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Rachael to Jacob, on condition of another seven years' servitude.

Q. What did Laban give to each of his daughters? A. He gave a handmaid to each: these eventually became wives to Jacob.

Q. How did Laban's affairs proceed under Jacob's management?

A. They prospered exceedingly.

Q. How many children had Jacob whilst he sojourned with Laban?

A. Twelve: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Dinah, and Joseph.

Q. What happened after Joseph's birth?

A. Jacob was desirous to return home; but at Laban's-request he consented to remain, on condition that all the sheep of a certain description should be his. After this he remained with Laban six years.

Q. How did Laban treat him?

A. He deceived him; and changed his

wages ten times but the Lord was with Jacob and blessed him.

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Q. How did their intercourse terminate?

A. The Lord having appeared to Jacob, and commanded him to return to Canaan, he departed from Padan Aram* with his wives, his children, and all his substance. Laban hearing of Jacob's flight, pursued him, and in seven days overtook him in Mount Gilead, but was restrained, by divine interposition, from hurting him.

• Or Mesopotamia.

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Q. What was the result of their meeting?

A. After a severe altercation, they were reconciled; and having covenanted together,* they parted in peace. Q. What occurred to Jacob shortly after?

A. At Mahanaim he had a vision of angels.

Q. What circumstances weighed heavily on Jacob's mind?

A. His past conduct to Esau, whom he was now anxions to conciliate. He therefore sent a respectful message to him, that he might find grace in his sight.

Q. What report did the messengers bring back? A. That Esau was advancing with four hundred men to meet him.

Q. What did Jacob do in this apparent dilemma ?

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A. He cried earnestly to God, pleading the promise made to him at Bethel and that no means might be neglected to secure his safety, he set apart a magnificent present for Esau; at the same time so arranging his family and flocks, that if Esau manifested any hostility, a part might escape.

Q. What followed Jacob's prayer?

A. Being left alone, there wrestled a man with him until break of day.

Q. Who was this mysterious stranger?

Eating together is, in some parts of the East, an act of fæderation, as well as of friendship. Gen. xxxi. 54. Exod. xviii. 12. xxiv. 11. Psalm xli. 9. And thus believers are, in the Lord's Supper, admitted to his covenant and favour. This seems to be alluded to, fuke xiti. 26.

A. The Angel of the Covenant, to whom "he wept and made supplication."*

Q. How was this circumstance commemorated?

A. The Lord changed Jacob's name to Israel; and Jacob called the place Peniel.

Q. How was Jacob received by his brother?

A. "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."

Q. What other marks of kindness did Esau give to Jacob?

A. He accepted his present,† and offered to escort him on his journey. This being declined, Esau returned to Mount Seir, and Jacob proceeded to Shechem.

Q. What was his first care at Shechem?

A. He bought a piece of ground, and built an altar to the Lord, and called it El-elohe-Israel.

Q. What happened there?

A. Dinah, Jacob's daughter, was grossly insulted by Hamor, prince of Shechem; wherefore her brothers,

* Gen. xxxii. 30. Hosea xii. 4.

+ In the East, where all important business begins with a present, the rejection of such an offering is indicative of displeasure.

+ Gen. xxxiii. 19. kesitah, here translated pieces of money, signifies a lamb, and was probably a coin bearing that impression; silver being used as a circulating medium in the days of Abraham. See chap. xxiii. 15, 16. The earliest coins appear to bave been stamped with the figures of animals, whose value perhaps they represented. Hence opes, riches, has been derived from oves, sheep; and Pecunia, money, from Pecus, cattle, in which the wealth of the early ages consisted.

falling upon the city by surprise, cut off all the males, and seized the spoil.

Q. Did the neighbouring tribes avenge this outrage? A. No: the terror of God restrained them.

Q. Did Jacob continue at Shechem?

A. No: God appeared to him, and commanded him to go to Beth-El and perform his vow.

Q. What did the patriarch enjoin to the members of his family previous to this solemnity?

A. He commanded them to put away their false gods, to purify themselves, and to change their raiment. Q. What was the purification enjoined ?

A. Ablution,* a ceremony analogous to baptism, and typical of regeneration and sanctification.†

Q. Of what was the changing of garments typical? A. Of putting on holiness?

Q. What becametof the strange gods?

A. Jacob buried them under an oak.

Q. What happened at Bethel?

A. Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and was buried there under an oak.§

This institution, common to almost all the famous nations of antiquity, still holds an important place in the religion of the Mohammedans and Hindus.

+ 1 Cor. vi. 11. Eph. v. 26.

Eccles. ix. 8. Rev. iii. 4, 5. vii. 14.

In the earliest ages of the world, Oaks were always resorted to on sacred occasions. Scripture notices several instances of this kind: hence it is not surprising that they were held in great veneration by the pagan nations. The Druids, or Oak prophets of Britain, are famous in history.

Q. What resulted to Jacob from the discharge of his vow? A. God appeared to him and renewed the promise made to his father. This event Jacob commemorated by erecting a pillar and pouring a drink offering and oil thereon.

Q. Whither did he go on leaving Bethel?

A. Towards Ephrath or Bethlehem; but before his arrival thither, Rachel died, after giving birth to Benjamin, Jacob's youngest son.

Q. What proof of fraternal affection did Esau give to Jacob during his residence in Canaan ?

A. He fixed his abode near him; and when the land could no longer maintain their immense flocks, Esau returned again to Seir, with his family, servants, and all his substance.

Q. To which of his sons was Jacob particularly attached?

A. To Joseph for whom he made a coat of many colours.*

Q. What was the consequence of this partiality?

A. His brethren "hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him."

Q. What remarkable dreams had Joseph ?

A. He dreamed that whilst he and his brethren were binding sheaves together in the field, his sheaf arose and stood upright, while theirs stood about and made obeisance. He dreamed also that the sun, moon, and eleven stars made obeisance to him.

This was a mark of distinction.

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