time two sons were born to them, twins; the elder, a strong, red, and hairy child, was named Esau; the younger was called Jacob. As they grew up, a great difference appeared in their tempers and characters: Esau loved hunting and husbandry, and was hot and careless in his feelings; Jacob was calm, calculating, and peaceful, living more at home in the quietness of his father's tents. The father loved Esau the better of the two, and Esau often brought him venison from his hunting; and Rebecca loved Jacob.

On a certain day, by what seemed a most trifling domestic occurrence, the purposes of God were accomplished in the two brothers in the most mysterious way. By the usual order of things, the blessing of being the father of the posterity promised to their grandfather Abraham would have belonged to Esau, as the eldest brother. But he, in his reckless, eager fondness for present pleasure, little heeded the glorious distinction to which he was born, and cared nothing for his birthright; while Jacob, though far from being a faultless man, yet was more serious than his brother, and thought more of the future than of the present hour. On this day he was at home, and had prepared some pottage from lentils, when Esau came in, faint and exhausted from the fields, and begged Jacob to give him the pottage to eat. Sell me thy birthright for it, said Jacob in reply. And Esau, wearied and careless, and fancying that if he could not get the pottage instantly he should die, and so his birthright would be profitless, in his folly and thoughtlessness agreed to the bargain, and eating the pottage, went his way, little recking that he was now become the younger son instead of the elder, and had lost every blessing to which his birthright gave him a claim.

Notwithstanding this bargain, there were yet many earthly advantages which still would have been Esau's, through that solemn blessing with which he expected his father Isaac to bless him before he died. Whether Isaac knew of what had taken place between his sons or not, does not appear from the Bible narrative; but

it is certain that he had still a certain right of primogeniture to bestow upon one of his sons, and this it was his intention to confer upon Esau, and not upon Jacob. In one of those mysterious events, in which man's folly and sin work out the hidden purposes of God, and He, who from eternity has foreseen all the actions of all mankind, employs our frailties and even our iniquities as ministers to His will, the whole amount of blessings which would have been Esau's, if he had not sold his birthright to his younger brother, were transferred to Jacob, though at the same time with one of those bitter penalties which ever accompany the gains of those who prefer to do God's will not in God's ways, but in their

own.

Isaac growing old, felt that the time was come for him to bestow that solemn blessing which he had yet to give to his first-born son. Already his eyes were so dim that he could not see, and every thing admonished him that his time of departure was at hand. He therefore called Esau, and bade him go into the field, and kill him some game, and cook it and bring it to him, after which he would bless him in the sight of the Lord, before he died. But as soon as Esau was gone from his father, Rebecca, who had heard the conversation, resolved that Jacob should take his brother's place, Isaac's blindness making it just possible to deceive him into mistaking Jacob for Esau. She instantly prepared a dish of goat's flesh, cooked in the way that Isaac liked, and dressing Jacob in Esau's clothes, sent him in to his father to appear before him as if he was Esau himself returned from hunting. Jacob, indeed, trembled at the thought of being discovered, and foresaw that if his father discovered the deception, he would receive a curse and not a blessing. But Rebecca bade him not be afraid, and said, “Upon me be this curse, my son. also covered his smooth hands and his neck with the hairy goat-skins, that when his father touched him, he might suppose that it was really Esau, who was an extraordinarily hairy man.

"She

To his father Jacob then repaired, and said: "My

father. And Isaac said: Who art thou, my son? And Jacob said: I am Esau thy first-born: I have done as thou didst command me: arise, sit, and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said to his son: How couldst thou find it so quickly, my son? He answered: It was the will of God that what I sought came quickly in my way. And Isaac said: Come hither, that I may feel thee, my son, and may prove whether thou be my son Esau or no.

I am.

He came near to his father, and when he had felt him, Isaac said: The voice indeed is the voice of Jacob; but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he knew him not, because his hairy hands made him like to the elder. Then blessing him, he said: Art thou my son Esau? He answered: Then he said: Bring me the meats of thy hunting, my son, that my soul may bless thee. And when they were brought, and he had eaten, he offered him wine also, which after he had drunk, he said to him: Come near me, and give me a kiss, my son. He came near, and kissed him. And immediately as he smelled the fragrant smell of his garments, blessing him, he said: Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed. God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, abundance of corn and wine. And let peoples serve thee, and tribes worship thee: be thou lord of thy brethren, and let thy mother's children bow down before thee. Cursed be he that curseth thee: and let him that blesseth thee be filled with blessings. Isaac had scarce ended his words, when, Jacob being now gone out abroad, Esau came, and brought in to his father meats made of what he had taken in hunting, saying: Arise, my father, and eat of thy son's venison; that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said to him: Why! who art thou? He answered: I am thy first-born son Esau. Isaac was struck with fear, and astonished exceedingly; and wondering beyond what can be believed, said: Who is he then that even now brought me venison that he had taken, and I ate of all before thou camest? and I have blessed him, and he shall be blessed. And when

Esau heard these awful words, he cried with a cry of terror and anguish, and said: Bless me also, my father." But the words of the father were gone forth. He could not revoke them. He felt the hand of God in what had taken place; he recognised in Jacob not only the father of the promised race, but the master and lord of his kindred; and he could only promise to Esau that he should be rich and powerful, and that in after-ages his posterity should shake off the yoke of the posterity of Jacob.

The hatred of Esau against Jacob now became insupportable to Rebecca. He made little secret of his intention of murdering Jacob as soon as his father should be dead; and Rebecca, trembling for her beloved child, persuaded Isaac to send him away to her own relations in Mesopotamia, there to seek a wife, and to dwell till Esau's fury was passed away.

CHAP. XIII. Jacob's Marriages, and his return home.

JACOB, thus an exile from his father's house, hastened to the country where his uncle Laban dwelt. His mother, who had prompted him to deceive his father, was driven herself to plan a scheme for sending him away from her sight, and passed her old age deprived of the society of her beloved son. On reaching Haran, Jacob received a miraculous proof that he was under the special protection of Almighty God. Falling asleep, he beheld a ladder reaching from the earth to the heavens, and on it were bands of angels ascending and descending; a token to him, that though destitute of human friends, he was surrounded by the mercies of God, and that His angels ever ministered to him. At the same time the voice of the Almighty was heard, confirming to Jacob all the privileges of the birthright which Esau had thrown away, and promising to him that his seed should possess that very land on which he now slept a homeless wanderer, and an exile from his father's house. Awaking from his sleep, he cried, How terrible is this

place! This is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven! And he set up the stone which he had been using for a pillow, as a memorial of the vision, pouring oil upon it to consecrate it to the honour of the merciful God who was his guardian, and vowing a vow of obedience to the Lord.

Arriving at the house of his uncle Laban, he met his youngest daughter Rachel, tending her father's flock, and immediately formed a deep affection for her. Returning with her to her home, he entered into an agreement with Laban, of the same kind which to this day prevails in the very country where this took place; he undertook to serve Laban as his farm-servant, living in his house, but receiving no wages, on condition that at the end of seven years he should receive Rachel as his wife. For seven long years he therefore laboured for Laban in content: they seemed to him but a few days, because of the greatness of his love. But when the time appointed was passed, Laban made a great feast, and all the ceremonies of the marriage were gone through, when behold! Jacob found that Laban had deceived him, and that he had married Rachel's elder sister, Lia, who was as plain in countenance as Rachel was beautiful. To Jacob's complaints, Laban replied that, if he would serve another seven years, like the first, he should marry Rachel also, as soon as the seven days of the marriage ceremonies were over; and Jacob, rather than lose Rachel altogether, consented.

But Lia, thus married to a husband against his will, experienced the fate which her father might have expected for her, and was neglected by Jacob, whose whole heart was with Rachel. God, however, had compassion upon Lia, and gave her six sons, while Rachel remained childless. At length, He also heard Rachel's prayers, and she bore a son, and called his name Joseph. Soon after Joseph's birth, Jacob determined to return to his own country, his fourteen years of service to Laban being ended, and he was weary of his situation as a servant in the house of his kinsman. For a certain payment, however, he remained six years more, at the end