Bible study online

Genesis 25:20

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Genesis 25:20

Verse 20 of 34

Scripture focus

And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

Genesis 25:20 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Genesis 25:20

Theological / Devotional

The Syrian. “Syrian,” more accurately, “Aramaean,” according to the Hebrew. Bethuel, a grandson of Terah (Genesis 22:20-23), was, like Abraham, a descendant of Shem’s son Arphaxad (Genesis 11:10-27) and not of Shem’s son Aram, ancestor of the Aramaeans (see on Genesis 10:22). He is called “Aramaean” here merely because Terah’s family had settled in Aramaic territory, and was gradually absorbed by the Aramaeans. Moses refers to both Bethuel and Laban as Aramaeans.

Padan-aram. The location of “Padan-aram” is not clear. It occurs only in Genesis (Genesis 28:2, 5-7; 31:18; etc.), and has been explained as designating a region that constituted part of ’Aram-naharayim (see on Genesis 24:10). Again, it may refer to Haran, inasmuch as Padan and Haran have similar meanings in the Assyrian language.

By SdaBc