Genesis 24:63 - Exposition

And Isaac went out to meditate — לָשׂוּח ; to think ( LXX ; Vulgate, Murphy, Kalisch); to pray (Onkelos, Samaritan, Kimchi, Luther, Keil); to lament (Knobel, Lange); doubtless to do all three, to commune with his heart and before God; not, however, about agricultural affairs, or the improvement of his property (Knobel), but concerning his deceased mother, whom he still mourned ( Genesis 24:67 ), though chiefly, it is probable, anent the marriage he contemplated (Keil)— in the field at the eventide. Literally, at the turning of the evening (cf. Deuteronomy 23:12 ; and for corresponding phrase, "when the morning draws on," Exodus 14:27 ; 19:26 ; Psalms 46:6 ). And he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. The bride's first glimpse of her intended spouse being, with artless simplicity though with dramatic picturesqueness, described in similar terms.