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God to Jacob, and that without the consent of Isaac, bade him kill kids of the goats, and prepare a supper. Jacob obeyed his mother, according to all her instructions, and when the supper was ready, he took a goat's skin, and put it about his arm, that by reason of its hairy roughness, his father might believe him 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 Isaac had made his supplications, he should be caught in his evil practice, and thereby 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,

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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 offered up his prayers and intercession to God, and said, "O Lord of all ages, and creator of all substance, 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 I more earnestly pray to thee. Be gracious to this my son, 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 honourable and beloved among his friends."

Thus did Isaac pray to God, thinking his prayers had been made for Esau. He had but just finished them, however, when Esau

of his younger son, Jacob; as Josephus supposes, II. 7. I certainly cannot say. If so, this might tempt Rebeka, to contrive, and Jacob to practise, 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; which, if it be the true reading, renders Isaac's procedure the more inexcusable. Nor was it probable that any thing else, so much encoutaged Esau formerly to marry two Canaanitish wives, without his parents' consent, as Isaac's unhappy fondness for him.

N. B. Upon this occasion it may be necessary to caution the reader against a common prejudice of the moderns;

came in from hunting; and when Isaac perceived his mistake, he was silent. Esau earnestly requested that he might be made partaker of the blessing which his brother had received, but his father refused, 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, in arms, in strength of body; and should obtain glory for ever on those accounts, he and his posterity after him; but still should serve his brother."

Now the mother delivered Jacob, when he Iwas 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 already married Basemmath, the daughter of Ishmael, without his father's consent: for Isaac, not liking the Canaanites, disapproved of Esau's former marriage, which made him take Basemmath to wife, in order to please him; and indeed he had a great affection for her.

NOM

CHAP. XIX.

OF JACOB'S FLIGHT INTO MESOPOTAMIA.

TOW Jacob was sent by his mother into 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.† Hav

as if the bare relation of what we should esteem the faults and blemishes of the patriarchs, and other very good men in the scripture, implied a justification of them. The scripture affords us faithful accounts of the great men with whom it is concerned; and relates their vices and follies as impartially as their good and wise actions; yet it does not always characterize those actions, but frequently leaves them to the readers own judgment and censure; to their imitation of the good, and avoidance of the bad.

* Gen. xxvii. 46. Gen, xxviii. 11..

ing fallen asleep, he dreamed that he saw a ladder which 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 calling him by his name, said, "O Jacob, it is not fit for thee, who art the son of a good father, and grandson to 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 an inferior degree of happiness on thyself. Be of good courage, therefore; and under my conduct, proceed on thy journey; for the

*One of the idols in the Pagoda of Jaggernaut is described, by Captain Hamilton, as a huge black stone, of a pyramidical form, and the Sammona Codom of the Siamese is of the same complexion. The Ayeen Akbery mentions an octagonal pillar of black stone fifty cubits high. Tavernier observed an idol of black stone in the Pagoda of Benares, and that the statue of Chreeshna, in his celebrated temple of Mathura, is of black marble. It is very remarkable, that one of the principal ceremonies incumbent upon the priests of these stone deities, according to Tavernier, is to anoint them daily with odoriferous oils: a circumstance which immediately brings to our remembrance the similar practice of Jacob, who, after the famous vision of the celestial ladder, took the stone which he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. It is added, that he called the name of that place, Bethel; that is, the house of God. This passage evinces of how great antiquity is the custom of considering stones in a sacred light, as well as the anointing them with consecrated oil. From this conduct of Jacob, and this Hebrew appellative, the learned Bochart, with great ingenuity and reason, insists that the name and veneration of the sacred stones, called Baetyti, so celebrated in all pagan antiquity, were derived. These Baetyti were stones of a round form; they were supposed to be animated by means of magical incantations, with a portion of the Deity; they were consulted on occasions of great and pressing emergency, as a kind of divine oracles, and were suspended, either round the neck, or some other part of the body. Thus the setting up of a stone by this holy person, in grateful memory of the celestial vision, probably became the occasion of the idolatry in succeeding ages, to these shapeless masses of unhewn stone, of which so many astonishing remains are scattered up and down the Asiatic and the European world. MAURICE's Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 355.

Jacob calls the pillar which he had set up, God's house. It appears strange to us to hear a stone pillar called God's house, being accustomed to give names of this kind to such buildings only as are capable of containing their worshippers within them. But this is not the case in every part

marriage thou goest so zealously about shall be consummated. And thou shalt have children of good characters; whose multitude shall be 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 earth, so far as the sun beholds them. But do not thou fear any danger, nor be afraid of the many labours thou must undergo, for by my providence I will direct thee what thou art to do in the time present, and still more in the time to come."

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 upon the stones,* because on them the prediction of such great benefits was made. He also vowed a vow that he would

of the world, as we learn from Major SYMES's narrative of his Embassy to the kingdom of Ava. The temples of that people, vast as many of them are, are built without cavity of any sort, and he only mentions some of the most ancient of those at Pagahm as constructed otherwise. The following extract will sufficiently illustrate this matter:

"The object in Pegu that most attracts, and most merits notice, is the noble edifice of Shoemadoo, or the golden supreme. This is a pyramidical building, composed of brick and mortar, without excavation or aperture of any sort octagonal at the base, and spiral at the top. Each side of the base measures one hundred and sixtytwo feet. The extreme height of the edifice, from the level of the country, is three hundred and sixty-one feet, and above the interior terrace three hundred and thirtyone feet. Along the whole extent of the northern face of the upper terrace there is a wooden shed for the convenience of devotees, who come from a distant part of the country. There are several low benches near the foot of the temple, on which the person, who comes to pray, places his offering, commonly consisting of boiled rice, a plate of sweetmeats, or cocoa-nuts fried in oil; when it is given, the devotee cares not what becomes of it; the crows and wild dogs often devour it in the presence of the donor, who never attempts to disturb the animals. I saw several plates of victuals disposed of in this manner, and understood it was the case with all that was brought.

"The temple of Shoedagan, about two miles and a half north of Rangoon, is a very grand building, although not so high, by twenty-five or thirty feet, as that of Shoemadoo, at Pegu. The terrace on which it stands is raised on a rocky eminence, considerably higher than the circumjacent country, and is ascended by above a hundred stone steps. The name of this temple, which signifies Golden Dagon, naturally recalls to mind the passage in the scriptures, where the house of Dagon is mentioned, and the image of idolatry bows down before the Holy Ark."

Many of the most ancient temples at Pagahm are not solid at the bottom: a well arched dome supports a ponderous superstructure; and, within, an image of Gaudona sits enshrined." B.

offer sacrifice 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 honourable, and gave it the name of Bethel; which, if explained in the Greek tongue, is the House of God.

He then 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 round 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 an one as Laban? and whether he were still alive? 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 she was not yet come, " for by her means," said they, "thou mightest learn more exactly whatever thou desirest to know about that family." While they were speaking, the damsel came, and the other shepherds that came with her. Then they shewed her Jacob, and told her, that he was a stranger who came to inquire about her father's affairs. But she, being pleased, after the custom of children, with Jacob's coming, asked him who he was? and whence he came? and what it was he wanted, that he came thither? She also wished it might be in their power to supply his wants.

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 such as few of the women of that age could vie with. He then said, "There is a relation between thee and me, elder than either of our births, 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 grandfather 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

By this deprivation of the kingdom that was to be given Esau of God, as the first-born; it appears that Josephus thought a kingdom to be derived of God was due to him whom Isaac should bless as his first-born: which I take to be that kingdom which was expected under the

cement of mutual kindred which we bear 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 thee, and to renew that affinity which is proper between us." At the mention of Rebeka, the damsel 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 this," said she, "will make thee equal in his eyes to any advantageous circumstance whatsoever." Then she bid him follow her, while she conducted him to her father, not wishing to deprive Laban of such a pleasure, by staying any longer away from him.

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; to whom his unexpected arrival gave great pleasure. 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 why he left his aged mother and father, 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 twin sons, himself and Esau; and that his brother having 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 of God; and of the blessings for which their father prayed; and that this was the occasion of his coming hither, as his mother had commanded him. "For," said he, "we are all brethren one to another; but our mother esteems an alliance with your family more than she does one with the families of the country; so l Messiah; who, therefore, was to be born of his posterity whom Isaac should so bless. Jacob, therefore, by obtaining this blessing of the first-born, became the genuine heir of that kingdom, in opposition to Esau.

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