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YEARS

CHAPTER XV.

THE STOLEN BLESSING.

EARS passed on ;-thirty-seven years after this marriage of Esau, his own unsettled habits still unchanged, and his Hittite wives still causing, as may well be imagined, great discomfort to his mother. Jacob had now. reached his seventy-seventh year,' and had not yet taken a wife. His mother's love had so far been sufficient for him; his quiet home-feelings found sufficient enjoyment in her society; probably the conduct of the Hittite wives of his brother made him feel that he was the more necessary to her, and made him averse to looking for a nearer companion for himself. Suddenly there was a great disruption in the domestic circle, and the quiet, domestic man was compelled to flee from home. The cause was one which brings the full character of this family to our view.

The father was now one hundred and thirty-seven years old, and the infirmities of age were taking strong hold on him; as an especial and grievous affliction, his eyesight had almost entirely failed. Unable to distinguish objects, confined to his couch, and feeling that even the shreds of life. were scarcely left to him, he determined, while his faculties would permit it, to place his first-born in safe possession of the position belonging to him in the family and tribe. Con

1 These numbers, and others connected with them, differ from those given by some commentators, but they seem to be unavoidable, and are deduced thus: Joseph was promoted in Egypt æt. 30 (Gen. xli. 46). Nine years afterward his father came to Egypt (Gen. xlv. 6), Joseph at. 39; Jacob was then 130 years old (xlvii. 9); consequently Jacob was 91 years old at Joseph's birth; he had then been 14 years in Padan Aram (compare Gen. xxx. 24 with xxxi. 38); and was therefore 77 at the time of the above occurrences.

sequently he summoned him one day, as he supposed, in private.

"My son," he said, and paused so as to discriminate by the voice; for his eyes had failed so much that he could no longer judge by sight.

"Behold, here I am," said Esau, and the tones of voice were satisfactory.

"Behold, now I am old, I know not the day of my death; now, therefore, take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field and take me some venison; and make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die."

Esau took his instruments for hunting and went out. The interview, however, was not secret, for Rebekah had overheard every word.

Well, indeed, might she be alarmed! She knew from the old man's favoritism, and from the son's claims of birthright, what the blessing would be. It would be the placing of the bold, and to her often rebellious, Esau over the household, and would be giving additional haughtiness and power to his heathen wives in the tent, and moreover, would be the humiliation of Jacob before all the tribe. She hurried secretly to the latter, told him all that had occurred, and gave him instructions what to do. He was to go to the flock and bring home two good kids, with which she was to make savory meat for the old man, which he was to present as the desired venison. "But, behold, Esau my brother," he objected, "is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man; my father, peradventure, will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing." She replied,

"Upon me be thy curse, my son; only obey my voice and go and fetch them."

There was need for expedition; for at any moment the

older brother might return. The kids were brought and the savory mess prepared. She took some of Esau's best garments and put them on Jacob, and with the skins of the kids covered his hands and the exposed parts of his neck, so as to represent, as far as possible, the hairiness of the older son. And so the mess was taken in to the old man, while his wife, all nervous, and anxious and trembling with fear, tried both to watch the proceedings within the tent and to guard against any intrusions from without. Jacob approached his father with no less fear; for it was a perilous experiment that he was making. His heart quaked under the consciousness of the lying and deception. If he should be discovered, a curse would ensue such as his mother, though offering to bear it could yet never cancel. We can imagine the scene ;-the keenly watchful mother quivering with nervous apprehension at every motion; the son self-condemned and frightened at the terrible position he was in; feigning composure, while he knew that he was shaking with dread; contending for a mastery over himself and his voice, and while fiercely struggling, yet under the necessity of appearing natural and easy; appalled by the very quiet and silence and dimness in the room, yet knowing that an interruption would bring to him a fearful curse instead of a blessing. The old man's helplessness and blindness were pathetic appeals to any heart. Jacob had to steel himself against all such affection.-There was need of haste. He broke the silence:

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"My father!"

"Here am I; who art thou, my son ?"

"I am Esau, thy first-born. I have done according as thou badest me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me."

"How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my

son ?"

"Because the Lord thy God brought it to me."

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"Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau, or not."

The words, and especially the allusion to God as helper, had burnt the lips of the son as he spake them, but his astuteness bore him through. He approached, deeply agitated; but the old man's touch was itself a trembling and feeble one from his debility. He felt him, and said,

"The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau; art thou my very son Esau ?”

"I am."

"Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee."

It was brought, with wine also, and he ate and drank. Then the old man said,

"Come near, now, and kiss me, my son."

He did so; and there seems to have been a peculiar odor from Esau's raiment, which was perceived by the father.

Then came the blessing:

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See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed; therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine; let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee; be lord over thy brethren and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee; cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee."

Jacob went out rich in his father's words, but poor in his own heart, for he had stripped it of nobleness and truth, and of that consciousness which is man's best support. He joined his mother, and as their eyes met, amid the triumph which brightened them, there was the deep self-condemnation springing from joint participation in an unmitigated wickedness. They had lied to and grossly deceived the infirm, blind, good old man, the husband and father. How often, afterward, must Jacob have thought of this scene

when his own sons were stinging his heart, and whitening his hairs by their wicked acts!

During these proceedings in the tent, Esau had been ranging over the hills for game, and had been successful. He hoped now to be repaid for the loss of his birthright which he had formerly so weakly and impulsively sold. He had thought often, since, of that act, which had taken in his eyes a more serious character as years had passed on and he had wives and children, for whose sake he could now see the value of the chief inheritance; his own habits being so adverse to finding means for their support. His wives, who had made themselves hateful to his mother, might indeed have no certain home after his father's death, unless it might now be secured. But now his father, he hoped, would fully cancel the sale of that birthright. He had asked for the venison, "that my soul may bless thee before I die." Assuredly it would be a great blessing, this, the final one; it would doubtless place him at the head of the family and of the tribe. He would yet triumph over his cunning

brother!

Such thoughts spurred on the huntsman over hill and across valley, until the venison was secured. He returned then, quickly, and made with it the savory mess such as he had often before prepared. It was well for Jacob and his mother that they had used expedition; for the former was scarcely out of the old man's presence, when the other son came before him in the tent. Isaac was resting after the recent unwonted effort; the divine afflatus which he had felt within him was passed; he felt happy in the consciousness of what had just transpired; this son was his favorite; the eldest born, he believed, was now safe in the rich blessing which God had, through him, bestowed. He heard suddenly a movement in the tent, as of one approaching, and then the words,

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