tents, and rested for a while, building for himself a house and erecting booths for his cattle. The place was subsequently named Succoth, from these booths. We do not know how long the wanderers stayed in the beautiful valley of the Jordan; but they arrived at last safely near the city of Shechem, where Abraham had dwelt and where he had built the first altar in the Holy Land. Jacob, the wanderer and the exile, seemed now to have found a resting-place; the Bedouin shepherd became the civilised and agricultural settler.' Unwilling to mix with an idolatrous people, he did not enter the city, but he fixed his tents outside the gates, and bought the piece of the field of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred shekels. This spot was hallowed by an altar raised to the Lord and called by Jacob El-elohe-Jisrael (The Omnipotent, God of Israel).

22. JACOB IN SHECHEM, BETH-EL, AND HEBRON.

[GENES. XXXIV. XXXV.]

Jacob sojourned at Shechem about six or eight years, when a sin occasioned by his daughter Dinah, and accompanied by violent and wrathful actions on the part of her brothers Simeon and Levi, put an end to the peace and happiness which the family had enjoyed in that abode. The voice of the Lord commanded Jacob to leave his newly-bought field, and to depart again until he should come to Beth-el. There, where he had seen the angels of God descending from heaven, he was to stay and to build an altar to the Lord. But he felt that he ought not to approach the holy spot where he had made his solemn vow, before all his followers had given up the idolatrous images and emblems which still tainted their worship. Therefore, he assembled his household and said, Remove the strange gods that are among you, and clean yourselves,

and change your garments.' With prompt alacrity his command was obeyed; and he buried all the objects of superstition under an oak near Shechem: among them were the earrings worn by men and women not merely as ornaments, but as amulets or charms against evil, and generally covered with allegorical figures or mysterious words; they belonged indeed to the 'enchantments' strictly forbidden in a later age.

Then the tents were slung once more upon the poles, the herdsmen drove their herds and flocks before them, and the wealthy patriarch with his wives and children departed from the vale of Shechem. They travelled in safety through the land, for they were under the Divine protection, and the nations durst not harm them. Jacob halted at Beth-el, where he had once slept as a poor and homeless wanderer. Now he had returned a rich emir, the father of many children, blessed indeed by God.

He built another altar, calling the place El-beth-El or God of the house of God, because there the Lord and His angels had been revealed to him before. At Beth-el, Deborah had died, the nurse of Rebekah, who had accompanied her mistress from Mesopotamia. She had been buried under the spreading branches of an oak, which was called the Oak of Weeping in commemoration of the event. Probably Jacob's caravan passed by the oak on their journey southward, and doubtless some herdsmen or other wanderers may have told them of the faithful and well-beloved servant resting beneath its shade.

After the consecration of the altar at Beth-el, the Lord appeared again to Jacob, and said to him, I am God Almighty be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a multitude of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come forth of thy loins; and the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee I shall give it, and to thy seed after thee I shall give the land.'

On the spot where the Lord had appeared to him Jacob erected a pillar of stone, and he offered a libation upon it, anointed it with oil, and thus hallowed it for ever.

He departed from Beth-el, and journeyed on southward, hoping soon to arrive at Hebron, the abode of his youth. But Rachel was not to see that old home, consecrated by the faith of Abraham and the piety of Isaac. Bethlehem, where the caravan halted, standing high on the narrow ridge of long grey hills, was the birthplace of Benjamin and the grave of Rachel. The dying mother called the new-born child Benoni (son of my grief); but Jacob, bent down indeed by the loss of his beloved wife, yet glorying in his twelfth son, gave him the name Benjamin (son of happiness). Rachel was buried on the heights of Bethlehem, where the purple vine grows in most luxuriant beauty. The mourning Jacob raised a pillar over her sepulchre. The fond love with which he had ever cherished her was perpetuated in his affection for the two sons she had left him; they were to him the dearest of his children.

And now at last he arrived at Hebron, and stood once again in the presence of the aged Isaac. The Bible gives us no detail of this meeting, and Rebekah is not mentioned again. We are only told that Isaac died when he was a hundred and eighty years old, and that he was buried by his two sons Esau and Jacob.

23. THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH.

[GENES. XXXVII. XXXIX.—XLV.]

In the domestic history of Jacob, which the sacred narrative relates with touching simplicity, the life of Joseph, the patriarch's eleventh son, occupies the most prominent place.

When Joseph was a youth seventeen years old, he was

a shepherd and tended his father's flocks together with his brothers, especially the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. He was the darling of Jacob's heart, who loved him better than all his other children, and with a weakness almost surprising in one so remarkable for prudence, he openly showed his preference. He showed it, among other things, by giving to his favourite son a long and costly robe. In eastern countries, the brilliant colours and ample folds of the garment are a great distinction, and denote that their possessor is conspicuous either by rank, wealth, or talent. This costly, many-coloured robe became an eyesore to his brothers; they looked upon him with jealousy and envy; and feeling wronged by their father, they hated their innocent brother. But that hatred became fierce indeed, when Joseph related them his dreams. For in the East, dreams were, as they are still, regarded as the mysterious voice announcing the future, expressive either of warning or of hope; and their meaning was most anxiously searched. Dreams play a great part in the sacred history; in the story of Joseph's life, they come invariably as the turning point of his fortunes, whether for evil or for good. His first dream he related thus to his brothers: Behold we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold my sheaf rose, and indeed stood upright; and behold your sheaves stood round about, and prostrated themselves before my sheaf.' Joseph spoke in the innocence of his heart, though probably thinking that the dream might in time be accomplished. His brothers, full of gnawing envy and hatred, exclaimed, Wilt thou indeed reign over us? wilt thou indeed have dominion over us?' Again Joseph dreamt, and again he related his dream to his brothers. This time it was still more ambitious in its bearing: Behold the sun and the moon and eleven stars prostrated themselves before me.' This dream Joseph repeated to his father as well as to his brothers. Jacob heard it with something like indignation mixed with

6

sorrow: What is this dream which thou hast dreamt?' exclaimed the patriarch; shall I and thy mother and thy brothers indeed come to prostrate ourselves before thee to the ground?' Yet the words sank deep into his mind; he, the father, remembered them, but the brothers envied Joseph more and more.

6

The elder sons of Jacob drove their flocks northward from Hebron until they came to Shechem. They had probably spent some time in the beautiful valley, when Jacob, anxious to hear of them and their flocks, said to Joseph: Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brothers and well with their flocks, and bring me word again.' So Joseph went forth obediently, unconscious or unmindful of the hatred of his brothers. Whilst wandering about in the execution of his errand, he was met by a stranger, who directed him to Dothan, situated on the great caravan track from Gilead to Egypt, in the narrow mountain paths that lead from Judea to the middle and northern parts of Palestine, and about twelve miles north of Samaria. It was probably less frequented than the vale of Shechem, but it was from time to time enlivened by the caravans passing southward to Egypt, or northward to the districts of Lebanon and of Syria. The brothers saw Joseph approaching from afar, and resolved that in this lonely mountain path he should end his life. Behold,' said one to another, 'the dreamer comes: come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, Some evil beast has devoured him; and we shall see what becomes of his dreams.' Reuben, upon whom, as the eldest brother, the responsibility chiefly fell, and who was, moreover, animated by better and gentler feelings, recoiled from the sin which his brothers were about to commit, and he determined to save the unfortunate youth. Knowing well how unscrupulous his brothers were, he felt that it was useless to

G