became apparent as they grew up to manhood, induced her to shew the preference which she did to her younger son Jacob, while Isaac rather loved the eldest, Esau. The former was a plain man, dwelling in tents; of quiet, domestic habits, which endeared him to his mother; while the latter was a cunning hunter, a man of the field, who rejoiced the heart of his father by his manly exertions in pursuit of his prey, and the skill which enabled him to bring it in abundance. One period, however, there was, during which, as it is probable, a famine raged in the landand the beasts of the field having become proportionably scarce, the hunting of Esau was attended with so little success, that he returned from it fainting with fatigue and hunger. He found his brother Jacob preparing a humble meal of lentile pottage, and bread—for which, however, in his state of weakness and desperation, he agreed at the request of Jacob to exchange his birthright; the act of a profane and irreligious person, as we must confess, when we consider what that birthright was. It was a right both to the sacred office of the patriarchal priesthood, and to the covenant made with Abraham, "that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed;" in other words, that the promised bruiser of the serpent's head, the restorer of the lost privileges of Adam, should be either himself or one of his direct descendants. This birthright he despised, selling it "for a morsel of meat ;"* his carnal appetite and his fear of death prevailed over his faith in the promises of God: "behold, I am at the point to die," he said, and what profit shall this birthright do to me?"† But he was not more nearly at the point to die than was his father Isaac, when Abraham had bound him on the altar; and he might have been sure, had he

*Heb. xii. 16.

+ Gen. xxv. 32.

clung firmly and reverentially to the possession of his birthright, that it would have been profitable to him in some manner which he had no cause to doubt, because he could not see it at the moment. "But the things which are not seen are eternal;" while those that are seen for the most part are temporary, and vain, and like the light dust in the balance held by a religious mind. Be it yours to look beyond the loss or advantage of a few short days or years, to the hazard and the hope of endless ages-yours to hold fast your christian birthright, to let nothing separate you from your interest in Jesus, as members of his mystical body, from your love and trust in your redeeming Lord. But beware, while you follow out the privileges of your condition by all lawful means, and seek all such advancement and exaltation as is consistent with the christian character, that you never give way to the temptation of doing evil that good may come," -that while you imitate Jacob in the eagerness with which he desired a good thing, you do not use the means which he adopted for obtaining it. Strive not to rise upon the downfall of a brother: take not advantage of any man's misfortunes to gain somewhat of him; remember that unkind and uncharitable conduct are no 'fruits of the spirit of grace, and walk always as nearly as you may to that blessed rule which Christ has given you," to do unto others as you would that they should do unto you." The famine in the land, which on the part of Esau was the probable cause for his shameful surrender of his birthright, became also an occasion of stumbling, though in a less degree, to his father Isaac. That patriarch had been forced by it to go down to Gerar, the city of Abimelech the Philistine; and while there, had but too exactly imitated

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the only blamable conduct which we find in the history of Abraham, by giving the title of sister to his wife-a falsehood which was soon detected and rebuked as it deserved. God did not, however, on this account withdraw his favour from him, but blessed him with large increase of his possessions, to a degree that provoked the envy of the Philistines, and caused several disputes between them and his herdmen, during which he shewed an exemplary forbearance, and which were happily appeased at last by a solemn covenant between him and their king. The Lord also appeared unto him at Beersheba, and renewed to him the promises which he had made to Abraham his father. And this assurance of God's protection appears to have been highly needful to sustain the patriarch under those evils incidental to our mortal condition, which were now about to become his lot. The first of these was the distress caused by the proceedings of Esau; who, regardless of his parent's feelings, and the strongly expressed commands of his grandfather Abraham in a similar instance, had allied himself by marriage to two women of that country, whose dissolute manners and idolatrous customs were a constant grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah." The next was the increasing infirmities of age (for he had now reached his hundred and thirty-sixth year, at which age his uncle Ishmael died), accompanied by loss of sight. These things being a warning to Isaac, that he might not have much longer to live, he prepared himself to bestow solemnly upon his elder son and fancied heir, his favourite Esau, the blessing which belonged to the birthright. For it does not appear that Jacob, who had possessed himself of it in the manner before related, had ever dared to acquaint his father with

*

* Gen. xxvi. 35.

the discreditable transaction: but now, hearing from his mother the directions given by Isaac to Esau, to go out into the field and take him savoury venison, such as he loved, that his soul might bless him before his death, he felt that it was necessary to obtain the one as well as the other; and therefore, though not without some fear of the consequences, he consented to the fraudulent device of Rebekah, and disguised himself in such a manner, as, while his brother was absent, might enable him to procure the blessing from the unsuspecting Isaac. The well-laid stratagem. succeeded, not however without the assistance of a profane and direct falsehood uttered by his lips. "I am Esau thy first-born: I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me." * The father's blessing was obtained by these means, for God had willed that in this line, and not in that of Esau, his own Anointed should be born but personally, as to Jacob himself, considered apart from his posterity, it had little or no effect; his remorse, even at the moment, must have been painful indeed, though not strong enough to make him renounce his treacherous purpose; and his after life was a mingled scene of trials, and sufferings, and repentance, far different from that undisturbed possession of his father's home, which he probably pictured to himself as the result of obtaining his blessing before he died. Esau's indignation at finding himself again supplanted, now burst forth without restraint; he endeavoured at first with tears † to find some place of repentance or retractation in his father Isaac, but soon perceiving that this might not

*Gen. xxvii. 19, 20.

+ Heb. xii. 17.

be, he turned his ungovernable fury against his brother, and hated him, and threatened his death.

Again did Rebekah interpose, and at this time with more reason, in behalf of her favourite son: she would not wound the feelings of her husband by communicating to him the bloody resolution of Esau, but under the pretext of obtaining for Jacob a more suitable marriage than those which his elder brother had contracted, she procured him to be sent away to the house of Laban, his uncle, where he might remain till a better spirit should appear in Esau, and render it safe for him to return. Such are the fruits of deception and fraud; such confusion and evil await every family, where one portion of it is employed in overreaching another, to further its own ends may we be warned by the sad scene which it presents to us to shun it for ourselves: may we feel how "good and blessed a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity;" ;"* and pray to God, who maketh men to be of one mind in a house,† that he will bestow upon us such a measure of christian love and concord, that we may seek each other's welfare as we seek our own, and peace may be in our dwellings, and among us.

CHAP. XI.

JACOB IN PADAN-ARAM.

WHEN Jacob, instead of remaining, as he had

flattered himself, in his father's house, the undoubted inheritor of his possessions, was forced

* Psalm cxxxiii. 1.

+ Psalm lxviii, 6. O. V.