Genesis 26:13

Gen 26:13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:

Ver. 13. And the man waxed great.] Because the Lord blessed him, {Gen 26:12} for it is his blessing that maketh rich. He sowed, and feared God, and the Lord blessed him. Godliness hath the promises of both lives. {1Ti 4:8} Now the promises are "the unsearchable riches of Christ," {Eph 3:6; Eph 3:9} who is "the heir of all," {Heb 1:2} and hath made godly men his co-heirs, {Rom 8:17} entailing upon them riches and honour, delight and pleasure, life and length of days, the blessings of both hands. {Pro 3:16-17; Pro 8:18; Deu 28:1-14 ; Psa 112:2-3} Godly men, in Scripture, are read to have been richer than any; as Abraham, Isaac, David, &c., so they might be now (likely) if they would be as godly, Bonus Deus Constantinum Magnum, tantis terrenis implevit muneribus, quanta optare nullus auderet, saith Augustine. {a} If God deny gain to godliness, it is that it may be admired for itself, as having an autarchy. (μετ’ αυταρκειας), a self-sufficiency {1Ti 6:6} He makes up in the true treasure: and a grain of grace is worth all the gold of Ophir; a remnant of faith, better than all gay clothing. Achan’s wedge of gold served for no better purpose, than to cleave asunder his soul from his body; and the Babylonish garment but for a shroud. But, contented godliness, like Solomon’s good wife, "doth a man good, and not evil, all his days": {Pro 31:12} for it brings his mind and his means together, and makes him rest well assured of a sufficiency, though he miss of a superfluity.

{a} Aug. De Civ. Dei., lib. v. cap. 25.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, he went forth going and increasing.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 13. The man waxed great] There is a strange and observable recurrence of the same term in the original: ויגדל האיש וילך הלוך וגדל עד כי גדל מאד vaiyigdal haish vaiyelech haloch vegadel ad ki gadal meod, And the man was GREAT; and he went, going on, and was GREAT, until that he was exceeding GREAT. How simple is this language, and yet how forcible!

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds,.... Many flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle, of oxen, asses and camels, in which the riches of men in those times and countries chiefly lay:

and great store of servants; to look after his flocks and herds, and fields; or "much husbandry" (f); Jarchi interprets it much tillage; as, much land, many farms, fields, and vineyards, and the like; to cultivate which required many servants:

and the Philistines envied him; for his prosperity and success, that his land should bring forth so plentifully, and that he should have such an increase of flocks, and herds, and servants, which made him so very significant great, and honourable.

(f) "cultura multa", Drusius; "proventus multus", Pagninus; "servitium multum", Schmidt; , Sept.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13. Went forward — Hebrews, went going; that is, kept on growing. Three degrees are here expressed — great, greater, very great.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the man waxed great, like his father before him (cf. Gen_24:1, Gen_24:35) and went forward, literally, went going, the verb followed by the infinitive expressing constant growth or progressive increase (cf. Gen_8:3 Gen_12:9; Jud_1:4:24) and grew until he became very great any other farmer would who reaped such harvests" ("Land and Book").

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

כי גדל מאד UNTIL HE BECAME VERY GREAT — so that people used to say, “Rather the dung of Isaac’s mules than all Abimelech’s gold and silver’’(Genesis Rabbah 64:7).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויגדל, in material wealth and all types of possessions.

הלוך וגדל the word הלוך is an infinitive mode of the verb, whereas the word גדל is an adjective or also an infinitive.. We encounter a parallel construction in Exodus 12,9 ובשל מבושל. The meaning of the phrase is that Yitzchok’s wealth kept on increasing and he kept on becoming a man of great substance until he had reached a point where he could be described as גדול מאד, “very great.”

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.