Genesis 34:29

Gen 34:29 And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that [was] in the house.

Ver. 29. And all their wealth,] Or, Power: for in a man’s wealth is his power; yea, it is his "tower of strength," {Pro 18:11} and so much he is valued at, as he is able to disburse. {See Trapp on "Gen 31:1"}

And spoiled even all that was in the house.] So dealt Minerius at Merindol; Charles V, at Magdeburg; the bloody Papists, at the Parisian massacre. But when the Lord came to "make inquisition for blood, he remembered them." {Psa 9:12} He drew articles of inquiry against them, as strict, and as critical, as ever the Spanish Inquisition; and dealt with them accordingly. Cambyses lighting off his horse, after he had been showing great cruelty to them of Athens, his sword flew out of the scabbard, and slew him. {a} If these brethren in iniquity sped better, they may thank a good God, whose terror fell upon the adjacent cities. For they did enough to undo, not themselves only, but their father, and his whole family. It was good counsel to such, that Tertullian gives to bloody Scapula; Si nobis non parcis, tibi parce: si non tibi, Carthagini: See thou undo not thyself and thy city by thy cruelty to Christians.

{a} Justin.

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.

Gen 34:29. Their little ones and their wives took they captive — No mention is made of these captives afterward: nor is it easy to conjecture what became of them. Perhaps the most probable supposition is, that Jacob restored both them and the property taken by his sons to their surviving relatives and countrymen.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(29) Their little ones.—Heb., their taf. (See Note on Gen_17:13.) How erroneous is the translation “little-ones” may be seen from Num_31:17-18, which in the Heb. is, “Now, therefore, kill every male in the taf . . . and all the taf of women that are unmarried.” It would be monstrous to suppose that boys were to be put to death, and men escape, nor would little girls be likely to be married. In 2Ch_31:18 the taf is distinguished both from the sons and daughters; and so also in Gen_20:13, where we read “their tafs and their children. The LXX. have altered the order here, but otherwise translate correctly their persons, that is, their property in men-servants and maid servants, as opposed to their cattle and their wealth in goods. In Gen_1:8 the LXX. translate clan, and in Gen_34:21 household. The slaves thus seized would form the most valuable part probably of the spoil.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi,.... who were the principals concerned in this affair:

ye have troubled me; because of the sin they had committed, because of the dishonour brought upon religion, and because of the danger he and his family were hereby exposed unto; it greatly disquieted him, made him very uneasy, he was at his wit's end almost, knew not what to do, what course to take to wipe off the scandal, and to defend himself and family; since it served, he says:

to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land; to make him odious and abominable, to be hated and abhorred by all the people round about, and to be looked upon and treated as a deceitful, treacherous, and perfidious man, that had no regard to his word, to covenants and agreements made by him; as a cruel and bloodthirsty man that spared none, made no difference between the innocent and the guilty; and as a robber and plunderer, that stopped at nothing, committing the greatest outrages to get possession of the substance of others:

amongst the Canaanites and the Perizzites: who were the principal inhabitants of the land, the most numerous, and the most rustic and barbarous, and perhaps nearest, and from whom Jacob had most to fear:

and I being few in number; or men of number (p); he and his sons and servants, in all, making but a small number in comparison of the nations about him:

they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house; not that Jacob was afraid that this would be really the case, for he knew and believed the promises of God to him, of the multiplication of his seed, and of their inheriting the land of Canaan, and of the Messiah springing from him; but this he said to aggravate the sin and folly of his sons, in exposing him and themselves to so much danger, which not only on the face of things appeared probable, but even certain and inevitable, without the interposition of divine power and Providence.

(p) "viri numeri", Montanus, Schmidt.

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

Captive. No doubt Jacob would force them to restore such ill-gotten goods. (Calmet) --- They had acted without authority, and even contrary to the known disposition of their father. They rashly exposed him to destruction, which would inevitably have taken place, if God had not protected him, chap. xxxv. 5. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Either in the prince’s house, or in their several houses; or within doors, as the word signifies.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

חילם means THEIR WEALTH. Examples are: (Deuteronomy 8:17) “hath gotten me this (חיל) wealth”; (Numbers 19:18) “and Israel acquireth (חיל) wealth”; (Psalms 49:11) “and they leave (חילם) their wealth to others”.

שבו has the meaning of taking captive (i.e. it is the Kal. perfect, 3rd pl. of the root שבה and means “they took captive”), and therefore it is accented on the last syllable (whereas שָׁבוּ, accented on the first syllable, is the same form of the verb שוב and means “they returned”).

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.

ואת כל חילם, silver, gold, and precious stones.

ואת כל אשר בבית, chattels. The word בבית is a general term, a place where most chattels are kept.

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.