And Jacob came unto Isaac his father,.... No mention being made of his mother, it is very probable she was dead; and Isaac being alone, and very old, and the time of his death drawing nigh, he might send for Jacob to come with his family, and be with him; for it can hardly be thought that this was the first time of Jacob's visiting his father since he came into the land, of Canaan, which must be about ten years; but as yet he had not come with his family to him, and in order to abide with him:unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which [is] Hebron; Mamre was a plain, so called from the name of a man, a friend and confederate of Abraham, Ge 13:18; where, or near to which, stood a city, called Kirjath Arbah, or the city of the four, Arbah and his three sons; so that it might be called Tetrapolls, and was later called Hebron:where Abraham and Isaac sojourned; lived good part of their days, see Ge 13:18; it was about twenty miles from Bethlehem, and the tower of Eder , where Jacob was last.
Bunting's Travels, p.