lightly esteemed his birthright; and was not influenced by that faith which "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen;" by which his fathers had believed Jehovah's promise, "Unto thy seed will I give this land." And the honour, privilege, and blessing that appertained to the heirship to which Isaac had succeeded, and which Jacob obtained from his brother, was not a merely temporal pre-eminence, it was an inheritance of a spiritual character, comprehended in the gracious covenant-"In thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Esau, however, was evidently an object of Divine care, as may be perceived by the command of the Lord, Deut. ii. 4-6: he became externally great and prosperous, his sons were established in a fruitful country, while Jacob's posterity were slaves in Egypt; and they continued the possessors of it, until after the seed of Israel were carried captive by hostile nations.

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CHAP. XX.-Rebecca, Isaac's wife, seeing that her son Jacob had rendered himself obnoxious to the vengeance of his brother Esau, formed a plan for his escaping beyond the reach of personal injury; and she induced her husband to send away Jacob to seek a wife and a home in Mesopotamia. And Jacob went to Padan-aram unto his uncle Laban, his mother's brother. And as "Jacob went out from Beersheba toward Haran"-solitary, and doubtless sorrowful-"he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down

in that place to sleep, and he dreamed, and behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it: and behold the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed-and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Thus, again, was confirmed the gracious covenant of that unspeakable blessing, which, through the Redeemer-the promised seed-offers salvation to "all the families of the earth." To Jacob, it appears probable, that this divine declaration was involved in mystery: but the sublimity and solemnity of the scene, which in vision he was permitted to behold, impressed his mind with an awful certainty that the Almighty Jehovah had manifested himself unto him: and when he awaked, "he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." And Jacob "took the stone which he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on it, and called the name of that place Bethel" (i. e., Beth, the house, or house of, and El, God;) the place before had been called Luz. "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's

house." And Jacob went forward to the well of Haran, and there, by the direction of the God of Bethel, he met with Rachel, who afterwards became his wife; and he sojourned with her father Laban twenty years, during which time the Lord blessed him and increased him, until he had a numerous progeny, and large possessions in flocks and herds. Then Jacob returned to his own land; and as he "went on his way, the angels of God met him; and when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim" (i. e., two armies.)

CHAP. XXI.-"And Jacob sent messengers before him to the land of Seir (the Horite) in the country of Edom," to conciliate his brother Esau, who sojourned there. Esau then came to meet him with four hundred men; at which "Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed." And Jacob prayed unto the Lord for deliverance from Esau; and he said, "Oh, God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which said'st unto me, Return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee, I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant." This confession-from a spirit contrite and humble— was graciously regarded. And a present of several large droves of cattle which Jacob sent was kindly received by his brother. And Jacob took his wives and children, and his flocks and herds, and passed with them over the ford Jabbok, and he sent them forward before him and Jacob was left alone; and whilst

enduring the utmost anxiety, from the impending interview with Esau whom he had so highly offended, his faith and hope were confirmed by a very remarkable manifestation of the Divine presence.

"And there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the day"-and Jacob said, "I will not let thee go until thou bless me:" And the mysterious stranger replied, "Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel; for as a Prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." And Jacob called the name of that place Peniel; (i. e., the face of God;) for, said he, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." And after Jacob had been kindly received by Esau, he came to Shechem, and pitched his tent before the city, in a field which he bought of the sons of Hamor; and there he erected an altar unto the Lord, and called it El-Elohe-Israel; (i. e., God—the God of Israel.) And God said unto Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of thy brother Esau." Jacob then took all his household, and proceeded on the way as the Lord had commanded him; "and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them," and they did not hinder their journeying. And Jacob came to Luz, in the land of Canaan—the place where God had appeared unto him when he went to Padanaram, and Jacob built there an altar unto the Lord, and called the place El-Bethel, and there Jehovah renewed the promised blessing to Jacob, and to his seed. And after a time the patriarch removed his

tent to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem, where Rachel his wife died and was buried. And Isaac soon afterwards died, and was buried by his sons Esau and Jacob in the cave of "Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan," where Abraham and Sarah, with Rebecca, had been entombed.

CHAP. XXII.-After a time of brotherly intercourse, Esau and Jacob again separated from each other; "for their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers was not able to bear them, because of their cattle." And Esau took his wives, and his children, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his substance, and finally settled in mount Seir. The territory surrounding this district of Arabia was, as we read in Genesis xxxvi. inhabited by a tribe called "The sons of Seir the Horite:" they had been established there long before the immigration of Esau: for we read in the early history of the Patriarch Abram of "the Horites in their Mount Seir." The country was called Edom, but the mountain and the territory surrounding it was denominated Seir, after the father of the race. His grandson Hori appears to have become the leader or chief among the tribe. We are told in Genesis, chap. xxxvi., that "the sons of Seir, the Horite, who inhabited the land," were, together with the sons of Esau, styled "Dukes of Edom." In Deut. ii. 12, we read that "The Horims dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from