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Stories of the Bible, Volume 1: The People of the Chosen Land

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<h2 class="nobreak">JACOB AND ESAU.</h2> We barter life for pottage; sell true bliss For wealth or power, for pleasure or renown; Thus, Esau like, our Father's blessing miss, Then wash with fruitless tears our faded crown. —Keble. Esau was the older son, and to him belonged the honors of the family. It was his duty, too, to offer sacrifices and serve as the high priest in the home; for such was the custom of the times. But Esau cared little either for honor or religious services. And so, one day when he came home from the hunt, hungry and thirsty, he sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of pottage that Jacob sat eating before the door of his home. Now, Isaac loved this son better than he loved Jacob, and was grieved and disappointed[59] that he should have sold his birthright so foolishly; for now to Jacob rather than to Esau would fall the blessings of God. But it could not now be helped, and Jacob took up the office of high priest in the house of Isaac. As Isaac grew old, to him was given the gift of prophecy; and whomsoever he blessed, honor and prosperity was sure to follow. When Rebekah knew this, her heart was filled with but one desire,—that Isaac's blessing should fall upon Jacob rather than upon Esau; for she knew how unworthy Esau was in spirit, and how little he would strive to honor God when the household became his own. So, one day when Esau was away upon the hunt, she called Jacob to her and bade him go kneel beside his old father and ask his blessing.> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/fig_020.jpg" width-obs="349" height-obs="500" alt="ISAAC BLESSING JACOB." title="" /> ISAAC BLESSING JACOB. </div> [61] But Jacob said, "Behold, Esau, my brother, is a hairy man and I a smooth man. My father, perhaps, will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver." Rebekah said, "Obey my voice, my son." And Jacob yielded. Then Rebekah took some clothes belonging to Esau and put them upon Jacob; and she put the skin of the kids that he had brought her upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck. Then Jacob knelt before his father, whose eyes were dimmed with old age, and said, "Bless me, my father." And Isaac said, "Who art thou, my son?" And Jacob said, "I am Esau, thy first born." Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near, that I may feel whether thou be my very son Esau or not." [62]So Jacob went near to his father, and the father felt of him; and he said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." Then Isaac, thinking it was Esau who knelt, blessed him as his first-born, and said, "The Lord bless thee, and give thee plenty of corn and wine. Let the people serve thee; and be thou lord over all thy brethren." And all this came to pass; for Jacob's children came into possession of the rich land of Canaan. By and by, Esau entered the tent and knelt beside his father. "Thy blessing, O father Isaac," he said. The old man stretched out his hands. "Who art thou?" he cried. "I am Esau, your first-born. Know you not that I am Esau?" [63]"Who was it then that came just now and received my blessing?" Isaac asked. Then Esau knew that to him was lost the blessing as an eldest son. The old man wailed. "Alas! alas! my son," he said, "much wealth can I yet bestow upon thee; still the greater honors are now with Jacob." Now Esau's heart was filled with rage. He would have slain his brother; but Rebekah, knowing this, sent Jacob away. When night came on Jacob lay down upon the cold ground and placed a stone beneath his head. And as he slept God sent a beautiful vision to bless him. He saw a ladder set upon the earth, whose top reached to Heaven. Holy angels were going up and down the ladder, and, above them all, stood God. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/fig_021.jpg" width-obs="351" height-obs="500" alt="JACOB'S DREAM." title="" /> JACOB'S DREAM. </div> [65]And a voice said, "I am the God of Abraham and of Jacob. I will give the land where thou liest to be a possession to thy children. I am with thee and will keep thee in all thy places, and bring thee again into thy land." Then Jacob awoke. "This is God's place," he said, "and I knew it not. This is the House of God and the Gate of Heaven." Then he took a stone and poured oil upon it and blessed it. "This place shall be called Bethel," he said; "Bethel, which means the House of God, for here God appeared unto me." From Bethel Jacob went on to the land of his uncle Laban; and there he dwelt for many years, keeping the sheep. But the time came when Laban looked with jealousy upon Jacob. The Lord came[66] again to Jacob and bade him take his wife, Rachael, and his children and go back to Canaan. Jacob obeyed, and, driving his great flocks before him, he set out again for his old home. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/fig_022.jpg" width-obs="348" height-obs="500" alt="JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL." title="" /> JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL. </div> As he neared the village of Seir, where Esau dwelt, he sent messengers ahead to tell Esau that he was returning, and to beg him to forgive the past that they might meet each other in brotherly love. The servants came back and told him that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men. Then Jacob was in great fear, for he thought Esau meant to kill him. He prayed to God to keep him safe. At night an angel came and wrestled with him till break of day, but could not overcome him. And when morn came, the angel said, "Let me go, for it is break of day." Jacob[68] said, "I will not let thee go till thou bless me." Then the angel blessed him, and he saw him no more. This was a sign from God to Jacob that, as he was a match for an angel, he need not fear men. He took some of his cattle and sent them as a gift to Esau. He set them in droves, so that when Esau met them, and asked whose they were, the men should say, "They are Jacob's. It is a gift he has sent to my lord Esau." Each man who drove the cattle was to answer in this way, so that Esau might feel that Jacob had come as a friend. All at once Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming. Then he called his eleven sons and Rachel and Leah to go with him and meet Esau. When he met Esau he bowed down to[69] the ground seven times. Then Esau ran to him and put his arms round his neck and kissed him, and they both wept. Esau led Jacob to his home and there feasted him for seven days. And when he was rested Jacob set forth again, driving his herds before him, to make a home for his people in the land of Canaan; for he was an old man now, and wished only to rest in the land of his fathers, and to see his twelve sons comfortably placed in homes of their own, with their wives, their children, and their flocks about them. [70] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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