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well Esek, which signifies contention. They likewise dug another well, which was also contended for, and Isaac called it Sitnah, or hatred. Isaac, grown weary of such quarrelsome neighbours, removed further from them, and sunk another well, about which there was no controversy, and therefore he named it Rehoboth, which signifies Room; "for now, (saith he) the Lord hath given us room, and "we shall increase upon the earth.”

Isaac tarried not long here, but went to Beersheba, where, the same night he arrived, God appeared to him, comforting and encouraging him, and renewed his promise to bless him and multiply his seed, for his servant Abraham's sake. Then Isaac built an altar there and worshipped the Lord; and because he intended to reside there for some time, he ordered his servants to dig a well; for in those hot and dry countries water was very

scarce.

During Isaac's abode here, Abimelech, reflecting how unkindly he had treated him, and by the quarrelsome and injurious conduct of his servants forced him to remove, and justly fearing Isaac might resent it, thought it adviseable for preventing future animosities to make him a visit, and propose entering into a league of amity: Therefore taking Ahuzzath,* one of his friends, and Phicol† his

Abuzzath. The Septuagint most properly seem to call this Ahuzzath the Paranymph or Brideman of Abimelech; for the Paranymphs were esteemed the most honourable among them, as being next to the bridegroom, and they that always conducted them to the nuptial bed. The Paranymph among the Persians was afterwards the next to the king, and was the person that always crowned him. And as such we may suppose this Ahuzzath to have been to Abimelech.

Phicol. This was not that Phicol who lived with the former Abimelech in the days of Abraham, mentioned Gen. xxi. 22. for that was an hundred years before. It is therefore very probable that as Abimelech was the name for King of the Philistines, as Cæsar was for the Roman Emperors, and Pharaoh for the Kings of Egypt, so this word Phicol was the common name of their generals, not Captain of the King's Guard, (for that was Ahuzzath's the Paranymph's post) as the word implies, which signifies the Face or Head, as a general is of the forces he commands.

general, he went to Isaac at Beersheba. Isaac, to let them know he was sensible of the injuries done him, gave them at first but a cold reception; asking them wherefore they came to see him, whom they had so uncivilly treated? Ábimelech unwilling to revive old quarrels, addresses himself with much respect and friendship to Isaac, telling him, that he was convinced of the particular regard God had for him, and for that reason desired to enter into a league of friendship with him; assuring him, that he was always his friend, and wished him well, concluding with the pleasing compellation, "Thou blessed of the Lord."

Isaac, perceiving their friendly intention, and being himself of a quiet and pacific temper, entertained them with much respect and liberality; and the next morning they made a league, and confirmed it by a mutual oath : After which they took a solemn leave and parted. Let us now return to Esau, of whom the last act that we have recorded is the selling his birth-right. The next thing we find of him is his afflicting his pious parents with ungodly marriages.

Esau was now forty years of age; never well inclined, but since the slighting of his birth-right much worse; and though he could not be ignorant of the solicitude of Abraham, that his father Isaac might not marry into an idolatrous family; he went and took two Hittites, Judith and Bashemath, to be his wives; which was no small grief to his parents. And yet natural affection* so prevailed with this good father, that when he was grown old, and his sight gone, he called his son Esau to him, and advising him to consider his age and the uncertainty of his life, bid him take his bow and quiver, and kill him some venison, and

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Affection. Good Isaac, swayed by an over-fond affection to a disobedient and rebellious son, would have preferred the order of nature to the will of God, who had expressly declared, before Esau and Jacob were born, that the elder should serve the younger. But God would not permit his purpose to be so disappointed; and therefore being unwilling to deal hardly with Isaac, he permitted him to be imposed upon by his wife and younger son, and thereby drawn to do that unwittingly, which to have done knowingly would have caused great uneasiness te him.

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make him a savoury dish, that he might eat thereof, and give him the blessing appendant to his birth-right before he died. Rebecca overheard what had passed between her husband and her son Esau; wherefore, as soon as Esau was gone to hunting, she called her son Jacob to her; and having told him what she heard his father say to his brother, first enjoining him a punctual obedience to all her directions, she bids him go to the flock, and fetch from thence two kids of the goats, and with them, said she, "I will make such savoury meat for thy father as he loves, and thou shalt bring it to thy father; that he may eat and bless thee "before his death." Jacob had obtained the birth-right already, and knew that the paternal blessing did usually attend it; but he was fearful that if he should get it by indirect means, he should forfeit the blessing and get a curse instead of it. This fear was aggravated by reflecting on the difference between his brother's complexion and his own; for Esau was hairy, and he was smooth; so that if his father (to supply his defect of sight by feeling) should handle them, he might easily discover the cheat. And this he objected to his mother; who having continually in her mind the words of the divine Oracle, "The elder shall serve the younger," Gen. xxv. 23. with assurance answered him, "Upon me be the curse, my "son, only obey my voice, and without delay go fetch "me the kids." Jacob, very sensible of his mother's tenderness towards him, disputed her will no longer, but went and brought the kids, of which she made such savoury meat as she knew her husband loved. Then dressing Jacob in Esau's best clothes, and covering his hands and neck with the hairy skins of the kids, she gave him the meat to carry to his father; who, as soon as he heard Jacob enter the room, asked, Who art thou? Jacob answered, "I am* Esau, "thy first-born; I have done as thou commandest me, "rise and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me."

"I am. It is probable he meant that he did represent Esau, or stood in the place of Esau the first-born, by virtue of the purchase he had made of the primogeniture or birth-right of his brother.

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Isaac wondering that he had made such haste, asked him how it came to pass that he had taken the venison so quickly. Jacob replied, "Because the Lord brought* it to me." Isaac, not willing to trust to his hearing only, called Jacob to come near him, that he might feel him, and thereby know whether he was his very son Esau or not. The good old man, when he had felt Jacob's hands, being deceived by the hairy kids' skins, could not be sure it was Jacob or Esau, but shewed his uncertainty by saying, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the "hands of Esau." Having nothing but his son's veracity to depend upon, he put the question more closely to him, "Art thou my very son Esau ?" To which Jacob more readily than truly answering, "I am ;"+ the good old man

Brought. Some will be apt to think that this imposing upon Isaac's blindmess was inexcusable in Jacob; but let such consider, that the blessing being due to the eldest son, and Jacob having bought his brother's birth-right, the blessing (which Esau had despised in despising his birth-right) was due to him; and as for the lie which they charge upon Jacob saying, The Lord brought the venison të him, it is highly probable he meant that the Lord had put that invention or contrivance of the kids, into his mother's mind, and by her had brought it to him.

I am. But though hitherto Jacob might seem excusable upon the right of primogeniture fairly transferred to him by bargain; yet here he is guilty of a posi tive lie. His conduct cannot be justified. While we give him the credit of some pious wishes, we must abhor the ungenerous and dishonest means by which he effected his purpose. To do evil that good may come, is a principle that must never be adopted by pious persons; and the example of Jacob should deter us from de viating a single step from the path of rectitude. If we venture on one transgression, we may be tempted to conceal it by having recourse to falsehood; and one lie makes way for another: a second, and third are wanted to hide the first. Such is the progress of vice.

While we censure the conduct of Jacob, that of his mother seems still more blameable. She proposes and recommends the base deception, and offers to take the whole blame on herself. Alas! how many parents imitate her, by training up their children in the arts of dissimulation for the sake of worldly advantage. Both Rebecca and Jacob might probably have a regard to the intimation of heaven concerning the precedency of the younger son; but no regard of promises will jus

urged no further; but taking him indeed for Esau, bid him bring the meat, that he might eat of it and bless him. Isaac having eat of the venison and drank wine, calls his son to come near and kiss him; which, when Jacob did, his father perceiving the smell, not only of the kids' skins, but of the clothes he had on, gave his blessing to Jacob. in this manner: "Behold, the smell of my son is as the "smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed: Therefore "God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the "earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve "thee, and nations bow down to thee. Be lord over thy "brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: "cursed be every one that curseth thee; and blessed be "he that blesseth thee." Jacob was no sooner gone from his father than Esau came in, bringing his father the venison dressed, and said to him, "Arise my father and eat of thy "son's venison, that thy soul may bless me." Isaac in great surprise and disorder hastily asked, "Who art thou?" To which Esau replying, "I am thy son, thy first-born, "Esau ;" A very great trembling seized him, so that he exclaimed, "Who, and where is he that hath taken veni"son and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before "thou camest, and have blessed him?" And being by this time sensible of a divine superintending hand therein, added, "Yea, and he shall be blessed." Esau hearing this, cried out, and in much confusion, said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father." Isaac to excuse

tify the arts of falsehood; and true faith will wait patiently for the accomplishment of the divine decrees in a way consistent with justice and truth, for "he that believeth shall not make haste."

* Smell. Rebecca had put the clothes of Esau her elder son on Jacob—“ the goodly or desirable raiment," Gen. xxvii. 15. These were probably the garments pertaining to the priest's office, handed down from the earliest ages, in the holy patriarchal line, and preserved amidst odorific and aromatic spices. When Isaac smelled these, it revived his spirits, for he had a respect to the great promise of the Saviour, the High Priest and sweet smelling sacrifice of our profession.

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