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CHAP. XVIII.

OF THE NATIVITY AND EDUCATION OF ESAU AND JACOB.

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Sath of Abraham, and when she was far SAAC's wife proved with child, || after the advanced in her pregnancy, Isaac was very anxious, and inquired of God; who answer

and is brought up as his only heir. He could | Hebron with his wife Sarah, by their sons indeed have had the most happy of all the Isaac and Ishmael. women in that country for him; but he would not have his son marry any of them, out of regard to his own relations. I would not, for therefore, have you despise his affection; it was by the good pleasure of God that other accidents fell out in my journey, and that thereby I met with your daughter and your house; for when I was come near to the city, I saw a great many maidens coming to a well, and I prayed that I might meet with this dam-ed, that Rebekah should bear twins, and that sel, which has come to pass accordingly. Do you therefore confirm that marriage, whose espousals have been already made by a divine appearance, and shew the respect you have for Abraham, who has 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 of Keturah were gone to their own remote habitations.

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+ When Rebekah was sent away, it appears that her nurse accompanied her. Nurses were formerly held in very high esteem, and considered as being entitled to Constant and lasting regard. "The nurse in an Eastern family is always an important personage. Modern travellers inform us, that in Syria she is considered as a sort of second parent, whether she has been foster-mother, or otherwise. She always accompanies the bride to her husband's house, and ever remains there an honored character. Thus it was in ancient Greece." Siege of Acre, b. ii. p. 35. Note.

Rebekah, upon leaving her family, received their blessing. Nuptial benedictions were used both by the Jews, Greeks, and Romans. That of the Jews was in this form: "Blessed be thou, O Lord, who hast created man and woman, and ordained marriage," &c. This was repeated every day during the wedding week, pro

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 foretold, gave birth to 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 who was called Esau: a name agreeable to his roughness, for the Hebrews call such an hairy roughness Esau ** for Seir, but Jacob the younger was best beloved by his mother.

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 kindly, because Abraham had formerly lived with him, and had been his friend; but when he saw that God was with Isaac, and took such great care with him, he became envious, and drove him away. Perceiving this change in Abimelech's temper, Isaac retired to a place called the Valley, not far from Gerar: and as he was digging a

vided there were new guests. The Grecian form of be-
nediction was, apadn ruxn. The Latin was, Quod faustum
felixque sit. The Jews constantly made use of the same
form, but the Greeks and Romans frequently varied theirs;
a benediction, however, in some form, was always used.
See Selden de Jure, N. et G. 1. 5. c. 19. B.
+ An. 1862.

§ Gen. xxv. 7.

The birth of Jacob and Esau is here said to be after Abraham's death; it should have been after Sarah's death. The chronology here certainly shews the other to be a mistake. The order of the narration in Genesis, not always exactly according to the order of time, seems to have led Josephus into it, as Dr. Bernard observes here. Gen. xxv. 23.

** For Seir, in Josephus, the coherence requires that we read Esau or Seir; which signifies the same thing.

well, the shepherds fell upon him, and began whom the father principally loved, was come to fight, in order to hinder the work; and to the age of forty years, he married Adah,‡ because he did not desire to contend, the shep-the daughter of Helon; and Aholibamah, the herds seemed to get the better of him. So daughter of Esebeon, which Helon and Esehe still retired, and dug another well; and beon were great lords among the Canaanites: when certain other shepherds, in the service thereby taking upon himself the authority, of Abimelech, began to offer him violence, he and pretending to have dominion over his left that also, and still retired: thus pur-own marriages, without so much as asking chasing security to himself by a rational and the advice of his father. For had Isaac been prudent conduct. At length the king gave the arbitrator, he would not have given him him permission to dig a well, which he named leave to marry thus, for he was not pleased Rehoboth; denoting a large space. But of with contracting any alliance with the people the former wells, one was called Escon, which of that country; but not wishing to act harshly denotes strife; the other Sitenna, which name by his son, in commanding him to put away signifies enmity. these wives, he resolved to be silent.

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But when he was old, and could not see at all, he called Esau to him, and told him, that besides his blindness, and the disorder in his eyes, his very old age hindered him from his worship of God, by sacrifice: he

Isaac's affairs were now in a flourishing condition; and his power increased 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 shewed a secret enmitybade him, therefore, to go out a hunting, and also, the king was afraid that his former when he had caught as much venison as he friendship would not secure him, if Isaac could, to prepare him a supper; § that after should endeavor to revenge the injuries he this he might make supplication to God to be had formerly received: he therefore renewed to him a supporter, and an assister, during his friendship with him, in the presence of the old time of his life: saying, that it was Philoc, one of his generals; and when he uncertain when he should die, and that he was had obtained every thing he desired, by rea-desirous, by his prayers for him, to procure, son of Isaac's good nature, who preferred the beforehand, God to be merciful to him. earlier friendship Abimelech had shewn to himself and his father to his later wrath against him, he returned home.†

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Now when Esau, one of the sons of Isaac,

Accordingly Esau went out a hunting. But Rebekah || thinking it proper to have the supplication made for obtaining the favor of God to Jacob, and that without the consent of

came upon him, and enabled him to foretel Esau's future behaviour and fortune also.

* While Josephus's copies, both Greek and Latin, mention this Philoc, as one of Abimelech's generals that accompanied him when he renewed the old league with Isaac, which had been made long before with Abraham, our new edition calls him Phicol, by the same name which the general at the league made with Abraham, (which old league is not so distinctly mentioned by Josephus,) but this conjectural reading is too uncertain to be de-Jacob and Esau in future ages, was for certain providential, pended on.

+ Gen. xxvi. 31.

An. 1817.

§ This supper of savory meat, as we call it, Gen. xxvii. 4. to be caught by hunting, was evidently intended for a festival on 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 solemu blessing of his son there present, and his foretelling his future behaviour and fortune. Whence it must be, that when Isaac had blessed Jacob, and was afterwards made sensible of his mistake, he did not attempt to alter it; 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

Whether Jacob or his mother Rebekah 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 befall to the posterity of

and according to what Rebekah 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; and that the elder, Esau, should serve the younger, Jacob. Whether Isaac knew or remembered this oracle, delivered in our copies only to Rebekah; or whether, if he knew and remembered it, be did not endeavor to alter the divine determination, out of his fondness for his elder son Esau, to the damage of his younger son Jacob; as Josephus supposes, II. 7. I certainly cannot say. If so, this might tempt Rebekah to contrive, and Jacob to practise, this imposition upon him. However, Josephus says here, that it was Isaac, and not Rebekah, who inquired of God at first, and re

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Esau

ceived his mistake, he was silent. 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."

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 Now the mother delivered Jacob, when he perceiving, by the peculiarity of his voice, was afraid that his brother would inflict some who he was, called his son to him: who gave punishment upon him because of the mistake him his hand, which was covered with the about the prayers of Isaac: for she persuaded goat's skin. When Isaac felt that, he said, her husband to take a wife for Jacob out of Thy voice is like the voice of Jacob; yet Mesopotamia,* of her own kindred, Esau because of the thickness of thy hair, thou having already married Basemmatb, the seemest to be Esau." So suspecting no de- daughter of Ishmael, without his father's conceit, he ate the supper, and offered up his sent: for Isaac, not liking the Canaanites, prayers and intercessions to God, and said, disapproved of Esau's former marriages, which "O Lord of all ages, and Creator of all sub-made him take Basemmath to wife, in order stance, it was thou that didst propose to my to please him; and, indeed he had a great affather great plenty of good things, and hast fection for her. 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 honorable and beloved among his friends."

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CHAP. XIX.

OF JACOB'S FLIGHT INTO MESOPOTAMIA.

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OW 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; aud because he hated the people of that country, he would not lodge with any of them, but took up his lodgings in the open air, and laid his head on a heap of stones that he had gathered together. Having fallen asleep, he dreamed that he saw a ladder which reached from the earth unto heaven, 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 fre quently leaves them to the reader's own judgment and censure; to their imitation of the good and avoidance of the bad.

* Gen. xxvii. 46.
+ Gen. xxviii. 11.

and persons descending down the ladder that || characters; whose multitude shall be innu seemed more excellent than human; and at merable. And they shall leave what they last God himself stood above it, and calling have to a still more numerous posterity; to him by his name, said, "O Jacob, it is not whom and to whose posterity I give the dofit for thee, who art the son of a good father, minion of all the land, and their posterity shall and grandson to one who had obtained a fill the earth, so far as the sun beholds them. great reputation for his eminent virtue, to be But do not thou fear any danger, nor be afraid dejected at thy present circumstances, but to of the many labors thou must undergo, for by hope for better times. For thou shalt have my providence I will direct thee what thou art great abundance of all good things, by my to do in the time present, and still more in the assistance. For I brought Abraham hither, time to come." 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 marriage thou goest so zealously about shall be consummated. And thou shalt have children of good

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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 offer sacrifice upon them, if he lived, and returned safe: and if he came again in such a condition, he

this kind to such buildings only as are capable of containing their worshippers within them. But this is not the case in every part 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 construct ed otherwise. The following extract will sufficiently illustrate this matter:

One of the idols in the Pagoda of Jaggernaut is described by Captain Hamilton as a large black stone, of a pyramidal 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 succeed- "The temple of Shoedagan, about two miles and a half ing ages, to these shapeless masses of unhewn stone, of north of Rangoon, is a very grand building, although which so many astonishing remains are scattered up and not so high, by twenty-five or thirty feet, as that of down the Asiatic and the European world. Maurice's In-Shoemadoo, at Pegu. The terrace on which it stands is dian 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

"The object in Pegu that most attracts, and most merits notice, is the noble edifice of Shoemadoo, or the Golden Supreme. This is a pyramidal building, com posed 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 sixty-two 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 thirty-one 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.

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raised on a rocky eminence, considerably higher than the circumnjacent country, and is ascended by above a hundred stone steps. The name of this temple, which signifies Golden-Dagon, naturally recals to mind the pas

would

would give the tithe of what he had gotten to || of Sarah, who was the daughter of Haran. God. He also judged the place to be honorable, and gave it the name of Bethel; which, if explained in the Greek tongue, is the House of God.

But there is a nearer and later 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 He then proceeded on his journey to Meso- and mother. I, therefore, and thou, are potamia, and at length came to Haran, and, cousin germans, and I am now come to salute meeting with shepherds in the suburbs, with thee, and to renew that affinity which is proboys grown up and maidens sitting round a per between us.” At the mention of Rebeka, certain well, he stayed with them, as wanting the damsel wept, and that out of the kindness water to drink; and beginning to discourse she had for her father, and embraced Jacob: with them, he asked them whether they knew she having learned an account of Rebeka such an one as Laban? and whether he were from her father, and knew that her parents still alive? They all said they knew him, for || loved to hear her named; and when she had he was not so inconsiderable a person as to saluted him, she said, that he brought the be unknown to any of them; and that his most desirable and greatest pleasure to her fadaughter fed her father's flock together with ther, with all their family, who was always them; and that, indeed, they wondered she mentioning his mother, and always thinking was not yet come, for by her means, said of her, and her alone; and this," said she, they, thou mightest learn more exactly what"will make thee equal in his eyes to any ever thou desiredst to know about that fa- advantageous circumstance whatsoever." Then mily. While they were speaking, the damsel she bid him follow her, while she conducted came, and the other shepherds that came him to her father, not wishing to deprive Lawith her. Then they shewed her Jacob, and ban of such a pleasure, by staying any longer told her, that he was a stranger who came to away from him. 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

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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 baving 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

sage in the Scriptures, where the house of Dagon is men- given Esau of God, as the first-born; it appears that Josetioned, and the image of idolatry bows down before thephus thought a kingdom to be derived of God was due to Holy Ark." him whom Isaac should bless as his first-born: which I take to be that kingdom which was expected under the 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.

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.

By this deprivation of the kingdom that was to be

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