Genesis 46:2

Gen 46:2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here [am] I.

Ver. 2. Here am I.] Josephus tells us, {a} he said, Who is there? He seems never seriously to have read the Bible; but only in transcursu, et quasi aliud agens. Is not that then a proper excuse for the Church of Rome’s sacrilege, in robbing the common people of the Holy Scriptures, that she allows them to read Josephus, where they may find the history of the Old Testament more plainly and plentifully set forth than in the Bible! But Barclay, {b} that made this apology, was of the mind, belike, of Walter Mapes, sometime archdeacon of Oxford, who, relating the gross simony (traffic in sacred things) of the Pope, for confirming the election of Reginald, bastard son to Jocelin, bishop of Sarum into the see of Bath, concludes his narration thus: Sit tamen domina materque nostra Roma baculus in aqua fractus, et absit credere quae vidimus; { c} howbeit, far be it from us to believe our own eyes.

{a} Antiq., lib. i.

{b} Quod vero ad historiam Vet. Test. eam fuse et magis ex vulgi intellectu in Iosepho inveniunt. - Barcl. Paraen.

{c} Dr Sanderson.

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 46:2. God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night — Probably the next night after he had offered his sacrifices. Those who desire to keep up communion with God, shall find that it never fails on his side. If we speak to him as we ought, he will not fail to speak to us.

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

46:2-4 In a night vision, the Lord repeated his promise to go with Jacob and make his family into a great nation in Egypt. The same God who led the family into Egypt promised to bring them out of Egypt to live once again in the land of Canaan.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

God spake unto Israel--Here is a virtual renewal of the covenant and an assurance of its blessings. Moreover, here is an answer on the chief subject of Jacob's prayer and a removal of any doubt as to the course he was meditating. At first the prospect of paying a personal visit to Joseph had been viewed with unmingled joy. But, on calmer consideration, many difficulties appeared to lie in the way. He may have remembered the prophecy to Abraham that his posterity was to be afflicted in Egypt and also that his father had been expressly told not to go [Gen 15:13; Gen 26:2]; he may have feared the contamination of idolatry to his family and their forgetfulness of the land of promise. These doubts were removed by the answer of the oracle, and an assurance given him of great and increasing prosperity.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2. And God spake unto Israel. In this manner, God proves that the sacrifice of Jacob was acceptable to him, and again stretches out his hand to ratify anew his covenant. The vision by night availed for the purpose of giving greater dignity to the oracle. Jacob indeed, inasmuch as he was docile and ready to yield obedience to God, did not need to be impelled by force and terror; yet, because he was a man encompassed with flesh, it was profitable for him that he should be affected as with the glory of a present God, in order that the word might penetrate more effectually into his heart. It is, however, proper to recall to memory what I have said before, that the word was joined with it; because a silent vision would have profited little or nothing. We know that superstition eagerly snatches at mere spectres; by which means it presents God in a form of its own. But since no living image of God can exist without the word, whenever God has appeared to his servants, he has also spoken to them. Wherefore, in all outward signs, let us be ever attentive to his voice, if we would not be deluded by the wiles of Satan. But if those visions, in which the majesty of God shines, require to be animated by the word, then they who obtrude signs, invented at the will of men, upon the Church, exhibit nothing else than the empty pomps of a profane theater. Just as in the Papacy, those things which are called sacraments, are lifeless phantoms which draw away deluded souls from the true God. Let this mutual connection, then, be observed, that the vision which gives greater dignity to the word, precedes it; and that the word follows immediately, as if it were the soul of the vision. And there is no question that this was an appearance of the visible glory of God, which did not leave Jacob in suspense and hesitation; but which, by removing his doubt, firmly sustained him, so that he confidently embraced the oracle.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

2. in the visions of the night] A generic plural for the phenomena of dreams. The versions give the sing. For the word, cf. Num_12:6; 1Sa_3:15; Dan_10:7-8. For revelations granted at night, cf. Gen_20:3, Gen_28:12 ff.

Jacob, Jacob] The sentence, as it stands, is striking: “God said to Israel, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’  ” The juxtaposition of the two names “Israel” and “Jacob” may indicate the fusion of the two narratives—J, which prefers “Israel,” and E, which prefers “Jacob.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night,.... He appeared to Jacob as he lay upon his bed in the night season, and with an articulate voice spoke to him as follows:

and said, Jacob, Jacob: not "Israel", the more honourable name he had given him, but Jacob, putting him in mind of his former low estate; and doubling this name, either out of love and affection to him, as Jarchi intimates; or rather in order to awake him, at least to stir up his attention to what he was about to say to him:

and he said, here am I; signifying his readiness to hearken to him in what he should say to him, and to obey him in whatsoever he should command him.

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

In the visions of the night, i.e. in that way or manner of visions which God affordeth to men by night, and in their sleep. See Gen 20:3; Job 33:15-16; Mat 1:20; 2:13,19; Act 16:9; 18:9, &c.

Jacob, Jacob; he doubles the name both in token of his friendship and familiarity with him, and to raise Jacob's attention. Compare Gen 22:11; 1Sa 3:10.

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

2. God spake unto Israel — “Jacob thought himself led by the hand of Providence, yet we may imagine him oppressed by sadness as he turns his back upon the land of promise — the land of his childhood and manhood, the land where were the graves of Abraham, and Isaac, and of his beloved Rachel — and sets his face towards the dreary desert. Is it thus that God is to make Canaan his inheritance? But in his trial God appears to him, as he did to Abraham in a similar crisis, (Gen_15:1,) and to Isaac, when the same doubt oppressed him, (Gen_25:24,) and the same cheering words come to Jacob that came to them.” — Newhall.

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

And God (Elohim) spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob the name Jacob being employed probably to remind Jacob of what he had been (Lawson, Bush, Wordsworth), and repeated ut magis attentus reddatur (Calvin). And he said, Here am I literally, behold me, (cf. Gen_22:1)

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

And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night - (Probably the next night after he had offered his sacrifices.) Those who desire to keep up communion with God, shall find that it never fails on his side. If we speak to him as we ought, he will not fail to speak to us. God called him by his name, by his old name, Jacob, Jacob, to mind him of his low estate. Jacob, like one well acquainted with the visions of the Almighty, answers, Here am I - Ready to receive orders. And what has God to say to him?

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

יעקב יעקב JACOB, JACOB — The repetition of the name is a mark of affection (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 1 12).

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.

AND HE SAID, JACOB, JACOB. After G-d had told him, Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name, it would be proper that He call him by this glorious name, and so he is indeed mentioned three times in this section. However, He called him Jacob in order to hint that now he will not contend with G-d and men and prevail, [as the name Israel indicates], but he will be in a house of bondage until He will also bring him up again, since the exile now begins with him. This is the meaning of the verse, And these are the names of the children of Israel who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons, for they would come there with the appellation, “children of Israel,” since the children would multiply and increase there and their name and glory would extend. However, he is “Jacob” when descending thereto.The reason why Scripture mentions Er and Onan together with the children of Israel who came into Egypt, [although they had already died, as clearly stated in Verse 12]; is due to a secret which can be known from the words we have already written. The learned student [of the mystic lore of the Cabala] will understand this, as well as the meaning of the entire Verse [12]. Scripture likewise mentioned them among those numbered in the desert: The sons of Judah: Er and Onan; and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Judah after their families were, etc. And there, in the book of Chronicles, Scripture enumerates them in another count: The sons of Judah: Er, and Onan and Shelah; which were born unto him of Bath-shua the Canaanitess…And Tamar his daughter-in-law bore him Perez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

!ויאמר: יעקב! יעקב; the reason this call to Yaakov is repeated is to illustrate that for how many years Yaakov had not been favoured with a communication from G’d. By repeating his name at this point, Yaakov was alerted to the fact that he would receive a prophetic insight.

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.