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Jewish 1270 · Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Torah, Genesis 46:2

Ramban, on Gen 46:2

Ramban · 1194–1270
Gen 46:2 · Douay-Rheims
“He heard him by a vision in the night calling him, and saying to him: Jacob, Jacob. And he answered him: Lo, here I am.”
On this verse:
“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.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.

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