; and now his wife is with child of two, to recompense him for his long waiting. Thus God often outdoes our prayers, and gives more than we are able to ask or think. Now Rebekah being with child of these two sons, observe here,
1. How she was perplexed in her mind concerning her present case: The children struggled together within her. The commotion she felt was altogether extraordinary and made her very uneasy. Whether she was apprehensive that the birth would be her death, or whether she was weary of the intestine tumult, or whether she suspected it to be an ill omen, it seems she was ready to wish that either she had not been with child or that she might die immediately, and not bring forth such a struggling brood: If it be so, or, since it is so, Why am I thus? Before, the want of children was her trouble, now, the struggle of the children is no less so. Note,
(1.) The comforts we are most desirous of are sometimes found to bring along with them more occasion of trouble and uneasiness