Page images
PDF
EPUB

[After his marriage to Rachel, Jacob remained with Laban for a number of years, at the end of which time he decided to return to his native land. When he had received from Laban the flocks and herds due him for his many years of labor he set out with his family for Canaan.

As Jacob feared the vengeance of Esau, he thought it advisable to send messengers to find out if his brother were still angry with him. The messengers returned with the news that Esau was approaching with four hundred men. This alarmed Jacob for he thought that Esau meant to attack him. However, he prepared a rich present in the hope of placating his brother. He then separated himself from his wives and the rest of the company in order to think out what would be the best course for him to pursue.]

XV

AN ANGEL WRESTLES WITH JACOB

(Genesis xxxii: 24–32)

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched1 the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. And he said, "Let me go, for the day breaketh." And he said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." And he said unto him, "What is thy name?" And he said, "Jacob." And he said, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed." And Jacob asked him, and said, "Tell me, I pray thee, thy name." And he said, "Where

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

fore is it that thou dost ask after my name?" And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, said he, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip.

XVI

THE RECONCILIATION BETWEEN JACOB AND ESAU

(Genesis xxxiii: 1–20)

And

And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. And he himself passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, "Who are these with thee?" And he said, "The children whom God hath graciously given thy servant." Then the handmaids came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. And Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. And he 1. "The face of God." Another spelling is Penuel. 2. Leah as well as Rachel was the wife of Jacob.

said, "What meanest thou by all this company which I met?" And he said, "To find favor in the sight of my lord." And Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; let that which thou hast be thine." And Jacob said, "Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found favor in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand; forasmuch as I have seen thy face, as one seeth the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. Take, I pray thee, my gift that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." And he urged him, and he took it. And he said, "Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee." And he said unto him, “My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young; and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come unto my lord unto Seir." And Esau said, "Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me." And he said, "What needeth it? let me find favor in the sight of my lord." So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth,1 and built him a house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and encamped before the city. And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel.2

1. "Booths."

2. "God, the God of Israel."

[While sojourning in Canaan Jacob's sons plundered the city of Shechem. Because of this Jacob feared that all the Canaanites would rise up against him.]

XVII

THE GIVING OF THE NEW NAME TO JACOB (Genesis xxxv: 1-15)

And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el,1 and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments: and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went." And they gave unto Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. And they journeyed: and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (the same is Beth-el), he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el;3 because there God was revealed unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. And Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried below

1. Bethel was the place where, years before, Jacob had made a vow to erect there a house of God. (See XIII.)

2. Idols.

3. "The God of the House of God."

Beth-el under the oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth.

:

And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And God said unto him, 66 'Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name:" and he called his name Israel. And God said unto him, “I am God Almighty be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; and the land which I gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land." And God went up from him in the place where he spake with him. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spake with him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon.1 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Beth-el.

[Jacob and his twelve sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph, and Benjamin, settled in Canaan. Joseph and Benjamin, the sons of Rachel and the youngest of the twelve, were the favorite children of their father.]

XVIII

THE SELLING OF JOSEPH

(Genesis xxxvii: 2-28)

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought the evil report of them unto their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his chil

1. See note on p. 53.

« PreviousContinue »