from whom that barbarous people called Sopha- | safely than to such as she had showed herself to cians were denominated." CHAF XV.. How Isaac took Rebeka to Wife. 1. Now when Abraham, the father of Isaac, had resolved to take Rebeka, who was grand-daughter to his brother Nahor, for a wife to his son Isaac, who was then about forty years old, he sent the ancientest of his servants to betroth her, after he had obliged him to give him the strongest assurances of his fidelity. Which assurances were given after the manner following: They put each other's hands under each other's thighs, then they called upon God as the witness of what was to be done. He also sent such presents to those that were there, as were in esteem, on account that they either rarely or never were seen in that country. This servant got thither not under a considerable time; for it requires much time to pass through Mesopotamia, in which it is tedious travelling, both in winter for the depth of the clay, and in summer for want of water; and besides this, for the robberies there committed, which are not to be avoided by travellers but by caution beforehand. However, the servant came to Haran. And when he was in the suburbs, he met a considerable number of maidens going to the water; he therefore prayed to God, that Rebeka might be found among them, or her whom Abraham sent him as his servant to espouse to his son, in case his will were that this marriage should be consunimated; and that she might be made known to him by this sign, that while others denied him water to drink, she might give it him. 2. With this intention he went to the well, and desired the maidens to give him some water to drink, but while the others refused, on pretence that they wanted it all at home, and could spare none for him, one only of the company rebuked them for their peevish behavior towards the stranger; and said, What is there that you will ever communicate to any body, who have not so much as given the man some water? She then offered him water in an obliging manner. And now he began to hope that his grand affair would succeed; but desiring still to know the truth, he commended her 'for her generosity and good nature, that she did not scruple to afford a sufficiency of water to those that wanted it, though it cost her some pains to draw it; and asked who were her parents, and wished them joy of such a daughter; and mayest thou be espoused, said hc. to their satisfaction, into the family of an agreeable husband, and bring him legitimate children. Nor did she disdain to satisfy his inquiries, but told him her family. They, says she, call me Rebeka; my father was Bethuel, but he is dead; and Laban is my brother, and, together with my mother, takes care of all our family affairs, and is the guardian of my virginity. When the servant heard this, he was very glad at what had happened, and at what was told him, as perceiving that God had thus plainly directed his journey; and producing his bracelets and some other ornaments, which it was esteemed decent for virgins to wear, he gave them to the damsel, by way of acknowledgment, and as a reward for her kindness in giving him water to drink; saying, it was but just that she should have them, because she was so much more obliging than any of the rest. She desired also that he would come and lodge with them, since the approach of the night gave him not time to proceed farther. And producing his precious ornaments for women, he said, he desired to trust them to none more *The birth of Jacob and Esau is here said to be after Abraham's death; it should have been after Sarah's death. The order of the narration in Genesis, not be; and that he believed he might guess at the humanity of her mother and brother, that they would not be displeased, from the virtue he found in her, for he would not be burdensome, but would pay the hire for his entertainment, and spend his own money. To which she replied, that he guessed right as to the humanity of her parents; but complained, that he should think them so parsimonious as to take money; for that he should have all on free cost. But she said, she would first inform her brother Laban, and, if he gave her leave, she would conduct him in. 3. As soon then as this was over, she introduced the stranger; and for the camels, the servants of Laban brought them in, and took care of them, and he was himself brought in to supper by La ban. And after supper, he says to him, and to the mother of the damsel, addressing himself to her, "Abraham is the son of Terah, and a kinsman of yours, for Nahor, the grandfather of these children, was the brother of Abraham, by both father and mother; upon which account he hath sent me to you, being desirous to take this damsel for his son to wife. He is his legitimate son; and is brought up as his only heir. He could indeed have had the most happy of all the women in that country for him, but he would not have his son marry any of them; but out of regard to his own relations he desired him to match here, whose affection and inclination I would not have you despise; for it was by the good pleasure of God, that other accidents fell out in my journey, and that thereby I lighted upon your daughter, and your house; for when I was near to the city I saw a great many maidens coming to a well, and I prayed that I might meet with this damsel, which has come to pass accordingly. Do you therefore confirm that marriage, whose espousals have been already made by a divine appearance; and show the respect you have for Abraham, who hath sent me with so much solicitude, in giving your consent to the marriage of this damsel." Upon this they understood it to be the will of God, and greatly approved of the offer, and sent their daughter, as was desired. Accordingly Isaac married her, the inheritance being now come to him; for the children by Keturah were gone to their own remote habitations. CHAP. XVII. Concerning the Death of Abraham. 1. A LITTLE while after this Abraham died. He was a man of incomparable virtue, and honored by God in a manner agreeable to his piety The whole time of his life was towards him. one hundred seventy and five years; and he was buried in Hebron, with his wife Sarah, by their sons Isaac and Ismael. CHAP. XVIII. Concerning the Sons of Isaac, Esau and Jacoo Of their Nativity and Education. 1. Now Isaac's wife proved with child, after the death of Abraham; * and when her belly was greatly burdened, Isaac was very anxious, and inquired of God, who answered, That Rebeka should bear twins: and that two nations should take the names of those sons; and that he who appeared the second should excel the elder.Accordingly she, in a little time, as God had foretold, bare twins; the elder of whom, from his head to his feet, was very rough and hairy; but the younger took hold of his heel as they were in the birth. Now the father loved the elder, who was called Esau, a name agreeable to his always exactly according to the order of time, see roughness, for the Hebrews call such a hairy roughness (Esau, or) Seir; but Jacob, the young er, was best beloved by his mother. 2. When there was a famine in the land, Isaac resolved to go into Egypt, the land there being good; but he went to Gerar, as God commanded him. Here Abimelech the king received him, because Abraham had formerly lived with him, and had been his friend. And as in the beginning he treated him exceeding kindly, so he was hindered from continuing in the same disposition to the end by his envy at him; for when he saw that God was with Isaac, and took such great care of him, he drove him away from him. But Isaac, when he saw how envy had changed the temper of Abimelech, retired to a place called The Valley, not far from Gerar; and as he was digging a well the shepherds fell upon him, and began to fight, in order to hinder the work, and because he did not desire to contend, the shep herds seemed to get the better of him, so he still retired, and dug another well; and when certain other shepherds of Abimelech's began to offer him violence, he left that also, and still retired, thus purchasing security to himself by a rational and prudent conduct. At length the king gave him leave to dig a well without disturbance. He named this well Rehoboth, which denotes a large space; but of the former wells, one was called Escon, which denotes strife, the other Sitenna, which name signifies enmity. 3. It was now that Isaac's affairs increased, and his power was in a flourishing condition; and this from his great riches. But Abimelech thinking Isaac throve in opposition to him, while their living together made them suspicious of each other, and Isaac's retiring showing a secret enmity also, he was afraid that his former friendship with Isaac did not secure him, if Isaac should endeavor to revenge the injuries he had formerly offered him; he therefore renewed his friendship with him, and brought with him Philoc, one of his generals. And when he had obtained every thing he desired, by reason of Isaac's good nature, who preferred the earlier friendship Abimelech had showed to himself and his father to his later wrath against him, he returned home. 4. Now when Esau, one of the sons of Isaac, whom the father principally loved, was now come to the age of forty years, he married Adah, the daughter of Helon, and Aholibamiah, the daughter of Esebeon; which Helon and Esebeon were great lords among the Canaanites, thereby taking upon himself the authority, and pretending to have dominion over his own marriages, without so much as asking the advice of his father; for had Isaac been the arbitrator, he had not given him leave to marry thus, for he was not pleased with contracting any alliance with the people of hat country; but not caring to be uneasy to his *For Seir in Josephus, the coherence requires that we read Esau or Seir, which signify the same thing. This supper of savory meat, as we call it, Gen. xxvii. 4, to be caught by hunting, was intended plainly for a festival or a sacrifice, and upon the prayers that were frequent at sacrifices, Isaac expected, as was then usual in such eminent cases, that a divine impulse would come upon him, in order to the solemn blessing of his son there present, and his foretelling his future behavior and fortune Whence it must be, that when Isaac had unwittingly blessed Jacob, and was afterward made sensible of his mistake, yet did he not attempt to alter it, how carnestly soever his affection for Esau might incline him to wish it might be altered, because he knew that this blessing came not from himself but from God, and that an alteration was out of his power. A second afflatus then came upon him, and enabled him to foretell Esau's future behavior and fortune also. Whether Jacob or his mother Rebeka were most blameable in this imposition upon Isaac in his old age, I cannot determine. However, the blessing being delivered as a prediction of future events, by a divine impulse, and foretelling things to betail to the posterity of Jacob son, by commanding him to put away these wives, he resolved to be silent. 5. But when he was old, and could not see' at all, he called Esau to him, and told him, that besides blindness, and the disorder of his eyes, his very old age hindered him from his worship of God [by sacrifice;] he bid him therefore to go out a hunting, and when he had caught as much venison as he could, to prepare him a supper,† that after this he might make supplication to God, to be to him a supporter and an assister during the whole time of his life; saying, that it was uncertain when he should die, and that he was desirous, by prayers for him, to procura beforehand God to be merciful to him. 6. Accordingly Esau went out a hunting. But Rebeka thinking it proper to have the supplica. tion made for obtaining the favor of God to Ja cob, and that without the consent of Isaac, bid him kill kids of the goats, and prepare a supper. So Jacob obeyed his mother, according to all ́her instructions. Now when the supper was got ready, he took a goat's skin, and put it about his arm, that by reason of his hairy roughness he might, by his father, be believed to be Esau; for they being twins, and in all things else alike, differed only in this thing. This was done out of his fear, that before his father had made his supplications, he should be caught in his evil practice, and lest he should, on the contrary, provoke his father to curse him. So he brought in the supper to his father. Isaac perceiving by the peculiarity of his voice who he was, called his son to him, who gave him his hand, which was covered with the goat's skin. When Isaac felt that, he said. "Thy voice is like the voice of Jacob, yet because of the thickness of thy hair, thou seemest to be Esau." So suspecting no deceit, he ate the supper, and betook himself to his prayers and intercessions with God; and said, "O Lord of all ages, and Creator of all sub stance; for it was thou that didst propose to my father great plenty of good things, and hast vouchsafed to bestow on me what I have; and hast promised to my posterity to be their kind supporter, and to bestow on them still greater blessings; do thou therefore confirm these thy promises, and do not overlook me because of my present weak condition, on account of which 1 most earnestly pray to thee Be gracious to this my son; and preserve him and keep him from every thing that is evil. Give him a happy life, and the possession of as many good things as thy power is able to bestow. Make him terrible to his enemies, and honorable and beloved among his friends." 7. Thus did Isaac pray to God, thinking his prayers had been made for Esau. He had but just finished them, when Esau came in from hunting. And when Isaae perceived his mis take, he was silent; but Esau required that he and Esau, in future ages, was for certain providential, and according to what Rebeka knew to be the purpose of God, when he answered her inquiry, "before the children were born," Gen. xxv. 23, "that one people should be stronger than the other people; and that the elder, Esau, should serve the younger, Jacob." Whe ther Isaac knew or remembered this o'd oracle, delivered in our copies only to Rebeka; or whether, if be knew and remembered it, he did not endeavor to alter the Divine determination, out of his fondness for his elder and worse son Esau, to the damage of his younger and better son Jacob; as Josephus elsewhere supposes, Antiq. b. ii. chap. vii. sect. 3, I cannot certainly say. If so, this might tempt Rebeka to contrive, and Jacob to put this imposition upon him. However, Josephus says here, that it was Isaac, and not Rebeka, who inquired of God at first, and received the forementioned oracle, sect. 1, which, if it be the true reading, renders Isaac's procedure more inexcusable Nor was it probably any thing else that so much encouraged Esau formerly to marry two Canaanitish wives, without his parents' consent, as Isaac's unhappy fondness for him. might be made partaker of the like blessing from his father that his brother had partook of; but his father refused it, because all his prayers had been spent upon Jacob: so Esau lamented the mistake. However, his father being grieved at his weeping, said, That "he should excel in hunting, and strength of body; in arms, and all such sorts of work; and should obtain glory for ever on those accounts, he and his posterity after him, but still should serve his brother." 8. Now the mother delivered Jacob, when he was afraid that his brother would inflict some punishment upon him, because of the mistake about the prayers of Isaac; for she persuaded her husband to take a wife for Jacob out of Mesopotamia, of her own kindred. Esau having married already Basemmath, the daughter of Ismael, without his father's consent, for Isaac did not like the Canaanites, so that he disapproved of Esau's former marriages, which made him take Basemmath to wife, in order to please him; and indeed he had a great affection for her. CHAP. XIX. Concerning Jacob's Flight into Mesopotamia, by 1. Now Jacob was sent by his mother to Mesopotamia in order to marry her brother Laban's daughter, (which marriage was permitted by Isaac on account of his obsequiousness to the desires of his wife;) and he accordingly journeyed through the land of Canaan; and because he hated the people of that country he would not lodge with any of them, but took up his lodging in the open air, and laid his head on a heap of stones that he had gathered together. At which time he saw in his sleep such a vision standing by him; he seemed to see a ladder that reached from the earth unto heaven, and persons descending down the ladder, that seemed more excellent than human; and at last God himself stood above it, and was plainly visible to him, who, calling him by his name, spake to him these words: 4. So he proceeded on his journey to Mesopotamia, and at length came to Haran; and meeting with shepherds in the suburbs, with boys grown up, and maidens sitting about a certain well, he stayed with them, as wanting water to drink; and beginning to discourse with them, he asked them whether they knew such a one as Laban? and whether he was still alive? Now they all said they knew him, for he was not so inconsiderable a person as to be unknown to any of them; and that his daughter fed her father's flock together with them; and that indeed they wondered that she was not yet come; for by her means thou mightest learn more exactly whatever thou desirest to know about that family. While they were saying this the damsel came, and the other shepherds that came down along with her. Then they showed her Jacob, and told her that he was a stranger, who came to inquire about her father's affairs. But she, as pleased, after the custom of children, with Jacob's coming, asked him who he was? and whence he came to them? and what it was he lacked that he came thither? She also wished it might be in their power to supply the wants he came about. 5. But Jacob was quite overcome, not so much by their kindred, nor by that affection which might arise thence, as by his love to the damsel, and his surprise at her beauty, which was so flourishing as few of the women of that age could vie with. He said then, "There is a relation between thee and me, elder than either thy or my birth, if thou be the daughter of Laban; for Abraham was the son of Terah, as well as Haran and Nahor. Of the last of whom, Nahor, Bethuel thy grandfa ther was the son. Isaac my father was the son of Abraham and of Sarah, who was the daughter of Haran. But there is a nearer and later cement of mutual kindred which we hear to one another, for my mother Rebeka was sister to Laban thy father, both by the same father and mother; I therefore and thou are cousin germans. And I am now come to salute you, and to renew that affinity which proper between us." Upon this the damsel, at the mention of Rebeka, as usually happens to young persons, wept, and that out of the kindness she had for her father, and embraced Jacob, she having learned an account of Rebeka from her father, and knew that her parents loved to hear her named; and when she had saluted him, she said, that "He brought the most desirable and greatest pleasure to her father, with all their family, who was always mentioning his mother, and always thinking of her, and her alone; and that this will make thee equal in his eyes to any advantageous circumstances whatsoever." Then she bid him go to her father, and follow her while she conducted him to him, and not to deprive him of such a pleasure by stay 2. "O Jacob, it is not fit for thee, who art the son of a good father, and grandson of one who had obtained a great reputation for his eminent virtue, to be dejected at thy present circumstances, but to hope for better times, for thou shalt have great abundance of all good things, by my assistance: for I brought Abraham hither out of Mesopotamia, when he was driven away by his kinsmen; and I made thy father a happy man; nor will I bestow a less degree of happiness on thyself. Be of good courage, therefore, and under my conduct proceed on this thy journey, for the marriage thou goest so zealously about shall be consummated. And thou shalt have children of good characters, but their multitude shall being any longer away from him. innumerable; and they shall leave what they have to a still more numerous posterity, to whom, and to whose posterity, I give the dominion of all the land, and their posterity shall fill the entire earth and sea, so far as the sun beholds them; but do not thou fear any danger, nor be afraid of the many labors thou must undergo, for by my providence I will direct thee what thou art to do in the time present, and still much more in the time to come." 3. Such were the predictions which God made to Jacob. Whereupon he became very joyful at what he had seen and heard, and he poured oil on the stones, because on them the prediction of such great benefits was made. He also vowed a vow that he would offer sacrifices upon them, if he lived and returned safe; and if he came again in such a condition, he would give the tithe of what he had gotten to God. He also judged the place to be honorable, and gave it the name of Bethel, which, in the Greek, is interpreted, The horse of God. 6. When she had said thus, she brought him to Laban; and being owned by his uncle, he was secure himself as being among his friends; and he brought a great deal of pleasure to them by his unexpected coming. But a little while afterward Laban told him, that he could not express in words the joy he had at his coming; but still he inquired of him the occasion of his coming, and why he left his aged father and mother when they wanted to be taken care of by him: and that he would afford him all the assistance he wanted. Then Jacob gave him an account of the whole occasion of his journey, and told him, "That Isaac had two sons that were twins, himself and Esau; who, because he failed of his father's prayers, which by his mother's wisdom were put up for him, sought to kill him, as deprived of the kingdom which was to be given him *By this "deprivation of the kingdom that was to be given Esau of God," as the firstborn, it appears that Josephus thought, that a "kingdom to be derived from God," |