facts, to be known and read of all men. Our rising generation must not thus learn the lessons which the Bible was given to teach. We love Jacob with all his faults; we love him more as he grows older. But it is better that Jacob's character should suffer, than that any of these little ones should perish, through any unwise attempts to prove that his wrong was right.

It is one distinguishing characteristic of Scripture history, that it narrates all acts and events, good and bad, with equal fulness and truth. It never excuses a crime, it never palliates a fault, and it never glosses over a failing. It exhibits the noblest and best of men with all their weaknesses and sins; to teach us that human perfection is but a dream of worldly philosophy, and that as from Christ alone we can obtain pardon of sin, so to Christ alone we must look for a perfect pattern of virtue. When the Spirit of God, speaking in Scripture, does not palliate or excuse the faults and crimes of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, we should not attempt to do so. We weaken the cause of divine truth by such attempts; and we manifest at the same time an entire misunderstanding of the object of Scripture history. The biographic sketches of the Bible were intended as life-lessons for us, to show that lies and deception, immorality and crime, entail sorrow and suffering on earth, while they peril the immortal soul; and above all, to show the absolute necessity, in the case of every man, of divine teaching, guidance, and sanctifying and saving grace.

THE increase of Jacob's substance was in sheep and goats; yet we are told that at the end of the six years-that is, of twenty years in all—he had 'much cattle, bondmen and bondwomen, camels and asses.' How were these obtained? Some have found a difficulty in this, which we are unable to perceive. Obviously, he sold part of his increase in sheep and goats, and bought other property with the proceeds. He has now enough.

He has provided for his household, and the wish to return home revives, and is strengthened by circumstances.

The substance of the thirty-first chapter of Genesis is composed of a statement of—

Jacob's reasons for departing,

His wives' reasons for concurring with him,

And Laban's reasons for opposing his departure.

Jacob's reasons are imparted to his wives, whom, for greater privacy, he summons to the fields for the purpose of conferring with them together, as they lived separately. Here it is worthy of notice, that the two secondary wives are not consulted in the matter. This is a mark of their inferior condition. There is no distinction made in any way between the sons of these women and those of Leah and Rachel, though the mothers are thus unfavourably distinguished. The reason is, that the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, the handmaids, have been adopted by Rachel and Leah as their own, and have been recognised by Jacob as his sons. This removes all distinction between them, but does not render their mothers equal to Jacob's free wives.

Jacob's reasons were, that God had commanded him to return ; that he had been very badly treated by Laban, whom to the best of his power he had faithfully served; and that now the increase of wealth which God had given to him was viewed with jealous eyes by Laban and his family.

own.

The wives' reasons lay, first, in their assent to Jacob's own reasons. But, besides this, they had special reasons of their They had clearly, they said, nothing to expect from their father, who treated them as strangers, belonging to Jacob rather than to himself. And furthermore, by bartering them for Jacob's services, he had appropriated all the advantages to himself; for if he had been paid for them in goods or money, custom would have required him to employ some part of it in gifts to them, which in the course taken was avoided, whereby they were left without the separate means to which they were by their rank in life entitled.

Having obtained the concurrence of his wives, Jacob delayed not his departure. He had reason to fear that Laban would attempt to detain him or his property by force; and he therefore stole away secretly, while Laban was engaged, three days' journey off, in shearing his sheep. The women and children. were mounted on camels, and soon the whole of the flocks and herds and people were on the march for the land of Canaan. Jacob might have hoped that the circumstance that he had six days' start would discourage Laban from attempting a pursuit. But if so, he was mistaken. Laban, travelling without encumbrance, might yet hope to overtake, before reaching the Jordan, a large and impeded caravan, going slowly, and making short stages, on account of the young cattle, the women, and the children. And, in fact, Laban did overtake them on the wrong side of the Jordan, among the mountains of Gilead. It might have gone ill with Jacob, for Laban had his kinsmen with him; but God had not forsaken Jacob, and Laban was warned in a dream to do him no harm. He did not, however, avoid the interview with Jacob. That interview is exceedingly characteristic. When Laban came up, Jacob had encamped in Gilead; and Laban having encamped in sight, went over to the camp of Jacob. It is remarkable that Laban, in his complaint, says not a word about the property; but having been prevented from taking the course which he had contemplated, he makes the offence rest upon the unfriendly distrust evinced by this secret departure. He complains that his daughters had been carried away like captives taken with the sword. And again, he had not been suffered to kiss his daughters, before what was meant to be a final separation. The poor man is full of his daughters; for whom, according to their own account, he has no real regard at all. Let him, however, have the credit of the feeling he claims. It is a hard thing for a man to part with his children for ever, even though he may have slighted them while they were near. The sluggish depths of even the worldly heart are stirred by such an occurrence; old paternal memories revive, and the fatherly sympathies awaken in their force.

We shall, on these grounds, always be most safe in

according to every one that degree of paternal affection which he exhibits or claims under such circumstances.

Once more: 'Wherefore didst thou abscond secretly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret, and with harp? This is interesting. The harp, or lyre, has before been mentioned as among the instruments invented by Jubal; but this is the first mention of the 'tabret.' The original word is toph, meaning a kind of hand-drum or tambourine. The same instrument is at this day known by the corresponding name doff in Syria, Egypt, and Arabia. This, with other instruments of music, together with songs and cries, is still used when

a person of any note sets out upon a long journey in the East. The 'songs' were probably such vocal sounds as are still used in the East on the like occasions by the women, to express joy, exultation, or any not decidedly mournful emotion. This is the Ziraleet, which consists of the words lillé, lillé, lillé, repeated as often as the person can utter them in one breath; and being uttered very rapidly in a shrill tone, the sound is heard to a great distance. It is preceded, on such occasions as this, and on some other occasions, by a stanza of four lines, recited by a single voice, expressive of thanks to God for benefits received, or of supplications or good wishes. These are usually extempore, and therefore the more precisely appropriate to the occasion and the circumstances.

Furthermore, and to clench all the rest, Laban makes the astounding charge that Jacob had stolen-his gods! It is clear that Laban knew and acknowledged the Lord, but with the worship of Him he had mixed certain strange gods, or at least certain superstitious images, such as elsewhere occur in Scripture under the name of teraphim, and which appear to have borne the human figure, and to have been used chiefly for purposes of divination. Josephus says, with probability, but with reference to a different matter, that it was the custom of the Mesopotamians to have all the idols they worshipped in their own houses, and to take these with them on their journeys. Aware of the possibility that these images might have been taken, Jacob, although shocked at the charge, did not venture to assert positively that they were not in the camp; but he gives Laban leave to seek for them, and declares that he may put to death any one in whose possession they may be found. Alas! he little thinks that it is his beloved Rachel who has them. She had stolen them before her departure; for what purpose is not clear, but it is to be feared that she did so for superstitious uses. Had Jacob known where they were, he would have trembled when he saw Laban, in his search, enter Rachel's tent. But he need not have feared. Laban's daughter was a match for her father, even in his own line, and fairly outwitted him. She had these images under 'the camel's furniture,' upon which she sat in the tent; and professing to be too ill to rise to pay her proper respect to him, by standing in his presence, he hurriedly and considerately abstained from insisting upon her rising that he might examine her seat. What this 'camel's furniture' was, has been questioned. Some think it was the small tent or cradle which is shown in p. 282; but these are only used on the camel's back, and never for seats. We see no reason to alter the opinion we have had other occasions of expressing: that it was the camel's pack-saddle, which is peculiarly appropriate to the purpose of a seat, or rather of a cushion, against which a person seated on the floor may lean. These saddles, commonly made of wood, are high; and the concavity, usually